It’s located next to the “Oriental Market” so it ought to be more than just a cookie cutter generic “Chinese Food” place, right? Wrong. No. 1 China is sort of an insult to the idea of this food being the best in China. It’s possible that the Chinese government will send over agents to shut the place down or at least force them to change their name so that Americans don’t think that this is the best that China has to offer.

The menu was printed by the same people who print the menus of every single low-end Chinese restaurant in the English-speaking world. The food may come out of cans. Flavorless. Mediocre in nearly every way.

At 2549 Madison Avenue in the hilariously named Madison Square Shopping Center, the No. 1 China restaurant ought to be good. But it isn’t. It isn’t even remarkable. We ordered Number 102, the sauteed vegetables with garlic sauce, and Number 103, the bean curd Szechuan style. The vegetables were disgusting and limp and covered, inexplicably, with a rubbery red sauce. Why are they so red? Millions of beetles probably died to make our frozen broccoli this color.  The tofu was edible, but any taste it might have mustered was obscured by the unmistakable flavor of cornstarch.

We should have gone next door to the market and gotten some stuff and just made our own at home. Next time we will.

Convicted felon and former world record holding track star Tim Montgomery on Friday talked about why he started using steroids, as well as his life with former Olympic champion Marion Jones.

Tim Montgomery says he started taking performance-enhancing drugs because he wanted to beat American sprint rival Maurice Greene and become the fastest man in the world.

He states that Maurice Greene really …”got in to my head”…and he became obsessed with defeating him for the title.

Montgomery, the former world 100m record holder, has served 18 months of his sentence for dealing heroin and handling counterfeit cheques, crimes he was convicted of after being banned from athletics for doping in 2005.

“I destroyed myself,” Montgomery acknowledges in an interview with The Times, conducted in the Alabama prison where he spends his days earning 12 cents an hour sweeping leaves. “I’ve been trying to be a man all my life and now I’m in here treated like a kid.”

Montgomery admits he never had any second thoughts about crossing the line that separates clean athletes from drugs cheats like himself and his former partner, Marion Jones.

Montgomery admits he never had any second thoughts about crossing the line that separates clean athletes from drugs cheats like himself and his former partner, Marion Jones.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat it, there wasn’t even a second thought that I was cheating,” he said. “It was all about getting one over the system and if I could, I would.

“That was what I learnt on the streets. But I tell you, if I’m cold, Marion’s even colder. Marion didn’t care about anything.”

On January 11, 2008, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas sentenced Marion  Jones to six months in prison and 200 hours of community service for perjury relating to her using of steroids and for a check-fraud scam.

She has since that time been unapologetic to her relay team members who had to return their medals because of Jones’ cheating, and she has continued to lie on many national TV programs most notably the Oprah Winfrey show.She always comes off as very self-centered, and she appears to be willing to say anything given the chance to weasel out of taking full responsiblity for taking illegal substances to cheat her way into a championship title, that she did not ever deserve.

She was also sentenced to two years probation following her prison term. Jones reported to the Federal Medical Center-Carswell prison facility in Fort Worth, Texas on March 7, 2008 and was assigned prisoner no. 84868/054. She was released from prison on September 5, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Jones

Tim Montgomery insists he never thought of the consequences of his actions.

“Maurice got in my head real bad,” Montgomery, who used to keep steroids in the fridge, told the AP. “I wanted everything that he had.

“I would give anything to be the world’s fastest, Montgomery declared.

He did do something, and that was to leave his long time coach Steve Riddick and joined doping-tainted coach Trevor Graham. “I wouldn’t let anything get in my way.”

Montgomery criticizes Greene for “clowning the other athletes.” And it was after the 1999 world championships in Seville, Spain, that Montgomery decided do something.

Montgomery never tested positive for drugs, but he was linked to the BALCO doping investigation and has admitted that he doped before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He retired after the ban was imposed in 2005.

Montgomery said he and Jones became an item in 2002 after spending several hours talking on a flight to Rome.

“Two hours later we were alone in a hotel room together. Two weeks after that we were crowned the world’s fastest couple. And six months after that she was pregnant,” said Montgomery, who added that Jones could make herself cry for the cameras.

“Her best work was when she passed a lie detector test.”

American athlete Marion Jones tested negative more than 150 times before her courtroom confession that she had taken a cocktail of drugs before the Sydney Olympics.

“It is still easy to circumvent the anti-doping policies and procedures in place today not only in professional sport but Olympic sport,” a doping agency official says.

The issue of drug-test evasion has been partly addressed by the introduction this year of tough new rules requiring athletes to provide constantly updated information about their whereabouts, despite protests from some that they infringe civil liberties.

The Balco scandal that Montgomery and Jones participated in, has also opened up a new front against the cheats by showing the value of investigative techniques to complement old-fashioned testing, with evidence gathered by federal officers being used to prove drug violations by athletes such as Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

The World Anti-Doping Agency,WADA, is celebrating its 10th year in existence , and are the agency credited with outing cheaters like Tim and Marion.

The American law enforcement agencies have agreed to work in partnership with the WADA and are primed to pass on any relevant information.

Such co-operation between sport and government would have been unthinkable before 1999 and is perhaps the greatest achievement of WADA’s first decade.

Doping is no longer just a sport problem. Now everyone is in it together.

On May 1, 2008, an indictment was unsealed that accused the 33-year-old sprinter of dealing more than 100 grams of heroin in the Virginia Beach area over the past year, according to The Virginian Pilot, the daily newspaper in Virginia Beach, Va. Montgomery told the newspaper he knew nothing of the accusations and that his arrest was a “total surprise.”

In October of that year, Montgomery was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail.

Source…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Montgomery

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifH4_O8wmBW00fomXuFqoznPNjvgD9C7S1980

Kommentar: Jung blamiert Angela Merkel und die Bundeswehr – Nachrichten Politik – Deutschland – WELT ONLINE.

Frage: Warum soll Franz Josef Jung “zurücktreten” ?

