The Ruminative Neophyte

PETA, They're Always Good for a Laugh

2010-01-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

So. In the midst of a political blog gorge-fest yesterday afternoon, I came across a funny little blog. This is what he had to say this morning.

OK, I'll stop laughing just long enough to reminisce about one of my favorite lost C-SPAN weekends. It would have been about 5 years ago...yes, I remember it fondly. The rather ordinary, and make-up-less (fine in real life, not so much in front of a camera), woman delivering a passionate plea to her audience to take up...the rights of ants. I thought I mis-heard. I listened again. Nope, I heard right. "Think of all those poor, innocent ants. Everyday, millions of them are killed or maimed just from people carelessly stepping on them. Not to speak of the horrors of their mass-destruction by exterminators and poisons...blah, blah, blah."

I've shared this story with folks in the past. I don't think they really believed me. Who can blame them. No one in his or her right mind could possibly be that obtuse.

This quote from the blogger was my fave: "as long as there are Petapeople out there, I'll never be at a loss for entertainment!" No, but my thesaurus will soon be out of synonyms for "stupid."

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

2010-01-17T19:42:00.000-08:00

In the 1991 film The Super, Joe Pesci, as slumlord Louie Kritski, has 120 days to repair one of his apartment blocks...while living in the rundown block until the repairs are complete. At least that's what it said at IMDb.com. I didn't see it because I don't usually go in for romantic comedies.

I really think, if we want Washington (or Sacramento, as the case may be) to change, that's what should be done. Our representatives should be forced, for six months, to live like real people, while at the same time trying to fix the economy. It would work something like Wife Swap (another flick I missed, I think it was a Bond film?) where some regular person, I don't know, say, some 40-ish woman with five kids and a hectic social & homeschooling schedule, whose husband's job is a handbreath away from elimination, will switch places with a particularly out-of-touch representative of the "people."

To ensure high ratings for the first episode we'll chose the most out-of-touch rep...Nancy Pelosi.

While Nancy is busy with said person's life AND trying to fix the economy she and her cronies in Washington have basically left in tatters, the replacee will have full access to the apparently unlimited funds of congressional big wigs.

Always being one willing to sacrifice for the cause, I will be the first to volunteer. Being aware of where that limitless cash flow comes from I'll be as frugal as possible. Instead of an all expenses paid week in Copenhagen, I'll settle for a week at a resort in Palm Springs. I don't even have to fly. I'd be willing to take the train. (I can't take my own car, she'll need it to lug all my kids and stuff to all their various activities.) After that I'll keep her chair nice and warm up there on the grand stage. I think I can get the knack of wielding a javel quickly. Then I'll eat nice food at restaurants without playlands.

There are only two problems with this idea. First, what to do with Barney Frank. No one in their right mind would let him within a mile of their children. Second, won't the doors of the churches melt when they try to get in? Not to worry on the last account, though. I'm sure the churches in Washington will share their metallurgy secrets with the rest of the world. They have already shared them with Notre Dame.

Nothing new under the sun?

2010-01-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

I am currently working my way through my planned reading list and have started at the top with The Secret Key to Heaven by Thomas Brooks. The book was originally published in 1665, but the following passage reminded me of modern times.

“It would be mirth and music to [Satan] to be continually laying open the follies and weaknesses of the saint.”

Sounds like the media toward conservatives (of any religion or none at all).
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As a follow up to yesterday's post on Haiti I thought I'd share a link to resources discussing suffering that are available from Ligonier.

Suffering. I apologize in advance for not having read through everything on the link before this recommendation so I am unable to comment on which article, etc, is most worth your limited time.

Cause of Haiti's Troubles

2010-01-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

By now even the most ardent news-hater has heard about Pat Robertson's notorious explanation of Why Haiti was hit by a 7.0 earthquake and has suffered such loss of life and such sorrow. I have refrained from comment to avoid the innate knee-jerk reaction politics invokes. Theology requires more thought (probably why most people avoid it).

Obviously not all Christians believe as Robertson does. But it would be interesting to ask them why they don't. Do they simply believe that God is a God of love, therefore He would never do such a thing. If so, what do they attribute the suffering to? Chance? Then God isn't much of a God of love to leave such a horrible thing to chance.

In actuality either position can be dispelled simply by both Scripture and history. Scripture and history are replete with people who were incredibly blessed with worldly blessings despite their Godlessness. Equally, we see millions of Godly people who suffer under the general curse of the fall. This has been since the beginning of time. I could start when Godly Abel was slain by godless Cain, but then it would take millions of writing hours I do not have.

