Confession and forgiveness

I play a YouTube while I'm exercising (Gold's Power Spin 210) because after 5 minutes all the news shows repeat. This morning I heard the phrase, "Going to confession is like getting free health care." That might mean more to Catholics because Confession is a sacrament for them, but it is also a basic principle. Whether you confess your sins to another person who prays with you and suggests changes or directly to our Lord, it is a tremendous relief to hand off that burden. How many health problems are stress related due to unforgiveness and grudges carried way too long?

Heterodox marriage—a useful term with 780,000 matches in Google

It was new to me; so I looked it up.

adjective: heterodox

1. not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.

   "heterodox views"

   synonyms:
   unorthodox, nonconformist, dissenting, dissident, rebellious, renegade

“The United States Supreme Court is hearing two pivotal cases and could, at its whim, change the definition of marriage and custom that has guided human society since ancient times. From experience, we know this — for the most part, aside from sex, men prefer the company of men and women prefer the company of women. We have never had a society where the norm was for men and women to cohabitate, particularly with children.”

Read more: https://amazingopinionsite.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/the-united-states-isnt-ready-for-heterodox-marriage/

Hitler and the wedding cake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1_gqbQcI60

Hilarious.

Forrest Gump—believe in something bigger than yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoQMPgn0GBA#t=94

Ladies' Lunch in Mt. Morris

A few ladies of the class of 1957 gathered for lunch at the McKendrie Street Cafe (at Pinecrest)on April 4 and we enjoyed some cake left from the fall class reunion.

Obama’s Easter message

I see he used his speech to dis Christians.  Way to go. Yet he sat in Rev. Wright’s church for 20 years and never heard his hate sermons.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/7/obama-blasts-less-than-loving-christians/#!

The whitewashing of Irish slavery

“During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, [Oliver] Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.” http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-the-forgotten-white-slaves-says-expert-john-martin-188645531-237793261.html

Some was hatred of the Irish who were considered less than human by the British, some was hatred of Catholicism, and some was profit motive. Muslims were not involved in this slave trade as they were in most.

You can find various sites on the Internet (and in libraries where we used to find things) that deny Irish slavery was like African slavery.  Really, as a percentage of the population I think the islands and South America had a higher percentage of Irish than African.  They didn’t fare well, but are the founding families of many light skinned African Americans. Between the slavery of the 16th and 17th century and the famine immigration of the 19th century, Ireland’s population was decimated.

Small town churches

We've been living in Columbus since 1967, but I still slip and call Mt. Morris "home." We had Good Friday service at Trinity Lutheran with a community choir and chimes and Easter Sunday at the Church of the Brethren in Mt. Morris with my cousin Dianne as the reader. With small congregations and limited professional musicians (to which I'm accustomed at a church with 9 services) I'm always amazed by the love and hard work these little churches put forth to praise the Lord. Pastor Ginny's Easter sermon was one of the best I've heard.

Trinity Lutheran, Easter 2014

The color scheme now is more beige, but it looks much the same as when we were married in 1960.

Christine Baranski and The Good Wife’s wedding planner

How lucky we were!  We'd never seen an episode of the TV series The Good Wife, and after hearing the hysteria for a day (radio news during our auto travel from Ohio to Illinois) from the MSM about an Indiana pizzeria instead of the details of Obama's selling us and Israel down the river in Iran negotiations, we get to see Christine Baranski defend the left's idea of religious freedom guaranteed in the First Amendment while the screen writers fumbled the Christian viewpoint.

The one redeeming line was at the end of the episode where it was pointed out that Obama defended traditional marriage when he wanted to win the presidency (he was lying, of course, but Democrats lie for their causes). That said, Baranski is an outstanding actress and millions will never check the weak argument presented by the actress portraying a Christian wedding planner.

Here’s the point.  Baranski’s character is correct, Jesus never commented on homosexuality.  It was a practice and lifestyle not known to Jews.  It was for pagans, Greeks and Romans where even they didn’t have marriages for homosexuals—it was a form of acceptable pedophilia or prostitution to engage in outside of marriage.

