Tim Ellsworth

Some items of interest from the week:

- China is having a significant influence on the English language globally. (Hat tip: Tyler)

- An art teacher at a Virginia high school was fired for some, shall we say, unusual extracurricular art work. (Hat tip: Tony)

- Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have joined forces to launch a new Baptist movement to address poverty, the environment and global conflicts — and probably to gripe about conservative Baptists. (Hat tip: Bill and Joey)

- Lydia Brownback, author of “Fine China is for Single Women, Too,” has launched a new blog. The Purple Cellar is “a blog for Christian women zealous for God’s glory, and anyone else who’d like to visit.” (Hat tip: Kellye)

- At last, Tony LaRussa has filled the void.

- Pop singer Stacie Orrico has emerged from exile.

- Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets has filed for divorce from his wife — allegedly because she beat the snot out of him.

- Danny Wuerffel’s ministry works to rebuild New Orleans.

Nancy Hicks and her 7-pound Chihuahua mix, Precious, were reunited this morning — six weeks after Hicks fled her New Orleans home and left Precious behind. Extensive searching finally led Hicks to Buffalo, N.Y., where Precious had been taken by rescue workers.

Read more here, or watch the video here.

I love these stories.

A New Orleans man forced to leave his dog Rover behind when he evacuated the city has been reunited with his pet in St. Louis.

After scouring the Internet for a picture of Rover and hoping that his dog had been rescued, Bobby Alberti finally found him at the Humane Society shelter in St. Louis.

“Oh, I got you back,” he said over Rover’s excited panting. “I never thought I would get you back.”

My blogging has suffered this week for a few reasons:

1. Things at work have been crazy. We’re getting ready for Bob Dole’s visit on Tuesday, and Chuck Colson was on campus last night. This morning I had the honor of driving him to the airport and was able to conduct a brief interview en route. You can read it here.

2. I was sick for a couple of days. Nothing major, just a fever and lack of energy. I think I’m all recovered now. But for a while, all I wanted to do was sleep.

3. I’ve spent a lot of time writing some stories from my trip last weekend to New Orleans. So far, Baptist Press has run three of my stories — here, here and here. I should have a couple other stories next week. The girl in the picture above is Breanne, one of the hurricane victims who left a disaster relief shelter with a few new stuffed animals. She lost all her toys in the storm.

4. I also wrote a story about Matt Murton of the Chicago Cubs, who I interviewed during my trip to Chicago last month. You can read it here.

So, that’s why I haven’t posted as much this week as I usually do. I didn’t even have time to write a column this week. I had intended to address the situation with the Washington Nationals suspending their chapel leader in more detail, but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe next week.

After spending most of the weekend in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, I wanted to post some observations about Hurricane Katrina and the destruction it brought to the region. But the problem is simple — words aren’t adequate. The more I saw, the more I thought to myself, “How on earth am I going to describe this?” As Jack Buck said when Kirk Gibson homered off Dennis Eckersley in the 1988 World Series, “I don’t believe what I just saw.”

It’s like a war zone. It’s like an atomic bomb was dropped on the entire Gulf Coast. It’s like putting an uncovered bowl of refried beans in the microwave for five minutes. Look inside the microwave, and you’ll have a small glipse of what southern Louisiana and Mississippi are like.

Here are some quick thoughts. I apologize in advance for my failure to describe it the way it deserves:

– Bay St. Louis, Miss., was the worst place I saw. We drove along a road with the ocean on our immediate right and what used to be ocean-front houses on the left. Only, there aren’t any more houses. They’re simply gone — dozens of them on one road. Huge piles of rubble are all that remain. These were undoubtedly nice houses, and now they’re just gone.

– New Orleans itself was a ghost town. It was eerie. As we were driving through the city, it was so strange to see these huge shopping centers off the Interstate — in the middle of a Saturday — with no cars anywhere in sight (other than those tossed every which way along the side of the road). The smell was pungent. Along the outskirts of New Orleans, before we crossed the bridge to enter the city itself, the scene was much like that described in Bay St. Louis — house after house that is now nothing more than a pile of debris.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m staying at a church in Slidell, La., tonight. Photographer Morris Abernathy and I arrived here earlier today and tomorrow will go with a chainsaw group as they cut down trees and clear brush.

This place is a mess — tree-smashed houses and cars, signs blown down, traffic jams everywhere. Ugh. It’s quite depressing.

More to come tomorrow, if I can find a computer to access.

Mr. T is doing his part to help Hurricane Katrina victims by donating clothes and money — and he’s sworn off his gold chains.

“Because of the situation we’re in now (after Katrina), I told myself, ‘No, T, you can never wear your gold again,’” he said. “It’s an insult to God.”

Looks like I’m headed to New Orleans this weekend to cover some hurricane-related stories for Baptist Press. Should be interesting. I’m not sure how much computer access I’ll have, so I may not be able to post much. If access isn’t a problem, I’ll probably try to blog quite a bit about my experience.

Snowball the dog has not been found, as was previously reported by USA Today.

Some Republicans in the House think so. Eleven of them voted against the $51.8 billion spending bill, which brings to $62.3 billion the amount allocated so far. More is expected to come.

Emotional reactions and external pressure make it easy to spend excessively, according to Tom Tancredo, who voted against the bill.

What do you think? Is $62.3 billion in federal aid too much, or is it money that needs to be spent?

Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation is selling 2006 celebrity calendars for $10, proceeds from which will go to help the rescue efforts for pets affected by Hurricane Katrina. You’ll find a link in the sidebar to the right, and I’d encourage you to support this endeavor.

Now, by saying that, let me offer a word of explanation. The needs of people are obviously more important than the needs of animals. In no way am I saying that animals should be rescued before people. People are made in God’s image, and animals are not.

But, sometimes the needs of animals and people intersect. I know how devastated I’d be if my dogs were lost after a natural disaster, and how appreciative I’d be for anyone who was able to help them. By making a donation to a rescue effort like ARF, you’ll not only be helping animals — you’ll also be helping their owners. The boy who owns Snowball will undoubtedly be thrilled to get him back, and this boy’s life will be a little brighter because of it.

My column this week is about some of the athletes who have been directly affected by Katrina, and others who are pitching in to help. I’ve already referred to some of these stories here on the blog, but some of them are new.

Today’s New York Times includes a story about the response of churches to Hurricane Katrina. It references the Southern Baptist Convention’s disaster relief effort, which has served more than a million meals so far.

Also included are the measures individual churches are taking. So, let me ask, has your church done anything specific to help with the relief efforts? I’d like to hear how your churches are responding.

In a time when people need food, clothing, shelter and the basic necessities of life, I’m so glad to hear that Planned Parenthood is helping out the victims of Hurricane Katrina — by providing morning after pills and abortions.

Because sex can’t wait — and abortions shouldn’t, either.

Hat tip: Ray

As I get nauseous from listening to liberal after liberal complain about President Bush’s response to Katrina, I asked myself, “What could Bush have done differently that would have earned him the support of the mainstream media and other Democrats?”

The answer was obvious — he could have been a Democrat. That and that alone would have inoculated Bush against any criticism from the MSM during this whole disaster. It doesn’t matter what Bush did or what Bush didn’t do in the disaster relief efforts. As long as he’s a Republican, his response would have been wrong.

If he had nudged local officials aside because of their ineffectiveness — and in so doing saved every single life — the mainstream media would have criticized him for overstepping his authority. If he had swooped into New Orleans an hour before the storm, held up his hands, yelled “Peace! Be still!” and calmed Katrina, the MSM would have criticized him for imposing his religion on others.

And so it goes.