Come visit Pete's World

After maintaining two separate blogs, one focusing on politics and faith, and the other on pop culture, I've decided to save myself some hassle and combine everything at one site, now called Pete's World. Come visit!

Bookmark peedub.com and see what we're up to!

Living Loved Trailer

My new book: Living Loved

Here's the publisher's page on my new book, LIVING LOVED, out any day now.

And here's what some people are saying already about it...

Praise for Living Loved-

"An open-hearted book on knowing, experiencing and sharing love. Peter Wallace has thoroughly studied the Gospel of John, and he brings to us fresh words and loving insights."
Nora Gallagher, author of Changing Light

"Peter Wallace's wonderful book Living Loved teaches us how to do just that. With touching examples and personal stories he interprets the sometimes abstract language of the gospel of John to help us feel and experience the love we so desire.
Edward L. Beck, author of God Underneath: Spiritual Memoirs of a Catholic Priest

"With the Beloved Disciple as his muse, and using Eugene Patterson's ear-catching translation of John's gospel, Peter Wallace reminds us that 'the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood."
Martha Sterne, author of Alive and Loose in the Ordinary

"Peter Wallace takes us on a breathtaking voyage, seeking along the way the kind of love that doesn't pander to sentiment, but puts wind in our sails and sends us out into the deep sea of meaning and service."
Thomas G. Long, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

"Encounter by encounter and phrase by phrase, I was led into the presence of Jesus and his love. Living Loved is a profound meditation on scripture, accessible to anyone who hungers and thirsts for the abundant life."
Kenneth H. Carter, Jr., Providence United Methodist Church

NYT Mag: Narrowing the Religion Gap? - Gary Rosen - New York Times

The Way We Live Now - Narrowing the Religion Gap? - Gary Rosen - New York Times: "Try a quick political thought experiment. First, form a mental picture of the Democratic front-runners for president — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Now do the same for the leading Republican contenders — John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Next (and this is the key step), imagine each of them in church, sitting in a pew, head bowed, or better still, at the pulpit, delivering a homily or leading the congregation in worship.

Strange, no? It’s not hard to envision Clinton and Obama among the faithful. She is a lifelong Methodist and self-described “praying person,” and he belongs to a church where some years ago he found himself (in his own words) “kneeling beneath that cross” in submission “to His will.” Both slip easily into the earnest, humble-of-the-earth mode of liberal God talk.

But McCain and Giuliani? You somehow imagine them fidgeting during the hymns and checking their watches. The senator is an Episcopalian, the former mayor a Catholic, but neither man, you have to think, would be caught dead in a Bible-study group or could possibly declare, �la George W. Bush, that his favorite philosopher is “Christ, because he changed my heart.” In the piety primary, the Democrats win hands down."

A Symbolic Vote Is a Sign of Bitter Debates to Come - New York Times

A Symbolic Vote Is a Sign of Bitter Debates to Come - New York Times: "The symbolic House vote on Friday opposing the American troop buildup in Iraq was an act of Congressional defiance that lays the groundwork for an even more bitter and ultimately more consequential clash over whether and how lawmakers might restrict President Bush’s authority to prosecute the war."

A Divided House Rebukes Bush on Iraq - New York Times

A Divided House Rebukes Bush on Iraq - New York Times: "A sharply divided House of Representatives passed a resolution on Friday formally repudiating President Bush’s decision to send more than 20,000 new combat troops to Iraq."

U.S. Anglican Leader Met With Boycott - washingtonpost.com

U.S. Anglican Leader Met With Boycott - washingtonpost.com: "Seven conservative Anglican leaders refused Friday to take Holy Communion with the head of the U.S. branch of the church, who supports ordaining gays and blessing same-sex unions, as the fellowship struggles to avert a split.

The boycott came at the six-day meeting of leaders of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion.

"We are unable to come to the Holy Table with the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church because to do so would be a violation of Scriptural teaching and the traditional Anglican understanding," the archbishops said in a posting on the Church of Nigeria Web site."

Disgusting pettiness. How Jesus must weep.