Jesus also never addressed pornography or pedophilia, or space travel or nuclear war or environment or guitars in worship services or many other things that pull us apart these days.  That said, no Christian church exists strictly on the words of Jesus in the four gospels. The Church of the Brethren in which I was baptized at age 12 loves the book of James which doesn’t present the gospel.  The Lutheran church where I am now a member baptizes babies and Martin Luther wanted to throw out the book of James (he is the reason Catholic and Protestant Bibles have a different number of sacred books).

The Christian church managed to thrive for years with no formal canon/scripture; and today every church whether Protestant, Catholic or Independent has a form of church hierarchy, with accepted rules and traditions passed down by word of mouth or printed documents. Churches have statements of faith, synods, boards, brotherhoods, deacons, pastoral organizations.  How to “do” church appears first in the book of Acts not the gospels and most churches follow that in some form.  But the oldest “here’s how to do it” record, The Didache, is a list of rules on baptism, the Eucharist, worship, how to treat each other, no abortion and no sex with young boys, no fighting or gossip, etc.

Marriage is a part of Scripture from Genesis forward, and in Christian teaching, Jesus Christ created the world and all that is in it, including sex for procreating and marriage.  Tradition and all church groups from the Creation right up to 2012 when a tiny political minority combined with a large number of those who think marriage is worthless anyway worked to get the law changed.  It’s not hard to change a law for an event people don’t even care about—but that doesn’t mean Christians have to give up 2000 years of history and tradition and the First Amendment just because screen writers don’t know how to do research.

In the United States the First Amendment protects millions from government interference in religion—Amish who don’t have to go to public school, truck drivers who won’t deliver alcohol, Quakers who don’t get drafted in war time, Sikhs who wear head coverings, prisoners who don’t need to shave and it should protect wedding planners and bakers who don’t wish to be part of the bonding event for gays. And truly, who has killed and imprisoned more gays than governments?

Fix your eyes upon Jesus

We really enjoy this couple on HGTV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7iPEDnqwm0

The new religion with which to violate the first commandment—Climate Change

“The highest ranking woman in the Anglican communion has said climate denial is a “blind” and immoral position which rejects God’s gift of knowledge.

Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal church and one of the most powerful women in Christianity, said that climate change was a moral imperative akin to that of the civil rights movement. She said it was already a threat to the livelihoods and survival of people in the developing world.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/24/climate-change-denial-immoral-says-head-episcopal-church

Al Gore is high priest; prayers for Mother Earth; a Yoga pose instead of folded hands and bowed head; global treaties are the new scripture; and the collection plate—your confiscated taxes to a global government.

Democrat memes and lies

In their age and education group, there are no gaps—in fact in many cities they out earn men.  Except for the Democrat White House.  Women really do make quite a bit less if they work for the president.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/male-female-pay-gap-remains-entrenched-at-white-house/2014/07/01/dbc6c088-0155-11e4-8fd0-3a663dfa68ac_story.html

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/more-evidence-the-gender-wage-gap-is-due-to-choice-not-discrimination/article/2557200#!

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/apr/09/genevieve-wood/what-pay-gap-young-women-out-earn-men-cities-gop-p/

1 Corinthians, 15:14

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

Illustration from White Horse Inn Blog.

The income gap

On average, young married men, aged 28-30, make $15,900 more than their single peers, and married men aged 44-46 make $18,800 more than their single peers.

Marriage transforms boys into men.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/04/02/dont-be-a-bachelor-why-married-men-work-harder-and-smarter-and-make-more-money/

For all races and ethnic groups. Black men enjoy a marriage premium of at least $12,500 in their individual income compared to their single peers. The advantages also apply, for the most part, to  men and women who are less educated. For instance, men with a high-school degree or less enjoy a marriage premium of at least $17,000 compared to their single peers.

http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IFS-ForRicherForPoorer-Final_Web.pdf

A hedge of protection

Prayer Tip: Pray a “hedge of protection” around family, loved ones, and church leaders in order to keep them safe from the attacks of the Evil One (see Job 1:10, Psalm 80:12, Isaiah 5:5). In Bible times people would often build a hedge of thorns around their homes to keep out predators.

