Triumphant elephant

'Triumphant elephant' adorns convention logo

Excerpt:

Organizers of next year's Republican National Convention unveiled a logo Wednesday that will adorn everything from the Xcel Center in downtown St. Paul to commemorative t-shirts.

The logo, which identifies the site of the four-day convention as Minneapolis-St. Paul, features what the organizers describe as "a triumphant elephant," the party's symbol that dates back to 1874.

Comment: Image from Kare11.com

Roland S. Martin: Black-brown coalitions

Commentary: Black-brown coalitions are tough to sustain

Excerpt:

In America, the nation's largest minority group carries significant weight. It's sort of like being the daddy at the dinner table -- you get the biggest piece of chicken or the largest slice of cake.

Political power means jobs and resources. And the one group with the most power wants to benefit their own, and sacrifice everyone else.

For years, African-Americans have argued that their sheer size in terms of numbers requires that they get a seat at the table. Coupled with African- Americans leading the civil rights movement, they say Hispanics shouldn't easily benefit from their hard work and that blacks should primarily reap the benefits.

But that all changed when Hispanics became the largest minority, often exceeding African-Americans in terms of the number of students in the school system, the primary battleground in many cities.

Today, we see that spilling over into every area, even business. African-American ad agencies, and media outlets, complain that the dollars set aside for blacks has been savagely reduced and shifted to Hispanic media.

So what you find is African-Americans and Hispanics fighting it out over a piece of the pie, while the larger ethnic group -- whites -- remains the same.

Is it possible to see a true black-brown coalition that greatly benefits both minority groups? Maybe. But it's going to take a helluva lot of work between the leading organizations such as the NAACP, National Urban League, La Raza and the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Instead of seeing one as taking from the other, what leaders in both camps should be exercising is a broader view. Blacks are not the enemy of Hispanics, and vice versa. The enemy is a lack of quality of education, being shut out of the economic levers, as well as poor health care. The resources of this nation should go where the need is. And if that means a larger portion going to one group over the other, fine. But we can't sacrifice one for the other.

Comment: Good read!

Ryan Martin on Corporate Worship (# 2)

The church assembles for worship, part 2

Excerpt (Be sure to read the entire article!):

As I said, the application of the phrase “house of God” to the church means that the church is the “new temple,” the place for public worship. I believe this becomes even more explicit in the clear New Testament teaching that gathered believers are together a “new temple” in this era of God’s work.

This is most clearly taught in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.

"Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple."

The teaching that the assembled church is the temple of God should not be confused with the teaching in 1 Cor 6:19 that our individual bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is an important separate teaching with the implication that we should live holy lives lest we make the Holy Spirit a partaker of sin. The teaching that the church also is the “new temple” has the implications that the church must be holy and that God dwells in the midst of assembled believers. Because the Spirit of God dwells in the midst of assembled believers, that group of assembled believers is holy. The church is owned by God, completely devoted to him and his worship


Comments:

1. Previous post: Part 1: "The House of God"
   
2. Note the important distinction between Temple in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (corporate) and 1 Cor 6:19 (individual)
   

Thanks Ryan. These are ministering to me!

Dr. Charles Wood: Bible Study

Basic to Bible study. I am deeply interested in accurate Biblical interpretation and work with certain basic assumptions. In the light of some recent events, I think it is time to review some of the basics that form the platform from which I operate when dealing with God’s Word.

1. I believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. That means that I believe that the Bible means what it obviously says. Metaphor, hyperbole, anthropomorphism, figurative language, etc., are almost always evident to even a casual reader and should be taken as such.
   
2. The Bible was written to real people in a real time frame. Certainly it applies to us, but it was initially written to real people in real time. Before doing any further work on translation or interpretation, I think it essential to consider what those who originally received the sacred text would have understood it to mean. Surely, especially in the Old Testament, there are passages that reveal truth for future generations that would not be completely clear to the original readers, but these portions are normally restricted to prophetic themes, they are not incredibly frequent, and they are much rarer in the New Testament outside Revelation.
   
3. No passage of Scripture can be properly interpreted to be in contradiction to any other passage of Scripture or to the general tenor of Scripture as a whole. Accepting the full, verbal inspiration of Scripture by the Holy Spirit, to allow for contradictions between passages, etc., would raise the issue of contradictions within the perfection of the God-head. It was called the “analogy of faith” in Seminary, and I consider it to be incredibly important. Consistent application of this rule of interpretation - in my opinion - would clarify much confusion.
   
4. The “history of doctrine” is very important. It is not impossible for a new interpretation, etc., to be found by careful scholars; it is highly unlikely such would take place given 2,000 years of intensive Bible study with the results of much of it readily available to us. If you have found a new and striking interpretation of a passage but can’t find any support for it in historic theology, you are likely wrong!
   
5. Direct Biblical precepts are binding and not subject to negotiation. There are many matters in Scripture which are clearly stated to be right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable, and permissible or impermissible. We are simply not faced with any options regarding those matters. We can ignore them, dismiss them with the “findings of modern Biblical scholarship,” or otherwise seek to negate or rescind them in practice, but “the Word of God stands sure.” End of argument!
   
6. There is surely a place for deduced principles in our thinking and even in our belief systems. Human logic is a gift from God, and there is no reason for it to be suspended. Many have made very strong cases for or against certain beliefs or practices based on logical deduction, and many of those deductions appear to be a proper and wise use of logic and reason. There is, however, never the same degree of validity for deductive reasoning that there is for specific Biblical statement. The Baptist distinctive of individual soul liberty comes into play at this point also. Biblical precepts are binding and determinative among God’s people, but I believe that no one has the Biblical right to impose the results of his deductive reasoning as binding and determinative on any other believer or group of believers. Without meaning to be unkind, could I suggest that the fact that you are satisfied with the results of your deductive reasoning does not necessarily place those results on the same level as Scripture or make those results binding on me (in other words, the fact that you are convinced you are right does not necessarily make it so). Personally, I find it rather hypocritical that many who would impose their deducted conclusions on others are often very careless in identifying and heeding Biblical precepts themselves.
   
7. This last principle springs out of principles #2 and #6. Believing as I do that Scripture was originally written to common people and designed to be understood by them, I am always a bit suspicious when it takes four or five single-spaced pages to explicate the position one takes on a specific passage. I do not necessarily reject such out-of-hand, but I must admit that my skepticism grows proportionately with the amount of logic it takes to demonstrate its validity. The question that always comes to my mind is: would the people who originally received this message (or any other person simply coming to the Bible and taking it to mean what it says it means) come to this conclusion? If not, then it would appear that there is reason for some skepticism regarding the interpretation.
   

