Abortion is Wrong

Homosexuality is Wrong

Evolution is Wrong

Buttermilk is Wrong

Putting cold gravy on your leftovers is just Wrong

Area = 16 meters squared is Wrong

When I was younger, I spent a good deal of time deciding what was RIGHT and what was WRONG. These are important decisions for a kid, and I didn’t take it lightly. My Right-Wrong Spectrum has gone through a lot of changes since I owned a Huffy 5 speed and made forts with Bethany. Let’s make some lists:

At age Seven, in the second grade:

• It was WRONG to unzip my fly and show my swimsuit zone to the girl on the playground (Honestly, I was comparing mine to Ian Jefferson’s and somebody behind me yelled my name. I turned around and, bada-bing; I’m a 7-year-old sex offender).
• It was RIGHT to immediately admit when I was caught and apologize to the girl
• It was RIGHT to bike away from the boys who wanted to sneak into the old lady’s house on the hill and look for ghosts
• It was RIGHT for me to not fight back when Joseph slide-tackled me into the mud, for no other reason than he’s a douche.
• It was WRONG for me to color the grass on my picture side to side, instead of up-and-down

So wrong, in fact, that I never drew again, and learned to play drums to keep the art teacher off my back.

At age 13, in the seventh grade:

• It was WRONG for me to be honest with Brooke about why I didn’t want to date her (she was not much of a looker and real annoying)
• It was RIGHT for me to complete my homework and submit it on time, not resorting to cheating.
• It was mostly WRONG for me to watch Scream at a Christmas party with some friends, even though I wasn’t 17. It wasn’t illegal, it just felt mostly WRONG.
• It was mostly RIGHT for me to become friends with Orin, the boy from church who was next geek down on the totem pole. I became his friends, but was urged by my mother to do so. I wouldn’t have otherwise, but I was legitimately his friend, so it was mostly RIGHT.

Oh, you made another Flash animation of yourself playing the French Horn... cool.

At age 20, my junior year in college:

• It is mostly RIGHT for me to give money to missions organizations who advertise on campus. If I can be guilted into the right thing, it’s still mostly RIGHT.
• It is WRONG for me to pick on gay people. I’ve never done it, but seeing other people do it puts knots in my stomach, so it must be WRONG.
• It is mostly WRONG for a missionary to marry a 12-year-old in a village in Africa. It means that the whole village found out about Jesus, but she’s twelve, so it’s iffy.
• It is mostly WRONG for me to drink alcohol. I’m not 21, but it isn’t hurting anybody and if I’m safe, what’s the big deal.

ABOVE: Not hurting anybody... but I did tap my Rockies against the side of the tub on the way in.

At age 25, married with a graduate degree:

• It’s mostly RIGHT for me to speak up when I think that Andrea and I disagree. If I do it in a disrespectful or “cheap shot” manner, then it’s WRONG.
• It’s mostly WRONG of me to stay at work until 5:30 p.m. every day. I get to work at 7:30, so I don’t need to put in such long hours, but I want to do my job well.
• It’s neither right nor wrong to drive to work on my day off. It is a decision that carries consequences and isn’t a moral issue.
• It’s kinda RIGHT for me to listen to my student as she tells me about her drug use, and plans to run away from home. It feels WRONG to then go tell the school counselor, as I am mandated to do.

As you can see, the issues become less and less clear as one gets older. In fact, I will contend mathematically with the following diagrams:

Age Seven Diagram – As you can see, 100% of my decisions were divided up roughly 15% wrong and 85% right. They were one or the other. Eating vegetables fell into the blue zone, flashing classmates in the red zone.

Age Thirteen Diagram – A bit more complex, right and wrong are now extremes of a spectrum, with some decisions more right or more wrong than others. Watching Scream is kinda wrong, but watching ArmaGetItOn online when my parents are asleep is very wrong. Good thing I never did that.

Age Twenty Diagram – Now decisions can be both right and wrong, with components of each. For example, passing a test (right) because I cheated (wrong) can have elements of both. To keep a friendship (Right) I tell a friend that they are annoying (ehh… neither?), but I tell them in a nice way (right) because I care about them (right) in a strategically worded Facebook message (wrong).

