The End Of The World.

I love books. Dean Koontz isn't one of my favorite authors, but he writes extremely well and his books always take you where your imagination didn't go before. I just finished Koontz's "The Taking." This was the first book of his to have religious overtones. It is about what seems like the end of the world where only children and those who protected them survive.

One interesting part of the book describes how everyone is riveted to the TV news because of the global scope of horrors occurring on earth. But then the TV screens of the world began showing the atrocities of mankind. The screen fills with "a chilling montage of humanity in its most debased and savage condition." From murder to pornography. All that diminishes our humanity is shown.

Interesting.

I never listen to end of the world predictions from anyone. It doesn't matter if they have every verse from Revelations to back them up. Because there is one truth to Christ that no other religion can claim.

He was the only one predicted.

Yet even with all the prophecy of Christ's coming thousands of years before he did, man still got it wrong when he did come. They believed he would be a King. They imagined him in rich flowing robes and leading people as a great leader of man. They thought he would create a kingdom on this earth.

But God had different plans.

Christ came as a humble servant. He wanted no crown. He came to save us, to love us, to help us understand who God really was. The only kingdom he wanted to create was the kingdom of God in our hearts.

Christ said the son of man would come again, but doesn't the end of the world occur for each of us when we die? My point is that just as God had different ideas of how the Messiah came the first time, wouldn't God have different ideas of how He comes again?

The idea of TV showing the atrocities of mankind struck me. What if God used movies and TV's as warnings? Or what if the things we see in movies and TV's warn ourselves?

Just a thought that floated into my head. I thought I might share it.

Sad.

PostSecret "is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard."

I'm not sure if I believe that all were sent in as they are. But this one and this one especially hurt my heart though.

Reading through them makes me sad for all the pain we go through, for all the broken hearts, for all the lost and weary.
via Beautiful Atrocities

I have another post up at The Unpaid Punditry Core. Y'all come help me out!! I am batting away the moonbats!!!!....;-)

Over at UPC, where I group blog, they have a question of the week that we can answer in our blogs. Here is this week's:

In your opinion, what segment of society or culture or the economy is in greatest need to be reached by political blogs at this time?

I would have to say it would be the 60% of this nation that decide Presidential elections. They are neither Republican or Democrat and they don't decide who they will vote for until the last minute.

In other words. They drive me insane.

I had one friend I knew tell me she was going to vote for Bill Clinton over Bob Dole because Clinton was charming and Dole was dull. I shook my head and said "Are you voting for a President or a DATE???" (not knowing how prophetic that would be)

These are the people we need to reach, but probably won't. These people are just too interested in the popular culture and not the least bit interested in politics. One can hardly blame them either. With both sides yelling outlandish things that no one in the middle believes, they just tune us out.

Our biggest hope of reaching them though, is through their work computers. If they can read up on some blogs during a boring work day then maybe we can get them interested a bit. Maybe we can inform them a bit.

That is what I hope anyway.

ROFL!!!!!

Fox News has this (which I first thought must be a parody)

"Public TV advocacy groups are upset that State Department official Patricia de Stacy Harrison is being considered as the next president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Harrison is now assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and earlier was acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy. Prior to that she was co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
The Iowa Public Broadcasting board, quoted by The Washington Post, has said hiring a "partisan political activist ... would call into question the motivations of everything we do." And the Association of Public Television Stations says, "it's not in the best interest of public broadcasting to put someone in that position who has a history of activism."

I'm sorry, but how can they say any of that with a straight face? Really. The part I highlighted in red is the most hilarious statement anyone in public broadcasting has ever said. This was the playground of Bill Moyers for decades for heaven's sake.

It's like being at the Mad Hatter's tea party.

This 2002 Floral Flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions, as described in Executive Order #10834. This Flag is 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars, comprised of White Larkspur. Each Star is 24 feet in diameter; each Stripe is 30 feet wide. This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants, with 4-5 flower stems each, for a total of more than 2 million flowers. You can drive by this flag on V Street south of Ocean Ave. in Lompoc, CA.
via e-mail Is that cool or what?????

