the autobiography of st. nicholas

i finally finished reading the autobiography of santa claus which was surprisingly rooted in history despite the fantasy of the immortal saint nicholas flying around the globe with eight reindeer and some helpers who turn out not to be elves at all... but other immortals...

brief break

brief break at or around lunch seems to be the prime time to blog for many; some people appear to never work at all at work; either shopping online or blogging online or talking on cell phones or walking the halls with coffee cups... now, i do walk the halls with coffee...

musings on adultery

adultery is an event, a happening that i can not explain i can not imagine why a man, or a woman for that matter, would willingly leave comforts of home and a love that has struggled to maintain itself for years and years and years, a love that has gone through indifference and anger and loss... to tangle with another person, and most of all, to continually lie to the one promised to be cherished until time ends...

what is this? who would do this, and then, continue to do it rather than turn away in horror, back to the one who has loved through thick and thin...

what is this?

katrina and rita

i remember in 1974 after a tornado struck down trees, blew off roofs, and played havoc on the campus of hanover college in southern indiana, the national guard prevented persons from entering unless they had good cause to be on campus or, if i remember correctly, in the town of hanover itself.

individuals could not just drive into the area; therefore, no looting was possible if not by those already in the area...

has the role of the national guard changed?

hello again

it has been awhile since i had time or made time to blog; so imagine my surprise to find that somehow i am still a large mammal in the blogosphere ecosystem... who would have thunk it?

of course, no one reads my blog... i mean, literally. i get 3 hits a day at least; 13 at most...

seems like a real waste of time, doesn't it?

yet, an online blog is a force with which to be reckoned; i know not why...

sure pulls weight; keeps me honest, i suppose.
more later...

falling off wagon of love

falling off wagon of love

strikes a cord so deep all turn to see
a place rather not visited by me

wish i could turn time as hermione did
retrace steps to change events and thoughts he hid

where would this new yet same road take us
where would we end up if we could trust us

i can not see a best end to this
yet love though painful brings me bliss

papacy as anti-christ

powers of 10

wondrous images of "intelligent design"

medal of honor

medal of honor awarded to soldier who stayed at his post, defending lightly armed soldiers behind him, until he was shot to death outside the baghdad airport

biological weapon threat from al-qaeda

tip of the hat totigerhawk

iraqi delegates meet in historic assembly

msnbc reports this morning on yesterday's historic opening of the iraqi assembly

The lawmakers opened with a reading of verses from the Quran. Iraqi Chief Justice Medhat al Mahmoud then administered the oath to the assembled deputies.

“It is a great day in Iraqi history that its elected representatives meet,” said Fuad Masoum, a Kurdish delegate. “This day coincides with a painful memory that has many meanings. ... Today, on this occasion, we celebrate the inauguration of parliament after the fall of this regime.”

Wednesday marked the anniversary of the Saddam Hussein-ordered chemical attack in 1988 on the northern Kurdish town of Halabja, an attack that killed 5,000 people.

europe as old woman hiding her jewelry as her neighbors are robbed

family of teen "garage jumper" sues orlando and parking garage owner

believe it or not, the family of a teen crazy enough to leap between tall buildings in a single bound...

has the audacity to sue the city of orlando and the parking garage owner for "not doing enough to prevent this from happening."

wednesday evening K group at beautiful savior

my personal musings as "facilitator" of the wednesday evening K-group studying JAMES at the wels lutheran beautiful savior church in summerville...

after last evening, i found myself moved thinking again about how much GOD loves us, how much He gave up for us...

abraham being willing to sacrifice isaac as a parallel or figurative image of GOD the father being willing to sacrifice His one and only son, JESUS for us...

and Jesus being willing to sacrifice His full power and glory to live on earth as a human being for us...

these two thoughts pierce my heart, but make me smile simultaneously...

to GOD be the glory...

too busy

have been busy living recently without much time for online escapades but i am hoping to post more fossil photographs soon...

john lennon's "imagine"

yesterday, i was listening to the radio and heard john lennon's lovely melody, imagine however... in listening to the lyrics more closely, i heard a disturbing idea... imagine all the people everywhere living with exactly the same beliefs, exactly the same idea that this is all there is, living exactly like one another, in no country, with no "god", with nothing worth living for... and it occurred to me, how extraordinarily boring this world that we are imagining would be...

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

valentine's day hit by jenimaster

please be strongly forewarned, jenimaster uses some down-right foul language in her nevertheless witty post against hallmark's day

"the gates", wrap art in central park, nyc

the gates 


photograph by: barbara farrar evans, 02/13/05

the "gates" by cristo and jean-claude in nyc

this weekend, i flew to nyc to visit my mother and to see my daughter off on mid-term break from her college in indiana, earlham... i got lucky... staying off central park west...

saw the opening day of "the gates" an environmental art project of cristo and jean-claude; 16 ft tall gates with saffron colored nylon, pleated banners unfurled saturday morning; all 7,500 gates placed along pathways throughout central park, adding walkways of blossoming color behind and before bare black tree limbs...

quite a sight; very entertaining...

and yes, i will have photographs...

