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NB. A 2011 homily using tomorrow's readings. I'm working a new homily!
7th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula
One thing we know for sure about
God: He ain't shy about demanding that we do great things. He ain't
shy about demanding that we become a great people. But His demands for
our greatness always come with an offer of help; He never simply demands
perfection and then leaves us on our own. Since His help has often
come in the guise of an invading army or a series of plagues or the
mysterious puzzles of prophecy, we might think it better that He
withdraw His help and let us do the best we can all by ourselves. But
divine expectations are best met with divine assistance, especially if
we are the ones who are expected to excel. Given our limits, our
tendencies to falter, we know that the higher the expectation, the
greater the need for help. If what God says to Moses in the Book of
Leviticus is to be believed, then the only help for us is for God to
make us gods: "Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy." Jesus
repeats this demand, ". . .be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is
perfect." We are to be holy and perfect as God Himself is holy and
perfect. Can you imagine what sort of help we are going to need to meet
this expectation?! God will indeed have to make us into gods. And
this is exactly the help He offered us when He sent His only Son to live
and die among us as one of us. He's offered His help—once for all—on
the cross. Are you ready to receive it?
The question I'm asking sounds a
bit strange, so let me make it perfectly clear: you are ready to be
made into God? This really isn't such a strange question. The idea
that we "partake in the divine nature" is an ancient Catholic tradition;
it's as old as Christianity itself. The idea that the divine can dwell
in the human is even older. In the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ, we
have one person with two natures—one human, one divine. If we can
believe that the Son of God was born of a virgin and lived and died
among us, then it really isn't all that difficult to believe that we are
saved from eternal darkness by becoming one with the Father through the
His incarnated Son. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul puts the question
succinctly: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that
the Spirit of God dwells in you?" What other work do we have as
Christians than to allow the Spirit of God to be poured into us,
overflowing into anything, anyone we touch? Our wisdom becomes His
wisdom; our love becomes His love; our hope becomes His hope. We become
holy and perfect in the only way we can: we become God. . .with God's
help. Without His help, we fall into the same trap that fell Adam and
Eve, that hapless couple who believed the serpent when he told them that
they could become gods without God. What did the serpent tell Adam and
Eve that they needed? Knowledge. Not divine knowledge but worldly
knowledge. Having enough worldly knowledge would not only enlighten
them but it would transform them into gods as well.
They fall for it. And so do we.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Let no one deceive himself. If any
one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool,
so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in
the eyes of God. . ." Now, Paul uses "wisdom" rather than "knowledge"
here. Knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing. Wisdom comes with
the right use of knowledge. Knowledge is a tool; wisdom is an attitude.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in their pride, they came to know the
difference between good and evil. What they choose to do with this
knowledge is what makes them wise or foolish. Paul is exhorting the
Corinthians to reject the kind of wisdom that comes from worldly
knowledge alone, that is, wisdom based on knowledge that ignores God as
the world's creator. He is not telling them to reject knowledge about
the world but rather to reject the idea that you can be wise all the
while denying that God is the world's creator. True wisdom—godly
wisdom—starts with a spirit overawed by the presence of God in His
creation. Wisdom based on worldly knowledge demands that we start with
the world and work only within our human limitations, leaving God aside.
What God demands of us in our progress toward His holiness and
perfection is that we see, hear, taste, feel, and think through our
trust in Him. In other words, we start by acknowledging that we are His
creatures, and then we see, hear, taste, feel, and think of everything
we encounter as a revelation of God Himself. This is how we start. But
it isn't how we finish.
The gospel set aside for today
is a continuation of last Sunday's reading. That reading ended with
"Let your Yes mean yes and your No mean no. Anything else is from the
evil one." Jesus showed us then and he shows again today the difference
between worldly wisdom and the wisdom of his Father. He sets one side
against the other: "You have heard it said. . .but I say to you. . ."
You have heard it said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
But I say to you, "Offer no resistance to one who is evil." You have
heard it said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I
say to you, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Why? Why would any sane person living in the real world offer no
resistance to evil, love their enemies, and pray for those who persecute
them? Jesus answers, "[so] that you may be children of your heavenly
Father. . ." Worldly wisdom tells us that it is wise to fight evil, to
hate our enemies, and to pray of their defeat. In a world without God, a
world where there is nothing beyond death, nothing higher than the law
of Might Makes Right, we would be foolish indeed to forgive, to show
mercy, and to pray for our enemies. But we have vowed to pursue
holiness and perfection with God's help. And this we cannot do if we
are mired in the foolishness of the world. Think for a moment about the
standard God has set for us. Jesus says that we must do these
ridiculous things in order to be the children of our heavenly Father b/c
"he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall
on the just and the unjust." If can't choose who gets God's sunlight
and who gets His rain, how could we possibly decide who it is that He
should love and forgive? And if we are saved by becoming God, then our
love and forgiveness must fall on the bad and the good, on the just and
the unjust alike. That's quite a demand. An extraordinarily high
expectation. Thanks be to God that we have His help!
The question remains: are you
ready to receive His help and become God? To be holy as He is holy? To
be perfect as He is perfect? St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting St. Irenaeus,
wrote, "God became Man so that Man might become God." Our only hope of
achieving the holiness and perfection demanded of us is to surrender
ourselves to the wisdom of God, and follow His Christ in all things. At
the end of the day, our surrender is sacrificial love, giving of
ourselves wholly in love for the sake of another. At the very least,
this means restraining your pride—hourly, daily—and giving God thanks
for every chance you have to be loving, forgiving, and merciful. All
of us belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ himself
belongs to God.
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text:
In his autumn budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond vowed to fix the housing market with 300,000 new homes, planning reform and scrapping stamp duty for first time buyers.
Putting housing at the centre of his agenda, Hammond pledged to do "whatever it takes" to give millenials "the same opportunities as their parents".
Yet, with home ownership at its lowest level in 30 years in England, the Office for Budget Responsibility – Britains finance watchdog – believes Hammond faces an uphill struggle.
In a damning assessment on his policies, the OBR sluggish economic growth – just 1.4% in 2018 – means his measures will not make much difference.
SAVY SAVER: Catherine Harford saved thousands by shopping around for the best bank deals
Tips to save money
Save money on bills and utilities, food and drink, transport and more by reading our great tips
House prices have risen by 0.8% since May 2017, taking the average property value in the UK to £223,257, according to the latest figures.
With the average mortgage deposit topping £33,000 for first time buyers, saving enough to get on the property ladder is virtually inconceivable for many.
But saving for a property is possible, Catherine Harford, a 31-year-old homeowner from Hertfordshire, told Daily Star Online.
Harford, an administrator, said the secret to beating the squeeze is "financial self-control" and making saving a "major priority".
Related Articles
"These bonuses I see as 'free money'."
Catherine Harford
Hanford, who is saving for her wedding in five months, said she saves as much as £600-a-month and boosts her kitty by taking advantage of a few "free money" tricks.
"I have two ISA accounts; a savings account with Nat West and a savings account with Natonwide, she said.
"I regularly search the internet for the best deals and best savings rates.
"The cash back deals are great. We are due to get a £100 bonus from the Nat West account and £500 from the Nationwide account.
"These bonuses I see as 'free money' and put this into another separate savings account and its amazing how much money can build up."
With interest rates at 0.5% – raised from 0.25% in November – Harford said "it really pays to shop around".
"My husband says I'm better than Martin Lewis at finding good savings deals," she added.
Hanford took part in a survey of more than 1,500 millennials aged 25-34 by Royal London – the largest mutual life, pensions and investment company in the UK.
Key findings included two in five (40%) worry about paying the bills and over a third (36%) say that paying debts keeps them awake at night, while over a quarter (26%) have no savings at all.
Related articles
daily star

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Source: IRS.gov
WASHINGTON — Low- and moderate-income workers can take steps now to save for retirement and earn a special tax credit in 2012 and the years ahead, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
The saver's credit helps offset part of the first $2,000 workers voluntarily contribute to IRAs and to 401(k) plans and similar workplace retirement programs. Also known as the retirement savings contributions credit, the saver's credit is available in addition to any other tax savings that apply.
Eligible workers still have time to make qualifying retirement contributions and get the saver's credit on their 2012 tax return. People have until April 15, 2013, to set up a new individual retirement arrangement or add money to an existing IRA and still get credit for 2012. However, elective deferrals (contributions) must be made by the end of the year to a 401(k) plan or similar workplace program, such as a 403(b) plan for employees of public schools and certain tax-exempt organizations, a governmental 457 plan for state or local government employees, and the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees. Employees who are unable to set aside money for this year may want to schedule their 2013 contributions soon so their employer can begin withholding them in January.
