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As critics gain, ALEC gives ground
ALEC is putting 2013 in its rearview mirror.
The American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group of state lawmakers and corporations that, among other things, drafts model legislation, saw an exodus of members and a sharp decline in fundraising after it was tied to controversial "stand your ground laws" like the one made infamous following the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
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ALEC has denied being the source of Florida's law and says it has no model policy today bearing resemblance to it. But the group says its practice of keeping draft bills secret has allowed opponents to pin the organization unfairly to such measures.
( Also on POLITICO: Who will survive? 2014's top primaries)
So now, ALEC's leaders say they are putting in place a key change that will make sure that never happens again. As part of what it calls a move toward more transparency, the group has decided to post online all the "model legislation" it develops so that lawmakers, the public and the press will be able to see exactly where ALEC stands.
"We all acknowledge there were challenges in our past, but challenge oftentimes gives you the opportunity to be introspective and see what you can do differently, what you can do better, how you can better serve your constituents and your community," said Bill Meierling, senior director of communications and public affairs.
It's the draft bills where the group has run into the most trouble. Opponents charge that the model legislation is written in secret, then translated into real bills — sometimes word for word — and passed by lawmakers as if it were their own work and with scant understanding of the implications.
The move toward greater openness comes in the wake of dozens of corporate members pulling out earlier this year after ALEC was drawn into the Martin case. By some estimates, as many as 400 lawmakers and 60 companies, including brand names like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and McDonald's, bolted.
( Also on POLITICO: Ads hit vulnerable Dems on Obamacare)
But critics say the transparency effort is a smokescreen, and they charge that ALEC remains the same corporate-driven "bill mill" designed to push right-wing business interests in statehouses with as little notice as possible.
Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, points out what she says is the root of the problem and which hasn't changed: Corporate members sit on closed-door task forces with lawmakers to develop the model policies. While ALEC says a board of only lawmakers makes the final calls on which bills the organization gets behind, Graves and other critics complain the decision-making takes place in secret and allows corporations to essentially buy influence over the state lawmakers.
"What ALEC does is provide a secretive forum where these corporate lobbyists aren't just asking for a bill and registering in a particular state, it provides a forum where corporate entities vote as equals with our lawmakers on legislation without the press or public present, and I think that's harmful to our democracy," Graves said. "They say it's just a dialogue; it's not. These bills are real; they are introduced sometimes without a comma or period changed. It subverts the American democratic process."
( PHOTOS: Governors' offices up for grabs in 2014)
About one in four state lawmakers nationwide is a member of ALEC, by its own estimate, and the organization has cultivated a strong position as one of the leading conservative influencers of state laws. A recent analysis from the Brookings Institution found that 132 ALEC model policies were introduced in statehouses during the 2011-2012 session, and 9 percent passed. The study compared that with a less than 2 percent passage rate of bills introduced in the 112th U.S. Congress.
ALEC consists of two types of members: "Public members" are state lawmakers, and "private members" are companies, nonprofit groups and think tanks. They work together to advance ALEC's core principles of free-market enterprise, limited government and federalism.
ALEC's leadership predicts that 2014 will be a big year for federalism. While the group eschews the term "states' rights," much of the model legislation it plans to put forward focuses on policies that seek to restore what it sees as a balance between state and federal authority. ALEC's main model bills for next year will target allowing states to propose a federal balanced budget amendment, fighting unfunded federal mandates, and ways to escape what it calls over-regulation from federal agencies, especially in the areas of the environment and education. In previous years, ALEC has been more opaque about its agenda in the states.
Heading into the new year, ALEC is also pushing back on the perception that it is walled off from the public and media.


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Hangover Helper: Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast at Melrose Diner, Philadelphia
Just what the doctor ordered.
Creamed chipped beef on toast, also known as S.O.S. or s**t on a shingle, is a classic Philadelphia delicacy. Made well, it's the perfect fat-on-carb hangover food, soaking up tons of alcohol and then putting you immediately back to sleep. Believe it or not, good S.O.S. is something of a lost art, hard to find even in Philly. (The best versions are out in Amish Country.)
But the creamed chipped beef from Melrose Diner is delicious. It consists of white toast buried underneath smooth, hot white gravy, chock full of meat. The gravy isn't bland or wallpaper-paste thick, which is often the case with inferior S.O.S. With a side of cheese whiz fries and a vanilla milkshake I forgot all about the horrific mix of red wine, craft beer flights, iced tea flavored vodka, and whiskey shots I had ingested the night before.
The pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich is also worth a mention—two perfectly fried eggs on a roll with a few slices of grilled Taylor ham and ridiculous gobs of shiny, melted white American cheese. Does the body good.
Melrose is a historic South Philly dining car that's been through several changes in ownership along with ups and downs in food quality. Word on the street is that it's shifted back to being pretty good in the last year or so, which this meal seemed to confirm.
Melrose Diner
1501 Snyder Avenue, Philadelphia, PA (map) 215-467-6644, open 24 hours
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I am very excited at the prospect of joining the staff of the Henry County Local.
The desire to be a contributing member of a close-knit community and my natural curiosity have happily coincided with an opportunity to report and write for this award-winning newspaper. I look forward to meeting the people who know and love the area and can give me insight into what makes Henry County such a special place. The newspaper staff has already welcomed me warmly.
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Dr. Mark Thistlethwaite, Kay and Velma Kimbell Chair of Art History, Texas Christian University
Explore artworks from the exhibitions Wild Spaces, Open Seasons: Hunting and Fishing in American Art and Caught on Paper and consider the various ways and reasons why artists have depicted Americans in their urban, rural, and wilderness environments.
This free lecture series is offered every Wednesday at 3 p.m. from August 23 to November 29 except during the week of Thanksgiving.
This week's topic: The Spectacle of Americans in the Urban Outdoors


