Giving the People what they Want

A couple of odds and ends about recent news ...

I debated about what to write concerning Ted Hagerty, the pastor out in Colorado whose sin was so publicly exposed two weeks ago. I haven't decided what I want to say about his situation, so I'm punting. Obviously, the church has taken a hit because of his actions. Obviously, he needs the grace of God that we all do. Obviously, it is a situation easy for all of us to judge, yet, I don't feel compelled to do so.
---------------------------------------
I didn't get my Iowa/Wisconsin prediction posted. I was counting on a Wisconsin win. The game was closer than I would have given Iowa credit for. In case the end of my week gets nutso, I'll come out now and say that Iowa drops its final game to Minnesota also, and finishes 6-6. Minnesota is playing for a bowl game, and perhaps to save its coach from firing.
---------------------------------------
The election was a bigger blowout than most of us Republican-leaning types could have imagined. Both at the state and national level, Dems gained governing majorities. Let's see what they do with it between now and 2008.
---------------------------------------
TV Guardian has given us what we want. For those unfamiliar with the product, TV Guardian is a device that filters objectionable language from visual media. You hook TV Guardian up to your DVD player, and by using the closed captioning code, the product mutes obscenities of your choice (there are several levels of language censoring to choose from).

We didn't actually buy a separate TV Guardian device. Instead, we purchased an inexpensive RCA DVD player from Walmart ($46.97) that has TV Guardian built in. I read recently that these special DVD players were being discontinued (TV Guardian as a stand-alone machine retails for about $100), so I decided to snatch one up. Friday afternoon I hooked up the new DVD player to our existing DVD player/recorder. We test drove the setup Friday night watching "The Rookie," a family-friendly movie save for just a couple of phrases. Michelle and I had previously seen the film, but had chosen not to have the kids watch.

The results were good. TV Guardian muted the two or three phrases we were hoping it would catch, plus a few others that we would not have considered objectionable. When you program TV Guardian, you can choose to have the words muted (the sound goes completely dead for a couple seconds) or have the closed captioning provide replacement phrases in print at the bottom of the screen. We chose muting, and were pleased with the results. To additionally test TV Guardian, I threw in "Dances with Wolves" and watched a few scenes. TV Guardian worked equally well.

There will come a day when we will not be able to keep our kids from hearing offensive language -- when our goal will change from sheltering to overcoming. But at 10 and 7, why not shelter? Why intentionally introduce questionable language or other temptations before they know how to spiritually respond to it? We think too many parents give in to allowing their kids to view questionable programs (just because it says Disney doesn't mean its good).

There are so many enjoyable films that are marred by the presence of a few obscene words inexplicably tossed in ("ET" comes to mind, and "The Princess Bride"). We look forward to sharing G-rated versions of these films with our kids in the near future.