The saver's credit can be claimed by:
- Married couples filing jointly with incomes up to $57,500 in 2012 or $59,000 in 2013;
- Heads of Household with incomes up to $43,125 in 2012 or $44,250 in 2013; and
- Married individuals filing separately and singles with incomes up to $28,750 in 2012 or $29,500 in 2013.
Like other tax credits, the saver's credit can increase a taxpayer's refund or reduce the tax owed. Though the maximum saver's credit is $1,000, $2,000 for married couples, the IRS cautioned that it is often much less and, due in part to the impact of other deductions and credits, may, in fact, be zero for some taxpayers.
A taxpayer's credit amount is based on his or her filing status, adjusted gross income, tax liability and amount contributed to qualifying retirement programs. Form 8880 is used to claim the saver's credit, and its instructions have details on figuring the credit correctly.
In tax-year 2010, the most recent year for which complete figures are available, saver's credits totaling just over $1 billion were claimed on more than 6.1 million individual income tax returns. Saver's credits claimed on these returns averaged $204 for joint filers, $165 for heads of household and $122 for single filers.
The saver's credit supplements other tax benefits available to people who set money aside for retirement. For example, most workers may deduct their contributions to a traditional IRA. Though Roth IRA contributions are not deductible, qualifying withdrawals, usually after retirement, are tax-free. Normally, contributions to 401(k) and similar workplace plans are not taxed until withdrawn.
Other special rules that apply to the saver's credit include the following:
- Eligible taxpayers must be at least 18 years of age.
- Anyone claimed as a dependent on someone else's return cannot take the credit.
- A student cannot take the credit. A person enrolled as a full-time student during any part of 5 calendar months during the year is considered a student.
Certain retirement plan distributions reduce the contribution amount used to figure the credit. For 2012, this rule applies to distributions received after 2009 and before the due date, including extensions, of the 2012 return. Form 8880 and its instructions have details on making this computation.
Begun in 2002 as a temporary provision, the saver's credit was made a permanent part of the tax code in legislation enacted in 2006. To help preserve the value of the credit, income limits are now adjusted annually to keep pace with inflation. More information about the credit is on IRS.gov.


text:
The Electronic Intifada 23 May 2011
At 4:17pm GMT on Sunday, I threw a shoe at my television screen, aimed at US President Barack Obama, precisely at the moment he began to explain that the reference in his Thursday speech at the State Department to the 1967 borders was in accordance with the Israeli interpretation of these borders.
Not that I was thrilled with that speech either but it was at least as meaningless as his previous speeches on the topic. But at 4:17 he said there will be "no return to the borders of June 4, 1967" and the thousands who attended the AIPAC convention cheered wildly. Annexation of Israeli settlement blocs built illegally in the occupied West Bank and the creation of a small Palestinian bantustan in the spaces in between was the essence of Obama's real vision for peace.
It was a soft shoe and all it did was to bounce off the screen. Being such a harmless weapon it was also directed at my Palestinian friends who since Friday explained, publicly, how unusual and important was Obama's speech at the State Department.
It is tough enough to know that in the White House sits someone who betrayed not only the Palestinians, but all the oppressed people in the world and in the US he promised to engage and represent.
But I have turned on my TV set and moved to Puerta del Sol in Madrid — there where thousands of young people were reformulating the powerful message that came from Tahrir Square in Cairo and which was also heard on the borders of Palestine on Nakba Day and in London's Trafalgar Square during recent student demonstrations.
It was a call of defiance against such political discourse and its poisonous effects. Yes, they say in Madrid as they did on Palestine's borders, our lives are ruled and affected by smug, cynical and indifferent Western politicians who hold immense power to maintain the unjust world for years to come, but we have had enough of this and will resist it.
Wherever one is affected by this political and economic Western elite, one faces two options. Either to accept fatalistically that the only thing one can do is retire to small, personal gardens of Eden and try to ignore them as much as one can and sustain oneself without them, within the limits of what is possible. Or if one does not possess this inclination or luxury, one can instead join all those who are unwilling to succumb and are telling this elite that its world and agenda is not theirs.
In some places the authorities shoot at massive demonstrations carrying such a message; in others they just ignore them. These are early days to judge the failure or success of such endeavours but it is clear that so far the protest is expanding. It defies the hegemonic political dictates of governments and it displays growing impatience with, and resentment toward, the manipulative corporate games and macro-economic ploys.
The people of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip were a victim of such politics and economics under the guise of the so-called peace process. However, recently, in Palestine, the local politicians have at last heeded the popular demand for unity and assertiveness after years of ignoring it.
As a result, the support for the people's effort in commencing a new phase in the popular resistance against the Israeli occupation is galvanizing the global Palestine solidarity movement with the similar energy generated before by the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
The regaining of the initiative by the common people in the Arab world and Europe should help us to avoid sinking too deeply into paralysis and inaction in the face of such cynicism. So much can still be done, in total disregard of the hegemonic discourse and inaction of western political elites on Palestine. So much has already been done in the continued resistance against the Israeli destruction of the land and its people.
One can continue to boycott Israeli goods and cultural representatives in France, even if there is a new law against it. If Palestinians in Israel can defy Israeli laws against Nakba commemoration, insidious European laws and regulations should be ignored as well. One can curb any academic institutional connection between British universities and Israel despite the embarrassed Foreign Office's and official academia's position on it. And finally, one can continue to spread through the alternative media the truthful and expanded picture despite the shameful way in which "liberal" American and European media is portraying the reality on the ground.
The world after Obama's two speeches is a bizarre place. The gap between Obama, Berlusconi, Netanyahu, Cameron, Merkel and their ilk has disappeared. For a while there was a danger that one could count some Palestinian leaders within this undignified group of western leaders. But hopefully this danger has waned.
Very much as in the case of Israel, so it is in the case of the western political systems, the option of change from within the political systems is doubtful and vesting too much energy in it may be useless. But everything which is not there — churches, mosques, progressive synagogues, ashrams with a worldview, community centers, social networks and the world of nongovernmental organizations — indicate the existence of an alternative.
A relentless struggle against the ethnic cleansing of Palestine will continue outside the realm of the western corridors of power. What we learned from Egypt and Tunisia, even if we are not sure what would be the endgame there, is that struggles outside corridors of power do not wait for leaders, well-oiled organizations and people who speak in other people's names.
If you are part of that struggle be counted today and do what you can regardless of the unfortunate Obamafication of our world.
Ilan Pappe is Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter. His most recent book is Out of the Frame: The Struggle for Academic Freedom in Israel(Pluto Press, 2010).
Not really
Permalink boxthejack replied on
Pappe says: "the creation of a small Palestinian bantustan in the spaces in between was the essence of Obama's real vision for peace."
Obama says (to Andrew Marr): "you're going to have two states side by side."
You can't have a little archipelago of Palestinian territory?
"No. You're going to have two states. And the basis for negotiations will involve looking at the 1967 border."
I too am not exactly expectant, but I think Obama's treading the tight-rope between Zionist accommodation and electoral destruction in such a way as to give optimists hope. The proof of the pudding will of course be in the eating.
Is "Ethnic Cleansing" an inflammatory use of language?
Permalink D Spencer replied on
It does not seem like "Ethnic Cleansing" is the appropriate word. No one is diminishing the plight of the Palestinians. But when Kuwait expelled 500,000 palestinians in one week, this is ethnic cleansing correct? But otherwise, I do not see how the word can be used if the Palestinian population is increasing, and they do not all dissapear in matter of days? I am just worried that inflammatory language, on all side of this issue, will make things worse. To make this fair, I don't think Israelis should use inflammatory language either to rile people up.
Permalink boxthejack replied on
...for the Jewish state to be both Jewish and claim to be democratic it required a Jewish majority in a land with a non-Jewish majority. Pappe's work, especially 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine', shows convincingly (I think) that this was secured as part of a systematic and deliberate process of dispossession, which persists today.
You are right insomuch as there was no Armenian/Syriac-style 'flushing out' of 99.9% of the population, but that would have been conspicuous.
Ethnic Cleansing
Permalink Froy replied on
Over 700.000 Palestinians out of a total population of around one million were expelled from their homes. I'd call that a pretty thorough ethnic cleansing.
" For a while there was a
Permalink D.Ali replied on
" For a while there was a danger that one could count some Palestinian leaders within this undignified group of western leaders. But hopefully this danger has waned."
As a Palestinian, I'm not so sure about the second part.
Shoes and the Telly
Permalink Arun Varma replied on
I wouldn't subject my poor telly to such abuse....that's the only way I get to watch the cricket. As for that limpid lickspittle of an emperor.... I'm having a quiet drink, I would like to keep it that way
Permalink Omar replied on
Dr. Pappe is, as usual, correct in his assessments. To see a shameful Obama groveling in front of AIPAC and kowtowing to Netanyahu was no less than embarrassing to watch.
