Monday, January 31, 2011
NASA - The Frontier Is Everywhere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0
NASA is an amazing organization. It launches rockets regularly. And it takes
astounding space images. But it does have a problem connecting with the
average person. One NASA fan decided to help by making this terrific video.
Bringing Freedom and Stability to Egypt
This is a WebMemo On
Egypt Bringing Freedom and Stability to EgyptPublished on January 28, 2011 by James Phillips WebMemo #3125
Rocked by escalating protests, on Friday embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced he would appoint a new government. Mubarak’s eleventh-hour attempt to embrace reform is unlikely to appease the growing opposition, which includes a broad spectrum of diverse political groups. Egypt, an important American ally, is likely to plunge into much deeper political uncertainty as the power struggle intensifies.
The U.S. should demand that any new government that emerges act in the best interest of the Egyptian people—ending violence and putting the nation on a path to a free civil society and more liberal economy. This is the surest means to meet the needs and aspirations of the Egyptian people and retain an important ally and a force for peace and stability in a tumultuous region.
Status Quo Unlikely to Return
The United States has pressed Mubarak for years to open up Egypt’s political system with minimal results. Egypt’s current troubles are a legacy of a repressed civil society and lack of economic freedom. The regime in Cairo bears much of the responsibility for the anger in the streets.
It is not assured, however, that protests against the regime will inevitably lead to greater liberty in Egypt. Egypt’s populist protest movement is an ad hoc coalition of disparate political groups united only by their opposition to the current regime. Many factions within this broad coalition of protest groups (such as the April 6 Movement) have cast their demands in pro-democracy rhetoric. However, some groups harbor Islamist goals that are incompatible with genuine democracy, and there is a distinct danger thatthe anti-Western Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s biggest and best-organized political group, will be well-positioned to hijack the revolt. The Muslim Brotherhood now undoubtedly sees a golden opportunity to exploit the mushrooming political unrest to replace the Mubarak regime with an interim government that the Islamists hope to dominate. This would ultimately be a disaster for freedom in Egypt, as the Brotherhood would seek to impose an Islamist and anti-American agenda on the Egyptian people.
Washington should focus its efforts on helping Egyptians build a free society led by a responsive and responsible government. This is an extremely difficult and risky task, given the lack of a genuine democratic tradition in Egypt, growing economic and social problems, and a quickly expanding population.
The Way Forward
The surest path to a stable and free political system lies in a gradual evolutionary process, but the Mubarak regime has squandered that opportunity despite years of American economic aid, support for civil society groups, and diplomatic cajoling. Egyptians are now confronted with the need for much more rapid and drastic reforms in a tense and overheated atmosphere that favors the ascendancy of radical groups over moderate reformers.
The most constructive role that the U.S. can serve is to make clear its expectations that any government that emerges from the current crisis will respect the freedom and human rights of Egyptians. If Egypt’s army—the backbone of all of its governments since Egypt’s 1952 coup—takes power, then Washington should encourage it to pledge to return power to a civilian government after a new constitution that is broadly acceptable to Egyptians is devised.
To give Egyptians the greatest possible prospects for liberty, the Obama Administration should seek to press any government that emerges to:
Pledge to minimize the use of force and the loss life in its efforts to restore order;
Agree to open up the political system to allow meaningful participation by Egyptian citizens in forming a representative government;
Restore Internet service and access to the world; and
Release opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei from house arrest.
The Obama Administration should review U.S. assistance to Egypt and make further assistance contingent upon undertaking these actions.
Helping a Friend in a Time of Need
Egypt has long been a friend of the United States, and America has long been a champion for the cause of liberty and economic freedoms in the Middle East. During these troubling and difficult times, the United States has a special obligation to assist the Egyptian people in their time of need. To do so, Washington should make future aid to whatever government emerges from this crisis contingent on that government’s respect for the freedom of Egypt’s long-suffering citizens.
James Phillips is Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.
Egypt and the Realpolitik of Violence and Freedom
By Daniel Oliver on 1.31.11 @ 6:08AM
The American Spectator
President Barack Obama's Friday evening statement on the situation in Egypt reminds us of George Orwell's comment that sloppy writing leads to dangerous political thinking.
"Good evening," said the president (ritually, if, under the circumstances, inaccurately). "As the situation continues to unfold, our first concern is preventing injury or loss of life." Our first concern?
Egypt has been our most important ally in the Arab-speaking world. The United States gives $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt annually, and has given $28 billion in economic aid since 1975. We've done that for a reason. The Middle East is a metaphorical salad of dominoes waiting to fall and a powder keg waiting to blow. Islamist extremists plot, and live to plot, the end of the Great Satan and its consequence, chaos. Egypt has been a realpolitik force in opposition to that plotting.
But according to the president, our first concern is preventing injury (sprained ankles?) and loss of life. Maybe that's just a sop to the vegans and animal rights folks (the 2012 election looms). But a president facing the prospects of Armageddon starting, and in the nature of Armageddon, ending, on his watch might nudge other concerns into first place.
The president called on the Egyptian authorities "to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters." The mind reels. What could the president have meant? Had he not seen the coverage of the riots in Cairo? How do you have a peaceful riot? How do you have a peaceful riot in the Middle East? These folks are not the Women's Christian Temperance Union -- and come to think of it, there was nothing peaceful about the WCTU or its most famous member, hatchet-wielding Carrie Nation.
"At the same time," continued the president, "those protesting in the streets have the responsibility to express themselves peacefully. Violence and destruction will not lead to the reforms that they seek." A few minutes later, the president said, "Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people." The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, had sounded the theme earlier in the day: "There's no situation that -- this is certainly not a situation that will be solved by violence."
Where to begin? Either the protesters will succeed, however success is defined, and therefore will have succeeded by resorting to violence. Or the Mubarak regime will survive, however that is defined, because its violence was more violent than the violence of the protesters.
Whether the situation is "solved" depends on where you're throwing your bombs from. Whoever wins this struggle will have succeeded through the use of more or better targeted violence.
"Now ultimately," said the president, "the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people." What did he mean by that? "Should be determined by the Egyptian people?" Maybe. But "will be"? It hasn't been for decades -- if ever. Ultimately, as Keynes remarked, we're all dead. And for a lot of Egyptians this week, "ultimately" may come rather sooner than they had expected.
What should the president have said? There were two options. One is: nothing. Never underestimate the advisability of saying nothing. The United States has few good options in this situation. Keeping quiet may preserve whatever our best option is.
The second option would have been to teach -- but the president is not good at teaching, as he demonstrated in his State of the Union speech. And teach whom? He could have outlined, for the American people, the dilemma: realpolitik vs. idealism. Kissinger vs. Bush. Perhaps Kissinger vs. Bush for Dummies. But how likely is it that that lecture would help the United States win the hearts and minds of whoever wins the tanks and guns in Egypt?
Besides, the president may not have thought through that dilemma (after all, his State Department took the wrong side in Honduras!), so he's coasting on liberal shibboleths. Violence is bad. Violence is counterproductive. Floss after every meal. But that is dangerous thinking, which, pace George Orwell, can proceed to, as well as from, sloppy writing.
To think that violence is always bad is not to know, as American soldiers know, along with the millions of people in far off lands that their bravery has liberated down through the years, that violence can be the handmaiden of freedom.
Freedom for the Egyptians, however, is still years away, as it is for millions of their pitiful fellow Arabs, whatever is midwifed by the current violence. And however great the interest of the Egyptian people is in their own freedom and human rights, it is eclipsed, even if they don't realize it, by the national security interest of the United States.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Oliver is a Senior Director of White House Writers Group in Washington, D.C. He served as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under President Ronald Reagan.
The American Spectator
President Barack Obama's Friday evening statement on the situation in Egypt reminds us of George Orwell's comment that sloppy writing leads to dangerous political thinking.
"Good evening," said the president (ritually, if, under the circumstances, inaccurately). "As the situation continues to unfold, our first concern is preventing injury or loss of life." Our first concern?
Egypt has been our most important ally in the Arab-speaking world. The United States gives $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt annually, and has given $28 billion in economic aid since 1975. We've done that for a reason. The Middle East is a metaphorical salad of dominoes waiting to fall and a powder keg waiting to blow. Islamist extremists plot, and live to plot, the end of the Great Satan and its consequence, chaos. Egypt has been a realpolitik force in opposition to that plotting.
But according to the president, our first concern is preventing injury (sprained ankles?) and loss of life. Maybe that's just a sop to the vegans and animal rights folks (the 2012 election looms). But a president facing the prospects of Armageddon starting, and in the nature of Armageddon, ending, on his watch might nudge other concerns into first place.
The president called on the Egyptian authorities "to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters." The mind reels. What could the president have meant? Had he not seen the coverage of the riots in Cairo? How do you have a peaceful riot? How do you have a peaceful riot in the Middle East? These folks are not the Women's Christian Temperance Union -- and come to think of it, there was nothing peaceful about the WCTU or its most famous member, hatchet-wielding Carrie Nation.
"At the same time," continued the president, "those protesting in the streets have the responsibility to express themselves peacefully. Violence and destruction will not lead to the reforms that they seek." A few minutes later, the president said, "Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people." The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, had sounded the theme earlier in the day: "There's no situation that -- this is certainly not a situation that will be solved by violence."
Where to begin? Either the protesters will succeed, however success is defined, and therefore will have succeeded by resorting to violence. Or the Mubarak regime will survive, however that is defined, because its violence was more violent than the violence of the protesters.
Whether the situation is "solved" depends on where you're throwing your bombs from. Whoever wins this struggle will have succeeded through the use of more or better targeted violence.
"Now ultimately," said the president, "the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people." What did he mean by that? "Should be determined by the Egyptian people?" Maybe. But "will be"? It hasn't been for decades -- if ever. Ultimately, as Keynes remarked, we're all dead. And for a lot of Egyptians this week, "ultimately" may come rather sooner than they had expected.
What should the president have said? There were two options. One is: nothing. Never underestimate the advisability of saying nothing. The United States has few good options in this situation. Keeping quiet may preserve whatever our best option is.
The second option would have been to teach -- but the president is not good at teaching, as he demonstrated in his State of the Union speech. And teach whom? He could have outlined, for the American people, the dilemma: realpolitik vs. idealism. Kissinger vs. Bush. Perhaps Kissinger vs. Bush for Dummies. But how likely is it that that lecture would help the United States win the hearts and minds of whoever wins the tanks and guns in Egypt?
Besides, the president may not have thought through that dilemma (after all, his State Department took the wrong side in Honduras!), so he's coasting on liberal shibboleths. Violence is bad. Violence is counterproductive. Floss after every meal. But that is dangerous thinking, which, pace George Orwell, can proceed to, as well as from, sloppy writing.
To think that violence is always bad is not to know, as American soldiers know, along with the millions of people in far off lands that their bravery has liberated down through the years, that violence can be the handmaiden of freedom.
Freedom for the Egyptians, however, is still years away, as it is for millions of their pitiful fellow Arabs, whatever is midwifed by the current violence. And however great the interest of the Egyptian people is in their own freedom and human rights, it is eclipsed, even if they don't realize it, by the national security interest of the United States.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Oliver is a Senior Director of White House Writers Group in Washington, D.C. He served as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under President Ronald Reagan.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
How Liberal Journalists Think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF3hbPtCttc
Battlefield315
Battlefield315 January 17, 2011 236 likes, 24 dislikes
An aspiring liberal journalist tries to explain why she thinks the Tea Party is dangerous, etc.
Friday, January 28, 2011
SHOOTING ADVICE - THE BEST OF THE BEST
Never let someone or thing that threatens you get inside arms length and never say "I got a gun". If you feel you need to use deadly force for heavens sake let the "first sound they hear be the safety clicking off" and they shouldn't have time to hear anything after that if you are doing your job.
The average response time of a 911 call is over 3 minutes....the response time of a .44 magnum is 1400 feet per second.
Here are a few of his observation on tactics, firearms, self > defense and life as we know it in the civilized world.
"The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always win and > cheat if necessary."
"Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way.."
"Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. You may get killed with your own gun, but he'll have to beat you to death with it, cause it's going to be empty."
If you're not shooting', you should be loading'. If you're > not loading', you should be moving', if you're not moving', someone's gonna cut your head off and put it
on a stick."
"When you reload in low light encounters, don't put your flashlight in your back pocket.. If you light yourself up, you'll look like an angel or the tooth fairy...
and you're gonna be one of 'em pretty soon."