Nach dem Grundgesetz wird er gar nicht gefragt, ob er sein Amt behalten oder aufgeben möchte. Siehe Artikel 64 Absatz 1 des Grundgesetzes. Da steht rechtsverbindlich(!) geschrieben, daß die Bundesminister vom Bundespräsidenten auf Vorschlag des Bundeskanzlers ernannt und entlassen werden. – Wer sein Amt behält oder verliert, entscheidet ausschließlich der jeweilige Bundeskanzler. – Für ihn gelten nicht einmal die üblichen arbeitsrechtlichen Kriterien. Er kann, diese Möglichkeit eröffnet das Grundgesetz, so willkürlich verfahren wie ein Fußballverein mit seinen Trainern. Nach dem Willen des Inhabers der verfassungsgebenden Gewalt (vgl. Präambel des Grundgesetzes) kann ein Minister weder auf sein Amt verzichten (zurücktreten) noch an seinem “Stuhl kleben”. Er ist auf Gedeih und Verderb der Willkür des jeweils amtierenden Bundeskanzlers unterworfen. – Er sollte sich mit diesem also tunlichst nicht überwerfen…

Die Diskussion um diese Frage ist also vollkommen überflüssig!

Frage: Herrscht in Afghanistan Krieg, kriegsähnlicher Zustand oder gar Frieden, der durch ein wenig Terrorismus gestört ist?

Eine allgemeingültige Definition des Begriffs “Krieg” ist nicht ersichtlich, sonst gäbe es solche Begriffe wie “Rosenkrieg” oder “Krieg am Gartenzaun” nicht. Die wohl zutreffenste, weil an Fakten und nicht am Wunschdenken orientierte Definition des Begriffs “Krieg” fand ich bei Bernard Law Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (“Monty”):

Krieg ist ein mit Waffengewalt ausgetragener, längerer Konflikt zwischen rivalisierenden politischen Gruppen. Zu diesen Auseinandersetzungen gehören auch Aufstände und Bürgerkriege, nicht aber innere Unruhen und Gewalttaten einzelner. ( Weltgeschichte der Schlachten und Kriegszüge Band 1,  München 1975)

Die Bezeichnung der afghanischen Verhältnisse als Krieg wäre nur dann falsch, wenn man die sogenannten Selbstmordattentate als “Gewalttaten” einzelner qualifizieren würde. – Das aber wäre schlicht falsch, denn das Selbstmordattentat beruht – im Gegensatz zum Amoklauf – nicht auf dem freien Entschluß des Täters, Selbstmordattentäter werden wir Kamikazepiloten an den jeweiligen “Einsatzort” von “Befehlshabern” geschickt.

In Afghanistan herrscht Krieg. Eindeutig Punkt, Schluß,

aus die Maus!

Was passiert im Krieg? – Immer dasselbe!

I’ve been meaning to post some architectural design work on here for a while now, so this is at least a start.  Now in my fifth and final year of architecture school I’m currently working on my “thesis” project — “thesis” is in quotations because it is a little different from what it is in other professions.  It is basically an idea/understanding that arises through our investigations on a particular architectural subject matter.  Mine, so far, is about the intentional manipulation of light and perception through boundary (more on that some other time).

The medium of investigation is the design of a building in downtown Montgomery, a once thriving city devastated, like so many, by the advent of the car.  With the car came glorified suburbia, and out went people.  As pedestrians disappeared so did storefronts… empty buildings were torn down for parking lots/garages, and streets were widened to speed traffic.  This left the urban fabric in shambles and pretty unsuitable for pedestrian use.

You can see in this figure ground map of downtown how sparse the street frontage is– pretty much all the blank space (other than the streets of course) is parking.  I color coded the heights of buildings to show the lack of density: the lightest shade represents 1 and 2 story buildings while darker is taller.  Thankfully, now that people are beginning to realize these flaws and the beauty of good urbanism, the city is working hard to revitalize through proper planning.

 In small groups we researched the city and their overarching planning proposals to make our own proposals to revitalize specific portions of the urban fabric.  Out of these proposals came our individual building projects that we are working on for the rest of the year.

Mine (represented by the small orange dot on the map) is basically an observation tower that serves as a terminus for a major street and the backdrop of a new public park/plaza a classmate and I are designing across from the baseball stadium.  Above are  just a couple little images from earlier this semester.

Sunday River’s New Campaign

Newry, ME — With every new ski season comes a new campaign to generate interest in the sport and its respected resorts. This year Sunday River will promote their resort with an intricately designed image on their websites, clothing, stickers, etc. Sunday River wanted to stay away from the current fad of bright and loud patterns that are reminiscent of the eighties, and go in a totally new direction. The resort wanted their new campaign to be prominently featured amongst complex, intricate designs created by the Native Americans. So, Sunday River went out and hired a group of Native American artisans, the Aryan Nation.

“Listen,” begins a distressed Sunday River executive, “we totally fucked up and we know it. We wanted to hire some Native Americans, but who the hell knows even knows an actual Native American person? We needed to find out how to locate some, so we went online to search them. Originally, we all agreed that Cherokees were pretty badass and that we should contact them, but every time we Googled them, we kept getting results for websites about jeeps. After that didn’t work, we then typed in ‘true Americans’, and that’s how we found the Aryan Nation’s website. We just assumed that ‘true Americans’ meant ‘Native Americans’, and you’ve got to admit that Aryan Nation does sound like a Native American reservation. Honestly, we didn’t know that we were hiring ignorant assholes. We just thought that we were getting some Indians.”

On the behalf of the Aryan Nation, Roger Whiteback, chief propaganda designer, states his brotherhood’s side of the story. “First of all, me and my partner, Stan Whiteface, were super-duper excited to do the Sunday River project. What they did was send us a rough sketch of what they wanted. Their original sketch was this picture of a weird image that had about four arms extended from the center, and within that image were the words ‘We Support White Powder’. So, I went to work on the background image first. I couldn’t make out what the hell that thing was supposed to be, but when I started to squint at it, it made sense. It was just a poorly drawn swastika. Well, I beefed it up a bit, and made it into one of the best swastikas I’ve ever designed. They got mad about that because later on, after we finished the project, they told me it was actually a snowflake and not a swastika. Then there was the incident with their slogan in the forefront of their sketch: ‘We Support White Powder’. They got all pissed when I took the letter ‘d’ out of ‘Powder’. Seriously? They hired the Aryan Nation, of course we’re gonna think ‘We Support White Powder’ is a typo, ya know?”

