Month: May 2014

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Our Daily Thread 5-16-14

Good Morning!

It’s Friday! 🙂

Today’s header photo is from Peter.

On this day in 1888 the first demonstration of recording on a flat disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner. 

In 1939 the Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played under the lights in the American League. 

In 1960 Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Research Laboratory in California, demonstrated the first working laser.

And in 1988 a report released by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared that nicotine was addictive.

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Quote of the Day

“There is a higher law than the Constitution.”

William H. Seward

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 Today is Robert Fripp’s birthday, so here he is with the League of Crafty Guitarists.

And it’s Woody Herman’s.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 5-16-14

Anyone have a request to share?

A praise maybe?

And it’s Friday, so please remember Mumsee, Mike, and the young folks at The Nest.

Psalm 107:1-9

¹O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.

4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

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News/Politics 5-16-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The Obama admin wouldn’t treat Boko Haram like what they are, a terrorist organization. But now we learn that the admin threatened those who did treat them as such.

From CanadaFreePress  “Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only Obama administration official who went to bat for Boko Haram over the past few years. Soon after John Kerry took over as Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Terence P. McCulley, accused the Nigerian government of butchery during a confrontation with Boko Haram terrorists in Baga, a Nigerian town on the shores of Lake Chad, and in May 2013 threatened to withdraw U.S. military aid from the West African nation.

Boko Haram militants attacked a Nigerian military outpost in April 2013 outside Baga, killing one soldier. Following the three-day battle human rights activists, including the George Soros-funded and liberal aligned Human Rights Watch, which is not exactly known for its impartiality when it comes to reporting on Islamic issues, claimed the Nigerian military wantonly slaughtered 183 civilians and burned down over 2,000 homes and businesses.

The Nigerian government denied the claims saying the death toll and destruction had been vastly overstated by its enemies, and in fact 30 Boko Haram terrorists, 6 civilians and one soldier, had died in the fighting. Reports from the Baga clinic, which treated 193 people following the battle, but only 10 with serious injuries, seemed to back up the Nigerian government claim that no large-scale massacre had occurred.”

“No wonder the Nigerian government was initially reluctant to accept U.S. assistance with finding the more than 200 Christian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram last month. Emboldening Nigeria’s Islamic terrorist enemies and having been already accused by the Obama administration of crimes against humanity for fighting militants who were responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths since 2010, they likely felt that Obama’s belated support was more a product of diplomatic CYA than actually caring about the fate of kidnapped Nigerian children.”

Typical. Defending the bad guys. Again. Also note the Soros’ connection.

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2. Note it, because here comes another.

From CNSNews  “As IRS efforts targeting politically-conservative groups gained momentum, George Soros-funded liberal groups repeatedly called on the IRS to investigate conservative nonprofit organizations.

While the first reported instances of extra IRS scrutiny for conservative groups began in Cincinnati in March of 2010, the attacks began to pick up steam on a national level soon after Soros-funded groups began firing off letters to the IRS in October of that year – following the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

The talking points of these groups then bounced around a carefully created progressive “echo chamber,” until they eventually made their way into established media outlets. Key IRS policy changes about how it investigated conservative groups took place soon after it received three separate letters sent by Soros-funded liberal organizations.

Several Soros-funded groups including the Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, the Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones and Alternet have worked to pressure the IRS to target conservative nonprofit groups. The subsequent IRS investigation flagged more than 100 tea party-related applications for higher scrutiny, including applications that included the words “Tea Party” and “patriot.”

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3. Pro-life folks have always known this was what they were up to.

From LifeNews  “For six years Carol Everett operated four abortion clinics in Texas. As reported by The Catholic Register, Everett earned a commission for every abortion in addition to a share of the fees charged by each clinic. She says she sold abortion and made big bucks off of the “cash cow” of abortion. A new abortion clinic, she said at the annual Rose Dinner for the National March for Life in Ottawa, would make enough money to pay for itself in a single month.

In addition, Everett said that the counselors at the clinics are more like telemarketers. They are trained to schedule abortions and use wording to eliminate a potential clients’ fears and objections concerning abortion.

Everett, who left the abortion industry after a Christian business counselor she hired lead her to Christ, also talked about how damaging government-funded sex education programs are. In her speech at the Rose Dinner, she took aim at the programs for stealing away the innate modesty of children and creating a rift between children and their parents. She says that the programs aim to teach children that talking to their parents about sex is uncomfortable and then they offer to be the people the children turn to for support. She says that girls are then provided with low dose birth control, which is ineffective if not taken at the same time each and every day, which is close to impossible for any teenager. When the girls get pregnant, they then turn to abortion clinics, she says.”

