So USC might be failing us in the football department, but let's not forget their legendary athletes from other endeavors.
Such as this one.
:)
I have been trying to stay away from all things Islam. First it's bad for blood pressure, and secondly it causes stress and anxiety (in me). But I can't put my head in the sand just to feel better when fellow Believers are being slaughtered and beheaded. Especially when those believers are children.
The latest horrific atrocity was the beheading of a 14 year-old Christian boy in Iraq. The reason? For being a Christian.
First of all, this is almost impossible to verify, as we all know the msm, Islam's biggest apologist, would sooner blow themselves up than print something this inflammatory about the religion they are so eager to defend. Secondly, the link is to a website in either Arabic or Farsi. Again, how can we verify this?
However, we do know and have proof of the many despicable acts perpetrated against Christians all over the world by Muslim fanatics/terrorists. So my question is this: the Jews have their Anti-Defamation League, the Muslims have CAIR. Who is representing Christians all over the world? Who speaks out with a loud, powerful voice demanding this stop?
Portia Rediscovered is officially in mourning, as the Trojans are dead to her.
Some have been noble enough to pay their respects.
I'm sure there's an ancient historical analogy that would suit this humiliating defeat, but the mind gets clouded by disappointment, so I'll leave the historical analysis to those less emotionally involved.
Imagine, if you will, the snake-oil salesman of old in his rickety old traveling wagon. He opens the wooden shutters, pulls back the curtain and the show begins. With greasy hair and raspy voice he croons to the gullible: "Do you want to DIE from palpitations? You must take my elixir! My secret syrup will cure worms and neutralize poisonous air! Do you want to DIE from the vapors? Then buy my special mixture! It will not only heal the vapors, but twitches, stuttering and memory loss!" The naive willingly line his pockets with their hard-earned money because they want to believe his outrageous claims.
Fast-forward to the 21st century where another gullible public is lining up, ready and willing to swallow the elixir of global warming. Pull back the curtain and what do we see? Snake-oil politicians poised and ready to line their pockets. The Brits have already begun listing the many ways they can line their pockets with the hard-earned currency of the naive and gullible via taxation on global warming.
HARD-WORKING families face crippling new bills as the Government fights global warming with a raft of stinging taxes.
Typical families with two children could have to pay up to £1,300 more every year, according to estimates.
“And people will effectively be forced to buy energy-saving televisions and long-life lightbulbs by a nannying Government. Their whole way of life will alter forever.”
More global doom and gloom:
"The green proposals are revealed as leaked documents show people living in crime-free areas are to be penalised with a giant hike in council tax.
The Stern Report will warn that nearly half of the world’s species face extinction if there is a two per cent increase in global temperatures.
The rise in temperature would wipe out 40 per cent of all life and turn 200 million people into refugees.
And a similar rise would treble the cost to Britain of dealing with annual river floods, the doom-laden report warns.
Sir Nicholas will urge countries to spend one per cent of the world’s economy — around £184billion — now to avert disaster in the coming years.
He forecasts it will cost 20 times that to deal with the failure to tackle the huge problems facing the globe.
And that will damage global economies — sparking a depression not seen since the US Wall Street crash of 1929.
The 700-page document warns countries will be crippled trying to deal with the costs of environmental catastrophes.
The 200 million people would be made homeless by rising river and sea levels.
The dossier also warns that it is not enough for just one or a handful of countries to take action now.
The report was commissioned by Chancellor Gordon Brown and has taken a year to compile.
It is the first compiled by an economist rather than a scientist and carries huge weight.
Mr Brown has recruited ex-US vice-president Al Gore as his green guru. He will advise the Chancellor on international environmental issues.
Tory leader David Cameron vowed yesterday to erect an energy-generating wind turbine on No 10 Downing Street if he wins the next general election."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If this flies in Britain, then we're next. A new tier of taxes to save the world!
I feel the vapors coming on. Where did I put my bottle of elixir?
