The Soapbox

Mark Driscoll on - Why I Hate Religion.

2009-07-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

I couldn't have said it any better.

Obama's Endless Supply of Czars

2009-07-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

I want to share something with you that’s been under the radar lately in the news and it is very concerning. President Obama and congressional Democrats are hysterically pushing their extreme agenda in an effort to destroy capitalism and to lead us into a socialist like state. Sounds like an extreme thought but there are a lot of reasons why we going down the socialist rout but I’m going to talk about something that is a little less obvious than the government taking over car industries, banks , energy and soon healthcare. This is something that you may have heard mentioned in the news without there being much detail. What I am going to talk about is Obama and all his Czars. President Obama has I think 21 Czars, it’s hard to keep it straight because it seems he keeps adding more Czars by the day. His website should have a 24 hour Czar Updater to make it a little easier for the public because we all know how Obama wants to be transparent……Cough

Anyway, President Obama has roughly 21 Czars according to Reuters.com. I can’t find a exact list of all the Czars and who they are but I know there is a Car Czar, Terrorism Czar, Energy Czar, Weapons Czar, Technology Czar, Great Lakes Czar, Health Czar, Stimulus Accountability Czar, Faith-based Czar, Drug Czar, Climate Czar, Economic Czar. Basically there is a Czar for everything. McCain’s twittered about all of Obama’s czars: “Obama has more czars than the Romanovs.” For those of you may be confused and are wondering, “What is a Czar? What is their job? What isthe big deal?”

Merriam Webster’s Dictionary says that a Czar comes from Russia Tsar’, Meaning:

1.) Emperor, King, a chief, specifically: the ruler of Russia until the 1917 revolution.

2.) One having great power or authority.

Now before you say, “A lot of Presidents have had Czars” Let me respond by saying many Presidents did have czars. Just because a Republican president or Democrat President had Czars doesn’t mean I think it is alright, I don’t always agree with the Republican Party. Roosevelt was actually the first president to use Czars in his administration, at the time they were called Dictators. These Dictators were in place to regulate certain parts of commerce, kind of like what Obama is doing. Nixon used Czars as well but calling them “Dictators” would be a bad political move, so he named them Czars. They have been used by a few presidents since, rarely because of the power they hold.

The problem is that President Obama has more Czars’ than any other president, and there is really no end to his Czar’s in sight. By the time this post is aired on my blog Obama could have appointed another Czar.

See a lot of people think Obama is stupid and doesn’t know what he is doing. I happen to strongly disagree. I think the man is a genius! He was able to raise the national debt more than bush ever did in just a few months. He also managed to kill more jobs and take control of anything he can get is hands on in just a short amount of time. He is a genius! He knows exactly what he is doing. When he said during the elections that he wanted to “CHANGE” the country he knew how he wanted to change it. Obama wanted the power to be given to him and not the people and these Czars show how power hungry he is.

The thing people don’t know about Czar's is that they administer with freedom from penalty. They can make whatever policies the president wants and blow completely under the radar. They are accountable to nobody, except the President. Czars are not elected officials, they are picked by the President and they do his bidding without accountability or transparency even though Obama said he wants transparency in the white house. Czar's don't even have to go through Senate confirmation hearings, they are just appointed, which helps Obama make swift quick policies while under the radar with nobody telling him what to do. The major issue is that the President has wrongly appointed a bunch of Czars outside the bounds of the United States Constitution to create and put into action his own policy which does away the system of ‘checks and balances’(separation of powers) Something our founding fathers set in place.

President Obama is acting outside the Constitution which is funny because Obama thinks he is as a constitutional specialist. Factcheck, affirms he stated, “I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution”. Ha! So Obama “respects” the constitution but doesn’t follow it. Either his definition of respect could be different or he was reading some other countries constitution and just got confused. This isn’t the first time he has ignored our Constitution. You remember when he forcefully made the CEO of GM, which is a private company, resign. Remember how he ordered Chrysler to go into bankruptcy, which has total disregard to United States bankruptcy laws that valuate the status of unions over secured debt-holders, which violates the rule of law.

It’s amazing this guy and many politicians are still in office. This should outrage the American people knowing we have politicians in office who have disregarded our constitution. Our founding fathers would be very disappointed. We need to be writing letters and be making phone calls to our senators and congressmen. Get involved in the tea party protests. American people must be heard before things get worse.

No Sacrifice, No Victory: Freedom, Justice, Honor, Duty, Faith, Family, Hope. Things we take for granted in America.

2009-07-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jefferson ~ “How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!”

Today is a great day. Today is one of my favorite holidays. It is the day we celebrate our nations Independence. Many will celebrate this day by having cookouts, hanging out with friends, going to parades and watching fireworks. But this day of celebration means so much more than just that. This is the day our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence and made us a free people, a free nation, one nation under God.

The Declaration of Independence is a noticeably religious document using phrases like "the laws of nature and nature's God" and "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." The Declaration of Independence is also a political and legal document. This was because we had no right even to create a constitution unless we could claim a higher authority than King George III who was the absolute law of the land. We were a British colony. The founding fathers response was that God was our authority and His liberty was our foundation.

A huge part of Independence Day is to recognize that faith in God is central to America's political character. Faith is what made this country great. So much so that our founding fathers were concerned that Americans would forget that the foundation of our nation was God due to a influential secular culture. A culture where patriotism means something utterly different than what our Founding Fathers believed it to be.

George Washington ~“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

George Washington ~“I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.”

Our founding fathers knew the place the American people had in the world and they wanted them to understand the dangers of secularism. Ronald Reagan also understood this

Ronald Reagan ~ "I want you to know, that this administration is motivated by a political philosophy that sees the greatness of America in you, her people, and in your families, churches, neighborhoods, communities – the institutions that foster and nourish values like concern for others and respect for the rule of law under God. Now, I don't have to tell you, that this puts us in opposition to, or at least out of step with, a prevailing attitude of many who have turned to a modern-day secularism, discarding the tried and time-tested values upon which our very civilization is based. No matter how well intentioned, their value system is radically different from that of most Americans. And while they proclaim that they're freeing us from superstitions of the past, they've taken upon themselves the job of superintending us by government. rule and regulation. Sometimes their voices are louder than ours, but they are not yet a majority."

We are one nation Under God. Our history and traditions make no sense unless they are understood in this way. The Declaration of Independence clearly states that our rights come from God. Without the Declaration of Independence, there is no Constitution, but without God, there is no Declaration. That is how they saw it.

America started a political revolution in the world by standing up and proclaiming liberty as something given by God for all of mankind. It is our responsibility to understand the significance of liberty and its calling. Secular America wants to forget this reality. Our Declaration of Independence is the political heart of America because it proclaims freedom from not only England but also because we are proclaiming freedom under the recognition of God. Many have forgotten that due to the continual growth of liberalism. With our president and many in government destroying the free market, capitalism and many Americans hopes. But that doesn't mean that we should surrender to modern liberalism and compromise our faith and American ideals and principles. As Americans we should stand firm on our ideals and values. We are Americans with honest pride and humility. We should be proud of our Forefathers, who set forth the Independence of these United States. They gave us the Constitution, which guarantees the inalienable rights of every person. We should be proud of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and so many others. Yes these men were not perfect. No man is, but they stood for something greater.

Let us be proud of our freedom; the freedom, which come from God. Our freedom is something our Founding Fathers fought and died for. They fought and died to give us the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and a Democratic Government. This opened the way to freedom. They also built Institutions of higher learning and Religion, of culture and industry, and enabled everyone to move in the arena of creativity. Let us be proud of their monumental achievement! I believe America was a gift from God. We should always remember, to have an honest pride for our Country and not take that for granted. Do not let their death be in vain.

I often wonder if our Forefathers could see what the opposition is doing and what is slowly happening to our country. There was a time, when our Founding Fathers were greatly idolized. America must return to the time when there was honest pride, humility and Christian values, which made our Nation great. Why is this happening? We have lost our sense of values. This must be restored.

So what can you do to not let their death be in vain today? The answer is to express your freedom for which they fought for! Go spread the Gospel, knowing that we are free from being thrown into prison, beaten or killed. Read God’s word knowing you can freely get as many copies of scripture as you want at the local store because there are many nation’s with people who would die just to read a sentence of God’s word. Go out and fire your guns knowing that you have the freedom to bear arms. Go to church knowing that you do not have to hide in fear as they do in China. Go help your community for Christ, thank a soldier and go on a mission trip and help those who are less fortunate than you.

If you don’t like the direction our country is going, morally or politically? Do something about it. Don’t expect it to magically change. If you don’t like the direction we are going morally, spread the Gospel. As my pastor once said, “If you want to kill the unborn get a pulpit and don’t preach the Gospel. If you want to stop the death of the unborn spread the Gospel.” Don’t complain about it! Spread the Gospel because it is your God given right and freedom. If you don’t like the direction our country is going politically get involved. Call your congressmen, get involved in politics. You can make a difference. You have to fight for it just like our Founding Fathers did. No Sacrifice No Victory. Our Forefathers fought for our freedom and Independence it is time we continue the fight. Don’t set in your comfy chair and play halo wishing the country would get better while it slowly falls apart. Joseph Addison once said:

Joseph Addison - “Let freedom never perish in your hands.”

Leviticus 25:10 says which is also written on the Liberty Bell, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof” So proclaim liberty throughout the land. Use your liberty to spread the freedom of the Gospel to your friends, and your community. We’ve been given a special gift, use it!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen MOVIE REVIEW

2009-06-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

Where do I even begin? I love Transformers I grew up on Transformers. One of My favorite memories in life was getting up really early to see my dad before he went to work and we would watch the reruns of Transformers before he went to work. So when I see Transformers I think of my father and I guess that’s why my favorite character growing up was Optimus Prime a heroic wise fatherly like character and it always reminded me of my father. Now I thought the first movie was amazing! The moment that I seen the trailer for the second Transformers movie I was really pumped! But in the past few weeks I have been reading review after review. Many people who I call “BayHaters” (people who hate the director Michael Bay) Which is weird that I find so many people hate Michael Bay. I love Michael Bay. Pearl Harbor was awesome, The Island was awesome. I really enjoyed his movies. Anyways Many “BayHaters” were on the web bashing this movie and Michael Bay to the point you would think he was a terrorist.

