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Ben Stein: Expelled

A friend just sent me the link to Ben Stein: Expelled, a forthcoming documentary that deals with intelligent design and chronicles Ben Stein's "confrontation with the widespread suppression and entrenched discrimination that is spreading in our institutions, laboratories and most importantly, in our classrooms, and that is doing irreparable harm to some of the world’s top scientists, educators, and thinkers" (source).

The Expelled Blog has been around since August (read Stein's introductory post), so this may have been discussed ad nauseam in the blog world. But if there are others who, like me, have taken a joyful and extended holiday from the blogs, I thought it would be worth linking again here.

Stein approaches the issue based on the fact that a free and progressive society should have the freedom to discuss intelligent design without fear of discrimination and persecution.

The Expelled site has several videos, including a lengthy 'super trailer' (pictured above). Check them out here, or view the teaser trailer @ youtube embedded below.

RELATED
Ben Stein's homepage
Stein on Bill O'Reilly (youtube video)
Stein @ technorati

As personal note, this documentary is especially interesting to me given that the Fellowship Associates residents just finished reading and discussing Nancy Pearcey's, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity (Study Guide Edition).

Technorati Tags: BenStein, intelligentdesign

35W Bridge Collapse Photos

-New York Times slideshow (phenomenal)
-Flickr 35W Bridge Disaster Group
-Photos recently tagged "35W" on flickr

Why Did the Bridge Collapse?

Yesterday's events have had a distinctly personal impact on me-- given that I lived just a few blocks from this bridge in 2000-2001, crossed it multiple times daily, and still have a group of close friends living in the Twin Cities.

As the coverage of the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis continues, the question is asked repeatedly: Why?

Hopefully, many have read John Piper's "Putting My Daughter to Bed Two Hours After the Bridge Collapsed". In case you missed it, I thought it was worth linking again.

In addition to that reflection, DGM has combined some of their video footage of yesterday's events with a portion of Piper's sermon, Where is God?. The video is embedded below, or you can watch it here at youtube.

Wishing More People Would Follow Stephen Harper's Lead

Meet Bono? Canadian Prime Minister Not Interested

Harper, a somewhat wooden figure regularly mocked for his lack of flair, told reporters Thursday that meeting Bono was not a priority.

"I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't kind of my shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy," said Harper in a dig at his Liberal predecessor Paul Martin, who met Bono regularly.

First Things on Bono & the RED Fiasco

Bono Still Hasn't Found What He's Looking For (Ryan Anderson, First Things)

In this article, Anderson comments on the foolishness of spending $100 million in advertising to raise a mere $18 million for Africa, and shares my general sentiments regarding the consumeristic ego massaging nature of Bono's campaign:

Buying overpriced luxury items—the true meaning of the Parable of the Good-Looking Samaritan. Anyway, it’s been a year now, and the results seem poor. Unhappy with the Advertising Age report, the CEO of (RED) issued a public response. It makes some valid points: The money was going to be spent on product advertising anyway, so we might as well raise awareness about AIDS in Africa and raise some money at the same time. Certainly the sick in Africa aren’t sneering at the $18 million. For many, it has been the difference between life and death.

But there is something wrongheaded—even repulsive—about the approach. Turning the life-and-death plight of an entire continent into just another advertising strategy. Making charitable giving a matter of satisfying consumerist desires. Attempting to solve African need by Western greed.

It reminded me of one of Bono’s earlier endeavors: the ONE Campaign. Bono titled this “the campaign to make poverty history.” Its strategy was simply to rally Americans to call upon President Bush to allocate one additional percentage point of the U.S. budget to fighting extreme poverty across the globe.

Surprisingly, they never ask for any direct contributions: “ONE isn’t asking for your money, we’re asking for your voice. ONE does not accept donations. Instead, we hope that you’ll take action with ONE by contacting Congress, the President and other elected officials and ask them to do even more to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. We encourage you to sign the ONE declaration and help by spreading the word about the ONE Campaign by talking about it with your friends, family and co-workers. Additionally, you can show your community that you support ONE by purchasing ONE merchandise on our website.”

Just sign our petition! Just call President Bush! Wear our wristband! That’s all it takes to make poverty history! You don’t even need to give a dime!

What a bizarre method. Why not appeal to our consciences directly and ask every American to donate 1 percent of our personal budget to the poverty-fighting charity of our choice? The ONE Campaign made significant inroads with the religious communities—having them demand more from the government. Why not ask for a tithe? Why not call for personal contributions instead of political noise-making?

But that would require sacrifice. And that wouldn’t sell. Nor would it be trendy. It’s so much easier to say we can fight AIDS by buying Armani and Gap. It’s so much easier to say we’ll end world poverty by telling Congress to do something about it. My “good-looking” “fine self” sleeps so much better at night knowing that my (RED) purchase has bought pills for someone in Africa, that my signature on the ONE declaration means I’ve done my part.

Many people got fed up with this. They thought it was just an attempt to ease our consciences about being so well off. To give until it feels good, not until it hurts.

