Good Times to Be Bad

My favorite baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, have been a laughingstock for some time now. But if there is a silver lining behind the black cloud that has been the Royal's performance these past ten years is that they picked the best time in baseball history to have a horrible slump. They have no legacy sullied by the Mitchell Report. They have no records worth putting an asterek by during the steroid era. They have nothing to defend despite the fact that some of their players (Hal Morris and Wally Joyner) were listed in the report.

All signs in Kansas City point to improvement under GM Dayton Moore. Unfortunately they did just sign Jose Guillen, a notorious malcontent and HGH/Steroid user. But if you're going to have gone through the worst ten years of your franchise's history...the steroid era was the time to do it. The Yanks, Mets, Astros, etc...all have besmirched records their diehards will have to justify with pathetic and doomed-to-lose arguments. The Royals have nothing to justify during this time span.

Do You Believe your Truth or Not?

Huckabee has gotten some negative attention for asking during a New York Times interview if Mormons believe Satan and Jesus are brothers. First of all, I can't believe the question was entirely "innocent" as Huckabee described it. Huckabee's too smart for that and was certainly trying to raise doubts about Mormonism in the minds of voters. I have no problem with someone's religious beliefs being part of the public discussion of a candidate's background. However, why did Huckabee have to apologize?

If that's what Mormons really believe...what are they afraid of? Why do their beliefs have to remain secret? If Mormons truly believe that Satan and Christ were among several sons of God...then why keep that a secret? Why not stand by your convictions? No Mormon or religious expert has said the Huckabee was wrong. So what's the issue?

The issue obviously is that Mormonism is a cult founded by a convicted fraud that miraculously receives convenient new revelations for political expediency (i.e. renouncing polygamy to gain statehood and being a theologically rasicst institution until 1978). Hey...I respect your right to belong to a cult...but don't hide the facts of your faith and pretend to be something your not.

I won't hide the facts of my Christian faith...and there are some who categorize Christianity (incorrectly in my opinion) as a cult or as an archaic mythology. But I'm not hiding anything and I stand by my beliefs. My faith should be transparent. I know many great Mormons who are among the finest people I know. Some of my top students are Mormon. But Mormonism's repeated attempts to keep their doctrine and practices secret only proves the cultlike nature of their "religion." There may be a lot of criticisms of Christianity...but a lack of transparency cannot be one of them.

Magazine Cover of the Year

Time magazine ranked this magazine cover as one of the ten best of the year. Rarely does a magazine cover make me laugh out loud...this one did.

First Christmas Tree

Here's Jackson seeing our Christmas tree for the first time...