exnihilo

2012-01-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

Time to Regroup

I had sorta forgotten that I had this blog. Looking back through some of the old posts it's just a mishmash of my thoughts, along with some interesting projects and life events. I may retire this blog and start another, or simply overhaul this one and remove most of the old content. Either way, this blog is effectively suspended for the time being.

2011-01-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

Another month, another Garmin 310XT giveaway from DC Rainmaker! I have the Garmin 305 and absolutely love it!

2010-09-05T06:59:00.001-07:00

DCRainMaker is at it again, giving away another Garmin Forerunner 310XT.

2009-04-09T05:47:00.001-07:00

What the Hell is Going ON?!?!?

I am just astounded. Simply astounded.

The excessive spending and intrusion upon personal freedoms seen during the Bush Years (particularly the second term) were bad enough, especially watching them end with ridiculous taxpayer bailouts....but less than three months into the Obama Administration I am truly in awe of just how quickly America is being torn down and rebuilt into a socialist (even fascist) state before our very eyes. And people are just going along with it like it's a good thing.

Among the things we've seen so far...

- Pushing through spending that will top $11 trillion dollars over the next several years
- Seeking to eliminate the "conscience clause" that protects doctors from discrimination for refusing to perform medical procedures (such as abortions) that violate their conscience
- We are seeing the government take controlling ownership of major financial and industrial corporations
- We are seeing the government willfully violate Article I, section 9, clause 3 of the US Constitution by passing legislation to take bonuses back from corporations
- We have just agreed to place our corporations under the jurisdiction of the Financial Stability Board, placing American companies under the global regulation of the IMF and FSB without any recourse or appeal.

There are many other things that have already happened that simply defy justification in light of our Constitution and the founding of this nation. The pace isn't slowing, it's increasing. I fear for where we're headed.

2009-01-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

Multiple Sclerosis Advancements with Non-Embryonic Stem Cells

Once again, we have news of medical advancements as the result of the use of NON-embryonic stem cells, and this time it's news that hits a personal note for me. Scientists have been able to stabilize or reverse Multiple Sclerosis using haemopoeitic stem cells harvested from the patient's own bone marrow. It essentially allows them to reset the immune system by removing the white blood cells that are attacking the myelin coating around the nerves and using the stem cells to create new white blood cells. While it's not the first time this has been done, it's the first time they've done it in patients with Relapsing-Remitting MS that have only had the disease for a relatively short period of time (about five years or so).

I'm excited about this news because so much progress is being made right now in treating this disease, and doubly so because this is yet another example of medical advancements being achieved using non-embryonic stem cells. The fact remains as well that in over ten years of research now, there is not a single approved treatment or human trial using embryonic stem cells. There are literally dozens upon dozens of therapies and and cures that have been developed using non-embryonic stem cells, including things like bone marrow transplants for leukemia patients. Despite what the media would have you believe, there IS embryonic stem cell research being done...it's simply not federally funded. All the research that has been done thusfar has not produced a single cure or therapy, yet some insist we must ignore ethical concerns about an embryo being a human life and use tax money taken from taxpayers who DO have those ethical concerns to fund further research in a field that has thusfar produced absolutely nothing.

It's ironic that these people have no qualms about destroying life in the name of preserving it.

2008-09-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

Crucial Turning Point

I didn't watch President Bush is address the nation last night, making the case for a proposal by his administration to spend $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out financial institutions and (allegedly) avoid the complete collapse of the American financial system. I couldn't...because I'm entirely too pissed off about it.

I'm pissed because that's my money. They are using my money to rescue these financial institutions from their own ineptitude. This quote pretty much sums it up on this aspect:

Much of the $700 billion will flow to investment-community friends of Paulson, Bush and other administration figures. Average Americans who behaved irresponsibly by signing gimmick mortgages may get some taxpayer aid from the Paulson proposal, and maybe they should get none. But in the end, average Americans will still be liable for most of what they owe -- that is, will still be held responsible for their actions. Wealthy, politically connected insiders who run banks and companies such as American International Group will be exempt for responsibility for their actions, and will stuff taxpayer-subsidized millions into their pockets.

This action represents a definitive turning point in the history of this country, where we cast off any notion of being a free market society and openly embrace collectivism (or "Progressive Corporatism" if you will). Somehow we're supposed to believe that we need more regulation of financial markets...as though that isn't what caused this problem in the first place. Consider what Larry Elder has to say:

Ever hear of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO)? This
agency, which employs 200 people, exists for one thing and one thing only – to
"oversee" Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the "government-sponsored entities" that
own or guarantee 40 percent of the nation's residential mortgages. Mere months
before Freddie and Fannie's collapse and subsequent government takeover, OFHEO
issued a report that saw only clear sailing. The Community Reinvestment Act,
passed in 1977, mandated that lenders lend to high-risk borrowers – or else. The
government actually held up prudent bank mergers if one or both
sides did not sufficiently "lend" to borrowers who, under normal circumstances,
failed to qualify. Why is the federal government in the housing business in the
first place? We need less government, not more regulation.

Risk is a large part of finance, and a concept that is becoming increasingly foreign not only to consumers in our culture, but also to corporate entities now that they have the safety net of federal bailout. Remove the risk of failure, and people will take increasingly irresponsible risks. Keep bailing them out, and they will never stop doing it. Why would you not take risks if you know there was no real chance of experiencing the negative consequences of failure?

As Megan McArdle points out, "The Paulson plan is not a plan. It's a plan to maybe have a plan at some unspecified point in the future. The basic idea seems to be that we give the Fed a big pot of money, which it hands over to banks in exchange for illiquid securities. Essentially, we're recapitalizing the banks with federal money." She goes on to point out that nearly every conceivable necessary detail one would want to know before signing on for such a proposition is largely absent from the discussion. True to form, the federal government is trying to sucker us into the same thing they did the financial institutions: "take this risk or else, and don't worry it will work....trust us!"

Now don't get me wrong...there is most definitely a measure of accountability to which the decision makers in these finanacial institutions must be held, just as those citizens who made foolish choices in taking out mortgage loans they could not afford will be held accountable for their decisions. This proposal thusfar fails to establish such proper accountability. The proposed cap on executive salaries and bonuses does not establish such accountability...it uses the guise of doing so to further meddle in free markets by trying to somehow legislate against greed. It attacks the symptom rather than the disease.

One Presidential candidate that not only could see this coming but did everything in his power to stop it was Ron Paul.* I am more inclined than ever to write his name in on my ballot this November. He is precisely the type of leader this country needs, and unless we send more men (and women) like him to Washington this country will continue to spiral until their is true tyranny and revolution.

* I would be remiss if I did not admit as well that John McCain saw this coming too in the case of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, and proposed legislation to try and fix the problem. That said, the solution to the problem is not more legislation but elimination of much of the legislation that brought the problem about in the form of "affirmative action" style regulations forcing the banking industry to give higher percentages of loans to low-income and other groups that would otherwise not have qualified for these loans. In other words, the federal government mandated that these banks take more and higher risks than they otherwise would have, with the consequence for non-compliance being tremendous restrictions upon their ability to do business.

2008-09-04T05:45:00.000-07:00

Conservatism Has A New Face

Picture from The Sun

The reaction was predictable...and telling. The morning after Sarah Palin's brilliant GOP Convention speech, they best the left can come up with is that she was engaging in "mean-spirited personal attacks" and has a hairdo from 20 years ago.

Oh sure, you get your typical liberal whining from the LA Times, but it doesn't really address a single thing Palin said...it only decries conservatism in general with a long string of ridiculous emotion-based (rather than reason-based) arguments. It assumes that liberalism is self-evident truth (rather than self-preserving socialism) and then slams Palin for not falling in goose-step with that "truth."

As to the "mean-spirited personal attacks" that is a laughable charge. Let's look at some of these "personal attacks" included in her speech:

They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. - A subtle reference to Michelle Obama and her statement, as support for her husband began to solidify, that she was proud of America "for the first time in [her] adult life." I'm sorry...there's nothing "mean-spirited" about reminding people of the constant dragging down of America that Obama and those around him engage in.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. - A direct rebuttal to the Obama campaign's criticism of her supposed inexperience immediately following McCain's announcement of her as his running mate. Now of course community organizers are good people in principle. Unsurprisingly, Obama's attack dog (campaign manager David Plouffe) tried to spin Palin's comments into a derision of the notion that your average ordinary person can play a role in political leadership. The problem is that you can't deride a vice presidential candidate's executive experience as the mayor of a town when your presidential candidate has NO executive experience and lists "community organizer" among his credentials. Again, this is not "mean-spirited." This is a direct response to a challenge to Palin's own experience by the Obama campaign.

I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
- What is "mean-spirited" about reminding people of how Barack Obama spoke of the "bitter" folks of Middle America who "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment." How dare Gov Palin remind us of Obama's view of Middle America as preached to elitist Californians!

But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate. - I still see nothing "mean-spirited" about pointing out the fact that Barack Obama has indeed never authored a single piece of major legislation in his time in Illinois or Washington, yet indeed he has had time to author two memoirs. There is nothing "mean-spirited" about pointing out his utter lack of leadership in this respect, especially after putting forth her own numerous accomplishments.

I'm sure there are several more "personal attacks" in the speech, but again...what do you expect Sarah Palin to do when the Obama campaign goes directly at her and dismisses her years of executive experience as inconsequential?

The left (most especially the mainstream media) has thusfar woefully underestimated Sarah Palin. Last night gave them a clearer picture of what they're dealing with, and the reaction has ranged from naked panic to panic disquised as dismissiveness. Whether or not I ultimately end up voting for McCain-Palin, I will love seeing the MSM squirm as they try to deal with the self-proclaimed "pit bull" and staunch conservative that is Sarah Palin

Ideological Party Shifts

Something else I've been thining about increasingly is the ideological shifts of both of the major political parties. Over the past decade and a half the Republican Party has been taken over by neocons and true conservatives have been pushed to the side. Well, the same thing has happened to the Democratic Party, but in the opposite direction. Mainstream Democrats have been pushed to the side by ultra-liberal, MoveOn.org types who have taken over the party. Obama's nomination and candidacy are proof positive of this. That is the only way that the most liberal Senator in Congress could be tapped as his party's nominee despite being a woefully inexperienced freshman. This fact was further reinforced today when his VP candidate, Joe Biden, said that he and Obama would pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if elected. In other words, they're taking a page right out of the liberal whacko playbook (and in so doing appealing to their real base, the ultra-liberal fringe).

I feel bad for the true Democrats, mostly because as a conservative I can sympathize.

2008-09-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

"We are a nation of Wasillas, not Chicagos"

Another way that Sarah Palin helps McCain is by appealing to "fly-over country," the heart of conservative America. We all remember the pictures of the 2004 electoral map by county which showed the county by county breakdown as to which candidate they voted for. While geographical area is meaningless when compared to population distribution, what it does show is that large metro areas tend to lean liberal while small towns tend to lean conservative. Conservative pollster Kellyanne Conway hit it dead on in stating the quote at the head of this post (as attributed by Peggy Noonan). Moreover, the point Ms Noonan was making rings true: Sarah Palin's executive experience in the town of Wasilla is most certainly relevant, particularly in a country where small towns the size of Wasilla outnumber large towns (100k plus) some 380:1.

I'm very much looking forward to Gov Palin's speech at the GOP Convention this evening. I hope for her sake it reveals her character, fight and values. This is her big moment...her true step out onto the national stage, and regardless of the outcome of the election it will provide her the opportunity to solidify herself as a champion of the conservative movement and a force to be reckoned with.

2008-09-03T05:52:00.001-07:00

Are They Really That Stupid?

It seems the Obama campaign has decided to make abortion rights a major issue of this campaign in the remaining two months. The campaign has started running radio ads that attempt to scare women by telling them that John McCain will "take away their abortion rights."

When asked about the ad, the response from the McCain campaign was appropriate. They pointed out that Obama has strongly and consistently opposed legislation designed to protect the life of a baby who survives an abortion attempt. That's right...at both the state and federal level, Barack Obama has opposed legislation that would prevent doctors from killing a baby that survived an attempted abortion and was fully birthed. That means this actually happens, folks. Women attempt to late-term abort babies that are fully viable, and when the baby survives the attempt and is born they may still be put to death despite clearly and unequivocably being babies not fetuses.

In their panic following the nomination of the staunchly pro-life Gov Sarah Palin, the Obama campaign has now made a huge blunder by bringing to the forefront an issue that will not help Obama one bit. All the McCain campaign need to is begin pointing out clearly and repeatedly what Obama and his liberal ilk really believe about the sanctity of life and mainstream America will quickly begin to distance themselves from him. It was already done indirectly by the clear difference in answers between McCain and Obama at Rick Warren's political forum, and Fred Thompson stated it more explicitly yesterday in his GOP Convention speech.

(In case you missed Thompson's speech, here is what he said: "we need a President who doesn't think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.")

2008-09-02T05:37:00.000-07:00

What Palin Does for McCain

Yeah, I know...I haven't posted anything in a couple months. Needless to say my life has become much busier and more complicated since my hospitalization.

Anyway, something occurred to me this morning that I wanted to put forth. I can't help but be drawn in to the amazing choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's Vice Presidential running mate. It's been stated over and over again that this was a shrewd move meant to attract votes from disaffected women who had supported Hilary Clinton...that it takes away some of the mystique of the "historic" Obama campaign by making history of its own with the first female on a GOP presidential ticket...that it represents an attempt to shore up the conservative Republican base who have little love or use for "Maverick McCain" by giving them one of their own.

All these things are true, but one thing it does more clearly...and I believe will ultimately accomplish more effectively...is to shed more light on Obama's specific positions. Case in point is the drama that occurred within days of Governor Palin's step into the spotlinght. She directly addressed rumors that were swirling around among the liberal blogs that she had faked a pregnancy to cover for that of her 17-year-old daughter. The truth is that her daughter IS pregnant, but more importantly she is keeping her baby and will be marrying its father. The Palin family is staunchly pro-life, and what fifty years ago would have been a devastating blow to a presidential ticket is actually serving to increase support. Sarah Palin is seen by many as somebody we can relate to with a family that reflects the heart of America and faces the same challenges many of us have faced.

Now, juxtapose that against statements from Obama back in March of this year. When questioned on the issue of sex education for America's children, Obama indicated that he believed both abstinence as well as safe-sex education should be taught. He then went on to explain just exactly what he means by sex education:

"But it should also include -- it should also include other, you know,
information about contraception because, look, I've got two daughters. 9 years
old and 6 years old," he added.

"I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if
they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby," Obama said.

That last statement is simply amazing, and sadly reflective of the view of pro-choice liberals towards the sanctity of life. Only in their twisted rationale ("values and morals?") could a child be viewed as "punshment," and punishment that can be spared by simply making an appointment at the local clinic. It's very clear that Bristol Palin's family taught her about values and morals because she made the decision to keep her child on her own, and moreover will do the right thing in marrying the child's father (something else completely foreign to liberal feminists, who view him as little more than the oafish donor).

The more I think about it, the more brilliant the Palin pick appears to be. The whole "who is more inexperienced, Obama or Palin" angle is a lose-lose for Obama. Even if he successfully argues that he's more experienced, it's not by much and the fact is that he's running against McCain for the top spot, not Palin. The juxtaposition between Palin and Biden is almost comical, particularly since, as Mike Huckabee pointed out, Palin likely got more votes to be mayor of Wasilla than Biden got to be President during his primary candidacy. I would love nothing more than to see Palin eat Biden alive at the vice presidential debates.

I'm still undecided at this point on whether or not I can vote for McCain. I don't buy the "a vote for anyone else is a vote for Obama" bullcrap. If I can't in good conscience vote for someone then I won't vote for them, regardless of what the potential outcome may be. I cannot and will not give the approval of my vote to a party that has abandoned its principles just for fear of what the other guy might do.

Anyway, that's my rant for today. After months (seems like years!) of dullness in this campaign cycle, the race has finally gotten interesting. Oh, if only there could have been a Ron Paul/Sarah Palin ticket this year. I'd pull that lever :)

2008-06-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

May I Stand on Christ Alone

It's 2:30AM as I lay here at Lake Park Rehab and I cannot sleep. I could think it was the bladder that woke me, but it's empty now and yet I remain awake. It is the nature of my faith that consumes me right now. Am I standing on my own, or am I standing on the rock of Christ Jesus? Is all this optimism, positive thinking, daring and hope in the face of this new disease just the vain chest puffing of a man who hasn't faced as much as he'd like to think...or am I truly standing this strong on Christ? I cannot help but fear the former; but is that itself just a fear born of these trying circumstances?

I cannot deny it. The past several months have seen my personal faith in decline. While I've aspired to nobler personal integrity amongst men my relationship with Christ has suffered an almost abysmal silence. My reading of Scripture has all but disappeared; even the Bible studies with the kids have given way to summer activities and other excuses. I've wondered aloud many times if the zeal with which I had sometimes read the Scriptures was born of nothing more than my naked desire to be embroiled in great debates in online forums; that it was simply the means of satisfying a fleshly desire for argument and not an end unto itself. Yet I know that the Word sticks with me. There can be no doubt...particularly now...of the lasting presence of the Word of God there to comfort and answer me in times of need.

I'm not sure what to expect now. I can only throw myself at the foot of the Cross and cling to Christ...my only true hope in this time. I said it in prayer tonight and have said it to myself several times as a reminder: apart from the Cross of Christ the very worst I have experienced through this ordeal will seem like paradise when my days are done.

Lord, strip away the vanity of my own human hopes and courage. Draw me close and ignite in me the true fire of faith to consume the false fire of pride. Leave me nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Let me glory only in His name and His work, and let others see His face in me through this struggle.

2008-06-06T17:06:00.001-07:00

Another Miraculous Survival

Once again, a woman chose to terminate the life of her unborn child...but God had other plans and the child survived the abortion.

