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Website of the Week
For those who are gluttons for listening punishment, here is my official myspace musician page.
Local Pump Price of Unleaded Gasoline:
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last modified May 11, 2008 at 18:16
The government has issued a warning that Al Quada may have smuggled anti-aircraft missiles into the United States and could potentially use it on commercial airliners.
Okay, now is the time that we issue Al Quada a warning of our own: if any type of attack occurs against the United States, we will nuke Mecca or some other Muslim religious landmark.
If they hit at our heart, then we should hit at theirs.
Oil may not be scarce as we once thought it was. In fact, the earth may be actually replenishing its own supply of oil from deep within the earth's crust.
Environmentalists weep everywhere.
Here is a letter from the editors of Teenwire (website that is the teen arm of Planned Parenthood) in response to a teen's question "Is Abortion Safe?"
Dear Experts,
Will having an abortion affect me when I want children?
Teen22
Dear Teen22,
Abortion is a very safe procedure. It is about twice as safe as having tonsils removed, and is much safer than giving birth. In fact, it is 11 times safer than giving birth if it is performed before the 18th week of pregnancy. Most abortions, 90 percent, are performed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. An early abortion (up to 14 weeks after the last period) that is performed by an experienced clinician and that is not followed by any complications, such as infection, does not make it more difficult to carry a later pregnancy to term. Early abortions, with no complications, have no harmful health effects for the woman and do not increase the possibility of future miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, birth defects, or low infant birth weight. Even if a woman has more than one early abortion, her ability to carry a later pregnancy to term is not endangered.
Abortions after 14 weeks are also very safe, but health risks increase the longer a pregnancy goes on.
Abortion poses little danger to a woman's emotional and mental health. Although a woman my feel some regret or remorse, the most common emotion after an abortion is relief. Severe emotional and psychological reactions to abortion are rare.
If you need to talk with someone in person, you can call: 1-800-230-PLAN and you'll be connected to the nearest Planned Parenthood. They will be able to help you set up an appointment if needed.
If you want more information about abortion, visit www.plannedparenthood.org, go to the site index or home page, and click on "abortion."
We hope this information is helpful to you and answers your questions.
Take care,
Teenwire Editors
As an aside, the name "Teenwire" is a strange name for a site sponsored by an abortion organization. For me, it draws up connotations of "coathanger abortions" performed in back alleys.
Reports today say that even if India only uses conventional arms in an attack against Pakistan, the latter country has not ruled out a nuclear weapon response to defend itself.
Personally, I cannot imagine a nuclear war anywhere, but then again, it seems that it is bound to happen sooner or later.
Salman Rushdie, the notorious author of The Satanic Verses, has written an article detailing his thoughts on the situation.
With much trepidation, I thought that I might as well post one of my songs on this blog to give you a taste (or perhaps incur your sympathy.)
Dangerous Grace
Chorus:
There is a dangerous grace
It flows right to the soul
It's like the light from Jesus' face
That makes me whole
For all the saints who rest
Whose weary souls you hold
You press them to your loving breast
Their hearts console
(chorus)
My efforts profit not
They give me no relief
Won't you come to my aid
As you did the dying thief
(chorus)
And when our time has come
You'll take Your harvest home
There'll be no time for tears or crying
When we're feasting with the Son
(chorus)
©Joseph Hogue 2002
If I had $20,194.95 to spare, I could run over to the airport today with my family, fly to Paris, spend the week there and come home.
Nah.
Louisiana State University graduated my brother Benjamin with a degree in forestry last Friday. The speaker, a distinguished professor at LSU delivered some banal exhortation about finding a job that you love and will be happy in.
There were about ten to fifteen rows of empty seats in the back, so my family found a great place where we could watch the ceremony without the fear of disturbing or distracting anyone. (If you have any kids under three, then you will understand.)
Later that day, we enjoyed some fine crawfish that were so spicy that you needed paper towels for your hands and your constantly running nose. One lesson that I have learned, being a contac lens wearer, is to never NEVER take out your lens after eating crawfish without scrubbing them for about thirty minutes. If you don't do this, then you will experience the fires of hell in your eyeballs for several long, excruciating days.
One of the things that really gets my indignatory goat bleeting are the driving habits of certain drivers.
Let me explain.
To drive from Louisiana to Mississippi, you must cross over the Mississippi River at some point. Well, as I approached the Mississippi River Bridge at Vicksburg, I hit about a two to three mile slow down due to traffic.
