McCain Romney-izing Obama [Bryan]

John McCain is recently doing the same despicable thing to Obama that he did to Mitt Romney. Remember when McCain said that Romney had proposed a "timetable for withdrawal," when in fact this was demonstrably false? Somehow, these elections are never about McCain's own ideas, because he never has any. Somehow, they are never about his own character: they are never about his scandal-plagued past, about his cheating on his disabled wife with his wealthy trophy girlfriend, or about his foul mouth and unhinged temper. To win, McCain just has to say something catchy and dishonest, trust that the media won't call him on it much, and then pretend to be the "straight talker." Judging by recent polls, it seems to be working. Wake me up on November 5th -- I can't bear to watch us elect another jerk like this again.

By the way, when Romney was debating McCain, conservative writer Mark Levin had this to say about McCain in the National Review Online. Substitute Obama for Romney, and he could have written the same thing all over again.

I have spent nearly four decades in the conservative movement — from precinct worker to the Reagan White House. I campaigned for Reagan in 1976 and 1980. I served in several top positions during the Reagan administration, including chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese. I have been an active conservative when conservatism was not in high favor....

I don’t pretend to speak for President Reagan or all conservatives. I speak for myself. But I watched the Republican debate last night, which was held at the Reagan library, and I have to say that I fear a McCain candidacy....

Let’s get the largely unspoken part of this out the way first. McCain is an intemperate, stubborn individual, much like Hillary Clinton. These are not good qualities to have in a president. As I watched him last night, I could see his personal contempt for Mitt Romney roiling under the surface. And why?....To the best of my knowledge, Romney’s ads have not been personal. He has not even mentioned the Keating-Five to counter McCain's cheap shots. But the same cannot be said of McCain’s comments about Romney.

Last night McCain, who is the putative frontrunner, resorted to a barrage of personal assaults on Romney that reflect more on the man making them than the target of the attacks. McCain now has a habit of describing Romney as a “manager for profit” and someone who has “laid-off” people, implying that Romney is both unpatriotic and uncaring. Moreover, he complains that Romney is using his “millions” or “fortune” to underwrite his campaign. This is a crass appeal to class warfare. McCain is extremely wealthy through marriage. Romney has never denigrated McCain for his wealth or the manner in which he acquired it. Evidently Romney’s character doesn’t let him to cross certain boundaries of decorum and decency, but McCain’s does.....

Even worse than denying his own record, McCain is flatly lying about Romney’s position on Iraq. As has been discussed for nearly a week now, Romney did not support a specific date to withdraw our forces from Iraq. The evidence is irrefutable. And it’s also irrefutable that McCain is abusing the English language (Romney’s statements) the way Bill Clinton did in front of a grand jury. The problem is that once called on it by everyone from the New York Times to me, he obstinately refuses to admit the truth. So, last night, he lied about it again. This isn’t open to interpretation. But it does give us a window into who he is

Astronomy Update [Bryan]

It has been a good week for astronomy in Columbus, at least if you are interested in Jupiter. Tonight served up a great view of the four Galilean moons, and even with my little two-inch telescope I could see the north and south equatorial zones on Jupiter itself. Exciting stuff.

More recent photos [Bryan]

Andrew making another "cute choice."

Here is a sandbox I built for the kids. The craftsmanship thereof is exceedingly fine. Notice the luxury features, including seats and a holder for the umbrella. I felt very manly buying lumber at Home Depot.

Just tonight, we made our yearly trek to the Ohio State Fair. Here we are with a gaggle of ducks. (Are a bunch of ducks a "gaggle"?) Highlights of the fair this year included: a pig race, a great petting zoo (Ellie petted a yak), fried mashed potatoes on a stick and deep-fried macaroni and cheese (we didn't try them), the butterfly house, the piglets, and the beavers in the Ohio wildlife exhibit.

Nora absolutely loved the rides -- she beamed the whole way through.

Andrew also loved the rides, but Ellie not so much. Andrew's expression, when he is enjoying something, is deadly serious.

Here I am at the petting zoo with a 156 year old tortoise.

Andrew Story and Recent Photos [Bryan]

When Andrew gets a time out, he has learned to quickly become very penitent. We explain to him what he did wrong, of the need to make good choices, and that he needs to be a nice boy. He always claims: "I be nice boy, I be nice boy." The last time he got a time out, though, he added a new layer of promises. "I be nice boy, I be nice boy," he claimed. And then he added, "I make cute choices!" Ellie and I burst out laughing. Cute choices indeed!

Here is Andrew, making a cute choice.

Nora's sidewalk art. Very Picasso-esque!

In the early summer, we were off to Mesa, Arizona, to see Sam (Ellie's brother) get married. Here we are, all coordinated and everything.

We had a good 4th. We went to the Hillard city parade, attended a party with friends, lit sparklers in our back yard, and took Nora to see the big fireworks in the park.

Also on the 4th, we showed our patriotic fervor by eating a flag cake.

I am a Jelly Doughnut [Bryan]

Say what you will about Europe and the political wisdom of Obama's trip overseas, you have to admit that it was awesome to see 200,000 foreigners excited about America again. 200,000! Look closely at the picture and you can see American flags everywhere. How cool is that?

Meanwhile, McCain was eating lunch in a German restaurant just down the street from me. I should have gone and shared a sausage with him. Guten Appetit!

McCain's Health Care Plan [Bryan]

Ellie and I have both been interested in health care policy lately, especially with the elections coming up. It is not so much that we ourselves need health care. Our own benefits with OSU are excellent. It is just that we've seen people we love struggling with health care cost, and we think that it is a moral imperative that something be done. We've looked into both health care plans. No surprise: While neither plan is perfect, we like Obama's plan much better than McCain's.

Here is the core of McCain's plan, as I understand it: He will give each family a $5,000 tax credit ($2,500 to individuals), while at the same time phasing out the employer tax exemption for health insurance. Whatever money people don't use out of their credit, they can put into an individual health savings account. McCain seems to think that the problem with health care costs is that people use too much health care. If we arrange the financial incentives so that people pay for their own health care, he thinks, people will be more careful about going to the doctor. Less demand for health care = greater competition = lower health care costs for everybody.

