You may wonder what films we’ve been watching the last month. I got the Clint Eastwood collection for Christmas, and with some added additional Eastwood films (such as the No Name Spaghetti Westerns), worked through most of the filmography of Clint Eastwood. Clint primarily portrayed two characters, the first being the silent cowboy who shows up from nowhere and disappears into the sunset. In the meantime, he could shoot a handgun with precise accuracy and immense speed, thus terminating all opponents. His western films would be labeled revisionist, in that the good guys were the indians and the outlaws, and the bad guys were the government officials. Older westerns would have a moral theme, but revisionist westerns remain morally ambiguous. Thus, John Wayne would typically refuse to star in Eastwood’s films as an objection to the revisionist genre (although John Wayne rarely portrayed a morally pure character himself).

The other character of Clint is the quiet cop or detective who bucks authority, somehow seems to have the criminal figured out beforehand, usually has incompetent bosses and political figures telling him what to do, and Clint eventually solving the issue by working around the authority, usually terminating the criminals.

A lesser character of Clint seen is later years is the cranky old man, who knows better, but has to put up with the younger crowd. Such movies as Million Dollar Man and Gran Torino fit this category. Clint often has religious scenes, usually Catholic, many of them with him contending with the priest, or going against the advice of the priest. In a very strong way, Eastwood suggests that being mister tough guy and standing up for yourself is the most important thing in life. All of his movies, regardless of his role, portray this character and theme. Sadly, as good as many of Clint’s films are, they all fail to offer any suggestion of a higher morality or virtue. It is just another form of Nietzsche’s Übermensch. Hitler would have loved Clint’s films.

I find that except for the spaghetti westerns and Dirty Harry series, Clint’s early films are generally quite bad. There is a significant improvement in the quality of his later films, though even then a moderate number are not worth watching a second time.

These films are reviewed mostly in the order in which they were watched, which was in alphabetical order. The chronological order would have been a more natural way to watch his films, but the alphabetical order allowed for a better mix-up of Clint’s films. Because of the length of this post, it is given in three sections.

Absolute Power ★★★★★

This is one of Eastwood’s later films, and is a mishmash of the Nixon scandal mixed with the scandals of the Clinton administration.  The president is observed by a break-in artist (Clint Eastwood) in a rape/murder, which is covered up by the secret service. Realizing that he (Clint) cannot go to the police to report the crime, he then devises the means of bringing down the president. The action is fast and suspenseful, and the plot is unpredictable but a touch realistic.

Any Which Way You Can ★

Clint Eastwood is a retired prize fighter, now pursued by the syndicate to do one last fight, against his own personal will. He, his orangutan, and girl friend eventually resolve matters. This is supposed to be a comedy, but we didn’t find it to be very funny, and really didn’t have any significant plot or objective.

Bird ★

Clint Eastwood does not star in this film. It is supposed to be a biographical sketch of Charlie Parker, one of the great Jazz saxophonists of the past. The action is very slow moving, and is constantly taking chronological jumps as Charlie relives his past before committing suicide. Betsy and I were unable to endure more than 40 minutes of this film.

Blood Work ★★★★

Clint Eastwood as aging FBI officer has a massive heart attack while chasing a man and requires a heart transplant. He eventually learns that the heart came from a murder victim, whose sister is now asking Clint to solve the case. The plot is great with multiple unexpected turns until the case is solved.

Bridges of Madison County ★★

The Red Green Show once commented that the Bridges of Madison County failed as a movie since nobody was killed, and none of the bridges were blown up. There is truth to that statement. The only reason this movie received two stars is that the acting by both Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep was superb. Two middle aged people are going through the remains of their just-deceased mother, and discover that many years ago she had an affair. This affair is the main body of film, which occurred when a photographer (Clint) stops at a farmhouse asking directions to a bridge. The remainder of the family is off to the Illinois State Fair, and so she then spends the next four days in an increasing relation with him and they separate for good. Many parts of the film go so slow that we had to fast forward them. It was torture to watch this film. The message of the film unavoidably states that anything is okay as long as nobody finds out. The higher values of truth and purity are forgotten.  This is not a film worth watching.

Bronco Billy ★★

Clint Eastwood stars in Bronco Billy, the ex-convict who is now head of a roving circus cowboy show. It’s a rather lame film, with various characters getting in trouble with themselves and the law, mixed in with a somewhat spastic rich lady whose husband runs off on her, and she is left to live with the low lives of the circus until she realizes that they have something she doesn’t have with her wealth.

Changeling ★★★★★

This is the last film Clint Eastwood produced, and he does not star in the film. Supposedly, this film is based off of a true event. Angela Jolie is a single mother with a 9 yo son in 1928 Los Angeles. The son is kidnapped, leading Angela to seek for the child using the LAPD. A child is produced, which is very clearly not the son, even though the LAPD insists that it is. When Angela pushes the issue, she is committed to an insane asylum. Through the work of a Presbyterian pastor who was fighting corruption in the police system, she is released, and eventually a reasonable clue is found as to what happened to her son. This movie is unusual for Clint Eastwood, in that Eastwood’s characters are usually police that take the law in their own hands since the city and courts are incapable of that function. The roles are here reversed, where the police are found to be too aggressive. The common theme in Clint’s movies is the ultimate corruption in government, and this point is well made in this movie. It is only wishful thinking to imagine that matters aren’t any better nowadays – just different.

City Heat ★★

Burt Reynolds is a private detective, and Clint a police lieutenant, Clint rescuing Burt from various entanglements of the syndicate, in a film set within big city gangster town of the prohibition 20’s. Clint definitely proves a better actor than Burt in this otherwise very mediocre film.

Coogan’s Bluff ★★

Clint Eastwood is an Arizona cop sent to NY to return a criminal that he caught (how he got to NY wasn’t explained) to bring back to Arizona for trial. In the process, the NY police give him great grief, the criminal gets away, and Clint goes on a lengthy manhunt process independent of the NY detective agency. Clint tends to sexually attack every female that comes into his presence, which I guess makes him cool.

Beguiled ★★

Clint Eastwood is now a wounded union soldier, who ends up in a private girls school at the end of the civil war. The head mistress ends up keeping him and nursing him back to health, all the while preparing him to be picked up by confederate soldiers to be hauled off to prison to die. Meanwhile, he falls in love with a number of the girls in the school, and is caught making love to one of the older students. This leads to a series of tragedies since he was caught, ultimately leading to his demise. Poor Clint.

Dead Pool ★★★★★

Clint stars in the last of the Dirty Harry series, and this film is at his mature best. Lists of celebrities were published with wagers as to the greatest number of people who would be dead in a given span of time. Started as an innocent game, it turned bad when it was realized that somebody was individually picking off characters on the list. Dirty Harry happens to be on the list, and proceeds to eventually find the killer and terminate him. A second story line is Clint having to contend with the press, including an obnoxious female.

Dirty Harry ★★★★★

This is the first Dirty Harry film with Clint Eastwood. A sniper if knocking off people in the city of San Francisco, with a monetary ransom to have the killing stopped.  The killer and Clint interact, and then is released on legal technicalities. The killer then frames Clint for police brutality. Eventually the killer hijacks a school bus with children, only to be rescued by the ever-resourceful Dirty Harry.

Eiger Sanction could have done better on the plot, with Clint acting as a retired hitman, called back into duty to the service of his country to knock off several killers involved in an international spy ring. Strangely, Clint needs to perform this action while climbing the north face of the Eiger. Clint eventually discovers that he was deceived but comes out in the best. The most spectacular part of this film with the video of the Eiger climb, which unfortunately led to the death of a climber assisting in the filming.

Enforcer ★★★★

This is the third Dirty film. Dirty Harry is teamed up with a female that he considers incompetent in an effort by the city to make the police force more diverse. This episode, they have to fight a militant revolutionary gang, that leads them all over the city and even out to Alcatraz, Clint also having to do battle with the SF mayor, until he is required to rescue him from the gang.

Escape from Alcatraz ★★★★★

One of Clint’s better films, illustrating a breakout from Alcatraz. The head jailor is in best form, as Patrick McGoohan (Secret Agent/The Prisoner). The acting is superb, the story line is superb, the description of the very inhuman life in prison is notable, and you end up cheering for the prisoners that got away.

Every Which Way But Loose ★

This film was absolutely awful. It is a prequel/sequel to Any Which Way You Can, with Clint acting as a prize street fighter. The entire film was nothing but casual sex (not seen visually), bad language, beer drinking, indiscriminate violence, but worse of all, country-western music. Clint falls in love with a country western singer who doesn’t let on that she has no interest in him, until he’s chased her all over the country. A sick motorcycle gang, renegade policeman, and others are after Clint. Ho-hum.

Few Dollars More ★★★★

Clint Eastwood starred in a number of spaghetti westerns in the late 1960’s, this being one of them, and also included in the “Man with No Name” trilogy, which includes “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, and “Fist full of Dollars”. Here he teams up with Van Cleef as bounty hunters after the big nasty gang located along the border of the US and Mexico. Van Cleef has some awesome acting very much the equal of Clint, and a young Klaus Kinski shows up in this movie. The biggest winner in the Trilogy is the music of Ennio Morricone, who deserves an Oscar of his own for the genius of the accompanying music.

Firefox ★★★

Clint is a retired fighter pilot jock, called back from retirement to assist in the theft of a highly secretive high-tech stealth airplane of the Soviets (pre-1990). The graphics are good, the plot is suspenseful, the action is quite exciting, the acting is somewhat mediocre, and the reality of the plot is marginal, making the film a three-star. Though Clint does a better “top-gun” than Tom Cruise, between playing secret agent man, top-gun, and himself, he fails.

Fistful of Dollars ★★★★

Another of the spaghetti westerns, and the first of the No Name trilogy with music by Morricone.   Clint is a Whitey that rides into town along the Mexican border to find a feud between two clans is leading to the death of the town. By pitting the clans against each other, he manages to eliminate both clans. There is a wonderful mix of suspense and humor in this movie that makes up for an otherwise short story line.

Gauntlet ★★★★

Clint is a policeman in Phoenix sent to go up to Las Vegas in order to pick up a criminal to be delivered for testimony in court back in Phoenix. It ends up that both the police chief in Phoenix and the mob set him and his prisoner (Sondra Locke) up to be eliminated. There is much shooting and tough guy action as Clint and Sondra work their way back to Phoenix to establish real justice with the police chief. Much of the story line is not terribly believable, such as a bus driving through many streets of firearm, and Clint on a motorcycle escaping by bare centimeters firing from a sharpshooter in a helicoptor. But, things get blown up, so the movie is worth watching.

Good, Bad, and the Ugly ★★★★★

This is one of Eastwood’s best films, a spaghetti western and last of the “Man with no Name” trilogy, staged during the time of the civil war, where three gents, one being Clint, and another Van Cleef, are in search of buried gold. The tales of finding the clues to the location of the gold, the interactions of “the good, the bad, and the ugly” characters create suspense in a film that is entertaining even after watching a number of times.

Gran Torino ★★★★★

Betsy and I had low hopes at the start of this movie, thinking it was going to be just another Clint Eastwood “adoration of the fictitious self” movies. It looked like he was going to racing cars, or something of that sort. It instead turned out to be something quite other. Clint is a just widowed old man who had a heroic war past, but now sits on his porch drinking beer and smoking cigarettes and watching the neighborhood being taken over by foreigners. The next door neighbors are Hmong people. Slowly, he gets to know them, and eventually comes to their rescue by offering himself up totally for them. There are Catholic religious references throughout the film which suggests that Clint has no idea about true faith, but that doesn’t denegrate from this film, which actually suggests a moral lesson. I particularly liked the Clint character, a gnarly old man, similar to a few that I know.

Hang Em High ★★★★

Clint is a ex-lawman now rancher that was lynched and hung, only to rescued by a lawman in the Oklahoma territory. He is now out to get the nine men that lynched him, after he is re-made a lawman. Seeing much injustice in the system, including a couple of kids caught cattle rustling and hung, he finds it hard to adjust to his role in the system. He eventually gets most of the lynchers, but only after they shoot him up. The action line is very irregular, and incomplete, in that he doesn’t get all nine players. Also, there is a lengthy hanging scene where hymns were sung and the preacher active, all of which seemed to make mockery of religion, without realizing that that religion is what instilled a sense of justice to begin with.

Heartbreak Ridge ★★

Clint is an non-cooperative drill sergeant with war experience now assigned to a young group of Marines in boot camp. He establishes his presence going against authority, and eventually proves himself in the Grenada invasion. If Clint is supposed to be the Marine role model of the tough – guy, he fails miserably.

High Plains Drifter ★★★

Clint is now a no-name cowboy, that rides into a lonely town in the early west where the people refuse to defend themselves from roving gangs. An old gang is supposed to return to town, and they pay Clint to defend the town. For inexplicable reasons, he has flashbacks of a previous episode when the town allowed their sheriff to be whipped to death without lifting a finger. Clint gets even by knocking off the gang, but also by knocking off the town. Ho-hum.

Joe Kidd ★★

Just another Clint western, with him as a good-bad guy Joe Kidd, who is supposed to help a dishonest wealthy man knock off a renegade Mexican who seems to be doing nothing more than trying to honestly defend his land. Eventually Clint takes the side of the Mexican and helps knock off the rich dude and his henchmen.

Honkytonk Man ★

This is probably the worst Clint Eastwood movie of the bunch, with nothing good to say about it. Clint is a country singer in the depression 1930’s of Oklahoma. He wants to go to Nashville to sing in the grand ole Opry and takes along his nephew and uncle. On the way, he teaches his 11 yo nephew to drive, since he is too drunk to get behind the wheel. He then teaches his nephew to drink, steal, and visit whore houses. The movie has no redeeming moral lessons, and worst of all, the viewer has to be tortured with country music, even worse from Clint himself. Don’t waste your time on this film.

In the Line of Fire ★★★★

One of the late films of Clint, he is a secret service agent protecting the president. He is being tracked by an ex-CIA agent who plans on assassinating the president. In his typical role, Clint is the outsider who figures out eventually who the killer is and manages to stop the assassination by jumping in the line of fire. Though many of the elements of the movie are predictable, it does make suspense and is well filmed and acted.

Invictus ★★★★★

Clint directed but did not star in this film. The stars were Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, both of whom had superb acting. This movie was based on a real historical event, though the details I’m sure were Hollywood fictions. It is the story of Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, being released from prison and becoming president of the country, but being able to set aside the long-standing grievances of the past, using Rugby to spirit the nation into breaking down the racial divide. The movie is quite moving, and wonderfully enacted by Eastwood’s direction.

Kelly’s Heroes ★★★

This is a WWII not to be taken seriously, with many anachronistic elements, like Don Sutherland playing a 1960’s hippy. Actually, Don Sutherland was probably the funniest actor in the movie. A small group of GI’s discover that the Germans have a load of gold in a bank 30 miles across the front line. They work out an effort to retrieve this gold without their commanders knowing what was happening. The film had too many unreal aspects, such as an unorganized group simply breaking through the German offensive line, and a pile of gold sitting around practically unguarded. How they got a number of well known actors to participate in the movie is a mystery to me. It was pretty bad, but at times, funny.

Letters from Iwo Jima ★★★★

This is a story of the Iwo Jima from the viewpoint of the Japanese, and mostly from the eyes of a young kid who was a baker in Japan, but pulled away against his will to fight in the war. He remained one of the few survivors of the bloodbath. The movie was mostly in Japanese with under-titles. The filming was excellent. Clint directs but has no acting in this film. One wishes he would have cameoed himself like Alfred Hitchcock used to do.

Magnum Force ★★★★

Clint stars in the second Dirty Harry film in Magnum force. Clint is out to solve the mystery of a rash of assassinations of prime crime suspects that defy conviction. He eventually resolves that it is a group of four rookie cops led by in boss the lieutenant. There is lots of fast action and stunts making it enjoyable to watch, but is typical Dirty Harry.

Apparently this movie is based on a book relating a true story of a murder in Savannah, Georgia. Clint directs but does not show in the film – his daughter does some acting in the film. A upcoming extremely wealthy young man is convicted of murdering his employee. Much of the film takes place in the trial, where truths about the wealthy person are exploited, but eventually exonerating the man of murder save for self-defense. Many other themes are woven through the book includes a voodoo practitioner, a transvestite, wealthy society women and haute society life in Savannah. It gave one a good feel for the superficiality of life in the South, where appearances were more important than reality. I presume that unless one has read the book, the movie tends to drag a bit. The directing is superb, but many scenes did not contribute to the flow of the movie, though probably made sense in the book itself, such as the graveyard scenes. Many of Clint’s later movies are better than this one.

Million Dollar Baby ★★★

Clint runs a boxing center, and trains the pro boxers. He has a girl pestering him to have him become her trainer, which he initially refuses to do. She goes on to great success, only to have an attack from the rear by her opponent long after the bell rings, rendering her quadraplegic. She eventually gets Clint to pull the plug on her since she doesn’t wish to live. The movie has lots of slow action, and unnecessary scenes, making it drag, and a terrible moral ending that suggests that killing (euthanasia) is occasionally ok. Otherwise, it wasn’t a bad movie. The acting is superb, including that of Clint, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The movie does an excellent job of portraying the agony of one who makes decisions against his better judgment and then has to live with the consequences of those decisions.

Mystic River ★★

Three childhood friends eventually grow up and go their separate ways. One of them has a child that was murdered, another was the suspected murderer, and the last is the detective trying to solve the case. The movie begins in a very slow and confusing fashion, and we almost turned it off out of boredom. The movie does a good job of psychoanalyzing the effects of child abuse and broken relationships, yet never offers ultimate redemption for any of the characters.

Outlaw Josey Wales ★★★★★

This was a western starring Clint that is truly a decent film. Clint is a farmer in Missouri whose farm is overrun and family slain by renegade union men just after the civil war. Clint seeks justice, but finds that the Union remains deceptive and corrupt. Plus, the union now has a price on his head. Running from bounty hunters and ex-outlaw partner, he is continually placed into tight situations where he narrowly escapes, but befriended by indians and settlers who also are fighting for existence in a land without justice.

Paint Your Wagon ★★★

This is a fairly lame musical, even having to bear with Clint singing. He doesn’t do too bad. The cinematography and scene setups are awesome, but then, beaucoup bucks were spent to make this film. The scene is the Sacramento area during the gold-rush, when Clint and Lee Marvin stake out a profitable region yielding much gold. They also end up with the same wife, purchased off of some Mormons. The story leaves much to be desired. Worth watching once.

Pale Rider ★★★★

The scene is in the gold rush basin of central California, and a downstream mining company is harassing the upstream settlers to leave. Clint comes into town as a preacher man, and eventually settles matters, when the mining company decides to hire a gang of renegade sheriffs to remove Clint from the scene. All are exterminated, and Clint goes riding into the sunset. Actually, this is a rather well done film, with good acting, and a good flow of action.

Perfect World ★★★

A couple of jail breakers kidnap a young boy, Philip. Kevin Costner, one of the jail breakers, kills his partner, and then runs off with the kid. A massive police search is done, with Costner adequately evading capture while creating havoc and murders along their path. Costner is the main star, engaging in conversation with the kid, learning that he had a “deprived” childhood, since his mom was a JW and would not let the kid celebrate halloween or Christmas, etc. So, Costner endears himself to the child, painting a fantasy world to him.  Eventually, Costner is wounded by Philip, and then is cornered by the police, with Clint in charge. Costner is again shot against Clint’s instructions, and the child goes home with mommy. The worst part of this film is that it painted fantasies that children should experience or else they would be “deprived”. The kid was a good actor.

Pink Cadillac ★★★

Clint fills the bounty hunter role in the 1960‘s of seeking out a lady who skipped out on paying her bail bonds. This leads him into getting entangled with a gang of outlaw soldier of fortune dudes hiding out in the Sierras with the kidnapped child of the lady. They eventually get the baby back. The movie had much humor giving it 3 stars, but the typical worn-out Clint dodging bullets, driving recklessly, and managing an uncontrollable female all at the same time.

Play Misty for Me ★★★★★

This movie is “Fatal Attraction” before that movie ever came out. It is a suspenseful psycho-thriller of a lady who falls in love with a disc jockey, and then pursues him relentlessly to her ultimate demise. Clint is quite young at the time, and I’m told this is his first movie that he directed. He definitely ran a low budget but brilliant directing and acting created a masterpiece.

Rookie ★★★★★

While not within the Dirty Harry series, this film fits the Dirty Harry tradition, with Clint playing an aging cop, and Charlie Sheen as the rookie. In a break with Dirty Harry tradition, the rookie doesn’t get knocked off, but becomes a Clint Eastwood clone. The action is great, and Charlie does a superb job of acting his role. Clint and Charlie are cops in LA snaking out auto thieves, and stumble across a ring of thieves. At first, Charlie makes a series of rookie mistakes, but learns quickly in order to get the bad guy.

Space Cowboys ★★★

Clint becomes a space shuttle pilot in this episode. He happens to be the sole designer of a guidance system for satellites, that is now long outdated. It just happens that the Soviets stole his guidance system plans and used them in a supposed communications satellite of their own. This guidance system has gone haywire and the satellite in orbiting on a crash course with earth. For some unknown reason, the Soviets call on the US to repair their satellite. And, it happens that Clint and his three pilot buddies have a grudge with NASA being “dissed” 40 years previously. So, they train, struggle through bureaucratic baloney and finally make the flight. In space, they discover that the satellite is not a communications satellite but loaded with six nuclear rockets aimed at the US, which explains why the soviets wished to have it fixed. They finally send it to the moon, but, people die and Clint flies the space shuttle home to Florida without a scratch. The graphics were nice in this film, the the story was just to hokey to be reasonable.

Sudden Impact ★★★★★

This is the fourth Dirty Harry film. It seems like the later Dirty Harry films are better than the first. Clint is trying to solve the mystery of a series of killings, which are occurring from a lady (Sondra Locke) who was gang-raped. She is out to do justice. Eventually the killers are knocked off, and Sondra not identified as the killer except by Dirty Harry, who lets it all slide.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot ★

Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges play Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, two criminals seeking for their next heist, when old ex-partners of Clint’s enter the scene and complicate matters. They eventually stage a heist of a bank vault, find previous heist money, and only Clint ends of getting away and surviving. Not exactly a thrilling film, with even a worse message.

Tightrope ★★★★

Tightrope has Clint has a detective on the murder squad in New Orleans. He is tracking down serial rape-murders, where the murderer has a past history with Clint and thus is trying to pursue the females that come into Clint’s life. The film starts with a lot of inappropriate nudity from the rape-murder scenes, but evolves into a very intense psycho-thriller. Good acting from both Clint and Clint’s daughter Alison.

True Crime ★★★★

Clint is an aging reporter working for the newspaper in Oakland. He’s troubled by a past of heavy alcohol use, and a present life of cheating on his wife through liaisons with a coworker’s wife. Then he smells out that a black man is wrongly convicted of a murder that he didn’t do, but the execution is scheduled for 12 hours from now. In the course of 12 hours, he proceeds to solve the mystery of the killer, and save the man from execution. It is a good story line, which isn’t helped by painting the main hero (Clint) as a drunken, philandering godless man.

Two Mules for Sara ★★★

Clint is wandering through Mexico, when he runs across a nun named Sara (Shirley McClaine) who is being raped by three gringos. He frees her, then they begin a collaboration to help throw out the Mexican resistance throw the French out of Mexico. This they accomplish though with the inclusion of a number of side events, such as Clint being shot in the chest with an arrow or when Clint discovers that the nun is actually a prostitute. The movie makes for light entertainment but is not your best western.

Unforgiven ★★★★★

Outside of his No Name Trilogy, this is Clint’s best western. He is a “retired” gunman and reformed by his now dead wife. A young kid comes to his place seeking bounty money paid by a group of whores in town to seek revenge on two cowboys who cut up one of the girls. Clint, the boy, and his “partner” head off to find the two cowboys. A secondary theme is a renegade sheriff in town who tends to do more harm to innocent people than to criminals, and making law only to protect himself. Clint and the kid eventually get the two cowboys, but return to town to find that the sheriff killed the “partner” for no good reason. Clint eventually gets revenge on the sheriff, and then moves himself and kids out to San Francisco.

Where Eagles Dare ★★★★★

Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton are the two main stars in this film. They are a part of a covert operation to bring back a General held captive in Schloss Adler (supposedly Kehlsteinhaus – Hilter’s hideout in the Bavarian Alps). Between incredible cinematography, stunts, superb acting, a fast paced story line, and a highly unpredictable outcome, the film deserves five stars. It’s most serious problem is that it has an unbelievable story line, with Richard and Clint singlehandedly resisting and knocking off squadrons of German soldiers without getting hardly a scratch. If that can be forgiven, the film becomes quite awesome to watch – one of Eastwood’s better films.

White Hunter, Black Heart ★★★

Clint Eastwood plays a rough, eccentric Hollywood director working on a film in Africa. He arrives before the producer, and decides to go on an elephant hunt. He can’t get the elephant hunt out of his head until the black guide is killed by the elephant Clint was trying to hunt. The movie portrays Clint as a worst possible movie director, irresponsible, inattentive to the producer, and irresponsible for other people’s lives. The movie left you hating the Clint character. Not a bad film.

Science and Faith, by C. John Collins ★★★★★

This book must not be confused with the book “The Language of Science and Faith” by Francis S. Collins, a book that would not even be worthy of one star even though written by a highly “eminent” scientist. Jack Collins here produces a lay language masterpiece, originally intended to help homeschool parents discuss issues of science, creation, geology, evolutionary biology, the social sciences, the question of miracles, etc., from a biblical Christian perspective. Jack is completely effective, while not betraying the faith as Francis S.C. has done. This book supplements other books by Jack Collins, including “The God of Miracles” which is supposedly a more technical version of this text, as well as texts that I have previously reviewed on this site. Jack Collins has a masters in electrical engineering from MIT, as well as numerous other degrees, and now teaches Hebrew at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. I happen to know him on an acquaintance basis.

Collins tackles a formidable enterprise in his endeavor to show that the Christian faith and much of what we learn as science are not in opposition with each other. The first two chapters of the book are a basic philosophical discussion of the intention of the book. Collins then undertakes to discuss the creation narratives with a scientific perspective, especially addressing his preference for viewing the days of creation as days in God’s time, not ours. He has a chapter discussing the problem of man’s fallenness in observing the world. He discusses the issues of God’s providence and miracles in the face of the post-Hume worldview of the impossibility of miracles. He even includes a chapter on environmentalism and how Christians should view the world. Subsequent chapters deal with the age of the earth (he is in the “old-earth” camp), evolution and the development of animals. Two chapters are devoted to the defense of intelligent design. He concludes with thoughts on the social sciences. Finally, the book is ended with a discussion of the culture wars and our approach to the sciences. Though the entire book was excellent, the last two chapters were the best, and it is worth sticking with Collins to the end of the book. He especially notes how Christians have been in bitter attack against each other over minor differences in their view of the entire creation scenario.  About the only thing I wished he would have discussed would have been flood theories, the tower of Babel incident (especially since Collins is a philologist), and some of the other Biblical miracles that often come under attack by the scientific community (eg., Jonah surviving being eaten by a big fish). This book is one of the must-reads for anybody strongly engaged in the sciences to help form a Christian basis for their scientific thinking.

The Joy of Bach, featuring Brian Blessed ★★★

This short movie is a wonderful tribute to the greatest musician of all time, our own Johann Sebastian Bach. The movie is an amalgam of Blessed reenacting fictitious though highly possibly true scenes from the life of JS Bach, and modern day performances of Bach. The modern day performances were both done in standard orchestral classical style, though the emphasis was on how musicians have incorporated Bach into the most unique circumstances, such as performances on steel drums, guitars, Moog synthesizers, and you name it. Blessed effectively communicates that the music of Bach is so great, that it continues to live today regardless of how it is played. Perhaps there is no other composer that has ever or will ever achieve this distinction to the extent that has happened with Bach. This movie can inspire even those who dislike the music of Bach.

Ives: The Symphonies, performed by Dohnanyi, Marriner and Mehta ★★★

These are reasonable performances of Charles Ives, a early 20th century American composer (1874-1954). Ives uses much American folk tune and American hymn motifs in his writing. Together, he makes for very poorly convincing symphonies. His are symphonies that I would never use for my “Desert Island Collection” or attend in formal concert. I’ll settle on listening to these symphonies from time to time simply to stay knowledgeable in American music. They are not enjoyable. Better classical music in the 20th century is Russian and German.  The English speaking world flunks in the classical music realm.

Historical Theology, by Gregg Allison ★★★

Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology text is deficit of any historical context. This is a serious deficit to an otherwise excellent systematic theology textbook, and Allison attempts to provide in this text what Grudem left out. Each chapter is arranged topically following the chapters in Grudem. This creates a textbook of historical theology that has strengths but also serious weaknesses. Oftentimes, a theological discussion demands the environment of multiple topics, such as the Christological controversies of the 2-4th centuries which cannot be discussed void of the trinitarian controversies. This leaves  a text that is only half complete. Allison’s text would not be good for a neophyte in historical theology, as he would loose the entire nature of many controversies. For this reason, JND Kelly’s text for early church theological developments, or  Schaff’s History do a far better job of giving the reader a flavor as to the content of  the historical debates. Allison’s text would work better if designed as an advanced text, but this would mean a very large section for each of the topics covered, accompanied by a large amount of repetition. Many areas are woefully incomplete, such as a very poor discussion of subordinationism, the iconoclastic controversy, and the rise of covenant theology, just to name a few. The text has strengths in that it is easily readable, and could act as a jumping off point for further reading. As a primary historical theology text, others do better when they stick to a chronological discussion rather than a topical agenda.

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky ★★★★★

It’s been quite a few years since I’ve actually sat down to read a novel, and I’m not exactly sure why I chose Dostoevsky or this book, but I’m grateful that I did. This book was read on the Kindle. It is the story of a student-intellectual self-driven to poverty, and then committing a double murder. Most of the book engages in his thoughts and actions in the weeks after the incident until he finally breaks down to turn himself in. The book moves quite slowly most the time, with the necessity of reading through quite lengthy dialogues and monologues. Yet, there is a sublime virtue in this book that truly makes it a great novel. Dostoevsky is a complete master of the art of describing pathos. One reads in a cold sweat. One feels guilty even though not the criminal. The reader experiences the anger, depression, the dilutions, the decisional uncertainty of the characters. In most novels, you are a fly on the wall, watching the scene. In Dostoevsky, you are the character, you are in the brain of the character speaking.

Dostoevsky had an interesting upbringing, being born in Moscow in 1821, and dying in 1881. His parents died (perhaps his father was murdered) when he was young, and he scraped for himself. He almost was executed as a political criminal, spent 4 years in a prison camp in Siberia where he became a devout Christian, and spent the rest of his life writing novels in the realist mode, describing the true Russia of the time. Dostoevsky artfully brings up topics of the basis for morality, the existence of God, and the Christian faith. The point of sanity in the sea of insanity through this novel is the few characters with a Christian faith, such as Sonya. Raskolnikov’s sanity exists only in the last paragraphs of the book as he inquires of the Christian faith. The book ends as though there would be sequel.

I’ll be reading much more Dostoevsky in the months ahead. I’m now working on The Brothers Karazamov and will then attack others, so sit tight.

Oceanography, Teaching Company Course, by Harold Tobin ★★★★

Tobin is a superb teacher, and except for his habit of excessively rolling and waving his hands, has a wonderful skill of conveying his knowledge and interest in oceanography. I appreciated the way he made oceanography quite personal, explaining how he developed an interest in the subject, and how the study of the ocean still drives him. I certainly learned more in this course than in many of the other science courses from the Teaching Company. My major complaint with the course material is the occasional excess preoccupation in some topics that were only peripheral to oceanography. It was not necessary to spend a whole lecture on plate tectonics, or on cosmology, as it didn’t contribute to the understanding of the ocean beyond what a brief mention would have accomplished and referral to other Teaching Company series. I appreciated the lecture on ocean ecology and pollution, but there was excess time spent on global warming and its effect on the ocean in several other lectures. Save for the criticisms, this was a valuable series and spurred increased interest in being more observant at the ocean, and considering our human impact on the sea.

2011 has been a good year. My surgical practice has slowed down a bit, and I am giving Obama just a little less support than in years past. I have not done as many bicycle rides as I wished. Betsy and I have been able to spend more time together, and that has been most enjoyable. One particular highlight of the year has been our trip to Europe, having Betsy meet Katja und Hannes for the first time, and getting to see Italy. It’s always a treat to touch base with Onkel Herbert. Russ Anderson has been very special this year in providing a real friend to go bicycling with. The elaboration of those trips last year can be found on the various blog posts in feuchtblog.net.

Betsy and I are thinking about next year. I will be going to about four surgical conferences, including the Miami Breast conference with Betsy and Society of Surgical Oncology meeting with Dr. Tate in Orlando, both in March. I’d like to go to the American Society of Breast Surgeons meeting in Phoenix in late April. Betsy and I also plan to go to the American College of Surgeons meeting in Chicago in October.  We anticipate a trip to Germany and Switzerland in early June, hopefully where I could do some bicycle riding with Russ and Carsten (and maybe Peter?), as well as seeing Katja and Hannes, Herbert, Hille (Herbert’s sister), Marike (student in Bonn whom we met in Cameroon, Udo Middelmann in Switzerland (Francis Schaeffer’s son-in-law) and our good friends Mike (and Carolyn) who is doing a year teaching Sabbatical in Lausanne, Switzerland. That might be a little too packed of an agenda, but… In November, Betsy and I are seriously planning a trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel. We’ll do the tour sort of thing. I’ve never been to the Holy Land, but have always wished to go. If you are interested, come along with. We will be going with the Rev. Dr. John (http://www.biblicalisraeltours.com/), who I found after a long internet search.

I continue to ride my bike. Yesterday was enjoyable in taking Patrick for his first long bicycle ride. He did about 8 miles. Not bad for an 8 yo kid on a 20 inch bicycle. It got rather cold at the end, the sun going down about 15 minutes before the end of our ride. Typically, I’ll ride the trainer. It’s one of my bicycles hooked up to a virtual reality trainer (Tacx). I’ll usually have iTunes going. This last year, I’ve been working through the series on Romans by Martyn Lloyd-Jones while training. I am now down to about 97 more 50 minute sermons out of 353 sermons. That’s a lot of sermons on Romans, and tends to be repetitive. You’ll get a review on that series once I’m done with it.

While sitting at my computer, I listen to music. My iTunes has a total of 721 gBytes of music and lectures, etc. One may wonder what I do with so much music. Well, I listen to it. It’s mostly classical, a total of 359 gBytes, or 175 days of constant listening. Making a smart playlist, I started working through everything a little over a year ago. I’m now down to 94 days, or 196 gBytes of classical music left. Right now, I’m listening to a little known piano concerto by Mendelssohn, which is actually quite good and doesn’t deserve obscurity — a trait true of much of classical music.

I continue to read every moment possible. Currently I am working through Gregg Allison’s Historical Theology, and am about 1/2 way through. I am reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevski on the Kindle. I have a massive lineup of books remaining on my shelves and in the Kindle store that I must read. I’ll need to quit medicine just to get my reading done. For time with Betsy, we’ll usually watch things like Teaching Company series together, and are currently working on a series about Oceanography. We are becoming adept at speaking about the pelagic vs. neridic realms of the ocean, knowing the difference between plankton and nekton, etc., etc., as well as understanding the various forces that make the ocean a wonderful world. For a lighter note, Betsy and I will watch movies. We have just started the films of Clint Eastwood, a total of about 40 that we’ll be seeing. Reviews for those films will have to wait! We still don’t have television, and I refuse to pay for cable. When we must watch something, we’ll watch it over the internet if it’s available.

I will be turning 58 in 2012. I’m not sure how much longer I will want to continue practicing medicine. It’s a serious love-hate relationship. I love the practice of surgery, but it’s everything else that one needs to put up with. Government has taken complete control of medicine, and turned it into an uncaring prohibitively expensive beast. Desperately needed tort reform is now a long-gone wish. As one pundit commented, “America is no longer governed by the rule of law, but by the rule of lawyers”. Such a statement could not be closer to the truth. Political processes are always preempted by court decisions. Democratic or Republic behavior no longer exists in the USA. We are governed by the tyranny of the courts. It wouldn’t be so bad if lawyers were behaved. Unfortunately, lawyers have devolved into a subhuman species. It’s hard to know what to compare them to, but the cyclops  is most fitting. Cyclops have only one eye, are monsters seeking to destroy anything alive that is not one of their own, will act even more intentionally and violently when their one eye is put out, a threat to anything else in existence. That’s the good part about what I have to say about lawyers. Don’t get me going on their bad side.

Those of us that work in the public realm have occasions from time to time with lawyers. Much of this we are not allowed to openly discuss for privacy concerns, and so will discretely tailor my statements. Physicians are advised to avoid a jury trial as much as possible, as juries tend to ignore the facts and are easily swayed by emotion. There is no rule of law in the courtroom. The selection of juries has become a joke. It used to be a trial by your peers or neighbors. Now, it is a trial before the a highly selected group of individuals based on the bias of the judge, people who would rather be anywhere than setting on a jury or people who are so worthless in society they have nothing better in life to do. The instructions to the jury often counter the constitution, which is why I will not set on a jury. I’ve written more on this elsewhere. The prevailing consensus among Joe Public is that justice no longer exists, and that is for the most part true. Why do we do everything to avoid the courts? If our neighbor sues us for using the wrong type of fertilizer that gives him asthma attacks, the costs in court will be prohibitive, it will be unbearable stress, and a flip of the coin will determine which way the judge may lean, even after hours of defending your case. It’s too easy to create a case, as you have little to loose in the process. Lawyers will determine the case based on their merit, which means, if it is possible for the lawyer to make a good profit off of a case. In the end, the plaintiff and defendant lawyers win, and the plaintiff and defendant loose. I’ve seen so many people destroy their lives by taking someone else to court, get lost in a long court trial, and even if they win the trial, much of the money ends up squandered or in the hands of the lawyers. Nobody but the lawyers win. We were taught well as kids to never sue, and for the most part, that remains true. There are three prongs to the solution. 1. Go back to the European court process where the looser pays all court costs. 2. Use Biblical law, which truly punishes offenses to others and demands restitution or death penalty in serious cases. There is no prison term in Biblical law. If you are a violent murderer, you die. If you stole, you repay. If your debt is too great, you become an indentured servant (slave) for 7 years to the person you owe to. Bankruptcy would not be tolerated, and Donald Trump would be picking cotton for the next 30 years. 3. Return to a Christian society that thinks in a Judeo-Christian fashion and holds Christian morality as the highest of all possible goods. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to happen, even if every non-Christian were immediately terminated. So, we tolerate matters, try to keep our nose clean by living morally, and if one must suffer for doing good, they will get their blessing and reward in the end. It is good that for a Christian, this short life is not the totality of existence.

So, I wish you all a happy New Year.  Keep looking up, and keep  your stick on the ice.

Hope. It is one of the three Christian virtues. Faith, hope, and love. Just as we don’t wish to ever cause another person to loose love or faith (in Christ), we never wish to cause a person to loose hope. But, hope in what? I am on rare occasion accused of causing my patients to loose hope. Generally, I try to tell the patient the exact truth. If I don’t, they’ll get it over the internet. I feel that integrity is a foremost virtue for a physician. I have heard many doctors argue otherwise. Dr. Lauren Pancratz argues vehemently that if a lie (deviation from the whole truth) contributes to the betterment of a patient, then we should lie to our patient. I disagree entirely. Truth must be presented graciously and skillfully, but it must be presented all the same.

I see many patients that come from other doctors, mostly medical oncologists, who were never told the significance of their cancer. For many medical oncologists, hope  in “the system” must be preserved. Perhaps much of this is self-serving. I find that only 5% of patients do not wish to know the truth of their condition. Most patients welcome it, often are relieved and are happy that they can better understand their condition and make long-term plans with better knowledge of their condition.

There is a balance that physicians struggle with. If there is a reasonable expectation that the health care system can significantly improve their condition, then I will strive to be positive, even if the short term outcome is expected to be dismal. In one sense, there is always hope, but that hope depends on the objectives of the physician/patient encounter. If the expectation is to prolong life no matter how miserable that life might be, the treatment options are going to be different than if the objective is to simply offer comfort measures. Both contain hope that the therapy will work, but the outcome expectations are different. Thus, in a real sense, hope is never lost.

The source for hope is my greatest concern. Patients usually do well or do poorly in spite of me. Health care professionals have less control of a situation than they would like to believe. To trust that the health care profession will provide health is a mis-direction of one’s trust. It is always a pleasure when a patient comes to me, realizing that only God can give them hope, and trust in Him is of greatest value. It is a pity that so many devout Christians have a seriously displaced hope, trusting entirely in the physician, and not seeing that even the best physicians have feet of clay. Balance is important. To ignore the physicians that God provides is unwise. To expect that physicians always know best is also unwise. Many Christians run to Hookey-Pookey medicine (Chiropractors/Naturopaths) feeling that they are more “natural” or “christian” than mainline medical practice — that is also highly unwise.

We don’t want our patients to loose hope. We wish for them to have the correct source for their hope. We wish them to have realistic expectations. We wish them never to give up. We wish them to be able to change expectations when the facts suggest it. Mostly we wish them to maintain the three Christian virtues, faith, hope and love, up to the very last breath that they take.

Here is a book that I’ve suggested others read, yet have not (until now) read the book. It is the second book which I read on a Kindle.

This book is a truncated autobiography of Chuck Colson, known of Watergate fame. It details his rise to power within the Republican organization through low-handed politicking. Eventually, he was chosen to be one of the special consuls for Richard Nixon. He served through Nixon’s first term, and then intended to go back to his law practice when the Watergate scandal hit the fans across the country. During the time between Nixon’s second term and the Watergate scandal, pressure on Colson eventually led him to seek counsel from a friend when he became a Christian. Colson eventually was convicted, and served 7 months in federal prison, before getting released to then focus on prison ministries.

There are many aspects of this book that can be addressed. Certainly, Colson offers his own running commentary on his view of Nixon, Watergate and crisis that occurred. Much of the book is Colson coming to know himself, and realizing that he had a tendency to take control of matters. His fall from (political) grace forced a rethink of his own political arrogance. In this regard, Colson was truly moving. Colson’s change of heart to truly desire God’s will is none other than miraculous, and a testimony that we all must take to heart.

Colson always professed innocence in the Watergate events. I tend to find his testimony as believable. Apparently, he had no clue as to what happened. Colson ended up being the first person to plead guilty, which he did because he felt he did obstruct matters of investigation of the Watergate event, done mostly to protect the president. Oddly, Daniel Ellsberg, who was giving away top secret state information got off scott free.

It is a little bothersome that by the end of the book, Colson ends up as a pentecostal. I certainly hope his thinking has matured a bit since his release from prison. He also tended toward social do-goodism, defending prisoners against an unjust prison system. Sadly, this has two sides, since too often punishment in prison is not commensurate with the crime committed. Colson has a tendency to focus on wrongful imprisonment, when typical imprisonment for many is only too kind. Colson does make a good argument against the explosion of the prison system in our country, yet offers too few of suggestions as to how to really fix that.

Being a lawyer, Colson goes way too soft on addressing the problem of law and justice in our country. He tends to suggest that there are a few bad lawyers that ruin the soup. In reality, the entire legal system is rotten to the core, and Colson simply won’t admit it. His own conviction was based on the most eminent lawyers in the land, who did NOT make the judgment against Colson based on either evidence or due process of law, but rather out of pressure from a small but very vocal public sentiment. Unfortunately, with the  loss of constitutionalism in our court system, we can only expect this to get worse with time.

I agree with Colson in that the prison system is way overused, and tends to serve contrary to its mission, which is to reform the inmates. Supposing that Colson was truly guilty of his crimes, the best punishment would have been 39 lashings, total disbarment, and obligatory public service of 7 years duration at minimum wage and no diminishment of sentence based on good behavior, though extension of sentence based on bad behavior could be enforced.

Colson was kind on the news media. The Watergate scandal was essentially a creation of the news media. Ellsberg should have been behind bars and is not, thanks to the liberal press. It is no wonder that the large news services are dying. I’ll shed no tears for CNN or MSNBC. Colson was kind on liberals. He tended to feel that anybody that called themselves brother were acceptable. Yet, content of belief does matter. I hope Colson has learned this since his conversion. Those belief structures will order our thinking as well as behavior. For Colson to find vehement enemies that suddenly become best friends once discovered that they are Christians is a terrible witness of the “worst enemy-best friend” people, regardless of how “spiritual” they conducted themselves.

So, I truly enjoyed reading the book, but gave the book only three stars for lacking the depth it could have had. Colson is a delightful writer, but I do not intend to read any more of his books, which I understand are quite a few at this time. I am most delighted at his conversion to the Christian faith, and see in Colson’s story a common tale that reflects God calling us to Him, and NOT us accepting Him. I wish that Colson could have seen that in his conversion. I’m glad that God saves us in spite of ourselves, and Colson stands as a most visible example of this truth among every one of us that call ourselves Christian.

I’ve always wondered how a piano was built. I didn’t realize that Steinway concert grand pianos were entirely built by hand, and are probably one of the only concert pianos still made by hand. This movie walks one through the year long endeavor to build a piano. One starts in the lumber mill, where wood is specifically selected for the piano case and sounding board. Slow and meticulous processes eventually lead to the developed project. Many scenes are also shot of profession musicians in the NY Steinway piano store  trying out pianos. I guess that even with Steinway pianos, the action can vary enough that a concert musician may need to try 10-15 pianos before finding the instrument of his liking. There are a lot of extras with this movie, but the feature attraction was itself a fascinating journal behind the walls of the Steinway piano factory in New York, with interviews of many of the piano building craftsmen. Steinways have many hand carved features, constructed to precise millimeter tolerances. The tuning is all by hand, and not electronic like most other piano builders. The keys and their actions are all meticulously adjusted by hand to properly strike the strings with appropriate action on the key. One was left realizing that there may be a day where much of the art and skills of hand piano construction may be lost, and then we will be stuck with cheap Japanese imitations. Oh well!!!!

How the Earth Works, by Michael Wysession (Teaching Company Series) ★★★

This teaching company series, taught by a Geophysicist, discusses the mechanisms and processes that make the earth the way it is. Wysession is able to interlay the various processes, whether they be geologic, biologic, or astronomic, in discussing what gives us our world. The lecture series can be divided into three parts, with a grading on each part…

I. Plate Tectonics – 5 stars – the longest part of the course, it also is the best part of the course, taught where Wysession is most expert. Details of how the continents were created, how plate tectonic theory was developed, how earthquakes and volcanoes occur, are all discussed in popular lay terms that can be understood by anybody.

II. The Weather – 3 stars – though the weather is an important process in molding the earth, another Teaching Company course on Meteorology has done a far superior job of detailing how weather is formed, and the processes that lead to our climate and living conditions.

III. Biology and “My Soapbox” – 1 star – Wysession adequately discusses the role of biological organisms in helping to form the earth. He does a far worse job of playing biologist. Much of the last lectures of the course are more a soapbox on various subjects such as climate change, humans elsewhere in the universe, and the destiny of man, which would have best been left out of the course. Many of the last lectures have no relation to discussing how the earth works, but rather create a dummy pulpit for Wysession. I do credit Wysession for maintaining a sense of scientific uncertainty about matters such as climate change, and he doesn’t become preachy like Algore.

The course could be improved in many ways. Most importantly, I wish Wysession would have spent a few lectures discussing in depth the mechanisms for studying earth. He could have better discussed the various instrumentation for “sounding” the depths of earth. He could have given us more detailed explanations of land formations that help us understand the world we see, to allow us to engage in the process of being junior geologists. I would have been interested in having a rough feel as to how a geophysicist mathematically models things like earthquakes.

Wysession is an excellent teacher and adequately uses props and visuals to get his point across. This is a series worth watching, though the final lectures would be best deleted or changed as mentioned above to get the discussion back to the intended topic for the course.

This is the first book that I have read in electronic format, on a Kindle. I have mixed feelings about the Kindle, and then comments on the book itself.

The Kindle is a great idea. I received the Kindle Touch about a month ago. I really didn’t wish for a microscopic keyboard and heard that there were problems with the color edition of Kindle, so opted for the Touch. There are problems with it. 1. The touch mechanism doesn’t always work consistently 2. if you accidentally bump the screen or try to clean off the screen to read it better, it will react. 3. since you always have to touch the screen to read, such as with changing pages, the screen is always being made dirty again. 4. After reading Foxe, the Kindle has shown a drastic reduction in speed, and multiple crashes, almost like it got a virus.  5. There is no mechanism for reading in dark circumstances, as you need an external light to see the screen.  6. Maneuvering through a book that you are reading can be a challenge, especially if the table of contents is not well constructed. They don’t have a reverse function like surfers have, so that you can’t instantly go back to where you came from.  The advantages of the Kindle are 1. It’s a great idea, 2. when it works, it has great functionality, like keeping track of where you are in a book across all systems. My solution to the Kindle dilemma is to use Kindle on an Apple apparatus. I am just waiting for iPad3 to come out.

Now, for Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. I didn’t realize until I contacted my book resource David Davis that the original Foxe is about 7000 pages, and anything we read is a serious abridgment of that text. In addition, since Foxe died in 1587, any details after that are additions to his book. Thus, the hardcopy edition of Foxe’s Book and the Kindle edition do not resemble each other at all in their organization. Strangely, Wikipedia, and most Google internet sources don’t clue you in to this. The Kindle edition has multiple stories up to about 1830, many of which are quite rambling. At the end are very brief biographies of the main reformers, which are too brief to be of any value. The greatest value of Foxe’s Book is in his discussions of the martyrdoms around the time of bloody Mary. There is prolific language against the Papists and popery, all of which should NOT be forgotten by the present day church. The Romish church has not changed significantly since the 16th century, and we shouldn’t forget that. The Pope and his minions have not made a kinder gentler church that has learned its lessons. It is a superb defense of the notion of protestantism.

The book and its “editions” has left out much, including Savaranola, the Scottish martyrs, and persecution of the church by protestants on protestants. The revisions include lengthy details of the Quaker movement, which was unnecessary, and lengthy details of a person in Lebanon who was under pressure to conform by the Marionite church. The quality of the additions to John Foxe are low, and should have been left out. So, read the book, but not the Kindle edition.

I had met Baruch Maoz at church a number of years ago, and found him to be quite thought provoking regarding the nature of the Messianic Jewish movements. Maoz is Jewish, grew up in Israel, and now is retired, though served many years as a pastor and evangelist to a Jewish Christian church in Israel. I decided to read this book after noting how some Christians are quite enamored with things Jewish, many of whom incorporate Jewish traditions into a Christian worship service, and speak Hebrew phrases in an attempt to have a Jewish flavor to the worship. Maoz notes that there is a wide range of Messianic Jews, many of whom are actually Gentiles, to some who would not even call themselves Christians, to a few that would disavow the doctrines of the trinity.  Maoz notes several things.

1. Messianic Jewish movements often have the wrong focus, being more concerned about Jewish tradition than on the Lord Jesus himself.

2. Jewish tradition, especially in Gentile hands, is often seriously confused, misplaced, poorly performed, and oftentimes insulting to real Jews, of whom this movement is attempting to reach.

3. Rabbinic Judaism is to be adamantly repudiated, since it places focus on a works righteousness, and is definitely not Biblical.

4. Well intentioned Messianic Jews often do more harm than good by forcing a Jew-Gentile split, yet failing to adequately reach Jews. As evidence, it is noted that most Jews that came to Christian faith did it outside of Messianic movements.

While reading this book, there were many times when I wished to give it only 3 stars. It is very poorly edited, and often one will find incomplete sentences. The content and arguments in this book are superb, Maoz is highly competent, reformed, and exceptionally knowledgeable in matters of Christian faith and Judaism. This is a book that many should read and take to heart. Maoz skillfully focuses the attention away from traditional Jewish cultural practices, to focus on the Bible alone to guide worship and Christian practice.

This film is yet another bicycle documentary, looking at the origin of the Team Garmin Slipstream and their rise from humble origins to competition in the Tour de France, with Christian Vande Velde placing 4th in total standing. The prevailing theme was a determination to do bicycle racing clean without the use of performance enhancing drugs. It is a moving and well done story, inspiring one to hop on the bicycle and take off.

This movie is a documentary on the Race Across America, the longest and cruelest ride in bicycle racing. The ride goes over 3000 miles, and is often done in 9-12 days, with an average of 350+ miles/day. The competitors rarely sleep more than two hours a night, and often spend the entire night and day riding. During this documentary, which was made during the 2005 ride, one of the competitors, a surgeon from Minnesota, was killed by a semi truck. This was his sixth time to ride the RAAM. There was one lawyer attempting the ride, who didn’t last more than two days. The agony of the riders is well documented. It assured me that this is a race I would never ride, even if I could. The film won numerous awards, fitting for the quality of this documentary.

Concert Masterpieces, by Robert Greenberg ★★★★★

Greenberg does it again, producing a delightful review of eight concert pieces of value from the classical repertoire. In this set of 32 45-minute lectures, each four lectures covers a given piece of music. Included are the Mozart 25th Piano concerto, Beethoven 5th piano concerto, Dvorak 9th symphony, R. Strauss Death and Transfiguration, Beethoven Violin Concerto, Brahms violin concerto, Mendelssohn Mid-summer night’s dream, and Liszt Totentanz. Each set of four lectures covers in the first lecture a broad survey of the musical scene. The second lecture then focuses on the particular piece in its setting with other similar pieces of music, and then the last two lectures delve into the details of the piece of music itself. The entire lecture set remains very easy to listen to because of Greenberg’s humor mixed with a steady stream of fascinating information. He is never too technical, and spends much time filling in the listener  to the music theory and technical details of the piece. This set is a wonderful way to familiarize yourself to these eight pieces of music. It also helps build one’s ear for listening to any piece of classical music.

This movie is supposed to be based on a true story of a smallish race horse, destined to be rejected, but purchased by a person willing to give the horse a try. The horse was run at the Santa Anita Racetrack in the 1930′s depression years, going on to become a winning horse in spite of various tragedies to both horse and jockey. It is a spirited film that gives one a good feel to the world of horse racing.

This film is in German with English subtitles and attempts to re-create the story of the Red Army Faction, a militant group in the ’70′s through 1990′s. They had engaged in the bombing of a number of buildings, most notably the newspaper Bild building, as well as the assasination of a number of prominent political figures and police. The film is fairly well done, with fast action, considerable amount of violence, some exposed flesh, and some obscene language (though in German), making it perhaps not good to view with small children. The film presents many questions in the mind of the viewer, including the proper balance of freedom (anarchy) and law (police state). It also questions the treatment of criminals. In this situation, many of the RAF were able to continue their reign of terror even when behind bars. Politicians were nervous about being harsh on the violent criminals because of the presence of an odd, small, highly vocal, mostly consisting of students and lawyers, group holding a sentiment in support of the RAF. Throughout the film, it was difficult to hold pity for the RAF members, especially with their immature and extremist behavior. Yet, it was public support for them that maintained their criminal activity for so long. The film is very thought provoking and well worth watching. It should provoke some good discussions with my German friends.

This is supposed to be a film version of the uncovering of one of the worse security breaches in US history. It is the story of Robert Hansson, who had been selling secrets to the Soviets, resulting in the death of several Soviet agents that were working with the US. There are questions in Amazon.com reviews about the accuracy of historical details in the film, though it seems to follow the Wickipedia storyline quite well. The movie starts slow and you wonder at first where it is going. The action never speeds up, but it remains spellbinding to the end, when Hansson is finally caught in the act. The acting is superb, especially with Chris Cooper as Robert Hansson. The storyline slowly intensifies, as Phillippe acting as the young FBI operative who uncovered Hansson slowly realizes what he is doing. My appreciation to Dr. JL who introduced me and Betsy to this film.

This is a series that started poorly, and should have ended after the second episode. The plots are as follows, Planet of the Apes – Charleton Heston is stranded on a strange planet after traveling into the distant future from his rocket ship sent from earth, only discover that the planet is now ruled by apes. He is taken captive, and eventually escapes with the help of two chimpanzees, only to discover that the strange planet is planet earth. Beneath the Planet of the Apes, a second rocket ship crashes, and the sole survivor meets up with Heston in underground caverns, which are clearly the ruins of NY City. The human inhabitants here are invaded by the apes, who decide on mutual destruction of all by setting off an atomic bomb which destroys the world. Escape… two the chimpanzees who helped Heston land in a rocket ship on the shores of Los Angeles, going back in time, and are discovered as talking apes. They reveal the scenario of the future so it is decided to kill the apes and save the future. A sole newborn chimpanzee survives. Conquest… it is now 1991 and all pets have been killed by man, so monkeys are now the predominant other species, used as pets, slaves, etc. The talking chimpanzee baby leads an ape revolt which takes over mankind. Battle… it is now many years later, and the first chimpanzee baby (Caesar) is now old, and there are battles between chimpanzees and gorillas and humans for control of civilization.

The films are rather benign, though there is much unnecessary obscenities and language used. There is a lot of ridicule of organized religion, and evolution is considered a given. The story plot is quite lame. It’s hard to criticize acting, when most of the actors are wearing monkey suits and acting like apes. My only wonder is how they made so many sequels until somebody got the idea that it was a stupid series.

This film was given to me by a very good friend who had converted from Anglicanism to Buddhism. It was his desire to demonstrate the virtues of Buddhist thinking. So, I watched it with as open of a mind as possible. The film was made in Tibet at the main centers of Buddhism. It showed the principle sites of worship, temple artwork, adherents coming to worship, and various outdoor scenes, some with religious events occurring. The commentary throughout the film was heavily oriented toward anti-Chinese sentiment regarding their purported destruction of a culture.

This film failed  to evoke sympathy for the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Countless cultures have come and gone throughout history, without any argument for their preservation. In Tibetan Buddhism, there was presented no argument that the culture offered anything worth preserving. True, the artwork was nice. True, a small subset of Tibetan devotees have the “right” to worship as they please. Yet, the film fails to suggest that Buddhism offers anything superior to the Christian faith, or any other religion or ideology. Even in Buddhism, they have the good and evil spirits, yet there is nothing to argue why the evil spirits are evil and the good spirits are good. All are one, and none should be given preference. In real life, Buddhists seem to be as violent as anybody else when given the opportunity. Similarly, I don’t see the same “Free Tibet” group arguing that Israel needs to be set free for the Israelite/Jew, since that is their legitimate homeland. I don’t see a war-cry that Temple worship should return to Judaism as restoration of a culture that should not have been destroyed by the nasty Romans. There seems to be a great degree of hypocrisy in the Free Tibet movement.

Oddly, the film reminded me much of our recent visit to Rome. In Rome, we saw devotees spending hours praying to artifacts, doing ritual climbs on “sacred stairs”, lighting of candles, holy water, endless repetitions of the Rosary. Is this no different than prayer wheels. If only we could automate our spirituality, or make it so that all one needs to do is to perform certain perfunctory functions. It is odd how Christ stated so plainly that God doesn’t listen to mindless repetition, yet this is how universal public religion has evolved. It is no wonder that the Roman Catholic church has often had the greatest problem in defending that Christianity is the only way to God as written in the Bible. The RC faith doesn’t offer anything much different from the Buddhists.

So, the film did not suggest that Buddhism is worth exploring. It only made me appreciate my Christian faith all the more. I am glad that I am able to have a personal relationship with the God of the universe. I am content with an Absolute in morality, truth, and existence, by whom I gain my own existence. I am comforted that I don’t have to seek to attain to god-hood, yet never be sure if I could be good enough to do that. What could be more assuring than to have the God of the Universe provide forgiveness solely through true faith in Him, and trust in Him. Christianity gives a God who truly loves, truly feels, and encourages love for ones’ brother while seeking to attain progress in life through secular work and sacred worship together, as neither are better than the other, yet neither can do without the other. Life does not end up as an endless circle, but as a linear progress, so that I can view the future as a non-repetition of the present. It is a pity that too often Christianity degenerates into a mechanism, to which it offers no advantage over any other world religion.

I would love to take a trip to Tibet since I’ve read much about it. Yet, I’ll probably do it with my Chinese friend, and probably not feel bad that Tibet is now mostly Chinese.

This series is a set of three boxes that take one through the original Star Trek series. Since then, multiple spin-offs have occurred, but the original series endures. The films are well preserved, and for those who enjoyed Star Trek, it is a delight to once again view many of the episodes again. I have several complaints about this series as it is offered. The packaging is worthless, and was immediately discarded. The episodes were not presented in order, I’m not sure how they decided on the order of presentation of episodes. I remember episodes that did not seem to be included in any of these three seasons, and wonder if they were intentionally left out. Finally, in regard to the film content itself, the series seemed to diminish in quality over time. By the second and third season, many ideas were repeated, such as placing several of the Enterprise crew member into a historical earth scene. The series transformed from being a simple science fiction film to being a socio-political statement. I became nauseous every time I heard Captain Kirk comment “We come in peace!”. I’ll never be a trekkie, but these films are quite enjoyable to watch, especially if never seen before.

Star Trek Feature Films including

The Motion Picture ★★★ This film is very slow moving, playing on mostly special effects. The plot is simple. A massive energy cloud approaches earth, and Kirk/Spock eventually discover that this is a massively advanced configuration of the original Voyager 6 “V-ger” space probe.

The Wrath of Khan ★★★★ This was the most suspenseful film. Khan returns from a tv episode in an attempt to pay retribution on Captain Kirk. Spock dies.

The Search for Spock ★★★ Spock just sort of died, and the intention of this film is to get Spock’s thoughts, which were transferred to McCoy, back to Spock, wherever in the universe he might be. Kirk steals his Enterprise spaceship to accomplish that and Spock is rescued, though the Enterprise is destroyed.

The Voyage Home ★★★ Kirk and Spock are now federation bad boys, but a space probe has approached earth and trying to destroy it. Spock and Kirk figure out that it is calling out for extinct whales, and they must journey back two centuries to earth to pick up several whales and save the earth. In the process, Kirk and crew are redeemed.

The Final Frontier ★★ The Enterprise is called on to rescue several ambassadors from a remote planet, only to have the space ship taken over by a bunch of hippies. The resolution of the conflict involves Kirk proving to the hippies that there is no Nirvana or Heaven to go to.

The Undiscovered Country ★★★ The Klingons have gone bankrupt and sue for peace. Kirk must escort the Klingon ambassador to the peace meeting, when things are sabotaged and the ambassador is murdered in a strange fashion. Eventually, it is discovered that junior officers working in conjunction with Klingons sought to dismantle the peace process, but only after many unusual adventures and last moment rescues.

The prophet of doom and gloom waxes eloquent as he describes the many variables that will eventually lead to the downfall of America. Mr. Buchanan takes a very long and hard look at the many factors that have changed in society from the 1950′s when the USA was at its pinnacle of power to today, when even the smallest nations may do as they please contrary to the commands or wishes of the United States. In the course of the book, he has chapters that 1. first paint a picture of what’s going on, 2. describes our loss of faith in God and the break-up of our churches, 3. focuses in on crises within Roman Catholicism that is weakening their stand in the US, 4. the loss of traditional white values and cultures and replacement by a nation of minorities, each with their own subcultures, 5. the international failure of the West and Japan/China to have children leading to the poorest nations and Muslim nations to ascend, 6. details of how the quest for “equality” has been so muddled that its only result is an overall loss of freedom, 7. how diversity as an ideology is confused thinking and is absolutely contrary to unity, and how this so-called quest for diversity has destroyed much of American cultural infrastructure, 8. internationally how each autonomous group now desires autonomy and nationhood, causing massive destruction of many of the nation-states of the world, 9. more details on the loss of white America, but in particular, Buchanan focuses on how the Republican party has been painted as the “white” party, even though the Democratic party has been the most racist of the two parties, 10. a focus on foreign policy and how it’s failed us in the last 50 years, with an emphasis on our policy failure with NATO and the former Soviet Union and our need to get out of acting as the world’s defender. The last chapter is spent with Buchanan suggesting what we could do to restore hope to our nation. Buchanan spends much time 1. discussing the issues of import tariffs, of which he makes an excellent point that it is vital to balance our trade status with what our nations do to us, 2. elaborating how the illegal immigrant issue has eaten the heart out of America, though illegal immigrants tend toward a more conservative base than the liberal think-tank that fuels national policy, 3. hinting at how judicial activism in the supreme court has destroyed our true sense of freedom. There are only a few points that I would emphasize differently from Buchanan. Buchanan realizes the importance of national faith in the Christian God, yet fails to say that precisely, discussing instead our loss of community values and church-going. The Scriptures, in discussing the reason for the fall of Israel and Judah, have a stronger focus on the loss of personal morality and loss of orthodoxy among the religious elite. Buchanan notes that the Catholic church rose to prominence in the early 20th century, and then took a downward course in the 1960′s, blaming much of that downward course on the decisions of Vatican II. On this, I would disagree completely with Pat, since the American loss of faith started (as pointed out well by Francis Schaeffer) at the beginning of the twentieth century. The rise of Roman Catholicism in the 20′s to 50′s  represents more a loss of faith and placation of the conscience by providing an easy religiosity, rather than a shift back to Rome for more traditional values. For the most part, Patrick Buchanan gets most everything correct, and this is a book absolutely worth reading to understand what is happening and what will happen to our nation and the world at large.

Bicycle Repair, by Rob Van Der Plas ★★★★★

This book, written by a bicycle aficionado in San Francisco, is in a very easy to read, casual style, with multiple illustrations. It is the best book in terms of illustrations of any of the cycle repair books I’ve laid my hands on. In some areas it is slightly deficit, such as in not encouraging the use of torque wrenches whenever possible or when advised by manufacturers. It also is not as comprehensive on the different brands of cycle components out there. There are chapters on items such as the repair of internal gear systems and coaster brakes. The clarity and methodical nature of the repair instructions earns it a 5-star rating. This is a worthwhile book to have in one’s cycle repair shop.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, by Lennard Zinn ★★★★★

This book earns 5 stars but for a different reason than van der Plas’s book. The illustrations are hand-drawn rather than photographed, yet very well drawn. The book is much thicker and more comprehensive. Zinn is a bicycle builder in Colorado, as well as an editor for VeloNews. Using those skills, he holds a repair style more of what you would expect the best bicycle repair shop to have, following manufacturer’s recommendations. There are large charts in the back of the book for reference on torque wrench settings and other things. Zinn writes very well, and offers prolific sound advice for the care of the bicycle both in the shop and on the road. This book is also quite worth having in a cycle shop library.

War and World History (The Teaching Company Series), by Jonathan Roth ★★★

This series looks at world history from the perspective of how war affected that history. Roth shows possibly by this lecture series that multiple other factors, such as religion, politics, and chance seem to affect the occurrence of war as much as vice versa. Thus, Roth delves at length how economy, culture and nationalism has affected the occurrence of war in the last several hundred years. Though he spent some time speaking of the development of war technology, it was rather minimal considering the topic. Also, I had hoped for more discussion on the style of conducting war, strategies, and how geography affected the nature of war, and the development of war in world history.

Bicycling Magazine’s Guide to Bike Touring, by Doug Donaldson ★★★★

This book has a subtitle “Everything You Need to Know to Travel Anywhere on a Bike”. Actually, it is not a terribly comprehensive book on cycle touring, but written in magazine style, designed to hold a 30 second attention span. It is well written, interlaced with much humor. This book would be best for the early novice in cycle touring, the person who has never tried cycle touring before. It is a great introduction, and thus the four stars, rather than the 2-3 that I would have otherwise given it. The book did offer some advice unknown to me such as bicycle repair tricks in an emergency. Generally, it tended toward magazine style recommendations for tours and tended to recommend products advertising in Bicycling Magazine. It had lengthy advice for drafting (????, hello, this is touring, NOT road racing!!!!), exercises to do to get in shape (try just getting on a bike!), advice on picking a tour company (?, ok, sure….) and a lengthy chapter on nutrition, all of which seemed to be more filler material than good touring advice. Get the book if you have never tried cycle touring before, and you will be inspired. Otherwise, see below.

Bike Touring (A Sierra Club Outdoor Adventure Guide), by Raymond Bridge ★★★★★

This is the best bicycle touring book available, though not the most inspirational. Bridge writes in a straightforward but informative style. He provides the most comprehensive text, including numerous references to the internet and to other books on bicycling and related topics. The book is divided into three sections. The first paints the picture of what it means to cycle tour. In this section, he discusses the various types of cycle touring, including self-contained touring (camping out and doing your own cooking), as well as “credit-card” touring (staying in hotels and eating out everywhere). The second section is a comprehensive discussion of the types of equipment, beginning with the bicycle, discussing then bicycle components of interest, cycle touring clothing, repair tools, lights, locks, panniers and trailers, and camping gear. Finally, Bridge discusses in the third section the actual act of cycle touring, including route planning, and the style of self contained vs. supported (hotel) tours. There is a sizable resource guide at the end for additional books on cycling, bicycle repair, tour companies, map sources, etc. This book is well worth obtaining simply as a reference.

Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook, by Stephen Lord ★★★★

This book is meant for the person who wishes to leave civilization and travel beyond the US/Canada or Western Europe and into the hinterlands of foreign countries. The book is divided into three parts, the first being an invaluable reference to planning such a trip, equipment, etc., etc. The second part provides recommendations for routes throughout the world, with a focus on Central Asia, South America and Africa. The first part are anecdotal tales written by various cyclists on their adventures in the greater world. This book has many inset stories and information pieces inserted throughout the text and written by different authors that provide personal experiences. After reading the book, I realized that I did not have an overwhelming interest in exploring Tibet, Outer Mongolia or Zanzibar on a bicycle. Should my mind change, this will be the first book that I consult.

The flight out to Düsseldorf began at 7 am from SeaTac, putting us through Newark, NJ. This wasn’t a bad option, though the Newark airport required one to depart one secure terminal and then re-check in to another terminal. It wasn’t easy, and the airport had minimal food options. We’ll try to go through Chicago or Frankfurt from now on.

23SEPT – Arrival in Düsseldorf

Customs was easy but in our tiredness we walked right out of the terminal looking for our baggage, only to realize that we might have taken the wrong turn, and could not get back into the baggage area. Fortunately, we were able to force our way back through a “Kein Eintritt” door (no entrance) and immediately located our bags. The smallest cash that I had on hand was 20 euro, and the machine would not take that large of bill, and would not take a credit card. This led to great consternation as to how to pay for the train ride. Eventually solved, we ended up in Krefeld Hbf, only to catch the wrong bus to Onkel Herbert. Arriving in Düsseldorf at 6 am, we finally got to Onkel Herbert at 10:30. Oh well. It was a nice day catching up on things, going shopping with Herbert, and going out to eat at Am Vreed, our currywurst restaurant.

24SEPT- Free day with Herbert

I spent time doing repairs on my bicycle, and actually got it working better than ever before. It was quite nice to have had the bicycle repair class. In the evening, Herbert made a barbeque of pork chops and a type of “bacon” that is well liked in Germany. Herbert introduced us to Federweisse and Zwiebelbrot. These are ususally consumed together, the Federweisse being a sweet wine made from young grapes, that is not available all the time. The Zwiebelbrot is onion bread, that Betsy and I did not really care for.

The bicycle now repaired and working better than ever!

At the Biergarten

Onkel Herbert with his new hat

A very rare plant in Herbert's yard. Name????

25SEPT- Bicycle ride

Unfortunately, I was to spend only one day riding my bicycle. I programmed a route from the internet, and was able to put it on my Garmin. With that, off I went. Without hard maps or a guide book, the Garmin is a touch frustrating since it will not be able to five directions when you are not moving. Also, it can be difficult to read when it is sunny or with polarized sunglasses. I did multiple wrong turns, only to be told to make a U-turn and go back. All in all, it was a great experiment, which showed limited utility for serious route finding, but something nice to have available. I was able to ride a little more than 30 km in 2 hours. Hopefully, I can come back and do some lengthy rides.

Herbert introduced us to a German tradition of Federweisse and Zwiebelbrot (onion bread). The Federweisse is a very sweet wine made from young grapes, and I’ve never seen it available in the US.

A Schrebergarten close to Herberts Haus

26SEPT – Abschied von Herbert

we told Herbert goodbye and hopped on die Bahn to Leipzig, with two train changes.  We arrived in Leipzig and found our hotel without difficulty. Betsy and I were a little bit amazed that it was much nicer than I thought, in fact, probably one of the nicer and more modern hotels that I have ever stayed in. We took a walk through the city, observing the Alte Rathaus, Nicholai Kirche, and Thomas Kirche, the two churches where Bach performed and taught. It was here that I discovered that I had a portion of our journey off by exactly one day, so in a panic had to change plans that set everything right. It was decided that we would go straight from Leipzig to Würzburg. A few phone calls later, and all was in order.

Betsy at the Thomas Kirche

Old Building viewed from our hotel room

27SEPT2011 Würzburg

It was quite easy to catch the train to Würzburg, going through the town of Fulda. We were delayed a half hour in Fulda, but arrived nicely to Hannes and Katja’s house. After a bite to eat, they took us out to a portion of the Main (River) that I would have ridden by bicycle. It was also cruel it was so beautiful. We stopped in several small towns. The most fascinating was Miltenberg, where we walked through the town. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. This means that we must return someday to photograph this area. It would be nice to do the entire Main Radweg from Frankfurt to Bayreuth. That will take about two weeks in order to properly enjoy it, but will be difficult to talk any of my friends into doing this with me, and I don’t think Betsy would bite at the opportunity. Hannes and Katja suggested that earlier summer would be a better time to do it.

28SEPT2011 Bamberg

The morning started with walking the dog. Hannes then drove us through back roads to Bamberg. It was a very nice sight. I was surprised to see most of the main roads had associated bicycle paths. Franken is truly a cyclist’s paradise. Bamberg was nice, and we went to see the Bamberger Dom, with the Bamberger Ritter statue. Pope Clement II was also buried there.  It was an absolutely gorgeous and fantastic day while we walked through the town, stopping to have Apfelstreudel at a small restaurant. Ausgezeichnet! Returning home, we stopped at a small restaurant to eat dinner. Betsy and I had the Bratkartoffeln, a regional specialty that was out of this world.

Hannes and Gustav

Wieder Nebel im Dorf

Hannes und Katja

In Bamberg

Senf (Mustard) field

Our room at the Wagners

29SEPT2011 Abschied von Hannes and Katja

We needed to make an early start to get to Rome. The train went through München and then Bologna. Everything went okay until we reached München. There, the train to Bologna was delayed by 45 minutes. This meant that we missed our planned train in Bologna to Rome, but was able to find another train quickly. The trains were packed with Americans, and not having seat reservations, Betsy and were occasionally left sitting a distance apart. That didn’t matter too much. The ride across western Austria and Northeast Italy (Dolomite region) was absolutely stupendous, especially Brenner Pass. We made it to Rome, and was able to quickly find our hotel and prepare for a busy day tomorrow.

30SEPT2011 The Vatican

Getting to the Vatican was easy on the Metro. We arrived a bit early and waited at the museum entrance to go in. The first part of the tour was the museums that historically were able to be accessed only by der Papst, until the Vatican needed money. Then they turned it into a tourist facility. The various museums consisted of either statues and artifacts from ancient Rome, tapestries,  and maps of Italy done up in elaborate fresco style. Following the Papal museums, we entered the Sistine Chapel. Its experience was diminished by the massive crowds. The paintings were truly impressive. We then went to St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church building in the world, and, unstated by the tour guide, the indirect cause for the reformation. Peter’s bones are supposedly kept in the crypt here. The oddest display was the body of the recent pope John Paul, when it was noted that five years after his burial, the body had not yet shown signs of decay. This was interpreted as a miracle and thus beatified him.

The School of Athens - quite a large fresco painting

Inside the Vatican Museum

The Pieta in St. Peters

Papst John Paul failing to rot - too much liquor?

Central area of St. Peter's - Peter's bones are below

Looking backwards in St. Peter's

St. Peter's Square

After lunch, we went to see the other three basilicas in Rome. First was St. Pauls outside the gate, which reportedly held the bones of St. Paul.  It was rebuilt several times, but was the second largest church in Christendom. The third basilica was St Johns located in the Laterine palace complex, on the southeast side of then the old walls of Rome. This was where the Popes lived until 1377. Again, it was a truly impressive building. The authenticating relics were splinters from the birth crib of Christ. Across the street was a building that housed the steps which Christ had to climb up to the judgment hall of Pontius Pilate. Pilgrims now come from all over the world to go up these stairs, which is only allowed if you go up on your knees saying three prayers on each step. The stairs were packed. You could go up other stairs to the top to notice the “suffers” achieving the last steps, and thus receiving additional blessing from the church. The last basilica was the smallest, but still a grand structure, St. Maria Magiorre, close to our hotel, and built for the “virgin” Mary.  I don’t remember the relic. The interesting thing is that the bones of Benini the architect are buried here. Supposedly the location of the church was identified when snow was identified on this location on 05AUG. many moons ago. It is the only church that hadn’t undergone some sort of destruction over the years.

St. Paul's Basilica

Chair where the Papst speaks ex cathedra in St. John's

Climbing the stairs Jesus climbed - on knees ONLY!

Picture of Jesus painted by God himself!

Inside Maria Magiorre Basilica

This day gave much to reflect. I could imagine Luther and others coming to Rome to see practices which occurred. Recent conservative evangelicals have apparently gone to Rome and come back with enthusiasm about reuniting the branches of Christianity. I came back scared, wondering that I hadn’t seen yet another version of idolatry, and a complete misconception of the church regarding gaining merit. Their fixation on relics, “sainthood”, practices to gain additional merit, the attention to the Pope and pompous splendor all made me quite happy that I was not a Catholic. Perhaps the pope should spend more time reigning in the sex practices of priests, and perhaps they should identify that practices such as touching certain objects or performing certain rituals does absolutely nothing to ones salvation. We need to remind ourselves how correct the Reformers of the church were.

01OCT – Ancient Rome

Betsy and I did a tour of ancient Rome today. First, I’d like to say something about tours. They are a little bit corny, in that you really feel like a tourist. But, there is also a huge advantage. The blessings of tours are 1. You don’t have to wait in lines, 2. Somebody explains things to you so that you see the things that you would otherwise have missed, and 3. The tour is done is a very systematic fashion which most efficiently, yet slowly covers what you would wish to see. There is usually plenty of time for photos. We walked from our hotel to the coliseum, where we got a fairly good tour from top to bottom. We then went to the Roman forum, seeing the senate house, the various buildings (now in ruin) of the forum area, and ending on the Palatine Hill, the location of the former residences of the emperors. It was described the absolute former beauty of these places, including the coliseum, which had luscious marblework everywhere, the ceilings and walls were painted with beautiful designs, the floors were marble, and everything had a splendid sense to it. After the tour, Betsy and I walked back to the hotel a circumlocuitous route, including Gesu (first Jesuit church), The Pantheon, and the Trevi fountain. We were pooped and the weather was hot. We didn’t do much the rest of the day.

Roman gladiators

Inside the Colosseum

The Senate House of ancient Rome

Ruins in the Forum

Gesu - 1st Jesuit Church - for Dennis

Trevi Fountain

02OCT – Der Papst

Today we saw the Papst. We were picked up from our hotel at 08:15, and got on a bus. Originally they thought that the Pope was going to be in his summer villa outside the city and we stopped by St. Peter’s square to buy relics that could be blessed. We picked up several crosses, some rosary beads, and a calendar, that are now blessed. It was then that it was realized that the Pope would be right here in St. Peters. So, the tour bus changed plans, and took us first to Nuova Plaza, followed by a ride up in the hills west of Rome and overlooking the city. It was a gorgeous site, but the bus did not stop for photos. We finally got back to St. Peters at 11:00 and the Papst comes out right at noon. Next to where we were waiting, a German band group came that set up their music stands and started playing German marching music.  The entire St. Peter’s Square soon filled with thousands of people, many actually taking this serious, and  to a good many, this was the highlight or pinnacle of their entire life. To them, they saw a glimpse of God. Soon, the Papst came to the window, and actually spoke for 15 minutes, first in Latin, then French, English, German, Spanish and some other language that I didn’t catch. After we blessed, we walked back to the hotel, crossing the Tiber River, and walking through the small streets of Rome to get a flavor of Sunday Roman life.

Back to St. Peter's to see der Papst

Der Papst giving us a blessing

Bridge across the Tivere (Tiber)

03OCT – Off to Firenze

This was an uneventful day, save for a few events. I was notified on the train that I MUST have reservations for that particular train Nothing said that the particular train that I was on demanded reservations. So, I had to pay up. Then, after recouping from a little GI upset, all went otherwise well. Firenze is a quaint little town, with lots of shops, and old sites. The Duomo is huge and gorgeous.  Tomorrow is the tour…

The Duomo

04OCT2011 Firenze tour

We met on the Vecchio Bridge, which goes across the Alto River. There are multiple shops on the bridge, at one time declared by the Medicis to be only jewelry shops. We walked by the Uffizi Museum, which used to house the Medici family, followed by the City Hall, where the Michelangelo statue of David used to stand. It was the courtyard in front of this building where Savaronola was burned at the stake. The tour continued to see the Mercantile Square, and the little Pig. We then walked through a number of quaint neighborhoods until we arrived at a small Gelato shop where the gelato is made fresh every day. It tasted awesome! The last stop was the Academia Museum, where we were able to see the statue of David by Michelangelo, a quite spectacular edifice of marble. After retreat to the hotel for a few hours we walked off to the Crucis Church, where Dante, Machiavelli and Michelangelo were buried. The guard would not let us in. We again had a late dinner, Betsy with spaghetti, and me with pizza.

Square outside "City Hall" where Savaronola was burned at the stake

Ponto Vecchi

River through Firenze

The killing of Medusa

Inside the Duomo

Crucis church holding Michaelangelo, Dante and Machiavelli

Thoughts on Italian food. It is far better than French food, but I prefer German food. The pizza is very thin crust, with very little topping. The spaghetti has almost no sauce on it. The flavors are great. Chicago remains my favorite place for pizza. Giordanos or Edwardos offers pizza that Italy cannot compete with. Even still, I could survive quite nicely off of Italian food. French food, I’d worry about what sort of slug or snail or animal head they may be serving me to eat.

Thoughts on the train. On this trip, we learned that the train service is not quite as reliable as we thought, and that if you have many connections, they are not to be counted on if the time between connections is tight. The lesson is to not travel so far in a single day and limit connections. The only difficulty would be in finding a hotel in connecting cities, unless you actually planned for it. This means that the idea of using a Eurail Pass and hopping on a train anywhere, going where you please, is not such a great idea. I’ll need to do a costing analysis, but with all the added fees for reservations, etc., it diminishes the value of the Eurail pass. Also, I haven’t seen extremely added value in first class over second class. It doesn’t make too much sense to me, in that the seats are nearly the same, and the first class cabins are usually a bit harder to find.

05OCT2011 Back to Krefeld

So, we had plans to go from Firenze to Krefeld. The plan was for 3 train transfers assuming everything went well. The first train went from Firenze to Milan okay. The next Italian train went from Milan to Zürich, a very beautiful ride, but for no good reason, the train was about a half hour late. We considered a number of choices, but noting a train leaving soon to Basel, we decided to take our chances and hop it. In Basel, we found a train soon after arrival to Frankfurt, and it was then easy to find a train to Düsseldorf. In Düsseldorf, the train transferred to Krefeld, and in Krefeld, we transferred to a bus to Engerstraße and a short walk to Herbert’s house. We arrived at about 10 pm, about an hour later than we had planned with the fewer transfers.

06OCT2011 Rest day in Krefeld

We were able to relax with Herbert, play with Arras, and pack. I was able to go to the store for Gummibåren, sauerkraut, and Düsseldorfer senf. We were going to go to the Zoo, but the rains began and we decided to do nothing. We did go out to eat that evening, and I was able to spend a last chance with Herbert, talking politics, philosophy, etc.

07OCT2011 Home

What a long flight! Not much more to say. It feels good to have your feet back in familiar territory.

Colossus, by Niall Ferguson ????

I had just reviewed another book by Niall Ferguson, and this book is actually quite complementary. The overall thesis of this book is that the USA is actually an Empire, and that that is a good thing. The first few chapters start with a history of the United States from the international perspective, showing how the USA has always stated a non-Empire status, while simultaneously behaving like an emerging empire. Even with statements from our recent presidents and some GOP presidential candidates that we are not an empire, Ferguson provides adequate details to show that they indeed are different from all other prior empires that the world has known, yet their very behavior in international politics is consistent with empire status. Ferguson then develops the theme of the Brjitish Empire, emphasizing its triumphs and failures as a world dominating force. Another recently reviewed book by me (The Rise and Fall of the British Empire) takes a quite caustic view of the British Empire. This book has a more balanced view, discussing how the empire status of the British was ultimately mutually beneficial to both England and the subject country. Most notably, the institution of the rule of law and honest commercial interchange was instilled in many countries that are now benefiting from that. The departure of the British often has led to greatly decreased GDP and oftentimes to civil war or catastrophes far worse.  Ferguson also delves into the negative side of empire, showing how England invested far more in foreign nations than they gained, ultimately leading to a diminished status of England in the world at large. He then discusses the positive and negative aspects of the USA as empire, specifically focusing on our near bankrupt status as a nation and the potential instability of both the European Union and the US economic situation. Yet he sees the need for a dominant force in the world that would promote the continuation of free trade and economic stability. Ferguson looks at matters nearly entirely from the viewpoint of an economist as ex-patriot Brit. Though he does briefly bring up the religious question of the loss of faith in Europe, he does not equate that in any way as being a potential harmful matter but merely as a fact of note comparing the difference between American and European society.  I would tend to be a bit hesitant to not attribute other factors as leading to the rise and fall of nations (see Isaiah 40:15-27). Thus, I would personally attribute the greatest danger of the USA is its loss of faith in the Judeo-Christian God.

Ferguson is a provocative read and very informative. I would recommend this book, though I do not entirely agree with everything he says. He certainly is quite thought provoking, and will certainly force one to rethink their stance of Empire, whether one comes from a liberal or conservative perspective.

The review reluctantly receives 5 stars in that I disagree with many of the suppositions and conclusions of the author. Yet, Ferguson makes a fascinating story of the money world that is quite worth reading. His writing style tends to lead to many thought provoking hours if one takes the time to consider the implications of money history. And, as the subtitle states, it is a financial history of the world. Ferguson presents six chapters with an epilogue questioning whether the financial world as we know it will persist. But, that question is not to be approached in this review, as I don’t have a clue. The six chapters neatly divide money history into 1. The history of stocks, 2. The history of bonds, 3. The history of central banks, 4. The history of the insurance industry, 5. The history of the mortgage market, focusing on the US, and 6. Globalization and its implications in the world of finance, including the role of the IMF and World Bank. Ferguson makes a good but not solid case against a gold standard in economics, though he never really challenges the gold standard as such. The strength of this book is that Ferguson is able to show how all monetary systems are not fool-proof, and highly subject to the foibles of man. Perhaps the world economic boon suggests that the economic system with corrections is the best that could be, though a serious crash, perhaps sufficient to enter the world into another dark age, might rule that out. My distress with Ferguson’s book is that he left much unanswered. How did civilizations such as Rome in times past build massive systems without stocks, bonds, derivatives and hedge funds? How was America able to be most successful in the pre-Jekyll Island days? Is it right that there is a massive surge in “money managers” that make ungodly sums of money for doing nothing but gambling? Shouldn’t money managers and corporate executives be held personally responsible for failures since the receive massive personal gain from success? I’ll leave those questions and many more to a subsequent book by Ferguson. In the meantime, go out and get a copy of this book to read-you’ll be glad you did.

Collapse, starring Michael Ruppert ?

This film was absolutely awful.  The majority of the shots were various angles on Michael sitting on a single chair in the middle of an otherwise empty warehouse. We had to endure his continual preoccupation with cigarettes. Michael’s only message was that the entire system is going to break because the world is going to run out of oil. This will be followed by mass chaos and mass starvation, war, and disruption of all the social aspects of life.  He seems to fix most of his blame on George Bush. Michael’s brand of alarmism is disingenuous, in that he has essentially given up on the system. The final views are him in his home which has past due taxes and bills that he cannot pay. Poor Michael! While there is truth in his thesis of the purported coming system collapse, he lacks not only credibility, but also the ability to develop his claims in a convincing fashion. This film is a total waste of even the time it takes to watch it.

Enron, The Smartest Guys in the Room, editor Allison Ellwood ???

This film is a documentary of the rise and fall of Enron. It is a sad story in many ways, in that it reflects what is happening throughout the financial structures of corporate America. Unfortunately, the editor identifies what I believe to be false or superficial causes for the collapse of Enron, including government giving in to demands for increased deregulation. The prevailing undercurrent in this film was a statement against deregulation. In fact, the documentary failed dismally to identify where deregulation was the great evil, outside of holding people responsible for their actions and maintaining transparency in issues that involve the public concern. There is a sense of anger left at the end of the film, as to why so many of the top executives could make out with hundreds of millions of dollars, middle managers and traders with millions of dollars, and yet leave many pension plans (such as with PGE) destitute. The films fails to identify a greater evil lurking in the very heart of corporate America that may lead to such corporate collapses many more times over in our short lifetime.  This film is worth watching if one has not stayed on top of the issues that led to the fall of Enron.

Inside Job, directed by Charles Ferguson, narrated by Matt Damon ??

This film is a documentary of the 2008 financial collapse. It attempts to offer an in-depth analysis of what went wrong with the financial system, placing most of the blame on none other than George W. Bush (surprise?).  No mention is made of the fact that it was a very socialistic democratic congress that essentially controlled governmental financial dealings. Oddly, the film uses two faux-pundits to help sort out was went wrong with the housing bubble and collapse of AIG and Lehman Brothers. The first was Barney Frank, who waxed eloquent about how proper regulations were not put in place on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Oddly, it was Frank and the democratic party that refused to listen to warnings. Barney is more to blame than anybody is the collapse of Fannie and Freddie. The second faux-pundit was George Soros, the consummate hypocrite who has made more billions off of shady dealings on Wall Street than anybody alive. The only benefit that I received from the film is that I was left with the impression that it is the fox that guards the financial hen-house.  The film shows adequately that even the academic institutions are now besot with corruption with very lucrative advisory roles given to many economics professors.  It has enough fairness to admit that even St. Obama has failed the faithful by continuing Wall Street personnel such as Larry Sommers, Timothy Geithner and many others who have failed the public trust through corrupt actions.

Conservatives tend to defend Wall Street as the model of free-market economics. The argument is against limits on top executives since free-markets determine what a person earns. Such an argument is certainly true for the prior builders of industries that have made America, such as with Andrew Carnegie, The Rockefellers, etc., and is also true of modern industry builders such as Dell, Gates, and Jobs. They deserve what they have earned. I have much more trouble with the astronomical profits earned by the financial gamblers of Wall Street who run the banks. They produce nothing, their risks are not great since the Feds will bail them out, and they will be able to make catastrophic decisions and still take home at least 100 times what I will earn in a lifetime.  Ferguson argues that these banking systems create the “wealth” that powers modern society to drive itself forward. Yet, I disagree to some extent. America grew quite fine before the Federal Reserve was created on Jekyll Island in 1913. There was never an issue of phantom monies coming and going, of corruption and dishonesty controlling and regulating itself. Why are normal politicians not allowed to see into the workings of the Federal Reserve? Because we just can’t understand? If banking is truly that complex, then we have a serious problem. Strangely, many evil people such as Sommers and Geithner were given positions by George Bush, only to held on to and adored by St. Obama.

As brother Dennis rightly states, there is minimal difference between the Republican and Democratic Party in many things, and economics seems to be one of them. Few besides Ron Paul have the wisdom to identify that the Federal Reserve is built in a fashion to protect corruption, promote parasitic high-rollers in the banking world, but in whom we are supposed to trust our money. Is it no wonder that the world economic status has become unglued?

The adventures of Ken and Russ 01SEPT11 to 05SEPT11

01 SEPT11 Finished call that went overnight, with few calls. I was able to sign out to Sneller Moreller and then take off.  I met Russ at his house and we took off at 8:15am. When we got to Whitefish, we had dinner and then stayed in a total dive of a motel. Drive was 570 miles, taking 9 hours.

Heading toward West Glacier

On the road to Essex

Izaac Walton Inn

02 SEPT11 Parked car at Columbia Falls Airport, and took off. Stayed at the Isaac Walton Inn in Essex, MT. 3297 Cal, 719 meters of ascent. 4:24 time 85.5 km. This hotel is a historic building that housed railway workers in yesteryear who maintained the tracks in winter. It is now an elegant hotel, where one could watch the trains go by, just west of Marias Pass.

03SEPT11 Essex to  St. Mary via Looking Glass Hill Time 6:35, Distance 96.7 km, Ascent 1534 meters, cal 3883.

Marias Pass

View from Looking Glass Hill

Marias Pass went quite smooth, about 400 meters of climbing, and we arrived in East Glacier Park at about 11:30, so had lunch there. The route immediately started climbing up Looking Glass Hill. The views were stupendous, but the road had no shoulder, was busy, and persistent 6-7% grade, another 400 meters of climbing. The rest of the trip to St. Mary was three subsequent climbs, finally exhausting me, but Russ was handling all okay. The final 8 km descent was glorious. We stayed in a small budget hotel in town.

04SEPT11 St Mary to West Glacier via Going to the Sun Road across Glacier National Park. 873 meters ascent, 3143 Calories, 4:44 time, 73.5 km. Seven miles of this trip (not counted) was via a mandatory shuttle bus along Lake McDonald. This was moderately strenuous after a very strenuous day. Russ handled it well, but he was performing the first Touring time trial up Logan Pass.

Peak seen from Going to the Sun Road

Near the top of Logan Pass

Logan Pass

Descent from Logan Pass

Western Going to the Sun Road

West end of Going to the Sun Road

05SEPT11 West Glacier back to Airport, and then drive home.  37 km, 1:43 time, 1222 Calories, 169 meters ascent.

We returned by way of route 2, which left a mile of tight canyon road, very suited for photography, except that there was no shoulder on the road so it was impossible to comfortably stop. After returning to the car, we were able to drive home in reasonable time.

This is the second book I’ve read by Jon Krakauer, the first being Into Thin Air, a story of a disastrous climb on Everest. Though Krakauer has a very likeable writing style, he is not always the best at contending for historical facts. The Everest climb story held some extremely slanted and monocular views of events that clouded an unbiased appraisal of what really happened on Mt. Everest. In terms of the Everest climb Anatoli Boukreev offered a much more believable account. Both of those books (Into Thin Air, and The Climb) have been previously reviewed by me. Krakauer makes similar editorial mistakes in this book.

Under the Banner of Heaven, according to Krakauer, was intended to be a critical historical review of the Mormon church. During his investigations, the book instead morphed into two intertwined stories, both complementing the other, of the development of the Mormon church, and using that history to offer insights into the murder of a mother and child in the heart of Mormon-land. The two main accomplices in the murder, the Lafferty brothers, committed the crime under the rationale that God gave them clear instructions to do so, based on their Mormon faith. While exploring the history of the Lafferty family, Krakauer necessarily unveils a large contingent of strict Mormons that are part of break-away sects that also practice polygamy. The details of these colonies, scattered throughout the Western United States, Western Canada, and Northern Mexico also bring to light the complex thinking that leads people in the Mormon faith to proclaim that God has spoken to them. After all, they are simply following the example of their leader, Joseph Smith. Many of the “fundamentalists” manifest an extreme political viewpoint that fits neither “right- nor left- wing” ideology, that of absolute freedom of the individual with limited government and extreme patriarchy ruling over an extended family.

This book has strengths and weaknesses. Krakauer is a poor historian in not adequately exploring the various interpretations and viewpoints to an event, before discussing why he chose a given viewpoint. Krakauer is superb at writing a good story, and, criticisms aside, does a very capable job of noting how bizarre the Mormon faith happens to be, and how quickly it can transmogrify itself to suit the needs of the moment, such as abolishing polygamy or accepting blacks into the eldership of the church. The story fits other readings that I’ve had of Mormon history, and it defies explanation as to why Mormons would hold so tenaciously to a belief system that hides its past and pretends it really doesn’t exist. This, in and of itself, makes the book very much worth reading.

Krakauer makes a mistake at the end of the book by trying to wax philosophical. His spiritual mentors, of whom he freely quotes, are Karen Armstrong and William James. Specifically with James, Krakauer accepts the notion of religious experience being nothing other than a psychological event. Yet, he (and James) fail to notice that all human experience is essentially psychological, including whatever scientific knowledge we may possess. Like the miracle worker who has events come true when commanded, the scientist notes that his theories lead to “events” that come true that furthers their faith in the religion of science. That is a dangerous road to take, because it deconstructs any possible experience of anything, whether or not you define it as sacred or secular.  The assumption is that since there are  ”quack” religious groups, all religious groups must be suspect. Even worse is the assumption that because there is not 100% uniformity of opinion as to truth regarding “god”, “god” must not exist or is at least unknowable. Similar arguments could be made against the sciences, since any disagreement suggests that ultimately even scientific truth is unknowable. Epistemological nihilism becomes the only truth. The underlying assumption in all of James statements is the God simply does not exist, or is absolutely and totally unknowable.  Thus, his arguments of the psychological nature of religious experience is a circular argument that offers no proof for or against God, nor for the veracity of the experience. Christian doctrine suggests that there is a connection between the “5th dimension”, or the “alternate universe” and ours, and in that alternate universe, a battle is raging with forces both good and evil, the good eventually winning. Religious experience could be encountered from either the good or evil forces, and the ultimate determination for the side may be evaluated through God’s word to man in the form of the Scriptures. Using Scripture as an ultimate reference point, the Mormon doctrines don’t stand, and suggest any religious experience of a Mormon nature be through the evil forces that wage battle against the good.

Krakauer spends a chapter discussing the issue of the insanity defense that Lafferty’s lawyers gave to prevent the execution of Dan Lafferty. This legal argument continues to rage. Public legal assumption is that any belief structures that extremely differ from normative must be proof of insanity. This denies the possibility of a person simply being evil. Hitler, Stalin, Mao Ze Dung, Pol Pot, and W. Churchill all must have been insane since they all lived the most desperately evil lives (though Churchill managed to maintain a sense of acceptability!). It is interesting that even in illiterate third world countries or among savages, a concept of insanity exists, and that insane people are clearly seen and identified without the aide of a psychiatrist.

The appendix offers Krakauer’s rebuttal to a response by a high ranking elder in the Mormon church to Krakauer. This elder appropriately identifies Krakauer’s weaknesses, yet fails to see his own dismal historical weaknesses. It is clear that the Mormon church will force an interpretation of history that best suits their own agenda, rather than the known facts of the historical events.

All in all, this is a good book to read. It is a good reminder of the consequences of reacting against the whole of society, as many I am personally acquainted with have tended to do. It is also a warning against the Mormon church, which appears quite innocent, yet there is something rotten in the church from its very inception, that troubles the church today.

Since then, I’ve slowly evolved into using only tea leaves. You can see my tea cabinet. Only a portion of the teas I brew are visible, and some are actually just using old containers.

I brew the tea in a white ceramic pot or cast iron pot, kept warm over a tea candle apparatus.

I use a Finum strainer for the tea. These are very nice, since you can remove the tea leaves after the appropriate infusion time, and can reinfuse the leaves quite easily. The lid also serves as a convenient base to prevent tea from getting on the counter.

At the office, I use a larger ceramic pot, with a hot water pot to boil the water.

Learning how to properly brew tea takes practice, experience, but a good book also gives one an idea as to techniques for making the perfect pot of tea. The book below also discusses the various types of tea, their origin and their differences. Generally, there are Chinese vs. Indian teas. Africa does produce some teas like Rooibos, which I’ve found to be quite distasteful. The Chinese/Indian teas vary from black, Oolong, green, flavored (like Jasmine), mixed (like Earl Grey), or moldy (like Pu-Erh). Pu-Erh tea is actually quite interesting, in that the 2-5 infusions are all quite good. The tea smells like a barnyard, but the taste is very nice.

The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook, by M. Heiss and R. Heiss ???

This book is a good introductory summary for the tea lover. Happy brewing!!!

This trip had several objectives. The first was to meet with Dr. Lattin and give a breast cancer update talk at his hospital. The second was to achieve a brief rest and relaxation while meeting friends, including not only the Lattins whom we met in Bangladesh, but also the Bankers, who attended Resurrection Presbyterian church with us in the past. We spent 3 nights in Anchorage, followed by three nights in Soldotna with the Lattins.

The first day in Anchorage was to simply settle in. We drove downtown, and shopped for moose hats and other Alaska paraphernalia. Betsy fell in love with the moose.

The second day, we drove up to Wasilla, and then out towards Tok. The mountains were stupendous. In the evening, we met with Jeff and Ellen Banker, and went out to eat. The seafood was incredible! The beer was quite good also.

The third day was mostly resting. I met with Jeff again, still recovering from hand surgery, and ran up to the top of Flattop Mountain. The most distinctive feature of Flattop Mountain is its flat top.

The fourth day, we checked out of our hotel and headed down to Soldotna. The drive is quite beautiful, with the seashore on one side, and immense mountains on the other side.

The fifth day, I gave my cancer talk. Later, we went out to dinner, and then drove to the beach in Kenai. We were able to see Mt. Iliamna and Mt. Redoubt.

The sixth day was a walk for life for Betsy and Anna, and a fishing trip for Jason, Nathan and myself. We drove down to Homer, and took off on a chartered boat out into Cook Inlet.

We spent much time with the kids.

Joshua

Noelle

Esther

I let Nathan run around with the camera for a bit, and noted that he wasn’t taking care to compose his shots. To illustrate the importance of adequate view in a photo, I took a photo of him. Included are photos Nathan took of the parents.

Nathan

Dad according to Nathan

Mom, according to Nathan

It was sad for Betsy and I to leave Alaska. It was more enjoyable than our last visit, and suggested returns, especially with friends. I also noted that the roads typically had quite wide shoulders and thus makes it quite conducive to cycle touring. All we need to worry about are moose and bear.

Special thanks to the Bankers and Lattins for making this trip quite special.

This is a hodge-podge 34 CD collection from the Deutsche Grammophon archives, presumably reflecting the best of Liszt. It was probably produced for the bicentennial year of Liszt’s birth. Sony has also produced a 25 CD collection, as well as the recently reviewed Leslie Howard complete piano works of Liszt. Sadly, nobody has ever compiled the entire production of Liszt like has been done for Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and other composers. This collection has all superb performances, as well as superb recordings. It is a very worthwhile introduction to Liszt for the classical lover who would like to get into Liszt.

A recent conversation with Jeff Banker during a hike/climb of Flattop Peak in Anchorage, AK led to the issue of free will and providence. This movie came up in the discussion. It is suggested that there is a bureau of people who have enough insight in the makeup of all people in order to ultimately have plans for their fates, as well as the fate of the world. It is as though they are god, yet, unlike the Christian God of the Bible, is constantly changing his plans, not totally aware of the future, has no actual control over anything, can be worked around, has no prevailing moral code of operation, and is limited in his insights, judgement, and power to actually determine the fate of events. Damon is not his best in acting, and was much better in the Bourne series. I am quite sure this movie reflects a sense of providence/predestination equivalent with most people’s thinking, including Christians of the Arminian persuasion. This movie is an excellent argument that such a god is no god at all, but rather just a little more powerful version of the human being.

This is one of now many analyses of Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner. Lee apparently is a Catholic priest, and these short essays were from radio commentary that he gave. This was read at the recommendation of a number of reviewers on Amazon.com. I found that Lee does an excellent superficial analysis of the plot, and suggests that the “deeper” meaning to be communicated in the operas is best seen on a psychological study of the Ring from the viewpoint of Wagner himself. Lee suggests that Wagner is attempting a Nietzschean twist on evolution, suggesting the death of the old gods, and an emergence of an enlightened mankind superior to our past. Having recently listened to Robert Greenberg’s analysis of the Ring as found in the Teaching Company recordings, I tend to agree toward Greenberg. Lee seems to idolize Wagner as a deep thinker. Greenberg instead views Wagner as the most profound of composers but simultaneously the most evil of all men whose ideology is repulsive. From what I know about Wagner, I think Greenberg is closer to the real Wagner. It is a pity that such amazingly beautiful music has a dark side to it, and must be listened to for the quality of the music. The underlying messages must be glossed over and the Ring watched solely for its superficial message, as Lee manifests in this short book.

This book was recommended to me by Dr. Lattin based on a World Magazine review, and it was a good choice. It is short, and can be easily read in 1-2 evenings. Brooks identifies that in America, there are essentially two types of people, 70% who prefer small government, free markets, and private enterprise, and 30% who prefer large government, socialism, and relative equality of incomes for all citizens. It is the 30% who seem to control government, media, and Hollywood. There are four chapters in this book. In the first, Brooks delineates the problem. Chapter two discusses how the liberals and media have it all wrong in discussing the cause for the economic downturns of the last century, showing how it was government and not “greedy capitalists” who caused the problem. Brooks doesn’t spare either Republicans or Democrats, and is particularly harsh on the statements and decisions of our current fool-in-chief, Barry O. Chapter 3 shows how working for a living rather than being on a government dole actually makes people happier, and concomitantly more productive. The last chapter offers a moral argument, that it is only right that one work for a living, and that forced government redistribution is immoral. While I agree with the global thesis of this book and most of the particulars, he fails only in not showing how our abandonment of God, religious structures, and Biblical moral framework has ultimately been the cause for America’s downturn.

Both of these albums were taken from historical archives. Thus, their quality is ok to quite poor. The recordings could have been cleaned up a little better, but were not. Many of these marches and songs are quite difficult to obtain. Of note, the Horst Wessel Lied is not available in Germany. It is illegal to have the tune, or to play it. It was hard enough to procure here in the US. For my German friends…

Bitte zur Beachtung! Passen Sie auf! Dieses Lied ist nicht erlaubt auf Deutschland. Hör es nur mit Kopfhörer. Wenn der Staat wisst, das du dieses Lied gehören hast, kannst du bestraft sein. Du werdest in Gefängnis geworfen sein, und der Schlüssel weg geworfen. Hör auf eigene Gefahr!

01 Horst Wessel Lied (Nazi Party Anthem – choral) 1

First, a clarification. I wish to compare this song with the French and American National anthems.

French National Anthem

Finally, the US National Anthem (I hope you know it already!)

O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust;”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Notice that the anthems all tend toward violence, and the Nazi anthem is no worse than the French or American. The only redeeming value of the American anthem is the last stanza, which is unfortunately rarely ever sung. Francis Scott Key wrote other hymns, one which is still in the church hymn repertoire, “Lord with glowing heart I’ll praise thee”, but unfortunately is not found in many hymnals any more.

This is probably the last evolution book that I’m going to read and review for a while. This compilations of essays were written by British authors, mostly as a response to Denis Alexander, and British counterpart to USA’s Francis Collins in advocating theistic evolution. The book was recommended by World Magazine as a top read of the year, so it made sense to complete my evolution reads with this text. In all, I appreciated the mixture of a strong Biblical response with the provision of a scientific defense for creation. The scientific data was a rehash of much that I’ve read in the past and recently reviewed volumes. If I hadn’t grown weary of creation vs. evolution texts I’d probably have given it a higher recommendation. I agree with World that this is a superb summary defense for a Biblical approach to creation/evolution.

Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, and Theological Commentary, by C. John Collins ?????

This book offers a detailed analysis of the first four chapters in Genesis in an attempt to bring clarity to our understanding as to the events of creation and the first few years of man on earth. Collins certainly possesses the necessary credentials, having an advanced degree in the sciences from MIT, as well as further M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees in theology and linguistics. I have heard criticisms of Dr. Collins, mostly related to him having abandoned a Biblical approach to Genesis, and having caved in to the the god of Science. Thus, the reading of this text was done in a critical fashion. I have found that the exact opposite of his critics is true. Jack Collins is a breath of fresh air in conservative scholarship, neither giving in to modernist approaches to creation nor to traditional theories of creation. Instead, Collins maintains a prevailing stance of the preeminence of Scripture over science, and that is seen on each and every page of this text. True, he doesn’t subscribe to a 24-hour young earth interpretation of Genesis 1, yet, he offers substantial support to an old earth hypothesis that allows for a 6 day creation in God’s time.

The flow of the book is somewhat different from what I’m used to in that the sources, authorship, and purpose of Genesis is left to the end of the book, and for good reason for one reading the text from front to back cover. He initiates the book with his method of discourse analysis. He briefly explores the questions that Genesis is trying to answer. He then does a step-by-step analysis on a linguistic basis of the four pericopes of Genesis 1-4, interestingly and for good reason, including the Cain and Abel pericope and aftermath.

Collins concludes the book first with a discussion of source criticism, laying claim that even if one were to identify various sources, it doesn’t contribute to analysis of the book, since the book was masterfully compiled by Moses in a manner that leaves it as a unity rather than a fragmented mishmash. He then puts on his science background hat to explore the claims of Genesis in the light of modern science, but refuses to force science and Genesis into two separate realms. Thus the book concludes by showing how Genesis 1-4 establishes a very distinct Judeo-Christian world view.

My greatest appreciation for this book was that Collins always held a high view of Scripture, and never allowed science to preempt Scripture. Collins maintained a sense of humility toward questions that could not be answered in Genesis even in the light of the remainder of Scripture. Collins offers a forceful and cogent response to the source critics. Of particular note is the hypothesis that Gen. 1:1-2:3 and Gen 2:4-25 are two different creation stories that a redactor sloppily reassembled. Unfortunately, many “conservative” scholars have concurred with this hypothesis. Rather, Collins shows how Gen 2:4-25 was a masterful clarification of the sixth day of creation.

In all, this is one of the better books that I have read on the early Genesis pericopes, and I laud Collins for his perspicuity and insights over a controversial topic. This book is highly recommended to all who have a passing interest in the various debates regarding old and young earth creationism.

Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by C. John Collins

I have recently reviewed one of Jack Collin’s other books on Genesis 1-4. This text addresses a limited portion of that other book, focusing on a theological as well as scientific argument for the existence of a single pair of people forming the source and basis for the remainder of humanity.  There is a moderate amount of repetition between this book and the Genesis 1-4 text, and yet sufficient distinction to make both books worth reading. Collins seems to mostly be directing his arguments toward the new thinking of Theistic Evolution, and specifically countering arguments of the BioLogos forum that states that man evolved from hominids in the distant past, slowing acquiring their distinction as humans with a relationship to god. Briefly, Collins engages in an analysis of the key Adam and Eve texts throughout Scripture, and substantiates the importance of a single Adam and Eve character for the development of the whole of Christian theology. Throw out the traditional Adam and Eve and you result in a Christianity of a completely alien character to what we know. Thus, Adam and Eve must be more than theoretical or abstract constructs.

Three appendices at the end of the book were of great value to read in addition to the main text, and thus must not be skipped. The first dealt with a discussion of other ancient creation and flood texts that archeologists have made available to us. The second demonstrates Collin’s mind in reviewing James Barr, showing Collin’s ability to glean valuable insights from a writer that tends to lace his writings with what might be called theological rubbish. The third appendix is a brief discussion of timing in Genesis.

This is a short book to read, and can be handled by the usual person in several long evenings. The insights from this book offer valuable arguments against much of the trends in theistic evolution, as well as theological discussions that must be the thinking of all orthodox Christians. I would advise that Collin’s other text Genesis 1-4 be read before this text, and hopefully someday he merges the two texts into one tome.

This text is written by a number of scholars at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, WA from an Intelligent Design perspective to counter the theistic evolution movement. Surprisingly many evangelical theologians and pastors have given their imprimatur to the theistic evolution movement, including Bruce Waltke, Philip Yancey, Os Guinness, Robert Schuler (?), Tim Keller, and Mark Noll to name a few. The theistic evolution movement argues that their stance is consistent with an orthodox reading of Scripture held in an inerrant fashion. This book seeks to establish that theistic evolution falls out of the traditional Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish beliefs.

The first emphasizes the importance of correct thinking on evolution. Richards  and West argue that errors in thinking on evolution has led to such heresies as gnosticism and deistic views of God. Richards identifies prominent Christian leaders like Tim Keller, who seem entirely inconsistent and poorly thought out on his evolution beliefs. Ultimately, the bioLogos movement tends to destroy more theological truths, including a rigorous view of the fall, and a denial that God is present and active in this world. Collin’s efforts to make evolution compatible with a strict view of Scripture has not engendered acceptance of the atheistic evolutionist crowd, primarily because evolution is much more than a scientific theory, but rather a complete belief system about the universe. Luskin spends a chapter detailing why theistic evolution will never appease the atheists in the crowd. Of greatest perplexity is Francis Collins’ strong reaction against the Intelligent Design movement. Attempts at reconciling science and religion had led to the proposal of differing spheres of influence (NOMA), which again reflects confused thinking since science and religion regularly overlap, whether one is a theist or an atheist. Demski investigates the claim that theistic evolution gets God “off the hook” for creating evil, yet argues that is does nothing of the sort, since God remains directly or indirectly “responsible” for evil. Witt then focuses directly on Collins’s position, focusing on his anti-ID stance. In the process, Collins must maintain that the so-called imperfections of nature attest to an imperfect or clumsy God who can’t get things right the first time around (as though theistic evolution solves the problem!). Wells feels that Collins prematurely caved into his atheistic buddies in the science world, but seriously compromised himself in the process by not promoting the notion of a God as immediate creator of the universe. Richards details the belief system of Howard Van Till, showing how Van Till suggested a mechanism built into the system from the beginning by God  which would lead to the tendency toward the evolution of life, called the “robust formational economy principle”. To me, this sound much like an anthropic-teleological principle, with the entire system bent toward the non-random formation of humans. Yet, Richards argues that this is not how we see nature to be, and forms very shaky theological grounds. In the end, Van Till offers more confusion than direction. Van Till himself has since abandoned an orthodox view of God, even being rejected by the now quite liberal Calvin College. Meyer summarizes by suggesting the theistic evolution fails to solve any of the questions that they attempt to solve, i.e, why nature doesn’t seem to have a perfect construction, as defined by our current concept of what an ideal, perfect world (or biological organism) would look like.

The remaining chapters are the Catholic and Jewish argument against theistic evolution. For the Catholic, much discussion related to medieval concepts of nomism vs. realism, Aristotelian thinking in the mind of Thomas Aquinas, and the formal positions of the Catholic church. For the Jewish crowd, discussion of great minds such as Maimonides and traditional Jewish thought through the ages was details. Klinghoffer suggested that while the preponderance of Jews, whether reformed or orthodox,  have blindly accepted evolution as an explanation for the world without conflict with the Hebrew Scriptures and subsequent thinking, this is a result of very poor thinking as to traditional Jewish belief systems.

In all, this book is a superb tour de force contra the theistic evolution crowd. It avoids the young earth/old earth controversy and focuses entirely on the problem Christians assuming that science must speak first, followed by us conforming our theological beliefs to science. To this end, I fear that many conservative theologians are gravely in error subscribing to theistic evolution. It leaves me wondering how my own denomination (the PCA) could close a blind eye to Tim Keller (perhaps because he has a large successful church) while forming a witch-hunt in a minor theological dispute with Peter Leithart.

As you can tell, I’ve been reviewing mostly Russian music, including Borodin, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich. Shostakovich is my favorite of all Russian composers. This 11-CD set includes all 15 of Shostakovich’s symphonies, as well as his violin concerto. Though recorded a few years ago by Melodia, the sound is quite excellent. Kondrashin provides very convincing performances, that rank among the best. His tempo and dynamics often differ a bit from western conductors, but is done in a way that is quite pleasing. The 5th symphony is comparatively slower than Bernstein’s, yet maintains all the vim and fire worthy of the symphony. This is a set of Shostakovich’s symphonies that is worth having, and is probably the best Russian performances available. I have complete sets by Barshai, Haitink, Maxim Shostakovich, and Jansons, as well as this set by Kondrashin, and tend to prefer the Kondrashin and Jansons sets above the others. Each conductor provides a much different interpretation of these symphonies, and all of the sets are worth having. Kondrashin would be a reasonable starting set for the beginner.