Catholic Church Problems --Response to the ol' Mudrake

Thought I'd check on Mudrake after long absence --he has a topic about his wife's class reunion --about the 68 year old women who are still letting the Catholic Church affect their lives negatively --run their lives. My reply (because he will not publish it at his blog.)

Doesn’t sound to me like these women let the church run their lives at all! The one did not annul but got a divorce–even though annulment would have squared her with the church. Because of her mother’s beliefs concerning the status of the grandchildren. Not because she feared the church. She went ahead and divorced and re-married. The other lady, the heavy-drinking Catholic had no respect for the church clearly–and the church has no practices or beliefs to help the laity stay sober.

The Foundation for Life, e.g. is having a reception to raise money for the pro-life cause –and charging $60 a head for snacks and the open bar –no dinner. There will be a speech by a former Planned Parenthood director and I intend to attend in order to support the pro-life work of the foundation. But it’s sad that most of the $60 ticket will support the open bar which was considered a selling point in promoting the event. I said to the really sweet young lady at the FFL office, “O you Catholics!”

Catholics “lapse” in faith because the church has been headed by such extreme hypocrites –Evil –way too many pedophiles and uncelibate homosexuals and alcoholics in the priesthood. what kind of teaching can come from such a church? what disillusionment for the young with parents and priests addicted to nicotine, alcohol and perverse sex, affecting their temperament, behaviors, reputations.

Sepp, my experience of church has been wonderful. I go to a really “functional” church (Holland FMC on Angola Rd.) –with a history of “clean living” without nicotine and alcohol. All the pastors I’ve had were really godly and not hypocrites. Genuinely loving and sweet people. Right now, we only have a VERY few “body lice” in my congregation to test the saints with irritable personalities or control tendencies common in church lay leaders —(“Saint” meaning “believer.” ) Our pastor preaches the Bible to us –HE doesn’t tell us how to live; the Bible does. And so we know we are to be patient and forebearing with one another, “Kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven us.” And to be filled with the Holy Spirit and not excessive wine. To be sober all the time.

The music is uplifting and varied with traditional and contemporary music –most always aesthetically pleasing. And the minister is intelligent, insightful, educated, practical and inspiring.

Now, a final word about the Catholic Church:

They are leaders in the pro-life movement and some priests are surely godly men. The sincere and devout have FAITH in Jesus as the Savior of the world --on that we agree. And the sincere and devout also live lives such that their children receive the baton of faith from their parents. A Catholic layman brings our church baked goods for us to distribute after our Sunday service --from area merchants. I guess his church doesn't want to distribute these on Sundays? I'm not sure why we are the beneficiaries of this good work. And the devout Catholics also practice good deeds to neighbors --as the Bible teaches --as my mother's neighbors did for her, an elderly widow.

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

MY LIFE LATELY! if anyone is interested....

In August, my daughter, a teacher, had an emergency appendectomy just before her school year was to start. So I drove her back and forth from Maumee to BG to Jerry City --to finish preparing her classroom, loaned her my Rascal scooter to get around in the school building. Then my sciatica kicked up --for which I had curative pain shots at the end of June successfully. This time the shots didn't help. I got worse and worse until I had an MRI --during which I was as comfortable and snug as a bug in a rug --despite my apprehensions about claustrophobia. But when I went to get off of the high, narrow table a week ago Tuesday, I could not move any which way without this thing in my hip "catching" and giving me tremendous unrelieved huge, sharp pain--talk about a pain in the A!!! pain down the right leg and my right toes and part of my foot feeling as though they were bandaged. SCREAMING, NOT PRETTY FEMININE HOLLERING as in on tv --but hoarse screeching like in a horror show. The worst pain EVER --NUMBER TEN TO THE MAX! And no one could help me. I knew they couldn't without just putting me under and there was no one around the MRI unit to do that at night--so I suffered helplessly to the car and could hardly get in --or get out at home --or get into the house --but then if I sat on the toilet, I had already learned that there would be some relief --as sitting on the doughnut shaped-seat seemed to gradually release the aggravation of the nerves.

What was it??? The MRI showed general disc disease of lumbar spine (common to my age?) , a bulging disk, some narrowing of something or other, and a CYST on a joint space near the nerve endings to sciatic nerve -or something like that --my layman's interp. I had two more of these screaming bouts when getting up from lying down before the pain clinic shot me up again two days after the MRI. Dr. said he tried to aspirate and flush out the cyst -so it wouldn't fill up again. But I don't think he was entirely successful. I've had some relief, and am getting around --but I have that tell-tale pain in the right "buttock" as Forest Gump would so plainly tell you --when I lie down. Otherwise some good days --and various pills --Lyrica, Percocet as needed, Celebrex --and sometimes Motrin as needed. A previous hip x-ray didn't reveal a problem in the joint where I feel it.

Meanwhile we've just signed up for a Tempur-pedic ? bed with the adjustable head and feet feature --thinking ahead. Our Stearns & Foster bed is as old as our oldest child --37 1/2 years old. We bought it in St. Louis when I was pregnant. Before that we were on a studio bed --one side mattress --and one side just flat springs. The current old bed is lumpy and dippy and no support compared to the beds at Banner Mattress. We also bought those wedge pillows for the car seat --as sometimes I can hardly move into the house after driving. Those seem to help. Unfortunately, Hubby still likes the old mattress which we have layered with a couple of memory foam layers --but I know my side of the mattress is aggravating my condition.

MOREOVER, my husband has suffered a terrible pain for a year, which started ruining his happiness in August --for which he had surgery--and his was due to an abscess that he thought was merely the family hemorrhoid curse --until the doctor looked into the matter. He is healing and was immediately relieved by the surgery.

91 year-old Mom? Nothing wrong with her!!! And I'm glad, because we don't need any more problems right now. I tell the Lord we've been tested like Job enough for one summer.

Mom had a birthday party last week --and I thank the church ladies who were available for hire to get my house caught up --and for Rob's help, too. Her sister and husband in their 80's came; her son and wife; all of our kids and our 2 grandchildren --15 total.

The party started here with appetizers, fall decor, floral bouquets and candles --then we went to show the visitors our daughter's new beautiful park-like home in Whitehouse at dusk, and then to Biaggi's Restaurant for a wonderful meal--and back to our house for cake and gifting. Mom was well-honored, and delighted. She has been taking the new higher dose of Aricept lately and it seems to me she is sharper --answering the phone which she couldn't figure out before --and speaking of her sister and husband by name instead of as "those people --the ones who are my relatives" and "my aunt and uncle," which they are not hers, but mine.

She still thinks her birthday was a certain day that it wasn't, the same numerical day as mine --instead of the day which has always been on her birth certificate and ID card. She complained to the hairdresser that no one celebrated her birthday on her birthday nor agrees with her about when it is --which is progress in that she even knows that her dream birthdate passed. She says to me with exasperation, "I know what I know. You weren't always around back then!!!" She also thinks she and her father looked at our property before there was a house on it --and also came to the Toledo Airport when it was being built, which is highly doubtful. She thinks she recognizes a lot of places which aren't really in her history.