Age Twenty-Five Diagram – At this point, a myriad of factors influences every decision. Before a decision can be declared RIGHT or WRONG, it must be weighed by checking it against the Obligations from work, gut feelings, and family opinions, among others. Often, there isn’t time to analyze each input, so the decision is made sometimes without any concern for its right-ness or wrong-ness. Sometimes shit just needs be gettin done, know what ah’m sayin?

So, by my mathematical reckoning, the decisions become more and more complex as life’s influences grow more numerous. Ergo, the more complex one’s life, the harder it is to distinguish right from wrong. I have work and home, and I’m already screwing the theoretical pooch when it comes to some very big decisions. I can’t imagine how much more complicated my Right-Wrong spectrum will get once I have kids, or a house, or a job with more responsibility. I will definitely have more respect for burdened people making bad decisions.

Well... most people.

Luckily for me, I have a wife who is quick to forgive my shortcomings and even quicker to apologize for her own. It would really suck to have a whole country (or even a county) telling me when my Right-Wrong Seesaw tilted the wrong direction because I gave too much weight to “Popular Opinion”.

This isn’t a political article: it’s a morality article. The truth is, friends, that the world doesn’t work in blacks and whites, but in reds and yellows and greens and kindas and maybes and “little bit”s. Those that worry about making a wrong decision are those who abstain from committing. I trust that the benevolent force in the universe (God) has a firm stance on RIGHT and WRONG, and respects us for trying our best to weigh our see-saws. Sometimes it’s the effects of a decision that make it right or wrong.

For more on that, watch Battlestar Galactica. Some say it’s a parallel of the war on terror; I say it’s a slick, well-produced epic spanning 3.5 seasons and offering a glimpse into human nature alongside a stellar soundtrack. Plus there’s spaceships and lasers and shit.

Hey, Fat America! While you’re stuffing yourself until you need to buy plus-size jeans, you should note that on average, Americans toss out 40% of the food they buy. Happy Thanksgiving!

U.S. residents are wasting food like never before.

While many Americans feast on turkey and all the fixings today, a new study finds food waste per person has shot up 50 percent since 1974. Some 1,400 calories worth of food is discarded per person each day, which adds up to 150 trillion calories a year.

Here’s a link to the full article. Our favorite section is the part called “Growing Problem.” HEY-O! Good work, editor!

I love it when the things I write produce an emotional response. For a writer, it’s the biggest buzz in the world when someone comes to you and says, “That short story/chapter/poem made me so sad/happy/hungry*.”

I always strive to create something that is going to play on the reader’s conscience, to make them contemplate whether the actions within the story are right or wrong. Or better yet, I love making people side with the bad guy and question what sort of a person that makes them.

Despite all my good intentions though, anger seems to be the easiest emotion to evoke in others.

Don’t get me wrong, I do get a cheap thrill out of that but it’s just so easy on the internet. A little too easy, perhaps. One of my posts, ‘Consider a Modern Wife’, has an entire page dedicated to how it – and I by proxy – is wrong, despite the fact that said post only had 32 readers at its initial upload.  I was also spammed with messages from people I know on facebook following my piece concerning that most disgusting of language errors – ‘might of’. Apparently, I’m ignorant as to the history of my country and as a language student ’should know better’.

I could take the time to explain that I spent four years of my life not only learning Danish, but also reading about the common Germanic stem that it shares with English. Or I could boast about the fact that my current favourite book is Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue and that I spend my free time compiling a list of Doric words that come from Nordic stems. I could write lengthy paragraphs about how invasions from the Vikings and the French have perverted the original form of the language that was used when Beowulf was first scribbled down by monks, or about how the unique ‘ing’ verb form makes English a wonderfully easy language to learn the basics of for foreign speakers**.

But honestly, who gives a toss?

This is the internet: it is estimated that there are over 60 million ‘blogs worldwide and of those, only a handful achieve a readership of over 1000 per day. I write on here because I feel that doing so empties my head of clutter and helps me to be a better writer. I also like to think that my ‘blog is a good showcase for the selection of writing styles I can offer to any potential clients. I don’t for one minute believe that my work could ever be widely read in the way that Diary of a London Call Girl was.

