Is this any way to treat a patriot?

Trashing Petraeus: MoveOn.org, and the new standards of Democratic debate

Excerpt:

Important as was yesterday's appearance before Congress by General David Petraeus, the events leading up to his testimony may have been more significant. Members of the Democratic leadership and their supporters have now normalized the practice of accusing their opponents of lying. If other members of the Democratic Party don't move quickly to repudiate this turn, the ability of the U.S. political system to function will be impaired in a way no one would wish for.
Well, with one exception. MoveOn.org, the Democratic activist group, bought space in the New York Times yesterday to accuse General Petraeus of "cooking the books for the White House." The ad transmutes the general's name into "General Betray Us."

"Betrayal," as every military officer knows, is a word that through the history of their profession bears the stain of acts that are both dishonorable and unforgivable. That is to say, MoveOn.org didn't stumble upon this word; it was chosen with specific intent, to convey the most serious accusation possible against General Petraeus, that his word is false, that he is a liar and that he is willing to betray his country. The next and obvious word to which this equation with betrayal leads is treason. That it is merely insinuated makes it worse.

Denny Burk on: "General Betray Us"

Politics reached a new low in the run-up to General Petreaus’ testimony before Congress yesterday. The editors at The Wall Street Journal excoriated the slanderous tactics used against Petreaus and have called for congressional Democrats to repudiate MoveOn.org’s full-page ad in The New York Times which renamed the general “General Betray Us.”

Comment: Image is from Denny Burk site!

IMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol

Last night was my first experience utilized IMAP. Most email clients utilize Post Office Protocol (POP)

Last night I set up Fastmail with the Apple mail client utlizing IMAP.

IMAP advantages:

1. Faster response time because not all of the message is downloaded
   
2. The use of an email client on a main workstation (actually multiple clients are supported!) while still enabling web access from many workstations
   

When you look up traitor in the dictionary ... you see Kucinich's picture!

An exaggeration? Perhaps. You decide!

Clip: Kucinich on Syrian TV

Transcript: The U.S. Must Pay Reparations to the People of Iraq

Comment: From MEMRI

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization providing translations of the Middle East media and original analysis and research on developments in the region. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.

6 seconds to spare

Teen helps free woman from car seconds before 2 trains hit

Excerpt:

Thomas Foust was driving behind the woman Saturday night in the northern Chicago suburb of Glenview, Illinois, when her car turned onto the tracks and stopped.

"I saw the train lights coming and I said, 'This is a big problem,' " Foust told CNN's Kiran Chetry on "American Morning."

Foust, a trained lifeguard, put the car he was driving in park and jumped out, saying little to his friends, who got out and followed.

"Me and two of my friends, Tyler and Zach, we ran up to the car and started yelling and pounding on the window, and finally we got the door open, and we're like, 'Ma'am you need to get out of this car right now because there's a train coming toward it,' " Foust said.

"We unclipped her seat belt and basically just pulled her to safety and my friend, Tyler, ran and called the police, and ... we got maybe 10 feet away from the train, and it hit like six seconds after we got her out."

Comment: Teen hero! Good read. Video available!

In my prayers

Everett's injury 'catastrophic' - Doctor: Paralysis likely for Bills TE after spinal surgery



Cappuccino repaired a break between the third and fourth vertebrae and also alleviated the pressure on the spinal cord. In reconstructing his spine, doctors made a bone graft and inserted a plate, held in by four screws, and also inserted two small rods, held in place by another four screws.

Comment: This is close to the injury I had 20 years ago (Labor Day 1987). My injury was at C4-C5. I thank God that I can walk.

Happenings: Kathee very tired as she was up until 1 a.m. working a system issue. She is filling out rebate paperwork for the Apple Nano and HP Printer. I am exploring the MacBook. Tonight's reading was I Chronicles 21 & 22. I got my Fastmail account set up with the Apple mail client (using IMAP). Also I imported my address book into the Apple address book. I figured out Cut and Paste. I ordered 2 OS X Tiger books from Amazon and hope to in time to take on vacation.

"Perfect Storm" In Housing?

Washington Mutual Sees "Perfect Storm" In Housing

Excerpt:

Washington Mutual Inc said on Monday that most U.S. housing markets are weakening, creating a "near perfect storm" that may force the largest U.S. savings and loan to set aside more money for bad loans.