But I kind of fell for it. My expectations for the movie were greatly lowered. So I went into the movie with mixed thoughts. Honestly I would pay 10 bucks just to see Optimus Prime kick but for 3 hours. But I had to remind myself that Transformers is not suppose to be a thought provoking, world changing movie that is suppose to make you think. Transformers always had the simple concept of Good vs. Evil. Robots who can change into cars. It isn’t something that is going to be thought provoking or life changing. Simply it is not “The Dark Knight” it is not “Gladiator” it’s not “Star Wars” or “Saving Private Ryan.” It is giant robots……. Some good, some evil. Evil wants to destroy earth, good wants to protect it now let’s fight for 3 hours with the themes of Heroism and bravery. That’s Transformers, nothing more nothing less.

Now with that in mind Transformers 2 delivers! Is it perfect? No! But it delivers. I have never seen so many things blow up in this movie let alone in the first 15 minutes of the movie. The first 15 minutes of this movie would be the final action scene in other movies. Its’ insane and after that the movie doesn’t give you much time to breath before you are thrust into another epic battle in which more crap gets blown up. I didn’t see this movie in the IMAX but I bet it is insane. It was like every robot and every explosion is thrown in your face all at once. One battle takes place in a forest which is awesome! Best part in the movie! Optimus prime fights Blackout, Star Scream and Megatron all at once. In which Megetron says, “Give me the boy!” Optimus replies, “Sam! Run!” Sam: “Optimus!!!” Optimus turns to face Megatron and pulls out two swords. Optimus, “I will take you all on!”

It was an Epic scene! You could hear a pin drop at the end of the scene and an occasional “Oh $#*t!”

Now I will talk about the plot. Don’t worry I won’t spoil it for you. You have to see it for yourselves. I will just give you vague details. The plot was pretty good, it was what you would expect from a cartoon toy/ franchise. But it gets kind of confusing. In the beginning you don’t really know what the movie is about. Cube shards? The matrix? The key that turns into sand? The Fallen? Optimus Prime? Jetfire? The sun exploding? Which I am sure they are all connected but “ Hey!” I watched the midnight showing so I was tired and my brain can’t process or function well that late at night so it will become more clear when I watch it again later this week.

As for the character’s and character development. Problem is that you are introduced to so many transformers mostly Transformers who don’t make it alive in the very scene they are introduced. They should have cut out a lot of unimportant characters and spent more time building up the main characters. As for Sam he is good, what else is there to say about him. Megan Fox is as beautiful as ever. Her acting is a lot better. Bumble Bee is awesome. He still the same loyal body guard to Sam, even though Sam rejects him at times. Oh! And Bumble Bee rips apart some Decepticons in an awesome manor! ;) . Iron Hide has one cool scene after that he isn’t involved much. We are also introduced to a old grumpy Transformer with a Australian accent named Jetfire. He is pretty cool but they should have introduced him earlier on in the film to build up his character. Now when it comes to the AutoBots they introduce the Twins. Two Transformer brothers that act very ghetto and gangsta. Funny at first but gets annoying and you just wish they would die. They are the Jar Jar Binks of Transformers. But don’t worry it doesn’t ruin the movie. Megatron is awesome! His character develops more along with star scream. As for the Fallen....... he is under used. He plays more of a Emperor Palpatine part from Star Wars until the end of the movie. Oh and I forgot “Devastator!” Imagine a bunch of transformers combining to create a giant Godzilla sized monster! Awesome! Towards the end the audience cheers at the site of the return of a heroic Autobot and then a huge 40 minute battle happens to conclude the movie. Yes you heard me right! A 40 minute long battle at the end, I counted the time.

In conclusion this movie isn’t perfect but it’s still a dang good time and worth every buck. Check most of your brain at the door and just enjoy the firework show. You will be blown away by the effects. Its like nothing I have ever seen. Ignore the “Bay Haters” and enjoy.

THE GOOD: Lets face it! Optimus Prime kicks major butt in this movie. He is a B A! Every time he is on screen it is just awesome! Effects are the best out there, ILM over did their self. Megan Fox is beautiful! Sam’s parents are sooooo funny! Action! Lots of Acton in this movie!

THE BAD: Let’s face it. If I was the director I would make some changes. First the twin robots would have been cut out. I would have spent more time on the main robots and less on the 40 other robots which at the most only said one word. I would have also cut at the most 20 to 30 minutes out of the movie. There were a couple of pointless scenes in this movie.

THE UGLY: A hot girl who comes onto Sam in college but turns out to be a creepy female robot. Strange and weird, could have been done better or should have been cut out of the movie. It was ugly. It’s like………k………???? Oh and we get it! Why do you have to show to random shots of Sam’s two dogs humping each other. Seriously are we in middle school. Other than that the movie is pretty dang good.

I will give this movie 8 out of 10 stars!

Star Trek is still the best movie of the summer.

ABC Turns Programming Over to Obama; News to be Anchored from Inside White House.

2009-06-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006.

Late Monday night, Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay fired off a complaint to the head of ABCNEWS:

Dear Mr. Westin:

As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC's astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president’s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming.

Today, the Republican National Committee requested an opportunity to add our Party's views to those of the President's to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented. Our request was rejected. I believe that the President should have the ability to speak directly to the America people. However, I find it outrageous that ABC would prohibit our Party's opposing thoughts and ideas from this national debate, which affects millions of ABC viewers.

In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

Respectfully,
Ken McKay
Republican National Committee
Chief of Staff

MORE

ABCNEWS Senior Vice President Kerry Smith on Tuesday responded to the RNC complaint, saying it contained 'false premises':

"ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions -- even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.

"ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience." - Drudge Report

Hmmm What do you think?

Summer Fun!!!!

2009-06-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

I'm done. Third year of school in the can with two more left. Time for my summer break. So stay tuned will be blogging often.

That's My King

2009-04-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

There is a Light at the End of the Tunnel.

2009-04-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

There is a light at the end of the tunnel but I think it is the blinding light of a train that is about to hit me. That train is called "Finals!" That train consists of 3 finals to study four, a five page book review, two, ten page sermons. So I am here at Quills Coffee shop about to submerge myself into the blinding light of "Finals" so I can get to the other end of the tunnel.

In my devotions earlier today I was reading this amazing verse that I would like to share with you.

PSALM 139: 1-18

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. 13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

PRAISE GOD!

Tax Day: Tea Party

2009-04-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Protesters began gathering at state Capitols and in neighborhoods and town squares across the country Wednesday to kick off a series of tax-day protests designed to echo the rebellion of the Boston Tea Party. Demonstrators said they're steamed about government spending since President Barack Obama took office.

The rallies were being held everywhere from Kentucky, which just passed tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol, to South Carolina, where the governor has repeatedly criticized the $787 billion economic stimulus package Congress passed earlier this year. Large protests also were expected in California and New York.

In Atlanta, thousands of people were expected to gather on the steps of the Georgia Capitol, where Fox News Channel conservative pundit Sean Hannity was set to broadcast his show Wednesday night. He's been promoting the show on Fox.

The tea parties have also been promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas.

In Hartford, Conn., police estimated 3,000 people showed up at the state Capitol, where nearly two decades earlier an estimated 40,000 had converged in protest after the state enacted its personal income tax.

This time, many carried makeshift pitchforks and signs with messages aimed at the Democrats who control Congress and the White House.

"There needs to be some common sense restored to government at every level, Washington, in our state and in our towns," said Faith Burns of East Granby, who rang a school bell and wore a sandwich board with a picture of a pig in a circle crossed out. "And besides it's so much gosh-darned fun to ring this bell."

In Des Moines, Iowa, more than 1,000 people gathered on the steps of the state Capitol wearing red shirts proclaiming "revolution is brewing."

"The system is severely broken and we the people let it get that way," said Des Moines businessman Doug Burnett. "What can we do? My answer is revolution."

Organizers say the movement has developed organically through online social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and through exposure on Fox News.

And while they insist it's a nonpartisan effort, it has been seized on by many prominent Republicans who view it as a promising way for the party to reclaim its momentum.

"It is a nonpartisan mass organizing effort comprised of people unhappy with size of government. All you have to be is a mildly awake Republican candidate for office to get in front of that parade," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

The movement has attracted prominent Republicans, some considering a 2012 presidential bid.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich planned to address a tea party in a New York City park Wednesday night. His advocacy group, americansolutions.com, has partnered with tea party organizers to get word to the group's members.

"It's the Reagan coalition reorganizing itself," Gingrich spokesman Rick Sawyer said.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, another likely 2012 GOP presidential hopeful, planned to attend tea parties in Columbia and Charleston. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal sent an e-mail to his supporters, letting them know about tea parties taking place throughout the state.

At a rally in Madison, Wis., Jean Snyder of Milwaukee held a sign showing the U.S. Capitol as a pirate ship, with taxpayers walking the plank into a sea of debt.

In Boston, a few hundred protesters gathered on the Boston Common—a short distance from the original Tea Party—with some dressed in Revolutionary War garb and carrying signs that said "Barney Frank, Bernie Madoff: And the Difference Is?" and "D.C.: District of Communism."

Event coordinator Christen Varley, a conservative Catholic Republican, said she was thrilled with the turnout.

"Personally, I envisioned me and 100 friends on the steps of the Statehouse," she said. "I never saw this coming."

And at a midday rally in downtown Louisville, Laura Watkins pushed her 2-year-old daughter Zoe in a stroller with a sign strapped to the front reading "My Piggy Bank is not Your ATM." Watkins said she joined the protest after reading about it online and hearing about it on Fox News.

