Happy Non-specified Holiday to you

Random Thoughts, and a Camera

Thomas Sowell Random Thoughts.

You may scoff at the Tooth Fairy if you like. But the Tooth Fairy's approach has gotten more politicians elected than any economist's analysis.

Now that Congress has violated the First Amendment by restricting free speech with "campaign finance reform" laws, in the name of getting the influence of money out of politics, have you noticed any less influence of money in politics?

The more I learn about "ethics" programs and ethics "experts," the more I think ethics has become a pious word for imposing the arbitrary notions of third parties on others, who are forced to pay the price for whatever has caught the fancy of self-congratulatory elites.

Read the whole thing.


Thanks to Mr. Sowell......

I think I found my new camera. 39mp...YES! Check out the demo images. On the resolution, click on the 39meg and zoom into the knuckle. wow. Bad part is that I would have to mortgage the house just for the camera. Only $5 short of $27,000 on Amazon.

Do you know Roe?

I second guessed myself on the one I got wrong.

I got 11 out of the 12 questions correct for a 91.67%.
That result puts me in the 99^th percentile when compared to everyone who has taken the test.

Test your Roe IQ


HT The Dawn Patrol

That man can FLY! really

Base jumping as a flying squirrel..uh..man.

Throwing caution to the wind.


and another



H/T Doug

Spreading the stealth wealth and winning

It goes to show if you put the money in the right(or wrong) spot, you can accomplish a lot. For good or ill.


"Carroll certainly didn’t catch on until I called him after the election, ...
...I just cannot believe this,” he said, finally. “Who is this guy again?”

"On Election Day, fifty of the seventy targeted candidates were defeated,..."

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200703/tim-gill

Elfing yourself

Okay, having fun with the family

Just having a elfing good time.

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Dogbert Evolution

This is classic. Dilbert and Dogbert debate the theory of evolution.

personally opposed, but...

I have a friend who feels that his son and daughter should not be having pre-marital sex or have contraceptives at the ready.

...BUT....

He feels that it is fine to have the health nurse give them out to schools because, for some kids may not have been raised in a home like his, and they may need them. It may be the only way a kid may not get pregnant.

Isn't that like John Kerry saying he is personally against abortion, but it should remain legal?

rephrased, My daughter should not be using contraceptives, but I hope her boyfriend does.

The crazy point is that many evangelicals/Lutheran/Methodist/Catholics I know feels this way. Why encourage sin?


Update:
Michell Malken has some more info on this subject

Moloch hearts Rudy

The Curt Jester has a link to Moloch showing his reasons for liking Rudy.

I don't normally have to worry about which candidate to endorse – usually it is easy to go with a straight Democratic ticket. This time though it is much more difficult....

Screwtape fans, enjoy.

Are Catholics Constantly Paranoid about Hell?

I was listening to a Protestant interview with Francis Beckwith, the former head of the Evangelical Theological Society. He stepped down a few months ago because he re-entered the Catholic Church.

The questioner basically tried to point out that catholics walk around in fear of their salvation because they might commit a sin and go to hell. Whereas an evangelical who believes in OSAS (once saved always saved) does not have that concern.

Thant got me thinking about an analogy that I think works for the most part.


What about jail? are people concerned everyday that they are going to jail? NO. They know they are living within the law and that does not concern them. There is no fear that the police are going to come pick them up and throw them in jail for 20 years. Ditto on salvation.


If you have a prayerful life and you try your best to follow what Christ has asked of you. You should have an assurance of a supernatural Hope in you and not be concerned about imminent damnation.

If you go slightly over the speed limit, and then slow back down when you noticed it, you are not breaking the law on purpose and God knows that. [but you might get a little reminder if you don't slow down soon enough :-)] However, if you decide to go rob a bank, then you have made a conscious decision to break the law and you will get nailed. You will get sent to jail for hard time. (Many years ago a bank manager told me 90+ % of bank robbers are caught.)

In Christianity, you can throw yourself on the mercy of the court (Confession and true repentance), or you can do Hard Time Eternal.

October - A time to kill....

...babies that is.

First up, Susan G Komen "Race for the Cure"
If you donate, remember...

"Komen sponsored grants totaled over $475,000 to Planned Parenthood last year."

....When Komen stated they would not stop providing grants to Planned Parenthood, CURVES, the fitness franchise owned by Gary Heavin (who is strongly pro-life), stopped supporting Komen events. For their part, Komen has defended the grants as part of their community outreach, stating that Planned Parenthood has a good infrastructure to disseminate valuable breast cancer detection information. They express no regret for nor intent to change the grant funding to Planned Parenthood.

Interestingly, the Komen organization provides no information about the reported link between post-abortive women and breast cancer risk. This seeming conflict of interest has cost Komen some staff too.
(read it here)

Next up, Good Bad ol' UNICEF

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has joined with the sponsors of a new drive to promote legal abortion, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) reports.
from CWN

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I am a "Cool HIGH Nerd"

Confirmed.

Click on picture to see if you are one. [Frank, you can skip this one :-) ]

Lord Jesus we jus......look an e-mail!

During the week I get so busy that I never find the time to be alone with God. So I've decided to dedicate this Sunday afternoon to prayer, solitude and study.

But before I get started I should check my e-mail so that I won't have any unwanted distractions. Thirty-two new messages? My inbox was already overflowing so I should probably reply to at least a few of these right now. Six e-mails — no, wait, I really need to answer that one too — OK, seven e-mails down. Ah, I just got some invitations from Facebook. Those are easy to clear out so let me click through to accept those and I'm, hmm, I didn't realize I had more notifications. Looks like Stacy finally launched a blog; I'll just click through really quickly to check it out. A lot of posts on here already, some great stuff. I really should add her blog to my RSS reader before I forget. I don't know how I ever read blogs before Google Reader came along and, what, "More than 100+ items?" Didn’t I just check this yesterday? I know this is prayer time, but I should really whittle these down a bit before it gets worse.
...
Ironically, we consider it peculiar that followers of Islam stop their activities five times a day to offer prayers to Allah yet we stop what we do five times an hour to pay homage to our e-mail. "One of the most basic biblical insights," says theologian J.I. Packer, "is that whatever controls and shapes one's life is in effect the god one worships." For many of us, the one true god to whom we give our devotion is the deity known as IT: information technology.

Go read the whole thing




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Why is church attendance down?

So what is the cause? Protestant church attendance went down by about 5-10% in the last 40 years, Catholics are down by over 60%.

So are the Catholics doing something wrong? or something right?

BBC and the Father of Lies

Gerald at Closed Cafeteria has a quick post about BBC reporting on a series of events that he participated in as a press photographer. What type of reporters are they using at the BBC? I did not know that Wormwood of The Screwtape Letters was a reporter now.

