Adieu, auf wiedersehen, gesundheit, farewell.

Some of us, like my bad self, who lived in England during her tenure, remember her fondly. But for those less familiar, here's some good Margaret Thatcher for ya.

This is from what we might consider her farewell "address" to the British parliament. Incidentally, she's right on the money identifying the liberal approach to the gap between the rich & the poor.

There is ... just one more thing.

No stranger to our household is the beloved Lt. Columbo, LAPD, homicide.

With Thursday night's passing of Peter Falk, the actor who played him, I feel burdened to make sure he's no stranger to your house either.

If you've never seen it, the show is a murder mystery show with a twist. You know the killer. The beauty is watching to see how Lt. Columbo will figure out the killer & how he will trick him/her into doing something revelatory.

He's great at getting the high class fancy and/or famous killer to underestimate him due to his slovenly appearance and simpleton persona. But don't let that fool ya; he's crafty, that Columbo.

You can sometimes find reruns on cable and we've seen them all via Netflix. I even own the first season on DVD, if you'd like to borrow it.

• Read more about the legendary television character of Lt. Columbo.
• Buy his book, Just One More Thing: Stories from My Life.
• Check out Peter Falk's acting work via IMDB.
  

The Chinaman is not the issue!

Did you see this story about a man who pranked the Muslim folks by putting ham in their shoes whilst they were praying?

Whether or not his action was good bull or bad bull is not the issue for me, so much as a trend I've noticed.

Those who don't like or don't respect the religious/political ideology of Islam are being labeled as "racist."

The title of the newspaper article is "Racist who filled Muslims' shoes with ham as they prayed in a mosque walks free from court."

Since when was religious persecution "racist"? Last I checked Islam was not a "race" or an ethnicity, but a set of beliefs that impact behavior.

Perhaps I'm just whipped by the overuse of calling someone racist who has a disagreement with a person who's white when the accuser is too lazy to actually interact on an ideological level.

To be fair, someone who hates the religious/political ideology of Islam may be many things, but of necessity one of them is not "racist." And I should know, because I'm not a racist and would resent any such insinuation.

I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind of a big deal.

I attended the Dallas Mavericks championship parade yesterday and thought about what makes that team so beloved nationally. By way of contrast, I think it's related to another question: Why is Lebron James so hated in the world of basketball?

What would motivate the people of Cleveland to root for anyone playing the Heat, even creating "Cavs for Mavs" fan wear? Why would the governor praise the Mavericks for beating James' Heat to the extent of making them honorary Ohioians?

I think there are two issues here, one betrayal and the other arrogance.

Cleveland feels betrayed, but is that valid? People leave teams all the time, right? If they just do it for money, they catch a certain amount of wrath. But, what about if a player does it in order to win championships?

Shouldn't we praise a guy who cares more about winning than about the money?

Well, you have to understand the context. Lebron is from Ohio. He was gifted to Cleveland, a city that hadn't won a championship in anything since ... well, since before I was born. He was their best chance.

But, that might legitimately only explain the disappointment of getting so close (including the NBA Finals), yet not betrayal.

Well, the problem is that he'd given many indications that he was committed to Cleveland and winning there ... not just winning. In fact, as recently as the end of March 2010 in an interview on NBA TV he stated, "I have a goal and its a huge goal and that's to bring an NBA championship to Cleveland and I won't stop until I get it."

But he did stop. He stopped only a few months later.

But, it's not just that he stopped. They broke up. Break ups are rarely easy. But this wasn't just that they broke up, but how they broke up.

Playing coy with a team that fired the head coach in what could be deemed an appeasement to Lebron James, he jilted his former lover by announcing in a media circus of a one-hour "decision" special. He was taking his talents and his affections to South Beach.

Was it, "I don't love you anymore"? Or was it, "I never really loved you anyway"?

Either way, feelings of rage which sparked jersey burnings are understandable.

For those outside of Cleveland, that's all perceived as pretty crummy. Yet, beyond that is a guy who some want to regard as potentially the best of all time, but yet seems to have taken the easy way out.

