Taibbi and Shellenberger Twitter testimony

The House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government held a hearing featuring testimony from independent investigative journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger who were involved in the “Twitter Files,” a series of articles on how government agencies and lawmakers interacted with the social media company over content moderation.

Both men are highly respected writers/journalists, yet the Democrats tried to demean and insult their integrity and credentials.

‘Twitter Files’ Taibbi and Shellenberger testify before Congress - Deseret News

Matt Taibbi Opening Statement to Congress - COMPLETE Text and Video (substack.com)

Bret and Heather 165th DarkHorse Podcast Livestream: Skepticism ≠ Terrorism - YouTube

Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Hearing on the Twitter Files - YouTube

Comey's testimony makes fake news unravel

Over 20 million people watched the Comey testimony last week (not me, I was in Scotland where no one cared). Now 20,000,000 know Trump was NOT being investigated, that he NEVER asked to stop the investigation, that Comey illegally leaked to the New York Times, that Trump did NOTHING illegal by firing Comey and his testimony CONTRADICTED what he'd said a month ago. Oh, and no one has seen the so-called memos.  20 million people are engaged enough to know the media’s stories building this up as their brass ring were completely misleading and biased, proving only that they hate Trump and are still Obama’s lapdogs. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4590198/About-19-5-mln-U-S-viewers-watched-Comey-testify-Trump.html

Alcoholic finds Christ and her writing vocation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzEfMfs5qFQ

Heather King, who lives in LA and is a Catholic, tells her story of addiction and compulsion to coming to sobriety and joy, and then her vocation, writing. I found her reading her blog, which included this video. Funny, inspiring and entertaining.  You'll love this. I learned so much--and enjoyed her talk thoroughly.

"I'm an ex-barfly Catholic convert and I'm proud. I write, speak, give retreats, edit, and clean bathrooms.

Look for my monthly column, "Credible Witnesses," in MAGNIFICAT; and "The Crux," my weekly column on arts and culture in TIDINGS, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of L.A.

My heroes are Flannery O'Connor ("The writer has no rights except those he forges for himself within his own work”) and the late comic Bill Hicks ("Play from your F-ING heart!")."

Poor Baby, her book (essay) about abortion, available on Amazon.

" I came of age during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. I’m a former waitress, an ex-lawyer, a sober barfly, a Catholic convert, and a self-supporting writer. I’ve been financially independent all my life. But I’ve never much been able to reduce the mystical to the political. I’ve never been much moved to call myself a feminist. The feminists had said that sleeping around would be empowering. The feminists had maintained that “choosing” would make me free. The feminists had asserted that there’d be no repercussions. The feminists had been wrong. That I’m for life—and against abortion, war, the prison industry, capital punishment, and the destruction of all that is most precious in us and the people around us—is a given. That I’m for life is why I suffered, in silence, in guilt, in sorrow, for over twenty years. Even women, who will talk about anything, don’t talk about abortion. But I do, in this 10,000-word essay that I hope might open the door to a new way of thinking about and talking about this difficult subject. Because abortion is not a political issue; abortion is a mystical issue. Abortion is a matter of emotional and spiritual poverty, of what we inherit from our parents and what we pass on to our children, of what we absorb from a culture that is saturated with violence. As Dostoevsky observed: “Love in reality is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.” "Poor Baby" is the tragicomic story of a harsh and dreadful thing. May it shed some light on our collective yearning for love. NOTE: POOR BABY is a 54-page essay, not a full-length book."

http://shirtofflame.blogspot.com/p/books.html

Friday Family Photo and Memory

If you have old technology stashed away, it's a worry to preserve them if they contain irreplaceable information. Such is an audio cassette of a talk my mother gave on August 25 of either 1995 or 1996--both dates are hand written on the tape. I have contacted Advent Media to see if several items along with photographs and music could be transferred to a CD--but we know too that eventually it will become unusable. There's nothing like print on paper (or ink on scrolls) and black and white photos. Here's the story and the story it holds.

