What's up with Drudge?

Every day on the Drudge Report, there is a new "article" blasting away at Mike Huckabee. It's as if they are doing the dirty work for Romney. It's bad enough that Hugh Hewitt practically begs Romney to french kiss him every time he writes a column but I like Drudge and expect more from him. After all, I view his site everyday but I don't need to read any more Romney press releases. Enough already. It just reveals how truly desperate Romney is and I suspect his internal polling is worse than the public polls. Romney is in trouble with a capitol T; and not just in River City but all across Iowa.

One thing that I am beginning to notice is that Romney and Thompson are both going after Huckabee for being too liberal on crime, immigration, taxes and spending. Ironically, Huckabee's "liberal" side is what draws me too him and what separates him from the rest of the field. Me personally, I am a social conservative and there of plenty of candidates to choose from. But I am also an economic moderate and Huckabee is the only candidate who comes close to my political philosophy. I won't support someone who blames illegal aliens for all our ills, offers nothing but tax cuts and "the free market" to help the middle class and thinks health care and the environment are democratic issues that will take care of themselves. If that's your candidate (Fred Thompson) more power to you but that's not for me.

I am sure the political establishment will continue their attacks on Huckabee but I don't think they will work. In fact, I foresee him increasing his lead going into Christmas and winning big in Iowa and South Carolina.

michigan coaching search

The past week has been rough for Michigan fans. First word leaked out that we were interested in Kirk Ferentz but apparently he wasn't interested in Michigan. Then the athletic director, Bill Martin, screwed up with Les Miles by not contacting him with any reassurance that he was the school's first choice despite an ESPN report that he had already accepted the job. This forced Miles to state publicly that he was staying at LSU. Late last week Greg Schiano withdrew his name from consideration to stay at Rutgers. Fricken Rutgers, a school that is roughly on par with Indiana in the big ten. It's like getting turned down on prom so the gal could go with the math club president. Then my personal choice, Paul Johnson, took the job at Georgia Tech and I fully expect them to be a national power within 3 years. Now I hear Brady Hoke's name mentioned which is startling since he has a losing record at Ball State. Apparently his only qualification is that he was an assistant at Michigan under Carr. Oh and both are crappy assistant coaches interviewed as well.

The basic problem is that Martin sucks as an athletic director. He is a bean counter with no real expertise in athletics. Unfortunately this means he is relying way to heavily on Lloyd Carr in this process. That's a big problem because Lloyd got us in this mess in the first place and is probably responsible for not hiring Miles right away. Apparently, Carr doesn't like him. So what? Carr's leaving should be a wake up call to the program but hiring someone just because Lloyd likes them would be the equivalent of hitting the snooze button. And if that's what Martin wants to do so be it; but that is not what fans and boosters want. We don't want a Lloyd Carr clone. In fact, we want just the opposite.

Our best hope is that Jeff Tepford from Cal expresses some interest. He is a good offensive coach who could recruit out west. The other option is Brian Kelly but for some reason he seems to be out of the mix. I have a bad feeling that Michigan is in big trouble.

Ramblings on the Trinity

I am taking a class on the Trinity taught by a professor at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. It's interesting to participate in a thoughtful academic discussion and reminds me of my time in college. One thing that was mentioned last night was that creative theology is most likely in error if it strays from the traditional orthodox teaching of the church.

I agree, but then we got into a tangential discussion as to which traditional teachings are sacrosanct and which ones have more room for discussion and interpretation. Obviously, since the class is on the Trinity, it makes sense that understanding and accepting this teaching is essential to being a Christian. But my experience growing up in the church makes me question if we as the church really believe this. Most Christians will say they believe in the trinity but ask many of them to explain it or defend this belief and they have few good answers. (Evangelicals included) So if the trinity is truly an essential part of our faith, why is there such a dearth of understanding it.

I know that I have been taught the doctrine of the Trinity since I was in junior high, but I have many questions such as why we refer to two thirds of the trinity in masculine human terms but the third is spiritual. Also, if all three are equal why choose to explain their relationship in terms of father and son which suggests a hierarchy. And doesn't a father exist before a son yet we are taught that they both always existed.

These questions don't even begin to address the historical development of the doctrine which didn't formally exist until three hundred years after Jesus death. Why do we trust that the church leaders who determined this doctrine are in fact correct? Many protestants will reject other historical teachings of the church but they accept this one. Why? For instance we reject the idea that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ during Communion and yet this was an essential teaching of the church for over a thousand years and still practiced today by catholics.

Finally what about the application and treatment of each part of the trinity within the church today? For instance, the holy spirit is all but ignored in many churches as we focus on our relationship with Jesus. Other churches focus almost exclusively on being baptized in the holy spirit and question others faith if they haven't been. If the doctrine of the trinity is essential to our faith how come we don't exercise its practice consistently? And what would that consistent practice and teaching look like?

I realize that you could probably apply this same question to other "essentials" of the Christian faith. But since I am taking this class on the trinity, I figured I would focus on that doctrine. And before I get deluged with comments, I want to state that I do believe in the Trinity and will defend it to the best of my ability. But these are legitimate questions that I have, and if I have them, then my guess is that many others share the same questions.

Handicapping the Race

Today I was speaking with my co-worker and we realized that everybody in our office was supporting a different Republican candidate for President. Each of us represents one vote for each of the five leading candidates. Ironically, the most conservative person in our office is backing Rudy and the most liberal is backing Huckabee but that' s a different post for a different time.

Our office is microcosm of just how wide open the Republican race truly is this year. There is a candidate for every type of Republican but not one who can rally all the factions behind him. If I had to guess right now I would say that Rudy is leading but just barely, Romney is a close second, Huckabee is third but with momentum and McCain is still a possible dark horse candidate if everyone else falters. It' s getting harder and harder to see just how Thompson wins the nomination.

One can only hope that as the field whittles down that our party can unite around one strong candidate regardless of who wins the nomination. But as I listen to the rhetoric it may prove difficult to mend fences. Hopefully, we have Hillary as the opponent and as the driving force to reunite. Unfortunately, she is looking more and more desperate herself and Obama seems to be on his game recently. I have been worried about him from the beginning hoping that the Clinton machine will take him out for us. But her clumsy attacks so far only seem to be driving women voters away from her. She could be in real trouble. I was hoping that she would wait until the general election to implode and show her true colors but she appears to be starting early.

To quote Hillary, we are finally getting down to the fun time.

Christmas Time

This weekend I put up my Christmas Decorations. My Grandpa gave me his Christmas decorations a couple years ago in a spirit of Bah Humbug but this is my first time putting them out. My friends Erin and Tameshia came over to help give it a woman's touch. Thankfully, they let me hang my Steelers Stocking and Michigan football ornament so it still looks like a bachelor's tree. It took us a while to assemble the tree but after an hour or so we figured it out. and it looks really nice. After we finished, we baked cookies that turned out very well. I had a really fun time and enjoyed their company. It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit. Well that and the eggnog with rum.