The goal of the policy is that employers stop supplying health insurance and that people purchase their own policies. Getting rid of employer-based health care may actually be a very good thing if, of course, there is something to take its place. But there isn't. The average family policy costs over $12,000 a year, so the $5,000 tax credit McCain offers would not even come close to covering this. More importantly, perhaps, it does nothing for people who have pre-existing conditions who cannot purchase insurance in the marketplace. McCain merely does a little hand waving about a "Guaranteed Access Plan" and promises that something will be done.

Here is what this all means in personal terms: If Andrew has a high fever at 3:00 AM, I personally don't want to calculate the costs of taking him to the emergency room.

Health care isn't like buying new cars or plasma TVs. If a child is sick, he should get treatment. The same moral claim does not exist for people who merely desire cars or TVs. Plus, I don't know enough about medicine to make a fully informed decision about health care purchases -- that is why we send people to four years of medical school. Thus, market forces cannot rule health care like they can (and should) rule in many other areas. The moral structure is different in health care, and the expertise necessary for informed consumers is nonexistent.

Compared with the detail and comprehensiveness of the Obama plan, McCain's plan is almost childlike. Obama's plan is more expensive, to be sure, but he has serious ways of paying for it (repealing Bush tax cuts, employer "pay or play" provisions, etc.) Once again, McCain treats us like children, Obama like grown-ups.

Here are the most detailed version of the plans I could find on the respective websites. See for yourself:

McCain's plan

Obama's plan (pdf)

On getting comments [Bryan]

I figured out what I need to do to get comments on my blog.

Surprising/exciting/juicy information about personal and family life = lots of comments.

Meanderings about politics/bow ties/or anything else = no comments.

Guess I should have known.

Walkability [Bryan}

Here is a cool website: Walkscore. It tells you how "walkable" your neighborhood is. It pretty much captured what I dislike about the location where we live -- you can't walk anywhere! Being able to walk/bike places, I'm finding, captures nearly everything about what is important about a place to live. If you ain't got that, then your neighborhood sucks.

Our score was a pathetic 18/100 and even that is overestimating. The schools and markets that the program finds aren't really what they seem to be. And, even if they were, there are absolutely no sidewalks. Walking or biking is a risky endeavor in outer Columbus. I will never buy a house in such a neighborhood again!

What was your score? Does it seem accurate?

On bow ties [Bryan]

A great article about bow ties. Here are some highlights (and remember, no one ever asked you to read this blog!):

"A bow tie is like a wrapped gift. If I wore one every day, it wouldn't be a treat."

"Never wear a clip-on bow tie. Never admit you even know anyone who does."

"Tying a bow tie is like tying your shoes in the dark while drunk."

"A bow tie is like the ideal life: You have to play with it, tweak it, to get it right. Even then, of course, it's always a bit askew. But it should be."

How to read the bow tie: "The little-polka-dot people are generally lawyers, professors, or doctors. Stripes are what these same lawyers, professors, or doctors wear on weekends--more informal. A tie with a single stripe and little figures like animals represents a club--golfing, social, or professional--to which the wearer belongs. You will be expected to know this and not to inquire as to what these little figures mean."

"Men who wear bow ties care more about themselves than they do about you."

"Do not wear bows all the time. Keep the viewer off balance. Wear them once in a while, the way you might eat liver."

Overheard to a bow tie wearer: "Which are you?A waiter or a clown?"

We are expecting!

Well, there is another little Warnick kid on the way. Although we sometimes get tired just thinking about going through this parenting process again, we are still really excited. The due date in February 9th.

We told Nora and Andrew a few days ago. When we told Nora, she looked kind of bored and said mysteriously, "I already kind of knew that." Since that time, though, we've been getting many persistent questions about where babies come from, which leads to a lot of blushing and awkward mumbling.

Free Stuff [Bryan]

Last week, there was a community garage sale in our subdivision. Ellie and I had a bunch of stuff to get rid of, but we didn't want to sit there all day and haggle with people. So, we decided to put it all out on our lawn with a sign that said "free stuff." This free stuff included: two damaged lamps, a broken lawnmower, and a freezer that may or may have worked. Best of all, there were three dirty, rusty, orange and green, 1970's-era kitchen chairs. I put signs on the stuff detailing its condition and then went inside.

Ellie was skeptical that anyone would want all this broken, rusty, damaged stuff, especially the kitchen chairs. She mocked me saying, "If anybody takes that stuff, I'll eat my hat."

Twenty minutes later, we looked out the window and what did we see? Our lawn was empty. Nothing was left. Zip. Nada. Everything had been taken before 9:00 -- even the old kitchen chairs! It made me feel like we will never have to haul away anything again. We could put out a sack of dirty diapers with a sign that says "free" and people will come take it.

Getting people to haul away your junk? $100.
More storage space in our shed? $200.
Being right while your wife was wrong? Priceless.

Movie review: WALL-E [Bryan]

So, it is movie review week on the blog.

WALL-E was okay, I thought, for a Pixar movie. It was visually fascinating and, at times, touching and beautiful (I loved the scene where the robots dance in outer space). It lacked some of the wit and humor, though, of the earlier Pixar movies. This is probably because the movie contains little verbal dialogue. Most of the humor is physical in nature and involves WALL-E falling down or something similar. I can only laugh at that so many times. There are subtle bits of humor, though, which are buried in the rich visual world, and it will doubtless take more viewings to appreciate all of these visual jokes. So perhaps I shouldn't judge it so quickly.

As far as themes go, there are obvious points being made about environmental degradation and consumerism (which is odd given that Pixar itself thrives on mass-consumerism). This all seemed kind of obvious to me and maybe a bit heavy-handed, even though I largely agree with the underlying message. More interesting was the subtler theme of duty versus love. When should we let relationships trump our our duty? And when is duty more important than love? The film seems to suggest that duty and love need not be opposed. Love and duty can coexist and inform one another. WALL-E takes on EVE's quest to do her duty (which, in eventually cleaning up Earth, connects to his duty) and this is what builds their relationship. A fascinating point.

