May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will leave the world a little better for your having been here. -- Ronald Reagan

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Scriptual Civility

Jesus Driving Out the Moneychangers
There’s been a lot of discussion the past few weeks about civility, especially during political discourse. I’ve posted many blogs over the past weeks, since the Arizona shootings, excoriating the Leftists and their mouthpiece the Jurassic Press for their own lack of civility and hate speech when lecturing the rest of us on civility. Claiming that Conservatives were accessories to murder is way over the top, and naming specific people that weren't even there, as just as guilty of murder as the gunman himself.

What does scripture have to say about civility? It’s a mixed message. Here’s some passages of a sweet, charitable loving tongue.
 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Eph 4:29)
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be (James 3:9-10)
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry (James 1:19)

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips (Col 3:8)

On the other hand, people of that day didn't have a problem having tough tongues.

Jesus said, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?” (Matthew 12:34).

And Jesus turned on them and said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. “Woe to you, blind guides!…..You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ….You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean….And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matt 23).

So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables (John 2:15)
Paul: O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth,….As for those circumcisers , I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! (Galatians 3, 5)

We have the Bible expressing what we would expect; counseling understanding, love and charity. Surprisingly there’s a lot of angry words and actions, especially coming from Jesus, the holiest of men. Was he being uncivil?

Whenever I’ve do business with New Yorkers, I often find them rude and obnoxious. Speaking to each other, I'm sure they don’t hear that. In the West and South, language is mellower, less assertive. We can assume then, where you’re from, in time and place, is how civility is measured.

I’m certainly not going to allow the Speech Police, and the Thought Police, both creatures of the Left, to circumscribe my speech based on their notion of civility. I’ll call Maxine Waters or Nancy Pelosi knuckleheads, but that certainly doesn’t compare with a Leftist talker saying Sarah Palin 'is good masturbation material', or saying Rep. Rebecca Kleefisch obtained her position by performing fellatio and “pulling trains”.

It seems then that tough words spoken with love, understanding, and charity are optimal, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be toughness in the mix. I look at Biblical verses expressing both. The answer is in balance. "Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t say it mean."


Chocolate Drought?

An international chocolate drought? It may be coming within two years unless the political violence comes to an end soon.

Forty percent of the world’s chocolate is produced in the Ivory Coast. Because of rebels and violence, chocolate farmers are fleeing the farmlands, often leaving the country.  

Prices have jumped 10% in the last month, and chocolate makers of the products we love are facing the highest prices in thirty years. The president of that country, last week, had reduced exports. It turns out that the political component of this has its roots in their election last November. Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara won the election, and is the one who gave the order to reduce exports.

Laurent Gbagbo is the incumbent and is saying Ouattara has no authority to restrict exports. Gbagbo refuses to cede power, even though Ouattara is the UN certified winner. Apparently all this chocolate mess has to do with the combating presidents. It turns out too that they had an extremely productive oil industry that has suffered a setback for the same kind of political infighting. Oil production is at rock bottom now.

Then there’s smuggling from Ghana, the second largest cocoa producer. Ghana’s government was suppressing prices, so Ghana farmers were smuggling into Ivory Coast for higher prices. Ghana has allowed prices to increase, causing smuggling to decrease. At least that part of the story is okay.

Then there’s the Fair Trade issue. (Fair Trade is supposed to get a higher percentage of money to the actual producers of a product.) These farmers have to be Fair Trade certified, which takes three years. What’s being said is even when all the political mess is worked out it’ll take three years to get production back to where it was. Nowhere have I found why the already certified cocoa farmers just couldn’t return. (This last nearly launched me again on the incompetency of the Jurassic Press; just plain ol’ bad journalism and writing.) I’m a Fair Trade buyer whenever it’s available at the retail level, but this brings even that into question.

There there’s Cahill, the giant agribusiness, that isn’t purchasing because there’s a ban as a result of the legitimate government not being in power or something.

I started this post just as a heads up that our retail chocolate prices may be going up substantially. What I found after having to read several badly written articles, is a story of political belligerence, guerrilla warfare, smuggling, and price controls; none of which has had a good outcome, ever. Ivory Coast did the same thing to their oil business, so apparently didn’t learn anything from that.

Just think if farmers were just allowed to farm and sell, and oil companies just drill and produce, how much better off everyone would be.   

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Beauty of Mathematics

I struggle with Math, but this is a beautiful thing. Almost magical.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h60r2HPsiuM

Buying Ice Cream in Istanbul


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvUQQF5S4Dg

Dems, The Party of Denial

Democrat's New Party Symbol?
Obama and his Dems are the party of denial. Not that they deny anything of themselves, they deny what is good from others.