With the exception of family and friends -  who know me well enough to understand that I’m just a crotchety old woman – nobody cares about what I have to say. I’m just another one of the faceless people who sit tapping away at their laptop keyboard instead of getting on with their work. My opinions, therefore, do not matter to anyone other than myself. Just like the opinions of those who think I’m wrong don’t matter to me – the age-old internet stalemate. Because neither party involved in an argument over opinions has to face the other, and because people online are inherantly rude to each other, we end up with arguments like this:

Me: Blah blah blah – hate world – blah blah – romantic notions about how things should be – blah.
Someone else: U hv penis.
Me: Eh? What has that got to do with anything?
Someone else: U jst scared coz u wrong.
Me: Wrong in which way? I like discussions – let’s talk and share our thoughts.
Someone else: U 2 scared to talk bk. ha ha ha ha… penis.
Me: You’re a spoon.

The other problem with the internet is that sites like twitter, facebook, myspace, friendface etc. make us believe that what we say has an impact on those around us. We use the web as a way to express ourselves and without the social boundaries enforced by real life, we’re not afraid to express ourselves in overly critical, arrogant ways. We presume that because we can broadcast information about our goings on and opinions at all hours of the day, that we should. This is not the case. My rule of internet etiquette is as follows: if you wouldn’t say face-to-face what you’ve just typed, hit the backspace key instead of enter***. Afterall, you don’t want to hear about my various bodily functions so what makes you think I want to read about yours?

I think this is what I was trying to say in my entry about lamebook – we’ve all become self-obsessed and presume that the rest of the world cares about what we think and about every intimate detail of our lives. Nobody does, and so after the initial thrill of causing an angry reaction in my online reader for whatever reason, I feel slightly hollow – as if the emotion’s I’ve managed to trigger aren’t real. With so many people out there looking for yet another way to tell the world about themselves, it’s just too easy to have someone disagree.

______

*Hungry is an emotion. I spend 95% of my life ‘hungry’. The other 5% I spend sleeping.

**Interestingly, all objections to my statement that English is an easy language to learn came from native speakers, rather than from those who use it as a second language.

***If you’re drunk, slightly different rules apply,  akin to those necessary where mobile phones are concerned. On becoming inebriated to the point where you think the following messages to your friends are a good idea, all communication devices must be handed to the designated driver or, if at home,  hidden in either the sewing machine case or the vegetable drawer.

Examples of messages to friends that are a terrible idea are:
a. You’re sexy
b. I’m sexy
c. The ex you still have feelings for is sexy and I just saw them naked
d. Did your car have a bonnet when you loaned it to me?

I have now started to read ‘Calvin for Armchair Theologians,’ by Christopher Elwood. I have to admit that I come to this book with a very doubtful attitude. The front cover illustration of John Calvin and the many ‘comic-like’ illustrations throughout the book worry me. I just don’t get a sense that this book is a serious treatment of John Calvin. That is the impression that presents when just looking at the book – I hope to be proven wrong for having ‘judged a book by its cover.’ The illustrations in the book are by Ron Hill, who is apparently a freelance illustrator and cartoonist.

I have to admit that the ‘armchair theologian’ part of the title also gives me a poor impression of the book – it sort of gives me the picture of a guy who loves to watch sport on the TV while sitting in his armchair, while not really taking the sport seriously in his actual life – has nothing to do with it in reality, in that he doesn’t play sport. This is the idea that ‘armchair theologian’ paints for me, which is an approach to theology that is far removed from the Bible’s idea of involvement with the truth.

But, as I said, I hope to be proven wrong for having ‘judged a book by its cover.’

Over these past few years I know what it has been like to be on the top of your faith and I know what it is like to almost lose it. I know the arguments for both accepting and rejecting faith in Christ. I know how true Christianity and false Christianity look like and have experienced both sides of the proverbial coin.

And one major problem has allowed me to examine why I truly believe in Christ: hypocrisy.  This one major problem that has spread throughout the body of Christ is why I have wondered why I believe in Christ in the first place. This one major problem has made me wonder is it worth fellowshipping with those who call themselves Christians. And this one major problem has almost destroyed my faith, my ministry, and my life.

Jerks—I can’t stand them. If anyone is honest with himself or herself they would probably say the same thing. I mean, who says that they love jerks? I mean anyone with half a brain would probably say, “I can’t stand jerks.” I mean that’s just me, but who knows these days. But it seems like the epidemic of “jerk-itis” is on the flippin’ rise. I see girls that are in love with macho jerks; I see people in government that are elitist jerks; I see corporate executives that are greedy and are ravenous jerks; I see jerks, jerks, and more jerks.