Another point: The film also shows future humanity in an infantilized state -- fat, dependent on machines, barely able to walk. They exist on a spaceship, a virtual artificial bubble, doing trivial things and living lives without a larger point or purpose. There is no striving or risk or reaching for something better. By becoming dependent on machines, human lose their humanity. And then the robots become human. I suspect there is more truth in this point than I am comfortable with.

I'm a freegan [Bryan]

One unknown Bryan fact: I'm a freegan. Not a vegan, a freegan.

What is a freegan, you ask? A freegan is someone who eats anything that is free.

You know when there are leftovers after an office meeting? Leftover muffins or bagels or something? Sometimes, they are left so long they get old and stale? Well, I'm the one who ends up eating that stuff. If it is free, it doesn't matter how old or stale it is, or how unhungry I am, I will eat it. Don't ask me why.

Now you know.

World's shortest movie review: Juno [Bryan]

A few weeks ago, Ellie and I watched Juno, a movie about a pregnant teenager. It was a great show, funny and smart, with edifying messages thrown in for good measure. The young actress who plays Juno, Ellen Page, is absolutely phenomenal and completely believable. Her character is an intriguing mix of generosity, wit, ignorance, confusion, street-smarts, kindness, toughness, and smart alecky-ness (reminds me a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, actually). The rest of the cast also excels. The film tackles issues of life and death, motherhood, love, and selfishness in ways that are profound, but rarely oversimplified and preachy. Best line of the film comes when Juno is talking with her friend Leah at the sonogram:

Leah: Woah check out baby big head. That thing is freaky looking.

Juno: Excuse me? I am a sacred vessel, alright? All you've got in your stomach is Taco Bell.

If you haven't seen it, preview below:

Statler and Waldorf [Bryan]

The best part of the old Muppet Show was the two hecklers in the balcony. Some highlights:



My two favorites:

W: Ugh. Ugh.
S: What's wrong?
W: It's either this show or indigestion. I hope its indigestion.
S: Why?
W: It'll get better in a little while.

W: It is too bad Gonzo is leaving the show.
S: Yeah, I can think of some other people I'd rather leave the show.
W: Who?
S: Me!

SUV guilt [Bryan]

So, here is a picture of our new Highlander. It is, without a doubt, the nicest car we have ever owned. It has four-wheel drive, cruise control, a CD player, and all the other little things that most people are used to by now, but are things we've never had.

Ellie loves our new vehicle more than she loves me. My feelings, however, are decidedly more mixed. I have watched the trend toward large vehicles (mainly SUVs) with a mix of horror, amusement, and scorn. Not that I couldn't see the attraction; I've always loved how they look and their versatility proves amazingly useful. But they are more lethal when in an accident, they guzzle gas, and they emit large quantities of CO2. And, of course, they are such a cultural cliche; it is the ultimate statement that you are the Average American.

So, why did I buy an SUV? I had always thought that, if I purchased a large vehicle, it would be a minivan. It would be an act of ironic self-flagellation. With the minivan, I would want everyone to know that, although I was driving a large vehicle, it wasn't because I wanted to be cool; rather, it was simply because I needed the space. The un-coolness of the minivan would make my virtue abundantly clear.

With Ellie's help, I guess I just decided that this attitude was nuts. We need more room. The Highlander gets as good a gas mileage as a minivan (usually better). And to all your treehuggers out there, consider this: If I buy a vehicle with lower higher gas mileage, all I have done is slightly decrease the demand for gas, which lowers gasoline prices, which thereby gives other people a greater incentive to drive. The great scandal among Prius-driving environmentalists is that they are doing nothing to help the environment -- they are just giving other people incentive to hurt the environment (hence the need for social policy solutions rather than personal virtue). In the end, I refuse to buy, say, a hybrid so that everyone else can get cheaper gas. I'm going to make sure we all go down on the sinking ship of gasoline addiction together!

So, to heck with all of you. My transformation into the Average American is now complete, and darn it, I don't care. Come bask in my conformity!

Why Conservatives Should Vote for Obama, Part 1 [Bryan]

I get the sense that many conservatives find Senator Obama a little scary. He has a funny name, his pastor said crazy things, and he may be an America-hater or a secret Muslim (or so they've read in an email).

I'm not conservative myself. But I was once and most of the people I love and care about still are. I think it is true to say that conservatives are interested in three things: (1) they want a person of genuine religious faith to be president, (2) they want a person of moral character to be president, (3) they want someone who agrees with conservative policies to be president.

If you are conservative, I want to introduce you to what other conservatives, who know or have personally met Senator Obama, are saying about him. I'm using conservative voices here, so that you will know this isn't just inflated rhetoric from his natural allies. Let me first address the issue of religious faith.

Consider the endorsement of Douglas W. Kmiec, a conservative Catholic Republican. Kmiec was a former attorney to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He is currently chair of constitutional law at conservative Pepperdine University. He was also an adviser to Mitt Romney. Here is what he says:

Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence, and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and that he wants to return the United States to that company of nations committed to human rights....

In various ways, Sen. Barack Obama and I may disagree on aspects of [some] important fundamentals, but I am convinced, based upon his public pronouncements and his personal writing, that on each of these questions he is not closed to understanding opposing points of view and, as best as it is humanly possible, he will respect and accommodate them.

Consider next what the conservative Evangelical biographer (and supporter) of George W. Bush and Tom DeLay, Stephen Mansfield, has to say about Obama in his forthcoming book, The Faith of Barack Obama. Ben Smith summarizes the book in this way:

"For Obama, faith is not simply political garb, something a focus group told him he ought to try. Instead, religion to him is transforming, lifelong, and real," Mansfield writes, going on to compare Obama favorably to Christian Democratic presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who he says erected a "wall of separation" between their religion and their governance.

By contrast, "Obama's faith infuses his public policy, so that his faith is not just limited to the personal realms of his life, it also informs his leadership," Mansfield writes. ...

Mansfield said in the interview that he entered Trinity having heard "that Obama's church was a cult, something un-Christian, that Reverend Wright was a nut," but emerged with the view that it is "a pretty solid Christian church."