After experiencing a rough economic patch, Boyne has admitted that they’re unable to financially support a new campaign, and if they want to continue to promote their ski resort, then the Aryan’s finished product will have to suffice.

A Boyne spokesperson further explains their company’s stance. “We’re in the middle of a financial dilemma here and a racial controversy, but we’re just going to have to lean on the old proverb that ‘All publicity is good publicity’. Yes we accidentally employed the Aryan Nation, but it was for a very brief moment in time. We’re willing to admit that we had a brief exchange, but we don’t want people to think we’ve been rubbing elbows so hard with the Aryans that their lynching arms are bruised.”

To help put Sunday River back into the good graces of its loyal guests, and also distance themselves from white supremacy, Boyne employed a Jewish publicist to put a positive spin on the “We Support White Power” campaign, and prove that if a Jew could work for Sunday River, then their logo can’t possibly stem back to the days of the Nazis.

“Alright,” begins the Jewish publicist, Sal Steinberg, finally, after fifteens minutes of pleading for someone to turn the heat up at Sunday River’s press conference. “You’ll notice the words ‘We Support White Powder’ in the middle of this here sticker. Last winter was pretty tough financially, and there wasn’t enough money to put into a second campaign, but we did have enough money for a case of Whiteout. If you put your face a few inches away you’ll clearly notice that each sticker has squeezed in a Whiteout letter ‘d’ to make the word ‘Powder’. This makes each one unique and a collector’s item. Now, let’s talk about that background symbol. Since when did a windmill-esque image, on an axis, with four arms that eventually bend at a ninety degree angle, automatically mean it’s a swastika? We just thought it’d be fun to stray away from the traditional idea that a snowflake is a fancy, doily-looking object. We just took a simple, stripped down image to use instead. Everyone uses the fancy snowflake image, and as everyone knows, no two snowflakes are the same. So, we believe a snowflake like ours could definitely exist.” He’s right, it did exist. In East Germany.

Later that night, a waitress at the Matterhorn Ski Bar overheard the Jewish publicist, in a nasally voice, saying the following (right before he left a meager eight percent tip), “I’m so nauseous right now. I can’t believe I said those things for money. I feel like one of those prostitutes, you know? The ones with the ungodly clothing and diseases. I hate myself. I’m going to have nightmares for weeks now about Moses chasing me with a pitchfork. My poor mother would never forgive me for getting involved with those Nazi lovers. I just want to go back to my condo in Miami.”

After dumping the body of the young woman who overheard the publicist, Boyne and Sunday River executives were hoping that the explanation of the logo would help the controversy blow over, but certain groups took notice. One of those groups, the Ku Klux Klan, overheard the conference, and one of their leaders had this to say, “As you’ve probably guessed, we are ecstatic that Sunday River surfaced their true feelings and beliefs. We finally have a safe place to go on a skiing vacation now. A place where we’ll be accepted in our hood and robes. It’s not easy going out in public when you dress like us. You have no idea how painful it is to be constantly judged and ostracized everywhere you go, just because of who you are. It doesn’t matter now though, because in Bethel, they tell it like it is. White Power all the way! Hell, they even support the Confederacy. I mean, they must support the Confederacy if they put a statue of a faggy Union soldier, on Bethel’s Main St., smack-dab between a homo flower store and a God damn taco shop! I love it! Reminds me of the good ol’ days in Montgomery, Alabama.”

After a private meeting, executives of Boyne and Sunday River held another press conference. “We have finally come up with a way to prove that we aren’t racist, and that we don’t support White Power,” exclaims a representative of Sunday River, who regularly quotes the movie Blazing Saddles. “Our superiors at Boyne Realty are currently installing a border length wall to stop racist people like the Aryan Nation and the KKK from entering Maine. We originally had the idea to build the wall years ago to keep out Massholes, and now it’s finally about to become a reality. Aside from those three groups, other people wishing to come to Bethel are still more than welcome and may enter from New Hampshire, because Canada will obviously be completely walled off. However, due to the wall being several miles wide, it was incidentally built on top of Gorham, New Hampshire, so people will instead have to go through the wall’s border patrol located in Berlin. Now, I know some people are worried, but as long as people have their papers in order, they’ll be fine. Everyone’s really friendly at the Berlin Wall.”

Notice the lyric change from Julie Andrew’s and Leslie Ann Warren’s song to Brandy’s version….from ” slave in Kolkata” to “thief in Kolkata”…NICE. One discriminatory association fixed, now whata bout the small issue of little girls everywhere hearing “I’m a girl men go mad for love’s a game I can play with cool and confident kind of air” to the ever so demeaning concept of “Just as long as I stay in my own little corner All alone in my own little chair. I can be whatever I want to be.” Don’t get me wrong, I grew up hearing Leslie Ann Warren’s version (the worst of the lot in talent) and LOVED it. It’s just a shame we are all so preconditioned to think some things are “normal” and “right” vs. other things. For Instance, I get the concept of mascara…I do and I use it daily. I also like high heels…but really, do we HAVE to do these things to believe we are “normal” and “fit for society”?? Just interesting cultural beliefs I guess. I mean what little girl (woman) isn’t dreaming of the Cinderella fantasy in some way…in some version of her own? Maybe if I sit in my own little corner and my own little chair and stay quite I can be JUST LIKE Cinderella?? YAY!!!

Just thoughts…and I am sure I am only skimming the surface.

This is a same day edit from Amanda & Keith’s beautiful wedding day at the Belles of Montgomery. Thanks to Alex White for additional camerawork and editing assistance. Also thanks to Mary at The Caroline House featured at the beginning, she’s such a sweetheart and was very hospitable.

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It’s been about six weeks since Mayor Todd Strange, ever mindful of ecomomics, stopped the city’s curbside recycling program. We (and our large group of friends) were quite saddened by this news. Even though we had our share of issues getting our hands on the official municipal orange recycling bags, we do recycle a lot, even collecting glass (which Montgomery never recycled … at least as long as we’ve lived here) and sending it to another nearby (more progressive) city for reprocessing.

