New York, 1988

I got some new frames for my desk area at home and was scrounging through my old photos to see which ones I wanted to put in them. I came across some of my favorite pics.

As we neared the end of our college life I, along with a lot of my fellow theater graduates-to-be, headed up to New York to audition for graduate school theater programs. One very cold, cold, bitterly cold February day, we dumb Floridians decided to walk from downtown to the Statue of Liberty. Chris Linn, Clark Canine, Jodi and I made the long trek through the below zero temperature.

Chris "knocking over" a fire hydrant...
Broadway Bound was playing at the theate in the background.

It was so cold it burned, but we continued on. When we arrived at the ferry to Liberty Island, we bought some hot pretzels that quickly turned ice cold. We were also kicked out of a visitor's center after we were done visiting and just trying to keep warm.

We eventually took a ferry over to the Statue of Liberty island. On the way out I had my best friend, Chris, take my picture on the back of the boat with the NY skyline in the distance. Who would have thought that those twin towers would come down so tragically thirteen years later.


When we got onto the island, the trees were barren, the wind was unrelenting. Both the island and the Statue were much smaller than I expected. When we got off the ferry dock the Statue was the only thing on the island, yet there was a sign pointing us in the right direction.


One of my favorite pictures of all time is the one of Chris and I "looking" for the Statue of Liberty. Chris was one of my best friends in college. He was one of the few theater students who shared my passion for film.

Years later Chris would get me a job at Nickelodeon Studios. He now lives in New York and has moved his way up the Viacom food chain, now presiding over MTV as Vice-President.

It's amazing how many years have passed since our first trip to NY... and how much has changed.

Bucs (0-1) vs. Falcons (1-0)

After watching The Bucs forget that the regular season started last week, getting their swords castrated at the hands of the Ravens, I can only hope the "real" Bucs will play this week.

The Falcons are coming off of an impressive win in Carolina and are ready to take a commanding lead in the NFC South with a home win this week.

I don't know what to think about the Bucs. I think they have enough talent. I think they're good enough to bounce back and win in ATL, but they played so badly last week that I am left with large, lingering doubts.

Strike One And You're Out

I was reading about some reporter that got abducted by Islamic radicals and was forced to convert to Islam before being set free. And it occurred to me that we all need to ask ourselves a couple of important questions:

These apply to everyone:

• Are you willing to convert to Islam?
• Are you willing to live in a theocracy where Islam is the only faith?

And if you're a woman:

• Are you willing to give up all of your rights?

Apparently, these are the hard requirements of the radical Islamic movement. Not the moderate faith, but the radicals perpetrating terrorist acts. Their intent is to create a worldwide theocracy and if you don't convert to Islam you will be considered a threat. And for women, such a conversion requires forfeiting all of your current rights.

So, if you answer No to any of those questions, then you are considered the enemy and are an acceptable terrorist target.

And this leaves me with one other question... what policy or diplomacy or appeasement or treaty is going to change my answers to any one of those questions?

Since the answer to my last question is "none" then I wonder just what value any of those political steps actually hold. I am left with the feeling that only divine intervention can resolve this volatile clashing of faiths we're all dealing with today.

U.S. Survey Finds Four Views on God

From Newsmax.com:

"Although more than nine out of 10 Americans say they believe in God, they have four very different views of the Supreme Being, a landmark new survey reveals.

The national survey of more than 1,700 Americans – the most comprehensive national religion survey to date, according to USA Today – was conducted by Gallup and analyzed by sociologists from Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

It asked 77 questions and offered almost 400 answer choices.

Based on responses, the researchers delineated four different views of God:

• The Authoritarian God (31.4 percent of Americans overall) is angry at humanity's sins and engaged in everyone's life and worldly affairs.
• The Benevolent God (23 percent overall) sets absolute standards for mankind but is seen as primarily a loving, forgiving Creator.
• The Critical God (16 percent) keeps a judgmental eye on humanity, but does not intervene in events.
• The Distant God (24.4 percent) is a cosmic force that launched the universe, then left it on its own.