This summer, I commuted from the San Fernando Valley to the "Westside" before I moved to downtown LA to commute still to the Westside. In the last several months, I have become a master commuter. I know every window of time in which I can safely get to work a half hour early, twenty minutes early or fifteen minutes early. I have also experimented each day, for my two hour total commute, to find things in which to distract me from horrific and nonsensical traffic, horrifically nonsensical drivers and delays which inevitably come the one day traffic seems to be moving at a reasonable pace.
I tried worship music. (Bad idea. So counterintuitive to listen to songs of praise to God while filled with extreme anger toward His created beings in steel machines.) I tried non-worship oriented Christian music. This worked a little better but still made me feel cut off from world events, which made me mad, which was already compounded by the rage directed at the evil 4-0-5.
The music idea was quickly scratched and talk radio was in. First it was Laura Ingraham. But slowly, the manner in which she addressed those who disagreed with her was irritating to a die hard Prager fan. Out goes Laura, in comes Bill Handel. Handel makes no bones about being offensive, which I find acceptable and highly entertaining. But Handel didn't always talk about things I was interested in. So then it was Doug McIntyre. Still love Doug, and Bill.
However, the greatest gift given to me so far for my decently long commute has been: classic books on cd. Currently, I cannot wait to get in my car to listen to Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. A fourteen disc set, it's perfect for my drive. I've already made a long list of the books to "read through" next.
Not since I've begun commuting have I ever felt even a twinge of excitement when thinking about leaving my residence. I've found the cure for that and it's all thanks to the Los Angeles Public Library system.
There was a great discussion on Dennis Prager's radio show this morning. The question was: do schools teach children wisdom or do schools intentionally prevent students from learning wisdom?
I can't ever remember my kids coming home from high school saying they learned about wisdom. But I do recall their high school teachers asking the class how they felt about literature, history or politics. Same for their college classes.
One caller suggested the reason schools do not teach this is that absolutes are part of wisdom. In secular humanism there are no absolutes; everything is relative and based upon situational ethics. Wisdom, however, is predicated upon transcendent standards, precepts and principles. Dennis agreed and stated that secularists would not embrace wisdom, as they believe in a universe that began with chaos. Out of wisdom comes order.
Very thought provoking.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Proverbs 9:10
"For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for he upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly." Proverbs 2:6,7
Dennis Prager writes an excellent piece about what we are learning from Muslim taxi drivers and their outright refusal to pick up particular fares. Drivers here in the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia are refusing to drive the blind if they are accompanied by a guide dog as well as refusing people who are carrying any alcoholic beverage.
This is significant. We are not talking here about Muslim fanatics or Muslim terrorists, but about decent every day Muslims. And what these practices reveal is something virtually unknown in Judeo-Christian societies -- the imposing of one's religious practices on others.
He explains the difference between imposing moral and ritual prohibitions on society:
Now, many of those with a graduate degree in the humanities, and others taught how not to think clearly, will object that religious Christians do exactly this sort of thing when they try to impose their religious views on abortion, for example, on society.
But there is no analogy between a Muslim not allowing a non-Muslim to bring a bottle of wine or a dog into a Muslim-driven taxi and Christians trying to convince a democratic society to outlaw most abortions.
There is no comparing ritual prohibitions with moral prohibitions. Christians argue that taking the life of a human fetus where the mother's life is not endangered is immoral. And so do religious Jews (and Muslims) and many secular individuals -- because the issue of abortion is a moral issue. Contact with dogs, on the other hand, is a ritual issue, not a moral issue. Which is why non-Muslims do not consider it immoral -- unlike the many non-Christians who consider most abortions immoral.
The appropriate analogy to Muslim taxi drivers refusing to take passengers accompanied by a dog or carrying a bottle of wine would be religious Jewish taxi drivers refusing to take passengers eating a ham sandwich or Mormon drivers refusing to take passengers drinking alcoholic or caffeinated drinks.
As for the difference between fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians, a Christian mailman in Denver called my radio show to say that despite his profound religious objections to pornography, he could not imagine objecting to delivering even the raunchiest porn to homes that ordered it. First, religious non-Muslims, especially in America, believe that liberty, too, is a religious value; that is why Christians put a quote about liberty from the Torah on the Liberty Bell. And second, they have no doctrine that holds outsiders bound to their religious practices.