Now, I am not a theologian or even what I would call a Bible scholar, but for the past fifty-one years I have sought to interpret the Scriptures in such a way that I could give the people to whom I was preaching or teaching an accurate picture of what the passage actually taught so that my applications would have genuine relationship to its real meaning. I have found this a safe approach. – Dr. Charles Wood

Comment: through the courtesy of Cogitations which is a free email distribution from Dr. Warren Vanhetloo, a retired seminary professor

Bearcats nationally ranked

My brother said that this is the first time in XXX years (I forgot .... but many many years) that the Cincinnati Bearcats (University of Cincinnati is my alma mater!) are nationally ranked in football. I'm not sure how long this will last but for now they are undefeated!

2007 NCAA Football Rankings - Week 5 (Sept. 30)

gobearcats.com

UPDATE: Bearcats ranked in Top 25 for first time since 1976

Excerpt:

Cincinnati moved into the rankings at No. 24 in latest Associated Press Top 25 poll released Sunday. It marks the first time since 1976 the Bearcats have been in the poll. The Bearcats are at 4-0 for the first time since 1954.

From the Lord's Day to Christian Sunday

The Son's Day to Sunday

Excerpts:

... Another sure sign of formalized worship was the increase in complaints from clergymen about casualness during services among the flock. John Chrysostom, lamenting—even then—that churches were filled on Easter and Christmas but empty on the Lord's Day, urged his audience to compel friends and enemies and wives and children alike to come to services weekly, even forcibly drag them along, as part of their Christian obligation to love their neighbor. And it wasn't enough that people merely show up to church: he complained about young men who giggled or laughed aloud during prayer or sermons, declaring it a wonder that thunderbolts were not cast down upon them. If such indifference was suffered by Chrysostom, whose name means "the golden mouth," then one may safely assume that other preachers suffered it as well.
...
Some early Christians had already used, with mixed results, the Sun's imagery to speak of Christ. But such imagery became more acceptable during the fourth century, when far more Christians began calling the first day "Sunday" rather than exclusively the Lord's Day—despite even the condemnations of an Augustine or a Chrysostom. Saint Jerome himself defended the practice, saying, why shouldn't we call it Sunday, since Christ is the Sun of justice and has filled the world with his light? Jerome even claimed that Sunday took its name from Christ the Sun rather than from the physical Sun. This was a classic example of reading present desires into the past, but Jerome demonstrated perfectly the ability to take something previously seen as Roman and make it Christian.

Sunday: A History of the First Day from Babylonia to the Super Bowl

Comment: Quotes above are from the CT article not the book itself. The book looks interesting.

Happenings:

1. Kathee out getting her hair cut
   
2. Tomorrow is my first night teaching the singles study at 4th this month.
   
3. Rainy day
   

Seven forgotten Presidents

Seven presidents nobody remembers

The list:

1. Herbert Hoover (President #31, 1929--1933)
   
2. Martin Van Buren (President #8, 1837--1841)
   
3. Warren Harding (President #29, 1921--1923)
   
4. Chester Arthur (President #21, 1881--1885)
   
5. Millard Fillmore (President #13, 1850--1853)
   
6. Rutherford B. Hayes (President #19, 1877--1881)
   
7. John Tyler (President #10, 1841--1845)
   

Comment: Image from CNN article. All names linked to Wikipedia articles. My Brother and his wife have been to Hoover's home, library, and museum in West Branch, Iowa.

Amazing Rockies

Colorado wins NL wild card

I'm not a huge baseball fan but I watched this game last night up into the 13th inning. When San Diego scored 2 runs with an HR in the top of the 13th, I went to bed. So I was surprised when I woke up to this news!

Colorado rallies in 13th inning to seize playoff berth

Excerpt:

... the most jaw-dropping, elimination-defying win in Rockies history? Four innings after the end of regulation play, the Rockies reversed a two-run deficit to beat the San Diego Padres and make the playoffs. The fans had just witnessed a resurrection.

McCain takes heat

Groups criticize McCain for calling U.S. 'Christian nation'

Excerpts:

Muslim and Jewish groups on Monday sharply criticized Sen. John McCain's comments that he would prefer a Christian president to lead the United States.
....
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said McCain's comments failed to recognize that Christianity is not the only faith with beliefs that support the concept of human rights.

"Sorry, Islam and other faiths have their basis in human dignity," Hooper said.
....
he National Jewish Democratic Council, an advocacy group representing Jewish Democrats, also called on the Republican Party to denounce the remarks formally.

"Former maverick John McCain's statements were repugnant," the group's executive director, Ira N. Forman, said in a statement. "It's been sad watching him transform from political maverick to religious right mouthpiece."

Forman added, "Someone running for president ought to understand the Constitution a little better. Nowhere does it say the United States is a 'Christian' nation. How can we trust someone to uphold the Constitution who doesn't even know what is in it?"


Comments: See yesterday's CFG comments. Human rights and Islamic fundamentalism are mutually exclusive concepts.

Dan Miller of SharperIron

Dan Miller and his wife were in Minneapolis for the Desiring God conference and Dan kind enough to connect up with me downtown today. He joined me for lunch at the ING cafeteria in my building (100 Washington).

Thanks Dan for the fellowship today.

Rush on Clinton's $ 5000 for every baby

Comment: Images from Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh: Mrs. Clinton: $5,000 for Every Baby

Comment: The proposal is so preposterous. It simply defies any economic common sense or logic!

Excerpt:

By the way, this $5,000 for every baby born in America, can you imagine the kind of power trip you have to be on to make this kind of statement? Can you also imagine the flood of illegal immigration that this is going to spawn? You tell the impoverished and the poor, not just in Mexico but around the world, all they gotta do is get in here and their kid is born, five grand, start making babies! We don't know the details of the plan. I'm sure she'll say it doesn't apply to illegals, but you wait. Everything applies to them now. They get health care. They get public education. They get tuition breaks when they go to college that in-state students don't get or out-of-state students don't get. You think that Mrs. Clinton's going to actively keep $5,000 away from illegal immigrant babies born in this country? They are citizens born in this country. You're a citizen, you get it. Hello the swarm that would take place if this ever happened. Of course, Mrs. Clinton likes that, because those are all future Democrat voters.

"Prosteishiy Sputnik" — the Simplest Satellite

Russians tell the real story behind spur-of-the-moment Sputnik

Excerpts:


... 50 years later, it emerges that the momentous launch was far from being part of a well-planned strategy to demonstrate communist superiority over the West. Instead, the first artificial satellite in space was a spur-of-the-moment gamble driven by the dream of one scientist, whose team scrounged a rocket, slapped together a satellite and persuaded a dubious Kremlin to open the space age.
....
As described by the former scientists, the world's first orbiter was born out of a very different Soviet program: the frantic development of a rocket capable of striking the United States with a hydrogen bomb.