Mom stays in her room all day except for her daily trip to the mailbox --which will usually have a copy of her hometown newspaper. She spends her days looking out the window and re-organizing her photos, her clothes, my mail. If she can, she saves old kleenex boxes and candy boxes and the like--they're pretty and they might come in handy. She also tears her table napkins in half to get more use of them--and likes to use one square of toilet paper at a time. She gets her hair done on Saturdays--Rob drives her. I do the baths. He does the breakfasts. Sunday morning she is likely to change out of the clothes which I put her in, into something of her own choosing --which usually isn't' color coordinated --if she gets a chance. Unfortunately, whenever it is time to go anywhere, she heads for the bathroom again--just in case --even though she was just in there 5 minutes earlier. She will brush her teeth with a tube of hand creme if I'm not there to show her her toothpaste. She is out of sorts if she doesn't get her favorite breakfast, a fried egg, 1 piece of toast which she slathers with huge amount of jelly, orange juice and instant coffee with milk. She is not even polite about substitutions.

She did go to a bridal shower brunch with me Saturday morning and enjoyed that --I think. She and I do not go anywhere fast --what with my painful gait and our similar slow penguin walks.

I'm using a beautiful, Gandalf-like cane --a hickory stick, highly varnished and polished by Wayne Altman, of Holland, now deceased, who gave it to my husband many, many years ago. I do feel a little witchy using it, but it helps a bit to take weight off.

I'm trying a diet --no night-time eating. Lost a little. Plan to get back to daily swim --which I had not been doing mainly because I was busy trying to get two things done during this pain siege --driving a young mom to and from her community service obligation at Toledo's Botanical Gardens (right beside the old Mudrake's home --I drove by there once to see if he was there for me to wave at.) Then I would drive her baby over to a sitter from my church. Both lovely people --the baby and the sitter. Adorable baby!

Between the morning and afternoon trips, I was trying to learn the new Publisher 2010 computer program I bought in order to do a church newsletter for outreach to our own and others. I started it in August and had to keep changing the articles because the events I was promoting in September had passed --so I just wrote about them as re-caps in the past-tense. I had trouble using the newspaper format --I am very unskilled and had to have a friend wave her magic fingers over my keyboard --and had the publisher try to talk me through some problems like how to send it to them. I did take this to Welch publishing to print --in order to get it done fast without imposing on the church office.

We mailed it Friday after closing time at the Holland P.O. and people said they got it Saturday! Hooray!!!

My hat is off to the medical profession--and the post office! And Welch Publishers did a lovely job!


"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Respect Life Sunday in Maumee --The Faithful Take a Stand

Because I just finished a church newsletter as outreach for my church, I was aware of Respect Life Sunday and their Life Chain being today, the first Sunday in October--and promoted it at my church today. I was counseling a young teen, however, and didn't have time to be in the chain myself, but my friend and I drove up by one of 3 area churches participating --St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Maumee, OH. There they were --at least 30 mostly gray-headed people holding colorful posters with a pro-life, Biblical message --various verses and statements --like "Lord, Forgive our nation." They filled at least one block as they took their stand for one hour between 3 and four --as did Christians of Christ the King Church in Toledo and Dayspring Assembly of God Church in Bowling Green.

Next year, I'm hopeful we'll get a chairperson to arrange for the posters and our involvement at my church in Holland, Ohio.



"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Patrick Henry College Core Curricula

This is a repeat of an older column because I had a new comment by a PhD and wanted to bring it forward. Remember that PHC is extremely successful in debating, mock trials, etc. and designed for home schoolers, in particular.