Learn more about the benefits of building a spiritual hedge around yourself and others at http://www.fairborndailyherald.com/news/lifestyle-religion/152407805/Devotional:-Gods-hedge.

Obama’s desired legacy

First destroy Israel, then the great Satan (U.S.)

http://www.economist.com/node/21647692

“Chants of “Death to America” remain a feature of Friday prayers at Tehran University, even though they seem more of a perfunctory ritual than a real display of rage.” NYT, Dec. 2014

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/30/us-iran-usa-ties-insight-idUSKBN0MQ1RE20150330

Good News about Onions from “World’s Healthiest Foods Newsletter”

• The flavonoids in onion tend to be more concentrated in the outer layers of the flesh. To maximize your health benefits, peel off as little of the fleshy, edible portion as possible when removing the onion's outermost paper layer. Even a small amount of "overpeeling" can result in unwanted loss of flavonoids. For example, a red onion can lose about 20% of its quercetin and almost 75% of its anthocyanins if it is "overpeeled." [I confess—I over peel]
• The total polyphenol content of onions is much higher than many people expect. (Polyphenols are one of the largest categories of phytonutrients in food. This category includes all flavonoids as well as tannins.) The total polyphenol content of onion is not only higher than its fellow allium vegetables, garlic and leeks, but also higher than tomatoes, carrots, and red bell pepper. In the French diet, only six vegetables (artichoke heart, parsley, Brussels sprouts, shallot, broccoli, and celery) have a higher polyphenol content than onion. Since the French diet has been of special interest to researchers in terms of disease prevention, onion's strong polyphenol contribution will very likely lead to follow-up studies that pay closer attention to this unique allium vegetable.
• Within the polyphenol category, onions are also surprisingly high in flavonoids. For example, on an ounce-for-ounce basis, onions rank in the top 10 of commonly eaten vegetables in their quercetin content. The flavonoid content of onions can vary widely, depending on the exact variety and growing conditions. Although the average onion is likely to contain less than 100 milligrams of quercetin per 3-1/2 ounces, some onions do provide this amount. And while 100 milligrams may not sound like a lot, in the United States, moderate vegetable eaters average only twice this amount for all flavonoids (not just quercetin) from all vegetables per day.
• When onions are simmered to make soup, their quercetin does not get degraded. It simply gets transferred into the water part of the soup. By using a low-heat method for preparing onion soup, you can preserve the health benefits of onion that are associated with this key flavonoid.
• When we get quercetin by eating an onion-rather than consuming the quercetin in purified, supplement form-we may end up getting better protection from oxidative stress. That's exactly what happened in an animal study where some animals had yellow onion added to their diet in a way that would provide the same amount of quercetin provided to other animals in the form of purified quercetin extracts. The best protection came from the onion version of this flavonoid, rather than the supplement form.
• Several servings of onion each week are sufficient to statistically lower your risk of some types of cancer. For colorectal, laryngeal, and ovarian cancer, between 1-7 servings of onion has been shown to provide risk reduction. But for decreased risk of oral and esophageal cancer, you'll need to consume one onion serving per day (approximately 1/2 cup).

Now, head for the kitchen and chop some onions!

http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v64/n3s/fig_tab/ejcn2010221t1.html

http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v64/n3s/fig_tab/ejcn2010221t2.html#figure-title

Monday Memories—Easter 2015

With stops in Indianapolis to see family and friends, a stay with my sister and brother-in-law in Mt. Morris, dinner out with my brother and cousin Dianne and their spouses, Good Friday and Easter services, a trip to Sterling to see my Aunt Lois, dad’s youngest sister, and her daughter Rhonda (my first cousin), lunch with “the girls” of the class of 1957, we had a lot of memories to share over the past week. Bob took his guitar with him and practiced faithfully.

