The "Barracuda" and the "Maverick"

Congratulations to Sarah Palin

Back at the beginning of this blog, Doctor June McCarrol was featured as the Inventor of Highway Pavement Markings! You can read her remarkable story Here. Her genuine concern led her to activism as she petitioned the Indio government and later the State of California. Alaska Governor Palin is made of the same stuff. Beginning as a concerned parent she got involved in local government. In 1992 she ran for city council of Wasilla, AK and served there until 1996 when she became mayor. She was appointed to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and served as Ethics Commissioner from 2003 to 2004. She resigned and exposed corruption in the commission, fingering prominent members of her own party. Her credentials as a reformer clearly established, Ms. Palin ran for Governor in 2006 and defeated incumbent Republican Governor Murkowski in the primary. She went on to win the general election and became, at 42, Alaska's youngest Governor in history.

As Governor, Palin is known as a foe of wasteful spending and is famous for her vetoes of questionable expenditures. She has another unique qualification for leadership -- she is the Mother of five children! Her youngest child, Trig, was born while she was Governor of Alaska. That has to be another historic first! Her oldest son serves in the U.S. Army and will serve in Iraq starting this fall.

So how did she get the nickname "Barracuda?" It goes back to her Wasilla High School basketball days when she earned the moniker: "Sarah Barracuda" for her fierce play as point guard. Off the court, she was President of the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes Chapter. Do you see a penchant for leadership here?


Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in Kuwait.

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky of Jewish World Review ran This Piece by Nat Hentoff in May! Mr. Hentoff is a liberal thinker who is pro-life [he thinks for himself, obviously]. His observations about Ms. Palin and her qualifications for the job are well worth reading, even now, months after Hentoff wrote them. This is no overnight decision.

A Vice President We Can Relate to

Sarah Palin represents a rebirth of that Jeffersonian ideal where people from ordinary life go up to Washington to represent us and then come home! She's no Washington insider in a grey suit.
She got involved in the first place because she cares. I thought of a young mother of five we know who is very active in her kids' schools, and said to my wife "that's like (our friend) being chosen to be Vice-president." Ms. Palin should take that as a great compliment. She's truely one of us!

Econ 101 For Reporters

Do News Reporters Even Understand Economics?

"The impression one gets from corporate critics is that many are prospering but exploiting loopholes in the tax code and leaving the rest of us to pick up the tab." -- Steven Malanga

I found this piece by Steven Malanga: Do Corporations Really Pay No Taxes? It makes the point that so much of the economic reporting we see today is at best devoid of necessary context and at worst, downright misleading.

I thought it was basic knowledge that corporations pay taxes on profits, not gross sales, but Malanga points out a reporter who makes no effort to clarify that point. Forgetting that $50 million in sales is not money the company gets to keep. Think of eight or nine percent of that amount as "evil" corporate profits and you are probably closer to the truth.

Malanga also points out that the profit is often passed through the entity as salaries and dividends. That is where they are taxed.

The Myth and Reality of 'Energy Economics'

John Stossel Rephrases the Question for Us

I grew up with NASA getting man to the Moon, after the Manhattan Project brought a quicker end to the war, so the current talk of some centralized push to make us energy independent is appealing. Still, John Stossel shines some important light on the economics involved and makes some important points about how markets actually work.

The Idiocy of Energy Independence I
The Idiocy of Energy Independence II

I wondered why we didn't make a wholesale transformation to some alcohol-based fuel system after the 'gas crisis' of the Seventies, and the truth is there was always a whole lot of oil. It was relatively cheap and didn't create competition for corn. The government simply can't buy ethanol into the marketplace -- especially in a food crisis.

Perhaps the next decade will see a variety of solutions and better uses of existing technologies. Most of them will likely come from private initiative in one form or another. Indeed the financial incentive is there, without government creating it. There was a myth going around in the Seventies about the 100mpg carborator and how some big oil company bought up the patent. If it's lying in some plan file somewhere it's time to pull it out and make some real money. Stossel gives us the example of a $300 million prize one candidate proposes be offered for developing a truely workable electric car battery. Hey, if someone actually develops it they're looking at many times that amount in royalties/licensing; and that's just on Prius refits alone! Some after-market manufacturer might just write a really great open-ended agreement for those rights.

