Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

Today I heard Mr. William Blum, whose book was recently endorsed by Usama Bin Laden, say on the Michael Medved Show that he has outed over 200 CIA agents, ending their effectiveness as agents. He indicated that that was not his problem, and he was just happy to "slow down" the CIA. Noam Chomsky has also praised his work. In case you want to write to him, here is his address.

Perhaps these despicable acts happened before this went into effect.

le

Vigilant, not vigilante

I heard a point made last week, that being obedient to God includes being obedient to the structure of authority under which we live, in small things as well as large. Breaking the law, whether by cheating on your taxes, speeding above the posted limit or robbing banks is still doing wrong.
Man has a rule breaking nature, and often defies established authority ...with relish.
The song, “You’re not the Boss of me, now!” is the distillation of that defiance.
We’ve all known (or been) people who refuse to color within the lines, who object to any societal rule which would modify behavior. They believe that they can pick and choose which laws to keep or break; they are a law unto themselves, and they act accordingly.
It’s that rule breaking nature.
It isn’t Christian to break laws. We are called to obey God AND established authorities. If there’s a Christian who cheats on his taxes, I wouldn’t trust him to pass the collection plate. If you know a Christian who breaks the land speed limit in a Buick...driving to church...he or she is a lawbreaker. And that is sin. And that separates us from God. Not by making us unsaved, as that’s impossible, but we know in our hearts when our sin keeps us from a right relationship with God. That’s how we’re built. Romans, Ch 1.
For example, I will speak out against Abortion, but I would never harm any doctor or clinic that performs abortions. Because that is against the law. There have been some murders of Abortion performing doctors by lawbreakers who claimed to be Christian. Jesus said, 43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Paul echoed his Lord when he wrote to the Romans: “17Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Jesus Christ “Is the Boss of me now.” My law-breaking nature still gets me in trouble now and again-I’ve taken to using the cruise control in my van, to quiet the temptation to speed just because I probably wouldn’t get caught. Someday, when I’m no longer in this sinful, carnal body, the temptation to sin will be gone. Until then, I NEED to be reminded to do what is right, not to speed, not to sin or break laws. I wouldn’t last a day without God’s Grace and Mercy. Let’s go out and overcome evil with good.

Pathetic

But in a statement, Johnson added, "I cannot accept an argument that his views are so radical that the Senate is justified in denying his confirmation."

But it looks like they are still going to try.

Think Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The Democrats may someday rue the day they changed the rules.

le

Special Guest Appearance of Random Thoughts Tuesday

And boy, are they random today! Some political, some not, all mine.

I couldn’t be happier that Hamas won the Palestinian election-and that isn’t a typo.
By the way, the nation of Palestine still doesn’t exist.
The PLO of Arafat reaped billions of dollars over the decades from a world hoping to buy a solution to the Middle East equation. That‘s what they used to call “Gone money”, as in “Forget that money-it’s Gone.”
Hamas, at least not yet, can’t be bought off. As a terrorist organization- (Terrorist Organization needs a new appellation, one that we aren’t yet desensitized to...TerrorChimps? As in: Monkey see, monkey doo doo? Flinging hate (and bombs) at passersby?)
As TerrorChimps, Hamas blow up Jews and others who get on the Wrong Bus to show that they hate Israel.
As if the world didn’t know that.
But now the punishment can fit the crime: They are sentenced to forming a government and becoming politicians. Eventually, they will follow their PLO forebears to the money trough...I’m sorry, I almost made a pig joke about the TerrorChimps, and that could be deadly-they have no sense of humor. They can’t even rent “Porky’s” because of the name.
Think about this. The PLO of Arafat are out. Out. This election isn’t a horrible event, like the Democrats regaining power in this country would be-This Palestinian election, still without a country, mind you-is more along the lines of the Left being defeated by the nutty weirdo Left. Ted Kennedy losing his seat to Michael Moore.
Nancy Pelosi losing her seat to Cindy Sheehan.
Al Franken is the President of his own fan club. (Sorry-really random thought)
Back to Hamas. Now that they will have to run a government, they have a location, an identity, and must take off their ski masks. Or hoods, if you know what I’m talkin about.
Now that they will be the government of a nation that doesn’t exist, they can be held accountable for inciting violence against Israel. They now have something to lose, and status, location, location, location as a neighbor to Israel.
Remember that Israel had won as spoils of war all of the land down to the border of Egypt. The fact that they gave most of it back as indefensible doesn’t mean that they couldn’t or wouldn’t take it back again to secure their future as a nation.
An easy solution to the Gaza Strip, West Bank, all of the territories: When Hamas as a government attacks Israel, Israel goes to war with the Hamas Palestine, conquers and takes back the areas it needs to defend itself. The terms of surrender would include acknowledgment from the Hamas (The Loser) the right of Israel (The Victor) to exist. Rather than face that reality, the Hamas government disbands and slinks back into the shadows to continue as TerrorChimps, as they were never really Politicians in the first.

