Month: December 2013

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Our Daily Thread 12-24-13

Good Morning!

Tomorrow is Christmas!!! 🙂

And here’s something that Peter asked me to pass along. 🙂

You asked for it, and here it is. I used an old grocery store ad with a large picture of a Christmas wreath made up of fresh veggies and fruits. Perfect for Mrs L since she loves such foods. And she approves of this wrapping job. (I usually don’t bother wrapping her gifts, since she picks them out. But since we’ll be opening them with grandchildren present, I thought I’d better with this one.)

wrapped

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Quote of the Day

“At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.”

Thomas Tusser

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From The London Symphony Orchestra

Love it!

This one too, from Kings College, Cambridge. Courtesy of Drwestbury

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QoD

Are you excited? 🙂

I am! I know I’m a grown man, but I still get excited about it. 🙂

And I still have gifts to wrap. 😯

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Prayer Requests 12-24-13

Anyone have a request or praise to share?

Isaiah 9:6

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

 

 

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Our Daily Thread 12-23-13

Good Morning!

Only 2 Days Until Christmas! 🙂

On this day in 1783 George Washington returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War.

In 1888, following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

In 1919 the first ship designed to be used as an ambulance for the transport of patients was launched. The hospital ship was named USS Relief  and had 515 beds.

And in 1942 Bob Hope agreed to entertain U.S. airmen in Alaska.  It was the first of the traditional Christmas shows.

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Quote of the Day

“I think Christmas is about celebration and come on, on the inside everyone wants to dance.”

TobyMac

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Some Bob Hope seems appropriate.

Do you hear what I hear? From Mansfield University.

And you had to know this was coming. 🙂 From Never Enough Lights.

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QoD?

Are you done shopping yet?

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Prayer Request 12-23-13

Anyone have a request or praise to share?

Luke 2:1-20

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

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Our Daily Thread 12-21-13

Good Morning!

Only 4 Days Until Christmas! 🙂

On this day in 1620 the “Mayflower”, and its passengers, pilgrims from England, landed at Plymouth Rock, MA.

In 1898 scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.

In 1937 Walt Disney debuted the first, full-length, animated feature in Hollywood, CA. The movie was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

In 1945 U.S. Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident.

In 1978 police in Des Plaines, IL, arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy was later convicted of killing.

And in 1988, 270 people were killed when Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, due to a terrorist attack.

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Quote of the Day

“Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.”

Johnny Carson

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Today is Natalie Grant’s birthday.

It’s also Carl Dean Wilson’s birthday.

Next up, CrossPoint Worship. These young men are quite good.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 12-21-13

Who has a request or praise to share today?

Matthew 1:17-25

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.

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News/Politics 12-21-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. We’re up to 14 unilateral changes to ObamaCare by the President.

From NationalReview  “Yesterday the Obama administration suddenly moved to allow hundreds of thousands of people who’ve lost their insurance due to Obamacare to sign up for bare-bone “catastrophic” plans. It’s at least the 14th unilateral change to Obamacare that’s been made without consulting Congress. 

“It shows that the Obamacare insurance products aren’t selling so, at the last minute, the administration is holding a fire sale on a failed launch,” says Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, a health-care advocacy group. “Just think how you must feel if you were one of the people who spent the last two months fighting their way through HealthCare.gov to buy a policy that will be thousands of dollars more expensive than this catastrophic insurance!” 

Of course, like every other exemption from Obamacare the latest fix is supposed to last only a year, raising the prospect that people will be kicked off their catastrophic coverage as soon as the 2014 election is safely in the political rear-view mirror. “

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2. Charles Krauthammer says it’s the story of the year.

From TheWaPo  “The lie of the year, according to Politifact, is “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” But the story of the year is a nation waking up to just how radical Obamacare is — which is why it required such outright deception to get it passed in the first place.

Obamacare was sold as simply a refinement of the current system, retaining competition among independent insurers but making things more efficient, fair and generous. Free contraceptives for Sandra Fluke. Free mammograms and checkups for you and me. Free (or subsidized) insurance for some 30 million uninsured. And, mirabile dictu, not costing the government a dime.”

“In fact, Obamacare is a full-scale federal takeover. The keep-your-plan-if-you-like-your-plan ruse was a way of saying to the millions of Americans who had insurance and liked what they had: Don’t worry. You’ll be left unmolested. For you, everything goes on as before.

That was a fraud from the very beginning. The law was designed to throw people off their private plans and into government-run exchanges where they would be made to overpay — forced to purchase government-mandated services they don’t need — as a way to subsidize others. (That’s how you get to the ostensible free lunch.)”

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3. A court has ruled that 9-11 victims families can sue Saudi Arabia.

From NBCNews  “A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated Saudi Arabia as a defendant in lawsuits claiming it provided support to al-Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. 

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said restoring Saudi Arabia was necessary to be consistent with a ruling by a different 2nd Circuit panel that allowed another lawsuit to go forward in which a man sued Afghanistan and other defendants for the death of his wife in the Sept. 11 attacks. 

The 2nd Circuit and a lower court had previously ruled that Saudi Arabia was protected by sovereign immunity, which generally means that foreign countries can’t be sued in American courts. But in its latest ruling, the 2nd Circuit said a legal exception existed that would allow Saudi Arabia to remain as a defendant, just as Afghanistan remained in the similar case. “

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4. A sad story about American service members sickened after helping with tsunami relief efforts.

From FoxNews  “When the USS Ronald Reagan responded to the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, Navy sailors including Quartermaster Maurice Enis gladly pitched in with rescue efforts.

