More On Small Houses.

In the article Living Small featured on Culture11, the best thing that has happened to conservatism since Rod Dreher (read his post: Against Reverse Food Snobbery from today), Lori Erickson makes the case for how living in a small home has created a holistic environment for her family full of sharing, closeness, and thrift, as she writes:

Looking back on 18 years of living small, I see that our snug house has prevented us from easily avoiding one another by retreating into our own spaces. We’ve been able to eavesdrop on our kids as they played with friends and look over their shoulders as they did homework on the dining room table. It’s been good for our health too, forcing all of us, especially our sons, to spend more time out-of-doors. There simply isn’t room to get too rowdy inside, so often they have headed outside to a neighborhood park that’s conveniently located just across the street.I hope we’ve given our sons the message that wealth doesn’t come from our material possessions, but instead from the diversity of experiences we have and the richness of our community.

Buy one today!

The Greed Creed.

ASBO Jesus shares this excellent illustration on the current economy and our idolatry to it in “The Greed Creed“:

Dodger Blue is Figurative, Cubbie’s Blues are Literal.

I am a big small ball fan.  I enjoy the National League more because there is more strategy, more bunting, and more close games.

But every once in a while I like to see my Dodgers shell another team.

My bobble head doll is shaking his head in agreement…

Dodgers, give me 2-0 as a birthday present!

Fox News Should Give Peter Schiff His Own Show.

Because all the people on their current show, Bulls & Bears, are hypocritical and partisan economic hacks.

Essential Weekend Reading.

This should be must reading for the weekend.  I certainly will be reading all of it:

Q&A with Dave Ramsey on the Economic Bailout.  This Christianity Today article has cemented my respect for Dave Ramsey.

Top 11 Excuses John McCain Could’ve Used to Get Out of Debate.  These are all super funny.  Culture11 is the best site for snarky, young, and rational conservatives.  This is like Crunchy Con mixed with The Daily Dish.  No Religious Right or ignorant rhetoric to be found there!

McLaren Emerging and The Ironic Faith of Emergents by Scot McKnight.  McKnight has a two’fer in Christianity Today.

New Header Design on Black Coffee Reflections.

I designed the header for Black Coffee Reflections.

See Tim’s special thank you to Todd Heistand, who designed the awesome theme used on BCR and Emergent Mid-Atlantic, and myself.

Free Markets: It’s the Myth, Stupid!.

The myth of free markets ended with the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Actually, it ended with their creation.

-Michael Lewitt, “Wall Street’s Next Big Problem” from The New York Times.

Tiny Houses as Nouveau Americana.

The tiny houses featured in the New York Times article “The Next Little Thing?” are perfect for the agrarian lifestyle, even in the midst of suburbia.  I want to buy some sweet chunk of real estate in Northern New Jersey and plop down a 750 sq. ft. weeHouse on it and stock it with IKEA goodies.

A pre-fab weeHouse

Why take up land that you can garden with a house that will cost you an arm and a leg to heat during the winter?

A must see is the accompanying audio slideshow.  The ability for these houses to capture the American “essence” and love of land seen in Berry, Thoreau, and Emerson, as well as Westerns, is truly inspiring.

I’m going to be living the dream, man!

Corporate America = Futility.

I am going to be entering a meeting in an hour that I hope does not go like this:

A Canadian Look at American Politics.

James K.A. Smith presents a look at American politics from a Canadian perspective:

Take, for instance, the shape of federal politics: an American presidential campaign is basically 2 years long. In short, an elected president is just barely halfway through his term before he needs to begin campaigning for re-election, kicking into gear a massive PR machine that will run for two years, eating up unbelievable amounts of time and money. In contrast, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper just announced that Canada will have a federal election this fall–October 14, as a matter of fact. While the American press is focused on the “60-day homestretch” of the years-long American presidential campaign, the Canadian federal election will be announced, contested, and resolved in 38 days–total! And, of course, as a parliamentary system, the election is not so completely fixated on the election of a chief executive. In fact, Canadians can’t select who will be Prime Minister; instead, they vote for members of parliament whose party they believe will best lead the country. (In fact, if the party leader–say, Harper–fails to win the seat in his riding, he can’t be prime minister.) (Permalink)

I think this points to the idiocracy of American politics. We must remember that we were the first version of the democratic republic, and that we should be humble enough to admit that the system has begun to burst at the seams and show it’s holes. We can’t put new wine in old wineskins anymore. Time for a change. Or for all of us to move to Canada.