Seeing pictures from Obama’s recent rally in Denver, CO – yet again drawing a crowd of “well over 100,000 people”, I can’t help but be excited as the 2008 Presidential race draws to a close. Having been off-track for some time now, I anxiously await the level of respect that an Obama Presidency will bring to the United States. My vote is cast; my party hat awaits. ¶ It is, indeed, a compelling time in history, and John Hodgman perhaps says it best: ¶

“The thing that I find so compelling is that right now Obama’s whole campaign strategy is simply [to] speak to people as though they were adults and trust that the truth of the world situation will be evident to them. For him to be attacked as a friend of a terrorist, for ‘palling’ around with terrorists and to simply go back and say, ‘No, I’m not’? That was such a refreshing political moment. It’s like he’s saying, ‘Oh, you know that’s not true. You know what’s happening here.’ So much of the past eight years in politics, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you have to acknowledge is based on what the Bush people to themselves have described outside the reality-based community. That the words they were speaking had no basis in reality and they felt no compulsion to exist in a real world. They were creating a world of their own imagining. They were writing their own book of fake trivia and that’s a fine way to make a living, but I don’t know that it’s a very productive way to run a country. And I think we are seeing the results of that right now. So from a very selfish point of view, I’m enchanted by the idea that a politician can come along and speak simply and clearly and truthfully to an electorate as though they are grown-ups and to feel the electorate respond to that. I’ve found that to be astonishing and especially now that we are in the end game and you see basically the McCain campaign has nothing left but conspiracy theories to throw at Obama. It really has become a fight between fantasy and reality, and although I don’t make my living off of it, I endorse reality.”

“…we use up a store of willpower resources every time we make the effort to hold back or do something we don’t want to do. Exercising willpower is like exercising a muscle…and it takes time for the resources used to be replenished. Making difficult decisions and coping with stress may deplete the same resources, also sapping willpower.”

If a person is constantly on the move – whether working, chasing goats, training cheerleaders, practicing piano, selling snacks at football games, or cleaning house, does this, then, make the case for candy-craving? Quite possibly. Add to that… ¶

“Conscious, effortful control uses energy…This could explain why all-encompassing health drives so often fail. [insert extra-curricular activities here] may take all your available willpower, leaving little in the tank to fuel the new exercise regime and healthy-eating plan…”

…and it’s an even greater likelihood that cookies and chocolate will demand to be eaten. ¶ Advice for those with less-than-stellar memory? Though it may sound crazy, perhaps relying on it less would help. Rather than start the day by trying to think of, and subsequently remember, all you have to do, why not end the previous day by planning out the next? It might be hard to sit down every night to do this, but studies have found that working on your self-control in one area of life (like sitting down each night to plan) can have a positive impact in other areas (like the willpower to say no to cookies) – not to mention the fact that you’d be taxing your memory less throughout the next day, further easing the difficulty of self-control. Those same studies show that it doesn’t really matter what routine you stick to, that just sticking to something can improve your overall self-control. ¶ Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer of New York University and the University of Konstanz in Germany, makes the case for planning. ¶

“Gollwitzer has come up with a method that will help even the worst procrastinator to achieve a higher level of self-control. He stumbled across the idea while studying people’s states of mind during different stages of motivation and action. As part of an experiment, he asked some participants to write out exactly how they would complete a task, giving as much detail as possible about when and where they planned to do it. In subsequent studies he found that people who go through the trouble of making “when-where-and-how” plans were about three times more likely to actually act on their goals.

According to Gollwitzer, planning works because it takes away some of the conscious mental effort. Even something as simple as saying you will go to the gym at a certain time on a certain day is a more successful strategy than merely intending to exercise once a week. Planning can turn a “difficult conscious decision into an unconscious habit”, which makes the whole process faster and more efficient without depleting energy levels – meaning more willpower to say no to the cookies. ¶ In summation: get a planner, and make yourself use it. The actual plan will help you tax your memory less, giving you more willpower, as will disciplining yourself to do the actual planning, ultimately helping you SAY NO TO COOKIES!
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I still don’t know what a lowry is supposed to be. The next sets of photos will further prove my reason for confuzzlement.

Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport, says to god: ¶

“Your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god – whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah – that [John McCain's] opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and election day.”

Some observations: ¶ According to Arnold Conrad’s standard – that his god’s reputation is involved in all that happens – Arnold Conrad’s god is already kinda screwed, regardless of the election outcome. See: September 11th, tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina, Myanmar floods, earthquake in Sichuan Province of China, Hurricane Ike… ¶ Though I’m sure he didn’t mean to, Arnold Conrad did acknowledge the god’s of other religions. He went a step further by putting them in a position to trounce the preeminence of the Christian god should Obama win the election. ¶ As I would tell my middle school students, “…if that happens. Circle ‘that’. What does ‘that’ refer to? ‘That’ refers to ‘opponent wins.’” Arnold Conrad is accusing anyone who supports Obama of not being a Christian. Arnold Conrad is afraid he will look foolish and his god look small if his prayers aren’t answered, so he gives his god an ultimatum. Three things: Arnold Conrad already looks foolish; to be concerned about the United States’ Presidential race is a sure sign that Arnold Conrad’s god is small; and I know some Hindu and Buddhist people here in South Korea, and they are not praying to their god for an Obama win. ¶ Is it really a good idea to ask god to step forward and honor god’s own name? According to Arnold Conrad’s religion, for god to oblige such a request would be the seal and cessation of the “end times.” Does Arnold Conrad really think the world will be at end if Barack Obama is elected President? ¶ Please refer to my post on “ditching” church for more about Arnold Conrad’s and other’s religious certainty…a.k.a. lack of faith.

“I don’t use the word “atheist” about myself, because I think it mirrors the certitude I’m so opposed to in religion…I don’t know what happens when you die, and all the religious people who claim they do know are being ridiculous. I know that they don’t know any more than I do. They do not have special powers that I don’t possess. When they speak about the afterlife [or anything else!] with such certainty and so many specifics, it just makes me laugh.”

Click HERE to read the full article and interview.  ¶  It is my belief that, if there is a god, to define – as truth or even “by faith” – anything about god’s existence is to immediately limit that which god could be. How arrogant is it, then, for religious people to think they should go to church to to learn more about god?* And for those attending church for the “communal” aspect of it, how fulfilling is it to surround yourself with people who are sure that their god condemns homosexuals like me?  ¶  Isn’t it better to surround yourself with two or three who know you as you really are…who can converse with you about things that would make other people gawk and guffaw…who you actually can and serve to benefit from growing closer together? ¶ *Karl Barth, my favorite German theologian, says:

“The true believer is the very man who will not hesitate to acknowledge that his consciousness of faith as such is human darkness.”

Mom, I consider myself to be a “true believer”. It is surely an act of faith to not believe there is NO god. And it takes an even stronger faith to abstain from the practice of limiting that which god could be.