Random Thoughts Feb Friday Edition

I was just in a arts/crafty type store yesterday and was actually tempted to buy a pair of 'bunny ears' ala the faux bunny chomping carrot above. Thankfully the moment passed. I DO have an image to maintain.
But not online. I have posted one video here, and no current pictures for a very good reason-there is too much personal information available on the internets. Facetwitter and other social sites allow a person to put ALL of their 'life' online, and private should remain private. I mistrust the alleged security of the social media sites as I have studied computering. I was thinking at one time of going into I.T., went to uni, got a...but I was just saying that one shouldn't divulge too much personal info on line, so never you mind about the uni thing.
'Oscars' night of a thousand egos erupts this Sunday. For a non-drinking game, I will not take a drink every time a Conservative/Christian/Republican gets slammed by a shamlibrity. I'll be sober all night.
I haven't seen any of this years Oscar contenders anyway. But I do LOVE Turner Classic Movies, and have bunches of fine films siting on my shelves and on my DVR.

This is the reason I was in the craft store yesterday-I had this picture blown up and custom framed for my birthday, which is... never you mind. I've shown it here at FDW before, but now I have it on my wall.
Random thoughtfully I will touch on politics for just a mome: I think that President Obama is doing everything he can to NOT be re-elected. The latest kerfluffle, demanding that religious schools and Christian hospitals hand out birth control, even if their religious beliefs make them reject some forms of 'death control', isn't the act of a man seeking re-election. When the uproar roared up, he off handedly said, "Okay-then the insurance companies can pay instead."
Ruling by whim? I think he loves the prestige of the Presidency but has no stomach for the job. He may vote for Romney, crying "Mister Wizard, get me out of here!"
Yes, I said Romney. I don't care if he is a Mormon-I think he will win. If he were to ask Sarah Palin to join him as the Veep candidate, I think they might win 48 states. With Santorum as Veep? 47.
Enough of that stuff.
One of the common refrains of 2012: "I have internet on my phone." No-the internet has YOU programmed and processed and dressed out to be stressed out. My 'cell' is so cheap it doesn't even make calls. I went for years without a cell phone, was proud of my non-cell self...until the phone companies started pulling pay phones out of my hometown. I had to keep in touch with my family, so for $15.00 a month I have a cheap cell. Which I dislike.
A friend has the Kindle Fire, and has been encouraging me to get one. He loves it just fine, and I may get a 'reader' someday, but the Fire doesn't yet warm me to buying one.
Amazon is cool, though. I buy more stuff through Amazon than I do going to the big city and seeing the stores, so if I do get a reader, it will probably be the Kindle Fire.
Is this Random Enough? I have to bake cookies. See you on the podcast.

What Do You Mean, "What Do You Mean?"

American African History Life

Note the title, please. February is officially African-American History Month; consider this my small contribution.
He was an American first; according to Wikipedia: "born in a light-skinned, Creole African American family in New Orleans. Both of his parents were listed as "mullato" in the 1880 census."
His family moved to Los Angeles to get away from the 'Jim Crow" laws of the South.
His name was George Herriman, artist and poet, creator of "Krazy Kat" and illustrator of  many books, including "Archy and Mehitabel " by Don Marquis (who is a story and two thirds in his own right-another time).
Herriman succeeded at his craft, drawing and writing Kat for decades. He was a black man making his own way in the world-his talent opening the doors to Success. He didn't wait for a Movement to declare his rights-he simply lived. Towards the end of his life, arthritis took the pen out of his hand-he would use a knife to cut shapes and designs-his public, those who loved Krazy Kat understood and accepted the more chaotic art.
I've had one of Herriman's "Kat" books for over 30 years, another one closing in on 20.
I encourage you to seek out Herriman's works, especially the Kat, and see genius expressing itself through an art form long gone from our world today.

One Last Houston Post

Warning: Dated reference ahead.
His name was Mike. Mike and I worked together for a short while in Vegas-I don't remember much about him, except that he had been in jail; he loved when Christians would bring pocket New Testaments to the prisoners, as those little pages made the best cigarettes.
Mike was racist in a regular, matter of fact manner, and in the course of 'work chatter' one day we had this conversation:
Me: "Okay, Mike-suppose you are the last man on earth, and have to choose between Whitney Houston, who is beautiful but black, and Rosanne Barr, white but not beautiful...who would you choose?"
He hesitated for a second before he said,
"Um, Rosanne Barr."
Me: "You're an idiot."

