Saturday, December 10, 2005

Not ALL Dance is Dancing

Peggy and I attended a local dance school’s recital this afternoon.  These were all little girls from 3-14 yrs old.

 

The little kids were cute.  Rocking around the Christmas, Holly Jolly Christmas, etc.  Even Somewhere over the Rainbow and the dance of the sugar plum fairies from the Nutcracker.

 

All of it was cute EXCEPT the Strippers In Training dances.   These were danced to hip hop music and were more graphic than what you see on MTV. 

 

These were the 14 year olds who slightly pre or just post pubescence with shapes they didn’t have before us bumping, grinding and wiggling their butt in ways I imagine you would only see in strip clubs. 

 

If one were a pedophile this would have been a bonanza.  I was embarrassed.

 

Why do these alleged dance instructors do this?  What’s it all about?  I like dance.  Last Monday Night Peggy and I attended the opera.  Midsummer’s Marriage.  A fantasy.  A full hour of dance was part of the 3 ½ hour production.  I enjoyed it.  It was costumed with people dressed as fish, dogs, cats, birds and such.  So I’m no stranger to dance.

 

But this?  What’s worse to me is the little girls in the dance class looking up to these near adult students and looking forward to emulating them.

 

Peggy and I attend Wedding Dances whenever we can.  We like dancing a great deal. When we were dating we loved to go to dances.  And we’re pretty good.  I don’t have anything against dancing on religious principles.   I do have something against dancing which graphically simulates sex acts particularly when preformed by 14 year old little girls.

 

Biblically there are several positive examples of dance.  Miriam Danced after the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea Exodus 15v20-21, The Daughters of Shiloh  danced for the Youth of Benjamin (weddings ensued) Judges 21v21-23, David Danced before the Ark of the Covenant as it was brought into Jerusalem 2 Samuel 6v14-23 & 1 Chronicles 15 and 16.

 

Dance is all thru the scripture.  Much of it is wonderful.  Some is not. The dance of Salome that cost John the Baptists head.  Matt 14.3-11

 

I love the dance in Worship.  I love when people are free and natural and move to music in unplanned unscripted worship dance.  I try myself but I exert more gravity against the earth than I used to.  I still dance however.  I Don't think God is offended. I'll ask him. Nope. Psalm 150v4 & Psalm 149v3

 

I just don’t dance like a stripper and I don’t think little girls of 14 should either.

 

Am I becoming an old fuddy duddy or what?

 

Pomeroy Pummeled and Praised (Poisoned?)

A couple days ago Earl Pomeroy the sole U S Representative from the state of North Dakota and a Democrat made national news. He told Howard Dean to just Shut Up. Stop Talking.

Republicans and conservatives praised him for his frankness; liberal democrats criticized him for his off the reservation remarks. More centrist democrats agreed with him mostly in private and some in public.


I have to agree with Pomeroy. Howard Dean is embarrassing even to me and I’m not even a democrat. I don’t know Earl Pomeroy. But already I like him. It takes guts to take on the leadership in public.


So, what will the outcome be? National Democratic Party officials might punish him. This happens all the time. Honesty and candor will get you no where. That’s not just a Democrat disattribute, try dissing a Republican leader. Siberia isn’t a cold enough shoulder for how you’ll be treated.


On the other hand it might be the smartest move he ever made. Dorgan and Conrad have made a living out of voting liberal and talking conservative.


I have two sons, Tim (Fargo) who is more conservative than I am. He wonders about me, thinks I’m just a little liberal. Kevin (Boston) on the other had is far more liberal than am I. He wonders about dad too.


After Pomeroy said what he said, Tim called his office in Fargo. Expressed him to the man who answered the phone about how pleased he was with the comments and candor. The man at Pomeroy’s office took Tim’s number and address.


Then Tim said, I need you to know who I really am and why this phone call matters. I have been an outspoken opponent of Earl Pomeroy. In fact Tim is acquainted with President Bush. When Bush comes to Fargo Tim is there as part of the team. Tim’s brother in law Nathan Miller was the campaign manager for the person running against Pomeroy in the last election. Tim was active in trying to defeat Earl Pomeroy. They lost.


His comment to me was, I won’t be participating in that this time. It will be hard to vote against Mr. Pomeroy. Honesty counts for Conservatives.


Well done Mr. Pomeroy.

Friday, December 09, 2005

The Battle of Midway

Yesterday about 3 PM I left an account in Wheeling IL, normally about a 45 minute drive from St. Charles. I called my wife to let her know what time I would be home. "Warm up the hambone honey I’m on my way".


She said, “it’s going to be 3 hours. Traffic reports say the roads are really slow”. I said something in pirate like “HAR”. You don’t know the Gene. All back roads, all ways thru the urban jungle.


She was dead wrong.


I got home at 6:30.


We had a half-foot of wet snow and all traffic stopped. It wasn’t that slippery but folks don’t like to run into each other much.


So I got to listen to several radio shows I had missed during the day via my Sirius sat radio.

