Because of Eutychus comments regarding SPC Joshua R. Farris body retrieval at Austin-Bergstrom Airport yesterday, and my subsequent comments, I just wanted to mention the Patriot Guard Riders.
If any of you gentlemen or ladies would like to join us in honoring our servicemen and women, we would love to have you join us. It's one of the toughest things I have ever done in my life, but I am proud to honor our fallen heroes.
Lineage of the Patriot Guard Riders. (From the web site)
Several people have asked how the Patriot Guard Riders got started. Here’s what we’ve been able to piece together. If anyone can give us more details, it would be greatly appreciated.
It all started back in early August of 2005 with the American Legion Riders chapter 136 from Kansas. They were appalled to hear that a fallen hero’s memory was being tarnished by misguided religious zealots who were protesting at funerals. They decided to do something about it. At the ALR 136 August meeting, Director: Chuck " Pappy " Barshney appointed members, Terry “Darkhorse” Houck, Cregg “Bronco 6” Hansen, Steve “McDaddy” McDonald, and Bill ”Wild Bill” Logan to form a committee to strategize and form a battle plan to combat Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.
When they heard that the WBC was going to protest at the Funeral of Sgt. John Doles in Chelsea, Oklahoma, they established a Mission Statement, which included getting the families permission and contacting Law Enforcement and other Motorcycle Groups in Oklahoma. They agreed that their ultimate goal was to get veterans and motorcycle organizations involved in every state so that each state could handle the situation internally and not rely on other states to do the job. They were very successful in mustering riders to honor Sgt. Doles and limiting the intrusion by the WBC.
After the Chelsea Mission the Kansas American Legion Riders wanted all Motorcycle Groups/ Organizations to be recognized. On the 18th of October 2005 the Patriot Guard name was established and was announced on the 27th of October 2005 to the 100 + motorcyclists present at the Tonganoxie Mission to Honor Spc Lucas Frantz.
Following the missions in South Haven, KS and a later ride in Edmond, OK, Jeff “Twister” Brown, from Broken Arrow, OK, decided to do more than just ride. He saw a need to get a strong nation-wide communications and recruiting program in place. He contacted the original AL riders in Kansas and told them of his plans. They openly shared their experiences, suggestions, and encouragement. Within a matter of days, Brown had formed the Patriot Guard Riders and began a nation-wide campaign to garner support.
Similarly, after a mission ride in Greeley, CO, Hugh Knaus and Jason “Waldo” Wallin answered the call of the newly formed Patriot Guard Riders, becoming the national webmaster and communications director, respectively. Within a matter of days, a mission statement was refined and a website was built, rebuilt, and launched. A call immediately went out to individual riders and groups across the nation to join and ride with the PGR. State Captains were recruited to work more closely with the members in their area.
The growth has been phenomenal. Within a week their membership included many riders from associations like the VFW, American Legion, Rolling Thunder, ABATE, Combat Vets Motorcycle Association, Intruder Alert, Leathernecks Motorcycle Club, and almost five hundred individual riders. To the credit of Hugh and “Waldo”, the PGR website had received almost 566,000 hits in the first two weeks! Patriots from all over America and several foreign countries responded. Emails were pouring in from people wanting to support and join the newly formed PGR.
So, that’s a pretty concise picture of where we came from and where we are today. A great deal of credit goes to that small group of Kansas American Legion Riders, but none of this could have ever been accomplished without the patriot member who takes time out of their life to honor a fallen soldier and their family.
Friday, July 17, 2009
"Cans" of Success...
Believing that you can succeed at Christian growth and maturity takes no more effort than believing you cannot succeed. So why not believe that you can walk in faith and in the Spirit; that you can resist the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil; and that you can grow to maturity as a Christian.
-Why should I say I can't when the Bible says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13)?
-Why should I lack when I know that God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)?
-Why should I fear when the Bible says God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7)?
-Why should I lack faith to fulfill my calling, knowing that God has allotted to me a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)?
-Why should I be weak when the Bible says that the Lord is the strength of my life and that I will display strength and take action because I know God (Psalm 27:1; Daniel 11:32)?
-Why should I allow Satan supremacy over my life when He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)?
-Why should I accept defeat when the Bible says that God always leads me in triumph (2 Corinthians 2:14)?
-Why should I lack wisdom when Christ became wisdom to me from God and God gives wisdom to me generously when I ask Him for it (1 Corinthians 1:30; James 1:5)?
-Why should I be depressed when I can recall to mind God's lovingkindness, compassion and faithfulness, and have hope (Lamentations 3:21-23)?
-Why should I worry and fret when I can cast all my anxiety on Christ who cares for me (1 Peter 5:7)?
-Why should I ever be in bondage knowing that there is liberty where the Spirit of the Lord is (2 Corinthians 3:17)?
-Why should I feel condemned when the Bible says I am not condemned because I am in Christ (Romans 8:1)?
-Why should I feel alone when Jesus said He is with me always and He will never leave me nor forsake me (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5)?
-Why should I feel accursed or that I am the victim of bad luck when the Bible says that Christ redeemed me from the curse of the law that I might receive His Spirit (Galatians 3:13, 14)?
-Why should I be discontented when I, like Paul, can learn to be content in all my circumstances (Philippians 4:11)?
-Why should I feel worthless when Christ became sin on my behalf that I might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21)?
-Why should I have a persecution complex knowing that nobody can be against me when God is for me (Romans 8:31)?
-Why should I be confused when God is the author of peace and He gives me knowledge through his indwelling Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:33; 2:12)?
-Why should I feel like a failure when I am a conqueror in all things through Christ (Romans 8:37)?
-Why should I let the pressures of life bother me when I can take courage knowing that Jesus has overcome the world and its tribulations (John 16:33)?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Coming Home
Today I went to the airport to give a weather briefing to some pilots. This is part of my job as a weather forecaster with the Air Force. At many airports around the country the National Guard and civilian airport are often co-located and so it is here in Austin as well.
When I arrived I got to witness and be part of the welcome for a young man coming home from Afghanistan.
I got to see his family and a good number of Army aviators and soldiers waiting for him. There were even some police and firemen waiting to welcome him home.
I stood in line and watched the small chartered jet taxi down the runway and watched as two fire trucks from the airport sprayed a triumphal arch under which his plane slowly proceeded.
I watched as the hatch opened and soldiers moved forward and reached out their arms toward him and escorted him, slowly yet purposefully, toward his car and his family.
I watched as they gingerly helped him into the car and as they stood at attention and saluted while his luggage, some hanging clothes and his backpack, were placed in the trunk of another car that his family got in.
I watched and saluted as the flag draped coffin drove by
and I knew that there, but for the grace of God go I.
And we all knew that truth and this:
That this young man was coming home.
When I arrived I got to witness and be part of the welcome for a young man coming home from Afghanistan.
I got to see his family and a good number of Army aviators and soldiers waiting for him. There were even some police and firemen waiting to welcome him home.
I stood in line and watched the small chartered jet taxi down the runway and watched as two fire trucks from the airport sprayed a triumphal arch under which his plane slowly proceeded.
I watched as the hatch opened and soldiers moved forward and reached out their arms toward him and escorted him, slowly yet purposefully, toward his car and his family.
I watched as they gingerly helped him into the car and as they stood at attention and saluted while his luggage, some hanging clothes and his backpack, were placed in the trunk of another car that his family got in.
I watched and saluted as the flag draped coffin drove by
and I knew that there, but for the grace of God go I.
And we all knew that truth and this:
That this young man was coming home.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
11 Christians Murdered in Weekend Attacks
We still have freedom of religion. Isn't it amazing how it can be so taken for granted by us.
Christian News Wire reports that seven Somali Christians were beheaded by suspected hard-line insurgents from the Al-Shabaab group. Although al-Shabaab has carried out similar severe punishments in regions under its control, these executions allegedly are the largest number done at the same time. Somalia is believed to have a 99.95% Islamic following. There are only a handful Somali Christians inside the country and they have been forced underground. Some Christians have taken refuge in neighboring countries. Somalia is ranked No. 5 on the most recent Open Doors World Watch List which ranks the top persecutors of Christians. The previous year Somalia was ranked No. 12.
Christian News Wire reports that seven Somali Christians were beheaded by suspected hard-line insurgents from the Al-Shabaab group. Although al-Shabaab has carried out similar severe punishments in regions under its control, these executions allegedly are the largest number done at the same time. Somalia is believed to have a 99.95% Islamic following. There are only a handful Somali Christians inside the country and they have been forced underground. Some Christians have taken refuge in neighboring countries. Somalia is ranked No. 5 on the most recent Open Doors World Watch List which ranks the top persecutors of Christians. The previous year Somalia was ranked No. 12.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
New Addition
Richard Foster, in his book, "Prayer-Finding the Heart's True Journey" (which we are studying here and in my Sunday School class) talks about an instance when a cat raised theological questions. In the chapter on the Prayer of Adoration, foster relates a story to illustrate how at times we "ignore the smell of Deity." While leading a worship service in a home, Foster had just encouraged everyone to "wait upon the Lord" in listening silence. The silence was interrupted by the home's cat scratching and meowing to gain entry. Rather than just let the cat in Foster prayed for divine intervention that did not come. Later as the group was sharing how distracting the cat was, one person in the group sat quietly until someone asked him what he was thinking. He replied, "Oh, I was just wondering what God was trying to say to us through the cat."
I have wondered the same thing lately and come to the conclusion that far from being a sign from God, our new cat was more diabolical than divine. I have come to this conclusion because every morning as I sit to begin my devotional, I find that I must move from my chair to shoo the cat from rooms that it is not allowed to be in. It goes something like this:
Noooo...(the cat nonchalantly moves down the hall) Cappy....No (she gets to the end of the hall and sits down) Cappy...Cappy No! (she sprints off one direction or the other out of my sight) and then off I go down the hall to herd the cat from one of the boy's rooms.
We keep the cat out of the bedrooms as yours truly has issues with cats, namely, breathing. Thus the cat is restricted to the tiled portions of the house to keep my allergies to a reasonable level.
Cappy is a new member of our household, obtained from a next door neighbor who decided to move out of state and decided that the two indoor cats would not make the trip. The cats were shown the door (literally) a few weeks prior to the move. There was rumor that homes had been obtained but these "fell through" at the last moment. Whatever the case the cats would soon be homeless. Ashley was the other cat, a cat with the most sour disposition I have ever known either cat or human to posses and a face to go with it. Pinched and scrunched her face looked as if she had run into a wall and mashed her face and it matched her personality perfectly. Still, it was unfortunate that Ashley was apparently a bit slow whilst crossing the road in front of her house and thus never had to face changing owners. It was, in some ways, a blessing but still sad, though her personality made it less than grievous.
Cappy- Cappy "the-perpetually-surprised-pussycat." So named because though a good cat she is, well, skittish would be an understatement. She has a continual wide -eyed expression on her face, a condition brought on by the introduction to her previous household years before, of Clumpy, the bulldog who hated cats. As a consequence of this, Cappy spent a great deal of her time above ground level hiding in cabinets and the like (a habit she has had to give up since moving in) and literally running for her life while on ground level. She is only now, after almost two months, coming to the realization that she can relax here. Her more sedentary life as added a noticable paunch. Still, vestiges of her previous life occasionally surface, most noticeably with her tail, which seems to poof out at the slightest start and at the most unexpected times. No other part of her body puffs up but her tail and with very little provocation will expand like a tiny furry umbrella. Once as my son kindly moved her from one of the bedrooms she hustled down the hall and rounded the corner, sliding on the tile floor. Out puffs her tail, to which my son remarked, "Its like a little drag chute to slow her down around the corners.
