Something's Burning...and I (Don't) Think it's Love.

In an article written last October, Darnel Tanksley wrote this, concerning Obama;
"He is our President, Barack Hussein Obama: The most loved man in the world."

I don't think Mr. Tanksley could say the same thing today......especially not in Afghanistan where rioters recently burned Obama's effigy.

From Google News:
"JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Protesters took to the streets in Afghanistan on Wednesday, burning an effigy of the US president and shouting "death to Obama" to slam civilian deaths during Western military operations.
Hundreds of university students blocked main roads in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangahar province, to protest the alleged deaths of 10 civilians, mostly school children, in a Western military operation on Saturday."

The isn't the first time the Afghans burned an effigy of Barack Obama. Rioters, this past October, burned his effigy in in reaction to rumors that U.S. troops had desecrated the Quran.

It seems a bit odd that "the most loved man in the world" should be so hated in "The Friendliest Country in the World, Possibly the Universe".

Comcast Sucks.

Readers of my blog may recall my two posts from earlier this year concerning Comcast Cable. [Seventeen Days in the Desert. and Slowly, I (re)turn.]
For those unaware of my problems with Comcast, I will give a brief synopsis.
When we moved into our house in June of this year, I contacted Comcast to have our account transferred from our apartment. To make a long story short, Comcast could not run a cable across the street where we live and we were unable to get cable service.

All the equipment was returned and we were told in June that we had no account balance.

Last week, I received a collection notice from an agency claiming that there was a $29.14 balance which we had been notified of many times but had failed to pay.

Bullfeathers.

Not only were we told that there was zero balance, but we have never received any bill from Comcast. I went to the local office and was told it was a transfer fee and I'd have to call 1-800- COMCAST to have them remove the fee.

I called the number and only received more bullfeathers.

When the person on the other end could not/ would not help me, I demanded that she connect me with her supervisor. I guess the supervisor is busy, because I was told she/he would have to call me.

I had been considering going back to Comcast and have them try once again to have me connected, but after this, I decided against that.

I'll be sure to post any updates after I speak with the next Comcast employee.

Oh, yeah. Googling comcast sux and comcast sucks, I discovered the above photo and comcastsucksballs.blogspot.com and comcastsucks.org to name just a few.

Update:
I received a phone call from a Comcast employee calling herself "Evelyn". After hearing my complaint, she assured me that the $29.14 would be removed from collections and I should be receiving a letter from the company soon.
We'll see how that works out.

Happy.........

Happy St. Stephen's Day and Merry 2nd day of Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Scroogenomics.

With his millions of listeners, I'd imagine that an author could do a lot worse than having his book mentioned on Rush Limbaugh's radio program. Normally, with that sort of exposure, you'd think that having Rush talk about you're trying to market would be a proverbial goldmine.

I don't think that will be the case with economist Joel Waldfogel's book - "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays.”

It's not that Waldfogel doesn't have any points worth considering. Waldfogel said,
“People value the items they receive as gifts 20 percent less per dollar spent than the items they purchase for themselves. These are items that are not well-suited for their tastes.”

Of course, that's true enough. It isn't easy buying gifts for someone you barely know. More than likely, the present you give won't be as well received as you'd like. It's difficult gauging someone's taste when that person isn't a close friend or relative.

The answer, however isn't becoming a "Scrooge" and abandoning Christmas gift giving. No, the obvious solution would be trying to get to know better the person you're giving the gift to.

Waldfogel tries to rationalize his positions with economic "theory". He claims that our giving gifts that aren't fully appreciated creates an "orgy of value destruction that vaporizes $25 billion per year,” From an economic standpoint, that's complete BS.

There's no question that most retailer's live or die based on Christmas sales. Jobs and profits depend on the spending that the Holiday creates. From an economic view, it matters not whether the person receiving the gift enjoys it or not. The store will make money off that blue and green polka-dotted tie you gave Uncle Louie; it doesn't matter whether Uncle Louie wears it, puts in away in the closet, or sets it aside to be used on his garden's scarecrow this coming spring.

No, Waldfogel can't destroy Christmas gift giving with his bizarre economic ideas;
And even though Amazon.com assures me that the book can be delivered in time for Christmas, Waldfogel's book will not be on my list of things to give as Christmas gifts. So, in that respect, I guess Waldfogel gets his Christmas wish.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Maybe I've gone too far.

I enjoy baking and it's always been a pleasure for me to prepare goodies for my wife and son. I want my son to grow up with memories of having home made pies and biscuits and muffins and such coming from our kitchen on a regular basis.

I think it's especially nice to do this around the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. (Although muffins and biscuits are subject to be baked on any given day all through out the year).

This morning, however, I see that I may have created a Frankenstein's monster of sorts. J.P., our four year old, has just asked me to make bread.

"What sort of bread ?", I asked.

"This kind", he said as he pointed to a regular loaf of bread purchased at the grocery.

It's nice that he thinks that there is no cooking or baking chore beyond my talents, but as much as I enjoy baking, I dread the idea of having to produce loaves of bread on a regular basis. It's one thing to throw together a batch of biscuits 3 or 4 days a week or even yeast rolls for special occasions, but the thought that I might have to bake bread as often as I now bake biscuits is the stuff horror movies (or I love Lucy episodes) are made of.

For the time being, I can put him off; I don't have enough loaf pans. Every bread recipe I've found produces multiple loaves. I won't attempt to halve a bread recipe. Bread making is not unlike chemistry; you have to have the correct proportion of flour versus salt, versus sugar versus yeast and/or baking soda and baking powder. The wrong mixture can be disastrous.

I know it's just a matter of time, however. I know that, soon, I'll go to Walmart and purchase enough loaf pans to accommodate any bread recipe the Internet throws at me. With the right number of pans, I'll have doughs in the freezer, ever ready to thaw and bake.

If there's any consolation it's the idea that, years from now, when J.P. is my age and I'm no longer around, he'll be in the kitchen doing the same thing for his kids (or grand-kids) and continue the tradition. Unless, of course, he marries a woman who enjoys baking......which isn't very likely, all things considered.

Vicar Advises Shoplifting.

Whenever I come upon a headline on an online news source, particularly when the story deals with a priest, Bishop or religious, I take the headline with a grain of salt.
Too many times I'll see a story about, say Pope Benedict, do a bit of research on the story and find that both the headline and the story are exactly the opposite of what the Pope actually said or did.
So, when I came across the news report about the English vicar giving the OK to shoplifting [Priest advises congregation to shoplift. - It's OK to shoplift.] I knew I'd need to go further into the story.

I tracked down the complete transcript of the priest sermon from this past Sunday.[Transcript.]

It doesn't look good for the Vicar.