But the one place I have seen more jerks in my life than any other place unfortunately is not in the clubs, Washington, D.C. , or on Wall Street—nope, the place I have seen my fair share of jerks is in the church. Now it is one thing for some atheist to write this statement; but this is coming from someone who is a passionate believer in Christ, who loves Christ and His church, and was a former “jerk.”

You see, when I first became a Christian I was brought up more with the mentality of being a legalist jerk than being a compassionate servant. For me it was all about being right and wrong and it was about who could be the most holy and dress in the best suit. It was about politics and about CCM (hating it, then liking it, then having to hear it is the “devil’s music,” then finally liking it). It was about going to that “Christian college,” and abstinence and about dating is bad and courtship is good. In the end it was about me, myself, and I. I didn’t even grasp the picture of what authentic Christianity looked like until recently in life. All I was seeing previously was hypocrisy, fundamentalism, legalism, and everything that the Lord hates but the things that permeate the Church.

Jerks are everywhere man and they come in all shapes and sizes. They are nonbelievers but they are believers as well. I am not saying that the things above like CCM, abstinence, and courtship are bad things. But having the attitude that because I like or practice those things makes me better than you is “jerkish.” What we need to do to eradicate the “jerk-itis” syndrome that is going around the church today is replace everything “we hate” with the royal law as James puts it: to love God and to love others. If we would become a band of believers that were known more for who we love than for what we hate—the world wouldn’t have to see us as bold-face bigots or hatemongers; we could be seen as revolutionaries, as compassionate servants of the kingdom desiring life change in every individual life.

I have been there and done that when it comes to being a “jerk,” and now I abandon it for something authentic—a true servant of Christ. Laying aside any fundamentalism, or legalism, or judgmentalism, or homophobia, or hypocrisy, or anything that would hinder me from opening up the truth of the gospel with others—I serve God with all my heart and love God and love others.

Here’s a “short test” to see if you pass or fail the “jerk test”:

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10)

So if you praise God yet curse men, you pass the “jerk test” with flying colors, and if you don’t, well then you fail. If we were honest with ourselves, I would say we all have passed and have been there, done that. Let’s resolve never to commit the act that James has spoken of, but let us always do the following:

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.” (James 2:8)

[this is from a series of articles entitled: “Why I Hate…”]

The New Barack Channel (NBC) has jumped into the fray between Kennedy and the Catholic Church.  As usual, they are doing so with a leftist bias.

The second paragraph of the article which I have highlighted in bold below sums up the crux of the matter.  When a church or other conservative  organization compromises what it believes in order to support some liberal/progressive policy, no one says anything about separation of church and state (which is a misinterpreted load of liberal crap anyway).  But let the same organization take the same conservative stand they have taken since the beginning of time, and the left comes out screaming.  Hypocrites.

Now you have the Catholic Church, which to my knowledge has been around even longer than the United States, and has always said that abortion is wrong, is saying what it has always said:  “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”  They are telling this Kennedy idiot that Catholics (and Christians) can not support or condone abortion, and if you do support or condone abortion you can’t be a Catholic, or at least not one in good standing.  They are illustrating what God has always tried to teach us, that the world is black and white, not the shades of gray that liberals portray it to be.  There IS right, and there IS wrong.  Right and wrong don’t change with the times.  The religion of moral relativism propagated by liberals has taken over our society like a cancer.

So, why are liberals trying so hard to remove God from the public square?  Two reasons.

1. Acknowledging the existence of God reminds liberals of their own sin, and they do not want to be reminded of that.
2. Liberals/communists know that people who have a strong moral foundation can’t be controlled easily.  Someone without a moral foundation will believe whatever they are told by the powers that be.  This also speaks to the dumbing down of our educational system.