My mother and two other lay members of the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren were asked to give a brief meditation--the sermon (as I wrote that I realized I could check Google on the date--yes, it was Aug. 25, 1996, my parents' 62nd wedding anniversary). Mother died in 2000, so it has been a long time since I heard her voice. This audio is amazingly accurate--it reproduces her voice exactly as it was in her 80s--it's just not the voice I like to recall. The theme they were to address was something about God in their lives, or God becoming real. I've forgotten exactly.

So, picture this tiny, white haired woman, known by all in the congregation and much respected for her good works and loving attitude, in an aqua blue or purple dress with heels walking to the podium. She announces first that she has no notes and has never told this story before (I had never heard it either). Then she takes the audience back to her childhood when her family was deeply immersed in their church (Franklin Grove Church of the Brethren) and attended twice on Sunday. She says she never doubted God's love, but they just weren't that close. He was off somewhere busy looking after people who didn't have her nice, secure, regulated life. Then she moves ahead 25 years to WWII when she was a very busy young mother of four very busy youngsters living on Hitt Street in Mt. Morris. Again, she reports our family had a comfortable life, and that the war was far away, hadn't really come to Mt. Morris despite the fact that almost all the men had gone to war (see War Record of Mt. Morris, Kable Bros., 1947--virtually every man under 40 was gone and even some WWI veterans had reenlisted). I don't think she noted that her husband, brother, four brothers-in-law plus numerous cousins of my father had enlisted.

Then she carefully described the drive-way our house shared with the Crowells, the garage and the house. Wooden boards provided an approach to the garage from the gravel drive-way that got muddy and slippery in the rain. She didn't describe the car, but I remember it--a 1939, 4 dr, blue Ford sedan--stick shift, of course (photo here). Since most of the congregation was 50 or over, she probably figured she didn't need to describe a clutch and gear shift.

She needed something at the store--she doesn't say what, but it must have been critical, because she left and came back quickly (very small town) leaving the children with the eldest in charge. As she approached the garage, she eased it carefully so as not to nick the siding on the house, and the car stalled on the slippery board ramp. She put it into reverse to back up and try again. The car wouldn't move. She tried again, and again, giving it a bit more gas, the rear wheels spinning. Finally, she got out to investigate and she found my little brother pushing with all his 3 year old strength, saying, "I'll help you Mommy!" She scooped him up in her arms, splattered head to toe with mud from the spinning tires, and placed him in the front seat, and put the car effortlessly in reverse, and drove up the slippery ramp. She says she was flooded with such a sense of joy and peace she never again doubted that God was close and watching. The incident also set aside her sense of absolute self-sufficiency and pride in being able to take care of anything.

She told the congregation she never shared the story because she knew others might doubt it or give a logical reason the reverse gear had failed and saved my brother's life, or even feel badly they hadn't had such an incident of protection when it was needed. So I suppose that's why she waited and treasured it privately, bringing it out like a precious jewel during difficult times when she wanted to know she and her family were secure in God's arms.

Somewhere in the talk she addressed her two great-granddaughters who know my brother as "Grandpa Rocky." So I don't know who else in the family was there that day--probably also my father and my niece, some of my aunts and uncles and my father's aunts and uncles--so this story is for all who weren't there. The photo is my brother, probably a year or two later, because he's wearing an outfit she made out of my father's WWII Marines camouflage issue.

Our Bishop's Testimony doesn't reflect that of many Christians

Callon Holloway, Bishop of the Southern Ohio Synod for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), testified before Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce committee.

"I am here today representing both the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States representing nearly 5 million people, and the National Council of Churches (NCC), an organization that represents 35 Christian denominations, 100,000 congregations and approximately 45 million people in the United States."

In my opinion the NCC is a "just us" social justice organization that couldn't find the great commission if someone opened a Bible to it. Even in the 1970s when I was a Democrat (although an evangelical Christian recently converted from humanism), I had no use for the NCC's no-cross, no-salvation gospel. Furthermore, the ELCA for 7 years has been struggling to fight off the gay-marriage, gay-ordination cult, and so far has been unsuccessful. Rather than look at what Scripture says about marriage, it has reinterpreted numerous verses, proof texting to fit a different agenda. So I'm not surprised some in our leadership have fallen for this "Gospel is greener on the other side" with the unbelievers. So Cal doesn't speak for me, or many Lutherans. Nor do I approve of his being part of the testimony (NCC and NWF) of organizations that are falling for this.