So, we were prepared to be vehemently opposed to the end of curbside recycling, but instead were surprised to find ourselves somewhat lukewarm on the issue. Only a third of Montgomery households participated in the program. And we can vouch for the flexible definition of “participate” – while we regularly put out at least one full orange bag every week, other houses appeared to put out a bag with a few items in it every two weeks. Even if you are a strong believer in recycling, it’s hard to justify the fossil fuel use for trucks cruising up and down streets for the weekly recycling pickup when results are so meager.

It gets worse – turned out that city was using the McInnis Recycling Center (a business effort of the Montgomery Association for Retarded Citizens) to process the materials. That facility could only handle about a quarter of what it got through curbside pickup. The remainder was either sent to the Elmore County recycling program or to the landfill. Only 1% of the city’s waste was getting recycled.

Eliminating this massively ineffective recycling program saved the city $400,000 per year (so we were told by the local newspaper). The City was bleeding money, facing an $8 million budget shortfall and burning through the entirety of municipal reserves. In this fiscal crisis, with the city taking a bath on any number of budget items including the terrible Bobby Bright legacy lunch trolley (which was losing $75,000 per year), we found ourselves agreeing with reduced pickup. Or even eliminated pickup. The Mayor said that the city was moving toward drop-off sites that would be open twice a month on Saturday. Probably this reduced recycling input (conceding that ending curbside pickup would lead to decreased participation) would mean that all the recycling at least, you know, got recycled. Maybe the city should have thought about the capacity limitations of Montgomery’s retarded people before they set up the recycling program. We’re not saying those people shouldn’t have jobs (obviously), but if the McInnis facility can’t handle being the sole site of Montgomery’s recycling program, they shouldn’t be handed a job bigger than they can do.

In any case, we were less motivated to show up and complain about the end of curbside recycling once we found out how wretched the existing program was. That’s when Mayor Strange hit us with the one-two punch of his proposed alternatives.

• Option One: Sort All The Trash. The Mayor was talking for a while about a program like the one being set up in Baldwin County by Team Green Recycling. TGR is a private company building a plant to take in all of Baldwin County’s trash, unsorted, and sort it before it goes to the landfill. They make money by selling the recyclables, and the city makes money by reducing landfill costs. Turns out it’s not cheap for cities to handle solid waste, and it makes financial sense for cities to reduce their trash output (though landfill fees are still inordinately cheap, especially in communities without an interest in forcing “true pricing,” taking pay-later externalities into account). In any case, this approach seemed credible and reasonable, having been tried before in other similar communities. But we haven’t heard much about it since October, and maybe that’s because TGR’s money is all tied up getting the Baldwin County project off the ground, so they’re not ready to invest up here.
• Option Two: The Plasma Plant. A “plasma plant?” Sounds like some of that geoengineering crap that people float to avoid having to deal with the pressing need to actually reduce consumption and carbon emissions. Without knowing anything at all about how this works, we can only say for sure that the city’s has recently agreed to do a one-year “feasibility study,” after which we may build a plant which may be ready in three years.The idea of these things is that they use very high temperatures on the solid waste, recyclables and all. No special curbside pickup. No sorting. No consumer effort at all. Organic stuff vaporizes and makes steam to run a turbine, so gasification plants are supposed to generate power to sell back to the grid. Other stuff that doesn’t “gasify” ends up being reduced into “slag,” which industry sites assure us can be used for many purposes, including building blocks and roads. The plants don’t produce ash. One of the major problems is that no municipality in the US has a running plasma plant now. The first one, in Florida, is expected to be running by 2011. There is a plant in Huntsville that uses plasma technology, but it’s basically just an incinerator and produces ash. And we have no information on what this means as far as air emissions when you go around and burn up an entire city’s worth of milk jugs and disposable diapers and glass jars and old cell phones and batteries and all the other shit that people put into their trash cans.

The Mayor said he’d get back to us on these options. The City Council said fine. Then we received this flyer in the mail informing us of the recycling drop-off locations, and including the fine print that plastic would no longer be recycled by the city. Only paper and cardboard and aluminum. This seemed like some kind of sick joke. Recycle two days a month, paper and cardboard and aluminum only. Plus, it turned out that at least one of the schools had Saturday school, causing some unpleasantness (or at least jockeying for parking) between the school attendees’ parents and local recycling aficionados.

All of which has left us with a number of questions. Such as:

1. If the city is so super broke, how are we going to afford cutting-edge plasma technology that NO OTHER CITY IN THE UNITED STATES HAS?

2. What are we going to do if the feasibility study comes back in one year and indicates that a plasma plant isn’t an ideal solution? What if they cost more than we expect, or don’t work? Or they leave poison in the ground where they are built? Or emit lots of air pollution? Or blow up regularly, killing all the workers who work there?

3. What are we going to do in the meantime? Fill our landfills with glass and plastic simply because the City of Montgomery can’t seem to set up a recycling system like the one in Troy, Alabama, population 12,000 or so? A tiny town 45 minutes to the south of us has figured out how to do curbside recycling of glass, metal, paper, cardboard, and plastic, and not bleed money and go bankrupt? What’s our problem up here?

4. Can’t we just stop our absurd twice-a-week trash pickup and do a single day of the week to pick up trash and a single day of the week to pick up recycling? And start doing glass? And plastic? And somehow not exclusively rely on McInnis to sort it all? And maybe even find a way to sell the recycled goods on the private market and make it into a revenue stream for the city? Or if not, just declare that this is a service (like free parks, for example) that makes our city worth living in and it’s worth it to lose money on since it makes our city a more attractive place to live?

Sixteen years ago I was pulling night-duty at San Antonio’s International Airport, waiting for and working flights coming in from Mexico. Since I had long ago mastered any and all U. S. Customs rules and regulations as they related to my duties, I felt justified in passing the time and staying awake by writing letters to friends and relatives. I began this letter that evening, and added to it over a period of several days and sent it snail-mail on the above date.

November 13,1993

Hi, Dockie and Jackie,

Don’t faint, it’s just me. I realize you folks are not very accustomed to getting letters from me (especially since this is the only one I ever sent you), but the shock should wear off pretty soon. We found the picture of Philip in the flower bush. I mean we found the picture which shows Philip in the flower bush, not that we found it in the flower bush. I figured I would send some words of wisdom along with it. The picture has faded a lot over the years. It was made 18 years ago, so I guess it’s in pretty good shape considering the time that has passed.