"Do something. It may be wrong, but do something."
"Shoot what's available, as long as it's available, until something else becomes available."
"If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous. If you have a gun, what in the hell do you have to be paranoid for."
"Don't shoot fast, unless you also shoot good.."
"You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work, but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much the universal language."
"You have the rest of your life to solve your problems.. How long you live depends on how well you do it."
"You cannot save the planet but you may be able to save yourself and your family."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More Excellent Gun Wisdom.......
The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense..
The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
1. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.
2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
3. I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy.
4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.
5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?'
The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'
6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous
regularity.
7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No ma'am.
If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.'
8. Beware of the woman who only has one gun, because she probably knows how to use it very well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in
front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' --- G.
K. Chesterton
A people that values its privileges above its principles
will soon lose both.
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for
those who do not..." - Thomas Jefferson
-----From Jack Lewtschuk. 1-28-11
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
African Animals Getting Drunk From Ripe Marula Fruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5E5TjkDvU0
There are trees that grow in Africa which, once a year, produce very juicy fruits
that contain a large percentage of alcohol. Because there is a shortage
of water, as soon as the fruits are ripe, animals come there to help
protect them from the heat. What happens next? You can watch for
yourself. I like the elephant that won't give up reaching for more of the
fruit even though it can't stand. Should we say "Been there; done that."
State of The Union
CFP
Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011
The “We do big things” braggadocio of Barry Soetoro
By Judi McLeod Wednesday, January 26, 2011
In his Internet message sent into Cyberspace after his State of the Union address last night, President Barack Obama bragged that he “addressed the American people on the future we face together.”
Millions tuned out on what some called “Prom Night in DC” to do more meaningful things: check on the job front, check on the larder, spend time with family.
The Internet speech was entitled “We do big things”.
But the number of people who know that Obama ignores, and has even chosen to insult the big things done by Americans, is increasing.
…”Because, time after time, when our resolve has been tested, we, as a nation, have always prevailed.
“Overcoming the challenges we face today requires a new vision for tomorrow. We will move forward together, or not at all—for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.
“Yet the story of America is this.: We do big things.”
The truth is that Obama was not there when any of those big things were being accomplished. In point of fact, when America was accomplishing big things that the rest of the world could share in, Obama was out on the streets fighting against them as a strident and overpaid community organizer.
Even as a state senator, a job that only coincidence made his, he missed voting on big issues declaring himself “present” a total of 129 times. And as a U.S. senator, he missed a whopping 24 percent of the votes while running for president.
The biggest thing Obama is attempting on America is its unsolicited fundamental transformation. The challenges he described in his speech as bigger than party and politics are being replaced by even bigger party politics. It’s called the soul killing big politics of failed Marxism.
“Moving forward, America’s economic growth at home is inextricably connected to our competitiveness in the global community. The more products American companies can export, the more jobs we can create at home,” Obama wrote in his Internet message.
“This vision for the future starts with innovation, tapping into the creativity and imagination of our people to create the jobs and industries of the future. Instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s. It’s why I challenged Congress to join me in setting a new goal: By 2035, 80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.”
But Obama has destroyed American competitiveness by nationalizing its biggest industries, including the automobile industry, now a runaway success in Communist China. Obama’s moves in the area of clean energy sources has so far only banned Mr. Edison’s incandescent light bulb.
Every day Obama is trying to run Americans out of faith. Playing to We the People from a State of the Union where seating was made to look like there were less of those who replaced Democrats on Nov. 2 in the audience was only a failed ruse.
Empty words don’t pull nations out of recessions and self serving rhetoric doesn’t put food on the plates of hungry children.
Meanwhile, Obama has a personal problem that will not go away. He is far different than most other decent folk. Like them, he does not exist on paper. At best he’s only the proponent of a ghost-written book. In other words, hype notwithstanding, President Barack Obama doesn’t exist.
The State of the Union is over, and you can only milk a human tragedy for so long. Reality’s got the jump on the calendar with the ObamaCare repeal ready to take stage front and center.
Transparency now shows that the man in the White House, who doesn’t exist on paper, is only opportunist Barry Soetoro in the flesh. And Barry is fast running out of props.
Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011
The “We do big things” braggadocio of Barry Soetoro
By Judi McLeod Wednesday, January 26, 2011
In his Internet message sent into Cyberspace after his State of the Union address last night, President Barack Obama bragged that he “addressed the American people on the future we face together.”
Millions tuned out on what some called “Prom Night in DC” to do more meaningful things: check on the job front, check on the larder, spend time with family.
The Internet speech was entitled “We do big things”.
But the number of people who know that Obama ignores, and has even chosen to insult the big things done by Americans, is increasing.
…”Because, time after time, when our resolve has been tested, we, as a nation, have always prevailed.
“Overcoming the challenges we face today requires a new vision for tomorrow. We will move forward together, or not at all—for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.
“Yet the story of America is this.: We do big things.”
The truth is that Obama was not there when any of those big things were being accomplished. In point of fact, when America was accomplishing big things that the rest of the world could share in, Obama was out on the streets fighting against them as a strident and overpaid community organizer.
Even as a state senator, a job that only coincidence made his, he missed voting on big issues declaring himself “present” a total of 129 times. And as a U.S. senator, he missed a whopping 24 percent of the votes while running for president.
The biggest thing Obama is attempting on America is its unsolicited fundamental transformation. The challenges he described in his speech as bigger than party and politics are being replaced by even bigger party politics. It’s called the soul killing big politics of failed Marxism.
“Moving forward, America’s economic growth at home is inextricably connected to our competitiveness in the global community. The more products American companies can export, the more jobs we can create at home,” Obama wrote in his Internet message.
“This vision for the future starts with innovation, tapping into the creativity and imagination of our people to create the jobs and industries of the future. Instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s. It’s why I challenged Congress to join me in setting a new goal: By 2035, 80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.”
But Obama has destroyed American competitiveness by nationalizing its biggest industries, including the automobile industry, now a runaway success in Communist China. Obama’s moves in the area of clean energy sources has so far only banned Mr. Edison’s incandescent light bulb.
Every day Obama is trying to run Americans out of faith. Playing to We the People from a State of the Union where seating was made to look like there were less of those who replaced Democrats on Nov. 2 in the audience was only a failed ruse.
Empty words don’t pull nations out of recessions and self serving rhetoric doesn’t put food on the plates of hungry children.
Meanwhile, Obama has a personal problem that will not go away. He is far different than most other decent folk. Like them, he does not exist on paper. At best he’s only the proponent of a ghost-written book. In other words, hype notwithstanding, President Barack Obama doesn’t exist.
The State of the Union is over, and you can only milk a human tragedy for so long. Reality’s got the jump on the calendar with the ObamaCare repeal ready to take stage front and center.
Transparency now shows that the man in the White House, who doesn’t exist on paper, is only opportunist Barry Soetoro in the flesh. And Barry is fast running out of props.
Exercise for people over 50
Those over 60 should consult with their physician ..................
Exercise for people over 50!
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.
With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.
Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.
Then try 50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.
(I'm at this level.)
After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.
Exercise for people over 50!
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.
With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.
Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.
Then try 50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.
(I'm at this level.)
After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Kevin Richardson, a very special Lioness, and her Cubs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6C-JgkpY18
Lion cubs are incredibly cute. But getting close to them is a problem. They
tend to be surrounded by full-grown lions. Kevin Richardson's solution is to
make friends with the cubs' mother. You won't believe how close he gets.
Mandie4321 January 22, 2009
The ultimate trust between man and beast.
Category:
Pets & Animals
Tags:
Kevin Richardson Lions Lion Whisperer Dangerous Companions Lion Park White Lion the movie feature film lions
Sunday, January 23, 2011
TOGETHER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
KEY PASSAGE: Hebrews 10:19-25 SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE: Matthew 16:13,15-16, 18; 22:37-39; 28:18-20
1 Corinthians 12:7, 27 2 Timothy 2:15; 4:1-4 James 5:16
SUMMARY
PASTOR CHARLES STANLEY
Many Christians think being involved in
church isn’t necessary.
Quite often, believers express the opinion that
commitment to a local body isn’t necessary for a
strong relationship with God. They argue that
fellowships are far from perfect: churches have
conflict with other churches, people in the
same congregation don’t always get along, and
some Christians are hypocritical. I understand
all of these complaints.
But as followers of Christ, we shouldn’t base
our actions on merely an assessment of the
facts; we must follow the counsel of Scripture.
Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us consider how to
stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not
forsaking our own assembling together, as is the
habit of some, but encouraging one another”
(emphasis added). It’s true that some people
can’t attend church due to physical limitations
and others have no Bible-believing congregations
in their area. But aside from those exceptions,
everyone who wants to maintain a vital, growing
relationship with Jesus Christ needs to be
involved in a local body of believers.
SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES:
Who originated the concept of church?
Scripture clearly teaches that the church was
established by our Savior Himself. In Matthew 16,
Jesus asked His disciples who they said He was.
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God" (v. 16). Jesus said, “Upon this rock
I will build My church; and the gates of Hades
will not overpower it.” The “rock” Jesus referred
to is the statement of faith Peter made: Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. In other words, He’s the
Savior of the world, humanity’s only hope. This is
the foundation upon which Jesus established the
church, and no evil force can prevail against it.
Throughout history, all kinds of movements
have come and gone. In contrast, the church—
also called the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27)—has
thrived for centuries, and in our generation, is
growing quickly all over the world.Why has the
church survived despite changing times? Because
it belongs to God, not to men and women. Jesus is
the originator and sustainer of the church. Today,
He ministers to both believers and unbelievers
through His body.
When Christians claim they don’t need
church, what does that imply?
If we can walk closely with God without the
fellowship of other believers, then assembling
on Sunday morning is a waste of time. Those
who believe this would say we don’t need other
Christians for support, encouragement, or prayer.
One of the main problems with this perspective
is what it implies. If believers can maintain an
intimate relationship with God apart from church
involvement, then Jesus made a big mistake. After
all, church was His idea.
Of course, our Lord didn’t make a mistake
when He established His church. You and I
need other believers whom God commands us
to love as ourselves—a mandate second only to
loving Him whole-heartedly (Matt. 22:37-39). The
Christian life is all about relationships—with the
Lord and other people. It is in the context of
Pract ical Lessons for Understanding the Word of God
LIFE PRINCIPLES NOTES LPN101024
Together in the Christian Life
community that we exercise our spiritual gifts,
find encouragement to follow God’s will, and learn
how to properly interpret Scripture. Our Father
desires us to be involved in a local fellowship
of believers.
If you aren’t currently committed to a church, I
pray that you will find a body of believers with
whom you can relate—Christians who believe as
you do and teach the truth of God’s Word.
Why should believers assemble
together as a church?
To worship:When we gather for church, we
usually praise God in song, giving Him thanks for
the good things He’s done.Worshipping Him lifts
our spirits and strengthens our souls. Many of the
songs are full of theological truths that educate
us about the blessings we have in Him.
To learn the Word of God: In church, we
often have the opportunity to learn from those
with special biblical training or deep spiritual
maturity. Be ready to check any teaching against
the whole counsel of Scripture. Pulling verses
out of context can lead to doctrinal errors.We
are living in the time when many people don’t
want to listen to sound doctrine; they prefer to
have “their ears tickled”—that is, to hear only
what sounds good to them (2 Tim. 4:3).
To fulfill the Great Commission:Most of us
wouldn’t want to move across the world, learn a
new language and culture, and try to reach the
local people with the gospel. But as the body of
Christ, we can send missionaries to far off places.
We support them through our prayers, letters or
emails, and financial support. Together we fulfill
the command to take the good news to the
nations (Matt. 28:18-20).
To protect themselves:When someone stops
attending church, it is almost inevitable that he or
she will begin to drift away from God. Hearing
scriptural truth each week helps hold believers
accountable to high moral, ethical, and spiritual
standards. Otherwise, the world’s messages, which
constantly bombard our minds, tend to distract us
from the still, small voice of God.
To exercise spiritual gifts:
These supernatural blessings, such as administration, organization, and
mercy, are to be used“for the common good” in the
body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:7). For example, my gift
is a mixture of exhortation and prophecy. Unless I
shared that with other people, it would be wasted.