"I don't want my daughter to inherit all this debt," she said.- AP

Here in Louisville (Below)

Colbert Report!

2009-04-14T21:04:00.001-07:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Bart Ehrman

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

NASA Name Contest

Jesus Betrayed and Arrested.

2009-04-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

Matthew 26:36-56

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them,“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

47 While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. 51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” 55 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. 56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Here we see Christ falling on his face in Matthew 26:39. In this typical posture of abject humility in prayer, Jesus lays his life before his Father in complete honesty and surrender. Jesus is facing the most severe temptation of his life, at the moment when he is ready to accomplish the culmination of his life's mission - to bear the sins of the world which is what the cup signifies.

Nightline Debate: Does Satan Exist? Part 1-10

2009-03-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Just in case you missed it the debate is up on Youtube so I posted the 10 part debate below. Its really good Mark Driscoll did amazing.

Iraqis Snap Up Hummers as Icons of Power

2009-03-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD — Ali al-Hilli is a happy man. He has a wife and three kids, a prosperous business and — this is the important part — a Hummer in his driveway.

In a country with at least 20,000 Humvees and a war-weary population, who would think there would be a market for the civilian version?

Mr. Hilli did. “I just knew there’d be a huge demand for this in Baghdad,” he said. Now Mr. Hilli and his brother Dhafir run a car dealership specializing in Hummers. It is called, in English, “Al Sultan for Trading Cars.”

An American diplomat declared that it was the biggest Hummer dealership outside of the United States, a fact that seemed too good to check. Unfortunately, Mr. Hilli has checked. “It’s the biggest one in Baghdad, though, that’s for sure,” he said.

Never mind that General Motors, Hummer’s struggling parent company, may scrap the brand or sell it to someone else.

“Iraqis love them because they’re really a symbol of power,” said Mr. Hilli, a chubby 37-year-old who could not stop chuckling. Nonetheless, he spoke with authority, since he was his own first customer.

Hummers in Baghdad are symbols of much more besides: increasing security, returning normality and a yearning for the trappings of sovereignty. Mr. Hilli allowed that there was something else, too, a little more indefinable, which in Arabic is “hasad thukuri,” and which in English will be translated later.

The Hilli brothers first got their coals-to-Newcastle brainstorm a couple of years ago, during the height of the sectarian violence. “Even if we imported these back then, no one would have dared to drive around in them,” Ali al-Hilli said.

Insurgents were taking aim at anything that looked foreign, let alone an analogue of an American military vehicle.

Then the war started quieting down and, about a year ago, they found an online auction for repossessed nearly new cars in the United States. They put in the winning bid on a Humvee H3, which they air-freighted in through Dubai, followed by a second one. “Everyone thought we were crazy,” Mr. Hilli said. “Or they thought we were Iraqi government officials,” who can most easily afford such cars.

At first the Hummers sat on the lot and attracted little interest. “We took such a risk, it’s such an expensive car, and all our money was in it,” said Dhafir al-Hilli, 38. So the brothers got in the cars and began driving around their Kadhimiya neighborhood, a largely Shiite area that had so often been a target of terrorists that it was walled off and relatively safe.

“It helped that in Kadhimiya we didn’t have such a bad opinion of the Americans,” Ali al-Hilli said. “People often asked the soldiers to stop their Humvees so they could get their pictures in front of them.”

Idling through the city’s relentless traffic jams, the Hummers were their own advertising campaign. “We couldn’t go a block without people stopping us to ask, ‘What is it?’ ” Mr. Hilli said. “We looked like astronauts from outer space.”

Soon conditions improved enough to drive all over the city. Hummer H3s began rumbling off the lot, at 50 to 60 grand apiece, in dollars and all the money down, fully loaded. (No one wanted them any other way.)

Canary yellow and fire engine red proved the favorite colors.

“No one complains that they remind them of the American military,” Mr. Hilli said. “It’s much more trouble driving around in a Samand.” Made in Iran, the car is the surrogate object of many Iraqis’ scorn for Iran itself.

The Hillis said they had sold more than 20 H3s, about one every 10 days, even in the midst of plummeting oil prices and economic turmoil. Their biggest customers tend to be government officials. That is not necessarily a sign of corruption, since the new government has voted itself enormous pay raises.

Iraqis are paying historically high prices for gasoline. At $1.40 a gallon, that would not break any American hearts, but not long ago it was 19 cents. The increase had no effect on sales of these notorious gas-guzzlers, though. “If you can afford this car, you don’t care how much gasoline costs,” Mr. Hilli said.

Iraqis love their cars. “In Iraq, people judge you by your car, and you’re not a man without one,” he said. When it comes to Hummers, he added, they will nearly always be bigger than anyone else’s vehicle. That is where “hasad thukuri” comes in; roughly translated, it means “penis envy.”

In prewar years, red-blooded Iraqis lusted after the Mercedes, especially the costly Ghost sedan, which only the best-heeled Baathists could afford. During the early war years, it was the nimble little BMW 3 Series, until that car got a bad rap as the insurgents’ favorite getaway car. (At one time, black BMWs were actually banned from the roads.) “Now Iraqis are obsessed with the Hummer,” Dhafir al-Hilli said.

It beats being obsessed with, say, car bombs. Who knows, the Hillis may yet see the day when there are even more Hummers on the streets than Humvees. - New York Times.

I was reading the New York Times and I thought this article was very interesting. Sense we live in a world that tells us that SUV's are unpopular and that everyone wants and needs a earth friendly car.

Why I Hate Twitter!

2009-03-19T19:53:00.001-07:00

Twitter is overrated! Therefore I will never get it!

TIME lists Calvinism as one of the Top 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.

2009-03-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

If you really want to follow the development of conservative Christianity, track its musical hits. In the early 1900s you might have heard "The Old Rugged Cross," a celebration of the atonement. By the 1980s you could have shared the Jesus-is-my-buddy intimacy of "Shine, Jesus, Shine." And today, more and more top songs feature a God who is very big, while we are...well, hark the David Crowder Band: "I am full of earth/ You are heaven's worth/ I am stained with dirt/ Prone to depravity."

Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin's 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism's buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism's latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination's logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time's dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision.

Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation's other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don't have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by "glorifying" him. In the 1700s, Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards invested Calvinism with a rapturous near mysticism. Yet it was soon overtaken in the U.S. by movements like Methodism that were more impressed with human will. Calvinist-descended liberal bodies like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) discovered other emphases, while Evangelicalism's loss of appetite for rigid doctrine — and the triumph of that friendly, fuzzy Jesus — seemed to relegate hard-core Reformed preaching (Reformed operates as a loose synonym for Calvinist) to a few crotchety Southern churches.

No more. Neo-Calvinist ministers and authors don't operate quite on a Rick Warren scale. But, notes Ted Olsen, a managing editor at Christianity Today, "everyone knows where the energy and the passion are in the Evangelical world" — with the pioneering new-Calvinist John Piper of Minneapolis, Seattle's pugnacious Mark Driscoll and Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Seminary of the huge Southern Baptist Convention. The Calvinist-flavored ESV Study Bible sold out its first printing, and Reformed blogs like Between Two Worlds are among cyber-Christendom's hottest links.

Like the Calvinists, more moderate Evangelicals are exploring cures for the movement's doctrinal drift, but can't offer the same blanket assurance. "A lot of young people grew up in a culture of brokenness, divorce, drugs or sexual temptation," says Collin Hansen, author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. "They have plenty of friends: what they need is a God." Mohler says, "The moment someone begins to define God's [being or actions] biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist." Of course, that presumption of inevitability has drawn accusations of arrogance and divisiveness since Calvin's time. Indeed, some of today's enthusiasts imply that non-Calvinists may actually not be Christians. Skirmishes among the Southern Baptists (who have a competing non-Calvinist camp) and online "flame wars" bode badly.

Calvin's 500th birthday will be this July. It will be interesting to see whether Calvin's latest legacy will be classic Protestant backbiting or whether, during these hard times, more Christians searching for security will submit their wills to the austerely demanding God of their country's infancy.- TIME

Ephesians 1:5-7

He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

Galatians 4: 16

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of women, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because your are sons, God has sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Baseball!!!!!

2009-03-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

Opening Day Only 21 Days away! RedSox

Red Sox lock up Lester for five years

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The stories of Jon Lester's perseverance have long since become the stuff of baseball legend, making this latest piece of news seem relatively mundane. But for Lester and the Red Sox, it is critical.

The Sox officially announced on Sunday that they have agreed on a five-year contract with Lester worth a reported $30 million and including a $14 million team option for 2014.

"No one deserves this contract more than Jon," general manager Theo Epstein said. "It's just a great day for those of us who know him."

Lester, 25, finished 16-6 with a 3.21 ERA last season, his first full season in the big leagues. A cancer survivor, he has since developed into one of the top left-handers in the game.

"I've had a lot of ups and downs, both on and off the field," Lester said. "I've definitely learned a lot from those downs on the field, and definitely a lot from the ones off the field. I think it put me in a better position last year to succeed, because of the downs I had been through and some of the trials -- it just makes you appreciate when you go out there and actually do succeed."

The contract, rumored for most of last week, marks the third that the Sox have handed to their homegrown players this offseason. In December, Epstein inked second baseman Dustin Pedroia to a six-year, $40.5 million deal, a month after Pedroia won the American League MVP Award. Then, in January, the Sox locked up first baseman Kevin Youkilis to a four-year deal worth $40 million.

Of the homegrown players expected to play significant roles with the team this season, only closer Jonathan Papelbon, who signed a one-year contract worth $6.25 million this winter, and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who remains multiple years away from arbitration, are not signed to long-term deals.

Lester's deal, in particular, should solidify the top of Boston's rotation for years to come. Not yet in the prime of his career, Lester already profiles as a potential 20-game winner. He threw more than 210 innings last season and should prove similarly durable throughout the duration of his contract.