The largest percentage of people with the Authoritarian God view (43.5 percent) live in the South, while the Benevolent view is most common (28.8 percent) in the Midwest, the Critical God is most prevalent (21.2 percent) in the East and the Distant God is favored the most (30.3 percent) in the West.

Other findings reported in USA Today:
# The stereotype that conservatives are religious and liberals are secular is "simply not true" based on the survey, said sociologist Paul Froese. Political liberals and conservatives are both religious.

# While about one in three Americans say they belong to denominations that theologians consider evangelical, only 14 percent of those surveyed described themselves as evangelicals.

# More than 80 percent of those who favor the Authoritarian God say gay marriage is always wrong, and 74.5 percent believe the federal government should advocate Christian values – but only 12.1 percent want to abolish the death penalty."

World Population in Texas

Years ago I remember hearing that "over population" was a myth and that the entire world's population could fit in Texas.

Well, I did a little math today and realized that, not only could the entire world's population fit into Texas, but they could do so with quite a bit of space to share. I guess when they say "everything’s big in Texas," they're right.

Texas is approximately 7,438,152,268,800 square feet. The current world's population is estimated at 6.6 billion. If you divide the square feet by the total population, you find out that every human being on this great planet could fit into Texas with 1127 square feet of space each. That's almost the size of my house.

Think of that... all humans in Texas and the rest of the world empty. All of the great cities, empty. All of the beaches, mountains, continents... empty.

That's pretty hard to fathom.

So, why the argument about over population? It's obviously not about square footage. So, it must be about something else. Food? Water? Resources? If you watch TV you'll see the starving people of Ethiopia or the thousands eating garbage in India and it seems we have a serious ecological problem. Well, those are all valid concerns, but the lack of those resources in the world is more governmental than ecological.

In the 1990's I was in a play called Rebel Armies Deep Into Chad, about a reporter in Africa. The cast got to talk with a veteran international reporter from the St. Pete Times who spent a lot of time in Africa. We spent hours and hours researching Africa's history and the political environment. For thousands of years, Africa's people were separated into tribes. Some got along with each other, others did not. Our research uncovered that, when Britain settled in Africa, they ended up making arbitrary country delineations, often times putting two historically warring tribes in one country and calling them citizens. In Ethiopia, for example, those people are starving not because of a lack of food, but because one tribe is in power and is trying to exterminate the other tribe that is not. If the power shifts, the famine shifts to the other tribe.

If you look in India, they believe in a caste system and that you are born into your class. Upward mobility is only now, with outsourcing jobs going there, becoming an option. And their governmental processes are so inefficient that any improvements to help those less fortunate will take years to get approved and implemented. They are commonly considered the most bureaucratic democracy in the world. For example, when KFC tried to get approval to open restaurants in India, the discussion in the halls of Indian government lasted over five years, debating the quality of KFC's products. A representative from KFC argued that he found it hard to understand that their chicken quality could come into question when so many of India's population was eating out of garbage.

So, when you hear about over population, remember it's about resources, not people. And, when discussing resources, it's the misuse of power that squashes opportunity, not the world's ability to feed it's people. Even if they all resided in Texas.

Flight 93 (2006)

In order to honor those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, I decided to watch the film Flight 93. We've all heard the story of heroism about the passengers on that flight, but it's hard to fully appreciate the situation and quick decision-making that was done by those passengers until you see the film Flight 93.

The film is excellent. It is intriguing and exciting and tragic and emotional and patriotic. There are very few films that I think are a "must see", but this film is one of them. Not only should film fans see this film, but everyone in America should see this film, to revisit the weight of that day, to reconnect with the emotional impact surrounding the events that changed the course of our country.

The film is directed and acted with extreme respect and without any sensationalism. We follow the crew of the flight, the passengers, the military and the various air traffic controllers and the airlines. The film moves at a brisk pace, clocking in under 90 minutes. There is no excessive lingering or artificially heightened emotional moments... the events that unfolded that day are emotional enough.