Hillary and Hillary.

CBS News doesn't let us forget the real Hillary Clinton while the moderate Hillary is pandering to the middle.

"The Hillary you've been hearing a lot of lately is putting on a moderate face - expressing reservations about abortion, appearing at events with Newt Gingrich and being a strong supporter of the war in Iraq."

You heard that my leftie friends, right? A STRONG supporter of the war. Just wanted to make sure.

"While she has made verbal concessions to pro-life voters, nothing in Clinton's voting record or stated views on abortion has changed."

She says one thing to the public and another (and in the meanest way possible) to her supporters. And it is working. Her poll numbers are up.

On the one hand she learned from the master of political strategy and could win this one. (the 08" election) OR the blogs just may be able to hold up her hypocrisy to public view enough for it to work for us.

But we need to remember one thing. We don't need to exaggerate Hillary. Let's keep it on the level and just use her own words against her. It's fun to make fun of her, I know, but we need to keep our eyes on the prize.

Look at my graduate!!!!! So tall and handsome! I had thought of writing one of my mushy essays, but ya'll have been spared. Simply put. I am very proud of my boy. Very Proud.

Let's turn this around and imagine this.

There is a reason I dearly love to read Peggy Noonan. Not only is she the classiest journalist around but she can get to the most important point of the story in the most direct and clear way. Like this:

"Close your eyes and imagine this.

President Bush is introduced at a great gathering in Topeka, Kan. It is the evening of June 9, 2005. Ruffles and flourishes, "Hail to the Chief," hearty applause from a packed ballroom. Mr. Bush walks to the podium and delivers the following address.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I want to speak this evening about how I see the political landscape. Let me jump right in. The struggle between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is a struggle between good and evil--and we're the good. I hate Democrats. Let's face it, they have never made an honest living in their lives. Who are they, really, but people who are intent on abusing power, destroying the United States Senate and undermining our Constitution? They have no shame.

But why would they? They have never been acquainted with the truth. You ever been to a Democratic fundraiser? They all look the same. They all behave the same. They have a dictatorship, and suffer from zeal so extreme they think they have a direct line to heaven. But what would you expect when you have a far left extremist base? We cannot afford more of their leadership. I call on you to help me defeat them!"

Imagine Mr. Bush saying those things, and the crowd roaring with lusty delight. Imagine John McCain saying them for that matter, or any other likely Republican candidate for president, or Ken Mehlman, the head of the Republican National Committee.

Can you imagine them talking this way? Me neither. Because they wouldn't."

The statements above attributed to Bush are a mix of the actual statements made by Dean and Hillary. Noonan goes on to say:

Messrs. Bush, McCain, et al., would find talk like that to be extreme, damaging, desperate. They would understand it would tend to add a new level of hysteria to political discourse, and that's not good for the country. I think they would know such talk is unworthy in a leader, or potential leader, of a great democracy. I think they would understand that talk like that is destructive to the ties that bind--and to the speaker's political prospect.

Why don't Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean know this? And what does it mean that they do not know it?"

It means they don't get it. It means they group people together in some false sterotype and honestly believe it.

Luckily for us, no one else outside of Washingston politcs really does.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SondraK informs us that the 82 Airborn division needs our letters and e-mail. This is important for various reasons. Can ya'll help???? Contact terryarco@gmail.com or SondraK herself: SondraK@SondraK.com for information.

Let's get busy. It only takes a moment and it's important.

The Commissar has this old world map up of all the "reasonable blogs." On one side is Moonbat Ocean and on the other is Wingnut Hordes. I am "Sparkling Sea" over to the right (of course) in the middle under Proteinsk. Click on the link and then Click on The Commissar's map to see it REAL BIG. All the names link to the blog.

Is that just cool or what?

Onward Christian Soldiers.....

I just cannot get enough of that DNC chairman Howard Dean, can you?

