First day of work: Feb. 1, 1944

Retiring Wells Fargo worker puts six decades of service in the bank

Excerpt:

Stop the stage coach!

Esther Loewen is retiring.

The woman who has been employed with Wells Fargo for more than 62 years will work her last day at the financial institution Oct. 31.

"I feel so good, I could work another 10 years," Loewen, 82, said. "But at this age, you start to wonder, 'How much longer can I be this lucky?'"

Loewen is a trust officer who works in downtown Salem at Wells Fargo's main office. She has been with the company for more than six decades, surviving two mergers and countless technological advances, including the advent of the computer.

Loewen started Feb. 1, 1944, and has worked there continuously except for an 18-month period. She accepted an early retirement offer in 1994 after 50 years with the company, but returned in 1996 for a temporary assignment as a contract employee. It wasn't too long after that the company rehired her.

She began as a typist and later worked as a bookkeeper, check processor, personal banker and teller before joining the trust department as an administrative assistant. She became a trust officer in 1986.

Comment: I post this for several reasons: 1.) I work for Wells Fargo; 2.) I think it is remarkable that a woman would work this many years! The "Highlights of 1944" (side-bar) are interesting. Also the various bank names for whom Esther worked.

Diamonds: a creationist’s best friend

Diamonds: a creationist’s best friend

Comment: An interesting, somewhat technical read!

Excerpts:

What do hard sparkling diamonds and dull soft pencil ‘lead’ have in common? They are both forms (allotropes) of carbon. Most carbon atoms are 12 times heavier than hydrogen (12C), about one in 100 is 13 times heavier (13C), and one in a trillion (1012) is 14 times heavier (14C). Of these different types (isotopes) of carbon, 14C is called radiocarbon, because it is radioactive—it breaks down over time.

Some try to measure age by how much 14C has decayed. Many people think that radiocarbon dating proves billions of years. But evolutionists know it can’t, because 14C decays too fast. Its half-life (t½) is only 5,730 years—that is, every 5,730 years, half of it decays away. After two half lives, a quarter is left; after three half lives, only an eighth; after 10 half lives, less than a thousandth is left. In fact, a lump of 14C as massive as the earth would have all decayed in less than a million years.

So if samples were really over a million years old, there would be no radiocarbon left. But is this not what we find, even with very sensitive 14C detectors.


Diamond is the hardest substance known, so its interior should be very resistant to contamination. Diamond requires very high pressure to form—pressure found naturally on earth only deep below the surface. Thus they probably formed at a depth of 100–200 km. Geologists believe that the ones we find must have been transported supersonically to the surface, in extremely violent eruptions through volcanic pipes. Some are found in these pipes, such as kimberlites, while other diamonds were liberated by water erosion and deposited elsewhere (called alluvial diamonds). According to evolutionists, the diamonds formed about 1–3 billion years ago.
....
The presence of radiocarbon in these diamonds where there should be none is thus sparkling evidence for a ‘young’ world, as the Bible records.

"He who rules the sea, rules the land"

Another U.N. Power Grab: What would Reagan do? On the Law of the Sea Treaty, we know the answer

Excerpt: (comment since this is a concluding statement, best to read the entire article!)

Such developments only serve to reinforce the concerns President Reagan rightly had about the central, and abiding, defect of the Law of the Sea Treaty: its effort to promote global government at the expense of sovereign nation states--and most especially the United States. One of the prime movers behind LOST, the late Elisabeth Mann Borgese of the World Federalist Association (which now calls itself Citizens for Global Solutions), captured what is at stake when she cited an ancient aphorism: "He who rules the sea, rules the land." A U.N. publication lauding her work noted that Borgese saw LOST as a "possible test-bed for ideas she had developed concerning a common global constitution."

While we would not presume to speak for President Reagan, his own words and those of the man who worked most closely with him and us on Law of the Sea matters, Jim Malone, make one thing clear: Even if the 1994 Agreement actually amended LOST (and there are multiple reasons why it did not actually alter so much as a single word of the treaty), Ronald Reagan's belief in the U.S. as an exceptional "shining city on a hill" and his enmity towards threats to our sovereignty in general, and global governance schemes in particular, were such that he would likely encourage the Senate to do today what he did in 1982: Reject LOST.


United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

In praise of Clarence Thomas

The Real Clarence Thomas : His fidelity to the Constitution often leads to results liberals like

By Dr Yoo (a professor at the Law School of the University of California at Berkeley)

Excerpt:

No one, of course, would deny that Justice Thomas has strong conservative views on constitutional law. He would reject much of affirmative action, end constitutional protection for abortion, recognize broad executive powers in wartime and allow religious groups more participation in public life. What he brings to the court as no other justice does is a characteristically American skepticism of social engineering plans promoted by elites--whether in the media, academia or well-heeled lobbies in Washington--and a respect for individual self-reliance and individual choice. He writes not to be praised by professors or pundits, but for the American people.
As his memoir shows, Justice Thomas's views were forged in the crucible of a truly authentic American story. This is a black man with a much greater range of personal experience than most of the upper-class liberals who take potshots at him. A man like this on the court is the very definition of the healthy diversity his detractors pretend to support.

In his dissent from the court's approval of the use of race in law-school admissions, he quoted Frederick Douglass: "If the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!" Justice Thomas observed: "Like Douglass, I believe blacks can achieve in every avenue of American life without the meddling of university administrators."

Comment: A worthwhile read!

Biting spreads devil tumors

Biting spreads devil tumors

Excerpt:

A lack of genetic diversity in the fierce, fox-like creatures has meant the animals' immune system does not try to fight off the disease, spread through biting, according to a study by the University of Sydney's School of Veterinary Science released last week.

The grotesque facial tumors were first spotted in the devil population around a decade ago in the northeast of Australia's island state of Tasmania, where 90 percent of the species has died of the disease.

The affliction is spreading south and west, and scientists estimate that within five years, there will be no disease-free population in Tasmania -- the only place in the world where the carnivorous marsupials exist outside zoos.

Seeking to understand how a facial cancer could be contagious, the University of Sydney researchers found that the tumors had originated from a single cell line that was spread through the population by biting.


Comment: A graphical illustration from nature!


Galatians 5:14-16

Galatians 5:14-16: "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Warning: But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

The “Goracle” (rhymes with oracle!)

Will Al Gore get Nobel prize?

First touched upon on Cold Fusion Guy back in February here

We will know on Friday! I can hardly wait!

Al Gore tipped to win Nobel

Excerpt:

THE environmental campaigner Al Gore is being tipped as a favourite to win the Nobel peace prize in Oslo this Friday in a controversial move that could place saving the planet above saving people from war and conflict.

Gore, a former American vice-president and failed presidential candidate, has reinvented himself as the “Goracle” with a rock star following after presenting last year’s Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, about the dangers of climate change.

He was nominated for the Nobel prize jointly with Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Canadian Inuit activist who has campaigned about the effect of climate change on Arctic peoples.

Albert Mohler: Is Creationism a Threat to Human Rights?

Is Creationism a Threat to Human Rights?

Excerpt:

As if the world needed another crazy development, the Council of Europe, the continent's central human rights body, last week declared creationism to be a threat to human rights. The group's Parliamentary Assembly approved a resolution stating that creationism is promoted by "forms of religious extremism."

As Reuters reported:

The Council, based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, oversees human rights standards in member states and enforces decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

The resolution, which passed 48 votes to 25 with 3 abstentions, is not binding on the Council's 47 member states but reflects widespread opposition among politicians to teaching creationism in science class.

The text of the resolution leaves no doubt about the Council of Europe's judgment. "For some people the Creation, as a matter of religious belief, gives a meaning to life," the text acknowledges. "Nevertheless, the Parliamentary Assembly is worried about the possible ill-effects of the spread of creationist ideas within our education systems and about the consequences for our democracies. If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights which are a key concern of the Council of Europe."

Anyone looking for evidence of a secularized culture should take a quick look at this resolution. When the official human rights institution of Europe has to explain that "some people" believe that the divine creation of the universe "gives a meaning to life," this can only mean that Europe (at least as represented by the Council of Europe) has forgotten even its Christian memory.

Comment: Add Albert Mohler's blog to your RSS reader or bookmark it! Every article is worthwhile! Here he highlight's secularism run amuck! Truth has been turned upside down! Good is evil ... evil is good! More to come from our culture! (Yet God is still sovereignly in control! Blessed be His Name!)

Busy week (and it is only Tuesday)

Happenings:

1. Bible conference at 4th. Highlight so far:
   
   
   
   1. Dr Hartog's Sunday night's message from Ezekiel 1-3. I don't recollect ever hearing a message from the book of Ezekiel.
      
   2. Dr McLachlan's message from Romans 11:33-36. He spoke of Romans 11:36 ("For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever") as the ultimate paradigm shift. He contrasted it (briefly by way of illustration) with the final song of the Beatles which was "I, me, mine"
      
   
   
2. Roger and I stayed up until 11 and watched the end of the Dallas - Bills game.
   
3. Kathee is out of town on business (Denver). This always is lonely for me but it is an infrequent necessity with her job
   
4. Tonight am having dinner with my Brother and his wife. Kathy's daughter, Terri (USAF), is home from South Korea on her way to Fort Meade Maryland.
   
5. I am very busy at work. Because of my "won't blog about work vow" I "won't blog about work"!
   
6. I actually got up at 5:30 am this morning, made breakfast, and packed my lunch!
   
7. Friday we fly to Dallas for a 4 day weekend
   

My blog is rated "R"

I found this at Blog Rating

Seems stupid (so why am I putting this on my blog?!) but somewhat interesting at the same time.

So why did this blog get an "R" rating?

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

ecstasy (5x) drugs (1x)

I have another private blog where I track my diet! And this blog is rated:

Nice to know my private life is rated "G"!

Which Presidential candidate said this?

“I just want all of you to pray that I can be an instrument of God in the same way that Pastor Ron and all of you are instruments of God. . . We’re going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth.”

Answer here!

CNN article

A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation

A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation


Op-Ed Contributor
A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation
By JON MEACHAM
Published: October 7, 2007
The founders wanted faith to be one thread in the country’s tapestry, not the whole tapestry.

Conclusion:

The founders were not anti-religion. Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation — that all men are created equal — in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country’s tapestry, not the whole tapestry.

In the 1790s, in the waters off Tripoli, pirates were making sport of American shipping near the Barbary Coast. Toward the end of his second term, Washington sent Joel Barlow, the diplomat-poet, to Tripoli to settle matters, and the resulting treaty, finished after Washington left office, bought a few years of peace. Article 11 of this long-ago document says that “as the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” there should be no cause for conflict over differences of “religious opinion” between countries.

The treaty passed the Senate unanimously. Mr. McCain is not the only American who would find it useful reading.

Comment: A very good read!

John 18:36: Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Dingbat legislation

Some Inconvenient Truths: Rep. John Dingell wants his colleagues to be honest about the costs of tackling global warming

Excerpt:

That being said, Mr. Dingell has made clear to the auto industry that his colleagues are intent on seeing some sort of CAFE hike, and that the industry would do well to support him. "I told them, 'Your best interest is in going with me, and let me tell you why. You are going to hate the bill I give you, but it's going to be a bill with which you can live. If you don't work with me, you'll still get a bill. And you'll hate it. But it will be a bill you can't live with."

So if the current proposals for a climate program aren't workable, what does Mr. Dingell think is the right equation? He says he's committed to a bill that makes drastic cuts--some 60% to 80% emissions reductions by 2050--since anything less won't do much good. He also thinks any climate program needs to include an array of powerful tools that will allow policy makers to truly influence how much energy people use.

All this argues for new energy taxes, he says, because higher energy prices are one of the few things that cause people to cut back consumption. While Mr. Dingell has yet to unveil his broader climate-auto legislation, he has been releasing broad outlines. It will include a cap-and-trade system, but alongside that will be a big new carbon tax (probably around $50 a ton), an estimated 50-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax, and an end to the mortgage-interest deduction for Americans who own homes larger than 3,000 square feet.

Taxes, he argues, will give policy makers more options in influencing behavior. He uses the example of a gas tax. "Why would I do that? First of all, it means I can reduce the use of gasoline, and I can make it easier for CAFE to work."

But he also explains that it allows policy makers to "differentiate between fuels." By taxing gasoline but not diesel, for instance, he hopes to get more people into diesel cars. That would further reduce emissions, he argues," since diesel gets "about a 20% to 25% fuel benefit."

Finally, Mr. Dingell says new taxes, and the revocation of the mortgage interest deduction, are the only way to truly spread around the sacrifices necessary for significant emissions reductions.

Comments: Yet another tax proposal from the Democrats! As one with a house larger than 3000 square feet this would impact me. I know for a fact that my house is much more energy efficient than a close relative whose home is half the size of mine. See earlier CDF Post on the Representative Dingbat (err ... Dingell) legislation.

Anti-Christian Bias?

Baptist I.D. Shows Anti-Christian Bias

Quote:

An October 6th story by the Associated Press provided a small, odd but disturbing and undeniable illustration of the bitter anti-religious bias that’s become too typical of the mainstream media. The story’s lead paragraph proclaimed: “ALEXANDRIA, La – A 63-year-old Baptist deacon shot five people in a law office here on Thursday, killing two, before being killed by police officers early Friday...”


Later in the article we discover the name of the shooter (John Ashley) and that “anger over a divorce settlement may have prompted the shooting.” We also learn that the killer was a “retired city maintenance worker” who had given no signs of violent behavior before his rampage.


Why, then, did the AP decide that the most important factor in identifying him was his status as a “Baptist deacon”? This is not a professional position – it is a volunteer activity. Wouldn’t it seem odd if they began their story about the tragic shooting by describing Mr. Ashley as “a 63-year-old golfer” or “a 63-year-old Democratic volunteer” or a “63-year-old synagogue board member”?


If Associated Press began their account of a chilling crime by identifying the perpetrator as “63-year-old Asian American” or a “63-year-old African American” there would be howls of protest – recognizing that the press service demonstrated bigotry by choosing to stress his racial identity over his professional background, family status, health record, or anything else. (I actually have no idea of Mr. Ashley’s racial background, nor does it seem particularly relevant to the crime).


Doesn’t the choice to spotlight a killer’s participation in a Baptist church demonstrate the same sort of bigotry?


The fact that this peculiar, indefensible decision seems so unremarkable simply shows how much we now take anti-religious and, in particular, anti-Christian prejudice for granted.

Comment: Here's the AP story in the Boston Globe

Excerpt:

ALEXANDRIA, La. - Anger over a divorce settlement may have driven a 63-year-old Baptist deacon to shoot five people in a law office, killing two, then exchange gunfire with police during a standoff, authorities said yesterday.

Giving blood

What a glamorous photo ... tongue hanging out (my reaction to being stuck and just starting the donation). Tanya is the clinician.

Memorial Blood Centers

Saturday happenings:

1. Met a friend for coffee. He gave me some instruction on the Regulative Principle vs. the Normative Principle.
   
2. I gave blood at noon. In contrast with my blood donation bust of August 10th, this went well. Once the blood started pumping to the full pint only took a little more than 4 minutes.
   
3. I only mowed the front and sides of my house and Mrs. F's as the back yards are too wet
   
4. Brother came by and we played pool (Nine Ball). Roger was up 5 games to none. I brought it up to 5-4. then 6-4, then 6-5, before he beat me 7 games to 5. He beat me last week too!
   
5. Kathee made chili tonight and Roger and Rachel were with us for dinner. We had coffee afterwards and then played Scrabble until 9 p.m.
   
6. Now watching the Cincinnati - Rutgers game
   

Jim Hovland interested in 3rd district - as DFL'er!

Edina mayor may run for Congress ... as a DFLer - Jim Hovland, who's eyeing Ramstad's seat, says the GOP has moved too far right



Excerpt:

Edina Mayor Jim Hovland is a good example of the conflicted and wide-open political nature of the metro area's western suburbs.

A longtime Republican, he is not shy about expressing frustration over what he sees as the extreme nature of the Republican Party these days, calling it "a marching progression to a more consolidated base and a smaller party."

He supports abortion rights and mass transit. He's also thinking about running to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, who announced his retirement after nine terms.

And if Hovland runs, he'll run as a DFLer. Hovland said Friday that he had switched parties.


Earlier CFG: DFL Sen. Terri Bonoff to run for Ramstad seat

Who will run as the Republican?

Pushup motivation

Defendant does push-ups in court; charges against him dropped

A defendant dropped down and performed 50 push-ups in court Friday, and a prosecutor dropped the charges against him.

The dismissal of Chase C. Allen's misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct charges apparently helped smooth the way for the 20-year-old Marine recruit to report to boot camp.

The unusual resolution during a morning session in Marion Superior Court prompted applause from the gallery, Judge Barbara Collins said later.

But the judge was quick to point out that she had taken no part in the informal deal.
"It was an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant," Collins said.
In Allen's case, she said, she simply accepted the dismissal form submitted to her by Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Cavallini.

Observers said a uniformed Marine recruiter attended the hearing and gave Allen encouragement while he was doing the push-ups. Allen made it one or two push-ups past 50, they said.

Goog(le) 411

1-800-GOOG-411

Check this out:

About GOOG-411

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Madman Alert!

Ahmadinejad: Referendum on transfer of Israel to Europe

Quotes:

"Let a referendum be held in Palestine. It is our clear proposal to European countries,"
...

"Let all Palestinians including Muslims, Christians and the Jews attend the referendum,"
...
[Suggestion]: "settlement of Zionists in Europe or in big lands such as Canada and Alaska so they would be able to own their own land".
...
"the creation of the Zionist regime, the continuation of its existence and unlimited support for the regime (by the US) are an insult to human dignity."
...
"Defense for the ominous interests of the Zionist regime is a must for certain powers. Western governments who are pioneers of secularism pursue defense for the Zionist regime as the holiest task in the world,"


Iran accuses Israel of Palestinian "genocide"

Quotes:

"Iran condemns fabricating such a pretext (the Holocaust) for the Zionist regime to commit genocide against the Palestinian nation and occupy Palestine,"
...
"The Iranian nation and countries in the region will not rest until Palestine is free and criminals punished,"
...
"Europeans cannot tolerate the Zionist regime's presence in their own region but want to impose it on the Middle East. Give them (the Jews) this vast land of Canada and Alaska to build themselves a home and resettle there,"


Iranians chant 'death to Israel' in mass protest

Previous Madman Alerts

Mr. ecstasy head

Mr. Potato Head in ecstasy bust

Excerpt:

Customs officers discovered nearly 10.5 ounces of ecstasy tablets hidden inside a Mr. Potato Head toy sent to Australia from Ireland, the agency said Thursday.

Upon opening the parcel, the officers were greeted with the smiling face of the popular children's toy, which features a potato-like head and removable facial features. But when they removed a panel from the back of the toy, the officers found 10.34 ounces of ecstasy in a plastic bag.


Comment: It's disconcerting to see a favorite childhood toy used by the criminally minded! Those were simpler times in the fifties when Mr Potato Head was separate plastic parts to be stuck into a real potato. Talk about a simple toy! And we liked it! View the CNN article for pictures of the exploited Mr. Potato Head! Image is of the 1952 Mr Potato Head (from the Wiki article).

What do Kim Jong and Al Gore have in common?

Kim Jong Il: I'm an Internet Expert

Kim Jong: "I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired,"

Al Gore re the Interent

Al Gore: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Comment: I need help from these guys on CSS, HTML, ASP, CFM, PHP, and MYSql!