Who do you love?

Nice idea.

This site, called AOL Presidential Match, gives you a series of questions, then shows which presidential candidates best represent the positions you chose. Certainly not a tell-all, but fun nonetheless.

Passion Review #45,245

I'll make it quick and simple.
If you live in a culture where you see crucifixions, floggings, beatings, and Roman Law at work, you don't need to see The Passion. You may want to, but you don't need to. If you live in 21st century America, where the word 'suffering' relates more to missing an episode of Friends than anything else, you need to see the movie.
Go and see what you're worth to God.

The Spin we get.

I watched an interview on C-SPAN the other night with Elaine Brown. Here's quick taste of the way the radical left spins information for the American people. She finished a rant with this quote. "If we had an educated mass George Bush would not be President." As you can imagine, her audience gave her a thunderous applause, and she laughed hard at the comment. But did you catch it? Read it again. You see, at first glance, what we take from her comment is that George Bush shouldn't be president. But what she really said is that you and I are uneducated. She called the American people idiots, and everyone smiled and nodded.
She later made this gem of a remark. In reference to Martin Luther Kings views on the Black Panther Party, (which Brown directed in 1974), she made the statement that MLK was the "one great leader we ever had." Once again, at first glance this seems like a great comment, donning Dr. King with a title he rightly deserves. But read it again. Did you see how she degraded all other Black leaders of today? Did you see how she openly stated that not only was Dr. King one of many great Black leaders, she said he was the "ONE great leader we ever had." The spin is incredible.

Note these stats taken from Michael Savage's The Enemy Within.
First let me throw some facts out there.
"The CDC (Center for Disease Control) dedicates more money to AIDS than to any other disease. Just less than 30% of the CDC's $7 billion budget is earmarked for HIV and AIDS. As much as I would like to find a cure for this terrible disease, AIDS is not the leading cause of death in this county."
"Here is the difficult truth: cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of men and women from all races. Not AIDS. Not even close. In fact, more American adults, ages 25-44, die from heart disease, cancer, and suicide than from AIDS. But the media doesn't tell you that, do they?. . . . Why? Because HIV is the only politically driven disease."
(The previous came from Savage's book, but is all information that can be found on public domain: Savage sites 'Adult Mortality, Profile of the Nation's Health. pg.37)
Now. . .I told you all that so I could tell you this.

In San Francisco, the CDC gives $600,000 in federal funds to the Stop AIDS Project. With it, workshops like "Flirt, Date, Score" are funded. "The promotion, which targeted gay, bi, tri, and trans guys, said, "Want to flirt with greater finesse and date with more confidence? Share your expertise and hear how others are successful in meeting guys and staying safe today." "Other workshops like 'Bootylicious' offered insight and advice on topics such as sex with male prostitutes, as well as oral and anal intercourse. That's your tax dollars at work."
With all that; Julie Gerberding, Bush appointee to head the CDC, threatened to withhold funding. "When word of her inquiry reached the Stop AIDS Project, the damaged and deranged powerbrokers on the left marshaled their forces. They, along with 150 HIV/AIDS likeminded groups, dashed off a letter to George Bush thrashing the CDC. Gerberding had to back down."
Their letter included this comment.
"If the government does not fully fund federal AIDS programs, there is only one sure result: The American taxpayer will see both the costs of treatment and the death toll rise dramatically."

And, to tie all this together with what I said at the beginning of the post. . . .look at the spin. Read the line again if you need. In Savage's words, "Did you catch it? If AIDS numbers increase, it's because YOU didn't do enough."

There you have it. Just a few examples of the spin we get from the up and ups. Those like Elaine Brown, who consider us all too stupid to decipher her words, abound and seem to be given more and more airtime these days. Watch for the spin, it's not hard to find.

-The IP-

Read

Picked up a new book today by Philip K. Howard called "The Lost Art of Drawing the Line". So far it's been great, and by 'so far' I mean the first 20 pages. It's all about the way we've gone sue-happy in this country, and the way our lives have been forced to change as such. Howard provides many examples throughout the text of wild lawsuits, as well as societal impact on this monster. Here's a quick quote. . .

"The effects are sometimes tragic. Christopher Sercye, fifteen, was shot while playing basketball on a playground close to the Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago. With the help of two friends, the boy made it to within thirty feet of the hospital entrance. When Christopher collapsed, almost at the hospital door, his friends ran in to get help, but the emergency-room staff refused to come out. Hospital policy was that they should not leave the hospital because, as the explanation later indicated, of fear of possible legal liability for neglecting patients already in the hospital. But going thirty feet outside the hospital is not much different for staff than going thirty feet inside. As Christopher lay bleeding on the sidewalk, a policeman begged the staff to come out. But the hospital staff refused to budge and instead placed a call to 911. Christopher lay on the sidewalk for twenty-five minutes before a police sergeant arrived and commandeered a wheelchair to bring him in. The boy died shortly afterward."

"A new medical school graduate, one week away from getting her license to practice, was recently driving in suburban New York when she came upon a motorcycle accident with the rider sprawled on the side of the road, obviously badly injured. After a brief discussion with her mother, she decided not to stop because she might be liable for practicing without a license. At first blink, her logic seems perfectly reasonable. But this only shows how warped we've become. How about helping out because you're a human being who happens to have the skills to save a life?"