To develop an atmosphere of support:
The New Testament is full of advice on how to relate—
namely, we are to love, build up, forgive, accept,
encourage, and serve one another.Also, we should
be patient, seeking always to comfort, inspire,
and fellowship with other Christians.And lastly,
we should confess our sins to one another, as
Scripture exhorts us to do (James 5:16). It is
through working together that believers are able
to accomplish God’s will. No pastor is able to
reach everyone.
To strengthen and broaden the Christian
impact on the world:
When believers are committed
to a local fellowship, the influence of that
church is greatly multiplied. Together we can
raise funds for local ministry and world missions,
and develop effective new ways to reach out to
our community. God works powerfully through
churches where each person sees himself or
herself as making a valuable contribution to the
work of the ministry. In His eyes, no believer is
more important than any other.
CONCLUSION:
God’s purposes for you can be fulfilled only
when you are committed to a local body of
believers. There, you can receive solid instruction
in theWord of God, participate in corporate
worship, and find opportunities to exercise your
spiritual gifts. Look for a church that believes the
Bible and seeks to follow its teachings. Don’t just
attend regularly; find a way to get involved. Your
life will never be the same.
LIFE PRINCIPLES NOTES LPN101024
CONTACT US: 1-800-789-1473
CUSTOMER CARE: 8:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. ET M-F
To purchase the message
for these Life Principles Notes
on CD or DVD, please visit
www.intouchbookstore.org .
Together in the
Christian Life
101024
® www.intouch.org
Copyright © 2011 by In Touch Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved.
In Touch grants permission to print for personal use only. www.intouch.org
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Larry Griswold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T89HO_qIMyo
Now this is funny
Larry Griswold, (died August 24 1996), known as "The Diving Fool", was an American gymnast and entertainer who was involved in the early development of the trampoline.
This clip is from a Frank Sinatra TV show in 1951.
Blind Quilter
Diane Rose lost her sight in 1984. At first she was depressed. But then she
says God showed her where her talents are. For years she has been making
fabulous quilts. And she makes them entirely by touch. Don't miss this
uplifting story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfaSmDxVZQ
says God showed her where her talents are. For years she has been making
fabulous quilts. And she makes them entirely by touch. Don't miss this
uplifting story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfaSmDxVZQ
Diane Rose, www.theamazingquilter.com
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Birth-certificate billboards inch closer to D.C.
BORN IN THE USA?
Birth-certificate billboards inch closer to D.C.
Campaign question appears on Route 40 at Elkton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 13, 2011
1:00 am Eastern
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
It's been on the Gulf Coast, in the Southwestern deserts, the heart of the Midwest, along California's boulevards and in Texas, and now the "Where's the Birth Certificate?" campaign is reaching into Maryland, in the shadow of Washington, D.C., where a billboard has been erected on Route 40 near Elkton.
The new billboard is part of a year-and-a-half-long campaign to bring attention to the eligibility questions still swirling around the presidency of Barack Obama, and is one of more than 50 posted around the country.
The campaign is credited with giving new life to doubts about Obama's eligibility now held by at least 58 percent of the American people, according to the latest national public opinion survey by CNN.
Before the campaign was launched, only half of Americans were even aware of the controversy.
The campaign was initiated by Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, in a bid to go over the heads of the major media, which, he says, now have a clear vested interest in covering up their negligence in not vetting Obama. Farah is asking all those who agree that the constitutional eligibility of the president is of paramount importance for the future of the country to contribute financially to extending the campaign through 2012.
"Every day we hear from Americans seeing these billboards," said Farah. "Many of them congratulate us on the work. Others are just now being introduced to the questions that have been systematically stonewalled by the major media. I believe this campaign has raised more awareness of the issue than just about anything else. And I believe we are reaching critical mass in getting to the bottom of the mystery."
Farah says his goal is to help persuade several state legislatures to pass simple, straightforward bills requiring eligibility tests for presidential candidates – especially for "natural born citizenship."
"As I have said many times, if Obama didn't have something to hide, he would have long ago produced the original birth certificate proving he was born in Hawaii August 4, 1961, as he claims," said Farah. "Just such legislation is pending right now in Texas and is expected to be introduced in several other states in 2011. When that happens, I am firmly convinced Obama will decide not to run again. At that point, an investigation needs to be launched by Congress to determine whether he was ever eligible to serve and whether any of his initiatives and actions as president are legitimate."
While the press has ridiculed the idea that there are any remaining questions about Obama's eligibility, the entertainment media have been having a field day, turning the issue into the biggest running joke in America:
Jay Leno says things are so bad for Barack Obama these days that even Democrats are asking for his birth certificate.
Mike Huckabee says if you want to protect vital national security secrets from WikiLeaks, just put them in the same vault as Obama's birth certificate.
Conan O'Brien had this to say: "First, they said Obama's a socialist. Then they say he's Muslim. Now they're saying he wasn’t even born in this country. It's got me thinking. OK, the guy might not be qualified to be president. But I guess he is qualified to drive a cab in New York."
"Saturday Night Live" has gotten into the act several times with skits about Obama's elusive birth certificate.
While the birth certificate question is the source of some good jokes, it's also serious business – national security business, insists Farah.
"We now have a real American military hero, Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, convicted in a court martial and sent to prison, because Obama won't show us his birth certificate," Farah said. "That's not funny. And it's not funny that 58 percent of Americans have no confidence the man in the White House belongs there under the constitutional standard. It's about time this should be viewed as a national security crisis."
An earlier billboard was posted in the Austin area, where Texas lawmakers are being given the opportunity to support legislation by Texas Rep. Leo Berman that would require the establishment of eligibility before presidential candidates get on the ballot.
"Like everyone else who raises this issue in the national media, Berman has been pilloried for legislation that ought to be a no-brainer," says Farah. "He needs the support of all Texans and all Americans – just as do other courageous state legislators who wade into this fight."
Montana, Georgia and several other states are working on similar plans.
Farah says there are plenty of billboard locations available throughout the country – most of them at bargain prices because of the Obama recession.
"The average billboard we place costs about $4,000 a month," Farah points out. "Yes, we have had some donated. We've had some wonderful outdoor advertising companies that have discounted their boards because they like our campaign. But, at the end of the day, we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this campaign – and we need help from the public. We believe it's the most important way any citizen can make his voice heard on this issue."
Only limited funds prevent the campaign from growing faster, Farah said.
"It's true that the outdoor advertising cartel, owned by major media conglomerates like Clear Channel, CBS and Lamar, have steadfastly refused to post our message because they want to curry favor with regulators in Washington," Farah said. "These companies have no problem with soft-core porn, with ads renouncing God and with outrageous vulgarity. But they do have a problem with political speech – with a simple, non-threatening question like, 'Where's the birth certificate?' It's an unbelievable double-standard by companies that are supposed to be in the First Amendment business. But, then again, look at how their parent companies have treated this issue in their news coverage."
In addition to the billboard campaign, Farah has:
produced a video-documentary primer on the issue called "A Question of Eligibility";
produced a 40-page special report on the subject;
manufactured yard and rally signs to bring attention to the topic;
pledged to donate at least $15,000 to any hospital in Hawaii or anywhere else that provides proof Obama was born there and given you an opportunity to raise the amount;
created a line of T-shirts you can wear to appearances by the president to raise visibility of the issue;
created a fund to which you can donate to further the kind of investigative reporting into this matter only this company has performed over the last two years;
launched a line of postcards you can use to keep the issue alive;
distributed thousands of bumper stickers asking, "Where's the birth certificate?";
perhaps most notably, gathered more than 500,000 names on a petition demanding any and all controlling legal authorities in this matter take appropriate action to see the requirements of the Constitution of the United States are followed;
gathered another 25,000 names on a second petition attempting to rally state officials to make presidential candidates prove their eligibility before getting on ballots.
"There are all kinds of things we need to do right now to get our country back on track, but I can think of nothing more important than for us to see that our Constitution is observed, followed, adhered to and honored, especially when it comes to such simple, straightforward matters as the eligibility of the president of the United States," says Farah. "Please help me bring this matter to a head right now." Read more: Birth-certificate billboards inch closer to D.C. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=250269#ixzz1Bb1rAkeg
Read more: Birth-certificate billboards inch closer to D.C. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=250269#ixzz1Bb0jbkcc
Birth-certificate billboards inch closer to D.C.
Campaign question appears on Route 40 at Elkton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 13, 2011
1:00 am Eastern
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
It's been on the Gulf Coast, in the Southwestern deserts, the heart of the Midwest, along California's boulevards and in Texas, and now the "Where's the Birth Certificate?" campaign is reaching into Maryland, in the shadow of Washington, D.C., where a billboard has been erected on Route 40 near Elkton.
The new billboard is part of a year-and-a-half-long campaign to bring attention to the eligibility questions still swirling around the presidency of Barack Obama, and is one of more than 50 posted around the country.
The campaign is credited with giving new life to doubts about Obama's eligibility now held by at least 58 percent of the American people, according to the latest national public opinion survey by CNN.
Before the campaign was launched, only half of Americans were even aware of the controversy.
The campaign was initiated by Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, in a bid to go over the heads of the major media, which, he says, now have a clear vested interest in covering up their negligence in not vetting Obama. Farah is asking all those who agree that the constitutional eligibility of the president is of paramount importance for the future of the country to contribute financially to extending the campaign through 2012.
"Every day we hear from Americans seeing these billboards," said Farah. "Many of them congratulate us on the work. Others are just now being introduced to the questions that have been systematically stonewalled by the major media. I believe this campaign has raised more awareness of the issue than just about anything else. And I believe we are reaching critical mass in getting to the bottom of the mystery."
Farah says his goal is to help persuade several state legislatures to pass simple, straightforward bills requiring eligibility tests for presidential candidates – especially for "natural born citizenship."
"As I have said many times, if Obama didn't have something to hide, he would have long ago produced the original birth certificate proving he was born in Hawaii August 4, 1961, as he claims," said Farah. "Just such legislation is pending right now in Texas and is expected to be introduced in several other states in 2011. When that happens, I am firmly convinced Obama will decide not to run again. At that point, an investigation needs to be launched by Congress to determine whether he was ever eligible to serve and whether any of his initiatives and actions as president are legitimate."
While the press has ridiculed the idea that there are any remaining questions about Obama's eligibility, the entertainment media have been having a field day, turning the issue into the biggest running joke in America:
Jay Leno says things are so bad for Barack Obama these days that even Democrats are asking for his birth certificate.
Mike Huckabee says if you want to protect vital national security secrets from WikiLeaks, just put them in the same vault as Obama's birth certificate.
Conan O'Brien had this to say: "First, they said Obama's a socialist. Then they say he's Muslim. Now they're saying he wasn’t even born in this country. It's got me thinking. OK, the guy might not be qualified to be president. But I guess he is qualified to drive a cab in New York."
"Saturday Night Live" has gotten into the act several times with skits about Obama's elusive birth certificate.
While the birth certificate question is the source of some good jokes, it's also serious business – national security business, insists Farah.
"We now have a real American military hero, Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, convicted in a court martial and sent to prison, because Obama won't show us his birth certificate," Farah said. "That's not funny. And it's not funny that 58 percent of Americans have no confidence the man in the White House belongs there under the constitutional standard. It's about time this should be viewed as a national security crisis."
An earlier billboard was posted in the Austin area, where Texas lawmakers are being given the opportunity to support legislation by Texas Rep. Leo Berman that would require the establishment of eligibility before presidential candidates get on the ballot.
"Like everyone else who raises this issue in the national media, Berman has been pilloried for legislation that ought to be a no-brainer," says Farah. "He needs the support of all Texans and all Americans – just as do other courageous state legislators who wade into this fight."
Montana, Georgia and several other states are working on similar plans.
Farah says there are plenty of billboard locations available throughout the country – most of them at bargain prices because of the Obama recession.
"The average billboard we place costs about $4,000 a month," Farah points out. "Yes, we have had some donated. We've had some wonderful outdoor advertising companies that have discounted their boards because they like our campaign. But, at the end of the day, we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this campaign – and we need help from the public. We believe it's the most important way any citizen can make his voice heard on this issue."
Only limited funds prevent the campaign from growing faster, Farah said.
"It's true that the outdoor advertising cartel, owned by major media conglomerates like Clear Channel, CBS and Lamar, have steadfastly refused to post our message because they want to curry favor with regulators in Washington," Farah said. "These companies have no problem with soft-core porn, with ads renouncing God and with outrageous vulgarity. But they do have a problem with political speech – with a simple, non-threatening question like, 'Where's the birth certificate?' It's an unbelievable double-standard by companies that are supposed to be in the First Amendment business. But, then again, look at how their parent companies have treated this issue in their news coverage."