Patrick Henry College Core Curricula
For AndThenSome, I wondered about their majors at PHC and found this in their current catalogue on line
Classical Christian Liberal Arts Education at PHCDespite the success of homeschoolers and classical Christianschools, few Christian colleges have taken an active part inthis educational reform movement. Patrick Henry Collegewas founded specifically to serve the best and the brightestof Christian homeschooled young people. Thus, the classicalliberal arts—with a strong Biblical foundation—is at the heartof PHC’s educational philosophy.PHC has a rigorous and extensive core curriculum of 63 creditsplus intermediate foreign language proficiency. The Universityof Chicago, which is famed for its liberal arts core, only has45. The National Endowment for the Humanities, in a projectdesigned to promote liberal education, proposed 50.The PHC core embraces all seven of the classic liberal arts:grammar (Research and writing; intermediate foreign languageproficiency1), courses in logic, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry,music, and science (with biology and physics taking the placeof the ancient “astronomy”).In addition, PHC requires two courses in the history of theUnited States, and two courses in the history of the WesternWorld, two Western Literature courses, two courses in thetheology of the Bible, Principles of Biblical Reasoning,philosophy, Constitutional Law, economics, and two courses inFreedom’s Foundations.The classical liberal arts, of course, is not just a sequence ofcourses, but a conceptual framework and a methodology. Theseven liberal arts cultivate mastery of language (grammar),analysis (logic), communication (rhetoric), aesthetics (music),numbers (mathematics), spatial relations (geometry), andempirics (astronomy) (Veith & Kern, 2001, pp. 11-16). Thus,other courses in a variety of subjects can contribute to thisbreadth of education.The liberal arts stress content, the imitation of excellence, thepursuit of knowledge that is valuable in itself, and the exerciseof the whole range of talents that God has given. The liberalarts curriculum is broad in scope, but its parts are integratedwith each other, as students explore the connectedness of all thedisciplines.The core curriculum embraces the whole range of the contentareas, as classified according to the “Natural Sciences” (biology,physics, philosophy), the “Moral Sciences” (history, law, thehumanities), and the “Theological Sciences” (the Bible, theology,and the undergirding of every course in Christian truth).The foundational liberal arts are the Trivium of grammar,logic, and rhetoric. These have to do with mastering language.Grammar is about exploring the structure, rules, vocabulary,and conventions by which language operates. Logic has to dowith using the mind to analyze and discover truth, as well asto distinguish between truth and falsehood. Rhetoric is the artof effective communication that persuades others, and is thus akey to cultural influence.1) Latin and Greek have, historically, been touchstones of classical learning and these are taught oncampus; in some programs, PHC accepts other foreign languages as meeting the core requirement.Grammar has to do with basic knowledge; Logic withunderstanding; Rhetoric with creative personal application.The Trivium is a particularly powerful concept, in that everysubject can be said to have its grammar (the foundational facts,rules, and information), its logic (the thinking required forunderstanding), and its rhetoric (its original application). Infact, the Trivium’s emphasis on knowledge, understanding,and application is a direct parallel to Bloom’s Taxonomy, sothat an ancient concept of education is confirmed by moderneducational psychology. Each part of the Trivium has itsappropriate method of learning: grammar by lecture, reading,and practice; logic by dialectic (that is, Socratic questionsand discussion); and rhetoric by student performance andapplication (Joseph, 2002).At Patrick Henry, classes tend to be heavily oriented to reading(often of the “great books” in the field) (grammar), discussion(logic), and student projects (rhetoric). PHC’s emphasis onApprenticeship (specifically, the internship program) exemplifiesthe rhetorical dimension of classical education, and it also followsthe model of how classical universities prepared young people fortheir professions, giving them a rigorous grounding in the liberalarts and then sending them out to practice their craft under amaster/mentor.The classical liberal arts core curriculum is a true core. That is,every student in every program takes every class. There is noelectivity in the core, which means that professors in the upperlevel programs can know what their students have already beenexposed to—what books they have read, what subjects theyhave studied, what skills they have developed—so that learningcan build on a common foundation.One objection to having a core curriculum consisting of 63credits plus intermediate foreign language proficiency wouldbe that it would seem to necessitate fewer courses in the majorprogram. Actually, though, since Patrick Henry—in anotherunusual feature—has a restricted number of majors andspecialties, this is not necessarily the case.A number of the core classes tie into the Government major:A two-semester “Freedoms Foundations” sequence, studyingissues of government by discussing classic texts on the subject;two semesters of American history; two semesters of Europeanhistory; Economics; and Constitutional Law do advance thegovernment program in crucial ways. The same holds true forthe liberal arts majors, with core classes directly impacting theprograms in literature, history, and liberal arts.The upper division courses also employ a liberal artsmethodology. For example, the various Government tracks use the specialized “great books” that have shaped each discipline.Writing at PHC is “across the curriculum,” with requirementsand formats codified in A Handbook for Research and Writing, acollege compilation that is taught in the first Freshman writingcourse and serves as a reference for all courses, including theupper division classes.Another element of the classical liberal arts, according toLittlejohn and Evans (2006), is a particular “ethos,” whichthey describe as “the essence or the ‘feel’ of the school as acommunity of faith and learning” (p. 53).Ethos is the inarticulate expression of what the communityvalues. It includes the quality of the relationships withinthe school, the traditions, the professional comportment,the approach to classroom management, the out-of-classdecorum, the aesthetic personality of the school reflectedin the student and faculty dress codes, the visual andauditory imagery, and the physical plant itself. And ethos isinterfused with the academic culture including curriculum,pedagogy, faculty preparation, and student learning. Ethosis the way in which the school expresses (or doesn’t) truth,goodness, and beauty through the experiences of everyperson who enters our halls (pp. 53-54).I found it difficult to locate a simple and basic list of majors offered, but gleaned the following: Classical Liberal Arts, CLA Music Track, History, Literature. Gov't.Dep't has these major "tracks,": Am. Politics and Policy, Int'l Politics and Policy, Political Theory, strategic Intelligence, Journalism;They offer Russian, Latin, and Greek and numerous internships. It's really impressive and very extensive what is offered --the listing of all the courses. It looks to me like you don't major in science there, but have required science and lab courses same as any liberal arts college plus Bible and theology courses. I'm impressed with a school that focuses on thinking, debating, rhetoric, logic, writing, general classical knowledge, for use in impacting the world, possibly at the level of the decision-makers and gov't leaders.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Posted by Barb at 12:03 AM
Labels: classical education, Patrick Henry College

2 comments:

Anthony (Tony) V. Manzo said...
Only we know that Teacher Preparation and staff development are seriously flawed, and often painfully inane. There is no real market place in proven ideas, in some ways Teacher Education is controlled by well intentioned but misdirected interests that can include Schools of Education, publishers, self-important foundations, and yes, by weak professors and teachers who get a net gain from generations of ambiguity about our critical mission, powerful professional teaching. Current Teacher Preparation is a mishmash of competing whims and untested practices with no continuity or coherence across the profession. Every other profession has a common core of principles and PRACTICES that everyone is expected to know. Of course, there are outstanding teachers and teacher Education programs but this is random when it needs to be highly replicable.Join the dialogue to raise awareness of this critical problem ironically it has an easy, inexpensive solution. The goal is to craft a system for identifying and refreshing a core curriculum of Best Instructional Principles & Practices as opposed to mere “standards.” Teaching is about doing. This would lift the entire profession since there is no other profession that has not done this in some shape or manner. The absence of preparation in a core curriculum makes teacher education impossible, and therefore, evaluation of teacher effectiveness and accountability based on student outcomes illogical, if not irrational. While there is no consensus on core principles and practices to guide instructional decision-making there has been a pretty remarkable, though unheralded progress in pedagogical science made in the last 50 years; it could be called a Cambrian Period as when many new life forms began to appear on planet earth.The aim to better regulate teacher preparation may only appear to reduce professionalism, but it is in fact next-generation professionalism; especially now when information is massive, but distilled knowledge still thin. For example it is now widely acknowledged that pilots make many fewer errors when they follow the industry wide constructed check-off lists before takeoffs and at landings. Similarly, life threatening errors have been reduced by a considerable degree when surgeons and support staff have carefully followed check-off lists before, during and following surgery; the more error prone surgeons have been made less so, and the more skilled ones even more so. Ideally, and most likely, as teachers are guided to better instructional decisions, an overall enhancement in decision-making, and strategic thinking are also likely to follow. All stakeholders can now be more easily involved in identifying Best Practices, and in the ongoing process of providing field-based guidance of where these choices falter and/or simply need a bit of tweaking or customizing. The effort would take place on the web where all could see and participate, and to that extent would be a transparent and tangible exercise in science, conflict resolution and participatory democracySee:http://teacherprofessoraccountability.ning.com/main/invitation/new?xg_source=msg_wel_network And…http://bestmethodsofinstruction.com/Or our newest site featuring advanced teaching methods for and concerns of Professional Teachers: http://anthony-manzo.blogspot.com/2010/05/race-to-top-accountability-leaves.htmlRespectfully,Anthony V. Manzo, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus(avmanzo@aol.com)
September 25, 2010 6:19 PM

Barb said...
Thank you, Dr. Manzo, for your thoughtful contribution here. Since education has been a focus of the Ophrah show and elsewhere lately, I'm moving this to the top of my blog.
September 27, 2010 8:58 AM



"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

From the Email Bag --Audience member's perspective on Remarks of Bob Latta, Ohio Congressman