I would prefer he fell in with the Evangelicals of the Cornwall Alliance and the Science and Public Policy group (see its journal here), neither of which are a denomination, but both of which have a far stronger Biblical view than the ELCA/NCC representative, Cal Holloway, a man I personally like and admire. Speakers at this March 25 event:

* Tom Karl, Director of the National Climatic Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
* John Stephenson, Director of Natural Resources and Environment, Government Accountability Office
* Bishop Callon Holloway, Evangelical Lutheran Church in American, On Behalf of the National Council of Churches
* Larry Schweiger, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation
* David Waskow, Climate Change Program Director, Oxfam American
* E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., National Spokesman, The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation
* Lord Christopher Monckton, Chief Policy Adviser, Science and Public Policy Institute

"The second International Conference on Climate Change concluded its 2-1/2 -day run March 10, 2009 in New York City after confronting the theme "Global warming: Was it ever really a crisis?"

The answer was a resounding "No." Check the link for presentations.

More than 75 papers and keynote addresses were presented by some of the world's leading climatologists, economists, policy makers, and opinion leaders. You can access videos of many of the presentations here. New videos and audio versions will be added as they become available."

Unfortunately, Bishop Holloway didn't attend this one.

A sinner saved by grace

Remember Mr. T? He was one my son's favorite TV characters. He has a nice testimony at Belief.net.

I was baptized when I was four years old. But when you’re younger you really don’t understand that stuff. Then I got rebaptized in 1977. As a Christian you forgive and you feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and you visit the sick, and comfort the lonely. If I’m a true follower of my lord and savior Jesus Christ, I got to do the things you’re supposed to be doing. You just can’t say, "I believe in Jesus" and then don’t forgive somebody [or] hold a grudge against somebody. Don’t get me wrong--if somebody jumps me I’m gonna fight, but I don't send out hate vibes if I don’t like that person or the way that they dress. That’s negative energy. Then there is a contradiction to the God I serve, the God of love. He forgave me, and I should do good to the people who cross me.

In 1979, before I got famous, there was a contest called the Toughest Bouncer in America. I used to bodyguard for some celebrities and other people, and when I wasn’t doing that I used to work at a disco as a doorman or a bouncer. When I started training for the contest I called my pastor, Rev. Henry Hardy of Cosmopolitan Community Church [in Chicago]. I’ve been going there since 1977. I said, “Pastor Hardy, they’re having a contest, and when I win this contest I’m going to give you the money, so you can buy food and clothes for less fortunate people in the community." I won two years in a row—it was over $10,000. I didn’t have no car then, but I was blessed. So I gave the money freely, and then my blessing came back in the form of "Rocky III." A very nice interview here.

Sarah Palin’s Christian testimony

You’ve heard Obama and McCain interviewed by Rick Warren, and maybe you heard a CNN reporter giving snippets and declaring them scary. Here’s a recording of her testimony in her words. If you don't want to hear the ads and a telephone interview with a woman who was at the Republican convention, start about 1/3 into the tape. It lasts about 14 minutes and she is speaking to a particular graduating group and there were special guests in the audience. According to the host, the site at the church got so many hits, it brought down their server, but someone had captured it. It is going around the internet, and I'm sure for non-Christians not accustomed to the language, certain phrases will sound very foreign. I've heard many similar send offs (although not from our governor). The pastor talks about Alaska being a refuge state "in the last days." Although I'm not a dispensationalist and have never heard this particular point, I don't think it hurts one bit to live your life as though Jesus were coming back this afternoon. I think Martin Luther said something similar, as did St. Paul.

Update: Today I was reading Martin Luther's letter that accompanied his translation (?)/commentary of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. He was so convinced that they were in the last days and the Lord was coming back, he wasn't sure it was worth it to get the book into German so the ordinary person could read it. When I find it again, I'll post, but it was very interesting. A letter to John Frederic, I think. Anyway, CNN needs to upgrade its understanding of Christian eschatology.