Monthly Archives: September 2014
Roundup
For starters, a little Ohio State vs. Michigan battle (of course OSU dominates):
Forget Cat Photos: This Prof Is Making Calculus Go Viral — I love the concept of online classes like this and how it could revolutionize education. A great example from Ohio State:
Two years ago, when the online-education craze got started, big-name professors began cranking out videos about hot topics such as cryptography or startup engineering. Left in the dust was the old-fashioned mathematics class that no one wanted to teach online: calculus.
Then Jim Fowler entered the picture. The 33-year-old assistant math professor at Ohio State has always been on a one-man crusade to make secants sexy and integrals irresistible. After videoing a batch of calculus lectures over December 2012, Fowler won a go-ahead one month later to roll out his course via Coursera, a leading provider of massive open online classes, or MOOCs.
Against the odds, Fowler’s geeky, high-energy style has become a global crowd-pleaser. The man in the untucked plaid shirt doesn’t just write equations on a chalkboard, he also greets online students with a deep-voiced imitation of a Lord of the Rings character, declaring: “One does not simply walk into calculus!” Soon afterward glowing images of curves and solids appear. Thanks to nifty video editing, these creations devour his desk and jump in front of his face. To help students sense the “wow” factor of some techniques, he slips in a kicky musical soundtrack as lecture ideas reach their culmination.
You WILL Have Sex When Requested — Now to Michigan, where the Wolverines have taken bedroom management to new heights of ridiculousness. Yet these same people will go into full freak-out mode if you suggest that maybe — just maybe! — it would help the situation if women didn’t get falling-down-drunk at frat parties and bars.
I wonder how many husbands will call the U of M to tell them how violent and abusive their wives have been . . .
The University of Michigan has released a list of relationship behaviors that it considers violent and abusive — including “withholding sex.”
“Discounting the partner’s feelings regarding sex,” “criticizing the partner sexually,” and “having sex with other people” are also examples of “sexual violence,” according to the list.
The school also offers definitions of domestic abuse. Under the section for “verbal or psychological abuse,” it states that not only is “insulting the partner” considered “abuse,” so is “ignoring the partner’s feelings.”
Stay-at-home mothers ‘have the most worthwhile lives’ — Good for them!
How to Switch to Paying Cash for Your Car – The Simple Dollar — Learn to beat the cycle! You’ll be so happy you did. Some discipline for a few years leads to zero car payments forever.
Darwinists thought whale hips were accidents of evolution, then science happened — This would be a yawner because it happens so often, except that the Darwinists still control schools and more.
Another win for reason in the long war between science and naturalistic philosophy.
Uber Rich Man With Yachts and Planes Lectures World About Global Warming — The sickening hypocrisy of “climate change” leaders and the sad way their followers don’t catch on.
Venezuelan President Announces 47 Million for Civilian Disarmament Centers — And Leftists in this country actually think that’s a good idea. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s what happens to gun owners and freedom when a lawless, leftwing, socialist president who doesn’t like America, who uses the power of his office to intimidate his political opponents, and who will do nearly anything to preserve his power gets elected. On Sunday, Nicholas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, announced that he will spend $47 million for 60 civilian disarmament centers, where people can turn in their privately owned guns. Venezuela banned the commercial sale of guns in 2012, and Maduro–continuing the fundamental transformation of the country begun by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez–now says “We are building peace from within, and for that, you need disarmament.”
Obama’s NLRB now ordering reinstatement of employees who drop F-bombs on bosses — Yeah, unions are great.
Behind the Increase in HIV Infections Among Gay and Bisexual Men – Washington Wire – WSJ — If you really love people you’ll warn them that the gay lifestyle is a coin flip away from getting HIV.
Gay and bisexual men represent an estimated 2% of the U.S. population but more than half of all people living with HIV and 66% of new HIV infections. They are the only population group in the United States for which HIV infections are rising. Projections have shown that if current trends continue, half of all gay and bisexual men will be HIV-positive by age 50.
The Liberal Entitlement Mentality – Summed Up In Christina – Chicks on the Right — This is what a welfare state leads to.
Christina is a chick who lives in the UK, and like many people in the UK who sponge off taxpayers, she feels she’s entitled to everything she has provided by all those working suckers – and that entitlement currently stands at around 40K US bucks a year – give or take. She’s 26 years old, has two kids from two different fathers, she’s obese, and now she wants taxpayers to help her become NOT obese. Because that’s ALSO their responsibility. You know.
She feels her only hope is for the government to give her more money so she can afford to buy fruit and vegetables and join a gym.
She also believes she should be paid to lose weight as that would give her the motivation to fight the flab.
She said: ‘I need more benefits to eat healthily and exercise. It would be good if the government offered a cash incentive for me to lose weight. I’d like to get £1 for every pound I lose, or healthy food vouchers.