Read his entire article here. There's nothing like clarity to jump-start your day.
Can't get a scene out of my mind that I witnessed while shopping at Trader Joe's yesterday. A little girl of about 5 or 6 was tugging at her mom in the frozen food section. It wasn't the tugging but her plaintive cry that caught my attention: "Please forgive me, mommy! I'm sorry. Will you talk to me now? Please talk to me. I'm sorry!..." But the mother completely ignored her daughter.
Ok, so I could very easily be Grandma Busybody and go up to that mother and very kindly say, "Hon, you will do your daughter a world of hurt if you refuse her plea for forgiveness. Keep short accounts. If she says, "sorry", then extend grace and forgiveness. Giving her the silent treatment will scar her for life."
Did I do that? No. I kept pushing my cart onto another aisle thinking of things to say to that mom. About three aisles down I couldn't hear the little girl anymore so my thoughts turned to making dinner and various other things. After walking full-circle around the entire store, up and down each aisle gathering what I needed for dinner, I again encountered the little girl and her mom. She was still crying and begging her mother to talk to her.
Today I'm sorry I didn't say something to that mom. It's hard to know when to get involved in something that's none of your business or when to make it your business.
Keeping short accounts is so important; teaching kids to say they're sorry as well as saying "I forgive you" are one of the building blocks of good, healthy character development, both spiritually and emotionally.
Issues are wonderfully simple when kids are young, and keeping short accounts prepares them to handle much more complex situations when they're adults. We have all experienced betrayals and hurtful situations between friends and family that needed to be confronted, talked out and resolved; but healthy resolution only happens if both parties are humble enough to sit down together and talk while the issue is still fresh. Avoiding or running from the pain creates a wider and wider separation that can be impossible to mend.
A steady toxic diet of the silent treatment wraps cords of bondage around little souls. As adults, that same bondage triggers a strong flight response to the first sign of trouble. And why not? They learned early that the road to forgiveness was far more painful than the resolution itself. Therefore, avoid the resolution process at all costs!
Spiritually, it keeps us from understanding God's great grace extended to us when we have repented and asked Him for forgiveness. Instead the expectation is getting the silent treatment from God because we've sinned.
The reason this scenario pierced my heart so deeply was I grew up in a home that feasted on the silent treatment, and it took years and years for the Lord to slowly, carefully unwind the bondage that was wrapped around my soul.
My husband and I tried to keep very short accounts in our household while our kids were growing up. It wasn't always easy when feelings were hurt or anger flared, but the rewards have far exceeded any momentary emotional discomfort.
Really wish now that I had given that mom a gentle warning.
Ah, the joys of watching the screaming mimis of politiks (yes, I used a K...so sue me) go down in flames. But just flames, though. No blaze of glory to be found here...
Here's the link.
Yes, I know it's only October and too early to be talking about Christmas. I've always gotten annoyed at retailers putting out their Christmas wares before Halloween but not anymore. We have been decorating the outside of our home every year with more and more lights and now that we've landscaped, Bill and I are anticipating even more lights, a nativity scene and yes, sound!
Christmas is my all-time favorite Holy-day. Red and green just so happen to be my favorite complementary colors, winter is the best season for me, I love celebrating the birth of my Savior as well as lavishing that celebration on those I love.
Now we're bringing in the neighborhood. Bill and I were at Lowe's this evening with a shopping cart full of decorations for the outside of our home. The gentle lady standing in line behind us remarked about our purchase and asked if the decorations were for our front yard. When we told her they were, she asked if we, by any chance, lived near a section in our town that is called Candy Cane Lane. As a matter of fact, we do. She knew our neighborhood and couldn't wait to see what everyone was doing this year and kept thanking us for what our neighborhood does every year. What a lovely conversation we had.