How is it that the corrupt, inept PA has managed to regain its legitimacy merely a few months after the release of the Palestine Papers, which exposed what most of us have known for a long time?
My fear is that the Hamas/Fatah reconciliation will ultimately turn Hamas into another PA. Like Arafat and the PLO more than 20 years ago, Hamas now craves international legitimacy. My worry is that this legitimacy, if they indeed gain it, will not translate to legitimacy of the Palestinian cause.
Pressure is the only way to change the power paradigm of the conflict. Dr. Pappe is correct: the only way to resolve the conflict in a just and sustainable manner is to circumvent this power. That is why the BDS is vital. It took many, many years for the BDS movement to take effect in South Africa, but today the rise of social media can help expedite the BDS movement for Palestine.
We now have a clear position by the US and Israel: "no" to the 1967 borders. This should encourage us to abandon the charade of the two state partition once and for all and centralize a movement that is rights-based.
The question is how do we, supporters of one democratic state for all people on the land, better organize and develop a coherent strategy that garners mainstream attention?
How to get there?
Permalink David Sevilla replied on
Once I heard an old activist tell us how she asked César Chávez once what was the path to her group's goals and he answered: "one person at a time". Reach out, talk to others, organize discussions. Go to the root of the problems, criticize your own opinions, be open to listening. Egypt got rid of its dictator with only 10% of its population demonstrating in the streets, let's work on it. Let's get moving.
shoe at T.V.
Permalink judy neunuebel replied on
Thank you for those words. We will continue to fight.
Judy Neunuebel
Permalink ANTHONY JOSEPH GEHA YUJA replied on
Kudos to Dr. Ilan Pappe for this splendid article and for his refreshing morality which are at variance with the moral corruption an hypocrisy of most western politicians including the latest addition Barak Obama, PUPPET AND LIAR IN CHIEF in the service of this callous and predatory NEW WORLD ORDER!
Sticking to the CHAIR
Permalink Nahla Assali replied on
I wish we see one US president stand to his principles( if he has any) and forget about a second term. This is the only way to get free_as we all want_ from the shackles of Israel.
Ethnic Cleansing and US Complicity
Permalink T. Ray replied on
Dr. Pappe's book precisely defined "ethnic cleaning" and its status as a crime against humanity, the most despicable of all types of crimes against human rights. He provided the historically precise definition as the deliberate removal of a people from their land and replacement of them by another people. That is the essence of the Nakba: European Zionist soldiers, trained by the British Army and armed by the US Army, entered Palestine pursuant to a plan developed in advance to carry out precisely this crime against the Palestinian people, who lived in their own homes, on their own lands, where they had lived for centuries and to which they held legal deeds. Those who resisted were murdered - men, women, and children. Elderly persons died on the forced exit and pregnant women miscarried. Entire villages and towns were eliminated by massacre. 750,000 persons were forced out; none left voluntarily. If armed invaders occupied the next town over from the town where I live, a few miles from mine, on an undeniable Blitzkrieg path to take the entire region, my quick departure would be a forced exit. The Arab nations of the Middle East have sizable populations of Palestinians who were driven out by the Zionists. In Lebanon, they still live crowded into the refugee camps where no one would ever choose to live. The behavior of the European Zionist Jews is chillingly similar to the behavior of the German Nazis and the Serbs of both Bosnia and Serbia. Anyone who uses euphemisms in describing crimes against humanity should be immediately and abruptly confronted. Dr. Pappe, a Jewish gentleman and a most scholarly historian who used to teach at Haifa University in Israel, now teaches in Britain. In the "democracy" called "Israel," he was accused of disloyalty for exposing the standard Zionist propaganda version of the history of Israel and telling the real truth. He deserves the admiration of all of humanity. All intelligent Americans admire the priceless contributions that our Jewish citizens have made to the development of our society. I thank God for those who are courageous enough to speak against our nation's continuing policy of complicity in and sponsorship of the crimes of Israel. There are real risks involved, and some have suffered professionally as the result of retaliation by persons in positions of authority. There is absolutely no excuse for non-Jews who are too cowardly to speak truth to power.
Obama? Oh bummer!
Permalink Dan Hadan replied on
Those Palestinian protesters Qalandiya checkpoint rightfully call a Obama to be a hypocrite. It suffices to remember Obama's duplicitous "A New Beginning" speech, at Cairo University of June 4, 2009, in which Obama stated "expanding settlements must stop!"--a Wikileaks cable has revealed that at the time of Obabma's speech Israel already had 'secret accord' with U.S. over "expanding settlements." (Cf. cablesearch dot org, enter 09PARIS827 in the search request, et voilà: "MFA Middle East Director (Assistant Secretary-equivalent) Patrice Paoli informed POL Minister Counselor June 18 that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told French officials in Paris June 15 that the Israelis have a "secret accord" with the USG to continue the "natural growth" of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.").
Likewise Obama's backing a resolution on a nuclear-free Middle East at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, held in NYC in May, 2101, was a mere deception because, again, Israel already had a "secret nuclear project with U.S." (cf. Go to Haaretz dot com and enter "Former Netanyahu aide leaked secret nuclear project with U.S." in the search.).
Obama is notorioulsy deceptive
Permalink Dan Hadan replied on
Those Palestinian protesters Qalandiya checkpoint rightfully call a Obama to be a hypocrite. It suffices to remember Obama's duplicitous "A New Beginning" speech, at Cairo University of June 4, 2009, in which Obama stated "expanding settlements must stop!"--a Wikileaks cable has revealed that at the time of Obabma's speech Israel already had "secret accord" with U.S. over expanding settlements. (Cf. "MFA Middle East Director (Assistant Secretary-equivalent) Patrice Paoli informed POL Minister Counselor June 18 that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told French officials in Paris June 15 that the Israelis have a "secret accord" with the USG to continue the "natural growth" of Israeli settlements in the West Bank." < http://cablesearch.org/cable/v...).
Likewise Obama's Secretary of State, Hillary Clinoton, backing a resolution on a nuclear-free Middle East at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, held in NYC in May, 2101, was mere deception because, again, Israel already had a "secret nuclear project with U.S." (cf. "Former Netanyahu aide leaked secret nuclear project with U.S." < http://www.haaretz.com/print-e...).
Obama and AIPAC
Permalink Vickie Mansour replied on
Dr Pappe--
I assigned this article to my AP US History class. We have had an interesting week looking at the mechanisms within Middle East foreign policy, and I thought your article showed a thorough analysis of events.
I teach in Chicago, however, most of my students are Palestinian. They've grown up cloistered in a nurturing environment. Next year, they will face the kind of racism that tears at the heart.
Thank you with helping me to equip my students with the tools to argue with strength. They will inevitably meet someone who will tell them that they do not exist...or worse. I hope they will know how to respond. But how can anyone?!


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Summer School: Applications in Biogeology–How to Use Fossils to Reconstruct the Past
This two week summer course will be held in Utrecht, The Netherlands at the Universiteit Utrecht from July 5-16, 2010.
The history of life on earth can be studied by its fossil record. In this approach, each fossil is seen as a window into evolutionary history and paleoecology. Importantly, fossils provide us with essential information about the age of the layers they are found in. Moreover they comprise our single most valuable source of information on the environment in the past. Fossils ranging from marine micro-organisms to large terrestrial vertebrates are thus used as tools to reconstruct time, evolutionary history, climate, and ancient environments. In this course several fossil groups will be discussed and their practical applications will be explored.
A general introduction on the use of fossils to reconstruct time (biostratigraphy) will be followed by lectures on marine invertebrate paleontology, micropaleontology, vertebrate paleontology and plant remains. An important part of the course will consist of hands-on exercises where you will learn how to use fossils for age determination and for environmental reconstruction. Fossil rodents are used to demonstrate how to correlate and date fossil faunas. You will investigate the evolutionary history of marine invertebrates, based on their changing morphology. Marine micro-organisms and plant remains will be employed to reconstruct ecology and environment. Finally, Mesozoic vertebrates (251-65 Ma) are used to demonstrate morphological adaptations to changing environments. The lectures and excersises will be given by staff and guests of the Department of Earth Sciences. The recreational programme will be organised by student societies and the Erasmus network.
This summer school is held under the auspices of the Graduate School of Geosciences.
For more information: http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/index.php?type=courses&code=H19 [Source NAI newsletter]


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Saturday, June 21, 2014
Euthanizing the damned
Universalism and annihilationism are competing heresies:
Friday, June 20, 2014
Discovering God's goodness
Why trust Scripture to be a true revelation and guide if God is not good in some way analogous to our best ideas of goodness?
