Although Snopes says it is a hoax, I still like the way someone has put together symbolism behind the 12 Days of Christmas traditional carol. For those who are interested, here you go!

12 Drummers Drumming – the 12 points of belief in the Apostle’s Creed

11 Pipers Piping – the 11 faithful disciples

10 Lords-a-Leaping – the 10 Commandments

9 Ladies Dancing – the 9 Fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control)

8 Maids-a-Milking – the 8 Beatitudes

7 Swans-a-Swimming – the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit (prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation, contribution, leadership and mercy)

6 Geese-a-Laying – the 6 Days of Creation

5 Golden Rings – The Torah, Pentateuch or first 5 books of the Bible

4 Calling Birds – the 4 Gospels

3 French Hens – Faith, Hope and Love

2 Turtle Doves – Old and New Testaments

The Partridge in a Pear Tree – Jesus Christ

*********

Again, according to Snopes, it does not appear to be a true story. Nevertheless, next time you hear the song, feel free to remember these things and reflect on Jesus Christ!

Yours in Christ,

Marty

Modern urban legends, do you buy into them?  Do you perpetuate them?  Do you believe them?

There are so many of them these days… help the girl kidnapped… twitter updates, facebook is raping your privacy, or they are going to start charging you money to use their service…

I shake my head.   Recently a load of people have been mass updating about the searchability of Facebook on Google… it’s not new.. it’s old.. I know because I changed the settings ages ago.  Yes Facebook changed something recently.. and updated every user about it.  If you ignored it then whose fault is that???   Anyway.. a couple of people in Taiwan kinda got into a bit of a ‘conversation’ about it… and I just couldn’t resist.  Here is a the pertinent part of what I wrote.

(she had mentioned people stalking and using facebook to find your personal information .. look up you address etc. ) In Taiwan???  You know there are no white pages here right…. honestly, you’re getting overly excited.. all the searchability on FB isn’t new… you’re just discovering it… I have known about it for ages… stalkers are much more low tech they just chill outside your house and learn what they want.

You need to understand ALL of this information is readily available somewhere if you know where to look and feel like it.  Even if you have never been online, there is still tons of info out there for those inclined to find it.

It never ceases to amaze me how much the illusion of privacy gets folks riled up… if you put it out there then it’s not private. period.  end of story that means a blog, facebook whatever, if you post it then someone somewhere can access it.  Regardless of your privacy settings, if a hacker wants in and lets face it 50% of kids today are pretty much able to hack most mid-level systems, they’ll get in.

As for facebook and their sneakiness, it’s just not true it’s an urban legend, they let you know when they change settings.  I know because I received a notification to check my privacy settings a few weeks back when they implemented new things.  People who don’t know should pay attention when they get stuff from facebook right on the main page.  Plus they never change your previous settings, my stuff is all set to only friend, (except my photo albums) and it has never changed, not once.  And as a matter of fact, most of the times they have implemented something new (and I got a notification) I checked and it followed my current default settings of friends only.

I’m not attacking you or anything, but I wanted to let you know what the real deal is.  These messages that go all viral are just modern urban legends.  No one is suddenly changing you privacy levels, nor are they every going to start charging you money to use facebook   Not that you have believed those, I’m just saying it’s all slices from the same pie.  Some shit disturbers somewhere is playing on people’s lack of technological knowledge, knows that people aren’t being observant and then taking advantage of many people’s fear of losing their privacy and rights.  Ass wads   Prolly a buncha boys somewhere lol.

—

I tried to make sure it didn’t come off super mean or bitchy, I certainly didn’t mean it like that.  But I’m just amazed at what everyone get sucked into.  Then there was a bunch of stuff about how if you don’t want people to know what you’re up to .. maybe you shouldn’t be putting it online and posting pictures… (I stand by this)   Then my friend tells us that reliable tech blogs are all talking about this Facebook, Google issue… um.. just telling me you’re getting your information from tech blogs doens’t tell me shit.. every ass with a computer (myself included) has an oppinon, and states them as fact to make sure we all listen to them.

Really? Give me a link to these things so I can decide for myself whether they are reliable sources or not.  You know I don’t even care….

Give me a break… what it boils down to is your worried about your privacy.. then you should get off the f-ing computer.  And even then it’s an illusion… you have no real privacy… live with it.  or bury you head in the sand… live a happy life and don’t worry about it.  But getting all riled about about something silly like google is searching facebook and taking your information that you freely posted there.  You’re kidding me, right?