More than that, both Lester and the Sox believe that the security of a long-term contract should help his production on the mound.

"The arbitration years for a starting pitcher can be a challenge," Epstein said. "I think what this contract does is allows us to all think together about the big picture. Jon knows he's going to be here, he knows his contract is set for the next five or six years, and we can manage those critical years through his mid- and late-20s together, in a way that we all hope leads to Jon dominating and us continuing to contend for World Series championships year in and year out."

"It's guaranteed," Lester said. "We have that inflow every year no matter what happens, and I think that's a big help to me and my family and the Red Sox. We have that guarantee that I'm going to go pitch."

The team's second-round pick in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Lester ranked third among AL left-handers with his 16 wins last season, trailing only Cliff Lee of the Indians and Joe Saunders of the Angels. He joined Babe Ruth and Lefty Grove as the only Sox lefties to record 15 wins, 30 starts, 200 innings, 150 strikeouts and a sub-3.50 ERA in a single season.

"I don't know that any of us know where he's going to end up," manager Terry Francona said. "I don't think he's ever going to want to stop getting better. We already think he's pretty good. In that second half of last year, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball."

Lester will rejoin a rotation that also includes Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka, forming a trio that won 46 games last season. Beckett has an easily vested club option on his contract for 2010, likely keeping him in Boston, and Matsuzaka is signed through the 2012 season.

"Now I know I'm going to be here for a long time," Lester said. "That was just what we wanted to do."

"We're extremely happy to have gotten this done," Epstein said. "Jon is already a really big part of this organization, and we project him to play an even greater role going forward." - Red Sox.com

Awesome Video!

2009-03-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

My friend sent me this awesome video. So I thought I would share it.

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

Randomness: Mmmmmhhh........Coffee.......

2009-03-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

It's freezing outside and I have a lot of reading to do....which means I'm at Starbucks relaxing. Reading."In Him We Proclaim" for my Preaching I class. I'm drinking one of my favorite drinks. A Venti Carmel Macchiato! Which is a cup of Amazingness! Well I better get back to reading I have mid-terms this week.

I will be blogging again tonight!

Dear President!

2009-03-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

I wish President Obama could watch this video.

John Piper On Abortion

2009-03-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Just in case you missed it.

Transformers II !!!!

2009-03-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

This looks awesome!!!!

Ugh.........I hate being sick.

2009-02-28T19:41:00.001-08:00

Crazy Semester.

2009-02-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

Quick Update: A lot has happened over the past month. The work load has been stacking up. I have tons of books to read and papers to write. But I have found a small slot in my schedule so I can continue to update this blog on a regular basis. I love blogging and I want to continue to blog. I have a lot on my mind and a lot I want to talk about regarding my life, politics and the Bible so stay tuned.

P.S. If your curious as to what classes I'm taking this semester I'm taking.

1. Preaching I
2. Theology I
3. New Testament II
4. Church History II

Pharaoh vs. Embryo

2009-01-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

Pharaoh vs. Embryo from Russell Moore on Vimeo.

Goodbye President Bush.

2009-01-19T17:02:00.000-08:00

You will be missed. Thanks for protecting our Nation! God Bless You!

Martin Luther King Jr.

2009-01-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

"If a man hasn't discovered somthing he would die for, he isn't fit to live"

1 in 3 'Christians' say 'Jesus sinned'

2009-01-16T22:32:00.001-08:00

Half of Americans who call themselves "Christian" don't believe Satan exists and fully one-third are confident that Jesus sinned while on Earth, according to a new Barna Group poll.

Another 40 percent say they do not have a responsibility to share their Christian faith with others, and 25 percent "dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches," the organization reports.

Pollster George Barna said the results have huge implications.

"Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible," he said.

The results are a dramatic departure from the nation's foundings, when leaders held prayer meetings in the halls of Congress and attributed to Almighty God the victory in the Revolutionary War.

Barna noted the millions of people who describe themselves as Christian and believe Jesus sinned, or those who say they will experience eternal salvation because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior, "but also believe that a person can do enough good works to earn eternal salvation."

Barna's private, non-partisan, for-profit research group in Ventura, Calif., has been studying cultural trends since 1984. For this study, the organization randomly sampled 1,004 adults across the continental U.S. The study has a margin of error of 3.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

For the study, "born-again Christians" were defined as people who said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that was still important in their life today and who also indicated they believed that when they die they will go to heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. The results highlight the significant shift in beliefs held by Americans, the study said.

"For much of America's history, the assumption was that if you were born in America, you would affiliate with the Christian faith," the report said. Now however, "half of all adults now contend that Christianity is just one of many options that Americans choose from and that a huge majority of adults pick and choose what they believe rather than adopt a church or denomination's slate of beliefs."

Fifty percent of Americans believe Christianity no longer has a lock on people's hearts. Two-thirds of evangelical Christians (64 percent) and three out of every five Hispanics (60 percent) embraced that position, making them the groups most convinced of the shift in America's default faith.

In contrast, the poll showed the importance of belief was growing along with the number of options about what to believe.

"By an overwhelming margin – 74 percent to 23 percent – adults agreed that their religious faith was becoming even more important to them than it used to be as a source of objective and reliable moral guidance."

Forty percent of respondents who do not affiliate with Christianity confirmed the increasing influence of their beliefs.

The result "underscored the fact that people no longer look to denominations or churches to offer a slate of theological views that the individual adopts in its entirety," the report said.

By a margin of 71 percent to 26 percent adults "noted that they are personally more likely to develop their own set of religious beliefs than to accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a particular church," the report said.

Nearly two-thirds of "born again Christians" adopted that stance.

"In the past, when most people determined their theological and moral points of view, the alternatives from which they chose were exclusively of Christian options - e.g., the Methodist point of view, the Baptist perspective, Catholic teaching, and so forth," Barna noted. "Today, Americans are more likely to pit a variety of non-Christian options against various Christian-based views. This has resulted in an abundance of unique worldviews based on personal combinations of theology drawn from a smattering of world religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam as well as secularism."

I will discuss this later I'm tired......

Classes!!!!Nooooo!!!

2009-01-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Classes for me start back up next Tuesday......

Its not that I don't like college. I do! I love learning about Christ and Theology I just don't like all the work. I'm horrible at taking tests. I'm ready to graduate but that's not for another two years. Sigh.....pray for me.

Shocking Quotes From Our Founding Fathers.

2009-01-10T11:59:00.001-08:00

Patrick Henry : "Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us." War is Inevitable, March 1775.

Samuel Adams : "The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards."

John Adams: “ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”

“[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”

John Adams and John Hancock: "We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!" [April 18, 1775]

Benjamin Franklin: | Portrait of Ben Franklin “ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."

In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone."

Patrick Henry: “It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” [May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]

George Washington: “ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”

George Washington:“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]

Thomas Jefferson: "The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits."

"To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association-the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

"I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious."

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

"I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

"Most bad government has grown out of too much government."

"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."

"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

Benjamin Franklin: "The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."

My Favorite Quotes from Ronald Reagan

2009-01-04T21:00:00.001-08:00

"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have."

"Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources."

"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged"

"Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets."

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."

"Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

"Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them."

"I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary. "

"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress. "

"Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall! "

"Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong"

"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15"

"The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much."

"Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face."

"When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat."

Video!!!

2009-01-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

The video below is a video I made my parents for Christmas. Its a video on the Adoption of my little sister. I hope you enjoy it. :)

2009..............

2009-01-01T08:45:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

Meaning of Christmas.

2008-12-25T18:18:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Is President Bush The Dark Knight?

2008-12-22T10:43:00.001-08:00

The blockbuster hit The Dark Knight which has made a total of $995,624,658 worldwide is now out on dvd. I have seen it countless times in the past few weeks and the same thing has been going through my mind when I watch the movie. I thought I was losing it until I found a article online. Someone who thought the same thing when I watched the movie. President Bush is the Dark Knight!

By ANDREW KLAVAN

A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .

Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W."

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society -- in which people sometimes make the wrong choices -- and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

"The Dark Knight," then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year's "300," "The Dark Knight" is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.

Conversely, time after time, left-wing films about the war on terror -- films like "In The Valley of Elah," "Rendition" and "Redacted" -- which preach moral equivalence and advocate surrender, that disrespect the military and their mission, that seem unable to distinguish the difference between America and Islamo-fascism, have bombed more spectacularly than Operation Shock and Awe.

Why is it then that left-wingers feel free to make their films direct and realistic, whereas Hollywood conservatives have to put on a mask in order to speak what they know to be the truth? Why is it, indeed, that the conservative values that power our defense -- values like morality, faith, self-sacrifice and the nobility of fighting for the right -- only appear in fantasy or comic-inspired films like "300," "Lord of the Rings," "Narnia," "Spiderman 3" and now "The Dark Knight"?

The moment filmmakers take on the problem of Islamic terrorism in realistic films, suddenly those values vanish. The good guys become indistinguishable from the bad guys, and we end up denigrating the very heroes who defend us. Why should this be?

The answers to these questions seem to me to be embedded in the story of "The Dark Knight" itself: Doing what's right is hard, and speaking the truth is dangerous. Many have been abhorred for it, some killed, one crucified.

Leftists frequently complain that right-wing morality is simplistic. Morality is relative, they say; nuanced, complex. They're wrong, of course, even on their own terms.

Left and right, all Americans know that freedom is better than slavery, that love is better than hate, kindness better than cruelty, tolerance better than bigotry. We don't always know how we know these things, and yet mysteriously we know them nonetheless.

The true complexity arises when we must defend these values in a world that does not universally embrace them -- when we reach the place where we must be intolerant in order to defend tolerance, or unkind in order to defend kindness, or hateful in order to defend what we love.