When I got home TV was interrupted by the news of a Southwest Airline Jet crashing off the end of a runway at Midway and unfortunately a 6 year old boy was killed who was crushed in a car the plane ran in to.


Now, those who make it their duty to meddle in all things are harping that Midway isn’t safe. The runways are too short. It’s too hemmed in. Etc Etc.


I nearly always prefer Midway to O’Hare. I have flown out of O’Hare twice in the last year and a dozen times out of Midway. It’s just a better airport, more passenger friendly and it’s the home to the true AMERICAN airline, Southwest.


I am a loyal Southwest fan. If they don’t go where I want to go I might just skip going there. It’s not about my free tickets. It’s about comfort and reliability.


So, to all those meddlers who want to make us all safer, who want to ruin our lives by putting rubber edges on our sheers, (no they don’t cut but they are safe). Leave Midway Alone. Flying is safer than driving and for goodness sake it was snowing. The runway was slick.


Things Happen (Like the Bumper Sticker Said)

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Tom (Delay) is Toast

Several weeks ago I predicted that Ronnie Earle’s indictment of Tom Delay would go nowhere. 

 

The news today bears that out.  There is nothing left of consequence to try in a court of law.  Oh they’ll go thru the motions.  But in the end it’s all over, Ronnie Earle fails again.  He’s a serial indicter. 

 

But you knew that.

 

I at the same time made two other predictions both of which are also coming to pass.  One of which is, Tom Delay’s political career is over. 

 

He has been soiled and sullied and like so many house leaders of the past this cannot be undone.

 

So the liberals won on that one.  They got rid of Tom Delay.

 

I made one other prediction.  This indictment would not hold.  It won’t.  It will be thrown out or found unprosecutable (something Ronnie Earle knew all along).  Money laundering is harder to prove than Alien visitation from outer space.

 

The other prediction is:  There is an indictment waiting in the wings.  Probably from Patrick Fitzgerald.  There is a previously unknown tie in with the Abramhoff scandal.  This will prove to be his complete undoing.

 

Those in the know already are aware of this situation and are distancing themselves as fast as they can from Delay.  He is essentially being shunned.

 

I think it’s sad when the political machine grinds up good people left or right.  Jim Wright and New Gingrich are two that come to mind.

 

So, Tom, if read this, step down, go home, it’s all over.

 

 

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Faulty Thermometer

When we were in North Dakota last week we had Christmas Early. I got an indoor outdoor electronic thermometer with a wireless sender. I had been looking at one. It also has an atomic clock in case I want to know the atomic time.

But, I called my son this morning to complain. The outdoor temperature on this device was 10 below this morning.
That must be, I postulated, the temp in ND. Nope it was warmer than that there.

I'm sure it must be broken. It just doesn't get that cold here. Worse it must be affecting the radio stations. They said it was cold too. 10 below.

So, where do I get one of those global warming devices. I could use it right now.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

So Wise I have no Comment!

Rob from Say Anything said this today, WOW!
 
Socialism, like the ancient idea from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.
 

Scientific American Hijacked by Liberals

As a lifelong lover of all things science and an amateur scientist, Not an Expert, See my recent post on experts, I have noticed a slow drift away from pure science articles in Scientific American to what I would best call scientific politics of the left.

When an article about genetics, stem cells, evolution, mutation, quantum physics, and many other things comes up they are written with a distinct anti conservative and certainly anti Christian viewpoint.

There’s a problem with that. Some of their readers like me are Christian and conservative. We approach science just as the liberal science journalist does. We just have one little bent. We believe in God. We believe that if you approach all science thru the lens of faith and the written word of God it makes more sense then without that perspective. Somehow this fact threatens science. They are like the Catholic Church in the time of Galileo. What if we allowed that thinking into our discussion? Wouldn’t it tear down the careful house of cards we have all struggled so hard to build? What if there were a God, it would wreck everything.

That fear is everywhere. Professors in Colleges, Science Writers, and others are rowing as fast as they can to keep from facing the idea that there might just BE a God and that he might have had SOMETHING to do with all this. That terrifies them.

I’ll give a couple examples:

In September there was an article called: The Future of Stem Cells
In the November SA a Norman Ende (who is in Medical School) writes in and asks why the Stem Cell lines from umbilical cords are being ignored. He asks, could it just be that an embryonic stem cell line can be patented and not those from umbilical cords? Why would this med school student have to ask such an obvious question when the literature is full of this question? It doesn’t fit the liberal line to ask this.

In October in the ISA perspective column they took Pharmacists to task for not filling Plan B and other birth control drugs on moral grounds. They related it to someone not being able to get their heart medicine. They asked, what’s next, not filling an aids medicine. Extrapolate please. Now we have a drug meant to put troubled 9 yr old Timmy or 90-year-old Grandma in the grave (euthanasia). Is it OK for that same pharmacist to refuse to fill that prescription? Or, what about the suppliers of Gas to Auschwitz during Hitler’s murder of the Jews. I want to hope that a few of my German brethren had the courage to not ship that barrel of toxic gas mix at the risk of their own lives. Where DO you draw the line? But in the world of SA that question is never asked.

