Next on In Session: The death of a pet in the remote hills of Tennessee leads directly to the shooting death of its owner — and a murder charge against the victim’s neighbor. But was John Collett acting in self-defense when he shot Bruce Greer five times? That’s the question a jury must decide in this trial. Tune into In Session for opening statements starting Monday.

I have several friends struggling with deep hurts and trials right now.  I keep waking up in the night praying for them.  I’m so sorry they have to suffer in such personal ways.  But I know that God is present and working in their situations.  He showed me this in a strong and powerful way this week.

I was returning from a neighboring town and driving towards the Big Horn Mountains.  I felt nudged to call one of these friends to let her know God was still waking me up in the night to pray.  Lo and behold, she had been sitting in the middle of the room, on the floor, feeling pretty discouraged and low.  God had nudged me to call her at just the right moment.  He loves her that much.  But there is more.

When we finished talking I was delighted to see a glorious sunset before me.  It covered the mountains and the whole town of Buffalo, wrapping all around me.  Only a small portion of the sky was dark, and the rest was covered in bright purples, pinks and blues.  It was unbelievable.  And then I realized — this friend was sitting there in her home, feeling a bit dejected, and had no idea that God’s glory was all around her, on every side and right across the top of the whole town.  She couldn’t even have seen it if I’d called her back to tell her to step outside, because it required a view from the distance.  Some of God’s glory is too big to see; too mysterious and all-encompassing.

But there is more.  My scripture reading the next morning said it all.

The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.  – Psalm 103:19 (HCSB)

How often do we sit in despair, not realizing that God is all around, and that His glory actually covers and protects us?  Do we worry over finances or grieve a loss and not realize that His glory covers us in this?  Do we miss what He is doing around us — not seeing that at the same moment of our sorrow He is performing a miracle elsewhere — bringing a child into the world, feeding a hungry soul, lifting a wounded spirit?  Do we forget that it’s not “all about us?”  It’s all about Him — His purposes, His plans, His ways.

It is not to our shame to realize this, for we will not see every sunrise or sunset.  We cannot see His glory in the deepest parts of the ocean or in the darkest caves.  The sorrows and feelings of each of these friends are very deep and personal and cannot be easily dismissed, nor should they be.  We will not always feel or see His glory; we miss so much every day.  But we can at least be encouraged that it always there, and that His Presence is always with us, even when we don’t see it.  We can at least believe and trust that His glory and presence surrounds us in these times.  Perhaps the picture is bigger and greater and far more wonderful than anyone could ever imagine.

Open my eyes so I can see what you show me of your miracle-wonders.  – Psalm 119:18 (MSG)

I knew that in time, this day would come. And last night it arrived when my mom gave me an ultimatum. So I got a little wasted to numb the fact that we had that conversation.

She went all crazy and decided that it was time to start cutting me off her paycheck. I don’t even ask for a lot, stuff has always been given to me. My family gets me things because they know I wouldn’t. I never had to work for anything, I don’t know, don’t ask. But she said that it was time for me to lean on myself for things that I want. She then went to calling me spoiled and among others things. I listened, but did any of that really stick?

She even said she’ll stop surprising me with those McDonald’s bacon Angus burgers until I get my shit together, physically and metaphorically. Meaning, my room needs to be coherent and I need to go to school and get a part-time job.

That’s just cold..but I do need space in my room if I want that keyboard I’ve been thinking about..

She said I need a real job (no freelance work) so that I can have a steady income. She wants me being more productive etc. Man, my buddy lives in his late grandfather’s house now because he  left his mom’s because she was bothering him about getting a job and being on the “right” path. I’ve talked to him and we both know that when we feel like “making our move” in society we’ll do it. But being pressured by family is not helping. I’m a very calculated person, I pay attention to my odds.

I realize I do need a life, but right now my main focus is not waking and feeling (or attempting) like I want to kill myself. Taking away my basic needs only fury the matter.

Thanksgiving hasn’t fully gotten here yet and I already feel exhausted. I don’t know what will happen today. I may even explode. I heard that my uncle isn’t coming..don’t know why, haven’t asked yet. So that just leaves my one aunt (who lives 20 minutes away, but only seen 4 times a year) to make it over here. Our Thanksgivings have always been boring and monotonous. We do the same things ever year in the same order in the same house with the same people..etc.

Every year it’s just 6 of us that participate with one aunt doesn’t get into social gatherings. But I’m still over-thinking this whole “ultimatum” thing. I know she won’t kick me out of the house, but c’mon.. Last night she saw something on TV that inspired her to “change” her lifestyle and now she’s all uptight about everything. We were watching the show “Biggest Loser” and she came up with this whole scenario on how our family eats nothing but garbage.

Uh yeah..I happen to like garbage. If others choose to count calories, go ahead, but leave me out of it. Now she’s all pissed off that I won’t work out with her to motivate her to become healthier. So from now on only “healthy” stuff will be in the house. I guess I will lose weight..by not eating that crap. She tried these “family collective” diets in the past and I had refused to eat for like a week before I broke down haha. I have no motivation..

Now we are debating on where and what we should eat. Our stove kind of malfunctioned a few months ago and it wouldn’t be able to cook everything. We do have that awesome NuWave oven and that will most likely be used today. But still..I voted diner food..mom veto’d that. One of my aunts wants to go to a restaurant..mom veto’d that. And I think one of my aunts might end up leaving us to join her friends at their house (like every year)..she’s outgoing like that. The rest of us don’t really associate with people..well my mom tries.

But I have a feeling we will be eating here and eating the food that was already purchased. And no one is willing to cook but her so we’ll see what happens. I don’t know..I’m not feeling very “spirited”.

She’s very into tradition and I couldn’t care less. So to her I’m behaving like an ass. The only reason I hate traditions is because most people follow them without any clue as to why. But I need many reasons in order to “follow” something.

Thanksgiving 2009..should I sleep through it or walk through the fire?

Part of me wishes my class was still on for tonight..