But months later, while still serving aboard the aircraft carrier, he began to notice strange lumps all over his body. Testing revealed he’d been poisoned with radiation, and his illness would get worse. And his fiance and fellow Reagan quartermaster, Jamie Plym, who also spent several months helping near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, also began to develop frightening symptoms, including chronic bronchitis and hemorrhaging.

They and 49 other U.S. Navy members who served aboard the Reagan and sister ship the USS Essex now trace illnesses including thyroid and testicular cancers, leukemia and brain tumors to the time spent aboard the massive ship, whose desalination system pulled in seawater that was used for drinking, cooking and bathing. In a lawsuit filed against Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plaintiffs claim the power company delayed telling the U.S. Navy the tsunami had caused a nuclear meltdown, sending huge amounts of contaminated water into the sea and, ultimately, into the ship’s water system.”

“At our level, we weren’t told anything,” Plym told FoxNews.com. “We were told everything was OK.”

Why would they not have been monitoring radiation levels themselves on board?  That would be SOP given the circumstances.

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5. A coincidence….  Sure. 😉

Just like Obama saying he doesn’t know the uncle he lived with for a month that got favorable results from an immigration judge. Also totally a coincidence. 🙄

From TheBostonHerald  “Gov. Deval Patrick’s convicted drug dealer cousin was among eight people whose hefty sentences were commuted yesterday by President Obama, who cited a disparity in penalties for crack cocaine.

Reynolds Allen Wintersmith Jr., 39, is serving a life sentence for drug trafficking and has been imprisoned since 1994.

Patrick’s office said in a statement: “Mr. Wintersmith is the Governor’s first cousin. The Governor has no recollection of meeting Mr. Wintersmith (they are quite far apart in age), and believes that if they did meet it would have been when Mr. Wintersmith was a small boy. The Governor was not involved in any application for a commutation of Mr. Wintersmith’s sentence, and only learned of the commutation through today’s media reports.

Wintersmith’s case had been adopted by advocates and crusading attorneys. All eight inmates were sentenced under old federal guidelines that treated convictions for crack cocaine offenses more harshly than those involving the powder form of the drug. Obama also pardoned 13 others for various crimes.”

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6. This one doesn’t surprise me…. They’ll use a few bad apples to paint all homeschoolers with a broad brush. And yet another tool to harass those who buck the public system.

With a Hat Tip to Chas

From TruthRevolt  “A  new bill proposed by Senator Capri Cafaro (D-Ohio) would require parents who have decided to homeschool their child to undergo an investigation by social services, who would then decide whether or not it would be permitted. 

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) website is reporting that on December 3, 2014, Senate Bill 248 was introduced in Ohio. This bill is the latest attack against families from state legislatures who want to severely restrict choice to homeschool children. The HSLDA summarizes this bill: 

It requires all parents who homeschool to undergo a social services investigation which would ultimately determine if homeschooling would be permitted. Social workers would have to interview parents and children separately, conduct background checks and determine whether homeschooling is recommended or not. If it is not recommended, parents would have to submit to an “intervention” before further consideration of their request to homeschool.

The reasoning for this bill stems from one incident in January 2013 where a 14-year-old boy died after being beaten by his mother’s boyfriend while being taught at home. The mother had pulled him from public school after school officials reported signs of abuse to authorities. Seemingly, she attempted to cover up the abuse by homeschooling him, keeping him from the watchful eyes of public teachers. “

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7. I don’t know what they’re thinking here, or if they even are. 🙄

From NBCNews  “The Supreme Court of Canada struck down all current restrictions on prostitution on Friday, including bans on brothels and on street solicitation, declaring the laws were unconstitutional because they violated prostitutes’ safety. 

The sweeping 9-0 decision will take effect in one year, inviting Parliament to try to come up with some other way to regulate the sex trade if it chooses to do so. 

Prostitution is technically legal in Canada but most related activities have been illegal, including living off the avails of someone else’s prostitution, but the court found that the provisions were overly broad or grossly disproportionate. 

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said many prostitutes “have no meaningful choice” but to “engage in the risky economic activity of prostitution,” and that the law should not make such lawful activity more dangerous. “

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8. If this is true, doesn’t the govt owe the tobacco companies billions in refunds for that part of the tobacco settlement?

From HotAir  “Now it can be told. Now that smoking has been banned everywhere but the dryer vent at your apartment based on the notion that secondhand smoke kills everyone around you, The Journal of the National Cancer Institute can tell us this via Jacob Sullum:

The article describes a large prospective study that “confirmed a strong association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer but found no link between the disease and secondhand smoke.” The study tracked more than 76,000 women, 901 of whom eventually developed lung cancer. Although “the incidence of lung cancer was 13 times higher in current smokers and four times higher in former smokers than in never-smokers,” says the JNCI article, there was no statistically significant association between reported exposure to secondhand smoke and subsequent development of lung cancer. “We don’t want people to conclude that passive smoking has no effect on lung cancer,” says one of the researchers, Stanford oncologist Heather Wakelee. “We think the message is, this analysis doesn’t tell us what the risk is, or even if there is a risk.”

While hardly the last word on the subject, the study has advantages over most of the research commonly cited as evidence that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer. “To our knowledge,” the authors say, “this is the first study to examine both active and passive smoking in relation to lung cancer incidence in a complete prospective cohort of US women.” The prospective design avoids a weaknes of studies that start with lung cancer cases and “match” them to controls. “Many studies that showed the strongest links between secondhand smoke and lung cancer were case-control studies, which can suffer from recall bias,” notes the JNCI article, since “people who develop a disease that might be related to passive smoking are more likely to recall being exposed to passive smoking.”

Yet another instance where the Left is more than happy to make up science as long as they can use the made-up science to take away people’s freedoms.”

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