Friday, February 01, 2013

"I do not want religion to go away. I only want religion to be kept at home or in church where it belongs. It’s a personal effect, like a toothbrush or a pair of shoes. It’s not something to be used or worn by strangers. I want my children to be free not to believe and to know that our schools and our government will make decisions based on what is logical, just and fair—not on what they believe an imaginary God wants."
I know couples who are exactly here. It's a crime.
These people in government get dumber and dumber every day

Super Bowl Diet

I don't know how many years it's been since I really looked forward to a super bowl. This year I do. I gotta make me some of that Velveeta tomato dip I see on TV. The diet version...

Thursday, January 31, 2013

We can learn from this

Why Mormons Do Better Youth Ministry Than We Do
 
In light of the skyrocketing popularity of Mormonism in the United States helped along by the Broadway Musical, "The Book of Mormon", Mitt Romney and your nice Mormon neighbors I thought it would be good to recycle this five year old article I wrote.

The thesis? Mormons do better youth ministry than the average Protestant church! Read on and see if you agree with me…

"Let's face it. Most of us look at the clean cut Mormon missionaries that peddle the streets of our city and knock on the doors of our houses as somewhat out of date.

Although they are kind and well-spoken young men, when they knock on our doors we either don't answer or tell them we are already Christians who reject Mormonism and bid them good day.

We think to ourselves how "behind the times" these young people are forced to be when they are required to do door-to-door evangelism for their religion.
We reflect on how grateful we are that we have the truth once and for all delivered to the saints. We may even think about how much more superior our youth ministry strategies are compared to theirs.

Or are they?

-Mormons expect a lot out of their teenagers. We don't.

-Mormons ordain their young men into the ministry at the age of twelve. We don't.

-Mormons require their teens to attend seminary every day of high school. We don't.

-Mormons ask for two years in the field of every graduating senior. We don't.

Maybe that's why we don't meet a lot of ex-Mormons, while there are hundreds of thousands of former church attendees in the true church of Jesus Christ (of everyday saints) who flee the church after graduating from high school.

Maybe that's why Mormons give more, work harder and are exploding as a religion. In 1985 there were 4.5 million Mormons and now there are over 12 million.

When many of our teens graduate from high school, they grab their books and a beer and go off to the college dorm (A.K.A. "The Party Zone"). When Mormon teens graduate from high school they grab a backpack and a bike pump and go off on a mission.

They know what they believe and why they believe it. They've hammered out their theology on our doorsteps. Their souls and minds have been steeled and sealed into Mormon orthodoxy through their fanatical commitment to the accomplishment of their version of the Great Commission.

Meanwhile we compress most of our mission work into one week in Mexico once every year or two. And even that is comprised mostly of building houses, not necessarily advancing the kingdom of God and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There's a great line in the movie Braveheart where Robert the Bruce is commenting on William Wallace to his father. He says, "He believes. I want to believe like he believes."

When I look at the Mormons I think to myself, "They believe. I want to believe like they believe." Now don't get me wrong. I don't want to believe what they believe.

Mormon theology is far from what the Bible says about Jesus, God, sin and salvation. It is, by no means, a truly Christian religion.

Having said that, Mormonism pushes their kids harder and takes them deeper and farther than even the most ardent of evangelical youth ministries would ever dare.

Can you imagine a youth group that challenged every teen in the youth ministry to meet at 6am every day of the school year for a class on Christianity? That's exactly what Mormons do with their high schoolers and their belief system!

We get excited if once a year at 7:15am, while Mormon teens are coming back from their daily seminary lesson on Mormonism, our teens gather around a pole and pray.

I'm not saying that we copy the Mormons specific strategy. I can't foresee our teenagers racing Mormons to the door in a battle of the bicycles. Nor do I believe the answer lies in a daily early morning class. We don't need to copy their strategy. We do, however, need to adopt their philosophy.

We need to push our teens. We need to turn them into active activists. We need to build consistent opportunities for service, outreach and training. We need to equip them to share their faith and then go with them, leading the way. After all, we are youth leaders.

Somebody may accuse me of looking at this as some sort of competition. It is. We are in a competition with Satan for the souls of our young people. And we are getting our rears kicked.
My problem is not with the Mormons. It's with us. Let's learn from the Mormons and turn our kids into missionaries. Armed with the power of the true gospel our teens could mount a comeback and help us win this thing.

Game on."

Obama's Second Bill of Rights.... is there anything wrong with this idea??

The need for a "Second Bill of Rights" has been championed by Obama ally and adviser Cass Sunstein, Law Professor at the University of Chicago, in a book entitled "The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need it More than Ever."