Whether you are a Christian or not, you need to stand up against this coordinated, intentional assault on Christianity and organized religion in America.  Right now it may not appear that liberals are attacking islam, but that is only temporary.  Political correctness is the only thing preventing that at the moment.  If the muslims win before the liberals do, the liberals will wonder where the Christians are to protect them from beheading.  If the liberals get their way before islam takes over, the liberals will persecute the muslims just like they persecute us.  As I was saying, this is more than just an assault on religion.  It is an assault on freedom.  Let’s review the 1st Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Any educated, reasonably clear thinking individual can see the wisdom behind the wording of the 1st Amendment, and that the liberals have taken great liberty with it to arrive at the current interpretation regarding “separation of church and state.”  It means that the government will not establish a STATE religion that you must be a part of.  It DOES NOT prohibit those in government who are of various religions from displaying or participating in their religion while on the job.

Wake up, people!  An attack on one of our freedoms is an attack on all of them.  Jealously guard your freedom, for tomorrow it may be taken from you.

NBC Takes Up Kennedy vs. Catholic Church ‘Crossing the Line’ Into ‘Political Blackmail’

By: Tim Graham
November 24, 2009 10:55 ET

Monday’s NBC Nightly News took up the story of liberal Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s public feud with the Catholic Church, and NBC’s Ron Allen implied something improper in how “the Catholic Church is flexing its religious and political muscle.”

When Catholic officials endorse liberal initiatives like immigration reform or oppose an execution, the networks don’t worry about the separation of church and state. But with traditional stands against abortion and gay marriage in the crossfire, NBC’s screen graphic asked if the church was “Crossing the Line?” A secular-left lobbyist accused the church of being “not above spiritual and political blackmail.”

(Read rest of article HERE)

I had a thought earlier today.  Being alone again… there’s nobody to tell me, “Mary, that’s a dumb idea.”  Not that John ever quite said it that way or ever treated me like that– I’m a little more blunt.

But at the same time there’s nobody to tell me “Mary, that’s a dumb idea.”

With John it was more the gentle reminders that I needed to get some sleep.  Or “did you feed the horses yet?” (which by the way, I haven’t yet).   Or “we need to remember to…”  Or the “what do you think about…” Or “don’t forget to…”

Confiding in a soul-mate and sharing a partnership together are some of the things I miss the most.  I miss them everyday, but I miss them most when it comes to matters of Nathaniel.  I don’t want to be the person that decides if it is safe for him to get vaccinated for H1N1 of if it is dangerous for him not to get it.  (He has gotten his first shot and is scheduled for dose number two.)   I want to be one of two parents who decides together how to best raise their child.  You know the way it ideally is… in a perfect world.  But, in a perfect world your beloved spouse doesn’t die of cancer at 35…

Everything is now my decision to make- for wrong of for right.  In a way it’s nice to know that there won’t be any conflict in parental matters- it’s my way or the highway.  (Practicing for the teenage years.)  I can do things that I want to do- if I want to go take Nathaniel somewhere, I just do it.  No, “not now… maybe later”… “I’m tired…”  or “I don’t feel like it,”  or “why don’t you just go (aka I’m not interested and don’t want to join you).”  I’m tired of learning things the hard way.  Hoping I’ll be making more right decisions, but I’m fully aware that I’ll make wrong ones too.

All that being said, I think I’m doing mostly okay on my own.  I ask for opinions when I need them and make my own decisions.  I’m pretty good at researching and collecting data.  I’m an adult and quite capable of making my own decisions.  I just wish John was still here to help me make up my mind.

I still believe in summer days.
The seasons always change
And life will find a way.

Is love alive?

This is my winter song.
December never felt so wrong,
Cause youre not where you belong;
Inside my arms.

Ronan Keating – Winter Song

Yeah! They can’t possibly be Ruff Ryders because DMX would fuckin’ smoke they ass. Or maybe they’re members of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry from the Spanish-American war, because that’s what rough riders are! And what’s all this about being filled with Christ’s love? Are they having Christ’s baby? Did he shoot them with his Jesus load?

I should explain what I’m writing about. Remember that stupid fake hugging trend? You know, the one in which kids were spending so much time hugging they were all late for class and soccer practice?

Proving there’s nothing so absurd Jesus can’t make more absurd, a buncha slick gangsta foos wrote some rhymes and shit about how the side hug — hip to hip contact, yo — is all cool with the Lord God Jesus Christ and frontal hugs is all evil and shit. You know, cuz frontal hugs leads to babies and shit because you be all touchin’ yo privates together and whatnot. Damn! Video after the jump!