They have denied new oil drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico, throwing thousands of people out of work; an estimated 5,000 jobs. They used the oil rig explosion there as justification. They don’t allow drilling off either coast. They don’t allow drilling on Alaska’s North Shore. They don’t allow squeezing oil out of shale.

Mining here in Nevada, a really big contributor to our economic well being is severely limited. Mining nation wide is under attack. Using environmental protection laws like they have for shutting down oil production in this country, they have changed existing environmental laws regarding the water quality of nearby streams. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, part of the Interior Department, admits that this will cost an estimated 7,000 jobs.

Obama and his Dems say no to building refineries (through time and cost prohibitive regulations), and no to nuclear plants.

They attempt to limit the right to bear arms through gun control legislation.

Limit freedom of religion thorough court rulings (the Cross in the Mohave, the Cross on Mt Soledad in San Diego [both war memorials]) and convincing a large number of people that the separation of church and state is in the Constitution and the establishment clause means the State can enforce freedom from religion. It just says the State can’t establish a Federal religion. The irony here is that Secularism and Socialism have become the State religion, and is being forced on us through legislation passed in the dead of night and regulation by bureaucracy.

Limit the freedom of press by trying to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, Obama’s internet “kill switch”, in internet “neutrality”.

They say no to health care by nationalizing it. Government makes all resources scarce; it’s how they control people. Making health care a national, centrally controlled bureaucracy of a government that's $trillions in debt will necessarily limit those resources. They have effectively put the kibosh on the pharmaceutical industry, so now the Feds in HHS are going to do research and development to fill the vacuum. Really? How productive is that going to be?

Then there’s S510, the food control legislation that controls food production from seed to table. Where that’s going has already happened in San Francisco and New York City, where they tell private companies what they can serve in restaurants and put in vending machines.

Democrats. No to mining. No to domestic oil production . No to guns. No to religion. No to a free press. No to personal health decisions and care. No to refineries. No to food they disapprove of.

And they made fun of Nancy Reagan’s, “Just say no”.   

Leftist Uncivil Civility Continues

Richard Dreyfuss, who used to be a pretty fine actor, has transformed himself into an excellent hypocrite and Leftist Liar (but I repeat myself). This guy has decided to head up the new Leftist civility movement, which in truth is just telling people that disagree with them to shut up. They’re not so much adherents to freedom of speech (or right to bear arms, or freedom of religion, or freedom of the press for that matter) and here’s a fine example. This is the guy that portrayed Dick Cheney in a movie nobody saw, and said he had to channel his inner Hitler to play the part. In this vid he justifies the verbal terrorist Ed Shultz vile hate speech as civil. Good grief.

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=hdqGnzuzSU

Allegiances

Tariq Ramadan
During the GW Bush’s administration, there was a terrorist that applied to come and teach at Notre Dame. Tariq Ramadan is a member Europe’s Muslim Brotherhood branch. He’s also the grandson of the movement’s founder Hassan al-Banna. For those that don’t follow the links of terrorist organizations, The Brotherhood spawned Hamas, and several other terrorist organizations that are now closely affiliated with or have merged with al-Qaeda.

The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in 1928 when Islamofacist leaders saw Muslim states move away from Sharia dictatorships and toward democracy and secularism. It has since, through murder, terror, and assassination become the most powerful transnational force to bring the whole world into compliance with their brand of fascism and racism.

The Obama administration has lifted the ban on terrorist Tariq Ramadan, as well as a fellow Muslim “activist” Adam Habib from South Africa. They're now allowed into the US.

Now we have the riots in Egypt to overthrow the government, which is bleeding into neighboring Islamist states, fostered in no small part by the Muslim Brotherhood. The US and International Media are already beginning to portray the Brotherhood as a not so bad a group; after all, they renounced violence years ago.

This president has opened our borders even more, and it’s proven that terrorists are using our southern border to enter our country. He’s gone to Islamofacist countries and praised them, and bad mouthed the US at the same time. He’s said the US is a Muslim country. It’s becoming more and more clear where this president’s allegiance lies.     

Senator Ron Johnson: Weekly GOP Address


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvz-qEd1H5Q

Friday, January 28, 2011

Dems Advocate Hanging Republicans

Ed Allard
The past couple of weeks I devoted a lot of time and space to the issue of Leftist (in)civility; the main reason being the Left and Democrat Party blamed Conservatives, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Republicans, etc., for the shooting in Arizona. Conservative? Then you’re an accessory to murder.