Then I saw a sign that read "Right Lane Closed-2 miles". So like a good boy, I headed about half a mile down from that point and merged into the left lane. However, not everyone felt the pressing need to merge into the left lane. On the contrary, many took this as a signal that they must continue at the posted speed limit in the right lane past virtually stationary traffic in the left lane.
Finally, some hero in a truck with a camper, pulled his truck in the right lane to prevent the right-lane cheaters from continuing to perpetuate their tomfoolery. Hurrah for justice!
If India and Pakistan get into a nuclear war, American Intelligence officials say that the casualties could be somewhere near 12 million people plus 7 million would be hurt.
For Trading Spaces lovers, you have to take this quiz. Must. Take. Quiz.
BTW, has anyone heard anything about a lawsuit associated with the show? My blog has been getting Google queries for 'Trading Spaces Lawsuit" and similar terms.
take the which one of the trading spaces cast are you? quiz!
Soft like a woman?
This Memorial Day weekend put my wife, kids, and me on the road every day of the weekend. Needless to say, we are plum worn out. Three kids three years old and younger, crampy childseats, and a stuffed minivan are a dangerous cocktail when combined with long hours on the road. Perhaps a busted air conditioner doesn't help too much either.
Thursday, we left Pontotoc and drove to Meridian to stay at Kathleen's mom's house. The next day, we drove to Baton Rouge and watched my brother Benjamin's graduation from LSU. The next day, Saturday, we drove up to north Louisiana where I am originally from. Even on Sunday, we had to drive an hour each way to church. Finally, yesterday, we boarded the minivan train and headed back for Pontotoc.
It is good to be back. Now where's my vacation from my vacation?
In April, a New York City gallery called the Max Protetch Gallery opened "A New World Trade Center: Design Proposals." This show features ideas from some of the world's premier and up-and-coming architects envisioning what should be erected to take the place of the two towers.
I think that we need to put something there that will declare to the world the greatness and irrepressibility of the American spirit. Put something up there that tells the world "We will lead the world and will not be afraid to dream and live free."
For many people who have family or friends with autism, the question looms large as to what causes this disorder.
Vaccines containing mercury have long been suspected as the culprit, but to prove this against a very powerful pharmaceutical industry would be a very daunting task.
Apparently, on behalf of families who have been affected by autism over the past few decades, a class-action lawsuit has been initiated against the companies making these vaccines. The costs of caring for a child with autism are massive. Even though the parents are more than willing to do whatever it takes to help their affected kids, finances can be stretched to the limit.
I am not usually a fan of big lawsuits, but this may be the exception.
Things are getting pretty scary between India and Pakistanwith over a million troops assembling along the border. Alerts are being issued to the very real possibility of nuclear war between the two countries.
How can a nuclear war be waged successfully? I cannot imagine any successful scenario offhand.
We should pray for a peaceful resolution to this crisis and especially for the safety of our Christian brothers and sisters living in that part of the world.
The remains of what is thought to be a woman was found in an upscale Washington, D.C. park. Actually, the remains are scattered around the park, but the park is an area that the police searched thoroughly after her disappearance.
So what's wrong with arming pilots, anyway? Both Norman Mineta and Tom Ridge are opposed to this idea, but I think that it has some merits. Maybe they are afraid of the pilots getting disarmed or of the gun going off and causing the plane to crash. I have heard that there are bullets designed to just cause human injury without the potential risk to the plane.
Today, on the local television morning show here in Tupelo, some ladies singing gospel music were featured. The sad thing is that all three ladies looked like Mama from Mama's Family.
<rant>Why, for the love of Mike, do women when they get into their forties, fifties, and so on decide to forgo their glory? What I mean is: why do these women decide to lop off their long beautiful hair in favor of the ice-cream cone hairdo? I don't care what people may tell you to the contrary, but 99 times out of 100, it is NOT attractive. </rant>
Meanwhile. . .
I am beginning to think that professional wrestling has strong allegorical undertones in comparison with today's social and political culture. Of course, I am still trying to work this out in my head. Will get back to you on that one.
If any of you watched the final episode of Survivor Sunday night, I expect that you, like me, were forcefully suppressing your gag reflex at all the mushy sentimentality gushing from most of the tribemembers.
What I found the most intriguing were the continual appeals to the Christian faith of the last two survivors, but here is where it turned weird. Vecepia, the black girl, told about how she had had some kind of vision about the whole thing and that she knew that she would win the whole time, from the time that she tried out for the show ("I'm a survivor") to her experience on the island ("I'm the ultimate survivor").
Aleesha, the white girl, was blasted by some jury members for lying while she professed to be a Christian. I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed like she gave the worst answers anyone could give to the questions posed her.