Robertson's theology is weak. SE Cupp accused Robertson on Red Eye of being a literalist. She herself is terribly misinformed on the issue as was made obvious by this statement. If Robertson were a true literalist wouldn't he also have to account for all these facts I don't have time to mention? No, unfortunately, it appears that Robertson has, instead, decided to create a theology of his own. This is an idolatry all too common in the church. "The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him." Tozer.

The simple answer to what happened in Haiti is found in Christ's words: He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matt. 5:45b.

Christian Non-Fiction Challenge 2010

2010-01-11T22:16:00.000-08:00

Found this awesome reading challenge via Becky's blog.

Here are my books, for the moment. Fortunately the challenge includes changes. :-) (And if reading these books doesn't cure my insomnia encouraged addiction to Red Eye, I give up. ;-))

1) The Secret Key to Heaven by Thomas Brooks

2) Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs

3) Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Lorraine Boettner

4) Instruction in the Faith by John Calvin (reading with my 13 yo--hope that counts)

5) Christianity & Western Thought by Colin Brown

6) The Canon of Scripture by FF Bruce

7) Jonathan Edwards by George Marsden

8) Worship by Hughes Oliphant Old

9) The Providence of God by Paul Helm

10) Putting Amazing Back into Grace by Michael Horton

Somebody wake me out of this really bad dream...

2010-01-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

So I had a dream the other night. No, I guess I can't call it a dream, it was more like a nightmare. In it a very famous and respected (in Hollywood) director decided to make a "documentary" to help dispel the myths surrounding ne'er-do-wells such as Hitler & Stalin, seein's they was just a couple o' misunderstood folks. (I could almost hear the Dukes of Hazard theme music at one point.) I writhed in my sleep, the way one does when trying to force oneself awake as the dream is about to turn ugly, but it was to no avail. No matter what I did, I could not force my eyes open. It wasn't until I decided to dream slam my fingers in the door and experienced real, excruciating pain from the incident, that I found it was no dream at all. It was reality.

THR: Oliver Stone’s ‘Secret History’ to put Hitler ‘in context’

Just'a good ol' boys
Never meanin' no harm.
Beats all you never saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born

Staightnin' the curves
Flat'nin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em
But the law never will
Makin' their way
The only way they know how
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow.

Thoughts on the Coming Year

2010-01-10T22:44:00.000-08:00

(Note to self: Never start a blog right before Christmas if you actually want to write anything.)

I was composing the most fascinating entry, then I was interrupted by a baby who felt the need for a bottle. Hey, if Obama can blame everything on Bush, I can at least blame a few things on my kids.

In light of the derailment of my train of thought and the subsequent death of my planned entry, I think I will simply link to a very excellent post I read at Big Government this morning.

How I Spent My Hawaiian Vacation

As I said in my comments on the site, real families (and by real I mean my family) won't be taking vacation this year. And I meant it. As 2010 dawns, the looming tax hike & possibility of layoffs by my husband's employer, make a vacation an utter impossibility. I try not to think about it because it depresses me, and I hate being depressed. I like to look for the good & try to keep upbeat. There's enough pain in the world, I don't need to be one myself.

I suppose, though, this is the "change" Obama promised. A future so bleak that those of us who normally can find the good in a pile of...well, you know...can barely look past the next week without feeling a certain level of fear & uncertainty. Leave off the lack of vacation, the potential of our lost income...what about my children's future? Saddled with this enormous debt, how will they ever hope to acheive what their parents and grandparents acheived? My children love to talk about how they want to start their own business when they get older. They want to design video games (are there any boys between the ages of 5 & 17 who DON'T want to do this?). I wonder if they will even be able to get a job at Denny's with their college degrees.

Add to this Fox News' apparent decision to NOT post Andy Levy's Half Time Report on their website anymore and I have to say, this year is not looking too promising. Do you think the FCC had something to do with this debacle? Nah, they can't even get their work in on time. (FCC Misses Deadline for Broadband Plan)

Twisted Scripture

2009-12-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

This morning, my coffee over facebook was disturbed by this little article from CNS News. While it certainly feels like a knife in the gut for a Christian to hear a person claiming to represent Christ say that it is a woman's God-given right to murder her child, it is not really surprising. I don't hear it a lot but since Scripture has been twisted to support so many other false teachings, it should be expected that people can bend the Word of God to justify infanticide.

While I'm never truly surprised about this sort of thing I am always perplexed. Why? Why do people feel the need to so utterly convolute the Word of God in order to excuse their immoral behavior? I have heard people try to use Scripture to excuse everything from extra-marital affairs to child abuse. Wouldn't it be simpler, though, if those people, who so want to disobey God, were just to leave the Church? It would sure make their Sunday's easier. They could sleep in, mow the lawn, watch the game, commit any number of transgressions, and be happier for it. Why do they need to hear from the pulpit the lie that God condones their lifestyle choices?

