Flying or Falling With Style

I don’t know if this is flying or just falling with style…but it looks totally awesome!

(Clicking image will open video in new window)

Just For Fun

(HT: Wretched Radio)

Support Israel

 

Saturday evening (Jan.3),  IDF forces began to implement the second stage of Operation Cast Lead. Ground forces have begun to maneuver within the Gaza Strip.

The IDF Spokesperson wishes to reiterate that the residents of Gaza are not the target of the operation. Those who use civilians, the elderly, women and children as human shields are responsible for any and all injuries to the civilian population. Anyone who hides a terrorist or weapons in his house is considered a terrorist.

Bristol Palin

Gustav may have slammed onto the shores of the U.S. as a Category 3 hurricane but it was nothing compared to the tsunami that accompanied the news of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s oldest daughter on the American political landscape.

Unfortunately for the new child, mother, and father the request of the Palin family to “respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy” and Obama’s statement that “people’s families are off limits” have fallen on deaf ears. The wolves on both the right and the left have smelled red meat and, even now, are fighting among themselves for political advantage. All of them, apparently, oblivious to the fact that this is not a story about John McCain, Barack Obama, or the Presidency but rather about the life of Bristol Palin, her child, and her soon-to-be husband.

Bristol and Levi, like Elizabeth Cameron, choose to walk the better path instead of the easy one. We can but hope that the political pundits this election season will begin to follow their (much more mature) lead and do likewise.

Catching Up

After a prolonged absence from blogging, I’m back. While I was away…

My first grandchild, Caleb, made his world debut on July 5 bringing with him an opportunity for me to read the Scriptures with a new set of eyes:

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.—Proverbs 17:6

…I confess that I’m struggling with the word “aged” a little bit, but that crown part is absolutely right on the mark!

 

A short while later my car broke down, thank God!

 

And then my desktop computer monitor decided to fizzle and die. Even though I have a laptop computer that I could have used, I keep it reserved for work rather than personal use– a policy that even astronauts aught to follow. I am a little bit bummed that I missed hearing about this until it was too late though.

And now you know the rest of the story…

Remembering the Fallen

In remembrance of  all those through whom freedom was gained and through whom freedom continues to be held.

Thank you father and mother, thank you son and daughter, thank you brother and sister; thank you for standing your post.

Day is done, gone the sun, from the hills, from the lake, from the skies.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Go to sleep, peaceful sleep. May the soldier or sailor God keep on the land or the deep, Safe in sleep.

Love, good night, must thou go, when the day and the night need thee so?
All is well. Speedeth all to their rest.

Fades the light; and afar goeth day, and the stars shineth bright, fare thee well; Day has gone, Night is on.

Thanks and praise for our days, ‘neath the sun, ‘neath the stars, ‘neath the sky. As we go, this we know…

God is nigh.

Ben Stein – Expelled – An Audience Review

I rarely read movie reviews and I suspect that most people who write a review of Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed probably could have written it based on their personal bias before ever seeing the movie. This review at Screen Rant seems to be an exception to the rule though and is worth reading.

The thing that most intrigued me about the film was not so much the film itself but the reaction of the audience to movie.

About one-third of the way through, I noticed that everyone in the theater was very and unusually attentive to the movie. Once the movie started no one left their seats until it ended and the usual side talk and other distractions associated with movie-going was noticeably absent. All eyes, as far as I could tell, were completely focused on the documentary.

When the movie ended, their was the briefest pause, during which time no one got up from their seats, and I heard something I have not heard in a movie theater since I was a child — applause.

Spontaneous audience wide applause.

Go see it.

 

Related:

Ben Stein: Expelled

R.C. Sproul Interviews Ben Stein – Expelled

Google Bias Exposed

Quote:

The Christian Institute, a U.K.-based Christian group affiliated with the Church of England, is crying foul with a lawsuit against Google after the popular internet search engine rejected their pro-life advertisements.

The group, which had purchased an “AdWords” advertisement that would bring up information on abortion laws and a link to their homepage every time a user searched for “abortion,” is claiming that Google rejected their advertisements in an act of deliberate discrimination against their views.

According to Google, the company has a policy of rejecting “inappropriate” advertisements that mix religion and abortion.

(Links and emphasis added) Source: netvangelize.news

I checked out Google’s policies and couldn’t locate anything that indicated a policy of rejecting advertisements that mix religion and abortion, appropriate or not. I don’t mean to imply that Google does not have such a policy, just that it is not a policy that they seem to be willing to otherwise make public. I would assume that the policy would also define “inappropriate” in this context, but that’s also something Google seems to have decided to not make public. I don’t mean to imply that Google’s judgement about the inappropriateness of the ad is wrong, just that the decision seems subjective because of their lack of forthrightness.

Google’s admitted policy against mixing religion and abortion, by definition, is a policy of religious censorship. This being the case, adding the word “inappropriate” to their excuse is just a smoke screen (or perhaps red meat for the extreme left wing) and is disingenuous at best. Why Google would not simply and plainly admit to this bias is beyond my comprehension; but I suppose it’s hard to be politically correct (support abortion / oppose religion, especially Christian religion) when you are also engaged in an activity that is definitely not politically correct (censorship).

It’s ironic that the company whose name is a synonymous term for Internet word search is having trouble with their search for words to express their Internet terms.

R.C. Sproul Interviews Ben Stein – Expelled

An intelligent and thoughtful interview from the Ligonier Ministries Blog:

Quote:

“About six weeks ago, Mr. Ben Stein joined Dr. R.C. Sproul for a delightful and stimulating conversation about the current state of free scientific inquiry in academia. We have posted the video below.”

Related: Ben Stein: Expelled

Ben Stein: Expelled

Another off-topic post:

Ben Stein, best known for his monotone “Bueller…Bueller” sound bite in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, as a Presidential speech writer for Presidents Nixon and Ford, and more recently, as a columnist with Yahoo! Finance, is starring in a documentary titled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed that exposes what the film calls the “Darwin Machine”.

In Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Stein – who has also worked as a lawyer, an economist, an author and social commentator – embarks on a journey across the globe to answer the long disputed question “Were we designed or are we simply the end result of an ancient mud puddle struck by lightning?”

The film, slated for a February 2008 release, highlights the  long-standing controversial debate between supporters of Darwinism, which suggests the universe was created by chance, and Intelligent Design, which argues that the creation of life and the universe are results of an intelligent “designer.”

Through interviews with representatives from both sides of the debate, Stein found out that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired in some cases for the fact that they believe there is evidence of “design” in nature, challenging the idea that life is a result of random chance, according to a news release.

“There are people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can’t possibly touch God,” said Stein in the film’s trailer. “Scientists are not even allowed to think thoughts that involve an intelligent creator.”

For example, one biologist who allowed a peer-reviewed research paper describing the evidence for intelligence in the universe to be published in a scientific journal was the target of a smear and intimidation campaign by National Center for Science Education and the Smithsonian Institution, where he was a fellow, to get him expelled from his position. Flagged as egregious, the attack prompted a congressional investigation. (Source)