Tim Cook, the face of gay corporate bigotry

It’s all about the money. Apple owns businesses in four Muslim countries where to be gay is a death penalty offense, but wants to attack and destroy the income of Christian bakers and photographers for their beliefs.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/416176/want-evidence-hysterical-anti-christian-bigotry-look-no-further-boycottindiana-david

And look how long he hid in the closet all for Apple.  Now that’s evidence of the strength of his convictions.  But everyone else has to change and accept his lifestyle, which he hid for years on behalf of his career.

http://www.ibtimes.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-says-hes-gay-it-may-not-matter-chinas-conservative-market-1716365

Michael Hurd’s observation on hypocrisy of Apple and other businesses

“On Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that his company would “never tolerate discrimination.” He then compared Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Jim Crow; he equated a law guaranteeing the rights of individuals to take part in only the transactions they want to a law forcing individuals to take part in only those transactions the government deems worthy. But Cook is happy to do business with and in Saudi Arabia, as Erick Erickson points out, as well as Uganda, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. All of those countries are quite unfriendly to homosexuals.

Other companies looking to boycott Indiana include Smallbox, Salesforce, and Angie’s List; particularly, they want to disassociate from businesses headquartered in Indiana. Yet all of these companies work with businesses with outlets in places like Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is punishable by death.”

Hypocrisy on the left should hardly be news; but it seems each new generation forgets the concentration camps, the reeducation ordeals, the starvation of kulaks, the show trials, the banishments to Siberia—all in the name of socialist/leftist ideologies.

http://www.redstate.com/2015/03/31/time-tim-cook-apple-stand-homosexual-rights-china/

http://www.examiner.com/article/apple-boycotts-indiana-opens-stores-saudi-arabia

http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2013/08/15/obamas-gay-muslim-hypocrisy/

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/politics/indiana-religious-freedom-and-the-utter-hypocrisy-of-the-left

How the media see the parties’ candidates

Indiana isn’t targeting gays. Liberals are targeting religion.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-intolerance-1427760183

The Indiana law is a version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that passed 97-3 in the Senate and that Bill Clinton signed in 1993. Both the federal and Indiana laws require courts to administer a balancing test when reviewing cases that implicate the free exercise of religion. . .

The federal RFRA followed the Supreme Court’s Employment Division v. Smith ruling in 1990 that abandoned its 30-year precedent of reviewing religious liberty cases under strict scrutiny. Congress responded with RFRA, which merely reasserted longstanding First Amendment protections.

In 1997 the Supreme Court limited RFRA’s scope to federal actions. So 19 states including such cultural backwaters as Connecticut, Rhode Island and Illinois followed with copy-cat legislation, and Indiana is the 20th. Courts in 11 states have extended equally vigorous protections.

As I noted earlier. . . this is political, it’s about the 2016 election and having a “gotcha” question for Republicans, because the Democrats have NOTHING except sex.

“This was not a deliberate attempt to breach the security of NSA.”

No, of course not.  It was just two drug dealing prostitute transgenders stealing a car from the man they were having sex with and then they drove the wrong way.  No problem.  Nothing to see.  Move on. Definitely not terrorism.

Washington Post story to beat all stories.

It does make one wonder how intruders can make it all the way into the White House after jumping a fence, when they get shot making a wrong turn into the NSA.  What is going on there that is more important than the security of the President?

Baltimore Sun

John Vogel

Kevin Corke on Fox

A really great addition to the Fox News line up is Kevin Corke. He does the morning correspondent news, usually on Washington. He keeps opinion to the minimum in his reporting, but occasionally slips it in. I think he used to be with an NBC affiliate. One of the best I’ve seen with a beautiful voice, and not tough to look at either. Love his ties and fashion sense. Fox has much better diversity, better looking women with great dresses and shoes, and more qualified news reporters and more political variety than the other cable and network news sources. The outnumbered show at noon is outstanding. 200% better than the View.