In addition to the billboard campaign, Farah has:
produced a video-documentary primer on the issue called "A Question of Eligibility";
produced a 40-page special report on the subject;
manufactured yard and rally signs to bring attention to the topic;
pledged to donate at least $15,000 to any hospital in Hawaii or anywhere else that provides proof Obama was born there and given you an opportunity to raise the amount;
created a line of T-shirts you can wear to appearances by the president to raise visibility of the issue;
created a fund to which you can donate to further the kind of investigative reporting into this matter only this company has performed over the last two years;
launched a line of postcards you can use to keep the issue alive;
distributed thousands of bumper stickers asking, "Where's the birth certificate?";
perhaps most notably, gathered more than 500,000 names on a petition demanding any and all controlling legal authorities in this matter take appropriate action to see the requirements of the Constitution of the United States are followed;
gathered another 25,000 names on a second petition attempting to rally state officials to make presidential candidates prove their eligibility before getting on ballots.
"There are all kinds of things we need to do right now to get our country back on track, but I can think of nothing more important than for us to see that our Constitution is observed, followed, adhered to and honored, especially when it comes to such simple, straightforward matters as the eligibility of the president of the United States," says Farah. "Please help me bring this matter to a head right now." Read more: Birth-certificate billboards inch closer to D.C. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=250269#ixzz1Bb1rAkeg
Read more: Birth-certificate billboards inch closer to D.C. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=250269#ixzz1Bb0jbkcc
Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BORN IN THE USA?
Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate
Suggests controversy could hurt president's re-election chances
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 18, 2011
8:05 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
Neil Abercrombie
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published today that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health.
Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star Advertiser he was searching within the Hawaii Department of Health to find definitive vital records that would prove Obama was born in Hawaii, because the continuing eligibility controversy could hurt the president's chances of re-election in 2012.
Donalyn Dela Cruz, Abercrombie's spokeswoman in Honolulu, ignored again today another in a series of repeated requests made by WND for an interview with the governor.
Toward the end of the interview, the newspaper asked Abercrombie: "You stirred up quite a controversy with your comments regarding birthers and your plan to release more information regarding President Barack Obama's birth certificate. How is that coming?"
In his response, Abercrombie acknowledged the birth certificate issue will have "political implications" for the next presidential election "that we simply cannot have."
Get the free, in-depth special report on eligibility that could bring an end to Obama's presidency
Suggesting he was still intent on producing more birth records on Obama from the Hawaii Department of Health vital records vault, Abercrombie told the newspaper there was a recording of the Obama birth in the state archives that he wants to make public.
Abercrombie did not report to the newspaper that he or the Hawaii Department of Health had found Obama's long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate. The governor only suggested his investigations to date had identified an unspecified listing or notation of Obama's birth that someone had made in the state archives.
"It was actually written, I am told, this is what our investigation is showing, it actually exists in the archives, written down," Abercrombie said.
For seemingly the first time, Abercrombie frankly acknowledged that presidential politics motivated his search for Obama birth records, implying that failure to resolve the questions that remain unanswered about the president's birth and early life may damage his chance for re-election.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZmS_itcQo4&feature=player_embedded
"If there is a political agenda (regarding Obama's birth certificate), then there is nothing I can do about that, nor can the president," he said.
So far, the only birth document available on Obama is a Hawaii Certification of Live Birth that first appeared on the Internet during the 2008 presidential campaign. It was posted by two purportedly independent websites that have displayed a strong partisan bias for Obama – Snopes.com released the COLB in June 2008, and FactCheck.org published photographs of the document in August 2008.
WND previously reported the Hawaii Department of Health has refused to authenticate the COLB posted on the Internet by Snopes.com and FactCheck.org.
WND has reported that in 1961, Obama's grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, could have made an in-person report of a Hawaii birth even if the infant Barack Obama Jr. had been foreign-born.
Similarly, the newspaper announcements of Obama's birth do not prove he was born in Hawaii, since they could have been triggered by the grandparents registering the birth as Hawaiian, even if the baby was born elsewhere.
Moreover, WND has documented that the address reported in the newspaper birth announcements was the home of the grandparents.
WND also has reported that Barack Obama Sr. maintained his own separate apartment in Honolulu, even after he was supposedly married to Ann Dunham, Barack Obama's mother, and that Dunham left Hawaii within three weeks of the baby's birth to attend the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dunham did not return to Hawaii until after Barack Obama Sr. left Hawaii in June 1962 to attend graduate school at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
Conceivably, the yet undisclosed birth record in the state archives that Abercrombie has discovered may have come from the grandparents registering Obama's birth, an event that would have triggered both the newspaper birth announcements and availability of a Certification of Live Birth, even if no long-form birth certificate existed.
WND has also reported that Tim Adams, a former senior elections clerk for the city and county of Honolulu in 2008, has maintained that there is no long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate on file with the Hawaii Department of Health and that neither Honolulu hospital – Queens Medical Center or Kapiolani Medical Center – has any record that Obama was born there.
Read more: Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=252833#ixzz1BavMJRth
BORN IN THE USA?
Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate
Suggests controversy could hurt president's re-election chances
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 18, 2011
8:05 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
Neil Abercrombie
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published today that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health.
Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star Advertiser he was searching within the Hawaii Department of Health to find definitive vital records that would prove Obama was born in Hawaii, because the continuing eligibility controversy could hurt the president's chances of re-election in 2012.
Donalyn Dela Cruz, Abercrombie's spokeswoman in Honolulu, ignored again today another in a series of repeated requests made by WND for an interview with the governor.
Toward the end of the interview, the newspaper asked Abercrombie: "You stirred up quite a controversy with your comments regarding birthers and your plan to release more information regarding President Barack Obama's birth certificate. How is that coming?"
In his response, Abercrombie acknowledged the birth certificate issue will have "political implications" for the next presidential election "that we simply cannot have."
Get the free, in-depth special report on eligibility that could bring an end to Obama's presidency
Suggesting he was still intent on producing more birth records on Obama from the Hawaii Department of Health vital records vault, Abercrombie told the newspaper there was a recording of the Obama birth in the state archives that he wants to make public.
Abercrombie did not report to the newspaper that he or the Hawaii Department of Health had found Obama's long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate. The governor only suggested his investigations to date had identified an unspecified listing or notation of Obama's birth that someone had made in the state archives.
"It was actually written, I am told, this is what our investigation is showing, it actually exists in the archives, written down," Abercrombie said.
For seemingly the first time, Abercrombie frankly acknowledged that presidential politics motivated his search for Obama birth records, implying that failure to resolve the questions that remain unanswered about the president's birth and early life may damage his chance for re-election.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZmS_itcQo4&feature=player_embedded
"If there is a political agenda (regarding Obama's birth certificate), then there is nothing I can do about that, nor can the president," he said.
So far, the only birth document available on Obama is a Hawaii Certification of Live Birth that first appeared on the Internet during the 2008 presidential campaign. It was posted by two purportedly independent websites that have displayed a strong partisan bias for Obama – Snopes.com released the COLB in June 2008, and FactCheck.org published photographs of the document in August 2008.
WND previously reported the Hawaii Department of Health has refused to authenticate the COLB posted on the Internet by Snopes.com and FactCheck.org.
WND has reported that in 1961, Obama's grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, could have made an in-person report of a Hawaii birth even if the infant Barack Obama Jr. had been foreign-born.
Similarly, the newspaper announcements of Obama's birth do not prove he was born in Hawaii, since they could have been triggered by the grandparents registering the birth as Hawaiian, even if the baby was born elsewhere.
Moreover, WND has documented that the address reported in the newspaper birth announcements was the home of the grandparents.
WND also has reported that Barack Obama Sr. maintained his own separate apartment in Honolulu, even after he was supposedly married to Ann Dunham, Barack Obama's mother, and that Dunham left Hawaii within three weeks of the baby's birth to attend the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dunham did not return to Hawaii until after Barack Obama Sr. left Hawaii in June 1962 to attend graduate school at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
Conceivably, the yet undisclosed birth record in the state archives that Abercrombie has discovered may have come from the grandparents registering Obama's birth, an event that would have triggered both the newspaper birth announcements and availability of a Certification of Live Birth, even if no long-form birth certificate existed.
WND has also reported that Tim Adams, a former senior elections clerk for the city and county of Honolulu in 2008, has maintained that there is no long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate on file with the Hawaii Department of Health and that neither Honolulu hospital – Queens Medical Center or Kapiolani Medical Center – has any record that Obama was born there.
Read more: Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=252833#ixzz1BavMJRth
Judge OKs 'flag of Islam on American soil'
WAR ON TERROR
Judge OKs 'flag of Islam on American soil'
Decision approves government funding for Shariah indoctrination
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 19, 2011
9:31 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
Attorneys for a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraqi War say they have filed a petition to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal district judge ruled it is fine for the U.S. government to fund commercial enterprises that promote the indoctrination of Shariah religious law inside the United States.
The decision came from Judge Lawrence Zatkoff, who changed his perspective on the issue and said just last week that he would dismiss a constitutional challenge brought by Kevin Murray against the U.S. government's bailout of AIG, the insurance giant.
That company used more than "$100 million in federal tax money to support Islamic religious indoctrination through the funding and promotion of Shariah-compliant financing. … SCF is financing that follows the dictates of Islamic law," said officials at the Thomas More Law Center.
TMLC is representing Murray in his challenge to the use of federal tax money to promote Islam in the United States.
And its chief, Richard Thompson, warned of the precedent.
Read "The Stoning of Soraya M." – the true story that inspired the movie
"Judge Zatkoff's ruling allows for oil-rich Muslim countries to plant the flag of Islam on American soil," he said. "His ruling ignored the uncontested opinions of several Shariah experts and AIG's own website, which trumpeted Shariah-compliant financing as promoting the law of the prophet Mohammed and as an ethical product and a new way of life."
The TMLC, and co-counsel David Yerushalmi, immediately filed a notice of appeal to the 6th Circuit.
"[Zatkoff's] ruling ignored AIG's use of a foreign Islamic advisory board to control investing in accordance with Islamic law," Thompson continued. "This astonishing decision allows the federal government as well as AIG and other Wall Street bankers to explicitly promote Shariah law – the 1,200-year-old body of Islamic canon law based on the Quran, which demands the destruction of Western civilization and the United States."
He warned it is the same law "championed by Osama bin Laden and the Taliban; it is the same law that prompted the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks; and it is the same law that is responsible for the murder of thousands of Christians throughout the world. The law center will do everything it can to stop Shariah law from rearing its ugly head in America."
The lawsuit, Murray v. Geithner et al., was brought because Murray, as a taxpayer, alleges he is being forced to contribute to the propagation of Islamic beliefs and practices predicated upon Shariah law, which he says is hostile to his Christian religion.
Among those who submitted statements in the case were two noted experts in Islamic law and terrorism: Stephen C. Coughlin and Robert Spencer.
Coughlin, a lawyer and decorated Army Reserve officer, is a leading Pentagon expert on the link between Islamic law and jihad. He explained that by engaging in Shariah-compliant financing, AIG and the federal government – which owns 79.9 percent of AIG – are engaging in the religious practice of Islam.
Islam teaches hostility and discrimination against Jews, Christians and anyone who doesn't accept the Quran as the "word of Allah," he said, explaining that the indoctrination stems from the same law that motivated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
As WND reported, Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, has studied Islamic theology and history for 30 years. He is author of "Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs," "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades" and eight other books dealing with Islam. He has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the U.S. Central Command, the U.S. Command and General Staff College, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. intelligence community.
Spencer explained that by offering Shariah-compliant financing, AIG is promoting religious behavior that teaches hatred and discrimination against Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims.
The TMLC said it is challenging the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that allows $70 billion in taxpayer money to fund and financially support the federal government's majority ownership interest in AIG, which is considered the market leader in SCF.
The company uses its assets to subject certain financial activities to the dictates of Islam.
"In this case, the United States government has a majority interest in AIG. AIG utilizes consolidated financing whereby all funds flow through a single port to support all of its activities, including Shariah-compliant financing," TMLC explained.