When Image Trumps Reality

"Things are seldom as they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream." -- William S. Gilbert

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics featured a lovely little girl with a beautiful voice performing... er, it was actually TWO little girls, chosen in a competition to find the prettiest perfect little vocalist for the event. The seven year old with the beautiful voice wasn't 'cute enough' apparently, so a nine year old who was 'cuter' lip-synched her song.

Cory Franklin Has These Observations on the phenomenom of manipulating reality. Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 film Olympia did much the same for the1936 Berlin Olympics, creating a showcase for the Nazi regiem.

While we are apalled at certain revelations of manipulation, such as the opening ceremony vocalist, Franklin points out that people often prefer the image over reality. When Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, was speaking at Harvard students flocked to see him. Following Roddenberry on the program was Werner Von Braun, one of the creators of NASA. As Von Braun began to speak he noticed the students leaving in droves. Thinking this might have been a protest of his earlier involvement in the Nazi regiem, he asked about it later. He was told that the students were only interested in hearing Roddenberry. Ironically, the networks had already started curtailing their coverage of the actual space launches pretty much after the early Apollo flights.

My father worked for NASA and I couldn't get enough of coverage of our exploits in space, but it seems that in this day appreciating reality is akin to appreciating opera. You have to do some work on your own -- such as reading the libretto and learning about the music. A little understanding of Sixteenth-Century Italy doesn't hurt either. Heather Mac Donald Observes This Disturbing Trend to 'rewrite' classic works, dumbing them down in performance to create 'relevant' content for modern audiences. The result is often not unlike what you would achieve if you gave the project to middle-school boys [unsupervised, of course].

There is a lot of talk now about 'hope' and 'change,' especially as we approach another National election. What's missing are the frank discussions of how to solve problems. Matters such as how economies work and how to fuel them need to become the centerpiece of this discussion.

A Great Olympian of the Past

His Triumph was More than Athletic

Who was the first gold-medalist olympian born in China? The answer may come as a surprise, but his story carries much meaning as we've just seen the first Olympic Games played in the land of his birth.

If you've strained through your memory of fine gymnasts, precision divers and table tennis champions, give up. The man is Eric Liddell, otherwise known as the 'flying Scottsman.' He was the second son of Scottish missionaries to China and was born in 1902 in Tianjin. He distinguished himself as a sprinter at a very young age and was considered a contender for gold in the 1924 Paris Olympics 100 and 200 meter races.

A devoted Christian, Liddell withdrew from the 100 meters, his best event, when he learned that the qualifying heats would be run on Sunday. He still was able to compete in the 200, gaining bronze, but here is where the story gets good!

He won a slot in the 400 meter race as well, but was not expected to do well at all. Before the race, an American trainer handed him a piece of paper that said: "Those who honor me I will honor." -- 1 Samuel 2:30. Liddell ran the race with that piece of paper crumpled in his hand.

Liddell ran that race, coming out like a shot. He ran like he was running a 200! There was no way he should have been able to dig deeper -- but then he did. Anyone who's ever run this race knows it was nothing short of a miracle. Liddell's head went back and his arms flailed as he churned out 200 meters more of pure energy. He won the gold in that event that day, surprising all who observed him run it.

Liddell says that G-d carried him that last 200. NBC described the race yesterday and the commentator stumbled over this fact, saying it was "almost like" a miracle! Hey, he "almost" got it right. They interviewed Liddell's daughter for the piece and she described the rest of Eric Liddell's amazing life. Liddell himself felt the call to minister in China and was there with his family when the Japanese occupation began. Sending his wife and two daughters home, Liddell labored on. When the Japanese interred all foreigners in concentration camps, Liddell became a science teacher for the children and organized games for the youth. It is worth noting that Liddell had no qualms about running athletic events for the youth on Sunday afternoons and was a great force in keeping up everyone's morale.

Winston Churchill arranged a prisoner exchange at one point and Liddell was one of the ones chosen to go, but he gave his place to a pregnant woman and stayed on. He suffered a nervous breakdown while in camp and died of an inoperable brain tumor on February 21, 1945.

In the Moscow Olympics of 1980, Scottsman Allan Wells won the 100 meters. Someone asked him if he had run the race for Harold Abrahams [who won the 100 in 1924], and Wells said "No, this one is for Eric Liddell!"

What would Eric Liddell have thought of the games we have just witnessed? I think he would have shared the mixed feelings of many of us; Happy to see the door open, but grieved at the condition of so many of our Chinese brethren.