Enough political.
Yesterday while I was at work, my Dad’s car got stuck in our driveway-hit a patch of ice, whatever.
Here was a 76 year old man out there with a shovel, trying to get unstuck. A neighbor drove past, stopped, came back and shoveled him out. Thanks to that good neighbor, who took the time to help someone.

Remember that with all of the bad that is going on in the World, there are also many blessings from God which should be cherished every day. He isn’t the distant angry god that Muslims believe in-as the saying goes, “He is as near as a whispered prayer.” Nothing catches God by surprise; He is working His plan, which I guarantee you no human can fully understand-and it’s success is as sure as the fact that the Sun He created will come up tomorrow. Trust Him through all of Life’s castertaffys; you will understand about
“Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings as eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.” Isaiah 40:31

An Inalienable Right

As all Christians are aware, yesterday marked the 33rd year of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, which essentially made abortion on demand the law of the United States, a ruling which Christians and all good people who recognize the right of the unborn human being to be born have decried since the day it was decided. The decision that a mother has the right to end her unborn baby's life in the name of reproductive freedom and the "right to privacy" by any means she and her doctor choose, and even up until the unborn human being is more than viable, is a national shame and humiliation, and as I have often said, God will not let it go on forever without judgment. Many churches observed Sanctity of Human Life Day yesterday in remembrance of this court ruling and the estimated forty-five million children who have been aborted, which in my estimation, lowered the national value of human life, and the outcome has been a generation of men and women who are more disrespectful, less compassionate and more selfish. I'm sure cities all over the country hosted gatherings of pro-lifers in their parks and squares. You will not see this noted by the main stream media.

In the intervening years since the decision, abortion has been found to be a dangerous and emotionally painful procedure and recovery, something that is routinely ignored by the main stream media. According to Alan Guttmacher, Planned Parenthood's research organization, today 24% of all pregnancies end from induced abortion, of which 2/3 are among never-married women. The attempts to further promote abortion by advancing embryonic stem cell research have been a complete bust-- "...There have been no successful uses medically of embryonic stem cells to date..." There has been much success in adult stem-cell research, but it is largely ignored by the left, because it does not further the agenda of abortion rights.

We have lost millions of Americans to abortion and we are short millions of laborers in this country. "We see what happens in the imbalance." And more, here.

I found this lovely article by Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, and I suggest you all read it. In it she says:

Then too, what about the rights of each baby who is artificially breached before coming to term in his or her mother’s womb, only to have her skull punctured, and feel, yes agonizingly "feel" the life run out of her before she takes her first breath of freedom. What about of the rights of these women who have been called to pioneer the new frontiers of the new millennium only to have their lives snuffed out before the calendar even turns?

I have often noted that half of the people we are killing in the abortion mills are female. It's clear that abortion rights have not helped them.

Today, there are many rallies and meetings in our nation's capital. There will be a huge rally and march to the Capitol and the Supreme Court. There will be a brief note by the mainstream media and the numbers will be downsized as always. Celebrations on the other side of the aisle will be upsized.

But regardless of the bias of the media and the total incomprehensibility of the left on this issue, we must keep fighting until the right to abortion is no more.

God help us. We are a nation under judgment and the blood of these innocent children is on all of us. Pray, as always, for the end to abortion rights.

le

Reducing dependence on imports

January 19, 2006
Washington, D.C.
Sociable Press

President Bush yesterday announced a long term, three step program to reduce dependence on imported beer. "The overall goal," said the President at a news conference held this morning, "is to lower our dependence on the Organization of Beer Exporting Countries (OBEC) who right now control the market." The price of a 1/2 barrel keg of beer is currently ranging from fifty dollars to one-hundred and fifty dollars or about $3.15 to $10.00 dollars a gallon. "I'm glad I quit drinking," chuckled the President, "but we do want to give some assistance to our fellow American beer lovers."