I have no answer so if you do feel free to let me know. As for this debacle, Priests for Life has a page that answers all the "Scriptural" arguments for abortion.

(Disclaimer: I am Protestant, not Catholic, but trying to find scholarly evangelical works on abortion or medical ethics is like trying to find a Blue Dog Democrat...I don't think they exist.)

Warning: Idiot With Teleprompter

2009-12-02T00:46:00.000-08:00

I was out, as usual, this evening so I was not fortunate enough to be able to watch our esteemed (though by whom I don't care to know) President bore, er, I mean, give a speech to our West Point cadets. I did, however, find the transcript online. I tried to read it, I really did. But I was supposed to be chaperoning for a show and it's difficult to chaperone and sleep at the same time. As I read through the first of 10 pages I found myself asking, "What...is he saying?" I thought, perhaps I'm just very exhausted after a day of cleaning up puke from my 2yo sickling. Maybe it does make sense, though, again, to whom I don't care to know.

Fortunately, Pat Dollard hit it on the head with this quote from his Twitter: "Gibberish. This is all gibberish about a world he wishes were, instead of the world that is." This is exactly the problem with PrezO, and all the other Liberals trying to ruin this country. I have nothing against idealism, but if it is not rooted in reality it turns into something ugly, like Socialism.

At any rate, Obama offers more troops, but promises a pull out date. I am of two minds regarding this. 1) Pull out dates are a nice thing to give to the mothers but they have no basis in reality (cf We'll be home by Christmas hope after D-Day). 2) Obama is just stupid enough to stand by it regardless of the situation. After watching the last year's worth of politicking unfold like the storyline of a bad reality show, I will go with 2.

Essentially, then, he has just told our enemies, the people who want to see us dead, that all they need to do is hold out until 2011, and victory will be theirs. What will that victory look like? What are the consequences to our men and women doing the fighting, of unequivocally stating, "We surrender, but not just yet?"

I suppose this is a situation where Obama wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to look like he's doing something in Afghanistan because his poll numbers are so bad and someone has mentioned to him that Americans like military stuff. On the other hand, he doesn't really want to win because that would make America look good and nothing could be more intolerable. By pandering to both sides, he makes himself look like a complete idiot. No longer a very difficult thing for the man to do, but this time he did it WITH the teleprompter running.

So, the Hokey-Pokey really is what it's all about.

2009-11-30T21:58:00.000-08:00

I had another topic for my first blog entry but that will have to wait since I just read about a case in New Hampshire where a judge ordered a homeschooled child into the government school.

Now, I am one of those atypical (these days) religious homeschoolers who feel that people should decide for their own families how to educate their children. God's word is silent on the exact location of education, though not on the religious and moral upbringing. If a family believes that their child can get a good education at their local public school or at a private school of their choice, and is willing to do the extra work to adequately train their child "in the way he should go," I cannot see where they are breaking any commandments.

However, this case highlights something that homeschoolers (both left and right) have argued for decades, namely, public school is not really about education, it's about indoctrination. If the judge truly believed that the main purpose of learning was to grasp the ABCs and 123s, so-to-speak, this case wouldn't have gone anywhere. He would have looked at the girl's scores, seen she was doing exceedingly well academically, maybe even given the mother a nice pat on the back, we'd never have heard of it, and I'd have been able to publish my other blog entry. But that's not what happened. Despite how well the child is doing she has been ordered into the government school system simply to be exposed to other ideas.

Only one with his feet planted firmly in the sophistry of the public schools could be blind enough not to see this for what it is: forced re-education.

Just Another Freakin' Blog

2009-11-30T00:40:00.000-08:00

Why am I here? There are a million blogs just like this one out in cyber-space. So why am I writing?

Mostly this is just a place to work out thoughts that cannot be turned into the pithy one-liners I've become famous for. Here I can ruminate all I need, and show off my incredible thesaurus skills.

Now, will I write anything? Not so regular as those that are tops. I have this odd thing called a life. Not that other bloggers don't. They've just incorporated blogging into their lives. I have never been able to find a way to do this. It might be those five pesky kids I have underfoot night and day. It might be that rebellious act of homeschooling said five pesky kids. It might be the extra-curricular activities of said five pesky kids that keeps me out and about all afternoon and evening.

Hmmm...no, I must be honest. It is not my children, it is my interest in reading and contemplating what others have taken the time to set forth at their own blogs and websites. So, in that spirit, I will contemplate the news of the day, my take on the snowball-headed-for-hell policies that the current administration desires to cram down our throats, Islamophobia-phobia, the Arts, flair on facebook and my latest troubles with TweetDeck--which I use, essentially, to stalk the guys at Red Eye.

So, please, if you desire to follow, sit back, relax, and lower your expectations exponentially.