Keep an Eye on Kosovo

Nearly 100 years ago, the old European powers went to war (and eventually sucked in the United States) over internal meddling in Serbia and external alliances based on old family rivalries and cultural sensitivities. I sure hope we do not find ourselves there again soon...for the same reasons?!

Kosovo Throws Wrench Into U.S.-Russian Relations

Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 3:38 PM
Filed Under: Moscow, Russia
By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent

MOSCOW – A generation ago, Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin defined the no-go zone between East and West. If you listen to Russian officials these days, that geopolitical schism has now shifted to the Serbia-Kosovo border.

On one side, Russia defends its nationalist proxy, Orthodox Serbians, who say they will never accept a non-Serbian Kosovo; on the other side, Kosovars – more than 90 percent of whom are Albanian Muslims – are backed in their desire for independence by the United States and most of Western Europe.

Russian warning
This new East-West gap should surprise no one who's watched and listened to Russia's take on Kosovo since June 1999.

Then, just as Serb forces were involuntarily withdrawing from Kosovo, Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered his general to take his troops – part of an international peacekeeping mission – and occupy the strategic airport in Pristina before NATO could get there.

Those Russian troops eventually re-joined the peacekeeping operation, but only after days of intense negotiations in Finland between U.S. and Russian officials. Most Serbs believed that Yeltsin had abandoned Serbia by acquiescing to NATO’s demands.

SLIDESHOW: Serbs protest Kosovo independence

For years, every time rumors of an Albanian declaration of independence for Kosovo were whispered in Pristina or Brussels or Washington, Moscow would weigh in, warning that such an illegal act could plunge the whole European continent into another spasm of violence. But no one seemed to take notice.

Then Russia started to muscle up: President Vladimir Putin is no Yeltsin, and Russia under Putin has grown into an economic powerhouse, no longer afraid to throw its weight around. During Thursday’s massive rally against Kosovo independence, Serbian protestors were holding up posters of Putin, showing that they consider the Russian leader to be their chief ally in the current stand-off with the West

Fighting words
People inside Serbia and beyond are now taking notice of what Russia is saying. And for many in the West it's frightening.

On Friday, Russia's NATO envoy, Dmitiry Rogozin, warned that Russia might have to resort to "brute military force" if Europe recognizes an independent Kosovo. But in the same breath, Rogozin backed off some, suggesting that Russia would not to go to war over Kosovo. Still, many are asking, how did it come to this?

Russian analysts explain that the West – especially the United States – has fallen victim to a miscalculation which some equate to being as grave as the ill-advised invasion of Iraq. They say that the West has grossly underestimated the place Kosovo holds in the hearts of Serbs, no matter how many – or few – actually live there. As Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said at the 200,000-strong rally in Belgrade on Thursday, "Kosovo is Serbia."

This is not to be taken lightly. He used the same words almost 10 years ago when I spoke to him following his election as president of a new, seemingly moderate post-Milosevic nation. "Kosovo is the origin of Serbia," he told me. "We will never give it up." No one took much notice.

Pandora’s Box
Analysts here in Moscow also warn that the ripping of Kosovo from the Serbian province will open a Pandora's Box of potentially destabilizing ruptures all around the world: Chechens in Russia, ethnic Serbs in Bosnia, Russians in Moldova, Abkhazians in Georgia, Basques in Spain, just to name a few.

Would the United States defend these groups if they were to declare independence in violation of territorial integrity and international law, experts in Russia ask? If not, then why in Kosovo?

To define it in more familiar terms, Kosovo, for Serbs, is like a combination of Jerusalem and the Alamo: both the birthplace of its identity, forged in a bloody defeat at the hands of the Turks in 1389, and the crucible of its religious faith. Over the centuries, Russia has been Serbia's natural ally, sharing the Orthodox religion and the Cyrillic alphabet. But the United States also has been a trusted ally to Serbia through two world wars and other difficult times.

But strangely, friends of a friend can act like enemies. Just when it seemed like Russia and the United States were on the brink of what some consider a new Cold War, tiny Kosovo reared its head, caught the West's fancy for freedom and declared its independence – just as it promised it would. In the process, it triggered the kind of belligerent rhetoric we haven't heard from the Russian military in years.

Forget Checkpoint Charlie. Kosovo means hot zone.

Q & A: The history of strife in Kosovo
Key dates in Kosovo's drive for independence

Jim Maceda is an NBC New Correspondent based in London who covered the wars in Yugoslavia extensively during the 1990s. He is currently on assignment in Moscow.

5 Surprising Things That Give You Headaches

I have been having low-grade headaches for most days since I had the flu, so this article caught my eye. The information is nothing profound, but it did seem worthy of sharing. Of the five headache triggers mentioned, I am especially sensitive to flowery and sweet scents. The plumeria scent from Bath & Body and/or Victoria's Secret has an immediate negative impact on my sinuses and immediately triggers a headache. However, I am surprised that cigarette smoke was not listed as one of the common triggers!?

Health, December 2007

By Alicia Potter


You’ve been staring at the computer for hours. You’ve worked late all week and have in-laws coming this weekend. You have a raging case of PMS. Eyestrain, stress, and hormonal shifts are fairly common causes of headaches, which afflict 45 million Americans (most of them women). But sometimes the usual suspects don’t explain that pain in your head. That’s because some triggers are just plain weird—like perfume, storms, earrings … or even orgasms. Here’s how to identify the source of your headache so you can send it packing.

Perfume
“Strong scents bother me instantly,” says Bethany Hegedus, 35, a writer and receptionist from Brooklyn, New York. She can get a headache from a whiff of Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker or a stroll past a Yankee Candle. Her sense of smell is so acute that she can sniff out whether a co-worker has changed laundry detergents or hand lotions, a degree of sensitivity common among scent-driven headache sufferers. The headaches can be fleeting if exposure is brief—or they can last all day.

Why it hurts: Strong odors may activate the nose’s nerve cells, which stimulate the nerve system associated with head pain. Ironically, the offending scents are often pleasant, says Vincent Martin, MD, a headache specialist at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

What to do: Avoid perfumes, strong household cleansers, fragranced soaps and shampoos, and air fresheners. That’s a challenge when just about everything these days is “Clothesline Clean” or “Citrus Fresh,” but Hegedus does her best with unscented laundry detergent and deodorant, and wears no fragrances. At the office, she politely asks colleagues not to wear heavy perfumes. And if all else fails? “I keep a bottle of Excedrin Extra Strength at my desk,” she says.

That remedy has aspirin, aceta-minophen, and caffeine, a combination endorsed by several medical organizations for migraine and tension headaches. However, you might want to try aspirin or acetaminophen individually rather than mixed together with caffeine, says Andrew Charles, MD, director of the Headache Research and Treatment Center at the University of Calofirnia, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. Frequent use of medicines with caffeine can lead to dependency and “rebound” headaches, the kind that come right back as soon as the meds wear off. Aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen treat pain and the inflammation often associated with headaches. Acetaminophen fights pain, but not inflammation. (Another caveat: If over-the-counter meds don’t help, a trip to the neurologist may be needed, Martin says.)

Weather
Studies show that the headache-prone are especially attuned to changes in barometric pressure, rising temperatures, high humidity, lightning, and cloudy skies. Rebecca Kinney, a 31-year-old librarian from Newton, Massachusetts, calls herself a human barometer. Gray skies and rain-on-the-way trigger excruciating pain. “The headache is usually on one side of my head, and it pulsates, as if someone is drilling into me,” she says.

Why it hurts: The meteorological shifts are thought to trigger chemical and electrical changes in the brain that irritate nerves—sometimes causing fairly dramatic pain. In fact, “50 to 60 percent of migraine patients will identify a weather change as the trigger for their headaches,” Martin says.

What to do: On bad-weather days, Kinney puts an ice compress on her eyes in the morning. “Sometimes I can catch the headache before it gets worse,” she says. Another trick: Record your symptoms and the weather to piece together patterns. Then check out the “Aches and Pains” forecast on Weather.com (click on “Healthy Living”); it breaks down how the day is dawning in terms of temperature, barometric pressure, and wind patterns. Pretreat with 400 milligrams of ibuprofen a day or two before expected weather changes, says Mark W. Green, MD, director of headache medicine at Columbia University. (Naproxen or aspirin may work, as well.)

Earrings, headbands, and ponytails
Some people say the roots of their hair hurt when they get a headache. Kinney describes it as a “hair cramp.” Other women swear that their earrings can lead to head pain. And they’re all … correct!

Why it hurts: The muscle groups around your scalp don’t have pain fibers, but their connective tissues do. “Ponytail headaches” result when tightly pulled hair irritates the muscle system. And your swingy up-do isn’t the only thing contributing to your pain: Tight-fitting hats, headbands, and heavy earrings are also culprits, says Stephen Silberstein, MD, director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Why earrings? It’s possible that earrings can pull on that same connective tissue. But some studies suggest that skin sensitivity around your scalp, face, and ears often accompanies a migraine. The earring supersensitivity could be a sign that a migraine’s coming, but not the cause of the headache.

What to do: It probably didn’t take a study in the journal Headache to tell you that loosening your ponytail relieves a ponytail ache. Researchers have found that this simple action decreased headache pain within 30 minues, and, in some cases, instantly. Kinney makes a conscious effort to reposition her ponytail throughout the day. Typically, the thicker your hair or the heavier your headwear, the more likely you’ll experience this type of headache. Best bet: Save tight up-dos and heavy earrings for nights out, when you won’t be wearing them for long.

Hunger
There’s a reason some nutrition gurus recommend that we eat several small meals a day: It keeps our blood sugar on an even keel. Dieting, fasting, skipping lunch—they all can cause you to bottom out, which may trigger a headache.

Why it hurts: Experts believe low blood sugar may stimulate nerve pathways that bring on these common headaches, but the exact mechanism is murky.

What to do: Uh, eat? Exactly. But remember that what you grab may play a role in whether your headache returns. “Sugar headaches” may occur when we binge on sweets on an empty stomach. The spike in blood sugar ratchets insulin levels, which eventually cause blood sugar to sink even lower. Instead, balance a protein with a complex carbohydrate, such as fish and brown rice, or a snack of whole-wheat toast with almond butter. Martin adds that eating foods rich in magnesium (spinach, beans, nuts, and seeds) and riboflavin (dairy products, lean meats, leafy greens, enriched breads and cereals) may prevent and alleviate head pain. Riboflavin is a B vitamin; large doses are thought to help prevent migraines.

Bear in mind, too, that cheese, chocolate, lunch meats, caffeine, and additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) may trigger headaches. In general, if you suffer from moderate, severe, or frequent headaches (more than two a week), consult a headache specialist about your diet. You may need to keep a food diary to hunt for culprits.

Sex!
“Coital headaches” (not the “Not tonight, honey” variety) can occur during foreplay or right before orgasm. Marked by a general head pain, these headaches typically last from a few minutes to an hour.

Why it hurts: It’s probably a type of “exertion headache,” Silberstein says. During arousal, the culprit is likely pressure building up in the head and neck muscles. And orgasm sometimes requires a lot of “work.” Running, coughing, sneezing, even straining during a bowel movement, can lead to similar pain.

What to do: Most exertion headaches can be pretreated with ibuprofen or naproxen, Martin says. But be careful: An orgasmic headache, if it’s your first, may point to an underlying condition, such as an aneurysm, that merits a doctor’s attention. If your headaches occur during G-rated workouts, an activity switch can help—from aerobics, say, to biking. These headaches usually aren’t a reason to quit having fun. “Just ease into it,” Silberstein says.

The Nexus of Politics and Terror




I have never been a big believer in conspiracy theories, so I find Olbermann's connections a little over the top. However, he cautions at the beginning and reminds at the end that sometimes connections are, indeed, random; nonetheless, it is hard to look away when the connections happen as often as they have...at least 13 times! I am struck by the profaning legacy of the second Bush administration...such squandered potential and lost opportunities.

McCain's Ties To Lobbyist Worried Aides

I think that Senator McCain is an honorable man and a good public servant. What the Washington Post article below seems to miss is that McCain surrounded himself with people who were willing to hold him accountable. He allowed them to speak truth to power. Of course, he was ultimately responsible for making the right decision or dealing with the consequences of a poor decision. Charles Dudley Warner issued an apt appraisal of American politics in 1870 that still rings true today, "Politics makes strange bedfellows." I offer the following words of encouragement to all who would venture into leadership roles, "Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character" (First Epistle to the Corinthians 15:33).


McCain's Ties To Lobbyist Worried Aides
Before 2000 Campaign, Advisers Tried to Bar Her

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Michael D Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 21, 2008; A01

Aides to Sen. John McCain confronted a telecommunications lobbyist in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from the senator during the presidential campaign he was about to launch, according to one of McCain's longest-serving political strategists.

John Weaver, who served as McCain's closest confidant until leaving his current campaign last year, said he met with Vicki Iseman at the Center Cafe in Union Station and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would undermine his image as an opponent of special interests, aides had concluded.

Members of the senator's small circle of advisers also confronted McCain directly, according to sources, warning him that his continued relationship with a lobbyist who had business before the powerful Commerce Committee he chaired threatened to derail his presidential ambitions.

The New York Times published a lengthy article on its Web site last night detailing McCain's ties to Iseman. "It's a shame that the New York Times has chosen to smear John McCain like this," said Charles R. Black Jr., a top adviser to McCain's current presidential campaign and the head of a Washington lobbying firm called BKSH & Associates. "Neither Senator McCain nor the campaign will dignify false rumors and gossip by responding to them. John McCain has never done favors for anyone, not lobbyists or any special interest. That's a clear 24-year record."

The McCain campaign put out a statement last night decrying "gutter politics" and saying the story -- which had been reported on the Drudge Report Web site in December -- was a "a hit and run smear campaign."

Iseman, 40, who joined the Arlington-based firm of Alcalde & Fay as a secretary and rose to partner within a few years, often touted her access to the chairman of the Senate commerce committee as she worked on behalf of clients such as Cablevision, EchoStar and Tribune Broadcasting, according to several other lobbyists who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

McCain, after his unsuccessful 2000 campaign, has emerged as the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. His reputation as a crusader for Washington reform -- forged during almost 30 years in the Senate -- is based largely on his stinging critiques of the role played by lobbyists. He routinely decries earmarks, or pet projects, inserted into legislation. He has claimed repeatedly that he has "never, ever done a favor for any lobbyist or special interest group." It was this reputation that McCain's closest aides sought to protect.

"We were running a campaign about reforming Washington, and her showing up at events and saying she had close ties to McCain was harmful," said one aide.

The aide said the message to Iseman that day at Union Station in 1999 was clear: "She should get lost." The aide said Iseman stood up and left angrily.

Iseman could not be reached at her home or office last night. But Iseman told the Times via e-mail that "I never discussed with him alleged things I had 'told people,' that had made their way 'back to' him." The Times reported that she said she never received special treatment from McCain or his office.

Three telecom lobbyists and a former McCain aide, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Iseman spoke up regularly at meetings of telecom lobbyists in Washington, extolling her connections to McCain and his office. She would regularly volunteer at those meetings to be the point person for the telecom industry in dealing with McCain's office.

Concern about Iseman's presence around McCain at one point led to her being banned from his Senate office, according to sources close to McCain.

Iseman's bio on her lobbying firm's Web site notes, "She has extensive experience in telecommunications, representing corporations before the House and Senate Commerce Committees."

Her partners at Alcalde & Fay include L.A. "Skip" Bafalis, a former five-term Republican congressman from Florida, and Michael A. Brown, the son of former commerce secretary Ronald H. Brown and a former Democratic candidate for mayor of the District.

Its client list is heavy with municipalities and local government entities, which suggests that its major emphasis is on the controversial business of winning narrowly targeted, or "earmarked," appropriations.

In the years that McCain chaired the commerce committee, Iseman lobbied for Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson, the head of what used to be Paxson Communications, now Ion Media Networks, and was involved in a successful lobbying campaign to persuade McCain and other members of Congress to send letters to the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Paxson.

In late 1999, McCain wrote two letters to the FCC urging a vote on the sale to Paxson of a Pittsburgh television station. The sale had been highly contentious in Pittsburgh and involved a multipronged lobbying effort among the parties to the deal.

At the time he sent the first letter, McCain had flown on Paxson's corporate jet four times to appear at campaign events and had received $20,000 in campaign donations from Paxson and its law firm. The second letter came on Dec. 10, a day after the company's jet ferried him to a Florida fundraiser that was held aboard a yacht in West Palm Beach.

McCain has argued that the letters merely urged a decision and did not call for action on Paxson's behalf. But when the letters became public, William E. Kennard, chairman of the FCC at the time, denounced them as "highly unusual" coming from McCain, whose committee chairmanship gave him oversight of the agency.

McCain's campaign denied that Iseman or anyone else from her firm or from Paxson "discussed with Senator McCain" the FCC's consideration of the station deal. "Neither Ms. Iseman, nor any representative of Paxson and Alcalde and Fay, personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC regarding this proceeding," the campaign said.

Iseman and her firm, which includes high-profile Republicans and Democrats, have also represented a number of other companies that have had issues before McCain and the Commerce Committee, including Univision, the Spanish-language television network. Iseman clients have given nearly $85,000 to McCain campaigns since 2000, according to records at the Federal Election Commission.

Staff writer James V. Grimaldi and research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report.

Bad Poetry Set to Music

I have heard it said on NPR that Rock-n-Roll music is just bad poetry set to music. Even though I am a lover of classic rock, after listening to a few songs with all the tracks removed except for lead vocals, I am shaken in my understanding of what is actually good?! Click here to listen to David Lee Roth of Van Halen sing "Runnin' with the Devil." Diamond Dave, you are so funny!



Story originally posted in Chuncklet.

A Little Q & A on the Electorial College -- from FactCheck.org

I am kind of thinking that we may have deviated from our founders' original intent for the federal government. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution is actually a very powerful statement that we too often ignore in our political conversations and deliberations -- The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. Supremely, the rights are ours...not the government's! That is why, even though he may seem a little nutty, I cannot ignore politicians like Ron Paul. On the other hand, we really need the kind of hope and idealism that Barack Obama and John Edwards have been calling us back to as well. I remain humbled by my own confusion...

Ask FactCheck

Q:

Why does the U.S. have an Electoral College? Why does the United States have an Electoral College when it would be so easy to directly elect a president, as we do for all the other political offices?

A:

The framers of the Constitution didn't trust direct democracy.

When U.S. citizens go to the polls to "elect" a president, they are in fact voting for a particular slate of electors. In every state but Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who wins the most votes (that is, a plurality) in the state receives all of the state’s electoral votes. The number of electors in each state is the sum of its U.S. senators and its U.S. representatives. (The District of Columbia has three electoral votes, which is the number of senators and representatives it would have if it were permitted representation in Congress.) The electors meet in their respective states 41 days after the popular election. There, they cast a ballot for president and a second for vice president. A candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes to be elected president.

The reason that the Constitution calls for this extra layer, rather than just providing for the direct election of the president, is that most of the nation's founders were actually rather afraid of democracy. James Madison worried about what he called "factions," which he defined as groups of citizens who have a common interest in some proposal that would either violate the rights of other citizens or would harm the nation as a whole. Madison’s fear – which Alexis de Tocqueville later dubbed "the tyranny of the majority" – was that a faction could grow to encompass more than 50 percent of the population, at which point it could "sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens." Madison has a solution for tyranny of the majority: "A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking."

As Alexander Hamilton writes in "The Federalist Papers," the Constitution is designed to ensure "that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications." The point of the Electoral College is to preserve "the sense of the people," while at the same time ensuring that a president is chosen "by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice."

In modern practice, the Electoral College is mostly a formality. Most electors are loyal members of the party that has selected them, and in 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., electors are bound by laws or party pledges to vote in accord with the popular vote. Although an elector could, in principle, change his or her vote (and a few actually have over the years), doing so is rare.

As the 2000 election reminded us, the Electoral College does make it possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and still not become president. But that is less a product of the Electoral College and more a product of the way states apportion electors. In every state but Maine and Nebraska, electors are awarded on a winner-take-all basis. So if a candidate wins a state by even a narrow margin, he or she wins all of the state’s electoral votes. The winner-take-all system is not federally mandated; states are free to allocate their electoral votes as they wish.

The Electoral College was not the only Constitutional limitation on direct democracy, though we have discarded most of those limitations. Senators were initially to be appointed by state legislatures, and states were permitted to ban women from voting entirely. Slaves got an even worse deal, as a slave officially was counted as just three-fifths of a person. The 14th Amendment abolished the three-fifths rule and granted (male) former slaves the right to vote. The 17th Amendment made senators subject to direct election, and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.

-Joe Miller

Sources

Hamilton, Alexander. "Federalist No. 68." The Federalist Papers [1788]. Accessed at The Library of Congress Web site. 28 Jan. 2008.

Madison, James. "Federalist No. 10." The Federalist Papers [1787]. Accessed at The Library of Congress Web site. 28 Jan. 2008.

de Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America, vol. 1. Accessed at the University of Virginia Department of American Studies Web site. 28 Jan. 2008.

Office of the Federal Register, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Web site, FAQ, 11 Feb. 2008.

Obama's Misleading Ad

In order to be an equal opportunity pain in the ass to power, I thought I would share this blub from FactCheck.org:


The Obama campaign released a new ad Feb. 14 in Wisconsin called "Debate," quoting Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, as saying Obama’s plan covers “more people” than Clinton's. We find the ad misleading and, in one respect, false.

It’s true that Reich expressed the opinion on his blog back on Dec. 3 that Obama's plan covers "more people" than Clinton's. That was in an item criticizing Clinton for “stooping . . . low” to attack Obama for wanting to bolster Social Security’s finances and for not including a mandate in his health-care plan:

Reich, Dec. 3, 2007: I’ve compared the two plans in detail. Both of them are big advances over what we have now. But in my view Obama’s would insure more people, not fewer, than HRC’s. That’s because Obama’s puts more money up front and contains sufficient subsidies to insure everyone who’s likely to need help – including all children and young adults up to 25 years old.

More recently, however, Reich has not been so emphatic. In a Jan. 13 item he found the plans of Obama and Clinton to be “the same” in almost every important respect. While on Dec. 3 he said he thought Obama's plan would cover more people because it "puts more money up front," by Jan. 13 he said that all Democratic plans "spend nearly an identical amount of money." On the question of whether Clinton or Obama's position on mandates is best, he said, “Who's correct? It's hard to know.” He urged the Democratic candidates to “stop squabbling over healthcare mandates.”

Reich did not, however, state in any of his blog items that the Obama plan "does more to cut costs" or that it saves $2,500 for the typical family. Those are claims made by the Obama campaign, not by Reich as the ad falsely claims. And we're skeptical of the claims that both Clinton and Obama make about the lavish savings their plans would produce, for reasons we get to later in this article.

Reich is a professor of public policy and has been in a running feud with another liberal professor, Paul Krugman, a Princeton economist who writes a column for the New York Times and who has been attacking Obama and his healthcare plan in that space and on his own blog. Reich’s most recent word on the subject, in fact, is headlined “Krugman Still Has it Wrong on Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Plans,” which simply refers readers back to his Jan. 13 posting which says it’s “hard to know” which is best.

We note here that both Reich and Krugman are best known for their liberal commentary and neither is a specialist in healthcare economics. Also, Reich states in his Jan. 13 article that “Only around 3% of the population” would be left without health insurance in the absence of mandated coverage for adults. He doesn’t say where he got this figure. We find that hard to reconcile with the hard fact that millions of Americans are currently eligible for cheap health insurance and still don’t sign up for it. As mentioned earlier, for example, about three-quarters of the 9 million uninsured children in the U.S. are eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid, and Gruber estimates that about 7 million adults don’t take advantage of the health insurance their employers offer now. We therefore give more weight to the estimates of Sheils and Gruber than to Reich's.

I am starting to feel a whole lot better! So, I thought I would celebrate with song that always gets my toe tappin'.

How about an Irish Drinking Song:

I have the Flu...

How can that make me feel the way I do?! Alas, inside my very cells David is bringing down Goliath.

I missed getting the flu shot this year...I can assure you that I will not miss it next year!

I wish you salvation and restoration...

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Spongebob voiceovers of scenes from Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, and the Godfather.

Via http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/spongebob-voice-overs

Profound Courage

Courage
Pronunciation: \kər-ij\
Meaning: Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty
Etymology: Middle English corage, from Anglo-French curage, from quer, coer heart, from Latin cor

I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to share my days with the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Mississippi. Everyday, we witness amazing acts of courage from our wish kids, each other, and our friends.

Do you remember Elise from our Fall 2007 newsletter? How her one true heartfelt wish was courageously transformed into an amazing act of kindness which restored a daycare center in Ocean Springs for under-served children? How her courage left our DJ friend Jan Michaels of Q105.1 speechless and overwhelmed during an on-air interview? You may think that such a pure heart is hard to find nowadays, but we see them every day.

Thanks to the courage demonstrated by our staff, board, and you, we have witnessed the beginnings of a rebirth of our chapter as our financial position begins to strengthen after many years of uncertainty. We know that with your friendship and faithfulness supporting us, we will find the courage to reach all of the children in our chapter who qualify for a wish. Please help us strengthen our hearts with the courage necessary to grow from 75 wishes per year to over 200 per year.

Recently, we witnessed a profound act of courage that reminded us that our wish kids and their families are confronted with some very serious medical conditions. Last month, we received word that one of our wish kids, Lizzy, passed away due to complications from her heart condition, prior to being able to experience her wish to go to a winter resort with her friends. In an amazingly courageous act, she gifted her liver and kidneys to help others with their life-threatening medical conditions. I think that she may be the best wish granters that the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Mississippi has ever known. Lizzie has provided a lasting legacy of hope, strength, and joy through her courageous gift. Thank you, Lizzy, for showing us all how to live.

Courageously yours...

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Profound Love

Today I became keenly aware of my profound love for my children and wife. And by profound, I mean:

• penetrating or entering deeply into subjects of thought or knowledge; having deep insight or understanding
• originating in or penetrating to the depths of one's being
• being or going far beneath what is superficial, external, or obvious
• of deep meaning; of great and broadly inclusive significance
• pervasive or intense; thorough; complete
• extending, situated, or originating far down, or far beneath the surface

I wonder if that is how God is inclined towards us? Maybe Jesus was hinting of such a profound love when he said, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Gospel of Matthew 7:9-12)

Or, perhaps the Apostle Paul also understood such profound love, "What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." (Epistle to the Galatians 4:1-7)

Even the Apostle John got in on the act, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." (First Epistle of John 3:16-24)

I can love my children and wife so profoundly because I know I am profoundly loved by God and nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ...absolutely nothing! The final lesson in live is also the first for most who grew up in vacation Bible school, "For God loved the world in this way, he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:16-21)

You are loved, profoundly!

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Yes, We Can! - Si, Se Puede!



God Almighty, We need this message! Help us to listen! Help us to imagine! Help us to go! Help us to do! Help us!

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

Colin Powell on the Presidential Elections

February 8, 2008

Colin Powell may support Democrat or Independent in ‘08

Posted: 08:45 PM ET

Watch Colin Powell discuss the presidential race.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a

Republican who served under President Bush, said Friday he may not back
the GOP presidential nominee in November, telling CNN that “I am
keeping my options open at the moment.”

“I have voted for members of both parties in the course of my adult
life,” Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “And as I said earlier, I will vote for the
candidate I think can do the best job for America, whether that
candidate is a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent.”

Powell also offered praise for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who is
seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, calling him an
“exciting person on the political stage.

“He has energized a lot of people in America,” said Powell, who
briefly weighed his own run for the White House in the mid-1990s. “He
has energized a lot of people around the world. And so I think he is
worth listening to and seeing what he stands for.”

Powell, who has largely steered clear of politics since leaving the
administration in 2004, noted that the next president will need to work
to restore America’s standing in the world.

“I will ultimately vote for the person I believe brings to the
American people the kind of vision the American people want to see for
the next four years,” he said. “A vision that reaches out to the rest
of the world, that starts to restore confidence in America, that starts
to restore favorable ratings to America. Frankly, we've lost a lot in
recent years.”

Programming note: Tune in for the full interview with Colin
Powell on “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” airing this Sunday, 11-1
PM, ET.

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It is probably my fault...I probably did not pray enough, or read my Bible enough, or quote Habakkuk enough.

Dad, the dogs just hoarked down my plate!

Tonight I heard my daughter, Gabi, exclaim from the kitchen: Dad, the dogs just hoarked down my plate! Interestingly, I had no idea what the word meant, but I seemed to understand what she meant (my Greek professor used to say, "Context is the meaning!"). I think that Gabi created an onomatopoeia to describe what she was witnessing...I love the English language! Interestingly, look what I discovered when I looked up her word on Urban Dictionary:

1. hoark
An underdressed, slutty blond young adult.

Being the hoark she was, Stefanie attempted to entice the men as with her blond hair and minimal clothing.

2. hoark
To barf, vomit, regurgitate. 2- To steal.

That was a nasty lugie he hoarked. I'm sorry, I had to hoark your phone.

3. hoark
Slightly more polite synonym for military terms like FUBB or FUBAR; totally screwed or technically disabled. Usually used in reference to a malfunctioning computer app or program. Generally personalized—"I'm hosed" rather than "This is hosed."

That program hoarked my system.

4. hoark
Eating only the topping of the pizza, leaving the crust

I'm on a low carb diet, so I hoarked the pizza slice.

5. Hoark
To barf, vomit, regurgitate, especially in a particularly loud manner as if yelling, but hoarking may be done quietly as well.

F**k man, pull over. I think Im gonna HOARK!

6. hoark
To vomit, barf, heave, technicolor yawn, leave offering at the porcelain altar.

I got drunk and hoarked in the back seat.

7. hoark
To pass through one's nose, typically by laughter. (Regional, used chiefly in the western United States.)

The joke was so funny that Zz hoarked his Mountain Dew.

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Change yourself...what kind of mission is that?!

One Embryo from Three Parents

This headline caught my attention. Not in a morally repugnant way; quite contrary, I saw a glimpse of the future where science and medicine can constructively help families rid themselves of genetic baggage. Perhaps the Hippocratic ethic can still inform our decision making:


I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygeia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.

I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.


Genetically Modified Embryos May Be Answer to Deadly Disease

Feb. 5, 2008—


British researchers today are reporting a potential new technique to spare thousands of children each year from a group of deadly inheritable diseases known collectively as mitochondrial disease.

These diseases might be prevented by genetically altering human embryos, which are the product of two mothers and one father, the researchers said.

Isabelle Christenson, 9, has mitochondrial disease, which is passed from mother to child via the egg. Mitochondria -- the parts of cells that convert food into energy -- have their own DNA which is separate from that in a cell's nucleus. Isabelle has already suffered a stroke and undergone a kidney transplant, a stomach transplant and a liver transplant.

"Isabelle has about a year to live, the doctors told us about a week and a half ago, barring no more complications," her mother, Michelle Christenson, said.

Researchers can theoretically prevent the passing of mitochondrial disease in a child by extracting nuclear DNA from a mother with mitochondrial disease and a father, then injecting that DNA into a donor egg from a woman without Mitochondrial disease.

The resulting embryo, in effect, had three parents but was disease-free. It inherited all the physical characteristics from Mom and Dad but received its healthy mitochondrial DNA from the woman providing the "donor egg."

Altering eggs is not a new idea but the groundbreaking development is the technique to actually prevent genetic disease. Researchers say the next step is to let these "three parent embryos" grow beyond a few days, to see if they can actually become healthy babies.

But for families like the Christensons, it's about preventing future generations from enduring this disease ever again.

Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

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Consider these loins seriously girded.

A Muslim Televangelist?

On the way home this evening I was captivated by a new show carried on Mississippi Public Broadcasting...The Story. Host Dick Gordon was interviewing Moez Masoud, a television and radio host in Egypt. Masoud has garnered quite a following of youth who are seeking a contemporary, yet authentic, Islamic witness to the world. He believes their faith does not have to be what he calls "angry Islam." Rather, it can help them, even with tough issues like extramarital sex and homosexuality. Click on Moez Masoud's picture below to listen to the show.





I was amazed to hear Masoud speak of his experience of faith and renewal in terms that are very familiar to my personal journey with Christ. Perhaps listening to each other does not mean we will necessarily find agreement, but we could find understanding, friendship, and peace. I am glad that there are organizations like the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference to help that happen, too!

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Way to go New York Football Giants! Way to go Eli! Way to go Strahan! You are Super Bowl Champions!

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I just walk into a room. People look at these, feel guilty and BAM...they think what I think!

This news is profoundly saddening to me. The folly of President Bush's policies and those who blindly follow them is an indictment upon a society that prizes spin over truth, war over peace, greed over community, nationalism over patriotism, swords over plowshares, security over liberty, oligarchy over democracy, and even Barabbas over Jesus. Let us continue to speak truth to power.

Concern mounts over rising troop suicides

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day.

A U.S. soldier patrols the streets of Baghdad in January.

The dramatic increase is revealed in new U.S. Army figures, which show 2,100 soldiers tried to commit suicide in 2007.

"Suicide attempts are rising and have risen over the last five years," said Col. Elspeth Cameron-Ritchie, an Army psychiatrist.

Concern over the rate of suicide attempts prompted Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, to introduce legislation Thursday to improve the military's suicide-prevention programs.

"Our troops and their families are under unprecedented levels of stress due to the pace and frequency of more than five years of deployments," Webb said in a written statement. Watch CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre on the reasons for the increase in suicides »

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, took to the Senate floor Thursday, urging more help for military members, especially for those returning from war.

"Our brave service members who face deployment after deployment without the rest, recovery and treatment they need are at the breaking point," Murray said.

She said Congress has given "hundreds of millions of dollars" to the military to improve its
ability to provide mental health treatment, but said it will take more than money to resolve the problem.

"It takes leadership and it takes a change in the culture of war," she said. She said some soldiers
had reported receiving nothing more than an 800 number to call for help.

"Many soldiers need a real person to talk to," she said. "And they need psychiatrists and they need psychologists."

According to Army statistics, the incidence of U.S. Army soldiers attempting suicide or
inflicting injuries on themselves has skyrocketed in the nearly five years since the start of the Iraq war.

Last year's 2,100 attempted suicides -- an average of more than 5 per day -- compares with about 350 suicide attempts in 2002, the year before the war in Iraq began, according to the Army.

The figures also show the number of suicides by active-duty troops in 2007 may reach an all-time high when the statistics are finalized in March, Army officials said.

The Army lists 89 soldier deaths in 2007 as suicides and is investigating 32 more as possible suicides. Suicide rates already were up in 2006 with 102 deaths, compared with 87
in 2005.

Cameron-Ritchie, the Army psychiatrist, said suicide attempts are usually related to problems with intimate relationships, but they are also related to problems with work, finances and the law.

"The really tough area here is stigma. We know that soldiers don't want to go seek care. They're tough, they're strong, they don't want to go see a behavioral health-care provider," Cameron-Ritchie said.

Multiple deployments and long deployments appear to exact a toll on relationships, thereby boosting the number of suicide attempts, she said.

Traditionally, the suicide rate among military members has been lower than age- and gender-matched civilians. But in recent years the rate has crept up from 12 per 100,000 among the military to 17.5 per 100,000 in 2006, she said. That's still less than the civilian figure of about 20 per 100,000, she said.

The "typical" soldier who commits suicide is a member of an infantry unit who uses a firearm to carry out the act, according to the Army.

Post-traumatic stress disorder also may be a factor in suicide attempts, Cameron-Ritchie said, because it can result in broken relationships and often leads to drug and alcohol abuse.

"The real central issue is relationships. Relationships, relationships, relationships," said U.S. Army Chaplain Lt. Col. Ran Dolinger. "People look at PTSD, they look at length of deployments ... but it's that broken relationship that really makes the difference."