The past two plus weeks, while the Left has continued on this path, they are at the same time gushing hate speech, intolerance and bigotry, couched in violent language.

Here’s another installment of Leftist, Democrats, not walking the talk.

Talking about Republicans, the Belknap, NH, Democratic Chair Ed Allard said:
“They’re going to hang themselves,”… “and we’re going to help them.”

Of course if a Conservative said that, front page news, and all the Leftist talking heads would be citing it as a prime example of violent hate speech.

This was at an event sponsored by Organizing for America, Obama’s political voting machine. All presidents, from what I can tell, dismantled their campaign organizations after they were elected, then ginned up for the next election later. None that I can see endorsed murder, except Obama’s organization and his Democrat followers. 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Out of the Sludge

 I don't watch "American Idol" for many reasons, one of them being that it often celebrates the deviant and decadent. Out of that sludge, we find this gem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elaXeN15isM

This Has Got to Make You Smile, Unless You're a Mysoginistic Palin Hater

 WTF indeed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc6cUmZ2Gxg

No Time for Nags

Michelle in her magic garden.
The First Nag, Michelle Obama, is telling us what to eat because we’re all a bunch of lazy fat slobs that are raising fat kids. As a result we are saddled with S510 which controls (signed by Obama Jan.5th) every aspect of the food chain, from the kinds of seeds used, to international food compliance legislation; to what is served in schools…oh it’s a mess. 

Now the First Nag wants businesses to give employees time off to “mentor” kids. Didn’t know this, but there’s actually a Federal agency, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), that “monitors” volunteerism, and pays (!) volunteers. What? We need a multi $million dollar agency to watch over volunteerism?

First Nag:
“And that’s why today, I am thrilled to announce that the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has teamed up with several major companies to establish a Corporate Mentoring Challenge,” Obama said at a summit held by CNCS and the National Mentoring Partnership MENTOR at the Library of Congress.
“This is a program calling on businesses of all sizes to allow their employees to mentor for short periods during the work day, giving kids positive role models and offering employees a way to give back,” Obama said. “And they’ve already received new commitments from leading companies who have agreed to harness their resources and help us make a difference on a very large scale.”

The CNCS cost 927.1 million in 2005 increasing to $1,149,721,000 in 2010. Obama requested a budget of $1,415,586,000 for 2011. Congress reduced it a bit, but it’s still at about $1.5 billion.

When I volunteer, I don’t get paid. I do it out of love and duty. Why is taxpayer money being spent on this? We know, but that a whole other post.

Don’t know about you, but I’m monster busy and often stressed at work; there’s way too much to do with precision and excruciating correctness within a limited about of time to have a bunch of mindless lost young folks wandering around asking questions. Not to mention, and this isn’t something Ms Obama would know any more than her husband does, that the name of the game at work is productivity. You ain’t workin’, you ain’t makin’ money.

Good grief.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Time and Kindness

I arrived at the address and honked the horn.
After waiting a few minutes, I walked to the door and knocked. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in
her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had
lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils
on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.'

'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave
me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly..

'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice.. 'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me
the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived
when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and
would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'.

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.

'Nothing,' I said.

'You have to make a living,' she answered.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said.'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life..

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY
WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL
ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM
FEEL.

 You won't get any big surprise in 10 days if you send this to ten people. But, you might help make the world a little kinder and more compassionate by sending.
it on and reminding us that often it is the random acts of kindness that most benefit all of
us.

Thank you, my
friend...

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

(From an email, origin unknown)

 Harry Chapin "Cat's in the Cradle"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OqwKfgLaeA

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Dems & Other Leftists Hate Women and Civility

Having posted about Palin Derangement Syndrome, the hate and misogyny of Dems and other Leftists is boundless.
Rep. Rebecca Kleefisch

There’s a libtalker radio program host by the name of John “Sly” Sylvester. This is what he had to say about Rebecca Kleefisch the Republican Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, mother, journalist, cancer survivor:
"How amateurish is it to have Rebecca Kleefisch, who, I don’t know, she has some like little panty business in her basement or something, I don’t know. She’s hardly a, she’s hardly an entrepreneur. You know what? You know how amateurish that is? Cold-calling?
(Mocking Kleefisch’s voice in a gross manner)
‘Would you like to move to Wisconsin? Would you like to move CouponCabin to Wisconsin? I’m Rebecca Kleefisch. I perform fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorse me and that’s how I became lieutenant governor. And then I got colon cancer and I ran around the state to help people. Even though I have government health care, screw everyone else.’
…I had heard at one point Rebecca Kleefisch pulled a train, but that must have been a different story I was reading about."