Because there was no telling how heavy the warhead would be, its R-7 ballistic missile was built with thrust to spare _ "much more powerful than anything the Americans had," Georgy Grechko, a rocket engineer and cosmonaut, told AP.
....
The Soviet Union already had a full-fledged scientific satellite in development, but it would take too long to complete, Korolyov knew. So he ordered his team to quickly sketch a primitive orbiter. It was called PS-1, for "Prosteishiy Sputnik" — the Simplest Satellite.
....
The satellite, weighing just 184 pounds (84 kilograms), was built in less than three months. Soviet designers built a pressurized sphere of polished aluminum alloy with two radio transmitters and four antennas. An earlier satellite project envisaged a cone shape, but Korolyov preferred the sphere. "Earth is a sphere, and its first satellite also must have a spherical shape," Chertok, a longtime deputy of Korolyov, recalled him saying.
....
The first official Soviet report of Sputnik's launch was brief and buried deep in Pravda, the Communist Party daily. Only two days later did it offer a banner headline, quoting the avalanche of foreign praise. Pravda also published a description of Sputnik's orbit to help people watch it pass. The article failed to mention that the light seen moving across the sky was the spent booster rocket's second stage, which was in roughly same orbit, Chertok said.


Comments: Image from Allposters.com. Kathee and I discussed this on the way into work. She was in the 1st grade. Sputnik is one of her earliest memories!

Lake Superior - record low

Record low water levels reported for Lake Superior

Excerpt:

Drought and mild temperatures have pushed Lake Superior's water level to its lowest point on record for this time of year, continuing a downward spiral across the Great Lakes.

Preliminary data show Superior's average water level in September dipped 1.6 inches beneath the previous low for that month reached in 1926, Cynthia Sellinger, deputy director of NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, said Sunday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which uses a different measuring technique, calculated the September level at 4 inches below the record, said Scott Thieme, chief of hydraulics and hydrology for the Detroit district office.

It's the first time in 81 years that the biggest and deepest of the lakes has reached a new monthly low, Sellinger said. The Army Corps recorded Superior as also setting a record by a half-inch in August. But the NOAA lab had the lake at slightly above its record level then.

Either way, the lake has plummeted over the past year and has dipped beneath its long-term average level for a decade — the longest such period in its known history.


Earlier CFG posting on Lake Superior

Wiki: Lake Superior

Comment: Image is from Wikipedia article.

Ethanol, schmethanol

Ethanol, schmethanol: Everyone seems to think that ethanol is a good way to make cars greener. Everyone is wrong

Excerpt:

SOMETIMES you do things simply because you know how to. People have known how to make ethanol since the dawn of civilisation, if not before. Take some sugary liquid. Add yeast. Wait. They have also known for a thousand years how to get that ethanol out of the formerly sugary liquid and into a more or less pure form. You heat it up, catch the vapour that emanates, and cool that vapour down until it liquefies.

The result burns. And when Henry Ford was experimenting with car engines a century ago, he tried ethanol out as a fuel. But he rejected it—and for good reason. The amount of heat you get from burning a litre of ethanol is a third less than that from a litre of petrol. What is more, it absorbs water from the atmosphere. Unless it is mixed with some other fuel, such as petrol, the result is corrosion that can wreck an engine's seals in a couple of years. So why is ethanol suddenly back in fashion? That is the question many biotechnologists in America have recently asked themselves.

The obvious answer is that, being derived from plants, ethanol is “green”. The carbon dioxide produced by burning it was recently in the atmosphere. Putting that CO2 back into the air can therefore have no adverse effect on the climate. But although that is true, the real reason ethanol has become the preferred green substitute for petrol is that people know how to make it—that, and the subsidies now available to America's maize farmers to produce the necessary feedstock. Yet such things do not stop ethanol from being a lousy fuel. To solve that, the biotechnologists argue, you need to make a better fuel that is equally green. Which is what they are trying to do.

------------------- [Read full article!] -------------------

Ethanol's inherent flaws:

1. Less energy than gasoline
   
2. Engine corrosion
   
3. Water absorption
   

Summary: "the political rush to back ethanol, just because it is green and people have heard of it, is a mistake."

Comment: Good read! More from NYTimes below:

Ethanol’s Boom Stalling as Glut Depresses Price

Business
Ethanol’s Boom Stalling as Glut Depresses Price
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: September 30, 2007
An oversupply of ethanol is suddenly plaguing farmers, in part because distribution of the fuel has not kept pace with new distilleries.

Comment: Image from The Truth About Cars

1873: Miss Webber solves stagecoach robbery

You Can't Make This Stuff Up ...

Excerpt:

The stagecoach was on its way from Colfax, Calif., to Grass Valley in 1873. Aboard were 11 male passengers and one Miss E. Webber. Miss Webber was on her way to marry a wealthy miner, sight unseen, she met through a lonely hearts column in the newspaper.

On that trip, the Wells Fargo stagecoach had a strongbox aboard that contained $7,078 in gold coin. After crossing the Bear River, the stagecoach was stopped by five masked bandits who removed the passengers and placed explosive charges on the treasure box.

In the gentlewomanly ways of those times, Miss Webber engaged the scoundrels in conversation. She nicely asked the robbers to spare her luggage. It contained all her possessions, and the crooks had no immediate interest in it. One thief gallantly agreed to bring it down for her. As he pulled the trunk from atop the coach, Miss Webber caught a glimpse of his face. She told Hume later that conversation with the perpetrators might help identify them by voice. Under duress, Miss Webber was outthinking everyone at the scene.

...

Comment: Read the surprising conclusion!

Sputnik: 50th annivesary

Newsweek: The Real Sputnik Story

Excerpt:

Far from being a bitter blow, Sputnik furthered one of Eisenhower's cherished military goals. Called "open skies," the policy would allow any nation to undertake aerial reconnaissance of any other. "The administration welcomed Sputnik," says McDougall. "The Soviets could hardly deny the right to launch satellites over the territory of other countries if they did it first."

Wikipedia: Sputnik 1

Comment: I am dating myself, but I was in the 3rd grade. I remember the event clearly!

Sunday at Fourth Baptist

This morning Pastor Levy preached from 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 on the need to worthy of being imitated and the privilege of suffering for Christ.

Tonight was Dr Hauser's last message at Fourth. They are moving to Louisville KY in a week. His text was Acts 20:27-32 with a message of warning of false teachings in the church.

We had a relatively busy weekend as we entertained both yesterday morning and then dinner today.