There has been some debate/conflict about Governor Christie of New Jersey having the state flags lowered to half mast in honor of Houston. I joined in a conversation on another website, suggesting that it was a class move, that she deserved such an honor for her life and career. Others felt that she wasn't deserving due to her trouble life and manner of passing.
I also suggested that I wouldn't be surprised to see President Obama and his family attend her funeral-some things are above politics; if this had happened when he wasn't running for re-election, he would probably still attend out of respect for Houston. I was shouted down by others saying that EVERYTHING is political.
No, it's not. 
Much of the world exists outside of the stinkpot of politics. Politics is an evil which becomes necessary, intrudes on our lives intermittently; we put up with it every few years because it is all we have in voicing our opinions as to how we should govern ourselves. My opinion is my vote, as is yours. That it has become such a dirty enterprise is a shame-I may have to have a moist towelette ready to wipe my hands as I leave the voting booth.

Far afield, and now I return: it is sad that Whitney Houston had a troubled life and death, and I hope that her family will be comforted as they sit in that memorial service, hearing how she touched many lives with her talent.
May she rest in peace.

Confounded vs Abounded

Nice guy, Carl Sagan. Wrong about God, and, if this quote is accurate, not in Heaven at this moment, as he did not know God.
Wishful thinking didn't create the 'idea' of God, nor of an 'afterlife'. God is, and He makes it easy for those He has chosen to have Faith. He also made it impossible for those He has NOT chosen to have or understand that Faith.
Wishful thinking didn't set apart a people group (Jews).
I've said it before-if you want evidence that God exists, look to the Jews. In no other part of the world, ever (!) has a family group been kept separate from the rest of the world, no matter where they are living.
More evidence of God: the hatred FOR the Jews exhibited nearly universally. If they were merely a mid-eastern family group, no one would even know the difference between a Jew and an Arab.
Back to Carl. He was the one invested in wishful thinking. With a wave of his hand he dismissed six thousand years of history as "ancient traditions". In effect, he was relegating God to the status of 'Myth'.
Why? Simply because he didn't know God. His wishful thinking was that MAN was preeminent.
He might have suggested that he could not have faith in a God he couldn't see-but why would he have any faith at all in the sinful, corrupt MAN that he could see?

A side note-it was very sad to hear of the passing of Whitney Houston today. She had a tough life. I don't know if she was a Christian-growing up in church doesn't get you into Heaven. But I know that tough times usually drive someone to seek help, it causes many to reach out for God, and perhaps I'll see her in Heaven. I hope so.

Laff Clownz, Laff

Robert Benchley was a quipper. He wrote funny (no-he wasn't right handed) meaning that his had the gift of stating things in a humorous way-well enough to build a career out of laughter.
Possibly this is a stone that I shouldn't pick up, as I do have the word 'Wit' in the title here, but I think that what passes for humor this century doesn't pass mustard. See?
I will admit to publishing a few jokes here and there through this blog, but I'm not a humorist, and I don't always think I'm funny. Smelling.
Here's the thing-it has become de' regular to mock, smear, lie about and lambaste those who do not share your opinion on an issue-political, religious, race, etc.
Saturday Night Live mocked Gingrich the other night, Bill Maher mocked Romney's religion (shock, right?),
and a thousand trolls on a million blogs daily ridicule anything of importance coming from the Right side of the planet.
Christians in particular are noted as targets of scorn and hatred. I'm not complaining-it comes with the territory (Heaven). If we DARE make a statement about Sin on a non-Christian blog the Athei-gnostitx lose their collective cool and start with the verbal tar and feathers. And they often think they are funny.
Before you chuckle at the next cartoon/quip which reaffirms your prejudices...think about why the joker/quip-to-zoo-ologist is attempting to make you laugh. To lighten your heart with an amusement? Or to firmly entrench you in his or her or it's mindset?
Agenda comedy fails the stink test.
Get wise, guys.

The Scripturally Precise Return Of Random Thoughts Tuesday On Thursday

Oh, my head. It isn't quite dizzy, but I could stand a few months of contemplative quiet away from the political geek show. I'm not even watching/listening to the politics yet, and somehow it bleeds into my indifference and gives me a case of the fearful anticipatories. I KNOW it is going to get nasty before peacequiet returns.
A friend lent me a great book by Dr. Charles Stanley which is helping to keep the politics in perspective.
I've been hearing warnings about POMO for awhile now, that post-modern thinking is somehow muddying the consciousness of people (more than usual) so that there is no basis for truth anymore-what I believe is as valid as what you believe which can be the opposite of what she or he believes-that nothing is solid, truth is a metal liquid like Mercury, able to shift in whichever direction it is tilted.
Nah. Truth is God's truth. What He says is the bedrock on which everything stands, even if the post modern world wants to wish Him and His moral laws away. They will be brought to their knees, humbled with the rest of us who already know God. Read Zechariah and Isaiah. Ouch for them, blessing for us.
I don't have hope in Man to do anything more than continually mess up worser and ungooder. We are Devo!
But God is Good, and Patient, and Kind. Tesed.