From the SFC via PW:

"Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, unapologetic in the face of recent criticism that he has been too tough on his political opposition, said in San Francisco this week that "Republicans all behave the same, and they all look the same. ... It's pretty much a white Christian party. We are more welcoming to different folks, because that's the kind of people we are," Dean said Monday, responding to a question about diversity during a forum with minority leaders and journalists.
"You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They are a pretty monolithic party. Pretty much, they all behave the same, and they all look the same. ... It's pretty much a white Christian party," the former Vermont governor told a San Francisco roundtable Monday in reaction to a question about the lack of outreach to minority communities by political parties.
[...] After the story of Dean's comments broke on SFGate.com, The Chronicle Web site, on Tuesday and was picked up by the Drudge Report, DNC spokesman Josh Earnest scrambled to soften the impact of Dean's comments. While acknowledging that Dean was quoted accurately, Earnest insisted that once again Dean meant to say "Republican leadership." "We need a Democratic National Committee that is convincing white Republican Christians that they should be voting for us not vilifying them," said key Democratic party fund-raiser Wade Randlett, who supported Dean for the chairmanship. He got himself in trouble with social commentary and that's not what the DNC chair does."

Oh yeah, the Republican leadership! Right....which is sooooo unlike the Democrat leadership. Well, because there is Harry Reid and he is...oh wait. Ok, there is Dean himself and he is...oh nevermind. WAIT! Their favorite set of Democrats are Hillary and Bill and they are........OMG! White and Christian too!!! No. NO! Give me a minute...ummm.... Ted Kennedy? Damn. Ummm, let's see...Al Gore!....Oh geeze, a Babtist even! *Thinking...thinking....John Kerry and John Edwards!!!! ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heh.

May I have this dance?

Check out this week's hosting of The Cotillion.

Not only am I not alone, the company I keep ROCKS!!!!!

It's White Trash Wednesday!! And I can't find my wtw blogroll. I will try to find it in the morning. Forgive me.

Nothing like reading a bunch of trolls gossip.

Look what I found. A posting about lil ole me on Kos's site. I believe it is written by our friend Dirk. Look at all the lovely comments. Let me address a few.

Guess Dirk got it wrong once again about me banning him for asking a question. (which I answered)
I believe every word in my profile is spelled correctly. Perhaps the Kos site needs spell check.
My picture is from last summer.
My acting shots were hardly cheesecake.
No, my children aren't gay.
No, I don't hate gays.
Actually I posted and defended Guckert/Gannon many times here and I never once mentioned his "finding the Lord."
I'm wearing a sundress in my photo.

Glad to see they address the real content here.

(For larger picture, click on image)

Stolen from SondraK. I missed this one in May and it's too dang funny not to share. Silly and immature, I know. BUT I LOVE IT!

Say what??????

"John Kerry to call for impeachment of George Bush"

And this is from Aljazeera, so it MUST Be true. h/t Simon

Darkness.

The History Channel is running a series on the rise of Hitler. They are showing footage that I have never seen before. I told myself to change the channel. I knew it would depress me, but I watched for awhile.

As they showed some footage of Hitler's officers. I moved close to the TV. I tried to peer into these stone faced men. I wanted to look into their eyes, but their eyes seemed dead to me. Empty and souless.

They showed actual filming of the soldiers shooting Jews lined up in ditches. A soldier stood off to the right side of the camera's line of sight with his back to the camera . Just before the shooting he turns to look at the camera as if to make sure it is getting the shot.

I peer closely to look at his face. My mind asks, "Who are you? What made you such a monster?" But he turns back as they shoot and the line of Jews fall silently and he is watching.

Chilling.

When I was 12 I read "The Diary Of Anne Frank" and cried myself to sleep. I drove my parents crazy with questions about it. Then I read Corrie Ten Boom's "The Hiding Place" about a family who hid Jews and was caught and sent to the camps. Only Corrie survived. And years later I read about the man who became my favorite Saint, Father Maximilian Kolbe who was a Priest who died in the camps. He took the place of a Jew who was asking for mercy from the guards. All true stories of incredible faith and strength.