Read More About this Great Olympian Here

A New Old Problem

Bigger Isn't Always Better

I've refrained so far from commenting on the Beijing Olympics. Randy Alcorn has some excellent thoughts on the games and I read his novel Safely Home prior to the games. I highly recommend it! I share many of the sentements he expresses.

What I do want to think about at the moment is China's entry into the Syd Mead super-sized urban core and the loss of its neigborhoods. This News Story covers it very well. Japan has dealt with this phenomenom as it has seen old Kyoto's traditional houses fall to the wrecking ball.

Europe saw postwar reconstruction of monsterous blocks of sterile housing and America built urban renewal projects of the same genre. No longer did the life of the village surround the plaza. Now Paris, which survived Hitler and Le Corbusier, faces similar urban renewal as detailed Here in City Journal. Clearly the challenge of preserving the fabric of community is greater than ever.

The answer is probably over simplified by calling for replicating Nineteenth Century Main Street architecture. I could see some really lovely infusion of the work of Hugh Newell Jacobsen, for example. Jacobsen deftly manipulates pure form but he lives and works in Georgetown where there is a rich community fabric, which he appreciates. Also, there are places in Manhattan where the market for community spaces thrives amidst twenty story buildings.


Le Corbusier's vision for Paris


Seward Park is typical of American Urban Renewal Projects.

A New Village Square

New Life for an Old Strip Center


Old shopping centers like this exist in most of our suburbs.

Let's face it, people flock to the suburbs because they offer a house in the village. Unfortunately their is no center to most of these villages and that is the mission of Traditional Neighborhood Design. Here is a great idea! Take the tired old shopping centers that abound in our suburbs and create village centers like the one below proposed for Crozet. Residential and office space is created by adding upper stories to the existing retail spaces, creating a very nice mixed-use town center.


Here is the new village center which fits right in the footprint of the old strip center.


Detail of the new village center.


Elevation Rendering.


View looking West.

Purpose Driven Forum

Seeing the Candidates in a New Light

I was pleasantly surprised by the Civil Forum hosted by Pastor Rick Warren on CNN last night for the two presumptive nominees. First of all, the forum was indeed civil and allowed one, as it were, to meet the person rather than the perception. Senator Obama and Senator McCain were each interviewed for an hour by themselves, receiving the same questions. The time and space were given for thoughtful answers and the individual interview format allowed the viewer time to process what each man was saying.

Pastor Warren dug politely but directly to find out what the candidates believe personally and how it affects the decisions they make [and will have to make]. This led to the telling of some interesting personal stories and the unfolding of some pretty positive visions for the future that both men hold. It was a brief window into what motivates the two contenders for the Presidency and allowed us a chance to know them as men.

Click Here to Watch the Forum

We could use a lot more of such dialogue.

The Modern Siege of Vienna

History Tells Us How to Fight the War on Terror


Vienna, on the outskirts of Metropolitan Washington, DC.

In 1529 and again in 1683, the Ottoman Empire invaded Hungary, working their way to the outskirts of the Habsburg Capital of Vienna. Central Europe was threatened and in 1529 the onset of Winter drove the Turkish invaders back to Istanbul. The second siege in 1683 was ended by Polish troops under Jan Sobieski who showed up to relieve the defenders of Vienna.

As Bruce S. Thornton points out in This Piece in City Journal, the Ottoman Empire was a dangerous place for the non-islamic inhabitants. What would have happened if the Turks had prevailed at Vienna? Europe would have likely become a very different place.

It took a decisive victory, that of Setember 11, 1683, to turn the tide and secure Europe from the Ottoman threat. Likewise the young Republic dealt with the Barbary Pirates. These North African pirates looted ships and captured crew members from the 16th Century to the beginning of the Nineteenth. In 1801 the First Barbary War was fought by the United States against Tripoli to secure the safety of the seas. In 1815 the Second Barbary War was fought.

As the smoke from the Pentagon could be seen over the Washington suburb of Vienna on September 11, 2001 the forces of Islam took up the struggle where they had left off at the gates of the Habsburg Capital.

The Gates of Vienna Blog is an excellent resource for learning about the historical perspective of the modern war on terror. Visit them Here.

Today's Heroes

Modern Soldiers Deserve Our Respect and Admiration

Having given up on the mainstream media before the surge, I suppose this is old news to some, but I found this group: Veterans for Freedom a breath of fresh air. Their mission is simply to make sure the real story gets told. Indeed there is plenty of heroic good to report and I think it is a shame that the press goes silent when there is progress.