They’re predators preying on the young.

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4. This one is sure to be a huge hit among liberal circles. 🙂

Not.

From NPR  “Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh won the Author of the Year award at the Children’s Choice Book Awards for his book Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, in which Rush Revere and a talking horse named Liberty travel back in time to visit the pilgrims. Although the book has never been a critical favorite — one review accused it of “disdain for even the most rudimentary standards of storytelling” — it has been an enormous commercial success. Four finalists for the award were chosen because of their places on bestseller lists, and the winner was chosen by children’s votes.

In response to concerns about the list of finalists announced in March, the prize organizers — Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader — had released a delicately worded statement: This program has never been about CBC or ECAR endorsing finalists. It has always been about CBC and ECAR endorsing young readers and giving them a choice and a voice on a national scale.” In accepting the honor, Limbaugh said, “I love America. I wish everybody did. I hope everybody will. It’s one of the most fascinating stories in human history … and it’s a delight and it’s an opportunity to try to share that story with young people so they can grow and learn to love and appreciate the country in which they’re growing up and will someday run and lead and inherit.”

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Our Daily Thread 5-15-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1618 Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law. 

In 1918 regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service. 

In 1942 gasoline rationing began in the U.S. The limit was 3 gallons a week for nonessential vehicles. 

In 1948 Israel was attacked by Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence. 

And in 1970 President Nixon appointed America’s first two female generals. 

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Quote of the Day

“Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.”

Lyman Frank Baum

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Since it’s L. Frank Baum’s birthday, we’ll start with a clip/song from the movie.

And it’s Graham Goble’s birthday too.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 5-15-14

Who has a request or praise they’d like to share?

And it’s Thursday, so please remember Jo and the folks in PNG.

Psalm 106:1-5

¹Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can shew forth all his praise?

3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

5 That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

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News/Politics 5-15-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. But… but…. low-level employees were responsible….

From JudicialWatch  “Judicial Watch today released a new batch of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents revealing that its handling of Tea Party applications was directed out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC.  The documents also show extensive pressure on the IRS by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) to shut down conservative-leaning tax-exempt organizations. The IRS’ emails by Lois Lerner detail her misleading explanations to investigators about the targeting of Tea Party organizations.

The documents came in response to an October 2013 Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed after the agency refused to respond to four FOIA requests dating back to May 2013 (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:13-cv-01559)).”

“A series of letters between Senator Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations, and top IRS officials throughout 2012 discuss how to target conservative groups the senator claimed were “engaged in political activities.” In response to a Levin March 30 letter citing the “urgency of the issue,” then-Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller assured the senator that IRS regulations were flexible enough to allow IRS agents to “prepare individualized questions and requests” for select 501(c)(4) organizations.”

We also know that the Dem. Rep. Elijah Cummings was up to his neck in it too, and that he’s impeded the Issa investigation from the get go. Now we know why. This has come from DC since day one.

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2. No wonder Obama loves the guy so much.

From FoxNews  “May 13, 2014, marks one year since Philadelphia abortion Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder “in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy, ‘house of horrors’ clinic,” according to the Associated Press. Gosnell instantly became the face of abortion in the prolife community.

But there’s another, more recognizable face pushing abortion in the U.S. – liberal billionaire Warren Buffett. The so-called “Oracle of Omaha” has donated more than $1.2 billion to abortion organizations from 2001 to 2012.

That’s equal to the cost of roughly 2.7 million first-trimester abortions – more than twice the number of abortions that occur in an entire year in the United States. Unlike Gosnell, however, everything Buffett has done has been entirely legal. But Buffett does share something else in common with the abortionist. Both their stories have been largely unreported.”

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3. And since I mentioned Planned Parenthood….

They’ve been accused of failing to report a serial rapist in order to avoid paperwork. And in doing so they may have allowed others to fall victim to the rapist.

From FoxNews  “A Planned Parenthood counselor in Arizona intentionally miscoded a sexual assault as a consensual encounter to avoid the “hassle” of reporting it to authorities, months before other victims came forward to stop an alleged 18-year-old serial sex predator, a police report reveals.