Back to work tomorrow

Sunday dinner with loved ones

Dave (Kathee's brother)

Colleen (Sister in Law)

Kathee

Kate (Roger's girlfriend)

Katrina (Niece from Ohio State) & Roger

Katrina, Roger, Kate

Nathan

Dinner table # 1

Dinner table # 2

Our niece, Katrina, flew up for the Ohio State - Minnesota game. Today Kathee had a pork roast dinner for all. Katrina flies back to Columbus OH tonight

Peggy Noonan: listening to those whose views we loathe

Hear, Hear: Americans should not fear talking--and listening--to those whose views we loathe

Excerpt:

In 1960 the premier of the Soviet Union came and spoke in the United States. Nikita Khrushchev was our sworn enemy, and a vulgarian--sweaty faced, ill educated, dressed in a suit just off the racks from the Gulag Kresge's. I was a child, but I remember the impression he made. He took off his shoe and banged it, literally, on the soft beige wood of a desk at the U.N., as he fulminated. His nation had nuclear weapons. They were aimed at us.

The new Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, was there too. He was young and bearded and dressed in camouflage; he too, soon, would have missiles pointed at us. He not only went to the U.N. and spoke to the world, he refused to stay at the Waldorf and sweetly chose instead a hotel in Harlem to show his solidarity with America's oppressed. The Americans there seemed to get the joke, and welcomed him with laughter. They knew he was playing them. But then they'd been played before.

Khrushchev's trip and Castro's were all about propaganda, all about sticking it to Uncle Sam. And here's what happened: Nothing. Their presence hurt our country exactly zero percent. In fact it raised us high, reminding the world we are the confident nation that lets its foes speak uncensored. As an adult nation would.

Comments: Read in entirety for a humorous, but possibly apocryphal, anecdote about when Khrushchev's motorcade stalled on Third Avenue. One must not fear reading or hearing broadly!

McCain: No Muslim president

McCain: No Muslim president, U.S. better with Christian one

Excerpt:

GOP presidential candidate John McCain says America is better off with a Christian President and he doesn't want a Muslim in the Oval Office.

"I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it," he said. "But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith."

Beliefnet link

Comment: He'll take a lot of heat for this! Based upon the one Muslim in a national office, Congressman Keith Ellison, I doubt I would vote for a Muslim for President. Previous CFG comments on Congressman Ellison

More from AP: McCain: I'd Prefer Christian President

Excerpt:

The Arizona senator was also asked about the confusion over which Christian denomination he belongs to. "I was raised Episcopalian, I have attended the North Phoenix Baptist Church for many years and I am a Christian," McCain said. He added that he has considered being baptized in the Baptist church, but he does not want to do it during the presidential race because "it might appear as if I was doing something that I otherwise wouldn't do."

Mac: Screen Capture Shortcut

The Secret Screen Capture Shortcut

Excerpt:

Command-Shift-3 shortcut for taking a screen capture of your entire screen, and you may even know about Command-Shift-4, which gives you a crosshair cursor so you can choose which area of the screen you want to capture.

Comment: I used the "Command-Shift-4" for the NetBank post yesterday. Vista has "Snipper" for this function. Nothing like this in XP. Very cool! Read full link for more!

John Stumpf: who's responsible for subprime

On the Record: John Stumpf, president and CEO, Wells Fargo & Co.

Excerpt:

Q: Who is responsible for the crazy loans made in the last five to 10 years?

A: There's a shared responsibility here. The Federal Reserve reduced rates to 40- and 50-year lows. Real estate became a very hot asset class. People started buying homes.

Because of such low rates, new people came into the marketplace. People bid up prices and everybody wanted to be in the game.

Certain mortgage lenders - especially those that were not regulated - helped fill the investor market for mortgage paper. And people who purchased homes in 2001 and 2002 and then sold them in 2005 or 2006 made a lot of money, which fueled this whole thing.

Q: Is there a lender responsibility to set a fair marketplace so that people don't get in over their heads?

A: I totally agree. We've been responsible and we didn't do certain things. We could've made a bunch of money doing those things. We put people in products they could afford. All of our loans were underwritten to a fully indexed rate. We have full income verification and full appraisals.

We couldn't understand negative-amortization loans. You owe more than the mortgage you started with. It didn't make any sense for us to do stated-income and stated-asset loans for subprime customers.

Comment: Has Minnesotan common sense! "Stumpf, the second of 11 children who grew up on a Minnesota farm, raised chickens and milked cows as a youngster. "

DFL Sen. Terri Bonoff to run for Ramstad seat

State legislators to run for Ramstad's seat in U.S. House





Excerpt:

Two of Minnesota's suburban congressional races are about to get more crowded.

In the wide-open Third District, where Republican incumbent Jim Ramstad is retiring, two state legislators are laying the groundwork to run for a seat that has attracted the attention of a wide range of potential candidates.

------

DFL Sen. Terri Bonoff said she plans to formally announce her campaign in mid-October, after she files a federal campaign finance report that reflects her fundraising in late September.

------

Bonoff, a former business executive, won a special election two years ago in a Plymouth-Minnetonka district that had been held by Republicans, and was re-elected last year in a close vote.

Comment: This seat is vulnerable for the Republicans because Ramstad is a moderate Republican and Bonoff is (in my opinion) fiscally conservative! She's dynamic and would be a good congress woman!

Emily hiding

Last night at about 10:20, I said to Kathee, "time for bed". She said that the bed wasn't made yet. Why? Emily was hiding in the clean sheets. I sneaked in to snap her picture.

Six Fingers of Blame

Six Fingers of Blame in the Mortgage Mess

Economic View
Six Fingers of Blame in the Mortgage Mess
By ALAN S. BLINDER
Published: September 30, 2007
Until we diagnose what went wrong with the subprime mortgage market, we cannot even begin to devise policy changes that might protect us from a repeat performance.

Excerpt:

Finger-pointing is often decried both as mean-spirited and as a distraction from the more important task of finding remedies. I beg to differ. Until we diagnose what went wrong with subprime, we cannot even begin to devise policy changes that might protect us from a repeat performance. So here goes. Because so much went wrong, the fingers on one hand will not be enough.

The first finger points at households who borrowed recklessly to buy homes, often saddling themselves with mortgages that were all too likely to default. They should have known better. But what can we do to guard against it happening again?

The six fingers:

1. Gullible consumers who borrowed recklessly to buy homes
   
2. Some lenders sold mortgage products that were plainly inappropriate for customers
   
3. Bank regulators for not doing a better job of protecting consumers and ensuring that banks followed sound lending practices
   
4. Many investors, swept up in the euphoria of the moment, failed to pay close attention to what they were buying
   
5. C.D.O.’s, for collateralized debt obligations, were probably too complex for anyone’s good — and the investment bankers who dreamed them up and marketed them aggressively
   
6. Investors placed too much faith in the rating agencies — which, to put it mildly, failed to get it right
   

Gingrich Says No

Gingrich Says No to White House Bid

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not run for president in 2008 after determining he could not legally explore a bid and remain as head of his tax-exempt political organization, a spokesman said Saturday.

"Newt is not running," spokesman Rick Tyler said. "It is legally impermissible for him to continue on as chairman of American Solutions (for Winning the Future) and to explore a campaign for president."

Gingrich decided "to continue on raising the challenges America faces and finding solutions to those challenges" as the group's chairman, Tyler said, "rather than pursuing the presidency."

Comment: I'm a fan of his political views but not of the man. Why? His adultery!

Gilbert Keith Chesterton on "Humility"

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition ... [and] settled upon the organ of conviction, where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.

From Orthodoxy, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, pp 31-32.

Cited by D.A. Carson in Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications, p. 217

Plastic saints

God Made Flesh, Then Plastic: Religious action figures create a different kind of toy story

Anyone seeking a mischievous stocking stuffer for Christopher Hitchens or less exalted scoffers need look no further. A growing phalanx of religious action figures--including Adam, Eve, Daniel, Job, Esther, Goliath, Samson and Jesus--offer a tweaking reminder that despite Heathendom's best efforts, the faith-based marketplace is forever expanding.

Plastic saints, to be sure, aren't exactly new. Mary, mother of Jesus, has long ridden shotgun in Catholic vehicles. Yet some of the faithful, including a few with a gift for retail, concluded that she needed reinforcements. David Socha, chief executive of One2believe, which offers a line of religious action figures, told the Associated Press that there is a "battle for the toy box" under way, in which good and evil vie for the young. "If you're very religious, it's a battle for your children's minds and what they're playing with and pretending," he said. "There are remakes out there of Satan and evil things."

Old Scratch and associates may now have their hands full. Jesus, for example, comes in several incarnations, including a football player, skier, roller blader and the best-selling "Baseball Jesus Sports Statue," offered by Catholic Supply for $20. "A contemporary statue for today's youth," the sales pitch says of the figure, promising a hands-on reminder that "Jesus is with us in everything we do, watching over us & involved in all of our acts & activities." The company's Web site also anoints its statue with a bit of marketplace myrrh: "As seen on the Conan O'Brien show!"

The deployment of Jesus and other biblical bigs to the toy-box war includes some contemporary updates. One supplier, in a bow toward divinity and diversity, offers figures in both dark- and light-skinned models (Adam and Eve, it should be noted, are portrayed in post-fall attire reminiscent of bathing suits). Meantime, at the Family Values Center, there's Moses ($12.99), who comes with "shield and sword, along with fully illustrated comic book." Interestingly, two female dolls--Deborah the Warrior and Queen Esther--cost $24.99. Must be their wardrobes.

Comment: What the world needs more of is real flesh and blood saints who enflesh and live out truth to the glory and honor of the Lord!

Generic drugs

My Doctor switched me over from Lipitor (which is a non-generic drug to treat high cholesterol) to Zocor (a generic drug).

Formerly my co-pay for a three month supply of Lipitor was $ 75. Today I bought a 3 month supply of Zocor for $ 13.33.

For me, both drugs work the same. And what a cost savings for the generic!

Netbank folds

FDIC shuts down NetBank due to defaults

FDIC / NetBank Info

Comment: My first Internet banking experience was with NetBank. The confusing web interface was a turn off and I switched to IngDirect (which I highly recommend)

Excerpt:

NetBank Inc., an online bank with $2.5 billion in assets, was shut down by the government on Friday because of an excessive level of mortgage defaults.

It was the largest savings and loan failure since the tail end of the industry's crisis more than 14 years ago. Federal regulators appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as a receiver for Alpharetta, Ga.-based NetBank.

.....


The FDIC said Friday that $1.5 billion of NetBank's insured deposits will be assumed by ING Bank, also a major online bank that is part of Dutch financial giant ING Groep NV. ING will pay $14 million for the deposits and receive 104,000 new customers.

NetBank, which had no physical branches, sustained significant losses last year "primarily due to early payment defaults on loans sold, weak underwriting, poor documentation, a lack of proper controls, and failed business strategies," the Office of Thrift Supervision said in a statement.

Government shuts down NetBank:
Mortgage defaults cited as FDIC named receiver, ING takes over deposits

Excerpt:

While dozens of mortgage companies have closed due to soaring defaults of home loans made to borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit, those problems previously had occurred among non-bank lenders such as New Century Financial Corp. NetBank, in contrast, is federally regulated.

Loose mortgage standards in recent years — especially among lenders catering to subprime borrowers — have resulted in a spike in home loan defaults.

Bert Ely, a banking consultant based in Alexandria, Va., said NetBank was in "deep trouble" before the subprime mortgage market's woes accelerated this year. Regulators, he said, "should have closed it a long time ago."

Fun with Excel 2007

Microsoft Excel fails math test

Excerpt:

In a blog post, Microsoft employee David Gainer said that when computer users tried to get Excel 2007 to multiply some pairs of numbers and the result was 65,535, Excel would incorrectly display 100,000 as the answer.

Gainer said Excel makes mistakes multiplying 77.1 by 850, 10.2 by 6,425 and 20.4 by 3,212.5, but the program appears to be able to handle 16,383.75 times 4.


Comment: I actually found this hard to believe. But the above image is from my Vista workstation with Excel 2007. Microsoft will fix .. so it is not a big deal. It's just a little embarrassing (for them)!

Hyperbole Alert!

Edwards: 'Pretty Soon We’re Not Going to Have a Young African-American Male Population in America.'

John Edwards:

“We cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They’re all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two.”

Reality:

Despite popular misperception and those who find it a convenient talking point to illustrate inescapable racism, there are more young African-American men in college than in prison. In 2005, according to the Census Bureau, there were 864,000 black men in college. According to Justice Department statistics, there were 802,000 in federal and state prisons and jails; between the ages of 18 and 24, however, black men in college outnumber those incarcerated by 4 to 1.

Singing to the choir

Clinton: $5,000 for Every U.S. Baby

Excerpt:

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 "baby bond" from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.

Clinton, her party's front-runner in the 2008 race, made the suggestion during a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus.

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home," she said.

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

Clinton said such an account program would help people get back to the tradition of savings that she remembers as a child, and has become harder to accomplish in the face of rising college and housing costs.

One way of building a stronger economy, she said, is "more savings, starting with the so-called baby bonds idea where every person born in this country would be given that kind of account because we want to make an investment in America's young people."

She argued that wealthy people "get to have all kinds of tax incentives to save, but most people can't afford to do that."

Comments:

1. Note the audience: "a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus"
   
2. Unsaid: How the Democrats would really implement this. It would be something like this - "The child of anyone making more than $ xx,xxx would be illegible"
   
3. The annual cost would be 4,000,000 times $ 5,000 = $ 20,000,000,000 per year! Check my math ... I have a hard time with large numbers! That's $ 20 Billion per year
   

This is a variation of Hoover's "a chicken in every pot" promise! (Except this costs a lot more!)

Another Twin Cities blogger calls Hillary Tooth Fairy

Some foreign-policy sense

Democrats and Iran: Hillary outsmarts her dovish competition

Excerpt:

Kudos to Hillary Clinton--yes, you read that right--for her Senate vote this week urging the U.S. to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. That's more than can be said for her primary competition of Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and John Edwards, who assailed her on this score at Wednesday's Democratic Presidential candidates debate at Dartmouth. These are men who seem to fear the Netroots more than the mullahs.

Mrs. Clinton's vote was on a symbolic amendment offered by Connecticut maverick Joe Lieberman and Republicans Jon Kyl and Norm Coleman. After marshaling the evidence of Iran's terrorist activities in Iraq, the amendment stated that "it is a critical national interest of the United States to prevent [Iran] from turning Shi'a militia into a Hezbollah-like force that could serve its interests inside Iraq." Twenty-one Democrats, including Joe Biden and John Kerry, apparently found this too shocking to support and voted nay, as did Republicans Chuck Hagel and Dick Lugar.

We probably shouldn't complain when 76 Senators, including a majority of Democrats, show some foreign-policy sense. Still, it's telling that the Democrats only agreed to the amendment after demanding that its language be edited to remove a statement that "it should be the policy of the United States to stop inside Iraq the violent activities and destabilizing influence" of Iran. Also left on the cutting-room floor, under Democratic duress, was a call "to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq" with respect to Iran and its proxies.



Comments:

1. Note Minnesota's Republican Senator Norm Coleman above!
   
2. My prediction for the Democratic ticket: Hillary for President & Bill Richardson for VP. Why Bill Richardson: balances and adds the ticket this way: SW, Hispanic, relatively moderate, has links to the Clintons, & foreign policy experience (Wiki Bill Richardson).
   
3. My prediction for the Republican ticket (foggy right now): I think Tim Pawlenty could be in play as the VP. Why? Younger, could balance the ticket if Mitt Romney or Rudi were top of the ticket.
   

Please ... NOT Barry Bonds!

Bonds a Twin? Ridiculous, but ...

Excerpt:

The Twins are so determined to bolster their lineup for next season, there were indications Thursday they would even consider signing Barry Bonds.
The San Francisco Giants have announced they will part ways with Bonds at season's end. The all-time home run leader wants to play next year, but soon he'll be a free agent looking for a job.

The chances of Bonds signing a free-agent contract in Minnesota are still remote, but the market could be limited. Bonds, 43, has battled knee problems, and most expect him to sign with an American League team so he can be a full-time designated hitter.

------

Gardenhire was then asked, hypothetically, what he thought about getting a DH who hits more home runs than anybody but doesn't have the greatest clubhouse reputation.

"Hypothetically, I think we could try to make just about anything work," he said. "I think if people come here and get with our system, I think they'd enjoy it."

Seriously, though, Bonds? Indications around the Twins are, yes. Maybe they'll never get him, but that's how serious they are about scoring more in 2008.


Comment: I hope that Twins skip this option!

God’s Absolute Sovereignty

John MacArthur: God’s Absolute Sovereignty

Intro:

No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. The carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal decrees. Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God’s work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for any aspect of their salvation.

But that is, after all, precisely what Scripture teaches. Even faith is God’s gracious gift to His elect. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). “Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). Therefore no one who is saved has anything to boast about (cf Eph. 2:8, 9). “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

The doctrine of divine election is explicitly taught throughout Scripture. For example, in the New Testament epistles alone, we learn that all believers are “chosen of God” (Titus 1:1). We were “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11, emphasis added). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world . . . He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (vv. 4, 5). We “are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son . . . and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28–30).


Comment: The encouraging message of the day! I trust you will read!

Dick Lamm in immigration debate

Lamm stays tough in immigration debate

Excerpt:

Former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm and a Boston economist offered vastly different views of the impact illegal immigrants have on U.S. workers and the economy during a debate today at Metro State College.

Lamm, who was a leader in the movement to strip nonessential services from illegal immigrants, said the flow of cheap labor provided by illegal workers depresses wages and drains tax revenues to cover the cost of benefits such as education and health care.

Lamm faced free-market economist Benjamin Powell, an assistant professor of economics at Boston's Suffolk University.

----

Lamm said illegal immigrants offer business a cheap labor source that depresses the wages of those who are here legally. Because illegal workers pay little in taxes, Americans bear the cost of educating their children and for other services, he added.

"You don't pay your own way — you are subsidized by the taxpayers. I don't mind doing it, but I can't do it for the whole world," said Lamm.

Comment: Dick Lamm is the former Governor of Colorado. He is famous for this quote: ""We've got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and everything else like that and let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life."

Indian ragpickers - 300,000 of them!

Picking Up Trash by Hand, and Yearning for Dignity

New Delhi Journal
Picking Up Trash by Hand, and Yearning for Dignity
By AMELIA GENTLEMAN
Published: September 27, 2007
An essential class of workers, garbage collectors in India’s capital are among the city’s poorest and most marginalized groups.

Excerpt:

A garbage collector in India’s capital, Ms. Begum is one of 300,000 little-seen workers who perform a vital role for the city: rifling through the detritus of modern life, recycling anything of worth and carefully disposing of the rest.

More than 95 percent of New Delhi has no formal system of house-to-house garbage collection, so it falls to the city’s ragpickers, one of India’s poorest and most marginalized groups, to provide this basic service. They are not paid by the state, relying instead on donations from the communities they serve and on meager profits from the sale of discarded items.

Comment: Interesting read. First I had heard of this! Image from toxicslink.blogspot.com

Technical read but interesting

ReiserFS bugs, 32-bit vs 64-bit kernels, cache vs inode memory

Comment: I use Fastmail as my email server. Because I work with servers regularly I found this article interesting.

More on inode and the Reiser File System

Fringe

6 Catholic nuns in Arkansas excommunicated for heresy

Excerpt:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Six Catholic nuns have been excommunicated for heresy after refusing to give up membership in a Canadian sect whose founder claims to be possessed by the Virgin Mary, the Diocese of Little Rock announced Wednesday.

The Rev. J. Gaston Hebert, the diocese administrator, said he notified the nuns of the decision Tuesday night after they refused to recant the teachings of the Community of the Lady of All Nations, also known as the Army of Mary.

Finding your spouse on the Internet (anonymously)

Online couple cheated with each other

A married couple who didn't realise they were chatting each other up on the internet are divorcing.

Sana Klaric and husband Adnan, who used the names "Sweetie" and "Prince of Joy" in an online chatroom, spent hours telling each other about their marriage troubles, Metro.co.uk reported.

The truth emerged when the two turned up for a date. Now the pair, from Zenica in central Bosnia, are divorcing after accusing each other of being unfaithful.

"I was suddenly in love. It was amazing. We seemed to be stuck in the same kind of miserable marriage. How right that turned out to be," Sana, 27, said.

Adnan, 32, said: "I still find it hard to believe that Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things, is actually the same woman I married and who has not said a nice word to me for years".


Several bloggers have commented:

Larry Rogier: I Love You ... Oops, No I Don't

Don Johnson: on a sad commentary on the modern world

Comment: Made me think of Johnny Cash: Frankie's Man. Best to Walk the Line!

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line

I find it very, very easy to be true
I find myself alone when each day is through
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you
Because you're mine, I walk the line

As sure as night is dark and day is light
I keep you on my mind both day and night
And happiness I've known proves that it's right
Because you're mine, I walk the line

You've got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide
Because you're mine, I walk the line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line

"This is going to cause pain"

Plan Uses Taxes to Fight Climate Change

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON -- Dealing with global warming will be painful, says one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress. To back up his claim he is proposing a recipe many people won't like _ a 50-cent gasoline tax, a carbon tax and scaling back tax breaks for some home owners.

"I'm trying to have everybody understand that this is going to cost and that it's going to have a measure of pain that you're not going to like," Rep. John Dingell, who is marking his 52nd year in Congress, said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Dingell will offer a "discussion draft" outlining his tax proposals on Thursday, the same day that President Bush holds a two-day conference to discuss voluntary efforts to combat climate change.

But Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that will craft climate legislation, is making it clear that he believes tackling global warming will require a lot more if it is to be taken seriously.

"This is going to cause pain," he said, adding that he wants to make certain "the pain is shared in a way that is fair, proper, acceptable and accomplishes the basic purpose" of reducing greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.

Dingell said he's not sure what the final climate package will include when the House takes it up for a vote. The taxes measures he's proposing, in fact, will be taken up by another House committee. And the Senate is considering a market-based system that would set an economy-wide ceiling on the amount of carbon dioxide that would be allowed to be released.

Dingell says he hasn't rule out such a so-called "cap-and-trade" system, either, but that at least for now he wants to float what he believes is a better idea. He will propose for discussion:

_A 50-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline and jet fuel, phased in over five years, on top of existing taxes.

_A tax on carbon, at $50 a ton, released from burning coal, petroleum or natural gas.

_Phaseout of the interest tax deduction on home mortgages for homes over 3,000 square feet. Owners would keep most of the deduction for homes at the lower end of the scale, but it would be eliminated entirely for homes of 4,200 feet or more.

He estimates that would affect 10 percent of homeowners. He says "it's only fair" to tax those who buy large suburban houses and create urban sprawl. Historic and farm houses would be exempted.

Comment: This should come a no surprise to anyone with any knowledge of a history of the Democrats!

Are We Supposed to Be Surprised or Something???

Solomon Dedicates the Temple

Tonight's reading: 2 Chronicles 7, 8

When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’s house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying:

“For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever.”

Congressional Backbone redux

House condemns MoveOn.org attack on Petraeus, praises general

Excerpt:

By a 341-79 vote, the House passed a resolution praising the patriotism Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and condemning a MoveOn.org ad that referred to Petraeus as "General Betray Us."

The liberal group's full-page ad appeared earlier this month in The New York Times and has served as a rallying point for Republicans. President Bush called the ad "disgusting" and criticized Democrats such as Sen. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the party's nomination, for being afraid of irritating the group.

"Such unwarranted attacks should be strongly condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., during brief debate on the resolution.


Wisconsin Rep. David Obey, a veteran Democrat, recounted how he left the Republican Party during the era of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., and said that lawmakers have an obligation to criticize their allies as well as their enemies when they go too far.


CNN article

MSNBC article


Comment: I'm not sure which bill this was - I'm looking to see how Ellison voted (but I think I already know!). Image from MSNBC

If anyone can help with the bill # and the vote, please comment. Thanks

I think it is this bill: H J RES 52

Draft the old?

Uncle Sam Wants You, Gramps - How come "national service" proponents never talk about drafting the old?

Excerpt:

One of the most interesting (and in my view sinister) aspects of proposals for mandatory "national service" is that they virtually always target only the young, usually 18- to 21-year-olds. This might be understandable if the proposals were limited to military service. But most current proposals (including those by Rep. Charles Rangel, Sen. John McCain, Bill Buckley, the Democratic Leadership Conference and Rep. Rahm Emanuel), incorporate civilian service as well. When it comes to office work and light menial labor, there are many elderly and middle-aged people who can do the job just as well as 18-21 year olds can, if not better.

Indeed, the moral case for conscripting the elderly for civilian service is arguably stronger than that for drafting the young. Many elderly people are healthy enough to perform nonstrenuous forms of "national service." Unlike the young, the elderly usually won't have to postpone careers, marriage and educational opportunities to fulfill their forced-labor obligations. Moreover, the elderly, to a far greater extent than the young, are beneficiaries of massive government redistributive programs, such as Social Security and Medicare--programs that transfer enormous amounts of wealth from other age groups to themselves. Nonelderly poor people who receive welfare benefits are required to work (or at least be looking for work) under the 1996 welfare reform law; it stands to reason that the elderly (most of whom are far from poor) can be required to work for the vastly larger government benefits that they receive.

Middle-aged people are also not obviously inferior candidates for civilian "national service" than the young. I know I could do most kinds of service better today than when I was 18. To be clear, I am not arguing for imposing forced labor on the elderly or the middle-aged; but I do believe that doing so would be no worse than imposing that burden on the young.


Comment: If the Marines would take a 58 year old guy who walked with crutches, I would go! I could serve in some IT function! But the purpose of the article is to highlight the inconsistencies in the idea of a national draft for "national service"!

* Ball

Verdict in: Bonds ball headed for Cooperstown

Excerpt:

The verdict of baseball fans is in: The ball Barry Bonds hit for his historic 756th home run will be branded with an asterisk and donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.


Comment: Seems appropriate!

Ryan Martin on corporate worship

The church assembles for worship, part 1

Excerpt:

For millennia, the church understood the purpose of its gathering to be for worship. Today some scholars argue that “Christians worship everywhere,” that there “was no chapter and verse” (so to speak) that indicated that the early church thought of its assembly as a time for worship.

This should be a warning to us on the dangers of exegesis. Sometimes we want the Scriptures to affirm certain theological themes that are true in a way that satisfies our own strict requirements, but failing to allow the Scriptures to affirm those themes in its way.

I believe that there are several passages in the New Testament that point to the assembly as worship. Here I want to highlight a few of them off and on over the next few days.

The first is the phrase “house of God.” While this phrase undoubtedly meant to give the church the nuance of the meaning of the Graeco-Roman household, I do not believe that it can be so easily divorced from its Old Testament referent, traces of which we see in the Gospels.

In 1 Timothy 3:15, Paul says that he wants Timothy to know how to behave in the “household of God,” clearly equating this phrase with the church, as we see in the following phrase, “the church of the living God.”


Comment: I only excerpted a small portion of his article. Read the whole! Thanks Ryan!

French (Sarkozy) Backbone!

Sarkozy says letting Iran go nuclear could cause war

Excerpt:

In his maiden speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Sarkozy said: "There will be no peace in the world if the international community falters in the face of nuclear arms proliferation."

Iran was entitled to nuclear power for civilian purposes, he said, "but if we allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, we would incur an unacceptable risk to stability in the region and in the world".

In a broader warning against the dangers of appeasement, the new French leader said: "Weakness and renunciation do not lead to peace. They lead to war."

Comment: Wow a breath of fresh air! What a change (improvement!) from Jacques Chirac!

A rare display of congressional backbone!

Congress Denounces Iran's Ahmadinejad

Excerpt:

Congress signaled its disapproval of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a vote Tuesday to tighten sanctions against his government and a call to designate his army a terrorist group.

The swift rebuke was a rare display of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress bitterly divided on the Iraq war. It reflected lawmakers' long-standing nervousness about Tehran's intentions in the region, particularly toward Israel—a sentiment fueled by the pro-Israeli lobby whose influence reaches across party lines in Congress.

"Iran faces a choice between a very big carrot and a very sharp stick," said Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "It is my hope that they will take the carrot. But today, we are putting the stick in place."

The House passed, by a 397-16 vote, a proposal by Lantos, D-Calif., aimed at blocking foreign investment in Iran, in particular its lucrative energy sector. The bill would specifically bar the president from waiving U.S. sanctions.

Current law imposes sanctions against any foreign company that invests $20 million or more in Iran's energy industry, although the U.S. has waived or ignored sanction laws in exchange for European support on nonproliferation issues.

In the Senate, Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., proposed a nonbinding resolution urging the State Department to label Iran's military—the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—a terrorist organization.


Comment: Who are the 16 that voted "no"? (Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined)

One of the No's: Keith Ellison (DFL-MN) This is the guy who said Bush is like Hitler!

Man Rules

(From my Sister-in-Law)

The Man Rules­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

We always hear 'the rules' From the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules! Please note.. these are all numbered '1 ' ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say 'nothing,' We will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really .

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as football OR bASEBALL.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;


But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh.

Pass this to as many women as you can -

to give them a bigger laugh.

The gold of Parvaim

From our reading in 2 Chronicles 3 & 4 last night:

2 Chronicles 3:6, "He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim" (NASB)

2 Chronicles 3:6 in 5 versions

Kathee and I stopped and looked for a marginal note to explain. Finding none, I looked up Parvaim in the ISBE (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia):

PARVAIM - par-va'-im (parwayim; Septuagint Pharouaim):

The word occurs only in 2 Chronicles 3:6, as the place from which Solomon obtained gold for the decoration of his Temple. A derivation is given from the Sanskrit purva, "eastern," so that the name might be a vague term for the East (Gesenius, Thesaurus, 1125). Whether there was such a place in arabia is doubtful. Farwa in Yemen has been suggested, and also Saq el Farwain in Yemamah. Some have considered the name a shortened form of Cepharvayim which occurs in the Syriac and Targum Jonathan for the "Sephar" of Genesis 10:30.

A. S. Fulton

2 funny photos

Note her right hand!

Note hair color and what end of the camera she is looking into!

My Sister, Nancy, sent these to me!

Moneydance

Moneydance

I installed Moneydance on the MacBook tonight. I've been using this personal financial manager for 2 years on my Suse 9.2 desktop. I had an earlier version and took advantage of this opportunity (new computer) to upgrade and import the files from Linux.

It was straightforward:

1. I exported 2 years of finances to a QIF file
   
2. I emailed said file to self and shut down the Linux box
   
3. I downloaded Moneydance to the Mac and registered the product
   
4. I imported the QIF file
   
5. And set up the on-line banking (Wells Fargo)
   
6. It went smoothly and all is well.
   

Moneydance is a cross platform financial product: Windows / Linux / Mac. I like it because it performs faster than Quicken. It does not have all of the functionality of Quicken but has more than I need. Moneydance uses the OFX (Open Financial Exchange) format for financial institution connectivity. Pretty slick .... check it out! Here's a nice comparison of financial packages

Ahmadinejad at Columbia

Iran leader condemned by university host

Quotes:

On Iran's intent: "We are a peace-loving nation"

On the Holocaust: "Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" ... "Granted this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestian people?"

On the destruction of Israel: "We love all nations. We are friends with the Jewish people"

On human rights: "People in Iran are very joyous, happy people ... They’re very free in expressing what they think.” ... [women in Iran were] “the freest women in the world ... They’re active in every level of society"

Earlier CFG posts on Ahmadinejad

Below are previous Ahmadinejad quotes on Israel (Source):

1. "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."
   
2. "Remove Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations."
   
3. "The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land. As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."
   
4. "If the West does not support Israel, this regime will be toppled. As it has lost its raison d' tre, Israel will be annihilated."
   
5. "Israel is a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed."
   
6. "Israel is a rotten, dried tree that will be annihilated in one storm."
   

Baptist business meeting gone bad!

Baptist pastor arrested during meeting

Excerpt:

An organizational meeting between divided members of St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church became heated today and ended up with the arrest of the church's pastor.

The Rev. Victor Broadenax, pastor of the church at 454 W. Call St. since 2003, was arrested on a charge of battery.

The incident occurred during a meeting of about 100 church members, Sgt. Annaliese Wierenga of the Leon County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff's deputies had been called to the church as members tried to meet to discuss Broadenax's continued role with the church. His supporters were in attendance as well as Primitive Baptist Church leaders who say he is no longer the church's leader.

Wierenga said members were told that the church's business needed to be decided with legal counsel, not law enforcement. But because of the size of the crowd and the tension, a deputy remained on the property to secure the peace, she said.

At one point during the meeting, a Primitive Baptist Church leader was addressing the crowd at the microphone when Broadenax reportedly walked up and grabbed the elder around the neck in an attempt to remove the microphone.


Comment: A gentle reminder that all things must be done "be done decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40) and that the Pastor is to be "not violent ... gentle, not quarrelsome" (1 Timothy 3:3). Interesting church name: "St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church"!

Ten Commandments - Branson

Comment: Not my photo. In a prominent park (I think private) - visible as you enter town.

Photo from www.godandcountrybranson.com