It was a time of true horror, but these stories proved to me that goodness and love cannot be erased by the darkness of man's heart.

Oh Look!!!

Bush is canceling all of the debt in the poorest of nations of Africa as well as providing $674 million in additional resources to that continent.

Fox News says:

The United States has already provided $1.4 billion to Africa this year through the United Nations and separately pledged $15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa over the next decade. Bush noted that U.S. aid for Africa has tripled during his presidency.

Guess we will be hearing all the cheering from the left about how generous Bush is.....NOT.

Poor President Bush. He will get NO credit from the left and my Southpark Republican friends are surely ticked at all the money he is giving away.

Only us compassionate conservatives are on his side.

Good thing he doesn't give a damn what those against him think. He just does what he thinks is right.

Bloody Toes.

When I was four my Daddy decided to build a pool in our backyard. Now when I say 'build' I don't mean he called up a pool company. He called a guy with one of those digger machines and he dug a great big whole and squared it off. Then he called a guy to come concrete and plaster it and he helped. The he called a guy to come lay concrete all around the pool. Then my Dad took real bricks and lined the pool. He stuck the hose in and in about a week, it was full.

No one had fences back then, much less wooden ones. Dad didn't want any child drowning in our pool, so he put a 8 foot chain link fence around the pool with barbed wire sticking out from the top. (yes, I said barbed wire) It was certainly safe now, but it had the ambiance of a federal prison.

So...my Dad bought some cream colored metal strips and wove them through the entire fence. He took some fast growing vine and wrapped it around the barbed and then he planted sugarcane in front of the fence.

So much better. Now it looked like a federal prison in Thailand.

Anyway, I guess I spent the better part of my summers of childhood in that pool. I love the water. I love to swim. But even with our rough summer barefeet bottoms, we couldn't escape the roughness and heat of the concrete and the brick. My toes especially would bleed like mad. I never noticed or cared until I was inside and Mom was putting bandaids on them.

Where am I going with this?

Five years ago we moved and I finally got the pool I had been waiting to get for years. We did call up a pool company and they built a lovely pool we designed ourselves. I put a nice patio around the pool called "cool deck" because it is soft and doesn't get hot. I built a nice "tanning bed" on the edge of the shallow end. We planted palm trees and all sorts of tropical flowers. It is my own little backyard paradise.....and I have to PUSH my kids out the door. With TV, computer, video games and such they find it hard to wander outside. So everyday I insist they go and push them out the door.

What a difference a generation makes. They sigh and roll their eyes when I tell them how lucky and blessed they are. I don't have stories of walking to school for 10 miles in the snow, but I have my bloody toes.

The southern equivalent , I suppose...;-)

Check It Out.

I have my first post up at The Unpaid Punditry Core. Ya'll please drop by and give me some support. *whispers* I'm thinking maybe I'm a token rightwinger, but I can't be sure....;-)

Well, well....Look at this. A pro-life popular actress blogging??? And on The Huffington Post no less.

And look here at another Huffington Post. A NY elitist tells the masses that we are too stupid to read Faulkner's best known books. Could he be anymore condescending? Oh, what do I expect anyway?

Dude.

No Pot for you.

Jeff at Protein Wisdom makes the point for state rights and has every link you could want except maybe where to score. But I am sure he could get that for you. When it comes to drug policy I depend on Jeff for all my information. He is a been there done that kinda guy..;-)

I thought I might expand on this post a bit. You might be surprised to learn that I am not against the legalization of marijuana. I am not for it either. I just haven't been convinced either way. I don't see the harm of patients experiencing nausea using it with doctor's care though and the Supreme Court ruling doesn't seem right to me.

I have never smoked pot. But when I was in theatre for many years I was around many who did of course. I would much rather be around someone high than someone drunk. I really don't see much of a difference in drinking and smoking even morally, except for the legal aspect of it. Many say it is a gateway drug, but I have found that if one wants to numb the pain they are going to go far to do that whether it be drugs or drinking. Those who just wish to relax, do just that. It is quite easy to distinguish between the two.

So I am ready to be convinced either way. What do ya'll think?

