Misplaced Blame.

This past Sunday evening,Jim David Adkisson allegedly entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville and killed two people and wounded six others during a presentation of a children's musical.
He was subdued by several church members after firing three rounds from a 12-gauge shotgun.
News accounts mention that, following a search of the shooter's home, police officers found copies of "Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder" by radio talk show host Michael Savage, "Let Freedom Ring" by talk show host Sean Hannity, and "The O'Reilly Factor," by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly all described as "right-wing political books" by the Knoxville paper .
Obviously, this a not-so-subtle attempt to tie killers to conservative talk radio.
Adkisson wrote a four-page letter in which he stated his "hatred of the liberal movement," and "Liberals in general, as well as gays." and as The Unitarian Universalist Church espouses "liberal" views, then, by the convoluted logic of the press, talk radio inspired Adkisson.

As Neal Boortz pointed out on his program, very little is mentioned in the press about the similarities between the writings of the Unabomber and Al Gore. Boortz talked about an online quiz which uses quotes from either Al Gore's book Earth in the Balance or from the Unabomber's Manifesto and you are asked to answer who wrote what....Gore or the Unabomber.
You can take the quiz by going these links:
http://www.crm114.com/algore/quiz.html
http://www.bbhq.com/gorequiz.htm

Links on the shooting story can be found here:
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/29/suspects-note-cites-liberal-movement-church-attack/
http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/church072908.html
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/28/church-shooting-police-find-manifesto-suspects-car/

Un Cuil.

I came across this article on My Way News- Ex-Google engineers debut 'Cuil' way to search.
In it, writer Michael Liedtke swoons over ex Google employee Anna Patterson's new search engine, Cuil.
Pronounced "cool", it's said the name was derived from a character named Finn McCuill in Celtic folklore. According to wikipedia, the mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology was actually called Fionn mac Cumhaill and Finn McCool is the Anglicised version. I guess Patterson and her husband, Tom Costello, and two other former Google engineers - Russell Power and Louis Monier - who started Cuil thought Cumhaill might not be such a good name for a search engine.
I won't go into all the wonderful things Liedtke has to say about Cuil but I can tell you that I am not as impressed as he is.
I went to Cuil.com and searched for a few things and found that not only is it not better than Google, it doesn't even come close. I can't imagine the folks at Google will be losing sleep over their latest competitor.

The Cord Sponsors.

Yesterday, my wife and I were participants in the wedding of two of our friends. It was a traditional Catholic/Filipino ceremony in which my wife and I were the cord sponsors.
For those unfamiliar with this, the cord sponsors stand up during the ceremony with a cord that is in the form of a figure eight. The loops are loosely placed around the neck and shoulder area of the couple. This symbolizes the infinite bond of marriage.
I also gave the second reading which was from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians and I'm including the reading below;

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 12:31- 13:8a

A reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues
But do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
And comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
If I have all faith so as to move mountains,
But do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away everything I own,
And if I hand my body over so that I may boast
But do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude
It does not seek its own interests,
It is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not
Rejoice over wrong-doing
But rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things,
Hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.

The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Latest Zogby Poll.

From Zogby International .
Pollster John Zogby's analysis:
"For the time being, Obama maintains the edge and has the strength of a majority of electoral votes. His triumphant foreign trip allows him to continue to define this race. But too many of these states are close and a sizable number are undecided or choosing a third party candidate. So there is a lot of fluidity."

A Change we all can live with.