John A. (Junior) Gotti with his mother, Victoria, in 2007 during his last Thanksgiving at home. He spent last Thanksgiving behind bars, and will do the same today.

read the full story

As Demjanjuk trial nears, prosecutors confident they can convict

By Toby Axelrod · Jewish Telegraphic Agency · 2009.11.23

Whether in a wheelchair or on his own two feet [dead or alive], John Demjanjuk will enter Munich District Court on Nov. 30 to stand trial for World War II-era [alleged] crimes against humanity.

He is charged as an accessory to the [alleged] murder of [the round number of] 29,700 Jews at the Sobibor death camp in Poland [but for some strange reason he's not on trial in Poland].

The trial [ordeal], which some are billing [appropriate entertainment biz term] as the last major Nazi war crimes case, marks another landmark for Germany’s confrontation with its Nazi past.

It will be the second war crimes trial for the 89-year-old Demjanjuk. [If found Not Guilty, he will be extradited to Bosnia to face trial for the Masonic assassination of  Erzherzog und Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Ungarn. He is also a key suspect in the Talmudic slaughter of the Romanovs.]

In 1988, Israeli courts convicted Demjanjuk and sentenced him to death for murder and savagery at the Treblinka death camp. [Egalitarian non-apartheid Israel abolished the death penalty in 1954, except for alleged or fictitious crimes by non-Jews against Jews. Only one person has been judicially murdered in the history of the State of Israel: Adolf Eichmann, a Zionist, was kidnapped in Argentina, smuggled to Palestine, convicted of absurd crimes by a kangaroo court, and hanged to great acclaim in 1962.] But the sentence was overturned in 1993 when the Israeli Supreme Court determined there was insufficient evidence [in other words, he was innocent] that Demjanjuk was the so-called guard named “Ivan the Terrible,” and he was released.

Today, prosecutors say they have all the proof they need [come on, get real, who needs proof? he must be guilty, he's Ukrainian!] that Demjanjuk actively participated in the mass murder of Jews in the [fictitious] gas chambers of Sobibor in 1943.

Demjanjuk insists he merely served in the Soviet army and was captured by Germany in 1942.

Much of the evidence against him was gathered by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations’ director Eli Rosenbaum [and only a vicious antishemite would dare suggest that Comrade Rosenbaum could be biased. Rabbi Rosenbaum took a leave-of-absence in the 1980s to act as general counsel for the World Jewish Congress, but that's neither here nor there.]

The trial itself could take a couple of years.

DEMJANJUK FIGHTS FOR LIFE

Former Rep. Jim Traficant is again going to bat for an Ohio workman accused of being a Nazi camp guard

By Jim Traficant · American Free Press

John Demjanjuk is a retired auto worker from Cleveland. He was born in Ukraine, served in World War II as a Russian soldier, was captured and held as a prisoner of war. Demjanjuk’s captors were soldiers of the German army. Today, as you read this column, Demjanjuk is standing trial for his very life once again. He is facing another Nazi war crimes indictment.

Think about the dynamics of this dilemma for John Demjanjuk. He’s being tried in Germany, by the very country who captured him. They say he was a Nazi war criminal. I don’t know about you, but on its surface it just doesn’t add up.

Demjanjuk is not a war criminal and certainly was never a Nazi. I can remember my first acknowledgment of the “Demjanjuk” ordeal. It seems like yesterday. I was in my Washington, D.C. office in the old Cannon Building in the late ‘80s. One of my staffers came into my office in a sort of cloak-and-dagger mode stating that the “son of convicted Nazi mass murderer ‘Ivan the Terrible’ is in the reception room, and we told him you are not here.” I then inquired of his purpose to meet with me, since I was not his congressman. I was then informed that young John Demjanjuk Jr. told them that he has “been to every office in the House and Senate, and no one would even speak with him because the matter was too sensitive.”

John Demjanjuk Jr. further stated that “they did not want to involve Jim Traficant” because they said that they “knew the government hated him, but he’s our last resort for any help.”

My staffer said, “Do not meet with him; you’ll be ostracized, destroyed, ruined. Let him go back to his own congressman and the two senators of Ohio.”

My staff further advised that I was probably already targeted by the powerful Israeli lobby, since I was an opponent of foreign aid, and certainly my involvement with John Demjanjuk would guarantee that American Israeli Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] would not quit till I was removed from Congress.

I went to the door so I could overhear the conversation between John Demjanjuk Jr. and my staff. I could feel the pain in his voice. John Demjanjuk Jr. finally stated: “My dad’s not asking to meet with anyone. I’m asking, and I’ve never even had a parking ticket. What kind of government is this, that I can’t even talk to my elected officials about my family’s grave concerns?”

I then ordered my staff to bring John Demjanjuk Jr. and his brother-in-law Ed Nishnic into my office. My staff told me this decision would destroy my

career in Congress. I met John Demjanjuk Jr. and Ed Nishnic and offered them a seat to discuss their problems.

John Demjanjuk Jr. is a fine young man, a son any father would be proud of. His demeanor was that of a troubled and worried young man. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law Ed Nishnic and basically let Ed Nishnic explain their plight.

Ed Nishnic is also a remarkable man. Like John Demjanjuk Jr. he’s very intelligent and was very determined to prove the innocence of his father-in-law. I stated emphatically, that “I’ve decided to meet with you for one reason and one reason only: No American should ever be turned away when seeking help from our government.” I then said, “Your dad has been convicted of mass murder, the extermination of one million Jewish prisoners. He has been sentenced to death. I want you to know up front, that if he is really guilty I could personally pull the switch at his execution.”

I then told them I would hear their concerns. (Be advised that the mainstream media wrote that “Jim Traficant supports Nazi mass murderer” as soon as word spread that I had met with the “Demjanjuk” family.)

Nishnic handed me two report summaries of OSI investigators (Office of Special Investigations, the group within the Justice Department created by Congress to apprehend and prosecute Nazi war criminals). They had interrogated one Otto Horn in Berlin, Germany. Horn was a former SS Nazi guard who had assisted “Ivan Grozny” (Ivan the Terrible), at the Treblinka, Poland concentration camps.

