In most of the United States, 24 abortions are carried out for every 100 live births. In New York, 72 abortions occur for every 100 live births.

The continuing boom in abortions—90,157 were performed in the city in 2006, the last year for which statistics are available—apparently means that many women are using abortion as their birth control method of choice. That concerns health advocates, who point out that the procedure sometimes causes complications and is more expensive than contraception. The high rate also shows that these women are not protected against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Some interesting tidbits, from the article:

THEN I went to transfer some files to my brother’s computer. I lost my flash drive (paging Act Six students that attended my workshop, I think I left it at the AV unit in the room), so I was trying to figure out a way to connect my computer to his. Of course I can do it via airport wireless networking. But I as fished through another box of cables and wires I came across a yellow ethernet cable that is created for computer-to-computer connections. A normal ethernet cable will not allow you to hook directly from one ‘puter to another. But this one does. (I learned the hard way about this particular ethernet cable when my son Samuel was first in the hospital for leukemia in July 2004. I tried to hook up to the in-room internet at Children’s Hospital on Sunset and it wouldn’t work. Then I learned I had the wrong ethernet cable, this yellow one. I later when and got a normal ethernet cable and that worked.) Anyway, it’s good times now. Though I would really like to get my flash drive back. The drive is empty, but there is this little Huarache sandal, made in Honduras, on the drive keychain. I’d like to see that thing again.

Hot Sunday Afternoon Linkage:

Yes, I’m back in town. New York, Poconos, back to New York, Seattle, Pasadena. I miss my family. Hit the ground running yesterday. Had a productive day. Email piling up. Lots to answer.

I must concur with Jordon Cooper who twittered, “I may be old fashioned but Twittering church services and sermons seems tacky.”

Here’s some link love:

President Bush was happy he could get his photo taken with this guy: “President George W. Bush poses for a photo with U.S. Olympic runner Lopez Lomong Friday, Aug. 8, 2008, in Beijing prior to Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Lopez Lomong, a survivor of the violence in his native Sudan, now a U.S. citizen, was selected by his teammates to lead the U.S. Olympic team into Olympic National Stadium carrying the United States Flag at the Opening Ceremony.

Let me also add that I’m proud of the U.S. Olympic team for selecting Lomong as the flag-bearer.

and finally…

This one is making the rounds among pro-market economy types: Economics Does Not Lie: The dismal science is at last a science, and the world is the beneficiary by Guy Sorman in City Journal

Here are dude’s ten points (paging Chris Brooks, where is he when you really need him?):

1. The market economy is the most efficient of all economic systems.
2. Free trade helps economic development.
3. Good institutions help development.
4. The best measure of a good economy is its growth.
5. Creative destruction is the engine of economic growth.
6. Monetary stability, too, is necessary for growth; inflation is always harmful.
7. Unemployment among unskilled workers is largely determined by how much labor costs.
8. While the welfare state is necessary in many forms, it isn’t always effective.
9. The creation of complex financial markets has brought about economic progress.
10. Competition is usually desirable.

I’m taking this one with me to New York in September when I speak at Acton Institute’s Toward a Free and Virtuous City conference.

I just bought “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming” at Amazon. I paid $2.28. I had a $12 gift certificate (from Lulu sales) and I have Amazon prime (free 2-day shipping). Buying a book never felt so painless.

Other stuff I’m reading in regard to Global Warming:

Here are some links. Talk amongst yourselves.

and finally…

The image comes from the Acton Institute DVD on Effective Stewardship. They are kicking things up in this area. Man! I just looked at one of the pages. They’ve got me listed in one section of folks, that section including George Gilder and Michael Novak. Dang. Pride goeth before the fall, and I think I just fell all the way through to China. I dig those guys. My son is 8 and too young to understand what this all means. Maybe later. I think this is the DVD that folks have been emailing and facebooking me about. Folks will hit me randomly and say, “I saw you on that dvd!” and I say, “What DVD?”

