People who know me have become aware that I have love of quotes. Not insurance quotes, but “Quotable Quotes”, to borrow a phrase from Reader’s Digest. I love the pithy little sayings that make me laugh, or cry or—if I can’t avoid it—think.

For instance, Mother Theresa once said, “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I stop, they don’t.” Great line! Most people read it and nod knowingly, seeing the irony therein.

My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Martin, told about taking his young daughter to the store. She wanted him to buy her something but he told her he didn’t have the money. She told him to write a check. He explained to her—and then, to us—that you only write a check if you have money in the bank to back it up. If only our incoming president had been in Mr. Martin’s class!

One thing I like about the “Emergent Church/Movement/Whatever” is the idea that people should be encouraged to ask questions. I’m all for that! Those of us who have grown up in church are often forgetful that the things we do in church (and the things we believe) are common to us but may seem very uncommon to a newcomer or outsider.

This article (http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2008/12/godbless_ame...) is fairly interesting, but not as interesting as the comments section. Where are these people going/living/existing that they find religion being crammed down their throats? Even if there's a dude in their town who's standing in the town square shouting, "You're all going to hell unless you listen to me" I don't see why that bothers them so much. Sure, it'd be annoying ... but so what?

According to an actual news report (that would be more credible if it weren’t from a Chicago newspaper), gambling at Illinois casinos is down more than 20%. This is being attributed to the recent passage of a law that banned cigarette smoking at all public buildings, state-wide.

This came as no surprise to me.

I draw a comic strip for two dailies, a bi-weekly and a couple weeklies. I also draw a comic book for an on-line comic book company. When people want something drawn up—a logo, a little cartoon advertising some local event, etc.—they come to me.

This leads to some people calling me an artist, and that’s starting to bug me.

I like art, but I am worried by anyone who talks about art as if they know what they’re talking about. Some of them are friendly, but too many of them are jerks.

Like most people, I thought I knew the Brothers Grimm. Not personally, mind you, but I was familiar with their work, having read and heard their stories all my life. On the other hand, I had always been told that the versions I had read (and had read to me) were much more tame or sanitized than the originals.

The ratings for both the Emmys and the Oscars were way down this year. Possibly the lowest ever for the Emmys and close for the other.

At the Emmys, they’re blaming the low ratings on a spoof they did at the beginning wherein several different hosts were vying for the job and some were voted off (or killed, I didn’t watch). You can blame the bad ratings on the opening skit only if people started out by watching it then turned over to something else. If they started out not watching and stayed away, you have to conclude they weren’t going to watch anyway.

Why?

Ask most ministers what they think of “The Cotton Patch Bible” and you can get some pretty interesting answers. Some people find it funny, some find it provocative, some just hate it. Those who are familiar with the Cotton Patch are rarely ambivalent in their feelings towards it.

I've been told to vote for one guy or not vote for him because of his skin color. I've been told that I should vote for a ticket because it has a woman on it, or to vote against it for that reason. I've also been told to vote on experience, or lack there-of. How this for a novel idea? I vote my convictions.

So, what do I care about?