We are planning on using a computer program to synchronize the lights to music. Our dear son, Nasa Nerd (aka Peter) will be programming this event and we'll be starting with a humble 32 channels for sequencing the lights.
The inspiration for our light show this year comes from Carson Williams, an electrical engineer from Mason, Ohio. He used 88 channels for sequencing 25,000 lights! He's been doing this for many years and puts just the right amount of whimsy and humor in his display. I must have watched this over and over last Christmas, and was both delighted and amazed at how he synchronized his lights with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Wizards in Winter. Enjoy!
Stansbury recently hat tipped me to a site called PeaceBang's Beauty Tips for Ministers.
The title alone grabbed me, and sent me down memory lane recalling summer camp conversations with my girlfriends that would begin with a prompt such as, "Is it a prerequisite for pastors' wives to get bowl cut hairstyles, swear off make up and wear tents for clothes?"
I had to click on this link.
And then I read the post discussing a new book called Why Men Hate Going to Church. (Click here.)
Wonderfully provocative subjects that have long been ignored in Christendom.
There's much too much to be said on the topic of Christian women's fashion and men avoiding church like they might the dentist. In the meantime, Portia feels quite reassured in her recent shopping endeavors. Frumpy does not equal holy. There. It's been said.
The "Voter Guide" provides almost 10 pages of fine-print on Proposition 87. If you don't have a law degree, a magnifying glass, or if you don't have the time to wade through a multitude of Chapters, Articles, Sections and Sub-Sections outlining the Findings & Declarations, General Provisions, Purpose & Intent, Definitions, Standards, Allocations of Funds and lastly, Accountability, then take my word for it, just vote NO.
Al Gore is "starring" in an ad in support of this 4 billion dollar tax hike.
The wording of this state measure sounds like we're really going to give it to the oil companies in assessments (read tax hikes) thereby forcing them to come up with alternative fuel sources. And of course they'll cooperate fully. And while they're cooperating with this coerced creativity, they will have the consumer's best interest at heart by shielding us from trickle-down taxation.
For those who believe the consumer is protected, read Sec. 2 - F:
Consumers should be protected from any attempt at price gouging by big oil companies if they try to pass along their assessment costs by increasing gas prices at the pump.
Obviously I'm not a lawyer, but the language here is ambiguous. "Should be protected" does not mean we will be protected. Does "price gouging" mean no increases over $1.00? $3.00? $5.00? I recall Clinton's painful parsing of the word "is"; this proposal is chock-full of words the liberals can parse. "Well, raising the price of gas by $1.50 is not gouging in the purest sense of the meaning of 'gouge'." "It depends upon what gouge means." "Passing along a tax is NOT the same as passing along an assessment."
Section 18. Part 21. 42004 (c) states:
The assessment imposed by this part shall not be passed on to consumers through higher prices for oil, gasoline, or diesel fuel. At the request of the authority, the board shall investigate whether a producer, first purchaser, or subsequent purchaser has attempted to gouge consumers by using the assessment as a pretext to materially raise the price of oil, gasoline, or diesel fuel.
The usage of "this part" in the first sentence makes me ask, well, if not this part, then what part does allow an increase in fuel costs.
Section 18. Part 21. 42005 would make me very nervous to be in the oil industry, either as a producer, or purchaser:
The assessment imposed by this part shall be in addition to any ad valorem taxes imposed by the State...
So whatever assessments this Proposition proposes are in addition to any new taxes imposed at the whim of our great blue state liberals, who never met a tax they didn't like and certainly never failed to impose on the fair citizens of California.
I read the entire proposition and what I got in return was a headache. The wording sounds good, looks good, but I don't trust Democratic California lawmakers. They love power, and 4 billion dollars is way too much power for the Democrats to have at their disposal.
My best advice is to remember who is starring in the ad supporting this as you enter the voting booth.
Major theater chains refuse to show Bush assassination film.
But the country's largest theater chain, Regal Entertainment Group, has passed on playing the film, citing the subject matter as the primary reason. "We would not be inclined to program this film," Regal Entertainment Group CEO Mike Campbell said. "We feel it is inappropriate to portray the future assassination of a sitting president, regardless of political affiliation."
Texas-based Cinemark USA also has declined to play the indie film, corporate spokesman Terrell Falk said. The circuit, which recently completed its acquisition of northern California-based Century Theatres, will not allow the regional player to book the film either. "We're not playing it on any of our screens," Falk said. "It's a subject matter we don't wish to play. We decided to pass on the film."
Regal and Cinemark are to be saluted for exhibiting unusual backbone in a culture where anything goes.
So, I'm checking my email this morning and I come across this story. Nothing too exciting, just your run of the mill "basketball star gets assaulted outside a local strip club"...except for this:
Officers found a small amount of marijuana in the passenger side door of Pacer point guard Jamaal Tinsley's car, police said. Officers could not determine the car's driver or to whom the marijuana belonged, so no arrests were made.
Let me repeat that for you one more time:
Officers could not determine the car's driver or to whom the marijuana belonged, so no arrests were made.
Where I come from, if it's your car, it's your weed. Unfortunately, it appears that now the rule has been changed to: "If it's your car, but you're a celebrity, we don't know who's marijuana that is, so you're off the hook."
It's really a shame to see just where our society's morals are. What kind of message is this sending to the next generation? "It's ok to do drugs if you're rich and famous because you're rich and famous?"
Could you imagine the furor if there were a three-week course on what it means to be a Christian? Catholics, Baptists and Pentecostals would each get a week. The curriculum would have to embrace all the different beliefs within those denominations so as to fully educate the children on what it's like to be a Christian. Being that it is taught under the guise of cultural studies, the children would go through a confirmation, learn the Sacraments, participate in the Eucharist, memorize verses from the Bible, give up something for Lent, get baptized, speak in tongues and participate in worship through singing songs that praise God. Yeah, that would would fly like a pig over the Mississippi.
But folks, teaching our 7th graders Islam for three weeks is flying over our country right now; just five years after 9/11 and we are indoctrinating our kids into all things Islam.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday by evangelical Christian students and their parents who said a Contra Costa County school district engaged in unconstitutional religious indoctrination when it taught students about Islam by having them recite language from prayers.
The suit challenged the content of a seventh-grade history course at Excelsior Middle School in Byron in the fall of 2001. The teacher, using an instructional guide, told students they would adopt roles as Muslims for three weeks to help them learn what Muslims believe.
She encouraged them to use Muslim names, recited prayers in class, had them memorize and recite a passage from the Quran and made them give up something for a day, such as television or candy, to simulate fasting during the month of Ramadan. The final exam asked students for a critique of elements of Muslim culture.
This slippery slope can work in our favor. Parents from every religion must contact their kids' school and DEMAND three weeks to teach the cultural aspects of whatever their religion is. Christianity, Judaism, Budhism, Hinduism, the Sikh religion, Mormonisn, B'hai. If Islam gets three weeks, then every other religion is entitled to theirs.
Foley's behavior was reprehensible. He did the right thing by resigning immediately. One journalist smells political chicanery here in the timing of this.
Recent polls show Democrats aren't doing very well on several key issues. What better way than a good, old-fashioned sex scandal to get people's minds off such things as the importance of winning the war in Iraq, our ongoing vulnerability to terrorist attack and the necessity of keeping the Bush economic boom going?
Here's more:
"If anything, the episode reveals the Democrats' hypocrisy about their own behavior. The fact that Foley resigned virtually within minutes of being told that ABC News had copies of his salacious e-mails and text messages indicates he at least felt shame for his actions. Can the same be said for Democrats?
Sadly, it doesn't seem so. How else can you explain the following?
In 1983, then-Democratic Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts was caught in a similar situation. In his case, Studds had sex with a male teenage page -- something Foley hasn't been charged with.
Did Studds express contrition? Resign? Quite the contrary. He rejected Congress' censure of him and continued to represent his district until his retirement in 1996.
