Bury them in pigskin

I don't know if this is true or just an internet rumour, I've never seen a legit article about it. If it is true that radical muslims believe they go to hell if buried in pigskin then that is what we should be doing! I mean it's not like there is really a god named allah who is on the side of these terrorists and they actually go to paradise when they murder as many innocent victims as possible. They do everything right, kill 300 infidels, go to paradise the instant of their death...but wait, they just buried what's left of you in pigskin, sorry, you'll have to leave now, go to hell then. That's as silly as saying that a little Japanese or Thai (or whatever) baby who dies and never heard the name Jesus Christ is going to go to hell and burn in hellfire for eternity. An all loving, forgiving God, with all the power of the universe and more is going to send the poor kid to hell? Don't people question what they've been taught? Does that make any sense? It doesn't become reality just because someone or some religion or some country believes it. Many don't believe in God at all, does that make it true? Millions in India believe a cow is god, does that make it true? Bury them in pigskin, it will scare them and have no impact on what really happens to them after death, so it doesn't hurt anything. So what if they are offended, we are offended when they fly our airplanes into our buildings and kill our people, it doesn't stop them.

It's not that I don't think people are entitled to believe whatever they want, they certainly are. But radical islamists have declared themselves our enemy. We would love to live peacably with them but they won't have it. If we don't stop them they will kill us. They really will, they are not just kidding around, and we need to use every means to stop them. Their religion tells them to do this so their religion is not deserving of any respect.

Helpful website

This is a very useful site, check it out.

LibrarySpot.com

One MoreTime

What can it hurt? He goes over the atrocities of Saddam Hussein for any who missed them.

Why we're going to liberate Iraq.

The Lizard

James and I went outside to play and he found a lizard in a big flowerpot. He was chasing it around and it kept coming back to look over the edge like it was playing with him. I got the camera and took some pictures of the lizard. James wanted to see so I let him look at the pictures I took. He was looking at a closeup of the lizard, suddenly he turned to the lizard, showed it the picture, and said "Look, this is you!" The lizard wasn't fazed and just kept looking at him.

The Rage and the Pride

I came across another superb article today. It's written by Oriana Fallaci who was 14 and living in Italy during World War II. It's called The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt and you should read it.

"When peace stands for surrender, fear, loss of dignity and freedom, it is no longer peace. It's suicide."

It's the end of the world as we know it...not just yet

The war with Iraq is not the end of the world. It's just another "war and rumours of wars" and it is not prophecied in the bible.

Are we in the "end times?"

Matthew 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Can we know the time is near?

Matthew 24:32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

What things?

Matthew 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. 23 Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Wow, that's really long, I don't want to read all that. Can you summarize that?

Matthew 24:15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Matthew 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

Is that all? What if I want to learn more?

Spend some time on this website.

Read this book: The Great Tribulation...Is it about to happen?

What if I don't care?

Skip over this part and read about the lightbulb.

So Let the Side Show Begin, hurry, hurry

Step right on in...

Here's the homepage of a lightbulb. OK, so it's been burning since 1901. A world record lightbulb. And here's a companion article. And yes, there is a bulb cam. Watch it now, try to contain yourself. If you watch long enough maybe you'll see it go out.

Wait, hold the phone, there's more! The bulb has a twin sister! The twin sister visited the the world record bulb, and there are pictures to prove it. Don't miss the Satuday afternoon sequence either...riviting!

Stand back!! There's a colage of the amazing bulb cam! Stock up on Depends® before you view it, please.

I need a break.

Life Lessons

We learn the lessons in life we are to learn in two ways: either through obedience to natural laws or through suffering the consequences of not observing those laws...None of us consciously create the suffering we experience. -- Karol Truman, Feelings Buried Alive Never Die, 1998.

Just Do It

I'm trying to get Joshua and James to pick up the mess they created in the living room. Joshua thinks picking up all the little toys and putting them on the table or windowsill is cleaning. James is wearing my old cowboy boots he found in the back of his closet. Every few minutes a fight breaks out. I need to get some positive energy flowing here. Just breathe - out with the negativity, in with the positivity. Is that how you spell positivity? I have to ask Mike Tyson.

Facing Brute Fact

I found a link at lgf to Our World-Historical Gamble by Lee Harris. You really need to find some time, sit down and read this essay. However, for the unwilling, I have included a few paragraphs below:


"This gives a sense of Greek tragedy, with its dialectic of hubris and nemesis, to what has been unfolding in the Islamic world. If they continue to use terror against the West, their very success will destroy them. If they succeed in terrorizing the West, they will discover that they have in fact only ended by brutalizing it. And if subjected to enough stress, the liberal system will be set aside and the Hobbesian world will return - and with its return, the Islamic world will be crushed. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad. And the only way to avoid this horrendous end is to bring the Islamic world back to sanity sooner rather than later.

Nothing but force can break them from their illusion. Not because there is something wrong with them as a race, but simply because they are acting like any other individual who has been permitted to live in a dream world - they continue to fantasize. And who can blame them? It is only brute fact that shakes any of us from the single most cherished of our illusions - the myth of our own grandeur and omnipotence. And this is as true of a culture as of an individual."

"The motivations of those who want to murder us are not complicated: To watch an American city go up into a fireball is its own reward."

"The modern liberal world system has permitted the growth of power in the hands of those who have not had to cope with reality in order to acquire this power: it has simply been given to them, out of the sense of fair play prevalent among Western liberal societies. Iraq was paid for its oil, which in return paid for its weapons - and both were produced by us, to be used against us. But this, tragically, has had the unintended consequence of diminishing the value of the sense of the realistic in the eyes of those who have thus acquired their power and wealth - a fact just as much in evidence in the behavior of Saudi Arabia as in that of Iraq. It is the re-enactment, on a world-historical scale, of what has been done by many well-meaning Americans in the case of their own children - by giving them so much, we have robbed them of that indispensable sense of the realistic that can only be achieved by the head-on collisions with the irremovable object called the real world. We have nourished their fantasies, instead of forcing them to face the facts of life. And in doing so, we have done no one any service - least of all, the hapless multitude of impoverished human beings who have themselves derived no benefit whatsoever from the West's fair play, and whose children's lives will continue to be wasted in the counter-productive pursuit of their leaders' delusional dreams."

"Our aim is simple. It is to make the Islamic fantasists respect the dictates of reality. If they wish to compete with us, if they wish even to be our enemies, we will accept that, as we accepted this situation with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But they must be made to accept the basic rules of play - rules that are accepted by the rest of mankind, from the U.S. to Communist China."

"And that is why, in order to achieve our end of heightening their grasp on reality, no means should be ruled out. We must be prepared to use force "unstintingly," as Woodrow Wilson declared on America's reluctant entry into World War I. On this count, we must have no illusions. Until they are willing to play by our rules, we must be prepared to play by theirs."

Will we get it?