intelligent design

website home of idea

rekindle your marriage

a blog on rebuilding marriage after infidelity

best fish

fishing 7 am to 1 pm yesterday in the bay off the intercostal waterway between the isle of palms and what? mount pleasant, so. carolina watched the sunrise over the atlantic ocean in the eastern sky, a sky so blue it hurt... a cold morning at probably 37 or 42 degrees, somewhere in that range... and the wind as the boat charged to our destination, bitter but wonderful as well... bubbles between the waves; i have no idea...

we motor in, close to the tall marsh grass, and anchor with the pole... that long black stiff snake of a pole sunk into the bottom... the bottom... i can see the bottom which is about 2 and a half to 3 and a half feet below me... there are shell beds which slowly, surprisingly rise above the waterline as the tide goes out imperceptibly over the course of fishing...

i cast to moving blue water which is a school of fish below the surface... i miss more than i hit the right spots... and we get no bites of any sort really...

soon, even i can see the blue water moving and can identify that there are fish there... juvenile red drum swimming together in schools of 100 at times, per my guide...

a dolphin comes in on us... and "runs", fin up, into the schools of fish... he slaps the water, churns it up, brings mud from the bottom (as do the fish...) the young dolphin runs the fish to the grass and eats them... then goes off, coming a few more times in different places, but doing the same to the water and the drum...

later, my guide swithes to live bait, minnows... and i am casting and giving slack... and i turn to say something... and oh, a thud... and the fish runs from me, and i hook him...

it takes me a good 5 minutes, i think, to give him drag, reel him in, let him run a bit, reel him in again, and on and on... until he shows himself out in the water... he is a big juvenile drum...

when i catch him... and he is on the boat... he is thick in the head, and a good 27 inches long, i think... but he definitely weighs 10.5 pounds... and he is the best fish i have ever caught...

we let him go... he looks in shock for a moment, then flips his tail and swims away...

5 spots on one side, 4 on the other... a beautiful creature... free...

a wondrous list of things loved

thanks for this listing of loved things...

"train wreck"?

tip of the hat to marlowe's shade regarding an article in the boston globe claiming the iraqi election was a "train wreck"... and nothing to be proud of...

optimism, hope, freedom

president "w"'s state of the union address was one of a confident commander-in-chief and leader of the free world as i used to hear when i was very young...

president "w" told americans and the world that the u.s.a. is committed to promoting human freedom at home and throughout the world in order to defeat terrorism and secure our safety...

watching the iraqi women's leader embrace the mother of a soldier k.i.a. in iraq was moving... even the brief moment during which a bracelet became entangled in the other's clothing was touching as each tried to assist the other...

God bless America...

death benefit to rise to 100,000 from 12,000

president "w" is calling for an increase in the death benefit for families of soldiers whose lives were or are lost in battle... according to fox news this evening...

kerry poo-pooing the iraqi people

tip of the hat to bird

x-tra x-tra x-tra: blue fingers of democracy in iraq

a 55% (per some international sources) to 72% plus (per iraqi officials) turn-out in the iraqi elections puts all those who said that "the iraqi people do not desire democracy" or that "the u.s.a. has no right to push its way of life on the iraqi people." to shame. today, approximately 8 million individual iraqis, both men and women, raise indelibly inked index fingers to the sky in pride as if to say, "i am free." and "today i prove to the world that democracy is for me and for my country."

5:40pm From a sometime Chrenkoff correspondent, Haider Ajina:

"I just called my father in Baghdad to see if he and the rest of my Iraqi family over there have voted yet. He said we were all just heading out the door, but we will wait and talk to you (chuckling). I heard a strength and joy in his voice and could hear the rest of my relatives in the back ground. It sounded like a family reunion. My 84 year old Iraqi Grandmother will be voting for the first time in her life. My father (a naturalized U.S. Citizen) said we are all getting ready to go vote in a school near by. This school was just being built when I left Iraq in the late 70's. I know where it is and I can picture my father, uncles aunties and cousins along with the rest of the family walking through my old neighborhood to that school and vote. My father said 'For the first time in my life I voted in the U.S. and now I can vote in Iraq. We want our voices to count, we want to decide our future and we want the world to know we have a voice in our future and in our government, this will give the Iraqi government true legitimacy, just like in America'.

"I can now dream of the day when I can take my family to meet my extended family and the places were I played and grew up. They will also see what our men and women in our military fought for.

