Charlie, Linus and Christmas

Penn Says: A Gift of a Bible

Issues, Etc.

Dawn at Artist Point, Yellowstone Canyon -- Yellowstone National Park

Photo taken by Mike Umscheide. He said of the photo

This was one of many memorable photographic moments during my Fall of 2006 trip to Yellowstone National Park. Artist Point is a famous photography spot at Yellowstone, and I was hoping for wonderful soft light just prior to sunrise. I was more than pleased with what I got, which was a few high cirrus clouds lit up in a vivid, saturated pink color to complement the extraordinary landscape of the Yellowstone canyon and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Date: September 19, 2006. Exposure was f/9 at 1/5 seconds, ISO 200, shot with the Nikon D70 at a 24mm focal length.
Added: 10/06/2008

Global Warming Frozen In Bad Data

December 11, 2008 By Dr. Melissa Clouthier

From the Washington Times:

Environmental extremists and global warming alarmists are in denial and running for cover. Their rationale for continuing a lost cause is that weather events in the short term are not necessarily related to long-term climatic trends. But these are the same people who screamed at us each year that ordinary weather events such as high temperatures or hurricanes were undeniable evidence of imminent doom.

Now that global warming is over, politicians are finally ready to enact dubious solutions to a non-existent problem. In Britain, Parliament is intrepidly forging ahead with a bold new plan to cool the climate, even as London experienced its first October snowfall since 1934 and Ireland went through the coldest October in the last 70 years.

This is an absurd spectacle. Our advanced civilization is being systematically mismanaged by technologically illiterate lawyers responding to political pressures from irrational fanatics. Would someone please tell these people it is impossible to overturn the laws of thermodynamics?

We cannot improve our economy by artificially forcing people to use expensive, unreliable and inefficient energy sources.

From the U.S. Senate committee on Environment:

“I am a skeptic…Global warming has become a new religion.” - Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.

(Link to rest of article here)

The Very First Thanksgiving Proclamation

The Very First Thanksgiving Proclamation
by Marcia Segelstein

The very first Thanksgiving proclamation was issued by the Continental Congress on November 1, 1777. It was a time of upheaval unimaginable to most of us. Only the year before, the signers of the Declaration of Independence had set in motion events which would change the course of history. At the time the proclamation was issued, the outcome of those events was yet to be determined, and a bitter war waged on with young men giving their lives for the cause of freedom. Uncertainly loomed, but faith suffused with gratitude prevailed, as is clear from the words of this remarkable document.

Here are portions of this first proclamation, which called for December 18th to be set apart…

“That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor…That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole; To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE.”

Ee'n So Lord Jesus Quickly Come

Heard my brother's choir at Concordia St. Paul sing this twenty years ago. Beautiful.

Secretariat

I was just a kid when Secretariat took the Triple Crown, but even then I remember thinking I'd not see the likes of this horse again in my lifetime.
First came The Kentucky Derby

Then came the Preakness

...and finally the AMAZING Belmont

Oldie but Goodie from Starbucks

Time for a coffee break

Thanks TMZ

Thanks TMZ....for promoting cultural decay.

The Majority Leader's remark about tourists was edited out of the official Senate Democrats video version....(perhaps because it demonstrates how the senator views "the little people" or "the unwashed masses from below"

Starting in the middle...

So I'm a member of a political website that is left over from the last election.
Why? When it comes up, many Lutherans see themselves as above the political process, ... I've heard it before; "Who wants to get their hands dirty doing THAT?"

Spare me. Being a citizen means we take stands; we speak, so standing and speaking may even result in being propelled into public office. Even for normal people....Politicians are not all power-hungry idiots.

As soon as one enters the political arena, others spend much too much time assigning motives. The critics (armchair quarterbacks) claim superiority to the elected who are then easily blamed for all that's wrong or doesn't work anymore.

That attitude doesn't deserve traction.

In this world, power corrupts, but in this fallen world, power translated into leadership means the leader will constantly be humbled not only by those who stand opposed, but ALSO by those who may have been friends. Being up front means becoming a scapegoat.... sometimes for good reason, but mostly, just because of visibility. (Keeps things simplistic). Ask any president. More often than not, the acquisition of power and the consequences of leadership tend to balance each other out.

But back to the beginning....Why do I stay involved in a "community website" that has a recently defeated candidate, Sarah Palin, as its focus? Am I wasting my time? I've wondered about that quite often. But I stick with it. Two reasons: first, call it the sisterhood or whatever, but I want to be available to defend Palin against the countless cheap shots others feel entitled to lob around about her; but there is greater cause and that is: I see and hear people commenting on that site that have never publicly taken a political stand before. They are brave to do so now, and I honor that, want to encourage that, even if at times their zeal seems to lead them in weird directions... Do they seem to be leaping into mid-air or off the deep-end with some of the posts? Yes. But we are broadening the discussions.

I continue to read and post because I am a Lutheran Christian, and Lutherans, with their Law/Gospel, Left-hand, Right-hand Kingdom perspective, have a unique contribution to make in any given political or "issues" discussion. The discussions start, and whether they concern abortion, terrorism, education or the economy these things deeply concern people and prompt them to write, talk, read, vent, to interact, to be part of a community. And sometimes I upset people, but still attempt to continue the conversation, to respect them, and finally, to share Christ. What a privilege.

Oddly enough, have met many Catholics, countless evangelicals, some atheists, but as of today, no Lutherans. Guess they are above that.