"The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

"The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

"The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

"The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

"The right of every family to a decent home;

"The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

"The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

"The right to a good education."

At first blush, this seems like a great list of things people need to have.  It seems like good stuff.  There is a rub however.  With every right, comes greater responsibility.  You can't give to those who will not be responsible.  Let's look at them again.


"The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;  This means that one must be willing and able to work in these industries, shops and so forth.  More than able, showing up, doing the work.  This is not for the slacker.   I believe this right already exists. No one is stopping anyone except themselves.

"The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;  This makes good sense, but how much is adequate?  Food Clothing and Recreation?  Does it include the latest $200 sneakers?  Who decides?  I may earn more or less than another and complain I do not have enough.

"The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;  What if he is a poor farmer?  Grows lousy chickens.  Crummy wheat.  Wormy tomatoes.   IS there no responsibility to be effective at this?

"The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;  Amen to this.  I agree.  BUT... our legal system, our government is constantly picking winners and losers.  Solyndra anyone?  Windmills.  Ethanol?  Stupid things.  That is unfair competition and creates monopolies.  GOVERNMENT is the enemy here.  Government and the businesses that depend on government to protect them.  Look up Rent Seeking.

"The right of every family to a decent home;  Really?  What is a decent home?  Own or Rent?  How will this law be written?   Is my home too small? or too big?  Do I really want someone telling me I need to downsize?  Isn't that what I saw in former east Germany?  Communist apartments?  This is insidious.

"The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;  I think we have this.  Had it before Obamacare.  No one was ever denied.

"The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;  We have this already... it's called social security and guess what, It's going broke.


"The right to a good education."  I'm in favor of this.  Let's abolish public education, issue vouchers and let kids vote with their feet to get the good education they deserve.

You see, these kind of Utopian ideas are insane.  Look good, but are wrong in more ways than you can imagine.  There is only ONE place where this is all accomplished. It's called prison.  Look at the list.  It's all in there.
Ain't it the truth
Ain't it the truth
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And we thought Obamacare was a jobs kiiller. Heck no. You TOO can be one who decides if Grandma lives or dies. What fun. Just like Nazi Germany. WOOH HOOO!!

Thug Control

We don't need more gun control in Chicago. We need thug control. The answer is absolute intolerance at any level for any gang banger ever. Not by the cops. By the community. The thugs are a scourge. IF you know of, suspect, have heard of, think or have as a relative anyone who is one of these thugs... Turn them in. I know jail is hell, I know it's rough, but this murder is out of control. It has made Chicago Hell. NONE of the guns used in these crimes is legal, no background check or registration scheme will fix it, no assault weapon ban. The ultimate threat against our community is undisciplined culturally polluted people who fear neither God nor Man and the parents and relatives who protect them in the mistaken belief that they can get them to turn around. Yes, I believe Jesus can make all the difference. I know many men who did turn around. What I don't believe is the idea of all that keeps a whole community in oppression as certainly as if they were in a war zone. Don't turn in guns, turn in the shooters. The guys who killed this little girl are someone's sons. It's not racist to remove cancer. It's racist to allow a community cultural cancer to persist without excision.

Just thinking about GUNS. IF having a gun doesn't make you safer, why do policemen and women have guns??

Friday, January 25, 2013


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Man in holds sign asking for the US to stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood 

50 Years Ago Today... The day we met

It was January 25th 1963.  My friend Lester and I were to play on a radio program in Oakes ND.  We were a guitar duo.  His girlfriend, Lucy, was one of the singers in another duo also performing that day.  Her singing partner was a young girl, who had just turned 15 a month before. Peggy.  We had to sit together in the front seat of the Ford because the back seat was full of amplifiers and guitars.  I had to sit too close to Peggy.  I already had a girlfriend.  This was a set up. Yet she stunned me... I was this guy, 2 years older than she was, Peggy was this amazing girl.

We talked for a long time.  We found that we had much in common. She was of like faith.  She shared my political background.  She came from the same Germanic stock I did.  Everything was right about her. I was taken with her.  Sparks flew. She seemed to like that tall skinny guitar player sitting next to her too.

There was a difficulty.  I had a girlfriend of a couple years.  One I believed was the one that would lead to marriage.  Yet, Peggy disturbed all of that.   My life had changed.

It wasn't her beauty, although she was really pretty (still is).  It wasn't her personality, although being with her always made me feel better.  She was a breath of fresh air in my life.  I was drawn to her.  Not love at first sight. That attraction I try to explain to people when they ask, "How do you know if she's the ONE?".  I always say, when you find yourself thinking about her all the time and you don't see how you can go on in life without her.  That is love.  That was what it became for me.