Anderson also links BuyLessCrap.org. Though their approach is a greatly improved approach to the glam-clad RED campaign, Anderson notes the weakness of their approach as well:

Giving money will never be the focus of the real solution. This simplistic view assumes that Africa’s only ailment is material lack. But this is to mistake the symptom for the cause. A materialistic understanding of the causes of poverty—at home and abroad—will never suffice. Real answers need to address culture and its institutions.

read the whole article

Technorati Tags: (RED), Africa, Bono, consumerism, justice

How Beneficial Was the (RED) Campaign?

For those that might remember opinions I have previously stated about Bono & the RED campaign, or additional thoughts I expressed, you might be interested in an article that a friend directed me to this afternoon:

Costly Red Campaign Reaps Meager $18 Million

It's been a year since the first Red T-shirts hit Gap shelves in London, and a parade of celebrity-splashed events has followed: Steven Spielberg smiling down from billboards in San Francisco; Christy Turlington striking a yoga pose in a New Yorker ad; Bono cruising Chicago's Michigan Avenue with Oprah Winfrey, eagerly snapping up Red products; Chris Rock appearing in Motorola TV spots ("Use Red, nobody's dead"); and the Red room at the Grammy Awards. So you'd expect the money raised to be, well, big, right? Maybe $50 million, or even $100 million.

Try again: The tally raised worldwide is $18 million.

[...]

But is the rise of philanthropic fashionistas decked out in Red T-shirts and iPods really the best way to save a child dying of AIDS in Africa?

(read more)

The above article also links to buylesscrap.org, an organization that facilitates direct contributions to the Global Fund and other charitable organizations without the need to buy a celebrity branded product:

Join us in rejecting the ti(red) notion that shopping is a reasonable response to human suffering

Technorati Tags: Africa, Bono, consumerism, RED

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR FUN @ THE DGM CONFERENCE?

From pizza to pancakes to tattoo parlors, the commenters have added a ton to the mix.

CAWLEYBLOG GUIDE TO MINNEAPOLIS | DGM CONFERENCE EDITION

Click Here for Bobby & Steve's Coupons

Technorati Tags: AboveAllEarthlyPowers, Bobby&Steve's, DGM+Conference, bobbyandsteveshavethebestcokesintheworld

Cawleyblog Guide to Minneapolis | 2006 Desiring God Conference Edition

UPDATE: Plenty of great suggestions in the comments, make sure to check them out!

Since I'm being asked this question more frequently as the time approaches, the answer is no-- I will not be attending the Above All Earthly Powers Desiring God Conference this year. I blew my conference budget already with T4G and Resurgence. And, even if you offered me the money to cover the trip, I need to spend this fall concentrating on my thesis (I just dropped my ETS plans as well). Plus, the conference registration is closed, so stop bothering me about it.

But, since many of my friends and others who read this blog will be attending the conference, I thought I would throw out some of the places you should visit while you're in the Twin Cities. I love Minneapolis. I lived in Minneapolis. I would move back to Minneapolis in a heartbeat.

What follows, therefore, are the things to do, places to go, food to eat that I would suggest if we were there together and you said, "Hey Kevin, you lived here, what should we do?"

Technorati Tags: AboveAllEarthlyPowers, AboveAllEarthlyPowers2006, Bobby&Steve's, DesiringGod, DGM Conference, JohnPiper, Minneapolis, Minneapolis tourguide

Malcolm Gladwell on NCAA, 'Discretionary Justice,' and Oklahoma Football

Malcolm Gladwell recently devoted a piece in New Yorker to philosophies of discipline for youth. No Mercy juxtaposes Cambridge University's 1925 decision to send Robert Oppenheimer to a psychiatrist in lieu of expulsion with the University of Oklahoma's recent decision to dismiss quarterback Rhett Bomar after a school investigation determined that Bomar had been paid for hours he had not worked at a sleezy Norman car dealership.

Gladwell's essay is especially interesting to me given that it caused me to do something I rarely do-- disagree with him. To read the ongoing discussion in the wake of the article, check out the comments @ Gladwell's blog

[Note: I realize sports are well off the beaten path here-- but the combination of Oklahoma and Gladwell made it irresistible]

Technorati Tags: Malcolm Gladwell, NCAA, OklahomaFootball, BigRedImports, RhettBomar, UniversityofOklahoma

NPR on Madonna's Latest Antics

NPR weighed in today on Madonna's current tour antics. In the spot, Madonna's Cross Raises Thorny Questions, St. Michaels professor Donna Freitas takes the opportunity to advance a radical feminist slant by claiming that Madonna is "doing Christians a favor..." by "...performing a woman's right to stand in Jesus' place."

Freitas also rightly notes that she is "the only one who likes what she (Madonna) is doing." Read Vatican's fury over Madonna 'blasphemy'

Personally, I'm about as interested in Madonna as I am Michael Jackson's purported conversion

RELATED
Madonna takes cross show to Rome (BBC)
Photograph of Madonna // Daily Mail
Madonna Launches Tour With Disco Crucifixion (Rolling Stone)
Crazy for You, but Not That Crazy (Village Voice)

Technorati Tags: blasphemy, popstarswhoneedtoretire