The news broke recently that Kinist site Little Geneva was hacked and had to close up shop. “Who is Mrs. Binoculars” (funny how they hide their names) tells a wholly different story. While I personally found Mr. Seabrook’s views to be worthy of great shame, the manner in which he was brought down appeared to be the proverbial stooping to the same level. This is not to say that we Christians should not speak out against the hate that was spewed by Seabrook and men of his ilk, but it does bring to question what tactics we ought to employ. We might be right, but is bullying a bully following the mind and model of Christ?

Update: After delving a little further into mrsbinoculars.com I discovered that it contains articles by Matthew Chancey. I apologize for the assumption about anonymity. Reading through the site makes this comment thread from last year come flashing back. I pray that Gospel reconciliation would take place on all sides of this (sadly) public conflict.

MLK is the final track on U2′s 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. The song is a sort of eulogy for a great man (think “sleep” referring to his death and “may your dreams be realized” referring to the famous I Have A Dream speech).

MLK

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down him
So let it be
So let it be

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on him

I am no expert, but did you know that the Hebrew letters מלך (mlk) can stand for melek (king)? Traditional Hebrew texts do not have imbedded vowels. I find this to be a remarkable coincidence, especially considering that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s grandfather, James Albert King, “was never a religious man.” You have to be careful not to draw out the connection too far, since mlk was also the name of a pagan god whose worship included fiery sacrifices of children.

However, with the second track, Pride (In the Name of Love), also being about King, I wonder if Bono had some kind of a double-entendre in mind when he titled the album, The Unforgettable Fire? The story goes that the record’s title came from a series of paintings that the band had viewed, which were done by survivors of the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There happened to also be a concurrent exhibition at the museum on Martin Luther King, Jr., a man that continues to inspire our nation nearly thirty-nine years after his death—truly he was an unforgettable fire.

I am getting off track (it is easy to do that when you are a U2 fan), which originally was to ask if you think that Dr. King’s dream is being realized today?

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

— M.L.K., “I Have a Dream” Address delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963

Ben at Open Switch asks “how far should legislation go in terms of how parents raise their kids?” The question came up because of recent moves by some cities that make it illegal to smoke in the same car as children. The thinking side of my brain says, “Wuhaaat?!? That’s ridiculous! There is already too much government intervention in people’s lives.” The feeling side of me says, “Having grown up in a smoking household myself, I empathize with kids who are subjected to second hand smoke. Every time I see a kid trapped in a smoke-filled car my heart goes out to him.”

The argument for the law goes something like this: You can smoke if you want and cause (possible) harm to yourself, but forcibly exposing minors who are in your custody to cigarette smoke is wrong. After all, they cannot protect themselves from ignorant guardians, so someone else (the government) has to step in and defend them. This same logic is used to support smoking bans in public places like restaurants and bars.

In a previous post I was adamantly against the trans fat bans that are in vogue among our overlords. However, I waffled on whether or not smoking fell into the same category. It may be my choice to eat a trans fat laced donut, but what if the guy at the table next to me decides to burn his donut? Well, it’s rude, but has it been conclusively proven that smoke from burning donuts is harmful? Is a law really necessary? Should we not just shame people into not burning their donuts in front of people, or rather, is it not up to the shop owner to decide if he should allow burning donuts in his establishment? But what about his employees? They can just get another job. Can a kid get another parent if he doesn’t like cigarettes? Well…no but you gotta draw the line somewhere. But you know that someone might get hurt. The operative word is “might.” Besides, we all hurt one another at some level or another. What’s next, laws against grounding kids? You’re incorrigible. Yeah, I know. It’s all my mom’s fault.

Lamenting the fact that I have been blogging less lately, I decided to show you a picture of a typical evening in the Kennedy household. The plan is to watch Ethan for a couple hours and put him to bed, so that I can go do whatever else: read, blog, etc. However, lately I have been falling asleep in front of the television and waking up too late to muster up the blogging mojo. This photo, taken over a month ago by my mother-in-law, could have been from last night. (Note: That’s a cocktail stirrer sticking out of my mouth.)

Last week embattled Tour de France champion, Floyd Landis, went on the offensive and posted his doping scandal defense online. This seems kind of unorthodox, but on the other hand it could help sway public opinion in his favor. The criticism is that this action is little different than what the UCI did when it leaked Landis’ test results to the media. While the bold move seems to be praised by cycling fans, Landis still faces a long legal battle (not to mention his road to recovery from hip replacement surgery). The jury of public opinion is important, and what I have read so far is fairly convincing, but what ultimately counts career-wise is proving the case in court.