The NCAA, weddings, and B.O.

We're in the midst of the Madness-- upsets are mounting, threes are dropping, hearts are pounding: it has come.

But i've found that i don't like it so much this year. i can't pick teams that win. Who seriously has time to sit around and watch all these teams play so that they can predict a 13 beating a 4? Not me, that's who. The whole thing is really starting to make me mad-- sort of like last year, when Julie beat me by ten points. I think i swore then never to play again.

Speaking of Julie, we're getting married on April 5th. If you're reading this, you're probably invited. If you didn't an invitation, feel free to come. We're going to have cake. And punch. And everyone likes those things.

Julie brings a good balance to my life. She injects my cold, objective analysis of the world with an eloquent compassion-- and i'm very thankful. Where would i be without God's compassion on me? Thanks Julie.

To turn a corner, I've been itching to write about the latest political fiasco.

Barack Obama's pastor is exposed for extremely racist, hate-filled, ethno-centrist, anti-American (i could keep going with the adjectives) comments. What follows?

Republicans jump all over it. Hillary sits back and smirks. Most of the major news networks fall all over themselves to defend him and point fingers at other people. Democrats look kind of sheepish.

To be honest with you, i wasn't going to vote for Obama to begin with. i wouldn't know what i was voting for. Change? Hope? Unity? Buzzwords? Come on. Here's some buzzwords for you: substance. policy. reality.

As for the current situation, i don't think i'm being too simplistic to say that Jeremiah Wright is a racist. Not only that, but he lacks a lot of credibility when he lambastes America and "the white man" from a cushy Chicago pulpit. i might listen more closely if he were speaking from an African village.

As for Obama, of course he knew what his pastor has been saying all this time. Let's not be absurd. But assume for a second that he doesn't know what's going on at church, and you have a 20 year lapse of judgment and failure to read the writing on the wall. Not such a great defense.

The biggest issue of all, for me, is not the race or the anti-American sentiment. It's the fact that this guy has "Rev." in front of his name and has been called "pastor" and ran a "church" for so long. It's the fact that he is spewing hatred from the pulpit. i don't care if i've only heard selected sound bites. There shouldn't be a single sound bite like what i've heard. Not one. His vitriol has nothing to do with God's kingdom.

The real villain here has not been Barack Obama. It's not even Jeremiah Wright. It's the media. Their unthinking, banal analysis and willingness to fawn over celebrity politicians, combined with their maddening double-standard when it comes to racial issues would cause anyone else to lose their jobs. But this is exactly what keeps their jobs safe.

Shame on you, media. Shame.