Sylvester has also made hateful misogynistic, racist comments about Condoleezza Rice, one of the most accomplished women in US history, an “Aunt Jemima” and a “black trophy”.  

Here’s a second example. Matt Tabbi is an alleged “reporter” for Rolling Stone Magazine. I’ve tried to read some of his political coverage, but his hatred of America, capitalism and common sense overwhelms anything he might be saying that may have some tinge of truth in it. Here’s Tabbi on Michele Malkin, the brilliant political writer. She’s also Asian, and the racial epithets thrown at her by Leftists literally filled a book; she put one together and published it.
Tabbi on Malkin:
"I have to say, I’m really enjoying this whole teabag thing. It’s really inspiring some excellent daydreaming. For one thing, it’s brought together the words teabag and Michelle Malkin for me in a very powerful, thrilling sort of way. Not that I haven’t ever put those two concepts together before, but this is the first time it’s happened while in the process of reading her actual columns.
Previously Michelle Malkin’s writing was on the edge of unreadable; she’s sort of like Ann Coulter, only without that tiny fraction of P.T. Barnum/Mick Jagger-esque self-promotional flair that makes Coulter at least vaguely interesting. When you read Ann Coulter, you know you’re reading someone who would fuck a hippopotamus if she thought it would boost her Q rating. That’s a rare quality and it commands one’s attention."
Michelle Malkin doesn’t have that. She’s just a mean little dunce who’s wedged herself into a nicely paying career as a GOP spokesclown, and she’s going to ride that gig for as long as it keeps gas in her minivan.
And that’s fine, good for her. But that doesn’t make her readable. However, this move of hers to spearhead the teabag movement really adds an element to her writing that wasn’t there before. Now when I read her stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth. It vastly improves her prose."

Yet, the Left lectures the rest of us about women’s liberation, gender equality, respect for diversity, and civility. Really. They do.


Monday, January 24, 2011

Protests and Sanctity

If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?
 Proverbs 24:10-12:

We can only estimate how many babies have been killed since Roe vs Wade was ruled upon by the Supreme Court in 1973. That estimate is 40 million babies conservatively, and 50 million babies probably. In pagan times there wasn’t abortion, but babies were birthed then tossed off a cliff in Rome, or elsewhere just taken outside the town, city, village and left to die.

Every year at this time, there’s the longest running and huge rally in Washington DC. It’s the pro-life rally. This year, it was held today. The Jurassic Press doesn’t report it, or if they do, hide it in deep in the pages of the paper, not reported in radio news, not reported on television. We’re talking about a yearly rally that draws more than 200,000 people of all races and ages. 



We are saddened by the fraud of the Jurassic Press in not reporting this huge annual event; you can be assured that if this were a violent anti-American rally of just a few Leftists, it would get massive coverage.

We are more saddened that so many murders are sanctioned by the State. Saddened Planned Parenthood is a taxpayer funded abortion mill. We are saddened that the sanctity of life is so diminished in our culture. We are saddened that we had once risen above a heartless pagan view of human life, and are now sinking back down to it. What was remarkable about Jesus’ saying to bring the children to Him, was that at the time children were of no or little value. They were a burden, another mouth to feed. They were not acceptable until they could start contributing by working. He pointed out their value, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”


Life is sacred. People are sacred. Babies are sacred, and given by God into our care.  

Seeds, Business, Friendship

A successful business man was growing old and
knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.  

Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. "The young executives were Shocked, but the boss continued.”I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you.  
I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one  
I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted   the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.  

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.  

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still   nothing.  

By now, others were talking about their plants,
but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing.
Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company
brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot.
But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his
stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room.

When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful - in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.
Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"  

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, 
Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!  

His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new
Chief Executive Officer!"

 

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust  
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
 
 So, be careful what you plant now;
it will determine what you will reap later.  
Think about this for a minute.  

 
If I happened to show up on your door step crying, would you care?
If I called you and asked you to pick me up
because something happened, would you come?
If I had one day left to live my life, would you be part of that last day?  
If I needed a shoulder to cry on, would you give me yours?  
This is a test to see who your real
friends are or if you are just someone to talk to you when they are bored. 

Do you know what the relationship is between your two eyes? 

 

They blink together,    
they move together,  
they cry together,    
they see things together,    
and they sleep together,  
but they never see each other;  
that's what friendship is.    
Your aspiration is your motivation, your    
motivation is your belief,    
your belief is your peace,    
your peace is your target,    
your target is heaven,
and life is like hard core
torture without it! 


Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate!