It's too bad the world is not willing to act in concert to stop the insanity. Can you imagine if the only hope for mankind was ourselves? The United Nations? Is it really possible to survive this mess without God intervening to save us from ourselves? You don't even want to think about all that is wrong with this world. You mind begins to short circuit at the 3rd or 4th item on the list. Who wants to think about all these things we can't control anyway? Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

They were warned for 120 years, yet they "knew not"... and so it goes.

Truth

"The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear."
- H. Agar, A Time for Greatness

"The important thing is this: To be able to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."
- Charles Debois

/var/log/otto

This site can now be reached at the following address: www.varlogotto.com. You will still be able to reach the site from the old address for the time being, I have no plans to move, yet. Please update your links.

Greaser Boy

James finally has his old hair back after the vaseline incident...that stuff doesn't come out easy! Irma got some Spongebob Squarepants band-aids for him and he keeps getting one, putting it on his knee, then after 15 minutes he takes it off and after a while starts all over again. I had to put a stop to that and he wasn't too happy about it. Too bad. I'm just waiting for Irma to come home so I can go to bed. Hurry please!

Are we there yet?

Sun-Times columnist Mark Steyn writes of the "interminable non-rush to non-war." in The naked truth: Protesters have run out of excuses

My favorite line? "If we have to have an incoherent, anti-Western ''peace'' movement, then women showing off their hooters in support of a culture that would stone them to death for showing off their ankles is about as good as it's gonna get."

And: " One British teacher said he was used to working with young children and would have preferred to be deployed at an orphanage. The Iraqi official tried, patiently, to explain that the orphanage has already got all the human shields it needs: They're called ''orphans.''

The bewildered Brit seemed to find this hard to follow: Here's a man who's convinced that Bush and Rumsfeld are slavering to drop a bunch of daisycutters on the orphanage and blow a ton of Iraqi moppets to kingdom come, but thinks that they'll cease and desist just because some droning Welsh leftist is sitting amongst all those inviting underage targets."

What more can you say?

"The essence of lying is in deception, not in words."

Hans Blix failed to inform the security council about an Iraqi remotely piloted drone in his oral presentation. Oops. Seeking the Truth in Iraq by Geoff Metcalf

Best quote: "Recently a well-intended friend was asking why go after Iraq when North Korea is rattling nuclear sabers so loudly. My response was and is: We should have already finished with Iraq and now be engaged in dulling the North Korean sabers before they fuel their nuclear arsenal."

Sleep? What sleep?

Sunday was one of those days when I couldn't get any sleep if my life depended on it. Sometimes I wish Irma would just take the kids to her Mother's house. James woke up early, 15 minutes after I laid down. He had some milk and watched TV for a little while but wanted to play. The cows were in heat or something, they were bellowing like mad. Everytime I would fall asleep something or someone would wake me up. I kept getting more and more tired but I had no chance at all. There's not much worse than being disturbed everytime you just fall asleep. Every time. I came close to just going to work early and laying down in a room till it was time to work. Very close. I get more sleep during the week when I have to to take care of the kids by myself all day and work nights.

Safari feature

I'm sitting here in the dark surfing some sites and discovered, quite by accident, a new (to me) cool feature of the Safari web browser. I've never heard anyone mention it before. If you have links on the bookmark bar you can open them with the keyboard by touching the command key + a number (1 - 9). It will open up to the ninth link. It skips over any folders on the bar. Pretty cool if you don't want to use the mouse, it's faster.

I don't understand why some people still don't get this. Here's a quote from Neal Boortz:

This Is The Guy The Appeasers Are Protecting

"Intelligence sources say Saddam Hussein has outfitted some of his most loyal troops uniforms that are, in every detail, exactly like American and British army uniforms.  His plan?  His troops will have instructions to murder Iraqi citizens while wearing these British and American uniforms.  The atrocities will then be blamed on the coalition forces.

Would he do it?  Of course he would.  It's Saddam who's the inhuman monster, not the coalition leaders.  Will the world's media fall for it?  You bet!  It's Bush they are painting as the bad guy here? not Hussein.

Isn't it a screwy world ? where those who would kill their own citizens in cold blood are held up as victims and those who would stop them are the bad guys?"  - Neal Boortz.

I guess some people will never get it.

A frightening place without Saddam?

Do they learn to be this stupid in school?

"The operational theory of the shields never made much sense: that they could stop a war that would be heedlessly waged against civilians by presenting the U.S. military with the possibility that it might hit a few civilians. Top shield Ken O'Keefe, an American, addresses this paradox by arguing that only white civilians matter to the United States, so the shields can stop bombs even as Iraqi civilians are killed."

You have to read the whole thing. The shameful human shields


The World Today

"The problem is that we have few, if any, maps to guide us on the journey or even to show us how to find the path. The modern world can be viewed as a prodigious conspiracy against mastery. We are bombarded with promises of fast, immediate gratification, and immediate and instant success, all of which lead in exactly the wrong direction." - George Leonard.

Taking it to it's ultimate conclusion:

Matthew 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

One narrow path leads to life, every other way to destruction (death). The opposite of life is death, this is not speaking of heaven/hell.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That's what God says.

Again with the human shields

Apparently, they don't like being told what to do. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Let Michelle speak: Send the human shields 'home'


Boycott...wait, I don't watch them anyway. Nevermind.

The are some actors who I've been very disappointed to hear speak. I mean, I thought they were alright, I liked to see them in movies. Janeane Garafalo comes to mind but there are others. I don't go to the movies (hardly ever) but I might catch a movie on HBO at work or rent them at blockbuster once in a while, and when I see these peace activist actors now
I tend to not want to watch the movie at all. I think ultimately that's a good thing anyway, most movies are just a wasteful distraction anyway.

I almost forgot to put the link that got me on this subject. Silly me. Hollywood should stick to acting, not activism.

never going to be 'allies' of ours again

Here's a quote from Andrew Sullivan that I found very interesting, perhaps not the way he meant it.

Speaking of George Bush:

"He just seemed very, very sad that it must come to this. Very sad to have to admit that France and Germany are likely never going to be 'allies' of ours again. Forcing the vote will force their hands...they will reveal whether they are with us or the terrorists...then there will be a break. Bush seems full of regret that this break will happen. I think he's disappointed in Putin, too, whom he trusted. But he didn't seem defeated to me. Howard Fineman said it best. He was grim, somber, inexorable...he was Shane, the reluctant cowboy, strapping on a gun to protect his family. I didn't think he looked tired...just terribly regretful and thoughtful."

Bible prophesy reveals that Germany, heading a United States of Europe, will indeed be our enemy again. Watch and see.

Luke 21:36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

The Real Warmongers

It's unbelievable to me to hear people call President Bush a warmonger when it is so easy to see what goes on in the rest of the world, and especially the Islamic world. You have to literally ignore what half the rest of the world does. I was going to write something about this news piece earlier - there is absolutely no correlation between Bin Laden and our founding fathers and this lady should be disqualified from public office for even thinking it. I put it off because I had other things going on and then I saw this commentary and he stole my thunder:

9/11 - "ACTS OF SACRED PIETY?"