I also received in the mail, just today, an Acton book on Environmental Stewardship. It’s called Environmental Stewardship in the Judeo-Christian Tradition. The book contains perspectives from Judaic, Catholic, and Protestant traditions. Excellent resource

Acton is having an event called Toward a Free and Virtuous City that explores faith, Scripture, freedom, liberty and market economics. It’s in September in New York. Here’s the web site. If you are interested in these topics, hit the web site and inquire. A similar event ten years ago got me moving in the direction of integrating my “good intentions with sound economics.”

There’s a slick shot of me being interviewed by the TV folks. I’m gonna use it somewhere, maybe the old Facebook profile.

From the back jacket:

“General Simon Boliver, one of the Western Hemisphere’s supreme heroes, embarks on a seven-month voyage down the Magdalena River. Forced from power, made old and ill by the pressures of war, passion, victory, and betryal, the General examines his life, confronting the phantoms of his past, reliving the campaigns that brought him renown, and remembering the women he loved for a night or a lifetime. On a journey that is at once a fantasy of triumphal progress and a nightmore of loss and delusions, we come to know the Liberator — the dazzling orchestrator of political and military intrigue, as well as the lover, the libertine, the fighter capable of heroism, mercy, and ruthlessness.”

I feel at peace as I read it. Such a great man came to such a relatively ignoble end. It’s like reading through Ecclesiastes, a reminder to me that we are God’s children first, and that titles and achievements are illusory in the long run.

UPDATE: 4:50 p.m. PST: JP has yet to enter surgery. The surgeon was delayed. It’s been more than five hour since he was scheduled. We are praying that he will enter surgery soon.

UPDATE: 5:50 p.m. PST: Elizabeth says, “He just went down for surgery. Finally.”

Meanwhile, David Bass at The American Spectator wonders if young Evangelicals have delved into Obama’s policy positions.

I think I’ll stop off at the Apple Store and see what’s new.

I think I was in ninth grade. Maybe it was tenth grade. I truly can’t remember. At the moment I can’t even remember if my high school was a four-year high school or a three-year high school. But I do remember that the person in this photo was a legend in his own mind, he was on his way to being a Chicano in the NBA, and he had decided by this time that he would attend Biola University after high school.

ABC NEWS: MICROPHONE PICKS UP PRIVATE CONVERSATION BETWEEN OBAMA AND BRITISH LEADER ON NEED FOR VACATIONS AND “THINKING” TIME

At British Parliament today, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, met with Tory Leader David Cameron. Seemingly unaware of an enormous fuzzy boom mike held by ABC News’ Eric Kerchner, the two chatted casually — and privately.

“You should be on the beach,” Cameron told Obama. “You need a break. Well, you need to be able to keep your head together.”

“You’ve got to refresh yourself,” agreed Obama.

“Do you have a break at all?” asked Cameron.

“I have not,” said Obama. “I am going to take a week in August. But I agree with you that somebody, somebody who had worked in the White House who — not Clinton himself, but somebody who had been close to the process — said that, should we be successful, that actually the most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking. And the biggest mistake that a lot of these folks make is just feeling as if you have to be…”

“These guys just chalk your diary up,” said Cameron, referring to a packed schedule.

“Right,” Obama said. “In 15 minute increments…”

“We call it the dentist’s waiting room,” Cameron said. “You have to scrap that because you’ve got to have time.”

“And, well, and you start making mistakes,” Obama said, “or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel…”

“Your feeling,” interrupted Cameron. “And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions.”

“That’s exactly right,” Obama said. “And the truth is that we’ve got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know ten times more than we do about the specifics of the topics. And so if what you’re trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you.”

By the way, this is a remarkably good approach to leadership.

NONPROFIT TO REVEAL SOLAR PANELS
Pasadena Star-News
By Samantha Bravo, Correspondent
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

PASADENA - Installing solar panels to cut back on energy costs was not particularly high on the list of priorities for Harambee Ministries.

Harambee is mainly concerned with keeping kids off the streets by providing them with a safe learning environment through after-school and summer programs.

But when the Leadership Pasadena Class of 2008 approached Harambee Executive Director Rodolpho Carrasco with the idea of “going green,” Carrasco said the solar move was a lot more doable than he first thought.

After a $15,000 rebate from Pasadena Water & Power and another $15,500 in donations, the $33,000 project ended up costing Harambee just $2,500.

The solar panels being installed this week will decrease energy costs for the private nonprofit organization by 70 percent.

Leadership Pasadena is a group of active leaders from the Pasadena area seeking to promote a stronger community. Carrasco said Leadership Pasadena considered two other nonprofits before choosing Harambee as the project recipient.

Leadership Pasadena raised money for the project, bringing in $10,000 from the Pasadena Community Foundation and $5,500 from private donors.

In addition to saving the organization money, the solar panels will benefit the organization in several other ways, Carrasco said.

“This is a learning opportunity for the children,” Carrasco said.

“We have to teach them differently now, how to manage and limit energy consumption.”

Carrasco said he hopes the solar panel installation also challenges the whole community to think in the long term.

“The change that needs to happen in a neighborhood like ours isn’t going to happen overnight,” Carrasco said.

“This is a lifetime investment.”

Harambee will publicly unveil the solar panels Thursday. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard will be on hand. A community dinner and presentation by Leadership Pasadena and Harambee leaders will follow.

Residents are welcome to attend. For more information, call (626) 798-7431.

If a drilling bill ever passes Congress, oil prices will keep on plunging — perhaps all the way to $75 a barrel, which is the profitable break-even point for lifting the extra barrel of oil. That would drive the Dow to somewhere between 15,000 and 16,000, and it would have a huge tax-cut effect on the economy. And, of course, it could completely change the November election outlook in a highly favorable way for the GOP.

The conventional wisdom says Republicans are gonna get clobbered again this fall. But drill, drill, drill would overturn that wisdom. More drilling today would have the potency of the Reagan tax cuts 28 years ago in the 1980 landslide race. But the GOP has got to make the case. And deregulating oil, which is great policy, would offset much of the bad policy pain coming out of the Fannie-Freddie housing bailout.

(1) A lot of people seem surprised to learn that tons of people every day are “searching” for ebay.com or aol.com or just “ebay” or “aol” even though they can type those things into their address bar and get exactly what they want…. They’re domain names or domain names without the .com on the end of them. Lots of people search Google every day for “yahoo.” People search Yahoo for “google.” And AOL. And eBay. And so on.

(2) …normal people can’t tell the difference between AdSense style ads and all the other links on most web sites. And almost the same number don’t know what “sponsored results” on the Search Results Page are either. It’s just a page of links to them. They click the ones that look like they’ll get them what they want. It’s that simple.

I’m thinking about how to incorporate these truths into all the web sites I manage. Deep stuff.

This Thursday is the public unveiling of solar panels on one of our Harambee properties. This project was done in partnership with Leadership Pasadena, a civic group here in town. We are looking forward to the energy savings as well as the inspiration toward alternative energy. Yes! Me, myself, Mr. “Commence The Drilling.” Hey, I think we need to develop all types of alternative sources of energy and reduce our dependence on oil. But I’m not afraid of oil, nor nuclear power (to take a page from our French friends).

It will take another two days for the installers to complete their task. We should be live for Thursday’s public event. We’ve also got the local newspaper coming out tomorrow morning to shoot some photos. Dig it.

“This film [There Will Be Blood] was the second co-production of Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films to be released in as many months, after No Country for Old Men (which won the Academy Award for Best Picture).”

Interesting. I wonder if it was the same executive or executive team that green-lit and shepherded these two projects. Someone should have received a promotion. One movie gets Best Actor (Blood, Day-Lewis) and the other Best Picture. Another detail: Both films had budgets of $25 million and made over $70 mil (to date).

My birthday is later this month, but we’re going to celebrate it tonight at Red Lobster. I dig Red Lobster, and I’m glad that Sam now loves shrimp (we munch on shrimp cocktail platters whenever Mom remembers to buy one on a Costco outing).