Really, I'm Not Psychic!

So much for sunshine.

"MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — U.S. Navy SEALs parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed.

President Barack Obama authorized the mission by SEAL Team 6 two days earlier, deploying the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden last year. Minutes after the president gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe."

I'm as happy as butter that the two hostages are free, but I do have a few questions.

Are we at war with Somalia? Is it legal for us to send military troops to kill kidnappers? 

Enemy soldiers on the field of battle are a given. Terrorists make themselves our enemies. But kidnappers? When did they become a high priority target? If the hostages had been held since October, why wait so long? Why wait until the night of the State of the Union speech?

As I said, I am glad that they are free. 

What makes me question the timing is that line in the story above about President Obama authorizing the mission.

Is that his call? Does he have the authority to send our military into a country with which we are not at war to kill civilians? 

How about Canada? If President Obama can send death squads into Somalia, why couldn't he dispatch Navy Seals north of the border on retrieval missions?

President Bush was called a Cowboy for allegedly going to war without unilateral support. If he had sent OUR military against non-military targets, the Cindy Sheehans would still be screeching about it this many years later.

She and her ilk would offer to be human shields for the impoverished, mis-understood Somalis.

But President Obama they cheer. Go figure.

One more kick: the American woman held hostage, Jessica Buchanan, was born in 1980. This President, who was willing to risk many American lives to rescue her...just this past week affirmed his support for Abortion on the anniversary of "Roe v Wade". Her life was so precious in Somalia, but he would have had no problem with her life being extinguished in the womb. 

Abortion is our GLOBAL shame-that it is 'legal' will never make it moral, and those who protect it will one day stand before God and find out what it is to have Life taken away.

Fret Not, Friends

I assume that in tonight's State of the Union address President Obama will claim credit for every sunny day while blaming Republicans for snow.
He can claim anything he wants, and reality just moves forward without him.
Listening to Wretched Radio last night, I heard Psalm 73 done as a spoken word 'song'-it was great to hear, and it struck me that Psalms 73 and 37 complement each other quite nicely-I read through them today at lunch, and I encourage you to do the same.
Fret not indeed.

Wintertime For Hitler

Bear with me for a few as I head into odd territories, an expidit which has been kicking around in my head for awhile now. (sidenote- you wouldn't want to be in my head-scary architecture)
I believe that satan is a fallen angel, who attempted an uprising in Heaven, sought to be like God. Satan and his minions, fellow fallen angels, are noted all throughout Scripture; there could only be no devil if the Bible were false-since it is true, what it declares is true.
So...satan and his angels fell, and are stuck here. From the beginning he had sought to corrupt the things of God, spoil His Creation.
At the cross, Jesus Christ defeated all of satan's plans by redeeming this dross world, these clay pots of sin we like to call "Us".
But lets start back a few thousand years, after Adam and Eve messed up and started populating the earth.
Genesis 6:1-8

¹Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 
²that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 
³Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 
⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
⁵Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 
⁶The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 
⁷The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 
⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD."

That's quite a chunk, but basically men evolved from sinners to evil nasty sinners who only looked to do evil.
You can find plenty o' books written about "The Nephilim" (noted above-in the middle of the text) which conjecture all kinds of crazy things, such as hybrid demon/men.
Dr. John MacArthur suggests in his study notes that the Nephilim were humans possessed by fallen angels, which I find more reasonable, as we have examples of such possession all through Scripture.
Here's where I get to add a conjecture: that satan and his minions sought to hold all of humankinid in thrall, would have loved to exterminate any thought of God, any mention of Him from the lips of Man.

(Guess how they're doing these days!)

Put in in understandable terms: Imagine if Hitler had won, and his Reich held sway over the entire planet for thousands of years. That's the sort of corrupt kingdom that satan/ the Nephilim were heading. It got so bad that Democrats won the...scratch that...so bad that MAN was totally corrupted, with the exception of one man, Noah, who found Grace in the sight of the Lord.
Think about that. Satan thought that he had won down here, as 99.9999999999999999% of the world was in his control. Overconfident much?
But God has everything under HIS control, always. Noah, one witness, was enough for God to restore humanity. God's Grace on Noah extended to his children with him in the ark, and here we went again, downgraded and growing more evil in each succeeding generation.
We read in Daniel of spiritual conflicts between the forces of God (angels) and the forces of satan (fallen angels), the latter of which hold sway over kingdoms here on earth...for now.
We read in Revelation how the whole thing turns out- satan and all of his icky ilk are tossed into 'The Lake of Fire' and God continues into eternity with His redeemed Creation. Game over. 
I don't fear demons, or satan- they are defeated. I fear God.
In fear of God are elements of right respect and love-just as when I was a child I loved, respected and feared offending my father, so it is with God. May you come to know that fear.