Step one is to ask Congress to pass subsidies for malt and hops growers much like the subsidies for giant grain producers. Little resistance is expected from Congress since "enough of them are beer lovers that lower prices would likely make those folks a lot less cranky and a bit easier to deal with," said Mr. Bush. Such subsidies would have a built-in "sunset" date and would have to be reauthorized by Congress if needed.

Step two, pictured here, is to place a limit on the number of beers each citizen will be allowed to consume per day. Initially, the number was set at three, but after crunching the numbers (and a six-pack or two) it was eventually reduced to one. The one-per-day limit is expected to last until domestic production of beer has increased to seventy percent of demand. At that time subsidies are to be phased out over a three year period.

Step three will be a public interest campaign to promote beer, especially domestic beer, as the national beverage. "We have the bald eagle, the liberty bell, Uncle Sam, and many other symbols and emblems," the President continued, "why not a national beverage, particularly beer since it's easy to spell and even easier to pronounce."

While no response has so far been heard from OBEC members, it is unlikely that Germany and Canada will not respond. If history is any guide they are likely to file protests with the United Nations and possibly even commence legal proceedings with the World Court. It is unknown at this time what the Administration's exit strategy would be in such an event, should it occur.

Senator Kennedy could not be reached for comment, but it is believed that he was instrumental in finalizing the size of the one-per-day container.

-30-

Celebrating...

1)Today is my 31st wedding anniversary. That is a looong time to be married!

2)My son gave me an electric jar opener for Christmas.

Question: Should I stay married?

UPDATE: Husband brings flowers. Marriage saved!

le

Random Thoughts Tuesday

Random Thoughts Tuesday

Random thoughts may take an evangelical turn this week-bear with me, please.
You can’t get more random than Jimmy Swaggart. I hesitate to even bring him up, but I had an exchange with Rand about him the other day, and was actually defending Swaggart. I am not continuing that exchange here, but I wanted to share a few thoughts about the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart.

Jimmy Swaggart had it all-a talented musician, with a spirited ministry, beautiful family, acclaim and recognition as one of the foremost Evangelists of our age. His ministry magazine was simply called “The Evangelist“, and it was a good magazine. I have a friend who loved to play his music, and, back before his troubles, Jimmy Swaggart seemed to exemplify what a Christian should aspire to be.
Back in 1981 I was stationed in Milwaukee for my final 3 months of service in the Coast Guard. I was visiting weekly at a church which was teaching the Word, and Jimmy Swaggart came to town, filling a sports arena for four nights of Meetings. I think I was there three of the nights. We would meet at the church, get on a bus and go see Jimmy Swaggart preach. Say what you will about his sins-he could preach, exhort and energize a room of believers. And he preached Salvation through Jesus Christ; in my mind, he was truly being used by God to reach out to the lost.
Moving forward a few years, I was working midnights, cooking until 6 in the morning at a restaurant which no longer exists. Jimmy Swaggart’s daily bible study program would come on just as I was getting home, and I used to enjoy watching it before going to sleep. I noticed a pattern, which may have been good television, but kind of bugged me-his commercials for his ministry books, tapes, upcoming meetings, etc. were taking up more and more of the half hour; I started timing the sections of the broadcast-how much time went to studying the Word, and how much went to selling Jimmy. Eventually, the Word time decreased, and Jimmy time increased. So I decided to switch over to the PTL Club. But that’s another story, with another Jimmy. :)
The next chink in his Christian armor came through the courtesy of “60 Minutes” which did a story on the Swaggarts and their ministry, highlighting how rich they had become, how many houses they owned, how big a salary they drew, possibly millions of dollars.
Now, if God wants to bless someone, I’m all for it-we all survive on His good Grace and Blessings. But if someone is enticed into settling for the riches of this world, let their heads be turned, Satan can hook them, and they do much as the Swaggarts did-build their own little empire, seat themselves on thrones, live like kings and queens, with servants and castles and all tax free, because it all actually belongs to the ministry.
The upshot of the 60 Minutes piece in which Jimmy basically said, “Mind your own bidness.” was that the Swaggarts made a big deal of no longer drawing a salary-though of course they still were on their thrones, in charge of the money.
Then came the crash and burn- the prostitute, the truth revealed, Jimmy Swaggart’s Christian witness destroyed, the name of Christ dragged through the mud due to Jimmy Swaggart. Love and respect for an evangelist turned to hate and disrespect. I was mostly angry at Swaggart not so much for my own feelings of being betrayed by someone I had respected, but for my friend, who had loved and played his music-she is a finer, more sensitive person than I am, and I know that she felt the betrayal more harshly.
Christians being Christian, Swaggart was forgiven when he begged for forgiveness. I believe that he was booted from the denomination which had ordained him, but he was forgiven.
And then it happened again. And Swaggart’s response when caught a second time was, “Mind your own bidness.” That was enough for me to write off Jimmy Swaggart-I thought he was done.
He isn’t. I googled him before writing this, and he is back on the air, early early mornings on Spike TV.
I clicked on the “About us” page at his website, and I disagree with what he says the Bible teaches.
Rand, you may be right.