Perhaps it is just the "bad news sells papers" phenomenom but the young men and women who put themselves in harm's way deserve better from a free press that thrives in a free nation who owes that freedom to the sacrifice of such men and women.

So stop by their Website and learn more about their mission.


Run for the Fallen came through Rockfish Gap this weekend. Each mile they run is in honor of a fallen soldier. Here the gaurdrail at the crest of the Blue Ridge becomes a memorial.

Preserving the Dream

David Tenenbaum's Story and Why it Matters

This Story as Reported in Jewish World Review should cause all of us to pause. Mr. Tenenbaum was doing important work on armorment for military vehicles when he was singled out for hostile treatment because he is an observant Jew. The real tragedy is the lives that could have been saved by his research.

We need to remember our beginnings as a nation and not tolerate such persecution.

Looking Back -- Looking Ahead

Celebrating Twenty-three Years


Biosphere illustration for WDEF

It's been an interesting twenty-three years. Take a look at Twenty-three Years in Pictures at our website.

Kirchman Printable Portfolio

A Better Way to See Our Work



If you are an art director or architect who's ever needed rendering style sheets for an important meeting with a client, this new printable portfolio is designed for you. You choose the illustrations you need and print them at 300dpi on letter sized paper. We save unnecessary waste of paper and you have access to quality reproductions of the work you want to use.

Click Here to Access the Printable Portfolio.

Find the Best Gas Prices

It Even Works in Hawaii

Click Here and enter your zip code to find the best gas prices in your area. It is updated every evening.

Apollo 11

It's Hard to Believe it Happened 39 Years Ago


Apollo 11 Lifts off on its way to the moon.




Armstrong after the famous first steps on the moon.

These photos are from The Apollo Archive, one of the best collections of NASA photos I have ever seen. Click Here to enjoy many more fine photos taken by our astronauts.


"And G-D saw that it was good..." Earthrise from Apollo 8

Reaching for the Stars

Bill Cosby's Challenge to Real Greatness

I saw This Piece by Myron Magnet in City Journal that references Bill Cosby's 2004 speech where he challenged a lot of people's cultural assumptions. I've enjoyed Bill Cosby from my youth and still can recall some of his stand-up routines [Noah!!!!] with great clarity. Cosby has always seen himself as an educator and takes that role seriously.

As we laughed at 'Fat Albert' and 'The Chicken Heart that Ate New York,' Cosby gave us a window into his own youth and the culture he was raised in. Bill Cosby began a wonderful dialogue for a lot of us and helped a lot of Americans to relate to one another. Now he speaks from the heart and shares the dream we all share for our children. It is a dream that requires articulation, for it is sadly not a reality for so many youth today.

May we take his message seriously and strive to reach the next generation with his message of hope and personal responsibility.

Reaching for the Moon

Remembering the Apollo Missions

Last night I watched In the Shadow of the Moon, Ron Howard's documentary featuring interviews with the men who actually flew the missions and landed on the moon. It was riveting! Men who had seemed so much larger than life in their younger days talked honestly about their participation in this amazing endeavor.

You really sensed their excitement and their honest apprehension as well. They were setting off into uncharted territory and they knew full well the risks. Most of them had flown combat missions and had gone on to become test pilots before joining the space program. They talked openly about the majesty of cosmic order and Charlie Duke gave testimony of how he came to faith in G-d.

Towards the end of the film, all of them expressed gratitude for being born at the right time to be a part of this amazing journey. They all were born in 1930 or close to that time. And here's the amazing thing about that. If you remember your history you are looking at about a year into the great depression. These men grew up in hard and bleak looking times. They got into flying at the end of a terrible conflict and flew experimental aircraft at a time when the stakes were considered pretty high.

The Soviets and the Americans had captured Hitler's missle scientists and were rushing to build ICBMS. Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin had us at 2 - 0. Alan Shepard flew a 15 minute lob into the ocean and then John Kennedy made a bold stroke. He laid out the mission to put a man on the moon "...and return him safely to Earth!" In this decade.

So much of the required technology had to be invented. A lot of medical advances like replacement heart valves and artificial hips, guess where they came from. Environmental science is another spin-off. There were no satellites monitoring pollution over Nineteenth-century Birmingham, England but now we can see exactly what we produce and where it goes [or doesn't go, as in Los Angeles]. The alternative technologies we must develop now involve innovations that came from the space program.