‘If the price of healthy food was lowered that would help, too. I need help, but I need it from the government.’
She added that she can’t get a job to gain more money because she’s needed at home to care for her children, especially as her daughter has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and issues with her kidneys.
She explained: ‘There’s no way I could get a job. I don’t feel bad about the taxpayer funding my life and my child’s medical problems, because I don’t treat myself or buy anything excessive. I just get enough money to live on – the taxpayers should help fund my diet.’
Armed company owner prevents former employee from beheading second woman — Guns save lives.
The media isn’t going to make much of this, but it does show the principal reason WHY law-abiding people should be allowed to own firearms. (H/T Czar B.)
Excerpt:
On September 26, an armed company owner intervened in an attack by shooting a former employee who had already beheaded one worker and was stabbing another.
The attack took place at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Oklahoma.
Fox News reports that the alleged attacker, 30-year-old Alton Nolen, drove his car into another car in the parking lot of Vaughan Foods’ parking lot, then entered the business and beheaded 54-year-old Collee Hufford. He was allegedly stabbing a second victim, 43-year-old Traci Johnson, when company owner Mark Vaughan drew the gun he was carrying and shot Nolen.
Vaughan is C.O.O. of the food company and “a reserve county deputy.”
Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis praised Vaughan’s actions, calling him a “hero.” He said the situation “could have gotten a lot worse” if had not had his gun.
The Associated Press reports that Lewis added: “This was not going to stop if [Vaughan] didn’t stop it.”
Nolen was recently fired from Vaughan Foods. The FBI is “probing whether Nolen’s recent conversion to Islam had anything to do with the attack.”
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Roundup
A handy feature of iOS 8 is that when you use voice recognition it shows the words as you speak them instead of waiting until you click “Done.”
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Lay Aside the Weight of Irritability | Desiring God — Love is not irritable (1 Cor. 13) but I can be. Great article on what to do about irritability.
Signs of Spiritual Awakening in Japan — This is encouraging. I go there annually on business and it is extremely secular.
What are the historical arguments for the empty tomb story? — We have plenty of facts and logic to point to for our foundational belief that Jesus rose from the dead.
Stephen C. Meyer And Marcus lecture on the Cambrian explosion — Facts and logic you won’t get in public schools.
Demands grow to end secrecy – and robbery – at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac — One more reason you don’t want or need Big Government.
This week a new coalition of public policy groups has pressed a key congressional committee to open up the books on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and put an end to secretive policies which they claim are essentially robbing private investors. And the way the two lending giants are currently being managed will likely come as a shock to those who haven’t been paying attention.
. . . The thumbnail version of this rather complicated story is fairly basic. After the financial collapse of 2007 – 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were essentially collapsing under the weight of all those bad mortgages. They wound up being bailed out, but needed investments from the private sector to move forward. The investors were assured that once the two entities became profitable again they would see a return on investment in the form of part of the profits. Well, the two GSEs turned the corner in 2012, but the ROI for the investors isn’t happening. The original deal would have seen 10% of the profits going to Treasury with some portion of the rest being available to pay back investors. But the amendment to the conservatorship referenced above results in all of the profits being swept up by the government. This means that are no effective profits left on the table, so nothing goes to the investors who helped bail them out.
With ISIS arrests, Australians wishing they had guns — They have had a lot of negative consequences since the gun-grabbers won out. ISIS can and probably will try the same in the U.S., but their consequences will be higher. Yea for the 2nd Amendment!
LGBT movement working to mandate “gay history” in schools across America — And of course, no criticisms of LGBTQX people or behaviors are allowed. They won’t be hearing about Gays have 40+ times higher rates of Syphilis and HIV, partly because 62% of men who know they are HIV-positive have unprotected sex with men. Meditate on that for a moment.
Whistleblower cop in Scott Walker accusations paying a heavy price — This is sad. These Union Leftists hate Scott Walker so much that they will make all sorts of ethical violations and try to destroy a good man who exposed their evils.
A longtime Chisholm subordinate reveals for the first time in this article that the district attorney may have had personal motivations for his investigation. Chisholm told him and others that Chisholm’s wife, Colleen, a teacher’s union shop steward at St. Francis high school, a public school near Milwaukee, had been repeatedly moved to tears by Walker’s anti-union policies in 2011, according to the former staff prosecutor in Chisholm’s office. Chisholm said in the presence of the former prosecutor that his wife “frequently cried when discussing the topic of the union disbanding and the effect it would have on the people involved … She took it personally.”
The Bullies of Banned Books Week — Don’t believe the hype. This is faux outrage designed to allow more filth in schools.
During the week of September 21 to 27 this year, the ALA (joined by obscene profiteers) will moan about the “freedom to read” while many libraries systematically purge collections of Christian and conservative material, deluding themselves that this is admirable and in no way hypocritical.