Air travel is a bazillion dollars. Unless you use American Airlines‘ “price and schedule” option in the “book a reservation” section of their web site. It will show you just about every flight they have that fits your general criteria, and it will tell you exactly what seats are available at what price. So I just found a $175 one-way ticket cross country. I stick with American, I’ve got status with them (which helps when you are trying to get the last standby seat on the mid-week flight from Chicago to LA), but I may fly Virgin America once or twice this summer.

Over the past 24 hours the wife and I have been doing massive Ofoto uploads. Kafi is doing scrapbooking (Creative Memories, etc.) and I’ve got lots of family photos in my iPhoto. So I think I’ve now learned what will break the internet in the future: downloading files is one thing, but uploading lots of stuff takes a LONG time. A long long long time. It slows down my computer while I’m trying to work. Oh well.

– visit Skid Row in LA: he’ll see the worst in our city, and can reflect on how bad things can get when human misery combines with the unexpectedly negative consequences of well-intentioned social engineering
– drive on Sunset Boulevard from the 101 Freeway to the 405 Freeway: they’ll see a wide range of what LA has to offer as they drive from Hollywood (which goes from fairly seedy to ultra hipster) into Beverly Hills and then into Bel Air
– go from Sunset to Santa Monica Beach & Pier, with a short drive up the Pacific Coast Highway: they’ll see landscape they’ve seen in numerous movies, TV shows and commercials; plus the pier is a place to see people from all walks of life
– drive home from the pier to Pasadena: wherein they will hit Olympic-level traffic and wonder how traffic on a Saturday evening can be as bad as business day rush hour

Me? I’m trying to stay awake and stay available for my family. Kafi is off scrap-booking. Grandma is here and about to take the kids to the big Pasadena Public Library. I’m going to drop them off and then go find boxes for shipping some stuff to our friends in Valpo, Indiana.

LINKS

• Americans are calling the shots — with gusto — at the Lambeth conference:

The absentees have inadequate representation at the conference, but they could have made their voices heard had they bitten the bullet and come to Canterbury.

Bishop Gene Robinson is not invited, but he is coming anyway, ensuring that his viewpoint and beliefs remain at the forefront of peoples minds’. At Gafcon, the African bishops were with likeminded individuals, effectively preaching to the converted, but at Lambeth there are far more hearts and minds to be won. There is still time.

• Low-fat diets not the best for weight loss. I knew it.

• Obama takes the “faith” out of faith-based initiative. I may have already blogged this, but in case I didn’t.

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SOLAR PANELS UNVEILING & MORE
Harambee Ministries Update
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You are invited to the
Harambee Solar Panels Unveiling
Thursday, July 24 at 6 p.m.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the support of Leadership Pasadena’s Class of 2008, we are installing solar panels on one of our properties and will publicly unveil them on Thursday, July 24th. Our program starts at 6pm with a greeting by Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard. A community meal follows (no charge; donations accepted), and then we have our program. The program includes Councilmember Jacque Robinson, Pastor Jean Burch of Community Bible Church, and a presentation by Leadership Pasadena and Harambee leaders. The location for the event is the Harambee campus, 1609 Navarro Avenue, Pasadena 91103 (map). Please RSVP via email or by calling (626) 798-7431. We hope to see you there!

Extreme Garden Makeover
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the day on July 24th we will transform a section of our property into a garden that grows vegetables. With the help of a youth group from Cornerstone Church of Boulder, Colorado, land will be cleared, soil tilled, planters built, and veggies planted. The vision is that children and youth at Harambee will learn from the experience of managing a garden. We are in need of donations for the following items: Soil (24 feet, with manure), tools (12 rakes, 40 sets of garden gloves, trash bags), wood for planters (72 2×6, 48 1×3, etc.). If you can and would like to assist with these donations, please email or call (626) 798-7431.