A lot of media reports say that there weren't many people welcoming the pope - BBC said there weren't throngs along the streets. Of course there hadn't been any plans or possibilities for such throngs and the streets were blocked by police, even the highway was lined by police. Every venue had a set number of tickets to give out, and all the venues were packed, despite the truly horrible weather. One could barely pass through the masses. BBC also wrote that only a few came to Mariazell on their own and somewhat snidely remarked that Church buses had brought in people. Yeah BECAUSE IT WAS CLOSED TO PRIVATE TRAFFIC ! One could only get in by train or bus. So yeah, the BBC is full of crap - and you can add all kinds of other news outlets. Either they don't do their homework or they are deliberately lying. People stood in rain, cold and wind for hours, the venues were all jam packed. And if anyone tells you about the anti-pope demonstrators - six boomers with banners, and two banners affixed to houses, that was it. The one 'we are church' banner said "peace and hope, sorrow and fear". Oh yeah and there was some weird woman handing out flyers saying Christians don't need a church - and ironically trying to recruit people for the "Free Christians" community.

But ya know if Planned Parenthood Death Inc. had 5 people at a rally, the BBC would have said throngs of supporters showed up.

Game of the week

I decided to try this game called Bloxorz the other day. Well I just had to finish all 33 levels.
I also saved most of the codes to skip levels if any of you have any that you just can't get past.

Give it a try.

Bad Answer and the Great Communicator

1) Nominee - Worst answer to a pageant question....EVER!! Miss South Carolina
How the MC did not just bust out laughing is a credit to him.

2) Speaking of Maps... Statetris would have helped her. Nah, Miss S.C. was doomed from the start.

3) Now something from the Great Communicator.
"If history teaches anything, it teaches that self delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly."
-- Ronald Reagan




Hat tips
1&2 EO
3 Jihad Watch

Battery trick, unwrap the buttons

Here is a Handy hack when you need some 1.5v button batteries.

When the next kid toy needs one of these, I know what I am doing.
You can still get them cheaper on ebay, but this still pretty cheap and fast.

h/t EO again

Update:
I had a spare one of these A23 batteries around the house and tried it. Yep, just like the video. Cool. :-)

Meditation on the life of Christ

This is an eight minute video on the life of Christ that you can meditate on. This is for someone who already knows the the life of Christ and it should affect you if you do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5crbtwXYc1U

Best Buy for Babes? Big Boys Betrayed?

Hugh Hewitt has brought to my attention that Best Buy will be courting women with a line of Liz Claiborne accessory bags and cases. His updated portion is quite funny.

The news that Best Buy is courting the female demographic with a line of Liz Claiborne products is deeply disconcerting. It has been practically impossible to get my wife into such a store in the past, with the happy result that my buying impulses are wholly unsupervised. On the show tonight, the male callers were overwhelmingly against this innovation, primarily as they saw their gadget haul crumbling before their eyes, and the dreams of a big screen receding.

UPDATE: Please let the record show that it was Radioblogger, not me, who commented on tonight's show that "the Liz Claiborne section will be like day care --just drop your wife there."

Hugh's post

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord


99. Any data file of crucial importance will be padded to 1.45Mb in size.

Not sure how many youngsters will get #99. It made me laugh considering all the pain this exact thing had caused me pain in the past.

70. When my guards split up to search for intruders, they will always travel in groups of at least two. They will be trained so that if one of them disappears mysteriously while on patrol, the other will immediately initiate an alert and call for backup, instead of quizzically peering around a corner.


Make sure you check out the extended lists as well.

This post was written with Dan in mind and who will definitely be coming up with his own.

h/t EO

Funny Folk

Flight of the Conchords.

Remember... No touching monkeys.

The German Coast Guard

This is just too funny.

The German Coast Guard.

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Changing Fish but not Enviromentalist

This is old news to me but it is not known by most people because this issue gets buried by both the Left and the Right.....even by many in the religious communities. It appears that hormones from "the pill" and the patch are causing fish to be mostly female and causing some hermaphrodite type fish at greater numbers.

“If you’re killing mosquitoes to save people from the West Nile virus, you can count on secular environmentalists to lay down in front of the vapor truck, claiming some potential side effect that might result from the spray,” Harden said. “But if birth control deforms fish – backed by the proof of an EPA study – and threatens the drinking supply, mum will be the word.”

“It’s going to start looking funny,” Harden said. “The radical environmentalist won’t eat a corn chip if the corn contacted a pesticide. But they view it a sacred right and obligation to consume synthetic chemicals that alter a woman’s natural biological functions, even if this practice threatens innocent aquatic life downstream.”

Remember not just a child deformed fish, but a wanted child deformed fish.

. h/t Curt Jester

See where it happened in the bible

Do you want to know where things happened in the bible? Check this site out. Using Google Earth, you can see where it happened.

On the link above, scroll down and click on the "preview" link to view individual books of the bible. It will show you red dots of each location. You can zoom into them, or you can just float your mouse over it to get the name to pop up. I really wanted to see 1 Maccabees, but sadly, they do not have it.

Ya gotta love your kids when they speak

A few years ago we were eating ice cream outside of a dairy. The outside area was very crowded with several people standing with no place to sit. We were lucky enough to have a our family at a picnic table. As we proceeded to eat our ice cream, a very well fed man walks out with his ice cream in hand. My son, Cole, says something out loud that I could barely hear but was able to understand. My wife did not and asked him to repeat what he said. Before I could stop him, my very dutiful son made sure that my wife and everyone within a block could hear. "THAT GUY IS HHHUUUUUGGGEEEEE"

The picnic table was quickly freed up for those standing and we enjoyed our ice cream on the way home.

living by faith

Living by Faith (maybe)

Imagine this: a poor peasant in El Salvador is born in the 1960s. Let's call her Anita. She was baptized. She was lucky. She went to school until third grade, and then....


And then there is this on Superstition

My Evangelical friend David comments that a missionary friend of his went to Brazil and was dismayed to find Catholics there bound by superstition.....

Bloody Olive

I have no idea where he gets his stuff, but a hat tip to Evangelical outpost for this one.
In 10 minutes this short film has as many twists and turns as an airplane movie has gags.

Downsizing to a smaller house

There may be a reason this guy is single.

Check out the pictures of the place. I think it would be a neat place as a getaway.

Should we all switch to Fluorescent bulbs?

The environmentalist are clamoring for everyone to change to fluorescent bulbs. But apparently the cleanup of a broken compact fluorescent bulb appears to be a small natural disaster. Don't clean it up with a dustbuster. This does not appear to be the clean alternative that is being pushed by the environmentalists.

Then there the consideration that these things needs to be recycled. Have any of you EVER recycled a fluorescent bulb? who knew? Where would you? Is it a secret government building? Apparently because I have never seen anyone advertise it.