His warm description of the church reflects that view.

Consider also this story of conservative Christian writer who was invited to meet Obama:

[I] was curious what the junior Senator from Illinois would say to Christian leaders when it’s well known that he supports abortion and the gay rights agenda....What could he have in common with “conservative” Christian leaders?

I returned from the meeting very concerned. Here is a liberal—Obama--reaching out to the Christian community at a time the conservative--Sen. John McCain--seems to be distancing himself from the so-called “Christian Right.” I think McCain has a lot of work to do to get the support of the Christian community. Obama seemed to have the support of at least half of the 43 leaders who attended the Chicago meeting. And in my opinion, he “made points” with the rest. The tone of the meeting was respectful and generally upbeat....

Sen. Obama personally took time to meet each person and shake their hand. He’s not as large a man as I envisioned from seeing him on television. But, he’s warm and personable --- obviously one of the reasons why people like him. He seemed to remember names well. He hugged a couple of the participants—mostly the black preachers who attended. He also seemed to be on top of the issues; and he’s obviously very intelligent.

The questions were mostly “softball” questions in my opinion. I was concerned after three or four general questions that we wouldn’t ask the most important questions. So I raised my hand and he called on me. I said, “Senator, I want to ask a question I'm sure you are expecting regarding your position on abortion....[H]ow you justify that with your Christian faith and why [do] you think we should vote for you?”

Since his response was “off-the-record,” I can say that the time he took to answer was probably 15 minutes. He came across as thoughtful and much more of a “centrist” than what I would have expected. He did not appear to be the crazy leftist that is being supported by George Soros and his radical leftist friends. Sen. Obama looked me in the eye as he answered my question, almost as if it were a one-on-one interview. I had already read the chapter on “faith” in his book the “Audacity of Hope.” If you want to know how he answered the question, read that chapter. In other words, other than his demeanor and obvious attempt to win over the Christian leaders in the room, he didn’t say anything new....

There’s probably a lot more that I could say about the meeting. But the most significant thing is just the fact that the meeting was held and that several dozen prominent leaders took time to meet with Sen. Obama who I believe won over the loyalties of many.

Senator Obama may, of course, simply be a slick politician and this could all just be a political act. Or, alternatively, he could also be the real deal. If you want to find out what Obama himself thinks about religion, his books (The Audacity of Hopeand Dreams of My Father -- both of which he wrote himself) speak to that subject with a sincerity that, to me, seems to transcend election-year pandering. It was enough to convince me, at least for now. Anyway, just something to think about.

Oh Children of me! [Bryan]

Go read this. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Haiku to My Highlander [Ellie]

A love poem to my new car:

sleek silver body
purrs with power in my grasp
did I mention clean?

Overfamiliarity with death [Bryan]

One of the great pleasures in my life is Harper's Magazine, especially their "Readings" section. This section compiles the most interesting readings from across the world -- speeches, poems, 911 emergency transcripts, speeches, interviews, court decisions, and so forth. There are always two or three items in that section that touch me deeply. This month, there was a selection from Anthony Loyd's memoir, Another Bloody Love Letter. Loyd was a reporter covering the bloody conflict in Sierra Leone. While he is there, he is involved in a serious automobile accident. He and his young friend and translator, Allieu, are critically injured. Loyd desperately tries to revive and get emergency aid for his friend, but instead onlookers end up looting his demolished car. Everyone in the war-torn landscape seems reluctant to help. He eventually is dropped off at a camp where Nigerian soldiers stand passively watching Loyd desperately perform CPR on his friend. He continues:

There were five of them, and they moved not an inch but stood motionless in a row looking down upon me, their eyes blank, faces devoid of any expression. What I saw in those placid brown pools was a listless overfamiliarity with death, and it enraged me. F--- you all, I thought, spitting more of Allieu's blood from my mouth in preparation for the next breath into him; f--- your awful continent where children's deaths are so commonplace as to be boring; f--- your mutilations and your mumbo jumbo and your jungle and your disease and your poverty and your heat and your hunger. F--- your endless reasons to die. Would that I could defy them all and save at least this one man's life.

Then one of them bent down wordlessly and stayed my arm. It was a profound gesture, full of grace and compassion. I stopped what I was doing and accepted its message, the madness leaving me. I closed Allieu's eyes and folded his hands across his chest, as one of the soldiers sighed. "Yes," one murmured. I looked up. "l'm sorry," each quietly said in tum. I stood up. They put their hands on my shoulders and shook me, gently and persistently, with a soft incantation of a low, repeated, "Hey, hey, hey, hey," a sound loaded with the deep understanding of sorrow, the echoed communication of the universal nature of death and loss. I leaned down and held one of Allieu's hands for a while, resting my other palm first on his chest, then on his forehead. His skin was just beginning to cool. He looked like a little boy again: a thin, brown wisp in his raggedy shorts and T-shirt. A dead African boy who had survived much and had just had what little he possessed taken from him by coming down the road with me for sixty dollars a day. "Goodbye, Allieu," I said, and walked away.

In its affirmation of a common humanity, there is something in this moment that deserves the title "revelation."

Two Great Pictures [Bryan]

Two great pictures, recently posted here.

First, a sunset on Mars from NASA. Incredible to think that this is on another planet.


Second, a comfort pillow, for those lonely times.

He did it!!!! [Bryan]

If you haven't heard, Obama won the Democratic primary last night. It was an amazing process to watch. Here is Obama: raised by a single Mom in relatively modest circumstances, an African-American with big ears and a funny, almost terrorist-sounding, name. Outside of Illinois, almost nobody had heard of Obama until last Fall. He was up against eight other candidates, each one with much more money, name recognition, and institutional advantages than he had. Throughout the campaign, Obama would have to survive sustained attacks from libelous email frauds, from a former president and first lady, from the sitting president, from Rush Limbaugh and "operation chaos," and from the presumptive Republican nominee. All that at the same time.