In reality, there’s no “banning” happening, in the sense of government removal of material from circulation. What does happen is that certain library or school material at the local level is sometimes openly questioned by parents. This infuriates liberals, who demand the right to quietly make decisions behind the scenes. They choose books/videos that predictably advocate abortion, any-faith-but-Christianity, homosexuality, anti-Americanism, evolution, neo-paganism, atheism, Marxism, and they reject others.
In other words, they practice censorship. But when a wise leftist does it in the privacy of her office, it’s called “choice.”
Savvy parents will question the underlying premise that there’s a huge problem in America with “book banning.” This non-problem is phony, phony, phony. “Parents, leave us alone!” is the real dilemma for librarians or curriculum committees in schools, who want to prescribe for other people’s children a “freedom to read” any kind of jaw-dropping bilge that exists.
Research Shows Zero-Calorie Sweeteners Can Raise Blood Sugar – WSJ
300 Articles You Have to Read to Understand What Is Meant by the Term “Homofascism” — Three. Hundred. That’s a lot. Keep that link.
Politics of man who sought to firebomb black congressman’s office won’t surprise you — He’s a Leftist, so nothing to see here, folks! If he was a Conservative we’d be hearing about this 24×7 for years.
The Huffington Post, for example, crated a “Tea Party Violence” tag to link all the posts they expected would be categorized as such in 2011. They came up with a grand total of three posts, only one of which contained any accounts of violence – and it was an unrelated scuffle between two participants in the same tea party rally in Florida.
Compare this, as many have done, with the epidemic of violence which followed the outbreak of the Occupy Wall Street movement; nearly 7,000 arrested across the country; tens of millions of dollars in property damage, rampant sexual violence, theft and indecent exposure – all of which became a virtual way of life for the thousands who participated in those protests.
Where’s the “Occupy Violence” tag, Huffington Post? Only the Oakland branch of the protests merited such a tag, a group which organized the seizure of an entire shipyard. But so, too, did the police who responded to that anarchism.
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People who think that Communism will work if we just try it again remind me of Homer and his barbecue’d pig.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/19878
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This is great!
Economist Dog
Note: The message here is more important than the title indicates. I’ll eventually share how Leftists literally fail at basic economic concepts and how that has enormous implications for every aspect of society.
I am not making this up: My dog once submitted a college test in Economics and passed.
OK, there is a little more to the story.
When my youngest daughter home-schooled her last two high school years, the dogs would hang out with her all day. Once, when she was in the middle of an online Economics test, one jumped on the bed, landed on the keyboard, and submitted the partially completed test. And he passed! Fortunately, the folks at the school were good sports about the high-tech version of “the dog really ate my homework” story and re-opened the system so the that real student could complete the test (she got her usual 99% or so).
But I offer that as a segue to remind people of an extremely important fact about basic economic principles, namely that those on the Left literally fail at them. They aren’t just a little worse than Conservatives; they fail horribly, and it drives their ideology. The details are here, but note the results of a simple eight question economics test given to those across the political spectrum (and especially note how my dog fared):
| Letter grade | ||
| Very Conservative | 84% | B |
| Libertarian | 83% | B |
| Conservative | 79% | C+ |
| My dog | 72% | C |
| Moderate | 54% | F |
| Liberal | 41% | F |
| Progressive/very Liberal | 34% | F |
Got that? Progressives / very Liberal people only get a third of the questions right. They could double their scores and still only get a D. But the more conservative people are, the better they do, with very Conservative people achieving a solid B.
Here’s an example of one of the questions:
Consider one of the economic propositions in the December 2008 poll: “Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.” People were asked if they: 1) strongly agree; 2) somewhat agree; 3) somewhat disagree; 4) strongly disagree; 5) are not sure.
Basic economics acknowledges that whatever redeeming features a restriction may have, it increases the cost of production and exchange, making goods and services less affordable. There may be exceptions to the general case, but they would be atypical.
In this case, percentage of conservatives answering incorrectly was 22.3%, very conservatives 17.6% and libertarians 15.7%. But the percentage of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly was 67.6% and liberals 60.1%. The pattern was not an anomaly.
To recap that example, 2/3 of Leftists don’t know that restrictions — regardless of their merit — always increase costs. How can they possibly make wise economic decisions?
Do not let the handsome canine below cause you to miss the key takeaways:
- Understanding these basic economic concepts is crucial to leading properly. Therefore, Leftists should not be in charge of government. Or economics. Or much of anything else. If you can’t get the basic building blocks of society right then all you will do is create more problems.
- As the good folks at Freakonomics will tell you, Economics isn’t just about seemingly arcane financial metrics. It is about behavior and incentives. If you don’t understand how the basics of human nature work, then your worldview is doomed to poor decision making. Worse yet, these Leftist politicians never experience the consequences of their bad decisions.