I’m working a swing shift at the airport, from 3-11 p.m., and have a lot of free time on my hands. Well, actually I’m not working 3-11 today, I’m working 8-5, but usually I am 3-11. There’s not much to do and I really get bored, so I decided to use the time to write letters and bore the people I send them to.

I’ve written my sisters more since I started working nights than I have in my entire life. I’ve even written Aubrey and Evelyn and Winnie and Clyde and Bill several times. One thing about the letters I need to warn you of—they are long. Writing on a computer is a little like running downhill, eating peanuts or having sex—once you start, it’s hard to stop.

We really had a great time in Georgia, especially at the cookout. Seeing you and Jackie and Jean was a real treat, and seeing that gaggle of kids and grand-kids and in-laws and outlaws was great. Of course, the years weigh a bit heavier when you see that the kids now have kids, and their kids will soon be having kids, and you wonder where the years went. I can remember so clearly us playing jacks in Montgomery. I’m not sure but I think I remember winning, at least some of the games. Tell you what—you and Jackie come on out for a visit, and I’ll buy some jacks and challenge you to a game—I think I can still beat you!

Cindy spent 10 days with us recently, from October 23 until November 2. She left this past Tuesday, but has already bought tickets to return during Christmas. The house sure seemed empty for awhile after she left, and we’re already looking forward to her return in December. She is doing well in her work in Virginia—in fact she will make more than her ol’ pappy this year if she keeps on like she is going. The only problem is that she has learned how to make money, but has not yet learned how to hold on to any of it. When she masters that, she will have it made. Her sister Kelley is running her a close second on that—not in making the money, but in spending it.

I think the people in Mexico are still talking about the visit you and the others made to Laredo. In fact, in Mexican folklore they refer to you as “la senorita loca con la pela rubia y el sombrero gigante,” which means “the crazy lady with the blond hair and the giant hat.” When you folks come out, we’ll try to fit in a trip to the border so you can terrorize the natives some more.

I just got back to my office. One of the ladies I work with is a garage sale freak like me, and we went hunting garage sales. They were supposed to have a giant sale at Trinity Baptist Church today, so we went there first. There were at least 100 cars there, so we figured it would be a great sale, but we couldn’t find where they were set up. We finally asked a motorcycle cop at the corner about it, and he said that the cars were there for a funeral, and that he didn’t know anything about a garage sale. I guess we have sunk to a new low, trying to get a really good bargain at a funeral.

We finally found several small yard sales before we had to return to work. I bought a 35-millimeter slide projector for $2.00. Does it work? I don’t know yet, haven’t tried it, but even if it doesn’t work I’m only out two bucks, and I’ll probably value it at $50 and donate it to Goodwill Industries and take a tax deduction, so how can I lose?

How are the goats doing? Boy, we really have some ritzy relatives—they keep a BMW parked in the yard just so their goats will have something to climb on! Alta and I liked your house, and you have it so nicely decorated. She is still talking about her visit with you. I guess you two sat up and talked all night.

Hope your Cocker Spaniel is alright now. She is a friendly little thing —well, not so little, I guess. And I know now not to blow the horn when I come to visit, or the white elephant will come out and chew off my bumpers. You call him a bulldog, but he’s more elephant-sized than dog-sized.

I told you that the letters are long. You’re probably getting an Excedrin headache from reading this. You know you can always stop and come back to it later if you want to. Of course the news will be that much older by the time you return.

Did we have our patio covered when you were out here? I don’t think we did. Anyhow, it is covered now, and we are going to extend the patio cover across the back of the house, probably about 50 feet all together. Hope to get it finished by the end of November, before the weather turns cold and wet. We had a cold spell last week. The temperature got down to about 27 degrees, but just for a few hours. We put all the plants in the garage and haven’t put them back out yet. Actually we have a 2-cat garage. They stay there at night, and are in and out of the house all day. They are having a ball climbing the ficus trees in the garage.

Took the tom cat (Dumas Walker) to the vet yesterday for his shots. It took three of us to give him the immunizations—two to hold him down and one to use the needle. That cat does not like to go to the vet. We gave him a tranquilizer before we took him in, but all it did was make him mad. I mean he was a real tiger, but normally he is a very gentle and loving cat—spends a lot of his time lying on my chest while I’m watching television. After seeing him in action at the vet’s office yesterday, I don’t feel quite as comfortable having him lying there.

I suppose I’ve rambled on long enough, so I’ll close. Tell everybody hello for us, and give Jean our love. We know that you have a tough row to hoe, and you are doing it alone. We’ve never been in that situation, but we understand your problems and frustrations, and support you in everything you do.

Lots of love,

Janie and Mike

A place that few liberal Democrats would be familiar with.  Today I drove from Fort Stockton, Texas to Tucson, Arizona.  I’m here to tell ya’, buddy, this is America.  Chicago and New York and San Francisco might be in America, but this right here is America.  Well, yeah, along with Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and whole bunch of other places that the NY Times doesn’t cover.

The liberal East Coast power elite, the Columbias and Harvards of the world, and the Nancy Pelosis of the world, can run their mouths all they want, because the sons and daughters of El Paso and Tucson (and Omaha, and Montgomery, and …) will always be there to stand between them and the Bad Guys.

OK, that’s it for me for tonight.  Tomorrow I drive to Los Angeles.  G’nite, and may God continue to bless America.

For those of you who don’t know I am a graphic designer at the Logo Loft in Montgomery, AL. I USED to post my work daily but haven’t due to a flux in work keeping me MUCHO busy! So here are my logos from September.

DC Snipers day of reckoning is here...

The Supreme Court of the United States of America, has declined to step in and halt the execution of the convicted master mind behind the D.C. area snipings that occurred for three weeks in October 2002.

During three weeks in October 2002, Muhammad and Malvo killed 10 people and wounded three while taunting police with written messages and phoned-in threats and demands. In notes left at shooting scenes, the snipers demanded $10 million to stop the shootings.

Here is a report from the Associated Press..Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor objected to the court’s haste, saying it “highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded.”

Stevens, writing for the three, said Virginia had short-circuited the process by scheduling Muhammad’s execution for Tuesday night, earlier than the court would normally have reviewed his petition for the court to take his case.

