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Sigmund, Carl and Alfred by use of a posts / articles by The Anchoress and Michael Lerner has excellent post today that ponders the many deaths and rebirth of Christianity and church, concluding that the church never really dies but merely fades at times, or goes underground, before re-emerging. Great points and a great post. Read SC & A’s full post here.
John Norris Brown, from the High Country Conservative, has a very interesting post that discusses the race to replace Bill Frist in the US Senate. John Norris uses a piece from TownHall.com as a jumping off point to write a well written and well thought out piece with some solid conclusions. Like John Norris I think Tennessee is in a three way race on the Republican side, after that dust settles we will see how the winner looks again Ford. Full Post Here
I heard Frist on Hall Hill’s show out of Knoxville this AM, and he, Senator Frist, was still avoiding the question about making a 2008 presidential run. He has avoided the question on Hal’s show for years, but today he was talking about going back to his boyhood home and making some decsions, etc. Personally, I think he runs, but I do not think he gets the nomination.
[H/T to Milton Stanley (here) for this one]
Scot McKnight from Jesus Creed has a excellent piece on the question - How narrow is that gate?, regarding the gate to enter Heaven. Very good read, very insightful, and very thought provoking.
Found this over at Forbes.com (story here). It seems that some researchers think that obesity may have SOME charactaristics that are passed virally. They found this by studying fat chickens (apparently those are the ones that they serve at all those places that have 12oz chicken breast platters as I have never seen a normal chicken have 12oz breasts) Anyway, they seems to think there may be a viral componenent that makes fat cells fatter.
“Obesity is a complex, chronic disease,” noted lead researcher Leah D. Whigham, a research scientist in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin. “There are lots of factors contributing to the broad epidemic, but because of the rate of increase, it is very possible that it is partially due to an infectious disease.”
Such news is not new, but it is interesting. Long term though I still contend that we may all have genetic predispositions to things, but some of them we can change / avoid. We may be predisposed to get diabetes, but with proper diet and excersise that can be avoid. We may be predisposed to heart diease, alcoholism, etc, but again they can be avoided via proper living and lifestyle choices. So, in the same way we may be predisposed to be fat, we may even get the fat virus at some point, but we need not become, or stay, that way. Just because I catch a cold does not mean I have to cough and sneeze forever.
Understand, I am not just preaching the choir here as I am personally working at this time to loose weight, and it is working, but it is a slow and steady process.
January 30, 2006 Guard the Borders Blogburst
By Heidi
This first month of 2006 has seen a spate of unprecedented media attention to on-going border breaches such as drug smuggling tunnels and Mexican Army incursions. Deceitful Mexican government officials have disavowed any knowledge of such breaches, instead presenting laughable theories of “American soldiers disguised as Mexicans”. Even our own Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, has covered for the Mexicans by dismissing border incursion as mere navigational “mistakes”. (He’s failed to comment on the gunfire from said “lost” Mexican soldiers.)
No one is fooled. Our border agents continue to risk their lives confronting heavily armed Mexican soldiers and smuggling gangs, while our own American citizens living on the border continue to petition our government for security - to no avail. Two American states, Arizona and New Mexico, have declared a state of emergency in their states, as the financial and societal obligation of caring for illegal immigrants crushes their economy and resources.
In four states, the two above plus Texas and California, the new majority is the Hispanic, though mostly illegal. Such a disparity between law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens has caused the unconscionable situation to develop that the minority now pays for the services and support of the majority.
In the meantime, trillions of American dollars flow out of our economy and into Mexico’s in the form of tax-free cash remittances from illegal labor. These cash disbursements are the largest form of income for the country of Mexico:
Remittances “are our biggest source of foreign income, bigger than oil, tourism or foreign investment,” Fox told reporters after a meeting with Mexican-American businessmen.
“The 20 million Mexicans in the United States generate a gross product that is slightly higher than the $600 billion generated by Mexicans in Mexico,” Fox said, adding that his country has the ninth-largest economy in the world.
“If we could add up the two products, Mexico would be the third or fourth economy in the world,” he said.
Three years later, the number of illegal Mexicans in America is higher than ever, their impact on U.S. social services even more draining, and the free income is flowing ever-faster into Mexico’s coffers. Think of it, their largest source of income costs them nothing in terms of infrastructure, research and development, education, and social services! They export their poorest, neediest citizens (at no cost to themselves) and sit back to wait for the free income to flow. No wonder they feel the need to ease their citizens’ illegal entry into America by providing handbooks and maps - it has a direct impact on their economy! What other income-producing activity could they undergo that would require no construction, no training, no law enforcement, and no responsibilities whatsoever to their citizens? Why would they want to curb a free and very lucrative income? The illegality of it bears no consequences or costs, so the Mexican government has no incentive to fix a system that works wonder for them!
I do not know how much longer we can afford to single-handedly support an entire nation through second-hand disbursements. The trillions of American dollars that boost Mexico’s economy are trillions of dollars not strengthening our own. Possibly even more important, the cultural impact of the burgeoning class of illegals is superseding American traditions and values and having a severe impact on our elections and government.
Our country was founded upon the premise “of the People, by the People, for the People” - and those People are constitutionally meant to be AMERICANS. Yet, foreign interest lobbies are have an ever-increasing detrimental effect on our local, state, and federal government as non-citizens are accorded most of the rights and privileges of American citizenship and garner actual governmental representation. This corruption of the intent of our Constitution has been allowed through the steady erosion of our national sovereignty.