I think I am going to get in trouble with this book

Instapundit has been talking about it a lot lately and I figured what better way to get in trouble than to go buy The Dangerous Book for Boys. The Amazon page has a little video on it.

You should read the interview with the author.

What you believe

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe but yourself.

St. Augustine

h/t happy catholic

And this one made me laugh...

Miss O'Neill was dumpy, moonfaced, sallow, colorless, and we hated her. We hated her as only a pack of West Side barbarians could hate a teacher of arithmetic. She did not teach arithmetic — but that is how much we hated her.

by Leo Rosten

a few thoughts

1) Where can I get this job to test the minikeg. h/t instapundit

------

2 ) This is laughable. I went to this site to see if it would give negative numbers and it said my blog was worth...
Your site is valued at: $34,884,606

I double checked and there is no minus sign in the front. I'll now start the bidding at a measly 3 million. It must be based on Russian Rubles circa 1990. I know it is only keying on the blogspot portion of my address, but if your value generator is that screwed up, who would every trust you. I tried replacing blogspot with google and got 174 million, pepsi knocked me down to 14 K.

This site has bugs

Do you have a bug that you want to know what it is? whatsthatbug.com is a good starter point.

Check out this photo. Make sure you view it full size. (if bugs freak you out, maybe you shouldn't.....yeah you should)

Dad protects daughter?

Catholic Dads posts a news article about a dad that tackles a guy taking pictures of his daughter at a festival. The picture taker was an off duty police officer and the dad was able to get the gun away from him.

The dad just happens to be the son of former congressman Bob Dornan. No surprise, I could easily see Bob doing the same thing.

Do you need Help with Soccer

This is a great commercial. 50 seconds.
This is definitely a combination of Cole and Noah.




Dan C. This one is all YOU!

Amy Welborn was talking to her son on his way to work at VA Tech.

....He spoke of one of his co-worker's relations, a police officer early on the scene, who was still not sleeping because of what he saw. And he told me this:

As the securing and examination of the crime scenes began in the afternoon and went on late into the night, one sound resounded through the heavy sad silence of the classrooms.

Cell phones.

Cell phones ringing, sounding, echoing against the walls. But cell phones that could not be answered because it was still a crime scene and nothing could be moved quite yet, nothing could be touched. And on the other end of those rings, parents and friends, dialing again and again, fearful, hearts slowly breaking, dialing one more time. Into silence.
....snip...
You know, when I was younger - actually not much younger - the life of a contemplative was unimaginable to me. How, I wondered, could anyone pray all day? What could keep you down on your knees so much? How could you think of enough to pray for?

Slowly, I'm beginning to figure it out. And now I think there are not enough hours in the day or night. Not nearly enough. Trusting that the prayers rise out of the grief, making their way, not into the air where they cannot be answered, but into the waiting embrace of Life and Love Eternal.

Undercover at Murder Inc, and baby names

Michelle has an article about Lila Rose going undercover at a planned parenthood center.
I can believe that this is getting no MSM coverage.

Rose is an 18-year-old student journalist at UCLA. Like McSwane and his breed of undercover reporters, she surreptitiously infiltrated a massive organization that enlists young people. Like McSwane and his breed of undercover reporters, Rose exposed deceptive practices. Rose posed as a 15-year-old seeking the services and advice of her target. Like McSwane and his breed of undercover reporters, she caught her targets urging her to lie and evade the law in order to sign her up.

But Rose’s target was the Left’s beloved Planned Parenthood, not the military. And that has made all the difference in the nonexistent national coverage of her undercover journalism.

We should all pray for her.
Our Father..... Amen.


====
In a more positive baby story, check out the popularity of you name starting with 1880 onward. And your kids names as well. Just type in the name and it will show you the rank and how many babies per million had that name. Drag over the chart to have it automatically update you.

Life just ain’t fair

Lesson reinforced at Shape of Days.

I guess it was "the Road" less traveled.

You've heard of carbon Credits. How aboute Debits?

Are you concerned about AlGore and all his Carbon Credits?
NO fear, you can offset him with your own Carbon Debits! :-)

Don't forget the T-shirt.

it's sexy to save the world

Passion is not good science. Environmentalist apparently know their stuff when it comes to knowing what is and is not good for you.




After viewing the video, you may want to go here to get all the info.

Ten Deadly Trappings

The Evangelical Outpost writes an interesting post called,
Fads and Fixtures: Ten Deadly Trappings of Evangelism

Some will get nit picked, # 2, 3, 6
Some you may consider interesting #8
Some you may agree completely #10, 4

Number #8 is interesting to me.

#8 Protestant Prayers -- Last week one of my fellow coworkers, a young Catholic man, was asked to open our meeting with a prayer. Without hesitation he began reciting the "Lord's prayer." Afterward I joked that, having come up with such a fine prayer, he might want to write it down for future use. What I didn't say what how his recitation of the prayer made me uncomfortable.

First, I'm not used to hearing prayers that don't contain the word "just" (as in "We just want to thank you Lord…") so it had an odd ring to it. Second, it seemed to violate the accepted standards for public prayer. I had always assumed that praying in public required being able to interlace some just-want-to's in with some Lord-thank-you-for's and be- with-us-as-we's in a coherent fashion before toppping it all with an Amen. Third, I thought that prayers are supposed to be spontaneous--from the heart, off the top of the head--emanations, rather than prepackaged recitations. If it ain't original, it ain't prayer, right? Can I get an amen?

But where did this idea come from? We have entire books to teach us how to pray yet Jesus managed to wrap up the lesson in less than forty words. Why isn't that prayer good enough for evangelicals to use? Why do our prayers sound nothing like His example? (And if you are wondering what prayer is doing on a list of evangelistic fixtures then we are really in trouble.)

Don't get me wrong, prayer is wonderful and if you doing it, please add a few for me :-).

Catholics get a bad rap on repeating prayers. If something is theologically sound and it helps you to focus on God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), why is that a bad thing?

Are hymns prayers? Yes they are. So why do many congregations sing the same songs over and over, but you never hear them say the Lord's Prayer (Our Father if you're Catholic). Jesus taught it to us, why not say it while you are trying to live it? How many times do people listen to their favorite "praise and worship" song over and over, but say we should not be repetitious in our prayers?

I know many people that prefer the "free form" style of prayer exclusively. But they repeat the same thing over and over. One day they say a prayer and two days later they say almost the same thing. In many of these settings, "Jesus" or "Lord" temporarily replaces "ahs" and "umms" in their speech. Is it more reverent to use Jesus as a filler, or repeat something solid that you can meditate on?

Let me know what you think.

The First Book

You will not have to scroll down for this one.

The First Book

I think it will be funny to anyone, but if you are a techie you will understand on another level.
Let's just say it involves a USER.

h/t Pontifications

The Gift of Life

Hat tip to The Dawn Patrol

This is just so beautiful. 6 Minutes long and worth every second.