Chief Executive Kerry Killinger said the thrift may set aside $500 million more for loan losses than the $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion it had forecast in July. Any increase would be Washington Mutual's fourth this year.

Speaking at a Lehman Brothers Inc. financial services conference, Killinger said the housing market faces rising delinquencies and foreclosures, higher borrowing costs, tighter underwriting standards and tough capital markets, "creating what we call a near-perfect storm for housing.

"Most housing markets appear to be weakening, to us," Killinger said. "We would not be surprised to see declines in housing prices in many regions of the country ... for the next few quarters." He said corrections in the housing and credit markets will last longer than the thrift expected.

Comments: A bad time to have to sell a house. A great time to buy one! This is much like the S & L crisis in the late 80s!

Ancient escape tunnel

Scientists see how Jews fled from Romans: Archaeologists stumble upon Jerusalem tunnel used in A.D. 70


Excerpt:

Israeli archaeologists on Sunday said they've stumbled upon the site of one of the great dramatic scenes of the Roman sacking of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago: the subterranean drainage channel Jews used to escape from the city's Roman conquerors.

The ancient tunnel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem in the days of the second biblical Temple, which the Romans destroyed in the year 70, the dig's directors, archaeology Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, told a news conference.

The channel was buried beneath the rubble of the sacking, and the parts that have been exposed since it was discovered two weeks ago have been preserved intact.


Comment: Fascinating!

MacBook setup

I took the dive into the Mac world. Today was a hectic day.

1. Dan Brown preached this morning from Titus 2:11-15. Excellent
   
2. I mowed after church while Kathee went to the grocery store.
   
3. I spend the remainder of the day cleaning up the Dell and setting up the MacBook
   
   
   
   1. I moved all essential files onto a USB drive and deleted from the Dell
      
   2. The MacBook came up nicecly right out of the box
      
   3. The Airport Extreme router and printer set up was complex. Turns out that Comcast had to reset the cable modem remotely. But once that took place, all worked well
      
   4. I installed Firefox, Office, and Parallels
      
   5. New HP printer connects to the router and prints fine!
      
   
   
4. Apple has a deal where they sell a printer for $ 100 w a $ 100 rebate, and a $ 150 Nano with a $ 150 rebate. Of course it is a major pain to fill out the rebate paperwork and there is a 6 week wait for the rebate. But ... still nice
   
5. Kathee working (her IT job) most of the afternoon and still.
   

Nathan took the old Dell and the Brother

I have alot to learn about Mac OS X. I could not figure out how to eject a DVD / CD ... but Roger knew.

So this is my first blog from the MAC

Dell Inspiron 5100 bites the dust

The lower case "B" ... just does this " ".

After 47 months (I was holding out for 48) ... I am getting rid of it. Computer Renaissance will give me $ 50 bucks and wipe the hard drive.

My target is a MacBook

Time to reup on the Do Not Call

Do No Call Registry

Here's the official site to renew one's "Do Not Call" options. Also can verify your phone # at this site.

Metro Women's Center Board retreat

The Metro Women's Center board retreat was at our house this morning (9-1). Below is a picture of board. Colleen Tronson (Director) is in upper left.

Who knew?!

Osama New Bin Laden Tape

I find 5 things interesting about this:

1. He is a fan of Noam Chomsky: "among one of the most capable of those from your own side"
   
2. He is concerned about global warming: "mentions global warming and "the Kyoto accord.""
   
3. He favors lowering taxes: "He also speaks to recent issues grabbing headlines in the United States, referring to "the reeling of many of you under the burden of interest-related debts, insane taxes and real estate mortgages; global warming and its woes...""
   
4. He's not a fan of the Democrats! Officials: Bin Laden tape criticizes Democrats, corporations. To be fair ... he hates Bush!
   
5. He must use "Just for Men" to color his beard! (Image above from CNN). Compare earlier image!
   

And here's the kicker ...

""To conclude," bin Laden says, "I invite you to embrace Islam." He goes on to say: "There are no taxes in Islam, but rather there is a limited Zakaat [alms] totaling 2.5 percent.”"

He favors a flat tax!

How to repair your credit

How To Fix Your Credit

Intro:

If a low credit score is limiting your ability to get a car or home loan, there are five basic steps you need to take to raise it.

The process isn't complicated, but requires the basics of discipline and common sense. Remember: There are no immediate fixes and repairing the damage takes time.