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The Prophetic and Healing Power of Your Words: Creating an Atmosphere for the Miraculous
by Becky Dvorak
Learn More | Meet Becky Dvorak
Chapter 1
Emulate the Living Word
Have you ever wondered how the prophetic realm works? Recently, I was privy to the secret workings of just how this happens. Read the following and gain wisdom from this prophetic encounter.
A visiting pastor at a healing seminar where I ministered in Ocala, Florida, came to me after the teaching session and asked me, "Do you know you have an angel with you?" I told him, "Yes, I know I do and people often see him." This pastor and seer went on to explain what he saw.
He said, "Everywhere you go, he is right behind you. And he carries a book in his hands. While he stands right behind you, he opens this book and reads from its pages. You then repeat what he reads to you." He continues to tell me what he sees, then asks me, "Do you know what he does when you pause for a moment?" I reply, "Tell me, what he does." He says, "He quickly flips through his book and searches for something. And when he finds his next point, he reads it aloud to you, you hear him, and repeat what he narrates to you."
I explain to this man of God that many years ago I surrendered my voice to the Holy Spirit. And in addition to this, I can clearly remember the day, the afternoon in 1980, when I read through the New Testament and read in Matthew 10:19, "Do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak." And I knew the voice of the Lord was speaking to me, revealing a time that I had not yet walked, but was to come, and this time is now.
It's now another meeting, another time, and in another place. I am about to stand and deliver the message from the Lord when I see an angel with a very powerful and shiny sword and he walks and stands where I am to stand. With both hands, he lifts the large and heavy sword of the Spirit above his head and thrusts it into the middle of the pulpit and stands his ground.
Many of God's ministers no longer preach or teach the Word, but we must. We are ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and His words are alive and well. And it is this living word that pierces the hearts of the people. It divides light from darkness. It exposes evil and convicts people, leading them to repentance and right standing with God.
Clever messages cannot redeem them. It cannot save their souls. In and of itself, a message from the pulpit is not meant to redeem. But ministers are created to declare the Word of the Lord with power, and signs and wonders following.
No matter who you are or where God has placed you in the Body of Christ, remember your purpose on this earth is to be about your heavenly Father's business. Work your heart to humbleness, surrender your voice. Allow the Spirit of God to play on the strings of your vocal chords a sweet melody that is well pleasing to the Father, one that woos people into the presence of an eternal relationship with Jehovah God. Use the prophetic and healing power of your words to redeem humankind with complete miracle-working manifestation.
I don't know about you, but I'm ready to enter into the promised land together, not just a few straggling into the boundaries of God's promises, but all of us together.
Word of the Lord
The word of the Lord would say to you, "Tap into the flow of the healing power of the supernatural. Turn on the spigot of the Spirit and drink freely of the Living Water and hydrate the dryness of your soul. Prophesy to your bones, speak life to the dead, recreate worn out body parts, and activate strength and healing through the power of your tongue."
The Prophetic and Healing Power of Your Words
I stand in awe many times over as I witness the prophetic healing power of the Spirit change and rearrange the lives of God's people forever. A simple command of faith, "In Jesus' name, I command this cancerous tumor to shrivel up and die," and by morning the large tumor is gone and a woman's life is dramatically altered. In another meeting, I hear the Holy Spirit whisper in my ear, "Call the people suffering from arthritis to come forward." I do as He instructs, and about one hundred people step forward to the altar. I ask them to hold hands in groups as I lay my hand on one person in each group and release the prophetic healing power with my words, "I renounce arthritis and the demons behind this work." I lead them in a general prayer of repentance, and I touch them and simply speak forth, "Be healed in Jesus' name" and one by one they are delivered and healed.
Two women are standing in the healing line with the same problem, they are unable to produce natural tears. To save time, I stand between the two and stretch forth my hands and touch them both on their shoulders, I verbally release healing with the power of my spoken words, "In Jesus' name, I declare your eyes produce natural tears." And immediately both sets of eyes are healed and from the top to the bottom, the eyes are moistened and tears form.
An elderly woman can barely stand in the healing line as both hip joints are worn down and surgery is already scheduled later that week. I lightly touch her hip joints and I vocally create new ones and tell them, "Now, you function perfectly normal in the name of our Lord Jesus." I look her in the eye and tell her to move, bend over and touch her toes, walk and her hip joints are instantly recreated, healed, and all pain is gone as she effortlessly does what I tell her to do.
Prophetic healing is real, and it is for today.
But the enemy is afraid of the effectiveness of the prophetic healing and speaks lies among the Body of Christ. Some of our brothers and sisters in Christ believe prophetic healers are of the devil and these are occult practices. But I ask you to be reasonable, "Would satan desire for you to be delivered from demons? Would he want you to be healed from cancer and win people to Jesus with the words of your healing testimony? Would he be glad if your next door neighbor regained their sight? Or that your grandfather's deaf ears open so he can hear the Word of God preached again?"
For many years, and still counting, the devil agitates and stirs up the religious spirits among believers and hinders the mighty move of prophetic healing in all areas of life; spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical healing. But even though he may have been able to pull the wool over the eyes of a vast number of Christians for quite some time now, the Spirit of God is on the move, the remnant is on the rise, and the prophetic power of healing is on her tongue. It's time to join the ranks of God's remnant and take hold of the Kingdom of God by force, be about your heavenly Father's business, and win the lost in great numbers. Prophetic healing easily wins souls over to God.
Take the Kingdom of God by Force
- Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John (Matthew 11:11-13 NIV).
The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it (Luke 16:16 NIV).
What is being said here to us in these two Scripture passages is that we have a decision to make, entering into the Kingdom of God is not easy. There is an evil force that works against us and tries to prevent us from entering into the promises of God. But God's people need to be equally forceful in this battle and activate our faith, and even fight the enemy with our supernatural weapons of faith.
With our son's amazing healing testimony—that I share with you in detail in DARE to Believe, chapter 11, pages 175-193—we had to take Marcos' healing by force. The spirit of death was not willing to let go of him. But we activated every weapon of faith given to us, and we raised him from the dead and recreated all his vital organs by prophetic healing power because they too were dead. We had to violently fight the devil head-on; and because we did not back down, we won. And he is alive and well.
Word of the Lord
The Spirit of the Lord would say to you again, "I have heard your longing to move in this gift of healing, and it is for you too. You take this message that I bring before you, devour it, and let your words produce for My glory in these last days."
He Will Not Die, But Live
This is what can happen if you will align yourself with the prophetic and healing power of your words. A new boy in the last stage of HIV/AIDS arrived to our children's home that our ministry established and operates in Guatemala. We were required to redo all of the tests that had been done in the past, because the old paperwork was not sent with him. We were just told the young boy was going to die within two weeks. My husband and I said, "No! He will not die, but live." But when people don't believe in Jesus as the Healer, they lack hope for a miracle and life, and so for them there is only one outcome—death. While Christians have covenant rights with the Father to walk out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death by the redemptive blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And our first step of action to take is with the power of our faith-filled words.
We were required to bring him in for tests, and one was for Tuberculosis in the lungs. In the natural he had all the symptoms, but in the supernatural realm with God, our words supersede the natural and break forth into God's habitat where miracles abound. And this is what we needed. But we would have to contend with satan to make him move out of the way.
While they were prepping this young boy to take a sample from his lungs, the medical staff asked me who I was. And what was my relationship with this young boy. During conversation with the doctor I told him I believed in miracles and have witnessed such in that past and was standing in faith for this boy's healing. This doctor was clearly an unbeliever, and actually started to challenge my faith in a mocking manner. I stood my ground and did not back down from my stance.
I was then asked to step out of the room while they retrieved the sample necessary from his lungs. When the doctor came out he showed me the sample in the bottle and said, "This is classic TB." I replied, "In Jesus' name, no, he doesn't have it." The doctor did not back down from his stance either. He held up the sample and replied, "TB!" I said, "No, in Jesus' name." As he walked out of the room, he again pointed to the bottle and said sternly, "TB!" I responded, not rudely, but firmly and said, "No, he doesn't have it, in Jesus' name."
Your enemy, satan will fight you to the death if you allow him. But you must not let him have his way with you. Don't give him the satisfaction of having the last word. You hold true to your confession no matter what the situation looks like. You overcome with the word of your testimony. When he harasses you with words of death, you firmly respond to him, "No, I will not die, but live and glorify my Father in Heaven."
The boy had numerous tests that day, and we would receive all the results within a few weeks. First of all, the Tuberculosis test came back negative—even though he had all the symptoms of disease and the sample appeared to be classic TB. But, by spoken words of faith in the work of Christ, we brought this disease to its knees and it surrendered to the healing power of Yeshua. And that's not all, they could not find HIV in his body either.
Word of the Lord
The Spirit of the Lord would encourage you this day, "I am the bridge between mediocre Christianity and a lifestyle in the Spirit where dreams come true and visions are seen with the physical eye. Cross over this bridge with Me. Don't be afraid, I will lead you and guide you into all truth in My ways. And those of you who will follow Me will catapult into a higher realm where you and those around you will heal by the prophetic power of your words."
Struggling with this Doctrinal Position that Words have Power?
Perhaps you struggle with this doctrinal position that your words have prophetic power to heal the sick, including yourself. If so, you're not alone, this is my beginning.
Back in the 1970s before I became a born-again Christian, I had never heard of such teaching. Back when I was a teenager, I would occasionally watch the American televangelist, Robert Schuller with my mom. If you recognize the name, you know his message was about the positive power of our words. I was drawn to the brightness of his message, but even then, this feel-good message did not reel me into the Kingdom of God. But it did instill within me hope, and that is the precursor to faith. And it certainly was not what I was accustomed to hearing from the pulpit.
And this is the heart of the problem, there is little teaching from the pulpit to equip God's people in the prophetic power of their words. To teach them to release words of victory in every situation. It's not comfortable for the man or woman of God to teach a message from the pulpit that convicts people to change. After all, people may bring up questions that church leaders are not able to or ready to answer because they personally have not been walking it out for themselves. Or church members may get upset that the pastor is questioning the way they speak or the way they act. Worse yet, they may pack up and move to the gathering down the road.
This passiveness from the pulpit hurts the Body of Christ. Many times lay people speak such negative words over themselves and suffer for their poor choice of words. Ministers, I am reminded of a song from Bob Dylan from 1979, "Gotta Serve Somebody." As people in the fivefold ministry, we have to understand that we have to decide whom we are going to serve. In the ministry we often confuse our purpose—we are to glorify God, not ourselves. And even though we are servants of the Most High, the people receive the benefits of our service; but our service is onto the Lord, not people, and certainly not the spirit of mammon and what it brings to the offering plate, that's service onto the devil himself.
If you have been following my writings, you know that I became bornagain and baptized with the Holy Spirit in May 1979 when I was 18 years of age at Jesus People Church, downtown Minneapolis, on Hennepin Avenue in Minnesota. It was here that I first heard the voice of the Word and the Spirit of God. Even though I was spiritually dead and could not fully understand what was being taught, my spirit was being opened up to truth and God's Spirit was wooing me to enter into His Kingdom. And the moment I surrendered my life to Jesus, my spiritual ears were opened and I could comprehend the Word of God, and I also could readily discern and hear God's voice speaking to me.
Then due to a moral crisis, the church dispersed; but even still, many ministries were birthed out of that movement. And it was from there that my husband and I found ourselves in a little A-frame church called The Church of the Jubilee, under Roger and Marlene Davis. It was here, in the 1980s, where my faith was cultivated in the Word of God by these lovers and teachers of the Word, and I began to grow and mature in the faith. Not only from the teachings of my pastors but from other great teachers of the Word like the late Kenneth E. Hagin. In addition, my husband and I would catch the early Sunday morning telecast with Kenneth and Gloria Copeland before heading out to the Sunday morning service at our local church where we also served.
And on top of that, there was also the late Dr. Richard E. Eby, whom I only heard three times, but he deposited into me such deep things of the Spirit with his life and death testimony. Whether through conferences or books, these people of God captured my heart with their message of faith. They instilled within me a love for the Word. And this biblical teaching catapulted me into the realm of faith like no other. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Every one of these teachers of the Word taught me another element of faith.
It was in the mid-eighties, and the pastors invited a guest speaker by the name of Charles Capps. Once again, I found myself unlearned in this area, but still intrigued with regard to the message of the power of our spoken words. But this time another element was introduced to me, the prophetic power of God's Word spoken. I don't recall if the actual word prophetic was mentioned, but the concept and working of it was being taught.
After the service, the speaker was selling a little booklet of Scriptures on the back table. I picked up a copy and devoured it. I would use the faith Scriptures in this booklet in prayer and witnessed success in the power of the spoken word. Then over the years as my faith grew in the knowledge and revelation of the Word, so did my spiritual ability increase in the arena of the prophetic, especially in the realm of prophetic healing.
If you glean anything from my beginning to learn to live in the power of faith-filled words, I pray that you will see that I had a purpose within my heart to live in the realm of faith that would please God and bring about His glory.
It would be years later, after being on the mission field full time, that the following two men of God would minister volumes of mysteries of the Spirit to me through their writings—Lester Sumrall and Smith Wigglesworth.
I am a strong advocate for the power of the spoken word, and every word that we speak prophesies either life or death. And with the power of this revelation, I see the dead come back to life, incurable diseases healed, tumors disappear, blind eyes see, deaf ears hear, paralytics walk, and unusual and unexplainable miracles manifest. All of this and so much more, because I have learned how to wield the supernatural power of prophetic words that heal.
One of the key objectives of this work is to empower your words to create atmospheres that release supernatural healing to the entire being—spirit, soul (mind and emotions), and into the physical body.
People Are Empowered with the Law of the Spoken Word
God speaks forth in Genesis 1:26, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." Part of His likeness that He equips people with is the power and authority of the spoken word; whether you follow after Him or not, all spoken words have power, no matter who releases them.
God creates the world with the power of His faith-filled words. It's how He works—with words. He releases the power of His prophetic words throughout Genesis 1 and says, "Let there be…" and we know the history of creation, and there was…and He saw that what He creates with His faithfilled words is good.
- Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (Hebrews 11:3 KJV).
His desire is that we emulate Him, mirror or reflect His image, with our words and prophetically create what we have need of. Romans 4:17 teaches us that we are to call those things, which do not exist as though they did. This is speaking of the vocabulary of the prophetic, Holy Spirit's language. And we can learn to emulate Him and speak healing and creative miracles like He does: "A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth..." (Proverbs 12:14 KJV).
The Name It, Claim It Controversy
You may be balking already just reading the title of this section and thinking, Are you one of those name it, claim it believers? First let me say, I agree with you that there has been a lot of abuse and just plain greediness regarding this principle, but that doesn't mean we toss the law of the spoken word out the window. We couldn't change it even if we wanted to, it's His law. He put it into motion, and He's the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). God doesn't change (Malachi 3:6), and His laws remain the same.
What it does mean is that the Church needs to grow up and mature in this area. If we would get back to the basics of our faith, then we would desire what He does, which is to be about our heavenly Father's business and win people to Christ (see Luke 2:49). And even if some never repent of a greedy heart, that still doesn't stop the power of the spoken word. And regardless of what some may or may not do, prophetic healing is real, and it works. There are people all around the world crying out for healing, and God wills for them to have it.
He asks you to pick up your responsibility and open up your mouth and release prophetic healing, not so that you can make your temporal abode more comfy, but to bring increase to His Kingdom for His glory, not yours.
Can I get an amen?
But so that you do know that yes, God does care about your earthly desires as well, I want to share a sweet testimony of how the power of the spoken word works. Trust me, this is good.
Years ago in our children's home, I was talking with the little ones about what they would like for Christmas. After they shared their list of heart's desires, Joaquin, our now adopted, grown son said to me back then, "Mom, I want a merry-go-round." At first I thought, Wow, now that's quite the gift. How are we going to swing this one? But I thought about it again for a moment and said, "Okay, kids. Who wants a merry-go-round?" They all raised their hopeful hands in the air. "Let's pray and you ask Jesus for a merry-go-round. I'll believe with you." And with excitement in their voices they all asked Jesus for this special gift.
As parents, we need to teach our kids about the fun-loving side of Jesus and teach them how to believe right where they are. Hey, many teach them to write a letter to Santa Claus and make believe he listens and rewards their innocent beliefs and good behaviors. I figure how much more should we teach our children to believe in the real thing, Jesus, and teach them how to have faith for things that require big faith.
And yes, for all these little ones the merry-go-round was a big item to trust Jesus for. But we didn't just end it with a prayer of faith, we took it to the next level. For the next few days we gathered together and declared words of faith, "Thank You, Jesus, for a brand-new merry-go-round."
Our fun-loving Jesus so enjoys when His children—young and old and somewhere in between—activate this amazing gift of faith and speak with confidence to Him as if they believe He's real. He actually listens to them and cares about their wants and desires too. That it pleases Him, and He delivers their simple wish.
It wasn't but a few days later when I received an email from a family in Guatemala saying they would like to give a special gift to the children in our children's home for Christmas. And asking if I have a suggestion. Of course, I suggested a merry-go-round and they loved the idea, agreed to it, and then contracted someone to construct one and deliver it in time for Christmas.
But God doesn't just supply our wants, He actually places specific desires in our hearts. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Our fun-loving Jesus desires to exceed our wish list with His goodness toward us. "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us" (Ephesians 3:20).
And do you know what sweet Jesus does next?
A few days later, I received another email from a Sunday school class in the United States that wanted to do something extra special for the children—like build them a playground. Our God is so real, so good and it well pleases Him when we emulate Him and trust in His absolute goodness toward us.
So I ask you, is this just a bunch of blab it and grab it nonsense? Or is this evil of us to claim a blessing from our heavenly Father? Do the children learn a great lesson in faith that will lead them into a relationship of trust with a real God who truly listens? Does this request, that some say is selfish and earthly, lead them into a greater level of faith? Yes, it does. How about these little ones laying hands on the sick and watching the people be healed? This is right where the power of the spoken word leads children.
And if you are still critical about claiming a blessing from God, perhaps you should humble yourself like these children do and pray and thank Jesus for a merry-go-round. You might be pleasantly surprised. And I hope you have room in your backyard for one!
- In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16 NIV).
Return to Childlike Faith
Oh, if only God's people would humble themselves and return to childlike faith, believe every word He says, and not doubt His ways, what glory would shine from the Church today. Ponder upon a nursing baby. This child does not doubt or question Mom if she is able to give milk or not, or if she is willing to give milk. This faith-filled child without question readily receives what he or she needs. This is what childlike faith is like. It is the most powerful faith there is. It truly believes all the promises and receives all of the benefits that God has for them, because they do not doubt, but believe without question, so they easily enter into the Kingdom of God.
I find it sad that one day this nursing infant will be taught not to trust and will struggle to believe. It is the sins of the tongue such as lying, manipulation, and broken promises that are mainly responsible. You have to be taught not to trust, not to believe.
But His Spirit invites you to return to Him, trust His ways, do not doubt in your heart, believe Him, and readily receive all that He has for you.
While I was ministering to a woman, I saw the most loving vision I had ever seen before. In this vision, the woman seeking supernatural healing converted into an all-trusting, infant child. Jesus Himself picked her up, looked at her with such tender mercy, brought the infant up to His chest, and held her tight in the security and safety of His loving arms. I knew at that moment this woman believed and received her healing by faith.
The Spirit of Prophecy
The definition of "prophecy" according to Strong's G4394 is:
- a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events. It is used in the New Testament of the utterance of Old Testament prophets, of the prediction of events relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions pertaining to it, the spirit of prophecy, the divine mind, to which the prophetic faculty is due. And the endowment and speech of the Christian teachers called prophets. And the gifts and utterances of these prophets, esp. of the predictions of the works of which, set apart to teach the gospel, will accomplish for the kingdom of Christ.
To take on the spirit of prophecy is to accept Jesus at His word: "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). He is the prophetic word confirmed, "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19). While on earth, Jesus was well aware of who empowered Him and what His earthly assignment was. While in the synagogue, He was handed a scroll with Isaiah's writings, and He confidently read the following prophecy of Himself from Isaiah 61:
- "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19).
The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus to proclaim the truth with authority and to confirm His message of the Kingdom with signs and wonders, and the same Spirit strengthens us to emulate the work of Jesus on this earth: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Will you take Jesus at His Word and accept the spirit of prophecy?
Jesus Emulates the Father
- Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19).
According to Hebrews 1:3, Jesus is the express image of the Father, and He upholds all things by the word of His power. He emulates His Dad. Whatever He says, Jesus says. What the Father does, He does. Jesus is not in competition and does not work independent of the Father. This proves the unity between Jesus and the Father and that they are one. And they do not work against one another, but with each other. And this is what we are to do as well. We are to do what Jesus does on this earth. We are to emulate Jesus as Jesus does the Father: "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).
- God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they (Hebrews 1:1-4).
We are to live out our faith, trust, and belief in the Father, just as Jesus did. The Father didn't just send His Son Jesus to sacrifice His life for a dozen men, but for all. And for all Jesus came to show how to live by this faith on the earth in the Father and His Word.
To start His earthly assignment, Jesus first called and showed twelve men by example how to live to be free from a religious spirit and to have a real, authentic relationship with the Father. And how to activate extraordinary faith for the benefit of others. Then He sent out a group of seventy by twos. "After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go" (Luke 10:1).
And then Jesus reached out to the individual—us—and commissioned the true believer to emulate Him on this earth:
- And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover (Mark 16:17-18).
Four Steps to Emulate Jesus
- First and foremost, you must be able to identify with Him. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). In order to identify with Jesus, you need to align yourself with Him as Savior.
- After you can identify with Him, activate His authority. "Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases" (Luke 9:1). As a disciple of Christ, you have been gifted with His authority.
- You speak like He speaks, full of the authority of faith. "And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matthew 7:28-29). Learn and say what He says and the way He speaks it.
- Then you do what He does, live out faith-filled words. "...Whatever He says to you, do it" (John 2:5). You have to live your life according to His faith language.
How Does Jesus Release the Power of His Words?
If we are to emulate Jesus, the Living Word, then it would be a wise idea to study how He releases and utilizes the power of His words in the Scriptures. According to Luke 2:40, He grows in wisdom and grace. This word "wisdom" in Greek is sophia, meaning both worldly and spiritual intelligence and basically pertaining to every matter of life (Strong's G4678). And the Greek word for "grace" is charis, the manner or act of graciousness, especially the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life (Strong's G5485).
Jesus releases and utilizes the power of His words with the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22, 4:14, 18-19). This anointing is to consecrate Jesus for the Messianic office and to furnish Him with the necessary powers for its administration (Strong's G5548: chrio).
Some Activities Jesus Can Do with the Power of His Words
With creativity, He creates the world we now live in (Genesis 1:1; John 9:6-7). He overcomes satan's temptations in the wilderness by quoting the authority of the Scriptures (Luke 4:1-13). He exercises authority over storms (Mark 4:35-41), demons (Luke 4:35-36), sickness (Luke 4:39), death (Luke 7:11-17, 8:40-56; John 11), and even to a lack of provision (Luke 5:4-6).
How Does Jesus Administer the Word of God?
Jesus teaches with authority and wisdom in the synagogues (Luke 4:15,32) and to the crowds (Luke 5:3). He teaches with parables (Matthew 13:24-50), preaches Kingdom principles (Luke 6:20-23), and demonstrates His Words with power (John 6:1-14).
How Does Jesus Deal with His Word?
With faith, Jesus heals sickness and incurable diseases. The Book of Luke is written by the hand of a physician named Luke, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, and is an excellent source for healing examples. Wherever He goes He heals the sick individual or ministers healing to the multitudes. He often ministers healing directly to the person or He sends His healing Word into the airways and the person is healed (Psalm 107:20; Luke 7:1-10).
How Does Jesus Minister with His Words Under Persecution?
We read throughout the Gospels how Jesus—while in the midst of illegal trials, false charges, cursings, insults, spittings, beatings, whippings, spikes hammering through His hands and feet, betrayal and abandonment by His disciples, and crowds demanding His immediate death—He holds His tongue, doesn't lash out, and keeps His emotions and tongue under submission. And at the end, He calls out to the Father, "Forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34).
How Does Jesus Pray?
He takes the time and builds Himself up in prayer alone with the Father (Mark 1:35; Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12, 22:41-44). He sets the example and teaches the crowd how they should pray to the Father as well:
- Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:9-13).
And even now, while He sits at the right hand of the Father, He utilizes the power of His words and intercedes for us (Romans 8:34).
How Does Jesus Use Prophetic Gifts?
Jesus operated in the prophetic gifts while He walked the earth for thirty-three years. With the woman at the well, He revealed her hidden secrets through a word of knowledge, something that is happening in the present tense in John 4:17-18: "The woman answered and said, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You have well said, "I have no husband," for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.'"
With a word of wisdom, Jesus tells His disciples part of a future event, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men" (Luke 9:44). It is not the total word, does not disclose all details, but gives part of the word to them.
Jesus utilizes the simple gift of prophecy, which is to edify and build up the Church and there is no future telling in this gift: "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
And with His words He prophesies of future events to His disciples and tells them of the signs of the Last Days in Matthew 24.
When Jesus speaks, it is with a purpose. Sometimes He doesn't speak at all; but when He does, it cuts to the heart of the matter and His words of truth set people free in spirit, soul, and in the physical body. This is the beauty of the power of the prophetic.
The Reason We Can Release Prophetic Healing Power
While teaching at a healing seminar, the Lord revealed to me what was happening during the initial whippings that Jesus received at the whipping post. First of all, those beginning whips are softening the tough fibers of His flesh, like someone prepares a tough piece of meat. This whipping breaks down a physically strong body that is sustained by the power of faith, so that His body can soak in and marinate in the sickness and disease of all humanity.
But before His body can saturate this consequence of our perverseness and sin, He has to first give a verbal consent before the slaughtering process can begin. And He does this in the Garden of Gethsemane when He cries out, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). And because of these consenting spoken words, we can now release the power of prophetic healing. This is a great gift He gives to us and even a greater responsibility to uphold the Covenant of the Blood. Will we value His precious blood and prophetically speak forth healing?
The Hosea 4:6 Litmus Test
Time and time again there are certain Scriptures that the Lord continues to bring to my attention, to reveal to me my heart in a matter. Hosea 4:6 is one of these Scriptures: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...."
In today's world, many of the hearts of God's people have waxed cold, and they have become stiff-necked and rebellious toward Him. Some remain unteachable, others will not spend a little effort to change the way in which they speak, and there's always a few who don't believe they have a problem to begin with—these are the ones who fail the test.
But then there are those whose hearts are pliable, teachable, and workable. And these are the ones who will move to the next level with the Spirit of God and release great moves of the Spirit around them. Will you be one of the pliable, teachable, and workable people who can launch into prophetic healing?
The Hosea 4:6 litmus test consists of two questions. To help identify where your heart is in the matter of the prophetic and healing power of your words, ask yourself these two straight-forward questions and answer honestly:
- Have I been speaking harmful words over myself and others because I truly did not understand the power behind them?
- Or am I a rebellious child and I rebel against God's challenge to change?
Like in the second part of Hosea 4:6: "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."
Ouch! That hurts. Right? But what hurts more? The consequences of pain and suffering because we have been ignorantly speaking wrong words over ourselves? Or that we suffer because we refuse to change our negative ways? Or worse yet, our leaders do not care enough about us to rebuke our rebellion and lead us into the paths of righteousness?
Let's pray: "Father God, forgive me because I did not understand the harm my negative words have been producing in my physical body or in the lives of those around me. Holy Spirit, take me down this journey of the prophetic and healing power of my words. I desire to be pliable, teachable, and workable to learn from You. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen."
Take Action and Listen to Yourself
It's time to take action and listen to yourself speak. And when you hear a negative word or a faithless statement slip out of your mouth, retract its power from producing. How do you do this? Retract it from existence. Say aloud, "In Jesus' name, I renounce that faithless statement." And ask God to forgive you for saying something filled with doubt and unbelief.
And if you really want to learn, write the negative phrase down in a notebook. Then take a few moments and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to restate that comment so that it produces godly results in your physical body or situation. He wills to teach you. You just have to have a teachable spirit.
If we would only learn how to hold our tongues and use our words wisely, we would save ourselves from a whole lot of trouble. And this is the topic of the next chapter.
Personal Word Checkup
Am I willing to take the Kingdom of God by force if necessary? Do I struggle with this doctrinal position that our words have power? Am I able to readily receive my need from the Lord? Do I need to repent and return to childlike faith? Do I accept the spirit of prophecy in my life? Will I wield the power of my tongue to heal and protect my faith in God so that it is not rendered useless? Have I taken the four steps necessary to emulate Jesus? Will I emulate Yeshua, the Living Word, and in His likeness release prophetic healing by the power of my spoken words? Am I willing to take action and listen to the words I speak?
Group Discussion
What is one word or phrase that I caught slip out of my mouth this past week that I asked the Lord to forgive me for and to show me how to reword it so that it would release prophetic healing instead of negative results? How did He teach me to rephrase it?
Questions for Chapter 1—Emulate the Living Word
- The remnant is rising, and what's on her tongue?
- What is the enemy afraid of when it comes to the prophetic healing that he speaks lies about it among the Body of Christ?
- With what does God create the world?
- The language of the prophetic healing belongs to whom?
- What is the most powerful type of faith?
- What do we accept when we take on the spirit of prophecy?
- What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane that we can now release the power of prophetic healing?
- What should you do if you say something filled with doubt and unbelief?
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Successfully Working with Recruiters - Do's and Don'ts Tanya Fogg | added on Mar 17, 2011 | United States Looking for a job is a full‐time job in itself. In addition to searching online and exhausting your professional network, recruiters can be your valuable partners in finding that next job.
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Orlando's asphalt traffic jams, the gone-wild grind of Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and the revolting perfection of the South Beach hard bodies have become legendary stereotypes. Add to the mix a slew of beach-side cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and you've pretty much seen it all.
So, last winter, for my most recent and approximately 21st visit to Florida, I chose the uncharted (for me, at least) territory of Amelia Island.
The choice was prompted in equal parts by word-of-mouth and an Internet search, so after landing at the Jacksonville airport, we found ourselves on a shuttle bus bound for a 13-mile barrier island off the northeast corner of the state that's noted for green landscapes, excellent shrimp and quiet.
You won't find theme parks or sizzling nightlife on the island, which was named after King George II's daughter. But our primary goal was to escape single-digit temperatures of the Northeast and see green again. It's not that we don't love the spider plant in our living room, but by midwinter, we needed more.
Our home away from home was Amelia Island Plantation, a 1,100-acre complex bordered by the Atlantic shoreline and a seemingly endless canopy of oak and magnolia trees, tropical plants and marshlands.
Plantation is the operative word, since founder and developer George Fraser commissioned an ecological land-use study when he acquired the property in 1971. It resulted in Fraser's standard for development on the plantation: Any future buildings would have to be constructed so as not to disrupt the beauty and function of the natural environment.
Fraser was truly a visionary, "green" before his time. Because of his mission, houses and condos seem airbrushed into the natural pattern of centuries-old live oak trees, tidal marshes, oceanfront dunes and grassy savannas. It's no surprise the plantation has been named an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System.
It was refreshing, indeed, to unwind at a resort that hadn't been groomed into the equivalent of a botanical crewcut. Outside our hotel room, sand dunes sprawled in their natural states, inhabited by nesting birds, thick vines, waving sea grass and, in its center (mornings only), a burrowing armadillo.
Much of our time was spent strolling and biking the paved trails through the woods (there are 7-1/2 miles of biking and walking paths). Our walks weren't motivated by loyalty to cardio as much as to scenery too alluring to pass up. With a mural of green saw palmettos on our left and the saline breezes from the Atlantic on our right, it felt like Monet's Giverny had suddenly sprung up on the beach.
And it's probably a good thing we spent so much time on foot, because the plantation has a half-dozen restaurants from which to choose, and we did our fair share of dining al fresco on ice-filled buckets of just-caught shrimp.
There's also a shopping district with clothing boutiques, gift stores and gourmet shops. For those encumbered with packages from retail sprees, there are shuttle buses that circle the plantation, as well as Island Hoppers (a spiffed-up version of a golf cart) available for rent.
For the go-getter, there's kayaking in the marshlands, 23 clay tennis courts (sheltered beneath a canopy of oak trees), and four award-winning 18-hole golf courses. And aficionados will appreciate the fact that major tournaments are held regularly at the resort, including the Bausch and Lomb Women's Tennis Tournament and the Guinness and Golf Tournament.
While my companion was riveted to the driving range (for hour upon hour), I chose to focus my attention on the Amelia Island Spa. And what cold-blooded woman from the North wouldn't opt for a hot stone massage followed by herbal tea in the gardens?
Afterward, I was so unknotted and relaxed, it was all I could do to wander into the nearby nature center, a mini-zoo filled with turtles, lizards and birds, all of which are rescued animals in varying stages of being rehabilitated.
In front of the nature center is a small lake for those inclined to feed the colony of snapping turtles that live there (turtle food is available for 25 cents a handful). It may sound mundane, but staring into the mossy water to watch the stillness of a turtle's face come into focus became a meditative joy.
Amelia Island is also home to the historic small town of Fernandina Beach. A bit reluctantly, we decided to venture off the plantation to explore the town's cafes, antique shops, souvenir stores, beach-side restaurants and the pelicans that love them.
On weekends, there's a farmers market with midwinter produce from neighboring Georgia, just-out-of-the-fryer crab cakes and a fiddle band. To the naked eye, it was an idyllic Florida scene that bordered on bucolic. But our senses had been awakened at the plantation, and it was beckoning us back.
All too soon, we'd be squeezed into a crowded jet bound for slush boots and winter gloves. We ran for the next shuttle bus and asked the driver to let us off at the turtle pond.