>
> Just thought I would share with you a little bit of what we heard at last night's Republican dinner here in Crawford County, Ohio . John Kasich (running for Gov. of Ohio ) was the keynote speaker. Also present were many politicians, most notably, Bob Latta, our U.S. Congressman. Mike and I walked up to Bob and thanked him for his conservative voting record and voiced our concern about what is going on in Washington . He made some funny botox remarks about Pelosi and then agreed with us that we have every reason to be concerned.
>
>
> As there were others waiting to talk to him, our time was brief. Although what took place later that evening should make chills run up and down everyone's spine to hear. He had asked to speak a few words at the end of the night and went up on stage. He proceeded to tell the crowd how bad things really are in Washington . He said he only had a few minutes to speak, but if he could tell us even half of what the agenda is and what this administration plans to do to our country we couldn't sleep at night. He said he only gets about 4 to 4-1/2 hours of sleep a night and worries constantly about what they want to do to this country.
>
>
> He said that Pelosi, Reid and Obama have to be stopped. He said, "You know, you always hear this is the most important election blah blah blah, but I am telling you people...whatever you have to do to wake people up you need to do! We have got to vote them out in 2010 or with the things they have planned for this country we won't even be a country by 2020! Ten years. You could see the look of almost desperation on his face.
>
>
> He talked about the huge debt. He talked about how the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) gets their "figures". He sits on the finance committee of some sort and listens to the ramblings of Geitner and Bernanke. He said "If you think that the Chinese won't hold this over us with all our debt you have another thought coming. Our children will have nothing. I don't care if you have to go out door to door, tell at least 10 people who will then tell 10 people. We have to do this. This is the single most important election ever in the history of this country. The change that Obama promised us is NOT the change people thought he meant."






"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Obama has Blundered on Christian Prayer at White House

In 1952 President Truman established one day a year as a "National Day of Prayer." ----------------------- In 1988 President Reagan designated the First Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer. --------------------------------------------------------------- In June 2007 (then) Presidential Candidate Barack Obama declared that the USA "Was no longer a Christian nation." --------------------------------------------------------------- This year President Obama canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House under the ruse Of "not wanting to offend anyone" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BUT... on September 25, 2009 from 4 AM until 7 PM, a National Day of Prayer FOR THE MUSLIM RELIGION was Held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White House. There were over 50,000 Muslims in D.C. that day. HE PRAYS WITH THE MUSLIMS! I guess it Doesn't matter if "Christians" Are offended by this event - We obviously Don't count as "anyone" Anymore. The direction this country is headed should strike fear in the heart of every Christian, especially knowing that the Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be converted, they should be annihilated. This is not a Rumor Go to the website To confirm this info: ( http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/ ) Pay particular attention to the very bottom of the page: "OUR TIME HAS COME" I hope that this information will stir your spirit. The words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, Who are called by my Name, Will humble themselves And pray, And seek my face, and Turn from their Wicked ways, Then will I hear from Heaven And will forgive their Sin and will heal Their land." We must pray for Our nation, our communities, Our families, and especially our children. They are the ones who are going to suffer the most. . If we don't PRAY May God have Mercy. IN GOD WE TRUST.

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

GREEN EGGS ---RECYCLE CONGRESS!

Thanks to email friend & Dr. Suess:

I do not like this Uncle Sam,

I do not like your health care scam.

I do not like those dirty crooks,

Or how they lie and cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals,

I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like this speaker Nan,

I do not like her 'YES, WE CAN'.

I do not like their spending spree,

I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.

I do not like your smug replies,

When I complain about your lies.

I do not like this kind of hope.

I do not like it, nope, nope, nope!

Go Green - Recycle Congress

In November, 2010!

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

World Magazine on Glenn Beck --Two Links

WORLD MAGAZINE is the best --MUCH more interesting and newsy than Time or Newsweek these days; I get all 3. I had let World expire a while back and they didn't pursue me so I went without for many months. It's good to get back to a news mag with a Christian worldview. I do know they are Reformed/Calvinist theology in world view, but nevertheless, they don't push that difference in their writing that I've noticed. Where I notice it is in their ads for colleges, conferences and school faculty positions --schools advertising for teachers of reformed theology.

Here are two interesting articles, one about Glenn Beck by World's Marvin Olasky and the 2nd one is on politicians' addictions by Glenn Beck at his website--who is said to admit a history of drug and alcohol addiction. I haven't found out what drugs and how long ago -- anyone who knows should comment for me here just for the facts.

http://online.worldmag.com/2010/09/02/sultans-of-snoot/


http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/34736/



"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Radioactive Decay Changes!

From Rob


When I was in high school and perhaps 2/3rds through college, I was very much into young earth creationism and I felt it was one of the most important movements for biblical Christianity. For several reasons, I have long left that sentiment. I'm no longer comfortable with the way YEC advocates come very close to de-Christianizing orthodox Christians of other views from progressive creationists to theistic evolutionists. I no longer am confident that taking Genesis seriously and authoritatively demands a "literal" interpretation.

Still, I know my place. I began to recognize, even when I was more hyper about the issue, that my limited technical knowledge meant that many of the issues where beyond my ability to judge.

For this reason and perhaps others, while I don't identify with the YEC (Young Earth Creation) movement, I actually don't want them to go away. I don't consider it beyond a reasonable doubt that they may be on to something, that they may indeed come out ahead of the game and may be right about many things. And it's all due to what so many in the 20th century seem to take for granted even if they pay lip service to it. Science is tentative.

I followed an article from popsci on this that serves as a reminder and it involves a matter very important to YEC. Those who have a bone to pick with the idea of an ancient universe or at least an ancient earth have an issue with radio-isotopic dating. It turns out that the decay rates that those methods depend upon are not set in stone and may be altered.

The consequences aren't just for those who have a beef to pick with an ancient age for the universe. Those decay constants are probably linked to many physical principles. Those principles may be wrong. As the article concluded, "Perhaps our understanding of nuclear physics in general -- is a lot weaker than we thought."

HEY, STEVE --I MISSED YOUR POST!

Some how, I read your comment as email and clicked to publish but it didn't publish. Then I went to the moderation page and probably didn't check mark the little box --but just hit "publish." Not realizing I had to check mark your post first. So a couple of topics ago, you are now published and I responded. And as usual, you are wrong and I am right --heh heh ; )

This happened with Jeanette's comment, too, and I didn't realize until she called me.

I have been SOOOOO BUSY! Our family had 3 medical procedures in one week --one an emergency appendectomy. So I've been driving people around, etc. I also have to have another shot for a pain in the A myself --sciatic nerve --so bad I can't sleep!

You'd think I wouldn't have any more pain in the A with Mudrake out of my blog life!






"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Some Ways I Would be Disappointed by Gay Marriage

A Question on Another Blog --and My Answer

Have you, now or at any time in the past, been harmed by the marriage of two persons of the same sex?

Obviously not, since gay marriage is not legal around here.

If it were my kid, I would be harmed by his/her opinion that he/she were homosexual–and I would be harmed by such a “marriage.” Or even a civil union. Why?

1. I would feel that my husband and I had failed as parents to pass along God’s family values in a positive way. We had failed to teach or role model hetero marriage effectively. We had failed to help our kids be happy in their given sexuality, with normal family goals.

2. I would feel that I made mistakes in not chaperoning them better in youth, not grounding them in Christian faith and worldview before college, not shaping their character so they would resist sexual temptations.

