Jul 11 2008

Friday Tidbits

Tag: news and politicsSteve @ 10:20 am

I think I saw this in a movie once…

Kids Sail In Waters Where Shark Sighting Reported

Do you hear music? EDGARTOWN (WBZ) ― The beaches on Martha’s Vineyard are open again after two Great White shark sightings, but beach officials are going to be on high alert as hundreds of kids hit the water for a sailboat regatta.

Sheriff Martin Brody Harbormaster Charlie Blair said 300 kids will be racing on Friday as part of Edgartown Race Week. The race is not being called off, but all eyes will be on the water, searching for sharks that could be swimming around.

Today, as the busy beaches on the island reopen, Blair said people are swimming at their own risk.

And I think this story is just natural selection in action…

Lightning Strike Leaves Through Woman’s Nose Ring

ANTRIM, N.H. (WBZ) ― A 21-year-old Antrim woman is recovering after being struck by lightning Wednesday night. The bolt hit her feet and came out through her nose ring.

Jessica Lafreniere was hit while she was walking through her family’s garage.

“She had walked into the garage to go outside to turn off the faucet. The light came in through the garage and hit her,” Jessica’s mother, Danielle Taylor told WBZ.

“It was like a red flash that came from her feet and she was thrown into my arms. She was blue and purple, and stiff as a board.  When you hear it, it’s unbelievable, but it’s true.”

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Jul 10 2008

Homosexual Sues Zondervan for ‘Emotional Duress and Mental Instability’

Tag: faith, news and politics, religionSteve @ 13:54 pm

It was only a matter of time, I suppose.  Rick at HolyCoast posts a WorldNet Daily article about a Michigan man suing Zondervan and Thomas Nelson publishers for printing bibles that call homosexuality a sin.

“A homosexual man who has a blog on Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign website is suing two major Christian publishers for violating his constitutional rights and causing emotional pain, because the Bible versions they publish refer to homosexuality as a sin.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, of Canton, Mich., is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and another $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing in lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the Grand Rapids Press reported.

Fowler filed his claim against Grand Rapids-based Zondervan Monday, alleging its Bibles’ references to homosexuality as a sin have made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of “demoralization, chaos and bewilderment,” the paper said.  He filed suit against Tennessee publisher Thomas Nelson in June.

Zondervan says that even if Fowler’s claim is credible, he’s suing the wrong party. A company spokesman told WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids that Zondervan doesn’t translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of the translations but relies, instead, on the “scholarly judgment of credible translation committees.”

U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. refused Monday to appoint an attorney to represent Fowler in the Thomas Nelson case, saying the court “has some very genuine concerns about the nature and efficacy of these claims.”

Fowler, who is representing himself in both lawsuits, says in his complaint against Zondervan that the publisher intended to design a religious, sacred document to reflect an individual opinion or a group’s conclusion to cause “me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence … including murder.”

Fowler alleges both Zondervan and Thomas Nelson, with its King James Bible, manipulated Scripture without informing the public by using the term “homosexuals” in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9.
He told the Grand Rapids TV station in an interview he wants to “compensate for the past 20 years of emotional duress and mental instability.”

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Jun 26 2008

A Political Post - and a Disclaimer

Tag: faith, news and politicsSteve @ 11:53 am

First, the disclaimer: as Christians, our hope is not in leaders or in governments, but in Christ.  If we put our hopes anywhere else, we’re guaranteed of disappointment.

Secondly, I caught two interesting articles today, one on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Second Amendment case, and the second on the possibility of evangelicals staying away from the elections this fall. 

The SCOTUS decision was interesting in that it showed that the court was willing to address such fundamental issues.  From YahooNews :

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.

The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.

The Constitution does not permit “the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home,” [Justice] Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington’s requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks.

What’s troubling is that it was a 5-4 decision.  The next president will likely appoint 2-3 new justices to the court; what happens if the wrong guy gets elected and those new justices are Ginsberg or Souter clones?  Hard times for civil liberties…

That leads to the other article, also from YahooNews , which suggests that evangelicals might sit out this election because John McCain is hardly a social conservative.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - If Christian conservatives stay on the sidelines during the fall campaign, presidential hopeful John McCain probably stays in the Senate.

Christian conservatives provided much of the on-the-ground, door-to-door activity for President Bush’s 2004 re-election in Ohio and in other swing states. Without them, the less-organized and lower-profile McCain campaign is likely to struggle to replicate Bush’s success. And so far, there’s been scant sign that the Republican nominee-in-waiting is making inroads among these fervent believers.

“I don’t know that McCain’s campaign realizes they cannot win without evangelicals,” said David Domke, a professor of communication at the University of Washington who studies religion and politics. “What you see with McCain is just a real struggle to find his footing with evangelicals.”