I am so blessed so much and I still complain.

Accidental Watch

This is an interesting cartoon

You should "watch" it if you have some "time". You may find it "handy" to show to someone else.

You may even watch it a second time

(sheesh enough already...ed)

Listen....err...ignore the beauty incognito.

Wow, you have to check out this link from the Washington post! The premise is that they had one of the best violinist in the world play one of the greatest violins ever made........
...in the metro during the morning commute for 45 minutes, incognito.

There is plenty of video and a great story line. A few of the video's show what happened in the previous text.

I would have to admit (shamefully) that I would have enjoyed hearing it, but would have moved on rather quickly if I was on a morning commute…..then kicking myself after reading about it in the paper :-).

If you want to listen to the complete audio, you can check it out here.

HT Bill Cork

Via Dolorosa

A Presbyterian Minister discovers.......

... In 2003, millions of people became familiar with the traditional Stations of the Cross without even knowing it.

He explains it a little bit more, then goes on to show the Traditional 14 stations juxtaposed with 14 stations with Scriptural references instituted by Pope John Paul II.
Now stop protesting and use the 100% Scripture based version if you feel uncomfortable with the Scripture and Tradition version :-)
Mark states:

Last year some folks at my church decided to offer The Stations of the Cross as a devotional experience for Holy Week. For obvious reasons, we opted for the Pope's biblically-based version. My wife Linda offered to paint fourteen watercolor pictures that illustrated the passages upon which the revised stations are based....We're going to do the same thing this year....So, for those who can't come to our church, I'm going to do an online Stations of the Cross. Beginning tomorrow, I'll "walk" through the stations with you, one station per day (not including the weekends, usually). At this pace we'll complete the fourteen stations on Holy Saturday (which will feature the last of the stations). I'll include the Scripture passages for each station, some personal reflections and prayers, and my wife's paintings. My hope is that this online version of The Way of the Cross will enable you to enter into a deeper understanding and experience of the passion of Jesus, so that you might be ready to celebrate Easter with new joy and freedom.

It will help your spiritual focus this Easter...and the rest of the year.

Who has your vote?

La Shawn posted a question about who has your vote.

For me McCain = DOA. Giuliani is really the best Democrat. Romney needs to provide some clearer direction on some of his recent political changes.

I did visit Duncan Hunter's site and you can download his position paper to see what he has to say on key topics. He is solid in the Pro-life arena. He starts off with this:

I would amend the U.S. Constitution and provide blanket protection to all unborn children from the moment of conception by prohibiting any state or federal law that denies the personhood of the unborn.

That is a good start for me. I was going to quote a lot more, but I think you should spend the two seconds to download it and the couple of minutes that it takes to read it. You may not agree with it, but how many candidates come out this clear in their stances.


......AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERNT.
I will survive like you have never seen it before.
And, Rachmaninov had big Hands

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The Church has been Pro-life for a while now

I have always found the "baby turnstiles" interesting and wonderful.

Check it out over at the Holy Whapping.

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Rocking badminton...no seriously

Early in ESPN's growing years I got to watch the world championship of badminton and was very impressed. I probably watched it between the Mesquite Rodeo bull riding and Australian Rules football. I had no idea that it could be played with that much action. Think back to your junior high gym class or your attempt at it during a family reunion. You probably gained weight playing it, if you didn't fall asleep during the game.

Anyway via EO, I present to you one amazing Badminton point.

All I can say is WOW, is that really badminton?

Uncomfortable Questions that you can not dismiss.

I received this from mrfrankz conspiracy aficionado :-)

Was the Death Star attack really an inside job? You'll have to go check it out for yourself. I scoff at conspiracies, but I think this guy might be on to something.

I am sure a certain Pittsburgh native would have to agree.

Vortex Juggling

I would love to try this..... Cone Juggling.
For some reason my wife would probably rather park the car in the garage :-)

A very funny movie line

Bob Hope has great line in this 24 second clip :-)

Audio Witness

This is pretty funny. A man witnesses an accident while leaving a message.
Wait for the mother goose line :-)

The death of OSAS

The final nail in the coffin was driven in for me today for OSAS (once saved, always saved). Yes, I thought I did that a long time ago, but maybe the coffin is now encased in the middle of the Hoover Dam.

To hear a pastor lament to an OSAS believing group of Christians about how many Christians have "no sense of sin" and that they treat "sin as no big deal", caused me to ponder the statements.

Let me say first that I thank God many times for my friends that happen to believe OSAS to be true and they do try to live for Jesus the best they can.

I feel this issue is a dangerous natural outcome of OSAS and I have seen it brought to light many times. Saved Christians that feel no need for corporate worship on Sundays with a church...ever. Some that I know have a particular sin that they continue to live in because "Jesus died for ALL of their sins, past, present, future" and so they give in constantly to this one sin because they are prone to it with no regard for its consequences . Didn't Jesus already forgave them for it? On one occasion I tried to point a sin out, in a loving manner, to someone and they indicated that it did not matter if it was sinful or not because they had been forgiven. So, in essence, you can never sin again if you were once forgiven?

I think you can sin and that it could still count against you. When I wake up every morning, I still believe that I am married to my wife. Is that belief going to cut it? No, I need to recommit to her every day. By doing nothing, or by doing something that is contrary to our vows, I cause harm to our relationship.
To an even greater extent, the same holds true for Jesus. By doing nothing, or doing something that breaks his commandments, I cause harm to our relationship. Only through repentance and the Grace of Jesus does the relationship get restored.

Romans 11:17-22
17If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Luke 8-13
13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.

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Insights from Gollum and Mary

I came across two interesting reflections today that I think really need to be read. They are both short and easy to understand for minds like mine :-)

The first one is a quick reflection on man and his sinful nature. It is called Gollum-- the mirror of man.
It only takes about 90 seconds to read....so go read it.

The Anchoress will not be blogging this week and she is posting a sort of " best of" posts for the week while she is working on something else. The post called Mary and the Crucifix is an excellent reflection. It starts out talking about the loss of a friend and also family members. Then it reflects on some of the pain and suffering that Jesus and Mary went through.

The following line will make more sense when you are done reading her post.
"It’s hard to remember all that. The Crucifix is the reminder."

Go read them both and you will have your mental workout for the day.

March for Life

Did you see any news articles for the March for Life? I didn't think so... at least not from a secular station. Sometimes the biggest lies are the things that are ignored. The sins of omission are greater than the sins of commission.
so what am I going to do about it? My family is going to pray. We will teach our children why the "culture of death" is wrong. We can also donate things/money to the local pregnancy centers. We may not change the whole world but I hope we influence a small part of it.

does Pat Robertson speak for you

okay, quick question, does Pat Robertson speak for any of you out there?
Here's a quick link to his predictions for this year.

to type or not to type

Most of you reading this blog already know that I have a neck injury and typing or using a mouse to surf the Internet causes more pain than I would like it to in my right arm and hand. Last Friday I received an e-mail from buy.com and it was offering a $40 rebate on Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.0. So, I figured I would give it a try and it is working out very well. I still need to learn some of the commands that I need to use to move around without using a keyboard but is definitely typing faster than I can with a keyboard and with a whole lot less pain. I'm currently typing this particular blog post using this voice recognition software instead of the keyboard. The software says you can dictate about 150 -- 160 words per minute, but currently with the medication I don't think I can think that fast.

