LB:EF - Mission 22 (currently playing)

I've replayed through the previous levels and this is the level I was stuck on before and I'm stuck on it now. You need to build advanced buildings and survive for 25 minutes while being attacked by GCP forces. You get a few brief moments to prepare yourself before the GCP recruiters, musicians, thugs and soldiers swarm in. There often tends to be a lot of things going on at once, so it's difficult to keep track of everything. (I keep failing the "peaceful mission" goal as a result.) I'll give the level a few more tries before moving on.

Ten Ways John Shore Failed at Criticizing Christians

John Shore is a sometime author, Huff-n-Puff blogger, and former "rabid anti-Christian" who claims to have become a Christian after hearing a cartoon voice in a rarely used supply closet at work.

No, I'm not kidding, but I wish I were. Oy.

Anyway, Mr. Shore has apparently set himself up now as the great, God-ordained mouthpiece of how Christians of all types (who he bunches primarily into the stereotypical "conservative" and "liberal" labels) should act. Virtually none of his proposals are biblically backed, though, and the ones that are generally based on ripping Bible verses out of context.

Most of his criticisms are, of course, directed at conservative Christians. For example, his recent self-contradictory diatribe Ten Ways Christians Tend to Fail at Being Christian." As I read that awful, poorly thought-out list of man-based nonsense, my brain felt like it was slogging through thick, sticky mud. It wasn't difficult coming up with corrections to the points.

1. Too much money. “Wealthy Christian” should be an oxymoron. In Luke 12:33, Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” At Matthew 19:21, he says, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor.” In Matthew 6:24, he says: “You cannot serve God and Money.” Christians are generally pretty huge on cleaving to the word of God. I just don’t see how those particular words could be clearer.

Keep that last sentence in mind. It'll come up later.

As for the rest of the point, it's nothing more than your typical bashing of rich conservatives using the same old grossly out-of-context Bible verses.

Luke 12:33 is not a direct command. It is part of Jesus' teaching about not worrying. In the preceding verses, Jesus tells us not to worry (the only direct command from the passage) before going on to hyperbolically give examples of not worrying that include not giving any thought to what you eat, drink or wear. So if you take those verses out-of-context, does that mean Jesus is telling us not not eat, drink or wear clothes? Of course not!

Matthew 19:21 was a comment Jesus directed at a cocky rich young man who he already knew loved money more than God.

Matthew 6:24 is a warning about loving money more than God, not about being rich. In fact, Matthew 6:24 foreshadows Matthew 19:21.

Simply being rich is not a sin and the Bible gives no command for us to live as eternal paupers. That isn't to say, however, that being rich doesn't come with its dangers. People can and do become obsessed with money, but that is not limited to rich people. Indeed, the rich man in Matthew 19 could have just as easily been a poor man who loved money more than God and Jesus' response would've been just the same.

And incidentally, I wonder how wealthy Mr. Shore has become from authoring and co-authoring books. On his "About Me" page, he admits to making "crazy money" off a co-authored book and spending it all on a house. A pretty spendy-looking one at that! Apparently Mr. Shore doesn't practice what he preaches. Go figure.

2. Too confident God thinks we’re all that and a leather-bound gift Bible. I’d like to humbly suggest that we spend a little more time wondering how we displease God, and a little less time being confident that we do.

If you're not confident (i.e. aware) that you are displeasing God, then how can you possibly know how you are displeasing Him? How about we spend more time thinking about what it means that we are sinners saved by grace? Maybe even confess our daily sins, repent and turn from them more.

Okay, now we're going to recall the last sentence of Mr. Shore's first point. Consider that sentence in light of this next point:

3) Too quick to believe that we know what God really means by what he says in the Bible. The Bible is an extremely complex, multi-leveled work. We're sometimes too quick to assume that we grasp its every meaning. Take this passage, for instance, from Luke 8: 9-10: "His disciples asked him [Jesus] what this parable [of the sower] meant. He said, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand."'" Huh? And that's Jesus "explaining" what is generally regarded as one of his most readily understood parables! Are we really all that confident that we always know exactly what Jesus meant by everything he said? Wouldn't we do well to sometimes admit that the words attributed to God manifested on earth are just a tad, well, Greek to us?