"To all the men and women who have served and serving in Iraq, to all the families of those who have paid the ultimate price to all those who have suffered during their service in Iraq, my family’s and my deepest thanks, gratitude and pride both from the U.S. and Iraq for all the sacrifices, endurance and service for our great country and Iraq and the Iraqis. God bless all of you and keep you safe."

maybe, in 2008, we here in the u.s.a. will have a better voter turn-out from what we have witnessed today in iraq!

why resign? just because you are asked

the other three cbs executives are retaining lawyers rather than resign

the "science" of global warming

tip of the hat to shaking spears

recirculating terrorists

on fox news "the big story" this evening lorenzo vidino of the investigative project reported that 4 of the british nationals (who were held as terrorist suspects) and released from guantanamo to britain a few days ago were, today, released from custody...

additionally, vidino reported that yesterday, a judge in italy acquitted 5 terrorists who were known to be recruiting insurgents to fight against the u.s.a. and coalition forces in iraq...

in france, vidino stated that persons may be detained up to 3 years without trial just for being suspected of terrorism, and no one in the world complains about this...

vidino said, "detainees should stay in custody."

the following is a post by lorenzo vidino from january 13, 2005:

The enemy within
From the Armed Forces Journal
By Josh Lefkowitz and Lorenzo Vidino

After terrorists gunned down 49 unarmed Iraqi army recruits on a highway near Baquoba on October 24, authorities have tried to determine whether moles within the Iraqi army provided information that led to the massacre. Due to the strategically orchestrated attack, investigators believe the killers must have received inside information about the soldiers' movements. If infiltrators did play a role in the attack, it would just be the latest example of a long history of Islamic terrorists penetrating military forces throughout the world.
Recognizing the tremendous intelligence value of placing operatives within enemy ranks, terrorists have placed a premium on this strategy.

Al Qaeda, whose training manual instructs members to "gather as much information as possible about the enemy," has consistently succeeded in inserting a fifth column inside enemy armies. A recently uncovered Al Qaeda document reveals the group's aims: "The Jama'ah (group) must prepare the cadres to occupy all sensitive and important posts.They should be in the army command and among staff officers...There should be a commander and a deputy in all brigades, battalions, and columns. They should be in all regiments and the Special Forces. They should be in the four branches of the armed forces."

This infiltration has the potential to severely hamper America's efforts in the War on Terror. Authorities in Pakistan, a key U.S. ally that also is an Al Qaeda hotbed, acknowledge that their army has been infiltrated by radicals. Recently, Willie Brigitte, a French convert involved in an Al Qaeda plan to attack Australia, revealed how elements from the Pakistani army worked hand in hand with the Lashkar e Taiba (LET) terrorist group. Brigitte told French interrogators that there was "complete complicity between the Pakistani Army and LET" and that the army was providing weapons and ammunition to LET.

Moreover, Brigitte also claimed that he had met Pakistani soldiers who vowed to sabotage efforts to capture Osama Bin Laden. This revelation should come as no surprise to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who last June ordered a review of the files of all army officers in the rank of colonel or above to identify potential Al Qaeda sympathizers. Musharraf issued this directive after a number of army officials participated in two Al Qaeda plots to kill him.

Even more problematic is Al Qaeda's infiltration of Western armies.

In October, the Ministry of Defense of Britain revealed that at least five Al Qaeda suspects had infiltrated the British Territorial Army and one of them is currently in custody.

It is difficult to fathom the potentially devastating implications of having Al Qaeda members operating freely in the army of the U.S.' primary ally in Iraq. But America's security is not just threatened by rogue elements in the Pakistani and British armies. America's own military has been penetrated by Islamic extremists.

In September 2004, National Guardsman and Muslim convert Ryan Anderson was convicted after he was caught in an internet sting, in which he tried to contact Al Qaeda operatives to disclose information on U.S. military vulnerabilities. And just a few days before the beginning of the Iraq war, Hassan Akbar, a sergeant in the 101st Airborne, killed two of his fellow soldiers in a grenade attack. According to a member of Akbar's brigade, Akbar said, "I did it because I'm Muslim. They were going to kill Muslims and rape Muslim women."

Recently, authorities in Connecticut charged Babar Ahmad, a man who operated a series of pro-jihad web sites, with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. When British authorities searched locations connected to Ahmad, they discovered a classified U.S. Navy document detailing the movements of a U.S. naval battle-group operating in the Straits of Hormuz and providing specific examples of how the ships could be attacked. Ahmad had been in email contact with Hassan Abujihad, a sailor who was serving on the U.S. destroyer "Benfold." In his emails, Abujihaad expressed anti-American sentiment and praised the attack on the USS Cole. Investigators speculate that Abujihad provided the information on the battle-group was provided to Ahmad.

But the most troubling case of infiltration of the U.S. Army is that of Ali Mohammed, a sergeant who taught classes on the Middle East at the Special Operations Warfare School at Fort Bragg between the end of the 1980's and the mid 1990's. When he was not lecturing American soldiers on Islamic fundamentalism, Mohammed was one of Bin Laden's most trusted lieutenants, teaching terrorists the tactics he had learned at Fort Bragg in Al Qaeda's camps in Sudan and Afghanistan.

The presence of Islamic terrorists in the U.S. army raises difficult questions. So far, military authorities have investigated these cases as isolated incidents. Nevertheless, the recent terrorism-linked probes of two schools that were used to certify Muslim chaplains may reveal a coordinated effort infiltrate the military. While respecting the rights of Muslim soldiers and acknowledging their significant contributions, it is essential for the Pentagon to be aware of the terrorists' proven intention to penetrate enemy armies.

