Blowguns and what to aim for
 | Rob Crowe
Columnist
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There is an older gentleman attending the Alliance Church in Grand Rapids (where I attend) who has an unusual talent, at least for Northern Minnesota.
Actually, the man has a multitude of talents: he has been a missionary, a pastor, a college instructor and probably a couple of other things I don’t know about. Now retired, he is still very active, leading Bible studies, providing pulpit fill and giving ... blowgun demonstrations. I first saw him do this some 20 years ago.
I was attending a small Alliance Church in Hill City at the time and for Missionary Week, Bill Conley came down to give a presentation about his mission work in Kalimantan, Indonesia. He told of some of his experiences, showed a large snakeskin to us and, for the highlight of the evening, hoisted a 9-foot-long, polished wooden blowgun to his mouth and hit a balloon from across the long room, popping it to the delight of his young audience members. I’m told he rarely misses and I know he still can do it since he did it one morning in church last summer.
While my friend could probably string a bunch of MAs or DDs behind his name, he prefers to be called Bill and his Sundays are usually very busy, sometimes being a substitute pastor at one church before attending the late service at his own.
I guess he was at the normal retirement age 20 years ago when I first met him so I’m thinking his present schedule is rather astounding. When he speaks, the smart listen, his experience and skill are not limited to the blowgun.
This brings up the important question: who should you believe? Some columnists state that they want to get you to think about something, as you saw last week in this publication. This is, on the surface, a fine sentiment. Unfortunately, the “facts” laid out for the argument at hand are usually not facts at all, mostly suppositions, coupled with key words like “neoconservatives” or “secretive” or “conspired” or “secret wiretapping,” apparently to attempt to make the innocent appear guilty by word association.
Since it appears to be the time for soul-cleansing, I’ll put my best foot forward. I’m here for the money. Management showed me the huge check I got for last month’s columns just before she spent it ... Now if you believe that ...
Maybe I’d better try this: I'm here to entertain you ... Well, that almost sounds like a government worker telling you “I’m here to help you.” You’re not quite certain what you will get is what is advertised.
I’ll try this: I’m here to present my point of view. I do my best to make it unique and factually solid. If you find it educational, good. If you find it entertaining, great. Whatever you do, just keep on reading. My daughters’ teachers say that reading is good for you.
I ran across this recently in James Taranto’s 3-29-06 OpinionJournal.com column. He was writing about developments on President Bush’s efforts to protect the nation: “If a court refuses a FISA application and there is not sufficient time for the president to go to the court of review, the president can under executive order act unilaterally, which he is doing now,” said Judge Allan Kornblum, magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida and an author of the 1978 FISA Act. “I think that the president would be remiss exercising his constitutional authority by giving all of that power over to a statute.” This was said in testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Taranto also comments about what he calls the Congressional Democrat’s domestic spying program, which ran into a slight problem. “A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Rep. Jim McDermott (D) violated federal law by turning over an illegally taped telephone call to reporters nearly a decade ago.” Background: A McDermott associate illegally taped a conversation between Newt Gingrich and one of his aides in 1996, the case is slowly and quietly making its way through the courts.
Just a couple of information bits to throw into the mix. Whatever the case, I hope my writing is as accurate as my friend’s aim with the blowgun.
Rob Crowe chairs the Aitkin County Republicans and raises kids and cows on a farm near Hill City.
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