“By denying Muhammad’s stay application, we have allowed Virginia to truncate our deliberative process on a matter — involving a death row inmate — that demands the most careful attention,” Stevens wrote.

Defense attorneys also have made a clemency appeal to Virginia Gov.Tim Kaine , but the Democratic governor has suggested he will not grant the request. Malvo, 24, is serving a life sentence in Virginia.

 Since Muhammad’s death date was set in September, Virginia prison officials have been swamped with inquiries about its most anticipated execution in recent history.

Some supporters say Muhammad is mentally ill and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder during his service in the Persian Gulf War.

 Justice Steven’s expressed some trepidation behind what he feels is a rush to execute Muhammad.

Stevens said he remains “firmly convinced that no state should be allowed to foreshorten this court’s orderly review of first-time habeas petitions by executing prisoners before that review can be completed.”

I respectfully disagree with the Justice, and feel that it would be against the civil rights of the convicted, if he is forced to live in a state of flux,fearing for his life to end at the whim of a court’s decision to re-interpret the law.

The people have been clear in the demands, that have been reaffirmed by the highest court in our land.

Justice will be served at 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Greensville Correctional Center. Muhammad, 48, is all but sure to die by lethal injection as was reported in my blog in October, when the day of reckoning was initially announced.

I do not celebrate the impending death of Muhammad ,48, but I can only focus on the 10 innocent victims, men, women, and children, all working class citizens, and can only point to the fact that he gave them no such choice.

It is cowardly for him to be begging for some sort of clemency, that is not deserved.

May he find peace in his death.

I would like to ask the readers of this article, what do you think he may be thinking about as his time of death looms closer and closer.

Is it cruel and unusual punishment to have a killer spend the next few hours in an unbearable unending anticipation of one’s own death.

I bet that he is going to be a coward all the way to his grave.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2009-11-09-dc-sniper-execution-court_N.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/09/scotus.sniper/

We have been looking for good Mexican food in Montgomery since we’ve lived here. Regular readers will remember that we gave a big “meh” to La Zona Rosa, an “ew, but good margaritas” to the Advertiser’s Best in Montgomery Ixtapa, and a “hey, this place is good” to Los Vaqueros. We’re still trying to sort out what we think about El Rey’s, mostly because it’s so good but so expensive. And we have liked Cuco’s Express in the past as a downtown lunch option, but are a little more lukewarm on it at the moment, even though the enchilada plate is a pretty good bargain.

You should be able to get a great Mexican meal for a good price in this town, and now we have a new favorite for exactly that: Los Cabos Cantina, out on the Boulevard in the same lot as the new bowling alley. I ordered the vegetarian fajitas, which were great. Really, really great. They were not greasy, and boasted a bunch of different kinds of vegetables including spinach (and, oddly, peas and corn). There is enough for at least two, maybe three people to share. We took it home and had a great lunch the next day.

Also at our table were the huevos rancheros, which were fantastic. The eggs had that nice little crisp on the fringes, but remained soft in the middle. They came well-dressed (but not smothered in) a spicy ranchero sauce and were plated with perfect amounts of beans and rice. The tortillas were hot and soft. There was also an outstanding cheese and spinach quesadilla that we ordered as a side simply because we were SO hungry when we got there. And it was outstanding.

The salsa is a little on the watery-tomato side, and the guac is not at the level of El Rey’s for sure – still too pureed and needs some salt and/or lime. But it’s pretty good. They have something on the menu called “top shelf” for guac, and we’ll definitely get that next time.

The atmosphere is nothing remarkable. It seems like there is the usual fare: fake decorations to make White people feel “festive,” soccer on two giant plasma TVs, big wide booths. The most remarkable thing is the unbelievable picture on the front door of the place: a drunken sombrero-d man in a hammock sleeping next to a hot bikini-d woman. Is this what Mexico is like? No? Is that even the right question to ask? No? Then why are so many establishments devoted to promoting this awful image of Mexico (for an especially horrifying example, check out this recent trip to an establishment called South of the Border)? I wish this image was not everywhere at Los Cabos.

The service was quite good: very attentive without being overbearing, lots of drink refills and such.

Prices were quite fair. We look forward to checking out the margaritas and other menu offerings.

All in all, we have a new favorite place for Mexican food in town.

Thanks to LiM regular Jay Croft for the tip!

In over 23 years of selling real estate in Greater Cincinnati, I have never seen a “perfect storm” of a buying opportunity for real estate! Buyers have a once in a lifetime opportunity that may never present itself again. Three major market factors are combining to create this major buying opportunity:

* Low mortgage interest rates! Rates are in a range of 4.5% to 5.75% depending on the loan term.

* Government tax credits to buy houses! First time buyers get up to $8000 for a home purchase, while repeat buyers are eligible for up to $6500! (Good for contracts written thru April 30, 2010). Here is the link for more detailed information on the tax credits…http://www.realtor.org/fedistrk.nsf/files/government_affairs_tax_credit_ext_chart_110409.pdf/$FILE/government_affairs_tax_credit_ext_chart_110409.pdf

* Low home prices! In Hamilton County, including Cincinnati, home prices are down on average to the price level not seen since 1999!  Each neighborhood is different however, and the following chart will indicate that:

 (Information provided from the Greater Cincinnati MLS)

So my question is ….What’s stopping you from acting on this amazing buying opportunity presently available? Let’s examine a few possible roadblocks. 1) You need to sell a home first. Ok, that is a reasonable one. Consider that any money you lose in the sale of your home, you should more than make up for with the three buying reasons above! 2) Your job is not secure. This is a major factor. The good news is the economy is showing signs of turning around which should not only help people feel more secure in their jobs, but more jobs should become available going forward.

Given the three factors mentioned above, anyone buying now and in the next few months can get a super real estate buy. Now is not the time to be greedy…see the headline above!

So what is stopping you? Now is the time to act. Call me or email me today if you would like an analysis for your neighborhood, similar to the one above, or if you would like to start your search! I can be reached at 513-979-2617 or jdurso@comey.com.

So, Tuesday I’m going to the dollar theater in Birmingham to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’ve already seen this movie in theaters, and it was awesome, but I haven’t seen it in theaters and it only cost me a dollar yet.

The thing is, I’ve never been to the dollar theater. It sounds really, really sketchy to me. Then again, I’m pretty much the least-brave person in the country.  So there’s that.

Actually, that isn’t so true.  The other day we were gallivanting around the scary parts of downtown Birmingham around midnight and I was totally unafraid. Of course, I used to do that in Montgomery on a regular basis, since I worked in a baseball stadium in downtown Montgomery and didn’t get off work until after midnight on occasion.

Anyways, I will keep you updated on this adventure. Maybe. There’s always the off chance that I’ll get strangled in the dark theater or something.  (I promise to actually tell you if this theater is safe or not. This isn’t going to be like the mythical Phil Campbell post.)

(“The Mighty Mac at Dusk” – Macinaw Island Bridge – photographer unknown)

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 72

By Scott A. Klaft

The Church In Time Of War …continued

(Setting the Stage for Struggle)

All but two of Lincoln’s newly appointed cabinet members recommended that Major Anderson abandon Fort Sumter, but Lincoln strongly disagreed. He had no intentions of recognizing or legitimizing the Confederate government. Evacuation of Federal property to southern seizure seemed very much like doing just that, let alone what doing so would do to northern morale. He notified the Confederates that he was sending provisions to the fort without additional troops or ammunition, and then he gave the order to send the supplies. His judgment proved to be wise as the move avoided a war-like stance and left the decision to the south. If the Confederates fired upon them now, they would be branded as the aggressors.

Upon receiving the information, the Confederates instantly demanded Major Anderson’s surrender, which was cordially refused. On April 12, 1861, with thundering southern artillery, followed by fire, smoke, devastation, and death, the first shots of war sounded the trumpet of woe that would be heard throughout the continent, and the world, for years to come. The North would pit its superior numbers, weaponry, and supplies against the South’s tenacity, guile, and passion for four years.

It is difficult to tell with any brevity how this would affect the churches of the Restoration Movement. The sources are scarce and the details concerning how the war affected them in a material way, or the extent to which they took part or suffered, and the issues or positions taken and by whom are all difficult to find.

From the election of November 1860, to the dramatic commencement of war-guns in 1861, there was political agitation throughout the land, the likes of which had not yet been seen. It was during this period that Tolbert Fanning was journeying through the southern states. On November 27, he left Nashville to travel to Corinth, Mississippi, and then south to Jackson, the State Capital. The state legislature was in session, and Fanning freely admits to have been taken aback by the political fervor. He confessed he had not seen such political excitement before. He went to the legislative halls to hear the political speeches, and it seemed that the only question before them was, “When, and how, shall Mississippi secede from the union?”

What, if any, difference did the war make to the church? In many ways, it made an astounding difference. The veteran preacher, T.W. Caskey was among those who drew up the papers of secession. Fourteen years prior, Fanning had preached for a crowd in Jackson that would have filled the chambers of the State House of Representatives. Now he preached for two days to very small numbers. From Jackson he traveled to Vicksburg, and then to New Orleans, finding, in all his searching, only two or three Christians worshiping after the New Testament manner.

He headed east to Mobile, Alabama, and visited brethren throughout the state. Arriving in Montgomery, the State Capital, he discovered the city in such turmoil that no one had time to hear about the Lord. Finding no brethren there, he moved on to the east again, toward Atlanta, Georgia, arriving on December 21, the day after South Carolina’s announcement of secession. He had hoped to visit a dear brother in Christ, Dr. A.G. Thomas. With solemn disappointment, Fanning wrote:

“Dr. A. G. Thomas is a brother of fine address, superior talents and learning, but we saw him with a feather in his hat and a glittering sword in his right hand, and doubted if he would be able to hold the sword of Georgia in one hand and the sword of the Spirit in the other.”[1]

Fanning was deeply regretful that so many of the brethren were getting so heatedly excited over political affairs while forgetting the Lord; he scolded them for doing so.

(Continued next week)

Preparense para el regreso de Addison!… otra vez.

La protagonista de Private Practice, Kate Walsh, vuelve a Grey’s Anatomy a principios de Enero para interpretar un rol clave en un crossover super secreto, que involuca a Addison, Mark y una actriz invitada, Leven Rambin (de Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.)

La situacion es la siguiente:

En la mitad del crossover, Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) trae a Addison al Seattle Grace para que haga una cirugia al personaje de Rambin, quien les anuncie la semana pasada que llegaria.

La historia se pasa a Private Practice cuando, segun Shonda Rhimes, “afloran complicaciones y Mark termina llevandose a la paciente a L.A para mas cirugias.”

Eso parece ser. Si habran o no chispas entre los ex amantes Addison y Mark, y el impacto que podria tener en la relacion de Mark y Lexie, no se sabe.

Respuestas a todas estas preguntas serán reveladas pronto, en futuros spoilers-spoilers.

Por ahora, debatan !

Common Misconceptions About the Christian Life
10 Misconceptions of New Christians

By Mary Fairchild, About.com

New Christians quite often have misconceptions about God, the Christian life and other believers. This look at the common misconceptions of Christianity is designed to dispel some of the myths that typically hinder new Christians from growing and maturing in the faith.

1 – Once you become a Christian, God will solve all of your problems.

Many new Christians are shocked when the first trial or serious crisis hits. Here’s a reality check — get prepared — the Christian life is not always easy! You will still face ups and downs, challenges and joys. You will have problems and troubles to overcome. This verse offers encouragement for Christians facing difficult situations:

1 Peter 4:12-13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. (NIV)

2 – Becoming a Christian means giving up all fun and following a life of rules.

A joyless existence of mere rule-following is not true Christianity and the abundant life God intends for you. Rather, this describes a man-made experience of legalism. God has amazing adventures planned for you. These verses give a description of what it means to experience God’s life:

Romans 14:16-18
Then you will not be condemned for doing something you know is all right. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God. And other people will approve of you, too. (NLT)

1 Corinthians 2:9
However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” — (NIV)

3 – All Christians are loving, perfect people.

Well, it doesn’t take very long to discover that this is not true. But being prepared to meet the imperfections and failures of your new family in Christ can spare you future pain and disillusionment. Although Christians strive to be like Christ, we will never obtain complete sanctification until we stand before the Lord. In fact, God uses our imperfections to “grow us” in the faith. If not, there would be no need to forgive one another.