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Structured, corroded, dentedm dulled metal - the Boss finishing is very distinctive, recalling the anti-slip finishes of stage construction materials and the flight cases used to transport musical instruments, and is for use with a revolutionary new style. Aggressive and uncompromising. Homes and entertainment venues acquire a strong character, impress and make a strong statement about those who choose them.
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"Bite For Your Right" Wunderkammer Shark JawFrom the contamination of fashion and design with a touch of rock and roll, metal and punk comes Wunderkammer, a collection of gorgeous eclectic rarities in gold and silver coloured metal. Monsters and oddities that tell a crystallized and unique story. Objects to be collected in an environment which create small universes of their own and invent new functions. They can be exhibited together as an evocative composition, or alone, to impress character in any corner of the home.Measurements: cm.31 x 22 h.11 / 12.2" x 8.7" h. 4.3"
Porcelain Dinner Plates "Cosmic Diner: TITAN" Measurements: Ø cm 26/10.2", Height cm 3/1.2"Material: PorcelainDiesel and Seletti collaborate to create home collections that bring together each company's style. Cosmic Diner was born out of this collaboration. It's a visionary and imaginative dinner set inspired by the universe: the plates represent the nine planets of the solar system; the vases, centrepieces and coffee cups have a cratered texture; the candle holders are rockets ready to lift off; and the salt and pepper grinders are ballistic too.