How the hell can Google and Facebook be invading your privacy?? It’s not like someone hacking into your private files on your computer, or coming into your home or even looking through your window.   You know what it’s like?  It’s like someone looking at you as they pass you on the street, the street that you voluntarily went out on.

Magda shakes her head at you.

  I do have to say, it’s all made me so cynical, I want to think when I see a wish to help someone with cancer, or find a lost kid that it’s a real thing and I would like to pass it on or help in someway.  But I know that 99% of the time it’s BS, and now everything that crosses my patch gets a sideways look.  As a matter of fact, most things just get dismissed, immediately.

Oh for a reliable source on what’s what.. you can check out snopes.com.. they are very good at researching a debunking rumors urban legends and fake stories.  But don’t take my word for it, go have a look yourself and decide if you feel it’s a reliable source (I feel it is, as it’s been long standing and the information I have found there has been verified in several other locations).

This tempting pizza is topped with marinara, roasted asparagus, caramelized red onions, artichoke hearts, and red bell peppers.

Reflect with me, won’t you, on a time before the internet… before Google and Snopes, when urban myths were passed one to another and there was no immediate way to refute them.  Could you send in a Tootsie Pop wrapper with a star and receive a prize?  Was New Coke a ploy to raise demand for their former product?  Or was it a way for the company to change to high fructose corn syrup from sugar unnoticed?  Will swallowed chewing gum take seven years to get through the digestive tract?  Before a simple Google search would answer our questions, we were left to wonder and likely to pass on more urban myths as truths.

These days a variety of mass forwards make their way to our inboxes, and yes, sometimes it’s good that a simple search let’s us know whether or not the message is legit.  But sometimes it’s a bit disappointing when we learn that the urban legend we enjoyed and the story that came with it are completely fabricated.  Take the story that I heard many years ago about the invention of pizza.  In this tale, pizza was invented long, long ago as a way to help the poor in the community.  All of the food vendors in the city had something to offer—a baker had excess dough, others had tomatoes for sauce, the grocer had extra vegetables…  By everyone in the community coming together and offering what they could, pizza was invented to help those who were hungry.

Perhaps that myth takes its roots in stories like the one we tell in my touring children’s theatre group this time of year.  In One Chanukah in Chelm, a beggar is visiting a town known to be very charitable.  He promises the villagers that even with meager ingredients, he can make potato latkes in honor of Hanukkah.  Soon all of the townspeople are giving offerings to help the man—salt and pepper, onion, oil, and, of course, potatoes.  By everyone coming together and sharing what they are able, the beggar creates the best latkes anyone in the town has ever tasted.  The “miracle” in this story is that when we are generous of heart, everyone is the better for it.

This savory pizza includes a marinara-topped crust, a sauteed Smoked Apple Sage Field Roast sausage, and caramelized red onion on a bed of kale and minced garlic. I combined a small dollop of Vegenaise and several spoonfuls of prepared horseradish and served it with the pizza for topping.

When I make pizza at my home, it is often similar to the original story in that I take whatever odds and ends I have, and together the whole is better than the sum of its parts.  Half of an onion remains in my Pyrex?  Slice it thin, sauté it in a bit of oil until it begins to brown, then put it under a low heat, add a squeeze of agave syrup, and enjoy caramelized onions on it.  A few leaves of collard greens or kale are great chopped and steamed and then added to the pizza pie.  An artichoke heart or two from a jar, spinach or basil leaves, leftover roasted squash, chopped kalamata olives, sautéed Smoked Apple Sage Field Roast sausages, roasted red peppers, diced cherry tomatoes, potatoes sliced thin and sautéed, roasted asparagus, and best of all, whole cloves of roasted garlic are all delectable additions.  Before the pizza is slipped into the oven, it is topped with a handful of pine nuts that will toast while the crust is baking.

A simple crust is the perfect canvas.  My favorite is Vicolo.  Their organic cornmeal crusts use non-GMO cornmeal and come two to a package.  They are available in the frozen section at the grocery store.  Simply save them in the freezer for a night when you want something fast and easy on the table in a half an hour or less.  The crust can be taken straight from the freezer, topped with marinara or homemade vegan pesto and the ingredients of choice, put into a 425 degree oven, baked for 15 minutes, and it’s good to go.

After the pizza is hot and ready, serve it with a few cool ingredients like sliced avocado, jalapeños, salsa, hot sauce, bruschetta, hummus, or even Vegenaise mixed with horseradish for a tempting finish.