A peculiar cat, not overly found of canned chicken residue left-over from family meals or the kitty treats bought at the store, she does however have a fondness, perhaps one might say even an obsession, with strawberry yogurt. It is the only time she will venture into a lap, namely my wife's, to finish off the remains of her evening snack. After which she retreats into a corner to clean the tasty treat from the far corners of her face.
I have considered re-naming her "Crappy" and have been known to let the unflattering name escape my lips as I enter the laundry room where the kitty litter box resides and stifle my gag reflex. She is a small cat but apparently can carry (and unceremoniously drop) a rather hefty load. I mean, good gravy, it smells like my dad was in there! Of course, this condition is probably aggravated by the introduction of strawberry yogurt to her diet, but we can hope that it might be improved with the addition of the pro-biotics.
Last night, Cappy discovered the dormant Cuckoo clock hibernating since shortly after our return a little over a year ago from Germany whence it was purchased. It seems I never really could "get used to" the bloody thing cuckooing its fool head off at midnight and so its chains and associated pine cone weights hang listlessly beneath its blessedly silenced beak. It hung there unnoticed by the cat until last night when she finally discovered this new fangled "string" hanging on the wall. The first warning, I had that something was amiss was my son saying, in a low measured voice, "No, Cappy..." followed by the same phrase uttered now in a slightly more urgent tone. This was followed by chaos and panic. Cappy attacked the chain and promptly got her claw hung in a link. She tried to pull away and in so doing pulled the chain which started the weighted pine cones moving up the wall, buzzing as they went, causing Cappy the perpetually surprised pussycat, to scramble to get away and thus making the pine cones move faster and buzz louder. My son leaped from his chair and Cappy back pedaled away finally releasing the chain.
Her tail was 6 inches around.
I have wondered the same thing lately and come to the conclusion that far from being a sign from God, our new cat was more diabolical than divine. I have come to this conclusion because every morning as I sit to begin my devotional, I find that I must move from my chair to shoo the cat from rooms that it is not allowed to be in. It goes something like this:
Noooo...(the cat nonchalantly moves down the hall) Cappy....No (she gets to the end of the hall and sits down) Cappy...Cappy No! (she sprints off one direction or the other out of my sight) and then off I go down the hall to herd the cat from one of the boy's rooms.
We keep the cat out of the bedrooms as yours truly has issues with cats, namely, breathing. Thus the cat is restricted to the tiled portions of the house to keep my allergies to a reasonable level.
Cappy is a new member of our household, obtained from a next door neighbor who decided to move out of state and decided that the two indoor cats would not make the trip. The cats were shown the door (literally) a few weeks prior to the move. There was rumor that homes had been obtained but these "fell through" at the last moment. Whatever the case the cats would soon be homeless. Ashley was the other cat, a cat with the most sour disposition I have ever known either cat or human to posses and a face to go with it. Pinched and scrunched her face looked as if she had run into a wall and mashed her face and it matched her personality perfectly. Still, it was unfortunate that Ashley was apparently a bit slow whilst crossing the road in front of her house and thus never had to face changing owners. It was, in some ways, a blessing but still sad, though her personality made it less than grievous.
Cappy- Cappy "the-perpetually-surprised-pussycat." So named because though a good cat she is, well, skittish would be an understatement. She has a continual wide -eyed expression on her face, a condition brought on by the introduction to her previous household years before, of Clumpy, the bulldog who hated cats. As a consequence of this, Cappy spent a great deal of her time above ground level hiding in cabinets and the like (a habit she has had to give up since moving in) and literally running for her life while on ground level. She is only now, after almost two months, coming to the realization that she can relax here. Her more sedentary life as added a noticable paunch. Still, vestiges of her previous life occasionally surface, most noticeably with her tail, which seems to poof out at the slightest start and at the most unexpected times. No other part of her body puffs up but her tail and with very little provocation will expand like a tiny furry umbrella. Once as my son kindly moved her from one of the bedrooms she hustled down the hall and rounded the corner, sliding on the tile floor. Out puffs her tail, to which my son remarked, "Its like a little drag chute to slow her down around the corners.
A peculiar cat, not overly found of canned chicken residue left-over from family meals or the kitty treats bought at the store, she does however have a fondness, perhaps one might say even an obsession, with strawberry yogurt. It is the only time she will venture into a lap, namely my wife's, to finish off the remains of her evening snack. After which she retreats into a corner to clean the tasty treat from the far corners of her face.
I have considered re-naming her "Crappy" and have been known to let the unflattering name escape my lips as I enter the laundry room where the kitty litter box resides and stifle my gag reflex. She is a small cat but apparently can carry (and unceremoniously drop) a rather hefty load. I mean, good gravy, it smells like my dad was in there! Of course, this condition is probably aggravated by the introduction of strawberry yogurt to her diet, but we can hope that it might be improved with the addition of the pro-biotics.
Last night, Cappy discovered the dormant Cuckoo clock hibernating since shortly after our return a little over a year ago from Germany whence it was purchased. It seems I never really could "get used to" the bloody thing cuckooing its fool head off at midnight and so its chains and associated pine cone weights hang listlessly beneath its blessedly silenced beak. It hung there unnoticed by the cat until last night when she finally discovered this new fangled "string" hanging on the wall. The first warning, I had that something was amiss was my son saying, in a low measured voice, "No, Cappy..." followed by the same phrase uttered now in a slightly more urgent tone. This was followed by chaos and panic. Cappy attacked the chain and promptly got her claw hung in a link. She tried to pull away and in so doing pulled the chain which started the weighted pine cones moving up the wall, buzzing as they went, causing Cappy the perpetually surprised pussycat, to scramble to get away and thus making the pine cones move faster and buzz louder. My son leaped from his chair and Cappy back pedaled away finally releasing the chain.
Her tail was 6 inches around.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Pro-Terror Group to Meet in Chicago Suburb
More good news out of Illinois. Apparently they feel comfortable enough to operate in the open now...
Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international movement seeking to re-establish an international Islamic state - or Caliphate - and to indoctrinate Muslims into supporting jihad, wants to step up its recruitment efforts in the United States. On July 19, the group, whose alumni include 9/ 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and suicide bombers, will hold a conference entitled "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam" in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Oak Lawn, Ill, a Chicago suburb. (more)
Posted using ShareThis
Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international movement seeking to re-establish an international Islamic state - or Caliphate - and to indoctrinate Muslims into supporting jihad, wants to step up its recruitment efforts in the United States. On July 19, the group, whose alumni include 9/ 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and suicide bombers, will hold a conference entitled "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam" in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Oak Lawn, Ill, a Chicago suburb. (more)
Posted using ShareThis
Thursday, July 9, 2009
In The News Today
A bit of what's going on and what's being talked about...
Ezra Klein, at American Spectator, citing a Senate source, offers "an insider's look" at the options the Senate Finance committee is considering to pay for health care.
And the folks at Heritage tell us why the VAT should not be considered as one of the options.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg snoozed during oral arguments today over political redistricting in Texas, as caught by the fine folks at Creative Minority Report.
Have you ever wondered why the Obama Administration is still talking/blaming Bush? Well, I'm beginning to believe that the reason in large part, is because, there is no difference...
For example, Obama runs on the theme of change and yet one (trillion) ups Bush in spending. Stimulus - Bush-1 Obama 1 (so far) Iraq? Obama keeps the Bush timetable the uses the surge technique in Afghnistan. Gitmo? Well.....in an exchange with Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and Defense Department General Counsel Johnson it would appear that all the talk of "due process" for terrorists may be just that- talk.
"...So the Obama administration is all for due process, as long as it produces the correct result. Obama already has said that Guantanamo detainees who cannot be successfully tried by military commissions or civilian courts can still be imprisoned indefinitely if they are considered too dangerous to release. Now Johnson is saying that even those who are prosecuted can be kept imprisoned regardless of the verdict. The only point of prosecuting them, it seems, is to create an impression of due process while continuing the Bush detention policies that Obama condemned during the campaign. (Reason)
The most disgusting and tragic news of the day has to be this story on "Abortion Partys" over at LifeSite.
Continuing, matters of conscience are fast eroding away as a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that Washington pharmacists will likely have to obey a 2007 regulation forcing them to distribute the abortifacient morning-after pill. We'll have to watch and see if the case goes further and what its results might be.
Last but not least, Lifesite reports that the owner of one of Canada's largest and most lavish spas, has launched a human rights complaint against the Bishop of Peterborough Ontario for refusing him permission to continue to serve as an altar server.
Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.
Want to know who made such a statement? Go over to Bedlam or Parnassus and find out.
Euripides has posted another Steven Crowder video- always good for a laugh - on the deadly subject of what's wrong with nationalized healthcare..
Warning against a third stimulus here.
And a warning from our Islamo-fascist friends here in a disturbing video posted on YouTube
Ezra Klein, at American Spectator, citing a Senate source, offers "an insider's look" at the options the Senate Finance committee is considering to pay for health care.
And the folks at Heritage tell us why the VAT should not be considered as one of the options.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg snoozed during oral arguments today over political redistricting in Texas, as caught by the fine folks at Creative Minority Report.
Have you ever wondered why the Obama Administration is still talking/blaming Bush? Well, I'm beginning to believe that the reason in large part, is because, there is no difference...
For example, Obama runs on the theme of change and yet one (trillion) ups Bush in spending. Stimulus - Bush-1 Obama 1 (so far) Iraq? Obama keeps the Bush timetable the uses the surge technique in Afghnistan. Gitmo? Well.....in an exchange with Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and Defense Department General Counsel Johnson it would appear that all the talk of "due process" for terrorists may be just that- talk.
"...So the Obama administration is all for due process, as long as it produces the correct result. Obama already has said that Guantanamo detainees who cannot be successfully tried by military commissions or civilian courts can still be imprisoned indefinitely if they are considered too dangerous to release. Now Johnson is saying that even those who are prosecuted can be kept imprisoned regardless of the verdict. The only point of prosecuting them, it seems, is to create an impression of due process while continuing the Bush detention policies that Obama condemned during the campaign. (Reason)
The most disgusting and tragic news of the day has to be this story on "Abortion Partys" over at LifeSite.
Continuing, matters of conscience are fast eroding away as a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that Washington pharmacists will likely have to obey a 2007 regulation forcing them to distribute the abortifacient morning-after pill. We'll have to watch and see if the case goes further and what its results might be.
Last but not least, Lifesite reports that the owner of one of Canada's largest and most lavish spas, has launched a human rights complaint against the Bishop of Peterborough Ontario for refusing him permission to continue to serve as an altar server.
Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.
Want to know who made such a statement? Go over to Bedlam or Parnassus and find out.
Euripides has posted another Steven Crowder video- always good for a laugh - on the deadly subject of what's wrong with nationalized healthcare..
Warning against a third stimulus here.
And a warning from our Islamo-fascist friends here in a disturbing video posted on YouTube
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
A Woman Healed- Some Thoughts on Mark5:24-34
My devotional reading last week included these verses from the fifth chapter of Mark and for better or worse or indifferent (probably the latter two) I thought I would share some of my thoughts.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
"If I just touch his clothes" the woman says. She needs no signs, no proof, no actual presence, she need only touch his clothes. What faith. She did not need the God/Man himself but only the accouterments, the trappings if you will, such was the strength of her faith that God was indeed present in this place and time; her place and time.
Would that we had such faith in "the robes of God". In its most obvious forms the robes of God are the Church and her sacraments and ministers of the Gospel. Father Gabriel Amorth, former Chief Exorcist of Rome, lists in his book, An Exorcist Tells His Story, seven main ways that the devil can harm humans: temptation, pain, possession, oppression, obsession, infestation and subjugation. When avoidance of sin fails the remedy he recommends are "the robes of God" i.e. repentance and confession. Also highly recommended: prayer, the sacraments, living according to the Gospel, and refusing to bear grudges. God has given us the Church as the primary instrument of His salvation till he returns. Would that we had the faith to trust it to heal us.