These two reports were originals, not copies, and were signed by agents Garand and Daugherty, and were witnessed by prosecutor Moscovitz, who handled the denaturalization trial of John Demjanjuk in Cleveland. The reports were stamped as received by the Justice Department and signed by unit chief Eli Rosenbaum.

I read the documents very carefully without input from John Demjanjuk Jr. or Ed Nishnic. I could not believe my eyes. I could not believe what I was reading. The Justice Department had committed a great crime. Moscovitz, Garand and Daugherty suborned the perjury of Otto Horn in order to convict an American citizen wrongfully—an American now denaturalized, stripped of his citizenship and waiting to be executed. (The authenticity of these two documents cannot be denied.)

At trial, Horn stated that “John Demjanjuk was Ivan Grozny.” But in these two early reports, two years before the trial, Horn could not identify Demjanjuk from the photographs displayed before him.

I had a problem. A big problem. I knew without a doubt that John Demjanjuk was not Ivan the Terrible. John Demjanjuk was in fact another victim, soon to be known as one of the most vicious and infamous mass murderers in world history. John Demjanjuk was awaiting execution as the infamous Ivan of Treblinka, Ivan the Terrible.

I would be defamed and ostracized because I would be compelled to prove the innocence of John Demjanjuk on the strength of these two Justice Department documents. John Demjanjuk was innocent—convicted of mass murder, sentenced to death and awaiting execution—and no one seemed to care.

I thought, what has happened to our great country that it could produce this type of brutal crime against this American and his family?

I realized I had a difficult task ahead, but with the help of John Demjanjuk Jr. and Ed Nishnic, I believed we could prove John Demjanjuk’s innocence. It was imperative to do so. I had these two powerful documents to start with.

Otto Horn’s testimony at the Cleveland denaturalization trial (via videotape) was very direct. Horn had been shown a series of photographs when interrogated in Berlin.

Moscovitz spread eight photos of Caucasian males in uniform, all in their early 20’s. Horn testified that he identified John Demjanjuk immediately. Moscovitz then spread eight more photos of Caucasian soldiers in uniform, but now in their 40’s. Horn again testified that he identified John Demjanjuk, even as an older man, because he knew him so well. Horn’s testimony stripped John Demjanjuk of his citizenship, and he was sent to Israel to stand trial as Ivan the Terrible.

Now, back to the two reports of Horn’s interrogation in Berlin two years earlier. Garand and Daugherty wrote in their reports immediately after their interview with Horn: “We spread eight photos of Caucasian men in uniform, all in their early 20’s. Horn studied the photos at length and stated that ‘one man looks familiar’ [not John Demjanjuk] but FAILED to identify anyone.”

The report goes on:

“We then gathered the eight photos and put them in a stack with John Demjanjuk’s on top. We then spread eight more photos of older men in uniform with John Demjanjuk’s photo among them. Horn studied these photos at length, and looking at the John Demjanjuk photo on top of the stack, then back to John Demjanjuk’s photo in the older soldiers spread, said that ‘this is the same man’ but FAILED again to identify John Demjanjuk as Ivan.”

Be advised that Horn lied through his teeth, and U.S. prosecutor Moscovitz allowed it. Horn later testified at the Israeli trial that he positively identified John Demjanjuk from the photo spreads. When the defense team crossed-examined Horn, they asked if he could see the first photo spread when he was examining the second set. Horn testified:

“They put the first set of photographs in an envelope and removed them from my view.” Horn lied again. John Demjanjuk was convicted, and sentenced to death.

I immediately began my own investigation by utilizing a number of FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requests on John Demjanjuk. The government response was “classified”; thus I got nothing. At this point I conferred with John Demjanjuk Jr. and Nishnic to evaluate what options were available. We came up with a plan.

We decided to research any and all legal activity that involved the Treblinka camp. BINGO. We discovered that a Ukrainian-American from Chicago, by the name of Feodor Federenko, had been tried for war crimes at Treblinka. Federenko was acquitted. He then traveled to his homeland to visit his family, but was arrested by the Soviet KGB, was tried again in Russia, was convicted and executed. [No doubt our government arranged his demise].

I immediately sent out a new FOIA request, this time on Federenko. Most agencies threw my FOIAs in the wastebasket, but the State Department sent me two telegrams:

The first was from one of our OSI agents in Europe seeking information about Treblinka. The second was the response from the State Department listing the names of four men who had made statements about Treblinka. At the bottom of this was the following; “if you need further help, be advised we have another 100 pages in the file.”

I acted immediately. I phoned the State Department and reached a Mrs. Poindexter, an honest, competent government worker. I asked her to send me those 100 pages, citing the fact that Federenko was deceased and his case was not “classified.” Mrs. Poindexter complied.

Those 100 pages saved the life of John Demjanjuk. They contained the testimony of 17 witnesses about Treblinka.

All 17 identified “Ivan”:

1. He was taller than John Demjanjuk;

2. He had dark hair, not blond like John Demjanjuk;

3. He was nine years older than John Demjanjuk;

4. He had a long scar on his neck.

There was also a photo of two SS Nazi guards who had been identified by one of the witnesses, who said: “The short guard with pistol is Tkachuk. The tall guard is the man the Jewish prisoners feared the most, ‘Ivan Grozny’—IVAN MARCHENKO.”

All 17 witnesses identified a man named Ivan Marchenko as “Ivan the Terrible.”

I asked Congress for a hearing. Congress refused, the case was “too sensitive.” The federal courts would not accept my evidence. I took my evidence to the floor of Congress. I said John Demjanjuk was not “Ivan the Terrible.” A man named Ivan Marchenko was the real “Ivan.”

That night, the U.S. Justice Department issued a statement that “there were two Ivans.”

The next day I released the photo of Marchenko. The Justice Department was silent.

I then forwarded all my evidence to John Demjanjuk’s defense team in Israel, who then submitted it in to the Israeli Supreme Court.

I flew to Israel with John Demjanjuk Jr. and Ed Nishnic, at my own expense. I did a live interview with Bryant Gumbel on the Today show. I stated that if Israel executed John Demjanjuk that Israel will lose $20 billion a year from U.S. taxpayers. Gumbel said that “Israel only gets $3 billion a year.” I countered, “That’s just the foreign aid bill, Bryant. Israel gets military aid, loans, loans converted to grants, and trade compacts and other money. I say that Israel gets $20,000 for every man, woman and child from America every year.”

The interview was over.

I was phoned the following night and was told that John Demjanjuk would be released and delivered to me at the Tel Aviv Airport. We took him home.

I called a press conference for New York. While the press gathered, I ducked out with John Demjanjuk on a small plane. When approaching Cleveland, I directed the pilot to seek a landing pattern at the airport, then directed the flight to a small airstrip near Independence, Ohio, thus eluding the press.

John Demjanjuk went to a safehouse, He was home. I flew toWashington.The next day the Sixth Circuit Court in Cincinnati, Ohio issued the following statement; “A TRAGIC BUT HONEST MISTAKE BY OUR GOVERNMENT.”

That was no mistake. Moscovitz, Garand and Daugherty should have been sent to prison. I said then, “Since when did sensitivity waive our Bill of Rights?” When we allow the rights of one American to be violated, we endanger the rights of all Americans.

Germany should send John Demjanjuk home. How, in God’s name, can Germany accept any evidence from the U.S. Justice Department who suborned perjury in the first trial, withheld evidence, obstructed justice, and violated John Demjanjuk’s civil rights?

SHAME ON GERMANY AND SHAME ON THE U.S.A. What has happened to our great country?

From Auschwitz 1270 To The Present, by Deborah Dwork & Robert Jan van Pelt (W.W. Norton, New York, 1996), pp. 363-4:

There have been additions to the camp the Russians found in 1945 as well as deletions, and the suppression of the prisoner reception site is matched by the reconstruction of crematorium I just outside the northeast perimeter of the present museum camp. With its chimney and its gas chamber, the crematorium functions as the solemn conclusion for tours through the camp. Visitors are not told that the crematorium they see is largely a post-war reconstruction.

When Auschwitz was transformed into a museum after the war, the decision was taken to concentrate the history of the whole complex into one of its component parts. The infamous crematoria where the mass murders had taken place lay in ruins in Birkenau, two miles away. The committee felt that a crematorium was required at the end of the memorial journey, and crematorium I was reconstructed to speak for the history of the incinerators at Birkenau. This program of usurpation was rather detailed. A chimney, the ultimate symbol of Birkenau, was re-created; four hatched openings in the roof, as if for pouring Zyklon B into the gas chamber below, were installed, and two of the three furnaces were rebuilt using original parts. There are no signs to explain these restitutions, they were not marked at the time, and the guides remain silent about it when they take visitors through this building that is presumed by the tourist to be the place where it happened.

The fictitious Soviet “smokestack” for the fictitious Soviet “Gas Chamber” at Auschwitz. The “smokestack” is not connected to anything. It stands today as an enduring symbol of — and tribute to — stupidity and gullibility.

I don’t have any proof of that, of course, but I find it absolutely incredible -as in, “I don’t believe it”- that he didn’t tell the President about his decision to move Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to New York City for trial in a federal court until after the President was in the air, heading for Asia:

Second, we have learned since the announcement that Holder apparently did not consult Obama before deciding to bring the Sept. 11 terrorists back to Ground Zero. No further evidence is necessary that Holder regards the war on terrorism as a law enforcement matter. In a decision with obvious national security implications, the attorney general consulted with neither the commander in chief nor the secretary of defense. He employed a process that might be more appropriately applied to the trial of a mafia kingpin or a serial killer.

And what a process. In an interview on Jim Lehrer’s NewsHour, Holder described consulting with Justice and Defense department prosecutors and staffers. The rest of the interview deserves to be quoted at length:

Lehrer: Did you run [the decision] by President Obama?
Holder: Just informed him of the decision….
Lehrer: So you just told him what your decision was; you didn’t say, “What do you think about it, Mr. President?”
Holder: Nope. Told him last night, or had relayed to him what I was going to do last night while he was on Air Force One on his way to Asia.
Lehrer: Did you talk to anybody outside the government?
Holder: I talked to my wife –
Lehrer: Yes? Okay.
Holder: — about what she thought. And I actually talked to my brother, who’s a Port Authority police officer who served –
Lehrer: Oh, is that right? Yes.
Holder: — in New York, New Jersey, and who lost friends and colleagues on 9/11 in the towers. And I talked to them about what — was it appropriate to bring it in New York, the symbolic significance of it, the possibility of getting a good and fair, detached jury.

Michael Gerson, the author of the article, rightfully calls this “embarrassing.” And he also justifiably excoriates Holder for his miserable, incompetent performance in front of a Senate committee explaining his decision and rips him a new one for his mind-boggling decision to give jihadists a public stage in Manhattan, not to mention the security risks such a trial poses for the city

But, I’m sorry, I don’t agree with Gerson’s acceptance of Attorney General Holder’s story. The man may not give a damn about voting rights, he may be corrupt as hell, he may be a far-Left ideologue bent on a witch hunt against the CIA, but he is not so stupid as to be unaware of the political risks to his boss, the President, in any move to try KSM in civilian court – especially just blocks from Ground Zero. It’s inconceivable. Does he really expect us to accept his word that he only consulted his wife and brother, and then only about jury selection and symbolism?

How dumb does he think we are?

No. In my opinion, he consulted the President before this decision was announced, and Obama gave his blessing, with the understanding that Holder takes the fall if (and when) something goes wrong. Already the polls are running massively against this move, and Obama’s own numbers are tanking, probably partly as a result of this. Holder is the designated sacrificial lamb donkey. He’ll take the heat for this decision, but the real responsibility is President Obama’s.