Depending on the amount of toppings and one’s appetite, one pizza is generally plenty for two people.  It would also be fun for a dinner party to offer a variety of toppings from simple to gourmet, and let guests adorn their own half of a pizza.  One word of advice: if any morsels of food slip onto the floor mid-preparation, rumor has it that the 5-second rule is bunk.  Eater beware.

I’ll only drink out of a colored straw if it’s blue. Because even though drinking water is clear, blue is the color most used to add dimension to clear water, n’what not. And. Water is sometimes blue. I might drink out of a green straw… But red, yellow, orange, purple, etc. Out of the question.

PEOPLE are so scared of stupid things. Like. drinking coffee from a straw? haha. Give the mug two minutes to chill and YOU WILL LIVE. I promise.

Also… Swallowing gum.. ahaha. I’m sorry. I never believed that whole “gum stays in your stomach for 7 years” thing. It just sounded stupid to me. Yes. you can chew and chew and chew and the gum wont disolve or break apart in your mouth or anything. But. It’s like food, people. I don’t mind if someone feels the need to throw their gum away rather than swallow it.. But it becomes incredibly unnecessary and somewhat hilarious to watch someone walk around for over ten minutes trying to find a trash can or a piece of paper and panicking when they can’t find one. “Oh my gosh! Whattamigonnadooo?” I mean. Really. Swallow it. If you die, I’ll pay for your funeral.

http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/chewgum.asp

AND. more. lame.

You may have seen these photos circulating around email lately. Are we to believe that lame story about the bull’s owner transporting it so his daughter could ride it in some parade, or does it show a man trying to transport his wife home after an ancient curse takes effect? You be the judge.

snopes.com

In the late 1990s, when I had my first email address, I started getting forwards. When they were new to me I used to enjoy them. They were filled with amusing anecdotes and touching stories, but there was one in particular that bummed me out, because, dammit, I love Pringles.

The email went like this:

PLEASE MAKE A DIFFERENCEThe President of Procter & gamble appeared on the Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He announced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his association with the church of Satan. He stated that a large portion of his profits from Procter & Gamble Products goes to support this satanic church. When asked by Donahue if stating this on t.v. would hurt his business, he replied, “THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.”

Product list includes:
[snipped the long list of P&G Products]

If you are not sure about the product, look for a Procter & Gamble written on the products, or the symbol of a ram’s horn, which will appear on each product beginning on April. The ram’s horn will form the 666, which is known as Satan’s number. Christians should remember that if they purchase any of these products, they will be contributing to the church of Satan. Inform other Christians about this and STOP buying Procter & Gamble Products. Let’s show Procter & Gamble that there are enough Christians to make a difference. On a previous Merv Griffin Show, the owner of Procter & Gamble said that if Satan would prosper he would give his heart and soul to him. Then he gave Satan credit for his riches.

Anyone interested seeing this tape, should send $3.00 to:
DONAHUE TRANSCRIPTS, JOURNAL GRAPHICS
26 BROADWAY NEW YORK, N. Y. 10007

WE URGE YOU TO MAKE COPIES OF THIS AND PASS IT ON TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. THIS NEEDS TO STOP. LIZ CLAIRBORNE ALSO PROFESSES TO WORSHIP SATAN AND RECENTLY OPENLY ADMITTED ON THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW THAT HALF OF HER PROFITS GO TOWARDS THE CHURCH OF SATAN.

I was a Christian at the time, and I also pretty much took anything I read in an email from a friend at face value. I was only 13 or 14, after all. What a bummer, now I would have to check every product I used to make sure I wasn’t supporting Satanism.

Thankfully, the claims are simply not true, and I will continue to enjoy my favourite snack.

See a list of hoaxes counted down so far after the jump.

100. Bridezilla Freaks Out About Her Hairdo
99. The Joe Schmo Show
98. The Crying Indian
97. Ivar’s Underwater Billboards
96. Well to Hell
95. Great Comics Switcheroonie
94. American Cannibal
93. Nacirema Tribe
92. Indian Rope Trick
91. Eruption of Mount Edgecumbe
90. Republic of San Serriffe
89. Sydney Iceberg
88. Donald Crowhurst
87. Forgotten Silver
86. Procter & Gamble & Satan

Wrestler and former Mr. Universe and Mr. America, Miklós “Mickey” Hargitay and actress/sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, carousing on the beach at Santa Monica, circa 1958-59.

Captured by vintage glam, fun, and cheesecake photographer Peter Gowland, likely with the assistance of his adorable wife Alice (they are a beautiful partnership).