How did this guy win? I think it is a combination of intelligence, inner strength, and understanding the power of grass-roots community. He put together a coalition of millions of small-money contributers (like Ellie and I) to wage an amazing battle. What I think is most important about Obama, as I've said before, is that he treats us like adults, and we respond to that. When McCain and Clinton were pandering with the inane "gas tax holiday" idea, Obama called it for what it was: a gift to the oil companies that would do nothing to solve our energy problems in the long run. People responded to that honesty. Although his campaign hasn't been perfect, it has become clear to me that over and over again, Obama has taken the high road -- the adult road -- when others have taken the low road. Compare, for example, Obama's speech last night with the defensive and small-minded speeches of both McCain and Clinton.

As I was watching his speech last night, it occured to me how amazing this moment was. A black man like Obama could not have even used the same bathroom as me in the South 40 years ago. But now this man was laying out a vision for a new America that was being cheered by people of all colors and creeds. I can only imagine what this must mean for the African-American community. One comment in this regard that I read, really stood out. It comes from a black reader of Andrew Sullivan:

Tomorrow I will go to the African American cemetery outside of Chicago where my great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, and my mother and father are buried. And I will tell them that they were right -- that if we studied hard, worked hard, kept the faith, fought for justice, prayed, that this day would come.

And it has.

It has indeed. I'm proud of America today, and proud to be a Democrat! Here is the video if you want to watch history being made. Be sure to watch the end, which is particularly good.

Bryan and Musicals [Bryan]

Most of you probably don't know that I'm a big fan of musicals. At least certain musicals. Of this admittedly uneven genre, the stuff of Stephen Sondheim clearly rises to the top. I don't know why it is exactly, but I think it is because his musicals are often very dark. I generally don't revel in darkness for its own sake. But the inclusion of such a dark worldview within a musical framework that usually includes sappy romance and singing animals presents a dissonance that I find endlessly intriguing. Here, then, is my formula for a good musical: Singing people + dark plot = great musical.

Given that formula, it should be no surprise that here is a list of my top five musicals:
1. Sweeny Todd
2. Into the Woods
3. Evita
4. Wicked
5. West Side Story

Worst Musicals
1. Oklahoma
2. Cats

My favorite clips from Sweeny Todd? First, the song "A Little Priest." If you haven't seen the musical, here is the general thesis: "For what's the sound of the world out there?/Those crunching noises pervading the air?/It's man devouring man, my dear/Then who are we to deny it in here?" Who thought cannibalism could be so funny?



The next song, "Johanna," is interesting because of how it suggests that love, revenge, and rage can all be turned into something truly monstrous. Compare to the love songs of other musicals. (Warning: Slightly bloody)

Nora [Ellie]

Nora is five. I can hardly believe it. She's my baby. The one who broke me into motherhood. I still feel like I'm new at this, so how can she be five?

I called to register her for Kindergarten this fall.

We bought her a big girl bike with training wheels and a helmet and watched her ride away from us around the block.

Why didn't anyone warn me she'd grow up this fast? I guess they did; I just wasn't listening. I was too busy wishing she'd grow up. Wishing she'd learn to walk. Wishing she'd learn to use the potty. Wishing she'd learn her letters. Wishing she'd learn to clean her room. I spent so much time wishing for each new milestone and so little time rejoicing when it came. It was like her achievements were on a to-do list to be checked off in my planner. First word? Ah, yes. Check!

What's next?

What's next is, this afternoon she's modeling her new summer clothes, size 6, that I bought her. (I swear it was size 6 months just yesterday!) She looks tall and slender, blond, blue-eyed and beautiful. She has long legs--must be from her dad's side. I think about what boys will think of her some day soon, and I am overcome by the frantic desire to lock her away in a tower until she's 30. Maybe Rapunzel's witch gets a bad rap. Maybe she just wanted to protect Rapunzel from growing up too fast.

But here, now, I just want to rejoice for a minute. Stop thinking ahead and let myself love who she is right now.

This is who she is:
She is the sort of little girl who will give a hug to the neighbor boy who has Down Syndrome, even though the other girl she's playing with jerks away in disgust.

And this:
She is the sort of little girl who hears from her friend, "Look! My airplane is the biggest. Bigger than yours!" And responds, "Cool! Yours is the biggest, and mine can be the fastest!"

And this:
She is the sort of little girl who dances and sings her own musical performances just to express the joy she feels inside.

And this:
She is the sort of little girl who wandered out alone in the rain searching for me because she wanted to go running with me and my running buddy.

This is who she used to be:
It's twilight in Champaign, Illinois, and Nora is two-and-a-half. Little blond Nora is wandering around the front yard of our apartment building in a pink sun-dress catching fireflies. There are hundreds out in the yard tonight, their abdomens glowing, rising, and vanishing. She catches one and brings it over. "This one's for you, Mommy," she says with her two-year-old lisp. She catches another, "This one's for you, Daddy." It's her bedtime, but the moment enchants Bryan and I so much that we can't end it too soon. I am watching her and I'm so completely happy that I must be glowing, too.

And this:
It's eight o'clock at night. For some reason I don't remember now, Bryan's gone and I'm putting Nora to bed alone. Nora is three and we've had a big blow-up over something I've now forgotten. I am worked up outside her bedroom door and she is worked up inside. She's sobbing, and I'm thinking, "I hope she's learning her lesson, the little stinker!" And then I hear her start talking through her sobs. "Dear Heavenly Father," she says, "please help me to be happy." She says this over and over, with a little catching sob as she pronounces "happy." I go in and hold her as we both cry.

And this:
I'm in the hospital after having Andrew. Bryan, my mother, and Nora have come to visit us. My mom has carefully worked Nora's hair into two little pigtails on both sides of her face. She is worried about me in my hospital gown, on the bed unable to get up. She wants to come up and hug me for reassurance. Then the baby is brought in. Immediately, Nora wants to hold him. With Grandma's help she takes him on her lap. She's not sure what to do with him, so we suggest, "Why don't you sing him a song?" Without hesitation, she begins, "I am a child of God, and He has sent me here. . ."