As we learn to live in harmony with our new family, we rub each other like sandpaper. It’s painful at times, but the result brings about a smoothing and softening to our rough edges.

Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV)

Philippians 3:12-13
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead … (NIV)

4 – Bad things don’t happen to truly godly Christians.

This point goes along with point number one, however, the focus is slightly different. Often Christians begin to wrongly believe that if they live a godly Christian life, God will protect them from pain and suffering. Paul, a hero of the faith, suffered much:

2 Corinthians 11:24-26
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. (NIV)

Some faith groups believe the Bible promises health, wealth and prosperity for all who live a godly life. But this teaching is false. Jesus never taught this to his followers. You may experience these blessings in your life, but they are not a reward for godly living. At times we experience tragedy, pain and loss in life. This is not always a result of sin, as some would claim, but rather, for a greater purpose that we may not understand immediately. We may never understand, but we can trust God in these difficult times, and know he has a purpose.

Rick Warren says in his popular book, The Purpose Driven Life – “Jesus did not die on the cross just so we could live comfortable, well-adjusted lives. His purpose is far deeper: He wants to make us like himself before he takes us to heaven.”

1 Peter 1:6-7
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold–and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. (NLT)

5 – Christian ministers and missionaries are more spiritual than other believers.

This is a subtle but persistent misconception that we carry in our minds as believers. Because of this false notion, we end up putting ministers and missionaries on “spiritual pedestals” accompanied by unrealistic expectations. When one of these heroes falls from our self-constructed perch, it tends to make us fall too — away from God. Don’t let this happen in your life. You may have to continually guard yourself against this subtle deception.

Paul, Timothy’s spiritual father, taught him this truth – we are all sinners on an equal playing field with God and each other:

1 Timothy 1:15-16
This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–and I was the worst of them all. But that is why God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. (NLT)

6 – Christian churches are always safe places, where you can trust everyone.

Although this should be true, it is not. Unfortunately we live in a fallen world where evil resides. Not everyone who enters the church has honorable intentions, and even some who do come with good intentions can fall back into old patterns of sin. One of the most dangerous places in Christian churches, if not properly guarded, is the children’s ministry. Churches that don’t implement background checks, team led classrooms, and other security measures, leave themselves open to many dangerous threats.

1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (NKJV)

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (KJV)

7 – Christians should never say anything that might offend someone or hurt someone else’s feelings.

Many new believers have a wrong understanding of meekness and humility. The idea of godly meekness involves having strength and courage, but the kind of strength that is submitted to God’s control. True humility recognizes complete dependence upon God and knows we have no goodness except that which is found in Christ. Sometimes our love for God and our fellow Christians, and obedience to God’s Word compels us to speak words that may hurt someone’s feelings or offend them. Some people call this “tough love.”

Ephesians 4:14-15
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (NIV)

Proverbs 27:6
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. (NIV)

8 – As a Christian you should not associate with unbelievers.

I am always saddened when I hear so called “seasoned” believers teaching this false notion to new Christians. Yes, it is true that you may have to break off some of the unhealthy relationships you have had with people from your past life of sin. At least for awhile you may need to do this until you are strong enough to resist the temptations of your old lifestyle. However, Jesus, our example, made it his mission (and ours) to associate with sinners. How will we attract those who need a Savior, if we don’t build relationships with them?

1 Corinthians 9:22-23
When I am with those who are oppressed, I share their oppression so that I might bring them to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone so that I might bring them to Christ. I do all this to spread the Good News, and in doing so I enjoy its blessings. (NLT)

9 – Christians should not enjoy any earthly pleasures.
I believe God created all of the good, wholesome, enjoyable, and fun things we have on this earth as a blessing for us to enjoy. The key is not holding on to these earthly things too tightly. We should grasp and enjoy our blessings with our palms held open and tilted up.

Job 1:21
And (Job) said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (NIV)

10 – Christians always feel close to God.
As a new Christian you may feel very close to God. Your eyes have just been opened to a brand new, exciting life with God. However, you should be prepared for dry seasons in your walk with God. They are bound to come. A life-long walk of faith requires trust and commitment even when you don’t feel close to God. In these verses, David expresses sacrifices of praise to God in the midst of spiritual times of drought:

Psalm 63:1
[A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.] O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (NIV)

Psalm 42:1-3
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?” (NIV)

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Unuttered or expressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer, the sublimest strains
That reach The Majesty on high.

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gates of death;
He enters Heav’n with prayer.

Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice,
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice
And cry, “Behold, he prays!”

The saints in prayer appear as one
In word, in deed, and mind,
While with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.

No prayer is made by man alone
The Holy Spirit pleads,
And Jesus, on th’eternal throne,
For sinners intercedes.

O Thou by Whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray.

James Montgomery was born this date, 11/4/1771, at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland.  His family moved to a Mo­rav­i­an set­tle­ment at Grace­hill, near Bal­ly­mena, Coun­ty An­trim, Ireland when he was about five. After attending Ful­neck Sem­in­ary in York­shire and a couple of job tries he started working for a newspaper owner.  James eventually bough him out, renamed it the “Sheffield Iris” and edited it of the next 32 years.  He supported the abolitionist cause and equally or more strongly supported the cause of the British Bible Society and foreign missions.  Montgomery is credited with writing some 400 hymns among which one finds the above and his famous “Angels from the Realms of Glory.”  He died 4/30/1854, at Shef­field, Eng­land.

I am accepted…
John 1:12 I am God’s child.
John 15:15 As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 I have been justified.
1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ’s body.
Ephesians 1:3-8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
Colossians 1:13-14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:9-10 I am complete in Christ.
Hebrews 4:14-16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.

I am secure…
Romans 8:1-2 I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
Romans 8:31-39 I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Colossians 3:1-4 I am hidden with Christ in God.
Philippians 1:6 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven.
2 Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
1 John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.

I am significant…
John 15:5 I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
John 15:16 I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 I am God’s temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:6 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10 I am God’s workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12 I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

“The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity!”
(From Victory Over the Darkness , by Dr. Neil Anderson)

English: From an English surname meaning “GUMARICH’s mountain” in Norman French. A notable bearer of this surname was Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), a British army commander during World War II. (Behindthename.con)