In 1989, Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), also of Massachusetts, admitted he'd lived with Steve Gobie, a male prostitute who ran a gay sex-for-hire ring out of Frank's apartment. Frank, it was later discovered, used his position to fix 33 parking tickets for Gobie.
What happened to Frank? The House voted 408-18 to reprimand him -- a slap on the wrist. Today he's an honored Democratic member of Congress, much in demand as a speaker and "conscience of the party."
In 2001,
President Clinton, who had his own intern problem, commuted the prison sentence of Illinois Rep. Mel Reynolds, who had sex with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer and pressured her to lie about it. (Reynolds also was convicted of campaign spending violations.)
You get the idea. Democrats not only seem OK with the kind of behavior for which Foley is charged, but also they protect and excuse it. Only when it's a Republican do they proclaim themselves shocked -- shocked! -- when it comes to light.
We have a lot more questions about this whole affair. The timing of the revelations, as we noted, couldn't be more propitious for the Democrats. Turns out both the Democrats and several newspapers seem to have known about Foley's problem as far back as November, according to research by several enterprising blogs.
Why didn't they come forward then? Who dredged up these e-mails -- and why did they hold them until now? This reeks of political trickery."
Timing is everything.
For you will not find it here. Humor, on the other hand, you will find.
Hat tip: The Pirate
My husband and I frequently watch National Geographic's Dog Whisperer, featuring Cesar Milan, a man short in stature but a giant in machismo when it comes to taming out-of-control and aggressive dogs. Pit bulls are his favorite. His formula is simply to "be the leader of your dog's pack," and he offers a full menu of methods in which to do just that.
Since my husband is out of town on business, the task of walking our 110lb. German Shepherd falls to me. Rex is the epitome of all things German Shepherd. He looks like Rin Tin Tin, is faithful, protective, and very, very prey-driven. Which means he'll chase a tennis ball or any small furry animal over eating prime rib.
"I am the dog whisperer", I tell myself. Cesar walks with shoulders back, chest out, head up high. Total confidence. So I arrange the choke up high on Rex's neck as Cesar instructs and out the door we go. No problem. He heels perfectly.
Wanting to test out the effectiveness of Cesar's rules, I decide to take Rex by a house known for it's uncivilized and aggressive dogs. Four of them. Thankfully there is a chain-link fence running the perimeter of their property, without which no man, woman or child would be safe. True to form, they come out snarling and foaming at the mouth, literally throwing themselves at the fence as we walk by. Rex could easily have pulled my shoulder out of its socket had I not been holding his leash correctly. I should also mention that we passed by their house from the other side of the street.
We survived that, although I'm out of breath and sweating profusely from the exertion of holding him at bay. We walk on. Rex did not behave perfectly according to Cesar's standards, but nonetheless I am feeling very dog whisperish.
Until. the. squirrel. Suddenly Rex is on high alert, and I'm looking around frantically to see why. The little guy is sitting 20 yards away in the street eating a piece of orange completely unaware of Rex. Before I could properly control him, Rex is rearing up like a stallion (which makes him taller than I am) and wanting with every fiber of his being to take up the chase. "It's what I'm made for! It's my right as a dog!" he telegraphs to me.
So much for the dog whisperer. Obviously this is not for amateurs. I put Rex on a "sit" command, standing with my back to the squirrel and facing Rex, a' la Cesar. He sits. Then I do a "down" which he slightly did before getting up and trying to chase the furry little thing. Here we are in the street (neighborhood residential - no cars) with me trying to control a huge dog whose sole objective at that moment was to taste rodent meat; he sits, he's down, he's rearing up, he's straining at the leash. Did I mention he's 110 pounds of muscle?
This little circus went on for about five long minutes, until the squirrel decided to scamper away and up a tree. I must have burned about 300 calories. It was quite an exercise. I think the squirrel really enjoyed the show we put on for him.
I take it that you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead--
For goodness sake don't call it "deed!"
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.)
A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose--
Just look them up--and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and sword
And do and go and thwart and cart--
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive.
I'd mastered it when I was five.
T.S.W (only name given), published in the London Sunday Times. January 3, 1965.