The mother's justification for killing her unborn son was to spare herself the potential anguish of having her son be born with a terminal kidney problem, as was the case with her first child. While my heart truly goes out to these parents for having to cope with the loss of their first child and dealing with the medical issues of their second child, this shows once again that it is simply not justifiable to terminate the life of an unborn child simply for the sake of avoiding your own fears.

I rejoice with these parents at the birth of their healthy son, and praise God for His grace in preserving this child from the fate that over 47 million other innocents have suffered since 1973.

2008-06-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

Selected, Not Elected

What a brilliant point Ann Coulter made today about how the Democratic Party higher-ups are suddenly and hypocritically silent on the fact that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the primaries yet Barrack Obama is the nominee based on delegate count. This of course is the party who went apoplectic over the fact that "the will of the people is being ignored" when Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but failed to get enough electoral votes to win the presidency.

2008-05-28T09:57:00.001-07:00

"I'm Mad as Hell..."

Echoing John McCaslin this morning:

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust ... and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat ... as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad -- worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy ...

"I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot -- I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation ... all I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a human being ... My life has value!'

"So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' " - Howard Beale, Network (1976)

2008-05-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Why I'm Voting for Bob Barr for President in 2008

This shouldn't be much of a surprise to anybody with whom I've talked politics recently. I was a vocal supporter of Ron Paul and voted for him in the Ohio Republican Primary. I have been conservative/libertarian in my policital views for quite some time now, and I learned a hard lesson in 2004 about voting against someone (John Kerry) instead of voting on principle. I make no excuses about voting for George W Bush in 2000. While I had some questions about just how conservative Bush really was, he certainly had every appearance of being so, particularly when juxtaposed against Al Gore. I maintain that a Gore presidency would have been nothing short of disastrous, especially following the 9/11 attacks.

I gave Bush the benefit of the doubt after a rocky but decent first term. He had already shown signs of what was to come though, and his second term has been an unmitigated disaster. The political spine he showed to the world following the 9/11 attacks apparently disappeared when it came to special interests and lawbreakers within our own borders. His support of amnesty for illegal immigrants, his recent pandering to the perpetrators of the Manmade Global Warming Hoax, and his willingness to increase the size of government (and worse, the amount of my money they spend) with reckless abandon showed him to be a fraud of a conservative.

I will not make the same mistake with John McCain. McCain may be "strong on defense" and an "opponent of wasteful government spending," but his McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law was patently unconstitutional, his support of amnesty for illegals was indefensible, and his tendency to be a maverick and join liberal causes simply doesn't make him trustworthy. He is a centrist, not a conservative. He proclaims a few central conservative values...sanctity of life, sanctity of marriage, need to reform and scale back government spending...but he is so very weak in supporting them. He's simply another member of the establishment who is enjoying his turn.

I quite honestly thought in elections past that it was reasonable to vote for the lesser of two evils because of the dangers posed by the greater of the two evils. Perhaps I was correct that electing the lesser avoided catastrophe...or at least postponed it. Now that I've seen more clearly the general direction this country is headed in, and seen a party I had supported because of its conservatism fail to distinguish itself from liberals by abandoning its values left and right, I can't but vote strictly on principle. Expediency is nothing more than the compromise of one's principles for a perceived short term gain, and it always ends up costing you in the long run. No matter that I fear what damage an Obama or Clinton presidency, coupled with Democratic control of Congress and in view of upcoming Supreme Court appointments, could do to this nation; I cannot reward a party who fails to stay securely moored to its principles by continuing to give them the consent of my vote.

It is probably no coincidence that I write this while in the midst of reading David McCullough's John Adams, in so doing recounting the circumstances of the birth and infancy of our nation. However, these are thoughts which have continually stirred within me for the better part of the last several years as I've watched our nation descend into wretchedness at an ever-quickening pace. It's not only at the national level or even the state level that I've seen this. I've seen clear signs of it in the rural community in which my family and I live, and in the mid-sized city in which I work. This society is dying...morally, politically and educationally.

So, all this to say that barring an unforeseen turn of events I will be voting for Bob Barr for President this November. I am doing so because I cannot in good conscience vote for ultra-liberal Obama or Clinton, nor can I trust that McCain will be anything other than what he has been: a maverick legislator who has demonstrated a willingness to compromise most of his principles whenever it is convenient. I have no loyalty to the Republican Party as they have shown no loyalty to me as a voter and constituent. Bob Barr is a decent man with whom I agree on the vast majority of issues and who has a track record of sticking to his principles.

Let me say now that I refuse to accept one of the most pervasive lies ever told from one citizen to another: that a vote for candidate X is really a vote for candidate Y because candidate Z is the only one who can beat candidate Y. My vote for Bob Barr will not be a vote for Obama or Clinton; it is a vote for Bob Barr. I will not be throwing away my vote, I will be casting it for the person I feel best suited to the job.

And it WILL make a difference.

2008-04-10T05:37:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Day

"The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is the Dems will tax us to blow our money, and the Republicans will just put the shopping spree on a credit card." - Rod Dreher

Amen, Rod. Amen.

2008-02-25T05:38:00.000-08:00

Another Step Closer

Still one of the most memorable moments of the early Presidential campaigning was when Ron Paul was grilled about his subscription to supposed "conspiracy theories" about a planned North American Union. I must admit that when I first heard mumblings about it I too was rather skeptical...I've heard so much chicken little talk coming from Christian pre-millennial pre-tribulation alarmists like Hal Lindsey that I've become kinda immune to it. All the news surrounding the incredibly ridiculous amnesty bill late last year though lead me to news about the superhighway being built across Mexico, America and Canada. It didn't take long to figure out that Ron Paul was absolutely right...there seems to be a concerted but quiet effort to move the United States towards economic and social integration with Canada and Mexico (especially the latter).

Well, it seems the governments have taken a step closer by laying the foundation for a North American Army. Of course, this was done without any Congressional approval whatsoever. Reading through the linked article you'll see some other things that have been pushed through that should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It's amazing how much of our freedom is quietly being taken away from us. Many of these encroachments are silent...things which would only be done "in the event of an emergency" or in a "time of crisis." The problem is that the ones who hold this power get to decide what constitutes such an emergency or crisis and when an event meets their definition.

Again, I'm not a conspiracy theorist...but it seems like all it would take is a particular set of circumstances to trigger a complete and rapid transformation of this country from "free" to authoritarian.

2008-02-22T07:48:00.000-08:00

Universal Health Care: Harmful or Fatal if Swallowed

One of the major themes of both the Clinton and Obama campaigns is Universal Health Care. Despite the fact that it has been shown time and again to result in substandard care, bloated bureaucracy and smothered innovation everywhere it's been implemented, these two socialists are hell bent on implementing it in this country. There is no doubt that there are problems with the health care system in the United States, but too many people are drinking the liberal socialist kool-aid without heeding the warning on the container: Harmful or Fatal if Swallowed.

Just this morning I read yet another article, this one on Human Events, about the fact that the government run health care system in Great Britain killed over 17,000 people who should otherwise have been saved by their health care system. Sanitation is becoming a major problem in their system, with 9% of patients developing a hospital-acquired infection. These people didn't go to the hospital to get an infection treated...they got the infection just by being in the hospital!

People simply don't realize what government-run healthcare means. In Canada, if you are riding your bike down the sidewalk, fall and somehow manage to tear your ACL...figure on several months' wait before you can get it repaired (how'd you like to walk around with THAT pain for months before you get to start recovery and rehab from the surgery itself!). Currently in the United States if you get a referral from your physician to get an MRI you will likely have it scheduled within days. In Canada's single-payer system the average wait time for an MRI is THREE MONTHS. Neurosurgery services required? It could be a YEAR. Enjoy your carpal tunnel or severe migraines until then.

And don't you dare seek medical help from a private provider or you'll be prosecuted as a criminal. After all, it is ILLEGAL in Canada to spend your own money on healthcare provided by anyone other than the government run healthcare system.

It is simply beyond my comprehension why anyone would think that the government...the most amazing example of eggregious waste and bloat one could find...would somehow magically be able to efficiently and effectively handle something as vitally important as healthcare. There is a reason the United States has been at the forefront of medical innovation for so long, and Universal Healthcare will destroy that advantage.

2008-02-22T07:26:00.001-08:00

Garbage In Garbage Out

Say it isn't so.

Apparently, a quite significant number of the nation's temperature monitor stations are providing unreliable data...data which is being used to bolster claims of Global Warming. This according to Anthony Watts, who is currently in the process fo surveying all 1,221 temperature monitor stations in the U.S. A visit to the effort's website (http://www.surfacestations.org/) will give you more information about the program, including examples of some severely compromised stations.

2008-02-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

Why Buy When You Can Build? - Part II

Here are the materials I used to build my DB4 antenna:

(1) piece of 1/4" pine sheet cut to 16"x30"
(1) short 2x4 (only need about 12")
10' of 12g copper wire
Approx. 3' of romex electrical wire
At least 32" of 18"-wide aluminum foil
(12) 10D x 1" wood screws
(5) 8D x 1-3/4" wood screws
(1) 5' length of 2x2
(1) 300Ohm-to-75Ohm balun (Radio Shack for about $5)
(12) 1/4" washers

And here's how I built it:

Step 1

I marked the centerline of the 16"x30" reflector and then covered the other side with the aluminum foil. As it turns out I got really luck here...I just barely had enough to cover the whole length of the board. I then used duct tape to hold down the edges.

Back of the reflector

Step 2

Measuring along the centerline on the back of the reflector, I very carefully drilled holes for the element mounts every six inches:

|-6-6-6-6-|

I then drilled a hole between the middle two to make a mount for the balun, so the measurements from left to right are:

|-6-6-3-3-6-|

The screw holes along the centerline of the reflector

Step 3

I cut the 2x4 into 2" pieces for the mounts (total dimensions for each piece: 3-1/4" x 1-1/2" x 2"). I then drilled a pilot hole in the center of one 1-1/2" x 2" side for each block. Using the 8D x 1-3/4" screws I connected the five mounts to the reflector. This was rather tricky. I kept the reflector face down on the sawhorses and started the screws through until there was enough poking out the front to catch the holes in the mounts. I then held the mounts in place from the bottom while screwing them down from the top with the drill. What makes it most difficult is that you want the mount to turn as little as possible while it tightens down because twisting can cause the aluminum foil to tear. Fortunately it worked out just fine.

Setting the screws to attach the element mounts on the other side

The element mounts secured to the reflector

Step 4

Once the mounts were secured I needed pilot holes for the screws and washers that would hold the elements and wires in place. The holes need to be far enough apart so that the washers do not touch as this would screw up the reception. I marked in at 5/8" from each side and then drilled so that the inside edge of the pilot hole would be right on the marks. Once drilled, I started a washer and 10D x 1" screw in each of the mounts, with two washers on each of the center screws.

Screws and washers set for the element and balun mounts

Step 5

Before I go any further, I need to mount the reflector to some sort of mast. What you mount it to is entirely up to you and will depend on how you will be using it. The reflector is just that...a reflector. I reflects any signal that might pass through the elements back to them from the other side. It doesn't even have to be solid, as evidenced by the oven-rack style reflector used by the ChannelMaster 4228 to cut down on wind resistance. In fact, many people have built these DIY DB4 antennas using oven racks they bought at the dollar store so that they can mount them outside.

Anyway, my point is that running something as small as a couple 10D screws isn't going to affect anything, so that's how I mounted it to the 2x2 mast. I used 5' of 2x2 knowing that I will be cutting it down shorter once I actually take it up into the attic and find a mount point.

Mounted 2x2 mast. Attached by screws at 9" from each end

Step 6

Now it's time for the wiring. I cut the 12g copper wire into 14" sections for the elements. Each of these sections were then bent into a V at about 26degrees (3" apart at the tip). You can use a variety of different things for this part. Many people use coat hangers which are a little heavier gauge. If you do use them, be sure to use sandpaper to clean off any coating, especially at the contact points near the screws.

The 12g copper wire I used for the elements.

For the wiring between the elements, I stripped the outer coating off the romex electrical wire. I used the unshielded ground and white wires. Whether you leave one of the wires shielded or not is not important, but what is important obviously is that you strip the shielding off where the wire makes contact with the elements. Essentially, what we're doing is assembling two DB2 antennas that connect in the center at the balun, so the wiring for one set of mounts is separate from the other set. This is why the balun is in the center as opposed to on the end where it would seem to be more convenient. The wires need to be long enough to run between two of the mounts and to the middle mount where the balun is, with a crossover in between.

A picture of the crossover from the finished antenna

I can't remember exactly what the purpose is for the crossover, but I do know it is important. It is very important though that neither the washers nor the wires touch, so you need to have some sort of shielding between the wires when they cross over.

To assemble, I ran the wires between the appropriate screws. I then added the copper V elements so that they sit on top of the wire. When they screw down they will maintain contact with the wire.

First set of wires and elements connected

Once the wiring was run and the elements were in place, I tightened down the screws. Now obviously this causes the elements to angle upward since the wires only run under one side, so I simply applied a little pressure to bend them down parallel to the reflector again. I didn't tighten the center mount screws yet because we're going to run the other set of wires and the balun into those first.

Second set of wires and elements connected

Step 7

After running the other set of wires, it's time to attach the balun. For the sake of simplicity, I ran each set of wires so that they met on opposite sides of the center screw.

Balun mount (right) showing the separate sets of wires

When I attached the U connectors on the balun, I laid them in at an angle so that they made connection with both sets of wires.

Balun connections set at an angle to connect with both sets of wires

Balun connected and secured to the balun mount in the middle

When everything was in place, I tightened the screws and made sure everything was secure. That's basically it. We now have our DB4 antenna!

The finished product

A closer look

Testing and Summary

Since I finished this at about 11PM and everyone else was asleep, I didn't really feel like climbing in and out of the attic to test it. Instead, I simply took a 25' length of coax I had in the basement and hooked the antenna up to the TV in our upstairs bedroom. The results varied from channel to channel, but overall there was definitely an improvement. The Toledo stations came through very well, and when I rotated it towards Detroit I got a pretty decent signal from some Detroit stations that were almost 70 miles away!

Now a couple of things to clarify. First, this type of antenna is a UHF antenna. I remember knowing that there was a difference between VHF and UHF when I was a kid, but in the age of cable television and satellite such differences don't get cited often. Basically, your channels up to 13 are VHF, and from there up you're in the UHF range. Most stations that were traditionally in the VHF are moving to UHF as part of the switch over to digital in 2009. So, while I did see decent gains in reception for channels 11 and 13 it wasn't because of design.

Second, the location I tested in...the master bedroom...is not the ideal place for signal reception. The garage roof is on the other side of the east wall and basically runs diagonally across about 2/3 of the wall. If you were to trace the signal path it essentially has to pass through the shingled garage roof at a very severe angle, so the signal reception is adversely affected. The upside to this though is that the eventual mounting pointing the attic has no such obstruction. The signal need only pass through the vinyl siding and plywood wall, which it can do with very little loss.

Third, as I said in my previous post this is a directional antenna. While most of the stations I want are in the same direction, I wouldn't mind having stations out of Detroit. The signal strength from the Detroit stations was not ideal, and depending on where I mount the antenna in the attic I may still have to receive through the shingled roof, which will affect signal strength. If I were hell bent on getting the Detroit stations in HD, I would almost certainly have to mount this externally. Regardless, I have two main options to get signals from different directions. I can either install a rotor (yes...the old rotor like your grandparents had) or I can mount a separate DB4 antenna pointed in a different direction from the first and combine the two signals. The latter is a little more complicated but still by no means impossible. Truth be told, I could tie in a VHF antenna the same way if I still had channels in the VHF range that I wanted.

All in all though the antenna was easy to build and showed a visible improvement in reception even under less than ideal conditions.

Next steps: final mounting and calibration, running RG6 coax and seeing if I need a signal amplifier.

2008-02-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Why Buy When You Can Build? - Part I

OK, so in my dark descent into the world of high definition television it became quickly apparent that I would need an antenna to receive OTA (over the air) high definition television. HD is far less forgiving than analog signal. Living in a remote rural area I'm used to a little snow and ghosting on my 27" analog CRT...you can still make out the picture pretty well and for the most part it's watchable. Well, HDTV is an all-or-nothing proposition. You either get a displayable signal or you don't, and before I blow $2000+ on a 50" 1080p plasma I want to be sure I actually have something to watch on it because I'm not ready yet to plunk down another $50/month for satellite.

So, I spent a great deal of time researching antennas and OTA reception. Because we never put up an antenna when we built the new house, I had to start from scratch. I really wasn't looking forward to the expense of putting up an antenna tower and I was concerned about the potential for wind damage with a roof-mounted antenna because the wind out here is insane. I did have a few things working in my favor though. For starters, looking at a broadcast station search for my area most of the network stations are within about 3 degrees of each other, meaning a directional antenna is feasible. Also, because they are within about 35 miles and I have no obstructions (trees, buildings, etc) in that direction, I should be able to mount the antenna in the attic instead of outside so I won't have to worry about wind or the unsightliness of an external antenna. In fact, mounting it at the east end of the house I don't even have to go through the roof itself, which is important because when it rains a traditional shingled roof will reflect/block a lot of signal.

So, I had decided that I would go on the recommendation of many posters in various technology forums (AVSForum in particular...best site ever for information about everything HDTV) and get a ChannelMaster 4228 antenna. At 39.5" wide I would just be able to get it up through the 2'x3' attic access in the ceiling. However, while asking some questions of the resident experts in the forums, somebody recommended building one myself first since I was concerned about cost. At first I was skeptical and dismissive...until I started reading about the success of people who had done the same thing literally using cardboard, aluminum foil and coat hangers. These people were not only saying the DIY antenna was working...but that in some cases it was working better than the DB2 and DB4 antennas they already had! It wasn't long before I was beginning to make a materials list and collect information on measurements and pointers provided by those in the forums.