Update: Here is an excellent analysis of the Supreme Court case from GMU Law professor David Bernstein. His focus is on the rule of law and the federal government's role.

I realize I am mixing issues here but comment as you like.

The Therapist strikes again.

Sometimes making fun can make a good point. The Therapist does both with this.

"I was on my way to Owen's Pharmacy to pick up medication for my acid reflux, " she said. "When the man on the radio said that a Quran may have been subjected to deliberate and will binding overflex. I looked at my own self, and said life is so short."Campbell said she went home and hugged her own books, "not taking any of them for granted."24 year-old Josh Lupine noted similar reactions on his part."I remember studying about the German death camps in school by watching Schindler's List," he said. "It took days for me to get the implied images out of my mind. Then the other day, our coach pulls us aside in the middle of a varsity game and told us about Quran's having bookmarks removed from select 'kill the infidel' passages. I literally felt the cold winds of the Third Reich blowing through that game."

Heh.

*Snicker*

OpinionJournal has this:

"Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean further burnished his shoot-from-the-lip reputation Thursday" by suggesting that President Bush won re-election because Republicans are lazy, the Chicago Sun-Times reports:
Asserting that some Florida voters stood in line for eight hours in November, Dean said that was a hardship for people who "work all day and then pick up their kids at child care."
But, he said, Republicans could stand in eight-hour lines "because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives."

Gee, I wonder how we are all so rich then? Did we all inherit our money??? All those redstaters.....who knew there was so much inherited wealth?

Check out the rest of the story. What is truly interesting is Dean's background. It was....well...wealthy. No one does hypocrisy like old Dean.

Dean is going to make the "08 elections so fun, won't he? Heh.

Another way of looking at it.

The WSJ.com gives us Arthur Chrenkoff's round up of Afghanistan: (emphasis mine)

Over the last few weeks, Afghanistan has been in the news again--unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. The media pack has made a brief reappearance in Afghanistan to report on carefully staged "spontaneous" riots, which briefly erupted around the country, ostensibly in protest over a report in Newsweek (later retracted) about desecration of Koran by the American military personnel at Guantanamo Bay.
Sadly, in the rush of commentary about Afghanistan's slide into anarchy and America's deteriorating position in Kabul, most of the international media again missed or downplayed many other stories, some of them arguably far more consequential than an antigovernment rampage whipped up by opponents of President Hamid Karzai. Take this story:
A crowd of 600 Afghan clerics gathered in front of an historic mosque yesterday to strip the fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar of his claim to religious authority, in a ceremony that provided a significant boost to the presidency of Hamid Karzai.
The declaration, signed by 1,000 clerics from across the country, is an endorsement of the US-backed programme of reconciliation with more moderate elements of the Taliban movement that Karzai has been pursuing ahead of the country's first parliamentary elections, due in September.
Symbolically, the ulema shura, or council of clerics, was held at the Blue Mosque in the southern city of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban movement.
At the same venue in 1996 the Taliban leader held up a cloak said to belong to the Prophet Mohammed, which is kept in a shrine in the mosque. He was proclaimed Amir ul-Mumineen or Leader of Muslims by the same clerical body, one of the few occasions the title has been granted anywhere in the Islamic world in the modern era. This important gathering and its implications were reported by only a handful of news outlets around the world--in stark contrast to the news several days later about the assassination at the hands of the Taliban of the head of the council and the suicide bombing at the historic mosque during his funeral, which appeared through hundreds of media outlets around the world.
Faced with this sort of media coverage, President Karzai expressed his exasperation during his recent visit in the United States: "Sometimes--rather often--neither our press, nor your press, nor the press in the rest of the world will pick up the miseries of the Afghans three years ago and what has been achieved since then, until today."
Below, then, the past five weeks' worth of stories that were yet again completely overshadowed by terrorism and violence.

Read the stories. Be warned. The good news is long and pleasing.

Finally.