When heroes arise who take those difficult duties on themselves, it is tempting for the rest of us to turn our backs on them, to vilify them in order to protect our own appearance of righteousness. We prosecute and execrate the violent soldier or the cruel interrogator in order to parade ourselves as paragons of the peaceful values they preserve. As Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon says of the hated and hunted Batman, "He has to run away -- because we have to chase him."

That's real moral complexity. And when our artistic community is ready to show that sometimes men must kill in order to preserve life; that sometimes they must violate their values in order to maintain those values; and that while movie stars may strut in the bright light of our adulation for pretending to be heroes, true heroes often must slink in the shadows, slump-shouldered and despised -- then and only then will we be able to pay President Bush his due and make good and true films about the war on terror.

Perhaps that's when Hollywood conservatives will be able to take off their masks and speak plainly in the light of day. - The Wall Street Journal

Powers of Ten

2008-12-20T07:55:00.000-08:00

This is amazing! It shows how massive and vast space is. It shows how powerful, mighty and awesome God is to create something this big. Space and life is way to complex to be made by mistake. It was all made with a plan. Gods plan.

Don't Waste Your Sexuality

2008-12-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Story

2008-12-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

It was Christmas eve in the midwest. There was a man who had been in a family where his wife and his children were Christians but he was not. And he rejected it. He sat home that Christmas eve in front of the fire. It was cold out and the snow was blowing. His wife and the little children had gone to the chapel in the nearby village for a Christmas eve service to honor the Christ they loved. He sat by the fire reading the paper.

All of a sudden he heard a loud and repeated thumping. He thought someone was banging on the door. He went to the door and opened it but found no one was there. By the time he got settled back into his chair, he heard it again and again. And he was bewildered as to what was causing it until he realized that something seemed to be smashing against the window. And so he went to the drapes and he pulled the drapes aside and to his amazement, a flock of birds was flying into the window. A snowstorm, you see, had blown in. And the birds had been caught away from their shelter and they couldn't find their way back. They couldn't fight the wind. They saw the lighted window and the warmth of the light had attracted them. And they were literally flying into the glass trying to get to the light to get warm. They would freeze to death, you see, if they didn't find some shelter.

Well, the man who had refused to go with his family to the Christmas eve service because he had no interest in the Christ of Christmas was all of a sudden very compassionate for these poor birds. And so he wondered how he could help them. And so he opened the door and went out in the cold and tried to chase them away so that they wouldn't kill themselves against the window. And then he ran to the barn and he threw the doors open and he whistled and he shooed them and did everything he could to get them to fly to the barn, they wouldn't do it. He even went so far as to take some corn and some bread and make a big trail from the window to the barn. And they wouldn't follow it.

In frustration, he said to himself, "If I could just communicate with them. If I could just tell them that I don't want to hurt them, that there's warmth and there's shelter and that they'd need to stop beating themselves to death against the glass. But I'm a man and they're birds and we don't speak the same language. Oh, if I could just become a bird, I think I could tell them."

And then it hit him. The whole meaning of Christmas dawned on that man. Mankind had been beating itself to death against the barrier that kept him from the warmth of God's love until somebody became a man and told us the way.

Global Warming Update: Frigid Storm Closes California Freeways, Drops Snow in Malibu

2008-12-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES — Snow snarled major mountain highways and even dusted Malibu on Wednesday as a cold storm hit parts of California. One person was killed by a wind-related helicopter crash, and an overflowing river on the U.S.-Mexico border led to the evacuation of nearly two dozen people, rescues of about 50 horses and the deaths of four others.

Styming thousands of commuters and travelers, snow shut Interstate 15 over 4,190-foot Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles and roads through the San Gabriel Mountains connecting metropolitan Los Angeles to the commuter suburbs of Palmdale and Lancaster in the high desert to the north.

Interstate 5, a major trucking and travel route connecting Southern California with the Central Valley and Northern California, stayed open over 4,144-foot Tejon Pass most of the day, with on-and-off Highway Patrol escorts, then finally was shut down in the afternoon as conditions deteriorated. Massive backups developed below all the passes.

Click here for photos.

Calen Weiss, 19, of Tarzana, his brother and two friends wanted to go snowboarding at Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains but instead got stuck on I-15 in Cajon Pass for an hour as visibility fell to about 40 yards.

"It looks like Whoville, all snowy, but with less joy and more extreme misery," he said by phone from the Summit Inn.

Heavy rain also fell in some parts of Southern California through the day.

Near the California-Mexico border, San Diego firefighters and lifeguards evacuated 21 people along the overflowing Tijuana River, said spokesman Maurice Luque. They included 12 to 15 people who were on high ground outside a home, surrounded by up to 4 feet of water.

Five people were taken out by helicopter, while others were escorted in Border Patrol all-terrain vehicles, Luque said. Three men were taken to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia.

About 50 horses also were evacuated, but three others drowned and one was euthanized after tripping on barbed wire, Luque said.

To the east, several vehicles collided and slid into ditches on Interstate 8's mountainous grades as heavy snow fell at the San Diego-Imperial County line. Other vehicles were stuck on the steep upgrade, their wheels spinning on the snow-packed surface, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Blowing snow, slush and ice prompted the Antelope Valley Transit Authority to cancel all its local buses, along with 18 commuter runs that usually carry some 650 people from the Palmdale-Lancaster area down to Los Angeles and back home.

The regional Metrolink rail system agreed to carry bus commuters who had already reached Los Angeles back home, spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said.

However, trains were ordered to proceed slowly because of the snow. Two trains also were delayed around 45 minutes at midday because engineers could not see the red, green and yellow track signals.

It was the first time in his 15 years with Metrolink that snow had caused such problems, Oaxaca said.

Transit agencies in the East have special equipment to clear tracks and otherwise handle snow but "we're not equipped for this kind of weather on a consistent basis in this part of the world," Oaxaca said.

In the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles, a wind gust caused a helicopter to crash, killing an electrical worker on the ground and leaving the pilot with minor injuries, county fire Inspector Frank Garrido said.

The helicopter was hired by Southern California Edison to string electrical lines between power poles in the Bouquet Canyon area.

"It was hovering above the ground. A gust of wind made the helicopter spiral," Garrido said.

Garrido said the accident report stated that the dead man was an Edison employee, but utility spokesman Steve Conroy said the victim was employed by the company operating the helicopter.

Late in the afternoon snow fell in the Malibu area.

"It's a combination of snow and rain, so none of the snow is sticking on the ground," said Craig Levy, director of a juvenile detention camp near Mulholland Highway. "It's kind of cool if you think about it. It's kind of unusual to see snow in Malibu."

More severe cold was on the way, the National Weather Service said.

Freeze warnings were issued for late Wednesday through Thursday morning for the Sacramento Valley, the northern San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region, among others.

"A freeze warning means subfreezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely. These conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation," the NWS said.

Freeze warnings were also issued for north San Francisco Bay area valleys, and a combination of frost advisories and freeze warnings were issued for parts of southwestern California. - FoxNews.com

This Global warming keeps getting worse and worse. New York City is going to get get 6 inches of snow tomorrow, Vegas has biggest snow in 30 years, Chicago is going to get a snow storm that will dump a foot of snow. What next?

Global Warming Hits Las Vegas: McCarran closed to arriving and departing flights due to snowstorm

2008-12-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

The ongoing snowstorm has stopped flights from landing or leaving at McCarran International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"No planes are departing for Las Vegas from anywhere in the U.S. right now," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

Gregor said the airport doesn't have snow removal or deicing equipment, which means there's no way for snow-covered planes to leave safely.

"The forecast is not looking particularly promising for anybody who wants to fly into Las Vegas," he said.

Officials at McCarran International Airport say there have still been some arrivals since snow started falling in Las Vegas, although departures from other airports to Las Vegas have been stopped for the time being.

"McCarran International Airport is not closed. In the last hour, the airport has handled 14 arrivals and zero take-offs," airport officials said in a written statement. "Normal flight operations will resume once the inclement weather has improved."

The National Weather Service in Las Vegas has issued a winter storm warning for heavy snow for the valleys and deserts of Clark, southern Nye and Lincoln counties until 6 a.m. Thursday.

John Adair, a meterologist with the National Weather Service's Las Vegas office, said as of 2:30 p.m. the entire Las Vegas Valley was receiving either snow or sleet.

“This is a very rare snow event,” Adair said.

Snow is expected to accumulate on the valley floors across Clark and southern Lincoln counties. Snow will continue to fall through the afternoon and tonight before tapering off Thursday morning.

This storm is expected to bring 3 to 6 inches of snow to the valley floors and up to 10 inches to the foothills above 2500 feet.

Icy conditions are resulting in major road closures in Southern Nevada.

Interstate 15 was closed at 1:30 p.m. in each direction at Primm due to snow and icy conditions, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced.

U.S. Highway 95 was closed from Railroad Pass to state Route 163, the Laughlin turnoff.

Chains, snow tires, or four wheel drive vehicle restrictions are in place for Mountain Springs and Mount Charleston.

The transportation department announced at 2:30 p.m. that state routes 163, 164 and 165 have been closed in both directions due to the weather.

State Route 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump was closed as well. Motorists who must go to Pahrump are being advised to head north on U.S. Highway 95 to Indian Springs and then south on state Route 160.

Transportation Department Spokesman Bob McKenzie said motorists are being advised to stay in Las Vegas if possible.

The Nevada Department of Transportation plans on using a liquid deicer called magnesium-chloride on the part of the valley's freeway system tonight, McKenzie said. The liquid will be spread over bridges and viaducts and areas most likely to freeze on Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 95, McKenzie said.

State Route 159 is being plowed and remained open as of 3 p.m.

Because of travel conditions, Henderson employees were sent home from work at 3 p.m., city officials announced. Emergency operations will continue and public safety and public works employees are on call.- Review Journal.com

People! This is global warming at its best. We should be very afraid! We are all going to burn to death due to our man made carbon print! We need Al Gore to save us! Where is Obama and his imaginary Office of President Elect to address this horrific change in the temperature due to global warming. We need immediate government action!. . . . .It is the end of the world people.