You’ll have to forgive the totally stupid, ass-backward, retarded fake gangsta prose with which I’m writing dis shit today, yo, but I gots all inspired by these white kids who are rappin’ and bustin’ rhymes about how foos be front huggin’ which Jesus don’t be appreciatin’ son! Seriously, I hope the ghost of ODB haunts these kids for the rest of their lives because there’s nothing that white God-fearing kids fear more than black guys, which makes their weird outdated gangsta jingle — complete with gunshots and sirens because they apparently thought up these mad beatz in reform school — even more trite than it already seems.

No bigger a national teen mom figure than Bristol “I had a white trash baby” Palin has said abstinence doesn’t work (and then reversed her position — ha! position — because she’s moved to La La Land). And everyone else agrees, too. Know why? Because private parts are fun, kids! As Eddie Murphy once said, go and get each other pregnant and play Space Invaders.

Anyway, we made our point. Abstinence education: not education. Kids: Stupid hormone factories. ODB: Dead (RIP, word). This video: Awesome in its awe-inspiring dumbness.

[h/t Eric S.]

Click to embiggen.

Clowns are funny, Jokes are funny, Someone falling is funny, dog abuse is NOT funny! Some abuse is worse then others but all abuse is WRONG… Dog abuse is any harm to your dog. Physical, mental, or even emotional harm. Leaving your dog in the car too long is abuse. So is neglect. Neglect is failure to provide common needs like food, water, shelter, shade, and vet care. If you hit them, Don’t feed them enough, or make them fight another dog, YOU ARE ABUSING THEM!! Dog cruelty problems are people problems!

I will give you some tips on how to help STOP DOG ABUSE! The easiest and best way is to NEVER I mean it NEVER hit your dog! Report any and all abuse you see. (you might be saving as dog’s life!) You could even donate money or volunteer at a local Human society.

Although many dog abusers pay for what they did many are still out there hurting poor defenseless dogs. So don’t hit dogs, Give them a nice belly rub instead!!!

Abortion. Big topic these days. But why? Why should we be talking about killing? Murdering? “Oh it’s just a fetus!” No. It is a human. Just because you decided to go get pregnant and know you don’t wanna take  responsibility ain’t the babies fault. So you need to grow up and mature. Don’t just kill someone because your lazy, and selfish. Also don’t use the excuse. I can’t afford it, Ect. ADOPTION!!!! There are many people out there who are physically unable to have a baby I am sure they would be more then happy to take him/her of your hands.. ABORTION IS WRONG!!!

How would you feel to never get the chance to Breathe? Or feed? How would you feel to never get to walk? Or talk? How would you feel to never have the chance to live? Or give? How you feel to be dead before you were born? To never eat corn? How would you feel to get you life tooken away? Without a even a say? ABORTION IS WRONG! ! !

I made it up myself! I know it is lame. But At least I took the time!! DO NOT BASH ON THIS!!!

This video is wrong. But I’ll share it anyway.

Just so we’re skr8 – don’t go ’round expecting some rockstar followup to yesterday’s ‘like’able post that inexplicably earned supernova way cool WordPress HP street cred for the Cookie:

‘cuz LIAC is going to be the worldwide proof all of humanity has been craving when it comes to that whole lightning/same place theory, ‘kay?

Instead, we turn our talons today to newspaper nimroddery and the deft touch they (more often than not lately) lend to daily dumbfuckery.

BEHOLD!

I mean, I’m super happy and all to read that United’s working to spiff itself up because, well, who are they kidding. They need to.

But, uhh, quick question … What does United updating its antiquated airline have to do with Sears cutting costs in order to put a spit shine on its shit?!

Eh?
Huh?!
Oh yeah, that’s right – NOTHING!!

Editor’s Note: Journalism 101 sez the headline, story, photo and cutline generally all should jibe …

I’m not naming names here but someone who’s initials are THE LOS ANGELES FUCKING TIMES COPY DESK needs to make a date to remediate!

SOURCE

Update: HAHA — we totally you LA Times for fixing your fuckup.
Want a copy of our ultraprimo screenshot for posterity? :P

So my friend’s new boy toy got me thinkin…..

He’s a junior, he’s attractve, he was in the military, he’s drivin, and he SINGS!!!!!!!! HE SINGS!!! (and well!!!!)

