Day: December 7, 2005

Anything new?

When things get hot, the Global Warming Cultists scream, “Global Warming!”-naturally. And when things are cold? Same old same old… naturally

Heh. I had gotten tons of mail in a church music e-list about this, blogged a short piece, then I saw Freedom Folks had blogged it, too: Churches This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches around the country. Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday

[Santa’s gonna put some coal in some pastors’ stockings fer sure… ]

Oh, for some reason that reminds me: watch out for Christmas Music Gone Bad. Happens every year, but some examples can cause excruciating pain for folks who have good ears. Try this one, if you dare. (mp3 file) I warned you. If you have a stomach of cast iron, plated with stainless steel, click to listen to the mp3 below. But remember: I warned you!

I’ve heard worse, but not by much… well, unless you count popcrap posing as “music”.

Brainless Wonder Commits Suicide by Proxy! *yawn* An example of micro-evolution? A candidate for the Darwin Awards? Rigoberto Alpizar claims to have a bomb in his backpack and tries to run from armed sky marshalls. What did he expect? That they’d throw Nerf ballls at him? A little chlorine in the shallow end of the gene pool, please! Move along, folks. Nothing to see here but a thimbleful of brains, slowly cooling…

TMH’s Bacon Bits: Mainstream Media’s Green-shaded Glasses Who enables the eco-moonbats? Who gives them voice, respect, affirmation? The moonbat-loving, science-ignorant, agenda-driven press, of course.

[“Mainstreeam Media” my bippie. Get it right, dude: Mass Media Podpeople. 😉 ]

The Real Ugly American finds a “Real Ugly Post” on another blog: More Lies From The Left! I do not know if he is an misinformed nitwit or a liar but it has to be one of the two. This morning I visited Blogenlust for the first time. Through a link on Memeorandum to his post Cognitive Dissonance Is Dead….

[Can’t trust someone who’d write for a e-rag called “Blogenlust” anyway. Probably channeling Jimmie Carter’s dead brain. You know, the one he keeps in his peanut. Right next to his nutria hunting trophy.]

Riffing off my Kerry 180 Bonus Post and adding a LOT of good info, Radioactive Liberty notes how Democrats Relive Vietnam The Democrats can’t seem to get past the Vietnam template. Every lesson they learned from those formative years was wrong. They continue to align themselves with the enemies of America, and do so intentionally with the demise of the American way...

[Yep. Today’s Dems are never happier than when they can invoke their victory over the South Vietnamese people.]

(… wanna put one-a these in my stocking?)

Saw this over at The English Guy’s What’s Hot blog and I started drooling over just how cool it is… yeh, a physiological reaction to a too-cool technotoy:

Ion iTTUSB Turntable with USB Record

“…the world’s first USB turntable allowing you to convert your old vinyl collection directly to CD or MP3 with the included recording software. (NO SPECIAL DRIVERS NEEDED) The ION USB turntable includes Audacity software for Mac/PC for recording as well as a trial of Bias Soundsoap 2 for cleaning and restoring vinyl. This turntable also has line level output for connecting to any home stereo with CD or auxiliary (AUX) inputs. This product is compatible with any software that supports USB audio input sound cards.”

I’ve been good. No! Really I have! Santa! Hey, you: fat guy! Where you going?

*sigh*

Why is the move to secularize Christmas entirely out of the public arena going so well for the allies of Islamic jihad (ACLU, the usual suspects among the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade, the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army, et al)?

Because all too many Christians have no faith at all, just a “country club” association with the fashoinable church du jour or a tepid connection to a weak-kneed “traditional values” concept. Witness:

Megachurches cancel services on Christmas

Huh?!? Yep “Churches” (big, successful, ever more secular and image/marketing-conscious Willow Creek prominently featured) are backpedaling on… Christmas.

