Andy Borgmann's Blog

Ok, so I am thinking to myself. You know, I have this whole website dedicated to me, but frankly, that just isn't enough. Take this blog for instance. On any given page, there are, at most, 2 pictures of me. If this blog needs anything, it needs more photos of me, no?

But then you say, you can't just put more pictures of yourself because that would just be conceited and arrogant...right? So what's a boy to do? Enter Twitter...

Twitter is like "Status" on Facebook, but you can embed it on your site and update it by text messaging. My friend CJ has been using it and after bugging me enough, I finally gave in like a girl on prom night.

Take a look to your left ------------------------------------------------------------------------->
and there you go. Now, even between my blogging days, you can catch up on what I am doing.

The irony of course is, if my premise was to validate a reason to put more pictures of me on the site and not be self-centered, I think I have done the opposite because it takes a pretty self-centered premise to assume others actually care about what I am doing during the day.

C'est la nouvelle vie...non? Isn't that what the internet is all about: me...and of course, you!

Thankfully the USA is not a democracy, we are a republic. This means we democratically elect people to represent us. And because of this, our rights go beyond the majority and apply to all of our citizens - including the minority. The heart of our republic is protected by the Supreme Court, and I was all the more grateful to God for that this week when I realized that Americans are stupid...

This past weekend we discussed the case of Alton Logan. A man who was sentenced to jail in the same year I was born (1982) for a crime he did not commit. But here is the kicker: two attorneys representing the actual murderer, knew of the truth, but because of attorney-client privilege could not share the information.

Allen thinks these attorneys should have come forth and broke their oath. Most of our listeners shared this sentiment. I, on the other hand, think this it the type of thing that would erode our entire judicial system, which protects every single right we have. Take a listen to a 3-minute edit of what was said.

No it is not just how it is Allen (and America). And now that I can speak uninterrupted, I am going to tell you why.

What he fails to recognize is that by eroding the attorney-client privilege, you erode the 6th amendment, and when you erode the 6th amendment, you essentially erode our entire Constitution and the rights that are established within.

Do you like freedom of speech? Great! Thank the 6th amendment.

Do you like freedom of religion? Great! Thank the 6th amendment.

Do you like freedom of the press? Great! Thank the 6th amendment.

Do you like the fact you have the right to a fair trial? Great! Thank the 6th amendment.

The only thing that separates America from Iran or China or North Korea is the 6th amendment. And to erode attorney-client privilege is to beg Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to bring us his sense of justice.

The 6th amendment grants us the the right to a fair trial, which, among other things, assumes the requirement of Assistance of Counsel (an attorney). Who is going to go to an attorney and be honest if he can't trust that his attorney will keep his information private and provide him the best possible defense.

No one. And here's the thing. It doesn't even take a rebuttal of the 6th amendment to erode the system. It only takes 4 or 5 renegade attorneys taking their ethics into their own hands and having the Nancy Graces and the Allen Hunts of the world congratulating them for doing it, and before we know it, we have lost what makes America great.

Which brings me back to the Supreme Court. Americans can try all they want to apply situational ethics to the 6th amendment, but there will never be 5 Supreme Court justices that do not understand what is riding on attorney-client privilege. So sleep easy America, your rights are protected, even from yourself.

I am a Duke Basketball fan. I know, I know! Nobody likes Duke. Although, supposedly they have the most fans. I guess nobody knows where they are. My guess is they are probably somewhere in a blue lake of fire, with the blue devil, Coach Krzyzewski and Christian Laettner. Annnyways...any Duke fan knows we live and die by the three-point shot. And Obama's largest problem in getting to the White House is that he can't possiblity keep sinking all these threes...

Everybody knows Obama is a great speaker. The things I have heard him say are some of the most elegant and societally profound words spoken in my lifetime. But like Duke's ability to sink the three pointer, Barack has to continue that or else he's done for.

We saw this for the first time this past week when he commented that Americans are "bitter" and because of this they cling to religion and guns. I think what I resent the most about his comment isn't even the attack on religion, but it is that I am forced to agree for once with Hillary Clinton. These words are incredibly pretentious and elitist.

