Life
Blackwater – responsible killers!
Son, There is some sort of bizarre debate happening in the mainstream media. Blackwater is a security company that has contracts to guard United States government employees in Iraq. The debate is around the notion that shooting people is sometimes less responsible than at other times. Civilization has often debated the nuances of ‘justifiable homicide.’ […]
2Oct2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Blackwater – responsible killers! | Continued
A voyage of the Banned!
Dad, It is National Banned Books Week, according to the American Library Association. I saw the title of this post on a poster at the local Library. What a great chance to stop and remember the great pieces of literature that have made this prestigious list… A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A Wrinkle in […]
2Oct2007 | bryan | 2 comments | Continued
God – an image – flat and boring?
Son, So it says. Made in his image. That is certainly appropriate. Think of a human image – a Polaroid, a picture, 35 mm, digital, painting – even portrait if you will. All images. The comparison of the two-dimensional image of a picture of a person to a real person is an appropriate metaphor for […]
1Oct2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on God – an image – flat and boring? | Continued
Where Bilbo meets Aslan…
Dad, Here are two passages from books that I have been contemplating. They are about life and safety. The first is from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step out onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing […]
1Oct2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Where Bilbo meets Aslan… | Continued
Is God an Arab?
Dad The answer is yes. “God created us in His image, and we decided to return the favor.” -George Bernard Shaw We tend to believe that God is in our image, rather than the other way around. Is God male? White? Female? Chinese? Arab? …yes. Bryan
1Oct2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Is God an Arab? | Continued
Dave Ramsey: the good, the bad, and the ugly…
Dad, When my wife and I moved to Nashville, Tn a few years ago we had nothing but some debt, a few barely marketable skills and a toddler. We weren’t sure now the new life we were living together and the new value system that we were trying to implement married the idea of money […]
1Oct2007 | bryan | 7 comments | Continued
Health Insurance – Subtleties of ‘cherry-picking’
Son, We talked earlier of how the Health Insurance Companies determine cost and how they use that information to put pressure on medical professionals. If we take the analysis a step further we can see other means of insurance company cost savings, and health care mismanagement. Remember, health insurance companies are not benevolent organizations interested […]
1Oct2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 4 comments | Continued
Harry Potter and the wizard’s allegory
Son, Inspired words. Words written with inspiration – not the words of man alone – but inspired by something greater. Where have we heard that before? The transformation of a human into something greater – some force for good – a force that can conquer a marauding giant with a mere flat rock hurled from […]
29Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
On being a Methodist
Son, So you want to be a Methodist. Responding in a public context is difficult. My role as a father is to affirm and encourage – while also giving my opinion – even if it is different. Let me be clear – I do not dispute the United Methodist Church as anything less than a […]
29Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 4 comments | Continued
Bloggers blog! a New age of Journalism.
Son, Everybody wants to be something. We tell people that we like to read, or we like to paint, or we like to write, or we like computers..we all want some identity with what we think we are. Here is the reality – writers write, painters paint, potters pot, and bloggers blog. But bloggers use […]
28Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Sarcasm – a toxic elixir
Son, I can be thoughtful – and I can be sarcastic. The sarcasm is a strategy learned many years ago while growing up. It is an old recipe, handed down through generations in my family. I have used it well to win fights – and I have lost many wars. You have heard me say […]
28Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Sarcasm – a toxic elixir | Continued
Dead Immigrants
Son, We have become a disgusting society. Reader – prepare yourself for some sarcasm – this struck me as a blatant disregard for human life – read on. The banner headline on MSNBC as we speak is “Unidentified bodies often buried at taxpayer expense.” Heaven Forbid! What have we come to? Doctor Stern (Someone being […]
28Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 5 comments | Continued
how do we change our behavior?