I fumbled the ball a few times as a foolish young man, yet in the end, I knew she was the one.  There was no turning back.  I was a teenage boy with all the things that go with overdrive hormones.  She was always wonderful.  I shudder to think how it might have all gone wrong. 

This encounter on a sunny warm Dakota day changed my life forever.  Now 50 years later I am so glad it all came out as it has.  I have loved her for 50 years.  We remember this day with fondness.  Our wedding was a few years later, but this is the day we remember.. and will forever.

I wonder what wonderful things the next 50 years will bring?

Thursday, January 24, 2013

"If you're looking for a happy ending and can't seem to find one, maybe it's time to start looking for a new beginning. Brush yourself off and accept that you have to fail from time to time. That's how you learn. The strongest people out there - the ones who laugh the hardest with a genuine smile - are the same people who have fought the toughest battles. They're smiling because they've decided that they're not going to let anything hold them down, they're moving on to a new beginning."

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Due to the anniversary of Roe v Wade, I found a shout out to Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger quite fitting. How bout that libs? One of your heroes was nothing but a big, fat, racist! Looks like the lefties are the real racists after all!
 
Every black or Jewish American who aligns themselves with the racist Democrat party should see this.
 
For a list of documented racist quotes from Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, click the link below.
 
http://blackquillandink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/margaret-sanger-quotes.pdf
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Ok, I'm out...this is a total sham!!! Let's talk about something else because these people clearly don't want to get to the bottom of anything!!!
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I am outraged and stunned in disbelief that whoever came up with this ad would use a smooth black man to deliver a cynical message targeted directly to the community that suffers the most from the genocide directed at it thru the daily legal execution of thousands of children every day because of Roe V Wade. Is there no shame? Is there not a cause? Whoever this actor is should count himself lucky to have escaped the abortionists lethal weapons when he was in his momma's womb. Of course no such community would ever support such a policy by voting for those who do.. Right? Sick

Remember



This is what was released when the President was re elected. It's not good.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

‎:)
:)

Trade Show Life

 I really understand the story that I got from a Business Friend of mine who is also a nurseryman:


The best reasons to go to trade shows. Fun people, great food, nice cities, and good times. Oh, I forgot about the work part, the original reason for being there in the first place. Sometimes that gets in the way.


Often, the hardest part of all is leaving home and getting to the show. By the time you see me calmly sitting in my booth at the show, you have no idea how much "paddling" I had to do just to get there.


Just last week as I departed for my back-to-back shows in OH and NC, is a case in point. By the time I did everything I needed to do before leaving the business for a whole week,

I managed to get to bed 3 hours before time to get up to catch my first flight. As I trudged down the stairs in the pre-dawn darkness with my bulging suitcase and attempted to turn off the light on the lower landing, I somehow misjudged the last step and wound up diving head first to the foyer. All because I was trying NOT to wake up my wife, mind you.

After what sounded (and felt) like a collision with a freight train, I momentarily lay at the foot of the stairs waiting for Pam to scream and rush down to my rescue. It was then that I realized that it must be too early for an emergency in our house.

So I then decided to go to Plan B, which was to determine that I was still alive, pull myself up and continue on my way. I arrived at the airport a little worse for wear but still with plenty of time to spare. I checked my ticket, went to Gate D26 which read Columbus, OH and waited for the boarding call. Which never came.

About 5 minutes before departure, I went to the stand and asked if there was a delay. The answer was no, and upon further investigation it turns out that I had misread my ticket.  Where my bleary eyes had originally seen Gate D26, a  refocusing revealed that the correct Gate was D25. And that plane was gone.

So now, I am 0 for 2 on the day, and the sun was barely up. I will not bore you with further details of everything else that followed this pattern the rest of the day, but suffice it to say that my original plan of arriving in Ohio at 1 PM with plenty of time to set up, go have my wings at Barleys, and watch the playoff games that afternoon (my annual tradition) didn't exactly work out. Instead I arrived at 6 PM, had to beg to get in the exhibit hall to set up after everyone else was done and gone, and then get to Barley's just in time for them to inform me that the playoff games were over and they were out of wings.

But guess what. It was a Great Day! I didn't maim myself, I didn't die in a plane crash, I didn't get terrible news from an oncologist, I didn't lose any friends or loved ones, and when all is said and done, I just had another war story to share with friends. It was a bump in the road, a blip on the screen. And last but not least, there are multitudes of people that would swap their bad day for this one. The next time you think you are having a bad day, take a deep breath and count your blessings.
 
IF we trained our boys and girls the proper use of firearms, safety principles, the principle of "Don't ever point a gun at something you don't plan to kill", we would have safer streets. I fondly remember being taught by caring men to handle a gun well, shoot straight and take care of my weapon. In college the assembly and dis-assembly of the M-1 was part of ROTC. Our gun phobia has made us less safe.