- The Law of Unintended Consequences will bite you far worse than my dog ever would (Italian Greyhounds are amazingly friendly). Still, the truth is that most consequences of Leftist policies are easy to anticipate. The “War on Poverty” is a perfect example. It wasn’t just a colossal flop; it was a completely predictable colossal flop. It has deeply harmed tens of millions of people. We need to undo it as quickly as possible. Leftists don’t realize or ignore that you get more of whatever you subsidize. They subsidized single motherhood and got lots more of it, with the inescapable crime and poverty that comes with it.
- This issue carries over to religion as well. It is no surprise that Leftist Christian groups do much more harm than good. False teachers don’t understand economics any better than they do the Bible.
- All schools should host Junior Achievement classes. These are proven to increase graduation rates, and they teach critical life skills about budgeting, economics, and more. I taught them for 12 years and was continually impressed with their program. You don’t need a Ph.D. in Economics to understand the most important concepts. Give me 30 minutes with a bunch of 7th graders, and I will have them more fluent in basic economic principles like supply and demand than Congressional Democrats are. And that isn’t an exaggeration.
The way people understand basic economic principles has an enormous influence on how well they will govern. You should vote accordingly. And if you love God and neighbor, you won’t ignore how He wired the world.
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Economist Dog (TM), the hero of this story, could not be reached for comment. He was on a conference call discussing how the demand for dog food is completely inelastic. Also, he died in 2013. We miss this special little guy! He and his mate (pictured below) brought us countless blessings and good times and we thank God for that.
He also understood intellectual property rights and helped us earn a few $$ when the picture below was used on a t-shirt sold by a large retailer. But mostly he just chased squirrels and then sat on my lap and slept. Backup Dog (TM) was equally loved but not quite as active. Trivia fact: Kylie Jenner (no, I don’t follow her) apparently found this picture and used it on her Instagram account when she got an Italian Greyhound. So these sweet dogs helped increase interest in the breed.
She was as cerebral as she looks here.
Roundup
GAO Report Confirms Obama Lied: 1,036 ObamaCare Plans Pay for Abortions — Wait . . . what?!? . . . are you telling me that someone who advocates the slaughter of unwanted human beings is capable of lying? Explain . . .
We’re Winning the War on Global Hunger — Now for some great news.
If You Struggle Over an Issue… You Must Be Right! — Great post by Pastor Timothy about Rachel Held Evans’ “shocking” shift to pro-gay theology. Why would anyone take Evans seriously on anything biblical — let alone the most divisive issue of our time — especially when she just “happened” to end up “reluctantly” agreeing with the world on the topic? She embarrassed herself with her “A Year of Biblical Womanhood” gimmick, where she did triple fails on simple verses like Proverbs 21:9. The verse is a simple bit of wisdom about choosing a spouse wisely yet she turned it into a bizarre ritualistic punishment. She accomplished her apparent goal of telling the unsaved that the Bible isn’t something they should take seriously, yet she still markets herself as an evangelical. More here.
I’m doing some research around the web and came across Rachel Held’s Evans post on God and the Gay Christian. In there she tells us that she has another post that is in the works about why she changed her mind on God and the gay Christian. Gee, can’t wait.
Her testimony and preface for this upcoming post is simply that she has struggled over the issue, she has had many sleepless nights. She has really wrestles with it… therefore, her conclusions must be sound. . .
Dear Children — Be sure to check out the new blog by the blogger formerly known as the Bumbling Genius. Great start!
Darwin’s followers now spin the function of “vestigial” hipbones in whales, dolphins — Darwinian evolution, wrong again. Yawn.
Middle School Bans Teen’s “Virginity Rocks” T-Shirt — You’d think they be too busy handing out condoms and taking kids to have abortions without their parents’ consent, but they found time to silence a positive message.
Mmmmmm, that’s good bias.
Wife-Beating Video of Ray Rice OK but Not Pictures of Aborted Babies
If wife beating violence is morally wrong, it’s hard for to imagine why a woman killing her unborn baby is not the worst kind of domestic violence.
Chris Christie and New Jersey’s War on Women and the Second Amendment — No consequences for Ray Rice but jail for carrying a licensed weapon?! Ridiculous. I hope they take this to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, McClain is working to put 27-year-old mother of two Shaneen Allen — herself a first-time offender — into jail for at least three years, maybe even a decade.
Allen didn’t punch anyone out in an elevator. She simply didn’t know that her Pennsylvania concealed-carry permit was not valid in New Jersey.
In October 2013, Allen was pulled over for a minor traffic offense. She dutifully informed the officer of her gun and presented her concealed-carry permit. She was arrested.
Allen had a gun because she had been robbed twice in 2013 and feared for her children. Following her arrest, and McClain’s insistence that she face the maximum possible penalty for her oversight, Allen reportedly lost her job.
Politics: Uh oh: Middle East allies Obama expects to fight ISIS on ground don’t trust him — This is predictable yet still stunning to see how far we’ve fallen.
