Donald Miller to Pray at the DNC Tonight!

Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz) will be giving the closing benediction at tonights Democratic National Convention. You can read the text of the prayer at Don's website where he will be posting it before he leaves his hotel for the convention center tonight. Should be interesting...

****UPDATE****
The text of Don's prayer tonight at the DNC has been posted. If you don't feel like making the jump, I've included it below.

"Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.

We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.

We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.

Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.

We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.

Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.

Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.

Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.

And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.

Let Him be our example.

Amen."

Am I missing something...

...or does this kind of sound right?

“Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all” (A Call to Renewal). - Barack Obama

If I wasn't so disillusioned with the political process right now I would honestly be agonizing over who to vote for in November. There are things I really like about Obama. There are things I really don't like about Obama. There are things I really like about McCain...and things I really don't like about McCain. I honestly don't know what to do.

And in a move that will probably bar me from ever setting foot in my old church again...I am posting this website. I hope we can still be friends.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. - Micah 6:8

I realize that it's not Christmas...

...but I came across this video that I made a couple of years ago and thought I would re-release it into the wild. It's been languishing on Youtube for some time now but I'm not sure if anyone ever really watched it. I edited the pics and video clips together using Windows Movie Maker. The music is by my lovely and talented cousin Wendy. Take a look and let me know what you think...

Dancing Queen...

Save the neck for me Clark...

All I can say is it's about freaking time...

Won't be the same without him...

May 7, 1950 - June 13, 2008

It will be mine...oh yes, it will be mine

I think they got the wrong guy...

New Kicks

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

So you've probably heard by now that my beloved Kansas Jayhawks dispatched the North Carolina Tarheels with relative ease in the first round of the final four. North Carolina chipped away at the 28 point lead that the Jayhawks built up in the first half, at one point pulling to within 4 before KU started pouring it on again and commenced to beating the 'Heels like a proverbial rented mule. They beat them like they stole something. They beat them like they owed them money. They beat them every way you can imagine beating a team and then they beat them some more.

And now...on the Memphis and the national championship. Here's an interesting piece about our opponent and how they are approaching their impressive run in the tournament

T-Bone's Short Stack - April 2nd, 2008

Hola blogosphere. I hope everyone had an enjoyably prank filled April Fools day. For anyone who visited T-Bone's world last night, I hope you enjoyed getting Rick Rolled, Tay Zonday style. That cat can wail...his voice is like warm chocolate syrup being poured directly into my ear. When you combine his pipes with my favorite song from the 80's it's a combo that I frankly can't resist.

The short stack this week is grab bag of goodies...a audio/visual smorgasboard if you will. I hopes you likes...

1. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - This is honestly one of the most entertaining movies I have seen in a very long time. This story tells of the conflict between Steve Weibe and Billy Mitchell, two guys who are both vying for the world's record in Donkey Kong. It's a documentary but it plays like a feature film and let me tell you, it has everything. Drama, action, suspense, lots of laughs and even a few tears too. Wiebe is such a likable guy and Billy Mitchell is just so dastardly it's almost hard to believe they are real people. You really have to see this movie to believe it. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

2. Grizzly Man - This is another great documentary that I caught recently about Timothy Treadwell, a self styled naturalist and Grizzly bear "expert". Treadwell lived among the bears in Alaska for 13 summers until he was ultimately killed and eaten by one of the animals that he loved so much. Director Werner Herzog culled much of the footage for the film from video that Treadwell himself shot. Say what you will about Tim Treadwell and whether or not he ultimately just got what he deserved by intruding in the bears territory, but the footage he shot of these animals is unbelievable and haunting. This is a strange film about a strange man but I loved it.



3. Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart is the first single of DCFC's upcoming album Narrow Stairs. I don't have to tell you that it is going to be a smash with all cool kids.

4. The Cool Kids - speaking of cool kids...these cats are bringing it. Check them out now and be able to tell your friends that you were rocking them before their record even came out.

Alright...that's it for this week. Feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment if you agree or disagree with any of this. Peace...

New Features at Blogger.com

I was really excited to read about this new feature that Blogger.com is rolling out. If you blog as much as I do it should be a real lifesaver!

Google does it again...

These guys are brilliant...what will they think of next?

It's The End of the World As We Know It...

Boy, I really hope these guys are wrong...

80's Hotness

I just got off the phone with headquarters and it's official...this is the greatest video of all time. Here is a list of things that you should keep an eye out for as you pour this video nectar into your eyes and earballs:

1. Leotards
2. Juggling fire
3. Tuxedos
4. Motorcycles
5. Flamethrowers
6. Bulldozers
7. Band playing in ankle deep water
8. Saxophone solos
9. Storage units with multi-colored doors in the middle of the desert
10. Playing drums on motorcycle helmets
11. Tumbling and Acrobatics
12. Ominously swinging light fixtures
13. Hollywood style lighted vanities on giant piles of gravel

If Hinder had put even one of these elements into any of their craptacular videos I might not hate them with the white hot hatred that I do today.

Stay Gold Ponyboy

Here is a pretty cool little feature that shows where the cast of "The Outsiders" is today and what they're doing. This has long been one of my favorite movies and if you haven't seen it you really should. In order to inspire you to seek out this cinematic gem, I'm going to favor you with a little piece that I posted way back in the early days of T-Bone's world. A brief cutting from "The Outsiders" done for the benefit of one Stanley Kubrick performed by the incomparable Brian Atene. Enjoy this with someone you love and thank God for the beauty of American cinema.

