Is Global Warming Real?

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the answer is YES. The average temperature is rising. Here's a link to NOAA's recently released talking points about Climate Change. Here's a quote:

Q. Is there any question that surface temperatures in the United States have been rising rapidly during the last 50 years?

A. None at all. Even if NOAA did not have weather observing stations across the length and breadth of the United States the impacts of the warming are unmistakable. For example, lake and river ice is melting earlier in the spring and forming later in the fall. Plants are blooming earlier in the spring. Mountain glaciers are melting. Coastal temperatures are rising. And a multitude of species of birds, fish, mammals and plants are extending their ranges northward and, in mountainous areas, upward as well.

Second Month Photo

While I was spending time with the brethren at the CBF General Assembly in Houston, Kylene was celebrating James' second month down in Mississippi.

She's convinced that he's the most remarkable grandchild ever born and submits this picture as proof.

Who am I to disagree?

Underestimating Unemployment

Vice President Biden said the administration "misread" the economy in January. They underestimated the level of unemployment to expect.

The chart above is from the administration's research for Obama's stimulous program. The unemployment rate has already reached the level that the administration estimated for an economy without the stimulous.

Podcast: James Madison Corrects Sally Kern

Podcast (7MB Mp3)of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 7-5-09 "Religious Talk" radio program. As a corrective to Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern's "Proclamation for Theocracy" and Hobby Lobby's full-page newspaper advertisements for Christian Nationalism, Dr. Prescott recites James Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance" in its entirety. Madison was the author of the U.S. Constitution and the author of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment. His "Memorial and Remonstrance" (1785) is the definitive document for understanding the original intention of the framer of the U.S. Constitution regarding relations between church and state.

Regarding Sally Kern's Proclamation

OETA, the PBS affiliate in Oklahoma City, interviewed me this afternoon to get my opinions about State Representative Sally Kern's "Proclamation for Morality".

The most concise statement that I made was that it was misnamed. It would be more aptly named a "Proclamation for Theocracy" than a "Proclamation for Morality." I don't remember exactly what I said, but the gist of it is that it would be best for legislators to adhere to the constitution, especially the first amendment, and let each religion issue its own proclamation of morality.

There are so many things wrong with Kern's proclamation that it would fill a book to correct them all. The best critique that I've seen is by Chris Moore, pastor of the Norman, Oklahoma UCC church, at his Pelagian Heresy weblog. Here's a quote:

There is more to complain about than just the "Christian revisionism" and the blatant attempt to co-mingle religion and government (always with the religion of the instigator in the primary slot, of course…because they're right.) The implication of this document is that our “moral crisis” has delivered us to a state of economic decline and ruin. Yet, the same people who profess this kind of Christian revisionist thinking have largely been in charge of the government for the past decade and nowhere in the "charges" leveled against our nation are things like unchecked greed, disregard for our fellow human beings, lack of love for our neighbors or any of the same accusations that Isaiah leveled against ancient Israel so long ago. Instead we get the same tired list of abortion, same sex marriage, and illegitimate births (among others). It wasn't anything on this list that caused Bernie Madoff to rob thousands of people of their savings, nor is it same sex marriage that somehow threatens "traditional" marriage to the point of a 50% divorce rate.

If you wish to be helpful, begin to offer solutions that work beyond a glib and over-sentimentalized "return to morality". It is clear that no side of this (or any other) argument has a monopoly on morality. We your constituents grow increasingly tired of one-upsmanship, the unambiguous support of party over country and the blatant attempts to enforce your own sense of religion as if it were the only answer. If that formula works for you, great. Knock yourselves out in your houses of worship and in your homes. But the capital building is where you serve everyone, not your own narrow interpretation of scripture, history or morality.

Government Spending Made Transparent

Yesterday the U.S. federal government unveiled its "IT Dashboard" -- a website that is supposed to make government spending transparent to anyone who takes the time to peruse the information.

I haven't had time to spend on the site yet, but I fully intend to look for U.S. government spending on faith-based initiatives. When I find time to do some searching, I'll let you know how transparent the site makes this kind of spending.