And this:
We're at the mall playground on a snowy day. I watch as Nora fearlessly goes up to another girl and asks her to play. They rush around, giggling and holding hands, utterly unselfconscious and gleeful. The girl's mother catches my eye and we smile. They are the same age. They are both wearing pink. Of course they will be friends. It's so simple. I am so impressed by Nora's confidence and friendliness. I want to preserve it forever, but I can already see a hesitancy developing. Other children have sometimes rejected her. Will this one? I think I can hardly bear to see her hurt this way, yet I know she will be some day. Maybe again and again. I wish I could save her from this.

I can't believe it's possible to love someone as much as I've come to love her over these five years. I can't believe I can be as mad at someone as I've been at her. I struggle to teach and sometimes to control, and she shows me that she will learn when she's ready and holds her own keys to the future.

Nora's Dance Recital

Nora had her first dance recital last Tuesday. It was fun to watch her have so much fun. Here is some footage. If you can't tell, Nora is in a black dress, in the center of the image.

Nora's ballet number




Nora's tap dance number

Picture of Nora and her dance friends

Would I want immortality? [Bryan]

My sister just asked a question: Suppose you could drink from the fountain of youth and be forever immortal -- would you do it?

My answer was no. In fact, I'm wary of all forms of immortality, even one in a glorious afterlife. The ancient Greeks had it at least partially right: immortality is a curse that turns a life into a triviality. For the Greeks, the immortal gods were often creatures of derision who were reduced to playing pranks on humans like immature children. Humans were granted dignity precisely because they were forced to strive against the looming fate of death. Mortal humans were called to create things that would transcend their own lives, things that would last even though they themselves were gone. Immortality does not call us to act in this way, they thought.

I can see why they thought this. In immortality, accomplishment means nothing since, after all, you've had forever to practice (it is like a student who does well on the test because they had extra time to work on it). Death brings a sense of urgency to life; it forces you make decisions about priorities. These decisions show what you value and they become an expression of who you are. Immortality asks no such decisions of you. You can spend hours upon hours wasting time because you will always have more of it. There is no fierce urgency of "now."

And the boredom. I can't imagine living so long so as to have done it all. I can't imagine having read every book, having explored every corner, having met every person. (One of the attractions of the Mormon afterlife, is that it holds out the possibility of real creation and endless expansion of learning).

In the end, though, when I think of family relationships possibly ending someday, it does hurt. These relationships are things, of all things, that I think I would want to continue forever. So my vision of the perfect afterlife is this: consciousness of the presence of loved ones (both loving them and being loved by them) and of absolutely nothing else. No sense of time, nothing. Well, maybe a sense of eating chocolate chip cookies, too. But that's it.

As usual, Buffy the Vampire Slayer says it best in her description of heaven:

BUFFY: I was happy. Wherever I ... was ... I was happy. At peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time ... didn't mean anything ... nothing had form ... but I was still me, you know? And I was warm ... and I was loved ... and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand about theology or dimensions, or ... any of it, really ... but I think I was in heaven. And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out ... by my friends. Everything here is ... hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch ... this is Hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that ... (softly) knowing what I've lost... (gets up, walks towards the sunlight, pauses, not looking back) They can never know. Never. (continues into the sunlight)

It's out!

Finally! Amazon website is here.

Deep Thoughts and Kid Pictures [Bryan]

Some random thoughts on life, while I await the results from the Pennsylvania primary.

(1) Our house can be very odd at times. Before bathtime, Andrew and Nora have taken to playing a game called "Naked Town." In the game of Naked Town, one removes one's clothes and jumps on the bed for five minutes before heading for the tub. Where this game comes from, I don't know. Where the term "Naked Town" comes from, I don't know. Just be assured that no one will be asked to play this game if they come to visit.

(2) You should all try the Colgate 360 toothbrush. It has little bristles on the back of the toothbrush that massage your gums and cheecks while you brush. I tried it and it was nothing short of a revelation. It was like something I've never before experienced. It was soothing and exciting. A sensual explosion. I'll never go back to ordinary toothbrushes.

(3) I have finally found the chocolate frosting recipe I have been looking for. It is called "chocolate fudge frosting," found on page 78 of a Betty Crocker cookbook. Most frosting is lacking in the proper texture; it is almost like eating a layer of dry powdered sugar. All fluff. Your average frosting gives a burst of sugary flavor, but nothing more. This chocolate fudge frosting, however, is different because it is a frosting with substance. It differentiates itself from the fluffiness of the cake, and thus makes for a more satisfying eating experience.

Some recent kid pictures taken by our friend Heather, minstrel of the photographic arts.

Obama: Believing in Ourselves [Bryan]

I watched the so-called debate last night between Obama and Clinton. It was depressing. Over and over again the moderators asked the most insipid and vapid questions imaginable: Why don't you wear a flag pin? Why are you friends with terrorists? Why does your pastor hate America? Why do you think you are better than everybody else? That sort of thing.

In short, they twisted everything Obama has ever said, every relationship he has ever had. It took the moderators an hour to ask one remotely real question. The facts were mangled, contextual background was fleeting or nonexistent, and silly gotcha questions ruled the day. All in search of a hot sound bite. All of this in the middle of a costly and bloody war and with disaster looming for the American economy.

If there is one thing the Obama campaign has done, it is this: exposed the absolute insanity of our public discourse.

The irony of the latest charges against Obama are rich indeed. He has been called "elitist" by wealthy pundits even though he was born into a single-parent family of only modest means, made himself successful through hard work, became a community organizer on the streets of Chicago instead of joining lucrative law firms, and even now has less personal wealth than most of the other presidential candidates. He is called "condescending to religious people" when, in fact, all available evidence suggests that his religious faith is more sincere and genuine than any other presidential nominee I can think of. Come on people, get real. It almost makes me long for the days when people thought he was a closet Muslim.

Three weeks ago, Obama gave one of the finest speeches I have heard from a politician -- his speech on race in America. It was sincere and heartfelt, nuanced and intellectually powerful, courageous and politically dangerous. While the rest of the press treated us like children, he rose above the gotcha nonsense and attempted to engage Americans as thinking adults. He expressed more faith in the average American in that moment than any of those who are now calling him "elitist." The power and daring nature of his speech shocked everyone for a few days. But now the silliness has started again.