I often hear it said that we are the hands and feet of Christ. While I appreciate the sentiment behind the saying, I find it on the whole, rather distasteful, for it seems to render Christ impotent without our assistance. God will have His way with us with or without our assistance. Part of the Good News is that He seeks us out to be part of His healing and creative presence in the world. Conduits, if you will, of His mercy and grace. In this respect then, WE are the robes of God, instruments of the Great Physician to assist in healing the world around us.
Finally, as I read that Jesus was searching through the crowd and asking "Who touched me," and I watch as the woman, trembling in fear, comes and falls at his feet and tells him everything, I am reminded of another story:
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." (Genesis 3:8-10)
This woman did not hide and told Jesus EVERYTHING. Presumably more than just her physical ailments, she did not hold back and told him everything. God seeks our friendship as well as our worship and adoration. He seeks to know us and be known by us and he hopes that we should agree to such an invitation out of the desire of our hearts and love for Him, hiding nothing of ourselves.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
"If I just touch his clothes" the woman says. She needs no signs, no proof, no actual presence, she need only touch his clothes. What faith. She did not need the God/Man himself but only the accouterments, the trappings if you will, such was the strength of her faith that God was indeed present in this place and time; her place and time.
Would that we had such faith in "the robes of God". In its most obvious forms the robes of God are the Church and her sacraments and ministers of the Gospel. Father Gabriel Amorth, former Chief Exorcist of Rome, lists in his book, An Exorcist Tells His Story, seven main ways that the devil can harm humans: temptation, pain, possession, oppression, obsession, infestation and subjugation. When avoidance of sin fails the remedy he recommends are "the robes of God" i.e. repentance and confession. Also highly recommended: prayer, the sacraments, living according to the Gospel, and refusing to bear grudges. God has given us the Church as the primary instrument of His salvation till he returns. Would that we had the faith to trust it to heal us.
I often hear it said that we are the hands and feet of Christ. While I appreciate the sentiment behind the saying, I find it on the whole, rather distasteful, for it seems to render Christ impotent without our assistance. God will have His way with us with or without our assistance. Part of the Good News is that He seeks us out to be part of His healing and creative presence in the world. Conduits, if you will, of His mercy and grace. In this respect then, WE are the robes of God, instruments of the Great Physician to assist in healing the world around us.
Finally, as I read that Jesus was searching through the crowd and asking "Who touched me," and I watch as the woman, trembling in fear, comes and falls at his feet and tells him everything, I am reminded of another story:
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." (Genesis 3:8-10)
This woman did not hide and told Jesus EVERYTHING. Presumably more than just her physical ailments, she did not hold back and told him everything. God seeks our friendship as well as our worship and adoration. He seeks to know us and be known by us and he hopes that we should agree to such an invitation out of the desire of our hearts and love for Him, hiding nothing of ourselves.
Take a Break
Now I actually like the movie, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." The only one of the spaghetti westerns I do like. I don't know why, I just do. But I really like the soundtrack.
Thanks to Chewy, I now know how they did it:
Thanks to Chewy, I now know how they did it:
Humor Break
For those of you you are cat lovers or (if you wait long enough) for those who are not cat lovers or for anyone who has ever had any trouble with a printer...
Prayer of Adoration-Prayer Study Part 8
Continuing our study of Richard Foster's book on prayer. Previous notes can be found here.
Moving Upward
• All prayer will contain elements of adoration
• “In the prayer of adoration we love God for himself, for his very being, for his radiant joy.” Douglas Steere
• We begin by blessing and enter the silence of awe and adoration
Praise/Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving—glorify God because of what God has done for us
• Praise—glorify God because of who God is
• An artificial distinction since strains of both elements will be present
God Receives Our Adoration
• “God thirsts to be thirsted after.” St. Augustine
• “Our God is not made of stone. His heart is the most sensitive and tender of all. No act goes unnoticed, no matter how insignificant or small.”
Obstacles
• Inattention—we simply miss God’s presence in the midst of our lives
• Wrong kind of attention—we analyze instead of praise or we are not interruptible
• Greed—in the presence of God’s gracious gifts we ask for more
• Conceit—we focus on our ability to see God in ways that others cannot
What it Takes
• Requires instruction just as children must be taught to say thank you
• Begins in ordinary life by attending to the small blessings of God
• “To experience the tiny theophany is itself to adore.” C. S. Lewis
• Find our “grateful center” (from Sue Monk Kidd)
• Practice gratitude for the blessings we receive each day
• Practice magnifying God; making God larger
• Use the Psalms as a guide to praise
• Use music
• Celebrate the work of God like Miriam at the shore of the Red Sea
Moving Upward
• All prayer will contain elements of adoration
• “In the prayer of adoration we love God for himself, for his very being, for his radiant joy.” Douglas Steere
• We begin by blessing and enter the silence of awe and adoration
Praise/Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving—glorify God because of what God has done for us
• Praise—glorify God because of who God is
• An artificial distinction since strains of both elements will be present
God Receives Our Adoration
• “God thirsts to be thirsted after.” St. Augustine
• “Our God is not made of stone. His heart is the most sensitive and tender of all. No act goes unnoticed, no matter how insignificant or small.”
Obstacles
• Inattention—we simply miss God’s presence in the midst of our lives
• Wrong kind of attention—we analyze instead of praise or we are not interruptible
• Greed—in the presence of God’s gracious gifts we ask for more
• Conceit—we focus on our ability to see God in ways that others cannot
What it Takes
• Requires instruction just as children must be taught to say thank you
• Begins in ordinary life by attending to the small blessings of God
• “To experience the tiny theophany is itself to adore.” C. S. Lewis
• Find our “grateful center” (from Sue Monk Kidd)
• Practice gratitude for the blessings we receive each day
• Practice magnifying God; making God larger
• Use the Psalms as a guide to praise
• Use music
• Celebrate the work of God like Miriam at the shore of the Red Sea
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
News Round-Up
I have neglected posting lately and for the 1 or 2 folks who come by here (or used to) to see some news I apologize and offer this meager attempt at assuaging your disappointment.
Al Gore today compared the battle against climate change with the struggle against the Nazis - really,
while temps plummet in D.C after passage of the climate bill.
and the WashingtonTimes weighs in with this:
...The congressional cap-and-trade shtick would be tired even if weren't the familiar boondoggle of tax increases, big-government micro-regulation, and pork-a-palooza payoffs to preferred clients of the Democratic Party.
Granted that carbon credits already were a dubious racket equivalent to the sale of "indulgences" in medieval Europe, the decision by congressional power brokers to give away credits to well-connected Democratic Party interests surely represents the environmental movement's formal jumping of the endangered great white shark....
Meanwhile, Obama advisers are saying if the first stimulus didn't work then we need a second one. I mean its only money, right?
In China they're having trouble with the Uighurs
(btw- here's a nice synopsis:
Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims
They make up about 45% of the region's population. 40% are Han Chinese
China re-established control in 1949 after crushing short-lived state of East Turkestan
Since then, large-scale immigration of Han Chinese
Uighurs fear erosion of traditional culture
Sporadic violence since 1991
Attack on 4 Aug 2008 near Kashgar kills 16 Chinese policemen)
and Iran is having trouble getting all its clerics on the same page regarding the election.
In Afghanistan, a former Gitmo inmate captured in 2001 and released in 2007 is leading the fight against US forces.
Ever wonder what it must cost the Obama Administration to control the media? Well, Accuracy in Media has some interesting numbers.
And apparently we are one step closer to a thinking cap. Now if we can just get congress to wear them.
Al Gore today compared the battle against climate change with the struggle against the Nazis - really,
while temps plummet in D.C after passage of the climate bill.
and the WashingtonTimes weighs in with this:
...The congressional cap-and-trade shtick would be tired even if weren't the familiar boondoggle of tax increases, big-government micro-regulation, and pork-a-palooza payoffs to preferred clients of the Democratic Party.
Granted that carbon credits already were a dubious racket equivalent to the sale of "indulgences" in medieval Europe, the decision by congressional power brokers to give away credits to well-connected Democratic Party interests surely represents the environmental movement's formal jumping of the endangered great white shark....
Meanwhile, Obama advisers are saying if the first stimulus didn't work then we need a second one. I mean its only money, right?
In China they're having trouble with the Uighurs
(btw- here's a nice synopsis:
Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims
They make up about 45% of the region's population. 40% are Han Chinese
China re-established control in 1949 after crushing short-lived state of East Turkestan
Since then, large-scale immigration of Han Chinese
Uighurs fear erosion of traditional culture
Sporadic violence since 1991
Attack on 4 Aug 2008 near Kashgar kills 16 Chinese policemen)
and Iran is having trouble getting all its clerics on the same page regarding the election.
In Afghanistan, a former Gitmo inmate captured in 2001 and released in 2007 is leading the fight against US forces.
Ever wonder what it must cost the Obama Administration to control the media? Well, Accuracy in Media has some interesting numbers.
And apparently we are one step closer to a thinking cap. Now if we can just get congress to wear them.
Back and So Forth on the 4th
I spent the week-end in San Angelo visiting my mom and brother and his family. It has become a bit of a tradition over the last few years prompted by my wife's yearly mission travels to Haiti which, in recent years, has taken her away over the 4th of July.
The boys and I began a few years ago, buying fireworks and trundling out west of San Angelo where my mom lives in the country and having our own private fireworks show. The following night we have taken to going out to the local minor league baseball stadium and watching a somewhat larger show. The great thing is, that the crowds are small as the really big show is done out at the lake, a trek and an experience I have chosen to avoid in my older, less patient years.
This year, my wife was in town and so we all made the trip together. I found that my wife was somewhat fond of fireworks and rather enjoyed getting rid of the "leftovers" of years past prior to my oldest son and I lighting the larger "ooh and ahh" mortar type fireworks. This was his first year to light most of them himself. One more in a long line of coming of age experiences.
During the course of the visit my wife took on the "project" of cleaning out my mother's pantry. About 4 ft wide and 6 high and about half as deep it has been the recipient of many baking supplies, jellies and spices that my mother was unable to use due to various ailments, among which can be listed a pack-rat syndrome that she faithfully handed down to me from her own mother. This illness is usually found in garages and closets and desks and the like but has been known to spread to pantry and refrigerator as well. The disease has been the cause of many a family horror story particularly as my grandmother aged and eyesight and sense of smell waned, like the one my mother re-told as we started our journey through the pantry of finding an unidentified object in my grandmother's fridge.
"What was the black thing in the plastic container, she asked?
To which the reply was given, "Oh, its meat."
But upon further inspection the "meat" was found to be carrots of some unknown age and state.
"At least I'm not as bad as that," she said as we fought our way to the first shelf of the pantry.
"we'll see," I said. And indeed we did.
We removed 5 large garbage bags of jars, cans, rice, flours, brown sugars and the like from this food time capsule disguised as a pantry. All with expired dates years out. The oldest find in this archeology site was a can of clams from 1991.
In the midst of this dig, my mother tripped on the edge of one of the bags and fell on her knees. Parchment paper skin and brittle body, bled and swelled and ached. She did not go to the fireworks display with us in town. She had fallen the night before we came and hit her head on a table. Her legs and arms have many marks from this or that, many from limbs that scratch as she mowes (riding lawnmower) the acre property that her one room bedsitter of a house nestles on next to the creek.