“This is a consumer mentality at work: ‘Let’s not impose the church on people. Let’s not make church in any way inconvenient,’ ” said David Wells, professor of history and systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Mass. “I think what this does is feed into the individualism that is found throughout American culture, where everyone does their own thing.”

I think perhaps some of these churches have lost sight of some central principles.

“I beg you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And do not conform to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12: 1-2

Or, if reading from their Bibles is too taxing, pperhaps counsel in a book written in the popular vein might help…

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry

Contra to the “conform to the secular world” ideas of “marketing the Gospel” and “targeting and audience” that leads to… canceling a Sunday service because… becuase it’s on Christmas day???-Piper offers this model:

“We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. . . professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness, there is no professional tenderheartedness. There is no professional panting after God.”

Nah. They’d need the video. “Books are too haaaaard.”

Yep. The more Christians-churches-try to emulate pagans, the more the pagans win. “Here, let me put just a drop of poison in that glass of milk. How about another drop? More?”

Crossposted at Cathouse Chat

Shamelessly flogged at Cao’s Blog Mid Week OTB. 🙂

…to Keep the Coffee Coming. Kat has an unusually ecclectic mix of Christmas music (well, unusually ecclectic for anywhere but her place, perhaps 🙂 that will brighten your day.

How about Christmas is a Joyful Day: Lord Executor or Cherry Tree Carol: Judy Collins? Good stuff, Maynard.

Oh, and after you visit Kat’s place for a while, plug this link into your fav media player. My fav classical station is slowly working its way toward the Christmas season, a lil bit at a time.

Lastly (for now, at least :-), while there was only one “Christmas” song—oops! Forgot “In Dulci Jubilo” and I think one other?—in last Saturday’s Celtic Heartbeat, you might as well have the link and listen to some cool music, anyway. 😉

My daily referral to Cathouse Chat’s Daily Advent Meditation. Today, Romeocat meditates on the beautiful Christmas/Advent song, “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”. Listen to it here as you read her meditation.

Kathleen Battle singing “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”. Press the play button to listen.

Or an instrumental version by Joel Mabus:

(Yes, I am playing around with three or so different media players. Eventually I’ll settle on one of them or find a different one I like well enough to standardize on. Eventually.)

Shamelessly flogged at Bloggin’ Outloud.

President Roosevelt’s address December 8, 1941

Text of the address:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt: Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of American was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the secretary of state a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese government also launched as attack against Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Wake Island.

This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implication to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. . .

[From History Matters, a U.S. history survey course on the web offered by George Mason University. The audio and text are from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York and are public record.]

See The MaryHunter’s post at TMH’s Bacon Bits for more references—and more bloglinks— to “A Day That Will Live in Infamy…”

(And yes, I know the correct quote is “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy…” I just bend, in this case, to the common misquote, because it is more euphonious. So sue me.)

“What’s OTA?” you may ask. OK, I said you may ask. Asking, now? ‘K.

OTA is essentially a group of folks who are too lazy (or too busy, have let their blogrolls get too large to read through in a day, etc.) to go out and hunt up all the interesting posts they wanna read and simply “let” suckers do their work for them other folks bring interesting posts to their doorstep. So, go ahead and link to this post, then trackback here. It’ll show up below, I’ll have an easy time finding good stuff to read and then I’ll round ’em up and comment on ’em later.

Meanwhile, let me leave you with this lil politically incorrect thought: evil white man shoved “the first Americans” off “their” land? Poppycock. The “first Americans” weren’t the first. Not even the second. Check this out: for some strange reason, people-NOT of current “native American” stock-were living in California (of all places) at least 135,000 years ago.

Void all those deeds, folks! We need to go out and hunt up these people’s progeny and pay reparations! (Right after we hunt up the folks who supplanted them and have them pay and then the current stock of “native Americans” and have them pay… get in line. It’ll be our turn toward the end. heh)

Shamelessly flogged at Diane’s Stuff, NIF and TMH’s Bacon Bits.