Peace at what price?

Everyone should read this article.

Jerusalem: History Lessons (Aqsa)

Reading especially the last three paragraphs you should ask yourself if peace is even possible. Whether you are a believing Christian or not makes little difference to the author. You are a sinner and deserve, well, what sinners deserve. The only question is how deeply Islam is penetrated by this belief, how committed the majority of Muslims are to it, and how willing and capable they are of implementing it.

If not afraid, at least be aware.

Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim (pray for the peace of Jerusalem)

Nuda Veritas

The inglorious Return of Random Thoughts Tuesday

Thoughts cannot get more random than if you think I was going to talk about there is no reasoning...

Enough of that. My thoughts may be random for Random Thoughts Tuesday, but they aren’t so random that I can’t complete sentences.!
First, Myrna Loy. A beautiful lady, a great actress, and, during her time in the spotlight, an image of grace and strength. She often played the sophisticate, the heiress, the successful businesswoman-often gracing the company of William Powell. One of their best movies together is “Libeled Lady”; also, if you can find “Double Wedding” you are guaranteed to laugh. And of course their Thin Man series is wonderful.
But why do I have Myrna up at the top of this page?
Recently a friend lent me “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” starring two you know who’s: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who seem to have great chemistry in the movie. As a light comedy it sort of works, but as an actioner it is troubling, as:
Their characters are covert government assasins. (Where’s Chuck Schumer’s outrage?)

They are assigned by their respective departments to eliminate each other. (That darned “wall” erected during Clinton’s presidency to keep the FBI/CIA from sharing information-just look at what happens!)

They kill approximately 20,000,000 American “troops/soldiers/CIA and FBI infantry” while running away together. (With a smile and a shared laugh. Arnold caught grief for knocking off 20 cops in ‘The Terminator’-but he’s a Republican, so ...)

Minor gripe:
The movie has no ending. Either they have made a truce with the government (not seen, and not likely due to their death toll) or they have successfully found their way to a corner of the globe (I know-globes don’t have corners-you are too literal) where they are in marriage counseling with an American-speaking therapist.

Brad and Angelina have nowhere near the chemistry of Myrna and Bill Powell. Here are some thoughts:

I have no idea who Myrna was ever married to, or how many times married, if at all.
While Brad and Angelina may have ‘sex appeal’, Myrna had ‘sense appeal’. Loads of it.
I never saw her kill anyone in a movie.


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Random thought number second: The Alito yammerings are going on right now-he is going the “Roberts route” of sitting patiently while the Senators make fools of themselves. He must be terribly bored-on Sat Nite Live they will probably show him taking out one of those little paddles with the ball attached : “boing boing boing boing -Yes Senator, I did write that. boing boing boing.”
I know it’s important-I also know that he will be on the Supreme Court no matter how long the professional yammerers practice their craft during these hearings. My fantasy: Straight up or down vote-approved! Everyone gets back to work.

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Third Thought Random: actually a plug for a podcast. If you want a good free laugh, check out Ricky Gervais dot com, and download his podcasts, or subscribe through Itunes for those who are Applers.
Ricky and his buddy Steve Merchant share a free half hour of comedy, usually making fun of their friend Karl to great effect. Ricky and Steve created the Brit hit: “The Office” which is funnier than the pretty good American knockoff.

Random enough-have a great day!

How would you like to laugh today?

“What did the Big Peanut say to the Little Peanut?”
Answer is inside on first comment.