[Received in an email, original source unknown]

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Choir of King's College, Cambridge~ Duruflé's "Ubi Caritas"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwR_dM-1MlU

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Staples "Wade in the Water"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g4sDSpW9Uc

Worthy Is The Lamb - Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gae-n0Pb7Q

Donnie McClurkin ~ "Our God is an Awesome God"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rikCJZtcwa8

He Reigns!

No Aloha for Religion

Hawaiian Senate
The Secularists have struck another successful blow against the expression of religion, Christianity specifically, in our society. Caving once again to the atheist ACLU because of law suits (so they say); the Hawaiian Senate has banned prayer from its chambers. This came about because of one, count ‘em, one citizen’s complaint about prayer being said before Senate sessions. Same deal regarding Mt Soledad in San Diego, where a Korean War memorial with a cross has been under attack for over three decades because of one, count ‘em, one, hateful intolerant atheist citizen.

Democrat Majority Leader Brickwood Galuteria:
 "Above all, our responsibility is to adhere to the Constitution." At least in regards to this he thinks, even though it’s a lie. Prayer has been a part of politics and culture since this country’s inception. Dems want a “living constitution” so they can breathe life into any cuckoo Statist idea that come along. To do that, Statists must remove Christianity, and Judaism, from any public mention since those are the only ideas that stand between tyranny and liberty.

One person in the Hawaiian Senate was opposed, Sen. Sam Slom, R -Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai. Note the political party.

Slom:
"I think it's important that we stress the need that as smart as we may be, as intelligent as we may be, that we can still call on someone higher to help us and guide us," Slom told the Honolulu Star Advertiser. "I think for us to take this out of our rules and also to, by omission, tell the community that we no longer think that this is important - I think that this is a mistake."

Dems are against the part of the first amendment that advocates for freedom of religion. Only Dems are joining with the atheist ACLU to banish religion, specifically Jews and Christians from the cultural and political landscape.

Rep. Paul Ryan Educates on Fiscal Policy

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAZrVoQCPV8

The Washington Post and the "News"

Even though there’s massive overwhelming evidence the Jurassic Press has no intention of reporting news, only promoting Statist ideology, they still say they are impartial reporters.

Does a two week long media campaign to connect the Arizona shootings to Conservatives regardless of the evidence or lack of it, give anyone confidence that events are being reported objectively?

Now we have alleged reporter of the Washington Post, Dana Milbanks, who wrote:
“But today is the first day of the rest of my life.  And so, I hereby pledge that, beginning on Feb 1, 2011, I will not mention Sarah Palin – in print, online or on television – for one month. Furthermore, I call on others in the news media to join me in this pledge of a Palin-free February. With enough support, I believe we may even be able to extend the moratorium beyond one month, but we are up against a powerful compulsion, and we must take this struggle day by day.”
There was a reader’s poll to measure how many of them would be on board with a boycott of Palin news. That’s good reporting? Palin is arguably the most influential political personality in America. Readers were for the boycott. The poll was pulled by the Post when it became apparent their Leftist slip was showing. They at least recognize this bit, but don’t see the rest of their Leftist propaganda for what it is.

Perhaps though, all the Jurassic Press and alleged comedians like David Letterman and Kathy Giffords were to shut up about Palin, the truth about Palin would emerge; that she’s a working mom, has stayed married to her original husband, got involved in her community, successfully ran for political office and effected positive changes in her state, helps run a family business, is still close to her parents, and walked her talk on abortion…oh what a horrible woman.

Of course if the Jurassic Press did that, a side effect would be blank newspaper pages, empty minutes of the nightly “news” and Letterman would stand on stage with no “jokes”.

Christiane Amanpour Engaging in Political Hate Speech, Defying Leftist's New Rules of Civility




Christiane Amanpour linking JFK assassination to Conservatives, and still, nearly two weeks after the Arizona shooting, blaming Conservatives for that. Giffords being shot was not an assassination attempt spawned by a guy listening to Conservative and Republicans. Amanpour should be poured out of the country; she's a foreigner that has come to this country, made good, and now uses her platform at ABC's Sunday morning "news" show to promote Statist ideology and attack Conservatives and Republicans. ABC skidded down hill going from David Brinkley, to Leftist ideologue and Clinton political hack George Stephanopolous, to this phony hateful woman. 

A reminder to this knucklehead, Kennedy was assassinated by a Soviet Union sponsored, Castro loving Communist.  The Arizona shooter hated G W Bush, and his politics pretty much ended there. 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

"Dusty" Harry Laments the Abundance of Liberty in America

Harry Reid
“I am going to go back to Washington and meet with the President of China. He is a dictator. He can do a lot of things through the form of government they have. Maybe I shouldn’t have said dictator, but they have a different type of government then we have, and that is an understatement.”