3. I would be disappointed that they would not have a normal union and bring children into the world, at least not by any normal means, passing on their fine musical genes and raising chaste and heterosexual children. (Granted, single children don't do this either, but celibate singleness is pleasing in God's eyes, when it's part of a godly lifestyle.)

4. I would be harmed in them deliberately choosing to avoid normal marriage, bringing us no grandchildren for us to love and to love us. There would be fewer family members to help us out and cheer us in our elder years. (My family enriches their grandmothers’ lives, looks out for them.)

5. By not having their own children, homosexuals do impose duties to look out for them on their siblings’ children–who already have their own family responsibilities. Otherwise, the burden falls to themselves or the state entirely. (Again, chaste hetero singles do this, also, but they also haven't made any unholy alliances, given us grief or made children out of wedlock for gov't or us to subsidize.)

6. My kids ARE harmed when they can’t find chaste, hetero mates if more and more of their peers are going off with their own sex.

7. My kids are harmed if their teachers or neighbors or cousins or friends lead them into gay experimentation: “Try it; you’ll like it!”

8. My kids are harmed and I’m broken-hearted if they get a highly promiscuous sex addiction or an incurable STD or other physical ailment because of homo-sexperimentation --or any extra-marital sex for that matter.

9. Families/spouses and children are harmed when the spouse or one of their parents decides to transgender or leave for another person of either sex. I would be devastated if my daughter or son-in-law decided she or he had to be with someone else of either sex, and caused divorce for it.

10. We feel we are harmed if we can’t disapprove of this lifestyle and teach our children to reject it for themselves. We are harmed when our Bible-based values are considered Hate speech –and when we can be prosecuted for teaching or preaching the morality of the Bible. We are harmed if we are denied our constitutional right to free speech, freedom in media, and freedom of religion on this topic –as in England and Canada.

11. We are all harmed in economy if we have to give the same economic benefits to partners of homosexuals who don’t bear the children, educate them for over 18 years per child, spend thousands on them. The perks are for the child-maker-bearers –to offset the costs of bringing children into the world, having one parent stay at home to civilize them, or hiring daycare to do it. This is just best done with a hetero couple –as they are the only ones who can make babies and role-model the functional nuclear family with both a mother and father for their children. Yes, homosexuals may already have children from hetero marriages, and they should have the father’s financial support for those children–unless the mother caused the break-up by coming out gay. In that case, the father should get the custody and child support from the mother because of her infidelity. Marriage law should be just.

Granted, many of the same things I list are true about heterosexual immorality, also –except for the greater likelihood that children will be involved.

Homosexual involvement is just one more rung higher, on the already dangerous and depressing ladder of nuclear family breakdown with promiscuity.

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Overview of the Demise of Marriage

Read part of an article about No Fault Divorce issue HERE. This August, 2010, article from World magazine, edited by Marvin O’Laskey (brilliant Jewish convert to Christianity) concludes that divorce should be more difficult –and that when someone like Christie Brinkley complained and exposed her husband’s misdeeds , it was because he was so wrong and there should be consequences. Divorce ought to be fair –rather than neutral about fault when one person has devastated the other’s life, financial and emotional security, and guaranteed the kids a more than 90 per cent chance that they, too, will get divorced some day –if they even marry.

The institution of marriage in the U.S. has been more egalitarian and humane than in some other cultures throughout history, but it has received a battering ram in the last 50 years.

During the Hippie era, free love was in vogue; parents let their college-age kids bring home their boyfriends to their beds and wondered why their example wasn't embraced by their kids; the reason: they didn't TEACH their kids that the fear of the Lord and respect for His statutes are the beginning of wisdom -- and example alone wasn't enough; abortion replaced shot-gun weddings, freeing the young couples who erred to pursue serial monogamy. Soon virginity was VERY unfashionable –except for the religious groups that came along with their “true love waits” programs.

Abstinence ed. had some success with delaying teen sex activity and pregnancy –when it was really embraced by the sex educators. Those who didn’t try very hard to teach it saw their students following the Hollywood love/sex model instead. (i.e. They run up to the bedroom –and live happily ever after –until the next person comes along — or, as in Sleepless in Seattle, in which the old shacked-up mate is tossed aside for new, and in Bridges of Madison Co., women vicariously enjoyed the “romance of adultery” (the bad thing about the movie) –even though the wife stays with her husband –(the good thing about the movie.)

HOwever, TV actually helped marriage with the Cleavers and the Ingalls family as examples. The latter (conceived and directed by Michael Landon (Jewish heritage –and Christian from his parents) were role models for Christians and home-schoolers But then followed Friends and then Seinfeld’s young adults jumping in and out of bed with whomever –as though this were not immoral, just funny, and wouldn’t be emotionally damaging and physically risky.

The Sexual Revolution started with the hippies, aided by Roe vs. Wade –and then came AIDS and Herpes –and instead of the whole country wanting to return to traditional American, religion-inspired, moral VALUES to prevent incurable STD’s, we quixotically endorsed homosexuality because of our compassion for the AIDS afflicted–the group that brought AIDS to America and the group that still has the most new cases.

Finally, I believe we are seeing more and more people with gender identity issues –no doubt, in part, because they don’t have one parent of each gender modeling love for the opposite sex spouse and affirming the given sex of the children in their immediate families. Tougher divorce laws and promoting the importance of traditional, hetero marriage, MIGHT help.

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Steve on Proposition 8 --and My Rebuttal --Of course!

Blogger Steve writes:

Oh boy! Prop 8 in Cali got overturned. I imagine most judiciaries will follow suit and laws against Gay marriage will begin to fall like dominoes. The judges language in the ruling is perfect and logically spells out the separation between church and state in legislative issues.

The arc of history is constantly shifting toward more and more inclusiveness and tolerance. Each passing generation is more accepting of others than the previous generation. I think we are on the edge of a new enlightenment. The world is worn out from war and hostility and hate. I think that we will still suffer more paroxysms of violence to be sure; Isreal is about to attack Lebanon again and will probably use that attack as a smoke screen to go after Iran and Syria. But the world is growing tired of armed conflict to resolve issues. What does the bible say about "wars and rumors of war" in the last days? But if you look at statistics.. the number and amount of heated armed conflict is steadily declining, victims of political violence is declining. One of the reasons for this steady decline - in my oppinion - is the empowerment of women around the world. The more women are empowered politically, the better the world will be. So who are the holdouts that are stopping the empowerment of women? Religions.. Specifically Christianity and Islam. Nobody should be treated a 2nd class citizen based on their race, gender, or what they do in private.

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"The number and amount of heated armed conflict is [sic] steadily declining, victims of political violence is [sic] declining."

HUH? I wonder about your so-called stats! Aren't you the bright-eyed optimist!! An American Christian mission team was in a restaurant in Uganda recently and Muslims happened to target it (not them but the general population) for bombing --76 dead but the mission team sustained injuries only--as body parts flew through the air.