"Pursuant to the EESA, the government has injected AIG with tens of billions of dollars, without restricting or tracking how this considerable sum of money is spent. At least two of AIG's subsidiary companies practice Shariah-compliant financing, one of which was unveiled after the influx of government cash. . . . Finally, after the government acquired a majority interest in AIG and contributed substantial funds to AIG for operational purposes, the government co-sponsored a forum entitled 'Islamic Finance 101.'
"These facts, taken together, raise a question of whether the government's involvement with AIG has created the effect of promoting religion and sufficiently raise plaintiff's claim beyond the speculative level," the TMLC said.
During the discovery portion of the case, TMLC said it obtained "thousands" of documents supporting its claim.
"The circumstances of this case are historic, and the pressure upon the government to navigate this financial crisis is unfathomable. Times of crisis, however, do not justify departure from the Constitution," the organization said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous stories:
U.S. Marine fires back over Shariah loans
Film exposes dark underbelly of Shariah law
Judge: Constitution still counts during crisis
Taxpayer billions support Shariah at AIG
U.S. lawmakers scold AIG over Shariah finance
Federal Reserve sued for funding Shariah products
Federal Reserve sued for funding Shariah products
Bailed-out AIG offers Islamic insurance to U.S.
U.S. Treasury teaches 'Islamic Finance 101'
Brand new push in Congress to prevent Shariah invasion
Billboards announce: 'Shariah law is hate'
Judge OKs 'flag of Islam on American soil'
Decision approves government funding for Shariah indoctrination
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 19, 2011
9:31 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
Attorneys for a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraqi War say they have filed a petition to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal district judge ruled it is fine for the U.S. government to fund commercial enterprises that promote the indoctrination of Shariah religious law inside the United States.
The decision came from Judge Lawrence Zatkoff, who changed his perspective on the issue and said just last week that he would dismiss a constitutional challenge brought by Kevin Murray against the U.S. government's bailout of AIG, the insurance giant.
That company used more than "$100 million in federal tax money to support Islamic religious indoctrination through the funding and promotion of Shariah-compliant financing. … SCF is financing that follows the dictates of Islamic law," said officials at the Thomas More Law Center.
TMLC is representing Murray in his challenge to the use of federal tax money to promote Islam in the United States.
And its chief, Richard Thompson, warned of the precedent.
Read "The Stoning of Soraya M." – the true story that inspired the movie
"Judge Zatkoff's ruling allows for oil-rich Muslim countries to plant the flag of Islam on American soil," he said. "His ruling ignored the uncontested opinions of several Shariah experts and AIG's own website, which trumpeted Shariah-compliant financing as promoting the law of the prophet Mohammed and as an ethical product and a new way of life."
The TMLC, and co-counsel David Yerushalmi, immediately filed a notice of appeal to the 6th Circuit.
"[Zatkoff's] ruling ignored AIG's use of a foreign Islamic advisory board to control investing in accordance with Islamic law," Thompson continued. "This astonishing decision allows the federal government as well as AIG and other Wall Street bankers to explicitly promote Shariah law – the 1,200-year-old body of Islamic canon law based on the Quran, which demands the destruction of Western civilization and the United States."
He warned it is the same law "championed by Osama bin Laden and the Taliban; it is the same law that prompted the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks; and it is the same law that is responsible for the murder of thousands of Christians throughout the world. The law center will do everything it can to stop Shariah law from rearing its ugly head in America."
The lawsuit, Murray v. Geithner et al., was brought because Murray, as a taxpayer, alleges he is being forced to contribute to the propagation of Islamic beliefs and practices predicated upon Shariah law, which he says is hostile to his Christian religion.
Among those who submitted statements in the case were two noted experts in Islamic law and terrorism: Stephen C. Coughlin and Robert Spencer.
Coughlin, a lawyer and decorated Army Reserve officer, is a leading Pentagon expert on the link between Islamic law and jihad. He explained that by engaging in Shariah-compliant financing, AIG and the federal government – which owns 79.9 percent of AIG – are engaging in the religious practice of Islam.
Islam teaches hostility and discrimination against Jews, Christians and anyone who doesn't accept the Quran as the "word of Allah," he said, explaining that the indoctrination stems from the same law that motivated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
As WND reported, Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, has studied Islamic theology and history for 30 years. He is author of "Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs," "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades" and eight other books dealing with Islam. He has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the U.S. Central Command, the U.S. Command and General Staff College, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. intelligence community.
Spencer explained that by offering Shariah-compliant financing, AIG is promoting religious behavior that teaches hatred and discrimination against Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims.
The TMLC said it is challenging the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that allows $70 billion in taxpayer money to fund and financially support the federal government's majority ownership interest in AIG, which is considered the market leader in SCF.
The company uses its assets to subject certain financial activities to the dictates of Islam.
"In this case, the United States government has a majority interest in AIG. AIG utilizes consolidated financing whereby all funds flow through a single port to support all of its activities, including Shariah-compliant financing," TMLC explained.
"Pursuant to the EESA, the government has injected AIG with tens of billions of dollars, without restricting or tracking how this considerable sum of money is spent. At least two of AIG's subsidiary companies practice Shariah-compliant financing, one of which was unveiled after the influx of government cash. . . . Finally, after the government acquired a majority interest in AIG and contributed substantial funds to AIG for operational purposes, the government co-sponsored a forum entitled 'Islamic Finance 101.'
"These facts, taken together, raise a question of whether the government's involvement with AIG has created the effect of promoting religion and sufficiently raise plaintiff's claim beyond the speculative level," the TMLC said.
During the discovery portion of the case, TMLC said it obtained "thousands" of documents supporting its claim.
"The circumstances of this case are historic, and the pressure upon the government to navigate this financial crisis is unfathomable. Times of crisis, however, do not justify departure from the Constitution," the organization said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous stories:
U.S. Marine fires back over Shariah loans
Film exposes dark underbelly of Shariah law
Judge: Constitution still counts during crisis
Taxpayer billions support Shariah at AIG
U.S. lawmakers scold AIG over Shariah finance
Federal Reserve sued for funding Shariah products
Federal Reserve sued for funding Shariah products
Bailed-out AIG offers Islamic insurance to U.S.
U.S. Treasury teaches 'Islamic Finance 101'
Brand new push in Congress to prevent Shariah invasion
Billboards announce: 'Shariah law is hate'
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
NorCal man’s ashes, urn reported stolen
NorCal man’s ashes, urn reported stolen
The Associated Press
Posted: 01/18/2011 09:14:59 PM PST
LAFAYETTE, Calif.-The family of a Northern California software company
founder says his ashes have been stolen from a private mausoleum in
Lafayette.
Relatives of Thomas Gonzales Jr. tell the Contra Costa Times they are
offering a $10,000 reward for the return of his ashes and urn. The theft was discovered Monday morning by employees of Oakmont Memorial Park.
Gonzales co-founded Commerce One in Pleasanton in 1994, and the company became one of the San Francisco Bay area’s early dot-com success stories.
That success didn’t last, and the software maker ultimately filed for
bankruptcy and was acquired by another company in 2006.
Gonzales died of gastric cancer in 2001.
His family says his urn could be mistaken for gold but is not valuable.
HERE IS THE LATEST NEWS:
The burglars are in custody, they said that they thought the ashes were dope and snorted it!
The Associated Press
Posted: 01/18/2011 09:14:59 PM PST
LAFAYETTE, Calif.-The family of a Northern California software company
founder says his ashes have been stolen from a private mausoleum in
Lafayette.
Relatives of Thomas Gonzales Jr. tell the Contra Costa Times they are
offering a $10,000 reward for the return of his ashes and urn. The theft was discovered Monday morning by employees of Oakmont Memorial Park.
Gonzales co-founded Commerce One in Pleasanton in 1994, and the company became one of the San Francisco Bay area’s early dot-com success stories.
That success didn’t last, and the software maker ultimately filed for
bankruptcy and was acquired by another company in 2006.
Gonzales died of gastric cancer in 2001.
His family says his urn could be mistaken for gold but is not valuable.
HERE IS THE LATEST NEWS:
The burglars are in custody, they said that they thought the ashes were dope and snorted it!
Dictatorship by Executive Order Could Be Headed Our Way; We Must Stop It
Aiming for rule by fiat, or an authoritative decree, sanction, or order; in other words, by Executive Order
Dictatorship by Executive Order Could Be Headed Our Way; We Must Stop It
By Jerry McConnell Wednesday, January 19, 2011
CFP
On Wednesday, November 03, 2010, the day following the national elections, Barack Obama proclaimed, “They ‘shellacked’ us” meaning the conservative Republicans won a hugely significant number of seats in Congress along with a large number of state governorships that had been held for the previous four years by the Democrats; and more specifically, the liberal Democrats.
Since that date, now two plus months ago, this same bunch of losers have done nothing to correct the mistakes and terribly bad moves they made to cause such a drubbing, in fact, they have done nothing but complain, label the voting public as fools and accomplices of nefarious politicians who lie, cheat and steal; the vices that have been largely proven to be more attributable to those same liberal Democrats.
On Saturday, January 08, 2011 a mentally deranged young man, Jared Lee Loughner, a reader of the Communist Manifesto, a book written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; also reader of the works of Adolph Hitler the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party and Chancellor of Germany prior to and during World War II; and follower of the American liberal Democrat Party, opened fire at a crowd who came to see and hear Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon, Arizona.
This madman, shot and killed six people including Republican U.S. District Judge John Roll, and wounded more than a dozen more including Congresswoman Giffords a Democrat; but did Obama’s followers attach any blame on their own people who are primarily of the same beliefs as the crazed gunman; most assuredly NOT, in fact, the only ones being blamed by the liberal Democrats and their mainstream media stooges were conservatives and Republicans in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Faced with these adverse conditions and results, Obama is seen as losing his grip on leadership of the country mainly through loss of Congressional power and he is aiming for rule by fiat, or an authoritative decree, sanction, or order; in other words, by Executive Order.
This is affirmed by an information bulletin on January 14, 2011 created by the United States Justice Foundation (USJF) saying that “Mr. Obama has already decided that he is going to try to rule by Executive Order” even though “Executive Orders are unconstitutional, as they are simply interoffice memos from the “boss” of the Executive Branch to his employees.”
USJF Executive Director Gary G. Kreep, Esq., explains “Yes, Executive Orders are unconstitutional, as they are simply interoffice memos from the “boss” of the Executive Branch to his employees. And, in precisely the same vein, “Secretarial Orders,” the new “under the radar slider” used by Mr. Obama’s department heads, are equally unconstitutional. Executive Orders and Secretarial Orders bypass the U.S. Congress, which Barack Obama no longer controls.
“Mr. Obama is determined to circumvent the United States Congress on issues that he cannot pursue through legislation—-and, since all of his social progressive mandates are pretty much unconstitutional, he fully intends to operate as a Dictator, while he pretends to be a moderate, Constitutional, Democrat.”
CFP readers may remember a column I wrote just last December 14, 2010, “Presidential Executive Orders - Powerful Dictates or Whimsical Wishing?” where I quoted Obama regarding Executive Orders that are used to hide or cover up information that the president wishes to keep secret, “For a long time now, there’s been too much secrecy in this city. This administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information but with those who seek it to be known,” Obama said after signing the order rescinding the Bush-era measure.
“The mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should always use it. Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”
That was one of the first utterances made by Obama after taking office; I DON’T THINK HE HAS TOLD A BIGGER LIE THAN THAT ONE EVER SINCE.
This man is such an arrogant, narcissistic self-adoring tyrant I do believe that he already thinks he is a divine ruler of the people; and the really and truly sad part of it is that, in spite of what he has shown and what we know about his faults and power-hungry plans, almost half of the country’s voters STILL believe he is doing a good job of running the country.
That is proof unto itself that the man is wickedly distractful and able to make horrible decisions like ObamaCare, START treaty and egregiously misdirected spending and piling our national debt into the massive trillions of dollars and yet to keep fooling the voters into thinking these things are of no problem to the people.
A Rasmussen poll dated January 14, 2011 shows that “Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president’s performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.” Pretending to be a moderate, he has succeeded in fooling almost half of our country. But as the USJF Director Kreep says, “.don’t be fooled by who, or what he really is. He is a socialist. He is pro-Islamic, and he believes that he is “above” the law and the Constitution of the United States of America. Let him succeed in legislating by Executive Order, and his department heads by Secretarial Orders (a right they don’t even possess), and, somewhere, down the road, between now and the Election of 2012, he may just take away all of our Constitutional rights by Executive Order. And, when you say, “Nah, he couldn’t do that here because we are protected by a written Constitution,” remember this:
“In 1934, the Weimar Republic was protected by a written Constitution that was just as powerful as the Constitution of the United States. The Weimar Constitution required the President and Chancellor of Germany go to the members of the Reichstag for authority to do anything. Once he was able to rule by decree, IT TOOK ADOLPH HITLER EXACTLY 39 DAYS TO DESTROY THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION and become an absolute dictator—-and assume the power of life and death over every subject in the THIRD REICH.”