Today, there are an estimated 23 million Mexicans working and living in America, according to Vicente Fox, who claims he is the leader of 123 million citizens: 100 million in Mexico and 23 million in America. Is it any wonder that he and like-minded special interest lobbies feel the RIGHT to demand more and more from our acquiescent government? Americans watch incredulously as they get most of what they demand, at our expense. To our shame, our nation’s government has abdicated our rule of law concerning national sovereignty and national security.
We now have a large foreign presence within our borders that is NOT American, has no intention of ever becoming American, has no regard for American law, nor loyalty to America. This is akin to hosting a nation within a nation - and worse, one that is loyal to a foreign power.
Last week, in a related article, I summarized our current scenario as such:
Let’s recap: we’ve got your basic violent criminals (mafia, drug smugglers, rapists, killers, etc) crossing UNDER our border with impunity…we’ve got heavily armed Mexican military blatantly crossing OVER our border to protect such criminals…firing on American Border Patrol agents to collect $200,000 bounties…plus, we’ve got ongoing sightings of enemy soldiers from other nations, possibly China or North Korea, crossing our border…also firing at our Border Patrol agents…we’ve got Muslim terrorists infiltrating easily and regularly from Mexico…we’ve got Muslim terrorists that have already successfully smuggled in nukes from Mexico…we’ve got American citizens living armed in a border zone that has become lawless…though we are at war, our borders are undefended and breached on a regular basis… our sovereignty as a nation is defiled…and WE’VE GOT AN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT THAT KNOWS ALL OF THE ABOVE AND HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!!
Our government today has monumentally failed in its most foundational duties to our lawful citizenry, as guaranteed by our Constitution. There is no doubt in my mind that our conflicted and disloyal elected “leaders” politicians desperately need the following reminder, from President Theodore Roosevelt:
“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all.
We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
–Theodore Roosevelt 1907
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.
Blogs already on board:
Coretta Scott King, dead at 79, she influenced millions of people of all races.
Les Jones has a great little post this AM that chronicles the history of global warming in the world. Full Post Here.
For me it is simple, global warming is occurring, and it is natural (i.e. not man caused or influenced) as the earth has done this before - i.e. ice ages, re-warming, etc - I also do not think 1 to 2 degrees warmer is going to dramatically impact life on earth as from all I have read the overall effects will be fairly minor long term.
I think this entire issue is about people loving shock and awe reports/ studies / reports (doubt me see how people run to the reports that seem to contradict positive news (regardless of the topic) and focus on the single or few reports that are negative or scary - crime reports are that way, traffic death reports are that way, etc), media needing if it bleeds it leads stories, and those who want to tax the success of the free world to line the pockets of other nations,. I think the overall topic is driven by a small group of fringe eco fanatics that want man to return to living in the stone age or there about. I think the bottom line of the eco fanatics is that we are merely animals that are running the world, and that humans should not be in charge, thus allowing other animals to be in charge. That view denies the distinct nature of soul endowed humans and our Godly appointed role on earth. We should take care of earth, we should take care of animals, we should take care of plant life, but we are here to run the place, not have the place run us. Simply, technology and advancement is not the cause of this people, I promise.
Personally I am still waiting for the destroyed oceans that were predicted in the 80’s, the global cooling (the original purpose for Earth day) predicted in the 70’s, and for the ozone to disappear over all of South America as predicted in the 90’s. The Earth does change, it shifts, and in time it seems to self correct or we adapt to the changes. Sure things are different, but that does not mean man is the reason the earth changes.
Found this at Techtree.com - India. Apparently there is a current program in India, and only India, that is attempting to find the top college tech students in their final and pre-final (equilivent to senior and junior respectively) and give them the chance to work with Bill Gates Technical Assistence team for a year. It is called Code 4 Bill… ah how sweet….
Sheila Gulati, director - developer and platform evangelism, Microsoft India, says, “Currently, India is the only country where Code 4 Bill has been launched. Based on how the contest pans out here, we are open to evaluating whether it makes sense to replicate Code 4 Bill in other countries.”
That is all well and good and I understand that this is world economy and that India is a emerging technological nation, but why is the Code 4 Bill program getting tested in India. Why not in the US, Ireland, Australia, Japan, Spain, Italy, Turkey, etc.
I have been, and will continue too be, critical of Microsoft’s habit of annexation and duplication instead of innovation, but it bothers me even more that when a US based company goes looking for undiscovered talent they go off shore FIRST. Who knows, the best coder in college at the moment may be a Montana State, Denver Technical, Swannee, Florida Atlantic, Vermont Tech, or any number of other small or rarely noticed US schools. That same situation could exist in Ireland, Australia,…etc.
I understand that Microsoft may have picked India first because it is a emerging technological powerhouse, that there is a existing nature of innovation there, as well as a numerous and cheap labor force, but it seems that you should give the home team a try before going to the international free agent market.
Some may say that the US students already have more chances, etc to get noticed and already have sufficient opportunities, and that is probably true, but that alone does not mean there should not be a shot for the locals first. Microsoft, like it or not, did not develop in India, China, Japan, etc. The nature and habits of American free enterprise, the American spirit of innovation, the leadership of the American technology industries at the time allowed Microsoft to rise to where it is today. America / Americans invented the PC market. America / Americans invented the PC software market. Sure Adobe is German based, and other nations and nationals have done ALOT of great software development, but there is no Adobe, etc without IBM, Microsoft and Apple (all US based, founded, developed, and fostered companies). I am simply asking that American’s be given a shot to be the innovators within the PC software market before the development rushes offshore. If off shore developers are better, no problem, but I believe in giving the US a equal shot to compete.
Simply, with a global economy where the US has to compete globally, why not let the next generation of American workers have the same shot as the international worker.