One could go on and on and list the terrorist and other actions around the world which don't indicate we are becoming more civilized. Yes, women having respect and rights would help the cause of world peace because democracy brings such equality AND peace. However, Christianity is woman's friend, not foe. Democracy has thrived in our culturally Judeo-Christian nation. It is in Christian nations where women have the most freedom and opportunity.

I don't think women fare at all well under Communism, do you? with forced abortions, e.g. I read recently of a Chinese woman who tried desperately to escape abortion, without success. What carnage! What creepy totalitarianism is that!! Personally, I prefer America's freedom that came from its Christian faith --where children were valued and women were protected in divorce and custody situations, where adulterating husbands paid more than now for destroying their marriages. Where women were not expected to protect men from marriage, paternity and child support with abortion, where men were the primary bread-winners able to let the women stay home looking after children and house --or work if they wished, not because they had to.

So, I don't know what rose-colored glasses you are wearing, Steve --that you should see a coming utopia free of Christianity's moral and decency standards in the law in some misbegotten liberal opinion of church-state separation. Our moral standards come from religion --or atheistic ideology. Somebody's philosophical ideals inevitably must prevail in the law--I'll take the Christian ideals anyday.

I just read the Am. Family Practice News magazine or Journal of AFP --and noticed the diseases more common to MSWM (men who have sex with men) than anyone else --and to black youth who have 40% more of a type of STD, especially from bisexuality and down low activities. We can't seem to keep ahead of the flesh-eating bacteria which are on the increase and most prevalent in the gay population--and like HIV, spreading to others, particularly in hospitals.

So celebrate your coming utopia where your own children will be taught in school and media and even by you to feel just as free to explore same sex behavior with all its attendant risks, addiction, heartbreak, frequent promiscuity and broken relationships and childlessness --in order to find out if their self-perceived "difference" from peers (youth ALL feel odd and out of it at various times in development) that makes them odd or unpopular, might just be homosexual preference. There's a pop song out now about a girl kissing a girl and liking it. That's supposed to mean she's homosexual, no doubt. When in fact, it just means that lips on lips can feel good --barring bad smells and sloppiness that a clumsy, pimply-face, adolescent, first boyfriend (or girlfriend) might bring to the experience.

We're setting ourselves up for "the gaying of America." And in the long run, I predict you will rue the day and say, "Barb, you were right!!" when your kids announce their bisexual or homosexual experiences and proclivities. MARK MY WORDS. This is one time that I truly hope I am wrong!! The new rebellion against parental authority and society will become gay experimentation, as parents don't go along with the new official encouragement of gay marriage.

As for the courts --don't be so sure. This one is headed for the Supreme Court if democracy and the right of appeal are still alive in America. But of course, the liberals outnumber us on the court --though not yet in the country. We had better get a series of decent, God-fearing, principle-following presidents to appoint such justices after Obama --or "Gov't Of, By and For the people" will become, instead, "Gov't Of, By and For the Liberal Judges."

As for your privacy right --there is no such right as a right to do whatever you darn well please in private. After all, pedophilia and rape are carried out in private, along with most other crimes. A right to privacy was the twisted logic that produced abortion on demand in America --of which we can never be proud. "Privacy right" was also used to legalize sodomy behind closed doors between consenting adults, which I agreed with only because I don't want the police to barge in on same-sex adults, suspecting they are doing Back Door Boogie and Blow Jobs when they are just sharing expenses? I don't want to hear about their doings, except for educational info necessary to realize we should protect our kids from this mindset with its high-risk behaviors.

YOu are going to be amazed, Steve, if gay marriage is legalized, how fast the following will become legal: polygamy, close relatives petitioning to marry if they are willing to be sterilized or have any defective kids aborted, eccentric ladies marrying their pets, step-fathers marrying step-kids when they turn 18 --and ultimately, lowering the age of consent. All will follow gay marriage. All will be demanding perks for their various kinds of partners --like housing and spousal benefits in the military as Britain and other allied nations provide. Yet, we already have too much social expense due to divorcing heteros. Gay relationships are even more unstable and adulterous than hetero relationships. (On average, their couplings last 2 years, I read somewhere.) Gay spouses REALLY have no right to demand the financial benefits which heterosexual spouses get because of the obvious value to our national survival and health of procreating couples making and raising children.

Do you really want the gov't and business to pay for the maintenance, insurance, support and pensions of gay men and other same sex partners who can give us no children --same as for wives and mothers of children who deserve the perks for their labor and maintenance of homes for their spouse and kids whom they diligently and most healthfully raise with both mom and dad in the home? Just so these "couples" can give each other orgasms that are normally a part of potentially procreative/intimate male/female relationships? For which we are all designed --even the gays are designed for heterosexual intimacy and procreation.

That's just too much diversity for me to start paying for Adam and Steve to copulate anally and orally in the military --same as for Adam and Eve, father and mother of the future.

Call Your Senators : WE DO NOT WANT THIS CROOKED KAGAN ON THE COURT

When I read the following, I was appalled at what Elena Kagan did regarding partial birth abortion in the Clinton administration. Even liberals should be appalled. If our Congress appoints her, they are nuts. She amended the opinions of the medical societies about partial birth abortion not being necessary to save the life of any woman. NO NEED TO KILL A BABY WHOSE BODY IS DELIVERED ALL BUT FOR HIS HEAD WHICH IS THEN CRUSHED! Bring the baby out alive if an early delivery is deemed necessary in the 3rd trimester.

If our senators approve this woman, they have no respect for life, ethics, honesty, or the law.

Family Research Council sent this via email:

It was little surprise that President Obama would nominate someone to the Supreme Court with as limited regard for the U.S. Constitution as himself. However, the radical political and liberal history of Elena Kagan should make even the most diehard Leftist take a step back.

The recent Senate hearings helped expose her disgust for traditional morality, free speech, the military, individual liberty, unborn children, constitutional fidelity, and all things religious. As a political appointee to President Clinton, she was so fixated on protecting partial-birth abortion that she masterminded an effort to substitute her own opinion for that of two medical groups. Both the American Medical Association (AMA) and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said there was virtually no instance in which a partial-birth abortion was necessary to save a woman's life. When that statement crossed Kagan's desk, she personally changed it to say that partial-birth abortion "may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of the mother."

The political and unscientific opinion inserted by Ms. Kagan into what was supposed to be an authoritative medical document was then cited by several judges to strike down restrictions on the horrendous partial-birth abortion procedure.

Additionally, her pro-homosexual views led her to restrict military recruitment on Harvard Law School's campus, and, as Solicitor General, to sabotage the defense of our federal marriage law and of the current military policy on homosexuals serving openly in the U.S. military. In these instances, she favored her personal ideology and political calculations over the law. Without your help, she may spend 30 or more years doing this same thing as a member of America's most powerful court. Elena Kagan was unfit to be Solicitor General, and she definitely doesn't deserve a lifetime promotion to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Please contact your U.S. Senators today and tell them to oppose Elena Kagan.

Call 1-202-224-3121 and ask for your Senator. Ohio's are Senator Voinovich who is pro-life--and Senator Sherrod Brown, who is not.




