Blog - Page 219 of 318 - John H Armstrong

A Lovely Tribute to the USA

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:33-05:00September 3rd, 2008|Categories: America and Americanism|

Political conventions always seek to impress you with which party is more faithful to America and our idealism than the other. Much of what is said and shown is very partisan, for obvious reasons. Now and then a really great video appears and captures something of the great spirit of our nation quite well. Such was the case on Tuesday evening in St. Paul at the RNC.

A video presentation that runs for only 2:23 minutes was shown. It was narrated by the one of my favorite actors, Robert Duvall. I only saw this on the Web, not on television.You can see the You Tube version by clicking the previous hyperlink. I think you will find it inspiring.

What Should We Make of Sarah Palin?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:33-05:00September 3rd, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I read a significant number of blogs and magazines, both in regular print editions and online. I read publications from the political left and the political right, and things in between. I try to major on reading as much biographical material on the candidates as I can find and then study their decision making skills and personal character. Experience, as it is presently being argued, is not all it is cracked up to be for me. What experience did Abe Lincoln have? For that matter how do you get foreign policy experience? Not by sitting on a senate committee. Any freshmen student of history ought to see this argument for what it is, from the left or the right. Obama could become a great president, regardless of his lack of experience. And Saran Palin could become a great vice-president regardless of the same. This "experience" debate goes no where with me. (And the gossip stuff is just totally useless. I am grateful that Senator […]

An Evening with Steve Brown

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:33-05:00September 2nd, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

Governor Mitch Daniels Gets It

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:33-05:00September 2nd, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana is an evangelical Christian who also understands the role of politics and the church quite well. In an online Christianity Today piece put up today (September 2) the governor praised John McCain’s vice presidential pick Sarah Palin by saying:

"I had hoped to see a woman on the ticket of our party for a long, long time," he said. "I think now that it’s happened, the woman that we’ve waited for is ideal."

Christianity Today: We just found out that Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant. Will that have an impact on voters?

Governor Daniels: I don’t know. They’re handling a difficult and all too common dilemma that millions of American families face. It’s just another mark of authenticity of this family and the way they’re handling the young couple in question, I think, is the right way. I hope that people will personally give them a little room for privacy. But since it’s public, I think they’ve done the right thing.

Christianity Today: Do you […]

Barack Obama's Financial Goals

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:33-05:00September 2nd, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I have in my hands a book titled Obamanomics: How Bottom Up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-Down Economics (Seven Stories Press: New York, 2008), by John R. Talbott. Talbott is an impressive man, having been an investment banker for Goldman Sachs and the visiting scholar at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He has appeared on CNN, Fox, CNBC and CBS as a commentator and has written five previous books.

Talbott argues that Obama has shown us that he understands divisions among races, religions and political views and how these divisions have prevented us from coming together as a people. Talbott has studied Obama’s speeches and campaign policy statements and believes that he understands a government that acts according to truly democratic principles. These include lobby reform, fixing our healthcare system, slowing global warming, preventing unnecessary wars and improving education.

But what will this do for the economy? Talbott argues, and as a real opponent of industry and business, that Obama’s […]

Wrigley Field

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:33-05:00September 1st, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

It is already known that I do not care for Wrigley Field. I thus collect quotes from ballplayers who share my disdain for the dump. One such player is All-Star Lance Berkman (photo left) who plays for the Houston Astros.

“If they blew up Wrigley tomorrow, it wouldn’t bother me at all. That ivy is nasty, the infield grass is waist high, and they definitely have the most vulgar fans.”

For me that sums it up nicely. Sorry Cub fans but the place is a dark and dank old dump and the drunks are exceptionally rowdy. It didn’t get its reputation as a the world’s biggest _____bar for no reason at all. I hate it.

And while I am at it on this Labor Day 2008 let me congratulate the Cubs for a great season. Of course "it ain’t over till it’s over" but they should make the post-season without any doubt. Now the real "curse" kicks in once […]

Alabama's Back

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:33-05:00August 31st, 2008|Categories: College Football|

Fall is now near, which means college football is back. So is my team: Alabama. Whacking the No. 9 Clemson Tigers at a neutral site, 34-10, was very impressive. Dominating them on both sides of the ball, and finishing a game the way a great team finishes plays and quarters in football, was quite impressive to this Tide fan. Bama had 25 first downs to 11 and rushed for 239 years to Clemson’s 0. Pre-season observers said Clemson had the best running back duo in the US. Even if that proves to be untrue 0 yards rushing is a great night for a defense. On top of that Alabama had no turnovers and the much maligned QB, John Parker Wilson, was 22 for 30 passing. The new offensive coordinator seems to know how to use what he has, which is a talented interior line and a QB who is seasoned but needs to be kept within the boundaries of what he does best.
[…]

Christian de Duve on Our Very Bleak Future

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:34-05:00August 31st, 2008|Categories: The Future|

In suggesting what our world might look like in fifty years Christian de Duve, founder of the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Pathology in Belgium (and a Nobel Prize winner in 1974) paints a dark portrait. He says that if our children and grandchildren "keep letting nature follow its course, the situation fifty years from today can only be dramatically worse than it is now" (11). He goes on to paint an extremely grim portrait of humans destroying the planet in a myriad of ways. He concludes: "Large cities, crushed by overcrowding, will have degenerated into jungles ruled by crime and violence" (12).

Christian de Duve, who celebrated a gala 90th birthday event in October of 2007, then concludes in this present essay:

"There is nothing unexpected in this dismal view; it is none other than the extrapolation of the present into the future. It is not an apocalyptic picture conjured by some prophet of doom, but the expression of a […]

George F. Smoot on Cosmic and Human Time

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:34-05:00August 30th, 2008|Categories: The Future|

Yesterday, I referred to Mike Wallace’s new book, The Way We Will be 50 Years from Today (Thomas Nelson: Nashville, 2008). I now want to include comments on a few essays from this intriguing and frankly somewhat depressing look at where we are going as a human civilization.

George F. Smoot, an astrophysicist who in 2006 shared the Nobel Prize in physics, teaches at the University of California at Berkeley and conducts serious research. His work is primarily on the creation and long-term history of the universe. This leads him to say that fifty years is but a "dot" in cosmic time. But on a human scale it is will likely be a significant period of time, especially given the rapid rate of change and innovation we are now undergoing. He says predicting the future is "instructive and humbling to try" (7).

He predicts a major change in energy use and resources, which seems to […]

The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Today

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:34-05:00August 29th, 2008|Categories: The Future|

CBS’s news reporter, Mike Wallace, has conceived an interesting idea in his new book, The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Now (Thomas Nelson: Nashville, 2008). Predicting the future is always a dangerous business, but assembling 60 of what are called "the world’s greatest minds" to share their vision of the future is worth the time to at least scan over some of the comments and ideas.

Though the publisher, Thomas Nelson, is historically a religious publishing house, this is not a particularly religious title at all, unless secularism counts as religion. It includes contributions from activists, scientists, business leaders and political figures. The range of contributors is intriguing, to say the least, but there is not one deeply and self-consciously religious response in the entire book, with perhaps one lone exception.

Dr. Francis Collins, the geneticist who led the human genome project, writes chapter two: "A Revolution in Medicine." As you would expect he writes about the promise of […]