Obama is just slick enough and stealthily imbued enough to try it; pray to God he doesn’t succeed.
Dictatorship by Executive Order Could Be Headed Our Way; We Must Stop It
By Jerry McConnell Wednesday, January 19, 2011
CFP
On Wednesday, November 03, 2010, the day following the national elections, Barack Obama proclaimed, “They ‘shellacked’ us” meaning the conservative Republicans won a hugely significant number of seats in Congress along with a large number of state governorships that had been held for the previous four years by the Democrats; and more specifically, the liberal Democrats.
Since that date, now two plus months ago, this same bunch of losers have done nothing to correct the mistakes and terribly bad moves they made to cause such a drubbing, in fact, they have done nothing but complain, label the voting public as fools and accomplices of nefarious politicians who lie, cheat and steal; the vices that have been largely proven to be more attributable to those same liberal Democrats.
On Saturday, January 08, 2011 a mentally deranged young man, Jared Lee Loughner, a reader of the Communist Manifesto, a book written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; also reader of the works of Adolph Hitler the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party and Chancellor of Germany prior to and during World War II; and follower of the American liberal Democrat Party, opened fire at a crowd who came to see and hear Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon, Arizona.
This madman, shot and killed six people including Republican U.S. District Judge John Roll, and wounded more than a dozen more including Congresswoman Giffords a Democrat; but did Obama’s followers attach any blame on their own people who are primarily of the same beliefs as the crazed gunman; most assuredly NOT, in fact, the only ones being blamed by the liberal Democrats and their mainstream media stooges were conservatives and Republicans in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Faced with these adverse conditions and results, Obama is seen as losing his grip on leadership of the country mainly through loss of Congressional power and he is aiming for rule by fiat, or an authoritative decree, sanction, or order; in other words, by Executive Order.
This is affirmed by an information bulletin on January 14, 2011 created by the United States Justice Foundation (USJF) saying that “Mr. Obama has already decided that he is going to try to rule by Executive Order” even though “Executive Orders are unconstitutional, as they are simply interoffice memos from the “boss” of the Executive Branch to his employees.”
USJF Executive Director Gary G. Kreep, Esq., explains “Yes, Executive Orders are unconstitutional, as they are simply interoffice memos from the “boss” of the Executive Branch to his employees. And, in precisely the same vein, “Secretarial Orders,” the new “under the radar slider” used by Mr. Obama’s department heads, are equally unconstitutional. Executive Orders and Secretarial Orders bypass the U.S. Congress, which Barack Obama no longer controls.
“Mr. Obama is determined to circumvent the United States Congress on issues that he cannot pursue through legislation—-and, since all of his social progressive mandates are pretty much unconstitutional, he fully intends to operate as a Dictator, while he pretends to be a moderate, Constitutional, Democrat.”
CFP readers may remember a column I wrote just last December 14, 2010, “Presidential Executive Orders - Powerful Dictates or Whimsical Wishing?” where I quoted Obama regarding Executive Orders that are used to hide or cover up information that the president wishes to keep secret, “For a long time now, there’s been too much secrecy in this city. This administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information but with those who seek it to be known,” Obama said after signing the order rescinding the Bush-era measure.
“The mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should always use it. Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”
That was one of the first utterances made by Obama after taking office; I DON’T THINK HE HAS TOLD A BIGGER LIE THAN THAT ONE EVER SINCE.
This man is such an arrogant, narcissistic self-adoring tyrant I do believe that he already thinks he is a divine ruler of the people; and the really and truly sad part of it is that, in spite of what he has shown and what we know about his faults and power-hungry plans, almost half of the country’s voters STILL believe he is doing a good job of running the country.
That is proof unto itself that the man is wickedly distractful and able to make horrible decisions like ObamaCare, START treaty and egregiously misdirected spending and piling our national debt into the massive trillions of dollars and yet to keep fooling the voters into thinking these things are of no problem to the people.
A Rasmussen poll dated January 14, 2011 shows that “Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president’s performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.” Pretending to be a moderate, he has succeeded in fooling almost half of our country. But as the USJF Director Kreep says, “.don’t be fooled by who, or what he really is. He is a socialist. He is pro-Islamic, and he believes that he is “above” the law and the Constitution of the United States of America. Let him succeed in legislating by Executive Order, and his department heads by Secretarial Orders (a right they don’t even possess), and, somewhere, down the road, between now and the Election of 2012, he may just take away all of our Constitutional rights by Executive Order. And, when you say, “Nah, he couldn’t do that here because we are protected by a written Constitution,” remember this:
“In 1934, the Weimar Republic was protected by a written Constitution that was just as powerful as the Constitution of the United States. The Weimar Constitution required the President and Chancellor of Germany go to the members of the Reichstag for authority to do anything. Once he was able to rule by decree, IT TOOK ADOLPH HITLER EXACTLY 39 DAYS TO DESTROY THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION and become an absolute dictator—-and assume the power of life and death over every subject in the THIRD REICH.”
Obama is just slick enough and stealthily imbued enough to try it; pray to God he doesn’t succeed.
Monday, January 17, 2011
What Is Your Life’s Blueprint
About MLK His words What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?
Six months before he was assassinated, King spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967.
I want to ask you a question, and that is: What is your life’s blueprint?
Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint, and that blueprint serves as the pattern, as the guide, and a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint.
Now each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives, and the question is whether you have a proper, a solid and a sound blueprint.
I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life’s blueprint. Number one in your life’s blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don’t allow anybody to make you fell that you’re nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.
Secondly, in your life’s blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. You’re going to be deciding as the days, as the years unfold what you will do in life — what your life’s work will be. Set out to do it well.
And I say to you, my young friends, doors are opening to you–doors of opportunities that were not open to your mothers and your fathers — and the great challenge facing you is to be ready to face these doors as they open.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great essayist, said in a lecture in 1871, “If a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, even if he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.”
This hasn’t always been true — but it will become increasingly true, and so I would urge you to study hard, to burn the midnight oil; I would say to you, don’t drop out of school. I understand all the sociological reasons, but I urge you that in spite of your economic plight, in spite of the situation that you’re forced to live in — stay in school.
And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. don’t just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better.
If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can’t be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. —
From the estate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Six months before he was assassinated, King spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967.
I want to ask you a question, and that is: What is your life’s blueprint?
Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint, and that blueprint serves as the pattern, as the guide, and a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint.
Now each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives, and the question is whether you have a proper, a solid and a sound blueprint.
I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life’s blueprint. Number one in your life’s blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don’t allow anybody to make you fell that you’re nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.
Secondly, in your life’s blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. You’re going to be deciding as the days, as the years unfold what you will do in life — what your life’s work will be. Set out to do it well.
And I say to you, my young friends, doors are opening to you–doors of opportunities that were not open to your mothers and your fathers — and the great challenge facing you is to be ready to face these doors as they open.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great essayist, said in a lecture in 1871, “If a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, even if he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.”
This hasn’t always been true — but it will become increasingly true, and so I would urge you to study hard, to burn the midnight oil; I would say to you, don’t drop out of school. I understand all the sociological reasons, but I urge you that in spite of your economic plight, in spite of the situation that you’re forced to live in — stay in school.
And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. don’t just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better.
If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can’t be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. —
From the estate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nora The Piano Cat - The Sequel - Better than the original
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0zgQAp7EYw
burnellyow April 18, 2007
Features all-new footage and more duets. Better than the original! This is not a trick taught to Nora. She began sitting at the piano at about one-year-old. She's almost four now. She plays only when the mood strikes her, which is usually several time a times a day for short periods.
A 2010 edition DVD of Nora's YouTube videos in full-size (for the big screen) is now available on Amazon.com at http://bit.ly/6jwCNd
All seven of Nora's videos are included on the DVD, as well as CATcerto by Mindaugas Piecaitis.
For more info on Nora:
http://www.norathepianocat.com
Please visit http://www.ravenswingstudio.com also.
© 2007/2009 Yow!/Alexander, Nora The Piano Cat, LLC
Category:
Pets & Animals
Tucker - playing piano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiblYasnzWE
KennedyFamily99 December 18, 2010
Tucker, our one and a half year old Schnoodle, plays the piano and sings along at least 3 or 4 times every day. In spite of all of his practicing, he really isn't getting any better at it.
Category:
Pets & Animals
Tucker piano Dec 7'2010.wmv
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Two Californias
The following is a relatively long read, but I think it is worthwhile. If you want to see where the future lies for the rest of the US, if it is true that California leads and the rest of the country follows, then I am sure many of you agree with me and hope this stops at the CA border.
Two Californias
Abandoned farms, Third World living conditions, pervasive public assistance — welcome to the once-thriving Central Valley.
The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption.
During this unscientific experiment, three times a week I rode a bike on a 20-mile trip over various rural roads in southwestern Fresno County. I also drove my car over to the coast to work, on various routes through towns like San Joaquin, Mendota, and Firebaugh. And near my home I have been driving, shopping, and touring by intent the rather segregated and impoverished areas of Caruthers, Fowler, Laton, Orange Cove, Parlier, and Selma. My own farmhouse is now in an area of abject poverty and almost no ethnic diversity; the closest elementary school (my alma mater, two miles away) is 94 percent Hispanic and 1 percent white, and well below federal testing norms in math and English.
Here are some general observations about what I saw (other than that the rural roads of California are fast turning into rubble, poorly maintained and reverting to what I remember seeing long ago in the rural South). First, remember that these areas are the ground zero, so to speak, of 20 years of illegal immigration. There has been a general depression in farming — to such an extent that the 20- to-100-acre tree and vine farmer, the erstwhile backbone of the old rural California, for all practical purposes has ceased to exist.
On the western side of the Central Valley, the effects of arbitrary cutoffs in federal irrigation water have idled tens of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land, leaving thousands unemployed. Manufacturing plants in the towns in these areas — which used to make harvesters, hydraulic lifts, trailers, food-processing equipment — have largely shut down; their production has been shipped off overseas or south of the border. Agriculture itself — from almonds to raisins — has increasingly become corporatized and mechanized, cutting by half the number of farm workers needed. So unemployment runs somewhere between 15 and 20 percent.
Many of the rural trailer-house compounds I saw appear to the naked eye no different from what I have seen in the Third World. There is a Caribbean look to the junked cars, electric wires crisscrossing between various outbuildings, plastic tarps substituting for replacement shingles, lean-tos cobbled together as auxiliary housing, pit bulls unleashed, and geese, goats, and chickens roaming around the yards. The public hears about all sorts of tough California regulations that stymie business — rigid zoning laws, strict building codes, constant inspections — but apparently none of that applies out here.
It is almost as if the more California regulates, the more it does not regulate. Its public employees prefer to go after misdemeanors in the upscale areas to justify our expensive oversight industry, while ignoring the felonies in the downtrodden areas, which are becoming feral and beyond the ability of any inspector to do anything but feel irrelevant. But in the regulators’ defense, where would one get the money to redo an ad hoc trailer park with a spider web of illegal bare wires?
Many of the rented-out rural shacks and stationary Winnebagos are on former small farms — the vineyards overgrown with weeds, or torn out with the ground lying fallow. I pass on the cultural consequences to communities from the loss of thousands of small farming families. I don’t think I can remember another time when so many acres in the eastern part of the valley have gone out of production, even though farm prices have recently rebounded. Apparently it is simply not worth the gamble of investing $7,000 to $10,000 an acre in a new orchard or vineyard. What an anomaly — with suddenly soaring farm prices, still we have thousands of acres in the world’s richest agricultural belt, with available water on the east side of the valley and plentiful labor, gone idle or in disuse. Is credit frozen? Are there simply no more farmers? Are the schools so bad as to scare away potential agricultural entrepreneurs? Or are we all terrified by the national debt and uncertain future?