Finally, after collecting the few materials I didn't already have on hand, I gave it a shot. In my next post I'll give all the details and pictures of what I built and a summary of my experiences so far with the new antenna.

2008-01-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

An Example of Worldview Affecting Science

I recently watched a video about the Hubble Deep Field, a.k.a "The Most Important Image Ever Taken." The images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope show an incomprehensible magnitude to the universe. Just using the numbers from the video, the Hubble Deep Field view gave us a glimpse at roughly 5 quadrillion stars (that's 5,000,000,000,000,000) in just one small patch of sky. To give you a sense of how small a patch of sky...notice the section zoomed in on at around the 5:00 mark of the above video.

During the narration of the video, a familiar device is used to argue (quite inconsistently) for the existence of other intelligent life in the universe outside of that on Earth. It echoes the argument made by Jodie Foster in the Carl Sagan-inspired movie Contact:

"There are 400 billion stars out there, just in our galaxy alone. If just one
out of a million of those had planets, and just one in a million of those had
life, and just one out of a million of those had intelligent life, there would
be literally millions of civilizations out there."

Forgetting for a moment the unfortunately errant math employed by this fictional lifetime astronomer, the argument is almost always tacked on with the emotional appeal that if there is not life out there it would be "an awful waste of space."

I could not disagree more.

Implicit in the claim that such would be a "waste" is the notion that the sheer relative magnitude of the universe being discussed required an inconceivable amount of resources and efforts to bring about. But for a self-existent eternal God that is simply not the case. In fact, Scripture tells us that God spoke the universe into existence. He said, "Let there be..." and there was.

"But, " you say, "is that not still a waste of the opportunity that all that created universe provides?"

No.

This is where one's worldview really comes into the argument. You have to ask yourself why the universe (or anything at all for that matter) was created in the first place. The Christian would rightly answer that the purpose of all creation is to glorify God. To that end, the fact that a universe as incomprehensibly immense as ours was created simply by the sheer power of God's will certainly shows forth the glory and awesomeness of the Creator. Some would say it is arrogant to believe that something of this magnitude would be created with us as the only intelligent inhabitants. Arrogant how? We didn't create it and we certainly can't take credit for it (though we attempt to deny credit where it's due by our fancy and fallacious atheistic evolutionary theories).

Strictly speaking, what many "scientists" today are attempting to do is take the observed nature or features of the universe and use them as arguments against its being created ex nihilo by a self-existent eternal God. The only POSSIBLE way one could do that is to prove that self-existence and eternality are themselves properties of the universe, which is impossible for them to do.

The magnitude of the universe (as best we can comprehend it in this present age) is constantly used as an argument against a self-existent eternal God. I say that, quite to the contrary, it is one of the strongest arguments in support of such a God and serves all the more to show forth how awesome and glorious He is.

2007-11-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

Baby Survives TWO Abortion Attempts

Not a lot of time to write about it, but there's an amazing story this morning about a twin baby who survived TWO abortion attempts and is now perfectly healthy. The mother and physician were fearful that early indications of abnormalities would not only result in the death of the baby but also in the death of his twin, so they decided to kill one child for the sake of the other.

God had other plans for this child.

2007-10-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Give 'em hell, Ann!

Ann Coulter is in the news again stirring up more trouble :)

Apparently, she had the audacity to state fundamental Christian beliefs in an interview on CNBC's show "The Big Idea" with Donny Deutsch. When asked about what a perfect world would be like for her, she replied in part that everyone would be Christian. As so many in the media do, Deutsch seized upon the "intolerance" of such a view and pressed the issue, at one point implying that her wish for Jews to convert to Christianity was akin to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's desire to "wipe Israel off the face of the earth."

Coulter went on to explain that she didn't want Jews to be wiped out, but rather for them to be "perfected" in becoming Christian. She further elaborated by explaining the fundamental Christian doctrine that Christ came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves: perfectly keep the Law of God. Deutsch (who professes to be a practicing Jew) expressed offense at the notion that Jews are in any way in need of "perfection" at all, and subsequently accused Coulter of Anti-Semitism for her remarks.

Ann, remember the words of Christ: "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." - Matt 5:11-12 (ESV)

It is a fundamental belief of Christianity that all men need Christ for salvation. This of course presents a paradox for liberals who call for religious tolerance yet refuse to tolerate this religious beliefs. Continuing evidence that religious pluralism and "tolerance" are fundamentally at odds with Christianity. Christians can and should live peaceably with all men insomuch as they can, but when peace requires sacrifice or compromise of fundamental belief there can be no such peace...Christians must rise up to defend the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

God bless you, Ms. Coulter.

2007-10-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

Bringing "Currency" to Things

OK, it's been awhile since I've posted anything, largely because work and personal life have not permitted me much time. Of course, that hasn't stopped the world from turning :)

Among the articles that caught my attention today is a British judge's ruling that Al Gore's pseudo-scientific fantasy film An Inconvenient Truth cannot be shown in schools without government "guidance notes." The ruling comes in response to a suit filed by a concerned school parent which labelled the film as containing "serious scientific inaccuracies, political propaganda and sentimental mush." According to the article, the judge ruled that showing the film without government guidance notes would "breach education laws prohibiting the promotion of unbalanced political viewpoints."

At least the English have some sense! :)

Meanwhile, it appears things have indeed been set in motion to move the United States further down the path of integration with its neighbors to the north and south. The most recent (and most public) proof of this came in an interview with Former Mexican President Vincente Fox by Larry King. According to Fox, an agreement had been reached between Fox and President Bush to pursue the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), which in part called for a regional currency similar to the euro to be used throughout the Western Hemisphere.

There is of course speculation that the recent devaluation of the dollar is intentional, and that in part it could be a move being made to pave the way for a "more stable" regional currency.

Folks, if we move to regional currency we move towards regional governance. Plain and simple. Between the illegal immigrant crisis and the constant (and somewhat clandestine) move towards regional economic and political governance, there is no doubt that the future sovereignty of the Unites States of America is in jeopardy.

2007-07-03T05:45:00.000-07:00

Another Leader in Homosexual Community Now Straight

I don't write often about homosexuality. I probably should write more given how much media and political attention that sinful lifestyle garners. I've had gay friends in the past (after all, I have been involved in music and theater) and I've never "bashed" anyone or shunned them for being gay. But the fact is that as a Christian I have clear and immovable beliefs that homosexuality is a sin and Scripture leaves little room for a practicing homosexual to enter the Kingdom. This isn't something that makes me happy. I don't take joy in acknowledging or proclaiming that fact, but as a disciple of Jesus Christ I cannot compromise truth.

A well-known activist in the gay community and former editor of Young Gay America magazine, Michael Glatze, has recently announced that he has left the homosexual lifestyle and become a heterosexual. This comes at a time when there is a major push to further entrench homosexuality as "normal" by forcing the acceptance of homosexual marriage and other such "rights." Given the way the liberal media responds to anyone who stands in the way of the gay agenda, I truly feel for Mr. Glatze, who will no doubt be the recipient of some of the most venomous slander the gay establishment can muster. Just ask Charlene Cothran (see this AfterEllen.com article and the comments on this blog for examples). No doubt the liberal media will bury Michael's story, if they report it at all, in favor of anyone they can find who has "come out."

What this really does is further reinforce the fact that homosexuality is in fact a choice. There's a sense in people are "born that way" by virtue of the fact that we are born sinners with the potential for all manner of evil, but our sins are nevertheless a willful acts...ones for which we bear responsibility. Both Charlene and Michael attest to the fact that they've always known somewhere inside that homosexuality is "not what God intended for us."

In a time where morality is in increasing decline and Christian values are under constant assault, it is very encouraging to see men and women publicly step out of the bondage of homosexuality and proclaim the freedom from sin that salvation in Christ provides. May He encourage and strengthen Charlene, Michael and the many others who have left the homosexual lifestyle as they endure the ridicule and slander of those who once proclaimed their "wisdom."

2007-06-28T15:39:00.001-07:00

Coulter Clears It Up

Just as a quick follow up to my last post, Ann Coulter wrote a column today expressing her weariness of being exploited by hypocritical liberals bent on lying.

You can read the column here.

What really stood out to me was how little of Coulter's usual shtick there is in this column. Oh, she still gets her digs in, but many of them are unusually subtle and it is clear from the tone of the article that Ann is more than a little ****ed off.

Anyway, we'll see how long it is before she's further misquoted.

2007-06-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

Slander

Never let it be said that one can't profit from lies. Just ask Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards (and his wife). With some sixteen months to go before the election, Edwards is already turning (again) to one of his favorite sources of income, conservative commentator and columnist Ann Coulter.

Ms Edwards called in on Chris Matthews' MSNBC show Hardball while Coulter was being interviewed and confronted her with allegations of "hate speech," citing specifically comments made by Coulter on Good Morning America the day before (we'll get to those comments in a second). I've read several articles about the incident on GMA as well as Ms Edwards' rather ridiculous phone call. Nearly every single one presents it as Ms Coulter saying she wished Edwards would die in a terrorist attack. No context given; just a factual statement that Coulter wants Edwards dead.

So is it true that Coulter really said she wishes John Edwards had been killed in a terrorist attack? Let's hear her comments in their context:

So Coulter's comments were clearly in reference to Bill Maher's comments that if the terrorist attempt on Vice President Dick Cheney's life had been successful "people wouldn't be needlessly dying." In other words, she was exposing the hypocrisy of liberals in their giving other liberals a pass to say almost anything but railing against conservatives when they essentially say the same thing.

Of course, this didn't stop the Edwards campaign from posting the clip on YouTube...without its context...as a campaign ad:

And thus the liberals once again unwittingly proved Coulter's point in a blatant display of hypocrisy. Just as they did with Coulter's comments regarding Edwards and the word "faggot," which were (as she clearly explained) a joke in reference to actor Isaiah Washington "going to rehab" after making disparaging remarks about his homosexual costar on the show Grey's Anatomy. (I agree with Ann about the absurdity of equating an insult to serious problems like drug addiction to the extent that "rehab" is needed, and in that context her jab at Edwards was both funny and effective.)

Ann's formula is tried and true: make a joke (usually involving Edwards...an easy target), using similar comments to those made recently by a tasteless liberal, and it sends everyone in an uproar. Watch them foam at the mouth like lunatics, unleashing the liberal media machine on her. Then let conservatives, one by one, expose the hypocrisy of these liberals to all their liberal friends.

2007-06-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Redistribution of Wealth

I just get done researching that outrageous pharmacy bill and what do I see? An article by the Washington Post detailing a Democrat plan to impose a 4.3% surtax on the richest households.

Among the brilliant comments in this article:

"There is consensus to make sure that we have some responsible tax policy that will also treat taxpayers fairly." - Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)

How exactly is this fair to the 2% (roughly 6,000,000 people) of Americans who are being targeted for higher taxation for no other reason than that they make more money than others?

Basically, the federal government stepped on its own nuts by not accounting for inflation in the Alternative Minimum Tax, and so a tax law that was intended to stop a very small number of wealthy individuals from escaping any taxation through loopholes and deductions is now beginning to hurt a lot more citizens who fall into normal tax categories. But rather than come up with an improved version or an new law which closes those loopholes, Democrats are instead looking at it as an opportunity to redistribute wealth like the good little socialists they are. They're engaging in typical class warfare rhetoric, trying to pass themselves off as Robin Hood as though the wealthy have stolen their money from the little guy and the Democrats are just heroically returning it.

It's very telling that some of them are wanting to postpone action on this to give them enough time to "educate" the masses about this issue. IOW, they want to have plenty of time to spin this into another faux-populist "we care about the working people" move by lying through their teeth in saying that they care about cutting taxes. This move doesn't cut taxes, it redistributes the tax burden from one group of people to another based on nothing but their income level. Shift it one way and it's "unfairly targeting people based on their income." Shift it the other, and it's "fair."

2007-06-08T05:39:00.000-07:00

Ethical Phramacists Targeted

A Democrat effort is now underway to turn pharmacies into abortofacient vending machines.

Two Democrat Congresspersons from NY and NJ (go figure!) have introduced a bill that, among other things, would fine pharmacists up to $500,000 for acting out of ethical duty in refusing to dispense drugs which they feel may not be safe or appropriate for the customer.

Let me repeat that last part again...for the customer.

Though pharmacies are subject to some federal regulations because of the nature of the products they dispense, they are a business just like any other. Setting aside for a moment the issue of the abortofacients this bill is really meant to protect, this is a clear case of government once again trying to tell businesses how they must be run (which is ludicrous considering how poorly the federal government is run). Government has no right to tell a business they must either stock and sell a particular product or give them the information on how to purchase it from one of their competitors.

Of course, the real reason behind this measure is to ensure that abortofacients like the Plan B or "morning-after pill" are freely available regardless of whether or not a professional pharmacist believes the product to be hazardous or unethical. The issue is being cast as one of women's health and constitutional rights.

"Access to birth control is a women's health issue, a private matter and a constitutional right. No one – not pharmacists, politicians, or religious leaders – should be able to tamper with that right," co-sponsor Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) said.

I would like Ms. Maloney to show me in the Constitution of the United States of America where exactly access to birth control is a protected right. Utilization of preventative birth control may be a federally protected right, but access to it via consumer products most certainly is not. But abortion proponents such as NOW President Kim Gandy continue to paint this as an issue of "basic healthcare" and call any who dares refuse to dispense the "morning-after pill" abortofacient "religious and political extremists" engaged in an "all-out attack on birth control in this country."

In reality, a pharmacist is a professionally trained person who operates under a code of ethics just like a doctor, but that doesn't stop the bill's sponsors and supporters from politicizing their decisions.

"A pharmacist's personal beliefs should not come between a patient and their doctor," said co-sponsor Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). "Tomorrow it might be painkillers for a cancer patient. Next year it could be medicine that prolongs the life of a person with AIDS or some other terminal disease."

Typical liberal demagoguery. A phramacists professional and ethical opinion necessarily comes between a patient and their doctor. Otherwise there would be no need for professional pharmacists.

This quote by Lautenberg really gets me: "Pharmacies have an ethical and legal obligation not to endanger women's health by withholding basic health care."

First of all, no matter how many times this lie is offered, birth control is NOT basic health care. Any medication which is elective in nature cannot possibly fall under the category of "basic health care." They make it sound as though these people will keel over and die if they don't take their birth control pill or fix the mistake they made the night before.

Second, these pharmacists have an ethical and legal obligation not to endanger anyone's health. Period. What this legislation is attempting to do is REMOVE the pharmacist's ability to act according to their professional and ethical views. As Concerned Women for America rightly points out, "This bill would force pharmacists to distribute the controversial morning-after pill, … trampling on any professional or ethical concerns."

Make no mistake about it. This is yet another in a long line of legislative efforts to continue promoting convenience over responsibility and perpetuate the culture of death in this country.

2007-05-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

Home Schoolers Continue to Excel

Once again, a homeschooled child has risen to the top in a national competition. On Wednesday, Caitlin Snaring became the first girl to win the National Geography Bee in 17 years. She never missed a single question throughout the entire competition, and she credits her homeschooling with giving her the advantage.

Fortunately, she didn't scream out the final answer a la Rebecca Sealfon (and thereby give the media another chance to take a cheap shot at homeschooling).

2007-05-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Planned Parenthood Sued (Again)

With abortion once again coming to the forefront, the nation's number one provider of murder-on-demand, Planned Parenthood, is being sued by several parties. One of the latest comes as the result of an investigation done by a student reporter at UCLA which resulted in a video of abortion workers willfully and knowingly covering up a case of statutory rape.

Not that this should be surprising. Planned Parenthood has been doing this for years. After all...the ability to continue promoting the Culture of Death by allowing people the convenience of killing a child on a whim is infinitely more important to them than concerns about the law or the actual health or well-being of the mother.

I dare say you won't hear any Democrat Presidential candidates commenting on this one...

2007-04-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

Reductio ad absurdum? How about ad nauseum...

The basic goal of a reductio ad absurdum ("reduction to the absurd") argument is to take someone's position and find an extreme example that would bring about an "absurd" result if the same logic is applied. This can be an acceptable argument so long as the logic is being applied in a consistent manner and all relevant factors are taken into account.

A common argument used to attack just about any legislation restricting or outlawing abortion is that of the case of rape or incest. This is employed as a reductio ad absurdum by appealing to an extreme circumstance. Are rape and incest horrible crimes? Absolutely, and so the argument goes that because the pregnancy is the result of this horrible crime those vitcims should have the right to deal with it in the manner they see fit. This argument is made over and over again every time abortion legislation comes up. When a little logic is applied to the situation however, we'll see that this argument relies on emotion rather than reason.

I recently came across an interesting article written following South Dakota's landmark law in 2006 banning all abortions except those necessary to save the lift of the mother. The article was written by Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, and dealt with the topic of why abortion bans shouldn’t include exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

The fundamental question that is raised by the issue of such cases is, "What makes the case different from other cases where abortion is ostensibly forbidden?" The answer has nothing to do with the child whose life will be terminated, but rather the circumstances under which the child was conceived. In other words, the child is condemned to be the victim in the termination of his or her life because the mother was herself a victim in the conception of it.

The article puts it this way:

Since the law does not permit a victim to aid her recovery by killing her rapist, why should the law permit her to kill the innocent unborn child? If aborting the child will aid in the woman’s recovery, why not permit her to kill the child at any age?

To do so is to make the child suffer for the crime committed by his or her father. It is why:

We do not permit a parent of a murdered child to kill the child of the murderer.
We do not permit a victim of robbery to steal from the robber’s child.
We do not permit a victim of arson to burn the home of the arsonist’s child.

Somehow, the morality and sense of justice that is so obvious when considering these questions escapes many when the same principles are applied to the pre-born child.

To be sure, cases of rape and incest are terrible for the woman. However, I cannot see the justification for terminating the life of an innocent child because of it. It only compounds the crime by making the innocent child suffer for the sins of the guilty father. As the article points out, many studies have shown that those victims who do carry their pregnancies do not regret it and that their child actually "brought peace and healing to their lives."

So when it comes down to it, while the argument for rape/incest exceptions attempts to make a strong case on emotion grounds, it really ignores both the emotional and legal results. Killing an innocent child will not undo the crime that was done to the mother. All it will do is repond to one crime with another.

2007-04-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Great Quote

I haven't really commented much on the Virginia Tech shootings last week, mainly because though I find them tragic and heartbreaking I don't find them surprising at all. In a recent article, Chuck Norris (of all people) had the following to say about our collective culpability in this tragedy:

We teach our children they are nothing more than glorified apes, yet we don't expect them to act like monkeys. We place our value in things, yet expect our children to value people. We disrespect one another, but expect our children to respect others. We terminate children in the womb, but are surprised when children outside the womb terminate other children. We push God to the side, but expect our children to be godly. We've abandoned moral absolutes, yet expect our children to obey the universal commandment, ''Thou shalt not murder.''

I could not have said it better. As a society we reap what we sow, and we've sown a lot of ugly the past forty years.

2007-04-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

Fighting for Survival

A recent study found that roughly 1 in 30 babies aborted for medical reasons are born alive. The procedure typically involves taking a series of tablets which alter the behavior of the womb lining and then trigger contractions and miscarriage. The death of the baby is typically the result of the trauma of premature birth, but in many cases the baby is born alive. Needless to say, there are rarely any heroic efforts involved in keeping the baby, now a fully protected human being by law, alive. In fact, babies past roughly 22 weeks are often given a lethal injection directly into their heart to ensure they are dead before the tablets trigger delivery.

According to the article, doctors are currently treating a three-year-old child that is still alive after "three botched terminations." Because the study was only focused on cases of abortion as the result of disability, the fact that the majority of abortions are for non-medical reasons leads one to wonder just how many babies are surviving these attempts to end their lives.

The article also contains one story I want to share as written:

Thirty years ago, Gianna Jessen's mother had an abortion when seven-and-a-half months pregnant.
The abortion failed and, 18 hours later, Gianna (pictured) was born alive.

She suffered cerebral palsy as a result of the botched abortion, yet has defied doctors' predictions that she would never walk.
In fact she has run a marathon, is an accomplished singer and writer and travels the world to campaign against abortion.
Her mother was 17 when she decided to have the abortion. Weighing 2lbs when she was born, she spent several months in hospital fighting for her life, before being placed in a foster home.
Her cerebral palsy, which was caused by her brain being starved of oxygen during the abortion, was diagnosed at 17 months old. Doctors said she would never be able to crawl or even sit-up unaided, much less stand or walk.
Now, after several operations and years of physiotherapy she has proved them wrong. Gianna does not know why her natural mother chose to abort her.
She said: "If abortion is about women's rights, then what were my rights?
"No decision is solely yours to make. All decisions affect another human being - whether it is for good or for ill.
"If people are going to talk about abortion, then it's important for them to know that these babies can be born alive and survive."

2007-04-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

A Victory for Life!

The Supreme Court of the United States of America got one right for a change! In a 5-4 split, they voted to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act as Constitutional. While it's very narrow in their focus, laws like this one and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act are a positive step towards protecting the right to life of the unborn.

Naturally, as the 2008 Presidential Election is building, several candidates have made public statements regarding the ruling:

"I could not disagree more strongly with today's Supreme Court decision. The ban upheld by the Court is an ill-considered and sweeping prohibition that does not even take account for serious threats to the health of individual women. This hard right turn is a stark reminder of why Democrats cannot afford to lose the 2008 election. Too much is at stake - starting with, as the Court made all too clear today, a woman's right to choose." - John Edwards

Sweeping prohibition? Hardly. The bill does not prevent abortion at any stage of pregnancy. It merely outlaws a particular method of abortion, namely the brutal and unconscionable act of partially delivering a living child, inserting a catheter into the back of his/her head and removing the contents of his/her skull. But ultra-liberals like Mr. Edwards want to protect the "right" do to this under the Constitution. Mr. Edwards also flat out lies about its provisions for "the health of individual women." The PBABA still allows for the method in cases where it is necessary to save the mother's life.

"This decision marks a dramatic departure from four decades of Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose and recognized the importance of women's health. Today's decision blatantly defies the Court's recent decision in 2000 striking down a state partial-birth abortion law because of its failure to provide an exception for the health of the mother. As the Supreme Court recognized in Roe v. Wade in 1973, this issue is complex and highly personal; the rights and lives of women must be taken into account. It is precisely this erosion of our constitutional rights that I warned against when I opposed the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito." - Hillary Clinton

Funny how "departure from past rulings" is decried when it's convenient to one's views. By such rationale, these people should oppose many of the civil rights rulings earlier in this century. Then there is the "health of the mother" exception. The exceptions being referred to here are so broad as to not serve as exceptions at all, but rather measures designed to ensure that a abortions would never fall outside them. The "stress" involved in gaining weight from pregnancy falls under such a definition (lest the "mental health" of the woman be adversely affected and she be forced to deal with the consequences of her actions). Last, we have the invocation of the Stenberg v Carhart case of 2000 where the Supreme Court struck down (by a 5-4 split vote) a Nebraska law banning partial-birth abortions in the state. Conveniently, Hillary ignores the fact that the majority opinion in that case made it clear that it sought to give blanket protection to any woman who sought an abortion in the second trimester even in the absence of pre-existing maternal or fetal health problem. Moreover, the definition of "partial-birth abortion" is much more specific in the PBABA, and the bill itself contains data from five years' worth of Congressional investigation and hearings which find that partial-birth abortion is not only NOT necessary to preserve "health" but also poses a much higher risk to the woman than other methods.

"I strongly disagree with today’s Supreme Court ruling, which dramatically departs from previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women. As Justice Ginsburg emphasized in her dissenting opinion, this ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman’s medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient. I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman's right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and a matter of equal rights for women. " - Barack Obama

Boy it this a telling statement. Last time I checked the Constitution of the United States of America, Mr. Obama, establishing federal law is not in the job description of the Judicial Branch. All Obama is doing is lamenting the fact that conservatives are (at least in his view) beating liberals at their own game by using the judiciary to enact law. Of course, that's not the case at all. This act was lawfully passed, and upon being asked to review it by the angry anti-lifers the Court upheld it as constitutional.

And how in the world is this an issue of "equal rights for women?" I'm pretty sure I, as a man, don't have the "right" to a partial-birth abortion that women are allegedly being unconstitutionally deprived of. Of course, we won't be concerned with the "equal rights" of children who are literally inches from birth. No...we're much more concerned with the ability of a woman to kill a living child in a non-life-threatening situation. Even English "common law," which was cited by the Court in Roe v Wade as the historical basis used in the definition of personhood (defined therein as being at the point of "quickening" when the baby begins to move inside the mother's womb), would not account for this procedure and I GUARANTEE even the liberal justices who rendered the 1973 decision would have upheld this piece of legislation.

John Edwards is right about one thing...this raises important issues for the upcoming election. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone who would put politics ahead of ethics to the point of supporting one of the most heinous and deplorable medical procedures ever performed on defenseless human beings.

2007-04-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Stem Cell Cure for Diabetics

Another medical breakthrough has been made with the aid of stem cells, and once again it involves the non-embryonic variety!

Thirteen out of the fifteen people who participated in this trial, which utilizes stem cells drawn from their own blood, no longer have to endure daily insulin shots to control their Type 1 diabetes. The results of the trial have scientists very optimistic about the possiblity of a "cure" for Type 1 diabetes in the next decade.

Of course, the article still laments the opposition to embryonic stem cell research by implying that we are missing out on so many major cures because we choose the ethical path of preserving life. By the rationale being used, we should start conducting medical trials on the comatose, invalids, etc since humans are the best and most accurate test subjects for developing cures for human diseases, right?

Still, this trial stands as yet another example of medical advancements from stem cell research that does not depend on the destruction of life.

2007-04-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

More Global Warming in the News I didn't have much time today to comment, so I'll just leave you with these articles... CEO Lashes Out at Gore: 'He is more dangerous than his global warming'... William F. Buckley: Business of Global Warming Feels a Lot Like Inquisition... DiCaprio: 'We find ourselves on the brink. It's clear humans have had a devastating impact on our planet's ecological web of life'...Global warming hits Mars too: study... Gore booed, heckled by students at Canadian University - Protesters shouted: 'What about your swimming pools?'... Republicans demand investigation of U.N. climate-change agency...

2007-04-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

Another Stem Cell Breakthrough

A British team has announced that they successfully grew a human heart valve using stem cells. Trials will begin soon with animals to test the viability of the valves, and if all goes well they could begin work on using these valves for the thousands of patients out there with valve-related heart problems.

What equally interests me in this article is what is glossed over: the fact that once again scientific breakthroughs have been made using non-embryonic stem cells. To date, all the major advancements derived from stem cells have been using non-embryonic stem cells, and new advancements are constantly being made.

This latest advancement simply reinforces the fact that we can continue to use ethical science (that does not rely upon conceived human beings as cell farms) to improve our health and quality of life.

2007-03-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

Are You Smarter Than a Sixth Grader?

It's good to know that some kids are still being taught to think critically for themselves, and the result was a jury of sixth graders concluding that human beings don't cause global warming.

There are so many wonderful things in this article that need to be pointed out.

First, and most timely, is the heated exchange at the climax of the trial. Whereas those defending Global Warming Alarmism "slapped" cute charts onto the prosecution's table and blustered loudly, "We've proven you wrong!" the prosecution simply gave a rational rebuttal to an emotional argument by pointing out that the data was unreliable when taken out of its context.

Second is what followed the first point: the rational argument won the day.

Third is the fact that the teacher and his assistant, who held views against and for Global Warming Alarmism respectively, presented the issue objectively to the class and allowed them to make their own decision based on the facts. It's much more often the case that one side is presented as fact while the other is presented as a competing and untenable theory (if it's presented at all).

Fourth is the obvious concern of one parent over what their child was being taught, to the extent that they were willing to restrict their child's participation if the issue was going to be taught unobjectively.

And of course the final point is that this teacher, in addition to rejecting the religion of Global Warming Alarmism also rejects the religion of Darwinian Evolution. He's a teacher after my own heart :)

2007-03-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

Another Reason I Love Ann Coulter

Many people, even conservatives, really dislike Ann Coulter for her unabashedly harsh and direct tone. Say what you will about her, she's usually dead on with what she says even if you disagree with the way she says it.

On the heels of Pope Gore's appearance before Congress to further prosyletize on behalf of the Church of Global Warming, Ms. Coulter mused upon one of my (obviously) favorite themes: that Global Warming has taken on religious aspects. Of course, she couldn't miss an opportunity to point out a proportional growth between Gore's liberal influence and his physical girth.

Among the other gems from Ann was a brilliant comparison of Gore's hypocrisy in his own energy usage to the abusive practices of the medieval Catholic Church:

"As has been widely reported, Gore's Tennessee mansion consumes 20 times the energy of the average home in that state. But it's OK, according to the priests of global warming. Gore has purchased 'carbon offsets.'
It took the Catholic Church hundreds of years to develop corrupt practices such as papal indulgences. The global warming religion has barely been around for 20 years, and yet its devotees are allowed to pollute by the simple expedient of paying for papal indulgences called 'carbon offsets.'"

Comparing "carbon offsets" to papal indulgences brought a huge smile to my face because it is so incredibly appropriate. The notion is that you can do whatever you want and then buy your way out of it. And of course the Church is the keeper of the "treasury of merit" in this case. The further comparisons to the historical Catholic Church alone make this article an entertaining read.

2007-03-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

Catching Up on Global Warming

I've been very busy lately, so it's been difficult to keep up with all the Global Warming news. I had half a dozen draft blog posts that I'm just going to merge into one big update.

First, and perhaps funniest, is an article from back around Valentine's Day warning of the dire consequences of Planet-Killing Roses. That's right...Global Warming Alarmists are now tracking "flower miles" and decrying the evil means of commerce used to deliver them.

Next we have the unexpectedly straightforward admission that balance and objectivity hurt the acceptance of Global Warming. According to Mr. Gore, the mainstream media have chosen "balance as bias." Rather than just accepting the Global Warming Whopper hook, line and stinker, the media is actually doing it's job by reporting both sides of the story. That continues to be a foreign concept to ultra-liberals like Gore.

Canada's National Post has a series entitled Climate Change: The Deniers (gee...which side do they fall on?) which in one segment details the 'defection' of French Socialist Claude Allegre, one of the first scientists to sound the alarm on Global Warming who now sees it as "over-hyped and an environmental concern of second rank."

Life Style Extra posted an interesting review of a new documentary called The Great Global Warming Swindle which challenges the persistent and misleading claims of Global Warming Alarmists. The article describes the documentary as "essentially a polemic... [expected] to cause trouble" and quotes scientists who refers to Global Warming Alarmism as "almost a McCarthyism movement in science where the greenhouse effect is like a puritanical religion." Amen!

In keeping with that theme, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus recently declared environmentalism a religion that "seeks to reorganize the world order as well as social behavior and value systems worldwide." Former climatology professor Timothy Ball would agree, having received at least five death threads for being a Global Warming Denier. He for one is tired of being compared to Holocaust deniers, which he calls "an obscenity...really nasty and personal."

And finally, just recently scientists have continued to speak out and add to the growing skepticism of Global Warming Alarmism. Researchers at esteemed places such as the Niels Bohr Institute cast doubt on the "global temperature" as a "concept [that] is thermodynamically as well as mathematically an impossibility" and basically describes it as an average without any real meaning. Meanwhile, other scientists are decrying the use of Hollywood fear-mongering to increase public concern over Global Warming, and (predictably and hypocritically) it was revealed that a scientist who claimed the Bush Administration muzzled him has done over 1400 interview opportunities to spread his Alarmist views.

Global Warming has definitely become the current battle ground for socialist liberalism, and I shudder to think what's going to happen should one of these radicals be put in the Oval Office next year.

2007-03-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

Just Another Reminder...

The liberal community went nearly apoplectic when Ann Coulter used the "f-word" (no, not that one...the term used as a substitute for "gay") in a recent speech. The Human Rights Campaign went ballistic. The people at GLAAD tore their rainbow robes. Many liberal bloggers decried it as vile and organized a campaign to get companies to pull their ads from Ms Coulter's site.

Only one little problem here. As it turns out, many of these folks have used the very same term on their sites and elsewhere and have gotten away with it.

Just another reminder of the double standard you will always see with liberals when it comes to dealing with conservatives vs dealing with their own.

2007-02-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Opening Day for Cameron; More Gore Hypocrisy

Today is the day James Cameron will unveil the coffins of Jesus, Mary and Mary Magdalene ("Jesus' wife"). Or so the story goes.

Cameron is billing this as "one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time" in advance of his Discovery Channel documentary, The Lost Tomb of Christ. Except that his findings aren't so much the result of archaeology as of moviemaker pseudo-science. The coffins were found some 27 years ago. The Israeli Antiquities Authority (who certainly have a vested interest in anything which disproves the Messiaship of Jesus Christ) stated at the time that there was little cause for interest because the names were so common at that time in history. According to the article, "a connection to the holy family was not made until 15 years later, when a film crew stumbled across the collection in a storeroom."

That's right. Archaeologists pretty much agreed then that there wasn't anything of interest...but then the "Reel Experts" arrived on the scene and saw an opportunity for a big story. Forget the fact that the same names had been found in other tombs before, or that Jesus' family were Galileeans with no real ties at all to Jerusalem (and therefore no reason to have been buried there). Never let facts get in the way of a good story (right Michael Moore?).

Fortunately, the real experts still agree that the idea "fails to hold up by archaeological standards" and regard Cameron's work as nothing more than an attempt to make money.

Just as with every other fraudulent, overzealous claim of proof against the Word of God, this too will eventually be exposed and summarily forgotten while the next one is sought out and brought forth.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Gore's unsurprising Oscar win last night the Tennessee Center for Policy Research issued an interesting little press release showing that the Global Warming Alarmist Extraordinaire consumes more electricity in a month than the average American household uses in an entire year. As expected, the liberal elitist expects you all to do all you can to conserve energy and reduce consumption while he uses 20 times the national average per year of electricity.

If I'm the equivalent of a Holocast Denier for my refusal to buy the pseudo-science of Global Warming, I should think that makes Mr. Gore a dirty war profiteer.

2007-02-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

Gore: The Michael Moore of 2006

It's really too bad that Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, isn't properly categorized for what it truly is: science fiction. I'm certainly not the only person who knows that Gore's documentary has no real basis in scientific fact. But that didn't stop Michael Moore from getting all sorts of ridiculous praise for his conspiratorial liberal hit-piece, Farhenheit 911, which pushed even his bounds for credibility.

No doubt that many, including Gore himself, will take an Oscar as some sort of validation for his unscientific alarmist liberal propoganda. After all, he's never met a liberal soapbox opportunity he didn't like.

2007-02-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

The Next Wave

Despite the enormous financial success of The Passion of the Christ almost three years ago, last year proved that an anti-Christian movie like The Da Vinci Code could also pull in some serious dough (to the tune of over $200 million). Unsurprisingly, more people are jumping on the anti-Christian bandwagon, the latest being James Cameron who is preparing a documentary claiming Jesus wasn't resurrected.

There is little doubt that this is a direct attempt to undermine Christianity. The Apostle Paul makes this abundantly clear:

"And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ,
whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied." - 1 Cor 15:14-19 (ESV)

Without the resurrection of Christ, there is no Christianity. So it is no surprise at all that an unbelieving world would continue to launch attacks at this foundational doctrine. As it is, the last 150 years have seen postmodern liberalism slowly chip away at denominations preaching a false gospel that denies the deity of Christ and the historical reality of His resurrection.

