A third Bush White House?
Not in 2008, but Florida governor, Jeb Bush, the brother of President George W Bush, says he is open to the possibility of a future run.

Deja vu, all over again. But they must not have anyone else named "George" in the family.


Biodiesel
Biodiesel, the vegetable-oil alternative to diesel that sparked a small, grass-roots movement, is exploding onto the commercial marketplace and rapidly gaining widespread acceptance. But not as an alternative to gasoline, as many had envisioned. This clean-burning, renewable fuel is making its way into a growing number of American homes as a substitute for residential heating oil.


Google Analytics
Google is launching a free web analytics service that will let website owners see exactly how visitors interact with their sites. It's all about advertising dollars. And it all starts today. Will this be the death knell to the small companies providing similar services? Probably.


Disney sponsored concert chaos
Police shut down a suburban Minneapolis shopping mall on Saturday after fans of the boy band B5 rushed the stage during a free concert. More than 2,000 fans, mostly teenage girls, had converged on Brookdale Center mall for the show, sponsored by the local Radio Disney station, KDIZ-AM. The band had made it to the second song when the chaos broke out.


Double Jeopardy
Britain has recently stepped back from the double jeopardy rule and is considering the first retrial of someone already acquitted of the same crime.

Might this become the wave of the future even in the US? In some situations where "new and compelling evidence" surfaces people could once again be subject to prosecution. It would require abandonment of the 5th Amendment of the US constitution -- or perhaps a major reinterpretation. What do you think, would this be a good thing? Could it ever happen?


The promise-driven life
Even as Christians, the law... can direct us, but it cannot drive us, except to either despair or self-righteousness. Christians are not purpose-driven, but promise-driven. Purposes are all about law. To be sure, at least in Christian discourse, some promises may be mentioned, but they are usually dangled as the carrot for fulfilling the conditions that have been laid out. If you did that with the real Ten Commandments -- something like, "Do this and you shall live" (Lev. 25:18), people would catch on: "That's legalism!" But the therapeutic version (easy-listening law) flies under the radar: "Hey, here are a few helpful principles based on God's instruction manual that will help you get victory in your life." Although Rick Warren's phenomenal best-seller, The Purpose-Driven Life, for example, differs from the usual pattern of self-help books by insisting that we were created for God and his glory, it offers Fifteen Principles -- all of which are imperatives (commands, or rather, suggestions) that promise a life of victory for those who follow them. That, I would suggest, confuses law and gospel. And that eventually leaves resentment of God, not delight, in its wake...

When we really understand justification, we really understand how God works with us in every aspect of our lives before him. Christ lived the purpose-driven life so that we would inherit his righteousness through faith and be promise-driven people in a purpose-driven world. He did gain the everlasting inheritance by obedience to everything God commanded, driven by the purpose of fulfilling the law for us, in perfect love of God and neighbor.

-- Michael Hotron, "The Promise-Driven Life" in Modern Reformation


"Holy and Digital"
Martin Marty has a great little piece summarizing "Religious Experience in the Age of Digital Reproduction," an important article by Frederick Mark Gedicks, in collaboration with Roger Hendrix, in St John's Law Review (winter 2005).


Free .be domain names
The Belgium Registry is allowing the free registration of .be domain names for the next couple of months. I'm sure the more creative among us will have some fun with it. I suspect letme.be has already been taken.


Free online word processor
Writely


Bolivian bishops ordains clergy in Pittsburgh
The Anglican rift continues to widen. On Saturday conservative Episcopalians brought in Bolivian Bishop Frank Lyons to ordain three deacons and a priest. The Episcopal Church (USA) is one of 38 Anglican provinces, as is Bishop Lyons' province, the Southern Cone. The Southern Cone does not recognize the Episcopal Church, which the bishop called "open territory run by Unitarians." So far, the Diocese of Bolivia has planted 18 churches in the United States.

The ordinations took place in conjunction with the Anglican Communion Network's Hope and a Future conference.

Some of this controversy is related to the Episcopal Church's ordination of a practicing homosexual bishop. Part of it is response to the general theological deterioration of the American church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who has been a bit wishy-washy in the past, recently made some surprisingly conservative comments on this issue: The church overall, the church of England in particular, the Anglican communion has not been persuaded that same-sex sex can be holy and blessed. Were it to decide that by some process unimaginable to most of you it would be by an overwhelming consensus. Only at that point would it be possible to say in the name of the church, this is holy and blessed. So I take my stand with the church of England, with the communion, with the majority of Christians through the ages.