He says;
"Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift. The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are. Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt. When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly. We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime."

He advises, however, that one shoplifts from "from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices" and not small Mom & Pop businesses.

The police in York have taken a dim view, naturally, of the vicar's sermon.
According to one source,
" A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: ' First and foremost, shoplifting is a criminal offence and to justify this course of action under any circumstances is highly irresponsible.Turning or returning to crime will only make matters worse, that is a guarantee.' ”

I agree that "social support" for the unfortunate can often be "inadequate" or "clumsy" but, I can't see how spending Christmas in jail can help matters.

Day One.

Today is the first day of a rather extended Christmas Holiday. I return to work on January 4th.
One would think that with this much time off I'd find more time to blog. We'll see how that works out.
The plan for today is to drop by the LDS family history center and order a microfilm of parish records for the area in Poland where my paternal grandfather's ancestors called home. The LDS is a great source for obtaining information useful in tracking down ones family history.

There was a time when I was a regular visitor to the family history center here in Rome, but I guess it's been nearly 10 years since I last went. When ordering the microfilms, you're given the option of paying to keep the microfilm in that particular center indefinitely. I can't remember what I was paying ten or eleven years ago; I wouldn't be surprised if the cost has gone up. But still, I don't suspect it will be outrageous.

My first choice will be a microfilm containing baptismal, marriage and death records in the parish from 1818 to 1865.
Baptismal records from 1835 to 1909, marriage records from 1835 to 1939 and death records from 1835 to 1939 are the next microfilms on my wish list.

When the microfilms arrive, I'll be sure to take my Polish/ English dictionary along......obviously, the records won't be in English. Being a Catholic parish, there's always the possibility that the records are in Latin. That would make things a bit easier, but I'm putting my money on the records being written in Polish. If I can't make do with the dictionary, I have a co-worker who speaks Polish. Getting her to the LDS might not be easy, but hopefully, it won't come to that.

Later, J.P. and I will go to Mass.....that's our regular Friday activity. Oh yeah, that and going to library to see if there are any new Thomas the Tank Engine books.

Old Photos Day.

Yesterday, quite coincidentally, I received emails from 2 different sources (an old friend and a cousin) sending old photos to me.
The cousin sent a few photos of our grandparents, aunts and uncles.
My old friend sent a photo he had taken of me....lord knows how long ago. I'd guess this photo is close to 35 years old (give or take).
As you can see, I once had hair.

You Reckon?

According to the organization's website,
The Optimum Population Trust is the leading environmental charity and think tank in the UK concerned with the impact of population growth on the environment. OPT research covers population in relation to climate change, energy, resources, biodiversity, development impacts, ageing and employment and other environmental and economic issues. It campaigns for stabilisation and gradual population decrease globally and in the UK.

In other words, the group believes that we must do whatever it takes to reduce human population to a level that the planet can support.

The patrons listed on the website are, presumably, educated people. Some of the patrons are household names in the U.S.....naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough and Dr Jane Goodall to name just two.

This past March, this group of presumably, educated people had the following News Release:
SEX IS MAIN CAUSE OF POPULATION GROWTH .
In the report,Professor John Guillebaud was quoted as saying,
“Having a large rather than a small family is less of a planned decision than an automatic outcome of human sexuality.”

Who'da thunk it?

Meat Free Mondays.

Well known vegetarian and former Beatle, Paul McCartney traveled (by jet) to a European Parliament meeting in Brussels earlier this month to help in the battle against global warming. There are many in the global warming religious movement who argue that meat production produces far more greenhouse gasses than our use of the internal combustion engine. Some believe that worldwide food production creates 30% of all green gasses - with half coming from meat production.

McCartney says that if we all went without meat one day a week, we could save the planet from destruction. That's where the idea of Meat Free Monday comes from. (Heaven forbid that they'd pick Friday as the one day to abstain).

To help further the cause, McCartney has this video on his support meat free Monday website. Those of you who remember the days when Paul McCartney could write something worth listening to might not want to view this video.....it's not for the squeamish.



For more disgusting Meat Free Monday songs, go
here, - there and everywhere.

Listening to my own advice.

Regular readers of LarryD's blog -actsoftheapostasy.blogspot.com- are aware of Larry's disdain for the (alleged) Catholic (!?!?) online news source National Catholic Distorter Reporter.
Many's the time I have suggested to Larry that, for the sake of his blood pressure, he should stop reading the NCD NCR.

I should listen to my own advice.

The title of the article made it too good for me to resist reading it; The state of the Catholic church written by Richard McBrien. Mc Brien's first paragraph was harmless enough:

"If anyone wonders why the Catholic church presents such a different face to the world and to the Body of Christ today in comparison with the world and the church of the 1960s and 1970s, we need look no further than the extraordinarily abbreviated pontificate of John Paul I."

Like a fool, I was expecting - after reading that first paragraph - that the article would be an evaluation of "the extraordinarily abbreviated pontificate of John Paul I".
Very little of the piece actually dealt with John Paul I; there's very little that can be said about a Pope who reigned for only 33 days.

The actual purpose of the article was to criticize John Paul I's successor. The last 2 sentences sum up McBrien's point.

"Although he would do many good things in the 26 and a half years he occupied the office, John Paul II's appointments to, and within, the hierarchy were not among them.
And that is the main reason why the Catholic church is experiencing such difficulty today."

Yes, I should follow my own advice. I shouldn't waste my time reading the NCR......it's bad for my blood pressure.

Norway? No Way!

Last year, Barack Obama won the election, in part, because many felt he could magically turn around opinion of us on the world stage and make America popular again.

Now, after his trip to Oslo to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize, Obama's approval rating in Norway is even lower than it is in the U.S..

The guardian.co.uk is reporting that Obama "has cancelled many of the events peace prize laureates traditionally submit to, including a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel committee, a press conference, a television interview, appearances at a children's event promoting peace and a music concert, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honour at the Nobel peace centre."

He has even canceled the traditional lunch with the King of Norway that goes with the Nobel Peace Prize. This has the collective Norwegian panty in a wad. A poll shows that 44% of Norwegians believe it was rude of Obama to cancel his lunch with King Harald - only 34% saying they believe it was acceptable.

It seems odd that Obama would turn down this opportunity to bow down to yet another foreign potentate.

It had been reported earlier that 5000 demonstrators were expected in Oslo to protest the fact that a war President would be receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Not only are the Norwegians unhappy with the One and his plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan, but as this video shows, he isn't the most popular person in Afghanistan either.

Rest in Peace, Fr. Jim Miceli.