Wow. . .what a culture we live in. We were shocked at the McDonald's suit in which "an elderly lady spilled the hot coffee." (First set at $2.9 million, later reduced to $640,000.) How about these: "Boston Judge Hiller Zobel has been asked to decide a custody fight over a dog, a claim over a missing prize in a Cracker Jack Box, and a lawsuit over ownershio of birth control pills between a fifteen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old. These claims don't usually succeed, but they are symptoms of a society-wide preoccupation with rights."

What about the parents of the three-year-old who kicked another three-year-old in a sandbox at Charles River Park, in Boston. "Jonathan's social graces left something to be desired, and there was a pushing incident. At this point, Stacey and her mother could have left the playground or gone to another area, but Stacey's mother had her own problems in the social interaction area, and she decided to call the police." "In new America, the judge actually adjudicated the dispute, granting a preliminary injunction requiring the parents to 'keep each child supervised and separated from each other while in the playground' and prohibiting the mothers from talking to each other."

Now I know I'm only 23, but these two mothers couldn't figure out on their own to just keep their kids apart? We have created a society in which any and all interactions with other people become opportunities for me to find out which of my supposed rights have been infringed, and how I can milk the system for my free money. Check out the book if you want more examples of the craziness.
Peace. . .
-The IP-

On my mind.

Prone to wander Lord I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart Lord take and seal it.
Seal it for thy courts above.

Reading

I finished reading 'The Savage Nation' last week, and have moved on to 'The Enemy Within'. What is it about finishing a book that gives you a great sense of accomplishment? I don't have much to say about the text. I enjoyed the reading. I agreed with some of the points. I'm glad we have people like Michael Savage; and I don't mean simply because I agree with much of what he has to say. It's necessary that we have people who are adament about something. Most of us are just wishy-washy in regards to whatever we claim to be a truth. We never take a stand for anything. . .taking a stand means having to stand when you're the only one left. You set yourself up to be criticized when you hold fast to what you know is right. There's actually a website titled Michael Savage Sucks. Even though I agree with him, I don't admire Savage for his claims, but for his intellectual honesty to stick to his claims and not go half-hearted into the night. These kind of people, regardless of political stance, are hard to come by.

On another note, Adam and I went to an Aquire the Fire meeting for youth ministry types at prestonwood baptist on Monday night. I have some other thoughts to get down about the experience, but we got to talk with Josh McDowell for awhile, and homedog was sporting a Fubu jersey that said 'West Side' on the front. Dang that was funny. . . .

Just some randomness.

I had a couple more thoughts on the day that I wanted to separate from the previous post.
First, I went to Best Buy today and no one said a word to me. I loved it. Not one single "how are you today?!" (which I hate) or even a "have a nice day!" on my way out. It was the greatest shopping experience of my life.

Reading some new books. I went AM-Radio happy at Barnes and Noble today and picked up Michael Savage's two most recent writings.

Reading The Savage Nation first. . .so I'll fill you in as it gets good.

Raise your hand if you're lost.

Saw Lost in Translation today on an inadvertent suggestion from my friend Thomas. I had been meaning to see it and his postings helped persuade me to go on my glorious day off. Here's my quick 3 word review of the flick.

I hate it.

Now, bear with me. . .
I believe that the world we live in is not the what we were created for. As Switchfoot so eloquently puts it, "we were meant to live for so much more; and we lost ourselves." Or, if you like, how Peter writes that we are "as aliens and strangers in the world. . ." (1 Peter 2:11) We are seeing an abundance of unsatisfied, purpose-seeking people screaming out, longing for a reason to be alive. The problem is that our very souls testify to the fact that we were created as immortal beings, destined for eternity; however, the physical world we live in laughs in our face and trys to convince us of otherwise.
I hate the movie because it looks exactly like I feel;
because it reminds me of so many lost souls. . .
because I daily feel like an alien immersed in another culture, even if it's my own. . .
I hate this brilliant, deep movie. . . .and you can bet I'll be owning it in a couple days.

From time to time, everyone needs a slap in the face.

Even if it's with a boob. . . .

Sorry, couldn't resist.



So here's the thing. I'll put aside all of my personal remarks for a couple more days and simply throw these bits of information out there.

In case you couldn't understand what was going on at the boobacious half time show, here are some of the lyrics you missed. For this family oriented, rousing Sunday afternoon game of innocent fun, halftime started with Janet Jackson singing these words.
"Got a nice package alright, think I'm gonna have to ride it tonight!"

Of course, we followed up those lines with our friend from St. Louis, Nelly. He had this to say.
"It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes."
[Welcome to Houston Nell, smells too don't it?]

MMmmmmmm, warms the cockles of my heart. And for another number, we have Mr. Kid Rock, (talented musician that he is) who has decided to show his patriotism by dressing himself with an American flag. And by dressing, I mean cutting a hole in our sacred symbol and letting his nasty pitts stench up the white stripes. He had this to say to our children.
"And this is for the questions that don't have any answers
The midnight glancers and the topless dancers
The gander freaks, cars packed with speakers
The G's with the 40's and the chicks with beepers
The northern lights and the southern comfort
And it don't even matter if their veins are punctured
All the crackheads, the critics, the cynics
And all my heroes in the methadone clinics"

I'll add my thoughts later. For now, just let it all soak in. Oh yeah, in case you've been desensitizied like most of us, don't forget all the leg humping and lack of clothing onstage either. I think my shirt has more material than what was used for the 2,000 women combined shaking their 'thangs' onstage.