Is it wrong that I’m attracted to him? I mean I’m only human right? It’s not like I want to be with him but is it wrong that I’m slightly jealous of the aCe just because she is available to talk to him?

Don’t get me wrong……I love my fiance with all of my being but a part of me still wonders what life would be like with someone else…….or even alone for that matter.

But then he reminds me why no one else in this world could make me smile the way that he does;

how no one in this lifetime will put me at peace the way that he does;

and how in no one else’s arms will I feel as secure and loved.

No one will ever love me the way he does

and I’m happy with that!!

=]

Posted by Guest Contributor Will Johnston from Mind Muse

UPDATE: Looks like I was wrong on this one. While cloture is a motion to end debate, on Saturday the Senate invoked cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill, not on the bill itself, making the statement that the senate agreed to begin debating the bill a true one. I should have looked more closely!

Time for a quick civics lesson! Countless news agencies are misreporting that yesterday’s Senate vote on the health care bill is a vote to begin debating the bill.

From the Washington Post:

After days of indecision, the last two Democratic holdouts — Sens. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (La.) — joined their caucus in supporting a motion to begin debate.

From the New York Times:

The Senate voted on Saturday to begin full debate on major health care legislation

From CNN:

the Senate voted to move ahead with a floor debate

These are just a few examples, but you can find countless others on Google News.

The problem?

They’re all wrong. The Senate voted to invoke cloture, a motion to limit debate on a bill or other matter (i.e. nomination) pending before the Senate.

In olden days, you couldn’t actually ever stop debate on a bill if any Senator wanted to keep talking about it. As you can imagine, this meant that if a couple of Senators were really opposed to something, they could just take turns talking about it until the rest of the Senators caved and moved on to the other things they needed to vote on. In an effort to help move things along, the Senate changed its rules so that if two-thirds of the Senators wanted to end debate, they could do so by invoking cloture. Yes, it sounds a lot like closure, and the two words have very similar meanings. They’re about bringing something to an end.

The bar for invoking cloture was still so high that it was nearly impossible to do. Getting two-thirds of the Senate to agree on everything is like getting two three-year-olds to eat all of their vegetables. In fact, cloture was only invoked five times during the next 46 years. Consequently, the Senate changed its rules to require only three-fifths of the Senators to vote for a cloture motion in order for it to pass.

I hope this little history and civics lesson has helped you understand what the Senate voted on last night. The fact is that the news agencies weren’t reporting what really happened. Cloture takes a bit more to explain well than can be put in a news article about another topic, so they took a shortcut. The party in control of Congress (currently the Democratic Party) sets the agenda and can debate whatever they want. They didn’t have to win a Senate vote to debate health care reform, they had to win a Senate vote to put an end to debating health care reform so they can actually vote on passing the bill.

How do I know so much about cloture? Well, I used to work for a Senator, so I learned a lot about what it was and how it worked. I didn’t really know the history part, so I looked it up on Wikipedia, and Wikipedia pointed me to two articles on the Senate website that give the history of cloture.

Cloture Rule~March 8, 1917
Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate

J. Grant Swank, Jr.

Canon Law Regarding Catholics and Abortion:

“Canon Law 1398 Catholics who have obtained an abortion, or performed an abortion, have excommunicated themselves latae sententiae (automatically by their very action) from the Catholic Church. They remain outside the church until the reception of the sacrament of Penance through a good confession.

“Canon Law 1329 Catholics who are accomplices in enabling and permitting the crime of abortion to occur, who without their assistance the crime would not have been committed, incur the same penalty.

“Canon Law 915 (an exception to receiving Holy Communion) “Others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”

All bishops should follow their own Canon Law concerning their constituency and the abortion atrocity.

Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin sets the morally correct standard. He refused Patrick Kennedy the sacrament in Rhode Island.

Kennedy’s endorsement of child killing is abhorrent to God. It is abhorrent to the Roman Catholic ethical understanding of Scripture—the inerrant, infallible Word of God.

Kennedy favors killing womb infants. That is called “murder.” Female rights have no right to murder.

Therefore, the devil is in the process when mortals slay mortals who are in female bodies. That is not only how Tobin sees it; that is the way biblical believers understand divine revelation.