Which means they’re paying attention.
Many of us focused Wednesday on President Obama’s insistence that the United States will provide air power only in the fight against ISIS, and will expect other nations to do the fighting on the ground. We talked a lot about how foolish it is to concede such an important strategic option to the enemy before the fighting even starts, and worse yet, to publicly tell the enemy you’re doing so.
We also talked about the fact that Obama obviously made this concession in an attempt to sell his plan to voters, which means he is putting domestic politics ahead of victory. Hardly a surprise coming from this president, but it’s jarring nonetheless to realize it.
What not many asked, however, is what makes Obama think these other nations will do what he says he wants them to do? We’ve all seen what ISIS does to the people they capture (and they did it again on Saturday to British hostage David Haines). We all know what can happen to anyone who is called to engage in combat.
Why would Middle Eastern allies of the United States just go along with a plan that sees U.S. forces dropping bombs from the air, while their guys have to fight on the ground? Did Obama actually secure the agreement of these nations to do so before he went on TV and told us this is what is going to happen?
I ask this because the Washington Post reported earlier in the week that Middle Eastern nations have noticed the same thing about Obama that many of us here at home have noticed. As Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai puts it: “We have reached a low point of trust in this administration. We think in a time of crisis Mr. Obama will walk away from everyone if it means saving his own skin.”
Mark Sanford breaks up with fiance, blames ex-wife — People who break up marriages to hook up with adulterers always seemed shocked — shocked, I say! — that their SOUL MATES could do such a terrible thing to them. So predictable. It never occurs to them that “soul mate” = “someone who seems at least a little better than the person I made a life-long commitment to.”
Roundup
Refuting pluralism in a single Tweet: Denying Jesus’ deity is a heresy in Christianity. Affirming it is a blasphemy in Islam. #notthesame
You can also tighten it up: Denying Jesus’ deity=Christian heresy affirming it=Islamic blasphemy. So clear you can do it twice in a single Tweet!
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Hordes of Illegal Aliens Are Sinking Boston Suburb
When the Obama Regime refused to say where it has been hiding the thousands of largely underage illegal aliens it has been allowing into the country, the curious set about trying to find them. A massive outbreak of respiratory illness among children in 10 states provided one clue. Other clues lead us to Massachusetts:
More than 30 Lynn [Massachusetts] Community Health Center employees and 800 patients are being tested to determine if they were exposed to tuberculosis after center doctors confirmed a case.
Center Director Lori Berry says after confirming the single positive test for tuberculosis in a male health care worker around Labor Day, center medical workers contacted and tested employees as well as patients ‘‘having sufficient exposure to warrant testing.’’
Tuberculosis, which is potentially lethal, had been essentially eradicated from the USA. But that was prior to Hope & Change.
Why would TB suddenly reemerge in a suburb of Boston? Here’s why:
“We have been aware of the unaccompanied children issue for quite a while, and we were able to absorb a lot of these children early on,” said Lynn Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy. “But now it’s gotten to the point where the school system is overwhelmed, our health department is overwhelmed, the city’s budget is being sustainably altered in order of accommodate all of these admissions in the school department.”
Busted: Senior Aide To Eric Holder Mistakenly Reveals Plot To Influence IRS Investigation — And yet the Left will still insist there is nothing to see here.
A senior aide to Attorney General Eric Holder made a huge mistake: he called a senior-level Congressman to discuss how particular documents related to the IRS scandal could be released in order to get out in front of the story before Republicans had a chance to share the information themselves.
That wasn’t the mistake. The mistake was that he called the office of House Oversight Committee Chairman, Darrell Issa (R-CA), who is overseeing the investigation.
93% of Democratic Senate or Governor Candidates Are White — And 79% are male. Start the racist war-on-women memes . . . oops, sorry, wrong party.
Marxist Feminism’s Ruined Lives — Please read this insider’s account of the feminist movement. It is evil at its core.
Doctors Tell Mom to Abort “Brain Dead” Baby, Mom Sues After Delivering Healthy Child — The pro-aborts are like Dr. Nick Riviera from The Simpsons — “Just to be on the safe side, we better pull the plug.” Why the rush?
A citizen packing heat stopped a robber dead in his tracks outside of Kroger — Great timing for the gun-grabbers attacking Kroger.
Planned Parenthood puts revenue above women’s health — Good politics on the part of the GOP. Planned Parenthood cares about Planned Parenthood, not women.
Several notable GOP politicians have proposed having the FDA make birth control pills available over the counter (OTC). While there are downsides to this proposal, it has a couple of significant plusses.* First, it is logical. Many drugs available OTC now used to be only available via prescription, for instance, Advil, Pepcid, Claritin, Prilosec. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supported making birth control pills OTC in late 2012, attesting to their safety. Second, it is good politics.
