Jesus Breaks Bread Before His Death

Big Cross In Texas

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Lifting Americans Up To Higher Ground: Mike Huckabee On the Road in Texas

MIKE HUCKABEE emails from Texas:

My candidacy is, and always has been, about convictions – and the issues and core values that are critical to our country’s future, such protecting traditional marriage, the sanctity of life, individual empowerment and a revamping of our federal tax code to encourage productivity. It’s about lifting Americans up, from hope to higher ground, with a positive vision for America’s future that is grounded in a belief in our nation’s basic goodness, and defined by a ‘can—do’ spirit that knows how to gets things done. My goal is to offer Republican voters, a voice and a choice in this election.

The last four out of five U.S. Presidents have been governors, and there is a reason for this: the challenges facing our nation require steady, experienced, executive management. As governor of Arkansas for 10 ½ years, I delivered on my promises to cut taxes 94 times, reduce welfare by half, reform health care for children and our education system, and transform our transportation infrastructure. My record of results, achieved with a Democrat legislature, gives a meaningful viability to my candidacy.

There are millions of Republicans from across this country who have yet to be heard from. Clearly we were disappointed by the results in Wisconsin, but I look forward to campaigning hard in Texas and Ohio this week – and taking my case before the good people of those states.

Jesus' Face Is Wiped

Jesus Nailed to the Cross

Jesus Falls Under Weight of the Cross

Who Would Dare to Ban Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'

Now here's ultimate insanity; attempting to ban an American classic. Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451 is a wonderful book about saving wonderful books from the hands of a fascist, repressive society bent on making everyone a passive reality-television watcher.

The Verms, the family (from Texas) that desires to withhold the right to read Bradbury's classic novel, have forgotten that our forefathers sought to give us freedom of speech and freedom to worship. The Verms have failed to understand that FAHRENHEIT 451 teaches us that freedom of thought is to be cherished and defended, not banned. Mr. Verm actually had the audacity to say that there was no reason to read FAHRENHEIT 451! How sad can a person get?

I don't care if Mr. Verm ever reads Bradbury's book. I don't care if his daughter will not read it. But, I do care about the children in Texas who may not be allowed to study this classic tale in a classroom with a qualified teacher to aid interpretation and appreciation. Nevertheless, if worse comes to worse, I recommend reading FAHRENHEIT 451 in a closet with a flashlight or candle. Just don't burn it!

Michael Ventura: "Panhandle Christs"

Panhandle Christs
BY MICHAEL VENTURA

On I-40 you drive past Groom, Texas, in seconds – a tiny town barely managing to be a town anymore, like many of its kind, clinging to the highway for dear life. Just west of Groom stands the second-highest cross in our hemisphere (there's one slightly larger in Illinois). Its massive, shiny metal glints in the sun, 19 stories high, visible for miles in that flat land. One may wonder whether something so large is a monument to faith or to unadmitted doubt, or some of both; but one may be sure that nothing so expensive is created in a county so poor without deep need. This is thunderstorm country. On many nights Groom's cross must be lit and struck by lightning like the lightning announcing Yahweh's presence in Exodus 19:16 – a light-show counterpointed quickly in 20:21, where Moses draws near "to the thick darkness where God was." The vast plains of the Texas Panhandle are an apt setting to depict the lights and darks of the divine.

Surrounding the Groom monument in a wide oval are refreshingly, earnestly human statues: the Stations of the Cross. Groom's Jesus is Anglo, not Palestinian, shorter than today's average height but taller than Jesus likely was. (The Gospels never suggest his appearance was unusual, so his height was likely average for the time, about five feet.) Groom's cross dwarfs us, but its statues silently convey what feels almost like an appeal: "See, we were much like you; it isn't so hard to understand our sins, our faith, and our sufferings, not if you look into yourselves."

Day and night there are always a dozen or so trucks and cars in the parking lot and people looking up at the high cross and, more accessibly, into the eyes of the statues...

Big Lights in the Sky Over Stephenville, Texas: UFOs?

Jesus Christ Carrying His Cross: Ace Jackalope (Photographer)

Mary, the Mother of Jesus Cries at His Feet

Another Angle of Jesus Christ Before Pilate

Pontius Pilate Washes His Hands of Jesus Christ

Mickey Wells: Stations of the Cross (Metal Statues of Jesus)

Killer Cold: Texas

"This AD14 adenovirus has been around since 1955, but in the last year and a half, it mutated to a more lethal form," said (Dr. Joe) Anzaldua.

Earlier this year, experts believe the virus caused hundreds to get sick at Lackland Airforce Base in San Antonio. Nineteen-year-old trainee Paige Renee Villers died.

There's no scientific explanation for why the virus pops up in certain areas, which means it could happen in Houston, or anywhere.

The symptoms are like any other cold, except doctors said they get continually worse.

They said this virus can kill a person in as little as three days, and it can affect anyone of any age.

There are some common-sense things you can do to help prevent the virus, like washing your hands or using hand sanitizer.

Christ Carries His Cross As Far As He Is Able: Metal Statues Near Amarillo, Texas

Christ Nailed to Cross: Metal Statues Near Amarillo, Texas