Instead of sticking with a team and doing whatever it took to get that team a championship, he left for easier waters.

Contrast Lebron with Dirk Nowitski, who had also made a finals appearance and was a free agent. He stuck with his team of alleged spares and won. That story inspires people. Lebron's does not.

I think that contributed to people rooting for Dirk's Mavericks and against Lebron's Heat.

Couple that with James' boasting about winning multiple championships (at least 8) at the Heat's over-the-top pep rally and you can see how folks might like to see the proud humbled. You can see how some might take pleasure in Lebron being the 3rd best scorer on his team in the NBA Finals ... in a losing effort.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure just about everyone would want him on their team. But, whatever transpires from here on out, I don't think you'll ever have any serious arguments in favor of Lebron being among the NBA's best of the best of all time.

He's no Michael Jordan. He's no Magic Johnson. As well, he's no Dirk Nowitski.

Your mom goes to college.

Folks in America often think of education as the panacea to cure all that ails a society. But is it? Or could it be used to the detriment of a society?

I heartily recommend the following lengthy video which questions the legitimacy of some assumptions in our society with regard to a college education. It also exposes the problem of indebtedness being necessary to getting an education, due to absurd costs.

Check out "The College Conspiracy."

• In related news, check out a SWAT team invasion being used by the Department of Education to collect on defaulted student loans. It's another incident raising concerns about the overuse of police force upon the American people and confirmation for me that the federal government should have NOTHING to do with education.

Really, check this stuff out, folks.

Look, I go to church every Sunday. Every "other" Sunday.

After the 6th day of creation, God rested on the 7th day to marvel at the goodness of His creation (Gen 1:31; 2:1-3). He would later explicitly command His people to rest from their labor on the 7th day, that they might likewise marvel at the fruit of His labor.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."
~Psalm 19:1

After Christ's work on the cross, His people would gather on the 1st day to reflect on Christ's work of redemption in making atonement for His people. Jesus appeased the wrath of God for His people who are new creations in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and we marvel at what Christ's has done on the cross and what the Spirit is doing in those new creatures. (cf. Phil 2:13; Gal 5:22-23)

"We gather together on the first rather than the seventh day of the week because redemption is even a greater work than creation and more worthy of commemoration and because the rest which followed creation is far outdone by the rest which ensues upon the completion of redemption. Like the Apostles, we meet on the first day of the week and hope that Jesus may stand in our midst and say, 'Peace be unto you.' Our Lord has lifted the Sabbath from the old and rusty hinges where on the law had placed it long before and set it on the new golden hinges which His love has fashioned. He has placed our rest day not at the end of a week of toil but at the beginning of the rest which remains for the people of God. Every first day of the week we should meditate on the rising of our Lord and seek to enter into the fellowship with Him in His risen life."
~Charles Spurgeon

Only dogs are to obey.

Obedience is often mocked in our era, but that's a mark against our society, not against the concept or the implication of divinely appointed roles. In addition, the necessity of obedience cannot be in human redemption.

The following from John Murray elucidates the fuller significance of the death of the second person of the trinity, Jesus the Christ, particularly with regard to His obedience to a "sin avenging God" (HT Jay Porterfield).

What the obedience of Christ involved for him is perhaps nowhere more strikingly expressed than in Hebrews 2:10-18; 5:8-10 where we are told that Jesus "learned obedience from the things which he suffered," that he was made perfect through sufferings, and that "being made perfect he became to all who obey him the author of eternal salvation." When we examine these passages the following lessons become apparent.

1. It was not through mere incarnation that Christ wrought our salvation and secured our redemption.
2. It was not through mere death that salvation was accomplished.
3. It was not simply through the death upon the cross that Jesus became the author of salvation.
4. The death upon the cross, as the climactic requirement of the price of redemption, was discharged as the supreme act of obedience; it was not death resistlessly inflicted but death upon the cross willingly and obediently wrought.

[The above is from Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray. Read the whole chapter: The Nature of the Atonement. Buy the book.]

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
~Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)