12 Reasons for Christmas

2008-12-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

By John Piper

1. "For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth." (John 18:37)

2. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8; cf. Hebrews 2:14-15)

3. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)

4. "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10)

5. "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

6. "God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:5)

7. "For God so loved the world that whoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16).

8. "God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9; cf. John 10:10).

9. "The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." (1 Timothy 1:15).

10. "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against . . . that the thoughts of many may be revealed" (Luke 2:34f).

11. "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed." (Luke 4:18)

12. "Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy." (Romans 15:7-8; cf. John 12:27f).

- DesiringGod.org

Auto Bail Out Money

2008-12-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

In the words of the Joker in the blockbuster hit "The Dark Knight."

Joker: "Everything burns!"

Video Shows Every Flight on Earth.

2008-12-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

This is awesome!

Aspiring scientists from the Zurich School of Applied Sciences have built a video simulation that displays the flight path of every commercial flight in the world over a 24-hour period. There isn't much of an application for it, but it sure is cool to look at.

While the map may look complex, Dr. Karl Rege tells us he and his team found it surprisingly simple to assemble using data readily available on the internet.

"We used a commercial website called FlightStats to gather global flight and schedule information," he says. "So there was no need to contact the different airlines."

The team mined FlightStats for the departure and arrival times of every commercial flight in the world, then plugged it all into a computer to assemble their simulation. For the sake of simplicity, they assumed every plane traveled at the same speed and every flight took the most direct route to its destination. Then every flight was assigned a position on a Miller cylindrical projection, which is similar to a Mercator Projection but doesn't distort the poles so much.

"After that we drew it, that was it," Rege says. "It was that easy. We are astonished that nobody did it beforehand."

Well, others have done it, but on a much smaller scale...

Below: This one shows traffic into and out of Atlanta. Keep in mind that Delta operates the world's largest hub here.

Below: Flight activity over Europe.

Man Told to Remove American Flag From Desk.

2008-12-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

"You will be poking your eyes out over this one."

Ralph Silvestro, a legal clerk who works at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia, never imagined that anyone would have a beef over the American flag he had taped to the side of his work computer.

After all, he works in a courthouse.

To Silvestro, who served in the Navy for six years and in the Air Force Reserve for another six, the miniature American flag affixed to his computer was a symbol of his patriotism, he said.

For months, that flag and another one that Silvestro had taped to his computer - a black "pirate" flag with skull and crossbones - greeted a steady stream of folks, mostly lawyers, who lined up daily at the front counter of the court's Active Criminal Records department to file motions that Silvestro processed.

No one complained about the flags, Silvestro said.

Then on Sept. 23, Silvestro got an e-mail from his supervisor:

"Keith has advised me as your supervisor, that the flags must come down. They are not appropriate for the workplace," the e-mail said.

The "Keith" mentioned in the e-mail was Keith Smith, the new director of Active Criminal Records.

Silvestro, 34, said he could understand why Smith didn't want him to display a pirate flag - a symbol of thievery on the high seas - in a criminal courthouse. The flag was a gift from a co-worker who had bought it while on vacation and knew that Silvestro liked pirate stories and had served in the Navy, Silvestro said.

But Smith's ban on the American flag just burned Silvestro's butt, he said.

"I served this country for 12 years. I could have died for this flag, but I can't hang it up. What's up with that? I don't understand," Silvestro said in an interview earlier this week.

Silvestro added: "For me, this is about my rights being taken away from me in a building where your rights are supposed to mean more than anything."

Smith did not return two phone calls from the Daily News yesterday.

When asked if Smith had violated Silvestro's constitutional rights, perhaps infringing on his freedom of expression, a civil-rights lawyer said: "No."

"Here's the thing: Your boss rules your life," said Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania's Philadelphia office. "Your employer gets to make the rules."

As long as Smith applies the same rules to everybody evenly, meaning no staffer is allowed to display the American flag at the public counter, Smith is on solid legal ground, Roper said.

"People really have no idea how much control they have to give up when they go work," Roper said. "Workers generally don't have a lot of rights."

Even so, the episode has outraged many of Silvestro's customers. And, being lawyers, they didn't mince words.

"It has me so ticked off," said lawyer Rania Maria Major-Trunfio. "It's absolutely ridiculous"

Silvestro, who grew up in South Philly and wears his jet-black hair slicked back in a ponytail and talks in a rapid-fire staccato, is a colorful figure in an otherwise sterile space. Major-Trunfio said she immediately noticed that the flags were gone and asked Silvestro about them.

"It offends me that he had to take the American flag down," she said. "Not enough people feel a real strong sense of patriotism for our country and, quite frankly, if someone is going to be upset that an American flag is in the courthouse, then America is really in a sad place."

Silvestro said he talked with Smith after receiving the e-mail from his supervisor. Smith told him that he wanted to keep the front counter looking clean and uniform, according to Silvestro.

"I kept telling him, 'I don't understand. It's the American flag. Who is it bothering? Who is it offending?' " Silvestro recalled. "He said, 'You can hang it up at the back of your desk and it has to be kept out of sight.' I was really furious and hurt."

Major-Trunfio said she walked up to the motions counter yesterday and her eyes widened when she saw the Christmas lights, garland and small fake tree.

"I'm like, 'How come you get to put Christmas decorations up, but you can't put the flag up?' " Major-Trunfio asked. "The female clerk just looked at me and said, 'You're funny.' "
- Philly.com

What this boss needs to understand is that the American flag symbolizes our great democracy our freedom. Any boss who forces an American flag to be taken down should be fired. As for Silvestro I am proud of him for standing up! I just don't understand how the American flag offend anyone expesially in America?

ACLU Starts up a Racial Profiling Hotline.

2008-12-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

I guess if your a Muslim acting suspicious at an airport or along the border and the police pull you aside to ask questions or if someone stares you down at the airport you can call ACLU and take them to court and win a lot of money. sighhhhhhhhhh I just think a lot of people are going to be falsely accused of racial profiling.

Rapid-Fire Killer Robot Passes Flight Test

2008-12-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

That's the sound made by the "Multiple Kill Vehicle," a frightening but fascinatingly cool hovering robot meant to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles.

Video of a Dec. 2 flight test conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in California by defense contractor Lockheed Martin has made it onto the Web, and it looks like something out of the "Terminator" movies.

Rival defense contractor Raytheon is also working on its own multiple-kill-vehicle program.

Inside a large steel cage, Lockheed's MKV lifts off the ground, moves left and moves right, rapidly firing all the while as flames shoot out of its bottom and sides.

The plan is to mount one or more MKVs onto carrier missiles, which would launch into space to engage enemy nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles at the apogees, or peaks, of their trajectory arcs.

Once in space, the MKVs would break off from the carrier vehicles, then use highly accurate targeting computers to shoot big bullets — in military speak, "kinetic interceptors" — to destroy the enemy warheads before they drop back down to Earth.

None of this description does any justice to the video. You have to see it for yourself. - FOXNEWS.com

This is awesome. Check out the video below.

Happy "Day Without A Gay!"

2008-12-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO — Some same-sex marriage supporters are urging people to "call in gay" Wednesday to show how much the country relies on gays and lesbians, but others question whether it's wise to encourage skipping work given the nation's economic distress.

Organizers of "Day Without a Gay" — scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and modeled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants — also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money.

Sean Hetherington, a West Hollywood comedian and personal trainer, dreamed up the idea with his boyfriend, Aaron Hartzler, after reading online that a few angry gay-rights activists were calling for a daylong strike to protest California voters' passage last month of Proposition 8, which reversed this year's state Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage.

The couple thought it would be more effective and less divisive if people were asked to perform community service instead of staying home with their wallets shut. Dozens of nonprofit agencies, from the National Women's Law Center in Washington to a Methodist church in Fresno collecting food for the homeless, have posted opportunities for volunteers on the couple's Web site.

"We are all for a boycott if that is what brings about a sense of community for people," said Hetherington, 30, who plans to spend Wednesday volunteering at an inner-city school. "You can take away from the economy and give back in other ways."

Hetherington said he's been getting 100 e-mails an hour from people looking for volunteer opportunities, and that his "Day Without a Gay" Web site has gotten 100,000 hits since mid-November.

Despite Hartzler and Hetherington's attempt to fashion a positive approach, some organizers of the street demonstrations that drew massive crowds in many cities last month have been reluctant to embrace the concept, saying that it could be at best impractical and at worst counterproductive to "call in gay."

"It's extra-challenging for people to think about taking off work as a form of protest, given that we are talking about people who may not be out (as gay) at work, and given the current economic situation and job market," said Jules Graves, 38, coordinator of the Colorado Queer Straight Alliance. "There is really not any assurance employers would appreciate it for what it is."

Graves' group nonetheless is arranging for interested participants to volunteer at the local African Community Center in Denver. The agency said it could find projects to keep 20 people busy, but so far only 10 have pledged to show up, said Graves.

Scott Craig, a fifth-grade teacher at Independence Charter School in Philadelphia, had no problem requesting and being granted the day off. So many of the school's 60 teachers were eager to show support for gay rights they had to make sure enough stayed behind to staff classrooms.

About 25 teachers plan to take Wednesday off and to have their work covered by substitutes while they discuss ways to introduce gay issues to their students and volunteer at the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Craig said. A letter telling parents why so many teachers would be out went home Monday.

"We want to get the conversation going in the community that gay is not bad," Craig said. "For kids to hear that in a positive light can be life-changing."

Join The Impact, the online community that launched protests last month over the passage of gay marriage bans in California, Florida and Arizona, has urged people to withdraw $80 from their bank accounts Wednesday to demonstrate gays' spending power, and to devote the time they might otherwise spend watching TV or surfing the Internet to volunteer work.

Witeck-Combs Communications, a public relations firm in Washington that specializes in the gay and lesbian market, published a study this year that estimated that gay and lesbian consumers spend $700 billion annually.