To reduce suicides, the Army said it is targeting soldiers who are or have been in Iraq for long
periods and teaching them to notice signs that can lead to suicide.

That training came too late for Army Specialist Tim Bowman. The 23-year-old killed himself in 2005 after returning from Iraq.

"As my family was preparing for a 2005 Thanksgiving meal, our son Timothy was lying on the floor, slowly bleeding to death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," said his father, Mike Bowman, in testimony to a House Veterans' Affairs committee hearing in December.
"His war was now over."

He said veterans return home to find an "understaffed, under-funded, under-equipped" Veterans Affairs mental health system.

"Many just give up trying," he said.

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Switch to ScribeFire

I have decided to switch my blog posting interface to ScribeFire. ScribeFire is a very user friendly add-on to the Mozilla Firefox browser. I really love Firefox...it truly outweighs Internet Explorer in functionality and gadgets.

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Frozen in time at Grand Central Terminal...what a great prank!

Oh this...this is my shield against the world!

This my friend is the Helmet of Salvation...I ram people with it...in the face!

Humm....connecting with God without being religious. There are several others in this series that I will post in the following days.

All Scriptures Are God-Breathed...

Over the years I have noticed that pastors seem to skip over certain areas of the Bible during sermon preparation and worship reading.  Below you will find a few selections that I have come to enjoy.  I might add...rather than detract from my high view of scripture, I find reassurance in the thought that even the Bible has some parts that cause snickering, flush faces, and bemusement.  Finally, I call to mind the unique role that Jesus declared the scriptures play in our lives:  "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me..." John 5:39.  Grace and peace to you...and a laugh too!

Genesis 34 -- Nobody Messes with My Sister!

1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. 2 When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. 3 He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young girl for a wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in. 6 Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. 9 “Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 “Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. 12 “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage.”
13 But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 “Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised, 16 then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. 17 “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”
18 Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are friendly with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them. 22 “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 “Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.” 24 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25 Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went forth. 27 Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; 29 and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?”

Deuteronomy 23:9-14 -- Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin

9 “When you go out as an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.
10 “If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not reenter the camp. 11 “But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may reenter the camp.
12 “You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, 13 and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement. 14 “Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.

Joshua 15:17-19 (New English Bible) -- Such a Charming Girl

17 Othniel, son of Caleb's brother Kenaz, captured it, and Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah.  18 When she came to him, he incited her to ask her father for a piece of land.  19 As she sat on the ass, she broke wind, and Caleb asked her, "What did you mean by that?"  she replied, "I want a favour from you.  You have put me in this dry Negeb; you must give me pools of water as well."  So Caleb gave her the upper pool and the lower pool.

Song of Solomon 8:8-10 -- Life Before the WonderBra

8 “We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts;
What shall we do for our sister
On the day when she is spoken for?
9 “If she is a wall,
We will build on her a battlement of silver;
But if she is a door,
We will barricade her with planks of cedar.”
10 “I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers;
Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.

Ezekiel 23 -- Girls Gone Wild!

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. 3 They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. 4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 "Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians-warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen. 7 She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. 8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.

9 "Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. 10 They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.

11 "Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. 12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. 13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.

14 "But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans ^[a] portrayed in red, 15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. ^[b] 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. 19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. 21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled. ^[c]

22 "Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side- 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. 24 They will come against you with weapons, ^[d] chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. 25 I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. 26 They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. 27 So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.

28 "For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am about to hand you over to those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. 29 They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you naked and bare, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity 30 have brought this upon you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand.

32 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
       "You will drink your sister's cup,
       a cup large and deep;
       it will bring scorn and derision,
       for it holds so much.

33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
       the cup of ruin and desolation,
       the cup of your sister Samaria.

34 You will drink it and drain it dry;
       you will dash it to pieces
       and tear your breasts.
      I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.

35 "Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution."

36 The LORD said to me: "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices, 37 for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, ^[e] as food for them. 38 They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. 39 On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.

40 "They even sent messengers for men who came from far away, and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes and put on your jewelry. 41 You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and oil that belonged to me.

42 "The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; Sabeans ^[f] were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the arms of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, 'Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.' 44 And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah. 45 But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.

46 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder. 47 The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

48 "So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you. 49 You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD."

This is the Word of the Lord...Thanks be to God!

A song for you to get stuck in your head. I love late 70's and early 80's rock and roll music!

How many feet can our President keep in his mouth at one time...the world may never know!?!

The first time I saw this sketch I laughed so hard that I stopped breathing and almost passed-out. During my first year of seminary, Missy and I lived in a seminary provided apartment. Most of our neighbors were Korean, and while they were some of the most hospitable people around, their choice of cuisine regularly left our apartment in olfactory distress...notably when kimchee was being prepared. I do not think that Steve Carell was acting!?!

Child Bankrupts Make-A-Wish Foundation With Wish For Unlimited Wishes

You know you have made it to the top when The Onion satirizes you!

I am blessed to have one of the most thoughtful and meek persons that I have met in my life journeys as my pastor. Stan Wilson is pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Clinton, Mississippi. I see the Gospel in these words...and want you to share in them too!

Another political season is heating up, and I have been drawn to Ephesians. It’s a strange place to be drawn, perhaps, but give it a try.

Read 2:14-22, and notice the profound and dramatic language with which Paul describes the new social body which has been formed in Christ. He calls us "one new humanity."

Paul is writing about a small, insignificant social organization, and he goes on in 3:7-11 boldly to claim that this church is a witness to God’s wisdom before all powers and princes. Our peace and unity is our witness before the powers of this world. Our life together prefigures God’s will for all human communities. In other words our unity matters. Our common life is important. This is where God is stirring up a new redeemed social body.

So, I’ve been reflecting on this, and then at the same time I’ve been hearing more and more about this upcoming election. It’s very important, I know, and a great deal is at stake. But I am hoping that here at Northside we can begin to see how terribly important our body is. I am hoping that we can begin to understand what Paul calls a great mystery - the significance of our peace. (See Ephesians 3:10)

One of the interesting things about this otherwise ordinary church is that we have a pretty good mix of all political stripes, and that’s actually pretty unusual. It’s pretty refreshing. It can also be frightening because the bitterness, division and distrust which mark our national life can easily come to mark our own church, and we have to keep that from happening. We are called to witness to the powers and princes, not to let their bitterness infect us.

So, allow me to take a stab at a few concrete suggestions for how to keep the upcoming election from dividing our mixed up church. See if these make sense and feel free to make more suggestions to me.

1. When referring to a candidate or official, always use their title. "President Bush" is a respectful way to refer to our President. "Bush" is not. Likewise "Senator Clinton" is more respectful than "Hillary."

2. When possible, let’s go out of our way to commend each other for being involved. Let us commend Republicans who believe in personal responsibility, and work for civic virtue and the sanctity of human life. Let us commend Democrats for caring about poverty and those who labor. Let us commend the independents who keep everyone honest. There are a lot of politically active people in this church, and the people I know generally act out of deep Christian conviction. Let’s find out what those convictions are and celebrate them.

3. Come to our business meetings and try to practice the art (because it is an art) of public decision making led by the Spirit. Think of every committee and every meeting as an opportunity to practice a different kind of politics in the midst of a divided world.

4. Pray for your political adversaries. Pray that God would help them be truthful. Pray that God would keep you from bitterness. Pray for understanding.

5. Hold your own candidates accountable for telling the truth.

6. Remember that for many people political persuasion is a deeply private, intimate matter. Therefore, a considerable amount of trust is required before a true conversation can begin. Work hard on building that trust for a long time.

7. Let’s not ask ourselves too quickly what is the social position of our church on a particular issue. Instead, let’s challenge our church to be a source of light, hope, relief, shelter and welcome to the world. Holding a social position is much easier than being a social alternative.

Stan Wilson

"The baptism of Jesus initiated his public ministry, which led him to the cross. For individual Christians, baptism is our call to the community of the church, which often provides us with crosses of our own to bear. Yet it is together, as church, that we are meant to peace in a cruel and violent world and bring a message of hope in the face of despair. Whatever the worldly powers may be -- Roman rulers or contemporary dictators, corrupt lobbyists, arms traders and war profiteers -- Christians are called to witness to another, greater power. Our baptisms mark us for this purpose."

-- Kathleen Norris

I recently stumbled across exerpts from the diary of Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist who was granted access by the Allies to the prisoners held in during the Nuremberg trials. The exerpt below was part of a conversation that Gilbert held with Hermann Goering on the evening of April 18, 1946:

"But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

I wonder if I am only willing to entertain the painful truth of these words only after the Iraq war drums have been muted...or were there prophets among us that I simply chose to ignore?!

A post-script to all of us who struggle to follow Christ and live as citizens of the United States of America: Our only Lord is Jesus...there are no other allegiances in comparison. We must follow in the Way of Christ if we are to be called his followers...

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:2-10

Help me be this kind of person, please!

Invictus Maneo

 

I remain unconquered!

Jeff Dunham Best Damn Sports Show

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Some more funny clips from Jeff Dunham...this time with Walter!

I actually thought this guy was for real for about five minutes...but then I thought, how could such a moron know how to work a camera and post it on YouTube?! Thanks for sharing such an affirming testimony, Chris! I think we went to school with a few characters like Rev. Charles!

I like to play Boomshine..do you?

 

my dad helped me with the link...just clik on the picture to play.

I am looking for a yeasty, surreptitious, and pesky Gospel that is practiced among a people who live freely, love without reservation, and fully understand their obligations of their redemption. Until I find it among others, I will try to practice it within myself.

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you?

You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

-- Matthew 6:33

Evan and I were listening to the radio this evening and "Don't Fear the Reaper" by the Blue Oyster Cult came on. I began to laugh and Evan wanted to know why?! So I told him, "I gotta fever...and the only prescription is more cowbell!"

As you can see, my children have begun to post on this blog. I will make a real effort to not moderate their entries so that we can see the progression of their thoughts and abilities. I am very proud of both Evan and Gabi. I am honored and humbled to be their daddy.

This is a flag I made at my Microsoft. art my dad said I liked Robotics but he didn't say art! This is a flag I made just now.This is my First post I have ever made! I make lots of art all the time but this is the First flag.I made this flag when I was thinking of IWO Jima.My name is Evan and I am 9. bye.

This is the opening to the Naruto show on Cartoon Network.

Here are the lyrics for you to sing along:

Tooku de kikoeru koe wo hitoriHitori mata hitori de chi agaru toushiKurikaesu dake no fudan dooriItsu ga iku jumbi ii are you ready?Karadajuu fuu no wa shinzou niHageshiku chi narase yo stopingTaeru tsuki wo ukasu call meKawarisugiru ga nuki ka storyCome on everybody stand upAgero kyou ichiban no jikan daMe ni mo tomoran no speed wo handaDare mo nobinattori ko kanba yeahCome on everybody hands upMata ashita no heroes wa comebackTsuujou kazoe hibi wo countdownLet's go, 3-2-1 make some noiseHey yo mou basho nori tsuku wa kakugo deshoNankai korondatte tatsu keredoNade aida naze kami hito e no seishoIrikunda kanjou kizuki ageta deshoMochiagaru kansei ga yuuki to naruTashiagareba ima kurushimi tomonauSore demo saikou wa kitto aruSubete sarau to shouri no kanseiEverybody stand upAgero kyou ichiban no jikan daMe ni mo tomoran no speed wo handaDare mo nobinattori ko kanba yeahCome on everybody hands upMata ashita no heroes wa comebackTsuujou kazoe hibi wo countdownLet's go, 3-2-1 make some noise

Gabi Jones Joins Truly Jones Blog Team

Gabi Jones has joined the Truly Jones blogging team.  Gabi will be our first investigative blogger in the areas of Japanese culture (namely, the cultural phenomenon known as Naruto) and Hello Kitty sightings around the globe.

Evan Jones Joins Writing Staff

The Truly Jones Blog would like to welcome Evan Jones to the writing staff.  He will be serving as special correspondent for robotics and marine life.