The story goes like this, or so it is said. One night, Jayne Mansfield was attending one of Mae West’s famous burlesque shows (she idolized West, the original dirty blonde, and rightly so). She saw Mickey Hargitay in the crowd and when the waiter came to take her order, she said, “I’ll have a steak and that man on the right.” It was a stormy relationship, full of make-ups, break-ups, and affairs which, given how famous the blonde bombshell and the bodybuilder were, could not help but be public. The pair were tabloid fixtures until the jumping cartoon alarm clock of their marriage finally wound itself down and petered out.

Onstage in 1961, via Vintage Vegas on flickr. Mickey and Jayne had a show there at the Arabian Room called “House of Love.”

The couple divorced in Juarez, Mexico in May 1963. The Mexican divorce was initially declared invalid in California, and the two reconciled in October 1963. After the birth of their third child, Mansfield sued for the Juarez divorce to be declared legal and won. The divorce was recognized in the United States on August 26, 1964. She had previously filed for divorce on May 4, 1962, but told reporters, “I’m sure we will make it up.”

Must have made it up indeed, temporarily. Actress Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU), the youngest of their three children, was born earlier that year.

Via Muscle Growth Lovin’ Femme, unsourced, undated.

Jayne had several failed marriages and dead-end relationships following her final divorce from Mickey. She was killed in a car accident in 1968, along with Sam Brody, her boyfriend and accused child abuser. She was not decapitated; that is pure gruesome urban myth. Three of her children were in the car with her, including Mariska, but they survived with minor injuries.

Ditto credit to above

Mickey Hargitay married Ellen Siano several years after he and Jayne divorced, and remained married to her the rest of his life. She raised Jayne’s children as her own in the wake of their mother’s tragic death. Mickey died of multiple myeloma in 2006.

Here is an email letter circulating the Internet.

The validity is still to be determined but the point is still clear.

I have a few thoughts on this: If Mr. Estes didn’t write the letter, then why didn’t someone take credit by using their own name, I mean, obviously someone wrote it; and on the flip side of that, again, obviously someone wrote it, so why would one need to wonder if Mr. Estes is his real name? It seems that people always seem to question “who wrote . . .? ” when ever something courageous, poignant, and patriotic surfaces, take for example Jody McLoud and his football speech. . .

This gentleman makes some great points. I hope this letter really was mailed to the President.

American Soldiers - photo source: shmoop.com

This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaiifor his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body, he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now. He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can’t figure out what country you are the president of.

You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:

” We’re no longer a Christian nation”

” America is arrogant” – (Your wife even announced to the world,”America is mean-spirited. ” Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)

I’d say shame on the both of you, but I don’t think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said,” America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.”

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts, who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.

And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,

Harold B. Estes

Source: TCU Nation

Respectful comments welcome! Thanks for reading!

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Came across this interesting little post on Snopes.  On a given Sunday in 1950, every member of  the West Side Baptist Church choir in Beatrice, Nebraska, was late for practice.  The tuneless church exploded that evening, just five minutes into the regularly scheduled rehearsal time.  Chance?  Luck?  I don’t really believe in those options…

All of the reasons for tardiness are given.  You decide…click here to read the true account.

Sure seems like divine intervention to me!  But then, I’m preaching to the choir here.

History has a strange way of reinventing itself, sometimes because a gap needed filling, and sometimes even when no gap existed.

Take, for example, the case of one John Hanson. I recently received an email from an uncle of mine, suggesting that George Washington was not actually the first president of the USA. In my uncle’s words, “…not many peeps realize the pre-Washington history of the presidency”. His statement was founded upon the claims made here.

I found the claim intriguing, and decided to do some research in to the matter. What I learned was that this claim was essentially untrue, but I also learned a little more about US history and – more specifically – why the US came to be.

The “Hanson as original President” argument is based upon his appointment as President of the Confederation Congress in 1781. However, if one follows this argument further, even HE was not the first “President”, but rather the first ELECTED President, as  Samuel Huntington and Thomas McKean had served before him in that office, after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.

However, I think one has to clarify the difference between the President of the Confederation Congress (which was the title these three men, and their annual successors, held), and the “President of the United States”: the former served when the US had no Executive Branch, and served largely in a ceremonial capacity only. Actually, to be specific, the United States did not even exist yet, so how could he be “the first President of the USA”?