“So we have to work in the system we have, the best system ever devised to rule the affairs of men and women,” Reid continued. “And one of the few ways we get things done, in fact the most important way we get things done, is through compromise. It’s not a bad word, and that is how we get things done.”

"Dusty" Harry lamenting there's just to much compromising going on, and just not enough obedience to Statist ideology and Dem programs.  

Leftist Metaphor Alert!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZEB-8IKKRI
"Before we go to break, I want to make a quick point. We were having a discussion about the Chicago mayoral race. My friend Andy Shaw used the term 'in the crosshairs' in talking about the candidates. We're trying, we're trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend, he's covered politics for a long time, but we're trying to get away from that kind of language."




PC isn't enough, now metaphors that have been a part of the culture since forever are now under attack from wimpy limpy weenies. 

Glad We Live in a Post Racial Society


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FB50hTfjdQ
This is just an extension of the meme of the past two years by the Dems and the mindless lap dinosaurs of the Jurassic Press, that if you criticize Obama then you're a racist. The short of racist James Clyburn's statement here, is that if you're against the nationalization of the healthcare and health insurance system, you're a racist.
This congress critter didn't learn a thing from Dr. King

Dems Continue Showing True Civility


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG2hWFPLmZ4
Yep, them nasty Nazi Republicans. Way to go on the new "civility" Democrat. Then again, this is pretty mild compared to calling Conservatives accessories to murder after the Arizona shootings.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

A Lie Cannot Live


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POZGYRe4drI
What the Left means by their recent lecturing about civility, is that those that disagree with them just shut up.

NAACP Hates and Despises George Washington

This is a pic from the Martin Luther King Day observance in Columbia, South Carolina, outside the State House.
What's boxed in is a bronze statue of George Washington, first President of the United States, an honorable man, great political and military leader, without whom the US of A may have never been created bringing more material wealth and liberty to humanity on the whole of the earth, than any other nation.


I'll judge the knuckleheads of both the racist NAACP and city officials by the content of their character for allowing this to happen. They are of the lowest character.

Islam, Pakistan, Infanticide

Baby Corpses Prepared for Burial

In Pakistan, a nation formed specifically as a Muslim nation, babies are being murdered on a grand scale. According to Islamic Law, babies born outside of wedlock are condemned and the adults are considered adulterers, which is a crime punishable by death.

Last year the Edhi Foundation reports there were over a thousand babies murdered. These are what’s known from major cities, and in a mostly rural country, what’s going on is unknown. Unsurprisingly the majority of the babies are girls.

Babies are left in garbage dumps to die, or are dumped there mutilated. Many are taken there and stoned to death.

It’s against Pakistani law to abandon a baby to die, but the cases are not prosecuted.

The Edhi Foundation has bought land to wash and give the babies a proper burial. It looks like more land will be needed because the murders are increasing; an estimated 1,210 last year, that was up from 890 in 2008 and 999 in 2009.  

Some Exemplary Examples of Leftist Civility, Setting a Fine Example for Rest of Us

Mike Malloy


Even ten days after the Arizona Shooting, this knucklehead Lib Radio Talk Show Host, Mike Malloy is spewing hatred and violence and blaming the shootings on Conservative Personalities.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNQlSxqPSD4
As if that's not disgusting enough, a guy, Eric Fuller, who was shot in the knee at the shooting, has said this:

"There would be torture and then an ear necklace, with [Minnesota US Rep.] Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin's ears toward the end, because they're small, female ears, and then Limbaugh, Hannity and the biggest ears of all, Cheney's, in the center."

Plus, according to the NY Post, Fuller had visited the home of a neighbor of murderer Loughner and told a neighbor he was going to forgive Loughner.

Just a couple examples of Leftist “civility”, the lack of which from Conservatives caused the murderer to do what he did. Of course it turns out that Loughner was a drug taking insane looser that care not a whit about politics.

Thank you civil Leftists, for being such a shining example of correct behavior. 

Sunday, January 16, 2011

God Alone is Enough

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. (Matt 6:33)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVdGEPA-Nxc

Lamb of God

The vid below speaks of the “Lamb of God” and many may not know the source of the term, and why Jesus Christ is called such. It goes back to Genesis, when Abraham was commanded by God to go up the mountain and sacrifice his son.