Yesterday, at the beginning of the noon Mass in celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, we learned that our former pastor, Fr. Jim Miceli had died.
Details were scarce. He had only just retired a few months back due to poor health.
Last night, the local newspaper published an article about Fr. Miceli on it's website. The article said that he had died of an apparent heart attack while at a clinic in Minnesota. I think many of us thought he was still in the Rome area. I had no idea that he was in a clinic (much less in Minnesota).
The photo on the left was taken four years ago when he baptized our son.
There will be a rosary for him Friday evening; his funeral Mass will be Saturday morning. Our Archbishop will celebrate the Mass and I'm sure it will be standing room only.

My Great-Grandfather.

The photo on the left is of the headstone for the graves of my grandmother's parents - Ludwik & Veronica Szymanski. They are buried in St. Stanislaus cemetery in Buffalo NY.

I have no idea when this particular headstone was placed there; I am reasonably certain that it was not put there in 1961 when my great-grandmother died. I don't believe there would have been money available at that time (I could be wrong, of course).
The words Ojciec and Matka are the Polish words for Father and Mother, so I'm assuming the headstone was placed there by one or more of their children and not their grandchildren.

The stone is impressive. I'm sure it cost a great deal of money. Unfortunately, there is an error in the date of Ludwik's birth. The year is given as 1873, but that's not correct. It's understandable why that date was put on the stone. After all, it's the date given as his birth year on his death certificate. This would not be the first time a death certificate had a mistake on it. It's more common than one might think.

My genealogical resource shows that the actual year of his birth is either 1866 or 1867.

In the 1910 Federal census, his age is given as 44. The 1915 New York State census lists his age as 48 and in 1920 he said he was 53 years old. You do the math.
I have a copy of his application for U.S. citizenship from August, 1894 where he gives his date of birth as August 21, 1866.

To further complicate the matter, when he arrived in New York aboard the SS Eider on March, 15, 1887, he gave his age as 23.

His death certificate gives his parents names as Michael Szymanski and Apollonia Grat......the marriage record for the couple gives their marriage date as 1860 (when Michael was 24 and Apollonia was 23). It's seems reasonable to me that it would be more likely that Ludwik was born when his mother was 29.

There are marriage, baptism and death records, for the Catholic parish in Poland where the family lived, available on microfilm from the LDS. One day, I'll order the microfilm and see for myself when he was baptized. I'm sure it'll be closer to 1867 than the 1873 date engraved on his tombstone.

One more thing. Veronika's death certificate gives her date of birth as January 27, 1877. The same census records that show Ludwik was born in 1867 and not 1873 show Veronika was born in 1880 and not 1877.

Arrrgh.

No, this is not a post about pirating.

I'll be working an especially long workday today, so no time for a proper post. It should resume Saturday........or not. Who knows? Could be Monday.



Arrgh.

Christmas Parade Crowd Video.

First, a confession. I did not watch the President's speech last night. I was at work. The truth be told, I probably wouldn't have watched it had I not been at work....I, more than likely, would have been with my wife and son at our town's annual Christmas parade.

Of course, I've seen video snippets from the speech and there's more than enough written about it on the Internet. I was going to give my thoughts on what he had to say, but I found something that interests me more.

I went to the Rome News Tribune website and found videos from last night's parade. The video I'm posting is one taken of the crowd. My wife, son, our friend Val and her daughter are seen at 5:58 on the video.

It's the Biology, Stupid.

In comes as no surprise to me that columnist Richard Cohen doesn't think too highly of the "Manhattan Declaration". In a piece published in today's Washington Post Cohen attacks the declaration's condemnation of, so-called, "same sex marriage".
To Cohen, the issue is a matter of civil rights. He compares laws that prohibit "same sex marriage" to the laws that once prohibited interracial marriage.

As most of my readers know, I am married to a Filipina. Prior to the 1967 Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia, she and I could not have married in the state of Georgia. Using Cohen's twisted logic, I should be empathetic towards gays wishing to marry.
He's wrong, of course.
Allow me to explain the difference.

The race-based restrictions on marriage were based on erroneous beliefs concerning the "racial superiority" of Caucasians over "non-whites". The ban on interracial marriages was based on the racist idea that children born of such a marriage would pollute the "white race".
Of course, we all know now that no race is superior or inferior to any other race. The children that come from interracial marriages are equal in every way to children coming from "same race" unions.

There never has been any legitimate reason to prohibit marriage between a man and woman of different races.

The same cannot be said about "marriages" between two men or two women. As much as some would wish it were otherwise, the ultimate biological and evolutionary purpose of sex is to reproduce the species. I know it isn't fashionable to say this, but sex is not about self expression. In this day of contraceptives and abortion-on-demand, people seem to have forgotten this basic biological fact.

Cohen and this writer believe that our objections to "same-sex marriage" are simply based on our misguided biblical interpretations.

Perhaps someone should explain the "birds and bees" to Mr. Cohen.
It's the biology, stupid.

Swiss Vote to Ban Minarets.

In a referendum held this past Sunday, the Swiss have voted to add the following sentence to their Constitution:
"The construction of minarets is forbidden."
Many in the Swiss government were taken by surprise with the result.
An article in the 10/13/2009 issue of Spiegel Online reported that in a recent survey only 35 percent of the Swiss supported the ban. The ban won with 57.5 percent of the votes.

In a Speigel Online opinion piece, Mathieu von Rohr believes the European Court of Human Rights will step in and declare the ban to be "a violation of freedom of religion and a clear-cut case of discrimination."

Clearly, there are people who are finally coming to the realization that the Islamization of Europe is a real danger. If given a chance to vote, it's likely the Germans would ban minarets as well.

Banning minarets is not the answer, however. If anything, the ban will simply give a false sense of security to those who, rightly, fear Islam.
In Switzerland, Islam will be less visible but the dangers will still be there.

#159,963

As I write this, 164,043 individuals have signed the "Manhattan Declaration". I was signer #159,963.

The signers of this declaration call on all Americans to join in defending certain fundamental truths regarding justice and the common good. These fundamental truths are listed as -
1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Naturally, some in the so-called "gay community" are unhappy with this document.
A blog in the Village Voice says the declaration "calls for staunch opposition to things like abortion, gay marriage, and other satatanic [sic] liberal agendas."
I'm not quite sure what the "other satatanic liberal agendas" are that the blogger is referring to.

Surprisingly, some Evangelicals do not support the declaration on the grounds that the Gospels are not mentioned often enough in the document.

Not being a U.S. Congressman, I read the declaration before signing it. I would ask Christians and Atheists alike to read the document and explain to me what is in the Manhattan Declaration that any rational person would object to.
You can read and download the document here.

You can sign the Manhattan Declaration by going here.

Happy Thanksgiving !!