Family groups in Ohio outlined their doubts about the Arizona senator in a meeting with McCain’s advisers last weekend. They’re concerned about his record on abortion rights and on campaign finance laws that they believe limited their ability to criticize candidates who are pro-choice on abortion.

McCain is damaged goods as far as many (including me) are concerned, but he’s all we have.  Hopefully, he will choose a good social conservative VP, like Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal .  If you’re concerned that future Supreme Court decisions could go the wrong way, hold your nose and vote for John McCain.  Damaged goods are better than no goods at all.

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Jun 25 2008

A McCain/Palin Ticket?

Tag: news and politicsSteve @ 13:10 pm

Palin-McCain 2008There are lots of rumors floating around regarding Cranky-Old-Man’ s choice of running mates, but he couldn’t do better than Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (previous post here ).  There are several ‘Draft Palin” sites that have been drawing traffic, including PalinforVP.com and Draft Sarah Palin for Vice-President .  The ‘official’ logo has the names reversed, but I like this one better.

By the way, go here for an AOL News VP preference poll.

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Jun 20 2008

Dispelling the Lies about Barack Hussein Obama

Tag: funny stuff, news and politicsSteve @ 16:19 pm

There are a lot of lies floating around about BHO, so in the interest of fairness, here is the real truthiness.  (HT: IMAO )

LIE: Barack Obama once went on a killing spree through all 57 states.
TRUTH: There aren’t actually 57 states. He misspoke.

LIE: The only thing Barack Obama loves more than America is jihad.
TRUTH: Barack Obama loves many things more than America.

LIE: You have to be retarded to think Barack Obama is a good candidate for president.
TRUTH: You could also just hate America and wish it ill will.

LIE: Barack Obama was originally raised as a Muslim.
TRUTH: Barack Obama converted from Wiccan to Islam in his teens.

LIE: Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein.
TRUTH: It’s actually a swearword unfit for print. Directed at your mom.

LIE: Barack Obama wants to seize your guns.
TRUTH: He has no interest in your guns. After you’re imprisoned for owning firearms, he’ll let the police do as they may with them.

LIE: Barack Obama has a long record of being a liberal.
TRUTH: Barack Obama doesn’t have a long record of doing anything. Name one liberal thing he’s done. Name anything he’s done. Come on; I dare you.

LIE: Barack Obama is planning to kill the pope.
TRUTH: Liars! There is no way anyone could have found out about his plan!

LIE: Barack Obama sold out Israel to Iran in exchange for a bag of magic beans.
TRUTH: The beans aren’t really magic.

Glad we were able to settle that…

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Jun 13 2008

Obama vs McCain

Tag: funny stuff, news and politicsSteve @ 22:12 pm

How many of us are feeling about the upcoming election.  (HT: IMAO )

whoever wins, we lose

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May 30 2008

Why Don’t These People Ever Follow Through on Their Promises?

Tag: news and politicsSteve @ 08:31 am

susan sarandon

(HT: NY Post via Drudge )

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May 22 2008

Sarah Palin for President

Tag: news and politicsSteve @ 08:34 am

Governor Sarah PalinAlaska governor Sarah Palin definitely has her priorities in order.  She recently gave birth to a son, Trig Paxson Palin , who she knew early in her pregnancy would suffer from Downs Syndrome.

Over a month ago, her office announced that the 44-year-old and her husband, Todd, were expecting their fifth child in May. It was a secret the beguiling brunette, a runner, managed to keep from even her staff.

Then, April 18, she surprised us again by giving birth a month early to Trig Palin, 6 pounds, 2 ounces. In true Sarah fashion, her amniotic fluid leaked in Texas, she gave a speech at a Republican Governors Association convention as scheduled anyway, and then returned to Alaska to deliver.

Immediately the family made this announcement: “Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives.”

“We’ve both been very vocal about being pro-life,” Palin said. “We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential.”

As if that wasn’t enough, she has directed the Alaska State Attorney General to sue the federal government to prevent the listing of polar bears as a threatened species.  Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne listed the species in response to pressure from the global warming crowd and enviro groups that seek to stop oil development at any cost.  Polar bear populations have soared in recent years, so Kempthorne’s decision is doubly ludicrous.

From a FoxNews piece:

[Governor Palin] and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state’s northern and northwestern coasts.

Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said.

Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, said Palin, a Republican.

I hear John McCain is looking for a running mate, but I think Gov Palin’s integrity and sense of duty to her family and her country would overshadow McCain.

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May 19 2008

Prickly City Gets McCain, Too

Tag: news and politicsSteve @ 10:38 am

Prickly City on John McCain.  (HT: Night Writer )

Prickly city

 

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May 16 2008

Bob Barr to the Rescue

Tag: funny stuff, news and politicsSteve @ 10:01 am

At least Chris Muir at Day by Day gets it.

     

Day by Day 051608

     

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