Josh Lefkowitz and Lorenzo Vidino are senior terrorism analysts at the Investigative Project, a Washington DC-based counterterrorism think-tank.

i must be rich

on the local radio yesterday, i heard that the messier your desk, the more money you make... sheesh, i must be RICH!

selling forehead space for advertisement

did you hear the one about the e-bay transaction in which a web-designer auctioned his forehead for an advertising message promoting a stop snoring product? he earned 37,000 + dollars and will have the message temporarily tattooed upon his forehead for one month...

sounds familiar, doesn't it?

guest post on "why women are not great scientists"; and why there are more male idiots

an article in the january 22nd-28th 2005 issue of "the economist" reports that larry summers of harvard university has said the reason why women are not as good in science as men is simply because of the differences in the male and female brain structure. summers says that men are better able to systemize about the world and women better at empathizing about or with the world...

some clues have emerged from autism, a developmental disorder, that produces "an extreme male brain." autism is up to 4 times more common in boys than it is in girls, and is thought to be the result of high levels of testosterone in the womb. those who have it tend to be more capable doing puzzles and pattern-related tasks over verbal communication. they tend to be better at math.

on the other hand, in "letters to a young conservative," dinesh d'souza writes the reason why men have more geniuses (and more idiots) than women is because the male brain operates on more of a bell curve, while the female brain operates on a stable line putting more women at average.

this, d'souza says, is why women have less geniuses than men; and why men have more idiots than women.

hat tip to my son, hollan m., guest blogger

human rights' abuses in iraq: shadows of hussein

msnbc reports human rights abuses in iraq

'Continuity of personnel and of mindset'
Hania Mufti, the Baghdad director of Human Rights Watch and chief author of the report, said she did not find examples of abuses that were on a par with the worst atrocities committed under Hussein's rule, such as mock executions, disfigurement with acid or sexually assaults on family members in front of prisoners. But in many other respects, she said, treatment of those swept up by police had changed little.

"Many of the same people who worked in Saddam's time are still doing those jobs today. So there is a continuity of personnel and of mindset," she said in an interview. "I think the Iraqi people themselves thought there was going to be a different system. Every day, they are finding it is not so different."

The report also says authorities made a mockery of legal safeguards. People said they were arrested without warrants and held without charges for days, weeks or months. Police officials ignored summonses from judges, and judges who became too demanding of authorities were removed from their jobs.

"people said" runs throughout this article. the human rights group seldom mentions witnessing human rights abuses. now, i am not saying that they are not occurring, but the report provides little direct evidence except the removal of judges and an incident in which u.s.a. troops intervened in ending mistreatment of detainees...

jibjab's "second term"

hilarity again from jibjab

meet life's worst with joy

i was thinking about the lord's brother, james writing his letter without reminding his readers that he was the lord's half brother... instead, he referred to himself as a servant of the lord jesus christ... and he told the church that they should approach life's worst with joy...

because life's worst would develop in them perseverance, and perseverance would lead to perfection of their faith...

and if anyone of them lacked wisdom (understanding of how and why he or she should live in joy despite circumstances) then he or she should ask God for wisdom, and God would provide...

and no one should ever say, God is testing me, tempting me with this trial or that tribulation, because God is not the author of evil...

and no one should doubt or be tossed about, but should know that God gives good gifts, including the wisdom that we seek...

i was just thinking about james...

landing in south asia dangerous

c-17 pilots out of charleston air force base are reporting that landing in tsunami-hit indonesia has become more difficult than landing in war zones of the middle east, according to the post and courier newspaper.

lack of radar makes the landing and take off of more than a hundred aircraft flying into sultan iskandar muda air force base extremely hazardous...

additionally the tarmac outside banda aceh has created a backlog of supplies on the ground leading some aircraft to circle the airfield above until a space on the runway opens...

rice gave no ground

condoleezza rice insisted today in senate confirmation hearings that the u.s.a. was prepared for the iraqi war and that it was not possible to give a set timetable for our exit from that country, saying that our troop withdrawal depends upon iraq's ability to defend itself against terrorists...

rice said,

this was never going to be easy... it was going to have its ups and downs... but... i think we made the right decision to overthrow (sadaam hussein)

john kerry, a former presidential candidate, was the only member of the foreign relations committee to tell rice that she may not win his vote...

follow up proverb

proverbs 27:15 "a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day."

my life application niv bible notes:

quarrelsome nagging, a steady stream of unwanted advice, is a form of torture. people nag because they think they're not getting through, but nagging hinders communication more than it helps. when tempted to engage in this destructive habit, stop and examine your motives. are you more concerned about yourself - getting your way, being right - than about the person you are pretending to help? if you are truly concerned about other people, think of a more effective way to get through to them. surprise them with words of patience and love, and see what happens.

now, that is good advice!

new book on christian living based on 2 peter

tip of the hat to bill hobbs

the liar hates

Proverbs 26:28 "A lying tongue hates those that are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin."

...the first ...(half of this proverb)... is rather obvious. Purposefully lying is done to hurt without regard for the victim and, therefore, one can deduce that the liar hates...

tip of the hat to proverbs daily

48 hr notice of invitation

in the snailmail yesterday, a good 48 hrs prior to president "w"'s inauguration, my other/better half received a "commemorative" invitation to attend the ceremony itself... with the fine print indicating that he has not been invited to any of the "events" scheduled... beyond, i suppose, the main event... the swearing-into-office-again event...

now, it is a nice, well-printed invitation perhaps worthy of framing in someone's house; but, i found the date of its arrival rather odd and sort of silly...

