Devotional Thoughts: The Status Quo Has Been Changed

I know its not Easter but I came across this Youtube video ... and it reminded me of the love, joy and power of Jesus!



Here the bells ringing,
They're singing that you can be born again,
Here the bells ringing,
They're singing Christ is risen from the dead.
The angel up on the tombstone,
Said He has risen, just as He said,
Quickly now, go tell his disciples,
That Jesus Christ is no longer dead.
Joy to the word, He has risen, hallelujah,
He's risen, hallelujah,
He's risen, hallelujah.

Politics: Veepstakes

The rumors are saying Sen. Obama will make his Veep choice known on Wednesday Friday? Saturday.

Will he go for electoral votes and hope to flip Indiana with Gov. Bayh?

Will he go with a seasoned pro like Sen. Biden? Delaware is safely in the D camp and is a small state. This consideration, however, did not stop Bush 43 from picking Cheney from small red state Wyoming.

Will he go with Sen. Clinton? Or will it be "Hillary Lite" in Gov. Sebelius? Don't think the KS gov gives him the passionate Hillary supporters that he would want.

If I was in the Obama brain trust, I would look very hard at the polling numbers resulting from the Saddleback Civil Forum appearance. If Obama's numbers are softening then they will have to swallow the bitter pill and take Sen. Clinton with all the baggage of President Bill Clinton. They really DID NOT want to have to pick her but if they feel they might lose this thing they will have no choice.

UPDATE: Cnn.com's "poll of polls" says the lead is down to three percent

However, if they feel they have a safe lead then the safe choice is Sen. Biden.

UPDATE: It's Sen. Biden.

Gov. Bayh is still an outside shot to flip Indiana for its electoral votes but in practice the state flipping option probably only worked with LBJ.

Having seen the Civil Forum on Cnn.com video replay, I think the Obama people have to be worried and will pick Hillary Clinton. They will spin it like the way Reagan picked Bush Sr. as uniting the two wings of the party.

Meanwhile, on the McCain side....

Gov. Romney has the advantage of being a fully vetted safe choice with a Rolodex for dialing for dollars!

Gov. Pawlenty came out in support of McCain very early and stuck with him through the bad times. McCain being a military man appreciates honor and loyalty. Another plus is that Pawlenty is the successful Governor of Minnesota.

The only electoral play for McCain is Gov. Crist of Florida but I think Florida though still a toss up might be safe enough in the McCain camp that a Crist pick won't be necessary.

The "Hail Mary" choice would be Sen. Lieberman or Sec. Rice.

My call... Gov. Pawlenty.

It's Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska!

Sports: 0.01 seconds

Unbelievable ...

100m Butterfly
Phelps 50.58
Cavic 50.59

Medal seven was clearly the most dramatic!

50m Freestyle
Steffen 24.06
Torres 24.07

Huge cheering for the 41 year old Torres who gave it her best and came oh, so close!

Meanwhile, Bolt covered 100m on land in 9.69 and they say he can go faster if he improved his technique and didn't showboat the finish.

Hats off to the participants of gymnastics and diving. No question these individuals got an incredible blend of strength, skill and mental discipline.

But for me, the drama of athletic competition is about time clocks and scoring that doesn't involve judges.

UPDATE: Chris Chase of Yahoo! Sports "Fourth-Place Medal" sort of agrees with the idea that there is subjectivity in judging though he uses it to show that the gap between China and the USA isn't so great in the medal standings. My only point is that as a sports viewer, I prefer sports without judge scoring. As for the issue of who is dominating the games, there is no getting around the fact that when you can recruit from 1.3 billion people, you are bound to find great athletes to be able to compete in many areas.

Sports: The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat

400 freestyle
Rebecca Adlington (GBR) 4:03:22
Katie Hoff (USA) 4:03:29

4x100 freestyle
USA men's relay team 3:08:24
French men's relay team 3:08:32

Sports: Can the Dodgers Do it?

The Dodgers are 54-54 with 54 games to go.

Tonight, Ramirez begins his stint with the Dodgers.

Without Ramirez, the Dodgers probably would finish 81-81.

How many games above .500 will they need to win the NL West?

At the D'backs current .519 clip, they finish 84-78. Of course, the D'backs have gone 8 of the last 10 so they might be getting better?

But if we assume, they slip back to their pace from the first 2/3 of the season, the Dodgers need to finish 85-77 to win the NL West.

Eight games above .500!

Will Manny's bat give them those 8 extra wins?

The adventure/soap opera/freak show begins tonight.

Go Dodgers!

Aging Parents - Random things from this season of life, part I

A handful of years ago, I entered the phase of life of helping out in looking after aging parents.  At this moment in 2024, my dad passed on...