But make it dark chocolate

Dark chocolate helps with weight loss, and has also been shown to improve memory and cognition. Don’t waste the calories.  But buy the best and not white or milk chocolate.  There are some companies that produce a chocolate supplement, but I prefer to make my own.

http://samadimd.com/healthy-food/could-eating-cocoa-improve-brain-health-in-elderly

I think the secret to the positive attitude and energy is theobromine (food of the  gods). I no longer drink regular coffee, only decaf. Generally, caffeine and theobromine have very different effects on different people. Theobromine is relatively mild and helps elevate serotonin levels producing a really nice side effect of feeling good over a longer period of time. Caffeine is a stronger stimulant and acts relatively quickly as a wake-up drug. Compared to the caffeine, the theobromine has about one-quarter the stimulating power.

Other memory helps, including dark chocolate were listed in my Thursday Thirteen in January 2014.

Diabetes and high fiber breakfast cereal

I was watching a medical segment on Fox News this morning with Dr. David Samadi which was a display of breakfast cereals and which ones are high in fiber and therefore help fight diabetes.  So I looked it up, and found . . . an article published in 2004, 11 years ago.

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20040618/high-fiber-cereal-ward-off-diabetes

and from 2006

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16443861

and from 2008

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=183081

So maybe someone from the cereal companies was just doing some clever marketing.  Eating cereal at breakfast makes me hungry all day, so I don’t do it.

Governors who rule from Democrat glass houses

shouldn’t lob missiles at Indiana.

Connecticut has the same law as Indiana about religious freedom, as do almost 20 states.  Shame on you, Gov. Dan Malloy,  Democrat. There is also federal law—not only the Bill of Rights, but the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by President Clinton. Barack Obama as a state senator in Illinois helped pass Illinois’. . . although perhaps that not a good example since he lied about his beliefs to get elected in 2008. He probably lied then too. The LBGT lobby is very hostile to Christianity. The real aim isn’t bakeries and florists, but churches.

“The first RFRA was a 1993 federal law that was signed into law by Democratic president Bill Clinton. It unanimously passed the House of Representatives, where it was sponsored by then-congressman Chuck Schumer, and sailed through the Senate on a 97-3 vote.

The law reestablished a balancing test for courts to apply in religious liberty cases (a standard had been used by the Supreme Court for decades). RFRA allows a person's free exercise of religion to be "substantially burdened" by a law only if the law furthers a "compelling governmental interest" in the "least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest." “ http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/indianas-religious-freedom-restoration-act-explained_900641.html#!

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Malloy-to-Bar-State-Travel-to-Indiana-Amid-Religious-Freedom-Law-Backlash-298010911.html

http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/30/connecticuts-governor-doesnt-understand-his-own-states-rfra/

No gay person has ever been hurt or discriminated against by the RFRA, whereas many by choice kept their sexuality hidden for decades for fear of their careers and wealth or disappointing their own families.  Being “out” never hurt librarians, hair dressers, or musicians.  Perhaps there was a bigger story?

Shallow memes by Democrats

This is what happens when unbelievers try to be theological and tell Christians what to believe and do.

When did Jesus ever tell sinners to continue as usual whether the sin was greed, lying, sex or telling others how to live? What did he tell Zacchaeus the tax collector who was cheating his own people?  He was really hard on hypocrites and haters, which right now the winners in that class are representatives of the LBGT community who demand service and ruin people’s livelihood after living years in the closet hiding who and what they were, voting for a man who lied about his true beliefs.

 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Close to Hayers Gap, VA, but still in Virginia

I’ve now cycled 502 miles.

That means I’ve cycled the distance between Columbus and Mt. Morris, past Mt. Morris, which is only 455 miles.

There’s more to it than surgery and hormones

It would appear there’s much more going on in being male or female than surgically changing the genitals or adding hormones. I guess scientists are bigots.

“Differences in male and female rodent sexual behaviors are programmed during brain development, but how exactly this occurs is not clear. In the preoptic area (POA) of the brain—a region necessary for male sex behavior—the female phenotype results from repression of male-linked genes by DNA methylation, according to a study published today (March 30) in Nature Neuroscience.