Here an excerpt from Snopes:

“It is important to note that although both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation used the phrase “united states of America”, neither of those documents was intended to create a single, unified country out of the thirteen former British colonies. Colonial leaders feared the creation of a too-powerful national government dominated by factions and so specifically refused to create a unified nation or to transfer sovereignty to a central government, Instead, they in effect created a national Congress to whom they could subcontract administrative tasks performed on behalf of all thirteen states: conduct foreign affairs, make war and peace, deal with Native Americans living outside the states, coin and borrow money, supervise the post office, and negotiate boundary disputes. Congress could NOT, however, raise money to carry out these tasks by levying taxes on the states, nor could it raise troops in order to defend the country or wage war, or even compel the states to comply with the laws it passed. In short, the Articles of Confederation created a Congress extremely limited in authority, with insufficient power to carry out the duties assigned to it”.

The Confederation Congress failed eventually, transferring responsibility for the national debt to the states in 1787.

The key to all this being that the Articles of Confederation did not create “The United States of America”, but an alliance of thirteen INDEPENDENT and SOVEREIGN states. The failure of this partnership led to calls for establishment of a centralized federal government, and thus was drafted the Constitution. From the perspective of understanding why and how the Constitution and US came to be, it is certainly very interesting and important to know about John Hanson and the Confederation Congress. It’s going a little far, it seems to me, to suggest he was the “First President of the United States of America”, though!

So the United States did not come to be as a result of the Revolutionary War, but rather because the Confederation of Sovereign States failed to operate under their intended principles of autonomous partnership.  The failure forced the drafting of the famed Constitution, centralizing authority and power, and establishing the US of A.

I love it when I learn something new!

Recently you may recall that Ken Silva was caught in another scandal. Well we have  found that to be  false and upon further discernmentalizing have concluded that the Ken Silva in the video singing “worldly music” just last year which promotes “trance formational dancing” is actually an evil Doppelganger twin of Ken planted by Emergents to mock our Pure Doctrines.

In other news GOIP Eye 2 was shot down by Rob Bell, Doug Pagitt and their heretical crew of Emergent miscreants. Here  is the view captured from GOIP Eye 1:

Just look at that mystical web of  Emergent confusion surrounding our once lovely rocket satellite! GOIP Eye 3 caught the moment of impact when GOIP Eye 2 exploded:

I don’t know about you, but I am fed up with email hoaxes and people forwarding them without doing a little fact-checking. Sure, I do it all the time on Twitter (posting or RT’ing without checking it out for myself), but never with an email. It may be because I only email people I really know and don’t really care that much about my tweets, and besides, on Twitter, there is an impetus to stay current, like you know, real-time. What prompted this post is the following email I’ve just received (copied and pasted, unedited):

“YOU HAVE TO LOVE HIM……READ THIS!
HE MADE THIS SPEECH IN NEW YORK .

The Plan!
?
Robin Williams, wearing a shirt that says ‘ I love New York ‘ in Arabic.

You gotta love Robin Williams ……..Even if he ‘ s nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.
Robin Williams ‘ plan…(Hard to argue with this logic!)

‘ I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here ‘ s one plan. ‘

1) ‘ The US /UK/ AUSTRALIA will apologize to the world for our ‘ interference ‘ in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those ‘ good ‘ ole ‘ boys ‘ , we will never ‘ interfere ‘ again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East , and the Philippines . They don ‘ t want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave We ‘ ll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are from. They ‘ re illegal!!! France will welcome them..
4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don ‘ t like it there, change it yourself and don ‘ t hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don ‘ t need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers..

5) No foreign ‘ students ‘ over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don ‘ t attend classes, they get a ‘ D ‘ and it ‘ s back home baby.
6) The US /UK/ Australia will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don ‘ t like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not ‘ interfere. ‘ They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don ‘ t need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us ‘ Ugly Americans ‘ any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it…or LEAVE…Now, isn ‘ t that a winner of a plan?

‘ The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying ‘ Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. ‘ She ‘ s got a baseball bat and she ‘ s yelling, ‘ you want a piece of me? ‘

If you agree with the above, forward it to friends…If not, and I would be amazed if you DELETED it!!“

Now, all it takes to verify this (or most forwarded email, for that matter) is to go to snopes.com and/or factcheck.org, two reputable sites where you can, if you fancy, you truth-seeker, verify the, well, veracity of most tales going around the interwebz. Go check this one out for yourself– http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/williams.asp Sure, sounds like a logical plan, and some parts of it make sense (okay, maybe the part where they strung some letters together to make words make sense–it is mostly haughty and high-handed, like a sober Rush Limbaugh on a bright sunny day picnicking at the park, perhaps), but don’t use Robin Williams’ name to make a statement. All I ask of you is to check it out. You’re already online anyway.