Dad, Our conversations tend to evaluate religion through the lens of scholarly interpretations. The problem with religion and scholarly discussion is that we can leverage the dialogue to avoid subjects that might get personal, and therefor inhibit growth. When people start to talk about feelings and families, about what they like and dislike about themselves, […]
28Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on how do we change our behavior? | Continued
Hate Crime and the Jena 6
Son, This morning, September 28, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said, “I have never understood hate crime legislation, but if it makes some people feel good so be it.” That is the standard shallow line of the conservatives – and they try to act so innocent. They raise their hands in that Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin pantomime […]
28Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 8 comments | Continued
Father and Son chatter
Son, I copied our chat from last evening. The purpose of this post is it let our readers better understand us. Readers: This blog really is a conversation between a father and a son. Sometimes we chat in the evenings – included in this blog is our chat from last evening. Enjoy 7:13 PM me: […]
28Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Father and Son chatter | Continued
Michael Moore – Sicko on Oprah
Son, Love him or hate him, Michael Moore has struck a nerve in America. He is on Oprah as I write. I am trying to capture the essence of what they are saying. Oprah has people in the audience from previous health care encounters with Presidential Candidates. There are some disturbing and very emotional stories […]
27Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Creating routines for easier mornings…
Dad, I am trying to implement some of the suggestions that I have received from our readers about easing the tension around taking my daughter to preschool. I am being careful to try and do a few things the same way every morning that she has school. She gets to pick out the clothes that […]
27Sep2007 | bryan | 1 comment | Continued
Closed Borders – Unworthy Immigrants
Son, The news media is talking. Politicians are yapping. Bloggers are blogging. Protect America – close the borders! This immigration thing has somehow been tied to terrorism. Immigration is also associated with economic prosperity. So the solution is to build a really big fence and train some pit bull border guards. Arm the general populace […]
27Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Closed Borders – Unworthy Immigrants | Continued
Metaphor, Simile, Allegory, Spirituality
Son, We have been writing about Christianity – and we are struggling to find consensus. That is the nature of discussion about spirituality. The very nature of ‘GOD’ defies the barriers of human language. The result is that we begin using figures of speech: Simile, Metaphor, and Allegory. We can ‘feel the truth,’ but we […]
27Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
What is a Bible Christian?
Dad, I think that this is what you are worried about, but fear not, I am not interested in any of those questions. All of the questions on that page can be answered with another question, like “What?” Or “Who cares?” Or “Are you serious?” Harry Emerson Fosdick was a preacher at the height of […]
26Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on What is a Bible Christian? | Continued
Challenging some assumptions about Christianity…
Dad, I am afraid that I must take exception to some of your comments in your last post. Not because they are wrong, but because, as you said, this is a complex subject. First, my wife and I are not on a journey to become good Christians. We are already good Christians. We are on […]
26Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Challenging some assumptions about Christianity… | Continued
Blending Christianity with Humanity
Son. I am proud and happy that you and your wife are determined to be good ‘Christians.” With that said, I worry. I worry because Christianity is the source of most of the mental health virus of ‘shoulds’ in America today. I should be more loving, I should be more forgiving. I should be more […]
26Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Blogs versus real journalism
Son, We are having fun with this blog, but we sometimes write about serious stuff – and we want to be taken seriously. If we want to be taken seriously then should there not be some due diligence on our part – Some standard by which we hold ourselves accountable? The blogosphere is viewed by […]
26Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 3 comments | Continued
On Space Men and House husbands
Son. We are a society perverted by our own successes. What are the first two things we ask when we make a new acquaintance? What is your name? and What do you do? I think that has become an equally challenging issue for women in America. Is that a necessary by-product of capitalism? Must we […]
25Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Harry Potter and the Fundamentalist curse
Son, Hey, check out this quote from an anti-Harry Potter website. (Click here to see the site.) This lady is probably afraid of H.G. Wells. “Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), wearing a Dorothy Hamill unisex hairstyle resurrected from the 1970’s by America’s First Lady Laura Bush, is Jesus Killer Rowling’s (and you wonder why she goes by […]
25Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
