I just reviewed “The Dark Knight” over at MovingTruth.com. If you want to see it you’ll have to register .

I haven’t commented on the presidential campaign in a bit, and now that Obama is over in the Holy Land—I can’t quite make out what he is doing there, but piecing together reports from the media accompanying him, I think he has been walking on the Sea of Galilee—let me offer just a few observations now.

Having already made it clear that I will not be voting for either gentleman, thus keeping my voting principles unsullied, this question may arise: “Given that it will be one or the other, who do you hope will win it?” If Obama is elected, I will have four years of being appalled. If McCain is elected, I will have four years of being disgusted. This means the question amounts to a psychological one—do you prefer being appalled or disgusted?

For those who hold a pragmatic, hold-your-nose vote is appropriate, they might think that it comes down to a choice between a pro-life, imperial hawk (McCain) and a pro-choice peacenik (Obama). I am afraid I read that one a little differently. In reference to the rise of American empire, the historian Charles Beard once commented that empires are not built in fits of absent-mindedness.

An aside: I am using empire here as a metaphor for American hegemony. I know that we are not an empire in the classic sense defined by the history of Rome, or even England. There are some striking differences. But the hegemony is still a reality, and it is a reality that did not come about by accident.

But this means any notion of American imperialism that thinks this is a function of what the Republicans are doing is an analysis that is superficial in the extreme. Historically, the Democrats have been neck-deep in the business, even more than the Republicans. The classic “isolationist” response has its historic home in the Republican Party.

I say this because a vote for Obama will not be a vote against American hegemony around the world. The Republicrats are all driving us to the same place. We are on a road trip with two people in the car who both want to drive, one to take in these sights on the way, the other wants to take in those. But the destination is not really a question. McCain is in favor of a vigorous and open assertion of our intentions, and Obama will allow employees from the State Department to massage our intentions as only they can do. As far as empire goes, McCain will be for honest empire and Obama for dishonest empire. But nothing substantive will really change on that front.

As far as the pro-life question is concerned (which in my mind is the great question), a McCain election might result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I am not holding my breath, but if it happens, I will rejoice. An Obama election will remove that possibility for another generation, at least.

The one blessing I can see that would come from an Obama election would be that it would shut up those young evangelicals who are hot for Obama. Three months of Obama in the White House would appall me, as I said, but it would make it impossible for anyone who even pretends to have respect for Scripture to behave the way you can do at a campaign rally—before anything has actually been done. More on that later perhaps.

-- Doug Wilson

Original Post

1). IT’S HOT NOW! I’m ready for fall… I offer you this snapshot from my iPhone Weather Bug application:

Uhh… yeah… that’s a little warm.

(please note however, despite the global warming hype, we really aren’t in any danger of breaking any heat records, I just like to complain)

2). I offer you a snapshot from my desk, where I’m editing away in Final Cut for the past 1 1/2 weeks:

• Come in to work and find out Final Cut crashes upon launch
   Check

• Discover the problem is a corrupt project file
   Check

• Discover yesterday’s last hour of Auto-Saves are also corrupt
   Check

• Open an Auto-Save sans- 1 entire hour of work and re-do all the work
   Check

• Re-Render said work
   In Progress…

SIGH!

This video is likely to make one loose their lunch… but it should be watched!

Also, read this post where I saw this video.

I just want to clear up some things about the Social Networking world known as Facebook.

Some people seem to be under the impression that Facebook is evil, or that you just stumble upon so many things that aren’t good. Or that by using Facebook, you are somehow forced to participate in some evil something or other and that you see all kinds of weird stuff.

Let me clear up these mis-conceptions. I really like Facebook. I think it is the best social network right now. And aside from the advertisements on the left side, which admittedly some are not that good, you don’t see anything you don’t choose to see on Facebook.

You see, Facebook is a social network. You see your friend’s updates, see and share photos with your friends, write on their “walls,” send and receive messages, etc. So, the content of Facebook is determined by those you are friends with on Facebook. No one can be friends with you unless you confirm them as friends. So, say I see my buddy on Facebook (whether I searched for him by name or email or whatever), so I tell Facebook to add him as a friend. Facebook asks him to confirm that we are friends. He can confirm or reject. So you have to have mutual consent to be friends with someone on Facebook. I have no doubt that there are bad people with bad profiles and bad photos on Facebook. However, I cannot confirm or deny this since I am not friends with anyone I don’t want to be. Hence the content and updates I see on Facebook is good.

Facebook is open to everyone, so yeah, there are going to be people on Facebook you don’t want to be friends with.

I really love Facebook and I’ll tell you why. For me, it’s all about the status updates (a status update is when you simply type a couple lines about what you are up to). I love being able to see what my friends are up to, especially the ones that are 450 miles away. People that I used to feel disconnected from. And the status updates are cool because I have Facebook on my iPhone and I can quickly type a couple words about what I’m up to and keep right on going. There are lots of folks from my former church on Facebook that I’m able to stay connected with through Facebook.

So, to summarize… Facebook is not evil, bad, wicked, or any such thing. Clear?

Cool!

Over and Out.