TV’s The View Whoopie Goldberg had a field day this morning when it came to her understanding of what the church does with its constituency’s views of right and wrong. With that, she went on her evangelistic diatribe about her understanding of Scripture.

She concludes that the Bible allows a human to do what he or she wants to do as long it is in keeping with that individual’s personal communication with God—no interference from churchly organizations or spiritual leaders.

On one part, she is accurate: a mortal can communicate with God and is served the consequences of that via accountability from that God.

But on the other part, she is so wrong. The God of the Bible does not have various moral codes for various persons depending on what they say they “hear” from God. God’s biblical standard is there as an eternal verity; it is not waffling to left or right, up or down.

Whoopie always has a good old time of it when trying to make deity out to be a Nice Guy on everything from communion altars to sex. In that she makes a lot of viewing friends for they likewise serve a deity who is totally into relativism, discounting absolutes.

However, Tobin is in line with the true understanding of Scripture when he holds the line on not permitting those who claim to be “Christian” yet murder to have Communion. They in no way have the ethical right to partake of the body and blood of Christ. That is atrocious in itself.

Think about it: Did Savior Christ suffer severe mistreatment on the cross in order to share His body and blood with persons who slay children? I don’t think so.

Did Christ stretch His holy presence on Calvary, permit nails to be driven through His hands and feet, then endure the spear slice in His side to allow pious appearing church goers the honor to partake of the sacrament representing that redemptive offering?  I don’t think so.

Did Christ anywhere in His public ministry ever teach that slaughtering womb innocents is okay if it is not in a person’s life plan?  I don’t think so.

Would to God that more clergy kept the same biblical standard that Tobin keeps. All spiritual leaders in the Christian tradition should obey God, His moral base and instruct those under their care to do the same.

“Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an ‘imperfect humanity.’ Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members,” Tobin told Kennedy.

Stay the holy course, Tobin. Stay the holy course.

FOOTNOTE:

The Bible speaks of a fetus as a person, not simply tissue that can be discarded if found to be a bother or nuisance. Since the fetus is a person from the moment of conception, then the destroying of the fetus is killing a person.

“In the past, some people have mistakenly speculated that perhaps the body might be in the process of formation for some time, and then ‘God breathes a soul into it.’ They had it backward. The life that is present forms matter into a body for itself’” (Joseph Breig, “Life Forms Matter,” The Catholic News, Jan. 24, 1974, p. 8).

“Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk … and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit” (Job 10:8-12 NIV).

“Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name…and now the LORD says–he who formed me in the womb to be his servant…” (Isaiah 49:1, 5).

“The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

In the following passages we note that personality is ascribed to the unborn.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that fully well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:13-16).

“Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3).

Exodus 21:22-25 relates how Israel was to judge a circumstance relating to the death of the unborn:

“If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”

All of the latter deals with unintentional hurt that comes to a pregnant woman; how much more will divine penalty come upon those who intentionally discard the fetus? The Gospel of Luke ascribes personality to the fetus within Elizabeth:

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit… As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy” (1:41, 44).

Mere tissue does not leap for joy; only personhood leaps for joy. The Bible regards the fetus as having personality. In Galatians, Paul speaks of himself as a person while still in his mother’s womb, but more a person consecrated by God for a holy mission (compare Jeremiah 1:5 for the same accent):

“But when God, who set me apart from birth, and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles…” (Gal. 1: 15-16).

Since the Bible regards the fetus as personality, then the aborting of the fetus is murdering personality.

Some verses from Scripture dealing with murder are then appropriate for study, such as Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” Also, read Exodus 23:7: “Have nothing to do with a false charge, and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.” Note I Peter 4:15: “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer…”

If the Republic returned to the biblical definition of personhood, we would defend every womb child.

John Adams said the following:

“Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

Andrew Jackson said the following:

“The BIBLE is the rock on which our Republic rests.”

Daniel Webster:

“If we abide by the principles taught in the BIBLE, our country will go on prospering.”

“For all the talk of freedom and self-determination, the abortion movement is at its heart a movement denying rights to a silent segment of humanity and soliciting public sanction, support and subsidy to its own cause” (Donald P. Shoemaker, ABORTION, THE BIBLE AND THE CHRISTIAN, Hayes Publishing Co., 1976, p. iv).