Remember this photo when you're enjoying your pumpkin pie.

Photo swiped from LarryD.


Happy Thanksgiving.

Sarah Palin's Turkey in the Interview Video Redux.

Sarah Palin is in the news now thanks to the tremendous response to her book, Going Rogue.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I thought it would be appropriate to post the Sarah Palin Turkey getting slaughtered video from last year. Going to Youtube, I found the uncensored version.

Enjoy.

Answering Oleuanna.

Over the weekend, I received quite a few emails from blogcatalog that this or that blogger had invited me to become "friends"........ OK, sure, why not?

Naturally, then, a portion of the weekend was spent looking at the work of these bloggers. As it turned out, being adventurous, I looked at a few blogs belonging to folks who had visited the ones I was reading.

That was how I came across a blogger called Oleuanna and her blog of the same name. In her profile, she lists Scotland as her home. In describing herself, she writes, "There really isn't enough boxes..." [sic]
Her interests include "Laughing,shouting,politics,poetry,art,revolucion,Sancerre,human rights,no ism,or ist,in sight!,anti politics,anti religion,damn veggie,lover of the Gaia".

I read a few of her posts, but the one that caught my interest was the one entitled Make your deities case here !!
At the beginning of that post, she writes,"As I can’t write a serious piece on anyones god and lacking one myself, I thought it would be easier to throw it out for discussion".
Most of that post deals with her disdain for Catholicism stemming from her first hand experiences with the Church and Her teachings.

I'm not going to address her opinion of the Catholic Church. Most of her comments on the Church come from her personal life; I have no way of knowing what actually happened to her in childhood.

I am willing, however, to address the last bit of that post- where she asks;
"So just out of curiosity if you do or don’t support a deity I still would be interested in your opinion. What is a God?"
She goes on to list eight attributes that God might possess [ Omnipotent - Omnibenevolent -Omniscient - The Creator - The Sustainer - Perfectly Free - Eternally Existing - A Personal God ] and asks that we "choose one or more and describe why you think this."

I found the idea of placing my thoughts on the subject in a comment box too limiting. I need the space of my own blog to answer her.

I would say that God does indeed possess the eight attributes she listed; but God is much, much more than these eight. I could go on and list eight or eighty more - however, in doing so, I could not begin to give an accurate and full description of God.

God is beyond our comprehension. Our words can only limit the glory that God is.

All of us seek God.....and God has provided means for us to reach Him. The problem is on our end. We are incapable of understanding fully what He is trying to say to us. There are more than a few religions that are useful in our struggle. From my perspective, none do this better than the Roman Catholic Church.
It is only within the Church that we can received God's most precious gift to us - the body and blood of Christ present in the Eucharist.
Also within the Church are countless elements that can help us to follow the way God has provided. A few examples of these elements include (but are not limited to) Confession, Lent, the Rosary and daily prayer.

Still, many religions contain some elements of salvation embedded in their teachings and as someone once said to me, "Being a something is better than being a nothing".

From what I've read on her blog, I doubt that I could ever change Oleuanna's view of God. As she put it, she "graduated and went on to have a great life afterwards, mainly involving that of higher education, drinking sex and drugs a plenty."
No, this isn't an attempt to change her mind. She asked for other opinions and this is mine.

Shut the @#$%$#@ Up.

Meet Rev. Will Bowen. He's the "lead minister" of the One Community Spiritual Center in Kansas City, MO.

I know it isn't right to judge a book by it's cover, but I'd say, from the photo, Rev. Bowen seems to be a likable, easy-going sort. From what I gather, the good Reverend has only two complaints.
The first one being, he's all too often mistaken for Gavin MacLeod of Love Boat fame;
and secondly, he thinks you all gripe and whine and complain too much.

That's right.....you heard me; all you want to do is sit around and grouse, bellyache, moan and grumble.

Reverend Bowen became so dissatisfied with so much dissatisfaction that he developed a program and website called Shut your bleedin' pie-hole dot org to promote his views on positive thinking.

OK, I made up the part about the name....it's really a complaint free world .org

He idea involves wearing this purple Complaint Free bracelet - which you can get free from his website - . Whenever you get a bit miffed and start complaining, then golly gee willikers, you remove the purple bracelet from one wrist and put it on the other.

The theory is, that it takes 21 days to form a new habit and moving this bracelet back and forth for 21 days will get you looking at things in a whole new way.

Will it work?

According to the website, "the average person who really gives this their best effort usually takes 4-10 months to go 21 consecutive days without complaining."

Bowen claims to have given away more than six million purple bracelets; as a matter of fact, he claims that Maya Angelou received the 6 millionth one.

One of the oddest things I discovered about all of this is that acomplaintfreeworld.biz has a complaint department of sorts.

Any item purchased from them is eligible for a refund if you aren't satisfied.
If it's taken longer than 4 weeks to get your item, just send them an email and complain about it.
And the bracelets are made of silicone rubber - no latex is used in the manufacturing process.....so you'll have no complaints about that if you happen to be allergic.

So, go ahead. Get your purple bracelet and shut your bleedin' pie-hole.

Latma Video on Ft. Hood Massacre.

When it comes to biting satire - particularly when it pertains to the problem of Muslim terrorism - no one bites harder than Caroline Glick and her Hebrew language website, www.latma.co.il.

Recently, the website took a jab at the "politically correct" response to Palestinian terrorist Malik Nadal Hasan's horrible rampage at Fort Hood.
The video is in Hebrew with English subtitles.

Pre-K in our Future.

J.P. will start pre-k next Fall. We went to the open house at the Catholic school in our little town.

Of course, my wife and I really want our son (and any future children) to attend a parochial school. I dread the thought of him spending time in public school.

On more than one occasion, I've heard a representative of the school tell us before Mass that, with the help available from the Archdiocese, no child will be denied admission to the school because the parents can't afford the tuition.

I filled out and mailed the application this morning to enroll him there in Fall 2010.
We'll see what happens.

Obama Rules !!!

There is Obama toilet paper in Japan...



H/T to Al

Maafa 21.

Someone left a comment on yesterday's post [Planned Parenthood unhappy with Abortion on Gag Order.] about a documentary detailing the history of contraception and legal access to abortion in the United States as that pertains to Planned Parenthood and the organization's ties to the eugenics movement.
The documentary is entitled Maafa 21. The wikipedia article says the title comes from the Swahili term "Maafa", which means "tragedy" or "disaster", and is used to describe the centuries of oppression and diaspora resulting from slavery. "21" refers to the 'maafa' of the 21st century which is abortion.

The website, http://www.maafa21.com/ writes that Maafa 21 is exposing the hidden and bitter realities of Black Genocide in modern America particularly as it involves Planned Parenthood.
There is a trailer for the documentary that can be found on the website as well as Youtube. To make things easier, I've posted the trailer here.