There’s a book written by a Chris Mooney. The Republican War on Science.
It was reviewed in the October Issue of SA by a writer for SA without any critical analysis of his writings. I expect more from them.

At least Mooney’s honest about his intellectual dishonesty. He doesn’t couch it in Science terms. He says straight out:

1. Bush rejected the Scientific Consensus on Global Warming. Suppressing an EPA report which supported the claim. Excuse me but I don’t see near the consensus Mr. Mooney sees. It’s cold as heck here in IL. Coldest on Record. And, the measurements which “Prove” global warming are far from conclusive. We are talking a life change and relinquishing our government to global control if we go there. I’m not ready to do this. Neither should you be.

2. Bush “stacked” advisory committees with industry representatives and members of the religious right. Who should he seat? Liberal Science Writers?
He’s right and he’s religious. So What? Industry Representatives I don’t know about.

3. Bush deployed a Missile defense system without evidence it can work. OH? Show me where that is. We have shot a few in the air. It’s all theater. I don’t guess Mooney has ever played poker.

4. Defunded embryonic stem cell research except on 60 cell lines which turned out not to exist. That’s quite a statement. It’s absolutely false from word one. That’s the part of this whole debate that’s so incredible. The left can make an outrageous statement without any factual backup and the liberal media, even SA laps it up.

5. Forced the National Cancer Institute to say abortion may cause Breast Cancer. Show me ONE, JUST ONE place this was ever said. Its just a lie. There have been studies that have contended the same. But never was this put on the cancer institute.

6. Ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to remove information about condom use and efficacy from its web site. This one is true. Do you know what they were saying, that the use of a condom will prevent disease when used faithfully. Really? No qualifiers? No other measures? It was blatant political correctness gone awry.

So much of what is passing for science reporting today is slanted and in some cases just junk science.

For instance, in the Nov issue, there is a long article regarding the Genome research on Chimps. It was believed that we were only 1.6% differed in Genome pattern. Good for Evolutionists. Now they are saying it’s more like 2.4% and could be much higher. We are related to Chimps like snakes are to fish. Not good for evolutionists.

I have a idea, Maybe, GOD CREATED MAN. ooooooooo

That’ll never fly.




Ode to a Fine Daughter in Law

My Son Tim’'s wife, Raquella is a good partner for my son. She just turned 24. 3 kids. Doing well. Smart woman. (He’s pretty bright too)

She has sense beyond her years and deserves to be recognized.

Everyone’s stock in your life is either going up or down. Hers with me took a huge up spike when she told me that even if she was having difficulties in her marriage the last person or people she would ever talk to about it with were her parents; Or Peggy and Me.

That to her parents and to us they are unified and straight-ahead in life.

That matters so much to me because I have seen so many good marriages go bad because parents couldn’t or wouldn’t stay out of their kid’s marriage problems.

If you are a parent and your kid is having marriage problems, repeat after me, “Wow, I have no standing in this, I hope you guys work this out, I really do”. Then zip it. You have no business criticizing, evaluating, comparing or otherwise talking about your kids spouse than the next-door neighbor does.

Thanks for living that out Raquella.

No Thanks to Lawyers

I heard a man preach a sermon Sunday night.  His action point was for us to send a thank you note to someone you should thank.

 

I try to be thankful. I have in the past been critical of those who have been less than grateful in my life.

 

I think about who I might thank in writing.  I have been in court so often, so much that putting anything in writing gives me pause.  Oh these general comments are pretty easy.  But, to be specific and say thanks when I know it could be held against me if things went the other way is not reasonable but is a real fear.  I don’t mind saying it verbally, but putting it in writing is another issue.

 

Right now, Doctors are cautioned by the legal beagles NOT to express sorrow or condolences to the family if a person under their care dies.  Doing so might trigger a lawsuit.  They are trained exactly what sterile things to say or to say nothing.   No thanks to all you ambulance chasers out there. 

 

So, here goes, THANKS.  You know who you are.  But I won’t identify you since you might want to sue me some day.  My thank you card might just be admissible in court.

 

 

 

Every Day I get a little Older, Every Day I get a little Bolder

 

I butcher the Buddy Holly song for a reason.  A friend of mine sent me a shocking revelation. 

 

Every person that lives a more or less full lifespan in America is given about 700,000 hours to invest in something or another. 

 

I have to date invested 532,169 hours of my life.  I have about 167,000 hours left in my life account to spend, waste, invest or squander.

 

I would like to believe the 532,169 hours I have spent so far matters.  I don’t know about sitting and watching TV.  I don’t know about sleeping more than 8 hours a day.  I don’t know about surfing the web for new banality.  I don’t know about reading endless magazines and newspapers.

 

I do know looking at my wife, my kids, my grandkids, my folks, my friends counts.  I do know time in worship matters.  I do know time alone quietly is good. 

 

So I plow ahead, I look for ways to matter; I stay on the bicycle of life and keep peddling because when I stop I will fall over.

 

That day will come sooner enough.

 

Now, it’s 532,170.  Time Flies.  Carpe Diem.