Washing my Hair

James went in his room, I didn't hear anything for a minute so I got up to look and he proudly told me he was washing his hair. "What? With what? Vaseline! Jaaames!" What a mess and it doesn't wash out.

Naptime

I put James in the crib for a nap and I was sitting here on the computer waiting for him to fall asleep. I heard a little noise, turned and there was James in the hall sneaking around. As I started to get up he ran back to his room and jumped up into his crib, I turned the corner into his room just in time for him to turn around and say " What?", as if he hadn't done a thing. Little bugger!

Iraqi Americans speak out

"If you want to protest that it's not okay to send your kids to fight, that's okay. But please don't claim to speak for the Iraqis. We've seen 5 million people protesting, but none of them were Iraqis. They don't know what's going on inside Iraq. France and whoever else, please shut up."

That was a quote from The Horrors of "Peace" From the March 10, 2003 issue of The Weekly Standard: Saddam's victims tell their stories. by Stephen F. Hayes

Blackhole

It is very difficult to have any sympathy for Palestinians. I know their Arab brothers have shut them out and are using them against Israel, which is a horrific crime unto itself, but what they do to and with their children is beyond sick and their is no justification for it, nor can there ever be. Palestinian children have no chance for a normal life no matter what happens, their minds are poisoned with lies and hatred beyond the ability to comprehend it and even if they managed to drive Israel into the sea and kill every man, woman and child in Israel, which is their stated goal, they could never return to a normal human mindset. They are a blackhole of hatred. Report: 12-year-old Palestinian boy's martyrdom 'staged'

Care and Feeding of Jaguar

OS X Drive Maintenance

Under God?

Ceremonial deism or real faith?

It's such a warm night tonight (mid 70's) and driving to work, past the orange groves, the sweet smell of the orange trees signal the beginning of the hayfever season. Must. Get. Claritin.

At home Wednesday the kids couldn't be in the same room for 2 seconds without fighting over something. Sometimes ...I just had a memory of my greatgrandmother sitting in her living room, watching Johnny Carson, and saying "yeaaah." Strange what pops into the head sometimes. That house is long gone, a parking lot on Forest Ave. in Kearny, NJ, but I still can almost feel being there. The way the sheets felt, the ticking clocks, the old, scary picture of some long forgotten lady on the wall. Looking out the window at night watching the bar on the corner across the street, the closet with the curtain for a door with the monsters behind it, the steep stairs, the player piano. That house had a certain feel to it that sticks with me, I wish I could step back in time and walk through it again.

A little comic relief: Franks Towing.

Craig Winn, one of the authors of Tea with Terrorists was on the radio again Monday morning. Muslims were calling in left and right trying to refute him. The only thing they could do was call him a liar and say since he doesn't speak arabic he couldn't possibly understand what the so called "holy" books say. Apparently if you translate them to english the meaning changes. And one said he didn't know how to pronounce an arabic word so he obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.

Today a muslim woman called in and said she was so upset and filled with hatred toward the host and the guest that she decided to read the books they were reading from to prove them wrong. She appologized over and over and said they were absolutely right, that she was deceived by the people who taught her the religion and if you don't listen to what they say and just read the books (in arabic) they are filled with hatred and everything they were saying is true. She said the God of the west was a God of love and the god of the east was a god of hate. Those were her words, I kid you not. It was very moving to hear her. This was on the Shannon Burke show.

It's no surprise to me people aren't taught what the scriptures actually say. Mainstream Christians and Jews also are not really familiar with the scriptures either. They are taught doctrine and shown by a proof text taken out of context here and there and generally accept what they have been taught. The real meaning and message remains a mystery.

As an example:

It says nothing about a rapture in the bible, not there. The proof text is taken out of context and the meaning perverted.

You are not born again when you accept Christ. Jesus very plainly explains you cannot be born again if you are flesh and blood, when you are born again you are a spirit and invisible to human eyes.

The ten commandments are just as binding today as ever.

Clean and unclean foods were known before the flood, long before Israel (and therefore Judah) existed. They are also still binding today although the Jewish religion takes it far beyond what is intended, many Jewish laws were added to Gods laws. This is part of the reason Jesus Christ was always offending them, he had no respect for the added "traditions of men".

God never changes, even if it is the 21st century. His laws were, are and always will be in effect.

Jesus did not die on a cross, it was a "starros", an upright pale, or a tree. His arms were nailed above his head.

There is no hell (beyond what we've done to our societies) and you don't go to heaven when you die.

I won't go on, though I could. For those truly interested more information is available here

All Because Of Just One Man...

Here's a commentary by Dennis Prager on the Dan Rather/Saddam interview, which I didn't see...happily. How could anyone take that seriously?


We went to Denny's to eat Monday evening and had the same waitress as last time we went. I didn't mention it last time but I ordered the Fish and Chips dinner and when she asked what I wanted with it I was a little confused because she didn't make sense, but it worked out and the fish came with fries and cole slaw. So this was the conversation this time:

me: I'll have the fish and chips.

waitress: Would you like fries or cole slaw with that?

me: ahh, fries. (thinking: I ordered Fish and Chips, what do you think I want with it?)

waitress: And that comes with cole slaw or you can substitute fries, vegetables, or onion rings.

me: What?

waitress: We have corn, green beans...(I wasn't really paying attention at this point, I was trying to figure out what she did with her tin foil hat.)

Irma: Onion rings.

me: OK, onion rings will be fine.


The following relates to Mac OS X:

I've been forgetting to say this but I downloaded the unreleased Safari beta v62 and have been using it for a few days now. I like. It does need something else though. In Opera or when using Pith, if the browser crashes you just restart it and it will reopen all your windows for you. If Safari v62 crashes, Pith won't save you because it can't see the other open tabs and Safari doesn't reopen the windows either, so you have to manually reopen you windows. A minor inconvenience, but I believe easily remedied. Surfin' Safari are you listening?

By request: You can find the word shark game on this page. There are alot of other games there too.

We had a small birthday party for James at his Nana's house and went to Chuckie Cheese afterward. Here are a couple of pictures from the party.





He had alot of fun but he only likes the sky tubes and doesn't like playing the games, just looking at them.

I found this book quite by accident but as it turns out it's one of the most fascinating I've seen in a long time. I don't read books too often because with as much sleep as I get (don't get) I usually fall asleep within 3 pages. Not with this one. It's called The Diamond Invention. Read it on the web or print it out. Must take alot of pages to print though. It's all about the diamond industry. Who doesn't like diamonds? (Me) Ok, I like diamonds well enough, I just like the colored stones much better, they are rarer and in my opinion more beautiful. The main page for the website is here: Edward Jay Epstein. It's an interesting site too.

Now I'm going to try to get some sleep before we head over to Chuckie Cheese for the birthday boy.

Happy Birthday James! Today James turns 3 and he was singing happy birthday to himself this morning. Tomorrow he is going to Chuckie Cheese. If you ask him how old he is he holds up 2 fingers, he refuses to hold up 3.