Bob Witeck, the firm's chief executive officer, said it would be difficult to measure the success of Wednesday's strike since gay employees occupy so many fields. And rather than suspending all consumer spending for the day, gay rights supporters would have a bigger impact if they devoted their dollars to gay-friendly businesses year-round, Witeck said.

"Our community leaders who are running book stores, newspapers, flower shops, coffee houses, bars and many, many other things are hurting right now, so paying attention to their needs during this hard time is an effective form of activism," he said.

Hetherington said he has been careful to design A Day Without a Gay — he came up with the name after the film "A Day Without a Mexican" and liked it because it rhymed — so no one feels excluded or threatened.

He has specifically urged high school students not to walk out of their classes and assured college students they won't be disloyal to the cause if they go ahead and take their final exams. He also has listed opportunities — ranging from writing letters to members of Congress about federal gay rights legislation to spreading the word about Wednesday on social networking sites — for gay marriage backers who cannot miss work. - Associated Press

I'm sorry but this is funny. They think it is really going to effect anything. Didn't the Latinos do the same thing and it really didn't effect a thing.

College Bowl Games.

2008-12-08T15:38:00.001-08:00

Just in case you missed it.

1. BCS FedEx National Championship Bowl: Florida vs. Oklahoma Sooners

Perdiction: Florida beats Oklahoma.

2. Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC

Perdiction: Penn State beats USC.

3. Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech

Perdiction: Cincinnati beats Virginia Tech

4. Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Utah Utes

Perdiction: Alabama beats Utah Utes

5. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State Vs. Texas

Perdiction: Unfortunately I feel Texas is going to beat my Ohio State Buckeyes.

I Can Do Whatever I Like

2008-12-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

I found this funny video on You Tube. It is an Obama parody on the song, "Whatever You Like" By T.I.

49 States Get An "F" For Making College Affordable

2008-12-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=3262631&referralPlaylistId=playlist

This will be our next problem if colleges don't stop getting greedy by jacking up the price of tuition. More and more people wont be able to pay for college so you will see a record number of people not going with with a very competitive job market many won' t be able to get jobs because they have not attended college.There will be like 30 to 40% unemployed because nobody can get a job without going to college. Then colleges will lose lots of money. Schools will be asking the government to bail them out. Talk about a more messed up situation than what we have now. Its pretty weird I was thinking about this a few months ago and look I was right!

President Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

2008-11-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the Service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the single and manifold mercies, and the favorable interposition's of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, of the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have to acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us."

"And also that we may then unite in most humble offering our prayers and supplications to the Great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone know to be best." - President George Washington.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

2008-11-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be thankful for what you have!

(1 Chronicles 16:34-35) - Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. And say: "Save us, God of our salvation; gather us and rescue us from the nations so that we may give thanks to Your holy name and rejoice in Your praise."

Wave of Terror Attacks Strikes India's Mumbai, Killing at Least 80

2008-11-26T18:22:00.001-08:00

Several sites in Mumbai, India's financial capital, were hit Wednesday night by a wave of terror attacks, reportedly aimed at Americans and Britons, that left dozens dead and hundreds injured as Indian forces battled with terrorist gunmen to free hostages from two luxury hotels.

There were varying reports of at least 50 and as many as 100 people rescued from the Taj Mahal where a fire had broken out, and India's NDTV reported Thursday morning that gunfire was still errupting. Several staff members were killed, and there are some reports of hostages still being held.

Meanwhile, police continued to evacuate people through the Oberoi hotel's basement, and gunmen reportedly had taken hostages elsewhere in the city, inlcuding a hospital.

Casualty figures varied, with most media reporting at least 80 dead and 200 injured, but Reuters reported 86 people were killed. Of the gunmen, at least four were dead and nine arrested. NDTV is reporting five suspected terrorists were dead, but that couldn't be confirmed.

Eleven police officers were killed in the attack, but it was not clear if they were included in the number already reported dead, Reuters reported.

It isn't clear yet what motivated the attacks, which also targeted a popular tourist attraction and a crowded train station, though eyewitnesses said gunmen were heard shouting questions about who American and British passports.

Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, including a series of bombings in July 2007 that killed 187 people.

A little-known organization calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed it was behind attacks. Some analysts suggest that the little-known group is actually an amalgam of existing Indian terror groups, including the Mujahideen Kashmir.

"The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed," Maharashtra Police Commissioner A.N Roy said.

The White House condemned the attacks, through Press Secretary Dana Perino.

"President Bush offers his condolences to the Indian people and the families of the innocent civilians killed and injured in the attacks in Mumbai, India...We will continue to stand with the people of India in this time of tragedy," read the statement. "The U.S. government continues to monitor the situation, including the safety and security of our citizens, and stands ready to assist and support the Indian government."

The State Department established a Consular Call Center for Americans concerned about family or friends who may be visiting or living in Mumbai, India. The number is: 1-888-407-4747.

"These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism.," said Brooke Anderson, President-elect Barack Obama's chief national security spokesperson. "We stand with the people of India, whose democracy will prove far more resilient than the hateful ideology that led to these attacks,”

Blood smeared the floor of the Chhatrapati Shivaji rail station, where attackers sprayed bullets into the crowded terminal. Press Trust of India quoted the chief of the Mumbai railway police, A.K. Sharma, as saying several men armed with rifles and grenades were holed up at the station.

Other gunmen attacked Leopold's restaurant, a landmark popular with foreigners, and the police headquarters in southern Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks took place. The restaurant was riddled with bullet holes and there were blood on the floor and shoes left by fleeing customers.

Officials also reported that terrorists attacked the city's Cama and Albless Hospital and G.T. Hospital, but it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed in those places.

A British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi hotel told Sky News television that the gunmen who struck there singled out Britons and Americans.

Alex Chamberlain said a gunman, a young man of 22 or 23, ushered 30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and ordered everyone to put up their hands. He said the gunman spoke in Hindi or Urdu.

"They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: 'Where are you from?" and he said he's from Italy and they said 'fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: 'Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything — and thank God they didn't," he said.

Chamberlain said he managed to slip away as the patrons were forced to walk up stairs, but he thought much of the group was being held hostage.

Early Thursday, several European lawmakers were among people who barricaded themselves inside the Taj, a century-old seaside hotel complex and one of the city's best-known destinations.

"I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside," said Sajjad Karim, part of a delegation of European lawmakers visiting Mumbai ahead of a European Union-India summit.

As he turned to get away, "all of a sudden another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction," he told The Associated Press over his mobile phone.

Hours later, Karim remained holed up in a hotel restaurant, unsure if it was safe to come out.

The British Foreign Office said it was advising all British citizens in Mumbai to stay indoors.

Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, strongly condemned the attacks. "Today's attacks in Mumbai which have claimed many innocent victims remind us, yet again, of the threat we face from violent extremists," Miliband said in a statement.

India has been wracked by bomb attacks the past three years, which police blame on Muslim militants intent on destabilizing this largely Hindu country. Nearly 700 people have died.

Since May a militant group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has taken credit for a string of blasts that killed more than 130 people. The most recent was in September, when a series of explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas in the capital, New Delhi, killing 21 people and wounding about 100.

The Associated Press, Reuters and Sky News contributed to this report.

This is crazy! Lets keep the people of India in our prayers. This goes to show the kind of sick twisted enemy we are facing. A enemy that can't be dealt with in peace talks. This is a enemy that must be dealt with by force.

What Happens If You're on the Gay "Enemies List"

2008-11-26T14:54:00.001-08:00

By Alison Stateman / Los Angeles

Ever since a slim majority outlawed gay marriage in California, opponents have waged national protests and petitions, urging the judicial system to reconsider the results of the Nov. 4 referendum. (Proposition 8 overturned an earlier decision by the Supreme Court of California legalizing same-sex marriages.) While the court weighs whether or not to get back into the fray, the civil unrest ignited by the ban shows no sign of abating. A National Protest Against Prop 8 organized by JoinTheImpact.com is scheduled for this Saturday. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opponents say donated more than $20 million to the Yes on 8 campaign, has already become a focus of protests, with demonstrators gathered around Mormon temples not only in California but across the country. The Mormon Church is not the only group being singled out for criticism. African-Americans, 70% of whom voted yes on Proposition 8, according to a CNN exit poll, have become a target. According to eyewitness reports published on the Internet, racial epithets have been used against African-Americans at protests in California, directed even at blacks who are fighting to repeal Proposition 8. Said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, "In any fight, there will be people who say things they shouldn't say, but that shouldn't divert attention from what the vast majority are saying against this, that it's a terrible injustice." (See the Top 10 ballot measures.) In addition to protests, gay activists have begun publishing lists online exposing individuals and organizations who have donated money in support of Proposition 8. On AntiGayBlacklist.com, individuals who gave money toward Proposition 8 are publicized, with readers urged not to patronize their businesses or services. The list of donors was culled from data on ElectionTrack.com, which follows all contributions of over $1,000 and all contributions of over $100 given before October 17. Dentists, accountants, veterinarians and the like who gave a few thousand dollars to the cause are listed alongside major donors like the Container Supply Co., Inc. of Garden Grove, Calif., which gave $250,000. "Anyone who steps into a political fight aimed at taking away fundamental rights from fellow citizens opens themselves up to criticism," said Wolfson. "The First Amendment gives them the right of freedom of speech and to support political views, but people also have the right to criticize them." Even before the passage of Proposition 8, Californians Against Hate compiled and published a "dishonor roll" of those individuals, along with their company affiliations, who gave $5,000 or more towards supporting the measure. Telephone numbers and Web sites were added along with commentary about some of the larger donors to public information obtained through the California Secretary of State's Office. "My goal was to make it socially unacceptable to give huge amounts of money to take away the rights of one particular group, a minority group," says Fred Karger, a retired political consultant and founder of Californians Against Hate. "I wanted to make the public aware of who these people are and how much they're giving and then they could make a decision as to whether or not they want to patronize their businesses." The negative publicity is having effects on both companies and individuals. Scott Eckern, artistic director of the California Musical Theatre in Sacramento, whose $1,000 donation was listed on ElectionTrack, chose to resign from his post this week to protect the theater from public criticism. Karger says a "soft boycott" they started against Bolthouse Farms, which gave $100,000 to Proposition 8, was dropped after he reached a settlement with the company. Bolthouse Farms was to give an equal amount of money to gay political causes. The amount ultimately equaled $110,000. Meanwhile, lists of donors to Proposition 8, once trumpeted on the Yes on 8 Web site, have been taken down to protect individuals from harassment. "It's really awful," says Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Yes on Proposition 8. "No matter what you think of Proposition 8, we ought to respect people's right to participate in the political process. It strikes me as quite ironic that a group of people who demand tolerance and who claim to be for civil rights are so willing to be intolerant and trample on other people's civil rights." - Times Mobile

For Christmas give the Gift of Convenience.