The best Christmas ever!

My wife went to the local library and brought home "The best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson. This is a very funny and touching story. When my wife read it, the kids loved it, and we parents did too. This is a great story about some kids from who are from the wrong side of the tracks who get into (and take over) Christmas play unexpectedly. This story helps us focus on the story of Christmas in a different way. It helps us to view these "bad" kids with better perspective and puts a mirror to some of us "dignified and respectable" church goers. This is fun all the way through. I think I may be buying a copy to be read for many Christmas' to come.


Here is a review from someone on Amazon.

Here's a simple, enchanting tale. It's warm and funny and thoroughly unpredictable. It's published in a short and skinny book in large type and, assuming you can tear yourself away from the story, it can be read in small spurts.

The Herdmans are absolutely and without question the worst kids "in the entire history of the world." They are guilty of every unmentionable childhood crime and have thought of more than a few original ones. When they take over the church Christmas pageant (although none of them has ever attended church, much less heard the Christmas story before), the first Christmas becomes new and real in some pretty surprising ways.

Never mind that the publishers call this a children's story. It isn't. The vision it has to offer is hilarious yet deeply touching in a profound yet innocent way.

Stock up on copies for Christmas gifts to teachers and friends. I'd give one to the friend who wails that Christmas has become too commercial or to the harried mother of a lively brood or to someone who dreads the holiday. And keep one for yourself because it's almost as much fun each time you read it.

5 yr. old harassment cheapens crime

The local paper published an article this morning about a 5 year old boy who was accused of sexual harassment for pinching a girls butt and that will stay on his record until middle school.

Charles Vallance, the boy's father, said he was unable to explain to his son what he had done.

"He knows nothing about sex," Vallance said. "There's no way to explain what he's been written up for. He knows it as playing around. He doesn't know it as anything sexual at all."

The incident was described as "sexual harassment" on the school form.

School officials consider a student's age and the specific action when determining what administrative action to take, Mowen said.

Lincolnshire Principal Darlene Teach and Mowen said they were unable to discuss he incident involving the Lincolnshire student.

Teach said any student, regardless of grade level, can be cited for sexual harassment.

"Anytime a student touches another student inappropriately, it could be sexual harassment," Teach said.

I am willing to bet that Miss Teach would not have applied the "sexual harassment" mark if the boy would have pinched another boy. Would she have marked it has harassment if it was a girl doing it to a boy?

This is a much bigger issue than this isolated incident. The article goes on to mention a per-K boy who was suspended in Texas because he hugged a teachers assistant. There are numerous other incidents throughout the country that have little boys being accused of "sexual harassment" when they have no idea what the heck you are talking about.

This completely cheapens the real harassment cases. It is almost equating a 5 year old pinching a girls butt with a 25 years old male (ed...aren't the only harassers male?) who really harasses someone? Or a kid who brings in fingernail clippers with a 17 year old who brings a machete into the classroom?

I can't wait to see the letters to the editors on this and the follow up articles that will be required to come.

Ayman Christmas Wish

Scrappleface gives us a very good translation of Ayman al-Zawahiri's (al Qaeda’s second-in-command) Christmas Video.
If it was only true.

New slogan to stop the N word

Cox and Forkum chimes in on the N word issue over the past two weeks. They reference this to the city employee that used to big of a word for a hold-over from the Marion"the B**** set me up" Barry days.


.

wizbang....your lock is worthless

Over at Wizbang, Nearly every lock you have now is worthless

...well at least most.

A Wii little adventure with Zelda

If you have played zelda...enjoy. If not....you can still injoy this :-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tQ7Wof6QvM

Tolerating criticism is part of freedom

My friend Doug wrote a letter to the editor and I think it is worth a read.

Tolerating criticism is part of freedom


I hope you'll allow one more letter regarding the pope's now infamous - and infamously hyped - speech, one sentence of which was used as yet another pretext for some Muslims' outrage. This sort of response is becoming commonplace.

Sameea Safi wrote a letter to the editor in which she expressed disappointment and offense at the pontiff's remarks. I'll leave aside the relative innocuousness of the speech, which mainly dealt with broad themes such as faith, reason, the nature of God, and the ridiculousness of forced "conversion" to any faith or no faith at all. Safi further stated that there is no theology in Islam that endorses forced conversions.

In short, the "true Muslims" to which Safi refers obviously haven't been able to convince the radical Islamist imperialists that conversion by the sword is un-Islamic.

Anyway, my issue is rather with Safi's offense at the pope's remarks. I fully understand her offense at these remarks. As a Christian I'm offended by many things: movies such as "Dogma;" the ACLU's unending campaign to stamp out all expressions of faith in the public square; snide remarks by entertainers and the media elite regarding evangelical Christians and so forth.

The simple fact that my wife and I have to work so hard to prevent our kids from becoming coarsened by a secularist/materialist society, and that so much of what passes for pop culture these days seems diametrically opposed to most of what we believe, is offensive.

Having said all that, here's the difference between my belief system and the beliefs of many (notice I did not say all) Muslims, both in Western countries and Islamic societies.

I'm willing to engage those with whom I disagree in debate and to attempt to change their points of view. Barring that, I'm free to seek entertainment elsewhere or to ignore offensive remarks, and therefore allow the power of the free market to influence the debate.

What I'm not willing to do is to engage in violence, threats of violence, and other coercive behaviors, all in an attempt to place my beliefs beyond the reach of discourse due to fears of retribution.

In free societies, one has every right to be offended. However, it doesn't place your beliefs beyond the reach of satire, criticism or parody. If Islam is to be above criticism or insult, then I would suggest all who feel this way need to move to a country that doesn't allow criticism of Islam.

Most Americans don't go out of their way to be offensive, but neither do we believe any person, group or belief system to be off-limits to offense. I will not (and I suspect a large majority of freedom-loving people feel the same way) allow anyone to alter my right to speak critically about any topic.

Happy Birthday Marine Corps

Joe over at evangelical outpost post the 24 rules for gunfighting. I particularly like:

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

and he ends it up with the Navy version:
Navy Rules for Gun fighting:

1. Go to Sea

2. Send the Marines

3. Drink Coffee

Since I was Air Force, all I can say is:
1. Fuel planes
2. Send officers with bombs (preferably really big and/or laser guided)
3. Play Spades and drink coffee.