48 hrs. to obtain time off from work, transportation, and child care is not realistic...

therefore, of course, he will not be attending the inauguration despite his "commemorative" invitation...

sometimes suicide bombers kill only themselves

tip of the hat to the roof top

i'd rather be fishing!

what i am in the mood to catch... oh my, how i would rather be fishing! 

loopy sex-education "evangelical" style

tip of the hat to post modern clog

One of the bad habits of many Evangelicals is to live up to the worst stereotypes the secular world can think up for us (...) the idea that we're repressed, think sex is dirty, and leave our children in ignorance of the basic medical facts about sex.

titan's surface

one of the first images of titan, one of saturn's moons... 

c.i.a. reports

from msnbc...

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank.

the budget deficit is shrinking

according to the national review

passion to stop the slaughter in darfur sudan africa

wear a green ribbon... and more...

Sudan: The Passion of the Present
Darfur, Sudan, Africa - continues to be a bleeding ground of genocide. While the world watches, the United Nations and international leaders fail to effectively intercede and stop the systematic murder, rape, and mass starvation inflicted by the government of Sudan on it own people. Passion of the Present is a worldwide all-volunteer web initiative to stop the genocide. Together we can be the most aggressive advocates imaginable for the people of Darfur and Sudan. Please, join the network and link to us. Visit the site often and bring your friends. E-mail ideas for action to passionofthepresent@yahoo.com. Help save the people of Darfur through your net advocacy, hacktivism, and netpeace. For as the late Dr. Martin Luther King said: "Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good."

"stolen election" rebuff

tip of the hat at least several times to cassandra at villianous company

this post is for my other/better-half

new case of mad cow disease in canada

ny times reports today that canada has found a new case of mad cow disease:

The sick cow was born in March 1998, months after the United States and Canada instituted bans on feed that contained protein made from livestock and other ruminants.

Mad cow disease is thought to be caused by misfolded proteins known as prions, which cause other proteins to misfold, leading to brain damage and other problems. It is believed to spread through once common feeding practices, like making feed from certain animal byproducts and conserving the milk of dairy cattle for sale by feeding their calves cattle blood.

Officials at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said they believed that the cow was probably infected by eating food produced before the ban.

be constantly hungry, walk around depressed

after revealing the secrets to the high numbers of centenarian men on the island, sardinia spear shaker summarizes:

to live a longer life, you need to be constantly hungry, eat cheese at every meal, and walk around depressed. Maybe that extra quarter century ain't so attractive after all

firsthand account of u.s.a. relief efforts

tip of the hat to diplomad

lasers pointed at airplanes now being investigated by f.b.i.

ashley tellis' report on terrorism

correct link to ashley tellis' report...on terrorism and the u.s. response...

moonves' memo to cbs employees

moonves himself states in his memo to cbs employees that the documents are those "now discredited"

liberal academia vs. conservative students

tip of the hat to truth, lies, and common sense

ashley tellis

on c-span's washington journal this morning, ashley tellis of the carnegie endowment for international peace - senior associate discusses an overlooked achievement of the bush administration -- namely, that president bush has managed to balance and keep in focus both the war on terrorism and the needs of the nation...

tellis says the u.s.a. must remember that terrorism is an intrumentality used to gain a political end; terrorism is not irrational and not only religious...

he suggests the war on terrorism is not a war that the u.s.a. sought, but now we have opportunity to deal with terrorism and to promote democracy especially in the middle east...

tellis maintains the next step in the fight against terrorism will be to focus on nationalist terrorist groups vs. global terrorist groups... for now, we can not do this because we should not spread our resources too thinly...

cbs' "rathergate" conclusions

tip of the hat to okie on the lam in la et al.

firsthand account of tsunami

tip of the hat to neophyte pundit and one hand clapping

this tired cannard

this great comeback comment on bibleland studios site was just too good to pass up...

Re: Dinosaur Swallows Human?
by Cimber on Wednesday, December 29 @ 17:31:58 EST

The point to all of this isn't that this is an obvious fabrication; even a cursory examination would tell you as much--if not the uproar that such a discovery would have caused. The point, I think, is this tired cannard that "only" creationists rely on "faith." In my book, faith is believing in what you can't actually observe or measure. And evolution will always be a faith-based system--with priests, holy books, and the like. What I find most interesting is the ad hominem attacks in the article itself. If you really want to get down to it, evolutionists themselves have believed in such frauds to promote their theories (hoaxes, I might add, that were much easier to uncover than this one--e.g. Piltdown Man and the Nebraska "Pig-man"). It's true that such frauds have long been discarded, but the fraudulent drawings by Haekel and the discredited vestigial organs argument have not.