Okay, so we shouldn't be too quick to believe that we know what God really means by what He says in the Bible, but apparently we can go right ahead and be quick to believe that we know what God really means about money according to what's in the Bible. We can be very confident we know exactly what Jesus meant by Luke 12:33, Matthew 19:21 and Matthew 6:24. Hmm... Veddy intedestink.

The Bible is not some sort of puzzle or riddle we need to decipher and decode. Good gosh. That's the kind of thinking that brought us such nonsense as the Bible Code. No. With even a minimal understanding of the societies and cultures the books of the Bible were written in, contextual study of the Bible is very easy. Anyone who claims otherwise, like Mr. Shore does, is more often than not trying to force their personal views on to God's Word.

4) Too action-oriented. We Christians could stand to spend less time acting in the name of God, and more time reflecting on the (ever subtle) majesty of God. We need more passivity, and less activity. More meditation, less machination. More reflection, less correction. More contemplation, less administration. More prayers, less airs. More mysticism, less ... um ... cretinism.

Yeah, because that's what Jesus and his disciples did. They just sat around "reflecting on the ever subtle majesty of God" instead of going out and acting in the name of God. Yep. Just a bunch of lazy, intellectual bums they were. Honestly, if that's what Jesus did and taught, Christianity would've died out long ago.

5) Too invasive of others generally. It is my personal, humble opinion that anyone seeking to mix church and state has failed to understand the nature and role of either. Being founded upon the principle that all men are created equal and deserving of equal protection under the law is what makes the American system of democracy such a gift to mankind. Attempting to mix the inherently exclusionary imperatives of a particular religion into the resolutely inclusive system of the American constitutional form of government is to work against everything that America stands for. Religion is a personal, subjective affair for the individual; politics and public policy is an impersonal, objective affair for everyone.

Using "all men are created equal" to defend the separation of church and state is laughable. "CREATED." By whom? Why, created by God, of course. This is something that the Founding Fathers wisely recognized and it formed the basis for their creation of this country and its government. The whole "separation of church and state" business did not start out as a concept to keep faith out of the public square, but to prevent the government from formally establishing a state religion that would infringe on people's religious liberties. Indeed, in attempting to not be "too invasive of others" via use of the First Amendment, liberals have, in fact, become perversely invasive. When they say our religious beliefs must stop at the courthouse door (and they have many, many times in various ways), then religious liberty is violated.

6. Too invasive of others personally. We Christians are too often too eager to get up into the faces of others about their personal religious beliefs. If you believe in the reality of hell, then wanting to save non-Christians from going there is a worthy sentiment, of course. But the bottom line is it’s absolutely impossible to talk someone who isn’t a Christian into becoming one; in fact, more than anything else it’s likely to push the non-Christian further from God. I believe we Christians would do very well indeed to spend our time “just” living as Christians, and let God worry about the non-Christians.

Thank God that Jesus didn't "just" live and didn't "let God worry about the non-Christians!" Jesus brought the Gospel to the lost and called us to do the same. We Christians are taught that there are many people who will indeed be pushed further from God when we preach the Gospel. God never warned us not to "get up into the faces of others" out of the fear that they would be pushed away from salvation. In fact, He wants us to get up in people's faces with the Gospel out of the hope that someone -- even if it's one person out of a million -- will listen and be saved. If you don't get up in people's faces, then I guarantee that the number of people saved will be zero out of a million.