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I've not a lot of time and lots to talk about, so let's dive right in.
- Padres sign Jon Garland. I'm reserving reaction until I have a chance to look more closely at his statistics. Garland has bounced around since leaving the White Sox after the 2007 season. I remember he was on my AL-only rotisserie league team in 2007, threw a lot of innings, didn't strike out a lot of guys, and usually kept his team in the game - except for those starts (seemingly all after the All-Star break) when he didn't have it and he got HAMMERED.
He is a pitch to contact guy, so working in spacious Petco Park will no doubt help him.
- Gonzalez Sports Academy Opens. You may have heard about this on XX1090 over the last day or so. I took the family to see it. First, it's just off Otay Lakes in the same old warehouse that holds the Chula Vista YMCA Gymnastics equipment and classes. Lots of fake green grass, 4 batting cages, free weights, two blue lanes for sprint workouts I suppose, and 3 volleyball courts (the net height was set to the women's height when we were there today). I have no pictures because I forgot my camera, and wasn't smart enough to ask my wife to use her iPhone. Spending all your brain power keeping little kids entertained will do that do you.
I liked the look of the Academy. I especially liked the volleyball court set-up and the synthetic floor they laid down for those courts. I've played on that stuff before, and it's great - not hard on your knees, and not hard on your elbows if you need to dive for a ball.
Plus, I got to shake Edgar Gonzalez' hand and wish him well in Japan. Edgar is slightly shorter than I, and I'm physically a bigger man than him. So for him to use his gifts and make the majors, well, my respect for him went up today. Not to mention that in person he's a good-looking dude, better looking than one would expect from watching the Padres on Channel 4.
(wife: "OOH, he's CUTE!" Me: "Who?" (sees Edgar) "You know, I gotta give you that one.")
Adrian was there, too, and looked exactly like he does on TV, despite not wearing a Padres uniform. I didn't get a chance to say hello. Also in attendance: Adrian and Edgar's dad. He is a big man. He must have been a stud as a younger man.
- Podcast. The inaugural Padres Trail Podcast will be tomorrow night at 2200. We'll discuss the Garland and Stairs signings, plus various topics from around the diamond. Here's a link to the show, feel free to chat or dial in (347) 637-2949 to talk to me. The show should run about 30 minutes. I'll be running a Podcast every Thursday at 10pm local time, except next week when the show will be on Wednesday night.
- Ted Williams Chapter SABR Meeting. Saturday is SABR day in America, and all the SABR chapters are meeting to talk a little baseball. San Diego's chapter is named the Ted Williams Chapter, since Teddy Ballgame is from here, and will be meeting at 0930 in the 4th floor auditorium at Petco Park. You can see the complete agenda here, but highlighting the discussion will be Josh Stein, Padres Director for Baseball Operations.
- San Diego Padres Open House. I will be attending the Open House tomorrow night from 1800-2000 at Petco Park. Padres CEO Jeff Moorad, 'Padres Players' (not released yet who exactly they will be), President/COO Tom Garfinkel, and new Padres GM Jed Hoyer are scheduled to attend. We will discuss this event during the podcast tomorrow. I expect it to be packed, so I doubt I'll have a chance to tell Mr. Hoyer why I'm the best candidate for the 'Director of Coffee Supplies for the Baseball Operations Department' job, but it should be fun regardless.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Lots of Things To Discuss
Labels: Miscellaneous, Podcast
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- 4 Beds
- 3 Full
- 2,853 +/- Sqft
Property TypeResidential – Single Family
SubdivisionChatfield Corners
Listing Date02/02/19
Year Built2002
AreaCotton Ranch and Chatfield Corners
Lot Size0.24 Acres (10,454 SqFt)
Parking2 Car Garage
Property Description
Living is easy in this 4 bedroom home backing to the neighborhood pond. The open floor plan encompasses 3 bedrooms with plenty of room for study, sleep and storage, the upgraded kitchen and dining areas are nice for family gatherings. The expansive living room features a gas fireplace and vaulted ceilings.The main level master suite looks out to the patio and pond. You will enjoy the finished basement with a guest suite and a spacious family room and plenty of storage areas. Close to schools!
Presented By
- Lake
- Mountains
- South Facing
- Hiking/Pedestrian Trail
- See Remarks
- Air Conditioning
- Cable Available
- Fireplace - Gas
- Patio
- Vaulted Ceilings
- City Sewer
- City Water
- Electricity Avail.
- Natural Gas Avail.
- Trash Pickup
- Baseboard
- Natural Gas
- Radiant
- Zoned AC
- Dryer
- Washer
Financial Information
About Gypsum
Located west of Eagle, not far from Glenwood Canyon and the airport, as well as a convenient drive along I-70 to the up valley resorts, Gypsum offers opportunities for the first time home buyer and outdoor enthusiast. Enjoy town festivities at the Lundgren Ampitheater and a variety of recreational pursuits at the impressive Gypsum Rec Center. Horse properties, ranches, golf course homes and modest houses mix in this authentic Western town, all with mountain views.
Area Market Data
0.00 Acre
3 Beds 2.5 Baths
5 Beds 4.5 Baths
3 Beds 2.5 Baths
3 Beds 2.5 Baths
4 Beds 3 Baths
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Listing courtesy of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices - Gypsum


