Last night was the first time in memory that I ever missed a world series game. This is so out of character. Instead of watching the game I went to see the Turtle Island String Quartet! I had completely forgotten about the series.
A mental slip like this calls for drastic measures. I'm calling the doctor and making an appointment for a psychiatric assesment.
If it were anything but a world series game.......
I, Me, Mine.
(with apologies to George Harrison)
All through the day
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
All through the night
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
George Harrison
Captains log: Sometime in 2004.
A few years ago I noticed the possibility that I might be self-centered. It wasn't an overpowering awareness that sent me to my knees begging forgiveness. It was subtle. I noticed I had a tendency to cut people off in traffic, to scream at stop sign runners and a few other things like rushing to the checkout stand in order to beat the little old lady with two items while I only had a basket full. Okay, maybe it wasn't a tendency. It was the way I acted. Good grief, I'm a sinner. Thankfully the thought left as quickly as it came.
The selfishness of the world had always been obvious. Things like cutting someone off in traffic, not opening doors for others and letting kids run wild in restaurants are rampant. Even I did it and knew full well that I was in the wrong every time. Hey, I'm not perfect. I'll try and do better. And I did! Except in school parking lots. Oh, and at stop signs. But I didn't cut off little old ladies at the grocery store.... as often.
Then came the clinker. The one thing that began to drive me crazy. Everybody started talking about themselves. Really, they did. Okay, it wasn't like everybody in the world suddenly started talking about themselves. I started to notice that virtually every sentence was about "I, Me, Mine". It was awful. "Listen to 'em", I said, "I this. I that. Me, me, me. They all sound like the gulls on "Finding Nemo!" MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!"
"CAN'T ANYBODY SAY A SENTENCE WITHOUT USING A FIRST PERSON SINGULAR PRONOUN?"
I was soooooo glad that I wasn't like them. (Luke 18:11) Or was I? I started listening to myself. I used FPSP's, too! Not a little bit. A lot.
"I'M JUST LIKE THEM! ARGGGGH!"
"Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." (Phil. 2:3-4)
Captains Log: 47 days before Lent 2006.
The pastor has asked us to participate during Lent. The idea was to give up something during the 40 days of Lent. Not just something that wouldn't be missed like not going to Africa to be a missionary or to not eat spinach. It has to be something dear or important to us. It's supposed to be a reminder that God gave up His Son (John 3:16) for us.
Guess what I gave up.... That's right! First person singular pronouns. And peanut butter. Hey, I love peanut butter! Giving up FPSP's wasn't easy to do. I had to think about everything I was going to say in order not to use a FPSP. Imagine having to think before you speak. Going an hour was hard enough, but I was going to go 40 days. There were many thoughts about God giving up His Son.
Thinking about others was the other side of the coin. As Philippians 2:4 says,
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others.”
In order to not use FPSP's another person had to come into the picture. It was no longer "my house" it was "our house". Not "what will I have for dinner " but "what will we have for dinner". The subject could no longer be me but others.
There was no way I could go that long without using FPSP's. I was a failure but the lessons learned were invaluable. Next year I'll have to give something else up for Lent because I'm going to continue the practice of not talking about myself. Maybe I'll give up peanut butter.
Try it. You'll hate it but you'll love the lessons.
Ladies and Gentlemen hold on to your hats. There is truth that the USA is not a democracy. We are a Representative Republic.
SAY WHAT?
That's right. We vote for senators and representatives and it's up to them to carry our wishes because we vote for them.
A democracy is mob rule. The USA is not governed by mob rule.
SAY WHAT, again?
Allow me to evince you with a brilliant analogy.
A ship carrying 5 disgusting males and 1 charming and beautiful female wrecks and they are stranded on a deserted island.
One man decides to ask the woman for her hand in marriage. She turns him down because he's disgusting. The others follow suit and are similarly declined. The men declare that they are going to vote in order to instigate compelled marriage. It will be fair because everyone will be allowed to vote regardless of age or mental capacity. The vote is 5 to 1.
Get it?
Got it?
Good.