“And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.” (Gen 22)

Abraham was willing to offer his own son, but instead God did, his son Jesus. Abraham was offered a lamb in place of his son; God made His son the Lamb. John the Baptizer recognized this, and when Jesus came to him to be baptized, said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

From this is the meaning of this song.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Obama Applause Lines at Political Rally, ooooops "Memorial" Service

I had mentioned in an earlier post about this "memorial' that the applause was inappropriate. The bits I heard and saw were mostly inappropriate. When asked about the many applause lines...


Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: "I will say that I read the speech several times and thought that there wouldn't be a lot of applause if any. I think many of us thought that. But I think there was a celebration, again, of the lives of those who had been impacted. Not just at that grocery store but throughout the country. And I think that, if that is part of the healing process, then that's a good thing."


Then we see this from the "memorial" along with the campaign "Together We Thrive" campaign T Shirts:

It's possible too that this is closed captioning. Being that Obama is such a phony, that I'm inclined to believe that this is a prompter.

Palin Derangement Syndrome

Sarah Palin and  Her Child
Letterman bashes Sarah Palin nearly nightly.

The stupid Sheriff from Pima County kicked off a week long bashing of Palin as the cause of the Arizona shooting.


Keith Halloran, New Hampshire Democrat candidate, said on a Facebook that he wished Palin had been aboard the Alaska plane that crashed, killing five, including Sen. Ted Stevens

New Hampshire Democrat Timothy Horrigan : "Well a dead Palin would be even more dangerous than a live one . . .  she is all about her myth & if she was dead she couldn't commit any more gaffes."

Alleged comedian Sandra Bernhard: Palin she would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" if she tried coming to New York. Bernhard has also mocked and insulted Palin’s two daughters. What’d they ever do?

Then there’s the Palin hating writer that rented the house next door to her so he could see into her yard and house. Jurassic Press and other Leftists didn’t find this creepy.

There are web sites insulting and mocking Palin. "Sarah Palin is an Idiot" for example. 

Whenever she misspeaks the Left goes nuts saying it proves how stupid she is. They are silent about Obama’s gaffs, and deafeningly silent about the uninterrupted flow of ignorance and stupidity from Joe Biden.

I’ve read some statements that increased death threats against Palin since the Arizona shooting is a lie to garner her victimhood status when she’s in fact the hate speech generator. I guess from this we can assume that even if the increased death threats were true, she deserves them, she brought it on herself.

Her email was hacked and published, and the Dems, Leftists and Jurassic Press gave it a pass. Fortunately the criminal that did it was caught and jailed.

She hunts. The Left haters went totally went nuts over that. One female reported actually asked her about the gun being so big (gee that’s not fair).

Here’s a woman that married and stayed married, raised a family, is close to her parents, had a mentally disabled child at a late age, walked her talk and didn't get an abortion, hunts, fishes, runs a business, and ran for political office when she saw some things needed fixing.

She is everything Women Liberationists say a woman should be. Problem is she’s pro-life and a Christian. You can bet if she hunted, fished, ran a business, ran for political office, and raised a family and were a Statist Secularist she’d be exalted.

What the Left is doing to this woman is hypocritical, low and despicable. They’ll never own up to it, because they have no concept of shame. The Left lectures us on the politics of personal destruction. The Left lectures us on civility. Please.   

Military Wisdom and Humor

 "If the enemy is in range, so are you." ~~Infantry Journal

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed."
 ~~U.S. Air Force Manual

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." ~~ - General MacArthur

"You, you, and you .... Panic. The rest of you, come with me."
 ~~U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt.

 "Tracers work both ways." ~~U.S. Army Ordnance

 "Five second fuses only last three seconds." ~~ Infantry Journal

"Any ship can be a minesweeper....Once."

"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." ~~Unknown Marine Recruit

Clean it, if it's Dirty.
 Oil it, if it Squeaks.
 But:  Don't Screw with it if it Works!
 ~~USAF Electronic Technician

 "If you see a bomb technician running, keep up with him."
  ~~USAF  - Ammo Troop

"Yea, Though I Fly Through the  Valley of Death ,
 I Shall Fear No Evil.
 For I am at 40,000 Feet and Climbing."

"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."
~~ Paul F. Crickmore ( test pilot, SR-71 )

A Navigator's Definition of Latitude & Longitude:
 Latitude is Where We are Lost,
 &
 Longitude is How Long We've been Lost There!
 USAF Navi-guesser

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

"If the wings are travelling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- however, it's probably unsafe in any case."

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine air plane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots?
 If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies;
 If ATC screws up.... The pilot dies."

The three most common expressions (or famous last words), in aviation are:
 "Why is it doing that?"
 "Where are we?"
  and
 "Oh crap!"

"Airspeed, altitude and brains.
 Two out of three are needed to successfully complete the flight."