I heard the author of a book called Tea With Terrorists on the radio this morning. He certainly seemed very well informed about Islam and knew the koran and all the other books they use and he knew them better than any muslim that called in to try to refute what he was saying. He quoted liberally from all the books and knew when they were written and the history of what was going on at the time and it was very clear that anyone refuting him really didn't understand their own religions' foundational documents or just denied in the face of truth it actually says what it says, not unlike many christians do. The problem is, a whole lot of muslims overseas do understand and live by them and that is not good news to those who wish this whole war thing would go away. Read his To The Reader. There are 2 sample chapters to read also. It looks pretty good.

Her's a website about names: Behind the Name the etymology and history of first names.

Here's one about rules: everyrule.com Might be helpful.

A quote: "An infallible method of conciliating a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured." - Konrad Adenauer - thanks to Samizdata.

James liked the e-card Kathy. He wanted to get the balloons out of the computer. He says thank you.

Irma is sick and stayed home yesterday and today. It allows me to go to bed much earlier so I feel more rested. I'll go to bed after I pick up Joshua from school. James is playing with his Leap Frog Leap Pad. He's doing pretty good counting animals, he knows the numbers.

I wanted to link to a few sites that have more to say than I do right now.

Nealz Nuze for Feb.26, 2003.

Love Hitler? Then you'll love Saddam.

The "Peace Movement" Unmasked

Just another nail in the coffin.

This is interesting - Business is booming in Afghanistan.

The United Nations - America's Greatest Danger?

I posted new pictures on my site today. James and I went for a walk. Look here.

Confidence
Definitely a Must Read

Another reason government schools should be closed: Teachers Harassing Soldiers' Children

Some commentaries/news links I found interesting.

Usual suspects are behind anti-war protests

World media bash U.S., study reports

Vatican says unilateral attack on Iraq "a crime"

It's been another beautiful day, the kids are playing outside and don't want to come in. James cut his leg (minor cut) trying to climb a tree after watching Joshua. I can always count on Joshua to show James new and dangerous things to do. Thank you Joshua.

My wife needs to read this: Caring for Your Introvert. Please.

Dennis Prager hits the nail here: The future is Muslim, European or American

The madness of the animal rights movement. I love animals, really, but I recognize and understand the similarities and differences between animals and humans.

We are both mortal (Ecclesiastes 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other. Yea, they have all one breath, so that man hath no preeminence above a beast, for all is vanity.), yes.

Mankind was made to look like God (Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.) , and we have authority over and the responsibility of caring for the earth. Notice that the animals were created after their own kinds (Genesis 1:5 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.), possibly hinting of the spiritual beings they were modeled after.

Man has the ability to know he exists, and to know that he knows. To ponder, to visualize, to perceive , to hope, to dream, to create and to destroy. We understand the things in the world because of our human spirit placed in our frontal lobes by God, which works in harmony with our brain and is the essence of who we are but has no consciousness apart from our physical bodies and no inherent immortal life. We don't have the ability to comprehend the spiritual world.

1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. and

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. and

1 Timothy 6:13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, 15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

The greatest difference is in our potential. After repentance and baptism, God places a piece of His spirit in us which, in combination with our human spirit, allows us to begin to comprehend the spiritual, literally begetting us as His sons, eventually to be born of God.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God and

1 john 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

What is Your Destiny? covers this in more depth. It also answers the question: Why does God allow war?

Oh, by the way: A Time Of World Troubles Is Here! Thought you'd like to know.

James just asked me to take him to Disneyworld. "Please!" It's the first time, I didn't know he knew about. He saw a commercial on the Toy Story video. Maybe when his Grandmother comes down to visit. Hint, hint.

A couple of things caught my eye tonight, both over at Little Green Footballs. The first is about those human shields in Iraq. Did they really think they wouldn't be used by Saddam in the same way he uses his own people? Women, children, babies and now human shields all used to protect Saddam and his military. When things get rolling, do they think they will be able to make demands to the Iraqi military to be put where they want? Saddam will strip them, paint giant targets on them, and tie them down just so he can blame the Americans for killing them and make himself look like the victim. Here's the link. And here's the news link. This is one for the Darwin awards.

This next one is related but concerns the Palestinians. (more correctly, Arabs who live in the region of Palestine. They only started calling themselves Palestinians after the 1967 6-day war.) Palestinians also like to hide behind and use their children in war. They don't usually show you the photos but one slipped through. Here's the link. The terrorists send the kids out to throw rocks at the IDF forces and hide behind them and shoot Israelis hoping they shoot back and kill a child or two, again, to make the Israelis look bad. This doesn't happen in the childrens neighborhood either, they are taken to the IDF forces to be sacrificed for allah.

Why don't people find that appalling?

It's not 30 minute meals but you'll find something to help you out at dinner time: Cook it Quick

Here's a recipe for Weekend Spaghetti and Meatballs from Rachel Ray (of 30 minute meals) that I'm gonna try. It's in the recipe section (lots of great recipes) of this great homeschooling site. You'll find lots of great tips, recipes, crafts, health, pets, fix-it tips...this is a really good site. You don't have to homeschool to use it. Also found on that site: Overcoming Depression & Finding Happiness. I think we all need this lately.

If crowds are to be our guide, we are truly headed for ruin. Undeclared wars. Thomas Sowell

The Iraq banner thanks to The Dissident Frogman

What is wrong does not become right because many people say it," she asserted, bidding us farewell while the marchers shouted "Not in my name!"

"These people are mad," said Awad Nasser, one of Iraq's most famous modernist poets. "They are actually signing up to sacrifice their lives to protect a tyrant's death machine."

"Are these people ignorant, or are they blinded by hatred of the United States?" Nasser the poet demanded.

"Sultani could have told the peaceniks how Saddam's henchmen killed dissident poets and writers by pushing page after page of forbidden books down their throats until they choked."

"The death and destruction caused by Saddam in our land is the worst since Nebuchadnezzar," he said. "These prosperous, peaceful and fat Europeans are marching in support of evil incarnate." He said that, watching the march, he felt Nazism was "alive and well and flexing its muscles in Hyde Park."

Those quotes are from this article: Reverend Jackson, let me speak! By Amir Taheri. You have to login (free) to read it. Again, a must read.

Here's a companion article : The left sides with terror - again by Mona Charen

Now this is an interesting picture, Jacques Chirac and Saddam Hussein seem to be sharing a moment. No wonder France wants to protect Saddam!

Divide and conquer is the name of their game, I went on about this yesterday. Here's what Bob Just has to say about it: The 1 weapon essential for victory

I can't wait to hear the excuses after this party is over. I'm just glad it's not financed with public funds.

I liked reading these Random Thoughts. Thomas Sowell wrote this and the previous one.

What's going on with night clubs lately? Chicago, Rhode island...damn.

The Tide of Madness by Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl. Read it, read it, read it.

I'm finding alot of good stuff today. A Japanese View of the Palestinians found at The Truth about Israel.

I was tempted to turn on the air conditioning today but it was too nice and just used the ceiling fans. I did some yard work while James played nearby. He helped me carry some branches to the trash pile. Now James and Joshua are watching the Three Stooges and they are both cracking up because Shemp is trying to set up a table but it keeps folding back up again.

I did some news surfing and things are really getting so ridiculous. If the whole world were just united against Saddam and stood up to him, told him like it is, and backed it up with the threat of a united force and stood by their word (say what you'll do and do what you say), Saddam would be in exile right now with no war. It's because of the actions of the no war at any price crowd, whatever their motives, (and that includes countries too) that give Saddam confidence and keep him fighting for power and making actual war necessary.

And believe it, the motives (or hopes) of most of our so-called friends are to divide and conquer the United States. And it is working. The divisions in this country are getting wider and wider. The differences between the (pick one: anti-war/pro-war, anti-American/pro-American, liberal/conservative, socialists/capitalists, world citizen/American citizen, etc, etc, etc.) are so vast one side can't comprehend how the other could possibly believe what they do. We are becoming our own enemies. It's becoming impossible to put youself in the other sides shoes because you can't even imagine how anyone could possibly think that way. The far left has so influenced this country and those views have become so normal that the journalists and reporters don't even recognize that they lean left and many of the people watching don't recognize it either. These two (or more) sides are not going to get together, it's just not going to happen.

There is only one hope and I'm sorry to say, all knowledge of that hope has become perverted and twisted to the point of complete unrecognizability - except in name. Mention Jesus Christ and you get all manner of reactions. People hate you or want to kill you or won't take you seriously or ban you or censor you or pigeonhole you or ridicule you, most just don't care. Then there are those who use that name, sincerely yes, but believe all manner of different doctrine, worship Him in every way but how He said to do it, form hundreds of different denominations in His name, and then hate you with seething, white-hot hatred if they find out you dare actually believe what the bible says, actually keep the commandments, the Sabbath, and the holy days, if you know Jesus Christ is not a pacifist, long haired sissy boy (John 18:16 if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight,) and upon his return His kingdom will be of this world and He and His servants will fight. So, the only hope will not be used because everyone refuses to believe it for whatever reason they have.

Because we refuse to believe and obey we have this to look forward to:

Lamentations 1:1  How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow is she, Who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces has become a slave! 2 She weeps bitterly in the night, Her tears are on her cheeks; Among all her lovers She has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.

Lamentations 1: 9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts; She did not consider her destiny; Therefore her collapse was awesome; She had no comforter. "O Lord, behold my affliction, For the enemy is exalted!"

Ezekiel 16:3 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. 34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

When we (modern day United States, Britain, Israel - Israel and Judah in the bible) make deals and treaties with other countries instead of relying on God, God calls that whoredom. That is what this is talking about. We pay them! Turkey comes to mind today, but we pay (bribe?) many other countries to see things our way or at least go along.

Jeremiah 30: 14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased. 15 Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. 16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. 17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

After this national punishment, the other countries will be vanquished, some exterminated, and Christ will return and Israel (not just the modern state of Israel but all the modern nations that make up ancient Israel) will be restored to it's rightful place.

That's all I'm gonna write, anyone still listening? More here.

Irma said she almost didn't save me any food for work. She's bad like that.

Today was such a beautiful day! The weather here is perfect, you couldn't ask for better. The gopher tortoise came out and wandered around the yard for a while, first time this year. That gave me the idea to let our tortoise out for a while too. James had alot of fun playing outside with Joshua. They were riding their bikes and making a bridge over the (empty) drainage ditch. If only it stayed like this all year!

Here's a picture of Wolfgang the Sulcatta Tortoise and Bleek the Boa Constrictor. I took both today.





They are both glad the cold weather is over.

Yesterday I cooked some yellow rice (arroz amarillo) and chicken and it went over so good Irma had me make more today. It was really good if I do say so myself. Also some fresh sqeezed orange juice - yummy. Kids playing outside, windows and door open. Sometimes it is so nice living in Florida. Oh yeah, and Elvis mp3's on the dvd player, something different for a change, some good old music. Elvis mood thanks to Lilo and Stitch.

It took me a little while to get around to reading this even though I'd heard alot of good things about it. It is good. So, here's the link: Courage over at Eject! Eject! Eject!.

I have to add this by Neal Boortz because it's so important to know: Hogs at the trough

This essay by Stephan Pollard pretty much sums it up: My address book is the first casualty of war A must read.

I read an article in the Orlando Sentinel about a bull named Cold Cold Heart. I can't link to the article because they charge to see it. I don't really know alot about bulls, my neighbors own some and they seem tolerant of people and will come to you if you have fresh cut grass to feed them. They are fenced in by barbed wire mostly and they don't try to go beyond the fence except to stick their head through and eat grass. Twice we had one in our yard. I don't know how it got there but they came and got him.

I always wonder how the barbed wire keeps them in. I've seen them stick their heads through the wire, barb piercing the neck, blood trickling down, seemingly oblivious to any pain. I'm quite sure they could just push right through if they had a mind to do it. I've even seen a two inch long I don't know what (fly?) biting and drawing blood from one of them. Again, completely oblivious to the pain, and I know getting bit by normal sized fly at the beach hurts like hell. I'm not up on fly species, sorry, obviously not a house fly.

So, about Cold Cold Heart, this is what caught my attention: "Three years ago (his debut), Cold Cold Heart did something a bull is not supposed to do, something that local rodeo enthusiasts regard as a freakish athletic accomplishment along the lines of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game or Don Larsen's World Series no-hitter."

"In a rodeo that was held at the Kissimmee Silver Spurs Arena 2000, Cold Cold Heart bolted out of the chute, bucked off a rider with one arching jump, ran 50 yards across the arena, gathered himself just before reaching a 6-foot tall fence, and jumped over it like a thoroughbred horse clearing a hurdle."

Says Osceola rancher/Silver Spurs committee member George Kemfer: "It was entertaining."

"Next time out, Cold Cold Heart did the same thing. Rider - gone. Fence - cleared. He also charged through a chain-link fence outside the arena and narrowly avoided steamrolling over a rodeo hand and a spectator or two as he tried to circle back to the holding pen to rejoin his fellow bulls."

Here's the link, even though you have to pay.

Then, on the probullstats website, I read this:

Cold heart maybe, but hot blooded for sure. They had this bull penned right by the walk in door at the back of the coliseum, and it's just fortunate he didn't eat any small children that ventured too close to the fence. Looks a lot like G21 Durango of Neal Gay's, but is younger and has a lot more pent up anger and hatred for humans. Might be G21's evil twin. They didn't load him in the bucking chute as much as they captured him. Like catching a rabid moose in a box trap. Layed and sulled in the box, and bellered the whole time... hard to get out on. Lamar took him squatting, and holy smokes did he leave there. Leaped and dropped... Big time E. If he keeps that up for 8 seconds, he oughta have some medals pinned on him. Big brindle nightmare of a bull.

No one has ridden this bull more than 4 seconds. I don't know alot about rodeos but if it can't be ridden and therefore no points can be scored, what's the point? Maybe they have special prize money for riding it 8 seconds. I've read where some have refused to try to ride Cold Cold Heart. An 1800 pound animal that can clear a 6-foot fence. Damn! I want to see it! I sure am glad all bulls aren't that ornery. So is my mother, she worries about the kids. Maybe she shouldn't read this.

That's all for now.

No more sucker punches by Barbara Simpson.

The Soviet Union, in all it's might and glory, was never confident it could win in a nuclear war with the United States. Yet, Kim Jong-il says "victory would be certain for the communist state in any nuclear war with the United States thanks to the "army-first" political system of the heavily armed but impoverished North." Does he realize we could decimate his entire country with one multi-warhead nuclear missle if we needed to? Silly man. Just more evidence of the insanity that surrounds (envelopes?) us.

Andrew Sullivan again on the Catholic Church: The Vatican And The Thugs. 1933 again?

The amusing thing about the European anti-war (anti-American) movement is that it will be Europe that eventually occupies much of the Arab world by military force (war), including Jerusalem.

Daniel 11:40 "At the time of the end the king of the South (poss. Egypt) shall attack him; and the king of the North (United States of Europe, led by Germany) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom (Turkey), Moab (Iraq), and the prominent people of Ammon (Jordan). 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

Germany's Mr. Tough Guy

Isaiah 10:5 O Assyrian (Germany), the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

From Ed Koch: History Repeats Itself. His opinions surprise me since, if memory serves, he was a democrat. I knew a girl in high school who told me she was his grandaughter. I don't know for sure but have no reason to doubt her. We went to Toms River South in NJ.

It's a very busy weekend here in Orlando (Daytona 500 weekend) and I've got alot to do, so not alot of time to write. One good thing - No Vacancy.

In case you missed the news: The world is still completely insane. Need I say more?

The following was written by Andrew Sullivan.

ANTI-SEMITISM WATCH:Tariq Aziz, Saddam's puppet and accomplice, refused to take a question from an Israeli reporter today. Period. It was mentioned on most of the network news broadcasts tonight, in passing. But it's helpful as an insight into the anti-Semitism that pervades the Saddamite regime. It will also be helpful to see whether Saddam's two major allies in Europe, France and Germany, express any qualms about it. Today reminded me all too vividly of the 1930s - from the Pope warmly shaking the hands of an anti-Semitic dictatorial regime to the complete abdication of responsibility at the Security Council. It is a dark time; and it just got a little darker.

I've written before about future events happening similar to the way WW II went. It's interesting to see other people notice certain trends. Garner Ted Armstrong has been writing of the United States of Europe since the 1950's. I have personally been reading and listening to him since the 1980's and it is truly fascinating to watch events unfold before your very eyes that you have seen and read in your very own Bible.

I hope Andrew doesn't mind my borrowing from him. He's got a great blog and I read it often. Check him out.

Preventing Genocide: A 21st Century Approach at GlennReynolds.com

The mighty Michelle Malkin on Crybabies in the courtroom. Too many people need her mothers advice.

I just went 24 hours without internet access. I tried to log on around midnight Wednesday and couldn't. I tried all night - wouldn't work. Talk about frustrating. I had to wait till 11:30 am to call and they said there was a network problem, they were working on it, and it will be up in a few hours. I tried at midnight Thursday and couldn't get on, but at 12:30am it finally worked!
It's a good thing I don't make my living using the internet - I would have hooked up with another company and dumped the old one.


***Jesus Christ Is Not A Pacifist!***

James and I went for a walk Thursday morning and I took some pictures. I think I'll put them on the website, I haven't updated them in a while. Look for them soon.

Finally I got a halfway decent picture of some of the turkeys. I took it through the front window. James loves to watch the turkeys, if he's outside he always wants to "get them."

WARNING : Top Secret

Here's the full text of the new U.N. proposal put forth by Germany and France.

WARNING : Top Secret

I needed gas when I went to work last night but I was running late and had enough to get to work and to a station in the morning. So that's what I did, or rather, meant to do. Of course when I got off work I had forgotten completely about it and passed the first station. And the second and third. In fact I got to about the middle of nowhere and ran out of gas. I really felt stupid I don't mind saying. I pulled over and walked (on the brand new sidewalks, thank you) to the nearest gas station which I believe is about 2 miles or so, I don't know, it took me about 20 minutes each way. I bought a one gallon gas can, filled it and walked back. I remembered my Mother used to say her car was running on fumes when I was little. Well, my car uses only 100% petrol thank you very much, no fumes allowed. The funny thing is, I actually enjoyed the walk and thought how nice it would be to do it more often.

What's your excuse? The Danger of Relying on the U.N.

More: Let's quit the UN .

I like the Boortz rant for Feb. 10. There's some great stuff in there.

Don't Let The Terrorists Win!

Iraqi Scientists Intimidated into Not Cooperating Say it isn't so!

Remember the Iraqi that jumped into the U.N. vehicle pleading to be saved? The U.N officials sat and watched Iraqi guards haul him away, never to be seen again. Family fears for Iraqi who sought help from UN

This is interesting: Which stories got 'spiked' last year?

Could it be? Iraqi Women Brutalized by Saddam.

I've heard this little rhyme a million times and NEVER, EVER, heard it said in such a way or even dreamed that it was in any way, even remotely, a racist rhyme. Sisters Suing Southwest Over 'Racist Rhyme' Pulease people! I like the rant on this from RachelLucas.com. Read "Help us out here" under Feb. 10.

The French have the solution to the Iraq problem! Saddam passes "legislation to prohibit the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction." Bingo! So easy, and all our great political minds couldn't think of that, it took a frenchman. Actually, we do have politicians who have thought of it, just on a smaller scale; pass legislation to prohibit guns. That works just as well. Here's the link: Vote France Off the Island

This really took alot of investigation to figue out: UN is guilty of anti-Semitism


I couldn't keep my eyes open this morning after I got off work. I was fighting to keep from nodding off while driving home - I hate that. I laid on the sofa while James watched TV and played, half sleeping/half awake. He wouldn't take a nap today either. He was wide awake and it started pouring rain so that was it for him, he won't sleep if he hears rain, it scares him to be in his crib.

James helped me do the dishes and helped me load the dishwasher - he's so helpful. Now he wants me to put the computer away and open Joshua's door so he can play with him. James already got into a fight with Joshua today and threw his (plastic) jar of animals at him and got himself put in time out. Kids.

Why the United Nations is a joke. The Real Cowboys. This article clearly explains why the U.S. is standing up to the U.N. and why it's right to do so.

Will Saddam Use Chemical And Biological Weapons?

This was posted on Samizdata.net refuting current liberal non-think.

I've been kinda sick of the whole Iraq thing, it's already dragged on far too long and watching the actions and words coming from the U.N. is making me ill. I'm not really all caught up in this whole thing but I am watching world events and I just have to post or link to posts that stand for truth and clear thinking. This war, if it happens, will not be the last. It's not going to be the end of the world. Not yet. And doing nothing will be far worse than what Pres. Bush wants to do. Unfortunately, all the good feelings and love in the world will do nothing to this enemy. They want you, your children, your family and everyone who doesn't strictly believe what they do, DEAD. In the movie Independence Day when they talk to the alien and ask "What do you want us to do?" or something to that effect, the alien answers "Die!" That's what you can do to please the Muslim extremists.

They are not interested in living in peace with you. You can't just lay that aside and pretend it isn't true. It is true and now they are closer than ever to being able to accomplish their goal - to kill as many Americans and Israelis as possible. They are very patient and time is on their side, the more time they have, the better. And yet, we seem to be giving them all the time they need while America is split and indecisive. The Muslim extremists have been taught since they were children that the ultimate goal is and the greatest reward comes from killing Americans and Israelis. Good will on your part will not change that. Loving them will not change that. Protecting them will not change that. Protesting the war will not change that. The people of Iraq are being held hostage now and Saddam will have no problem at all killing as many as needed to further his plans. He will put his most sensitive military equiptment in the childrens ward of a hospital and cry fowl if anyone dies. And the American people feel bad, hold back, and Saddam wins. If any civilians are killed, it is entirely the fault of Saddam Hussein. 100%. He will take every step to make sure it happens even if he has to do it himself. Bet on it.



I fixed the van today and it's working fine. We went to Grandma's house and she gave me way too much to eat as usual. It was good and I ate it all, now I'm still stuffed.

In Defense of America: Barry Farber

Runaway train: Bill O'Reilly

This is what Palestinians teach their children: Palestinian School's Text-Books

This is what Palestinians do with their children: Kids - the main force of the Palestinian Front

When Palestinians talk about Israel occupied lands they mean ALL of Israel, not just the parts beyond the original 1948 border. They mean the entire state of Israel has been on occupied land since it's inception in 1948. Take a look at current Palestinian emblems and insignias. The implication (in fact, their stated purpose) is that Israel will be destroyed and all the land taken back.

The PLO covenant text : ARTICLE 20: The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.

The Belly of the Beast. A MUST READ article.

All this and much more available from Israel's War Against Terror.

Know this my friends, we face a primitive, barbaric enemy who does not know the meaning of mercy nor civilized behavior. Their brutal leaders have kept the people in the 7th century enslaved to customs intended to keep them backward and dependent. We in the Free West are at war with radical Islamic primitives, some of whom wear pin-striped suits and were educated at fine Western universities. Do not confuse the suits nor their refined language of their spokesmen and women, because underneath their cultivated veneer are savages who will tear your throat out or stone you if given the chance. Remember Edward Said, the famously Columbia university professor throwing stones at Israel over the Lebanon border? - Emanuel A. Winston

I really like the way the following was written. No, I didn't write it, maybe in a hundred years I'll be able to write so clearly. It was written by Garner Ted Armstrong

The closer you look at things man has made, the more chaos, irregularity, and imperfection you see.  For example, even the period at the end of this sentence, if seen under a powerful microscope, would show as a series of tiny dots, some clearer than others; a fuzzy, irregular bunch of splotches on rough fibers which are the paper upon which it was printed.  But the closer you look at what God has done in nature, the more beauty, the more intricacy, the more perfection.

Inspect the petal of a flower, or the wing of a bird, or even the molecular structure of quartz under that same microscope, and you will see symmetry, harmony, beauty, intricate organization!

The first great independent was Satan the Devil. 

Not that Satan was "against" "organization" with him it was merely a question of "whose"?

The same is true of those who rail against "organized religion" today - as if all religious activities should be bereft of any structure; independent, disorganized, anarchistic.

Satan resented God's power.  He became insanely jealous of God. He resented God's laws, His government, His rules and regulations.  After countless periods of time, Satan had imbued his angels with his same evil, rebellious spirit.  Finally, Lucifer felt the time was ripe for a takeover!

Christ said, "I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:17).  Symbolically, in vision, John saw the same thing: "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

"And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:7-9).  The result of the great "star wars" of billions of years past is readily visible today.  All about us, so far as we can peer with modern technology such as the Hubble space telescope, we see wreckage.  Huge, poisonous clouds swirl in monstrous storms on the planet men named "Jupiter."  Billions of misshapen rocks hurtle in all directions as meteors and asteroids. The lifeless, rock-strewn face of Mars and our own moon attest to countless impacts of huge meteors.

When God decided the time had come to create man, and commence His plan of reproducing Himself through the human species, He came down to see a ?void, empty, waste, chaotic? world, covered with tossing, stygian seas, where not a single ray of light had shown for perhaps millions or billions of years.  This is the force of the Hebrew words "tohu and bohu", translated "without form, and void" or empty.

All was confusion.  Satan's handiwork always tends toward confusion; chaos; anarchy. But "...God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints" (I Corinthians 14:33).

God began RE-creating the earth, and when He had finished, all was spectacularly beautiful.  Man was created; then Eve - two perfectly-formed and shaped human beings, made in the very image of God.  They were placed in the midst of the most beautiful garden place in all history; brooks and rivulets, streams and rivers; countless shrubs, trees of every variety; teeming with life. Do not suppose Eden was like a few acres of landscaped garden in the back yard of some palatial estate.  No, it may have been several thousand square miles - an untrammeled, breathtaking scene of fabulous beauty.

But then Satan came on the scene, and deceived Eve.  Her husband followed her in her doubting of God, and the two of them broke God's laws by lusting after the forbidden fruit, then stealing it, and in so doing disobeying their only parent. By doing so, they broke four of the Ten Commandments.  Immediately, a great curse came upon them, and upon all nature.  "And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done" And the woman said, The serpent [Hebrew: "nachash," meaning "whispering enchanter"]beguiled me, and I did eat.

"And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel [the first shadow, or type, of the promise of the "seed" of the woman, which was Christ, and Satan's part in His death].

"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children [Eve saw her firstborn murder his own brother] ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

"And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

"Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return? (Genesis 3:13-19).

Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, to live lives as described above; hard-scrabble existence by the sweat of their brows, finding that nature itself seemed to have turned against them.  Such is the result of the first great rebel; the first great "independent" who set himself against God.

The term "pandemonium" aptly describes what it is meant to imply: "all demonism," or "demonic abandon everywhere."  Where there is no order; where there is no system, no rules and regulations, no law, there is chaos - pandemonium.

Read the rest here: Should You Avoid All Organized Religion?

This is an interesting tidbit, in light of future world events: Pope and Germany Stand Together Over Iraq

Today the last hose finally came in. We went to the dealer to pick it up and they couldn't find it. It took them 20 minutes to locate it, then they were going to charge me for it. I already paid for the hose back when they ordered the wrong one. The new one was the same price, I thought it would be more. Anyway, we straightened it out and if it doesn't rain too hard, I'll install them Sunday.

While we were there we saw an orange New Beetle. I really like orange beetles. It was a little less than $20, 000.00. Too much. The new Eurovans look great too. They have a new retro-style Eurovan coming out in 2004 or maybe 2005, they look even better. Here's a Eurovan review.

I finally got the oil cooler I ordered yesterday. They screwed up and didn't send it right away so when I e-mailed to find out what happened they said they would overnight it to me and take off the shipping charges. Since I'm still waiting on a hose from Volkswagen, the delay didn't hurt. Actually I'm glad - no shipping charges! "They" are aVolkswagenPart.com or aPlusParts.com. Same company but the aPlusParts site has parts for other foreign cars. Good prices too.

James helped me wash the car yesterday, mostly by playing in the puddles and trying to get in the car to blow the horn. "Boop, boop!" He played in the leaves again and lost a little plastic spider Joshua gave him. I guess he thought he could put it down in the leaves, play and throw them around and it would still be there. I found it after about 10 minutes of looking.

I just finished watching Shadow of the Vampire. I don't usually like vampire movies but I used to like Nosferatu when I was little and this movie is an interesting fictional look at what it could have been like making it. I like it.

The Evil of Appeasement. A picture's worth a thousand words.

Today I went to the Volkswagen dealer to pick up my parts only to discover one of them was the wrong one. The picture on the computer looks right but there are 2 different part numbers for that part and they ordered the wrong one. Maybe I'll be able to fix the car Sunday. James had fun though. He loves to look at he "cool cars" and actually would rather get in and play with them.

On the way home we went to Computer City (just looking) and McDonalds for lunch. He wanted chicken nuggets and ate them all, half the french fries and unsweetened iced tea (he likes it). He got a cool little dump truck too. We went to K-Mart to pick up some oil and that was a new experience. When I went to the cashier to pay there was no one around. No one. No customers or employees. Two registers had the light on so I went to one and it was one of those self serve registers. It was a little disconcerting but it worked fine and it took my money and gave me change. Weird. It's just a really strange feeling to be doing it all yourself. And what happens if the machine doesn't take your money, like so many soda machines? We went to Best Buy to look around (I don't get out to the stores much) and it was completely redone and they lined you up at the registers like at a bank. Next! Of course only one was open. No self serve here. I got a cd for Irma. (and me! - Bic Runga: Drive. We like her.)

We went home and took a nap. I had to wake James to go pick up Joshua. -----I just saw Saddam Hussein on TV sipping a cup of coffee so daintily holding his left hand palm down under the cup as he sipped. That's funny! The dainty dictator. ROTFL. ----- Back to my day... Joshua had a doctors appointment so we picked up Irma and went there. James and I waited outside and he had fun exploring and looking at the fountain they had out front. He started taking his shirt off to go swimming and wanted to jump in. No James. Afterward we went to Steak n' Shake cause Irma had a discount card. I got the peppercorn cheese melt w/chili and chicken soup. I forgot how much I like their chili and the soup was good too. I try not to eat hamburgers very often (sorry, steakburgers) but to get the discount it must be a buger plate. It was good but I had to go home and sleep right after and I hate sleeping with a full stomach. Went to bed at 7pm, up at 10pm and off to work.

About "allah" destroying Columbia. What a joke. I thought it was so silly I wasn't even gonna mention it. Here's a comentary on it. Did "ALLAH" Destroy Columbia? I still think it silly that anyone would actually believe that.

One thing about the Columbia disaster that really surprised me was that they had no way, even if they saw the damage while still in orbit, to do anything about it. They could not do a space walk, could not repair it, could not dock with the space station, and could not send another shuttle to save them. They were doomed no matter what. I really thought they took precautions in case something like this happened, but no. If it breaks, they die. Wow.

This is James playing with the leaves I just raked up. He had so much fun playing in the leaves, it's the first time for him. It was such a beautiful day today too. Leaves fall off a little later down here and they just became a problem this past week.


And this is James with a couple of the famous cows he loves. They were all gathered around the fence today and he calls them "Come on cow, come on cow" but they just look at him. There was another cow that would actually come to him but they moved that one. Actually, truth be told, the "cows" behind him are bulls. These pictures were taken Feb. 3, 2003.

Here's a new commentary which expands upon and more deeply explores what I was trying to say in a post yesterday. Not to mention bringing a deeper understanding to it.
Will America Conquer Space? Not what you might expect.

Have you ever noticed how much more interesting the news is before they figure out what's going on and haven't had time to censor the footage or prepare their stories (interesting choice of word) or get all the "experts" to tell us what happened?

I forgot to say, my ISP called me back and said the problem was with their computer. It wasn't releasing when I disconnected. She said the tech fixed the problem. That night I tried to login but couldn't. I tried again and again and finally looked at the log. It said I was already logged in twice. Twice? How could I be logged in twice? I let the computer sit for 30 minutes and tried again. It worked and has worked since with no more problems.

The parts for the Eurovan are still not in. One hose came in Friday, the other is due today (Monday). We'll see. The oil cooler should be here today too but I haven't heard from them. I ordered it from APlusparts and I've used them before. They don't communicate well. They do have the alot of the parts I need much cheaper than the dealer. I may not be able to fix it until Wednesday so I don't have to worry about James, his grandmother will watch him.

I got to sleep for 8 hours today! Irma took the kids to her mothers house. Yeah! I need to get some sleep once in a while, don't I? I could've slept more but Irma called for me to come pick them up.

Here's a link to the space shuttle STS-107 mission report. Very interesting.

How Space Shuttles Work. Already updated to include the Columbia disaster.

I turned on the tv just as they were saying they lost contact with Columbia but they had no idea what happened yet. I thought the worst for a second but quickly put it out of my mind. I listened, waiting for word everything was OK. The news just kept getting worse. They were showing the debris flying throught the air but no one wanted to draw the conclusion.

I was in Ocean Gate, New Jersey 17 years ago (wow, time flies!) when Challenger exploded. I was watching it live too. Even seeing it happen you don't want to believe what you're seeing. Same with 9/11, saw it live from the beginning as well. It had an even deeper effect though.

For all that we are capable of doing, it is our minds that enable us to succeed. We are in reality very fragile. Pound for pound I believe we are the weakest of all animals. By far. We are, in comparison, physically, very weak. We would be completely at the mercy of the elements if not for our intelligence and reasoning ability. A disaster like this makes you realize just how on the edge we can get. We are breaking through boundaries meant to keep us confined. Barely, but we are breaking through.

It reminds me of the Tower of Babel. It wasn't the tower itself that concerned God but that if left to themselves mankind would have become technologically advanced too soon for His plan and He had to intervene to slow them down.

Genesis 11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

So now we are there: "nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them." We are not more intelligent than humans that lived long ago, we have gathered more knowledge and we're able to disseminate that knowledge on a much larger scale. For all of our advancement we are still unable to govern ourselves and create a happy, healthy and safe world. How long has it been since mankind has had the ability to destroy this planet many times over?

Matthew 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Matthew 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

More on the failure of the U.N. : Marching toward oblivion by Henry Lamb.

Nicely said: Space Shuttle Disaster - What does it mean to America?

I offer my condolences to the family and friends of the astronauts of the space shuttle Columbia. It was quite a shock when I turned on the news this morning.