Three podcasts on human origins and a literal Adam and Eve — An important theological issue.
Deadly force’ lab finds racial disparities in shootings — But they weren’t the disparities you might have expected, which is why the mainstream media won’t touch this.
Participants in an innovative Washington State University study of deadly force were more likely to feel threatened in scenarios involving black people. But when it came time to shoot, participants were biased in favor of black suspects, taking longer to pull the trigger against them than against armed white or Hispanic suspects.
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Retweeted DavidSchrock (@DavidSchrock) (via Ken on Facebook)
In Eden: Able not to sin. Good.
In Adam: Not able to not sin. Bad.
In Christ: Able to not sin. Better.
In Zion: Not able to sin. Glorious!
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Asleep No More: The Bible Says Not to Judge, Right?
Roundup
Why Learning to Play an Instrument is Good for Your Brain
Doctor Kills Depressed Woman in Euthanasia, Doesn’t Tell Family Until Next Day — Perhaps one of the euthanasia-supporting Leftists who lamented Robin Williams’ suicide can explain the difference in the two cases.
Ray Rice, Abortion, and Being Led About by the Viscera — Great points about the value of images to show what really happens in abortion. The “new” video of Ray Rice just shows what he admitted already happened. The NFL is lying about it being new and they are lying about it making a difference in what they should have done originally. Pro-lifers should not apologize for showing images like this and this when making our case. It plays into the hands of the pro-abortion lobby when we don’t.
Rotherham and the failure of multiculturalism — Sadly, the systematic rape of teen and pre-teen girls is even broader than the city of Rotherham. Political correctness is cowardly and has perverse and deadly, and multiculturalism, as practiced, is the same.
Speed kills racial profiling study — So the “blacks are pulled over three times as often as whites” bit is a lie. But they are actually killed at a 3x rate in the womb, but the Left is fine with that.
As is usually the case with bogus race studies, the pivotal 1993 survey compared speed stops on the New Jersey turnpike to the population of all drivers on the turnpike – not with the population of all speeders on the turnpike.
Such meaningless studies are popular on the left, where it is assumed that people of different races, genders, and ethnicities will always behave identically in all respects.
If fewer women pass the physical test to become firefighters, that can only be because of sexism. If fewer blacks pass the written test — that’s racism. If fewer whites play professional basketball — no, forget that one. Sports are important. (Unlike arson or vehicular homicide.)
Project aiming to push ‘LGBTQ2S’ picture books into pre-K classes meets funding goal — Not surprising, but still perverse and sad. I predicted this many years ago and remember people being dismissive that they would target little kids. Sometimes I hate being right. And the Gaystapo bullies will never relent. People have been foolish for far too long in thinking that appeasement will work. Creepy perverts. Something about millstones comes to mind.
The books will “celebrate a great and wide variety of LGBTQ2S kids, families, and communities,” according to the description of the project. The books will also “celebrate gender-independent kids and adults.”
Brutal Kroger parking lot attack caught on camera — Uh oh, bad timing for the gun-grabbers attacking Kroger for letting people exercise their Constitutional rights in public!
Kerry Says It Is Our Biblical ‘Duty’ To Protect Muslim Countries Against Climate Change — So foolish on so many levels. Why isn’t the ACLU screaming about such an obvious “separation” issue? Why is he forcing his [alleged] religious views on others?
New York Gun Shop Commanded to Turn Over Customer Records — Registration will lead to confiscation. You should oppose it.
A Tale of Two Mars Hills — A good analysis of why Paul said to watch your doctrine and your life. Rob Bell’s doctrine did a free fall, as did Mark Driscoll’s life. Maybe we should avoid putting too much faith in celebrity pastors and be glad for the local pastors whose life and doctrine are consistent.
Planned Pushes for Black and Hispanic Contractors to Build Clinic to Abort Black and Hispanic Babies — Ghouls. Glad to see someone is trying to inform these folks of what they’d be building (e.g., like asking Jews to build gas chambers).
New study: amicable divorce just as damaging for children as hostile divorce
So the take-home lesson is this: there is no such thing as a divorce that doesn’t hurt the children. If you’re thinking of divorce and you have children, just don’t do it. And if you are thinking of marriage, then be careful who you marry. Don’t cloud the judgment with premarital sex before you get to know the person and get the commitment.
Black Gang Beats White Couple in Missouri After Sexually Harassing Woman — Eric Holder is going to show up any minute . . . right after the mainstream media reports on this like they did with Trayvon and Ferguson.
Two Brooklyn women tired of ‘white people moving into the area’ force tenants out at gunpoint, then squat in apartment: police — Another one for Eric Holder, Jesse, Al and the mainstream media to pore over . . .
Materialist Ethics and the “Except Me” Tradition — These philosophers are intellectually bankrupt.