2008-11-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Gift certificates have become a popular holiday gift option, but a controversial new one, already has people talking.

For the first time, Planned Parenthood in Indiana is offering gift certificates. The organization said a big increase in calls and visits from newly unemployed and uninsured Hoosiers prompted what it calls the unusual, yet practical gift option.

"People are making really tough decisions about putting gas in their car and food on their table, so we know that many women especially put healthcare at the bottom of their list to do," said Chrystal Struben-Hall, Vice President of Planned Parenthood of Indiana.

The certificates come in $25 increments. They can be used for everything from birth control to $58 examinations that include breast exams and pap tests. Men who receive healthcare at Planned Parenthood can use them too.

"They can be seen for sexually transmitted disease screenings, HIV tests and general prostate exams and those kinds of things," said Struben-Hall.

Some Hoosiers 24-Hour News 8 talked to asked if the gift certificates could be used towards abortions. The answer is yes. But, Planned Parenthood said that's not the purpose of the gift certificates.

Struben-Hall said, "They really are intended for preventative healthcare. We decided not to put restrictions on the gift certificates so it's for whatever people feel they need the services for most."

Indiana Family Institute President Curt Smith said he is appalled by the certificates.

"I think the way to help family planning is to give the money where there's no agenda. So if somebody wants to help a woman at a time of crisis, they can support the life centers throughout Indiana," said Smith.

Planned Parenthood hopes philanthropists look at it differently. The organization hopes people might purchase the certificates, and then turn them back in for their patients who need reproductive healthcare, but can't pay for it.

This might be a good idea! We don't know whats going through people minds as we reach the holiday season. Bush has screwed our economy so bad that people can't afford Christmas gifts to put under the tree let alone afford the cost of having a kid to give the gifts to. So why not give the gift of Convenience? Nothing says marry Christmas like a dead fetus in a box under the Christmas tree! Merry Christmas! (Much Sarcasm!!!) Sigh......These people need Jesus.

- God Bless-

Awesome: 'James Bond' Computer Interface Becomes Reality

2008-11-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

The astounding technology seen in science fiction films rarely becomes a reality. We have yet to travel back in time or enjoy a chat with a hologram.

So it is not surprising that many believed that the computers from films such as "Minority Report," "Iron Man" and the latest James Bond movie were also the stuff of wild imagination.

The characters point and gesture at projected screens, using their hands to control and manipulate what they see in a vivid portrayal of the interaction between man and marvelous machine.

Now a scientist who advised the makers of "Minority Report" in creating this futuristic vision has made these imagined technologies a reality. The development could fundamentally change the way we interact with computers, consigning the mouse to the scrap heap.

Instead of using just one hand to control a mouse, someone with "G-Speak" — after slipping on special gloves — uses both, and is able to communicate with a PC intuitively.

"Human hands are the most sophisticated manipulating tools in the world," said John Underkoffler, chief scientist at Oblong Industries, the Los Angeles-based company that has created the technology.

"The idea is to drop the mouse and let hands do what they're fully capable of. That is to describe and push, poke and pull and manipulate the world." - Fox News

CHANGE to come.......on this Blog

2008-11-25T08:02:00.000-08:00

In the next few weeks this blog will be going through some "CHANGE." I for sometime now have been working on a new outline and concept for this blog. The topics on this blog will stay the same but I will be adding more topics rather than politics and religion. The look and feel of this blog will also look different and there will be much more material so stay tuned through out this transition period. I'm pretty excited in the direction I will be taking this blog.

-God Bless-

Thoughts on the Election and Obama

2008-11-24T21:04:00.001-08:00

I have finally been able to find time to post on this topic. Americans have voted and picked our next president of the United States. I may not like the results of the election and I may get a lot of flak for what I am about to say. First off we have to understand that God is Sovereign. Daniel 4:25 states that God is the ruler over all kingdoms of men and he will He will give it to whoever he wants. Ephesians 1:11 states that God works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will. Also we should not be fearful of the election of Obama because Romans 8:28 says, " We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those called according to his purpose."

We not have a hateful heart towards Obama. God chose him to be the ruler over our Nation. That doesn't mean we have to agree with everything Obama stands for and we can oppose him on things like abortion but we have to do it in a loving and understanding way. We should respect Obama and pray for him and that's what I'm calling all my readers to do. Pray for our new president Obama. Pray not only for his safety but that he will be wise and God will guide him in the way that he should lead the country. We shouldn't be waiting for Obama to fail or hope he fails. We want Obama to succeed. If Obama succeeds America succeeds if Obama fails America suffers.

(1 Timothy 2:1-3) - "First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quit life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God our Savior."

Let us look on the bright side. God is in control, His ways are better than ours even though we don't fully understand. Also be thankful that we live in the United States of America a free country where we can proclaim His name without being persecuted, hunted and killed. We have been given the opportunity to vote in a democracy thanks to those brave men and women in uniform. Look at how far we have come as a nation. Our nation is 232 years old. Just a few hundred years ago we had black African American slaves, slaves treated badly. Now we have the first African American president. That is amazing! It truly shows how wonderful our Nation is. I give Obama my respect and he is my next president and I will be praying for him on a daily basis as should you. but when issues like abortion arise we should show him in a respectful way that abortion is the taking of an innocent life. Let this also be an opportunity for Churches to get more involved in creating opertunitys to help Pregnate women who are thinking about abortion. Think how much the abortion rate would drop if more and more churches created programs that would help pregnate women.

-God Bless-

I'm Finised!..............for the semester that is.

2008-11-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well I am done for the semester and I have two months off of school which means I will have plenty of time to blog. To much time! In the next blog I will finally get to my thoughts on the election and on President Elect Obama. The only post I have only made one post sense he was elected and I did not really put anything well thought on on here. But I have had some time to blow off some steam and finish the semester. So stay tuned I have a lot on my mind.

You Can Vote for whoever U Like!

2008-11-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

This is a funny video no matter which candidate your are going to vote for.

P.S. VOTE!

Vote!

2008-11-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

Well the news media has already given the victory to Barak Obama even though the votes haven't been counted. Talk about drinking the Kool-Aid. I just want to say to everyone GO VOTE! and of course vote for McCain/Palin! But hear is the truth and I don't want this to discourage you from voting. I think Barak Obama will win the election. We just need to learn to deal with it. If McCain can pull a victory than great! but its not looking very good right now. I will blog ya when the results start to come in.

GO VOTE

Sad...........

2008-11-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Two days till election day people. And it is sad that Americans are about to elect the most pro-choice or in reality the most "pro-genocide" man in the history of the presidency. I know, know! Y0u might say, "Roe vs. Wade will never be overturned so there is no point in fighting it so we should pick the candidate that is best on the economy."....that's another debate....see previous blog posts. Anyways it is far from the truth. pro-life presidents will choose pro-life judges and so forth. It may not be a touchdown for Pro-life but at least we are gaining yardage. Eventually if we have pro-life people in higher offices this culture of murder will change. For the fact that more programs will be available for pregnant women to realize it is a life and give her opportunities for adoption. Also when a women who wants an abortion sees that the baby is a human being through an ultrasound she is more and likely to change her mind and keep the baby. But many lawsuits from woman's rights groups are saying, "the new law endangers health, invades privacy and attacks woman's dignity."

What I want to know is were is the lawsuits to defend life by saying, "Abortion endangers the health of the baby, and invades its privacy." You wont because to many liberals are in charge. Also how could you vote for a person even if he is good on the economy that thinks that the ongoing genocide is okay. How can you vote for a man that says its okay for people to kill there own child. Even though he disagrees with it he will allow people to do it. How can you vote for someone who will allow the genocide to continue without standing up and giving the unborn a voice.

In the Words of Dr. Albert Mohler President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, "This is a moral conflict that might take a century or more to run its course.Those fighting for the abolition of slavery pressed on against obstacles and set backs worse than these because, after all, these were human lives they were defending. What if they had listened to those who, after Dred Scott and the Missouri Compromise, said that the battle was "permanently" lost? What if they had been intimidated by critics accusing them of "single-issue" voting?

If every single fetus is an unborn child made in the image of God, there is no moral justification for settling for a vague hope of some reduction in the number of fetal homicides. If the abortion fight is "permanently lost," it will be lost first among those who claim to be defenders of life -- those who tell us that the argument is merely changing."

Please think about the abortion issue long and hard. Don't vote Obama because you think its Hopeless because its not. We should fight this issue and tell Washington how we really feel about abortion. A friend of mine posted a link to this amazing website on the truth and effects of Abortion. All the info you need. More than I can give. Please check it out and send it to everyone you know. http://abort73.com/HTML/I-case.html

Don't forget to VOTE this Tuesday! VOTE for Life, Country, Freedom, Family, Prosperity! VOTE McCAIN!

Redistribution of Wealth

2008-10-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative
and independance

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and
should do for themselves.

William J. H. Boetcker, 1916 (often attributed to Lincoln)

6 days left!