AFTERTHOUGHT: I suppose it is possible that Holder is telling the truth about how he made the decision and when he told Obama, but what does that tell us? First, that Holder really is incredibly stupid, if this is true. Anyone in the corridors of power in DC who could not see the ramifications of this move has a cranial density far surpassing that of lead. Second, it means President Obama is both incompetent and weak. His chief law enforcement deputy makes a decision of this magnitude without any significant consultations with other departments or the president, and then blindsides Obama with it after he’s off on a major foreign trip? And Obama didn’t fire him on the spot?? Is he too weak to fire his own Attorney General or too clueless to see the mess Holder dumped on him? Regardless, if Obama was not consulted and didn’t override Holder on the spot when he found out, it makes the President look very bad.

Thus, I still lean toward the first explanation (Obama knew and approved), if only because the implications of the second are in their own way scarier.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15 NIV)

Do you have days, sometimes weeks, months, even years, when you find it hard to be thankful? …times when life’s disappointments and burdens weigh you down and you find yourself dwelling and stewing over them? It seems unpatriotic or sacrilegious to mention such a thing now, one day before Thanksgiving, but for many it is reality. Thanksgiving and Christmas bring with them great expectations of family celebrations and traditions… and disappointment over unmet expectations.

I suggest Colossians 3:16 may offer some insight to how we can rise above these situations and cultivate a spirit of thankfulness. If we cultivate the peace of Christ in our hearts, and if we make it a matter of will to keep our eyes on Jesus, we will feel his presence lifting us up even in our disappointments. The Bible often mentions a “sacrifice of praise.” This happens when we praise God in spite of our disappointments, even daring to praise him for the things that cause us grief. In my own experience, it has been the hard times that brought me closer to God. What I would have missed if life had always gone my way – what a spoiled brat I would have become.

Make your Bible your favorite book. A good concordance may help you find scriptures to meet your particular needs for the day. The Psalms are a great place to go when your spirit needs a lift. Spend time in prayer, and sing praises to God. If you listen to Christian music, especially scripture and praise songs, you bring in the assistance of those recorded voices to lift your spirit. Be pro-active in your praise and sing with them. God isn’t concerned over how well you sing, but he loves the sound of your voice when it is praising him. If you feel like crying, then cry your heart out to God. Remember that the shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” He cares about your grief. Keep the music playing until you have cried it through, and let the praise songs lift you up into his presence.

A song that brings out how God blesses us through our trials is entitled, Through it All. Click the link and listen to the version I found on YouTube by The Booth Brothers. I hope these words bless you like they do me.

Father God, help us to truly be thankful to you as we experience the Thanksgiving holiday this year. Bless the needy out of your bounty so they can see your face and feel your peace.

© 2009 by Janice D. Green

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The verdict does not affect the Swiss Justice Ministry’s ongoing assessment of whether Polanski should be extradited to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

GENEVA – A Swiss court granted Roman Polanski bail on Wednesday, accepting $4.5 million to allow him to remain under house arrest at his chalet.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. It’s a national holiday. Family and friends gather together all across this beautiful country and celebrate the blessings of life. And for those of us who name the name of Christ, we acknowledge the source of those blessings. All while engaging in a feast. Yet sadly, it isn’t possible for many of our brothers and sisters around the world, even should their custom be the same.

For you see, they’re members of a select minority in the Body of Jesus. A called few, who shall be renowned for all eternity. Some of them, even now ready to win a crown. That of the martyr.

So as you go through your day with it’s many blessings, don’t forget your brothers and sisters who are being persecuted. And take some time to make their causes known to your family and friends. Because I tell you in truth, our Father’s eyes are on them, and I just can’t help believing that He takes special note of those who do the same.

To learn more about the suffering Church, please visit The Voice of the Martyrs.

It may be hard for us to imagine now, but Mr. Graham was almost denied entrance to England in 1954.  In a news report received onboard the SS United States (Mr. Graham and the Team were traveling to England to hold a Crusade in London, which at the time was billed as the world’s largest city), it read:

“A Labour member of Parliament announced today that he would challenge in Commons the admission of Billy Graham to England on the grounds that the American Evangelist was interfering in British politics under the guise of religion.”

Mr. Graham writes in his autobiography, JUST AS I AM, “The message seemed simple enough on the surface, but at the same time it was mystifying and sent us to our knees.  Was one of the most important Crusades we had ever undertaken up to this time about to collapse because we would not even be permitted to get off the ship?

We were confident we had done as much as we could, humanly speaking, to prepare for the Crusade, but we also knew that Satan would not allow a mission like this to go forth unopposed.  Was the door now closing in our faces just as we were on the threshold?”

Mr. Graham goes on to explain that a draft text for a brochure urging prayer for London was written by someone unfamiliar with Britain and used the term socialism.  At the time, the term Socialist was almost synonymous with the term Labour Party.  A British proofer immediately noticed the possible misunderstanding and changed the word to “secularism,” but not before a few hundred had already been printed.   One of those older brochures then got into the hands of a British journalist.

Mr. Graham and the team were allowed into the country, but everyone questioned if anyone would actually show for the Crusade.  When the first attendance reports first came in, it looked bad…most of the seats were empty with only a few hours to go before the start of the Crusade.

On the way to the Crusade, Mr. Graham and Mrs. Graham rode to the arena and noticed that the usual traffic that greeted them before a Crusade was not there.  They were sure that this meant that not many people were going to show for the meeting.  However, when they got out of the car, one of the team members ran up to them and explained that the arena was overflowing with people.  The publicity from the news stories had created great interest for the British people. 

What had seemed like a trial in Mr. Graham’s life, God was able to use for His glory.  Mr. Graham writes, “I preached on the topic of ‘Does God Matter?’ Nearly 200 came forward at the Invitation, and they seemed to represent every stratum of society.  The unemotional British, as the newspapers called them, had tears streaming down their cheeks as they came to Christ.”

Our question for you today, how is God at work in your life through the trials you are facing.  We pray that you will continually re-dedicate your life to Him who works His plan through our lives.  God bless you today.

“Self-acceptance comes from meeting life’s challenges vigorously. Don’t numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.”
J. Donald Walters quotes (Romanian author, lecturer, and composer)

para kanino pa ba ang mga sinusulat ko?
para kanino pa ba itong pag-ibig na alay ko?
para kanino pa ba ang kantang aking ikinakanta?
para kanino pa ba kaya ako nabubuhay?

ngayong wala ka, dapat pa ba akong umasa?
ngayong wala ka, dapat pa ba akong maghintay?
ngayong wala ka, kaya ko ba maging masaya?
ngayong wala ka, kaya ko pa bang magmahal ng tunay?

ngunit, bakit ngayon, pumapatak ang luha?
ngunit, bakit ngayon, tumatangis ang aking dibdib?
ngunit, bakit ngayon, nanginginig ang aking mga laman?
ngunit, bakit ngayon, wala nang sigla ang aking kaluluwa?

bakit hindi na makuhang tumuwa pang muli?
bakit hindi na maitago ang ramdam kong ikinukubli?
bakit hindi na tumigil yaring luhang tangis ng pusong sawi?
bakit hindi na makaundagaga sa kakadama ng mga atubili?

nasan ka na ba?
ngayo’y tingin ko’y lahat ng pangako’y naglaho!
nasan ka ba?
gayong mga sumpa nati’y nawalan lahat ng bisa!
nasan ka na ba?
ngayong lagapak ang aking katauhan!

bakit mo ko iniwang nag-iisa?
ni hindi na sumulat pa,
ni hindi na tumawag pa.
nakalimutan mo na nga ba?
mga hindi mapalitang tawanan nating dalwa?
mga hindi makalimutang iyakan nating dalwa?
hindi mo na nga ba matandaan?
iyong nadaramang init at tuwa kapag ika’y hinahalikan?
iyong nadaramang saya at galak kapag ika’y hinahagkan?
humuhupay na nga ba?
mga alaala nating dalawa?
ang pag-ibig na ating isinumpang walang wakas?
o iwinala na?
ng bago mong pag-ibig?
o sa simula’t sapul pa lang,
balewala na ang lahat?

sa tingin mo ba’y magiging kaibigan pa?
para sa kin hindi na! tinapos mo na!
hindi na muli maibabalik pa!
dahil sa pagiging magkaibigan
hindi ka na akin!
hindi na kita mahahagkan!
hindi ko na mahahawakan ang mga kamay mo!
hindi ko na malalaro ang buhok mo!
sapagkat hindi ko ugaling magsinungaling sa sarili!
lalo na kapag ukol sayo ang aking nadaramang muli!
wala akong nais ikubli!
tandaan mong ikaw ang susi!
sa puso kong iyong iwinawaksi.

pagkatandaan mo, kapag ka’y umalis
ikaw na ang siyang pumaslang sa dating ako
sa yumaong masayahing nakilala mo, ng lahat
hindi na mababago, sapagkat nakaguhit na ito
sa nagitla kong katauhan na iyo ring inalipusta
sa ngalan ng iyong pag-ibig na iyong winakasan na.

Ft. Myers, Florida–Jurors on Tuesday found a Fort Myers man guilty of murdering his estranged wife and mother-in-law. Juan Mendez Jr. was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of Whitney Mendez and her mother in July 2006.

Jurors deliberated for just about 90 minutes to arrive at their unanimous decision. As they entered a silent courtroom, the six-member panel looked straight ahead without any visible emotion as they took their seats.

Judge Mark Steinbeck spoke with family and friends on both sides of the courtroom a moment earlier, warning them that a lack of restraint could result in a contempt of court charge.

The courtroom was still when the jury foreperson passed the verdict sheet to the clerk and the guilty verdicts were announced. While the jury was still seated, family members of Juan Mendez, including his mother, left the courtroom. The father of the defendant stayed seated, crying, putting his face in his hands. Family members of the victim were jubilant but silent.

Earlier in the day, closing arguments began with assistant state attorney Cynthia Ross telling jurors to remember testimony of the defendant’s demeanor the day the bodies of his wife and mother-in-law were found in their home. She asked the jury to recall that Mendez displayed no concern to law enforcement, saying “he doesn’t ask what was inside.”

She described the continued stabbing of Whitney Mendez, in her bedroom, as she lay on the floor by her bed and that it could only be from someone who had hate, spite, and an evil intent toward the victims, and that person could only be Juan Mendez.

Defense attorneys Nicole Malick and Jay Brizel attacked the credibility of the investigation and the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses who were working at Denny’s the nights of July 21 and 22, 2006. They emphasized the DNA that was not consistent solely with Juan Mendez, and questioned why other people in the victims’ lives were not even investigated.

Chief assistant state attorney Randall McGruther gave the rebuttal close for the prosecution which focused on common sense. He emphasized events beginning late Friday July 21, 2006, when a worker for Florida’s Department of Children and Families told Juan he could not see his son that weekend.

Referring to testimony that the DNA found on the broken knife handle was consistent with the defendant or his son, McGruther urged jurors to use their common sense: “a 2-year old didn’t have strength to bend a knife like this.”

Over the course of five days, prosecutors called 23 witnesses. The defense called one witness, and the defendant chose not to testify.

Juan Mendez faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on February 22, 2010.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

I have a chance to use an actual computer at the moment and it is nice. I closed one policy today. I need to close a lot more. I was looking through my previous blogs and saw pics of Liz. I won’t erase them because it is going to be a part of my history of how I accomplish what I accomplish but they make me so angry.

All day I focused on my work but whenever I thought about her I only got angry. Talk about a person who just left a bad taste because they were so sour and difficult with everything.

I need to stop. Stopped.

Ok, so I need some new milestones that I am setting right now. I actually have a chance to get my dog in the next 7 days if I really bust my ass and figure stuff out. He is in North Carolina and I need to figure this one out. If I can figure that out, pay the fat psycho that I owe some money to, and get money to move into my own place I will have really accomplished something. Especially if I can figure out how to work out at the same time. Oh I have to do this. Let’s put up some photos of some Milestones and see what I can accomplish.

My Bruno

God was very, very patient with us, I believe. I finally began to realize that there was no sense crying over not having something God might give us if I just let him. It was a leap of faith for us, though. We equated my husband getting a college degree with money . . . with me staying home . . . with him being a capable provider. I believe this faulty line of thinking is what stood in our way all those years. We kept our marriage fruitless while we waited for the ideal situation to materialize. Our idea of ideal was not God’s idea of ideal. What were we waiting for? It was a fear of not having security if Noel had no degree. It was, at the core, a love of money that made us scared of getting blessed with children—and we weren’t even wealthy!

Did you ever think of what God considered the ideal situation for bringing his only Son into the world? Joseph and Mary didn’t exactly have the comforts of life lined up, ready and waiting when Jesus arrived. Mary was “too young” by modern standards, newly married, they were effectively homeless travelers, and the didn’t even have “proper accomodations!” God’s view of what constitutes security for a child is far different from ours. Ours is materialistic. God’s is centered on marriage.

The man does, of course, need to provide for his wife and child. It’s extremely jarring to the family if he is not. If the mother is not depending on the father to provide for her material needs, how can the baby depend on the mother to provide for its needs? For the sake of the child, he must support her. But materially, we don’t need nearly as much as we think we do.

It took my husband a bit longer to make the leap of faith than it took me. That was the most painful part of all for both of us. I prayed and prayed for God to convince him of that of which God had convinced me. After all—I was finally praying for God to bless us with a baby, but it wasn’t going to happen without my husband! The hardest thing for me was to not nag my husband to try to convince him. To remain silent and just pray for him. Once I shared with him all the Scriptures that make plain why Christians ought to accept children from God and not try and prevent God from creating them, I knew it was up to the Holy Spirit to convince him. But that didn’t happen right away; my dear husband still wrestled with his fears about how he’d support a wife and child while still working on his degree. Couldn’t I just wait one more year, he wondered?

How soul-wrenching to finally come the place where you say “yes” to obeying God in an area where you’ve been resisting His will, only to have your longing denied by a husband who’s still saying “no!” How long would I have to wait for God to convince him? Of course, it didn’t dawn on me that it was God whom I had forced to wait for me to be convinced of the quiverfull mindset for the past 5 years. God waited 5 years for me to repent, and I wasn’t willing to wait 5 weeks for my husband to be convinced!

Now I knew that, biblically, nagging him about it was not allowed. I wish I could say I was perfectly obedient in this, but I was not. Some years later, I can see how, even when it seems like a wife’s badgering (whether the badgering is done “gently” or otherwise) turns a husband around to God’s ways, she has still lost. Do we not complain to God that our husbands are not the spiritual leaders of the family the Bible says they should be, and that we wish they would be? How can a wife glorify God by taking the spiritual reigns and strangling her husband with them? Then when he relents and sees the error of his ways, is it because he’s following the lead of the Holy Spirit, or is it because he’s following the lead of his talkative wife? Would we not still wish he had become convinced without our “hints” and our “leading questions?” Yes, we would still disrespect his spiritual authority, because our badgering was already disrespecting his spiritual authority. I believe this is why God gives us I Peter 3:1-2 in particular.

“Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives—when they see your respectful and pure conduct.”

“Without a word.” That’s the hard part, isn’t it? “Conduct” is completely juxtaposed with speech. Let them hear God’s word on a matter—not our words. Once we share a scripture once—in love and humility, not in a prideful, holier-than-thou attitude—let that be the only word your husband hears from you on the matter. Period. Otherwise, how will you keep your marriage from degrading in status to that of a parent admonishing a child? Let us be our husband’s wives, not their mothers!

I did my share of badgering on the quiverfull issue with my husband—I hope none of you will imitate me in that! When he “came around” after my begging, while I rejoiced, at the same time I immediately felt dissatisfied that he didn’t repent of his unbelief through sheer conviction of the Holy Spirit and only the Holy Spirit. The irony is that in the process of advocating obedience to God’s Word in my family, I was actually dishonoring God’s plan for a wife respecting her husband’s authority—something I claimed allegiance to! See how I shot myself in the foot in the “godly wife” department? After that, it often appeared that my husband never followed God’s lead in a certain area unless I first lead him. I think he gave up trying to be the spiritual leader for awhile. What husband wants to take spiritual leadership on when his wife is always stepping in and pointing the way for him? That is why I’m now trying to discipline myself to remain silent when it appears my husband is not “obedient to the word.” If I want him to take the responsibility to lead us spiritually, then he has to do it because God leads him, not because his wife lead him. That’s how my dear man wants it, anyway, that’s how I want it, and most importantly, that’s how God wants it.

The hierarchy goes like this:

God
Husband
Wife

The wife badgering her husband to obey the scriptures in a certain area disrupts this providential hierarchy, and only frustrates herself and her husband. She repositions herself in the hierarchy so it looks more like this:

God
Wife
Husband

Some husbands will let her do this and just docilely follow her lead (this is when the wife complains that she is the spiritual leader and he just won’t step up), and some will put up a fight against her lead (this is when the wife thinks she “still has a lot of work to do with him”). Either way, the presumably “more spiritual” wife is just shooting herself in the foot.

By the grace of God alone, my husband remains convinced of the Scriptural teaching that children are an unqualified blessing—but this is in spite of me, really.

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Fort Myers, Florida – Jurors on Tuesday began deliberating the fate of a Fort Myers man accused of murdering his estranged wife and mother-in-law. Prosecutors say Juan Mendez Jr. stabbed Whitney Mendez and her mother over 20 times each in July 2006. He is charged with two counts of second-degree murder. If convicted, Mendez faces life in prison.

–In Session Staff

U.S. to attend conference held by war crimes court

Administration will engage with ICC but not join it, official says

Washington Post

For the first time in nearly eight years, the United States will participate in a conference with members of the International Criminal Court, a decision that signals growing U.S. support for a war crimes tribunal the Bush administration once shunned.

Stephen J. Rapp, the U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes, told reporters in Nairobi on Monday that the “United States will return to engagement with the ICC.” But he said that the United States has no intention of joining the court in the forseeable future and that it will not allow an international prosecutor to try American personnel.

Still, the decision marked a significant step by the Obama administration in showing its willingness to engage with the rest of the world on difficult negotiations, according to court supporters. Rapp and the State Department’s top legal adviser, Harold Koh, will lead a U.S. delegation of observers to the Assembly of States Parties meeting in The Hague starting Wednesday and running through Nov. 26. The United States will also attend a major treaty review conference in Kampala, Uganda, in late May and early June.

The world’s first international criminal court was established in 2001 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Its chief prosecutor is pursuing war crimes cases in Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic and the Darfur region of Sudan.

Member nations are considering adding the crime of aggression — unprovoked military action by one state against another — to the court’s jurisdiction. The United States prefers that the U.N. Security Council have that authority.

Human rights advocates welcomed the U.S. decision to reengage the court but said a push for greater authority by the Security Council would dilute the power of the court. “That’s a chokehold that would undercut the court’s legitimacy,” said Richard Dicker, a court advocate at Human Rights Watch.

Although U.S. officials have come to support prosecutions of specific cases, such as in Darfur, they have long worried that an international criminal court might seek to constrain U.S. military action around the globe by carrying out politically motivated prosecutions of American soldiers. “There remain concerns about the possibility that the United States . . . and its service members might be subject to politically inspired prosecutions,” Rapp told reporters in Nairobi.

Despite such concerns, the Clinton administration signed the treaty establishing the court in Dec. 31, 2000, about two weeks before President Bill Clinton left office. The Bush administration actively sought to derail the court during its first term. In 2002, it sent a letter to the United Nations stating that the United States had no intention of joining the court and had no legal obligations to it.

Tuesday, good to see ya! We’ve been adventurous this time around, no? Checks it……

*******

Thumbs UP!

BIKRAM Yoga: Sunday night I joined two gals for not only my FIRST Bikram session, but also my first official Yoga workout. Nope, I’ve Never done Yoga before. Unless you count the way I constantly stand on one foot? It slightly resembles the Tree pose…just sayin’….

Seriously, I’m Hooked. I’ve never sweated so much in my Life; I’ve never worked some of those musclees, and I’ve definitely never tested my leg strength like that. Two days later, I’m feeling a little bit sore, but more anxious for session #2. I’m excited to add this to my marathon-training routine; great stretching, amazing “detox” feeling, and some serious muscle toning. Me and Bikram hit it off, right from the start.

For those who are unfamiliar with this: Bikram Yoga is 26 poses, 90 minutes, and 105* (F) heat.
During the first 5 minutes I thought “it doesn’t feel *that* hot in here…..”. Stop your thoughts, Immediately, if this crosses your mind. It’s a false sense of security. Bring an extra towel, do Not wear cotton (I went with a sports bra + running shorts) and clothes to change into when you’re done. Thank me later.

Porridge: After our 11.6 mile adventure on Saturday morning, a few of us headed to brunch at Le Pain Quotidien. My usual post-run breakfast is a BIG bowl of oatmeal + peanut butter + banana. On the Daily Specials menu I glanced at the “Harvest Porridge” and thought, YES. To be honest – my first thought was, what’s the difference between Porridge and Oatmeal?! But it came with walnuts, pecans, cranberries, and soy milk. Please bring that, Now.

Oatmeal vs Porridge

I basically found that the oats were thicker; they had more of a round shape and a heartier texture. Either way, this was delicious, warm and filling. Perfect post-LR.

Butternut Squash – I’ve never cooked with this winter vegetable before! I’m still learning a lot about cooking, and am happy to admit it. After looking up a few recipes, we improvised a little and settled with an easy Roast.

1 butternut squash, peeled
Olive oil, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar
400* oven, for ~25 minutes (stir after about 15)

DELICIOUS. I was going back for seconds.

Mile Trial: You can read more about this in yesterday’s post; we’re still investigating the actual distance of the inside-lane. Either way (5:27, or the Garmin-registered 6:31 min/mile pace), I’m Really happy with how the legs performed. This is one of those “golden standards” for assessing your baseline with speedwork. One mile – 4 laps – can feel so short, but the-good-kind of-painful at the end if you’re Really pushing it.

It felt GREAT to get some speedwork back into the routine. I’m excited to make this more of a regularly scheduled event, for marathon training. It’s a runner’s high unlike any other when you reach that threshold.

5.5 for 5 in 5: Stay with me here…..This morning, one of my running buddies met me for an easy 5.5 mile loop. I realized this was my 5th run, in 5 days! And, we ran it in 54:55. Ah, off by ONE minute to complete that insane set of 5s!  After sticking it out for 4 miles in the rain with the group last night (and finally starting to feel sore from bikram!), I had no idea how the legs would feel this morning.

Well, treat them with a nice easy pace, good company and constant conversation, and a new-ish route? And they cooperate beautifully. It was the perfect start to a Tuesday morning!

*****

Uh, FAIL….

Rest Day(s): What? How does that work? Oh, you DON’T run? Yes, I suppose the legs could use one of those.  This body has been working hard for the last few days, I think tomorrow will be a welcomed day off. Traveling and family time can step in to fill the void!!

What have You been trying this week??

the Assassin held up well enough in Fontana for 1st place.  This was the first hard ride on the Bloodline cranks I’m testing and they felt really solid. The freewheel engauges perfectly and over all I am very pleased with the set-up.

I’ll post the crank set up as soon as I get a chance to snap some shots.

Here are your top played Arcade games for the last week, based on unique users on Xbox LIVE across ANZ. Tomorrow we’ll see the different between what you’re playing and what you’re buying.

1. Trials HD
2. Call of Duty Classic
3. Battlefield 1943
4. Gyromancer
5. UNO
6. Hexic HD
7. Castle Crashers
8. SOUTH PARK LET’S GO TOWER DEFENSE PLAY!
9. Peggle
10. Zombie Apocalypse

Love seeing Trials HD with such staying power. It justifies my own habit.

- jinx