“Whatever the future holds, it is likely to prove impossible to restore in full the sanctity-of-life view. The philosophical foundations of this view have been knocked asunder. We can no longer base our ethics on the idea that human beings are a special form of creation made in the image of God, singled out from all other animals, and alone possessing an immortal soul. Our better understanding of our own nature has bridged the gulf that was once thought to lie between ourselves and other species, so should we believe that the mere fac
t that a being is a member of the species Homo Sapiens endows its life with some unique, almost infinite value?”The question at the end of the quotation is fascinating, because it highlights the branch-sawing nature of Singer’s project. People have no more intrinsic worth than pigs. Indeed, there is no such thing as “intrinsic worth,” because “worth” implies the “good” and the “good” does not exist. Everything is ultimately meaningless. But if that is true – and here’s where the branch sawing comes in – why should anyone care what a particularly clever hairless ape who goes by the name of “Peter Singer” says about anything? Are not his pronouncements as ultimately meaningless as everything else?
Here Singer is part of a larger post-modern tradition that I call the “except me” tradition. The post modern literature is full of long books by deconstructionists like Jacques Derrida who insist that long books have no intrinsic meaning (except books written by Derrida apparently). Similarly Singer insists that concepts like “good” and “evil” have no intrinsic meaning, except, apparently, when he says something is good.
The absurdity of all of this is palpable and it is hard to believe that Singer and Derrida don’t know this. Nevertheless, Derrida wrote long books and Singer makes ethical pronouncements. I suppose it is easy enough to understand why. Derrida sold a lot of books and Singer sits in a lucrative, secure and comfy endowed chair at Princeton. What is truly baffling to me is why anyone with a modicum of intelligence would listen to their self-referentially incoherent branch-sawing rantings. It is a mystery.
Philippians 4:13 themes elsewhere in the Bible
Philippians 4:13 is a commonly misinterpreted Bible verse.
Philippians 4 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.
The real meaning is about being content in all circumstances — good or bad — by living through Jesus who strengthens us. Unfortunately, it is most often used out of context in relation to worldly accomplishments.
But that isn’t the only place you’ll find the real theme. Notice here the reality of being content despite horrible circumstances:
2 Corinthians 12 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
And here’s another passage about him giving us strength for endurance and patience, not wordly accomplishments.
Colossians 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
And another . . . .
1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.
Being content sounds bland compared to our worldly desires, but what a phenomenal blessing the real interpretation of Philippians 4:13 is! How wonderful would it be to have contentment in every situation in life? That’s the true promise of scripture that we seek and rejoice in.
As often happens, the real meaning of the passage is better than what we wanted it to mean.
More guns = less crime
Via These Could Be Some Inconvenient Crime Statistics for Gun Control Advocates:
Chicago’s crime rate has dropped since Illinois became the 50th state in the nation to adopt a concealed carry law last year, the Washington Times reported.
A marksman sights in on a target during a class to qualify for an Illinois concealed carry permit on Feb. 14, 2014 in Posen, Illinois. Illinois became the final state to allow residents to carry a concealed weapon after they complete a 16-hour course. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Robberies are down 20 percent this year, according to Chicago Police Department statistics. Burglaries are also down 20 percent, while motor vehicle thefts are down 26 percent.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy attributed the decrease to “intelligent policing strategies” and said cops confiscated more than 1,300 illegal guns in the first quarter of the year.
But Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said it’s clear to him what’s driving the decrease — and it’s not the police. He said the department “hasn’t changed a single tactic.”
“It isn’t any coincidence crime rates started to go down when concealed carry was permitted. Just the idea that the criminals don’t know who’s armed and who isn’t has a deterrence effect,” Pearson told the Times.
Things would be even better if they would lower the cost of concealed carry permits. It seems racist to keep guns out of the hands of poor Chicago minorities who need them the most.
Bonus good news: Texas School District’s Sign Is Almost Sure to Irk the Left: ‘Please Be Aware That the Staff at Argyle ISD Are…’ . I’m glad that some school districts are doing the right things to protect students.
Mark Sandlin = false teacher
Mark Sandlin is a wolf in sheep’s clothing who often blogs at Jim “the Gospel is all about wealth redistribution” Wallis’ Sojourners blog. A friend sent me a link to Jesus Is Not My God, where Sandlin loudly and proudly claims not to believe in the deity of Christ. He is welcome to his opinions, of course, and I respect his right to religious freedom. We even have a precise theological term for people like him: Non-Christians.
I’ll start with one of his closing comments because it typifies the approach of these “progressive Christians.”
I’m not trying to say I am right and others are wrong.
I find that kind of statement as revolting as his claims to be a Christian. It is a completely wimpy, passive-aggressive postmodern lie. He has a pulpit, blogs, and Podcasts in place to teach these things, so he obviously thinks he is right. Why not grow a pair and own it?