You sacrifice not only your child but also your moral intuitions in the name of worshiping a God whose "goodness" is utterly at odds with the normal meaning of that term.
i) Walls and Olson routinely make statements like this. It's part of their stereotypical case for Arminianism. They begin with their preconception of goodness, which they self-servingly equate with the "normal" understanding of goodness. They don't cite any polling data to back up their sweeping claim. Instead, it's just a circular exercise in defining "goodness" by reference to Arminianism.
ii) But there's another flaw in their methodology. Necessary, the very existence of evil should affect our understanding of what God is prepared to do or allow. Necessarily, the kinds of evils we observe in the world or see narrated in Scripture should inform our understanding of what God is willing to do or allow.
Therefore, this topdown methodology, in which Arminians begin with pious abstractions, with their preconceived idea of what a good God would tolerate, is an artificial postulate that fails to connect with the facts on the ground. What a good God would do, permit, or prevent, is something we must learn from revelation and experience. That's something we discover, not something we intuit.
A telling omission
On his Facebook page, Jerry Walls considers it a "telling admission" that WSC doesn't include "love" in its pithy definition God:
"What is God?
God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."
--Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 4
Well, since he brings it up, here's another telling admission:
2. We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who possesses perfect and exhaustive knowledge of the past, present, and future, and who preserves, regulates, governs and directs all things so that nothing in the world happens without either his causation or permission. God is the author of good but not of evil. Yet even evil is governed by God in that God limits it and directs it to an end fitting with his overall plan and purpose.
Sins of omission
Arminians like Roger Olson place enormous stock in the distinction between God allowing an evil to occur, and God intending, causing, determining, and/or rendering it certain to occur. Let's consider two hypothetical examples to illustrate the alleged distinction:
1) I have a one-year-old child. I hold him underwater in the bathtub until he drowns.
2) I'm sitting on my chaise lounge in my backyard patio. I watch my one-year-old child fall into the swimming pool. I know he can't swim. I sit there sipping lemonade while he drowns.
i) I assume Arminians would classify (1) as murder. What about (2)?
ii) I didn't create the circumstances leading up to my one-year-old falling into the pool. I didn't anticipate his falling into the pool. I didn't push him into the pool. And I didn't cause his lungs to fill with water.
So, by Arminian logic, I didn't murder him. Indeed, by Arminian logic, I'm not even culpable for his death.
iii) Some philosophers would say that by my failure to interrupt that chain-of-events, I did cause his death.
But even if I didn't technically cause his death, how is that distinction exculpatory?
iv) It could also be argued that by my failure to interrupt that chain-of-events, I rendered the fatal outcome certain. All I had to do was do nothing to ensure the outcome.
v) But suppose it wasn't quite a sure thing. Suppose there was a chance my one-year-old would find a way to climb out at the last minute. If I wait and see whether or not he will drown, does that let me off the hook, so long as his drowning was not inevitable?
vi) Since his death by drowning is a foreseeable consequence of my inaction, did I not intend the outcome?
vii) Keep in mind that in a classical Arminian model of divine creation and providence, God is far more involved than (2). So (2) is a limiting case.
Opinion: The U.S. Shouldn't Choose Sides Iraq
We don't know how things are going to develop in Iraq. But I think this sort of thing needs to be said early and said often:
Rand Paul, from this morning's WSJ:
Rand Paul, from this morning's WSJ:
Though many claim the mantle of Ronald Reagan on foreign policy, too few look at how he really conducted it. The Iraq war is one of the best examples of where we went wrong because we ignored that.
Did God will sin?
There are some scrupulous Christians who think the very effort to develop a theodicy is unseemly or even blasphemous. To justify the existence of sin makes evil disguised good. And it makes God complicit in sin. By the same token, freewill theists wax indigent when Calvinists say there's a qualified sense in which God willed sin.
Now imagine if Adam never fell. Imagine if Lucifer never fell. Imagine having a scholastic debate about whether God would allow evil into our morally pristine, unfallen world. The same people who revile theodicies, the same people who revile Calvinism, would consider it unthinkable, indeed sacrilegious, to suppose a holy God would ever permit evil to exist. God is too pure to allow impurity to sully his world. They'd carry on like Abdiel lecturing Lucifer in Paradise Lost. We'd be regaled with inspiring speeches.
But, of course, that train already left the station. So freewill theists can't fall back on a priori arguments about how a holy God would never let evil happen. For we confront the a posteriori reality of evil everyday.
Hence, every Christian philosopher and theologian must begin with that unsavory starting-point. Every Christian philosopher and theologian must take that as a given. We commence with the factuality of evil, and work back from there. Indeed, evil is a presupposition of Christianity. Like it or not, you can't avoid saying that, in some sense, God willed sin. It's too late in the game to shout "Sacrilege!" "Blasphemy!" The very existence of moral evil means God has taken certain theological options off the table. We must deal with what's left. Seek the wisdom in what is–or will be. Not what might have been.
Arminian limited atonement
You might think the title of my post is oxymoronic. Surely "Arminian limited atonement" is a contradiction in terms. Surely unlimited atonement is both an Arminian essential as well as a position that differentiates Arminianism from the dreaded Calvinism.
But that depends. Depends on what else an Arminian might like to include in the package. Suppose you're an Arminian annihilationist (e.g. I. H. Marshall, Randal Rauser, Scot McKnight, Clark Pinnock). Well, in that event, maybe something has got to give. Maybe you need to relinquish unlimited atonement to make room for annihilationism. Does conditional immortality logically commit the annihilationist to limited atonement? Case in point:
Glenn Peoples
Hi Scot. Thanks so much for your interest in this project!
The second argument is not quite as stated here. The argument is that all the dominant views on the atonement - and certainly those that are taken seriously by Evangelicals - involve some type of substitution or exchange.
So Jesus stood in for others in some way (e.g. as a penal substitute, or a ransom in the stead of the captives). But in standing in for those who are saved through him, what did Jesus do?
The answer is that he died. That presents us with a vivid picture of what would come to all humanity were it not for the saving intervention of the one who stood in our place. Our lot would be death - like the death that Jesus suffered for us. The death of Christ makes best sense if the wages of sin is literally death. And so that is what will in fact finally come to those who are not saved through Christ.
Glenn Peoples
Scot, It's conditionalism in the sense that it posits the fate of sinners as death. So they don't receive life. If they reject the cross, then nobody has stood in their place, and so they will receive the death that sin brings about. However, those who embrace the cross have someone who stood in their place: Christ. He took our death upon himself, so that it is no longer our fate. As We say in the liturgical churches: Dying, you destroyed our death. Rising, you restored our life. Jesus' death shows us, to put it bluntly, what hell is like.
As it turns out, some traditionalists - especially those who believe in penal substitution - have realised this implication. They see that if Jesus took the place of sinners, and Jesus literally *died*, then annihilationism / conditionalism is helped, for it presents the fate of sinners as literal death. Those traditionalists respond, not by embracing conditionalism, but, alarmingly, but denying that Jesus' death atones for sin, claiming instead that Jesus endured the spiritual wrath of God on the cross prior to his death.
So receiving immortality is conditional on having Christ die for us (or, if that sounds too Calvinistic: it depends on having that death appropriated to us). Otherwise we would receive the death that he died.
From the grads
It's that time of the year again. Graduation season is upon us. From high school to college or university and grad school, etc. I trust I echo the deepest sentiments of our most recent graduates when I say:
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Is it evil to decree evil?
One of the stock objections to Calvinism goes like this: If it's wrong to do wrong, then it's wrong to cause or determine someone else to do wrong.
No doubt this has a certain facile appeal. It seems to be logical. But is it really? One way to test naive intuitions is to consider counterexamples.
i) Suppose a motorist is driving along a lonely backroad. Suddenly a 10-year-old boy emerges from the tall grass, waving his hands.
The motorist stops. The boy explains breathlessly that he and his little brother were playing in the field when his brother fell into an abandoned mine shaft.
Normally, the motorist would park his car on the shoulder and check it out. It's his duty to render assistance in that situation.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the motorist hesitates, then drives away, leaving the frantic boy behind. He feels guilty.
Unbeknownst to him, this was a trap. The father uses his son to waylay unsuspecting drivers. When they follow the boy into the field, the father emerges from the tall grass, shoots them in the back, and steals their wallet.
On this occasion, God suppressed the motorist's altruistic urge. Although the motorist did wrong by failing to heed his conscience, this saved his life.
ii) Let's consider a variant on the same story. A motorist is driving along a deserted road a night. Up ahead he sees a woman by the side of the road. The hood of her car is raised.
He knows he has a moral obligation to come to the aid of a vulnerable woman, yet from some inexplicable reason he continues driving.