rough weather in stay-at-home-dad land
Dad, Today is a school day and I dropped my daughter off with another screaming fit. This time she actually attached on to me and I had to pry her off. It was terrible. It has been a little over a month since she started and she seems to want to go less and less. […]
25Sep2007 | bryan | 2 comments | Continued
Jesus denies authoritarian rule…
Dad In the book “Pillars of the Earth,” Ken Follet tells the story of a monk, Prior Phillip, and his attempt to create a respectable village amidst the anarchy of the civil war between King Steven and Empress Matilda. There is a minor character who is a monk that betrays Philip to aid the authoritarian […]
25Sep2007 | bryan | 2 comments | Continued
Pordopoddies – Great Plains Americans
Son, Have you ever heard of the Pordopoddies – a Native American tribe of what is now Kansas. At least one of the current candidates for president is an ideological descendant of this little known, but important, tribe. You grew up on the Great Plains of America. You should know some of the mythology of […]
25Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Pordopoddies – Great Plains Americans | Continued
Ahmadinejad – Ohmydidhesayjihad
Son, Ohmydidhesayjihad? Take a close look at what right wing religious fundamentalism produces. Deny the Holocaust? How about denying Evolution.? Ponder the real cause of the September 11, 2001, attacks on America? Ponder the real cause of Global Warming? Fundamentalism has become a joke to the thinking people of the 21st Century. Omdidhesayjihad is no […]
25Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Ahmadinejad – Ohmydidhesayjihad | Continued
diplomacy: lessons from the road
Dad, I am learning about diplomacy and listening. I haven’t posted in a couple of days because I was on a road trip with my cousin. I spent about ten hours in his truck with him, and I began to realize that if I was intentional about not opening my mouth when i disagreed with […]
24Sep2007 | bryan | 2 comments | Continued
Patreus remembered
Son, He came. He testified. He disappeared. Where did that man go? He left the States and went to England to testify there about progress in Iraq. They want to hear what he has to say – so do I. General Patreus is truly a man of honor – caught in a war with unforeseen […]
23Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Patreus remembered | Continued
Marxism and McCarthyism
Son, Conservative commentators are out of control. I am on a toot about the irresponsible comments of Michael Reagan! Because there are some of us who believe in the merits of health care for all Americans, Mr. Reagan calls us Marxist. This type of name calling discredits the history of noble discourse, also guaranteed by […]
22Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Marxism and McCarthyism | Continued
Free Speech and Health Care –
Son, Distortions abound! Michael Reagan – son of a noble man, is grasping at straws. His latest weekly column is a feeble attempt to compare rights with ethics. Mr. Reagan uses distorted logic to compare the ‘right to health care’ to the ‘right to free speech.’ All of this in the interest of blasting the […]
22Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Social creatures and semantics
Son, (Note – some of the language here may be offensive.) Your sensitivity to semantics has merit. Humans, by nature and nurture, are social creatures. All of us have the need for acceptance, a sense of belonging. We understand our level of acceptance through our language – the terms people use to describe us. We […]
21Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 3 comments | Continued
Housewives; House…Husbands?
My wife was reading a book a while back and there were some interesting points about language and the way that we relate to our family. I only read the parts that she showed me, so i don’t have an entire picture of the subject material, but a couple of things stuck with me. One was that we have moved into a culture of “stay-at-home moms” and even “stay-at-home dads,” and we have vilified the idea of a “housewife” as being derogatory.
21Sep2007 | bryan | 4 comments | Continued
road trips and family…
Dad, As may know, I am taking a road trip this weekend with my cousin to pick up a dishwasher from his sister, who lives in Maryville, Missouri. In other words, I will be in your neck of the woods. I was invited because my cousin thought that it was critical that we go and […]
21Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on road trips and family… | Continued
Rednecks, faith, and self-help
Son, I ate breakfast at a truck stop today. My lady friend and I went to breakfast and we talked about Perkins and Denny’s and other franchise places. Then we decided to go to the local truck stop – you know, greasy spoons, heaping hash browns, sausage gravy, that stuff. The clientèle was what I […]
20Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Rednecks, faith, and self-help | Continued
Bill of Rights – a conservative document
Son, If we define ‘conservative’ as limiting the powers of Government, then we can justly define the Bill of Rights as a conservative document. I am fascinated when self described conservatives scream and holler when a purported ‘criminal’ is granted the rights guaranteed to any American. How many times have we heard, “Those criminals have […]
20Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Bill of Rights – a conservative document | Continued
Economic Conservative or Social Liberal?