California coastal elites may worry about the oxygen content of water available to a three-inch smelt in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, but they seem to have no interest in the epidemic dumping of trash, furniture, and often toxic substances throughout California’s rural hinterland. Yesterday, for example, I rode my bike by a stopped van just as the occupants tossed seven plastic bags of raw refuse onto the side of the road. I rode up near their bumper and said in my broken Spanish not to throw garbage onto the public road. But there were three of them, and one of me. So I was lucky to be sworn at only. I note in passing that I would not drive into Mexico and, as a guest, dare to pull over and throw seven bags of trash into the environment of my host.
In fact, trash piles are commonplace out here — composed of everything from half-empty paint cans and children’s plastic toys to diapers and moldy food. I have never seen a rural sheriff cite a litterer, or witnessed state EPA workers cleaning up these unauthorized wastelands. So I would suggest to Bay Area scientists that the environment is taking a much harder beating down here in central California than it is in the Delta. Perhaps before we cut off more irrigation water to the west side of the valley, we might invest some green dollars into cleaning up the unsightly and sometimes dangerous garbage that now litters the outskirts of our rural communities.
We hear about the tough small-business regulations that have driven residents out of the state, at the rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a week. But from my unscientific observations these past weeks, it seems rather easy to open a small business in California without any oversight at all, or at least what I might call a “counter business.” I counted eleven mobile hot-kitchen trucks that simply park by the side of the road, spread about some plastic chairs, pull down a tarp canopy, and, presto, become mini-restaurants. There are no “facilities” such as toilets or washrooms. But I do frequently see lard trails on the isolated roads I bike on, where trucks apparently have simply opened their draining tanks and sped on, leaving a slick of cooking fats and oils. Crows and ground squirrels love them; they can be seen from a distance mysteriously occupied in the middle of the road.
At crossroads, peddlers in a counter-California economy sell almost anything. Here is what I noticed at an intersection on the west side last week: shovels, rakes, hoes, gas pumps, lawnmowers, edgers, blowers, jackets, gloves, and caps. The merchandise was all new. I doubt whether in high-tax California sales taxes or income taxes were paid on any of these stop-and-go transactions.
In two supermarkets 50 miles apart, I was the only one in line who did not pay with a social-service plastic card (gone are the days when “food stamps” were embarrassing bulky coupons). But I did not see any relationship between the use of the card and poverty as we once knew it: The electrical appurtenances owned by the user and the car into which the groceries were loaded were indistinguishable from those of the upper middle class.
By that I mean that most consumers drove late-model Camrys, Accords, or Tauruses, had iPhones, Bluetooths, or BlackBerries, and bought everything in the store with public-assistance credit. This seemed a world apart from the trailers I had just ridden by the day before. I don’t editorialize here on the logic or morality of any of this, but I note only that there are vast numbers of people who apparently are not working, are on public food assistance, and enjoy the technological veneer of the middle class. California has a consumer market surely, but often no apparent source of income. Does the $40 million a day supplement to unemployment benefits from Washington explain some of this?
Do diversity concerns, as in lack of diversity, work both ways? Over a hundred-mile stretch, when I stopped in San Joaquin for a bottled water, or drove through Orange Cove, or got gas in Parlier, or went to a corner market in southwestern Selma, my home town, I was the only non-Hispanic — there were no Asians, no blacks, no other whites. We may speak of the richness of “diversity,” but those who cherish that ideal simply have no idea that there are now countless inland communities that have become near-apartheid societies, where Spanish is the first language, the schools are not at all diverse, and the federal and state governments are either the main employers or at least the chief sources of income — whether through emergency rooms, rural health clinics, public schools, or social-service offices. An observer from Mars might conclude that our elites and masses have given up on the ideal of integration and assimilation, perhaps in the wake of the arrival of 11 to 15 million illegal aliens.
Again, I do not editorialize, but I note these vast transformations over the last 20 years that are the paradoxical wages of unchecked illegal immigration from Mexico, a vast expansion of California’s entitlements and taxes, the flight of the upper middle class out of state, the deliberate effort not to tap natural resources, the downsizing in manufacturing and agriculture, and the departure of whites, blacks, and Asians from many of these small towns to more racially diverse and upscale areas of California.
Fresno’s California State University campus is embroiled in controversy over the student body president’s announcing that he is an illegal alien, with all the requisite protests in favor of the DREAM Act. I won’t comment on the legislation per se, but again only note the anomaly. I taught at CSUF for 21 years. I think it fair to say that the predominant theme of the Chicano and Latin American Studies program’s sizable curriculum was a fuzzy American culpability. By that I mean that students in those classes heard of the sins of America more often than its attractions. In my home town, Mexican flag decals on car windows are far more common than their American counterparts.
I note this because hundreds of students here illegally are now terrified of being deported to Mexico. I can understand that, given the chaos in Mexico and their own long residency in the United States. But here is what still confuses me: If one were to consider the classes that deal with Mexico at the university, or the visible displays of national chauvinism, then one might conclude that Mexico is a far more attractive and moral place than the United States.
So there is a surreal nature to these protests: something like, “Please do not send me back to the culture I nostalgically praise; please let me stay in the culture that I ignore or deprecate.” I think the DREAM Act protestors might have been far more successful in winning public opinion had they stopped blaming the U.S. for suggesting that they might have to leave at some point, and instead explained why, in fact, they want to stay. What it is about America that makes a youth of 21 go on a hunger strike or demonstrate to be allowed to remain in this country rather than return to the place of his birth?
I think I know the answer to this paradox. Missing entirely in the above description is the attitude of the host, which by any historical standard can only be termed “indifferent.” California does not care whether one broke the law to arrive here or continues to break it by staying. It asks nothing of the illegal immigrant — no proficiency in English, no acquaintance with American history and values, no proof of income, no record of education or skills. It does provide all the public assistance that it can afford (and more that it borrows for), and apparently waives enforcement of most of California’s burdensome regulations and civic statutes that increasingly have plagued productive citizens to the point of driving them out. How odd that we overregulate those who are citizens and have capital to the point of banishing them from the state, but do not regulate those who are aliens and without capital to the point of encouraging millions more to follow in their footsteps. How odd — to paraphrase what Critias once said of ancient Sparta — that California is at once both the nation’s most unfree and most free state, the most repressed and the wildest.
Hundreds of thousands sense all that and vote accordingly with their feet, both into and out of California — and the result is a sort of social, cultural, economic, and political time-bomb, whose ticks are getting louder.
— NRO contributor Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, the editor of Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome, and the author of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.
Two Californias
Abandoned farms, Third World living conditions, pervasive public assistance — welcome to the once-thriving Central Valley.
The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption.
During this unscientific experiment, three times a week I rode a bike on a 20-mile trip over various rural roads in southwestern Fresno County. I also drove my car over to the coast to work, on various routes through towns like San Joaquin, Mendota, and Firebaugh. And near my home I have been driving, shopping, and touring by intent the rather segregated and impoverished areas of Caruthers, Fowler, Laton, Orange Cove, Parlier, and Selma. My own farmhouse is now in an area of abject poverty and almost no ethnic diversity; the closest elementary school (my alma mater, two miles away) is 94 percent Hispanic and 1 percent white, and well below federal testing norms in math and English.
Here are some general observations about what I saw (other than that the rural roads of California are fast turning into rubble, poorly maintained and reverting to what I remember seeing long ago in the rural South). First, remember that these areas are the ground zero, so to speak, of 20 years of illegal immigration. There has been a general depression in farming — to such an extent that the 20- to-100-acre tree and vine farmer, the erstwhile backbone of the old rural California, for all practical purposes has ceased to exist.
On the western side of the Central Valley, the effects of arbitrary cutoffs in federal irrigation water have idled tens of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land, leaving thousands unemployed. Manufacturing plants in the towns in these areas — which used to make harvesters, hydraulic lifts, trailers, food-processing equipment — have largely shut down; their production has been shipped off overseas or south of the border. Agriculture itself — from almonds to raisins — has increasingly become corporatized and mechanized, cutting by half the number of farm workers needed. So unemployment runs somewhere between 15 and 20 percent.
Many of the rural trailer-house compounds I saw appear to the naked eye no different from what I have seen in the Third World. There is a Caribbean look to the junked cars, electric wires crisscrossing between various outbuildings, plastic tarps substituting for replacement shingles, lean-tos cobbled together as auxiliary housing, pit bulls unleashed, and geese, goats, and chickens roaming around the yards. The public hears about all sorts of tough California regulations that stymie business — rigid zoning laws, strict building codes, constant inspections — but apparently none of that applies out here.
It is almost as if the more California regulates, the more it does not regulate. Its public employees prefer to go after misdemeanors in the upscale areas to justify our expensive oversight industry, while ignoring the felonies in the downtrodden areas, which are becoming feral and beyond the ability of any inspector to do anything but feel irrelevant. But in the regulators’ defense, where would one get the money to redo an ad hoc trailer park with a spider web of illegal bare wires?
Many of the rented-out rural shacks and stationary Winnebagos are on former small farms — the vineyards overgrown with weeds, or torn out with the ground lying fallow. I pass on the cultural consequences to communities from the loss of thousands of small farming families. I don’t think I can remember another time when so many acres in the eastern part of the valley have gone out of production, even though farm prices have recently rebounded. Apparently it is simply not worth the gamble of investing $7,000 to $10,000 an acre in a new orchard or vineyard. What an anomaly — with suddenly soaring farm prices, still we have thousands of acres in the world’s richest agricultural belt, with available water on the east side of the valley and plentiful labor, gone idle or in disuse. Is credit frozen? Are there simply no more farmers? Are the schools so bad as to scare away potential agricultural entrepreneurs? Or are we all terrified by the national debt and uncertain future?
California coastal elites may worry about the oxygen content of water available to a three-inch smelt in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, but they seem to have no interest in the epidemic dumping of trash, furniture, and often toxic substances throughout California’s rural hinterland. Yesterday, for example, I rode my bike by a stopped van just as the occupants tossed seven plastic bags of raw refuse onto the side of the road. I rode up near their bumper and said in my broken Spanish not to throw garbage onto the public road. But there were three of them, and one of me. So I was lucky to be sworn at only. I note in passing that I would not drive into Mexico and, as a guest, dare to pull over and throw seven bags of trash into the environment of my host.
In fact, trash piles are commonplace out here — composed of everything from half-empty paint cans and children’s plastic toys to diapers and moldy food. I have never seen a rural sheriff cite a litterer, or witnessed state EPA workers cleaning up these unauthorized wastelands. So I would suggest to Bay Area scientists that the environment is taking a much harder beating down here in central California than it is in the Delta. Perhaps before we cut off more irrigation water to the west side of the valley, we might invest some green dollars into cleaning up the unsightly and sometimes dangerous garbage that now litters the outskirts of our rural communities.
We hear about the tough small-business regulations that have driven residents out of the state, at the rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a week. But from my unscientific observations these past weeks, it seems rather easy to open a small business in California without any oversight at all, or at least what I might call a “counter business.” I counted eleven mobile hot-kitchen trucks that simply park by the side of the road, spread about some plastic chairs, pull down a tarp canopy, and, presto, become mini-restaurants. There are no “facilities” such as toilets or washrooms. But I do frequently see lard trails on the isolated roads I bike on, where trucks apparently have simply opened their draining tanks and sped on, leaving a slick of cooking fats and oils. Crows and ground squirrels love them; they can be seen from a distance mysteriously occupied in the middle of the road.
At crossroads, peddlers in a counter-California economy sell almost anything. Here is what I noticed at an intersection on the west side last week: shovels, rakes, hoes, gas pumps, lawnmowers, edgers, blowers, jackets, gloves, and caps. The merchandise was all new. I doubt whether in high-tax California sales taxes or income taxes were paid on any of these stop-and-go transactions.
In two supermarkets 50 miles apart, I was the only one in line who did not pay with a social-service plastic card (gone are the days when “food stamps” were embarrassing bulky coupons). But I did not see any relationship between the use of the card and poverty as we once knew it: The electrical appurtenances owned by the user and the car into which the groceries were loaded were indistinguishable from those of the upper middle class.
By that I mean that most consumers drove late-model Camrys, Accords, or Tauruses, had iPhones, Bluetooths, or BlackBerries, and bought everything in the store with public-assistance credit. This seemed a world apart from the trailers I had just ridden by the day before. I don’t editorialize here on the logic or morality of any of this, but I note only that there are vast numbers of people who apparently are not working, are on public food assistance, and enjoy the technological veneer of the middle class. California has a consumer market surely, but often no apparent source of income. Does the $40 million a day supplement to unemployment benefits from Washington explain some of this?