I, too, am saddened that this site did not do any research into the topic, since such things spread a pallor over Creationism as a whole. But for this linked article above (go to bibleland studios to find this link) to say that creationists rely upon only two arguments to back up their claim is absurd. The problem has never been the actual evidence, since evolutionists and creationists both agree upon the evidence; the problem is in the interpretation of the evidence. Ask an evolutionist how any macro-evolutionary event occurs that adds new information, and they won't be able to answer, since NO mutation adds new genetic information. It does not happen (in fact, there are several unclaimed rewards for the person who could prove something like that happened in nature).

Creationists have faith in God and the Bible, and evolutionists have faith in mutations and Darwin. Both sides have made their missteps...although rarely was it in such a sinister way as commiting fraud as those who made this fossil have done. If you ask me, I think their rationale is this: if you can't disprove creation, just make fun of those who believe in it. If there's one thing that I've seen in the last few years, the evolutionists are starting to get a little anxious because real scientists (and wow, geewiz, they actually have REAL PhDs from REAL universities) are questioning the "sacred" doctrines of science. A doctrine passed down on faith. In Darwin they trust.

now here's an odd fossil "find?"

tip of the hat to hot abercrombie chick

he believed in "no child left behind"

why would this man need or want 240.000 dollars to promote an idea that he believes in? 

"illegal use of taxpayers' dollars"

USA today reports on the fast-growing williams' "no child left behind" scandal:

Williams' contract was part of a $1 million deal... that produced "video news releases" designed to look like news reports. The Bush administration used similar releases last year to promote its Medicare prescription drug plan, prompting a scolding from the Government Accountability Office, which called them an illegal use of taxpayers' dollars.

Williams, 45, a former aide to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is one of the top black conservative voices in the nation. He hosts The Right Side on TV and radio, and writes op-ed pieces for newspapers, including USA TODAY, while running a public relations firm, Graham Williams Group.

williams stated that he believed in the education package, and that is why he agreed to promote it. in this case, he then should not have accepted the monies. he should have just agreed to promote the package when and if an appropriate opportunity arose...

instead, he took monies and promoted the education package via videos that were supposed to appear to be "news"...

of course, the bush administration was just plain stupid to offer the monies in the first place... paying unnecessarily for propaganda is such a waste!

spaceman talks of robbed feelings

spaceman posts on the tsunami disaster and asks "why this tragedy?"

joy

tip of the hat to abide in the word

"i say this is poppycock"

The research (about the sun being the source of climate change) adds weight to the views of David Bellamy, the conservationist. "Global warming - at least the modern nightmare version - is a myth," he said. "I am sure of it and so are a growing number of scientists. But what is really worrying is that the world's politicians and policy-makers are not.

"Instead, they have an unshakeable faith in what has, unfortunately, become one of the central credos of the environmental movement: humans burn fossil fuels, which release increased levels of carbon dioxide - the principal so-called greenhouse gas - into the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to heat up. They say this is global warming: I say this is poppycock."

tip of the hat to tigerhawk

the God who cries

across the blogosphere (that i read, at least) is a quietness about the tsunami ...

this morning, probably around 2 or 3 am, i woke up to cnn showing and of course re-showing a 16 yr old's amateur video of the wave arriving... in indonesia, i think...

the wave was white and enormous; i'd guess the height at 30 to 35 feet given that it covered a large statue as it hit...

the images were surreal... people floating or being pushed into the sides of buildings; a man holding the arm of a dead person, refusing to let go...

i seem to be perhaps like everyone else a bit overwhelmed by the complete devastation and the enormous amount of personal loss... whole villages were wiped off the face of the earth! mothers and fathers lost all 4 or 5 of their children; children lost parents...

i've given money - probably everyone else has, too - but i feel like little is going to help these people get over this... except faith...

larry king took president clinton's advice and hosted a muslim, a buddhist, a jew, a christian, a hindu, etc. and each spoke of nature, God, charity, faith, and one even spoke of gaia... and yes, i am biased, but only the christian spoke about the personal God who cries with us... and who has cried for himself even...

i am sure that right now, southeast asia needs the God who cries...

"stella awards" - 2004

tip of the hat to stones cry out for this link to the stella awards, which i believe are the most frivilous "sample" "false" lawsuits for 2004...

inadequate (not enough) resources rather than inadequate (no good) personnel

ny times reports today that:

an internal investigation by the central intelligence agency has concluded that officials who served at the highest levels of the agency should be held accountable for failing to allocate adequate resources to combating terrorism before the sept. 11 attacks, according to current and former intelligence officials

mr. pavitt, one of the accused directors, agreed with "the basic conclusion that the C.I.A. paid too little heed to the threat posed by terrorism" and maintained that indeed the "directorate of operations, which he supervised, did not have adequate resources before the Sept. 11 attacks but said that he had "consistently fought for additional resources, commencing that effort in 1997 and stopping only in August 2004 when I retired."

ironic that the u.s.a. (or any organization) would accuse, blame, hold accountable persons doing a job to the best of their ability without enough material with which to perform the job... especially when those individuals, all the while between 1997 and 2004 are crying aloud, we do not have the resources to do this...

we are nothing like our enemies

during confirmation hearings today of judge gonzales... according to MSNBC...

Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined in on some of the criticism, saying the administration “dramatically undermined the war effort” by “getting cute with the law.”

“I think you weaken yourself as a nation when you try to play cute and become more like your enemy instead of like who you want to be,” he said.

Gonzales objected to Graham’s characterizations, noting the beheadings of Americans by terrorists. “We are nothing like our enemies, Senator,” Gonzales said.

caffeinated brain

once more, in the jan 2005 issue of national geographic is one very long article on the effects of caffeine...

in a 12 oz cup of coffee one finds 200 mg of caffeine... and this is compared to an energy drink called red bull that has only 80 mg...

when users accustomed to a daily average of 650 mg of caffeine (about three 12-oz cups of coffee) went without their usual fix, visual and auditory activity in the brain was low...

according to brain scans at wake forest university...

"if you regularly get a hefty dose," says wake forest university researcher paul laurienti, "you need it for your brain to function normally."

more on the soon-to-be-obsolete kyoto accord

tip of the hat to shaking spears

good talk on traditional marriage from the roof top

charles wolfe's "proprioception" entry

for those interested in our sense of touch or our sense of our body belonging to us...

they can' t think it away

joel achenbach in national geographic, january 2005 issue reports that our proprioception (our sense of touch) is easily fooled...

henrik ehrsson positioned a person within an MRI machine, his right hand out of sight but on his leg, while a realistic rubber hand was atop in sight...

a researcher used a small brush to stroke the finger of the real hand... within 15 seconds the test subjects developed a profound sense that the rubber hand was the real hand. the test subjects would flinch when ehrsson threatened to smash his fist on the rubber hand...

subjects were bewildered that they were unable to lift the rubber hand's finger...

they knew what was going on, but no amount of rational thought could dispel the sensory illusion. "they just don't think it," says ehrsson, "they feel it. they can't think it away."

the MRI brain scans showed that the premotor cortex was active during the experiment... a location that ehrsson believes is the seat of our sense of body ownership...

photograph of "w" at christmas

photograph by chris morrison... 

person of the year 2004

time magazine's person of the year:

For sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years, George W. Bush is TIME's 2004 Person of the Year

mexican government online pamphlet encourages illegal border crossing

cnn reports tonight that the mexican government publishes an online "how-to" comic book guide offering suggestions on ways to illegally cross the border into the u.s.a... thereby, undermining george w.'s efforts to pass the "guest worker" legislation...

"battleground campus" from the denison magazine, fall 2004

in the snail mail today, i received the fall, 2004 issue of my alma mater's alumni magazine, denison...

i expected the article that i found within...(excerpts follow)...

throughout the 2004 presidential campaign, all eyes were on ohio, widely considered-- and rightfully so -- to be the most critical of all the "battleground states."...

...the morning of wednesday, nov. 3, dawns crisp and clear in granville. on this, the day after the presidential election, however, the exquisite fall weather can't mask the waves of shock and disappointment swirling across much of campus. oh, there are pockets of jubilation, and talk of victory parties here and there...

...inside cleveland hall...talk turns to the unprecedented denison voter turnout, which, even through a steady rain, produced a snake-like line around the first presbyterian church... nearly reaching the campus entrance...

..."no one left," remarks a young woman..."even though the wait to vote...was two and a half to three hours --- no one left."

...pick any week on campus before election day and chances are good that some political events or activities were planned. student groups organized voter registration drives and chalked the quad walkways with political slogans... many went to hear senator kerry speak in newark or president bush in columbus. the battle lines were drawn, and the battle had most definitely begun...

...last april...a group of five students decided that a stronger liberal voice was needed on campus, and the denison democrats was formed...their impact across campus has been great. memorably, their bright pink t-shirts, emblazoned with the caveat, "mr. bush i am your pink slip," were inescapable on campus during the final weeks of the campaign...

the article goes on to speak of the student republicans' organization, and the numerous speakers attracted to the campus to lecture, including:

howard dean
jim petro
angela "bay" buchanan
fred barnes of "the weekly standard"
torie clark
deedee myers

the last line in the article goes:

apparently the republicans won the battle, but the war wages on.

article written by: suzanne bressoud

u.s.a. blows all hell out of southeast asia says nutty "professor?"

tip of the hat to tigerhawk

jordanian terrrorist group threatens christians and jews

msnbc reports today that:

Baghdad's governor, Ali al-Haidari, and six of his bodyguards were gunned down Tuesday, as their three-vehicle convoy was passing through Baghdad’s northern neighborhood of Hurriyah.

“They came from different directions and opened fire at us,” said the chief of his al-Haidari's security detail, who asked to be identified only as Maj. Mazen.

Also Tuesday, a suicide truck bomber killed 10 people at an Interior Ministry commando headquarters.

The militant group of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the governor's assassination, and for the truck bombing, according to statements posted on a Web site known for carrying such claims.

“We tell every traitor and supporter of the Jews and Christians that this is your fate,” the statement said. Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.

i say that the elections in iraq must not be delayed, but must go on as planned...

so much fun bashing the democrats

tip of the hat to chase thanks for some funny funny stuff!

not the gentle gaia afterall

tip of the hat to truth, lies, and common sense

the infant priest was holy borne

The infant Priest was holy borne
For us unholy and forlorn;
From fleshly temple out came he,
Anointed from eternity.