Son, I like to tell people that I am an Economic Conservative and a Social Liberal. Are these opposing forces? That depends on how the News Media defines the terms. The problem with labels is the inflexibility of thought or compromise. When I think of Economic Conservative I think of being cautious with my money. […]
20Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Political Base – Boston Tea Party
Son, Those rabble rouser’s went down to the dock and just dumped the British Tea into the harbor. “Take that!” Our country was founded by rabble rouser’s. Where are they? If a bunch of us went down to the dock today to dump the toys coming from China into the harbor – we would be […]
20Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Political Base – Boston Tea Party | Continued
the social gospel and Gary North…
Dad, I read this quote this morning and thought that I would share it with you… “Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents” – Peg Bracken I also read an article from a guy named Gary North about the Social Gospel. the “Social Gospel” […]
19Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on the social gospel and Gary North… | Continued
Proud to be an American!
Son, I wear my patriotism with pride. I am embarrassed by the representation of our American Republic by our current Presidential Administration. The current flavor of our Government is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. The Second Amendment is not more important than the First Amendment, or the Fourth or the Fifth – […]
18Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Proud to be an American! | Continued
Founding Fathers – Liberals all!
Son, I am fascinated by your ideology. You have achieved my dream for you – a dream that you would grow to be an independent thinker – a dream that you would base your thoughts on basic, solid, values. Your values are solid – belief in the basic goodness of humanity, belief in progress (let’s […]
18Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Founding Fathers – Liberals all! | Continued
Denial – Outdated Mythology
Son, There is a huge mistake by Addiction Treatment Professionals, law enforcement, and the courts in addressing the problem of alcohol and drug addiction. The dominant philosophy the past thirty years has been that the central problem is one of denial. That is to say, the belief that alcoholics and addicts have abnormally robust denial […]
12Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Denial – Outdated Mythology | Continued
Addictions – Losing Control
Son, Dante wrote The Inferno. I am not sure about this – anyone can correct me if they wish, but I think Dante described the greatest sin as giving up control of your life to something external – gluttony, sloth, envy, greed, power, or addiction. The punishment for violating the greatest sin was total loss […]
11Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Addictions – Losing Control | Continued
Opinions vs. Convictions
Dad, I think that convictions get muddled because they get confused with opinions. The difference lies in action and inaction. if we sit around the table in your living room and sip coffee and talk about feeding the hungry or staying out of debt, then that conversation is founded in opinion. If we cut up […]
10Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Opinions vs. Convictions | Continued
Say Never
Dad, I don’t like that phrase “never say never.” I hear that a lot. My wife and I will never borrow any money again. I said it. We will never get divorced. I said it again. I will never inject myself with anything that isn’t prescribed. Man, I am on a roll. I believe that […]
10Sep2007 | bryan | Comments Off on Say Never | Continued
Enabling Our Children to Fail
Son, Please forgive me. You mentioned in an earlier post that you “…occasionally found myself in trouble.” I share in the fault. I will give you the notion that you were an adolescent, seeking independence and control of your own life. I will give you that adolescents make some bad choices. But I have to […]
9Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Enabling Our Children to Fail | Continued
The pain of cultural frontiers
Son, You are exploring cultural frontiers. You have left the safe harbor of familiarity to seek new ideas about living. Like Lewis and Clark, you find fear and uncertainty. I admire your courage. What is courage, Son? When people act on their convictions, even knowing that there will be pain associated with their behavior, we […]
7Sep2007 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued