Weekly Diary

The week got off to a rough start with the US national soccer team being defeated by Mexico 2-1 on Easter Sunday. The US has never defeated Mexico in Mexico, and looks like we'll have to wait another four years for the chance. The sad part is that it seemed the US didn't even try to take the chance. Bruce Arena sent the Americans out in a defensive 4-5-1 formation and with a passive style, ignoring the pressing direct style with which the US has had so much success and which led to the historic 2-0 defeat of Mexico in the '02 World Cup. I think Arena was saving his team for Wednesday's match against Guatemala, which the US won soundly 2-0.

The Terri Schiavo died this week. As I mentioned before, I think the issue of withholding hydration and nutrition is difficult, but in its most basic sense, a feeding tube is just as "artificial" as, say, a ventilator. But the difficulty of the question was rarely reflected in the public discussion, much of which turned on the denial of the basic facts about this poor woman's brain - that is, that it was largely gone. I found it deeply frustrating to find pro-life people turning to the medical equivalents of Holocaust deniers, but found mild relief in this slapdown of one egregiously bad TV talking head.

On a "lighter" note, but really not, it seems that VR battles are drifting over into the "real" world, as in this case where one Chinese gamer killed another for stealing a "virtual sword".
(Via Crooked Timber).

My daughter Katie is very excited this week. Her new love is musical theater and she be performing this summer in Once on This Island and Alice in Wonderland. She just received the CD and score for Island, so now the singing will begin. I'm excited, not because I have any particular love for musical theater, but because I have a profound love for my daughter, and seeing her happy always makes me happy.

Cyberspace has been hopping over an op/ed in the New York Times by John Danforth, a former Republican Senator from Missouri and Ambassador to the UN, , decrying the takeover of the Republican party by Christian conservatives. (This from a man who is an ordained minister!). Key Quote:

"But in recent times, we Republicans have allowed this shared agenda to become secondary to the agenda of Christian conservatives. As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around."

He thinks the Republicans have sold their souls to the Christians. I'm more worried about the reverse, given further evidence this week that many Christian leaders have sold their souls to the Republicans. The Bible is clear that we are to lay down our lives for Jesus and His Church. But are we required to lay down for Tom DeLay?