This is the first post in a series called:“This Collar Is Too Tight: Heresies From a Southern Minister.” Most institutionalized Churches define who is and who isn’t a Christian far too narrowly. There is an increasingly long list of tenets to which a person must dogmatically adhere in order to be in the club. The thing is… I don’t believe a whole lot of them. I even find many of them to be biblically inaccurate.
That’s odd for him to say because he judges the Bible and decides for himself what “really” belongs.
I’ve decided to address them one by one because I’ve discovered that there are a lot of people who feel the same way — even other ministers.
The fact that there are many false teachers — especially within his circles — proves nothing.
I hope that this will give us all a little support and encouragement as we try to cling to our Christian-ness while others try to take it from us.
We aren’t trying to take anything away. But words mean things, and based on the Bible and thousands of years of history, it is incorrect to call people like him Christians.
I am a believer. Mostly.
I believe that there is probably a god — something bigger than us. I have a very hard time believing that there’s not something larger than humanity.
Wow, that’s bold apologetics. Preach on, “minister.”
. . . When I worship, I worship that God who is all-at-once bigger than me and might not be at all.
It’s the same god I believe Jesus was trying to teach us about.
In calling God “Father,” Jesus tried to teach us about the nurturing nature of this god. In saying that he and the “Father” were one he was trying to teach us about how we are all one in this god-thing that is larger than us. In telling us that in loving other people (everyone) we were loving God, he was trying to teach us about the connectedness of us all being created in the image of God.
I am a Christian because Jesus, for me, is the teacher who best helps me understand this god-thing.
How can one claim to be a Christ-follower and reject so much of what He taught?
When he worshiped, he worshiped that same god.
He did not worship himself.
Jesus never called himself God.
Here, the cheating starts in earnest. He’ll ignore what he doesn’t like from the synoptic Gospels, then dismiss the Gospel of John and the rest of the biblical claims about his divinity with a wave of his hand. He starts with the assumption that the Bible isn’t the word of God and concludes that it isn’t the word of God. Convenient.
Read through Matthew, Mark and Luke. You won’t find him saying it. Sure, there are a few places where you can interpret what Jesus says to possibly suggest he is God, but it isn’t stated outright.
Maybe if he didn’t go to the text with his preconceptions, he’d come to a different conclusion.
You have to ask yourself: Something that important, don’t you think he might have mentioned it? And, if he did mention it, don’t you think somebody would have decided it was important enough to jot it down?
He did.
The Gospel of John does have Jesus mentioning the whole being God thing – a lot. The difference is a bit striking, isn’t it? The first three Gospels, all written before the Gospel of John, without Jesus saying he is God… and then John, after many years have passed, with Jesus saying he is God.
Does anyone else think it sounds like dogma slipped in there during those in-between years?
Thus begins the “progressive Christian” approach, which isn’t new. There are countless solid answers to objections like that, but Sandlin doesn’t even pretend to have attempted to understand them.
Actually, yes, they do. Most modern scholars agree that John has some new theological perspective into its accounting of the life of Jesus. It may or may not be right, but because of the other three Gospels, I’m going with the idea that it is probably an addition.
Translation: “Most modern scholars” = “people I agreed with when I went opinion shopping.” So Sandlin knows more than the early church? Indeed.
For me, Jesus not being God is a good thing – a very good thing.
If what I hope to get from Jesus is an understanding of how to be the people God created us to be and to develop a closer relationship and understanding of God through that, it is much more helpful to see a person who is actually a person and not a god doing it. It’s hopeful even.
This “minister” doesn’t even understand the hypostatic union.
. . . I am saying that if you, too, believe Jesus is not your God, no matter what people tell you, you can still call yourself a Christian.
The Bible, the early church, common sense, and 2,000 years of church history say otherwise.
Sandlin does what most pagans do, only they are more honest than he is and don’t make a living off their lies. He finds a handful of verses he likes and claims to be a Christian. But he doesn’t even hold to his professed belief of just believing Matthew, Mark and Luke. Even those have Jesus speaking of Hell extensively, and Sandlin certainly couldn’t support that. And Jesus said that marriage, from the beginning, was just a union of a man and a woman. Sandlin actively denounces biblical sexuality, so once again, he disagrees with Jesus.
The “Christian” Left doesn’t agree with the beginning of the Gospels (virgin birth, claims of divinity (John 1)). Or the end (physical resurrection). Or the middle (miracles, Hell, teaching against “same-sex marriage” and evolution, claims to be the only way to salvation, claims of divinity, etc.).
Yet they claim to follow Jesus. They reflexively add and take away from scripture. Wolves like Mark “Jesus is not my God” Sandlin deny things like the virgin birth, which is clearly taught in scripture, then make up things about the Magi tipping off Joseph about Herod’s plans.
Here are a couple of their life (er, uh, death) verses:
Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Jude 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Run, don’t walk, from the “Christian” Left and false teachers like Mark Sandlin.
Eternity Matters 