I knew it, but I still listened

Okay, it is official I got 44.4% correct. which means.......
I may have pitch perception deficit.
As anyone in my family can tell you.....welll DDUUUHHHH!!!!
I have always said if you call me tone deaf, it would be a high compliment.

Find out if you are tone deaf....or not.

I got this from lifehacker.....
blogger and musician Jake Mandell posts a simple flash test for tone deafness. The test, which was made while he was working at a music and neuroimaging laboratory, plays two musical phrases back to back, and you have to decide whether they're the same or different.

Obsession can be a bad thing

My brother sent me a link to this and I watched the first link at the bottom of this post and part of the second. I suggest you see it.
See the trailer here.

From Donald Sensing: On terrorism, novelist Roger L. Simon quoted Leon Trotsky: “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” So to all the sleepwalkers out there, or those who simply swim in the Egyptian river about the nature of Islamism and its jihadis, undertand this: You may not be interested in al Qaeda, but al Qaeda is interested in you.

"Obsession" is one of the most powerful, expertly crafted and undeniably important films I've seen this year. This courageous, utterly gripping expose' deserves the attention of every American -- and merits serious consideration for the Academy Award for Best Feature Length Documentary."

-- Michael Medved
Nationally Syndicated Radio Host
Film Critic, "Eye on Entertainment

Obsession Part 1
Obsession Part 2
Obsession Part 3
Obsession Part 4
Obsession Part 5
Obsession Part 6
Obsession Part 7
Obsession Part 8

Women need to get "real".

I have a game that sometimes bugs my very beautiful wife. I love to point out the "corrections" to pictures in her magazines ad nauseum.
A couple of years ago a magazine clipped facial features from several people and edited them into a single face with additional enhancements. They left only one clue about this "persons" identity. They had a small inconspicuous computer chip coming out of a cloud in the background.

It's like comparing me against superman. I know he does not exist, but how many women know that these women in magazines do not exist? Check out this video from the dove foundation.



Hat tip to AmericanPapist
Here is the website for Dove's "campaign for real beauty."

Time lapse controll of the middle east

Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost has a flash animation map of who controlled the middle east since 3000 B.C. until present day. It uses the politically correct B.C.E. and C.E. I can overlook that since Joe did not create it.

Check it out.

Breast cancer donations helping abortion?

I posted something about this last year and figured I needed to bring it up again.

There are more and more Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation supporting adds this year....BUT Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is among those that fund Planned Parenthood.

When Eve Silver joined an advisory board for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, she thought she was working with an organization that supported life. Komen supports breast cancer research and sponsors annual Race for the Cure events around the country.

But what Silver didn't know until just recently is that Komen also financially supports Planned Parenthood. In fact, in 2003 the foundation gave $450,000 to the group.
...
What Silver also found out is that Komen's founder, Nancy Brinker, is on the advisory board of Planned Parenthood in Dallas, and, after the $450,000 donation, Planned Parenthood built a new $5 million clinic in Dallas, something Silver called "a very clear conflict of interest."
...
Alternative organizations that support life

Want to give your money to organizations that are clear of Planned Parenthood and other bad ties? Try these:

The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute was founded by Joel Brind and Dr. Angela Lanfranchi to look at the connection between abortion and contraceptives and breast cancer. On the web at: www.bcpinstitute.org.
Instead of the American Red Cross, your local Catholic Charities also provides emergency relief services.
In the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., many parishes have begun walks that benefit Catholic Relief Services directly rather than going through CROP Walk.
Easter Seals, according to Jim Sedlak at Stop Planned Parenthood, is a "completely clean" organization.
...
And the Michael Fund (www.michaelfund.org)gives money for birth-defect research and is pro-life, Sedlak said.

I can't find the orignal article, but it was linked from here.

Ben "Fake" Cardin the Voters?

Ben Cardin needed his staff to be voters that are enthusiastic about him.

n contrast with other commercials, it is considered unethical to fail to identify paid spokesmen or to have them pose as random members of the public in political advertisements.
...
In Cardin’s ad, a number of Marylanders endorse Cardin. Ashley Peddicord, apparently a college student, says “Thanks to Ben, I can afford college.” In reality, Peddicord works for the campaign. Her campaign email is: Ashley@bencardin.com.
Kelton Anderson, posing as an ordinary working man, is in fact a high-ranking official with United Auto Workers union, which has endorsed Cardin.
...

Read the whole thing.

Catholic or Protestant heaven? Simpson style

I found this over here.

Homer goes to one Heavan, Marge to another. Well...kinda....

If you do not see the box below, you can see it here.... Catholic or Protestant heaven.

Quick change artist

Would this help your wife/girlfriend get ready in the morning? Of course I have a hard enough time getting one outfit on in the morning :-)
This is pretty amazing stuff.
If you can not see it, go here.

Everything is Albright with North Korea

Curtjester has a link to this David Zucker Albright Ad that is quite funny. As he said after he had seen it once...

When I went to view it again later it had been flagged by users as having offensive content. You just got to love the tolerance of some liberals that they consider anything that pokes fun or depart from their party line as being offensive.

I watched it three times myself :-)

Gaming old school

Lifehacker has a link to virtual NES (nitendo entertainment system) website. It has a plethora of the original games for you to play. Including the first game I ever beat without a cheat, Milon's Secret Castle. That was back in the day when there was no "Save Game" option and you would have to play for an hour just to get back to where you last died. This site hints in its update today that it is looking to add a "save game" option.

Tolerant hypocrisy

Gerald links the WSJ about tolerant hypocrisy. I was talking to someone about the same thing today because I heard the same thing from a left leaning pundit and a democrat consultant. They were saying Hasert should have been keeping a closer eye on Foley because he was a homosexual. Apparently only republicans are bad homosexuals. Could you imagine if it was a dem and the republicans said that. It was overshadow what happened and the MSM would turn the scandal into what the republicans said. Don't get me wrong, Foley needs to be out of congress and I am sure more punishment is to follow.

But in today's politically correct culture, it's easy to understand how senior Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert's head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. Are these Democratic critics of Mr. Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters? Where's Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on that one?

Pointless Family Photo

I found this picture over at Jimmy's place with the same title.
One of the commentors had it right.
"I don't care if you say 'cheese'-- just don't blink!"

I was thinking it was the annual photosensitivity(sun allergy) convention.
My mom wishes that she was able to have the name of more of our ancestors names on old photos. I bet this family is REALLY good at that. How else would they know who the heck is in the picture?

Unbelievably "the peaceful" want to kill.

Over a Michelle Malkin's blog scroll down in this post to just below the picture that says "Behead those who insult Islam." Start reading at "Reader S. writes:"
He put it very clearly what the Pope B16 was talking about. There are many good post around the internet about this, but I would have to say the MSM has purposely screwed this up. I count both liberal and conservative's in it. World Net Daily selectively quoted a link yesterday to cause more of their base readers to want to read it. I can not find the link now but wish I could. Glenn Beck being misleading in what he said as well. I have found that the last few Pope do not speak for the news cycle. This has, of course, given them some bad press. However, down the road they are usually right and no one puts the apology on the front page. If they even do it at all.

In the speach it clearly shows the quote is from an "erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both". Here is the quote. "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". I do not disagree with this statement. Though I think you need to put it into its full context. I can quote a lot of things from the Bible that can mislead you from the real intention. I think you should read the whole speech. Pope B16 next line was " The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."



If you want to read what he really said, the Vatican has it for all to see. I think most will not want to read it because it may not line up with what they want it to say.

Kathy Shaidle has a post about what's up with the Vampire thing.

Park this!

I got this from NRO. It is a timewaster and you can blame Goldberg at NRO.

name it, claim it

Over at GetReligion a quick review on this weeks Time cover story. (Does God want you to be Rich?)

I am a very leary of the "Health and Wealth" Theology. As a local pastor says on his commercial. Jesus came to deliver us from sin, sickness, and disease. Where is that in historical Christianity? Are you saying I am sick because I am not a "True Believer™ "? Apparently John the Baptist did not get the memo. I do not think getting your head on a silver plate qualifies for this!

I Just Called to Say I Love You

Via the Curt Jester he links to Peggy Noonan's article on 9/11.

This is what I get from the last messages. People are often stronger than they know, bigger, more gallant than they'd guess. And this: We're all lucky to be here today and able to say what deserves saying, and if you say it a lot, it won't make it common and so unheard, but known and absorbed.

Please go read her whole article! It is well worth it and it was better than anything that I happened upon on any of the news channels on 9/11.

New testaminted

Via Evangelical Outpost comes a link to a review of "Jesus Junk" that I can mostly agree.
There are many useful things to use out there, but then there's this:

Picture this. A man, dead in trespasses and sins, sits on Waikiki Beach as he gazes across the mostly naked bodies baking in the sun. He decides to take a stroll/strut down the water’s edge to “see what he can see.” Luckily, he glances down and sees an impression in the sand—right there in bold letters on the sand “Follow” and a little further “Jesus.” His eyes follow the footsteps and sure enough. About 15 feet further down the beach is a beautiful babe wearing just enough clothes to keep a squirrel warm on a windy day. Conviction overwhelms him as he gazes at her. He runs to her and grabs her hand and says, “Please, give me a reason for the hope that lies within you.” She says, “I’d love to. I’ve been waiting for this divine appointment.” He takes in her breath, recently made fresh by her Scripture Mint. And right there, she flips her hair over her shoulder, takes out her EvangeCube, kneels with him on the beach, and leads him in the sinner’s prayer. As they part, she encourages him to take her sandals and continue to spread the Word wherever he goes. After all, how beautiful are the feet of them . . .

Yep, I can just see it now :-( The rest is not quite as sarcastic as the excerpt.

EO adds on his blog: If you give people Scripture mints or wear Virtuous Woman perfume and think your are fulfilling the Great Commission, then you must read this post -- and repent of your misguided ways.

How to rock on treadmills

Sadly, this more likely how I would use treadmills than how I ought to use them :-)


The Treadmill Dance

The line is getting thin for plan B

The CurtJester is commenting on a Christianity Today link for Amy Welborn.
First, check out the first comment that really puts things in perspective on Amy's link and then check out Curtjester's comments.

The line is really thin for Catholic and protestant alike who are trying to walk that line.
Christianity Today does a good job of summerizing it for the average person.

Bush supports backup plan.

This artilce from lifesite.net indicates that the President Bush is accepting of the "Plan B" pill over the counter status. He stated that it should be a prescription for minors. This is rediculous! If I was caught giving alcohol to a minor, I would be in be big trouble. I will predict to you right now, that there will be women (and some older boy friends) getting this pill and distributing it to minors with no worry of prosecution. I think Planned Parenthood (part of Evil Inc) within a year will be giving it out to minors without any prodecution. They are already transporting minors across state lines for abortion and not being successfully prosecuted. No judge is going to nail them for it because of this kids constitutional right to this abortificient.

I have said since 1999 the President was not commited to the pro-life cause from the beginning and there were plenty of warning up front. Then his compromise on ESCR was the clincher if you needed any proof. Don't get me wrong, I am glad he is POTUS instead of Kerry. John (if you didn't know, served in 'nam) Kerry would have created a special government department just for funding ESCR. Kerry would have also put SCOTUS nominees that would have been wildly endorsed by the ACLU and Planned parenthood. I just want to point out that we can't give Bush a pass just because we agree with him on a few other things.

7 Sacroments of the Party of Death

I have lifted the first part of a Bishop Doran letter from the Curtjester. Please take the two minutes to read it.

Reaping the whirlwind of abortion

I want to touch on this matter before we get too close to the November madness. As human beings, as citizens of a “first world country,” as Americans, and as Catholics, most importantly, we have to take count of the circumstances in which we live. We know that the only creatures of God that outlast time are those created having intellect and will. All other things, with the passage of time, break up or break down.

Many of the issues that confront us are serious, and we know by now that the political parties in our country are at loggerheads as to how to solve them. We know, for instance, that adherents of one political party would place us squarely on the road to suicide as a people.

The seven “sacraments” of their secular culture are abortion, buggery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, feminism of the radical type, and genetic experimentation and mutilation. These things they unabashedly espouse, profess and promote. Their continuance in public office is a clear and present danger to our survival as a nation.

Since the mid-1940s we have been accustomed to look askance at Germans. They were protagonists of the Second World War and so responsible for fifty million deaths. We say, “How awful,” and yet in our country we have, for the most part, allowed the party of death and the court system it has produced to eliminate, since 1973, upwards of forty million of our fellow citizens without allowing them to see the light of day. They have done their best to make ours a true culture of death. No doubt, we shall soon outstrip the Nazis in doing human beings to death.

I do not think that we should spend a great deal of time in lamentation over the children whose lives have been snuffed out by the barbaric practice of therapeutic abortion. They passed from their lives quickly in this world and have gone into the hands of the Lord of Life and Mercy for all eternity. We must make it clear too, that many who have sought to have practiced on themselves therapeutic abortion are in many instances driven to it by persons heedless of their welfare, or by well- meaning but inept parents or guardians who regard abortion as a solution and not as what it is — an immense problem. There are some, I think few, largely given over to immoral lives who regard abortion as a good, but their number is not great.