Perhaps the "audacity of hope" is really the hope that allows us to believe in ourselves. While Obama wants to treat us like adults, and believes that we will respond, I fear that his faith and hope in us have been misplaced. We have not yet risen to the occasion.

Boston Trip [Bryan]

Just got back from my conference. I will just say this: Visiting Boston and Paris in the space of a few weeks has led to a major case of city-envy. Boston/Cambridge was wonderful. Although not its equal, of course, Boston had much of what I liked so much about Paris: history, famous river-fronts, art, food, students, universities, and philosophy.

The first day, I arrived at my hotel to find that it was right across from Fenway Park. That may matter to some of you, but I found the crowds and lights slightly annoying. I crossed the Charles River, though, explored the MIT campus, and walked up Massachusetts Avenue to Harvard Square. What a great place! There were protesters and music playing. I bought a book at a little bookstore. I grabbed a wonderful hot chocolate at Burdick Chocolate (yummy) and a burger at Mr. Bartley's Burger. Bartley's Burger was rated "best burgers in America" by the Wall Street Journal and they are known for burgers named after famous people. I ordered the Barack Obama burger. (Thanks for the tips Nollie!)

After Harvard Square, I undertook a quasi-religious pilgrimage to Emerson Hall on the Harvard University Campus, home of the legendary Harvard Philosophy Department. Emerson Hall is named after one of my heroes, Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was also the actual haunt of two more of my philosophical heroes, William James and John Rawls. I took a picture of the faculty directory and humbly used the restroom, very aware that the toilet I used could have been used by Rawls himself. I poked around campus a bit and found it full of nerdy-looking people. I felt right at home, although I'm sure that the average IQ there was several factors higher than my own.

Walking back to my hotel at night, I crossed the Massachusetts Avenue bridge again. On the bridge, the night was clear and the city of Boston was lit up beautifully 360-degrees all around me. It was a magical walk indeed.

The next day I went through the Back Bay to downtown Boston and walked most of the Freedom Trail. The Boston Common was beautiful and so were all the old churches. A highlight, though, was seeing the sight of the Boston massacre and of the first public school in America.

After that, I decided I better start attending the conference. I won't bore you with those details.

Saturday afternoon was another highlight of the trip, thanks to hospitality of the Chapmans. David picked me up and drove me through downtown Boston and the North End. I caught a glimpse of the Boston Garden, but alas, the new building holds little connection to old Garden dominated by the great Larry Bird teams. He then took me past the Boston temple, various Lexington battle sights, the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott, and Walden Pond, among other things. Everyone told me that Walden Pond would be a disappointment, but it wasn't. It was beautiful at dusk; I can see how going there to "suck the marrow out of life" might be an attractive proposition. That is really a wonderful area of the world. Lots of forests, rivers, and ponds.

The night ended with dinner at the Blue Coyote Restaurant (where I had a great Salomon dish with mango sauce and cilantro), ice cream at a local creamery (I had Butter Rum, Yum!), and a round of Guitar Hero on the Wii. I was pleased to see that the Chapmans were doing well: a beautiful little house on the river, charming and energetic kids, and a wonderful little town to live in. Thanks for letting me invade your lives for a few hours David and Michelle!

Fenway Park from my hotel room

Harvard Square

Emerson Hall, Harvard

Boston Commons, looking up Beacon Hill to the State House

Big man at the conference [Bryan]

I'm in Boston right now for a conference. I've had a good time. There is one highlight, though, that I need to tell you about.

I attended a session today that was dedicated to criticizing a paper I had written last year. Naturally, I was a bit uncomfortable. The presenters at the session disagreed about almost everything. The one thing they agreed on was that my paper was wrong on several important points.

During the comments, I stood up and said,"I guess I should introduce myself as the person who was criticized today." There was some laughing, and I then tried to persuade them that they had misconstrued my position a bit (understandably, now that I think about it, but that's another story).

Anyway, shift forward a couple hours. I was meeting up with a longtime friend, David Chapman, who lives in the Boston area. David arrived at the hotel and rolled down his window to greet me.

Just at that moment, a man approached me and asked, "Are you Bryan? The same one who wrote the book on imitation? I've been waiting anxiously for that book to be released. I'm going to buy it as soon as I can. When you introduced yourself at the meeting earlier, I was excited to meet me." We chatted for a minute and parted. I was amazed because this sort of thing has never really happened to me before.

I turned toward David's car and it seemed that he had been listening to the whole conversation. I tried to nonchalantly open the car door and sit down, pretending that this fawning behavior from fans is the sort of thing I must endure all the time. David smiled and said, "Well, hello Dr. Warnick!"

I really don't know how much David heard. But what an excellent image: public homage in front of an unsuspecting old friend. This is the sort of thing I would have paid somebody to do, if I had thought of it earlier.

Some final thoughts on Paris [Bryan]

I hope nobody is sick of hearing about Paris. If so, I'm sure to be back blogging about politics soon, so don't worry. I do have a few final thoughts and impressions from our trip that I haven't written about yet.

(1) Visiting so many vast, ancient cathedrals gave me a different sort of religious experience. I come from a religious tradition that is focused on bringing religion into daily life. In Mormon church buildings, there are kitchens, stages, and basketball courts. The place I would rain jump shots on my friends during the week was also the place that I worshiped on Sunday. The church building was a place of ordinary community life; thus, religion itself was linked to, and infused with, ordinary living. Mormon temples are a bit different, to be sure, but even there, in Mormonism's most sacred ceremonies, the feeling is one of coming home to family. The interior of temples is, for example, similar to a finely-worked living room and the rituals there (to me at least) seem designed to invoke and expand notions of family and kin.

The religious feeling of an ancient Gothic cathedral is very different. The idea is not to create feelings of familiarity and coming home. The intent is not to infuse religion into everyday experience. Rather, with its vast interiors, high ceilings, distant echoes, and stained glass windows, the idea is to invoke a feeling of awe, grandeur, and other-worldliness. The metaphor for religion is not coming home to family and familiarity, but of entering a different world -- a world vastly greater and more encompassing than our imagination.