Those of you who believe that Planned Parenthood works for the good of people and families need to wake up to that fact that the organization is evil at it's very core.

Planned Parenthood unhappy with Abortion on Gag Order.

Soon after Abby Johnson quit her job at Planned Parenthood - sighting a conversion and change of heart towards abortion - her former employer hired lawyers to file for a gag order against Johnson from speaking about Planned Parenthood.

Now, it's been reported that Bryan-College Station Eagle, District Judge J.D. Langley has performed an abortion on Planned Parenthood's request for the restraining order.

According to reports, Planned Parenthood does not approve of this particular abortion.....the only time in it's history that the organization has seen an abortion of which it did not approve .


News sources:
Planned Parenthood Loses Bid to Silence Former Clinic Director Turned Pro-Life
Judge prevents Planned Parenthood from keeping Abby Johnson quiet
Order lifted for ex-Planned Parenthood director
Planned Parenthood seeks silence, fails

Veterans Day 2009.

Today is Veterans Day.
The photo on the left is one taken of my dad in 1949.

He enlisted in the Army during the Second World War; he was stationed in Alaska during the Korean War.

He and my mother met while he was stationed at Fort Benning, near Columbus GA.
He was there long enough for me to be born at the base hospital and baptized in the base chapel.

Happy Veterans Day.

Reality Check.

We should have known that it would not be long after Abby Johnson's conversion that Liberal supporters of abortion would attack her. For those who do not know, Abby Johnson is the former director of a Texas Planned Parenthood abortion clinic who recently renounced abortion, quit her job with Planned Parenthood and joined the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life - a pro-life group that recently moved its headquarters several hundred feet away from the clinic.

RH Reality Check Managing Editor, Amie Newman writes Planned Parenthood Director's Holes in Story Revealed In Recent Radio Interview.

As if the article was not bizarre enough, the comments by some of the pro abortion readers show how totally out of it those folks really are.

Rather than accept Johnson's change of heart, quite a few of RH Reality Checks readers believe Johnson was, perhaps, blackmailed into leaving Planned Parenthood as this comment by someone going by the name arwenivy77 reveals:

"After all I have read about this, I am starting to wonder if perhaps Abby Johnson was intimidated, or as others have suggested, blackmailed into leaving by Coalition for Life. And, perhaps, also blackmailed into telling her sudden new story. The choice to align herself with Coalition for Life, after all the negative things she had to say about them before, seems to suggest other factors at work...I hope with time we'll learn the truth. Perhaps she is trying to protect the well-being of herself and her family. I know this is kind of an out-there, conspiracy-theory-wingnut thing to say, but perhaps the Coalition has taken her as a ideological hostage of sorts, in exchange for, as an example, not harming her or her loved ones? Just a theory."

Another commenter named ack believes Johnson's isn't believeable because she joined an organization and did not start her own:

"I think that I would have a lot more respect for her conversion if she started her own organization. Her experience at the clinic apparently showed her that the tactics used by the CFL were at best ineffective and at worst a form of terrorism (through the death threats, stalking, and harassment). Assuming that she hasn't also suddenly become anti-contraception, why not work on that issue to truly reduce the need for abortion? Why not organize people to lobby for increased support for pregnant women who want to continue the pregnancy, and for mothers in general? There just seems to be a hundred ways she could have changed her stance on abortion but avoid aligning herself with that particular group, which she repeatedly denigrated."


And that site is called RH Reality Check.......a true misnomer, if ever there was one.

Barack Obama - War Criminal.

I am not a fan of war. Like nearly everyone else, I would love to wake up one day soon to a world where war is no longer an option. However, I am realistic enough to know that as long as the world remains as it is and humans remain as we are, we will never be able - on our own - to achieve world peace.

I am realistic enough to understand that sometimes war is, unfortunately, necessary.
Evidently, President Obama feels the same; he doesn't oppose all wars, he's been quoted as saying - he's opposed to dumb ones.

One more than on occasion, Obama has said that the war in Afghanistan is a war of necessity.

In his now famous Berlin speech, candidate Obama said,
"This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets.
No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done.
America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now."

Again and again, Obama has said that we need to fight the good fight in Afghanistan. Obviously then, if we need to fight this war, common sense tells us we need to win. Why would any rational person engage in a war that he has no intentions of winning?

Obama is not a military strategist. He has never served in any armed service; he did not study military strategy and tactics in college. If he wants to win this war, he is obliged to follow the military advice of his commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, who has requested between 30,000 and 40,000 more troops.

Obama has not seen fit to send the troops McChrystal needs.

Keeping the troops in Afghanistan - to kill or be killed - without putting forth an all out effort to win, is nothing less than a war crime. To uselessly prolong this war, to sit on the side lines while more people (both military and civilian) die, is unconscionable.

It is ironic beyond words that the President has been awarded a Noble Peace Prize while people die uselessly in Afghanistan because of his indecision.

If this war is a war of necessity, as he as said, it is criminal to fight without fighting to win.
If this war is not a war of necessity, it is criminal to leave the troops there one day longer.

Village of the Damned.

From bighollywood.breitbart.com

ELEMENTARY EPIDEMIC: 11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama.

Big Hollywood has already posted a couple disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern.

Maybe “epidemic” is a better word.

Each one of the videos below is creepier than the last because the further down you go, the younger the children — brace yourself for kindergartners – except for the last and most disturbing video, which you have to see to believe.

Young captive minds, easily influenced, eager for direction, enlisted into a cult of personality focused on an individual who, other than being the first black president, has yet to accomplish anything of significance.

But Obama’s skin color has nothing to do with this. Does anyone interested in retaining their merit badge for intellectual honesty really want to argue that Condi Rice or J.C. Watts would’ve spawned a dozen-and-counting tribute videos?

This is about brainwashing our children into Leftist identity politics. Sure, the schools can argue that they had some kind of parental permission — which, if true, is somehow even more disturbing — but who even considers doing something like this with young minds? That’s a rhetorical question.

There was some guesswork, but to the best of our ability the videos run from oldest to youngest, starting with high schoolers. We list the name of the school and the date the video was posted. From there, if it could be found (or a confident guess made), you’ll find the schools’ website, followed by the original title given to the video and any notes added by whoever uploaded to YouTube.

Each video has also been transcribed so you can follow the bouncing ball…


To see the videos, click here.

Halloween Costume Update.

As I mentioned last week [Halloween Costume] some clever costume maker had come up with an "illegal alien" costume which was soon made "unavailable" because some "immigrants" had objected to it.

