"Imagine a group of today's youth standing around with their skateboards and piercing's [sic], when all of a sudden, one of them looks up and sees an aircraft at 12,000 feet, with a smoke trail.† What appear to be 5 human beings have exited the airplane, all of them trailing a stream of smoke.† Nearly a minute later, brightly colored parachute with the single word, "FORCE" boldly visible, begin to open...†"

Welcome to <a href="http://www.forceministries.com/" target="new" >Force Ministries</a>...

And this story from <a href="http://www.economist.com/World/na/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=4275012" target="new">The Economist</a> provides some interesting background. (Via <a href="http://www.2ubh.com/" target="new">Tim Chapman</a>)

<b>The jock-in-chief</b>
Aug 11th 2005

An old English idea has been reborn in the Bush White House


THE phrase “muscular Christianity” is more resonant of Victorian England than modern-day Washington, DC. The idea was invented by British public-school headmasters (most notably Thomas Arnold of Rugby) who believed that a combination of sport and religion could develop the all-important quality of “character”. And it soon inspired generations of Englishmen to bring God and team sports to “lesser breeds without the law”. But today anybody looking for muscular Christianity would be advised to try the capital of the new American empire.
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George Bush's well-known enthusiasm for God goes hand-in-hand with an equally well-marked enthusiasm for muscularity. Mr Bush is in “superior” physical condition, according to his annual medical. He can bench-press 185lb five times in a row; and, before a recent knee injury, he could run three miles at an average pace of six minutes and 45 seconds.

This “superior” condition is the result of an exercise regime that would have delighted Dr Arnold. Mr Bush's daily schedule is a secret, for obvious reasons; but whenever a calamity throws light on his routine he is invariably exercising. Earlier this year the White House was evacuated when an aeroplane wandered into restricted air space. Mr Bush was off mountain biking. In 2001, a lunatic fired shots at the White House. The president was working-out. In the morning before tragedy struck on September 11th Mr Bush had been running with a journalist who also happened to be a former All-American long-distance runner.

Mr Bush is a sports-fan as well as an exercise fiend. His greatest ambition, apart from being president, was to be baseball commissioner; his biggest, perhaps only, business success was as the managing partner of the Texas Rangers; and his favourite pastime is watching sports (he was watching American football when he had that bruising encounter with a pretzel). He is also keen on spreading his faith in physical fitness. In 2002, he launched a national fitness campaign by dragging 400 of his wretched staffers on a three-mile run.

Mr Bush is surrounded by fellow jocks. Donald Rumsfeld is a former Navy wrestling champion who, at 73, makes a habit of walking five miles a day through the Pentagon corridors. He also likes to challenge underlings to squash. Condoleezza Rice is a former competition-level ice-skater who rises at dawn to run on her treadmill. Margaret Spellings, the education secretary, is a weight-lifter. Even Alberto Gonzales, the diminutive attorney-general, is keen on golf and racquetball.

Enthusiasm for sport can be a ticket to Mr Bush's inner circle. Ms Rice works out with the president and spends time at Camp David watching baseball and football on television (apparently her most cherished dream is to be appointed the commissioner of the National Football League). And a poor physique can test the president's patience. When Mr Bush sacked Larry Lindsey, his portly economic adviser during his first term, he apparently complained in private about his failure to exercise.

Mr Bush's obsession was on full display during the search for a new Supreme Court justice. He apparently asked one candidate, Harvie Wilkinson, two tough questions: What is the most difficult decision you have ever made? And how much do you exercise? The 60-year-old Mr Wilkinson said he ran three and a half miles a day. But the president urged him to do more cross-training. “He warned me of impending doom,” Mr Wilkinson told the New York Times. In introducing the successful candidate, John Roberts, to the country Mr Bush highlighted the fact that he had been captain of his high-school football team—as if this made up for the fact that he was a swot at Harvard Law School.


Onward Christian athletes
The contrast with Bill Clinton could hardly be greater. You could hardly imagine Mr Clinton introducing Stephen Breyer or Ruth Bader Ginsburg as his Supreme Court nominees by citing their hockey skills. As for the president himself, his jogging was mostly for show, and a hefty hamburger would often be consumed afterwards. Mr Clinton much preferred nerds to jocks, and even gave the Pentagon to slouching Les Aspin.

Mr Bush's own likings are par for the course in his party. Look at the Republicans on Capitol Hill. Dennis Hastert, the House speaker, made his name as a high-school wrestling coach. Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, is a keen marathon runner who takes his staff on workouts around the Mall. Another senator with presidential ambitions, George Allen, was a college sports star (and the son of a famous Redskins coach). And Arnold Schwarzenegger is, well, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Or look at Republican voters. If the Democrats have an impregnable lead among the country's PhDs, the Republicans have a lock on the NASCAR crowd. For Democrats the main qualification for a top job is “intelligence”—hence their constant complaint that Republican presidents are too dumb for the job. But for Republicans the most important qualification is “character”—by which they mean an ability to hit balls and bang heads.

Mr Bush's preferences are also rooted in his family history. The Bushes have always made a point of sending their offspring to East Coast boarding schools that were modelled on Thomas Arnold's Rugby, where the chapel and the playing fields were carefully designed to inculcate muscular Christianity. Mr Bush's grandfather and father were both athletic stars (the 41st president played in the College World Series in both 1947 and 1948). A day at Kennebunkport is a mini-Olympics of tennis, swimming, horseshoes and high-speed golf.

This is not to say that all Democrats are nerds (John Kerry is a superb athlete), nor that all Republicans are jocks (Karl Rove is many things; athlete is not one of them). But therein lies the rub: unlike Democrats, Republicans are happy to let the jocks take the glory while the nerds do their homework for them.