Do diversity concerns, as in lack of diversity, work both ways? Over a hundred-mile stretch, when I stopped in San Joaquin for a bottled water, or drove through Orange Cove, or got gas in Parlier, or went to a corner market in southwestern Selma, my home town, I was the only non-Hispanic — there were no Asians, no blacks, no other whites. We may speak of the richness of “diversity,” but those who cherish that ideal simply have no idea that there are now countless inland communities that have become near-apartheid societies, where Spanish is the first language, the schools are not at all diverse, and the federal and state governments are either the main employers or at least the chief sources of income — whether through emergency rooms, rural health clinics, public schools, or social-service offices. An observer from Mars might conclude that our elites and masses have given up on the ideal of integration and assimilation, perhaps in the wake of the arrival of 11 to 15 million illegal aliens.
Again, I do not editorialize, but I note these vast transformations over the last 20 years that are the paradoxical wages of unchecked illegal immigration from Mexico, a vast expansion of California’s entitlements and taxes, the flight of the upper middle class out of state, the deliberate effort not to tap natural resources, the downsizing in manufacturing and agriculture, and the departure of whites, blacks, and Asians from many of these small towns to more racially diverse and upscale areas of California.
Fresno’s California State University campus is embroiled in controversy over the student body president’s announcing that he is an illegal alien, with all the requisite protests in favor of the DREAM Act. I won’t comment on the legislation per se, but again only note the anomaly. I taught at CSUF for 21 years. I think it fair to say that the predominant theme of the Chicano and Latin American Studies program’s sizable curriculum was a fuzzy American culpability. By that I mean that students in those classes heard of the sins of America more often than its attractions. In my home town, Mexican flag decals on car windows are far more common than their American counterparts.
I note this because hundreds of students here illegally are now terrified of being deported to Mexico. I can understand that, given the chaos in Mexico and their own long residency in the United States. But here is what still confuses me: If one were to consider the classes that deal with Mexico at the university, or the visible displays of national chauvinism, then one might conclude that Mexico is a far more attractive and moral place than the United States.
So there is a surreal nature to these protests: something like, “Please do not send me back to the culture I nostalgically praise; please let me stay in the culture that I ignore or deprecate.” I think the DREAM Act protestors might have been far more successful in winning public opinion had they stopped blaming the U.S. for suggesting that they might have to leave at some point, and instead explained why, in fact, they want to stay. What it is about America that makes a youth of 21 go on a hunger strike or demonstrate to be allowed to remain in this country rather than return to the place of his birth?
I think I know the answer to this paradox. Missing entirely in the above description is the attitude of the host, which by any historical standard can only be termed “indifferent.” California does not care whether one broke the law to arrive here or continues to break it by staying. It asks nothing of the illegal immigrant — no proficiency in English, no acquaintance with American history and values, no proof of income, no record of education or skills. It does provide all the public assistance that it can afford (and more that it borrows for), and apparently waives enforcement of most of California’s burdensome regulations and civic statutes that increasingly have plagued productive citizens to the point of driving them out. How odd that we overregulate those who are citizens and have capital to the point of banishing them from the state, but do not regulate those who are aliens and without capital to the point of encouraging millions more to follow in their footsteps. How odd — to paraphrase what Critias once said of ancient Sparta — that California is at once both the nation’s most unfree and most free state, the most repressed and the wildest.
Hundreds of thousands sense all that and vote accordingly with their feet, both into and out of California — and the result is a sort of social, cultural, economic, and political time-bomb, whose ticks are getting louder.
— NRO contributor Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, the editor of Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome, and the author of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.
Did you know – Mirror vs 2-Way Glass
2 – WAY GLASS IMAGE:
MIRROR IMAGE:
A Mirror or a 2-Way Glass?
How can you tell when you are in a room, restroom, motel etc. with a mirror or a 2-way glass?
Here’s how: I thought it was quite interesting! And I know in about 30 seconds you’re going to do what I did and find the nearest mirror.
Do you know how to determine if a mirror is 2-way or not? When we visit toilets, bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing rooms, etc., how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror, or actually a 2-way mirror (i.e., they can see you, but you can’t see them)? There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors in female changing rooms. It is very difficult to positively identify the surface by looking at it.
So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty what type of mirror we are looking at?
Just conduct this simple test: Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the nail, then it is GENUINE mirror. However, if your fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of your nail, then BEWARE! IT IS A 2-WAY MIRROR!
“No Space, Leave the Place” So remember, every time you see a mirror, do the “fingernail test.” It doesn’t cost you anything.
REMEMBER. No Space, Leave the Place:
MIRROR IMAGE:
A Mirror or a 2-Way Glass?
How can you tell when you are in a room, restroom, motel etc. with a mirror or a 2-way glass?
Here’s how: I thought it was quite interesting! And I know in about 30 seconds you’re going to do what I did and find the nearest mirror.
Do you know how to determine if a mirror is 2-way or not? When we visit toilets, bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing rooms, etc., how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror, or actually a 2-way mirror (i.e., they can see you, but you can’t see them)? There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors in female changing rooms. It is very difficult to positively identify the surface by looking at it.
So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty what type of mirror we are looking at?
Just conduct this simple test: Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the nail, then it is GENUINE mirror. However, if your fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of your nail, then BEWARE! IT IS A 2-WAY MIRROR!
“No Space, Leave the Place” So remember, every time you see a mirror, do the “fingernail test.” It doesn’t cost you anything.
REMEMBER. No Space, Leave the Place:
Prayer: Our Time-Saver
Charles F. Stanley
Memory Verse: 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2; Ephesians 5:15-16
I. Do you ever feel as if you don’t have enough time? Routine chores, urgent tasks, and distractions can make our days busy but unproductive. We often have little time left over to accomplish God’s purposes.
How can we make the most of our lives? The secret is connecting with our heavenly Father. When we walk hand in hand with God, obedient to each command, we will be sure to fulfill all He has planned for us. Prayer is life’s greatest timesaver.
II. Prayer in the Life of Jesus
A. Our Lord never hurried or became anxious. Although He had only three and a half years to accomplish His mission, He knew when to retreat and spend time with the Father.
B. Jesus prayed early in the morning and in the evening; He prayed in front of His disciples and alone in the wilderness. Before choosing the Twelve, He prayed all night (Luke 6:12).
C. Those who have made the greatest impact for God’s kingdom have at least one trait in common with Jesus: they were men and women of prayer.
III. Prayer as a Timesaver
Talking to God helps us use time wisely because it . . .
A. Provides timely direction: In emergencies, prayer can give us clear guidance and eliminate confusion. When King Jehoshaphat heard that three armies were on their way to attack Israel, he immediately sought the Lord through fasting and prayer. God gave him a war strategy that resulted in victory (2 Chron. 20:3-25).
B. Prevents wrong decisions: Prayer can help us avoid costly mistakes. The apostle Paul set aside his plans when the Lord redirected his missionary journey (Acts 16:6-9).
C. Eliminates worry and anxiety: As believers, we don’t have to fret (Phil. 4:6-7); God has everything under control. If we follow His will, we should have peace. When we feel unsettled spiritually, He may be trying to warn or redirect us.
D. Produces peacefulness: If we begin each day with God, He will help us remain calm. Feeling tranquil can increase productivity and help to avoid sin (Ps. 119:133).
E. Invites God into our activity: If we ask, the Father will help us use time well (Prov. 3:5-6).
F. Produces confidence: When we have clear guidance from God, we can move ahead boldly and quickly.
G. Sharpens discernment: Prayer increases our ability to see past the surface to what is happening spiritually. Trust that God will reveal His direction for your life—perhaps not immediately, but at just the right time.
H. Gives us energy: Prayer can rejuvenate us when we are exhausted. The Lord is our strength: it is unusual not to feel renewed energy after spending time with Him.
I. Prevents distractions: Each morning, ask God what you are supposed to accomplish and request that He help you avoid needless activities.
J. Reminds us to act now: Perhaps you have procrastinated or forgotten to do something. Through prayer, God can motivate you to accomplish such tasks.
K. Protects us from discouragement: Talking to the Lord reminds us of His perspective. How can we be discouraged if our loving heavenly Father is in complete control and has our best interests in mind?
L. Opens doors of opportunity: Paul asked the Colossians to pray that “God will open up to us a door for the word” (Col. 4:3). Prayer creates opportunities where none existed before.
M. Helps us discern between busyness and fruitfulness: Don’t say yes to every opportunity: prayerfully consider which ones God has ordained for you to pursue.
IV. Conclusion:
How often do you spend focused solitary time in conversation with your heavenly Father? I hope that you will make prayer a priority. Every morning, commit your day to Him. Ask for His guidance to help you avoid distractions, and listen for His voice. You will be amazed at how effective and fruitful you can be for His kingdom.
Copyright 2010 In Touch Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved. www.intouch.org. In Touch grants permission to print for personal use only.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Days of Black and White
Read it and maybe you'll remember , I remember a lot of it like this . Red Skelton was right .
Days of Black and White
"Good night and God bless.."
Go all the way to the bottom past the pictures. I think you'll enjoy it. Whoever wrote this must have been my next door neighbor because it totally described my childhood to a 'T.' Hope you enjoy it.
Black and White
Black and White
(Under age 40? You won't understand.)
You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
'Good Night, David.
Good Night, Chet.'
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.
My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter and I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.
The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.
We all took gym, not PE...and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.
Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.
We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses?
Ours wore a hat and everything.
I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.
I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.
Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!
We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.
Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did we got our butt spanked there and then we got our butt spanked again when we got home.
I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off.
Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house.
Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.
To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family.
How could we possibly have known that?
We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes.
We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!
How did we ever survive?
LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA. AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T, SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED.
I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING!
Pass this to someone and remember that life's most simple pleasures are very often the best.
Oh but didn't we have fun? Remember playing hide in seek? Softball with the neighborhood kids? Kick ball too. Riding our bikes & letting our best friend be on the handle bars. Jumping rope, playing hopscotch, pick-up-sticks, Jacks, well most of you boys didn't do that one lol.
Catching fire flies at night when mom would let you stay out just a little longer after dark. Going after night crawlers with a flashlight for fishing the next day. Playing cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, playing kick the can, tag your it, playing marbles, playing against each other with baseball cards, placing a baseball card against the spokes of the bike wheel to make it sound like a motorcycle. I remember walking most everywhere you went before you got the bike. Even then you weren't allowed to go far off on the bike and had to be home by dark. Riding the city buses, going to movies on Saturdays, costing a dime to get in and buying popcorn soaked in real butter, going to the malt shop, reading funny books. Oh I remember do you?
What good times we had growing up then. :))
Days of Black and White
"Good night and God bless.."
Go all the way to the bottom past the pictures. I think you'll enjoy it. Whoever wrote this must have been my next door neighbor because it totally described my childhood to a 'T.' Hope you enjoy it.
Black and White
Black and White
(Under age 40? You won't understand.)
You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
'Good Night, David.
Good Night, Chet.'
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.
My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter and I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.
The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.
We all took gym, not PE...and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.
Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.
We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses?
Ours wore a hat and everything.
I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.
I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.
Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!
We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.
Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did we got our butt spanked there and then we got our butt spanked again when we got home.
I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off.
Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house.
Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.
To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family.
How could we possibly have known that?
We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes.
We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!
How did we ever survive?
LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA. AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T, SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED.
I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING!
Pass this to someone and remember that life's most simple pleasures are very often the best.
Oh but didn't we have fun? Remember playing hide in seek? Softball with the neighborhood kids? Kick ball too. Riding our bikes & letting our best friend be on the handle bars. Jumping rope, playing hopscotch, pick-up-sticks, Jacks, well most of you boys didn't do that one lol.
Catching fire flies at night when mom would let you stay out just a little longer after dark. Going after night crawlers with a flashlight for fishing the next day. Playing cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, playing kick the can, tag your it, playing marbles, playing against each other with baseball cards, placing a baseball card against the spokes of the bike wheel to make it sound like a motorcycle. I remember walking most everywhere you went before you got the bike. Even then you weren't allowed to go far off on the bike and had to be home by dark. Riding the city buses, going to movies on Saturdays, costing a dime to get in and buying popcorn soaked in real butter, going to the malt shop, reading funny books. Oh I remember do you?
What good times we had growing up then. :))