E&P: 'Wash Times' Fails to Correct Fabricated Abraham Lincoln Quote -- Now a Congressman is Using It

'Wash Times' Fails to Correct Fabricated Abraham Lincoln Quote -- Now a Congressman is Using It: "More than two days after an inflammatory quote used by a regular Washington Times columnist was shown to be fabricated -- it was attributed to Abraham Lincoln, no less -- the newspaper still has not removed it from the article, nor carried a correction.

That's one reason Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) cited the quote on the floor of the House today in the debate over the Iraq war 'surge.' He took it to be true, apparently. Rep. Young added, referring to Lincoln: 'He had the same problem this President has, with an unpopular war. The same problem with people trying to redirect the commander in chief.'

Young's spokeswoman, Meredith Kenny, said the congressman took the quote directly from The Washington Times column. 'Now that he's been informed these are not the actual words of Lincoln, he will discontinue attributing the words to Lincoln. However, he continues to totally agree with the message of the statement,' Kenny told The Washington Post.

On Wednesday, E&P and some political blogs pointed out that conservative Frank Gaffney, Jr. opened his latest column on Tuesday morning with this: 'Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged.' — President Abraham Lincoln."

NBC re-signs Olbermann

NBC re-signs Olbermann | ajc.com: "Keith Olbermann will continue to be a thorn in Bill O'Reilly's side for at least four more years.

NBC News announced Thursday it had agreed to a 'second term' with the MSNBC 'Countdown' host. The extension will take him into 2011.

Besides feuding with Fox News Channel's O'Reilly, Olbermann has become a liberal hero. He has seen his ratings increase since launching a series of anti-President Bush commentaries last summer.

His prime-time program averaged 715,000 viewers in January, according to Nielsen Media Research. While his audience is often less than a third of O'Reilly's in the same time slot, Olbermann's viewership is up 85 percent over January 2006."

ABC News: Bush guru says bond with Americans lost

Political Radar: "In the forthcoming issue of Texas Monthly, former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd writes that President Bush's 'gut-level bond' with the American people 'may be lost' and that 'wholesale change' is needed in Iraq.

'Sending in a small contingent of troops is likely going to be seen as not helpful,' Dowd writes. 'He'd be much better off with the public if he said, 'This is a mess, we made mistakes, and the only way to fix it is a wholesale change.' And that could mean either a serious increase in troop strength or withdrawal.'"

Boedeker on Fox News's new conservative comedy news show

Orlando Sentinel - Fox News Channel bombs with comedy show, by Hal Boedeker: "Jon Stewart knows how to do slashing comical commentary. He weighs in on what's happening, such as the media's bizarre coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death.

David Letterman knows how to do slashing comical commentary. He takes President Bush's awkward speeches and contrasts them with the lasting words of John F. Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt.

Fox News Channel does not know how to do slashing comical commentary. The channel debuts 'The 1/2 Hour News Hour' at 10 p.m. Sunday and repeats it at 10 p.m. Feb. 25. This show was meant to be a conservative version of 'The Daily Show.' It is a botch.

'The 1/2 Hour News Hour' does not comment on what is happening; it simply takes swipes at people. These people include Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Ed Begley Jr. Other joke topics are the ACLU, Time magazine, children's books and global warming.

Laughter, of an awfully canned variety, greets all the gags. Nothing happening on screen justifies these outbursts.

Hey, I'm all for a good dig at the high and the mighty. But these satirists fall short of hitting their targets with wit, timeliness or punch."

AP: Franken runs for Senate

Comedian plans bid for Senate | ajc.com: "Al Franken announced Wednesday that he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2008, making it clear that the comedian and author of 'Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot' wants to be taken seriously as a political figure.

Franken, 55, said he would seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and immediately acknowledged the doubts voters may have about electing a former 'Saturday Night Live' performer.

'Minnesotans have a right to be skeptical about whether I'm ready for this challenge, and to wonder how seriously I would take the responsibility that I'm asking you to give me,' Franken said in a video on his Web site."

As a regular listener to Franken on Air America (including his swan song show yesterday), I'm peeved at the slant of the AP article that he's just a "comedian" running for Senate. Any listener, any reader of his books, knows he's a brilliant, thoughtful, concerned, active person who supports the troops but disagrees with the war. Bless him.