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Computer Science ColloquiumIm Rahmen des Informatik-Kolloquiums, das von den Instituten des Fachbereichs Informatik, der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Informatik (ÖGI), der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Datenverarbeitung (ADV) sowie der Österreichischen Computergesellschaft (OCG) abgehalten wird, spricht
Florian Sattler
University of Passauüber das Thema:
Analysing the Performance Evolution of Run-Time Configurable SystemsZeit: Wed 23.1.2019, 10:00, 60 Minuten
Ort: Informatikgebäude, S3 218
ZusammenfassungWith the high number of configuration options available, finding an optimal configuration of a highly configurable system for a certain task is nearly impossible and even finding a good one is difficult. Often the impact a configuration option has on performance is not clear and even less known are the different performance interactions between configuration options. Furthermore, software systems change over time. An optimal performing configuration today could become an underperforming one tomorrow.
To improve our understanding of how highly configurable software systems evolve and to tackle this particular problem, we have been developing Variability-aware Region Analyzer (VaRA). VaRA uses control-flow and data-flow analyses to find regions in code that relate to run-time configuration options. It is built on the LLVM compiler infrastructure and can be used automatically during the compilation of a program. The identified configuration-dependent regions then get instrumented with measurement code to generate performance data that are linked to configuration options (i.e., their influence on performance). By executing a specific benchmark or test suite with a binary modified by VaRA, we can build a fine-grained performance model. Generating these models continuously for all revisions allows us to monitor performance changes over time.
VortragenderFlorian Sattler is a PhD student at the Chair of Software Engineering at the University of Passau, Germany. His research interests include performance analysis, software evolution, and compiler technologies. Florian's work is supported by the German Research Foundation within the project Pervolution. In his spare time, he likes to program and hack on compilers like LLVM and V8.
Einladender: Dr. Manuel Rigger, Institut für Systemsoftware
Liste aller Vorträge