"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

I've Been Busy with my Meaningless Life!

Someone sent me a comment that I moderated out because all it said was that I had a "shallow, meaningless life." Guess who!

Actually, I've been very busy lately, seeing through the paper work for 40 kids to attend church camp at Somerset Beach in Michigan this summer. (Check out the website through google.) We are sending 17 going into grades 3-5 tomorrow morning (to a 3 day camp) and 17 in grades 6-8 on Sunday to a 5-day camp. We already sent 5 high school teens to camp and another 6 teens to Bible Quiz Team National competition the same week. This follows our team of 7 men who went to Haiti in the spring--and are planning another trip in November.

Today I wrote and ran off 17 copies of this letter for the camp that starts Sunday and 17 copies of a different letter for the camp that starts tomorrow. Then each is individually addressed, stamped, decorated with stickers and mailed! So all of our kids will get a letter at camp.

Dear Young Teen Camper ( name inserted and hand-written instead)

I hope this letter finds you making great memories, new friends, and a new or re-newed commitment to Jesus.

I am praying for your safety, your attentiveness, cooperation, obedience and that you will BE A STAR!

Here’s how to be a star:

¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. Philippians 2:14, 15

Also, I pray you are all helping each other to make good memories, to have a good time, quarreling with no one, “picking on” no one, doing no “name-calling” but befriending all. I pray that no one will be unkind to YOU, but love you as you deserve. As the Bible says in Ephesians 4:32, “Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you.”

But most importantly, I hope you will make sure your place in the Family of God this week –if you haven’t already done so.

“…to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—John 1:12

Ephesians 5: ¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

And finally, do remember that whether we are already His children or not, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

We have a wonderful Creator-Father-God who made all the beauties of nature and gave us the ability to appreciate and enjoy what He has made. I pray you’ll really feel close to Him in this time at camp, that your faith in Him will be strengthened, that you will have an altogether wonderful and blessed time.

Love,

Barb

Next, I'm taking 3 kids to the lake --because one of them was so naughty at VBS that we couldn't send her to camp. So I'm taking her with her cousin and brother to my lake --because God is redemptive. And this little girl,9, wanted to go to camp but she has oppositional defiant disorder and some ADHD, etc. So I told her we'd send her to camp if she had a good week at VBS --and she just didn't. But in a smaller group, she has done fine for me.

So, anyway, I'm on to my meaningless life these days....

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

An AP article: MINNEAPOLIS - An Orthodox Church theologian who was invited to greet the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has criticized its approval of non-celibate homosexual clergy.

The Reverend Siarhei Hardun of Belarus said that vote and efforts to approve same-gender "marriage" looked to him like an attempt to "invent a new religion -- a sort of modern paganism."

"Christian morality is as old as Christianity itself. It doesn't need to be invented now," he said of attempts to create what he described as a "new morality."

Hardun added, "When people say that they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit to do it, I wonder if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible."

The Orthodox priest's remarks drew applause from conservative Presbyterians who made similar arguments at the gathering in Minneapolis.

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Another blogger's remark at another blog --and my reply:

...the example you’re giving says nothing about the right of
fully-informed, competent, consenting adults to marry any more than cross-gender
rape or pedophilia indicts heterosexuality and heterosexual
marriage.

If homosexuality starts with gay predators inducting kids into the life , (and that is a common result of homosexual rape in Afghanistan, according to the article) as is statistically common in “the life,” with homosexuals reporting early sexual activity with older gays, before such kids are old enough to have normal relationships, then it is a lifestyle addiction that passes itself on to succeeding generations of young men (as in the Catholic priesthood) –and such predators have advocated for pedophilia and lowering ages of consent in other countries –and mark my words, they will do so here, also.

In fact, I saw my first Law & Order story yesterday, on TV, in which pedophiles made the argument for themselves that they cannot help their orientation, cannot change it, and resemble homosexuals in their claim to an inevitable condition from birth.

Sodomy is activity that should be eradicated from the face of the earth–voluntarily–by ALL citizens respecting decency and rejecting perversion and refusing to participate or condone it. “Gay marriage” is condoning sex practices which are harmful to the body, dangerous to personal and public health. I’m not advocating penalties for consenting adults; I’m saying we need to stop condoning such wrong-headedness.

No, as you said, I don’t get a right to determine the law –God already did that –but I have a right to prophesy or preach forth God’s will for human-kind as has been done for centuries by people of God –and they have never been popular with those who prefer evil to good –who can’t tell the difference between the two –anymore than they can confine their love-making to the proper body orifices with the opposite sex. There is no compelling sexual need for anyone to have anal sodomy or oral, for that matter, with their own sex. If men need male friendship, male love, male affection, male affirmation they can join a church (and not for the priests –but one of those fellowshiping churches that spend time with one another.) For sex, they can marry women, who do get the job done –even with homosexuals who have fathered children–obviously they can get excited enough to make a baby with a woman.

The goal of parents should be to cultivate normal interests by how they parent. Parents have made a lot of mistakes –and even if they didn’t, the culture has taken over to make homosexuality "trendy" and to mislead our youngsters.

God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

You go, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck --on Kagan "What a Sack of Sacrosanct!"

The following are two quoted pieces by Ann and Glenn --nothing by me. I don't use the block quotation mechanism here because it's a less readable, fainter blue. Perhaps if I tinkered with it....but for now...rest assured this is all Ann followed by all Glenn.

Ann Coulter
What a Sack of Sacrosanct

"In The New York Times’ profile on the family of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, her aunt was quoted as saying: “There was thinking, always thinking” at the family’s dinner table. “Nothing was sacrosanct.” "

"Really? Nothing was sacrosanct? Because in my experience, on a scale of 1-to-infinity, the range of acceptable opinion among New York liberals goes from 1-to-1.001.

How would the following remarks fare at a dinner table on the Upper West Side where “nothing was sacrosanct”: "Hey, maybe that Joe McCarthy was onto something." " What would prayer in the schools really hurt? " "How do we know gays are born that way?" "Is it possible that union demands have gone too far?" "Does it make sense to have three recycling bins in these microscopic Manhattan apartments?" "Say, has anyone read Charles Murray’s latest book?"

Those comments, considered “conversation starters” in most of the country, would get you banned from polite society in New York. Also, unless you want the whole room slowly backing away from you, also avoid: "May I smoke?" "I heard it on Fox News" and "Merry Christmas!"

Even members of survivalist Christian cults in Idaho at least know people who hold opposing views. New York liberals don’t.

As Kagan herself described it, on the Upper West Side of New York where she grew up, “Nobody ever admitted to voting Republican.” So, I guess you could say being a Democrat was “sacrosanct.”

Even within the teeny-tiny range of approved liberal opinion in New York, disagreement will get you banned from the premises."