I don't know which experience is a better religious experience. Each architectural space hits on something important about how I experience religion. Each rings true in some sense. The religious tradition than manages to somehow combine both the feeling of coming home and of being in a different world will be something to behold.

Saint Etienne du Mont

Sainte-Chapelle: interior

(2) One of the strangest things I saw on the trip occurred in our first night in Paris. We were tired after our long flight and our day of sight-seeing. We were emerging from the Pompideu Center, which is a museum of modern art. Outside of the museum were hordes of teenagers, maybe 15 or 16 years old. I was not all that surprised to see this. The Pompideu sits near a busy shopping district (Les Halles) and I didn't think it shocking to see young people hanging out "at the mall." It would have been the same in Ohio. As we passed the groups of teenagers, though, I was shocked to see what they were doing. They were sitting in a big circle and passing around two or three canvases. On those canvases, they were busily slapping on paint and constructing works of abstract expressionism. Some kids were painting, while the others were watching, cheering, or criticizing. I couldn't believe my eyes and I wondered if I was dreaming. Granted, those kids were probably unique and not representative of all French youth. But still, it was way cool. Viva la France!

Hall of big French paintings, Louvre

Louvre, outside

(3) The trip was humbling. Paris is a city that is not content with things that are just "good enough." There is little toleration of mediocrity. As I walked the streets of Paris, the halls of the Louvre, and the domed monuments, my own accomplishments felt insignificant and small. Surely, nothing I have done will be admired by people centuries from now. Nothing I have done has been tempered by the discipline and critical taste necessary for great achievements. I live in the world of the "good enough," the world that is on constant display on American television and the rusty streets of Ohio. It was a shock to be immersed in something different. It inspired me to try to do something worth calling a masterpiece......Maybe after I get tenure.

View from Arc de Triomphe

French countryside from a high speed train

Ellie on top of the Eiffle Tower

Going through security [Bryan]

One of my little pleasures in life is going through airport security with my daughter Nora. How so? About a year ago, we were headed back to Utah and taking off our shoes to pass through the security checkpoint. Nora asked what we were doing.

I said, "They need to make sure we are not carrying any dangerous things."

"Oh," Nora said, and paused for a minute. Then she asked, "Like spiders?"

I laughed out loud and said, "Yeah, like spiders."

So every time we go through the spider security checkpoint, we smile and submit to the search. Wouldn't want any spiders to get on the airplane.

Some lessons from Paris [Ellie]

Before the real business of this post, some of you have asked what we actually saw while we were in Paris. Here's a quick list (and my starred rankings - out of 5) of what we did:

Monday
Conciergerie (prison where they held guillotine victims)**
Sainte Chappelle Cathedral*****
Notre Dame Cathedral*****
Pompidou Center (modern art museum)*****
(On the right, an installation of inflatable furniture. I love modern art!)

Tuesday
Versailles Palace*****
Eiffel Tower*****

Wednesday
Louvre Museum*****
Tuileries Garden****
Champs-Elysees (famous street)****
Arc de Triomphe*****

Thursday
Louvre St. Germain-des-Pres Cathedral***
Saint Sulpice Cathedral***
Rodin Museum*****
Hotel des Invalides/Napolean's Tomb***
Musee d'Orsay (Impressionism museum)*****

Friday
Chartres Cathedral*****
Sacre Coeur Cathedral****

Saturday
Louvre
Notre Dame Archaeological Crypts***
Luxembourg Gardens****
Pantheon (tombs of famous dead people)****
St. Etienne-du-Mont Cathedral*****
Marais District****

Sunday
Normandy (D-Day beaches)*****

Wow! I got tired just typing that! We really did see a lot while we were there. Even more than I listed--that was just the big stuff. Which segues nicely into my topic. . .


Lessons We Learned in Paris
1. Don't kill yourselves by trying to see too much. There were a few days that we really should've relaxed and cut out a few things.

2. Every country has its unwritten rules. You will never know what they are until you break them. Here are a few Parisian we broke:
-It's rude to eat in the streets. (How could we help it? No time to eat! Gotta go, go, go!)
-You can't sit there. (Stairs, heat vents, etc. Poor, tired feet!)
-The Eiffel Tower stairs close at 7 p.m. on rainy
days. (Ok, but how many people can say they've been locked in the Eiffel Tower? We can!)
-You can't sit there, either. (Open tickets mean you might have to give up your seat on the train over and over without realizing why.)
-You can't eat right now. (Cafes close between 2 and 7 p.m.)

3. It's really true that everything in Paris is beautiful! Some of my favorite sights in Paris were ones we just came upon unexpectedly--beautiful plazas and parks, cathedrals every few blocks, great public art. Bryan had to make me stop taking pictures of every street in Paris.

4. Everyone in France speaks English better than you speak French. I would speak to them in French; they would speak back really fast; I would look blank; they would just speak to me in English.

5. Ride the Metro. Don't get so tired of walking that you don't enjoy what you're seeing.

6. Many things are just different in France: traffic signals, electrical outlets, middle-aged women with their hair dyed brilliant purple or red. . .

7. What a "rood screen" is. Ok, we still don't know. But here's a picture of one at St. Etienne-du-Mont:



8. Parisians wear scarves. All of them; all the time.

9. It rains every day in the springtime in Paris. Fortunately, not all day every day. Bring your parapluie!

10. $10 for a cup of hot chocolate. Need we say more?

Overall, we had a wonderful, unforgettable time in Paris. We would go back in a minute! (Who wants to watch our kids?)


Special Thanks
-Thanks to our parents for giving us this time alone together.

-Thank you to everyone who watched our kids or brought us meals or loaned us things or wished us well! Our trip went more smoothly with your help!
-Thank you to Heather Whitehead who warned us to bring umbrellas.
-Thank you to Kiki Comin who made us an awesome Paris journal. We wrote in it every night together. We'll remember the trip better because of it!
-Thank you to Bryan for the rose he bought me (what a fantasy to be bought a rose from a street vendor in Paris!), for his enthusiasm for everything we saw, for his patience with me in Paris and always. I am a better person because of his example!