7. Too quick to abandon logic. When talking to others about our faith, we Christians too often resort to a language and line of reasoning that leaves good ol’ fashion logic sitting on the ground behind us, waving a sad good-bye. “It’s true because the Bible says it’s true” is, for instance, an assertion that can’t help but leave the non-Christian unimpressed, since it’s so manifestly illogical. “It’s true because the Bible says it’s true” is no more proof of truth than is, “Apples are the best of the fruits, because I think that’s true.” Christians need to more readily admit that the religious experience — no matter how riveting and real it is to the person experiencing it — remains a subjective phenomenon, and talk about it that way.

And yet, again, this is exactly what Jesus taught. He often talked about the truth of the Scriptures by citing that it was because they were the Scriptures! This is absolutely not like saying "Apples are the best fruit because I think that's true." We don't just think the Bible is true. It IS true because it's the Word of God. People who say "It's true because the Bible says it's true" is illogical are ignorant of the natures of both truth and the Bible and are themselves guilty of being illogical.

8. Too fixated on homosexuality. Can we Christians stop already with the gay and lesbian fixation? I know many of us understand our stance on the matter to be unassailably Biblical. I know a great many of us are deeply concerned about the “homosexual agenda.” I know. We all know. Maybe Christians could just give that issue a rest for a while. It’s not like gay and lesbian people are going anywhere. They’ll all be there when we get back. Maybe — for just a week, a day, a month — we could concern ourselves with something else, and let them be.

Talk about a straw man argument! The only reason many Christians talk about homosexuality so much is because of how much the subject is being forced upon us on a daily basis. It's not because we have chosen it to "fixate" on. If lying or blasphemy or idolatry or coveting or any other sin were being pushed on us as much as homosexuality is, we'd be just as vocal about it.

As far as homosexuals "be[ing] there when we get back," that's not a guarantee. Not for individual homosexuals, as they, like everyone else, could die at any moment, and not for homosexuals as a group, since Jesus could return at any time. Putting off preaching the Gospel to sinners, be they homosexuals or liars or thieves or whatever, only prevents chances of those people being saved.

9. Too insular. When I became a Christian, one of the things that most amazed me about Christians is the degree to which they tend to hang out only with other Christians. We should stop doing that. How are we supposed to share Christ’s love with non-Christians when we barely know any non-Christians? Time to widen that social base, I say. (Plus, Christian or not, we still want to throw good, fun parties, don’t we? Well, let’s face it: The heathen class has all the good music. We might as well invite a few of them to our next party. Maybe they’ll bring their CD’s!)

Now, wait a minute. In points 5 and 6, Christians are criticized as being "too invasive." Yet in this point, we're criticized for not being invasive enough. Which is it? Most confusing.

10. Too uneducated about Christianity. Generally speaking (which of course is the most offensive way to speak about any group of people), Christians tend to embarrass themselves by knowing so little about either the Bible or the history of Christianity. Believing that the Bible is the word of God, for instance, is one thing; knowing nothing about the long process by which men decided which texts would and wouldn’t make it into the Bible is another. It’s not that all Christians should be full-on theologians or historians. But if you’re a Christian who doesn’t know the Great Schism from The Great Santini, or the Diet of Worms from … well, the diet of worms, then you’ve got some homework to do.

This is a good point. Unfortunately, Mr. Shore obviously doesn't take his own advice, as proven by his nine previous points. Indeed, this point flies completely in the face of point 3. What the purpose of educating yourself about Christianity and the Bible when you can never be confident about "what God really means by what he says in the Bible?"

It's unfortunate that Mr. Shore thinks in his arrogance that he and only he knows what's best for Christians. It's even more unfortunate that he has deleted my attempts reason with him by using some lame excuse about some important people reviewing his blog and removed by posts. I guess he was concerned about not getting more money.

Mojave Cross STOLEN

I honestly cannot say that I'm surprised.

WWI memorial cross stolen from Mojave National Preserve

Vandals toppled and removed the 8-foot-high cross at Mojave National Preserve in California less than two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled the controversial memorial could remain on federal property.

The cross, which has stood in various forms for the last 76 years as a memorial to World War I soldiers, was stolen late Sunday night or early Monday morning, according to officials from the Liberty Institute, a conservative advocacy group that deals with church-state issues. In a statement Kelly Shackelford, the group’s president, called the actions “disgusting.”

Vandals cut through a series of metal bolts to remove the cross — still covered by a wooden box — from its concrete foundation.

The cross had been covered with plywood for 10 years as the legal fight surrounding the memorial wound through the courts. Officials from the Liberty Institute argued in favor of allowing the memorial to stand, saying that censoring the cross violated veterans’ freedom of speech and religion.

Notice that supporters of the cross left the wooden box covering it alone for 10 years while the fate of the cross was decided in the courts. It only took opponents of the cross 2 weeks to decide that their will supplanted the will of the highest court in the land. It's kind of poetic. They have the same attitude about the One who made the cross such an object of their hatred. They are disobedient to God, so why would they be obedient to any other authority they disagree with?

Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Picking up where I left off

If you recall, I had been posting a series about my experiences playing the Left Behind: Eternal Forces PC game. You can find the posts here. I put playing the game on the back burner due to time constraint issues from the days before and after the birth of our third child. Those issues have passed now and I've felt the desire to get back to my analysis of the game and the claims of those who have smeared it. After an unfortunate incident with the loss of files on our old computer, that desire will become a reality now thanks to the help of the games' senior producer. Thanks again, Kevin!

Kevin also let me know (which I should have known had I paid closer attention to the recent press releases from the company) that Left Behind 3: Rise of the Antichrist should be out by Christmas! That is exciting news and it's really given me an increased drive to finish up with both Eternal Forces and Tribulation Forces.

Insult to injury: mosque to be built at Ground Zero

This goes beyond "outrage" to words that would make this an R-rated blog.

Mosque to be Built Near Ground Zero

The Cordoba House is a $100 million project that is being proposed for the former Burlington Coat Factory building at Park Place and Broadway, a location that is two blocks away from where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood. Committee Chairman Ro Sheffe shares: “I think it will be a wonderful asset to the community.”

The Cordoba Initiative was founded after the 9/11 attacks, and according to Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, one of those who helped found the initiative, the Cordoba House aims to foster better relations between Muslims and the West. The project consists of a glass and steel building that will house a 500-seat performing arts venue, a swimming pool and a basketball court. Rauf gushed that there will be “nothing like it” and that it will be open to all New Yorkers.

"Cordoba" is the name of a region in Spain where Muslims persecuted both Christians and Jews. Some of it took place exactly a millennium ago. The naming of the project and mosque is either profound irony or disgusting design.

Next up, a neo-Nazi recruitment center named the "Auschwitz Project" across from the Wailing Wall.

Supreme Court restores Mojave Cross!!!

Praise the Lord and uncover that cross!!!

High court says Mojave cross in Calif. can stay

The Supreme Court said Wednesday that a federal court went too far in ordering the removal of a congressionally endorsed war memorial cross from its longtime home in California.

In ruling the cross could stay, the justices said federal judges in California did not take sufficient notice of the government's decision to transfer the land in a remote area of California to private ownership. The move was designed to eliminate any constitutional concern about a religious symbol on public land.

The ruling was 5-4, with the court's conservatives in the majority.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars erected the cross more than 75 years ago atop an outcropping in the Mojave National Preserve.

It has been covered with plywood for the past several years following the court rulings. Court papers describe the cross as 5 feet to 8 feet tall.

"Here one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion. It evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles, battles whose tragedies are compounded if the fallen are forgotten," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote.

Lying lesbian smears hospital; gets Obama on board, too

Remember this story?

Obama orders hospital visitation rights for gays, lesbians

It came on the heels of the story about a lesbian being denied visitation to her dying partner. Well, guess what? The truth has finally come to light and it paints quite a different picture:

Hospital Visit Horrors? Here’s the Rest of the Story

We would also like to take this opportunity to provide you with some clarification on the allegations being made by Janice Langbehn, whose partner was treated at Jackson’s Ryder Trauma Center in 2007. From the beginning, JHS has vehemently denied that Ms. Langbehn was denied visitation due to her sexual orientation. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed Ms. Langbehn’s lawsuit against Jackson Memorial Hospital in September 2009.

Ms. Langbehn’s allegations and those made by published articles, blogs, etc., are inaccurate and have damaged the reputations and deeply hurt the feelings of the personnel in our trauma center. They have devoted their careers to all who come through our doors, from all walks of life.

JHS grants hospital visitation to all individuals equally, regardless of their relationship to the patient, as long as doing so does not interfere with the care being given to the patient or other patients in the area. With that said, our first priority when a patient is brought to our trauma center is always to stabilize the patient and save their life. As the only adult and pediatric Level 1 trauma center in Miami-Dade County to support a population of more than 2.3 million people, our facility is one of the busiest – and most renowned – in the nation.

The Trauma Resuscitation Unit in Ryder Trauma Center, where Lisa Pond was treated when airlifted to Jackson, is more like a large operating room with multiple beds separated by glass partitions rather than a traditional hospital floor. Sometimes, visitors are not able to see a loved one in the trauma bay as quickly as they would like or they may have to wait until the patient is moved to the ICU or to another area of the hospital that is better suited for visitation. This all depends on the circumstances of the situation, how busy the unit is at the time and the medical conditions of the patients in the unit at the time. The patients in this area are facing life-threatening injuries or illnesses and are extremely vulnerable.

The situation involved the tightly-controlled emergency/trauma area of the hospital and the lesbian partner was not treated any differently from anyone else in the same situation. Had it been a situation involving visitation during a non-emergency situation, the lesbian partner would've been welcomed. Can't say I'm surprised at the dishonesty.

Wicca isn't a religion of peace

Cops: Wiccan listed victim as 'sacrifice' in phone

A self-described Wiccan had a man's phone number programmed in her cell phone under the word "sacrifice" before she stabbed him to death, then claimed he had tried to rape her, authorities said Thursday.

Angela Sanford, 30, is accused of killing 52-year-old Joel Leyba last month with a dagger after inviting him to join her in a Wiccan celebration of spring near a popular hiking trail east of Albuquerque.

She told police she stabbed Leyba three times in the stomach after he tied her up and tried to assault her.

But police say Leyba was stabbed 11 to 13 times, and a detective reviewing Sanford's cell phone found the nickname "sacrifice" instead of Leyba's name.

UPDATE: Some history about modern practice of paganism from Wikipedia:

In the 1920s and 30s, the Egyptologist Dr Margaret Murray published several books detailing her theories that those persecuted as witches during the Early Modern period in Europe were not, as the persecutors had claimed, followers of Satanism, but adherents of a surviving pre-Christian pagan religion - the Witch-Cult. Despite now being discredited by further historical research, her theories were widely accepted and supported at the time.

It was during the 1930s that the first evidence appears for the practice of a pagan Witchcraft religion[79] (what would be recognisable now as Wicca) in England. It seems that several groups around the country, in such places as Norfolk,[80] Cheshire[81] and the New Forest had set themselves up as continuing in the tradition of Murray's Witch-Cult, albeit with influences coming from disparate sources such as ceremonial magic, folk magic, Freemasonry, Theosophy, Romanticism, Druidry, classical mythology and Asian religions.

The Witchcraft religion became more prominent in the 1950s with the repeal of the Witchcraft Act of 1735, after which several figures, such as Charles Cardell, Cecil Williamson and most notably Gerald Gardner, began propagating their own versions of the Craft. Gardner had been initiated into the New Forest coven in 1939, before forming his own tradition, later termed Gardnerianism, which he spread through the formation of groups like the Bricket Wood coven. His tradition, aided by the help of his High Priestess Doreen Valiente and the publication of his books Witchcraft Today (1954) and The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959), soon became the dominant form in the country, and spread to other parts of the British Isles.

Following Gardner's death in 1964, the Craft continued to grow unabated despite sensationalism and negative portrayals in British tabloids, with new traditions being propagated by figures like Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek and most importantly Alex Sanders, whose Alexandrian Wicca, which was predominantly based upon Gardnerian Wicca, albeit with an emphasis placed on ceremonial magic, spread quickly and gained much media attention. Around this time, the term "Wicca" began to be commonly adopted over "Witchcraft" and the faith was exported to countries like Australia and the United States.

It was in the United States and in Australia that new, home-grown traditions, sometimes based upon earlier, regional folk-magical traditions and often mixed with the basic structure of Gardnerian Wicca, began to develop, including Victor Anderson's Feri, Joseph Wilson's 1734 tradition, Aidan Kelly's New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn and eventually Zsuzsanna Budapest's Dianic Wicca, each of which emphasised different aspects of the faith.[82] It was also around this time that books teaching people how to become Witches themselves without formal initiation or training began to emerge, among them Paul Huson's Mastering Witchcraft (1970) and Lady Sheba's Book of Shadows (1971). Similar books continued to be published throughout the 1980s and 1990s, fuelled by the writing of such authors as Doreen Valiente, Janet Farrar, Stewart Farrar and Scott Cunningham, who popularised the idea of self-initiation into the Craft.

In the 1990s, amid ever-rising numbers of self-initiates, the popular media began to explore "witchcraft" in fictional films like The Craft and television series like Charmed, introducing numbers of young people to the idea of religious witchcraft. This growing demographic was soon catered to through the Internet and by authors like Silver Ravenwolf, much to the criticism of traditional Wiccan groups and individuals. In response to the way that Wicca was increasingly portrayed as trendy, eclectic, and influenced by the New Age movement, many Witches turned to the pre-Gardnerian origins of the Craft, and to the traditions of his rivals like Cardell and Cochrane, describing themselves as following "Traditional Witchcraft". Prominent groups within this Traditional Witchcraft revival included Andrew Chumbley's Cultus Sabbati and the Cornish Ros an Bucca coven.

Jesus, John and Pat

A couple thousand years ago, there was a disaster in the ancient city of Siloam in Israel. A tower fell and 18 people were killed. Did they deserve it? Would it be wrong of someone to have said they deserved it? Check out Jesus' words in Luke 13:

"Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Was this statement devoid of love or compassion for the people who died in the disaster or for those who survived it?

Fast-forward 1700 years to John Wesley:

“The Cause And Cure Of Earthquakes”: A Sermon By John Wesley First Published In 1730

Was Wesley's sermon devoid of love or compassion?

And now here we are in 2010 with Pat Robertson making a statement - which is, of course, being ripped completely out of context by liberals and by people on the right who've been duped by the liberals' portrayals of Robertson. You can watch the statement in context in the first 8 minutes or so of the 700 Club here:

The 700 Club: January 13, 2010

Yes, Robertson is saying the Haitians deserved this disaster, and rightly so! He'd be right in saying that about any other country suffering such a disaster. We're ALL guilty of grievous sins against God and we're ALL deserving of death however it comes. However, what Robertson is NOT saying is that the Haitians don't deserve compassion, love and aid. In fact, his "Operation Blessing" organization is sending aid to Haiti. That hardly sounds like someone who is gleeful about the disaster as so many are trying to portray his statements.

Comments

I've removed Haloscan and restored Blogger's comment function. Link to the comment pop-up is below each individual post (i.e. to comment, open each post using the time-stamp link, then look for the comment link).

News

Well, the last couple months were interesting, unfortunately. My family - everyone except my wife - caught H1N1 the first part of October. Thankfully, our children fared well, particularly the baby. At the time we didn't know it was H1N1. They tested us for influenza, but they didn't tell us that the test detects H1N1 and the seasonal flu as the same. There is a $400 test specifically for H1N1, which they didn't do because they knew H1N1 was the only flu in the area. Of course, no one told us this, so we thought we all had the seasonal flu. It was only later that we learned it was H1N1.

We were all put on Tamiflu and my kids got over the symptoms within a week. I, unfortunately, had the added hindrance of having asthma, so I was coughing for much longer and having blood coming from my lungs. They tested my sputum and found atypical cells. These can be caused by a variety of reasons: from irritation/inflammation to cancer. I had both a CT scan and a bronchoscopy done. They found a small nodule deep in my left lung which they will at least keep an eye on for the next couple years. If it shows any growth, they will remove it. Nothing else was found and I've gotten over my coughing problem, so I think it was all just from a combination of the H1N1 and my asthma.

I've been considering shifting the focus for this blog. I'm sick of politics, but I am still very interested in how society and Christianity interact, particularly when injustices are perpetrated against Christians. For example:

I'm heavily leaning towards concentrating on stories like those.

Meanwhile, Haloscan is changing to a pay service for comment hosting and, while inexpensive, I really don't have the desire to pay money for something that Blogger provides for free. My initial reason for switching to Haloscan was due to Blogger's poor design for comments. Since then, however, Blogger has made a number of improvements. Hopefully I can get the settings and template reverted correctly to make Blogger-based comments show up, however I don't think I can retroactively add them to previous posts without completely redoing every post.

That's all the recent news I have. Sorry about all the silence. I hope to get back to posting more regularly soon. Take care and God bless!

Double-standard in action

So, let's see...

..."gender-neutral" Bible...silence...

..."green" Bible...silence...

..."gay and lesbian" Bible...silence...

..."conservative" Bible..."WHAT???? THAT'S AWFUL!!! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!! WHAT KIND OF CRAZY RIGHT-WING NUTS ARE YOU???"

Okay, then.


\

Call me a racist. Go ahead. I dare you.

I do not support President Obama's agendas. I think he is the worst president we've had since Carter. I think he is destroying America with his foolish and reckless policies. Am I racist? According to many on the left, I am, especially since I don't see racism in many of the criticisms against Obama. Just look at this ridiculous screed from Keith Olbermann:

Are there racists among those who oppose Obama? More than likely. Are they the majority or the loudest voices? Absolutely not!

But notice Olbermann's argument against Rush Limbaugh. He says Limbaugh saying a recent bus fight was motivated by racism is racist because the police have said they didn't think the fight was motivated by racism. Okay, so then are Olbermann, his guests, and others on the left who are pushing this meme racists now that President Obama has come out several times stating that he doesn't think the criticisms against him are motivated by racism? And why haven't they stopped spreading this nonsense? Don't they care what their Dear Leader has said on the issue? Do they think he's lying? (Now THAT would be a refreshing change!)

I'd also like to point out that Olbermann mentions the alleged shout of "Kill him!" at a Sarah Palin rally. That story was completely dismissed by none other than the Secret Service itself. Why am I not surprised that Olbermann either doesn't know that or doesn't care to admit it?

The majority of the rest of Olbermann's examples of racism are either out of context or just plain wrong. Ironic, considering his comments about context. What is also ironic is his pointing out types of signs and images that people on the left used in regards to George W. Bush (and still do to some extent). The left also portrayed Bush as a monkey, as the devil, and - many, many, many, many times - as Hitler. Do it to Obama, though, and suddenly it's racist? Go figure.

So go ahead and call me racist. It will only prove that you have no actual, legitimate, rational, intelligent arguments to make.

Minnesota DFL's underhanded fund-raising at State Fair

I just found out about this. The DFL is selling mini-donuts at the Minnesota State Fair to raise funds, but they are deliberately hiding the fact that they are running the booth. Here's a copy of the letter they sent out to workers:

(Click to enlarge.)

What a bunch of weasels! I doubt contacting the DFL will do any good, so instead, contact the people at the State Fair in charge of concessions/exhibits at (651) 288-4456. One thing I'm wondering, too, is if it is legal to raise political funds without letting people know to whom they are going.