"There are many lives stuffed into this one," I remarked to my wife as we drove down the lane toward my mom's house. "Before the divorce, after the divorce, when my dad re-married, when my mom re-married, when they bought this place in the country as a second house and finally when my step-dad died and my mother moved out here for good." A thousand memories and many forgotten or buried. All a life story on their own and all jammed into the one life that is me.
Through all of this mom has been a constant, if at times a bit off the wall and smothering, at least she was consistent in her idiosyncrasies.
But this trip I saw the next chapter. I saw her unsteadiness and her sadness as she threw out the baking materials that she had not used for quite some time. She still loves to cook, mind you, but it hurts now to stand in the kitchen for any length of time. I saw her embarrassment as she threw out things bought with memories of husband and family close by made excess by her life of living alone.
I do not know how many years are left. It may be one or twenty or something in between but a page has turned and the book must be steadied on my arm.
The boys and I began a few years ago, buying fireworks and trundling out west of San Angelo where my mom lives in the country and having our own private fireworks show. The following night we have taken to going out to the local minor league baseball stadium and watching a somewhat larger show. The great thing is, that the crowds are small as the really big show is done out at the lake, a trek and an experience I have chosen to avoid in my older, less patient years.
This year, my wife was in town and so we all made the trip together. I found that my wife was somewhat fond of fireworks and rather enjoyed getting rid of the "leftovers" of years past prior to my oldest son and I lighting the larger "ooh and ahh" mortar type fireworks. This was his first year to light most of them himself. One more in a long line of coming of age experiences.
During the course of the visit my wife took on the "project" of cleaning out my mother's pantry. About 4 ft wide and 6 high and about half as deep it has been the recipient of many baking supplies, jellies and spices that my mother was unable to use due to various ailments, among which can be listed a pack-rat syndrome that she faithfully handed down to me from her own mother. This illness is usually found in garages and closets and desks and the like but has been known to spread to pantry and refrigerator as well. The disease has been the cause of many a family horror story particularly as my grandmother aged and eyesight and sense of smell waned, like the one my mother re-told as we started our journey through the pantry of finding an unidentified object in my grandmother's fridge.
"What was the black thing in the plastic container, she asked?
To which the reply was given, "Oh, its meat."
But upon further inspection the "meat" was found to be carrots of some unknown age and state.
"At least I'm not as bad as that," she said as we fought our way to the first shelf of the pantry.
"we'll see," I said. And indeed we did.
We removed 5 large garbage bags of jars, cans, rice, flours, brown sugars and the like from this food time capsule disguised as a pantry. All with expired dates years out. The oldest find in this archeology site was a can of clams from 1991.
In the midst of this dig, my mother tripped on the edge of one of the bags and fell on her knees. Parchment paper skin and brittle body, bled and swelled and ached. She did not go to the fireworks display with us in town. She had fallen the night before we came and hit her head on a table. Her legs and arms have many marks from this or that, many from limbs that scratch as she mowes (riding lawnmower) the acre property that her one room bedsitter of a house nestles on next to the creek.
"There are many lives stuffed into this one," I remarked to my wife as we drove down the lane toward my mom's house. "Before the divorce, after the divorce, when my dad re-married, when my mom re-married, when they bought this place in the country as a second house and finally when my step-dad died and my mother moved out here for good." A thousand memories and many forgotten or buried. All a life story on their own and all jammed into the one life that is me.
Through all of this mom has been a constant, if at times a bit off the wall and smothering, at least she was consistent in her idiosyncrasies.
But this trip I saw the next chapter. I saw her unsteadiness and her sadness as she threw out the baking materials that she had not used for quite some time. She still loves to cook, mind you, but it hurts now to stand in the kitchen for any length of time. I saw her embarrassment as she threw out things bought with memories of husband and family close by made excess by her life of living alone.
I do not know how many years are left. It may be one or twenty or something in between but a page has turned and the book must be steadied on my arm.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Ideology Subverting Evidence-
While the American House of (non) Representatives approves the Cap and Trade climate bill the rest of the world is waking up to the reality that they have been scammed by the charlatans of Gore and company.
Let's start with Poland:
The Committee of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences has published a paper concerning the question of impending global warming and urges attention to 10 principal aspects of the problem. Awareness of these principal aspects is essential, they say, if reasonable and responsible decisions are to be arrived at.
Here is number 10:
Research experience in the Earth sciences suggests that simple explanation of
natural phenomena, based on partial observations only and without consideration of
numerous factors important for individual processes in a geosystem, leads generally to
unreasonable simplification and misleading conclusions.
Steve Fielding, a member of the Australian Senate, recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming.
The administration was unable to do that since they were busy reassuring the American public on the economy, and reassuring the Iranian protesters, and the Honduran people, and the U.S car industry...
When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation and thus Australia prepares to kill it's country's carbon emissions scheme while the American Congress prepares to stick it to the people, I mean, pass its own bill.
President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic believes believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and his view is supported by 89% of the population.
In France, Claude Allegre, who twenty years ago was heralding the earth's demise from global warming has since changed his tune and in New Zealand, (take note please, members of Congress et al) a new government has been elected which immediately dismantled its own young cap and trade program.
The WSJ sums up the rest:
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly" of her nonbelief. (Her article is here) Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open letter.)
Let's start with Poland:
The Committee of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences has published a paper concerning the question of impending global warming and urges attention to 10 principal aspects of the problem. Awareness of these principal aspects is essential, they say, if reasonable and responsible decisions are to be arrived at.
Here is number 10:
Research experience in the Earth sciences suggests that simple explanation of
natural phenomena, based on partial observations only and without consideration of
numerous factors important for individual processes in a geosystem, leads generally to
unreasonable simplification and misleading conclusions.
Steve Fielding, a member of the Australian Senate, recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming.
The administration was unable to do that since they were busy reassuring the American public on the economy, and reassuring the Iranian protesters, and the Honduran people, and the U.S car industry...
When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation and thus Australia prepares to kill it's country's carbon emissions scheme while the American Congress prepares to stick it to the people, I mean, pass its own bill.
President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic believes believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and his view is supported by 89% of the population.
In France, Claude Allegre, who twenty years ago was heralding the earth's demise from global warming has since changed his tune and in New Zealand, (take note please, members of Congress et al) a new government has been elected which immediately dismantled its own young cap and trade program.
The WSJ sums up the rest:
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly" of her nonbelief. (Her article is here) Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open letter.)
'No truth' in Obama's speech before homosexuals
A couple of stories from OneNewsNow.
The first one about speaking out as Ken Hutcherson, former NFL Linebacker and Senior Pastor of Atioch Bible Church in Washington State says:
"...it is "a shame" that the president is "supporting what destroys the family...."There's absolutely no truth in anything he said, from beginning to the end," ..."(T)here is no such thing as [a] biblical stance for homosexuality, if you use the Bible."
In his talk, Obama acknowledged that many Americans still disapprove of homosexuality. "There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes," he stated. (See related article) Hutcherson says those comments demonstrate the president has contempt for more than just conservative Christians.
The second article is about the silence of Duke University. A good post on this can be found over at Self Evident Truths.
Mike Adams a professor of criminology at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, wonders where the outrage is concerning Duke's homosexual rape/abuse case is?
Frank Lombard, associate director of Duke University's Center for Health Policy, has been accused of molesting his adopted five-year-old African-American son and offering him up for sex with strangers on the Internet. Lombard's homosexual partner, who resides in the same house with Lombard, was allegedly unaware of the activities.
In the infamous Duke lacrosse team rape case more than 80 university officials and professors signed a statement accusing the players of racism. Adams wonders where those professors are now in this new rape case at the university.
The first one about speaking out as Ken Hutcherson, former NFL Linebacker and Senior Pastor of Atioch Bible Church in Washington State says:
"...it is "a shame" that the president is "supporting what destroys the family...."There's absolutely no truth in anything he said, from beginning to the end," ..."(T)here is no such thing as [a] biblical stance for homosexuality, if you use the Bible."
In his talk, Obama acknowledged that many Americans still disapprove of homosexuality. "There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes," he stated. (See related article) Hutcherson says those comments demonstrate the president has contempt for more than just conservative Christians.
The second article is about the silence of Duke University. A good post on this can be found over at Self Evident Truths.
Mike Adams a professor of criminology at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, wonders where the outrage is concerning Duke's homosexual rape/abuse case is?
Frank Lombard, associate director of Duke University's Center for Health Policy, has been accused of molesting his adopted five-year-old African-American son and offering him up for sex with strangers on the Internet. Lombard's homosexual partner, who resides in the same house with Lombard, was allegedly unaware of the activities.
In the infamous Duke lacrosse team rape case more than 80 university officials and professors signed a statement accusing the players of racism. Adams wonders where those professors are now in this new rape case at the university.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Honduras and Obama- What's Going On?
So, the president of Honduras, Mel Zelaya aka "Zelaya the Play'a" (ok I made that part up) wants to pull a Hugo (Chavez) and extend his term "for the good of the nation" (as all good tyrants do-ahem). To do this he needs to change the Honduran constitution. To change the constitution he needs the Honduran Congress to approve a national referendum.
Too much time and effort says Mel, so he calls his own referendum, which according to the Honduran constitution is illegal. No matter, there are more important things to do than worry about the details. What he needs now are ballots for the referendum. Since the Honduran government didn't call a referendum, they're not providing any ballots.
Details, details. He gets his buddy Hugo to provide ballots (no doubt already printed) and they are shipped to Honduras.
Honduran Supreme Court considers the election in light of the law of the land (the Constitution) and rules the referendum ( to extend Zelaya's term) illegal and unconstitutional. The court then issues an order to the Honduran military telling them not to do play with the president regarding the referendum since it was illegal.
General Romeo Velasquez tells President Zelaya that he is subject to a proper order from the Supreme Court and will not be able to carry out Zelaya's referendum. More details says Mel, I'll just fire the general (generals after all are no different than heads of corporations e.g. GM- a lefty is a lefty, don't cha know)
The Supreme Court orders Zelaya to reinstate Velasquez, and Zelaya says no way.
But the Prez still has noone to distribute the ballots so he puts a mob together and sends them down to the barracks to get the ballots and hand them out.
Based on the Supreme Court's ruling the Honduran attorney general says the proposed referendum is illegal anyone attempting to carry out the election would be arrested. Zelaya was arrested by the military and was escorted out of the country.
In accordance with Honduran law, the Honduran congress names a succesor, and sets elections (the ones Zelaya was trying to get rid of) for November.
All down in accordance with Honduran law.
It took Obama one day to denounce this "military coup."
For the record it took him five days to respond to North Korea launching a missle and a week before he could muster an "I concerned" over Iran.
But only one day to denounce (along with Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro) the fledgling democracy in Honduras following its own laws against a wanna be tyrant.
My how times have changed. What is going on here?
H/T Neal Boortz Additional story at American Thinker
Too much time and effort says Mel, so he calls his own referendum, which according to the Honduran constitution is illegal. No matter, there are more important things to do than worry about the details. What he needs now are ballots for the referendum. Since the Honduran government didn't call a referendum, they're not providing any ballots.
Details, details. He gets his buddy Hugo to provide ballots (no doubt already printed) and they are shipped to Honduras.
Honduran Supreme Court considers the election in light of the law of the land (the Constitution) and rules the referendum ( to extend Zelaya's term) illegal and unconstitutional. The court then issues an order to the Honduran military telling them not to do play with the president regarding the referendum since it was illegal.
General Romeo Velasquez tells President Zelaya that he is subject to a proper order from the Supreme Court and will not be able to carry out Zelaya's referendum. More details says Mel, I'll just fire the general (generals after all are no different than heads of corporations e.g. GM- a lefty is a lefty, don't cha know)
The Supreme Court orders Zelaya to reinstate Velasquez, and Zelaya says no way.