"You've got to stop digging the hole before you can get out," says Gail Cunningham, Vice President for Business Relations at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Dallas. "You've got to freeze your spending. It won't get better tomorrow unless you do something today."

Start by cutting up unsolicited credit card offers that arrive in the mail. Accepting similar deals allows you to run up large balances on several cards and transferring the balances to one card doesn't reduce the amount owed. Worse, the low introductory interest rate on a new card is likely to encourage more spending.

But don't cut up all your current credit cards. There's no need to conduct all transactions in cash. Creditors tend to view someone with no credit cards as a higher risk than someone who has managed a few cards well.

One major bank credit card and one oil company credit card should be enough. Use a debit card when possible because there's a direct link between spending and your bank account.

Steps (view article for full narrative):

1. Get your credit report.
   
2. Pay your bills on time.
   
3. Keep your credit card balances low.
   
4. Learn from your mistakes.
   
5. Write a budget – and stick to it.
   

Comment: There is a link on right column for the free credit report! See Credit Card offer Opt Out to Opt Out of those annoying credit card offers!

From "Learn from your mistakes" point:

Oddly, once you're on the comeback trail, you'll find it's easy to backslide because your finances are in better shape. It's much like dieting – mints look manageable after losing 25 or 30 pounds.

Friday happenings

1. One week from today we leave for vacation (Branson, MO). I have already halfway checked out!
   
2. My Brother-in-Law's cancer has gone from bad to worse. Today he will undergo gamma knife radiation surgery to destroy 2 tumors in his brain. Next week, my Sister will be driving him to Houston (from Dallas) for chemo.
   
3. Coffee with Larry N from work at 9:30
   
4. Dinner with a couple from church tonight
   
5. Tomorrow the Metro Women's Center's board retreat at our house
   
6. Fall projects: painter is out repainting the posts by our front door and trim around the garage doors
   
7. I have light programming projects planned for work today.
   
8. My new glasses finally arrived and I hope to pick them up tomorrow.
   
9. Article of interest: Don't Suffer the Little Children: A father of four explains the realist approach to parenting". Excerpt below
   
10. Interesting website of the day: the New Pamphleteer. The author of the Opinion Journal article above has published "Raising Wild Boys Into Men: A Modern Dad's Survival Guide" which is available from the New Pamphleteer.
    

Excerpt:

While some mothers and fathers stubbornly cling to the utopian beliefs of their childless years, the vision of humans as inherently sinful and selfish resonates with many of us who are parents. Nobody who's stood between a toddler and the last cookie should still harbor a belief in the inherent virtue of mankind. An afternoon at the playground is apt to make one toss out the idealist Rousseau ("man is a compassionate and sensible being") in favor of the more realistic Hobbes ("all mankind [is in] a perpetual and restless desire for power"). As a father of four sons, I've signed on to Mr. Sowell's summation of a parent's duty: "Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late."

The constrained vision indicates that world harmony and universal satisfaction are mirages. People are innately selfish, and they'll always desire more goodies. This means that tradeoffs between competing wants are inevitable. My wife and I therefore forbid our children to use the word "fair." Parents still in the thrall of the unconstrained worldview are prone to manipulation by their kids, who like little human-rights lawyers insist on fairness as an imperative. And don't get me started on the damage that an exaggerated sense of fairness and entitlement has done to public schools. In our house things are much simpler: That last piece of cake had to be divided somehow, and in this imperfect world your brother got the extra frosting. Deal with it.

While the unconstrained worldview teaches that traditions and customs are to be distrusted as holdovers from benighted generations, those of us with the constrained view believe it's good to make our children address their elders properly, refrain from belching at the table and wear clothes that actually cover them. Mr. Sowell noted that some benefits from evolved societal rules can't be articulated, because they've developed through trial and error over centuries. This reveals the sublime wisdom in that time-honored parental rejoinder: "Because I said so."

Rudy in St Paul today

Part One - Rudy’s Entrance

Part Two - Rudy Takes a Seat

Part Three - Coffee

Part Four - Coffee

Part Five - Rudy’s Parting Words to the Crowd

How about a Rudy / Pawlenty ticket!

