One week ago, President Bush claimed that he expected Donald Rumsfeld to still be in his position at the end of his presidency in January 2009. He stated that “Both men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them.” Interestingly, he said the same thing about his expectations for Dick Cheney to remain in his position both then and also in today’s press conference. Was he lying then? Is he lying now? Or did something change (an election, perhaps)?

One week ago, Kevin Federline (K-Fed, mooch, idiot, whatever you want to call him) was claiming that his marriage was “solid” and that he and Britney were focused on their family and careers. Was he lying then? Was he oblivious to the fact that his marriage was far from “solid?”Perhaps we have come to a place in society when it is acceptable (even expected?) to flat-out lie about one’s intentions and plans until the time comes when the intentions and/or plans come to fruition. This goes on all the time in church work as well (unfortunately). Even ministers seem to lie to one another about their plans (often indicating that God has or has not revealed the path for them to follow). When a minister is honest about his plans or even his struggles, he probably will not have much time left for effective ministry in his church. Let’s face it, most people don’t want honesty! They want the quick answer…How are you today? Fine or doing pretty good are the correct and expected answers. No one wants to hear that your big toe is “killing you” and that your sister is having surgery to repair cosmetic scarring from the time you accidentally hit her with a shovel in the backyard and that you are pretty sure that your cat has a urinary tract infection. You are supposed to just respond that everything is okay. We don’t want honesty… and that’s a pretty sad place to be. So, here’s my deal… you can be honest with me. I WILL listen even when I don’t want to. HONESTLY!
[tags]Donald Rumsfeld, secretary, Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, divorce, honesty, lying, Dick Cheney, ministry[/tags]

One of my favorite shows on NPR is This American Life. Hosted by the nasal-toned yet intriguing Ira Glass (second-cousin of the minimalist composer/film-scorer, Philip Glass… nice guy, by the way), the show is quite different from anything else that I have ever heard on the radio. Well, I have recently had the pleasure of discovering that they have a podcast available for free download through iTunes or through their own website and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to take my “radio” programming with me. Anyway, this year’s Halloween edition of This American Life was quite entertaining. If you listen to it for no other reason, you should listen to the very first story (less than ten minutes) as it is about a TRUE haunted house and has a TRUE explanation for its haunts! Plus… it is very entertaining!

[tags]This American Life, Ira Glass, Philip Glass, Halloween, NPR, ghost stories, haunted, carbon monoxide, podcast[/tags]