I’m guessing at least 50% of you attended a “Harvest Party” or “Trunk-n-Treat” at your church last month, and at least 25% more attend a church that held one.

Which is all fine, as far as it goes, although I take issue with two of the most commonly given reasons for these sugar-fests: that they provide a safer alternative to traditional trick or treating, and that they are a powerful outreach activity to the community.

Although some local news stations still dust off the razor-blades-in-the-apples story each October, Snopes.com disproved every instance of candy tampering ever reported in conjunction with Halloween. It’s just a myth—as is, most likely, the adult who actually gave apples.

These events also fail to reach our communities. Lots of people may show up and the church might receive some good press. A few families may even return for a weekend worship service because of the experience they have on your campus—although I’d bet a Snickers bar your church doesn’t know if that’s happening. Meanwhile, we spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars recruiting volunteers, organizing games, and haranguing church members for candy donations.

Or there’s Christmas. I don’t have the Snopes link to prove it, but do you know anyone who became a Christian because of a Christmas cantata? Usually the audience for such things is comprised of the family and friends of those in the choir, most of whom are already believers. (This is doubly true for children’s programs.) Again, the investment of time and energy  is out of all proportion to the spiritual ROI.

If we really want to show love to our neighbors at Halloween, we could follow the example of my own parents, who make a big pot of apple cider, park themselves in lawn chairs at the bottom of their driveway, and give cups of the hot drink to every tired, cold parent who comes along with his tiny princess/pirate/Disney character. They talk to their neighbors, serve them in a small way, extend friendship, and ooh and aah over little people in costumes. (They give candy, too, the good stuff—kids aren’t excited about cider.)

Or, like Journey Christian Church, we could organize a “Light Night” and challenge members to creatively transform their homes into places of light and welcome on this traditionally dark evening. My fellow blogger Arron, who serves as senior minister at Journey, says the church offered a variety of ways for people to participate (set up games or bounce houses, make popcorn or cotton candy, host costume contests, and–yes!–give out hot cider). Members were encouraged to distribute info about Journey’s programs for kids and copies of the Gospel of John along with the candy.

At Christmas, what if we asked church members to spend Wednesday night having dinner with a non-Christian neighbor instead of attending choir practice with lots of already-Christians? What if, instead of lining the sanctuary with video cameras to capture Junior’s debut as wiseman #3, we opened our homes for Advent parties for all our kid’s friends?

I’m really not lecturing—there’s more I can do in this area, too. But let’s be honest—we do Fall Fests and Christmas pageants because these things make us feel good. If we really wanted to serve and reach non-Christians, we’d be doing something else.

Today is dedicated to the smelly, creepy, ugly, and just plain weird. Although my boyfriend is happy that he has his own holiday, he isn’t really that interesting. Instead I’ve got some stories and articles that are too creepy to be fake!

Calls From the Dead

September 2008. In San Fernando Valley, California, a commuter train collides with a freit train at a combined speed of 83 MPH, killing 25 and injuring 135. Among the dead was a man named Charles E. Peck. Peck’s fiancé was driving to pick him up when she heard about the crash on the radio. Peck’s body was pulled from the train 12 hours after the accident. It was then discovered that for the past 11 hours his phone had repeatedly called his son, brother, stepmother, his sister and his fiancé. 35 called were made, but when these mysterious calls were answered, the loved ones heard only static. It was also discovered that Peck died on impact, and his cell phone was never recovered

A Snopes-Proof Story

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/deadcall.asp

Recently one of our faithful GOIP Political Agents—Shelly The True Republican discovered an evil Emergent plot set up within Florida to corrupt our Pure Children. Here are the deets:

Walt Disney And Cussing Lie-berals

October 27th, 2009 | Category: Briefly Patriotic

From the very start, Walt Disney tried to “normalize” miscegenation, mor(m)onism and bestial pedophilia so I guess it was just a matter of time before his company hired a homo activist to run the whole company.

Also, I got a call from some lie-beral defeato-crat that ended up, like all of them calls do, with them cussing and profaning the name of Jesus…cuz that’s what lie-berals do.

Listen to Shelly’s podcast as well. My adoptive dad and I agree that Disney was an evil Emergent lie-bral apostate and that the Disney Corporation is  run by evil Emergent Spiritual Terrorists bent on enslaving our Pure Children and teaching them the false and socialist doctrines of liberalism. Parents for the good of our Pure Elect children Boycott anything remotely related to Disney.

Wrong Choices
God’s lifestyle choices hitlist : God hates people that belong to one of the groups below because they harm America!