From MSNBC News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Former dictator Saddam Hussein will stand trial for a range of charges - from gassing thousands of Kurds to executing political and religious leaders, according to a list of the cases against him obtained from the special tribunal Monday.

Let's get this show on the road. When the actual crimes of humanity are being reported on the nightly news, maybe some on the left will agree that this man/monster needed to go.

From the Amazing Minds of CBS News.

The La Times.com tells us that CBS evening news is "entering a period of experimentation" after Dan Rather's departure.

The article quotes CBS News President Andrew Heyward as saying, "We are showcasing a team of experienced, energetic journalists who present the world from multiple points of view,"

You mean instead of just a leftwing one?

Sweet.

Heyward went on to say:

"The anchor or anchors of tomorrow need to get off the pedestal and out from behind the big desk. People don't want to be told what to think. Just tell them what happened."

What an AMAZING concept!!! I think that is called......."reporting."

Gee, maybe we really are winning.

Wow, that was fast. Like he already had it written or something. Just waiting on the grim reaper, but now he didn't have to.

Gorbachev on Gorbachev.

Timesonline has a very interesting interview with Mikhail Gorbachev. Although his claim that Jesus was a socialist is laughable. But I always laugh when anyone tries to paint Christ with a political brush. Christ claimed to be one thing and one thing only. Our Savior.

I was touched by Gorbachev's description of missing his wife who passed away in 1999 until the last sentence:

"You can say I am lost. The first three years really threw me out of kilter. Raisa was always the foremost in my mind, and remains so in my memory. What Gorbachev is to the world, she is for me."

Think a lot of yourself there, don't cha Gorby? Geeze.

Gorbachev also speaks fondly of Pope John Paul. He says they wrote letters to one another up until his death. I would LOVE to take a look at those letters.

Anyway, good article.

We have a winner!
"Muscular, bearded, older man, seeks blue ox for adventure and folk tale creation."-Erik

A Question Of War.

Whew! I finally got home! I haven't been able to get to my hotmail account since this lightening thing so if you have e-mailed me I WILL get back to you. I will hopefully be getting it fixed this evening.

Ok, since I have so many leftie's attention I want to ask a question.

As many here will agree I am no intellectual. As I have said many times, I am a simple woman and I try to look at things in the simplest way possible.

Now, about this war. About 8 months ago or so I posted on the terrorists strapping a bomb to a down syndrome child. I was so angry I could hardly type. To do this to a child of such innocence just boggles the mind. I think we can all agree that that is the personification of evil. Can't we??? Can I get an Amen from the left and the right on that?????

Ok, so this is what we are dealing with over there. Pure evil. One commenter said once that those things were happening because we stirred up a hornet's nest over there. So let's go with that analogy.

If you discovered a hornets nest in your back yard and it stung your children badly, would you leave it alone? After all if you leave the hornet's nest alone, they are still hornets and they aren't leaving. They are breeding and making more nests and becoming more of a danger. Soon, they are in your house swarming and then you have a much bigger problem and have to deal with it in a much bigger way.

This fanatical Islamic belief isn't going away, it stung several times and will again if given the chance. One commenter here said that Pakistan was actually more of a danger than Iraq had been. Perhaps that is true. I don't know. But my question is this.

If you had been President after 9-11 what would you have done after Afghanistan?

My Tribe.

I just have to put up a positive post! I will be glad when I have some more time when I get home on Monday.

Remember when I forced ya'll to read my short story and in that story I wrote about the legend of the beginning of the world where there were but a few tribes of people? And now, if we are lucky, we find someone from our own tribe? Someone did actually tell me that once and I thought it was beautiful sentiment. I have found 3 people from my tribe on this earth and I feel SO blessed and lucky to have found them.

My best friends, who I have been visiting, are like my the sisters I never had. Through the many years we have known each other we have kept each other's babies and secrets, comforted each other, cried when I had to move, and loved each other and loved each other's children. We give and take advice. We vent our frustrations and we pray for each other.

I honestly don't know how I would have made it this far without them. They mean more to me than I can ever express. People say if you have one good friend in your life, you are lucky.

I have been three times blessed.