This great High Priest in human flesh
Was icon of God's righteousness.
His hallowed touch brought sanctity;
His hand removed impurity.

The holy Lamb undaunted came
To God's own altar lit with flame;
While weeping angels hid their eyes,
This Priest became a sacrifice.

But death would not the victor be
Of Him who hung upon the tree.
He leads us to the Holy Place
Within the veil before God's face.

God's unveiled presence now we see,
As at the rail on bended knee
Our hungry mouths from Him receive
The bread of immortality.

The body of God's Lamb we eat
A priestly food and priestly meat.
On sin-parched lips the chalice pours
His quenching blood that life restores.


tip of the hat to worldmagblog

enter the blogosphere

over at marlowe's shade is a post on mass media vs. the blogosphere which is definitely worth a read...

advertising and the blogosphere

hugh hewitt writes today:

there are millions and millions of blog readers. Very few mass audiences can be ignored by marketers or overnight they will wonder where their audience went.

Television ad sellers should be alarmed, but magazine and newspapers even more so.

a member of my immediate family is an advertising executive in a small, successful firm located somewhere in the u.s.a. i would suggest that he has not, as of this moment, considered the enormous audience within the huge, mighty blogosphere...

if he has, i would be surprised... and actually, delighted as well...

paris is not worth a boycott

ny times op-ed piece on french anti-u.s. sentiment

Condoleezza Rice, now Mr. Bush's nominee for secretary of state, was quoted in 2003 as telling colleagues that the United States should "punish France." This is a tempting tactic, for it holds out the promise of vengeful satisfaction. It was also the motive behind the recent campaigns to boycott French products. Unbeknownst to most of the participants, however, the consumer strategy was tried without much success in the 1960's. In truth, Paris isn't worth a boycott.

Thinking otherwise only buys into the Gaullist claim that France should occupy a place of reverence in the community of nations. But why should its views matter any more than, say, Italy, whose population and economy are nearly the same size? The United States may choose to work with France on a few areas of mutual diplomatic interest - Haiti and perhaps Iran - but in general, the marginal amounts of aid and peacekeeping help Paris can offer hardly merit concessions on our part. And if France threatens to undermine American interests with its Security Council veto, we should call its bluff, pointing out that such behavior merely weakens the institution that is the prime source of France's undeserved prestige.

bulletin board cyberposts from survivors of tidal waves

in their living room

last night, my parents, my two grown children, and i decided to see the life aquatic at a local theatre...

we paid for our tickets, and chose seats high in the stadium-seating style movie house...

we watch the previews, and after a long 20 minutes, saw the beginning of our film...

soon, it became apparent that the child behind us (he appeared to be about 8!) was going to comment or question every event presented that he did not understand or that he found to be "so cooo-ooool."

i resisted for a long time; but, finally turned and put my fingers to my lips "shhh, please."

his mother or grandmother did not even glance in my direction...

the child proceeded to talk in much the way i speak in my own living room while i am watching a t.v. program that intrigues me briefly but does not completely have me under its spell... not only that, but the grandmother or mother answered him, never once suggesting to him that he be a little quieter or perhaps whisper or maybe ask her later...

eventually, we moved...

voter registration in iraq

according to Fox News, 1.2 million iraqis have sought to make certain that they are properly registered to vote in the upcoming election!

how can anyone accuse the iraqis of not caring about their own country when each one faces the possibility of violence in the pursuit of freedom from tyranny... and for freedom of choice of leadership...

pastor hein

in my church this morning, pastor jon hein of the wels beautiful savior lutheran church preached on "seek you first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be given to you." (luke 12:31)

i wrote these paraphrases from his sermon in the margin of my life application bible:

...to achieve our dreams, we need to bring God's desires to the forefront and push ours to the back...

...don't ask God for "cups of soup" (as if we are starving and that is all He will give us) instead ask for the Holy Spirit, ask for sinlessness in the coming year, ask for increasing faith, and for eternal rest through the Christ...

1st john 2: 15-17

pilot injured by laser in september, 2004

lasers targeting planes in mid-air... what's with this? sometimes these events have been accidental; but, others appear to have been deliberate... is this a new form of terrorism? and what, if anything, is being done to identify and prevent these events?

stock market numbers?

hat tip to tigerhawk because i know diddly about the stock market except that i have never lost as much money in one venture as in this one...

vitriole confounds me

the vitriole which pours from the mouths of those who do not know that jesus does indeed exist continues to surprise and confound me... those who say that if jesus does exist then he would say it does not matter whether or not i exist; it only matters that you live as if i do exist... what?

paul, the apostle, would not agree... he said... woe to the christian if God does not exist for then we are truly fools... we have wasted our lives if the Christ does not exist...

Christ must exist... else nothing makes sense...

new mini-poll on assistance for southeast asian disaster

please take my mini-poll

christian relief organizations for tsunami assistance

donate your monies to these christian organizations
hat tip to paul