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Glenn Beck

"When, as dean of the Harvard Law School, Kagan disagreed with the Bill Clinton policy of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” for gays in the military, she open-mindedly banned military recruiters from the law school, denouncing Clinton’s policy as “discriminatory,” “deeply wrong,” “unwise and unjust.”

From this, I conclude that having gays serving openly in the military is “sacrosanct” for liberals.

Having gays NOT serve in the military is a position held by lots of people in other parts of the country, but I do not recall any Christian colleges banning military recruiters because the schools believed “Don’t ask, don’t tell” went too far the other way.

Not only is every weird, shared delusion of the New York liberal deemed sacrosanct, but what ought to be sacrosanct — off the top of my head, human life — isn’t.

As Stan Evans says, whatever liberals disapprove of, they want banned (smoking, guns, practicing Christianity, ROTC, the Pledge of Allegiance) and whatever they approve of, they make mandatory (abortion-on-demand, gay marriage, pornography, condom distribution in public schools, screenings of “An Inconvenient Truth”).

When liberals say, “nothing is sacrosanct,” they mean “nothing other Americans consider sacrosanct is sacrosanct.” They demonstrate their open-mindedness by ridiculing other people’s dogma, but will not brook the most trifling criticism of their own dogmas.

Thus, for example, liberals sneer at the bluenoses and philistines of the “religious right” for objecting to taxpayer-funding of a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine, but would have you banned from public life for putting Matthew Shepard in a jar of urine, with or without taxpayer funding. [Barb--not that anyone should condone cruelty or ridicule of the Matthew Shepards either --but Jesus Christ vs. Shepard??? Is there a reason why Jesus shouldn't be respected by liberals as Shepard is?]

These famously broad-minded New Yorkers — “thinking, always thinking” — actually booed Mayor Rudy Giuliani when he showed up at the opera after pulling city funding from a museum exhibit that included a painting of the Virgin Mary plastered with close-up pornographic photos of women’s vulvas.

(The New York Times fair-mindedly refused to ever mention the vulvas, instead suggesting that the mayor’s objection was to the cow dung used in the composition.)

Has a decision to fund or not fund “art” ever gotten a politician in any other part of the country booed in public? And how might the Times refer to citizens booing a mayor who had withdrawn taxpayer funding for a painting of Rosa Parks covered in pornography?

If New York liberals insist on bragging about their intellectual bravado in believing “nothing is sacrosanct,” it would really help if they could stop being the most easily offended, P.C., group-think, thin-skinned weanies in the entire universe and maybe ease up on the college “hate speech” codes, politically correct firings, and bans on military recruiters.

With that in mind, here are some questions it would be fun to ask a New York liberal like Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan at her hearings next week:

– Roughly one-third of Americans are Evangelical Christians. Do you personally know any Evangelical Christians? Name two.

– In 1972, Richard Nixon was elected president with more than 60 percent of the vote, winning every state except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. How many people do you know who voted for Nixon?

– Appropriate or inappropriate: Schools passing out condoms to seventh-graders? Schools passing out cigarettes to seventh-graders?

– Who is a greater threat to America, Sarah Palin or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Senate Hearings, Dishonesty on the Left, Kagan and Abortion, Gun rights, ETc. Etc.

A blogger where I'm blogging lately wrote: I don’t really know if there is much value to having witnesses testify. I would rather hear more from the nominee.It is sort of like the opening statements of Senators. It strikes me as mostly a waste of time.

Good grief! The nominee is going to be evasive and parse her remarks so that we think she never had an opinion on anything of controversy. I welcome witnesses like Koppel who know her opinions by her past advocacies and judgments –who recognize that a sense of humor shouldn’t be our first criterion for a life-time appointment to the court. We can bet anyone Obama appoints is a sure vote for gay marriage, abortion, and against gun rights –in any cases on these issues. We know she opposed ROTC on college campuses for no good reason.

Mr. Kopel’s linked testimony here at 41:09 is the first I’ve paid any attention to re: Kagan because it’s so frustrating to have the most pro-abortion pres. in Am. history (who even supports late term abortion) appointing judges with a democratic majority.

Some young conservatives and Christians I know let themselves be outnumbered in the last election–uselessly voting for 3rd party candidates, rejecting McCain as liberal himself, heedless of the impact on the Supreme Court for decades. Some didn’t bother to vote at all. Of course, my state was screwed up by election boards who lack honesty and a liberal sec’y of state in charge of all kinds of provisional and absentee ballot and “early voting” mess-ups. If the people in charge of our election boards don’t value honesty (and some don’t) we can’t guarantee honest elections.

If our judges don’t recognize the humanity and rights of the pre-born child (and the liberal ones appointed by Obama don’t), how can we call them “just?” The woman’s rights? She has rights and ways of preventing pregnancy, not a right to kill a child. The pro-abortion argument should be about abortion only for rape and life of mother. The original Roe of Roe Vs. Wade claimed to be a rape victim to get the sympathy of the court, and she was not. As for the unwanted infant’s life not being worth anything: People want to adopt them.

An adopted child now grown, businessman Iott, is running against Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur for Congress –who has presided over the continual economic slide of our region for too many years. I doubt Marcy ever ran a business or had a real job –it’s been too long ago, in any case.



"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

Islamic Pederasty Reports --See the Kite Runner

I was shocked to read of PBS and LA Times reports and other footnoted material telling of pederasty and homosexual rape of teen boys in Afghanistan by the Pastun men and Afghani soldiers and commanders –and the Pakistani truck drivers who have “boy helpers” to sodomize. But they don’t “love” them romantically, so it’s not “homosexuality.”

The Kite Runner is a movie based on a book by an Afghani author. Homosexual rape occurs in the story --just as described in the very few news items on the topic. We only hear that Muslims (as in Iran) murder homosexuals. We don't hear about Afghanistan and Pakistan's view of women as unclean, nor the rape of hundreds of Afghani boys by the soldiers who are our allies. We don't hear that the Taliban opposed such assaults. (The Taliban have their own cruelties --like shooting adulteresses at the soccer game --also featured in the movie.)

Judeo-Christianity has been one great force for good in opposing porn, promiscuity, fornication, adultery, public nudity and sex establishments, divorce, prostitution, pedophilia, pederasty, bestiality, necrophilia, polygamy, bigamy, polyandry and shacking up –and in opposing filth on tv. We need to stay the course of culture clean-up and preservation of decency.

Jesus also gives us an example of mercy toward those who commit the above sins --in how he treated the woman caught in adultery--yet, he didn't approve adultery; he said, "Go and sin no more. "

Biblically, righteous men are to have a healthy lust for their wives, their only sexual outlet. Only “the (hetero)marriage bed is undefiled.” For all else we should be ashamed. And need to repent.

Every culture should desire to preserve the innocence and normal gender identity and orientation of children. All else is sin--and repugnant.

We do well to be “god-fearing” nation –“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Otherwise, “professing themselves to be wise, they became as fools.”

Our goal for the sexually confused should be "help" to find normalcy --not encouragement in their dysfunction.





"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible