Presidential Prelection

I've enjoyed keeping up with the presidential primaries of both parties. The calculated speeches, the acerbic barbs couched in innocent repartee, and the constant calls for "change" (though the change advocated is never clearly defined) all point to the interesting race that's shaping up. I declared early on that I was really impressed with Huckabee. That was before his somewhat questionable record came up, which it always does in these primaries. There were several issues that caused concern. I appreciate his Christian worldview, but it takes more than just being a Christian to get my support. From the sounds of the blogs of some of my friends, we should vote for him just because he's evangelical and a really good guy. Well, I'm a Christian and a really nice guy but I'm not qualified to be President. I want to see a plan for the future that makes sense. Don't just wow me with impassioned delivery (can you say Obama?). Clearly define what your plan is for this country. Financially, this country's in a mess and somebody better have a plan to reduce our national debt, repair our Social Security system (or come up with a good privatization program), and cut the pork that seems to inevitably find it's way into every spending bill. I want to see a realistic plan for what's going to happen in Iraq, what we're going to do about our dependency on foreign oil, and what we're going to do about free trade. I would like for a candidate to clearly define their position on illegal immigration, one that is realistic and can be enforced. What are we going to do about our plodding tax system, the rising cost of healthcare/insurance, and our broken educational system? Of course, there are several social issues that bother me, as well. I haven't seen anyone who has clearly defined who they are.

I'm not sure who I support to be honest with you. I do like Huckabee's Fair Tax proposal, though I'm not sure how it would impact 501(c)3 organizations.

There's an program I heard about on Fox News that I found interesting. Try out the Candidate Calculator for yourself.

For the record, my #1 choice ended up being Tom Tancredo, followed by Huckabee and Romney.

Trey and Emme

The other night we had Marc and Talisha over to watch the BCS championship game,which was a total bore, and chow down on hot wings and popcorn. We have high-class tastes (I'm not talking friends here, though Marc and Talisha both have very blue blood) which also include paper plates. Anyway, we're downstairs switching back and forth between the game and the Fox News New Hampshire coverage, when we hear Kassady yelling something about Trey having marker on his face. Now, my kids do a lot of crazy things and when you throw Emme (one of Trey's very best friends) and her creativity in the mix you have a perfect storm. So, immediately Talisha calls up to see what's going on and Emme replies that Trey asked her to put eyeblack on under his eyes, like the football players, you know (he's obsessed with playing football). We immediately assumed the worst. I could just see Trey with permanent black marker on his face. Marc and I burst out laughing and I yelled for Trey to come downstairs. He and Emme sheepishly walked into the living room to show us their handiwork.

There was relief written all over Lori's face (Talisha's, too) when they saw the dry-erase marker in Emme's hand. We laughed and laughed over this one. Actually, I was impressed with Emme's artistic endeavor.

Gamer

Kassady has turned into quite the little gamer. She has this video game system called V-Smile that she loves to play. It has a bunch of educational games that help them learn to spell, count, and read. I say that to ease my conscience. Anyway, I thought this was a great picture that captured one of those many Kassady moments.

PJ Trey

A new take on "you've got some big shoes to fill". Trey is into stealing my pajamas each night and running around the house like a madman. And people wonder why I laugh so much.

Me, too

I'm hoping the fact that I posted my own ridiculous New Year's picture will save from the wrath to come (see post below). Let's just say that Margaret spiked the eggnog (with caffeine, of course). After the guys blew away the girls in "Buzzword", a really fun party game, we brought in the new year in style. Well, at least I did.

I gave up on being "cool" a long time ago and settled for "fun".

The Year Got Off To a Good Start...

Stephanie was definitely full of joy (or something) when 2008 rolled around.

***If I don't show up at a concert, church, or any other previously scheduled appointment, please call the police. After posting this picture, I am going to be living the life of Salman Rushdie.

New Year

Trey and Kassady could barely keep their eyes open as we brought the new year in. Is there anything more annoying than those little noisemakes with the paper thing on the end that goes in and out as your blow air into it? I blew my noisemaker incessantly, of course.

Trey spent first moments of 2008 trying to pull his poppers out of the plastic bag.

Christmas with Mom and Dad

It was so much fun to have Mom and Dad out for Christmas. I love Idaho, but I do miss being with my family during the holidays. So,they flew out on Christmas Day Apparently, you can get a good deal on tickets if you're willing to fly on the 25th. They stayed out here for a few days and we had a fabulous time.

I just wanted to post this picture to irritate Sharilyn (I mean, Lynn). I'm expecting a call soon.

Mom didn't let vacation slow down her spending...I mean, we have great deals here in Idaho! It's amazing how fast women can write a check. It makes my head spin. It takes me, oh I don't know, 5 minutes or so to painstakingly fill out that little piece of paper. I do that whole thing where after you write in the amount you take the line all the way to the end of the box. Nobody's going to rip me off and add something in there!

2008

OK, here's a post to move the crying kid off the top of the page. Happy, Dave and Char?

It's been a busy 4 weeks! Liberty has recorded 1 and a half new CDs, done a few Christmas concerts, and retooled for 2008. The Waggoner family hosted Dad and Mom Waggoner (and of course, my wonderful sister Lynn) over Christmas, brought in the New Year with a bang at the Taylors with several friends, finally took down the Christmas decorations, and hauled the (best ever) Christmas tree to the Tannenbaum graveyard. In the meantime, I played racquetball for the first time and found out how out of shape I really am. My reflexes are about 17 milliseconds to slow for the game. That's a lot of fun. I've been following the presidential primaries, watched several college football games (including last evening's yawner of a national championship), made a few new year resolutions, and worked on an incredible new partnership about which Liberty Quartet will soon be releasing information.

So, anyway, I say all that hoping that there will be a spot of sympathy for my pathetic lack of updates. My hopes aren't set that high. I know my audience.

Santa RIP

Speaking of Santa...sorry kids. Thanks, Ellen. That's hilarious!

Trey's first grade class presented a puppet show/musical version of the Christmas story on Wednesday morning in chapel. I got a kick out of watching the kids strain to lift their puppets above the puppet window. Trey's character was Joseph and halfway through one of the songs, Joseph apparently got tired. The puppet slowly started to descend until you could only see its head, then its eyes, then nothing. You could hear the stage whispers of one of the helpers trying to get him to make Joseph visible again (talk about reminding me of FCA dramas). Finally, Joseph slowly made his way back up. Classic material. I wish I would have brought my video camera.

After that, a guest speaker got up to speak about Christmas (I guess). I'm not real sure what the point of his sermon was. He started out by saying that truth is only found in God's Word. Truth is not found in traditions, blah, blah, blah. He then viciously vilified the Magi, calling them magicians and witches and reciting a litany of things they supposedly were involved in (and I'm thinking, "Now that's not in the Bible; how do we know that's true?"). He poked fun at their studying of the stars, once again indicating that the only truth was found in the Bible, which don't get me wrong I believe to be inerrant, the written word of God. He obviously hasn't figured out that there's a difference between astrology and astronomy. And he overlooked the fact that there was a star that directed the wise men to Jesus (that is in the Bible). It seemed that his main intent was to paint the wise men as evil, bad guys. The more I listened, the more frustrated I became at this guy's mischaracterization. These kids are sitting there listening to a person in authority tell them all this, and probably some of them believed what he was saying. You know, when you're speaking to kids, keep it as positive as possible. It just ticked me off. And, then the last thing that sent me over the edge was his leaning down and talking to the little kids about the fact that "we don't believe in all of these Christmas fairy tales, now, do we?" You know, let the parents of the 5 and 6-year-olds determine what they let them believe in. Is it really so bad that a 5-year-old believes in Santa Claus or Rudolph? Is that going to harm them in any way? I don't think so. In fact, just recently on Focus on the Family's radio broadcast (I think it was on 12/10 or 11) they were talking about how fantasy and imagination is a big part of a child's life and specifically mentioned that believing in Santa Claus wasn't a bad thing.

You know, I want my kids to know the real reason we celebrate Christmas (and they do). But, I also want them to enjoy many of the Christmas traditions. We don't tell our kids that Santa is real, but neither do we discourage them from believing in the old fella. Some of us just need to lighten up. Enjoy all parts of this wonderful season!

OK, I'm now getting off the soapbox.

12 Days of Christmas

OK, this is awesome! This Indiana University chorus brings it on this Christmas classic. You're going to love this one.

Software

By the way, for those of you who just don't want to pay the money for Microsoft Office, I have the solution: Open Office. It actually does a good job and best of all it's free. It has an alternative to Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Access,and a couple of other programs. Probably everyone but me knew this existed. Hat tip to my good buddy, Aaron Smith.

Dylan hams it up

For those of you who know my brother Bobby, this video features his son Dylan in his school Christmas program. Bobby told me that when they pulled up to the auditorium, Dylan jumped out of the car, stretched his arms into the air, and said "Showtime!" before sauntering inside.

He gets it honest.

Songs I Love to Hate

Speaking of music, are there any songs that you dislike with a passion?

Here's my list:

I'm Pressing (Dad led this song way too much back in the day)
Achy Break Heart (try to get that song out of your head the rest of the day)
Don't Worry, Be Happy
B-I-N-G-O (thanks to my kids' insatiable desire to sing it again)
Louie, Louie (by the Kingsmen, not the Kingsmen that you are thinking of)
I Wonder as I Wander (the most dreary song of the season)
...and anything by Michael Jackson

What's your list?

Faith in the Bearded One

Last night, Lori and I took Trey and Kassady over to Karcher Mall to see Santa Claus. It was a family tradition when I was a young kid to get my picture taken with the big man. So, I thought the kids might like it.

Now, you have to understand my children's personalities. Trey is a literalist. Everything exists in black and white. It's either true or it isn't. There is no in-between. He examines everything from a logical viewpoint. Kassady, on the other hand, has a raging imagination that never stops. Today, she was arguing with an imaginary friend. Lori told her that if she was going to have an imaginary friend they had to play nice together. That seemed kind of funny to me, like telling the (real) kids to settle down. Anyway, Kassady firmly believes in the existence of Santa Claus while Trey is an avowed skeptic. In fact, Trey has been making it a point to disprove intellectually the belief that his friends hold in the jolly saint. The other night we were over at Dustin and Angie Mori's house and we were talking about all the Christmas traditions that we experienced growing up. I asked if Noah (their son and one of Trey's best buddies) believed in Santa. Angie said, "He did until we had Trey ride home with us tonight!" That's my son.

Anyway, the being of Santa has been a huge argument in our house for the last few weeks. When we walked around the corner and saw Santa, Kassady punched Trey in the arm and said defiantly, "See...I told you he was real!"

Taste Evolution of a Non-Heathen Music Connoisseur

I'm fast becoming a pawn shop junkie, thanks in no small part to my singing buddy Dan Gilbert. There is so much treasure just waiting to be discovered. Especially in the music department.

Growing up I was pretty sheltered musically, which is not all a bad thing, and not something I'm complaining about. However, if it wasn't Sinatra or the Kingsmen (or some variant of those musical styles), it wasn't played in the Waggoner household. As a result, today, I have a great love and appreciation for Southern Gospel and crooners such as ol' blue eyes. I do have to say, though, that I missed out on some fantastic music being produced within other genres. I did get into the whole CCM thing back in the early 90s, but eventually got bored with the sameness of the bubble-gum pop music being mass produced by the mainline labels such as Sparrow, Word, and Benson. Then, I was introduced to Christian groups like Jars of Clay, PFR, and Third Day, groups I still enjoy today, and my taste switched to a more progressive sound. Sitting through Rodney Sones' Music Hit. and Lit. classes at GBS I developed a fascination for classical music of most periods. I never did get into the whole Renaissance movement, but the rest of it intrigued me. I identified more with the music of the Romantic period as well as more contemporary works by Copland, Ives, and their peers. The angry sounds of Wagner's compositions intrigued me as did the weird expressionist music written by Arnold Schoenberg and John Cage. I then started listening to the scores of Hans Zimmer and John Williams appreciating their creativity and ability to enhance the senses with their arrangements. My tastes broadened as I discovered jazz music. Thanks to the Marsalis brothers, Sanborn, Harry Connick, Jr., and Spiro Gyra I found myself listening to music looking for its possibilities. Lately, I've been discovering the great wealth of music in the classic rock, blues, and country genres. Obviously, I don't condone or listen to ungodly lyrics. And, sometimes the image presented by the performer irritates me. However, I have found that there are often positive, thought-provoking lyrics that accompany musical virtuosity in the afore-mentioned styles. I have been enjoying the works of Johnny Lang, U2, Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Josh Turner, and Rodney Atkins in the past few weeks.

Much of this music has been found for $1.49 at my local pawn shop. I don't mind taking a gamble on an unfamiliar artist when I'm only paying $1.49. More often than not, I've been delighted with my purchase. And, if not, there's always eBay to help get rid of it.

No, I'm not a heathen, I promise. But neither am I so close-minded to think that the only "good" music is produced by "Christian" artists. In fact, I wish that Christian groups in many instances would step up their level of artistry lyrically and musically. We have been rightly shunned as insignificant and inferior because of a lack of commitment to quality. There are groups that "get it". Those groups include:

Casting Crowns, David Crowder Band, Brent Vernon (great songwriter; he can write with anyone), Steven Curtis Chapman, Crossway, the Perrys (they rarely record a song that doesn't have significant lyrics), and the Booth Brothers.

We (Liberty) are getting there. We have a new recording that is coming out next year that takes a step forward in the lyrical strength department. It's tough and time-consuming to write songs that matter to individuals who while possessing the hope of heaven face the realities of day-to-day life. It's even harder for a group who doesn't sell 25,000 units of a title to find those songs from songwriters outside the group. We're blessed that Doran is continuing to evolve as a songwriter. He's not settling for the "easy" lyric and simple melody. His songs are evolving into A-list quality. You guys will like his new material.

Anyway, that's where I am these days. While I will always primarily listen to and have a preference for good ol' Southern Gospel music I'm continuing to broaden my horizons, experiencing the wealth of artistic talent that God has blessed our world with.

