Thursday, September 6, 2012
From Nashvillian Jena Lee Nardella
Why didn't we hear a benediction like this in Tampa from the so-called Christian-right?
Praying for the Nation
As a young woman of faith and a leader, I am humbled to follow the First Lady, whom we all admire. So, thank you for inviting me here. As we close this day, let us quiet our hearts in prayer.
God, I stand before You and ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing unto You.
I pray for our President, Barack Obama. May he know Your presence, oh God, as he continues to serve as a leader of this nation, as a husband to Michelle, and as father to his daughters. Help him to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you.
I pray as well for Governor Mitt Romney. May he know Your presence, oh God, as he continues to serve as a leader, as a husband to Ann, and as a father to his sons and their families. Help him to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you.
I pray for our country in the next nine weeks leading up to this election – for those of us meeting here and for our fellow citizens who met last week. May we make our children proud of how we conduct ourselves. We know our human tendencies toward finger-pointing and frivolousness. Our better selves want this race to be honest and edifying rather than fabricated and self-serving.
Give us, oh Lord, humility to listen to our sisters and brothers across the political spectrum, because your kingdom is not divided into Red States and Blue States. Equip us with moral imagination to have real discourse. Knit us, oh God, as one country even as we wrestle over the complexity of how we ought to live and govern. Give us gratitude for our right to dissent and disagree. For we know that we are bound up in one another and have been given the tremendous opportunity to extend humanity and grace when others voice their deeply held convictions even when they differ from our own.
And give us wisdom, God, to discover honest solutions for we know it will take all of us to care for the widow and the orphan, the sick and the lonely, the downtrodden and the unemployed, the prisoner and the homeless, the stranger and the enemy, the thirsty and the powerless. In rural Africa, I am witness to thousands of HIV positive mothers, fathers and children who are alive today because Democrats and Republicans put justice and mercy above partisanship. Help us keep that perspective even as we debate one another.
God, I thank you for the saving grace of Jesus and for the saints who have humbly gone before us. I thank you for the words of St. Francis of Assisi whose prayer I carry with me both in my home in East Nashville and in my work across rural Africa.
As we enter this election season, I pray St. Francis’ words for us all.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Bill Clinton's Full Speech
You do not have to like or agree with the policies of the Democratic Party to appreciate that what we watched last night was a master at work.
Even Brit Hume of Fox News had to admit that Bill Clinton "is the most talented politician [he's] ever covered and the most charming man [he's] ever met . . . No one in my view can frame an argument more effectively than he can."
The former president found no need to lie, exaggerate or throw partisan bombs. No, he simply told the truth. He talked about the importance of reaching across party lines and defending the nobleness of politics as a profession. As the explainer-in-chief, what we witness last night was the work of an intellect so comfortable in his skin that he was able to ablibbed much of the speech without a teleprompter.
If every undecided voter was watching Bill Clinton's speech last night, this race is over.
If for some reason you were unable to see his performance – here it is in its full majesty:
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The Gray Treefrog (Photos)
Gray Treefrogs are an inch and quarter to 2 inches long. Visually, the Gray Treefrog cannot be distinguished from the Cope's Gray Treefrog. They are usually gray or green with irregular markings on the back. They have a white spot under the eye, warty skin and a yellowish-orange surface under of their thighs.
The call of the Gray is a short high trill. It is slower and a little more musical than the Cope's Gray Treefrog. However, only through careful examination of their chromosomes can one truly be distinguished from the other.
They are extremely well camouflaged against the bark of trees. They inhabit all elevations of wooded areas most often near water in a wide variety of habitats. Since they forage in the tree canopy they are rarely seen except during breeding season.
Though the Gray Treefrog and Cope's Gray Treefrog are closely related and have ranges that over lap they do not interbreed. A female responds only to the call of the male of her species.
Scientists believe that the Gray Treefrog evolved from the Cope's Gray Treefrog during the last Ice Age when an isolated population began passing on a second set of chromosomes.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
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