Being the politically incorrect person that I am, I felt I had to create my own to wear at a Halloween-slash-birthday party Saturday.
The orange jumpsuit was given to me by my friend Lowell (seen in the photo below wearing the clown costume) and the mask was something I picked up at Kmart....I added the antennae.

My home-made costume was a lot cheaper to make than the $39.99 (plus shipping) it would have cost if it had still been available online.

And the Winner is........

In Thurday's post -[ Caption Needed. ]- I asked readers to help provide a humorous caption to a photo of Obama watching a movie in 3D.

The caption I choose can be found at my D'Offus of the Big-Doofus blog on a post entitled Watching Movies in 3D.

Update on "Climate Change" video.

This past September I posted an article on how Celebs Sing to Stop Global Warming.

As I mentioned then, 55 celebrities had gotten together to re-record Midnight Oil's hit "Beds are Burning" to raise awareness of climate change.

The new recording and accompanying video created such a yawn that I had completely forgotten about it until I accidentally came across the video last night. From an artistic POV, the re-do is unremarkable. The instrumentation, however, is surprisingly well done - considering that so many "musicians" had their grubby little hands in it.

The same cannot be said for the reworked lyrics. The lyrics, "The time has come to take a stand. It's for the Earth. It's for our land." could have come from the pen of a high school student. I could only laugh when, later in the song, "cure" is rhymed with "Timbuktu". I guess, finding a rhyme for "Bum@#$% Egypt" was beyond them.

These particular celebrities are so not famous, that it was deemed necessary to put up each "artists'" name so we'd be able to identify them.

The "ticking clock" animation might have been a revolutionary cinematic affect when Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton were around. I guess the high school student who decided to use it was a friend of the lyricist.

Of course, no need to take my word on this.....just watch the video for yourself.

Caption Needed.

A couple of days ago, I snatched this photo from the Washinton Times website. When I saw the photo, I felt it cried out for a humorous caption. Trouble is, I've looked at it for days and can't seem to come up with anything suitable.

I'm asking you folks who read this post to help. Please leave your caption suggestions in the comment section.

The person with the funniest caption will have a glowing sense of accomplishment.
That should be reward enough.

The Seeing Eye Horse.

When looking for stories that might be suitable for the blog, I'll often let the surfing go where it may. I've often come upon very unusual articles.

One article that certainly falls into that category is one I found on Macleans.ca entitled The case for the seeing-eye horse.When writer Mark Steyn wrote of Mona Ramouni, a blind Muslim from Dearborn, Mich., and her seeing eye horse, I wasn't quite sure that I hadn't ventured onto a parody website.

A quick Google search proved that the story was indeed true and there is a Guide Horse Foundation whose "...mission is to provide a safe, cost-effective and reliable mobility alternative for visually impaired people."

Why a guide horse over a guide dog........other than the Islamic view that dogs violate ritual purity?

The Guide Horse Foundation website gives a list of 10 characteristics of horses that make them suitable for use as guide animals by the blind:

1) Long Lifespan
2) Cost Effective
3) Better acceptance
4) Calm Nature
5) Great Memory
6) Excellent Vision
7) Focused Demeanor
8) Safety Conscious
9) High Stamina
10) Good Manners

OK, once I got over my initial surprise at the strangeness of it, I thought, sure why not? If using a guide horse is a better option for someone, then, so be it.

My only question.....what's with the shoes?

A Typical Tuesday.

My mornings can be hectic. I work 2nd shift; I don't go to work until three, but there's much to be done before then.

If I wake before my son, I'll surf the Internet looking for a suitable subject for the blog. If he's up early, then it's surf the Internet, cook breakfast, change the station on the TV, write a blog post, shower, shave, cook lunch, put J.P. in the tub.......did I miss something?

This morning, not long after eating a jelly biscuit, J.P. came across a box of Mac & Cheese in the cupboard. Of course, he had to eat some. Now, with a three year old (soon to be four) you can never be certain if he's really hungry or if the colorful packaging on the box just put the idea into his head. I step away from the PC, go into the kitchen to cook the Mac&Cheese, knowing full well that it may end up in the refrigerator to be eaten later. This morning, however, he did eat a good sized portion.

Today, I gave up trying to find a good news story to comment upon. You can look to the right to my "Places of Interest" and find links to writers who do a much better job in that area than I. I have to write this with part of my attention focused in the next room where J.P. is watching "Dinosaur Train". You'd be surprised at the trouble he can get into just sitting , watching television.

It's already past noon and I still have things to do. This post may not reach the heights of wondrous creative writing, but I'll have to settle for this.

Pasko Na!

We're a bit late putting up our Christmas decorations.

Late? Why it's not even Halloween yet and you shouldn't decorate the house and put up a tree until Thanksgiving.

Anyone who agrees with that last statement is, obviously, not married to a Filipina. As it was once explained to me, in Philippines, you start celebrating Christmas when the "ber" is here. What's the "ber", you ask? You know, September, October, November, December.......

On one of the most popular TV programs in Philippines, Wowowee, they are already singing "Pasko Na !" (it's Christmas!).

This past Saturday, my wife put on a CD of Christmas music for us to enjoy.
It's only started.

So far, I've been able to maintain the family tradition of not putting up the tree until the Friday after Thanksgiving.I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hold out.

This particular video is from 2008, but it, never-the-less, represents what's being shown now.

Is There Pie in the Sky?

Fridays.

As others are losing their jobs during this,the Obama recession, I have been fortunate enough to be still employed. We had been working 40 hour work weeks until two or three months ago when we went on 32 hours. That means Fridays off.

You'd think that, with the extra day off from work, I'd be posting more on this blog on at least that one day. That hasn't proven to be the case, however.

I've made it a point, during this time off, to attend Mass with my 3 year old son - followed afterward by a trip to the library.

For reasons I have yet to figure out, J.P. is much more behaved on those weekday afternoons when he and I attend Mass as compared to Sundays when his mother is with us. I wish there was some way for my wife to see how he is when it's just the two of us at church.

At the library, J.P. heads straight to the children section in search of more Thomas the tank engine books. He'll pick four books and we'll head home for lunch. If he asks, I'll stop by McDonald's to buy a Happy Meal for him (I don't eat meat on Fridays, but being only three, it's OK for him to have a burger).

I don't know how much longer we'll be working this 4-day a week schedule. Even if we never return to a 5-day a week schedule-which is unlikely- J.P. will start pre-school next year so our Friday routine will eventually come to an end.

I'll miss it.

Upcoming Event.

I just received this email from my brother Chris and I felt I had to share it.

Chris said he has four extra tickets for the Robbie Knievel event at the Texas State Fair Grounds this weekend in Dallas. Robbie is the son of the famed Evil Knievel.
At this event, Robbie is going to try to jump over 10,000 Obama supporters with a Cat D-9.