But the Prez still has noone to distribute the ballots so he puts a mob together and sends them down to the barracks to get the ballots and hand them out.
Based on the Supreme Court's ruling the Honduran attorney general says the proposed referendum is illegal anyone attempting to carry out the election would be arrested. Zelaya was arrested by the military and was escorted out of the country.
In accordance with Honduran law, the Honduran congress names a succesor, and sets elections (the ones Zelaya was trying to get rid of) for November.
All down in accordance with Honduran law.
It took Obama one day to denounce this "military coup."
For the record it took him five days to respond to North Korea launching a missle and a week before he could muster an "I concerned" over Iran.
But only one day to denounce (along with Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro) the fledgling democracy in Honduras following its own laws against a wanna be tyrant.
My how times have changed. What is going on here?
H/T Neal Boortz Additional story at American Thinker
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Honest Scrap Award
Steve, a.k.a. Magister Christianus , at Bedlam and Parnassus just announced that he has given The Guy In The Window this award. While I suspect this is something like an e-mail chain letter of sorts for blogs and will no doubt be the only thing regarding my blog ever approaching an award I am happy to do this because it does give me the opportunity to thank some people in the blogosphere that have been particularly inspiring and kind.
To wit:
There are some conditions that apply to this award, conditions that I am happy to fulfill.
1) Say "Thanks!" to the presenter of the award and provide a link to their blog.Thank you, Steve! I love your blog and am I honored that you read (and sometimes contribute to) mine. It is the height of irony that my blog has inspired you (I know it wasn't nominated for content :-) since your words,witness and friendship have inspired me since the time we met those many years ago.
2) Share 10 honest things about myself.
4) Inform those 7 that they've been awarded the 'Honest Scrap' Award. I shall do so presently. Thank you again, Steve, for honoring this blog!
To wit:
There are some conditions that apply to this award, conditions that I am happy to fulfill.
1) Say "Thanks!" to the presenter of the award and provide a link to their blog.Thank you, Steve! I love your blog and am I honored that you read (and sometimes contribute to) mine. It is the height of irony that my blog has inspired you (I know it wasn't nominated for content :-) since your words,witness and friendship have inspired me since the time we met those many years ago.
2) Share 10 honest things about myself.
- I think a fine meal with friends and wine is a worthwhile use of time and money. At least occasionally
- I wish I could read Greek and/or Latin.
- I do not have cable
- I was in quite a few plays back in college but took only one drama class.
- I enjoy traveling particularly overseas and still keep in touch with my old landlords.
- I enjoy writing and aspire to write better and more often.
- I do the cooking for my wife and kids.
- I love our two children and my wife more than anything in the world.
- I try to truly love the Lord, our God.
- I wish I knew what I want to be when I grow up and have 1yr and 3 months till I retire and have to decide.
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me. These would overlap some with Steve's (since I was blogging before him, he actually stole them from me. :-) but I'll come up with seven more.
Here we go: Inscapes for inspiring me to write more, providing a great summer reading list and convincing me (along with my 14yo) to get on Facebook, Creative Minority Report,for news and insight but mostly making me laugh A Banner Is Unfurled, Pomegranate Apple, Beetle Blogger, Pearl Diver, and Secular Heretic among others for fighting the good fight against same sex "pseudogamy" and supporting the family.4) Inform those 7 that they've been awarded the 'Honest Scrap' Award. I shall do so presently. Thank you again, Steve, for honoring this blog!
The Tragedy of Freedom
What is it you think of when you hear the word "freedom?" Aside, I mean, from the American idea of freedom enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Perhaps it is the absence of responsibility or restraint; being able to do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it.
The Christian view of freedom is of course, much different. One of my favorite analogies is the picture of a ball-field on top of a high mountain. Surrounding the field are jagged and dangerous rocks many feet below, and a raging sea around them. The boys on the field are given a ball and told to play. Free from rules or boundaries, the play is timid at best. The chance that the ball or one of the boys will be lost. Only when a fence is put around the mountain top and some rules applied can the boys enjoy the game.
The Christian knows, or should, that true freedom comes not in giving free reign to the appetites and desires of his heart, but rather to tame them and focus them to right ends. Obedience and self-discipline is the way to true freedom.
Two examples this week of what unrestrained freedom can lead to. I know, i know its almost yesterdays news by now but still...
First in the tragic figure that was Michael Jackson. With talent and creativity to spare he had everything but someone to tell him "no." Growing up with money to burn he indulged every desire, every whim.
"...But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell. ..." Andrew Sullivan at Theologica
Justin Taylor at the same site, has this to say: (h/t mere comments)
He is dead at the age of 50. He had everything the world offered--but no Jesus.
I remember once looking at the liner notes from an album of his, and he quoted the final lines from William Ernest Henley's famous poem, Invictus:
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Those are not the words you want written on your tombstone.
It is hard to think of a sadder public figure in recent years. A black man who never found his identity as one created in God's image, and who never experienced the identity of being conformed to the image of Christ. Black and white, male and female, rich and bankrupt, genius and punchline, private and public, innocent and deceptive--everything seemed to be jumbled up.The one thing that comes to mind about Jackson is how bad he was at hiding his brokenness. Even while living in a literal fantasy land, it was obvious to everyone that this was a person--enormously gifted--desperately seeking a mask to cover, in futility, who he was.May God use even this to increase our compassion and ministry to the lost, broken, and confused.
The second example is equally tragic, that being Governor Mark Sanford. So blinded by his own selfishness and self serving desire as to throw away a marriage and do untold damage to his sons. By the sound of the e-mails he was dealing with a woman who might have been having her own issues as she mentions in their e-mails, that she may need therapy. A decent man would never have crossed the line, much less with a woman who was having emotional difficulties at the time. Yes, I read the e-mails, to seek out the motivations and to gain some insight, not for prurient reasons. But what I found was the face of sin. How it sullies high emotions and feelings such as love and respect and how it uses scripture to justify it's own way.
I speak from experience, when I was 25 and single and far away from home I met a woman, a married woman, 10 years my senior, at a party. Her husband was not there and we, "hit it off", one might say. It turned out, that the husband was in the Mediterranean having his own affair. I made every mistake that the good Governor made except that I was not married. But she was. And it made no difference that the marriage was already in trouble, the truth is, I assisted in its demise. I know how sin muddles your vision. I know how sin intoxicates and justifies.
Years later while half-heartedly confessing this sorry incident to a friend, I tried to rationalize it away by saying it all worked out for the best in the end, since the marriage was already in trouble and that I "comforted" her in a time of need.
The friend listened patiently and when I was done said simply, "What you said was interesting but it didn't require the Gospel to say it."
I was struck to the core. Thank God for that. If it doesn't take the Gospel to say it, there's nothing particularly "Christian" about it. Likewise, if we find our freedom in any place but through obedience to Christ, we are but the most pathetic of slaves.
The Christian view of freedom is of course, much different. One of my favorite analogies is the picture of a ball-field on top of a high mountain. Surrounding the field are jagged and dangerous rocks many feet below, and a raging sea around them. The boys on the field are given a ball and told to play. Free from rules or boundaries, the play is timid at best. The chance that the ball or one of the boys will be lost. Only when a fence is put around the mountain top and some rules applied can the boys enjoy the game.
The Christian knows, or should, that true freedom comes not in giving free reign to the appetites and desires of his heart, but rather to tame them and focus them to right ends. Obedience and self-discipline is the way to true freedom.
Two examples this week of what unrestrained freedom can lead to. I know, i know its almost yesterdays news by now but still...
First in the tragic figure that was Michael Jackson. With talent and creativity to spare he had everything but someone to tell him "no." Growing up with money to burn he indulged every desire, every whim.
"...But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell. ..." Andrew Sullivan at Theologica
Justin Taylor at the same site, has this to say: (h/t mere comments)
He is dead at the age of 50. He had everything the world offered--but no Jesus.
I remember once looking at the liner notes from an album of his, and he quoted the final lines from William Ernest Henley's famous poem, Invictus:
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Those are not the words you want written on your tombstone.
It is hard to think of a sadder public figure in recent years. A black man who never found his identity as one created in God's image, and who never experienced the identity of being conformed to the image of Christ. Black and white, male and female, rich and bankrupt, genius and punchline, private and public, innocent and deceptive--everything seemed to be jumbled up.The one thing that comes to mind about Jackson is how bad he was at hiding his brokenness. Even while living in a literal fantasy land, it was obvious to everyone that this was a person--enormously gifted--desperately seeking a mask to cover, in futility, who he was.May God use even this to increase our compassion and ministry to the lost, broken, and confused.
The second example is equally tragic, that being Governor Mark Sanford. So blinded by his own selfishness and self serving desire as to throw away a marriage and do untold damage to his sons. By the sound of the e-mails he was dealing with a woman who might have been having her own issues as she mentions in their e-mails, that she may need therapy. A decent man would never have crossed the line, much less with a woman who was having emotional difficulties at the time. Yes, I read the e-mails, to seek out the motivations and to gain some insight, not for prurient reasons. But what I found was the face of sin. How it sullies high emotions and feelings such as love and respect and how it uses scripture to justify it's own way.
I speak from experience, when I was 25 and single and far away from home I met a woman, a married woman, 10 years my senior, at a party. Her husband was not there and we, "hit it off", one might say. It turned out, that the husband was in the Mediterranean having his own affair. I made every mistake that the good Governor made except that I was not married. But she was. And it made no difference that the marriage was already in trouble, the truth is, I assisted in its demise. I know how sin muddles your vision. I know how sin intoxicates and justifies.
Years later while half-heartedly confessing this sorry incident to a friend, I tried to rationalize it away by saying it all worked out for the best in the end, since the marriage was already in trouble and that I "comforted" her in a time of need.
The friend listened patiently and when I was done said simply, "What you said was interesting but it didn't require the Gospel to say it."
I was struck to the core. Thank God for that. If it doesn't take the Gospel to say it, there's nothing particularly "Christian" about it. Likewise, if we find our freedom in any place but through obedience to Christ, we are but the most pathetic of slaves.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Prayer Study Part 7- Covenant Prayer
An ongoing study of Richard Foster's book on Prayer. Previous studies can be found here and here.
What we need is a desire to know the whole will of God, with a fixed resolution to do it.
-John Wesley
Fear of Commitment
• Covenant prayer is a promise of holy obedience
• Self-discipline is the means to true freedom
• “Prayer is not a free-will offering to God; it is an obligatory service, something which he requires.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Duty is “the sacrament of the present moment.” de Caussade
• God, who is merciful, is mindful of our intentions as well as our broken promises
Covenants and the Bible
• God made a covenant with Abraham to bless him, give him descendents & land
• God made a covenant with the Hebrew people through the 10 Commandments
• In new covenant of Jesus Christ, the commandments are to be written on our hearts
Obedience
• The gift of God who first gives us the desire to obey and then empowers us
• Obedience is the result of falling in love with God
• Means being aware of obeying God in the small things
• A matter of practice—most of us don’t get it right the first time
• Obedience in the small things strengthens us to obey in the large things
A Time Commitment
• St. Benedict urged regularity in prayer
• Interruption of work reveals true priorities
• Reminds us for whom we are working
• Meaning of regularity will vary
• “The truth is that we only learn to pray all the time everywhere after we have resolutely set about praying some of the time somewhere.” John Dalrymple
• May choose to be accountable to one another in a small group
Covenant of Place
• Finding a place for prayer gives us focus
• Place may be within a small group—for mutual support
Preparing Our Heart
• Meet God with expectant listening for Kol Yahweh, the voice of God
• Keep silence—”The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Hab. 2:20
• Read a psalm
• Light a candle; pray with your morning coffee in hand
What we need is a desire to know the whole will of God, with a fixed resolution to do it.