As it turns out, this was a trap. The woman is the girlfriend of a sociopath. Her sicko, psycho boyfriend hides in the backseat while she plays the stranded motorist and flags down well-meaning drivers. When a good Samaritan tries to help her out, the boyfriend emerges from the car, kneecaps the good Samaritan, tosses him in the trunk, drives to their lair, and proceeds to vivisect his latest victim.
On this occasion, God suppressed the motorist's altruistic urge. Although the motorist did wrong by disregarding his sense of duty, this saved his life.
iii) Perhaps a freewill theist would say that because God caused or determined the motorist to ignore his conscience, the motorist didn't do wrong. Didn't sin.
But in that event, in what sense did God make him do wrong? And if (ex hypothesi) the motorist didn't sin–because God determined his inaction–then in what sense did God do wrong by determining his inaction?
Doesn't the original objection generate a dilemma for the objector?
iv) A freewill theist might object that these are unrealistic scenarios.
a) That's generally true, although I'd venture to say there must be real-life situations in which a Christian was subconsciously dissuaded from taking a particular action by God because God was protecting him from harm. I expect some Christians have discovered, in hindsight, that God intervened to protect them, even though they were unaware of the fact at the time.
b) A fixture of philosophical analysis is to consider counterexamples. This isn't just an intellectual game. Philosophers want to produce generalizations. The way to test a generalization is to consider counterexamples. If there are exceptions, then does the principle still hold true? This is important in ethics.
v) But let's consider a more realistic scenario. Suppose predestination is true. Historically, many people died in childhood. That's still the case in the Third World.
Some children die of neglect. They had neglectful parents or guardians. Some died in orphanages.
I'm sure the cumulative number of neglect fatalities is high. If it's wrong to cause a child to die of neglect, is it wrong to cause someone to cause a child to die of neglect?
Normally, we'd say that's true. But aren't we making tacit assumptions about how the child would turn out had he grown up?
Odds are, some children who died of neglect would become violent criminals if they survived. Of course, you and I aren't privy to those counterfactual outcomes. But we're considering this from a divine perspective.
If God causes or determines a parent or guardian to cause a child in their care to die of neglect–a child who, had he survived, would grow up to be a serial killer–did God do wrong by causing (or determining) the parent or guardian to do wrong?
Although it may seem counterintuitive to say so, in this situation, God is inculpable for causing a second party to do something culpable.
vi) A freewill theist might object that even if it wasn't wrong for God to do that, this won't suffice for other situations which lack those mitigating circumstances. But even if that's the case, I'm probing the question of whether, in principle, it is intrinsically wrong for God to cause or determine a human to do wrong. If there are exceptions, then a freewill theist can't object to Calvinism on those grounds as a matter of principle. He must downshift to a case-by-case analysis.
vii) Apropos (vi), according to skeptical theism, there may often be extenuating circumstances which mitigate an apparently gratuitous evil, but we're in the dark. Moreover, freewill theists resort to skeptical theism when they posit that God always has some morally sufficient reason for permitting horrendous evil, even if we can't imagine what the reason might be. So it's not as if the Calvinist is guilty of special pleading at this point. Or if he is, the freewill theist is equally guilty.
Pinning Walls to the wall
I'm going to comment on some statements Arminian philosopher Jerry Walls recently made on his Facebook page:
Jerry Walls Maul, I added the word severely the very first time to preclude the sort of counterexample you give about gum. I'm also inclined to think that scenarios like the one you construct have no plausibility for God, who is not beset with the sort of limitations faced by the father in your scenario.
That's an odd comment. As an Arminian (with strong open theist sympathies to boot), Walls most definite thinks God is beset with severe limitations regarding what he can cajole humans into doing. So isn't he creating a dilemma for himself? If he downplays divine limitations vis-a-vis human free agents, then it's harder for him to draw an invidious contrast between Reformed theism and freewill theism. If, on the other hand, he stresses divine limitations, then he plays into Maul's counterexample.
Jerry Walls Okay, this could go on all day. Time will indeed tell. I agree that Calvinists have had few philosophically sophisticated adherents. And after they have made their case, I may have write another book down the road. And as for exegesis, well, Calvinism is overwhelmingly a minority position in the church at large. That hardly settles the matter but it is question begging to say you have the edge, (even hands down) in view of that fact. Not to mention that many of the best of today (NT Wright, Witherington, Joel Green, Craig Keener) do not support Calvinism.
It's funny what people say, including smart people like Walls, when their back is pinned to the wall.
Walls is a Wesleyan-Arminian with one foot in open theism. That's a subset of a subset of a subset of a subset.
Arminianism didn't even exist until the 17C. Wesleyan Arminianism didn't exist until the 18C. And open theism didn't exist until the late 20C.
Most professing Christians are either Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. Within Protestantism, you have Lutheran opponents of Arminianism as well as Calvinist.
By historical indices, isn't Jerry's Wesleyan-Arminianism-cum-open theism overwhelmingly a minority position in the church-at-large?
Also, many of the best Protestant Bible scholars reject Calvinism because they agree with Wesley's starting-point: whatever the Bible means, it can't mean that!
Their moral intuition is choo-choo pulling the caboose of Scripture.
Moreover, Arminians in academia (unlike Internet apologists) increasingly disregard whatever they find offensive in Scripture.
Jerry Walls Maul: to be clear, my internal critique is twofold: 1) Calvinists, particularly popular writers, often trade on libertarian freedom by saying things that do not make sense on compatibilist assumptions. So one critique is to push for more consistency on that score. 2) Calvinists often say things about God's love for all people that are inconsistent with their theology. Again, my point is to push for more consistency and encourage Calvinists to admit that on their view God does not love all people, or certainly not in the sense of doing all he can to promote their true flourishing, ie save them.
i) Of course, we'd expect popular writers to be philosophically unsophisticated. Is Austin Fischer philosophically astute?
ii) On the second point, this is part of Jerry's schtick. He acts as if these Calvinists are deliberately mendacious. Lowballing Calvinism to dupe the unsuspecting and sell the product.
It doesn't even seem to occur to him that for Calvinists like Piper, this is a case of theological paradox. On the one hand, they think Scripture teaches reprobation. On the other hand, they think there's a sense in which God loves the reprobate. They sincerely believe Scripture teaches both propositions.
They're perfectly aware of the apparent tension between these two claims, but out of fidelity to their understanding of Scripture, they accept the paradox.
It's not unusual for Christians, including philosophers and theologians, to accept paradoxical doctrines. For instance, some Arminians admit the metaphysical tension between God's foreknowledge and man's libertarian freedom. They defer to mystery at that point.
iii) In addition, if we take the position that God can only instantiate one possible world, then it's not hard to see how God might love the reprobate even though he damns them. Yes, he could save them, but each possible world has tradeoffs.
I'm not saying that's the correct explanation. I incline to a different position. But many Christian philosophers and theologians assume that God can only instantiate one possible world. If that's the case, then, in fact, God could regret the fate of the reprobate. But that's the price of certain otherwise unobtainable goods.
Ironically, freewill theists like W. L. Craig make similar arguments.
Can Jerry prove that God is able to instantiate multiple alternate possibilities?
Jerry Walls And there's really nothing complicated about the universalism question as it relates to Calvinism. Sophisticated Calvinists are moving in that direction because otherwise Calvinism is morally indefensible. But universalism is NOT historic Calvinism and to embrace it is to give up historic Calvinism.
This is going to be fun:
And there's really nothing complicated about the annihilationism question as it relates to Arminianism. Sophisticated Arminians (e.g. Clark Pinnock, Randal Rauser, I. H. Marshall, Scot McKnight) are moving in that direction because otherwise Arminianism is morally indefensible. But annihilationism is NOT historic Arminianism and to embrace it is to give up historic Arminianism.
And there's really nothing complicated about the postmortem salvation question as it relates to Arminians. Sophisticated Arminians (e.g. Jerry Walls) are moving in that direction because otherwise Arminianism is morally indefensible. But postmortem salvation is NOT historic Arminianism and to embrace it is to give up historic Arminianism.
And there's really nothing complicated about the open theism question as it relates to Arminianism. Sophisticated Arminians (e.g. Clark Pinnock, Roger Olson, Jerry Walls) are moving in that direction because otherwise Arminianism is morally indefensible. But open theism is NOT historic Arminianism and to embrace it is to give up historic Arminianism.
And there's really nothing complicated about the fallibility of Scripture question as it relates to Arminianism. Sophisticated Arminians (e.g. Randal Rauser, Roger Olson, Bill Arnold) are moving in that direction because otherwise Arminianism is morally indefensible. But the fallibility of Scripture is NOT historic Arminianism and to embrace it is to give up historic Arminianism.