Set Free From The Bean

I thought that this was supposed to be hard.
Yup-I'm off coffee, and was warned that I would have headaches, withdrawal, and an overall feeling of having just run two marathons.
Nope. No nothing-I didn't even hurt a little bit.  I think that after 40+ years of drinking coffee, I must still have so much built up in my system that I can coast.
Rhyme to my reason: Have you ever tried to change something in your life, but found it hard because you have become so used to the way that your life goes each day?
It's like an old garden, where the roots and weeds have overgrown the rows. Hard tilling.
Sometimes, to make progress, you have to turn over the ground, break it up.
I am a creature inhabited by habits-of which coffee had been one of my longest lasting, and most enjoyed. 
But I have found that I can no longer eat like a teenager, so old habits out, new habits in. I have already been
exercising the past few years-which only happened because I made room for it. Now it's a good habit.
With eating right, exercising, and making good decisions, I should last a few more decades, unless the Lord is willing to bring me home. My greatest selfish desire is to be in good health in my later life. I'm doing what I can now to make that happen. 

The Secret To The Secret Of Life

Tonight someone said the most complete word pertaining to our existence:
Contentment.
Specifically, to be content with who we are, what we have, where we are in the world and more.
As a Christian, I am content with who I am, even though I know that God is working in my life to make me more closely conformed to the image of Christ.
I am content with what I have, as it all comes from God.
I am content with where I am, as this is where God has led me.
And more.
Who I am now will be perfected in eternity.
What I have in this world will pass away, replaced by much much better.
Where I will be is in Heaven, even Heaven on Earth, as Heaven is wherever God
resides, and during the Millennial reign of Christ, that will be here, but a much much better here.
How could I not be content?
Here's a funny thing, though. I was looking through a Christian Book catalog today, seeing what the marketplace is doing; there are many Christian books  laying out programs/plans for Christians to be:
Healthier.
Happier.
Prosperous.
With a magnificent marriage.
Better kids.
Free from addictions.
Ready for a global collapse.
A BETTER YOU!
Sexier-what?

Do you see it? What all of these items have in common?
They all focus on the Christian, not Christ.
They all are aimed at improving the life (a morning mist, a hand's span of time) of a Christian through some work/plan/program.

Are we neurotic nellies? Unhealthy, unhappy, not prosperous, with poor marriages and families?
Addicted? Frightened of world events? No?
Then why all the books? Why not simply be content with God?

 

The Ladies Was Good

On another blog which I would blush to mention I was recently joining in a converse about old films being 'colorized'-was this practice evil or good? Is colorization of old celluloid a sin or a blessing?
It was Ted, of course-the Turner in Turner Classic Movies who had bought most of old Hollywood's catalog of treasures.
Technicolor Ted wanted to make old movies palatable for the youth of the world, who had grown up on COLOR TV and COLOR MOVIES.
The outrage! Letters were written to editors (of newspapers-you can look it up), Turner was hanged in Effigy (Indiana) and the court of public opinion sentenced him to six years of being married to Jane Fonda.
But Ted had a point. It's not just my love for TCM that brings me to defend him-I recently tried to share a few movies with a young friend who just couldn't get into them...because they were in black and white.
The Lady sitting immediately to the left of Judy Garland in the picture above is Virginia O'Brien, a comedic actress who made movies better by being cast in them (sort of the opposite of Robin Williams).
She wasn't the titular Lady in "Lady, Be Good" but her song in that movie is it's high point. A close second is Eleanor Powell's dance with a dog. No kidding.

I'm hoping that someday 'black and white' movies and talents such as Virginia O'Brien will be remembered and embraced by future generations.
Case in point-the Lady above, Jessie Ralph, was born in 1864. Think about that-a year old when the Civil War ended. She is delightful in one of my favorite classics: "Double Wedding" with Myrna Loy and William Powell.
They brought all the color needed for that film-red faces in the audience, from fans laughing so much.

Psychic Looks Back At 2012

Just kidding. I was going to parody the December 21st end of cycle that the Mayans allegedly predict, but t'aint funny, McGee.
Why has that date been bandied about by so many non-Mayans as if it might be true?
Sin. Even the most vile sinner amongst us carries the marred likeness of God, as we are made in His image.
His Image, His Morality written on our hearts.
We KNOW that this world is sinful, that there will be a reckoning for all of the evil we see (and perpetrate) every day. We are somewhat surprised that God has allowed this thing to go on so long.
So even sinners are longing for this to end; us forgiven sinners are looking for the better world He has promised us. All others? I hate to think about it.
Lemmings aren't suicidal-they just think that they can fly.