So, thanks Dan. I like to experience that wealth as cheaply as possible (grin).

Studio work

Liberty just finished recording vocals for a new album. Well, it's kind of new. New in the sense that we're creating fresh arrangements for familiar songs. This recording has 10 cover songs, 1 re-written song (by Royce), and 1 new song (by Doran). The track list includes (in no certain order):

Temporary Home
Still Feelin' Fine
Light at the End of the Darkness
Ride That Glory Train
I'd Like to Say It Again
Bus Driver
The Eastern Gate
I Can See the Hand
I'll Tell It Wherever I Go
The Lighthouse
I'll Tell It Wherever I Go
Baritone Whine

The name of the project is "Say It Again" and should be ready sometime in January. I think it's going to be a fun recording.

Trey's highlight reel

Trey shows off his soccer moves.

Hamill

One of my all-time heroes in Southern Gospel has passed away. Jim Hamill captured my imagination and instilled a love for the genre with his exciting emcee work for the Kingsmen. I recently posted a comment on a thread about Hamill not too long ago:

Big Jim is the golden standard by which all emcees should be measured. My first Southern Gospel concert (as a 4-year-old) featured the Kingsmen in Kokomo, IN. I can still vividly remember how Hamill interacted with the crowd and made fun of Little Ernie. It captivated me, even as a hyper kid. I was privileged to see Jim and the mighty Kingsmen many times after that and he never failed to bring the house down with his superb emceeing. There was an element of anticipation, of wondering, “where’s he going next?” at every Kingsmen concert.

My favorite group has and will always be the Cathedrals, but I have yet to see a SG group who could come close to entertaining a crowd like the Hamill-era Kingsmen.

He had some of the best one-liners in the business. One of my favorite quotes from Hamill came from the "Live in Mississippi" album. He said: "Everybody is talking about holes in the ozone layer these days. I'll tell you what, when God calls me home, I'll knock a hole in the ozone layer big enough you can drive a bus through!"

Jim, I'll be right behind you.

CNN/YouTube Republican debate

I really enjoyed the Republican debate this evening. For those of you who missed it, I have the entire transcipt below.

Part 1
Part 2

It's worth reading. One of the most entertaining and insightful segments came in response to the following question:

Joseph: I am Joseph. I am from Dallas, Texas, and how you answer this question will tell us everything we need to know about you. Do you believe every word of this book (holding up the Bible)? Specifically, this book that I am holding in my hand, do you believe this book?

Cooper: I think we've got a question.
Mayor Giuliani?

Huckabee: Do I need to help you out, Mayor, on this one?
(Laughter)
(Applause)

Giuliani: Wait a second, you're the minister. You're going to help me out on this one.

Huckabee: I'm trying to help you out.

Giuliani: OK. The reality is, I believe it, but I don't believe it's necessarily literally true in every single respect. I think there are parts of the Bible that are interpretive. I think there are parts of the Bible that are allegorical. I think there are parts of the Bible that are meant to be interpreted in a modern context.
So, yes, I believe it. I think it's the great book ever written. I read it frequently. I read it very frequently when I've gone through the bigger crises in my life, and I find great wisdom in it, and it does define to a very large extent my faith. But I don't believe every single thing in the literal sense of Jonah being in the belly of the whale, or, you know, there are some things in it that I think were put there as allegorical.

Cooper: Governor Romney?

Romney: I believe the Bible is the word of God, absolutely. And I try...
(Applause)
... I try to live by it as well as I can, but I miss in a lot of ways. But it's a guide for my life and for hundreds of millions, billions of people around the world. I believe in the Bible.

Cooper: Does that mean you believe every word?

Romney: You know -- yes, I believe it's the word of God, the Bible is the word of God.
The Bible is the word of God. I mean, I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God. I don't disagree with the Bible. I try to live by it.

Cooper: Governor Huckabee?

Huckabee: Sure. I believe the Bible is exactly what it is. It's the word of revelation to us from God himself.
(Applause)
And the fact is that when people ask do we believe all of it, you either believe it or you don't believe it. But in the greater sense, I think what the question tried to make us feel like was that, well, if you believe the part that says "Go and pluck out your eye," well, none of us believe that we ought to go pluck out our eye. That obviously is allegorical.
But the Bible has some messages that nobody really can confuse and really not left up to interpretation. "Love your neighbor as yourself."
And as much as you've done it to the least of these brethren, you've done it unto me. Until we get those simple, real easy things right, I'm not sure we ought to spend a whole lot of time fighting over the other parts that are a little bit complicated.
And as the only person here on the stage with a theology degree, there are parts of it I don't fully comprehend and understand, because the Bible is a revelation of an infinite god, and no finite person is ever going to fully understand it. If they do, their god is too small.

I've never heard so much stammering as when Romney was pressed on whether he believed all of the Bible was true. I laughed out loud.