And there's really nothing complicated about the New Perspective on Paul question as it relates to Arminianism. Sophisticated Arminians (e.g. Brian Abasciano) are moving in that direction because otherwise Arminianism is morally indefensible. But the New Perspective on Paul is NOT historic Arminianism and to embrace it is to give up historic Arminianism.
Jerry Walls Well, if you want something authoritative and detailed, see Brian Abasciano's commentary on Romans 9. Or NT Wright or Ben Witherington's commentaries on Romans.
In the past I've interacted with Abasciano and Witherington. But for now, what about Jerry's facile appeal to Wright?
To my knowledge, Wright views Calvinists, Arminians, and Lutherans as different sides of the same flawed paradigm. The NPP rejects the soteriological, going-to-heaven-when-you-die conception of the Gospel.
Assuming (ex hypothesi) that Wright's interpretation of Rom 9 is correct, that doesn't just falsify Calvinism–it falsifies traditional Arminianism. The NPP rejects the way in which traditional Protestant theology frames the issue. It's giving the wrong answer because it's asking the wrong question.
Jerry Walls Necessarily if S loves S*, S would not determine S* to do wrong action A and then punish him,let alone severely, for doing A. Any punishment remotely like damnation would be severe. Basic intuitions can hardly be proven most of the time.
Walls is such a sloppy philosopher. Admittedly, this is only Facebook, but where does he ever do better?
His opening sentence contains several distinct propositions that need to be disambiguated and evaluated separately:
i) Is it wrong for S to determine S* to do a wrong action?
ii) Is it wrong for S to punish S* for doing a wrong action that S determined S* to do?
iii) Is it wrong for S to severely punish S* for doing a wrong action that S determined S* to do?
What's the relationship between (i) and (ii)? Does the (alleged) wrongness of (ii) presuppose the (alleged) wrongness of (i)? Does the (alleged) wrongness of (ii) compound the (alleged) wrongness of (i)?
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Title: Mister WONDERFull
Series Name: Wonder Love Duet
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release date: April 28, 2017
Cover Artist: Michael James Canales
I lost the one woman I loved. After her death, I dedicated my life to giving women pleasure and making them feel adored. I thought I could never love again.
Until Tara.
But Tara told the world about my secret identity and I can't be who I want to be, and I can't do what I want to do. Now, Tara is the only woman my body wants, but she is the woman who destroyed my carefully crafted world. How can I trust her? And if I can't trust her, how can I let myself love again?


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By Faith Kearns Government, Notes from the Field, Science, Science & Medicine
Drought has gripped much of the western U.S. this year, with a particular stranglehold in California. In 2014, the majority of the state was classified as experiencing "extreme" to "exceptional" drought. Even recent large storms, while welcome, have not made much of a dent in the state's water deficit after several hot, dry years. This drought, ongoing for three years and counting, presents several complex, important issues:
- Reliance on Snowpack: California's current water infrastructure depends largely on snowpack. But this dependency will pose significant challenges in the future. Unlike the majority of the U.S., California has a Mediterranean climate with wet winters and dry summers. It uses the Sierra mountains as a natural reservoir: The snow gathers there during the wet season and continually melts during the warmer months, supplying much of the state with water during the summers. If there isn't an adequate amount of snowpack, water storage and delivery will become huge issues. Even with recent rains, many of the reservoirs continue to hover at low levels.
- Climate Variability: We are learning more about California's climate from paleoclimate research (the study of past climates). For example, Lynn Ingram at the University of California, Berkeley found that the state previously experienced periods of prolonged drought. Professor Ingram's research suggests that we may be entering another period of dryness, the likes of which has not been seen in at least 500 years. Her research also shows that some portions of the state have undergone droughts that lasted decades. In fact, the last 150 years or so have likely been some of the wettest in California's history. And it's in that time period that most of our large dams (and other water infrastructure) was built. More recently, scientists Daniel Griffin and Kevin Anchukaitis used soil moisture to measure drought. They found the 2011-2014 period to be the driest on record in about 1200 years. These paleoclimate studies are helping us understand California's highly variable climate, which can help guide water management efforts. Predicting how long this drought will last, however, remains a challenge.
- Climate Change: In addition to climate variability, all signs indicate that global climate change is exacerbating the drought. While it's difficult to tease out cause and effect, we do know that we are seeing less snow in the mountains and less fog in the Central Valley. We are also seeing fewer big winter storms, which we rely on for our year-round water supply. In addition, 2014 is almost certain to go down as California's hottest on record, complicating the already dry conditions. For example, Griffin and Anchukaita (cited above) found that California's reduced precipitation has been compounded by increased temperatures.
- Groundwater Usage: In 2014, the agricultural community relied quite heavily on groundwater to get through the drought. They turned to groundwater because surface water allocations were greatly reduced. Many farmers pumped groundwater from old wells, dug their wells deeper, or created new wells. Research from UC Davis estimated agricultural economic losses due to the drought to be around $2 billion. These losses would have been much, much higher without groundwater. A long-term look at groundwater depletion led by Jay Famiglietti, a scientist at the University of California, Irvine and NASA, found that high levels of long-term groundwater depletion has caused land to sink in agriculturally intensive areas, such as the Central Valley. Homeowners in these areas have seen their residential wells run dry. Unable to afford digging deeper, they've replaced well water with trucked in or bottled water.
- Effects on People and Animals: Not only is California the most populous state in the U.S., it's also home to Central Valley, a major supplier of the world's food. Both city-dwellers and farmers are trying to find ways to conserve. Farmers continue to work on more efficient methods of irrigation, and urban residents are being encouraged to reduce the amount water used on landscaping, which typically accounts for 50% or more of household water usage. In addition, some areas of the state where people have been the hardest hit are also the poorest, creating cumulative stressors and threatening livelihoods. Furthermore, wildlife and ecosystems have been severely impacted by the drought. For example, the endemic Coho salmon is on the brink of extinction and tricolored blackbirds have just been listed as an endangered species.
How can California even start to cope with its drought? How can it become resilient to future droughts in an arid climate? The oft-repeated phrase that crisis is an opportunity has a ring of truth to it. Although the issues are complex, there have been some achievements: This year has seen quite a bit of movement—political and otherwise—toward developing more resilient water supplies.
- Groundwater Legislation: Earlier this year, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation mandating "sustainable groundwater management," though the law leaves local entities to define that idea further. While some local agencies have been managing groundwater at a regional level for some time, this will be the first coordinated, statewide effort. However, even in groundwater basins that the state has deemed high- or medium-priority areas, it will take time to establish the agencies responsible for groundwater management. They will then have until 2020 or 2022 to develop a groundwater sustainability plan, and the plan will just be the beginning of the management process.
- Spending on Water Projects: This November, Californians voted to pass a $7.5 billion water bond that will fund a variety of projects. Over a third of that bond has been allocated for water storage. The specifics of the bond spending were left quite vague. The law notes only that the funds will go to a mixture of surface storage (e.g., dams) and groundwater storage (e.g., managed aquifer recharge). Like the groundwater legislation, the water bond projects may take years—even decades—to be implemented. Research and community input will be needed to understand which projects make the most sense and to decide where they should go.
- Water Independence: Over the last decade, particularly in southern California, there has been a growing focus on "water independence." Instead of relying on water transfers from wetter parts of the state, major urban centers such as Los Angeles and San Diego have worked to invest in water that can be supplied locally. Los Angeles, for example, is rethinking how to use storm water. The water that used to clog up the drainage system during large storms is now considered a resource, harnessed through the use of permeable pavements and rain gardens, which help to recharge groundwater after a storm.
- Adapting to Variable Water Supply: Due to the growing recognition of how variable our climate is, researchers, growers, and communities are looking toward more resilient approaches to managing water. For example, the state has developed an adaptation strategy for water, which stresses the importance of efficiency in the urban and agricultural sectors, advances the concept of integrated regional water management, and focuses on improving water and flood management systems.
- Community Awareness and Support: People are banding together to support each other through this drought. The state's universities have been holding workshops and offering training opportunities for communities hit hard by drought, agriculture and ranching. People are starting to realize the scale of change necessary and are joining together in non-traditional alliances. Journalist Brett Walton noted that the success of a water recycling effort in Southern California over the last 20 years was not just a technological feat, but a testament to human partnership.
The million dollar question now is how wet 2015 will be. Most predictions are pretty dire. There were hopes that the El Nino weather pattern might pull us out of the drought, but they seem to be fading. Even in the midst of a series of storms, state water managers note that we would need 150 percent of our average precipitation to recover from the drought. Long-range weather predictions are notoriously tricky. Although we hope for rain, we are actively planning for another dry year, as we should be.


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Only one thing can be said here... Welcome back Steve Whitmire, and welcome back Kermit!
Since this video was filmed yesterday, we can assume that whatever issue was going on inside The Muppets Studio has finally been resolved and we can finally see Steve back under the Frog where he belongs!