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Digitized Archival Material
Elizabeth Harris Johnson Memoir, 1867-1923
Elizabeth Johnson Harris was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1867 to parents who had been slaves. Her 85 page handwritten memoir provides glimpses of her early childhood, of race relations, of her own ambivalence about her place as an African-American in society and of the importance of religion and education in her life. This online collection includes full text of her memoirs as well as several of her poems and vignettes that were published in various newspapers during her lifetime.
Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson: Slave Letters from the Campbell Family Papers
Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson were house slaves at Montcalm, the family home of David and Mary Campbell, located in Abingdon, Virginia. During the years David Campbell served as Governor of Virginia (1847-1850), he and his family moved into the Governor's mansion in Richmond, taking several of their slaves with them but leaving Hannah and Lethe to care for the homestead. These letters were written by Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson to their mistresses and other slave family members during this time period. The letters provide a rare firsthand glimpse into the lives of slaves and the relationships they had with their owners.
Violet Lester Letter
Slave letters are very rare documents. This letter from Vilet Lester is one of less than a dozen such letters we have been able to identify among the vast amount of plantation records held at the Rubenstein Library. In this particular case, Vilet's letter stands alone with virtually no other documents - no slave lists, work records, or owner's letters - to give us further information about her. Although many of the facts of Vilet Lester's life may be elusive, she still gives us a rare and precious view into slave life through this letter.


text: According to old lore the Rob Roy Tartan was rebranded as Buffalo Check by a designer in Pennsylvania. We don't know if this is true, but either way, this background stamp will give your projects a rustic, homey feel.Our clear-mount stamps * Are made of the same premium rubber as our wood-mount stamps.* Have deeply etched images so you get a superior stamped impression each time. * Are precut so you don't have to trim.* Are repositionable; temporarily mount them on clear blocks for stamping, then remove them for storage.* Save space—you need only one set of blocks for all your clear-mount stamps (blocks sold separately). * Come packaged in cases with images on the spine for easy storage and quick reference.Quantity: 1 rubber stampSuggested clear blocks (sold separately): f


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SAN FRANCISCO – It was suggested to Mathias Kiwanuka on Sunday in the postgame locker room at Candlestick Park that the Giants had just given the NFL a "subtle reminder" who the defending Super Bowl champions are.
The "reminder" was a 26-3 beatdown of the San Francisco 49ers, one of the leading vote-getters for best team in the NFL through the first quarter of the season.
"I mean, I don't think it was that subtle," the Giants' defensive end/linebacker said with a smirk. "It's fun. It's part of the game. They can talk and say everything they want, but at the end of the day, you've got to line up on Sunday and prove it."
There was nothing subtle about this game. Especially not the chirping leading up to it, beginning with Victor Cruz and Carlos Rogers' trading comments about Cruz's salsa dance, continuing with Tom Coughlin playing the nobody-is-picking-us card, picking up steam with Kevin Gilbride and Jim Harbaugh firing shots from either coast late in the week about how Justin Smith "gets away with murder" (i.e. holding) and culminating in some standard on-field chatter (the 49ers' Ahmad Brooks' telling Giants tackle David Diehl he's "goofy-looking") and big hits on Sunday.
BOX SCORE: Giants 26, 49ers 3
As Kiwanuka noted, there was nothing subtle about the way the Giants won this game, defended their crown and put themselves back in the conversation about who is going to capture it again this season.
More in a bit about how that really doesn't matter much at this point. But for now, we'll allow a little more about the crown stuff.
"The coaches always let us know we aren't the king of the NFL; the Giants are," said Rogers, who watched Cruz salsa in the end zone after he beat him for a touchdown in the second quarter that erased the 49ers' 3-0 lead and began a run of 26 consecutive points by the Giants. "They won the title last year, and they are still the team to beat until somebody else wins the Super Bowl."
For whatever reason, the Giants felt a lot of people weren't adhering to that philosophy this past week.
Coughlin, in a move a bit out of character for him, cited the lack of pundits picking the Giants. Somewhere, Ann Mara was surely watching Fox's Terry Bradshaw pick the 49ers during the pregame show – it was Mrs. Mara who famously interrupted Bradshaw's postgame interviews here after January's NFC Championship Game to tell Bradshaw she'd noted he never picks her late husband's team.
Four Lombardi Trophies and whatnot, this franchise still has a complex about these things. Not that they put anything to rest with Sunday's victory – one of 16 games on their schedule and one that has both teams' records at 4-2.
"As big as everybody around us is going to make this win, it's not that big when you think about it. You have a lot of football to play," said Justin Tuck, who threw a much-needed splash of cold water on any October overreactions. "We're in the same situation they were in last (November) when they beat us out here. We can't allow this to mean more than just a win."
What it can mean is knowing they played from ahead and kept their feet on the 49ers' throats. Instead of making this another one of their standard close victories, as they had against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns in recent weeks, the Giants jumped to an early lead and expanded it.
PHOTOS: The many faces of Tom Coughlin
The key sequence was the start of the third quarter, when rookie David Wilson returned the opening kickoff of the second half 66 yards. Seven plays later, Ahmad Bradshaw was in the end zone. It was one of 116 yards for Bradshaw, who is only the second running back to break the 100-yard mark on the 49ers in the last 44 games.
Defensively, the Giants were even more impressive. Antrel Rolle had interceptions on San Fransciso's next two drives after Bradshaw's touchdown. The Niners, after putting up 79 points the previous two weeks combined, were held to a field goal Sunday.
Alex Smith's final line (19-for-31 for 200 yards, three interceptions, sacked four times) said it all.
"I could tell at times, we had him a little rattled," Rolle, who made an excellent one-handed play on his first interception after he thought he'd overrun it.
Rolle heard Bradshaw tell him from the sideline Smith was eyeing him up before his second interception.
"Well, if he's watching me, I'm going to sugar him a little bit," said Rolle, who had his third multi-interception of his career and first with the Giants. "I acted like I was playing the deep third and came down to play the hook."
Rolle also told cornerback Prince Amukamara a play the Niners had hit for touchdowns against the Giants last season would come his way Sunday. After Amukamara botched it in practice, Rolle wanted him to be ready.
Amukamara was. He peeled off one receiver to stay in his zone up the deep left side of the field for an interception.


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|MLBPA Press Release
When: Wednesday, June 9, starting at 3 p.m. ET
Where: Citi Field's main media interview room
Who: New York Mets players Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur and Jose Reyes; MLBPA & Modell's Executives
The jerseys, T-shirts and caps designed by the Mets players as part of the Major League Baseball Players Associations Players Choice Signature Series will go on sale for the first time that day at New York Metro-area Modells locations, at the Players Clubhouse retail store at Citi Field during that evenings Mets game and online at MLB.com. The players produced the products during a two-month design and manufacturing process with the MLBPA and its apparel licensees, VF/Majestic (jerseys & T-shirts) and Twins/Banner 47 (caps).
Players from the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins also designed caps, T-shirts and jerseys as part of the Signature Series program. The Yankees unveiled their designs on Wednesday, June 2, the Phillies on June 4, and the Twins will do so on Thursday, June 10.
The Major League Baseball Players Association (www.MLBPLAYERS.com) is the collective bargaining representative for all professional baseball players of the 30 Major League Baseball teams and serves as the exclusive group licensing agent for commercial and licensing activities involving active Major League baseball players. On behalf of its members, it operates the Players Choice licensing program and the Players Choice Awards, which benefit the needy through the Major League Baseball Players Trust, a charitable foundation established and run entirely by Major League baseball players.
Media contact:
Greg Bouris, Major League Baseball Players Association, (212) 826-0808 or firstname.lastname@example.com


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India's passion for gold is putting such a strain on state finances that the government may slap higher import taxes on the precious metal, but demand buoyed by heady inflation and meagre savings will blunt the impact of any rise in duties.
Initial success from a tax hike in March last year was stifled by the arrival of major festivals such as Diwali, when gold is a must-give present, and the winter wedding season. That has scuppered New Delhi's goal of reining in spending on gold by around a third to $38 billion in the fiscal year that ends in March, prompting Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to say another tax increase could be on the cards.
But market participants say that would do little to dull gold's luster for most Indians, especially with bullion prices heading north. And the finance ministry would ideally like imports to be around $30 billion, an economic adviser there has told Reuters, with industry experts dismissing this as little more than wishful thinking. India is challenged only by China in its appetite for gold, and with nearly all demand covered by imports, the country's purchases are a major factor in global prices.
The latest figures show the volume of imports jumped 48 percent in July-September from the quarter before and were only 8 percent down on 2011. "It is the disease that needs to be cured rather than the symptom," said Munish Dayal, a partner at Baring Private Equity Partners India Limited.
With inflation above 7 percent and India's central bank keeping key rates at 8 percent, it's no wonder that a 13 percent rise in domestic gold prices in 2012 looked attractive to so many. Add to that a near total lack of banking facilities in rural areas, where about 69 percent of the 1.2 billion population lives, and it's easy to see why Indians would rather invest in bangles than bonds.
India wants to reduce gold's share of its import bill from 11.5 percent -- the second-highest outlay after oil. The petroleum bill, while inflated by subsidies, is largely unavoidable for such a huge economy that imports 80 percent of its oil needs and is growing around 5.5 percent a year, but the government sees money tied up in gold as dead investment.
(Watch Now: Diwali & Gold)
Portable Dowry
Jewellers Gitanjali, which bills itself as a $2.5 billion multinational and features Bollywood movie stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor in its adverts, writes off the duty hike, which a senior finance ministry official said could be to 5 or 6 percent on standard gold bars from 4 percent now. "A duty hike of 1 to 2 percent won't make any difference ... It won't impact our sales at all," said the firm's head, Mehul Choksi.
And entrenched traditions will ensure gold's appeal remains strong. The winter wedding season is in full swing and parents will snap up gold to shower their daughters, to show off their wealth and give her the traditional portable dowry as she moves into her husband's house.
"We will have to buy gold for weddings despite duty hikes as we have to stick to the customs followed by our great-grandfathers," said 52-year old Ramesh Madhani, eyeing jewellery in Mumbai's chaotic Zaveri Bazaar, India's biggest gold market. The threat of more expensive imports has sent buyers into a frenzy, with traders estimating 40-50 tonnes of gold could have been imported in the first week or so of January -- nearly a month's worth in just a few days.
(Read More: What Are Gold Bugs Afraid Of? )
That is despite near record-high domestic prices above 30,000 rupees ($540) per 10 grams. The spurt could be nipped by a duty hike, but demand should bounce back, particularly with spot gold currently around $1,670 an ounce after gaining 6 percent in 2012, its 12th straight year of gains and one of the longest bull runs ever in a commodity. Akshaya Tritiya, one of the biggest festivals for giving gold, will spice up buying further in early May.
Squirreling, Smuggling
The fundamentals supporting demand have helped spur Indians to squirrel away 20,000 tonnes - about three times the holdings of the U.S. Federal Reserve -- in jewelry, bars and coins.
Only a tiny fraction of this has been tempted out by high prices and hiked import duties to be recycled, which can mean anything from turning grandma's lobe-lengthening earrings into fashionable nose rings or trading in "imitation" coins often used as a kind of gold gift voucher.
Attempts by the government and the Reserve Bank of India to encourage use of alternative investments such as gold bonds, deposit schemes and gold-based funds have gained little traction. Hoisting the import duty on gold also has the side-effect of increasing smuggling, which government officials say has grown three-fold since the tax was last raised.
But Chidambaram may have few other politically palatable options to handle the record current account deficit - which hit 5.4 percent of gross domestic product in the September quarter - ahead of an election likely in 2014.


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The Navajo Nation Council Chamber, located in Window Rock, Arizona, is the single-most significant building in the United States symbolizing the New Deal revolution in federal Indian policy. It was designed and built to stand in declaration of economic and cultural self-determination as afforded to American Indians by John Collier's Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The act sought to replace old policies of detribalization, severalty and assimilation with new policies that advocated the reconstitution of tribal organization, the restoration of a tribal land base and the promotion of traditional Indian culture.
In its design and decoration, the Council Chamber was to assert recognition of the unique Navajo cultural contribution to mainstream America, as well as to stimulate pride among Navajos in their own heritage. It was the centerpiece of an ambitious Public Works Administration (PWA) construction program aimed at improving the quality of life on Indian reservations across the country. In both form and function, it was the most remarkable of the Indian New Deal buildings.
With its rusticated red sandstone façade and overall "rustic" architectural style, the chamber was designed to harmonize with its spectacular natural surroundings. Built from 1934 to 1935, the chamber's octagon shape and structural framework are meant to evoke a monumental hogan, the traditional building form of the Navajo people. Additionally, the building incorporates the Navajo ceremonial features of an east-facing main entrance and a windowless north wall. A mural cycle depicting "The History and Progress of the Navajo Nation" by Navajo artist Gerald Nailor decorates the interior.
By combining "modern inventions for comfort with ancient fundamental solidarities," as the Office of Indian Affairs proclaimed on the eve of the building's construction in 1934, the Council Chamber was to stand as "a tangible symbol of modern Indian tribal self-government." Today it is the spiritual home of the Navajo political process, embodying the development, growth, and maturity of the Navajo government since it first began using the building in 1936. The Council Chamber is the only legislative headquarters in the United States owned by a American Indian tribe which has been continuously in use by that tribe and whose design incorporates indigenous materials and architectural traditions tied to the Navajo heritage. The Navajo Nation Council Chamber was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 16, 2004.
Navajo Nation Council Chamber | Saint Joseph of the Lake Church and Cemetery


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David Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards has produced some renowned Pinot Noirs from his sprawling Sonoma Coast estate. They're very good. And very expensive. But the estate also makes a second label called "The Bohan-Dillon," which is much more affordable. About one-third of the fruit comes from Hirsch Vineyards, mostly younger vines, and the remainder from neighboring estates. The Bohan-Dillon is made exactly the same way as Hirsch Vineyards' higher-priced Pinots.
The 2010 is selling for about $28 if you can still find it; the 2011 is a little more expensive. Both are graceful examples of Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, with a soft, silky texture, a backbone of acidity coupled with a tangy minerality and slow-ripened fruit that tastes of plums and dark cherries. Ready to drink now (or cellar for a couple years), the Bohan-Dillon is brilliant with a simple roast chicken, grilled lamb chops, roasted root vegetables or a Chinese chicken salad.
Region: Sonoma coast
Price: $28 to $38
Style: Elegant and balanced
What it goes with: Roast chicken, lamb chops, Chinese chicken salad
Where to find it: K&L Wine Merchants in Hollywood, (323) 464-9463, https://www.klwines.com; the Wine House in West Los Angeles, (310) 479-3731, https://www.winehouse.com; Woodland Hills Wine Co. in Woodland Hills, (818) 222-1111, https://www.whwc.com; and other fine wine shops.


text:
Health warning on new round of fungal infections
(AP)—Tennessee health officials are once again alerting patients who received tainted steroid shots after finding that some have infections at the injection site that could lead to fungal meningitis.
Tennessee Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner said Thursday that since Thanksgiving, officials have identified 22 new cases of these localized infections and one case of meningitis without such an infection.
Dreyzehner said the infections are under the skin, so patients do not see them. Symptoms include increased pain at the injection site, numbness and possible loss of bowel and bladder control.
Tennessee has identified 75 of these infections. In all, 107 Tennessee patients have developed either meningitis or local infections or both. Nationally, at least 560 people have been sickened and 36 have died in the outbreak. Thirteen deaths were in Tennessee.
Explore further
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help. However, this does not apply to the step for enabling and disabling service management. Enabling and disabling service management must be done at the command line when starting and stopping Directory Server.
For more information about dsadm subcommands and options used below, see dsadm(1M).
To start, stop, or restart Directory Server, do one of the following:
To start the server, type:
$ dsadm start instance-path
For example, to start a server with the instance path /local/dsInst, use this command:
$ dsadm start /local/dsInst
If the start operation fails after a configuration change, use the --safe option as shown in the following command:
$ dsadm start --safe /local/dsInst
To stop the server, type:
$ dsadm stop [--force] instance-path
For example:
$ dsadm stop --force /local/dsInst
To restart the server, type:
$ dsadm restart instance-path
For example:
$ dsadm restart /local/dsInst


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This week, Papa Kenn reviews the blockbuster sequel that no one asked for: MEN IN BLACK 3!
"Men in Black 3"
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writers: Etan Cohen and Lowell Cunningham
Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Alice Eve, and Josh Brolin
Review Transcript:
On the list of movie franchises that needed another installment, Men in Black was somewhere between Rocky and Old Yeller in the category of "Completely Unnecessary/WHYYYYYYY!?". Well MiB got the sequel treatment yet again this summer, 15 years after the first and only good movie in the series up to now. So does this movie justify its existence as an unnecessary third installment?
No. No it doesn't. Does that mean it's a bad movie though? Eh…I'd say that MiB3 is resoundingly OK. But therein lies the problem, it never goes beyond OK.
The original was a fun and campy surprise for us all when it hit the scene back in '97 and treated us to an off-the-wall alien adventure that was mature enough to not be a kid's movie, but also funny and silly enough to be more than appropriate for most age groups. Tommy Lee Jones was the straight-laced adult figure that kept everything on track and under control; Will Smith brought the humor and style to the show (in other words, he made it look good).
Then MiB 2 came out. It did well at first but money stopped coming in once everyone realized it was crap. It brought Kay back into the fold (no spoiler alerts if the movie was released a decade ago), but was otherwise completely unnecessary.
And now MiB 3 is out. It's easily more solid than part 2, but falls desperately short of capturing the spirit of the original and maintains MiB2's identity crisis of not knowing whether to pander more to the teenager/adult crowd or the "kids too young to be watching this" crowd. No longer having the benefit of being "the sequel" to a hit movie after MiB2 left so many fans jaded, they went all out with the budget and reportedly spent between $250-375 million. Given, the movie was plagued with delays and issues from the start, but I'd love to know where all that money was spent.
Maybe they spent all that money on the 3D, which was completely wasted and one of my primary gripes. If you're going to use 3D in a movie with an intended audience ages 13 and up, don't throw cheap 3D tricks in our face to try and justify the extra millions of dollars you spent trying to make your film look cool. It insults the intelligence of everyone that paid the extra fee for those stupid glasses, and just looks ridiculous when watching the same scenes in 2D. How do I know? I watched the movie in 2D and could point out every-freaking-time the movie was using those 3D tricks that would barely impress a 5 year old!
The budget and unnecessary 3D aside, there are three things that do help make this a movie worth watching:
1) Will Smith as Jay. It's a character that Smith has owned since his first scene of the first movie, and he hasn't relented at all. Though the humor may feel a bit dated at times, he's still the same headstrong character we've come to know and love.
2) Josh Brolin is perfectly cast in the role of Young Kay. Both visually and audibly, he embodies the role of Kay as we came to know and love him in the first two movies.
3) An unexpected and very interesting plot point in the 3rd act. No further information on that because of spoilers, except that it leads into another gripe…
They don't expand on that plot point at all! They literally take that game-changing moment and use it to wrap up the rest of the story in an overly simplistic end scene that honestly left me feeling hollow. Hollow, as if I had spent the last hour and 46 minutes being retrofit for the next Arquillian Ambassador (if you don't get that reference, just stop the video and go watch the first MiB).
Another gripe is that Tommy Lee Jones is just too old for this. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for the man, and he has the uncanny ability to make [ALMOST] any movie better by simply being in it. But he is showing his age in MiB3 in the worst way, and it broke my heart to think that the MiB super agent of 1997 now looks like a man well into his retirement years.
Then finally, one of the most infuriating things about this movie is a particular character that I can't name without giving away major spoilers. Basically, when the character was first introduced, I liked him because he was quirky and more than a little weird. But after that first impression, recurrent appearances irked me, though I wasn't sure why at the time. Well, until my good friend Kyle Moody pointed out that the character was nothing more than a living, breathing plot device! He even participated in one of the most annoyingly unnecessary end-scenes that has ever graced the big screen. Yes, even worse than the end of The Mist, though equally depressing because it probably cost an extra million to finance the special effects.
So do I recommend Men in Black 3? No. Why? Ray Hargeaves of 2PStart.com put it best in a tweet when he said, "[the] action was weak, special effects were mediocre, and the comedy was too simple/obvious." In other words: It's a big fat, expensively made bucket of AVERAGE with no reason to exist, and looks like it's flying at your face if you paid the extra fee to wear those stupid glasses.
Sure, you can go see it if you're bored and want to see a movie this summer since you're allergic to sunlight and waiting for Prometheus and Batman to come out. Then again, you could spend your money on a good movie and go see The Avengers. Again.
I give Men in Black 3… 5 / 10.
I'm Papa Kenn, and seriously…just go see The Avengers.


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1.02 Ct Round Cut Solid 14K White Gold Diamond Stud Earrings (Free Shipping)
1.02 Ct Round Cut Solid 14K White Gold Diamond Stud Earrings (Free Shipping)
|Total Gem Weight:
|1.02 ctw
|1st Gem:
|2.04 ctw Round Diamond (x mm)
|14K White Gold
|Product Length:
|10 mm
|Earring Back Finding:
|Post With Friction Back
|Setting Type:
|4 Prong
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China Corruption Blotter (June 7, 2013)
Ni Fake, former vice governor of Anhui Province, has been placed under investigation. Before being sacked in January this year, Ni was in charge of land, housing, and urban construction in the province. Ni reportedly granted mining permission and cash rewards to Dachang Mineral Group in exchange for bribes. http://www.globaltimes.cn