My apologies to Danny Kaye.
Can you believe it? Amber Mangum, a seventh grader, was approached by an employee of the D.D. Eisenhower Middle School, in in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and told to stop reading her Bible during her free time at school or face disciplinary actions.
Huh? In the U.S. of A? Sad but true.
What does the U.S. Constitution say?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.It's clear as day. How in the world can anybody say that what she did was unconstitutional?
This article makes total sense. The democrat party has always been the party of racism. Now they're the party of the plantation. To the democrats the government is the plantation and they want to keep us completely dependent upon it. No thank you, democrats.
By Kate Monaghan
CNSNews.com Correspondent
October 02, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - A radio ad sponsored by the National Black Republican Association (NBRA), a grassroots activist group, not only touts Martin Luther King, Jr. as a Republican but also states that 'Democrats passed those black codes and Jim Crow laws. Democrats started the KKK,' and 'Democrats fought all civil rights legislation from the 1860s to the 1960s.'
The radio ad begins running in Florida on Monday. It has already run in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia, causing controversy among Democrats as well as Republicans.
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Senate campaign of Maryland's Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele asked the NBRA to stop running the ad and called it 'insulting to Marylanders.'
The problem with the ad, according to Kevin Martin, a member of the conservative black leadership network Project 21, is not that the ad isn't factually true but that the NBRA is using a dead man to further its cause, something he said is a Democratic, not a Republican tactic.
'We do not need to stick words into a dead man's mouth,' Martin told Cybercast News Service, 'no, not for our policies. Our policies do win at the end of"
Rosie O'Donnell once again shows that she's safe from the threat of being accused of having any trace of the ability to think rationally.
Have you heard the news? A study issued by the Employment Policies Institute says the so-called "living wage", A.K.A. a higher minimum wage, may be more of a hindrance than a help. The study has found that prices tend to surge as unemployment rises in municipalities that require employers to pay more than the federal or state minimum wages.
NO KIDDING???
Robert Strauss, an economics professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and the guy who conducted the study for the Employment Policies Institute said, "Municipalities that adopt living wage ordinances holding various things constant, have on average ten percent lower employment after adoption."
In case you don't get it, this means that employers have to let employees go in order to pay the other employees the mandatory higher wage. This means that unemployment goes up.
Strauss admitted that he was surprised by the outcome of his study. Now if only congress can figure it out.
In what may be the first time in recent history a democrat actually did the right thing instead of following the way the wind blows.
Daley vetoed a law that would have required retailers earning over $1 billion in annual sales and stores with at least 90,000 square feet of space to pay workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus $3 in benefits by mid-2010.
He had campaigned against the measure for months because he claimed it would drive jobs and desperately needed development from some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods and cause most retail giants to abandon the city.
Hooray for Mayor Daley.
Five years ago today the single worst act of terrorism committed on U.S. soil, nearly 3,000 people died when two hijacked jetliners crashed into New York's World Trade Center, causing the twin towers to fall, a commandeered jetliner smashed into the Pentagon and a fourth hijacked plane crashed in western Pennsylvania. In each case, the cause of the terror were practitioners of that "religion of peace".
I was fishing with my father in law. Where were you?
Click on the comments and tell us about it.
Here are some great quotes from the news.
“For the president to articulate who the enemy is so clearly and unambiguously is a huge step forward. You cannot diagnose and treat a disease without first identifying and naming it. So, a strategist cannot defeat an enemy without first identifying it and naming it.” —Daniel Pipes
“We should not be apologetic or defensive in defining the problems of terrorism.” —British Prime Minister Tony Blair, suggesting that the tie between terrorism and Islam can not be ignoredOf course you won't hear this on CNN or NPR.
“Humiliation and hate go together. Why humiliation? Because a once-proud, dynamic culture in the forefront of world civilizations, and still carrying a message of their own superiority to ”infidels“ today, is painfully visible to the whole world as a poverty-stricken and backward region, lagging far behind in virtually every field of human endeavor... There is no way that they can catch up in a hundred years, even if the rest of the world stands still. And they are not going to wait a hundred years to vent their resentments and frustrations at the humiliating position in which they find themselves.” —Thomas Sowell
Here are some quotes that our Founding Fathers made. You may want to consult a dictionary to learn what some of the words meant during the time the quotes were made.
"[W]e ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and
susceptible minds, from being too strongly, and too early
prepossessed in favor of other political systems, before they
are capable of appreciating their own."
-- George Washington (letter to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, 28 January 1795)
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof - Lev. XXV, v. X"
Inscription on the Liberty Bell, from Leviticus 25:10
"With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most
solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the
utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath
graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our
enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with
unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation
of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen
rather than to live as slaves."
-- John Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of the Cause
and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 6 July 1775)
Reference: Documents of American History, Commager, ed., vol. 1
(95)
Just a thought about the last one. It's funny that some quote Thomas Jefferson as someone that thinks God should be separate from government. The above quote seems to say the opposite.
Do you ever ask yourself that question? It's one of those questions that begs an answer. Maybe you haven't thought too much about it but what do you think? Will you go to Heaven?
Here are some facts from the Bible.
1. Heaven is a free gift. Romans 6:23
2. Heaven can't be earned and it isn't deserved. Ephesians 2:8-9. That means no matter what you've done, it isn't good enough.
3. Man is a sinner. Romans 3:23
4. Man can't save himself. Ephesians 2:8-9
5. God is Love 1 John 4:8
6. God is just and must punish sin. Exodus 34:7
7. Jesus is God and man. John 1:1
8. Jesus died for your sins. John 3:16
9. You must accept these facts by faith.
Any questions? donsblogger@excite.com
I'd love to talk to you about this.
Are you sick and tired of the Food Police? I am. Everytime I turn around some fear monger is trying to use scientific manipulation and misinformation to keep me from eating fish, beef, pork and poultry; otherwise know as the four basic food groups.
Thank goodness for the Center for Consumer Freedom. They actually go out of their way to use facts instead of fiction to prove their points. They go so far as to consult scientists and medical doctors instead of hollywood stars for their data.
The latest reports are in and salmon and tuna are safe to eat. Children don't have to worry about mercury poisoning.
Physicians Committe for (ir)Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is probably hoping you didn't catch the news this morning. The PETA-linked animal rights group, dedicated to eliminating animal products like meat, dairy, and fish from Americans' diets, was handed a decisive defeat Wednesday in federal court. Read more about it by clicking onto the link at the top of the page.
Remember, when the left loses we all win.
Now That's Hot!
The highest temperature recorded anywhere on Earth was in Aziziyah, Libya, in September of 1922 – 136 degrees Fahrenheit. Lybia is s in Northern Africa.
The highest temperature recorded in the United States was in Death Valley, Calif., in July of 1913 – 134 degrees Fahrenheit.
Source: Goddard Space Flight Center
Where Is Everybody?
The U.S. Census Burear reported in 2003 that the country's non-metropolitan population (people who don't live in cities) was 49 million. That's only 17 percent of the overall population but they are spread out among 252 counties which is 75 percent of the land in the U.S.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Who Drew the First American Political Cartoons?
Benjamin Franklin may have been responsible for the first political cartoon in America. The cartoon's caption was "Join or Die" and depicted a snake's severed parts, which Franklin used as an analogy for the American colonies.
Franklin's cartoon argued for the inter-ocolonial association - in other wards a national union.
Source: Stephen Hess and Milton Kaplan. The Ungentlemanly Art: A History of American Political Cartoons.
This morning I read an article by Patrick Goodenough for the Cybercast News Service. He wrote that during a Monday morning news conference in Beirut, the French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said that Iran was “a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region."
Anybody who's given the smallest amount of interest about the turmoil in the Middle East knows that Iran has been playing a big role in supporting Lebanon's attacks against Israel. It's so blatant that CNN has had to report it; much to their chagrin I'm sure.
Let’s look at the facts and see if we can find out whether or not there is any reason to accept the French foreign minister’s statement.
Maybe the minister means that Iran is stable in that it wants Israel wiped off the face of the earth. I think he's nuts. He should stop reading fiction and start listening to Fox News.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli officials were bewildered by Douste-Blazy's remarks about Iran, and quoted one diplomatic source in Jerusalem as asking "what planet is he on?"
Mankind has tried to predict Jesus' return since He ascended into Heaven some 2,000 years ago. Prognosticators, in all their knowedge, signs, and indications have managed to miss it consistantly. They should have listened to Jesus because He said:
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.(Matt 24:36).Score
Many like to argue whether Jesus is going to return before the tribulation, in the middle of the tribulation, or the end of the tribulation. I used to get caught up in the argument in a big way. Now I don't worry about it. Jesus clearly says that nobody knows. I'm going to trust Him and be ready. You should, too."Clearly, no one wishes to say anything that will [awaken] mass hysteria. We must never speak...about 'the Day' [of the Second Coming] without emphasizing again and again the utter impossibility of prediction. We must try to show them that that impossibility is an essential part of the doctrine. If you do not believe Our Lord's words, why do you believe in His return at all? And if you do believe them must you not put away from you, utterly and forever, any hope of dating that return?
His teaching on the subject quite clearly consisted of three propositions: (1) That He will certainly return; (2) That we cannot possibly find out when; (3) And that therefore we must always be ready for Him."
One Down, Two to Go
The U.S. State Department had placed a $25 million bounty on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s head – the same reward offered for information leading to the apprehension of al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Source: The FBI
Kids and Meth
How extensive a problem is methamphetamine abuse in the United States?
In 2004, 6.2 percent of high school seniors reported that they had used methamphetamine at some point in their lifetimes.
Source: The National Institute of Drug Abuse
The 'Do Not Call Registry' is a great benefit to mankind. The only regret is that it wasn't implemented immediately after Don Ameche invented the telephone. The moment it opened for business we were among the first to register our phone numbers. The reason was clear and simple. We didn't want to be bothered.
Believe it or not the telephones in our household were never intended as a convenience for telemarketers.
Much to our chagrin a new telemarketing is group abusing our right to privacy. They start calling in the morning and don't stop until late at night harassing us with automatically dialed recorded messages and occasionally with real people. These people infringing upon our privacy are POLITICIANS.
Yes indeed, those extraordinary Snake Oil salesmen and saleswomen (notice the offensive term salesperson was not used) whose message hasn't changed for centuries are infringing on our privacy. Personally, It bothers me tremendously that these arrogant politicians would think for one moment that anyone really wants to hear their biased message and let alone over a telephone. Most of them don't have the decency show their numbers on Caller ID so we can know whom we're ignoring.
Those calls are probably coming from India.
That's how I see it.
http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall/
I recently read a great article by Dennis Prager. He succinctly made the problems in the Middle East very easy to understand. His explanation of the conflict is contained in a nutshell:
"The Arab and other Muslim enemies of Israel (for the easily confused, this does not mean every Arab or every Muslim) want Israel destroyed. That is why there is a Middle East conflict. Everything else is commentary.
The Middle East conflict is difficult to solve, but it is among the simplest conflicts in history to understand."
You should take the time to read his article in the Jewish World Review.
http://jewishworldreview.com/0706/prager071806.php3
Here are some of the facts he mentioned for the conflict in the Middle East
The extremist New York Times foreign affairs columnist, Thomas Friedman, wrote two weeks ago: "The Palestinians could have a state on the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem tomorrow, if they and the Arab League clearly recognized Israel, normalized relations, and renounced violence. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know Israel today."
If a harsh critic of Israel like Friedman can get it so can anybody else.
According to Prager, If you ask almost anyone living in the Middle East why there is a Middle East War, in English, they will assume you are either an academic, a Western news reporter, a diplomat, or a "peace activist." They will assume you are gullible and will tell you that it's because of "Israeli occupation" or "the Zionist lobby."
But they know it isn't. And it never was.
Q: Where's the safest place for Osama bin Laden to hide?
1. Afganistan
2. Pakistan
3. New York Times Building
A: 3