Tyler Kost, of San Tan Valley, Ariz., has been charged with sexually assaulting 11 girls from the ages of 12 to 17 between October 2009 and April 2014, although authorities believe he has assaulted at least 18 students from Poston Butte High School. The mother of one 15-year-old victim, who became pregnant as a result of the alleged assault, told a Planned Parenthood Arizona staffer about the attack in December, a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office report shows.

“The counselor intentionally miscoded the assault as a consensual encounter,” the report states. “The counselor told them that they did not want the hassle of having to report the assault to law enforcement as they were a mandatory reporter.”

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4. Of course they did. Welcome to the fabulous new LGBT friendly military. I guess they thought it was cruel to not let the traitor dress and act like a woman, and get hormone treatments on the taxpayer dime. Pretty disgusting.

From NBCNews  “In an unprecedented move, the Pentagon is trying to transfer convicted national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so she can get treatment for her gender disorder, defense officials said.

Manning, formerly named Bradley, was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The soldier has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman.

The request was the first ever made by a transgender military inmate and set up a dilemma for the Defense Department: How to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy. Transgenders are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and the Defense Department does not provide such treatment, but Manning can’t be discharged from the service while serving his 35-year prison sentence.

Some officials have said privately that keeping the soldier in a military prison and unable to have treatment could amount to cruel and unusual punishment.“

The Pentagon can afford this, yet deserving veterans are dying awaiting treatment from the VA, and are seeing their benefits cut. Shows you where their priorities lie. Repulsive.

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5. And my theory of a system wide problem at the VA appears to be accurate. The list continues to grow.

From HotAir  “That would put the list to seven facilities now where whistleblowers and/or media probes have discovered allegations and evidence of wait-list fraud at VA facilities. This CBS News investigation into the Hines, Illinois facility adds a new twist — performance bonuses. Germaine Clarno alleges that this facility had multiple, fraudulent wait lists intended to make the facility’s performance look better, and also intended to qualify its leaders for extra cash from the VA:

Germaine Clarno is a VA social worker and employee representative in Chicago. She alleges there are multiple secret waiting lists of veterans kept at the Hines VA Medical Center.

Asked which divisions of the hospital kept the secret waiting lists, Clarno says, “Employees are coming to me from all over the hospital, from outpatient, inpatient, surgery, radiology.”

Clarno says veterans were put on secret waiting lists when they called for appointments, but they wouldn’t formally get an appointment booked in the computer until one came up within the VA’s goal of 14 days. The purpose of the lists, she says, was to hide how often veterans were not being seen on time.”

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Our Daily Thread 5-14-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1796 the first smallpox vaccination was given by Edward Jenner. 

In 1897 Guglielmo Marconi made the first communication by wireless telegraph. 

In 1940 the Netherlands surrendered to Nazi Germany.

In 1942 the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) was established by an act of the U.S. Congress. 

And in 1992 former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev addressed members of the U.S. Congress, appealing to them to pass a bill to aid the people of the former Soviet Union. 

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Quote of the Day

“The technology keeps moving forward, which makes it easier for the artists to tell their stories and paint the pictures they want.”

George Lucas

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Since it’s my birthday, I thought I’d play some of my favorites. From NoiseTrade Video

Love them guys. 🙂

Here’s another.

And this one isn’t a favorite yet, but I’m thinkin’ it’s got potential. It’s my birthday present, we’re seeing it this weekend. I’ve been waiting 40 years for a “real” Godzilla. No more guys in costumes. 🙂

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 5-14-14

Anyone have a request or praise to share?

And it’s Wednesday, so don’t forget The Gambia.

Psalm 106:1-5

¹Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can shew forth all his praise?

3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

5 That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

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Our Daily Thread 5-13-14

Good Morning!

This morning I went fishing. I saw this bird fly straight down and whack a beautiful butterfly I was trying to photo. Landed in the tree and ate ’em. 😯

I was only fast enough for one pic and then he was back to hunting. What is he?

And I caught one fish, this one.

misc 026

On this day in 1821 the first practical printing press was patented in the U.S. by Samuel Rust. 

In 1864 the Battle of Resaca commenced as Union General Sherman fought towards Atlanta during the American Civil War.

In 1865 the last land engagement of the American Civil War was fought at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in far south Texas, more than a month after Gen. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, VA.

In 1867 Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after spending two years in prison for his role in the American Civil War.  

And in 1927 “Black Friday” occurred in Germany. 

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Quote of the Day

“Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love, and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.”

Stevie Wonder

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 Today is Arthur Sullivan’s birthday.

And it’s Darius Rucker’s.

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Anyone have a QoD?