I can't wait.....I'm sure the event will be sold out.

Negative Thirteen.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for today shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. 40% Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13.

Let's say that again ...... Presidential Approval Index of negative 13.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve.

How's that hope and change workin' out for you?

Halloween Costume.

The latest in Halloween costumes that can no longer be bought is the Illegal Alien costume.
An online store description of the costume gives this information:
Available in One Size Fits Most Adults.
Includes: Mask, Jumpsuit, Card.
Material 65% Polyester, 35% Cotton.
Care Instructions Handwash - Cold Water with mild detergent. Dry Flat. Do not bleach. Do not Iron.
Approximate measurements: Chest 48-49", Waist 48-50".

Cost: $39.99

According to an article on nbclosangeles.com, [Immigrants Not Amused by ''Illegal Alien'' Halloween Costume] the costume (shown here) was available online at target.com,walgreens.com, toysrus.com, amazon.com, meijer.com and buycostumes.com.

After a bit of a row from "immigrants" the costume was removed from all the websites except walgreens and buycostumes. However going to those 2 sites, you'll find the costume is "out of stock".

Too bad.
I guess anyone wanting one now will have to make their own. Getting an "alien" mask should be easy enough......get your own orange jumpsuit and "green card"; and voilà!

Huh?

Nazeih Hammouri, a 53 year old Vershire,Vermont man, faces a first-degree assault charge after stabbing his 19 year old son in the stomach with a cork screw after an argument over a clogged toilet.

Police said Hammouri was drinking.

You reckon?

North Carolina Church BBQ.

Is there any food that says "Down Home America" more than good, old fashioned BBQ? Golly, if there is, I sure can't think what it'd be.

Yes, everyone loves BBQ, though there's some friendly disagreement as to what makes the best BBQ. While many prefer beef or chicken, quite a few folks say, "If it ain't pork - it ain't BBQ".

Some argue that it's all in the sauce, while an equal number believe it's the smoke that makes the difference.

BBQ aficionados can't even agree on which particular wood makes for the best smoke; some pick hickory, while others believe mesquite can't be beat. However, it seems that in small town, Canton, North Carolina, the 14 members of Amazing Grace Baptist church prefer the smell of burning paper for their upcoming Halloween BBQ.

And not just any paper, but, more specifically, the smell of smoke coming from burning books is what they like. And not just any book, mind you. They'll be burning books by Christian writers they deem heretical - as well as any Bible other than the King James Version (KJV).

Of course, that means the Catholic Bible will be burned - along with Protestant versions such as the New International Version (NIV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV) and the New King James Version (NKJV).

Along with copies of these Bibles, books by Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Jimmy Swagart, Mother Teresa and the Pope (to name just a few) will be tossed into the fire as well.

The video report below does not mention the burning of witches; perhaps the smell would be too off-putting for good BBQ.

The video and this news source mention a church website - http://www.amazinggracebaptistchurchkjv.com/. As of the time of this writing, the website has been suspended.

A Review.

A few years back, when I first took to blogging, I was persuaded that one way to attract significant Internet traffic to my blog was to register with a number of blog directories.
Over time, I've come to realize that the value of these directories is over-rated. I may have received a bit of traffic from one or two, but not enough to really matter in the scheme of things. I rarely go to the directories to search for new blogs, and I imagine that very few others do.

I was surprised when I recently received an email from BlogCatalog informing me that a review of this blog had been posted on their website.
The reviewer, Adam H Klein, does not, I'm sorry to say, think too highly of what I have to say. Here is his review:

Right-wing Republican stuff.
Opinion. Dearth of fact. Bad logic and unjustified conclusions. Not much to read here that I can't read about elsewhere.
Gets an "E" for effort though. The stuff about donating blood was very pithy. Unfortunately, older posts fail.

Mr. Klein is, of course, entitled to his opinion. I won't attempt to defend my blog. It is what it is...one either likes it or not.

Human nature being what it is, I could not resist following the link to Mr. Klein's profile and taking a look at his work. Two blogs are listed on Blog Catalog; the equanimist and dog meat home companion.

I'm not going to review either of Mr. Klein's blogs. A bad review from me would appear to be nothing but sour grapes. I would like to encourage anyone reading this post to drop over to the equanimist and dog meat home companion and judge for themselves.

Eugene Robinson Misses the Mark.

Washington Post op-ed columnist, Eugene Robinson begins his latest column with this:

"Somebody explain this to me: The president of the United States wins the Nobel Peace Prize and Rush Limbaugh joins with the Taliban in bitterly denouncing the award? Glenn Beck has a conniption fit and demands that the president not accept what may be the world's most prestigious honor?"

Of course, it's highly unlikely that Mr. Robinson will read this blog, but I will attempt to explain. Very simply, President Obama has done nothing to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Let me repeat that.... President Obama has done nothing to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

How difficult is that to understand, Mr. Robinson?

Robinson goes on to say that it is only some conservatives who have "taken leave of their political senses". He gives John McCain as an example of a conservative "familiar with the concept of manners". News Flash.........McCain is no conservative - not in this or any other universe Robinson may visit from time to time.

Robinson goes on to say that "If Obama ended world hunger...." we conservatives would "....accuse him of promoting obesity". Let me go on record as saying that if Obama ends world hunger, I would be the first to congratulate him. We all know, of course, that no human being.....not even Barack Hussein Obama.... can end hunger in this world. Sorry, but having good intentions doesn't count.

Robinson writes:
"If he solved global warming, they'd complain it was getting chilly." I guess Obama has already accomplished that. The BBC asks - What happened to global warming?

There's more from Robinson. "If he got Mahmoud Abbas and Binyamin Netanyahu to join him around the campfire in a chorus of 'Kumbaya,' the rejectionists would claim that his singing was out of tune".
Obama has gone out of his way to alienate Netanyahu and Israel. It may not be impossible for Obama to get them " around the campfire", so to speak, but we can be certain there will be no singing of Kumbaya ... off key or otherwise.

Sorry, Mr. Robinson; Obama's winning the Nobel Peace Prize is nothing less than an embarrassing joke.

Update....with Photo.

Yesterday, I went to the Blood Assurance location to donate blood platelets. Naturally, I wanted to have a photo to put up on the blog.

The thing is,I was too shy to ask the woman working there to take the photo......so, using my cell phone, I took the best photo I could.

Yes, I know, this photo isn't going to help me get a Pulitzer in photo-journalism (although, I probably deserve one at least as much as Obama deserves a Nobel Peace Prize). If I can nudge someone reading this to donate whole blood and/or platelets, then I'm happy.