My commentary could go on and on, but I am sure that Scott will more than adequately take care of that.
What I wonder is, how should a Christian play a game like Survivor? In other words, is it possible to play a game like Survivor in a way that glorifies God and still win? Are lying and backstabbing okay if they are elements necessary to win the game or should our Christianity rise above the baser elements of the game at all costs?
If any of you are like me, you completely disregard any critical analysis of movies until after you have seen it. Then you compare notes. I learned my lesson a long time ago when Siskel and Ebert said that To Die For was this awesome movie. There were people leaving the theater right and left, but I kept telling myself, "It has to get better."
Stars Wars had a nice opening, despite the negative press. Spider Man continues to rack up the dough, on track to score $300 million+ over its fourth weekend.
Once again, the South has done it. Bottomed out the charts of a state ranking, that is.
From Morgan Quitno's state ranking of the Most Livable States based upon rankings in 43 key categories, here are the top five:
1. Minnesota
2. Iowa
3. New Hampshire
4. Virginia
5. Massachusetts
And the bottom five:
46. New Mexico
47. Arkansas
48. Alabama
49. Louisiana
50. Mississippi
Last night, my generous wife spent about an hour cutting my hair and making it look all prettified. We listened to David Wilcox's cd "New World" as she chopped and lopped hair from my head.
We've come a long way in the haircutting experience. Kathleen bought our current pair of clippers over four years ago at Wal-Mart for about twenty bucks. If you look at the cost of haircuts, it must have saved us close to a thousand bucks. Not bad.
The first time she cut my hair, the clippers were not well-oiled so they pulled my hair big time. The haircut probably took around two to three hours. Kathleen was a great sport and really did a good job for her first time. It's all pretty funny looking back, although it hurt like the dickens at the time.
What's going on here? Tonight, we have Poison, Winger, Faster Pussycat, and Winger performing in Tupelo.
In Memphis, Skid Row is playing at the Hard Rock Cafe. The positive is that at least these guys are not out on the streets causing trouble (at least I hope not).
Farthest Shore by David Wilcox
We were there in the woods by the water
We left our packs up against that willow tree
We dove right in, keeping just what we were born with:
Our Memories, Knowledge and Dreams
As I swam away from our possessions
I imagined that they were gone forever more
And for once I was glad that all I treasured
Would still be with me as I reached other shore. So...
Chorus
Let me dive into the water,
leave behind all that I've worked for
Except what I remember and believe
and when I stand on the farthest shore
I will have all I need
After the blaze burned our cabin down to ashes
Where we'd slept warm, now the sky lets in the rain
I found the strings, frets and rusted latches
But I will never hear that old guitar again
These four walls are only in my memory
Where these stone steps rise to nothing in the air
So one last look and I'm headed for the river
To wash my hands and try to say this prayer
When my time to live this life is over
I'll tip my hat when I think about that swim
And of all the things that make a life worth living
That only come to those who dive right in
Let me dive into the water
It's all I need
Some New Yorkers, obviously envious of the good looks produced down here in the South, decided to take pen and knife to HBO posters advertising Britney Spears' live special last year.
All kidding aside, it is fascinating how there eventually is a backlash against many stars who get really, really popular as Britney has. It's like society drinks all they can of a star until they are so drunk with their fill of them that they regurgitate them almost as powerfully as they received them in the first place.
I forget is it "Britney then liquor, never sicker" or "Britney then beer, never fear"?
My worst fears seem to have been confirmed with Carter's trip to Cuba, i.e. Carter is using this as a platform to attack the Bush administration, accusing the Bush administration of lying to him about Cuba's biological weapons program.
I was looking up this song, Amos Moses, trying to find the words and came across this site, Misheard Songs. Basically, it is a large compilation of misheard lyrics to songs juxtaposed with the real lyrics. As a kid, I probably did this to almost all of the Cars and Michael Jackson's songs, i.e. butchering the lyrics miserably.
To tell you the truth, I still have trouble distinguishing the lyrics of almost EVERY song from the eighties, especially Come on Eileen by Dex's Midnight Runn. Read these lyrics and tell me honestly if those are the words that you heard.
A toxin that causes botulism and one of the most poisonous substances in the world is now used to remove wrinkles. Botox, the commercial name of the drug-toxin, is experiencing unbelievable sales and is expected to become a billion-dollar a year industry.
Quite frankly, I have no desire whatsoever to inject ANY toxin into my skin, no matter what the so-called health effects are. I think we all need to take a deep breath, suck it up, and just grow old gracefully. Besides, true beauty comes from the heart and character of an individual and transforms even the homeliest of individuals into the loveliest of creatures. May sound cheesy, trite even, but true, nonetheless.
The topic of discussion on NPR yesterday afternoon was the use of bees to detect certain types of landmines. The biowarfare movement of our military is enlisting an unlikely crew of recruits, such as rats, roaches, beetles, and bees.
I found an interesting article in Businessweek that was written last year, but goes into more detail as to how this is possible.
By the way, in case I did not give you enough bad news yesterday, here is a list of potential biological agents, such as:
Batrachotoxin: poison derived from South American toad.
or
Lymphocytic chorimeningitis virus: biological agent, causing inflammation of brain tissue.
or
Ricin: Poison derived from the beans of the castor oil plant and devel-oped as a toxic weapon during the Second World War. Fast-working biological toxin, it decomposes rapidly, making it a hard-to-detect weapon for assassinations.
Enjoy!
Jimmy Carter, the ex-President who seems intent on building his legacy (remind you of anyone?), has arrived in Cuba. This is the first time that a President or ex-President has set foot in Cuba since 1959.
This would be encouraging except that this is the same man who has said that China now has freedom of religion and written an argument in China's defense. Jimmy Carter has identified himself with Ceaucescu, sympathized with Mao Tse Tung, and initiated a Habitat for Humanity project in Nicaragua in 1984 to show Manuel Noriega that "not all Christians in America hate [the Nicaraguan people]."
Maybe, just maybe, Carter will do something good and speak out against Communism while he is there. Or maybe, Carter will just do the typical Fidel tour. We must wait and see.
In Philadelphia, an eight year old boy protecting his twelve year old sister from an attacker in their home died from wounds he sustained from the attacker. His sister escaped and called the police. She survived, while her mother and little brother both died.
Today is the birthday of a friend of mine from high school, Magruder Hazlip. After high school, we have probably run into each other a handful of times, that is including my wedding.
It is funny, though a little sad, how at different times and phases of our lives, we have good friends who we will eventually leave behind and perhaps never see again. The Christian should see this as a positive in that he is expanding the base of friends who will be at the great reunion party when he gets to Heaven. What a comfort!
Happy birthday, Magruder. If I do not see you soon, God willing, I will see you later.
Ich hoffe, daß jeder ein großes Wochenende hat. Abschließende Tests sein rüber für mich und ich freue, einige Wochen weg von der graduierten Schule zu haben. (German)
Ma page est descendue pour tandis que jeudi dû à quelques problèmes de serveur, qui semblent avec reconnaissance avoir été fixés. (French)
Patrick, era buono da vederli a doppio Decker a Oxford. Spero che vi siate divertiti. Lascilo sapere a se decidete fare un movimento permanente Oxford (o sarto). Per il resto di voi, doppio Decker era uno scoppio reale. Vi dà una delle combinazioni migliori di alimento del sud, di musica e di divertimento che potete avere, con una piccola regolazione unica della città. (Italian)
If you would like to translate any of the above, copy and paste the above, and click here.
Chick Tracts, famed for leaving public bathroom reading material, has made a bold statement on Roman Catholicism. In a tract entitled, Are Roman Catholics Christians?, Chick apparently answers in the negative after giving a quick run-through of catholic sacramentology.
I am amazed at how quickly Protestants tend to, in a subtle fashion, gnosticize Christianity. It is a "We are Christians because we know that salvation is through faith alone, which is through grace alone, etc." mentality. I know catholics that are probably unsaved, but I also know catholics that profess to trust in Jesus alone for their salvation.
Who knows the heart of a man that we can judge whether he is a Christian or not? If correct doctrine saved a man, then we would all be taking the speed train to hell.
Romans 10:8-11
8But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
Aside: Nice new feature on Biblegateway.com: you can listen to Scripture as well.
Listen to Romans 10
Jon Barlow has written an excellent paper addressing the argument maintained by the majority within the PCA expressed in the 1986 PCA Majority Report on Paedocommunion. I am looking forward to the reaction and debate that this may spawn within the PCA.
Recalling the Just Say No and This Is Your Brain on Drugs campaigns of the eighties, the ONDCP has released a series of commercials that demonstrate a causal link between buying drugs and supporting terrorists and other criminals in the drug trade.
It gets your attention very effectively, with teenagers giving a series of verbal snippets, saying things like:
"I blew up a building."
"I was just having fun."
"I helped murder families in Columbia."
"I helped a bomber get a fake passport."
"My life, my body."
View it here.
I have a proposal for naming this decade. After many months of intense and deep thought, I suggest that we call this decade "the Nillies".
The definition of "nil" is
nil
n.
Nothing; zero.
Thus, a decade that is in the units (between 00-09), should be called the "nillies". What do you think? I am tired of people saying stuff like, "the eighties, the nineties, and the first decade of the new millenium". Much too verbose.
I can hear the radio stations now: "We're playing the hits of the eighties, the nineties, AND the nillies!" Kind of gives me the willies, just thinking about it.
The vegan couple that was recently in the news for basically starving their daughter on a diet of fruit juice, ground nuts, flaxseed oil, etc have just announced-- they are having another baby!
This just isn't right. By the way, is there ANYTHING more NATURAL than mother's milk? Get with the program, you bunch of crazies!
Well, I guess the people at Sony are breathing a $114 Million sigh of relief today. Big question: Will Star Wars be able to beat this figure or will Spider Man dominate Star Wars on its opening weekend?
I have not had barely a moment's rest this weekend, what with my last final today. Certainly not enough time to go watch Spider Man (not that I plan on seeing it too soon, anyway). When you are married with young kids, watching a movie can be a very rare occasion, so when we do go, we must choose very, very wisely.
The Department of Defense has a unique and gentlemenly vocabulary to make denigrating remarks.
In regard to a talking points memo issued by the Army that basically questioned the motives of the Defense Department's administration, Rumsfeld said that he "had a minimum of high regard."
I think that as a put down goes, the higher the language the stronger the effectiveness of the denigrative remark.
Four kindergarten students were suspended from school for playing cops and robbers. I never played this game, but criminy! Are zero-tolerance laws going nuts these days or what? What's worse is that the ensuing lawsuit on behalf of the boys was thrown out.
When will school boards start showing some intestinal fortitude and begin using standards based upon the merits of each individual case?
The San Diego school Vice-Principal who enforced underwear checks on girls and boys at a school dance has been placed on administrative leave.
The newest update of the story gives a little more information and eyewitness testimony of her actions. It is pretty strange. She checked to see if tube tops were attached to bras, if boys had on underwear under their costumes, and, as previously noted, if girls had on underwear and/or thongs.
There was even a police officer who witnessed much of what happened and who tried to get an assistant principal to make her stop:
San Diego city police Officer Greg Bisesto said that while patrolling the dance, which was attended by about 725 students, he watched Wilson force dozens of girls to lift their skirts. He said he heard Wilson ask the questions: "Are you wearing underwear? If so, is it a thong? . . . Then let me check."
"I just thought, 'Oh, my ***, what is she doing?' " Bisesto said. "This is totally out of line."
Ann Coulter lays it out in WND. This woman can write a column.
When President Bush cut funding to the U.N. population fund – which evidently issues periodic and utterly impotent condemnations of clitorectomies – liberals accused him of "stand[ing] for" female genital mutilation (Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, April 26, 2002). But when French voters oppose a massive influx of immigrants whose cultural customs include female genital mutilation, the Times calls them xenophobes.
I propose a new term for people opposed to Third World immigrants coming to their countries: "Westerners Against Genital Mutilation." Other apt labels include: "Westerners Against Arranged Marriages for 12-Year-Old Girls," "Westerners Against Beating Women Whose Shoes Make Noise," and "Westerners Against Barbarians Committing Acts of Savage Violence and Then Explaining They Felt 'Humiliated.'"
Today, May 2nd, has been declared a National Day of Prayer by George W. Bush. Ravi Zacharias and Josh McDowell will lead the ceremony held in Washington, D.C.
Here is the text of President Bush's proclamation.
Hey, are you guys holding out on me? Are there any great musicians that y'all are listening to and keeping to yourselves? Please, please, please, I beg you, share the wealth.
While we are at it, what about beer? I am one of those people who finds a good thing and sticks with it. Not too adventurous when it comes to picking out new beer. I guess that I have been stung too many times ("once bitten, twice shy").
Of course, it all depends on what you look for in a beer, too. In my undergraduate days, I could stomach the hard stuff (Guiness, Beck's, Harp's), but now, I tend to enjoy Shiner Bock, Heineken, Foster's, and Corona. Have your tastes changed or remained consistent?
It appears that a female vice-principal at a San Diego school decided to do a thong check at a school dance. The problem is that there is no school policy against wearing thongs and furthermore, she physically checked (by lifting skirts) some of the girls at the dance.
You live and die by your policy, be it a company or school policy. If you go outside of what is written, you put yourself in some serious legal risk, not to mention the potential for losing your job. This vice-principal should have, at the very least, mailed out a letter to parents advising them of appropriate dress code for the dance and warning of potential dress code enforcement.
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