See this film. Not only is it excellent filmmaking, but it is perfect reflection of the day that thrust our country into our current struggles against terrorism worldwide.

Five Years Later...

I said it last year in this blog and I'll say it again this year (updating the time passed, of course)...

"On this day, I offer prayers to the families of all of those impacted by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In five short years, this terrible day has reshapen our countries path down a difficult, but necessary road.

The one thing we should never forget is that there are still a lot of people who would kill you, your family and all of your friends, without a second thought, simply because you are an American.

Until that threat is defeated, we will continue to be at War. It is a Holy War for our enemies. Unless it becomes a Holy War for us, they will have the advantage. In an increasingly secular society, I don't know if we have to moral clarity to all understand the sacrifice required to win a Holy War.

For the time being, we're left just being at War."

Over the past year I have come to realize that only God's grace to change hearts can stop this war. We must be diligent, we must defend ourselves, our way of life, our faith and our country. Unfotunately, no amount of financial aid, appeasement or cooperation is going to change that certain parts of the world teach their children everyday that we are evil and must be destroyed. So, I leave it up to Jesus to change the hearts of our enemies, because nothing else will.

The Folly of Feminism

Let me start by saying I think women are equally capable, if not more capable than men, at just about everything. I think women should be able to pursue their dreams just as men. However, I think the intention of the modern feminist movement and the current outcome of that movement is a complete and utter failure.

Here's why.

The intent of feminism was to get women out of the stranglehold of previous societal expectations. Out of the home, if they wanted. Into the workforce, if they wanted. Into the army, if they wanted. To be sexually equal with men, if they wanted.

But something happened on the way to equality. Abortion.

For all of its societal flaws, prior to abortion women were revered as the givers of life. For thousands of years and throughout civilizations, women were honored, respected and glorified for their ability to bring life into the world, a gift for which they were only capable. Granted, they didn't have as many options as men, but they were respected and, in some societies, worshiped, for doing the one critical thing that allowed our society to exist.

Then, along with the sexual revolution, women took control of their lives and took control of their bodies, including destroying babies in their wombs, if they wanted.

When this happened, women lost almost all of their unique power, in my opinion.

In the smoldering remains of the sexual revolution, women have removed their one great gift, their ability to bring life into this world, from their repertoire. By embracing abortion as a fundamental right of their gender, they have removed all value in our society as givers of life.

Now many women treat sex on the same level as men, more concerned about selfish gratification than procreation. But, one generation cannot undo centuries of courtship and mating habits. God created men as visual creatures and sexually aggressive, generally, so that they would pursue women heavily and allow our species to survive. During the courting process women use men's weakness for visual attraction and high hormonal drives to naturally secure a mate, but now sex is shared before marriage and having children is no longer their unique gift to the world. Because many women value their own sexual promiscuity over the sanctity of life, they now willingly, yet unwittingly, have become every man's dream... sexual objects.

This, I believe, is exactly the opposite of what the original feminists wanted in the 50's and 60's.

In the eyes of society and especially men, women went from being underpaid, but honored life-bearers to sexual playthings. Scour the television or the internet and it will only take you a few minutes to find many women who willingly participate in their own degradation because they somehow think, since it's their decision to sleep around and ignore any responsibility for their sexual actions, that they have somehow elevated themselves to equals in society.

Unfortunately, the depth of womanhood has been replaced by the shallowness of style over substance, of looks over life. So the next time you see women falling prey to media views on womanhood; the ultra-thin supermodel types, or the plastic surgery breast-enhanced clones, or the promiscuous, scantily clad body shakers on the latest music video, realize that, for all of its intent, anger and bluster, the feminist movement is completely responsible for setting women back thousands of years.

If feminist would have pursued all women's God-given right to equality without ignoring and abandoning their God-given gift of motherhood, they would have truly empowered themselves to be something universally treasured. Instead, unfortunately, many women have become just the opposite, the unavoidable outcome set in motion by the founders of modern feminism.

Women deserve so much more.