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Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Friday night we went to see Midland play in the first round of the high school football playoffs. The weather wasn't the best, but Midland came back to pull out a victory. On Saturday the boys both finished their soccer seasons with good performances. Saturday afternoon we watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for movie night. The kids seemed to enjoy it. Then we caught the last half of a Northwood volleyball game. It was competitive, but they lost in three straight games.
Trunk or Treat?
So what's with all the "trunk-or-treat" and "harvest festivals" taking place on Halloween night at churches in Midland? Halloween is an event where neighbors can take time to come out of their homes to have conversation, check-up on each other, and show hospitality to children. Most churches offer events of fellowship for their members on a regular basis. Forums for fellowship with those that you see driving in-and-out of the neighborhood driveways everyday are not as easy to come by. As a Christian, I know I should be available and connecting with my neighbors throughout the year. I am ashamed that my busy life inhibits my doing this properly. I am disappointed, however, that many churches in the area (my own included) are making an effort to pull their members away from a traditional and comfortable opportunity to reach out to their neighbors. My light will be on this Halloween as I take part in this festive occasion for making those friendly connections that I should be making all year. I challenge you, Midland-area Christians, to embrace Halloween as an opportunity to be a blessing to your neighbors. You can fellowship with your church friends next Sunday.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Tonight I finished watching Borat (2006,R) (ScreenIt! Review). From Wikipedia:
[Borat]...is a 2006 Academy Award-nominated mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles. It stars the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of a fictitious Kazakh journalist, traveling through the United States recording real-life interactions with Americans. It is the second film built around one of Cohen's characters from Da Ali G Show, following Ali G Indahouse, which also featured a cameo by Borat.
It wasn't as enjoyable as I was expecting. I'd probably already seen too much of it ahead of time...knew too much of what to expect. The most entertaining segments came near the end...Borat with the holy rollers and Borat throwing a sack over Pam Anderson to kidnap her and make her his wife.
I give it 4 out of 5.
Restrictive laws do not reduce abortion
So says the byline of an article in The Economist from last week. It makes the case that for those of us who desire to see abortion numbers drop (I think we're pretty much all in that category), legislation is not a tool that anyone should expect to be effective for achieving that outcome:
[According to] the largest global study of abortion ever...Restricting abortions...has little effect on the number of pregnancies terminated. Rather, it drives women to seek illegal, often unsafe backstreet abortions leading to an estimated 67,000 deaths a year. A further 5m women require hospital treatment as a result of botched procedures.
In Africa and Asia, where abortion is generally either illegal or restricted, the abortion rate in 2003 (the latest year for which figures are available) was 29 per 1,000 women aged 15-44. This is almost identical to the rate in Europe—28—where legal abortions are widely available. Latin America, which has some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws, is the region with the highest abortion rate (31), while western Europe, which has some of the most liberal laws, has the lowest (12).
Between 1995 and 2005, 17 nations liberalised abortion legislation, while three tightened restrictions. The number of induced abortions nevertheless declined from nearly 46m in 1995 to 42m in 2003, resulting in a fall in the worldwide abortion rate from 35 to 29. The most dramatic drop—from 90 to 44—was in former communist Eastern Europe, where abortion is generally legal, safe and cheap. This coincided with a big increase in contraceptive use in the region which still has the world's highest abortion rate, with more terminations than live births.
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