Day Camp Highlight
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[ PHOTO BELOW ] We are excited that we can provide time during our summer day camp for learning via computers, especially after experiencing a theft of children’s computers last summer. It took months to raise funds to replace the lab, but we finally achieved our goal in the winter. When summer rolled around, we were ready to put the children on to excellent equipment and guide them in lasting learning experiences. MORE DAY CAMP NOTES: · We are thankful to Intervarsity Christian Fellowship for providing 6 summer interns to work in our day camp. · We are grateful for Uncharted Waters Sports Ministry, which brought a team of volunteers from Colorado to run a sports camp each afternoon this week as a part of our day camp offerings.

Urban Ministry Internships in Boston, Chicago,
Denver, Los Angeles, Washington DC & Seattle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The deadline is fast approaching for paid urban ministry internships through TechMission. Visit the information page and then contact thierry@techmission.org.

In Seattle/Tacoma
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday, August 6, Harambee’s Executive Director Rudy Carrasco will give a keynote address at the Act Six National Convention. If you will be in that area and would like to connect with Harambee, at that event or at another time, please send an email to Rudy.

and finally…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A VERSE: “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” Proverbs 16:32

Thank you for your support of Harambee Ministries!

Rudy

An adviser to the campaign told The New York Sun that, in a speech to be delivered in Albuquerque, N.M., the senator will call for an increase in combat troops and the creation of a special Afghanistan tsar to coordinate policy toward the country. “There will be a surge for Afghanistan. It will be moving combat troops in and applying the lessons from Iraq and the strategy that was successful in Iraq and taking that to Afghanistan,” this official said.

In a dramatic move yesterday President Bush removed the executive-branch moratorium on offshore drilling. Today, at a news conference, Bush repeated his new position, and slammed the Democratic Congress for not removing the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and elsewhere. Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136.

Now isn’t this interesting?

Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long. And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash so-called oil speculators. And today we had a real-world example as to why they are wrong. All of them. Reid, Pelosi, Obama, McCain — all of them.

A photo: Micah backstage at her dance recital, 4pm today

I just got off the phone with Kafi. She called me because she found a piece of electronic equipment in the trash at home and wanted to alert me. I got the call as I was in the check-in line at the American Airlines Terminal at LAX. My love for my wife is not because she called me about tech, but just because a good woman is hard to find. My life is totally enriched because Kafi is in my life. It’s true, newlyweds, that the romance changes after a couple of years of marriage. Kafi and I are coming up on 14 years (in August) and yes, you’ve gotta work at keeping the romantic fires burning. But there is something wonderful about a relationship where the person you are with loves you, thinks about you, can anticipate things about you, and is a decent person underneath all that. I’m very glad that Kafi is the one who nurtures and co-raises and shapes my children. It’s such a privilege for all of us to be shaped and formed and influenced by her. She’s got a love for God that is palpable, overt, and primary. She has a passion for children. She is an educator through and through. But she’s also a learner. You can talk to her and convince her that something is different from what she thinks. Now, both of us can be stubborn, and in that respect we found each other. Like attracted like, I guess. And we wonder why our kids can be stubborn, Samuel, Micah (who exhibits mild diva-like tendencies, but also a tender repentant heart when corrected), and Gabrielle - well, Gaby already has a strong streak in her. I say good all around. Anyway, got a ramble going on here. But I appreciate my wife, and I hope to be the great husband she deserves.

UPDATE: I re-read this post and thought about Sam. Sam’s stubbornness helped him fight the cancer. This guy endured tremendous hardship. We have a sense for how much he endured because, now that he’s done with chemo, the smallest medical treatment induces howls of pain and pure drama. I think, “Dude, you’ve handled much, much worse.” He really did, he really handled it like a champ, and so now he’s forgiven for falling apart at the mildest treatment (the other night he got pencil lead stuck under the skin on his cheek, so we had a nurse gently pick at it. Sam should have won an Academy Award for the drama, you would have thought the Lakers had lost to the Celtics all over again (sorry, fellow Laker fans, I had to pour more salt on the wound; I’m hoping it’s cathartic to do so.)