There is very little known about how the brain is masculinized—and even less about how it is feminized—even though the question has been studied for more than 50 years, said Bridget Nugent, study author and now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

These sex differences in the brain are programmed toward the end of fetal development, through to one week after birth in rodents. In males, testicular hormones drive masculinization of the brain; this was thought to occur by direct induction of gene expression by hormone-associated transcription factors. Because a feminized brain occurred in the absence of ovarian hormone signals, most researchers assumed that the female brain and behavior was a sort of default state, programmed during development when no male hormones are present. But the downstream mechanisms of how hormones can modify gene expression were not previously known.”

http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/42555/title/Female-Brain-Maintained-by-Methylation/

http://waltheyer.typepad.com/blog/2012/08/data-shows-male-to-female-transgender-brains-are-not-feminized.html

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3988.html

Ferguson the play

LOS ANGELES (March 30, 2015) — Would you indict Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown? The controversial shooting will be reenacted on stage in FERGUSON, a new play based on actual grand jury witness testimony. Written by journalist and documentary filmmaker Phelim McAleer and presented by Theatre Verité Collective, four performances of FERGUSON take place as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre, April 26 through April 29. The audience is the jury. How will you vote?

Crowd funding. If you contribute, you get a copy of the script—which is the actual words of testimony.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ferguson-the-play

                    

The wedding cake order

Monday Memories, the class of 1958

Looking through this photo of the 50th class reunion of the class of 1958 published in the Mt. Morris Times, October 16, 2008, I’m reminded again how many friends I had in this class.  We moved back to Mt. Morris  from Forreston in March 1951, and Sandy Davies who lived a few houses away became one of my first friends.  I was in 6th grade and she was in 5th. In 7th and 8th grade I was very close to Doree Dumont and Carol Samsel.  We had great fun in the summer break—Doree’s mom had a summer house outside of town with a swimming pool. Carol was a lot of fun and we spent hours playing cards—her mom was terrific. Good snacks.   In High School, Carolyn Kielsmeier and I worked together as editors of the yearbook.  Connie Frey and I, although on opposite sides of the fence politically, have become friends through Facebook and are in an e-mail discussion group together. I dated a few boys from this class, but won’t mention their names.  Don’t wish to embarrass them. Several members of this class were also members of the Church of the Brethren and we were in CBYF together. Dick Butler and I are FB friends—although I don’t think he ever posts anything, as are Carol and Connie and Ken Duncan and Kay Egan and Rodney Miller. I probably couldn’t pick them out of a police line up today, but having the names in the article did jog the memories.

Religious freedom in Indiana

Hate mongers are making the Indiana law (based on the federal law) about homosexuality—or 2% of the population, only a tiny fraction of whom want to be married. In 2008 Barack Obama ran on the law of the land, both DOMA and Don’t ask don’t tell, then in 2012  announced he had evolved about his beliefs as the gay lobby became more powerful and he already had the conservative black vote (black Christians are more conservative than white).  Then his closest adviser and friend, David Axelrod, admitted in his recent book that Obama lied in order to get elected.   The 75% of the population who say they are Christian apparently don’t matter in the push to squash another viewpoint on God’s purpose for creating us male and female. And to these haters and bigots, the first amendment protections don’t matter.   Should the owner of a bakery be required to make tiny KKK cupcakes for a child’s party?  Should a Jewish deli be required to sell ham?  Do Muslim retailers need to sell products made with porcine parts or lard or allow dogs in their stores and taxis? Should Christian trinket stores be required to sell little statues of Hindu gods? Do Jewish fraternal organizations on college campuses need to pledge Muslim members? Are churches protected from the hate speechers—can pastors preach from the book of Romans?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/28/thousands-protest-religious-freedom-law-indy/70596032/

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0324/Indiana-religious-freedom-act-Does-it-protect-faithful-or-legalize-prejudice-video

http://www.charismanews.com/us/48263-obama-lied-about-gay-marriage-to-deceive-blacks-during-election-says-adviser

http://www.charismanews.com/us/48944-34-000-black-churches-break-ties-with-presbyterian-church-usa

About the Masons

From What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe. Many of our founding fathers were Freemasons, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. But an incident in 1826 brought about the demise of the movement. In 1826, a man named William Morgan attempted to publish a book about the secret rituals of Freemasonry, much to the horror and strong objections of the masonic community. After his home was ransacked for the manuscript, Morgan disappeared. His kidnappers, including the Sheriff of Niagra County, were Freemasons who were never fully prosecuted, due to the protection and collusion of other Masons. Thus began the rise of Antimasonry as the first "third party" in American politics.