Today on The Muppet Mindset, we have a very special interview with our good friend Louis Henry Mitchell. Louis works as the Associate Design Director of Special Projects for Sesame Street. We got into contact with Louis through his thread on Muppet Central Forum discussing his close friendship with Kevin Clash (Elmo). He talks about this and much, much more in his interview, so let's get started, shall we?
Interview with Louis Henry Mitchell
By Ryan Dosier
RYAN: First off, Louis, I have to say that it's great to have you here for an interview. You hold the honor of being our first person from Sesame Workshop to be interviewed on the blog. Hopefully not our last, though!
LOUIS: It is my absolute pleasure. I like what you've done with your website and I'm grateful for the fans who keep The Muppets SO alive and well. I consider myself among the biggest of Muppet fans and we are like a Tribe at this point- especially because of the long period of time that the classic Muppets (Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, etc.) have not been in the limelight as much as we would like. Thank goodness this is changing!
RYAN: Getting started, your title in Sesame Workshop is "Design Director of Special Projects." What exactly does that job entail?
LOUIS: The actual title is Associate Design Director of Special Projects. The reason it is so non-descript is because over the years I have done SO many different projects beyond my original job title of Character Designer, and then Senior Character Designer, that they didn't know what to call me when they wanted to promote me. What I do is review product- primarily from Universal Studios, Japan, but I also look at other products- domestic and international- when the other designers need a hand and I am not too busy. I look at reflective artwork, sculpture and plush items. I have art directed walk-around costumes (like the ones at Sesame Place and the Sesame Live shows) and I design and co-sculpt the Sesame Street balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (one of my favorite parts of the job!!). I didn't do the last balloon, Abby Cadabby, because a dear friend of mine and co-worker, Janis Beauchamp, was doing practically all of the work on Abby and I thought it was only fair that she designed the Abby balloon for Macy's. She had done the Kermit balloon when she worked at Henson so I knew I could assign Abby's balloon to her and it would come out great. I also designed the Sesame Street 35th Anniversary float- the one featuring the most famous Brownstone building in the world in an exploded perspective. That was a particularly challenging assignment that turned out great in the end. Director of still photography- which includes designing all the new DVD covers- is another one of my hats. Whenever you see Sesame Street Muppets in a still photo the odds are it is one of my shots. Another hat is as storyboard artist for Sesame Street and its video outreach programs- which includes influencing the Sesame Street AM (Anything Muppet) assembly for particular characters. The only Sesame Street Muppet I actually assisted in designing is Kami, the South African HIV Positive Muppet- another challenging story that ended very well- I hope to do a second interview with you so I can tell some of these stories!! I do SO many other things like realistically drawn gift portraits of employees and agents, etc., with their favorite Sesame Street Muppets to thank them for their service or to say bon voyage if they are leaving us. When our President and CEO, Gary Knell, made 5 years as our leader I was asked to draw him with Snuffy- I did a full color illustration of Gary as a knight in shining armor riding Snuffy as he was bucking backwards. It was SO fun to do. There are other things I do- all kinds of special projects like designing the Adler Planetarium Full-Dome show which also had a Chinese version I had to design almost from scratch… Our new version of The Electric Company needed illustrated versions of the human cast for children's books and graphic novels and I did those designs… I help train artists all over the world to create art for Sesame Street… I create original artwork myself for licensing and merchandising… it goes on and on and I have to admit… it is nothing but FUN!!! I haven't "worked" in years!
RYAN: When and how did you get involved/hired at Sesame Workshop?
LOUIS: To be honest it started back in 1966- when I was 6 years old. I saw The Muppets on The Ed Sullivan Show when one night Jim Henson came out and still had a Muppet on his hand- even though I didn't know who he really was it was THEN that I realized that a MAN was doing the Muppets. When you're a kid you don't usually think about how puppet shows and cartoons are done. You just enjoy them. Jim Henson changed my life when he revealed himself as the puppeteer behind my favorite puppets. Then 3 years later I saw "The Muppets on Puppets" on PBS. Because of the music and performance I just went NUTS- a whole WONDERWORLD opened up for me then and I started drawing more and writing stories- even snuck into the basement to teach myself how to play the piano so I could write music for my stories! (And I was FIERCELY afraid of that basement at 6 years old! But Jim Henson inspired me beyond that fear- all I wanted was to be creative like him!!!). Not to make this TOO long- that was when I was HOOKED and developed the desire to work for him. I wanted the Classic Muppets- but over the years he seemed to consider Sesame Street his most important work. So the dream became to work on Sesame Street. I had no idea how I was going to attain this! I just KNEW I had to find a way. Beating some serious odds and some discouragement that my Mom helped me beat with her astounding encouragement I offered my work to The Muppets and after several tries I was called in by a man named Jim Mahon (my teacher and mentor for drawing Muppets). He was the character designer and art director at that time and he pretty much hired me on the spot after we met for the interview. That was back in 1992. In 2000 they called me while I was working as an artist for MTV and I was hired into his position. I have been promoted since then to my current position. I am very grateful to Jim Mahon!!
RYAN: I got into contact with you through your thread on Muppet Central Forum about your friendship with Kevin Clash. What can you tell us about your friendship with Kevin? What about just Kevin in general?
LOUIS: Kevin Clash is among the most beautiful and generous people I have met in my life. Part of the discouragement I received back when I was dreaming of working on Sesame Street was that they didn't hire black people at Sesame Street (from a college instructor no less)- a really horrendous lie. Being African-American I had been discouraged about becoming an artist because of my skin color but that one really hurt. I was 19 when I was told this and believed it. My Mom asked if that teacher worked at Sesame. When I said "no" she asked me why I was listening to him! Years later a day or two after I was hired as a freelancer I decided to devour All of the video I could find on Muppets at The Museum of Television and Radio, as it was known at that time. While watching "The Jim Henson Hour: The Secrets Of The Muppets" I saw, at the very end of the Muppeteer lineup, this young African-American man with Leon, the Muppet dragon. Jim Henson said his name was Kevin Clash… I had not heard of him until then- but after doing some research I realized he was one of my favorite performers!!! Elmo, Baby Sinclair, Splinter from TMNT 1 and 2… I was BLOWN AWAY!! The lie about not hiring Black people was revealed even further than me actually being hired. I wrote to Kevin telling him how proud I was of his accomplishments. I told him my story in that letter and sent it to Henson's NYC headquarters. Not long after that I got home from picking up my son from school and found a message on my phone. It was KEVIN CLASH!! He thanked me for the letter and said he wanted to meet me. He invited me to the studio but needed a couple of weeks to put it together because he had just become a father. This gave me time to create a congratulatory gift for him. I did a painting of Baby Sinclair with a word balloon saying, "Congratulations, Kevin! Now YOU'RE not the Momma!". The day I showed up at the Set of Sesame Street to meet him it was just MAGIC! When I gave him the gift he exploded with joy and ran away with it! He showed it to everyone on set and really was SO happy with it. We became instant friends and we now measure the length of our friendship by the age of his beautiful daughter who will be 17 this year. That visit to the set also presented another challenge that I will share if we do another interview but it, too, ended so well! I am REALLY pitching for a part 2 of this interview, aren't I!!!
Kevin is the reason I do storyboards for Sesame Street now. Whenever he directs an episode of Sesame Street or one of the other productions for outreach, etc., I do virtually all of his storyboards. We have a GREAT time!! One of the best parts is when he is reading the script out-loud thinking about how he wants to stage something. He will read it in character! Suddenly Elmo appears (in voice only) and I just can't get enough of that! And, yes, I have a couple of great stories to tell about working with him in part 2 of this interview (I hope, I hope!). I am trying not to be TOO LONG in this interview. I have been working with Sesame and Kevin for the whole 17 years and So much has happened! It is just WONDERFUL!!!
RYAN: What can you reveal to us about the 40th Season of Sesame Street this fall?
LOUIS: I won't reveal anything! It is part of the joy and surprise to see what we are doing without any "spoilers". It is too precious to me and I know my own joy when I read or see something we are working on for the first time! FINALLY I will keep my answer short!
RYAN: Will Ernie and Bert reappear in their puppet forms this season? Or will they stay clay?
LOUIS: "The Adventure of Bert and Ernie" is not a replacement of the classic duo- it started out as an international production but was SO well received that we decided to air it on the domestic production. I was the first art director on this production and want to just say it was our producer, the late Arlene Sherman, who not only insisted I be the art director but is the most important reason I am now director of special projects. It was such a departure from the norm and she wanted me to guide it through. It has since left my hands but I am grateful to Arlene for allowing me to get it started. She was a brilliant and gifted woman.