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation.
 We never left one up there!"

"Flying the air plane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground who is incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

The Piper Cub is the safest air plane in the world; it can just barely kill you."
~~ Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime."
~~ Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."
~~Heard muttered by Dale Woods

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked
 when it takes FULL power to taxi to the terminal."

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives; the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?"  The pilot's reply: "Beats the crap outta me, I just got here myself."

Chapman University Choir

The Chapman University Choir sang at our church last Sunday. When they did this, I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. They did a different song; this vid I think was a couple years ago.

Sparrow At Starbucks

It was chilly in Manhattan but warm inside the
Starbucks shop on 51st Street and Broadway, just a skip up from Times
Square
. Early November weather in New York City holds only the slightest
hint of the bitter chill of late December and January, but it's enough to
send the masses crowding indoors to vie for available space and warmth.
For a musician, it's the most lucrative Starbucks location in the world,
I'm told, and consequently, the tips can be substantial if you play your
tunes right.

Apparently, we were striking all the right chords that
night, because our basket was almost overflowing. It was a fun,
low-pressure gig - I was playing keyboard and singing backup for my
friend who also added rhythm with an arsenal of percussion instruments.
We mostly did pop songs from the '40s to the '90s with a few original
tunes thrown in. During our emotional rendition of the classic, "If You
Don't Know Me by Now," I noticed a lady sitting in one of the lounge
chairs across from me. She was swaying to the beat and singing along.

After the tune was over, she approached me. "I apologize for singing along
on that song. Did it bother you?" she asked.

"No," I replied. "We love it when the audience joins in.. Would you like to sing up
front on the next selection?" To my delight, she accepted my invitation. "You choose,"
I said. "What are you in the mood to sing?"

"Well. ... do you know any hymns?"

Hymns? This woman didn't know who she was dealing with. I cut my teeth on hymns.
Before I was even born, I was going to church. I gave our guest singer a knowing
look. "Name one."

"Oh, I don't know. There are so many good ones. You pick one."

"Okay," I replied. "How about 'His Eye is on the Sparrow'?"

My new friend was silent, her eyes averted. Then she
fixed her eyes on mine again and said, "Yeah. Let's do that one." She
slowly nodded her head, put down her purse, straightened her jacket and
faced the center of the shop. With my two-bar setup, she began to sing,
"Why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows come?"
The audience of coffee drinkers was transfixed. Even
the gurgling noises of the cappuccino machine ceased as the employees
stopped what they were doing to listen. The song rose to its conclusion.

"I sing because I'm happy; I sing because I'm free.
For His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me."

When the last note was sung, the applause crescendoed
to a deafening roar that would have rivaled a sold-out crowd at Carnegie
Hall. Embarrassed, the woman tried to shout over the din, "Oh, y'all go
back to your coffee! I didn't come in here to do a concert! I just came
in here to get somethin' to drink, just like you!"

But the ovation continued.. I embraced my new friend.
"You, my dear, have made my whole year! That was beautiful!"

"Well, it's funny that you picked that particular hymn," she said.

"Why is that?"

"Well," she hesitated again, "that was my daughter's favorite song."

"Really!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," she said, and then grabbed my hands. By this
time, the applause had subsided and it was business as usual... "She was 16.
She died of a brain tumor last week."

I said the first thing that found its way through my
stunned silence. "Are you going to be okay?"

She smiled through tear-filled eyes and squeezed my hands. "I'm gonna
be okay. I've just got to keep trusting the Lord and singing his songs, and
everything's gonna be just fine."

She picked up her bag, gave me her card, and then she was gone.

Was it just a coincidence that we happened to be singing in that particular coffee shop
on that particular November night?
Coincidence that this wonderful lady just happened to walk into that
particular shop? Coincidence that of all the hymns to choose from, I just
happened to pick the very hymn that was the favorite of her daughter, who
had died just the week before? I refuse to believe it.

God has been arranging encounters in human history
since the beginning of time, and it's no stretch for me to imagine that
he could reach into a coffee shop in midtown Manhattan and turn an
ordinary gig into a revival. It was a great reminder that if we keep
trusting him and singing his songs, everything's gonna be okay.

No more excuses now!! God can use you to your full potential.
Besides you aren't the message, you are just the messenger.

May God Bless you today and everyday as
you face any storms that come your way!

This was sent to me by email, original source unknown. 


Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart feel lonely
And long for Heavenly home?

When Jesus is my portion
My constant friend is He
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me

His eyes is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me

I sing because I'm happy
And I sing because I'm free
For His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He's watching me