Yes We Can

I guess the deficit, joblessness, crippled foreign policy, the economy and increasing energy costs are all taken care of. The President was clear about what his second term was all about:

“I was surprised by the priorities. The President said, for example, at the close, the priorities of our generation are…equal pay, gay marriage, voting protections, immigration reform, gun control. You know, I’m not sure those are the highest priorities facing America today. I was also surprised by what he said was not going to be a priority…No mention at all of deficits and spending.” Karl Rove

 “we have no spending problem” as we borrow more and more and print money like there is no tomorrow. Will we see an $8 Million loaf of bread? “Yes we can!”

I needed to read this... maybe you do too


For Steven and ME

The REAL Danger

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”

Kill the Constitution

Backwards, march!

Yesterday’s declaration by President Obama, signaling with his inaugural address that he intends to turn America around and march it backwards to the glory days of failed leftism — making of America one gigantic society of beggars

First and foremost is the Orwellian use of his language. Tyranny is freedom. Collectivism is liberty. “Together” is shorthand for government control.

There is a bigger target in left-wing sights now. A much bigger target: The Constitution of the United States.

How specifically will the Constitution be assaulted? And what are the envisioned results?

This time the targets will be the First and Second Amendments… free speech, religious liberty, and the right to bear arms.

Mark Levin has captured the core reason: the eternal leftist drive for utopia. As Obama phrased it yesterday, the drive “to complete our journey”.

And they cannot accomplish this utopia — surprise, surprise — by using the Constitution of the United States. The rights of others — i.e., you — stand in their way. They must be either restricted if not abolished outright.

There is no Orwellian language too far-fetched, no straw man big enough that cannot and will not be pressed into the service of wrecking the Constitution.

When it comes to the survival of the Constitution of the United States, the American Left is going to “go for the throat.”

YOU HAVE TO READ THIS WHOLE THING

40 Pictures That Show The Decline Of American Women

40 Pictures That Show The Decline Of American Women

Sarah Palin Honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Today Americans honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It's been 30 years since President Reagan signed this holiday into law in 1983, followed by its celebration three years later. We continue to look to Dr. King’s teachings which show us that our efforts—though seemingly futile at times—really do matter, that one person’s faith in something greater than self can lift all mankind, and that character alone should be the means whereby a person is measured, rather than the external things on which our society fixates.

This year marks 50 years since Martin Luther King stood before the Lincoln Memorial to proclaim his dream and remind the world that 100 years had passed since President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, 150 years after that historic signing, Americans still stand with both these men, ever committed to the freedoms that they worked to secure. They dedicated their lives for freedom, including freedom from stifling, overbearing governments. We will not squander what their efforts have wrought, we will not take for granted the blood that has been shed, and we will not fail to do our part to help preserve the freedoms that are uniquely American. In Dr. King’s own words, “Let freedom ring!” So, to these freedoms we cling so that future generations may know and love the America that those before us so sacrificially gave.

I encourage you to take time to reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King’s efforts to secure freedom and true equality and what those efforts have added to our lives today.
The Modern Liberal believes in the supremacy of the state, thereby rejecting the principles of the Declaration and the order of the civil society, in whole or part.

For the Modern Liberal, the individual’s imperfection and personal pursuits impede the objective of a utopian state.

In this, Modern Liberalism promotes what French historian Alexis de Tocqueville described as a soft tyranny,4 which becomes increasingly more oppressive, potentially leading to a hard tyranny (some form of totalitarianism).

As the word “liberal” is, in its classical meaning, the opposite of authoritarian, it is more accurate, therefore, to characterize the Modern Liberal as a Statist.

How correct is this rate 1-10....
The Modern Liberal believes in the supremacy of the state, thereby rejecting the principles of the Declaration and the order of the civil society, in whole or part.

For the Modern Liberal, the individual’s imperfection and personal pursuits impede the objective of a utopian state.

In this, Modern Liberalism promotes what French historian Alexis de Tocqueville described as a soft tyranny,4 which becomes increasingly more oppressive, potentially leading to a hard tyranny (some form of totalitarianism).

As the word “liberal” is, in its classical meaning, the opposite of authoritarian, it is more accurate, therefore, to characterize the Modern Liberal as a Statist.

Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mao all likewise thought that the state was the be all and end all of human existence

Spiritually, morally and politically, the second inauguration speech of Barack Hussein Obama is very frightening indeed. Obama is again showing his true colours as a radically secular, radically immoral, and radically leftist social engineer who has declared war on America, the Constitution, and the American people.

This is a great piece about the second term of Obama