* Gays
* Liberals
* Abortionists
* Animal Rights People
* Environmentalists
* Muzlims
* Vegetarians/Vegans
* Pedophiles
* Linux users
* “Purpose Driven” churches
* Mormons
* Germans
* Government school teachers
* The anti-smoking lobby
* College Professors
* Poets

————————–

[H/T]  http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=9647

So the Philadelphia Phillies are going back to the World Series. I had the feeling when I saw them at Citizens Bank Park back in July that they would. They looked very good then, and they look good now.

When I found out my cousin was getting married in the Philadelphia area, one of the first things I did was check the Major League Baseball schedule to see if the defending world champions would be in town then. I was excited to see that they had a homestand with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh while I was there.

I had hoped to see a game during the week, but the wedding party had events planned, so I agreed to wait until Sunday afternoon to go, even though we were to leave for Indianapolis that day.

We went over to the ballpark to check on tickets the morning my brother would be arriving at the airport, which is close by. In fact, I remember seeing planes approach for landing just beyond the Eagles’ stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, which is right across the street from Citizens Bank.

All that was available for the game against Pittsburgh was standing room only, which you can expect when the home team just won the World Series and is making a run for a second title. Plus, it’s on a Sunday, when people aren’t as busy with other things.

And I know that the City of Brotherly Love gets a bad rep when it comes to sports. After all, Philly fans are notorious for publicly voicing their displeasure and throwing things onto the field. Perhaps the most famous incident came during an Eagles game in the late 1960s, where a guy dressed as Santa Claus was booed and pelted with snowballs.

But you can’t find fault with Philadelphians for being loyal to their teams. Even an article about the day in question from Snopes says “the fact that 54,000 people showed up to watch a miserable team (the Eagles finished that season 2-12) play in miserable weather is a testament to the loyalty of Philadelphia fans.”

The weather was actually quite nice on the day of the game I went to. We were worried that it might rain, but the sun was out, and temperatures were in the 80s. The Phillies got off to a quick start, loading the bases with its first three batters. Ryan Howard flied out to center field, allowing Jimmy Rollins to score from third base.

It looked like the Pirates would get out of the inning, with Pedro Feliz facing an 0-2 count with two outs and the bases loaded. He took the third pitch out of the park, however, and just like that, Philadelphia was up 5-0.

J.A. Happ, the starting pitcher that day, had a pretty good game too, allowing just one run on four hits in 7 innings and striking out four.

I very much enjoyed my visit to the stadium. We had to stand the entire game because it was sold out, but we didn’t mind it that much. And the Phillies’ game day staff is as outstanding as the players were on the field.

On the way out, they were at the gate, saying goodbye to people. I bought a program, and they gave me a free mini-pencil that says “Philadelphia Phillies” on it. Last I knew, it was in my mother’s purse.

Then in the later innings, I bought one of those helmet ice cream sundaes. I used my debit card to pay for it, and the lady saw that I had written “CID” (see ID) on the back, so she asked to see my ID. That’s the only time I can think of where someone has done that thorough of a job with looking at the back of the card.

My Phillies ice cream sundae helmet from Citizens Bank Park.

My mini-helmet has a little spot on it. I think it was hot fudge, and I tried like Lady Macbeth to get that damned spot out. Then I decided that little spot served as a certificate of authenticity, that I got this from the home of the Phillies and not from Dairy Queen. So I decided to leave it.

Even as we were stuck in traffic for two hours trying to get out of the city, I did not regret wanting to go to the game. My hat’s off to the Phillies for being an organization deserving of the title World Champions and best of luck in this year’s Fall Classic, especially if the Yankees win the American League.

Here’s a ferinstance for ya’lls…

If you had to choose who has the better imagination between Wishbone and Mr. Rogers, who would you pick?

I posed this question today to my students and the overwhelming sense I got from them is that they think Mr. Rogers is a creep-o. This makes me sad. But I think that they are only viewing him through their cynical college-age selves. There were a few who got wistful at the memory of Henrietta Pussycat. (Or maybe they were crying because I scared them by saying “meow-meow, meow, meow… meow” in my best Henrietta Pussycat impression.)