I hope the next American president will lay down a similar challenge. We should become energy independent in the next decade, with an even longer term development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. May our grandchildren be able to express their gratitude for being born at the right time to be a part of this amazing journey!


My father's contribution to the space program was in leading the team designing this 'Launch Phase Simulator.' This amazing machine was used to test spacecraft components by subjecting them to increased g forces, vibration, vacuum, cooling and solar baking. All of which would be felt during launch into outer space. You are looking at the counterweight end of what was basically a giant centrifuge. A vacuum chamber on the far end was where the component to be tested was bolted to a vibrator. High intensity lamps and cryogenic systems were used to simulate the extremes of temperatures.

Anticipation!

Don't Waste It on Less Than the Best

There has been plenty of anticipation in our house over the past few months. After the wedding I finally got around to checking Randy Alcorn's Blog and what should he be writing about but Anticipating a Redeemed Earth. Wow! I'm told that the reason they break the glass at a wedding is because as great is the joy of the present moment, it cannot be complete until we are in Jerusalem. Looking at Revelation chapter 21 in that light, we anticipate our Master arriving as the bridegroom. We celebrate marriage for the joy it brings us now and for the picture it is of our Master's great love for us. The picture G-d paints for us of His love was painted on the faces of our young couple as they exchanged vows, rings, kisses and tender glances.

To welcome our families, I planted shrubs, cleared brush and nurtured flowers. That might be a picture of our lives on this present Earth. Nurturing our garden in anticipation of the one who longs to walk with us in the garden again. In fact He is often mistaken for the gardener.


Anticipating the Bridegroom [Revelation 21]

"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" -- Revelation 21:2

Although I was not always cheerful in these labours, it was deeply satisfying. After the bride and groom departed and the 'formal' reception ended, I found myself on our front lawn playing bocci with my neices and nephews. My son-in-law had introduced the game to our family so it was fitting that we include it in the 'informal' party. My son and his girlfriend graciously built a campfire on the hill behind our house. We stayed up pretty late.

A baton has been passed. A new generation begins and affirms our belief in the promise of the future.

Time to Celebrate!

Congratulations to my daughter and her new husband!

Tony Snow

He Will be Missed

I always enjoyed listening to Tony Snow. He made you think. Agree or disagree with him and your perception of the issue would always be widened. Tony had a way of challenging discussions to higher ground. He was upbeat and likeable even when he took your viewpoint apart.

His passing this weekend leaves a large vacuum to be filled.

Alternatives to Logic Won't Work

This Piece by Jonathan Tobin lays out the problem before us in a very direct way. We need to develop Terror Free Energy now and open our eyes to the fact that if we don't, the result will most certainly not be a pristine planet. Does anybody remember when Saddam set Kuwait's oil fields afire? It took every wild-well and blowout specialist in Texas to put it out.

Caterpillar Corporation used to run advertisments that stated: "There are no simple answers, only intelligent choices." That is true now more than ever. Choking off our energy supply will not result in our living a cleaner life. Diversifying it makes a lot of sense and will achieve far better results than the 'luddite environmentalism' that is being pushed on us. The Prius makes better use of less fuel and creates less pollution by pushing a car smarter, not by denying you transportation. We should look forward to more innovation on the same level.

Build Them Back

More Thoughts on Rebuilding the Towers

This Piece by Ann Coulter is not new, but the sentiments expressed resonate with a fresh wind of desire to see the restoration of the Twin Towers as an expression. Consider this quote from a man who worked on the 77th floor of Tower 1: "Please do not diminish the memory of all of the people who died there by building 50-, 60- or 70-story mediocre buildings on the site.

Rebuild the Twin Towers

A Lot of Us Secretly Wish it Would Happen

This Article by Nicole Gelinas in City Journal expresses what a lot of us have felt or wished at some point in the discussion of what should happen at Ground Zero.


Herb Belton's proposal for rebuilding the World Trade Center.

For the record, I like Daniel Libeskind's original concept for the Freedom Tower as architecture but somehow it doesn't belong there. Minoru Yamasaki's distinctive towers had become an icon and rebuilding their profile sends a strong message to those who would attempt to destroy our way of life. This Article by Frank Gaffney gives even more reasons to desire such a statement.