-John Wesley
Fear of Commitment
• Covenant prayer is a promise of holy obedience
• Self-discipline is the means to true freedom
• “Prayer is not a free-will offering to God; it is an obligatory service, something which he requires.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Duty is “the sacrament of the present moment.” de Caussade
• God, who is merciful, is mindful of our intentions as well as our broken promises
Covenants and the Bible
• God made a covenant with Abraham to bless him, give him descendents & land
• God made a covenant with the Hebrew people through the 10 Commandments
• In new covenant of Jesus Christ, the commandments are to be written on our hearts
Obedience
• The gift of God who first gives us the desire to obey and then empowers us
• Obedience is the result of falling in love with God
• Means being aware of obeying God in the small things
• A matter of practice—most of us don’t get it right the first time
• Obedience in the small things strengthens us to obey in the large things
A Time Commitment
• St. Benedict urged regularity in prayer
• Interruption of work reveals true priorities
• Reminds us for whom we are working
• Meaning of regularity will vary
• “The truth is that we only learn to pray all the time everywhere after we have resolutely set about praying some of the time somewhere.” John Dalrymple
• May choose to be accountable to one another in a small group
Covenant of Place
• Finding a place for prayer gives us focus
• Place may be within a small group—for mutual support
Preparing Our Heart
• Meet God with expectant listening for Kol Yahweh, the voice of God
• Keep silence—”The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Hab. 2:20
• Read a psalm
• Light a candle; pray with your morning coffee in hand
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Team of Researchers Blames Children's Films for Perpetuating "Heteronormativity"
"Heteronormativity"- Like Frankensteins's monster, bad satire comes to life.....
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, June 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Researchers at the University of Michigan have concluded that the love stories told in classic Disney and other G-rated children's films – such as the Little Mermaid - are partially to blame for the pervasiveness of what they label "heteronormativity."
"Despite the assumption that children’s media are free of sexual content, our analyses suggest that these media depict a rich and pervasive heterosexual landscape," wrote researchers Emily Kazyak and Karin Martin, in a report published in the latest issue of the Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) publication Gender & Society.
Good Grief!
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, June 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Researchers at the University of Michigan have concluded that the love stories told in classic Disney and other G-rated children's films – such as the Little Mermaid - are partially to blame for the pervasiveness of what they label "heteronormativity."
"Despite the assumption that children’s media are free of sexual content, our analyses suggest that these media depict a rich and pervasive heterosexual landscape," wrote researchers Emily Kazyak and Karin Martin, in a report published in the latest issue of the Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) publication Gender & Society.
Good Grief!
Why Keep An Eye on the Flu- Part 2
A while back I wrote about why we should keep an eye on the new H1N1 virus despite the waning coverage in the press and the mildness of the outbreak here in the states.
Despite the pandemeic declaration there is no need to panic, yet many signs to note in the developing situation. It is why I have kept the Flu blogs and links posted. Over at Effect Measure they rightfully say that this is a teachable moment and a time that we are blessed with to get prepared:
For years those concerned about the consequences of an influenza pandemic from an exceptionally virulent flu virus, like A/H5N1 ("bird flu") have despaired about motivating business, government and neighbors to take it seriously enough to make serious preparations. It's understandable. There's are a lot of potential catastrophes competing for our attention and while each can be made plausible if we can get someone to listen long enough, it's rare we can do this. As I said, too much competition. Now that a real life influenza pandemic has arrived, the concern of some is that the public isn't being told how bad this could become, possibly even 1918 level. My view is different. In terms of stimulating genuine pandemic preparedness, I think we are extremely lucky to have a pandemic that so far is nowhere near worst case scenario (and let's be clear: it isn't anywhere near worst case). The pandemic is no longer theoretical. It is here and tangible. And it is having some tangible effects in unlikely places...
Unlikely places like Hedge funds.
And there are some disturbing trends.
First the flu is not subsiding here in the US as summer begins. Typically the flu viruses taper off or disappear completely in the summer months. The question now becomes what will it look like when the usual flu season comes around in the fall and winter?
Second, the southern hemisphere (currently experiencing winter) is having a tough go of it:
It is still relatively early in the flu season south of the Equator, with the peak not expected until next month, but already Argentina and Chile are reporting serious demands on their medical system.
Elective surgeries are being canceled in some Buenos Aires hospitals, and mobile flu clinics are being dispatched to some neighborhoods. Of 111 people hospitalized in the country’s capital, 75 are on ventilators. (Avian Flu Diary)
Last but certainly not least is the disturbing news that the virus may be mutating into a more virulent strain:
Virologists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have just announced they have indeed identified a variant of the flu gene after testing samples taken from a 26-year-old swine flu patient.
Lead researcher Terezinha Maria de Paiva, of the Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute, says it is too soon to know if the new variant, dubbed the A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 variant, will be more aggressive than the type A/H1N1 that prompted the official declaration of pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) but the patient from whom the sample was taken has completely recovered from his bout with swine flu. The patient began experiencing flu-like symptoms after returning from a trip to Mexico.
This one had a happy ending. As I said, its worth watching.
Despite the pandemeic declaration there is no need to panic, yet many signs to note in the developing situation. It is why I have kept the Flu blogs and links posted. Over at Effect Measure they rightfully say that this is a teachable moment and a time that we are blessed with to get prepared:
For years those concerned about the consequences of an influenza pandemic from an exceptionally virulent flu virus, like A/H5N1 ("bird flu") have despaired about motivating business, government and neighbors to take it seriously enough to make serious preparations. It's understandable. There's are a lot of potential catastrophes competing for our attention and while each can be made plausible if we can get someone to listen long enough, it's rare we can do this. As I said, too much competition. Now that a real life influenza pandemic has arrived, the concern of some is that the public isn't being told how bad this could become, possibly even 1918 level. My view is different. In terms of stimulating genuine pandemic preparedness, I think we are extremely lucky to have a pandemic that so far is nowhere near worst case scenario (and let's be clear: it isn't anywhere near worst case). The pandemic is no longer theoretical. It is here and tangible. And it is having some tangible effects in unlikely places...
Unlikely places like Hedge funds.
And there are some disturbing trends.
First the flu is not subsiding here in the US as summer begins. Typically the flu viruses taper off or disappear completely in the summer months. The question now becomes what will it look like when the usual flu season comes around in the fall and winter?
Second, the southern hemisphere (currently experiencing winter) is having a tough go of it:
It is still relatively early in the flu season south of the Equator, with the peak not expected until next month, but already Argentina and Chile are reporting serious demands on their medical system.
Elective surgeries are being canceled in some Buenos Aires hospitals, and mobile flu clinics are being dispatched to some neighborhoods. Of 111 people hospitalized in the country’s capital, 75 are on ventilators. (Avian Flu Diary)
Last but certainly not least is the disturbing news that the virus may be mutating into a more virulent strain:
Virologists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have just announced they have indeed identified a variant of the flu gene after testing samples taken from a 26-year-old swine flu patient.
Lead researcher Terezinha Maria de Paiva, of the Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute, says it is too soon to know if the new variant, dubbed the A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 variant, will be more aggressive than the type A/H1N1 that prompted the official declaration of pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) but the patient from whom the sample was taken has completely recovered from his bout with swine flu. The patient began experiencing flu-like symptoms after returning from a trip to Mexico.
This one had a happy ending. As I said, its worth watching.
Monday, June 22, 2009
A Father’s Day Story
“Let’s go for ice-cream” his dad had said.
Not an unknown occurrence but strange in this case because it was just him and his dad. Usually a trip for ice cream included the boy’s step-mom as well as any other members of the now extended family who might be around.
It was sometimes a little awkward for the boy to be alone with his dad. His dad had traveled often and regularly for work and military obligations while the boy was growing up. On top of that the boy’s parents had divorced a few years earlier reducing visits to one week-end a month and two weeks in the summer. Still, the boy felt his father’s love even through those awkward moments and was proud of him and sought his approval in all things. For his part, the father sought the best for his son. Stern, but fair, an officer and pilot in the Air Force a role-model not withstanding the indiscretions that first led to the marriage to the boy’s mother and then to it’s end. His father had a strong sense of responsibility that obligated him to marry the boy’s mother when she found out she was pregnant and that same sense of obligation committed him to staying till the boy was 18 years old. Two later pregnancies extended the “contract” and was in effect till another woman entered the picture and caused the boy’s mother to end the relationship. It all seemed somewhat normal to the boy at the time. Only in looking back did it seem to be somewhat “dysfunctional.”
But the boy loved his father and the father loved his boy and that was all that mattered.
The boy’s dad had recently had a heart attack, brought on, in no small part, by years of smoking that at one time had seemed fashionable and reasonable. His heart had stopped beating for a time but the doctors got it started again. The memory of that phone call was already clouded in the boy’s mind such was the pain in hearing that news.
When the boy had visited his father in the ICU of the hospital his father whispered in a weakened voice, “Remind me to tell you something, it was not a dream.”
What he told the boy later, was what he saw when his heart had stopped. The hooded figures kneeling around him praying and the three people walking toward him from the light with arms outstretched. These three he “felt” were his mother and father and sister all of whom had died previously.
Taken with this vision, he told his son over ice cream, that if he ever had the chance again, he would not come back. The boy took in this news as well as any emotional, worry filled, hormonal 14 year old could be expected to.
..........................................................................................
Years passed and the boy grew and learned more about his father and they grew closer, closer than perhaps they had ever been. The boy began to write and shared his writing with his father. The day his father read some of his work and critiqued simply, “That’s pretty good,” stood out in the boy’s mind. One day after reading something the boy had written the boy’s father said “I want you to write my eulogy.” The boy was very proud.
Later, the boy turned 18 and moved out of the house and attended college. The days of mandatory visits were gone and the artificial importance of new found freedom and social life stole many visits together between dad and son.
One night the boy was roused from fitful attempts to sleep and urged, by what he was not sure, to write the eulogy for his father. He jotted a few lines down but left it undone because of the unreasonable, yet palpable feeling that rose within the boy that once he finished the eulogy, his father would die. With the begging Muse satisfied, the boy drifted into sleep.
Some time later the boy called his dad. These calls had become more frequent than visits since for 20yr olds a short drive of a few dozen blocks was such the inconvenience.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” the boy asked. It was a fair bet since his dad now worked from the house and it was the middle of the day.
“Kind of busy right now,” his dad replied.
“Well, I’ll just talk to you later then.” The boy said.
This worked out well for the boy as friends were coming over that afternoon anyway. A bit of socializing before the boy’s play rehearsal. Play rehearsal in college took a lot of time, 3-4 hrs everyday and he had a major role. “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feeling So Sad,” the longest title ever on Broadway. A black comedy of a man-eating woman who carries her dead husband around with her (in the closet) as she travels, and her man-eating plant, and her stuttering boy (the boy’s part) who is, in the course of the play, seduced by the at first glance virginal “girl next door” who turns out to be anything but.
A few hours later the phone rang. With that phone call, the boy’s life began to fray about the edges, like paper held to close to a flame. His field of vision narrowed much as it had years before when he received that other phone call.
His father had another heart attack. “He’s gonna run out of chances,” he tried to joke, as he broke the news to his friends and they hurriedly and awkwardly made their exits.
The boy drove quickly to the hospital only to be told that the ambulance had gone to a closer hospital. “Can’t be good,” he thought. “Dad would never voluntarily go to that hospital.” He almost laughed at the thought but then reality flooded back like the returning tide.
