text:
GEOS 2004 - Evolution of the Earth System
Course URL: http://www.ou.edu/mcee.html
Course Type:
Earth Systems Science
Course Size:
Overview of Planet Earth from a systems perspective. Draws on knowledge from all geosciences to explore interconnections and co-evolution of the solid earth, atmosphere, oceans, and living things. Evolution of Earth's climate over geologic time including the hydrologic cycle, carbon cycle, and "greenhouse effect". Role living things play in the global environment. Extensive use of numerical models to explore structure and response of the Earth system.
Course Context:
This introductory course has no prerequisites, but certain background knowledge is assumed:
- Ability to access the course web site.
- Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
- Ability to understand fractions and ratios.
- An understanding of scientific notation.
- Ability to carry out metric - English unit conversions.
- Ability to read simple charts, graphs, and maps.
- A working knowledge of world geography.
Course Goals:
Students will develop:
- An informed view of the past, present, and likely future behavior of the Earth System,
- A basic understanding about how and why there is continuous change in the Earth System, and
- An aesthetic appreciation of phenomena that occur in, on, and around Planet Earth.
The learning objectives of the course are for students to:
- know key facts about the main components of the Earth System and its bounding space environment.
- understand the meaning of scientific thought in an Earth System context.
- be able to use simple numerical models of the planetary system and its major sub-systems to explore the evolution of the Earth System over time.
Course Content:
The central theme of this course is Numerical Modeling of the Continuously Evolving Earth System. THe class discusses the concepts of systems and their terminology along with the interconnections and interactions of the different components of the Earth System through this lens.
Teaching Materials:
In striving for a "paperless course" built around the World Wide Web, almost all the course materials can be found posted on the course web site. There is no required textbook. A recommended text that covers much of the material in the couse is:
- Smil, Vaclav, 1997: Cycles of Life: Civilization and the biosphere. Scientific American Library, distributed by W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, New York. 221 pp. ISBN 0-7167-5079-1.
The following texts are recommended to broaden understanding of the Earth System:
Broecker, Wallace S., 1985: How to Build a Habitable Planet. Eldigio Press, LDGO Box#2, Palisades, New York 10964.
- Lovelock, James E., 1991: Healing Gaia - Practical Medicine for the Planet, Harmony Books, New York. 192 pp.
- Weiner, Jonathan, 1986: Planet Earth. Bantam, New York. 370 pp.
- Westbroek, Peter, 1992: Life as a Geological Force, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York. 240 pp.
Examinations (2) - 350 points
In-class Quizzes (5-10) - 100 points
Laboratories (15) - ? points
Term Modeling Project - 350 points
In-class Quizzes (5-10) - 100 points
Laboratories (15) - ? points
Term Modeling Project - 350 points
References and Notes:
The course URL referenced above is for all of the Earth Systems Science Education course offereings at the University of Oklahoma (these pages are presented in frames on the site). Course pages for GEOS 2004 - Evolution of the Earth Systems are available under the Course Offerings link.


text:
This week does provide an opportunity for me to have a little continuity with you all and I really cherish that, just kind of dropping in to do a chapel isn't nearly as helpful either to me, perhaps, or to you, as getting into a little bit of a flow. So that means I have to kind of pick a theme. And as I was thinking about what I might address this week in our chapels together, I just kind of asked myself the question, "What's the most important thing that I could address? What's the most important issue that's going to face us as we live out our Christian lives in this world?" given that we know the Lord Jesus Christ, given that we understand the theology of justification and sanctification and all of that. What do we really need to know?
And I thought that this is an educational institution, this is all about learning, this is all about gaining knowledge, a body of knowledge so that you are truly an educated person. But more than that, knowledge is only valuable if it becomes the driving compelling force in the choices that you make. It really is the height of folly to have a lot of knowledge and then make bad choices. So in the end, knowledge should lead to wisdom, particularly if knowledge encompasses the truth of God's Word, that should make a major contribution to the wisdom that you exhibit in the choices you make in life. And your life will be the byproduct of your choices. I mean, you'll go through life, you'll make choices. Making the right choices is critical, it's crucial. Making the wrong choice is obviously as critical in a negative sense.