Over the centuries, the science of archaeology has, despite numerous attempts from members of that field to let their personal philosophical and religious views affect and infect their work, overwhelmingly supported the biblical record time and again. There is in fact not a single thing in the Scriptures which has been proven false by archaeology. I doubt many even within the Christian community realize this, and if they did it would have them a lot more prepared for the publicity and open hostility to Christians and Christianity that is sure to come in the wake of Cameron's film.

2007-02-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

Another Clinton Benefitting from Republican Economics?

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article on the current state of the US economy and the fact that the spending deficit is rapidly shrinking. Apparently, the increased tax revenue being generated by the overall strength of the economy is quickly erasing the budget defecits and projections are beginning to show coming surpluses.

Something you would never hear on the evening news of course is the fact that we are now in our sixth year of economic expansion. If that term sounds familiar, it's because it we were constantly reminded during the late 1990's of the fact that "President Clinton presided over the longest economic expansion in American history." Well, that economic expansion was the result of President Reagan's fiscal policies in the 1980's, and the only thing that kept that expansion from spanning both decades was the misguided economic planning of the first Bush Administration. President Clinton's tax-and-spend policies had little to do with the decline in the deficit of the early 90's.

So of course, we're now sitting in the middle of another economic expansion, born out of President Bush's "irresponsible" tax cuts in his first term, and just about the time the next Democrat is elected to the White House (I see little thusfar to lead me to believe a Republican can win thanks to the liberal media and the general lack of true conservative candidates) I'm sure we'll suddenly hear all about the progress the economy is making now that a Democrat is in office again.

2007-02-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

An Inconvenient Irony

I could hardly contain the laughter when I read these two snippets from Drudge this morning:

HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM HEARING NOTICE Tue Feb 13 2007 19:31:25 ET The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”

and even better...

Maryville Univ. in St. Louis area cancelling screening of Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' because of a snowstorm... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

2007-02-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

Voices of Dissent from India, Colorado

Scientists in India have now added their names to the list of Global Warming Deniers, stating that "the issue of glacial retreat is being sensationalised by a few individuals."

Among the many attempts to bolster support of Global Warming Alarmism was the claim of the retreat of glaciers in the Himilayan ranges. The problem is that of the 9,575 glaciers in the Indian Himilayas, only 50...barely one half of one percent...have actually been the subject if individualized research. With respect to those 50, leading glaciologist VK Raina says that "nearly 200 years data has shown that nothing abnormal has occurred in any of these glaciers." Many other scientists from that area are agreeing with Raina's view as well.

Lest they be slandered by the Alarmists with the usual lies, the article goes on to describe how little pay these scientists receive, especially compared to those of other countries who are more vocally in support of Global Warming Alarmism. In other words, these scientists have no reason at all to state anything other than what they actually are observing. The same could hardly be said for "Hollywood" Al Gore and his militant Global Warming Alarmists.

2007-02-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

Dixie Chicks Just Don't Get It

I haven't heard the Dixie Chicks' latest album, Taking the Long Way. You know...the one that swept the Grammy's this past weekend. I kinda liked the Dixie Chicks' music back when I first heard it. Then Natalie Maines decided to open her mouth in front of people and start talking about politics. I don't agree with what she said or the way she said it, so I stopped listening to her music. And according to her and many others, that is "unfair and unjust." In fact, some are saying that the decision by country music stations to stop playing their music is "not very American."

That leaves little doubt as to what side of the spectrum they hail from. Apparently, free speech is only free speech if you don't have any consequences at all. It doesn't seem to ever have occurred to Ms. Maines that freedom of speech does not mean freedom of responsibility for your words. You are free to say whatever you wish, but your words "can and will be used against you" in the court of public opinion. The Dixie Chicks do not have a divine right to have their music played over the airways, and therefore it is not "unjust" for stations to pull their music once they begin expressing their political opinions.

The Dixie Chicks are today's poster child for the entitlement mentality that is eating away at this country, and it goes hand in hand with the liberal drive to turn this democratic republic into a socialist state.

2007-02-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

Not the only one questioning Gore's sanity(A bit of a delay on this one, but that's what happens when I don't check my drafts)

Posted on DrudgeReport 2/12/07: President of Czech Republic Calls Man-Made Global Warming a 'Myth' - Questions Gore's Sanity Mon Feb 12 2007 09:10:09 ET Czech president Vaclav Klaus has criticized the UN panel on global warming, claiming that it was a political authority without any scientific basis. In an interview with "Hospodárské noviny", a Czech economics daily, Klaus answered a few questions: Q: IPCC has released its report and you say that the global warming is a false myth. How did you get this idea, Mr President?• A: It's not my idea. Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so. It is not fair to refer to the U.N. panel. IPCC is not a scientific institution: it's a political body, a sort of non-government organization of green flavor. It's neither a forum of neutral scientists nor a balanced group of scientists. These people are politicized scientists who arrive there with a one-sided opinion and a one-sided assignment. Also, it's an undignified slapstick that people don't wait for the full report in May 2007 but instead respond, in such a serious way, to the summary for policymakers where all the "but's" are scratched, removed, and replaced by oversimplified theses.• This is clearly such an incredible failure of so many people, from journalists to politicians. If the European Commission is instantly going to buy such a trick, we have another very good reason to think that the countries themselves, not the Commission, should be deciding about similar issues.• Q: How do you explain that there is no other comparably senior statesman in Europe who would advocate this viewpoint? No one else has such strong opinions...• A: My opinions about this issue simply are strong. Other top-level politicians do not express their global warming doubts because a whip of political correctness strangles their voice. • Q: But you're not a climate scientist. Do you have a sufficient knowledge and enough information?• A: Environmentalism as a metaphysical ideology and as a worldview has absolutely nothing to do with natural sciences or with the climate. Sadly, it has nothing to do with social sciences either. Still, it is becoming fashionable and this fact scares me. The second part of the sentence should be: we also have lots of reports, studies, and books of climatologists whose conclusions are diametrally opposite.• Indeed, I never measure the thickness of ice in Antarctica. I really don't know how to do it and don't plan to learn it. However, as a scientifically oriented person, I know how to read science reports about these questions, for example about ice in Antarctica. I don't have to be a climate scientist myself to read them. And inside the papers I have read, the conclusions we may see in the media simply don't appear. But let me promise you something: this topic troubles me which is why I started to write an article about it last Christmas. The article expanded and became a book. In a couple of months, it will be published. One chapter out of seven will organize my opinions about the climate change.• Environmentalism and green ideology is something very different from climate science. Various findings and screams of scientists are abused by this ideology.• Q: How do you explain that conservative media are skeptical while the left-wing media view the global warming as a done deal?• A: It is not quite exactly divided to the left-wingers and right-wingers. Nevertheless it's obvious that environmentalism is a new incarnation of modern leftism.• Q: If you look at all these things, even if you were right ...• A: ...I am right...• Q: Isn't there enough empirical evidence and facts we can see with our eyes that imply that Man is demolishing the planet and himself?• A: It's such a nonsense that I have probably not heard a bigger nonsense yet.• Q: Don't you believe that we're ruining our planet?• A: I will pretend that I haven't heard you. Perhaps only Mr Al Gore may be saying something along these lines: a sane person can't. I don't see any ruining of the planet, I have never seen it, and I don't think that a reasonable and serious person could say such a thing. Look: you represent the economic media so I expect a certain economical erudition from you. My book will answer these questions. For example, we know that there exists a huge correlation between the care we give to the environment on one side and the wealth and technological prowess on the other side. It's clear that the poorer the society is, the more brutally it behaves with respect to Nature, and vice versa.• It's also true that there exist social systems that are damaging Nature - by eliminating private ownership and similar things - much more than the freer societies. These tendencies become important in the long run. They unambiguously imply that today, on February 8th, 2007, Nature is protected uncomparably more than on February 8th ten years ago or fifty years ago or one hundred years ago.• That's why I ask: how can you pronounce the sentence you said? Perhaps if you're unconscious? Or did you mean it as a provocation only? And maybe I am just too naive and I allowed you to provoke me to give you all these answers, am I not? It is more likely that you actually believe what you say. [English translation from Harvard Professor Lubos Motl]

2007-02-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Global Warming and the Holocaust?

It came as little surprise to me this morning to read a reporter form the Boston Globe claim that "global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers."

Meanwhile, there is ongoing ignorance of the competing theories (which have much more actual scientific support) that it is in fact our own Sun and/or other cosmic rays which are chiefly responsible for the current global warming trend.

More to follow.

2007-02-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

"Hollywood" Al Gore's Convenient Lie

Perhaps to bolster his support for the Nobel Peace Prize (barf!), or because he's still sore about being unable to lawyer his way into the White House six years ago, Al Gore is now claiming that the President Bush's administration is paying scientists to dispute Global Warming.

Really? I'd LOVE to see some shred of proof supporting this claim from the Love-Canal-whistleblowing, Love-Story-inspiring, tobacco-harvesting creator of the Internet. And of course we know that the scientists and politicians who are on the Global Warming Alarmist bandwagon can't possibly be doing so because of the cash flowing in all over the place from environmental advocacy groups and lobbyists.

Please, Mr. Gore. It's bad enough that you are not practicing what you preach when it comes to energy conservation, but to use such underhanded smear tactics to attack anyone who dares threaten your cash cow is, while not at all unexpected from you, nevertheless weak and absurd.

Feel free to provide the evidence, Mr. Gore. But don't expect that you simply get a free pass from scrutiny of that evidence, even though you seem to expect all your lecture circuit "facts" will be taken at your word.

2007-02-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

"The Greatest Deception in the History of Science"

Hey, they aren't my words! These are the words of Dr. Timothy Ball, the first Canadian PhD in Climatology, who says that "Global Warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist."

Among the interesting tidbits in his article:

Yuri A. Izrael, Vice President of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), agrees that there is "no evidence that we are, or could ever cause global climate change."
Back in the 70's, scientists like Lowell Ponte were saying the following about the supposedly irrefutable 'global cooling' occuring: "It is a cold fact: the Global Cooling presents humankind with the most important social, political, and adaptive challenge we have had to deal with for ten thousand years. Your stake in the decisions we make concerning it is of ultimate importance; the survival of ourselves, our children, our species." Sound familiar?

What really strikes me about this article is not only how concisely and directly he addresses what those who dare speak against Global Warming are facing, but also how similar his arguments are to those Creationists and Intellegent Design proponents who dare to speak against Darwinian Macroevolutionism.

2007-02-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

European Union Talks Big

French President Jacques Chirac has threatened to push for a tax against American goods if it doesn't sign liberal environmentalist "treaties" like Kyoto and other such agreements. It's admittedly a strong-arm tactic by the EU to force the United States into compliance, believing that it's status as the number one export market for American goods will carry enough weight.

I wish I could say "go ahead...and watch what we do in return" but I'm betting this will become a political issue rather than an economic one, and the liberals will twist it around to make claims such as "My conservative opponent supports economic policies that isolate us from world markets and cost us jobs." After all, that's exactly what they did with the bogus "tax cuts to ship jobs overseas" mantra of the 2004 election.

2007-02-03T06:20:00.000-08:00

This Will Only Hurt for a Second?

Well, my wife and I knew it was coming soon, and now the State of Texas has made it official: Texas is now requiring HPV vaccines for schoolgirls.

Why does this concern me? Because as parents it is OUR job to make decisions on what is and is not best for our children. I have some concerns about the vaccine itself, but my primary concern at the moment is that the government feels it has the right to make this decision for me.

At this point, Texas is allowing parents to opt their children out by "filing an affidavit stating that he or she objected to the vaccine for religious or philosophical reasons." That's fine, but how long will it be before it is considered like the polio vaccine (to which comparisons are already being made) and it is required or your child cannot attend public school?

As I stated, I have some concerns about this vaccine. For one, there have been no studies of the long-terms effects of the vaccine beyond 5-10 years. There have been virtually no studies of the effects on young girls. There is no indication of how long the vaccination lasts. There are more concerns as well (I apologize for the name of the blog this link references).

I do have concerns for my children as far as wanting to do what I can to keep my girls from getting cervical cancer, although it should be pointed out that cervical cancer is in rapid decline as far as occurances among women. But I absolutely refuse to have the government force my children to take a vaccine because a drug company lobbied and donated to get legislation passed to make it mandatory.

My children. My decision.

2007-01-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

No AMS Seal of Approval for you!

I don't normally reproduce full articles here, but in this case the DrudgeReport issued a newsflash that I know will disappear soon and wanted to post here for informational purposes. It seems there are two books available (one already out, one soon to be released) which challenge the supposed scientific high ground of the Global Warming Theorists by documenting the reality of natural warming patterns and demonstrating how and why they occur:

Two New Books Confirm Global Warming is Natural; Not Caused By Human Activity Tue Jan 30 2007 10:02:32 ET Two powerful new books say today’s global warming is due not to human activity but primarily to a long, moderate solar-linked cycle. Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years, by physicist Fred Singer and economist Dennis Avery was released just before Christmas. The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change, by Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark and former BBC science writer Nigel Calder (Icon Books), is due out in March. Singer and Avery note that most of the earth’s recent warming occurred before 1940, and thus before much human-emitted CO2. Moreover, physical evidence shows 600 moderate warmings in the earth’s last million years. The evidence ranges from ancient Nile flood records, Chinese court documents and Roman wine grapes to modern spectral analysis of polar ice cores, deep seabed sediments, and layered cave stalagmites. Unstoppable Global Warming shows the earth’s temperatures following variations in solar intensity through centuries of sunspot records, and finds cycles of sun-linked isotopes in ice and tree rings. The book cites the work of Svensmark, who says cosmic rays vary the earth’s temperatures by creating more or fewer of the low, wet clouds that cool the earth. It notes that global climate models can’t accurately register cloud effects. The Chilling Stars relates how Svensmark’s team mimicked the chemistry of earth’s atmosphere, by putting realistic mixtures of atmospheric gases into a large reaction chamber, with ultraviolet light as a stand-in for the sun. When they turned on the UV, microscopic droplets—cloud seeds—started floating through the chamber. “We were amazed by the speed and efficiency with which the electrons [generated by cosmic rays] do their work of creating the building blocks for the cloud condensation nuclei,” says Svensmark. The Chilling Stars documents how cosmic rays amplify small changes in the sun’s irradiance fourfold, creating 1-2 degree C cycles in earth’s temperatures: Cosmic rays continually slam into the earth’s atmosphere from outer space, creating ion clusters that become seeds for small droplets of water and sulfuric acid. The droplets then form the low, wet clouds that reflect solar energy back into space. When the sun is more active, it shields the earth from some of the rays, clouds wane, and the planet warms. Unstoppable Global Warming documents the reality of a moderate, natural, 1500-year climate cycle on the earth. The Chilling Stars explains the why and how.
Of course, this article doesn't exist and neither do these two books, because after all no reputable scientists would dare challenge the Church of Global Warming!

2007-01-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

The Passion of the Cruise?

For a long time I have simply chuckled a little when reading the occasional news story about fringe cults like Scientology. The increasing publicity Tom Cruise has created for the Church of Scientology has simply produced more jokes, and a time or two I've even been inspired enough to write a few parodies such as "Suri with the Fringe Cult Pop."

Today isn't one of those inspirational times. According to Scientology cult leader David Miscavige, Tom Cruise is the new "Christ" of Scientology.

First of all, the irony in this statement is delicious. You see, according to secret Scientology teachings, "God, the Devil and Christ" are all characters in fictitious 3D motion pictures that were shown to the souls (or "thetans") of a bunch of aliens who now live in clusters in the bodies of humans, and "the only reason people believe in God and Christ was because it was in the film their body thetans saw 75 million years ago." So this cult leader is comparing the most public figure of his cult with a religious figure his cult claims is a fiction born of a long-dead alien race.

(With stories like this, it's no small wonder L. Ron Hubbard failed as a science fiction writer!)

To make it even worse, Mr. Miscavige draws the comparison by pointing to the fact that Christ was "criticised for his views" but later generations realized he was right. The problem, Mr. Miscavige, is that your cult doesn't believe Christ was right at all, and thus you are comparing Tom Cruise to a false prophet who was rightly criticized for his views because he was actually just playing off the brainwashing of a bunch of alien "body thetans."

To compare Tom Cruise to Jesus Christ is quite simply blasphemous and silly. The archaeological evidence alone supporting the Scriptural accounts of the life and work of Christ are quite extensive. Scientific support of any kind supporting the notion of billions of aliens being nuked, brainwashed, and left to inhabit the bodies of humans is simply non-existent.

Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, suffered and died, rose again, ascended to Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. He shall return in glory to judge all men, and His Kingdom will have no end.

Tom Cruise is just a mentally unstable actor caught up in the deceptions of a cult whose founder is still dead (and will stay dead until the day he's raised up to be judged by Christ). Tom Cruise will die the same as every other sinful man, and will one day face the King whose likeness he is presently being compared to.

I have a feeling nobody will have any trouble telling who is who.

2007-01-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

It Begins...

In one of the most unsurprising announcements this century, Hillary Clinton launched her bid for the office of President of the United States.

Finally.

Everybody knew she would run. She had her sights set on this election since before her husband was out of office. Everything about her is cold and calculating. I'll be very intersted to see how she tries to present herself in the next year and a half. I'm sure it will be anything but what she actually is.

2007-01-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

Global Warming: Giving Darwin a Run for His Money

Forget where we've been...now it's about where we're heading.

One of the most consistent tactics of liberalism is the rewriting of history to manufacture support for what they want to do. Secular humanists have spent the last 150 years diligently rewriting history (and "other animals" which preceeded him) by promoting the pseudo-scientific myth of Darwinian Macroevolution. It was certainly pervasive and persistent enough to see the Haeckel Chart appearing in school textbooks even well after they had been proven a hoax. While there continues to be a growing chorus of dissent among the scientific community as to the viability of the prevalent Darwinian Macroevolutionary theories (and, ironically, it is self-defeating as it increasingly fails to adapt fast enough to maintain plausibility), it is still a concept firmly entrenched in the America psyche as fact.

Well, they are no longer content to sit fixated on that issue any longer. Continuing down the path of pantheistic nature-worship, they are now fighting to establish the Global Warming Theory as irrefutable fact. A major salvo was launched this past month by Dr. Heidi Cullen of The Weather Channel. In one of her recent blog posts, Dr. Cullen stated her belief that the American Meteorological Society (AMS) should withdraw their "Seal of Approval" from any meteorologist who does not tow the party line in subscribing to and publicly supporting the Global Warming Theory should have their "Seal of Approval" revoked. The statement generated quite an outcry, and in a subsequent blog post she stated the following:

I've read all your comments saying I want to silence meteorologists who are skeptical of the science of global warming. That is not true. The point of my post was never to stifle discussion. It was to raise it to a level that doesn't confuse science and politics. Freedom of scientific expression is essential.

Actually, Dr. Cullen, you stated that those meteorologists who expressed such skepticism of the Global Warming Theory were unable to "distinguish between solid, peer-reviewed science and junk political controversy." In other words, you are free to be a skeptic all you want...so long as you keep your mouth shut.

She goes on to say: "Many of you have accused me and The Weather Channel of taking a political position on global warming. That is not our intention. " Dr. Cullen, you ARE making it political by your ridicule and advocacy of punitive actions for those who dare disagree with you.

Yes, we are well aware of the AMS's public position on Global Warming, but perhaps you should also read their Statement on Freedom of Scientific Expression:

Advances in science and the benefits of science to policy, technological progress, and society as a whole depend upon the free exchange of scientific data and information as well as on open debate. The ability of scientists to present their findings to the scientific community, policy makers, the media, and the public without censorship, intimidation, or political interference is imperative. With the specific limited exception of proprietary information or constraints arising from national security, scientists must be permitted unfettered communication of scientific results. In return, it is incumbent upon scientists to communicate their findings in ways that portray their results and the results of others, objectively, professionally, and without sensationalizing or politicizing the associated impacts.

Contrary to Dr. Cullen's bluster, this is all about politics. Take a minute to read Melanie Morgan's article on the political leanings of The Weather Channel over at WorldNetDaily, and ABC-TV's AMS-certified meteorologist Marc Morano in his response to Dr. Cullen's call for decertification.

2007-01-19T06:21:00.000-08:00

The Crime of Spanking

I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not.

A California state legislator is drafting a bill that would outlaw spanking children, specifically children three years old or younger. The bill would make such spanking a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and as much as a year in jail. The legislator said that the law "would allow people who view a beating to say, `Excuse me, that's against the law.' ''

Where do I begin? First of all, the LAST thing we need is yet another "Nanny State" law that has the government telling us how we are to live. The state does not know better than I do what is best for myself and for my family.

Secondly, I am a parent who firmly believes in the effective use of spanking. It is an extremely effective response to willful defiance in a child. All three of my children have received a swat on the butt before the age of three as the result of an act of willful defiance. In every case though it has not been done in anger, and it was done knowing that they would understand why. I see no practical purpose at all in spanking an 18-month-old child, because (as the article also points out) they would not understand why it happened.

I have seen how we raise our children and how well-behaved they are as a result, and I have seen how other couples we know raise their children and how their behavior has reflected on it. It is not the state's job (or is right) to dictate how I am or am not to raise my child. It is enough that they attempt to systematically brainwash them through the public school system.

The richest part of this though was the end of the above-linked article:

For the record, she does not have children and says she was not slapped as a child. But she does have a cat named Snoop, which her veterinarian told her never to hit.
``And if you never hit a cat,'' Lieber said, ``you should never hit a kid.''

Why is this not at all surprising? If there is ever an area that one should NOT be dictating policy on unless they have direct personal experience, it is parenting.

By the way, if one of our cats strikes at me or otherwise defies me, I do not give the cat a time out :)

2007-01-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

A Womb With A View

Above is a computer-generated image from a "four-dimensional scan" of triplets in the womb. My youngest is only five years old, and the only ultrasound pictures available to us back then were the standard fuzzy black-and-white prints. Of course, my parents always commented upon seeing the scans of our children that there was no such thing back when my sisters and I were born.

I have to wonder how Roe vs Wade would have turned out had those defending the life of innocent children been able to show pictures like the one above to those in the courtroom. As it is, these will be a wonderful addition to the arsenal of evidence against the atrociously evil practice of late-term abortion.

2007-01-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

Non-Embryonic Stem Cells

Researchers at Wake Forest and Harvard have made an announcement that they have a "plentiful source" of stem cells at their disposal that do not involve destroying embryos.

The Associated Press published the announcement today that amniotic fluid has yielded stem cells that show much promise in being able to grow tissue types that can be used for regenerative medicine. While they are still uncertain just how many of the more than 220 different human cell types these stem cells will be able to generate, these and stem cell lines from other non-embryonic sources have already successfully produced a "a broad range of cells that may be valuable for therapy." According to the article, the scientists have already managed to "turn amniotic fluid stem cells into heart cells that could be grown into replacement valves."

The issue of stem cell research continues to be a hot topic. This obviously puts one more hole in the case for the life-destroying harvest of embryonic stem cells. Don't expect them to back down though. As one wise slashdot commentator said:

If we agree not to harvest embryos for stem cells because they are human, then they must be human when considering an abortion. If an embryo is not human, then why the rub about abortion?

More comments later...

2007-01-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

Well, so much for that!

I guess the 32-18 whooping that Michigan received from USC on New Year's Day pretty effectively silences the whole "we're the best team in the country on a neutral field" argument. Be happy, Michigan fans...the BCS saved you from an epic embarassment at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

As for the National Championship Game...well, I think the thrilling Boise State - Oklahoma game shows us we better not underestimate the danger of skilled offensive playcalling or the devastating impact "trick" plays can have. Having watched what Urban Meyer did here for Bowling Green, I think this game will be a lot closer than many think. I highly doubt though that Tressel will fail to recognize that or to keep his team focused.

Only five more days until we show the world again!

GO BUCKS!!

2006-12-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

Slaughter of the Innocents in India

A friend sent me an absolutely depressing article this morning about the estimated 10 million girls killed in India in the past 20 years. The ratios of female to male births in India right now is alarmingly low, and the explanation is simple: girls are seen as a liability. As an overall concept this is nothing new. Countries like China which are overcrowded usually only allow a family to have one female child. This is why so many Chinese girls are available for adoption.

In India, however, they simply choose to terminate the life of the child instead. The article describes some of the horrible ways this happens. For instance, upon delivery when it is visually confirmed that the infant is a female, and when the baby opens its mouth to give her first cry, they will shove sand in her throat to suffocate her.

When I first began reading this article, it didn't take long for me to consider posting it here. But when I reached the end of the article I knew I absolutely had to because I wanted to comment a little further on some of the ridiculous things I read.

Towards the end of the article, Renuka Chowdhury (India's Minister for Women and Child Development) said that the key to changing this practice was the "economic empowerment of women." According to Chowdhury, this practice stems from social prejudices against women, and that if women are empowered to earn as men do that such social prejudices will vanish (and this horrible practice along with it).

That is quite demonstrably false.

One need look no further than the United States in the past 50 years. Women in this country have been increasingly "economically empowered" to the point where the single working mother has been glorified in news, television, movies and print. Much is made of the divine right of women to do whatever they choose, and in particular the choice of whether or not to terminate the life of an unborn child is militantly defended. One of the byproducts of the "economic empowerment of women" is a dramatic increase in the practice of abortion....NOT a decrease as the Indian Minister suggests.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have no trouble with the notion of women being given equal pay for equal work. I do not in any way support the notion of economic discrimination on the basis of sex. But I do know that the issue of abortion is invariably closely tied to the push for "economic empowerment" and that simply empowering women in this way is not gonna do it.

The root cause of the problem is failure to recognize the sanctity of life, and the fact that that extends to conception. Until the culture moves to embrace that, and the laws of the nation reflect it, you will not stem the tide of infanticide. May God's people work in an amongst the nation of India to stop this horrible practice.

2006-12-07T06:06:00.000-08:00

Global Warming Alarmism

Let me get this straight. According to Sen James Inhofe, the media is engaged in alarmism over "global warming" and engaged in "hyping scientifically unfounded climate alarmism?"

Gee...say it ain't so.

It's pretty funny (and telling) when the Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee refers to global warming as "the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people." That sure doesn't jibe with the movie by the new Prophet of Environmentalism, Al Gore, that the liberals have been hailing as a modern-day version of The Jungle.

There's no doubt that Al Gore has finally found his niche in America. He is perfecting the art of extreme liberal alarmism and chucking batteries from the sidelines. Hyperbole seems to be integral to his speech (after all, according to him the present war in Iraq is "the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States." Al Gore failed out of divinity school, law school, and the electora college (ba-dum-bum), and now he apparently is working hard to fail out of a history program somewhere.

Anyway, I digress... Sen Inhofe will soon be replaced by Sen Barbara Boxer as Chairman of that committee. Boy, if that isn't like hiring an alcoholic as a bartender. Can't wait to see what ridiculous legistlation she tries to push through as sacrifices to the God of Environmentalism (aka Mother Earth).

Folks, I firmly believe in responsible conservationism. I go out of my way to recycle and not be wasteful. But this is getting absolutely ridiculous. Between the pervasive Environmentalism and the militant Evolutionism my children are being constantly subjected to I certainly have my hands full deprogramming my children.

Maranatha!

2006-12-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Put Down That Fritter!

Not to be outdone by the intrusion of the state into how private businesses conduct business when it comes to smoking, the city of New York has now passed a law banning trans-fats from eateries. That's right...the state is dedicated to protecting its citizens from themselves.

Some of the statements in the article deserve commentary:

"We're not trying to take away anybody's ability to go out and have the kind of food that they want in the quantities that they want, but we are trying to make that food safer." - Mayor Bloomberg

Translation: you don't really want some of that food because it's not good for you.

"I don't care about what might be politically correct and what's not," said Murray Bader, nursing a cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts on Tuesday morning. "I want to live longer!"

Here's an idea: if you want to live longer, the solution is to take responsibility for what you eat. That means know what's good and bad for you and choose what you eat accordingly. That does NOT mean support a law that allows the state to dictate what people can and cannot eat.

"It's hurting us, all this fat, but the kids really like it," said Ramirez, pointing to 3-year-old Amber, who had just finished her dinner. "It would be better to know what we're getting."

So the 3-year-old dictates their own diet? While I agree that you should be aware of what you are eating when you order food, you have choices to make. You don't have to eat there, especially if they do not provide the information you want. Heaven forbid though that we citizens make choices for ourselves, including "depriving" ourselves of something for the sake of conviction. No, we have to pass laws to exempt us from having to make those tough decisions and relieve our fellow citizens of their need to do so for their own good.

So, as it stands right now, the state can take away your home if they decide it would be more beneficial to have a shopping center on your property, the state can tell a private business owner that they cannot allow smoking at all in their own business, and now the state can tell private businesses that they cannot cook food a certain way at all. All, of course, for the good of the people...us poor oblivious folk who are too burdened with choosing who we think will win Survivor to make difficult decisions like where to spend our time and money on things that matter.

Mind you, I'm not supporting smoking or the habitual eating of trans-fat foods in and of themselves. I'm simply becoming more and more discouraged by the general trend towards shirking personal responsibility, which is a far more dangerous and deadly habit than either of those things. The state has become the dealer of this drug. I say Just Say No.

2006-12-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

NBC: Never Backs Christianity

I will always roll my eyes every time I hear about how Christianity is "intolerant" and therefore bad, mainly because of the inherent hypocrisy in such a statement. After all, we must not tolerate intolerance, right?

(I can't even type that without rolling my eyes)

Anyway, I had heard awhile back that Veggie Tales had been picked up by NBC to be shown as a Saturday morning cartoon, and that NBC had elected to edit the show to remove some of the more overt references to the Bible and Christianity. Well, as I read this morning in an article from The American Conservative Union Foundation, NBC will not allow its broad audience to be offended by the advocation of "any one religious point of view" such as that presented by Veggie Tales, but they will quite willingly allow the Christians in its audience by ridiculed and mocked
by its show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."

Basically, from the very first episode of this series, Christians are portrayed as "crazy." Two of the main characters ended their relationship because one couldn't stomach the other having sung a religious song for the "bigot" Pat Robertson on the 'fanatical' 700 Club ("Throw in the Halloween costumes and you got yourself a clan rally"). Of course I then read a defense of the clear anti-Christian sub-theme of the show that points to the fact that there is a "Christian" as a main cast member. No, what they have is a stereotype, docile, lukewarm "Christian" as a token to deflect criticism of the anti-Christian material and a convenient plot device to further it.

As Rebecca Cusey of NRO put it, "Perhaps writers and producers in Hollywood don’t know any people of faith. They surely receive letters from boycotters, and proposals for religious projects from Christian artists, but when they sit down to dinner at Spagos, people of faith aren’t likely to be at the table. They portray what they know, so we have a TV world populated with atheistic, hedonistic urbanites. Believing characters come from a stock set of stereotypes."

Not that I'm surprised. We're fortunate to live in a time in history where the persecution one endures for the sake of Christ is largely limited to some scornful looks, indirect insult, and general ridicule. Men and women have died in horrible fashion proclaiming the name of Christ, and would continue to do so should such level of persecution return. Indeed there are many brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world that endure such persecution.

2006-11-29T06:25:00.000-08:00

OH YEAH!!

Truly a game for the ages! I was hoping for a close game...one where both teams were in it until the end...and that's exactly what we got. It was a hard-fought game, and a surprisingly high-scoring one.

I'm gonna take a second to respond one last time to the complaints by Michigan fans that the officials cost them the game. If you want to blame somebody, blame Shawn Crable. His helmet-to-helmet hit on Troy Smith would have been called by just about every official in the country, and let me show you why.

Here we have Smith after his release heading out of bounds. Notice Crable coming in with his head down.

And here we have Crable hitting Smith. The top of Crable's helmet made contact with the side of Smith's, knocking Smith's head back.Folks, that is a textbook example of the type of helmet-to-helmet qb contact that officials will call every single time especially going out-of-bounds.

Was the call influential to the game? Certainly, since it was on a third down and gave OSU a first down, and instead of the drive ending with a punt it ended with a score. However, you simply cannot say that Michigan would have won that game were it not for that call. The Buckeye's were up 35-31 at that point

And while I'm at it, any talk of a rematch in the National Championship game is ridiculous. "But it should be the two best teams in college football!" are the cries I hear. The two best teams at the time played and OSU came out on top. The Super Bowl rarely features the two best teams in the NFL. That game is usually played as one of the AFC playoff games.

I feel just a bit for Michigan fans right now because they're feeling what we felt during the Cooper era. The rivalry will live on and we'll play again next year.

GO BUCKS!!

2006-11-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

ONE MORE DAY!

In honor of tomorrow's game, a few selections from my gallery:

2006-11-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

Only Two More Days

Just a little over two days from now the Buckeyes and the Wolverines will be taking the field at the Horseshoe for one of the biggest rivalry games of all time. I have savored every moment of this week knowing that I will likely never witness a game this big again. The build-up here has been surprisingly quiet, which is very unusual for Toledo this time of year. If I had to guess as to the reason I'd say it's because both sides realize just how huge this game is and there's a hesitation in bringing the smack talk because the abuse after the game could have one jumping off the high-level bridge. I've actually exchanged more smack talk online with friends than in person. I have a feeling it will all come out tomorrow though as the weekend finally hits and there is a little more tolerance for flags, hats, ect.

I've been an NFL fan since I was very young. My interest in college football has been gradually building over the past ten years, especially after the 2002 season. I've been to two football games so far: in the Dawg Pount for the last game of the 2002 season for the Cleveland Browns (when they locked up a wild card playoff spot with a thrilling win over the Falcons), and the OSU game against Minnesota last month. Between the latter and this week's buildup to The Game, I have to say that the NFL has nothing on college football in terms of excitement. I have literally been twitching at times this week in anticipation of this Saturday.

Looking forward to another collection of Tressel-era scoreboard pics...

GO BUCKS!!

2006-11-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day (also known as Armistice Day). I am actually sitting down to write this at 11:09AM and will pause in two minutes to say a prayer of thanksgiving for those who have fought and served to protect this country and promote freedom over tyranny, particularly those who have given their lives to that end. It is both fitting and sobering that Veteran's Day comes so soon after election day in this country, for at once we are reminded both of the liberty we have to participate in the governance of our nation and the fact that there are those in this country who trample on the service of our armed forces by working to progressively erode and annihilate the very freedoms they died for.

May the Lord bless our troops and our veterans.

2006-11-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

"Classic" Games

I am long past the days when I kept up with the latest hardware and jumped at the chance to play the latest games as soon as they came out. That died when I left college, back when I played Descent for hours on end over the campus network and then later Quake II. Sure, I've enjoyed some great games since like Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament, Jedi Knight/Academy...but I simply don't have the time to play as I once did.

Well, I've since found myself longing to play some of the old games again. It started when I finally tracked down a copy of Willy the Worm and Sleuth, two games I used to play all the time on the old Kaypro 8088. Not to long ago I stumbled upon an online version of Zork, another classic I used to play on the old Kaypro (I still remember the day in fifth grade when I actually won the game!). I had some great fun revisiting my youth playing these games.

I have since found that, true to my mantra, you can find anything on the Web (anything, that is, except a picture of the battleship version of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D from the ST:TNG episode Yesterday's Enterprise, but that's another story). I've come across utilities and mods to be able to play Duke Nukem 3D, Descent, and several other older games on Windows XP thanks to the ingenuity of some avid gamers and programmers.

My coworkers and I have found that these games run quite well on our laptops, so now we have impromptu mini-LAN parties on lunch breaks. Ahh...takes me back to the good old days...

2006-11-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

Post-Election Thoughts

I am what would be categorized by the media as a member of the "religious right." I am one of those "intolerant religious extremists" who does not believe in the right to kill unborn children or euthanize the elderly or disabled, does not believe that Darwinian Evolutionary Theory should be taught as unchallenged fact, does not believe that the Constitutional language designed to keep the state out of the church means the church must be kept out of the state, and does not believe in the socialist view of entitlement. So, needless to say, yesterday's election was rather depressing.

That being said, from the state-level standpoint I'm disappointed but not distraught. Though I would have preferred Blackwell, anything is better than Taft. I am disappointed in how Betty Montgomery was smeared with the unfair and unwarranted guilt-by-association with Tom Noe. Gotta hand it to the Democrats...they were able to use the failures of just two men, Bob Taft and Tom Noe, and milk it for all it was worth. They removed several capable, good people from office and replaced them with unqualified novices and political hacks. We'll see how that works out for them (and unfortunately we pay the price if it doesn't).

From the national standpoint I'm not at all happy. If you had told me eight years ago that Nancy Pelosi would be House Speaker I would have told you that the people of this country are not crazy enough to let that happen. I still shudder at the thought. But from a historical standpoint you gotta remember that prior to the "Contract with America" election in 1994 the Democrats had controlled Congress for 40 years. That in and of itself is a mixed bag considering that 40 years saw an incredible decline in moral values, but good things still came out of that era. Now however you have a Democratic Party which is much more liberal-socialist, and looming large is the 2008 Presidential Election. Given what just happened with Pelosi I can no longer say that the people of this country are not crazy enough to elect Hillary Clinton as President, and until I see a strong candidate emerge from the conservative ranks I cannot say that there's anybody who will convincingly beat her. It will be interesting to see whether the Republicans put forth the candidate which best represents the views of the party or the candidate they think has the best shot of beating Hillary Clinton. I'm willing to put money on the latter, and I actually think they have a better chance of winning by focusing on the former.

What scares me though is the possiblity of the White House and both houses of Congress being controlled by liberal Democrats, especially if a liberal majority is achieved at the Supreme Court level. I am very concerned about what that means in terms of personal liberties (more on that in a second) and the fact that there will very likely be a further expansion of the welfare state with such things as National Health Care. NHC was Hillary's pet during her husband's administration, and the majority gained by the Republicans in Congress in '94 was a major factor in keeping that from coming to fruition. Now that such a roadblock may no longer be there if Hillary is in office two years from now, I would not be surprised to see it be pushed again. God help us if she succeeds.

The state issues were what I was most concerned with yesterday. I am opposed to a minimum wage law to begin with, so there was no way I was going to vote for what was a ridiculously structured perpetual minimum wage increase. The entire notion of having the most grossly inefficient and cost-ineffective entity in the entire world (the US Government) dictate financial policy to the businesses which have made this the most prosperous country in the world is so insane it's almost comical.

Then you have the smoking issues. These were the ones I thought about the most before Election Day. I avoided the ads as much as possible and focused on the issues themselves as they were written. What it came down to for me was that Issue 5 said "no smoking in public at all" and then gave a list of a few exemptions that the state would "graciously" grant the people, whereas Issue 4 said simply it would place restrictions for smoking in certain public places in the interest of public health but let everything outside of those restrictions fall under individual liberty. Two fundamentally different views of governmental function, and I think unfortunately many conservatives didn't understand it in these terms. The reason I say that is because, as I later learned, Issue 4 was "written by Big Tobacco" and the perception was that if the big evil tobacco companies endorsed it then it must be because it allowed them to kill more people...or something like that. Heaven forbid they endorse it because it wasn't as socialist, or *gasp* because it didn't go as far in outlawing their product (since of course the people are mindless and are forced to use their products).

Days like this make me happy I'm a Christian, trusting fully that God is in complete control and that nothing falls outside His sovereign providence. Does that mean this country will not continue down the path that will ultimately lead to its demise? Of course not. Nations rise and fall, and as ours has risen so it too shall eventually fall. But I am a citizen in a Kingdom not of this world, and my King sits at the right hand of the Father and reigns even now. One day His Kingdom will be fully consumated and I will be among my adopted brothers and sisters living in the everlasting immediate presence of the Lord God.

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." - Rom 8:18 (ESV)

2006-11-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

90 Seconds of Middle East History

I was browsing through the Calvinist Gadfly site and came across this presentation of the conquest history of the Middle East. It certainly gives an interesting perspective on the history of this region and under whose control it has been.

Please visit the original blog entry for some very relevant Scriptures about God's sovereignty over the rise and fall of nations.

2006-11-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Troops Fire Back

Never underestimate the resourcefulness of the troops stuck in Iraq, Mr. Kerry.

(psst - your election campaign ended two years ago. you lost. get over it.)

2006-10-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Reformation Day!

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg his 95 Theses, a disputation on the power and efficacy of indulgences. This turned out to be one of the most significant events of the past 2000 years of history, sparking the Protestant Reformation and a split many Christians from the Roman Catholic Church which continues to this day. I could write on and on about the significance and importance of this event, but suffice it to say that this event was used by the Holy Spirit to bring about the rediscovery and refocus of the truth of justification by faith alone and the reliance upon the Word of God as the ultimate and final authority over the church and the individual believer.

With Luther, Calvin, Whitefield, Spurgeon, Machen, Sproul, and so many others of the Reformed faith, I look to Scripture alone (sola scriptura) and stand with them in affirming that salvation is by grace alone (sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide) in Christ alone (solo Christos) to the glory of God alone (soli deo gloria).

"Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason...my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen" - Martin Luther, Diet of Worms

2006-10-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

My First OSU Game

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending my very first Ohio State University football game. A vendor with deal with at work offered up free tickets to anyone interested, and I quickly jumped on it. It was a great time.

My wife and I decided to rent a car for the trip since both our vehicles are in excess of 130,000 miles. My car is a means of getting to and from work 80 miles round trip every day, and not much else :) Part of the deal in having relatives watch the kids for the day was leaving the van so they could head to the zoo for some Halloween event, so renting was the best option (especially since my sister-in-law's husband used to work for a rental company and got us a good deal). While I wasn't keen on the transmission in the new Mazda we rented, it was a smooth and comfortable ride. We got a late start and didn't get to the vendor's tailgate party until 2:30...only an hour before kickoff. We were actually lucky to get the tickets as there was some confusion about them and they were preparing to give them away thinking they were just extras. We got the tickets and hung around for about 20 minutes to enjoy some great barbeque pork sandwiches and a few beers before making the migration to The Horseshoe.

One of the funniest moments of the weekend occured during the walk. Because we didn't have time to sufficiently ingest enough beer to keep us warm in the incredibly blustery day, we filled a few plastic cups to enjoy during the walk. So as we are crossing Lane Avenue right at Olentangy River Road (along with a mass of scarlet and grey humanity), we walk by two police officers standing on either side of a sign saying "Open Container Enforced." We look to either side of us and see numerous others with the same red plastic cups, and we notice the ambivalent looks on the faces of the officers. Then we chuckle, take another gulp of Miller Lite, and keep walking.

After a brisk, cold walk we get to the stadium and climb the endless stairs up to the C-deck. Our seats were Section 25C, Row 18, Seat 27-28. In a stadium like the 'Shoe, being in the upper deck is not a bad thing at all. We got a great view of the game, and what a game it was seeing the Buckeyes completely dominate the Golden Gophers 44-0. The game experience there is fantastic, and OSU truly has the "best fans in the land."

To make it even sweeter, we got to see OSU alum Jack Nicklaus dot the "i" in script Ohio at halftime. He's only the fifth non-band member to ever do it (the others being Ohio State President Novice G. Fawcett, actor/comedian Bob Hope, Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes and OSU ticket director Bob Ries).

All in all, we had a great time with 105,441 of our closest friends, and were it not for an important birthday party that weekend we might seriously consider shelling out the cash to see the Buckeyes play the Wolverines in the final game of the season. Nothing could be finer than watching Tressel's boys pound the crap out of an unbeaten #2 Michigan on the way to winning another national title.

GO BUCKS!!

2006-10-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

JAD Competition Weekend

This past weekend marked my first barbershop contest experience at the district level. I arrived early Friday and was able to catch the entire quartet competition that evening. I decided to go straight to my folks' place and crash rather than hang around at the HQ and catch the JADQC show so I could be well rested for Saturday's chorus competition. Saturday proved to be a very long day as we competed early in the competition and then hung around the entire day awaiting the scoring results and score review sessions.

In one sense, the results were very disappointing. We had high expectations for ourselves coming into the contest based on how we performed at the divisional level, and when all was said and done we ended up scoring slightly less than with our prior hit. We finished fifth out of fifteen choruses (PDF) behind some very good chapters. The judges gave us some useful feedback at the review sessions, and those of us who were present for those sessions all seem to agree on what we need to look at going forward.

On the other hand, the fact remains that this is the very first district competition of a chorus that has existed less than one year. What we've been able to accomplish as a chapter in the past 10 months is simply incredible and gives us every reason to look with hope and anticipation towards future competitions. While it would be easy to get discouraged by our growing pains, I am eagerly looking forward to what this chorus can and will accomplish in the coming years. I came out of this weekend that much more hooked on barbershop and determined to be the best barbershopper I can be.

2006-10-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

Best Time of the Year

This is without a doubt my favorite time of year. It starts around the first frost and presses right through December. The weather turns chilly. The leaves change. You begin to smell the wood-burning fireplaces when you step outside. Apple cider, pumpkin bread and other great fall foods start showing up in the fridge and on the dinner table. You can sit on a freezing cold bench and watch football Friday, Saturday or Sunday (and catch it on TV virtually every other day of the week). All your favorite shows have started into their new seasons.

I love this time of year!

Overall, I'm loving this football season so far. The only temper to my enthusiasm is the horrible play of the Browns. I've accepted the fact that once again my preseason optimism will be rewarded with at best mediocre play while they continue to be a work in progress. That said, the Evergreen Vikings (our hometown high school team) is tied for the lead in the NWOAL and is putting up some serious scores. The Buckeyes are driving hard towards another National Championship, and face the delicious prospect of facing a #2 Michigan team in the final game of the season to set up the Game To End All Games (the National Championship will almost be a letdown after that one).

And of course there is Fantasy Football. Somehow I have managed, despite having the third lowest point total in a 12-team league, to post a 4-1 record and be tied for the best record in the league with another team in my division that I've already beaten. I'm not about to say I'm a fantasy football genius or anything, but I only have five of my original fourteen drafted players still on my roster and have won my games by making good trades/waiver pickups and playing the matchups. OK, and a little luck. This week I won by only two points. I was up by nine points going into last night's Broncos-Ravens game with all my players having played and my opponent still with Matt Stover and Jamal Lewis yet to play. I was sure he would be able to scrape up ten points between the two of them, but the Broncos' defense was excellent and I went to bed a happy man last night :)

This week could prove challenging with my starting QB (Brady) on a bye, but I already have some pending waiver pickups and potential trades in the works.

2006-09-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Random Friday Thoughts

Fantasy Football: Wow, did the Fantasy Football bug ever bite me this year. Despite starting with a mediocre team I am definitely a junkie right now. Constantly watching the waiver wire. Trading all over the place. It only adds to my enjoyment of the NFL season. Now if only my boys in Cleveland can start putting together some wins...

Ohio State Football: Big matchup tomorrow against Iowa. I'm confident we'll win. That's a hard thing for a Browns fan to say, because I'm used to watching my team find unbelievable ways to lose games. I've just got this sneaking suspicion that this year both Michigan and Ohio State will arrive at The Game undefeated, with the winner playing for the national championship. How awesome will THAT game be! GO BUCKS!!!

TV Blues: I managed to miss BOTH of my favorite shows last night: Smallville and Grey's Anatomy. I simply cannot get the CW to come in on antennae, and other more important things kept me from watching GA. As usual, I'll have to see if I can pick them up...uh, by some other means :)

2006-09-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

One Man's Trash...

I was just typing away, minding my own business yesterday when a co-worker (fellow musician and fan of Campus Pollyeyes) popped around the cubicle wall and offered me this book:

(my apologies for the poor resolution)

He said he found it while cleaning out some stuff at his parents' place, and since he knew I was involved in a barbershop chorus he figured I'd like to have it. Boy, would I ever!

I wouldn't really characterize this book as "rare," but barbershop music is not exactly something you can just go to the local music store or bookstore and pick up. In this case, the front cover states the price as "60 Cents" (not "75 Cents" like the picture above) and has a purchase date on it: 2-15-46. So I got an authentic, 60-year-old piece of classic barbershop literature absolutely free.

Needless to say, I'm like a kid at Christmas :)

2006-09-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Palm Pilot Geek Love

Despite having worked in IT for ten years now I have never owned a PDA. I'm not a big fan of the shorthand type of writing needed for many of the previous models of Palm Pilot and I just never saw a need to have one.

Then I got ahold of one a couple months ago.

Because our execs always have to have the latest and greatest, we had shelves of older PDAs just sitting around. When I say "older" I'm speaking in terms of months, not years. We literally have a shelf full of Palm Tungsten C's just sitting there unused thanks to the latest Treo model. So I figured what the heck...I'll ask if I can use one. I could keep it synched with my work calendar and that way I'd always know what meetings I had coming up the next day. Whatever...the excuse was enough since it wasn't gonna cost anything to give me one.

What I like about the Tungsten C is that it has a mini keyboard on it. I don't have to rely on scratching out shorthand with a stylus in order to do anything. It also has built-in 802.11b wireless, so I can connect to our local network and actually check email. The screen is nice and bright, and it's easy to read. In fact, reading is what I've been using it for a lot lately.

While I was out looking for nifty things to put on the PDA, I started looking for eBooks. I was amazed at how many free books there are out there. Eventually I made my way to MemoWare.com, which has a HUGE selection of free eBooks in numerous formats. When all was said and done, I downloaded over 250 eBooks just from the Religion section. I now have large collections of works from Spurgeon, Edwards, Owen, Piper, Knox, Pink, Calvin's Institutes and Commentaries, Henry's Commentaries....probably more than I'll ever be able to read. I just finished John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, a classic book I've been meaning to read for a long time but never got around to picking up. I also have some non-Christian literary classics waiting to be read, including Frankenstein, The Brothers Karamazov, Jane Eyre and Crime & Punishment (both of which I read in high school and enjoyed), and Paradise Lost. I also downloaded the 2006 NFL Schedule, and I've transferred the charts for several barbershop tags as well.

So after years of avoidance I finally have a PDA...and I'm loving every minute of it!

2006-09-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

Couch to 5K? Count me in!

I used to love to run. There was a time in my life when I could (and did) wolf down a steak dinner and then go out and run 8-10 miles. Being a naturally competitive person, I enjoyed running races, but I also enjoyed just running with a walkman and an open road.

Ten years, three kids and 50 lbs later, I can no longer just take off down the road like I used to. I've tried probably at least a half dozen times to start running again, but I always end up doing too much too soon and quitting because of shin splints or some other issue preventing me from continuing.

Well, thanks to a website my wife came upon I now have a plan. The website is CoolRunning.com and the program is called The Couch-to-5K Running Plan. In a nutshell, it will "transform you from couch potato to runner, getting you running three miles (or 5K) on a regular basis in just two months." The plan has three workouts per week of about 30 minutes each. It starts out with alternating intervals of jogging and walking and gradually increases the time you are running until it's a non-stop run. The important thing for me in this plan is easing into it. Because of the way the intervals work, I am not killing my legs with a two mile run right off the bat. So far it's going very well. I actually repeated the first week just to give my legs the extra time to deal with the change. I'm nearing the end of Week 2 and I feel really good. I'm attempting to change my diet as well in the hopes of eventually getting back into a shape other than "round."

The weekend before I started I participated in the Dennis Donahue Memorial 5K and walked the 5K race. Just the fall atmosphere, the crowd at the starting line, and the day as a whole got me hungry. My goal is firmly in my mind now:

I want to run the Medina Twin Sizzler 5k, the Dennis Donahue Memorial 5k, and the Race for the Cure 5k next year...all under 20 minutes.

2006-09-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

Where were you?

OK, just about everywhere I've been today the topic of conversation has been "Where were you five years ago when the planes hit?" I figure I might as well post it here and point everybody to it rather than keep rehashing it over and over.

At that time I was working as a contractor at the Owens Corning world headquarters in Toledo, OH. Though not a smoker I would frequently walk out with my friends to "the bridge" (there was no smoking permitted on OC property so smokers had to go out to the bridge that served as the entrance from downtown to the OC parking lot). As we came back in one of my coworkers had CNN.com up on his screen and I could make out a picture of a skyscraper with some smoke. He said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, and the impression everybody had was that it was just a small private plane or something. Then word quickly spread that another had hit and that it was a terrorist attack. Many of us congregated in one of the meeting rooms with a large screen television and tuned in to the coverage. They were just getting the first playbacks of the second plane hitting at that point. We were all stunned. I sat watching for quite awhile, unsure what to make of it. I ran to my desk to call my wife just to make sure she knew what was going on and that she was not too shaken up. I went back to the conference room and continued watching, and saw live as each of the towers fell. The rest of the day is mostly a blur. I remember going to lunch and congregating in the common area outside to pray with several others. I remember telling my supervisor that I might leave soon to head to the Red Cross and donate blood in anticipation of a shortage caused by such a disaster. I definitely remember it being many days before I could shake the constant nagging of the images I saw at the back of my mind. One other thing that I will never forget is the looks on the faces of the Middle-Eastern contractors we had working there at that time. Of all those standing there watching those buildings fall, nobody's face was as distraught or devastated as one of them in particular, who was a great guy. Another one of them, Mandeep, wore a blue turban as part of his religious position. For many weeks after that, he wore a blue baseball cap instead and was very afraid of the anti-Muslim backlash he feared would result from the attacks.

There are two major events that I remember vividly...two "JFK" moments my generation has: January 28, 1986 (the Challenger Disaster) and September 11, 2001. Those two are quite enough to last me a lifetime.

2006-09-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

JAD Western Division Champions ... The Voices of Harmony!!

What's that? Oh, I guess I did forget to mention that I am a member of a barbershop chorus called The Voices of Harmony. Given the fact that I'm the webmaster for the site, I don't know why I haven't mentioned it sooner.

Anyway, this past weekend was a tremendous experience...my first time performing on stage in almost 9 years and my very first competitive barbershop event. We've put in a great deal of hard work over the past nine months and to win our very first competition was a wonderful reward. But we also have a lot of work ahead of us to take things to that next level, and I'm looking forward to making as much of a positive contribution as I can.

I'm relatively new to barbershop. I had a small exposure to it during my year with America's Finest Singing Machine, the Bowling Green State University Men's Chorus, which has a reputation for churning out numerous collegiate and international medalists over the years. My first real exposure came with the seven months I spent with the Alliance Chorus in Columbus while working on a contract there and making preparations to move to the area. Though it was ultimately God's will that my family and I remain in Northwest Ohio (which I count a tremendous blessing), the time I spent was very rewarding and it was very difficult to depart from a chorus with the quality level and dedication they have. That experience gave me "the bug"...that addiction to barbershop that once gotten will never go away. So when a good friend of mine called to inform me that my former director at BGSU, RD Mathey, was going to be the director of a new barbershop chorus being formed in Northwest Ohio, I was ecstatic. While events surrounding the construction of our new home prevented me from joining the launch chorus, there was no doubt in my mind that I was definitely going to be joining the chorus, whose stated purpose is to sing at an "A level" and be competitive on the world stage.

In the months since I've begun to develop some great friendships with my brothers in song and have even joined with a few of them to start a new quartet (my first ever!). This weekend was a great time...from hanging out before the competition, to performing, to impromptu singing at the hotel afterwards. I am very much looking forward to sharing time and the stage with my VofH brothers for years to come!

Oh, and I absolutely must thank my wife for supporting me in my new hobby. She was one of Rick Roberts' students in high school and as such had exposure to barbershop (and RD!) long before I did, so she understood the draw this has. Thank you, sweetheart!

2006-09-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Iran and Israel

This cartoon pretty much sums up Iran's intentions....

There IS evil in this world, folks.

2006-08-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

What Foreigners Really Think Of Us

All I hear any more from liberals and whiners is how our image abroad has been so tarnished by this administration and that we are hated and ridiculed around the world. Personally, I don't believe it's true and quite frankly don't care even if it is. An article I read today on CNN.com though has me considering this more seriously.

According to the article, a 29-year-old man was travelling with his mother to Turkey and was questioned by airport security over an item in his luggage that looked like a grenade. As it turns out, it was actually a component of a penis pump. [Insert Austin Powers joke here]

The article continues:

When officers asked him to identify it, Amin said it was a bomb, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto.

He later told officials he'd lied about the item because his mother was nearby and he didn't want her to hear that it was part of a penis pump.

After being charged with felony disorderly conduct, the man's lawyers now claim that he merely whispered that it was a "pump" and the security guard misheard it as "bomb."

Now, as amuzing as this article is I'm sure you're wondering what this really has to do with the image people in foreign countries have of us. Well, in trying to explain himself the man said he would never claim it was a bomb because he "does not consider a penis pump an unusual object to own."

And his next words will echo in my ears for a long time....

"It's normal," he said. "Half of America they use it."

2006-08-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine on FreeRepublic posted an article today by Allison Kugel at PR.com called Stephen Baldwin and the Extreme Sport of Jesus Christ. I figured it would be an article focused primarily on "The Breakthrough Ministry," an extreme sports ministry Baldwin is involved in, but much to my surprise and enjoyment it focused more on Baldwin's conversion to Christianity as detailed in his new book, The Unusual Suspect.

While I would certainly not describe Baldwin as a "theological heavyweight" by any stretch of the imagination, what I enjoyed most about this interview is his unwillingness to compromise the Gospel as truth. Reading the interview I was very quickly reminded of what happens when Larry King interviews Christians, and was afraid I would see Baldwin succumb to the same unwillingness to stand fast. I'm very happy to be wrong in this case as Baldwin did a great job (albeit in his own cryptic, goofy way) of standind firm. My favorite response was that given to the question if, after his children are raised as Christians and later decide that "This isn't really for us," it would be OK with him (my emphasis):

"Of course it wouldn't be ok, but everybody has a choice to make and everybody is free to do whatever they want. What would be ok, is the hope I would have, that God would represent in their lives."

In a day when "Christian celebrity" is practically an oxymoron, it's wonderful to see a celebrity convert and then stand steadfast in his faith under public scrutiny.

2006-08-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

Pursuant to my geek-love of NASA's WorldWind, I found out awhile back an experimental site called Flash Earth which delivers image data from Google Local and Windows Live Local through a flash-based delivery interface. It's not nearly as robust as WorldWind, but it's also much simpler and faster to use if you don't have a need for all the bells and whistles.

So, for your amuzement and amazement here are some links of interest I have bookmarked:

Cleveland Browns Stadium - Home of my beloved Cleveland Browns

The Kremlin in Moscow - Can you imagine imagery like this being available during the Cold War?

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site - site of several Soviet nuclear tests

Christmas Island (Kiritimati) - site of several US nuclear tests during Operation Dominic

Bikin Atoll (Marshall Islands) - one of the primary US test sites in the Pacific; clearly visible in the upper left is the crater from Castle Bravo (at 15MT, the largest ever nuclear test by the US).

Enewetak Atoll (Marshall Islands) - the other primary US test in the Pacific; the first thermonuclear (or "hydrogen") bomb, Ivy Mike (10.4MT), was detonated here.

Nevada Proving Grounds - The famed Nevada Test Site where the first ever atomic bomb, Trinity, was detonated (notice the pockmarked landscape from all the low-yield tests carried out)

Hiroshima - target of the first nuclear weapon ever used against another nation (the actual visual target was this bridge)

Nagasaki - target of the second (and to date, last) nuclear weapon ever used against another nation

2006-08-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

For all you out there tired of the endless rantings of conspiracy theorists, Popular Mechanics has a great article on their site about Debunking the 9/11 Myths. In fact, they spent so much time investigating and refuting these conspiracy theories that they've since published a 192-page book called Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts.

On a lighter note, check out this old commercial for the Isuzu Gemini. What they do with these cars in this commercial is so ridiculous it's funny. Keep in mind that this is NOT computer generated. I've gotta wonder how many of these things they crashed or otherwise damaged while making this commercial...especially when they're jumping the river.

2006-07-28T12:06:00.001-07:00

It's a sad day to be a Cleveland Browns fan. There is no more frustrated fan in all the world than a Cleveland sports fan. We are to be pitied among all men...

In honor of the ridiculous tear of LeCharles Bentley's patellar tendon, I have composed the following:

My Knee, My Knee
(to the tune of Mony Mony, Billy Idol version)

Here I go now screamin' "My knee, My knee!"
Tumbled down on the ground with my blown knee.
It was day two and I was feelin' fine now.
We ran an outside run and I felt it pop, yeah I felt it pop
I yelled No! No! No! No! No!

'Cause it made me feel
So bad, so bad, so bad
I cried, I cried
It's not right, I can't help but cry
And yell No! I yelled No! No! No! No! No!

I dislocated my knee, my knee.
Shotgun's back again for good old Charlie.
Don't give up though cause I'll be alright now.
Don't stop working 'cause of my knee, cause you heard me
Yell No! No! No! No! No!

'Cause you'll make me feel
So bad, so bad, so bad
And you'll make me cry, yeah I'll cry
That's not right, I'm your Pro Bowl guy
This just blows, blows, blows, blows, blows, blows

There goes your money mo-mo-money
There goes your money mo-mo-money for this year
There goes your money mo-mo-money for this year
There goes your money mo-mo-money for this year
There goes your money mo-mo-money for this year
There goes your money mo-mo-money for this year
There goes your money mo-mo-money for this year
There goes your money mo-mo-money
No, no, no, no, no, no!

Come ON! Come ON!
Come ON! Come ON!
Come ON! Come ON!
Come ON! Come ON!
Come ON! Come ON!
The contact was light, I yelled No! No! No! No! No! No!

Fate just took out my knee, my knee.
Shot down the "turn around" while Ted ran by me
Cleveland give me love and you ripped their hearts out
By ripping tendons up in my knee, in my knee
I yelled No! No! No! No! No! No!

'Cause my Brownies feel
So bad, so bad, so bad
And you made them cry, want to die
Killed their high, kiss '06 goodbye
And cry No! No! No! No! No! NO!

Patch up my knee! Fix up my knee!
Sew up my knee! Come on, come on! (Come ON!)
My knee, my knee
My knee, my knee
I feel like I died
I cried No, no, no, no, no, no!

(Optional challenge response during verse: "We're!" "We're what?" "We're screwed, we're ****ed!")

2006-07-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

As usual, here's another liberal who can't resist the urge to throw kerosene on an already blazing inferno for no good reason. It seems, according to this article, that John Kerry has all the answers to the ongoing problems in the Middle East. After all, according to Kerry, "If I was president, this [Israeli-Lebanon conflict] wouldn't have happened."

You know, Mr. Kerry, you're probably right. Following the 2004 election, after your quick unconditional surrender...er, withdrawal...in Iraq, it would only have been a matter of time before Iran and Syria wiped Israel off the face of the map, knowing that you wouldn't do anything more than pout and follow along with the UN as they "strongly condemned" those nations with their words while praising them with their inaction.

Tell me, Mr Kerry...how does it feel chucking batteries from the stands while the real men are out on the field?

2006-06-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

I recently spoke with someone close to me about the current End Time Mania that has such a tight grip on the American Evangelical community. This happened when she passed me a copy of a "book" (really nothing more than a photocopied manuscript with a plasic binding) called Beyond Babylon by James Lloyd. The book was basically full of End Times predictions. Predictably, it also included an appendix with numerous corrections and clarifications of prophetic statements made in earlier versions of the book which had failed to come to pass or had been shown to be otherwise flawed. She was so wrapped up in this she spent $35 on this photocopied "book" without thinking twice about it. Of course, part of the underlying reason there was that the show she ordered it from was on the SkyAngel network, and since it is a religious network whatever shows are on there must be reliable, right?

Anyway, I explained to her the fruits this type of "book" produces: fear. And quite often that fear and mania associated with eschatology leads people to completely neglect more important areas of doctrine. There are far too many people in our churches that probably could not list for you all Ten Commandments, but they could rattle off the details of the scroll, vial and bowl judgements in Revelations. I skimmed through the book she had given me, and my very first response to it was "Hal Lindsey wrote the same thing 30 years ago. The names have changed slightly, but everything else is the same." And I told her as much.

I told her that all the End Times mania is really nothing more than the latest Church fad. It sells books and gets people's attention. But when it comes down to it, eschatology is not the primary lens through which we should be reading the Bible. It isn't long before people are looking to extract all manner of things from Scripture using things like "Bible Codes." They become so caught up in it that they will make statements such as "We are now 98% confident that the UN Plaza will be hit by a terrorist nuclear bomb between Friday evening June 30th and Saturday evening July 1st, 2006." Of course, when this "prophecy" fails to come to pass like so many others, it's always the result of a slight miscalculation or some other explanation...anything but the cold hard truth that these people are false prophets preying upon people's fears and often milking them for plenty of money. And this field is as highly competitive as it is lucrative. The lengths to which some of these authors will go to promote their views over and against the competing views of others is simply astounding.

So what prompted this little rant? An article today stating that "'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon. Now, I have to laugh at this as one who does not believe the Bible teaches a "Pre-Tribulation Rapture." That aside though, the article speaks of those in the Evangelical community who are basically trying to dictate (or at least hasten) the timing of the Second Coming simply by using technological means to get the Gospel to everybody, believing that this fulfillment of the Great Commission will necessitate the completion of the final paragraph in this chapter of human history.

Folks, nobody knows when He's coming back. If you are spending more time worrying about trying to figure out when He's coming back than you are devoting proper time to prayer and non-eschatology Bible study (as so many are these days), then something is horribly wrong.

2006-06-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

I think that of all the living people I've never met but would like to sit down and have a beer and a chat with, Ann Coulter has got to be in the Top 5.

You know when prominent liberals in America go out of their way to remove the context from your statements you must be hitting a sore spot.

I gotta tell ya though...I love this article by Phillip Elliott of the Associated Press. The section at the end of the article listing the "quotable Coulter" is priceless, both because of the wonderful wit of Coulter they contain and their obvious use by a slanted writer to give his approval of the criticism of Coulter documented earlier in the article.

One thing that really cracks me up about Coulter is that she shares a similar trait with Rush (well, more than one, but this is the one I love): people, especially liberals, simply cannot tell when she's kidding and when she's not. Over the years I've met a few individuals who had the remarkable ability to say something with a completely straight face and get you going, only to reveal later that they were fooling you the whole time. After awhile though they would only reveal it on select occasions, leaving you wondering most times if they were serious or not.

People like Ann Coulter always keep you on your toes and make you think hard about what they say. They may occassionally apologize for fooling you, but they are completely unapologetic when it comes to telling you the truth.

2006-06-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

This one makes me sick: Father of beheaded man blames Bush, not Zarqawi

Talk about your moral relativism. How sick and demented is this man, Michael Berg, father of the beheaded Nick Berg. The elder Mr. Berg doesn't seem to care that al-Zarqawi claimed direct responsibility for the execution of his son. No...he blames George W. Bush. After all, it was because Bush dared to make good on the threats of the global community that al-Zarqawi had to behead innocent American citizens for all the world to see, right?

Mr. Berg, you make me sick. You and the Cindy Sheehan's of the world are a disgrace to your country and dishonor the death of your loved ones with your blind hatred.

2006-06-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how far superstition will go.

Everybody made this huge deal over the fact that yesterday was "the Devil's Day" because of the "666" implications of it. Now forget for a moment that in order to even get the number 666 from the date you have to be pretty loose about it. NOBODY truncates the leading zeros from a year in short form, so the closest anybody would truly get is 6/6/06. Of course, writing it as 06/06/06 is the mathematical equivalalent of 666...until you remember that that last number is truncated and is actually 2006.

And while you're forgetting about all that, forget also that this infamous number is applied (rather cryptically) to a man, not a day.

Anyway, among the headlines I saw the morning after the end of the world was the following:

New Hampshire man is 6-foot-6 and turned 66 on 6/6/06...

I didn't even read the article. I didn't have to. I've read this kind of garbage far too many times, particularly around 9/11. And in fact, that is exactly what I was reminded of...more specifically, an email originally sent around by David Pawson regarding the supposed significance of the number '11' on 9/11.

The only thing that surprised me yesterday was that Hal Lindsey wasn't in the news.

2006-05-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

OK, this is way too cool. I've been playing with Nasa's WorldWind application for quite awhile, mainly using it to map testing sites for the U.S. nuclear weapons program. I hadn't paid very close attention to the add-ons available for WorldWind until I went to download the latest version to put on my laptop. Apparently it now comes with maps for Mars as well, and not just fake ones but actual satellite data and mapping. How cool is that!?!

I'm hoping to eventually begin adding some of the nuclear testing maps to this site for public access.

And no, my fascination with nuclear weapons is neither military nor political. It's purely scientific. The science involved in creating and developing these weapons is simply amazing.

2006-05-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

My friend, Alex, posted today a wonderful summation of the problem with the anti-creedalism of many Cambellite churches whose only official doctrinal statement is along the lines of "No creed but Christ, no law but love, no book but the Bible."

Here is what he said:

A refusal to use a creed/confession/doctrinal statement of some kind, means that every time you want to investigate a brother's doctrine you must go through the Bible with that individual - all of it - and see how they agree with your reading, point-for-point, of:
66 books
1,189 chapters
31,373 verses
775,693 words
...in the Authorized Version, of course. Will they agree with your beliefs and doctrines point-for-point? How much error will you permit, before separating yourself from them? By refusing to profess/acknowledge a creed, or publish/profess an "articles of faith" / "doctrinal statement", the believer and his/her church functionally accomplishes five things:
- rejecting a priori every prior study and/or codification of doctrine formulated by any church body at every point in church history.
- practicing (if not outright believing and teaching) that Wisdom ended when special revelation and supernatural gifts did, dismissing any wisdom acquired by any bible-believing Christian in church history, contrary to Proverbs 2:6-9,
- allowing minor points of doctrine (eschatology, worship forms and practices, ecclesiastical government forms, etc) to be granted equal status with major points of doctrine (the Trinity, nature of salvation, etc),
- leave the door open for doctrinal stances to shift unknowingly from moment to moment, congregation to congregation, pastor to pastor, or even from week to week,
- willfully sequesters yourself from examination and correction by any congregation, visitors, friends, fellow believers and unbelievers, preventing all from discovering your full doctrinal beliefs without forcing a long, arduous and mandatory investigation.

The entire post can be found here. He makes some good points prior to the above regarding the nature and function of creeds and the false dichotomy of creed vs Scripture.

2006-05-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

No, this is not a Klansman. It's one of the Imperial Guards from Star Wars, but instead of a force pike he's carrying a cross. I had to change my avatar on CF because I was tired of getting so many questions about it. Not enough geeks there I guess :)