T-Bone's Short Stack

I've decided to start another new feature here in T-Bone's world. Hopefully it lasts longer than my last one, the ill fated Movie Minute. I think I reviewed exactly one movie before I got bored with that and decided it was too hard to write those things. Anyway, this should be a lot easier because it's basically me telling you what music you should listen to. I might even throw in a few movie recommendations but it's up to you to see them because frankly I'm tired of doing all the work. It's time for you people to start pulling your weight here in my little corner of the blogosphere. And that means dropping me a comment once in a while. I work in corporate tax for crying out loud...I need the interaction. Throw me a freaking bone here.

So the way this will work is once a week (or month whichever I decide I can keep up with) I will tell you about 3 or 4 bands that I think you need to know about. If I can link to a Youtube clip I will (because I am that lazy). If not, then you can seek them out on iTunes or your music engine of choice. If you like what you hear (or even if you don't), let me know. I may reward you with a prize. This will most likely be a home made craft of some type which is certain to increase in value through the years, like a limited edition coin from the Franklin Mint.

So without further ado...I give you the Short Stack for March 26th, 2008.

1. The Nadas - I just found out about these guys from a great podcast that I listen to called Filmspotting. I downloaded their record a couple of days ago and I really dig it. Track # 1 is my favorite.

2. The Hold Steady - My buddy Nate told me about these guys a few months back and they are now my go to CD when I'm bored with everything else on my Zune. Very tasty. Plus their keyboard player is proudly rocking a full on mouthbrow.

3. The National - Their album "Boxer" has been named as album of the year by multiple publications including Paste magazine. I listened to this for a good part of the drive from Atlanta to Wichita over Christmas and I still haven't gotten tired of it.

Enjoy...and please feel free to let me know what you think. Comments are always appreciated.

Gnome Terrorizes Neighborhood

This video is so terrifying I hesitate to even show it to you. I spit you not, this is honest to goodness cell phone video of a gnome like creature shambling out of the tall grass and proceeding to scare the bu-cheezewhiz out of some local rapscallions. Click here to read the story...

Happy Easter

So here's a funny story...my daughter wore her fancy Easter dress today. It was very frilly and had a bit of a...latin flair I guess. My comment to my wife was that "she looks like a Mexican princess". She looked like she was going to her Quinceanera instead of church. At first it was just an observation but then I noticed the tag. The brand name was Rofo and all of the care instructions were in Spanish. The best part was the tag line at the bottom which read "Only for childrens". Anyway, happy Easter and here are some pics...

One Shining Moment

Alright party people...the first weekend of March Madness is nearly over and my bracket is mostly intact. I'm leading my pool and feeling very good about the Jayhawks. One of my favorite things about March Madness is the One Shining Moment montage at the end. I couldn't wait for that so I made my own from the first 2 rounds of footage...I had a lot of fun with it so I'll probably do more...lucky you. Anyway, enjoy this and sing along if you want to

I...drink...your...milkshake

And the Father of the Year Award Goes To...

...this guy in a landslide

I'm moving to Japan

Not really, but when I see tv as mind blowingly awesome as this I am genuinely tempted.

On another note, I have to give mad props to the M4H crew for posting this clip. One day I hope to complete my training at their Shaolin blogging temple which I believe is located in Flint, Mi. I can only assume that they find these clips during all night sessions wherein they huff WD-40 from an empty Funyuns bag and manually view all the new videos posted to Youtube. Whatever their method, I admire their dedication and can only aspire to one day reach such great heights. Huzzah gentlemen...huzzah

There's always somone cooler than you...

It's been a while since I talked up Ben Folds to the uninitated out there. Here are a couple of my favorites taken from a Myspace show he did a while back.

There's Always Someone Cooler Than You



All U Can Eat
Just a few words about this one. You might want to send the young ones out of the room before you rock this jam. It's a fairly profane/profound statement on America's love affair with consuming things. I love it, but you may hear a naughty word or 12.



Learn To Live With What You Are
This is just one of my all time favorites...and why I love this guy as a songwriter.

I am so proud to be from Kansas...

This is one of the strangest stories I have ever heard...

Science is awesome

It's been too long since I visited those silly monkeys over at Monkeysforhelping...Thanks to them for reminding me why I love science and especially middle school science fairs. This is the future of our country...and I for one couldn't be prouder.

We Lost Another Great One...

Blind guitar legend Jeff Healy passed away on Sunday...He really only had one or 2 songs that I knew but you've got to give it up to a blind guy who taught himself to play the guitar. Enjoy this live version of "Angel Eyes"

Happy Birthday Doc

God called him home...

We lost a pioneer this week and one of the truly great artists of our time. RIP Larry Norman...

My New Favorite Song

I wish rain really was chocolate...

I'm Sorry

I got some feedback yesterday (anonymous, of course) that a recent post of mine was potentially hurtful and contained information that was irresponsible of me to post. Although I felt that I was very careful in my writing to protect people's privacy, I concede that there were aspects of the situation that I did not fully consider before I posted. Essentially, I told a story that wasn't mine to tell. I have removed the offending post from my blog. If you saw the post and were hurt by it, please accept my humblest apologies and know that hurting anyone with my writing is the last thing I would ever knowingly do.

Happy New Year

So first of all...hi everybody. It's been a while since I posted. We spent 2 weeks back in Kansas for the holidays. It was really great to spend some much needed time catching up and just enjoying the company of our friends and family. A couple of notable items...I won my fantasy football league which was big for me...I've been playing for about 7 years now so finally winning my league was pretty cool. I used the winnings to get some new ink on my leg. If you recall my post from last May about the first leg tattoo I got you'll recall that I said it was very painful. This one was even worse than that. The recovery was especially painful for some reason, making it hard to even stand on my leg for several days. It's more or less healed now (other than some pretty gnarly scabs....gross, I know). I'm really happy with it. It's a profile picture of the famous Blackbear Bosin statue Keeper of the Plains with a banner underneath and the number 316. It's my tribute to my beloved hometown of Wichita, Ks. Here is a pic. Let me know what you think.