As he pulled into the hospital parking lot he was met by long faces and tears of family and family friends who had already heard the news and made it there before him. His worst fears were realized and the worst pain of his young 20 years crushed down, crumpling him on the steering wheel in a flood of tears he did not care to hide.
The next few hours were a blur. After missing the first half he showed up at rehearsal much to everyone’s surprise. Nothing else to do he explained and it’s good to be busy.
The scene they rehearsed provided its own black comedy to the evening. The scene was of the seduction, where the “not so virginal girl next door” attempts to seduce the stuttering boy. In the midst of the scene, the closet door opens and out falls the boy’s father. “Who the hell is this!” the girl angrily screams. To which the stuttering 17 year old replied, “Its, my f-f-f father!”
Struck by the irony the boy replied, “Oh wow! Oh, wow!” The director stopped rehearsal and asked to see the boy outside.
The gruff, surly director was pacing. The boy thought he might be in trouble for stopping the scene. For once, the director seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Uh... um.... I realize, um….uh how,... ah...um...macabre this might seem in light of everything.” The director stammered.
The boy explained that there was no problem. In fact he found it funny. It was one of the few bright spots in the next few days. Those days swam about his mind like a dream. He slept a lot. Cried a lot. And strove to put on a brave face.
They toasted his father at the grave with a bottle of Cold Duck- one of his dad’s favorites.
.................................................................................
“Put a bible on the mantle,” his dad had said, “and if there is any way possible to come back, I will and I’ll knock it off.”
The boy looked at the bible hanging limply off the corner of the mantle. He laughed remembering the request, but he did not move the bible.
...............................................................................
There were many dreams about his father. Comforting and disturbing all at the same time. It was curious to note that his father did not seem to know him in these dreams, a fact that he brought up to his step-mother, Pam.
A few days later, another dream. The boy and his father were driving down the road a few blocks from his father’s house. The father was driving, the boy was in the passenger seat. The boy’s father looked at the boy and said,
“I understand you’ve been having dreams about me.”
“You’ve been talking to Pam,” the boy grinned in reply.
Many will say that the occurrence was just a type of mourning or wishful thinking but for the boy it was as real as the day was long.
The boy’s father leaned in a bit and said,
“I’ll always know you and I’ll always love you.”
.......................................................................................
Years later, the boy would share the story with his own sons and remind them that like his own dad and their Father in heaven, he would always know them and always love them. A fine legacy indeed.
Not an unknown occurrence but strange in this case because it was just him and his dad. Usually a trip for ice cream included the boy’s step-mom as well as any other members of the now extended family who might be around.
It was sometimes a little awkward for the boy to be alone with his dad. His dad had traveled often and regularly for work and military obligations while the boy was growing up. On top of that the boy’s parents had divorced a few years earlier reducing visits to one week-end a month and two weeks in the summer. Still, the boy felt his father’s love even through those awkward moments and was proud of him and sought his approval in all things. For his part, the father sought the best for his son. Stern, but fair, an officer and pilot in the Air Force a role-model not withstanding the indiscretions that first led to the marriage to the boy’s mother and then to it’s end. His father had a strong sense of responsibility that obligated him to marry the boy’s mother when she found out she was pregnant and that same sense of obligation committed him to staying till the boy was 18 years old. Two later pregnancies extended the “contract” and was in effect till another woman entered the picture and caused the boy’s mother to end the relationship. It all seemed somewhat normal to the boy at the time. Only in looking back did it seem to be somewhat “dysfunctional.”
But the boy loved his father and the father loved his boy and that was all that mattered.
The boy’s dad had recently had a heart attack, brought on, in no small part, by years of smoking that at one time had seemed fashionable and reasonable. His heart had stopped beating for a time but the doctors got it started again. The memory of that phone call was already clouded in the boy’s mind such was the pain in hearing that news.
When the boy had visited his father in the ICU of the hospital his father whispered in a weakened voice, “Remind me to tell you something, it was not a dream.”
What he told the boy later, was what he saw when his heart had stopped. The hooded figures kneeling around him praying and the three people walking toward him from the light with arms outstretched. These three he “felt” were his mother and father and sister all of whom had died previously.
Taken with this vision, he told his son over ice cream, that if he ever had the chance again, he would not come back. The boy took in this news as well as any emotional, worry filled, hormonal 14 year old could be expected to.
..........................................................................................
Years passed and the boy grew and learned more about his father and they grew closer, closer than perhaps they had ever been. The boy began to write and shared his writing with his father. The day his father read some of his work and critiqued simply, “That’s pretty good,” stood out in the boy’s mind. One day after reading something the boy had written the boy’s father said “I want you to write my eulogy.” The boy was very proud.
Later, the boy turned 18 and moved out of the house and attended college. The days of mandatory visits were gone and the artificial importance of new found freedom and social life stole many visits together between dad and son.
One night the boy was roused from fitful attempts to sleep and urged, by what he was not sure, to write the eulogy for his father. He jotted a few lines down but left it undone because of the unreasonable, yet palpable feeling that rose within the boy that once he finished the eulogy, his father would die. With the begging Muse satisfied, the boy drifted into sleep.
Some time later the boy called his dad. These calls had become more frequent than visits since for 20yr olds a short drive of a few dozen blocks was such the inconvenience.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” the boy asked. It was a fair bet since his dad now worked from the house and it was the middle of the day.
“Kind of busy right now,” his dad replied.
“Well, I’ll just talk to you later then.” The boy said.
This worked out well for the boy as friends were coming over that afternoon anyway. A bit of socializing before the boy’s play rehearsal. Play rehearsal in college took a lot of time, 3-4 hrs everyday and he had a major role. “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feeling So Sad,” the longest title ever on Broadway. A black comedy of a man-eating woman who carries her dead husband around with her (in the closet) as she travels, and her man-eating plant, and her stuttering boy (the boy’s part) who is, in the course of the play, seduced by the at first glance virginal “girl next door” who turns out to be anything but.
A few hours later the phone rang. With that phone call, the boy’s life began to fray about the edges, like paper held to close to a flame. His field of vision narrowed much as it had years before when he received that other phone call.
His father had another heart attack. “He’s gonna run out of chances,” he tried to joke, as he broke the news to his friends and they hurriedly and awkwardly made their exits.
The boy drove quickly to the hospital only to be told that the ambulance had gone to a closer hospital. “Can’t be good,” he thought. “Dad would never voluntarily go to that hospital.” He almost laughed at the thought but then reality flooded back like the returning tide.
As he pulled into the hospital parking lot he was met by long faces and tears of family and family friends who had already heard the news and made it there before him. His worst fears were realized and the worst pain of his young 20 years crushed down, crumpling him on the steering wheel in a flood of tears he did not care to hide.
The next few hours were a blur. After missing the first half he showed up at rehearsal much to everyone’s surprise. Nothing else to do he explained and it’s good to be busy.
The scene they rehearsed provided its own black comedy to the evening. The scene was of the seduction, where the “not so virginal girl next door” attempts to seduce the stuttering boy. In the midst of the scene, the closet door opens and out falls the boy’s father. “Who the hell is this!” the girl angrily screams. To which the stuttering 17 year old replied, “Its, my f-f-f father!”
Struck by the irony the boy replied, “Oh wow! Oh, wow!” The director stopped rehearsal and asked to see the boy outside.
The gruff, surly director was pacing. The boy thought he might be in trouble for stopping the scene. For once, the director seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Uh... um.... I realize, um….uh how,... ah...um...macabre this might seem in light of everything.” The director stammered.
The boy explained that there was no problem. In fact he found it funny. It was one of the few bright spots in the next few days. Those days swam about his mind like a dream. He slept a lot. Cried a lot. And strove to put on a brave face.
They toasted his father at the grave with a bottle of Cold Duck- one of his dad’s favorites.
.................................................................................
“Put a bible on the mantle,” his dad had said, “and if there is any way possible to come back, I will and I’ll knock it off.”
The boy looked at the bible hanging limply off the corner of the mantle. He laughed remembering the request, but he did not move the bible.
...............................................................................
There were many dreams about his father. Comforting and disturbing all at the same time. It was curious to note that his father did not seem to know him in these dreams, a fact that he brought up to his step-mother, Pam.
A few days later, another dream. The boy and his father were driving down the road a few blocks from his father’s house. The father was driving, the boy was in the passenger seat. The boy’s father looked at the boy and said,
“I understand you’ve been having dreams about me.”
“You’ve been talking to Pam,” the boy grinned in reply.
Many will say that the occurrence was just a type of mourning or wishful thinking but for the boy it was as real as the day was long.
The boy’s father leaned in a bit and said,
“I’ll always know you and I’ll always love you.”
.......................................................................................
Years later, the boy would share the story with his own sons and remind them that like his own dad and their Father in heaven, he would always know them and always love them. A fine legacy indeed.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Prayer Study Part 6- Formation Prayer
An ongoing study of Richard Foster's book on Prayer. Previous studies can be found here.
What is Formation Prayer?
•A process of transformation in which our lives increasingly mirror the Son’s
•Formation prayer begins when our simple prayers are not answered in the way we expect
•We begin a process of change called conversatio morum or death of the status quo
•Prayer is only one element in the process of Christian formation
•Formation prayer is both an active and passive process
•We are both pursuing God and being pursued by God
Model One-- The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
•Week 1–Contemplate our sins in the light of the love of Christ
•Week 2—Focus on the life of Christ and earnestly seek to conform our lives to his
•Week 3—Contemplate the passion of Christ and seek to die to our own idolatries
•Week 4—Contemplate the resurrection of Christ and seek the power of the Spirit to live our lives in conformity with Christ’s
Model Two—St. Benedict’s Rule
•Composed of 12 steps toward humility
•“Humility means to live as close to the truth as possible”
•Reverence God in daily life
•Confess any sinful thought or action to God
•Do God’s will instead of our own
•Cultivate silence in place of idle speech
•Use plain, simple speech
•Endure “with patience the injuries and afflictions we face”
•“Be content in all things”
Model Three--The Little Way
•Based on the approach of St. Therese of Lisieux
•“To seek out the menial job, to welcome unjust criticisms, to befriend those who annoy us, to help those who are ungrateful”
•A way of life that anyone can engage in everyday
Solitude
•Will be viewed by others as selfish and slothful
•We learn to let go of the opinions of others
•Our true self is unmasked
•“Solitude gives us the power not to win the rat race but to ignore the rat race altogether.”
Other Ways to do Formation Prayer
•Contemplate our own death
•Brings humility
•Best done in light of Gal. 2:19—what does it mean to be crucified with Christ?
•Practice the prayer of docility
•Surrender ourselves to the hands of God, the potter
•A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench. Isaiah 42:3
What is Formation Prayer?
•A process of transformation in which our lives increasingly mirror the Son’s
•Formation prayer begins when our simple prayers are not answered in the way we expect
•We begin a process of change called conversatio morum or death of the status quo
•Prayer is only one element in the process of Christian formation
•Formation prayer is both an active and passive process
•We are both pursuing God and being pursued by God
Model One-- The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
•Week 1–Contemplate our sins in the light of the love of Christ
•Week 2—Focus on the life of Christ and earnestly seek to conform our lives to his
•Week 3—Contemplate the passion of Christ and seek to die to our own idolatries
•Week 4—Contemplate the resurrection of Christ and seek the power of the Spirit to live our lives in conformity with Christ’s
Model Two—St. Benedict’s Rule
•Composed of 12 steps toward humility
•“Humility means to live as close to the truth as possible”
•Reverence God in daily life
•Confess any sinful thought or action to God
•Do God’s will instead of our own
•Cultivate silence in place of idle speech
•Use plain, simple speech
•Endure “with patience the injuries and afflictions we face”
•“Be content in all things”
Model Three--The Little Way
•Based on the approach of St. Therese of Lisieux
•“To seek out the menial job, to welcome unjust criticisms, to befriend those who annoy us, to help those who are ungrateful”
•A way of life that anyone can engage in everyday
Solitude
•Will be viewed by others as selfish and slothful
•We learn to let go of the opinions of others
•Our true self is unmasked
•“Solitude gives us the power not to win the rat race but to ignore the rat race altogether.”