What we have to remember is that violence breeds violence. When we tolerate unjust attacks upon the tiniest innocents among us, we habituate ourselves to violence. And so we have allowed these barbaric practices to corrupt our laws, our medical practice, and even our ordinary lives. How accustomed we have become to the immense loss of life in our wars throughout the world! Those who have killed millions under their mother’s hearts cannot be expected to balk at a mere few thousand killed in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Somalia, in Darfur, in Bosnia, in Madrid, in London, in Baghdad, in Beirut, in Washington, in New York. The violence of abortion coarsens the lives of all of us.

God's Protection?

From the Wall Street Journal editorial section comes this piece from an assistant professor from Wheaton College.

...evangelicals overwhelmingly support birth control (88%).

...Such pleasures are not lost on evangelicals. A recent trip to a local Christian bookstore suggests that evangelicals enjoy sex--and often. The classic Christian sex manual, "Intended for Pleasure" (1977), has been joined by many others. "Sizzle" seems to be the new goal: At least four new books use the word in their promotions.

A pro-contraception outlook among evangelicals does not, however, imply a "pro-choice" position on abortion. In some cases, like Plan B--which may thin the uterine lining and prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg--contraception and abortion may appear to be the same thing.
...
At issue is the matter of control. Anti-contraception evangelicals assert that birth control inappropriately wrests control of the body from the body's creator. Interestingly, the opposite argument is being made by evangelicals in the sexual-abstinence movement, according to my study of church-based virginity-pledge programs. Such evangelicals adopt the feminist argument of "my body, my choice" to curb teenage sexual activity. They believe that our hypersexualized culture--including the condom-in-the-schools crowd--wrongly implies that there is no choice.

Both the anti-contraception and the abstinence movements offer rewards: great sex in marriage for abstinent teens and the blessing of children for anti-contraception couples. But what reward is there for the 40-year-old virgin or the infertile couple? The rhetoric of sacrifice, it seems, has lost its sizzle.
...
Still, many evangelicals portray abstinence not as obedience but as an investment in future great sex. For those who marry, the "my body, my choice" attitude contributes to a contraception culture that places fulfillment of personal desires ahead of God's desires.

Some evangelicals charge that the Pill has contributed to the moral breakdown of society; perhaps, but evangelicals' embrace of the contraception culture has not helped. It may have made Christianity sexier to potential adherents but diminished a public understanding of marriage in the process. For evangelicals, this may be a bitter pill to swallow.

You can read the whole thing Here.
Please comment on how this affects, or does not affect, your position on Embrionic Stem Stell research.

The Rapture and Purgatory

Just a quick thought. Isn't the evangelical "Rapture" closer to what they think Purgatory is than what the Catholic Church teaches?
The Church teaches that when you die, you are going to Heavan or Hell. You may have to spend some time in purgatory getting cleaned up to enter Heavan. But the decision was already made between Heavan and hell.
The Rapture indicates that all who are saved will be "caught up" with the Lord. The rest will remain on earth and still have a chance at salvation if they choose. Aren't the people being left behind getting a second chance at the end?
I realize the this is not an apples to apples comparison because the people on the ground would still be alive in an earthly sense. Just something to think about.

Darth Vader's Humor

This is made me laugh pretty hard. Maybe I am just too tired....maybe not....

You can decide for yourself here.

Time to get Roto-Reutered

Rueters has apparrently run with multiple doctored photos in Lebanon. They are about as clean as Barry Bonds.
Michelle has a full rundown here on the use of ster-rueters in the news.


We can see in this 18 minute documentary how many of these scenes are just staged for the media. The MSM picks up the edited copy that they did not have to do themselves and run with it as if it was real. I am sure the makers of these films are glad there are very few (if any) MSM fact checkers for this type of footage.

Colbert Debates Himself On Stem Cells

YouTube - Colbert Debates Himself On Stem Cells


Sometimes comedy is more truthful than the news.

Math for Heaven's sake

In response to this entry at the Curt Jester, Brendan responded with this:

Which reminds me. . . .
. . . .after the waters had subsided, and the Ark came to rest, the doors were opened, and Noah said to all the animals: "Go forth and multiply".

All the animals left the Ark; but then Noah saw that two snakes were still inside.

"I said to go forth and multiply", said Noah; and they replied:

"We can't - we're adders."

Snow To Thomas: “Thank You For The Hezbollah View” (Video) » Outside The Beltway | OTB

I am glad that she is in no way related to me......oh I pray that she is not :-)

Snow To Thomas: “Thank You For The Hezbollah View” (Video) » Outside The Beltway | OTB: "Although that’s the quotable moment of this exchange between Tony Snow and Helen Thomas, the entire thing is worth watching simply for its entertainment value alone. It’s old school Helen Thomas, trying to “Scott McClellan” Tony Snow. And somehow Tony has already mastered the art of dealing with the queen of combativeness and irrationality. It’s really quite impressive."

Enjoy

ESCR - are you really pro-life?

Via the Curt Jester.
It starts out with this......

"Here is a fairly good article from Rick Esenberg an adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School on Stem cells and semantics. Which to me brings up the point if proponents of abortion and ESCR are on the side of good why is it that they have to obfuscate and lie in support of their advocacy. If their moral points were so strong then why do they have to hide behind concrete bunkers of words that give no light to what they are supporting? Is this just a case of elites doing what they think is best for us and putting the debate in terms that is like putting medicine in baby food so the child won't notice. That we can't be expected to truly understand the debate so they have to frame it to make it more palatable for us."

Go read the whole thing and also read the excellent link at the end of the post that points to an article by Peter Kreeft entitled Human Personhood Begins at Conception. Please read the whole thing.

Mary: Still the V word?

Here is a post from Mark Shea that I think answers most of the questions very well and in a simple way. You will not have to learn Greek, Latin, or Aramaic....I promise :-)

You should read the whole thing HERE.

In the name of the Mother, Child and Womb?

Everynight before bed I cross myself with .....what? wait a second.
Yes, more news from the Presbyterian 217th General Assembly.
In the name of the Mother, Child and Womb?


The ECUSA elects a female bishop. Her strong liberal stances along with other ECUSA decisions may be unwinding the tapestry even quicker now with multiple strings being pulled. Here is a quote from her CNN interview. Can you understand what she is trying to say. I would run from any paster that answer this question like she did. Should she be Unitarian?

CNN Interviewer.. PHILLIPS: So what happens after I die?

SCHORI: What happens after you die?.. uhh– I would ask you that question.. but what’s important about your life; what is it that has made you a unique individual.. what is the passion that has kept you getting up every morning and engaging the world..uh.. there are hints within that about what it is that continues after you die.

Getreligion's All eyes are on Canterbury (again) gives more (and better) info.

Did God set this up?

BANG! The gavel came down!"

This is an amazing story for a few people to cross paths at the right time. They went forward, even though they may have had doubts internally.

Hat tip to Mark Shea.
I agree with Mark :God bless Mr. Harvey and Miss Jessen."

A mothers day card for mom

Hat tip to HH for this Mothers day card for Mom

I can relate to this very easily :-)