Drink Upstream

How Many Wars Are We Fighting?

Can anyone give me an exact count as to how many places in the world we have troops and/or weapons actively engaged in combat? I keep hearing about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but then something like this shows up in my Inbox, and I am speechless.

'Nobody Is Watching'

The Church vs. Web 2.0

I'm trying to encourage further development of the website at the church where I work, Old Pine Street Presbyterian. Hoping to encourage healthy discussion, I would like to offer the committee some examples of churches that are using the Web well. So, if there's a church's website that you are impressed by, one that reveals the flavor of a congregation and then connects people to them, please leave a comment listing that church's website. Thanks.

W. Through The Eyes of Edinburgh

Our friend BCDees posts today about his experience viewing W. in Scotland.

Anyone else seen the flick?  (I've disabled comments on this post, because I don't want to start two divergent conversations....feel free to spam his blog instead of ours.)

DeathWatchJournal

You know, there are lots of controversial issues that we deal with on this blog and in our lives. Abortion, gay marriage, war, taxes, and immigration are all issues that I struggle with on one level or another, but there's really one major red-meat, hot-button issue where I've never had much struggle; the death penalty.

I've got a deeply-held conviction that Texas's application of the death penalty is deeply flawed and morally repugnant. That conviction has only been strengthened of late by Texas Monthly's current issue that deals with the numerous exonerations of death-row inmates in Texas (16 in Dallas county alone). On top of that, I came across this today at the Dallas Observer's blog.

DeathWatchJournal

Is the (mostly) daily diary of a man on Death Row in Hunstville.  He's really an excellent writer, and his entries are worth your time.  It's a stark reminder that regardless of your personal opinions about the death penalty, the men and women we execute in this state are human beings, just like you and me.

Comments Feed

Just a technical note to let you know that an RSS feed of comments from www.drinkupstream.com is now available.  Just point your favorite RSS reader to

http://www.drinkupstream.com/warmgun/comments.rdf

Today's Random Linkage

A Note from David Lamotte's sister, entitled Now What?  A Note to my Co-Liberals is worth reading.

(I wonder if the Lamotte family is adopting?  If you could have more than one family, I think I'd want to join theirs, too.)

Congratulations! Now get to work.

I gathered last night with good friends to watch election returns.  It was a good time.  And I believe we saw the best in both candidates.

Certainly, Obama's victory is historic.  McCain's speech was laudable.  And in that speech, we saw the John McCain that I could have considered supporting (and, indeed, at one point did.)  Last night we didn't see the McCain that had been taken over by the Republic Presidential Election Team.  We saw someone with much more valor, honor, reason, and humility - and I believe that to be the real John McCain.

This morning, the alarm went off, and I went to work at a place where the current economic conditions are hurting us.  There's lots of work to do and resources are tighter than they have been at any point in our small company's history.

At some point today, Barak Obama and John McCain will get out of bed.  And there will be lots of work to do, and resources are tighter than they have been - probably in my lifetime.

May the battle cry not turn from "Yes, we can!" to "Yes, we did!" quite yet.  May we all be about the work of making creation more like it ought to be.

Election Day Humor

Go vote!!

And laugh.

From the Onion: Bush: 'Can I Stop Being President Now?'

the Onion Candidate Profiles: Sen. McCain, Sen. Obama, Sen. Biden, Gov. Palin

From YouTube: Les Misbarack and A thank you to the campaign - (Obama)

Bible Verse of the Day: Ecclesiastes 10:2 (Thanks, Mom!)

And on a more serious note (from Matt): Why I Didn't Vote for Obama