"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting." - Edmund Burke

I'd hoped to have the truck bed done today but I've got several hours of work left and my new optimistic goal is lunchtime tomorrow. I've got all the boards and rails in place but getting them positioned is like playing Whack-A-Mole. I get one board set and the one next to it is incorrect. Fix that one and another pops out of position. Pam will help me tomorrow by working the top while I'm under the truck tightening/loosening/adjusting/tightening... the bolts.

Dr. Ben Carlson said he wouldn't support having a Muslim as President. Predictably, that has generated a lot of unfavorable attention from Muslim leaders and Democrat candidates. Realistically it's the second time in just a few days Carlson has said something that makes me wonder if, as good a man as he seems to be, he's got the savvy to pull off being Pres.

He said that if granted a birthday wish it would be that the country would once again recognize God as our leader. As an evangelical believer I think there are serious theological problems with that statement. It credits the founding fathers with more orthodoxy than most of them seem to have professed and appears to ascribe to God a particular interest and involvement with our country. That's not something you'll find any support for in Scripture. The opposite is the case.

Today's statement about the possibility of a Muslim President provides great discussion fodder. What are the basic tenets of Islam? I don't mean the Five Pillars, but the position of Islam on matters of religion and the state. Is it the goal of orthodox Islam to establish a religious state? Have those Muslims who don't seek that goal diluted their faith as many "Christian" denominations have abandoned anything resembling a biblical Christianity? The acrostic RINO refers to someone who, at least in the view of the writer or speaker, is a Republican in name only. A large percentage of church goers and many denominations are CINO. Are there MUNO? Is a theocracy a basic tenet of an Islam faithful to the Koran?
I dunno, but that seems to be a conversation worth having before we bury Dr. Carson.

Whatever the case re. a Muslim President, both statements suggest he lacks the political instincts the job requires. That's probably a good thing in regard to his character but a bad thing in regard to his aspirations.

I heard a segment on NPR yesterday about pleonasm. Redundancy is saying the same thing with a different word, like "merge together" or "chase after." A pleonasm uses more words than is necessary to express the thought.

• "Lift up" (Is there another direction to lift something? This is one of my brother's peeves.)
• "Save haven" (havens are, by definition, safe)
• "Hot water heater"

The guy being interviewed explained that some pleonasms are so common that they aren't worth sweating, but we can be more effective speakers and writers if we cut the fat, eliminate the pleonasms so our communication is crisper and cleaner.

So I'm going to try to pay more attention to the presence of pleonasms in my writing.