Other Ways to do Formation Prayer
•Contemplate our own death
•Brings humility
•Best done in light of Gal. 2:19—what does it mean to be crucified with Christ?
•Practice the prayer of docility
•Surrender ourselves to the hands of God, the potter
•A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench. Isaiah 42:3
Friday, June 19, 2009
Obama's 'Go-Soft-With-Killers' Approach
While taking a hardliner attitude toward Israel, Obama is treating Iran, Hammas et al with kid gloves. Disturbing to say the least and a prelude I fear to hard days ahead because when weakness is percieved, people die.
From the American Thinker:
"...While many European leaders have been using very tough language to criticize the Iranian regime for its handling of the election and its aftermath, and standing with the demonstrators, Barack Obama alone seems to be siding with the regime. Clearly, Obama does not see regime change in Iran as a positive development, and seems fearful of offending the mullahs and Ahmadinejad.
This go-soft-with-killers approach is causing unusual verbal gymnastics by Obama acolytes in the left wing press (e.g. the Nation, the Guardian) who are desperate to find a way to spin the story so that Obama's reticence in challenging the crackdown and the election theft is in fact seen as a calculated and nuanced approach to the Iranian situation.
Israel, on the other hand, seems to be a different story, and the Administration seems to think it important to go public with criticism of Israel virtually every day. Three separate news stories in the last two days should make clear to all but the willfully blind that Obama still has Israel in its sights. "
From the American Thinker:
"...While many European leaders have been using very tough language to criticize the Iranian regime for its handling of the election and its aftermath, and standing with the demonstrators, Barack Obama alone seems to be siding with the regime. Clearly, Obama does not see regime change in Iran as a positive development, and seems fearful of offending the mullahs and Ahmadinejad.
This go-soft-with-killers approach is causing unusual verbal gymnastics by Obama acolytes in the left wing press (e.g. the Nation, the Guardian) who are desperate to find a way to spin the story so that Obama's reticence in challenging the crackdown and the election theft is in fact seen as a calculated and nuanced approach to the Iranian situation.
Israel, on the other hand, seems to be a different story, and the Administration seems to think it important to go public with criticism of Israel virtually every day. Three separate news stories in the last two days should make clear to all but the willfully blind that Obama still has Israel in its sights. "
Obama Intimidation Tactics Continue
Obama continues with his intimidation tactics first mentioned here.
Apparently the FBI is getting involved to find out what happened to a number of e-mails:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun looking into a dispute that is linked to an AmeriCorps money scandal that has fingers pointing all the way up to the White House because of President Obama's dismissal of an inspector general who was on the case.
According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence G. Brown has confirmed the agency is looking into the "circumstances" regarding the alleged destruction of e-mails regarding a dispute over the handling of money at Mayor Kevin Johnson's "brainchild" St. HOPE Academy, which had been investigated after allegations that public funds were misused. (more from WND)
Now according to Judicial Watch Obama has blocked another IG probe:
"...A few months ago TARP Inspector General Neil Barofsky published a scathing report revealing that the financial bailout has little oversight, is severely mismanaged and “inherently vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse.” That preliminary probe led to at least 20 criminal investigations—for securities fraud, tax law violations and mortgage modification fraud—and Barofsky predicted the risk would only grow.
Now the Obama Administration is blocking Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor in New York, from further investigating what he has determined to be a troubling experiment of U.S. tax dollars. The president’s Treasury Secretary delayed at least one recent inquiry and has evidently determined that the agency (Treasury Department) Barofsky is charged with watching has legal authority over his office, which clearly threatens its independence...."
Apparently the FBI is getting involved to find out what happened to a number of e-mails:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun looking into a dispute that is linked to an AmeriCorps money scandal that has fingers pointing all the way up to the White House because of President Obama's dismissal of an inspector general who was on the case.
According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence G. Brown has confirmed the agency is looking into the "circumstances" regarding the alleged destruction of e-mails regarding a dispute over the handling of money at Mayor Kevin Johnson's "brainchild" St. HOPE Academy, which had been investigated after allegations that public funds were misused. (more from WND)
Now according to Judicial Watch Obama has blocked another IG probe:
"...A few months ago TARP Inspector General Neil Barofsky published a scathing report revealing that the financial bailout has little oversight, is severely mismanaged and “inherently vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse.” That preliminary probe led to at least 20 criminal investigations—for securities fraud, tax law violations and mortgage modification fraud—and Barofsky predicted the risk would only grow.
Now the Obama Administration is blocking Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor in New York, from further investigating what he has determined to be a troubling experiment of U.S. tax dollars. The president’s Treasury Secretary delayed at least one recent inquiry and has evidently determined that the agency (Treasury Department) Barofsky is charged with watching has legal authority over his office, which clearly threatens its independence...."
Is North Korea Bluffing?
We are about to find out...
U.S. Military Set to Intercept North Korean Ship Suspected of Proliferating Missiles, Nukes
The USS John McCain, a navy destroyer, will intercept the ship Kang Nam as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
U.S. Military Set to Intercept North Korean Ship Suspected of Proliferating Missiles, Nukes
The USS John McCain, a navy destroyer, will intercept the ship Kang Nam as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
Where Are Obama's Records
I don't really know what to think of this. Initially (back during the election) I thought it much ado about nothing, but I am increasingly uneasy with everything Obama and beginning to wonder...
From WND the story of Senator Coburn calling for vetting of candidates' eligibility in all future elections. In the course of the article we not only get an impressive listing of lawsuits seeking publication of his birth certificate but also a disturbing list of documents not provided by Obama which includes:
"... his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, hisfiles from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records. "
It would seem like an easy matter to put to bed if there was nothing to hide, yet lawyers for Obama are spending a great deal of money and effort to quash lawsuits and keep documents hidden. I just wonder, why?
From WND the story of Senator Coburn calling for vetting of candidates' eligibility in all future elections. In the course of the article we not only get an impressive listing of lawsuits seeking publication of his birth certificate but also a disturbing list of documents not provided by Obama which includes:
"... his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, hisfiles from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records. "
It would seem like an easy matter to put to bed if there was nothing to hide, yet lawyers for Obama are spending a great deal of money and effort to quash lawsuits and keep documents hidden. I just wonder, why?
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Casual Sex is Unhealthy
Doctors, Joe McIlhaney and Freda McKissic Bush, explain what we now know about sex and the human brain in their book, Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children
From OneWoldNews:
...Males have their own neurochemical related to bonding: vasopressin. It floods the male brain during sexual intercourse, causing him to feel at least partially bonded to every woman with whom he's been intimate. If men begin a pattern of having sex with partner after partner, they risk not developing the ability to form long-term emotional attachment. As McIlhaney and Bush put it: "Their inability to bond after multiple liaisons is almost like tape that loses its stickiness after being applied and removed multiple times." ...
...Now let's add to that new information that neuroscience teaches us about the brain chemistry of sex and bonding some cold, hard facts about how effective birth control really is when it comes to teenagers. The authors of Hooked have compiled the following statistics from various sources:
- 20 percent of 12- to 18-year-olds using the Pill will become pregnant within six months
- 20 percent of teens under 18 using condoms will become pregnant within a year
- 50 percent of female teenagers who live with a boyfriend and use contraception will become pregnant within a year...
...For those of us unconvinced by moral or religious arguments, it's time to re-order our priorities. Now that we have science behind us, it's time for society to change its collective mind when it comes to sex, just as it did with smoking. Maybe in one generation, we can undergo a transformation when it comes to sex outside of marriage. Maybe TV shows and movies will stop implying that casual sex is no big deal. Maybe we'll begin to teach young people that waiting till marriage is best. Then the dopamine and the oxytocin and the vasopressin can do their jobs of helping to make two people one.
From OneWoldNews:
...Males have their own neurochemical related to bonding: vasopressin. It floods the male brain during sexual intercourse, causing him to feel at least partially bonded to every woman with whom he's been intimate. If men begin a pattern of having sex with partner after partner, they risk not developing the ability to form long-term emotional attachment. As McIlhaney and Bush put it: "Their inability to bond after multiple liaisons is almost like tape that loses its stickiness after being applied and removed multiple times." ...
...Now let's add to that new information that neuroscience teaches us about the brain chemistry of sex and bonding some cold, hard facts about how effective birth control really is when it comes to teenagers. The authors of Hooked have compiled the following statistics from various sources:
- 20 percent of 12- to 18-year-olds using the Pill will become pregnant within six months
- 20 percent of teens under 18 using condoms will become pregnant within a year
- 50 percent of female teenagers who live with a boyfriend and use contraception will become pregnant within a year...
...For those of us unconvinced by moral or religious arguments, it's time to re-order our priorities. Now that we have science behind us, it's time for society to change its collective mind when it comes to sex, just as it did with smoking. Maybe in one generation, we can undergo a transformation when it comes to sex outside of marriage. Maybe TV shows and movies will stop implying that casual sex is no big deal. Maybe we'll begin to teach young people that waiting till marriage is best. Then the dopamine and the oxytocin and the vasopressin can do their jobs of helping to make two people one.
Obama Fires IG Who Exposed Supporter’s Fraud
Clear warning to anyone else who raises questions or stands in the way, wouldn't you say? Whether you are the head of a company (e.g. GM) or an IG.....
From Judicial Watch:
A government inspector general who has exposed widespread waste in taxpayer-financed community service groups has been fired by Barack Obama after finding that one of the president’s political supporters, a California mayor, misused federal funds.
In violation of a law established to keep the watchdogs independent and free of political pressure or interference, Obama has refused to explain why he got rid of the inspector general charged with investigating the government’s so-called national service programs. ...(more)
however, a key Obama ally says President Obama did not follow the law when he fired the IG.
Sen. Claire McCaskill better watch his back...
From Judicial Watch:
A government inspector general who has exposed widespread waste in taxpayer-financed community service groups has been fired by Barack Obama after finding that one of the president’s political supporters, a California mayor, misused federal funds.
In violation of a law established to keep the watchdogs independent and free of political pressure or interference, Obama has refused to explain why he got rid of the inspector general charged with investigating the government’s so-called national service programs. ...(more)
however, a key Obama ally says President Obama did not follow the law when he fired the IG.
Sen. Claire McCaskill better watch his back...
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Cub Camp
I've been at Cub Camp the last few days with my youngest. This was the first session, a tradition in our Pack because historically it has usually been the coolest (relatively speaking). As a result we have never gotten our Chili Pepper badge, received when one camps in 100 degree or higher weather. I was quite pleased (privately of course) that my older son never received this badge.
Unfortunately my youngest son has now qualified for this badge and did so on both days (and nights-long miserable, sweaty, no wind, nights) of the camp out.
Though tired and not really sure that I have gotten all the layers of salt scraped from my body, it was a grand time. I would do it again tomorrow. I'll be posting again soon.
Unfortunately my youngest son has now qualified for this badge and did so on both days (and nights-long miserable, sweaty, no wind, nights) of the camp out.
Though tired and not really sure that I have gotten all the layers of salt scraped from my body, it was a grand time. I would do it again tomorrow. I'll be posting again soon.
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