Now we all expect Bush to say stupid things. Heck, Bush even acknowledges that he says stupid things. And we are ok with that. We didn't elect him for his ability to speak and lead. We elected him because he aligned himself with the values of the majority of Americans.

Heck, even McCain can get away with calling his wife a cunt in front of the press because we don't like McCain for temper control, we like him because he is courageous and politically balanced.

Not Obama.

Obama we like because he inspires us by his words. When he fails to do that, it would be the same as President Bush encouraging Laura to have an abortion, or John McCain surrendering to the French, or Hillary not paying her health insurance premiums (oh wait she didn't).

Now I don't think this is what Hillary meant when she said Obama hasn't been vetted, but I think it applies.

There is no way for Obama to continue his speaking eloquence before someone in this cell-phone camera, YouTube world captures something worse. Unfortunately, Barack can't fall back on the "ohh I made a mistake" or "I misspoke" because he is Barack Obama and admitting a oral mishap takes away what we love about him.

Up until this point I was rooting for Barack. I really was. But that seems to be changing. First I blogged about his hypocrisy in giving charitably, and now this. The three point bricks keep coming, and I am afraid it won't be long before the time is running out, down by two, and Barack throws up one last attempt to win it all, only to hear the thud of the ball bouncing off the back of the rim.

It's 6:30 am and I can't get back to sleep. I can't get out of my head that 6.3 miles¹ away in another bed, one of my friends probably can't get back to sleep either. She was fired yesterday.² And for some reason I can't get the ValuJet crash out of my head...

On May 11, 1996, ValuJet 592 went down in the Florida everglades. On that flight was the son of Warren Lanthem. Warren was the Senior Pastor at Mount Pisgah. I did not know Warren or his son. But understandably it devastated him and eventually led to his decision to transition out of the role of Senior Pastor. Ultimately, Allen assumed that role.

Sometime later, Glenn and Allen went to the Master's golf tournament and they got the idea of starting a talk radio show. It was just crazy enough to work.

In June of 2005, Allen and I sat in Monterrary's Mexican Restaurant. I was a new hire and excited about my job. Amongst other conversation, Allen asked if I wanted to join the radio show "team" to see if we could make this work. I did.

In February 2007 I remember sitting in Allen's F-150 and him saying that he was stepping aside at Mount Pisgah and pursuing the radio show full-time. I was ecstatic.

On October 1, 2007, I stepped out full-time.

And as of April 1, 2008 we had grown to 16 affiliates and a handful more ready to close.

On April 2, 2008, my friend and 10 others were fired from Mount Pisgah due to a "recession" and dwindling Sunday morning attendance.³

Only a self-centered individual like myself could turn a friend's firing back on me, but I have. I don't know if this is because it is the first (of presumed many) friend's getting fired in my life. Or if it is because I too worry about how easy it would be to lose a job. Or maybe because I somehow associate my "success" with her "loss." I don't know. But it got me thinking about my favorite movie In Good Company and what it is like to have to fire someone (warning there are swear words).

What I think sucks the most about all of this is that even in the scene above there is this separation of firing someone who is single and married with a family. As if, somehow it is easier for the single person to take it. After all, they don't have anyone depending on them.

But they also have to go home to an empty bed at night.

They have to do it "alone."

Heck even the terms of the severance illustrates this. As I read it, part of the terms is that you can only share with your spouse, your attorney and financial advisor, and a third situation that would rarely happen. Severance is setup itself to not really allow for the processing of an event like this. So as I (against its terms)⁴ read the letter and tried to advise her on what I thought she needed to do next, I realized just how important our friends are.

I took most of the day off yesterday and just hung out with her. When night came, some other friends joined us, we grilled out and watched baseball on my patio. We talked about the good things and the bad things about our previous place of employment.

We reassured her we all would be there for her in whatever way she needed - including financial support - until she was able to land another job. We are so proud of who she is and how great she did her job. She is in the good company of people who loved and care for her. She, at least, wasn't going through this alone.

(And for the record, there were more than one single girl fired, so anybody who would want to, can't prove who I am talking about here )