By the way, Jim Henson would have been the champion of experimenting with Bert and Ernie this way. He tried ALL kinds of art forms and encouraged his staff to INNOVATE everywhere they saw a genuine opportunity to evolve the Muppets!
RYAN: Are you involved at all with the exciting release of the 40th Anniversary 2-Disc DVD set coming out the same day as the season premiere?
LOUIS: I was originally to design the cover and do the photography direction. The Home Video department had an idea they wanted to try so I did not do the design or photography direction. It is going to be a fan's DREAM!!! I will not spoil this either but NO ONE who loves Sesame Street will want to miss this!!! There are special features that will absolutely BLOW EVERYONE AWAY!!!
RYAN: Who's your favorite Muppet character? Have you had the pleasure of watching them perform?
LOUIS: If you could see my office at Sesame Workshop you would NOT have to ask me who my favorite Muppet character- favorite character PERIOD- is. In my office, or "Playroom" as I like to call it- are at least 300 Cookie Monster items! I adore him!!! And it's not because he is blue or loves cookies. I aspire to be like him in one area of life- as much as he LOVES cookies he love his friends even more and would give his very last cookie away! I love what I do but I will NEVER put this before my family and friends. You don't have to step on or neglect others in pursuit of what you truly and passionately love. He represents this in such a wonderful way!
Not only have I had the pleasure of watching him being performed on set but I have seen both David Rudman, Cookie's current performer AND Frank Oz, his original performer, bring Cookie to life!! Great story about Frank Oz to tell if the opportunity presents itself. (Shameless!!) I truly am trying not to make this too long.
RYAN: You mentioned in your thread that you appear in an episode of Sesame Street this season. What can you tell us about this?
RYAN: What have been your favorite projects to work on within Sesame Workshop? I'm sure there are tons.
LOUIS: My absolutely favorite part of this is that it NEVER feels like work! At the top of the list of favorite things to do is working so closely with my friend Kevin Clash. It is just like hanging out with my brother drawing and eating the BEST food… especially when he makes his famous crabcakes!!! But we just have a great time and feed off each other in pursuit of keeping the Jim Henson legacy high up where it belongs. I am humbled by being sought after by Kevin and so many others to do my part of holding up Mr. Henson's legacy. Doing storyboards is great. Designing the Adler Planetarium Project was So great. When I saw my name spread across the dome so big and wide- there are just no words! The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons and float- the products from Japan- it is all one gigantic ball of joy and I mean it. Of course as with any business there are challenges and some disappointments but the rewards are beyond measure and MORE than male up for anything that I am challenged with. I also work with the most beautiful team of people in the Creative Services department.
A special project was when Kevin called me and asked me to do chapter illustrations for his book, "My Life As A Furry Red Monster". Then he asked me to re-design the cover and art direct the photo-shoot for it. It was a blast!
But when I read what he said to me in his acknowledgments… wow!
RYAN: Do you have a favorite episode of Sesame Street—either recent or classic? What about a favorite sketch or song?
LOUIS: On a happy note one of my favorite songs is "Rubber Duckie". I do a fair impersonation of Ernie and I sing that song often. I think you can guess my favorite Sesame Street song of ALL time, though… 'C Is For COOKIE"! I have it on my iPod!
On a sad note, my favorite episode is when Sesame Street addressed death. When Will Lee, the actor who played Mr. Hooper, died the courageous geniuses at Sesame decided to write it into the show. It is my favorite episode because of Carroll Spinney's breathtaking performance of Big Bird. You saw him go from happy and excited to confused to sad to angry… just every emotion. But you have to remember that Big Bird is built with a neutral expression in his face that does not ever change. But you still see All the emotions I just mentioned when Big Bird learns that Mr. Hooper is not ever coming back. Search this out. Go back and see what true genius is and how much love goes into producing Sesame Street- not just in this episode but in them ALL! I was not on the staff when they produced this- it was 10 years earlier from when I joined- but it is among the most precious parts of why I am honored to now be part of the Sesame family.
RYAN: What special appearances and fan "goodies" can we expect to see this season on the show?
LOUIS: Again, I won't give anything away. This is by choice because of how much fun it is to see things without warning. Just don't miss an episode!!
RYAN: Do you have good relationships with any other Muppet performers? I've always imagined Sesame Workshop as a close-knit family where everyone messes around with everyone else.
LOUIS: The performers are like… no- not like… they ARE family to each other. I enjoy being among them in the Muppet room where they all congregate while waiting to be called on set. I am one of the few non-performers allowed to leave my stuff in the Muppet room when I have to be on set. They treat me like family as well and I get to do special things for them. When Marty Robinson and Annie Evans, one of the writers, got married Kevin Clash hired me to do a wedding gift portrait for them. It was TOO fun to do. He wanted it to be a family portrait so I did a portrait of Marty and Annie along with Marty's characters Telly Monster, Slimey The Worm, Snuffy and one of the Yip Yip Martians.
Fran Brill, who does Zoe and Prairie Dawn (among others) is an email-pal of mine. She sends me the greatest stuff she finds on the internet- any unusual artwork- both Muppet and Non-Muppet related. Abby Cadabby's performer, Leslie Carerra-Rudolph is also a dear friend and fellow teacher- she is incredibly inspiring.
I have to say, though, my heart is filled SO much by Carroll Spinney! Still performing Big Bird and Oscar The Grouch from day one he is one of the sweetest and nicest people on earth! I was asked by Gary Knell to do a piece of gift art for Carroll to celebrate his 70th birthday. I illustrated Big Bird holding him in his arms saying "My Hero", and Oscar on the side in his trash can saying, "My Zero!" When Carroll won a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award I was asked to do another gift for him. I illustrated Carroll as the golden Emmy Award but when you looked at the globe he was holding it was actually Big Bird's head and the base was Oscar's garbage can lid with Oscar's eyes peeking out. Carroll Spinney is an incredible artist in his own right! He even did the portrait of Mr. Hooper that hangs in Big Bird's nest area. It was part of the episode when Mr. Hooper died. He did all the cast caricatures in the same style for that show.
Carroll told me something that I will never forget. He said I am the only other artist hanging in his home beside himself. That touched me beyond measure.
LOUIS: You know what I'm going to say, right?
There are actually SO many projects and our brilliant marketing department will make sure the public knows all about them. I just HATE spoilers. If I get another chance I will explain why.
Well… Ok- the reason why is because I was told about a scene in a movie once by a friend after I told him not to spoil it for me. He just couldn't resist and promised it would not spoil the scene. It did and I promised I would never become a Spoiler.
RYAN: What's it like to work so closely with the performers of some of the most beloved characters in television? You get to see the men and women behind Elmo, Big Bird, Oscar, Grover, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, and so much more so very much—that's like a wonderful dream for most Muppet fans, myself included.
LOUIS: Ryan, there are no words adequate enough. I pretty much answered this question earlier- but I will add this. I am a HUGE fan myself and have been since I was a young child. I am one of the people with international authority over the handling and treatment of the Sesame Street Muppets after being told I would NEVER work at Sesame Street. I had a dream that many people tried to steal from me and kill. Some of the greatest life lessons I received are attached to Jim Henson. Ignore the naysayers! Reject the dream stealers! When someone says that you can't do something it really means that THEY cannot do it! I am living BEYOND my dreams and it was because I never let go of them. I did learn that sometimes pursuing your dreams will reveal the TRUE dream deeper in you- believe it or not my dream of working on Sesame Street revealed what my TRUE dream is. I don't mean tease here but I am about to reveal what that dream is as I have been working on it for MANY years and it is about ready to launch. I promise to contact you with the link to it when the time is right.
Do not get me wrong… Working at Sesame Street is still a DREAM COME TRUE!!! But the experience is SO rewarding that it revealed to me something that will allow me to share the dream in a bigger and better way and help others fulfill their own dreams. I can at least let you know it is a type of school. I just don't want to reveal it just yet. I am almost done with the website and it will be revealed very soon! You will be among the first to know.
RYAN: Well, that's all of the questions I have. Do you have any questions for The Muppet Mindset? (Though I don't know why you would.)
LOUIS: Yes. If the response to this interview is good may I do part 2?
RYAN: I think we can DEFINITELY arrange that!
Louis, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview with us. Your stories and experiences are so incredible, and I can't wait to find out more in part 2 of our interview!
LOUIS: It is not time out of my busy schedule. I consider it part of my mission at Sesame Workshop to assist in all legitimate fan-based resources. Thank you for this great opportunity. It was really FUN!!
Another HUGE thank you to our good friend Louis Henry Mitchell for joining us for an interview today. Keep an eye on The Muppet Mindset for part 2 of our interview with Louis coming soon!
For more information on what is happening at Sesame Workshop: http://www.sesameworkshop.org


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