Above are two of my favorite cartoons from cartoonist Dick Guindon. I haven’t been able to find an online site of his work; if you like humor, and enjoy laughing, I’d suggest you check him out. Some might remember him as “The Carp Guy”. My favorite site for finding used books is:
ABEbooks.com, which stands for Advanced Book Exchange. Used books stores from all over the world list their catalogs at ABEbooks; one title, such as the book I scanned these from, “Cartoons by Guindon” can bring back dozens or even hundreds of listings. If there’s any book you’ve been searching for, ABEbooks probably has it listed.
Recently I mentioned “Ashleigh Brilliant” to someone as another source for rare good humor and distilled philosophy: Ashleigh created “Potshots”-which I used to read in the Detroit Free Press years ago-little nuggets of humor or wisdom with accompanying drawings. I say distilled philosophy because Ashleigh sets a rule for his potshots: they must be only 17 or fewer words. Sort of like free form Haiku. He does have an online store, at ashleighbrilliant.com, and he is also well represented at ABEbooks.
When I started this blog, I intended to highlight some of my favorite humorists from time to time-early on I posted about Sholom Aleichem, Robert Benchley; if you look in the right places, the world is filled with laughter.

News Alert! NY Times Prints Balanced, Unbiased News Report!

See here!

UPDATE 01/09/06 See here for UCLA study. "I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."

UPDATE 01/12/06 On Media Standards (remembering CBS/Dan Rather):
Ross to Mapes: "Do you still think that story was true?"
Ex-CBS producer Mary Mapes: "The story? Absolutely."
Ross: "This seems remarkable to me that you would sit here now and say you still find that story to be up to your standards."
Mapes: "I’m perfectly willing to believe those documents are forgeries if there’s proof that I haven’t seen."
Ross: "But isn’t it the other way around? Don’t you have to prove they’re authentic?"
Mapes: "Well, I think that’s what critics of the story would say. I know more now than I did then and I think, I think they have not been proved to be false, yet."
Ross: "Have they proved to be authentic though? Isn’t that really what journalists do?"
Mapes: "No, I don’t think that’s the standard."
— ABC’s Good Morning America, November 9.

le

Hope v Fear

When I was very young, I grew up with the distinct understanding that nuclear war was a possibility at any time. It was the late fifties, early sixties-- homes had bomb shelters; we were all notified where to find the nearest fallout shelter; the Emergency Broadcasting System was born; we were ordered under penalty of death by our parents not to eat the snow. I’m guessing now it was because of nuclear testing and radiation in the atmosphere. There was a distinct climate of fear and an understanding that the world as we knew it could suddenly go haywire.

By the mid-sixties the international political climate had changed. America began to relax and enjoy the era of prosperity and relative peace. Personally, I grew to love and dream about the future. I read every science fiction book in the science fiction section of our local library. My favorite author was Andre Norton. I found out many years later she was a woman, and I found out today she just died last year at age 93. I was wacky about space exploration and UFO’s. When the Star Trek television show premiered, I was there at the television set every Thursday night watching with my best friend Carol, and I actually didn’t see anything strange about gogo boots and miniskirts being part of the uniform of the future. I couldn’t get enough of the possibilities of space and beyond.

In Junior High I read Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and came to realize that the future might end up worse, not better, than the present. That was a bit disconcerting. In high school I saw the movie Soylent Green — that’s a lot of bad news in 2022! The Vietnam War, political upheaval, a more adult perspective on life in general, etc., made the future take on a distinctly threatening quality, and I started to feel, and it was a common perspective of my generation, that it was very important to live in the present, and to live every moment with gusto. Who knew what was around the corner? The fear I had felt in my childhood about life returned, and it propelled me into a sort of distorted frenzy for experiences. It wasn’t the only reason I made bad decisions at that time in my life, but it was certainly there—that lack of trust for things to turn out, so why not do what felt good or seemed fun right then?

Thirty plus years later I can only marvel at God’s intervention in my life. In 1980, He picked me up out of the muck and mire and set me on the Rock! I don’t live a day without hope and the "peace that passes all understanding" is mine whenever the world seems hopeless and frightening. When I start to pine for days of youthfulness, or nostalgically reminisce on the “good old days,” I remind myself that in so many ways, those were the days of fear—days to which I should never desire to return. “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is a latter end [a future and a reward], and your hope and expectation shall not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way [of the Lord].” Psalm 23.17 – 19 Amplified Bible

le

Beginning

But the land...is a land...which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. Deut.11:11-12

le

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