P.S. According to Snopes, Mr. Rogers was never in the military, despite stories you might have heard to the contrary.

canadafreepress.com/

The Birth Certificate.
Obama supporters like Snopes and FactCheck claim to have a copy of Obama’s birth certificate, but they do NOT. I challenge any reader of this column to send me a certified copy of Obama’s actual birth certificate and I will gladly disclose it to the public along with a retraction of this statement.
I won’t get one, because no such document has ever been released by Obama. End of story!
Officials in Hawaii have issued their “opinion” that Obama is a “natural born citizen” of the United States. But they have thus far refused to make public the documents used to arrive at that opinion, and until they do so, their “opinion” is nothing more than inadmissible hearsay from a third party NOT present at the time of Obama’s birth, and they are, therefore, unable to support such a claim.
Not one, but THREE different COLBs, (Certification of Live Birth, not to be confused with an actual birth certificate) have been posted online by Team Obama, Snopes and FactCheck. But none of the three contain any verifiable information necessary to vet the documents and since three have been offered, all must be treated as forgeries until one of them can be authenticated.
Some “birthers” believe Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii. That’s because Obama’s Kenyan relatives have stated under oath, that they were present at Obama’s birth in Kenya.
But where he was born isn’t so important. The fact that he was born to a father who was at no time a citizen of the United States, is the problem. On this basis alone, Obama is NOT a “natural born citizen” of the United States and that makes him an “unconstitutional president” at best!

How far do you have to go for a Big Mac Attack?

Not far at all.

The other day I facetiously titled a post about animals rescuing other animals or humans “These dogs go to heaven.” Alas, I discovered on Snopes that there’s still some debate on that topic. See these pictures created on the Church Sign Generator for the in-depth theological debate:

No, these aren't real. But you may still laugh.

Honestly, I thought the days of the “forward this e-mail on to x number of people and you’ll get a free y product” messages were behind us. Doesn’t everyone know that these messages are always a hoax?

I thought we all knew that. But this morning I logged in to my mail to see that I was the latest lucky recipient of a mass spam mailing. Other HowStuffWorks.com writers were also in that lucky bunch. The e-mail said “I wonder if this is a scam. Oh well.” Following that message was a series of other messages, and buried deep inside was the original “offer.”

That supposed offer was to send a free Sony Ericsson T18 Laptop to anyone who forwarded the message on to at least eight other people. Sending it to at least 20 would get you an upgrade to an R320 Laptop. To add a little authenticity to the bogus offer, the message asks that you carbon copy the message to a person with an Ericsson.com e-mail address. Presumably, this was how Sony would keep track of people taking advantage of this amazing deal. I’m not going to include the e-mail address here because I’m sure that this person, if she does exist, is already tired of receiving dozens (if not hundreds or thousands) of spam messages.

The offer isn’t legitimate. Why would it be? What company would offer up a free laptop computer — a piece of hardware worth hundreds of dollars — for something as simple as forwarding a message on to eight other people? What would stop anyone from creating dozens of e-mail addresses just to earn more computers? It makes no sense! Furthermore, imagine the legwork this poor Ericsson person would have to do just to follow up with people who had forwarded the message! If you apply even a tiny bit of critical thinking to the situation it doesn’t hold up.

Some of the messages in the forwarded chain o’ garbage claimed that the sender had already taken the time to go to Snopes.com to check on the claim and that it was valid. That’s simply not true. All it takes is a quick visit to Snopes. Type in “Sony Laptop” in the search bar. This is the page that will come up as a result. See the big red circle with the word “False” next to it? That means the claim is a hoax. The site even points out the fraudulent claims people make about visiting Snopes to verify the offer.

That wasn’t very hard to do. In fact, verifying the claim was easier than creating an e-mail for at least eight people! With a minimum amount of research you can check to see if an offer is legitimate before you send the message on to others and potentially annoy them enough to create a blog post about it.

I know the prospect of getting something for nothing (or practically nothing) is very tempting. I know it seems like it doesn’t do much harm to just send an e-mail along. If it doesn’t work, it’s just one more spam message, right? What’s wrong about that? Here’s my take:

1. Spam already makes up the majority of all e-mail sent across the Internet. According to Barracuda Networks, it accounts for 95 percent of all e-mail. Most of that comes from botnets. Do we really want to add to that already astronomical number?
2. Even if the people to whom you send the message don’t care about receiving a single piece of spam, think of the person at Sony Ericsson that gets copied on all those messages. How would you like it if you logged in to your e-mail to find your inbox full of messages from people expecting to receive a computer for nothing?
3. It is easier to verify the claim than it is to follow directions! I know we’re lazy, but let’s at least be efficiently lazy!

I am now going to go take a time out in the break room and breathe into a paper bag for 30 minutes or so. In the meantime, go visit HowStuffWorks.com and learn more about scams, spam and ways you can avoid driving tech journalists insane:

How E-mail Works
How Spam Works
How Identity Theft Works
How E-mail Scams Work