Oh, It's All So Clear, Now.

In a post from Thursday's Acts of the Apostasy, ["I Believe In God, Separator Of Heaven And Earth..." ] LarryD writes of a professor at Radboud College in the Netherlands, one Ellen van Wolde.

Professor van Wolde has analyzed the Book of Genesis and has determined that everyone has gotten it wrong. She claims that the Hebrew word "bara" - which has traditionally been translated as "created" - actually means "separated". According to her, God did not create the heavens and earth.....He simply separated what was already in existence.

The news report of van Wolde's claim can be found on the Telegraph.co.uk website.

Of course, I wasn't content with just the English source. I wanted to follow the story to original Dutch version. I found an article called God de Scheider on nieuwslog.nl.

Translating from one language to another can be a tricky thing. It's more art than science. Words in one language may not always have an exact equivalent in another language. Sometimes you just have to pick a word that seems nearest to what the original is trying to say.

To show how difficult translating languages can be, I like to use Babelfish to translate. It's always good for a laugh. Below, I will paste the original van Wolde article written in Dutch (in red) followed by the Babelfish translation into English (in blue).

God schiep niet, hij scheidde! God is niet de Schepper! Volgens theoloog en bijbelwetenschapper Ellen van Wolde van de Radboud Universiteit is Genesis in de Bijbel verkeerd vertaald. Het woord 'bara' betekent 'scheiden', niet 'scheppen'. De reacties bij Dagblad Trouw stromen niet, maar stormen binnen. Deze taalkwestie doet denken aan het woord 'druiven' in de Koran. Dat was altijd verkeerd vertaald als 'maagden'. Terroristen kwamen dus ook al van een koude kermis thuis. Staat het traditionele beeld van God nu op zijn kop?

'Het is in onze hersens gegrift. De eerste zin van de bijbel is ‘In het begin schiep God hemel en aarde’. Maar Ellen van Wolde, hoogleraar Exegese van het Oude Testament en bronteksten van het jodendom aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, toont aan dat er eigenlijk iets anders staat. In haar inaugurele rede, die zij op vrijdag 9 oktober uitspreekt, concludeert zij na nauwgezette bestudering van de Hebreeuwse grondtekst en de context daarvan, dat er geen sprake is van een creatio ex nihilo, een schepping uit het niets, maar van een scheiding van de hemel en de aarde in een uitgestrekte watermassa.'


God did not create, he separated! God is not the inventor! According to theologian and bible scientist Ellen van Wolde of the Radboud university genesis has been found oneself translated in the bible. The word ' bara' means ' scheiden' , not ' scheppen'. The responses at daily do not marry flows, but storm in. This language question does think speaking ' druiven' in the Koran. That had been always found oneself translated as ' maagden'. Terrorists came home therefore also already of a cold village fair. Does the traditional picture of god stand now on its head?

' It is in our brain gegrift. The first sense of the bible is `in the beginning created god sky and aarde'. but Ellen van Wolde, professor interpretation of the Old Testament and source texts of Jewry to the Radboud, shows there actual something else to university Nijmegen to that stands. In its inaugural reason, which she pronounces October on Friday 9, she concludes after precise study of the Jew original text and the context of it that there is no talk of creatio ex nihilo, a creation from nothing, but of a separation of the sky and the ground in extended watermassa.'

It's all very clear now. Isn't it?

Donating Blood Platelets.

This morning, I received a phone call from the Blood Assurance office in Chattanooga TN. The woman told me that there is a cancer patient in Chattanooga who is in need of platelets and their records show that I would be the ideal donor for this patient. Would I be interested in donating? Yes, of course I would.

Donating platelets is a bit more complicated than simply donating whole blood. I'd have to drop my son at the baby sitter and I'd have to have enough time to donate. I'm off from work tomorrow, so Friday would be perfect for me. She asked me when I had last taken aspirin......aspirin has an effect on blood platelets and a donor must abstain from taking aspirin for a certain amount of time. I had taken aspirin just last night for my arthritis. This would prohibit me from giving platelets Friday.

The woman at Blood Assurance didn't think the office in Rome did apheresis on Saturdays; but she'd call the office here to see what could be done.
I'd donated platelets here on Saturday before so I didn't think there would be a problem. I'm only five minutes away from the Blood Assurance location, so J.P. and I hopped in the van and drove down there. I believed it would be easier to work out the details in person.

Sure enough, as soon as I walked in, the woman who is in charge of the apheresis machine said, "Hello Robert. I just received a phone call about you."
I said, "Yes, I know. That's why I'm here."

Saturday isn't a problem for either of us....I set up an appointment for 9 AM.

As I was leaving, she said, "It's nice to be needed, isn't it?"

Yes, it is.

Second Thoughts on Neal Boortz.

I should have known better.

Yesterday, I wrote a post telling how I had voted for Neal Boortz to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, despite my objections to his stand on abortion. No sooner had I written that post, then Boortz went off on a screed that betrayed him to be more of a buffoon that I had previously thought.

Boortz' refuses to call those of us who are against abortion "pro-life". In his warped mind, we are simply "anti-choice" and that's it. To him, we care nothing about protecting life, we just want the government to take away a "woman's right to choose"; we want the government to hold a gun to a woman's head and force her to have a baby she doesn't want.

He says he will not discuss abortion because no one's mind will be changed by discussion (that doesn't prevent him from telling us his opinion....he just won't allow his callers to discuss the issue).

Boortz would have us believe that it is the extreme "anti-choice" element of the Republican Party that will forever prevent the Republicans from becoming a national party of consequence. He would have us believe that Obama's victory over McCain was brought about by those of us who oppose abortion.

Let's look at this realistically.

Let's suppose voter "A", for the most part, prefers the Republicans over the Democrats, but voter "A" supports "abortion rights". Boortz would have us believe that this voter will abandon the Republicans for the Democrats. It's true that voter "A" might very well leave the Republican Party, but his first choice would be the Libertarians.....not the Democrats.

In many ways, the Libertarians are closest to the Reaganesque values of smaller government, lower taxes and individual freedom. If it was the issue of abortion that was driving voters from the Republican Party, the Libertarian Party would be replacing it on the national stage.

On the contrary, many of us who want smaller government and lower taxes are reluctant to cast votes for Libertarian because of their rabid pro-abortion stance.

Unfortunately, when it comes down to selecting the President of the United States, charisma and "like-ability" has more sway with the voters than how the candidate stands on the issues. Obama had more charisma than McCain. The George Bush of 2000 and 2004 was more likable and down to earth than Al Gore or John Kerry.

Sadly, it's the perception that "this guy is like us" that makes the difference in the final count.

Ah ........... government by the people.