"Freemasonry, introduced into America from Britain in colonial times, had been an important force in the young republic. Its members had constituted a kind of republican elite, with Benjamin Franklin and George Washington prominent among them. The international Masonic brotherhood satisfied longings for status, trust, and metropolitan sophistication in an amorphous new society; its hierarchies and secret rituals offered a dimension lacking in the stark simplicity of much of American Protestantism. Freemasonry promoted the values of the Enlightenment and new standards of politeness. Its symbols of the pyramid and the eye had been incorporated into the Great Seal of the United States. Its ceremonies graced many public occasions, including the dedication of the United States Capitol and the construction of the Erie Canal. But in the Morgan episode, Masonic commitments of secrecy and mutual assistance led to disastrous consequences. To be sure, the Masonic brotherhood succeeded in the short run, protecting members from legal punishment and preventing Morgan from publishing all but the first three degree rituals, which appeared in print a month after his disappearance. But, as American Masonry's most recent historian has shown, 'it lost the larger battle in the court of public opinion.' During the decade after the Morgan affair, thousands of brothers quit the order and hundreds of lodges closed. Although Freemasonry recovered its numbers after the Civil War, it never recovered the influence it had wielded in the first fifty years of independence.”

This excerpt is from delancyplace.com which sends e-mails about a variety of books.  Sometimes I just skim, but this one was an interesting part of America history about which I knew nothing, except I’d always had a negative view of the Masons. As we say in libraries, to the victor belongs the archives.  http://www.delanceyplace.com/view_archives.php?2760&p=2760 

 

Why don’t pro-life Christians celebrate The Annunciation?

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/marchweb-only/22-41.0.html

“Most evangelical Protestants are today [March 25] sitting out as Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and some liturgical Protestants celebrate one of the most significant events in the New Testament: the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus.

One might expect American evangelicals to be among the most enthusiastic celebrants of what is known as the Annunciation. For starters, it focuses on two issues that theologically conservative Protestants have long defended against theological liberals: the historicity of the Virgin Birth, and Christ's unique divinity. In a theological sense, the Annunciation could be of greater significance than Christmas.”

Be prepared for a rather disappointing Protestant response.

Cats (or my cat) and coconut oil

I keep a small amount of coconut oil in a pill bottle inside the top drawer of my bathroom cabinet.  It’s very nice as a skin moisturizer, or make up remover, or for dry skin.  One morning Lotza had a runny nose (always, actually) and I swiped it with a touch of the oil because it looked irritated.  Of course, she licked it off—and loved it!  Now in the morning she sits on the counter top waiting for me to open the drawer.  First, she goes after the tooth paste, which I use first; then my thyroid pill because I do that an hour before eating; finally, it’s the coconut oil and she gets a smear.  One day I made the mistake of giving her a small amount with lunch.  Oh, she thought she was in heaven, but about an hour later, threw up her lunch, and probably breakfast.  I tried it again the next day, and the same thing happened.  It might be good for her, she might love it, but it’s not good for cleaning up carpet.

http://www.thedrakecenter.com/blogs/risks-and-benefits-coconut-oil-for-pets

Dinner was delicious

We had baked salmon with shallots (a type of small onion) and herbs (parsley and dill in lemon butter) and baked potatoes with a salad plate of fresh fruit, toasted pecans and mixed greens of kale, Swiss chard and baby spinach with onions and olives. We are celebrating the end of our colds—and Palm Sunday, of course.

Racism and Sexism charges a cover up for political bias

Can’t criticize her or it is racism.

Can’t criticize her or it is sexism.

Why are women a protected class after all this time?