From:
Coffee w Rudy (Part I) & Coffee w Rudy (Part II)

Keep your Honda for 225,000 miles

Consumer Reports says: keep your car for 225,000 miles

Excerpt:

The average car buyer trades his car in every five years. If, instead, you didn't trade your car in but kept it for 15 years, or 225,000 miles, Consumer Reports says you'd save $30,800. How'd they get that figure? If you bought a Honda EX and kept it for a decade-and-a-half rather than replacing it, you'd save $20,500 in new car expenses, depreciation, taxes, and insurance. The other $10,300 comes from the interest you earned on the twenty grand -- because of course you'd invest it responsibly, which is the entire reason you aren't trading your car in, right?

The magazine then gives a list of Good Bets and Bad Bets to make it past 200K miles, even with good maintenance. Every single car on the Good Bets list is either a Honda or Toyota.

Comment: For me, I'm tired of a car after 7 years! But the article is interesting and probably valid.

Amazing truck crash photos

Amazing truck crash photos spark Web debate

Excerpt:

Investigators estimated that the truck was traveling about 75 mph when it crashed through a concrete barricade separating the road from a roughly 200-foot precipice running alongside State Route 59.

What happened next has been described on Internet messages boards as "impossible," "crazy" and "insane." One Web site ran the photos under the headline, "I bet this guy will be in church Sunday!"

So stunning are the photos on the myth-buster sites that many people posting comments allege the pictures have been altered with Adobe Photoshop.

Not so, say the local police.



White Ute - Inches From Disaster

Excerpt:

"The Hurricane City Police department confirmed that these images "are consistent with a single vehicle traffic accident that occurred on State Route 59 in Hurricane City" on 30 December 2006, and that "Hurricane City Police and Hurricane City Fire Rescue responded to the scene."

Snopes: Living on the Edge



Comments: Per Snopes ... real! The Snopes pictures are the largest and slowest loading. The middle link has all of the photos, but smaller. Loads faster.

Retrospective: D. James Kennedy

The Coral Ridge Strategy: D. James Kennedy explains how lay evangelism can lead to exponential growth

Excerpt:

Finally the truth struck me like a bolt of lightning. I myself had attended classes for three years and had not learned how to witness. Not until someone who knew how took me out into people's homes did I gain the confidence to do it myself. And so I began the program that has continued at Coral Ridge for the past six years. I took out one person until he had confidence to witness, and then another, and another. And so it has grown. After the people are trained, they can train others.


In envisioning an evangelism program, a pastor typically begins by preaching on the subject and then inviting everyone who is willing to take part to come on some specified night to begin. This is the way we tried at first to motivate and recruit people. It was not very successful. The basic motivation will no doubt begin from the pulpit with sermons on the responsibility, privilege, and necessity of witnessing for Christ. However, our experience showed us that the actual recruiting should be done on a person-to-person basis.


Comment: This has been a year of passages for great men of God: 1st Jerry Falwell and this week D. James Kennedy. Kathee and I took the Evangelism Explosion training years ago and later taught this at Haddon Heights Baptist.

"Excellence in All Things and All Things to God's Glory" -- The Legacy of Dr. D. James Kennedy

Excerpt:

The death of Dr. D. James Kennedy is yet another reminder of what the hymn writer Isaac Watts saw when he wrote that "time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away." Dr. Kennedy died this morning at his home in Ft. Lauderdale. He had been out of the public eye since suffering a significant cardiac arrest last December 28.

----

He was a visionary with few peers. The motto inscribed on a flanking wall of the church's massive sanctuary certainly made an impression on me as a young man: "Excellence in All Things and All Things to God's Glory."

An open letter to pets

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.
   
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
   
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
   
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.
   

Remember: In many ways, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
   
2. Don't ask for money all the time
   
3. Are easier to train
   
4. Normally come when called
   
5. Never ask to drive the car
   
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
   
7. Don't smoke or drink
   
8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions
   
9. Don't want to wear your clothes
   
10. Don't need a "gazillion" dollars for college.
    
11. And finally, If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.
    

Comments: Sent to me from my Sister-in-Law, Kathy Peet. Picture is "Emily". Emily was curled up in my sink this morning and would not move. I skipped shaving! (The little sacrifices for a pet!)

What Openness Theology Must Deny

The World From Our Window: What Openness Theology Must Deny

A good read!

Another on open theism:

Denny Burk: Greg Boyd Responds

Comment: Open theism is heresy!

(From Denny Burk site):

Abraham Kuyper: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”