Some of you are sort of sitting on the fence of a choice about whether to come back next semester or not. Obviously we would like to tell you what the wise choice is and that is to finish what you started, to believe that if God brought you here would have to be a compelling direction from God to lead you away. But life will become a series of choices.
What are the criteria for you to make the choices you need to make to assure that in the end you can look back over your life and be grateful for all the blessing of God that you've enjoyed. I want to help you with that a little bit.
Another way to approach the subject would be to ask the question, "What is the greatest need? People ask me this all the time, "What is the greatest need in the church today? What is the most compelling need? What do you see as the biggest problem in Christianity? The biggest problem in the church?
It's simple for me to answer that. The biggest problem in the church today is the absence of discernment. It's a lack of discernment. It's the biggest problem with Christian people, they make bad choices. They accept the wrong thing. They accept the wrong theology. The are prone to the wrong teaching. They're unwise in who they follow, what they listen to and what they read.
I'll tell you a funny story that will set us on our course here to talk about discernment. It was a number of years ago, my son, Mark, who graduated from the college was signed to play baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals. And he said, "I don't know where they're going to assign me but would you bring me my car? Wherever I'm going to be I'm going to need my car, would you bring it to me?" And I thought, you know, Palm Springs, Arizona will be great. They assigned him to Savannah, Georgia and he had this little Honda that I was going to have to drive from here to Savannah, Georgia. But what's a father going to do? I said, "Sure, I'll bring you your car and I'll have it there when the season begins and you get there from Spring Training."
So I jumped in this little Honda and off I went, shifting my way through the five speeds. I finally arrived in Arkansas...I like Arkansas, I really do. And there was a pastor, I think it was a Sunday and I visited a church and the pastor said, "You're John MacArthur, I'd like to take you Bass fishing." And I said, "You know, I'm not a good fisherman, I'm sort of fisherman's round up, taking me fishing and everything dies, you just spray me on the fish and I don't do well." So we... "No, no, we'll catch a lot of bass." So he took me out bass fishing, we caught absolutely nothing after about five hours.
I got back in my car, by then it was just raining like crazy and I was back on my way to Savannah and I was putting along the country road going up and down these hills. I saw a little sign, one of those handmade wooden signs with the word "quilts" on it. And I thought, well I'm gone for a week doing this, maybe I could pick up a quilt for Patricia, she'd appreciate that. And she likes quilts and probably they're handmade and it would be kind of neat. So I took off this dirt road where the little arrow pointed "quilts" and I drove through the rain and the mud and I came to this shack, really just a shack with one of those flapping screen doors. And I jumped up on the porch in the rain and it was really dark inside and smoke-filled. And I kind of looked, like, you know, is there anybody here? And then I said, "Hello." And this voice from the inside comes back and says, "What do yeu want?" I said, "I wanna a quilt."
Well she came to the door, this lady with a few teeth. Fortunately they met which helps when you're eating, but she led me in and I walked in the door and I knew I was in for a bad situation and I said, "Well I saw the sign about the quilts and I just wondered if I could see some quilts." And then I looked to my left and I saw this man sitting in this huge overstuffed cheap recliner, all worn. And I don't know, he had been in there for years, I mean, he just was in there. And to his left were stacked all kinds of magazines and newspapers and to his right were videos and he had two TVs and two video machines. I mean, he might as well have been a statue. And he said, "My name's Johnny." He said, I said, "Well Johnny, you've got a lot of literature here." And I looked over and he had books by James Dobson and he had books by the Unity Fellowship, Unitarianism, he had Mormon stuff, he had Christian Science magazines. He had the Worldwide Church of God literature. He had Moody Press stuff. He had all kinds of stuff in this assortment. And I said, "You know, you have quite a mix of things here."
And I'll never forget what he said. He said, "Theres good in all of it...theres good in all of it." That is a lack of discernment, isn't it?
Then, all of a sudden, his wife says to me. "I have just the quilt for you." And she ran in the back, she said, "I made it myself." She ran in the back, she came out with the ugliest quilt you have ever seen. It was absolutely non-descript. It was no particular color or pattern. And I...you know, it's like when somebody shows you their homely baby, what are you going to say? That's...that is a baby.
So I didn't know what to say to this lady and so I said, "That is a quilt." She said, "I made it myself." And I had to think fast so I said, "Well, you know, it's just not the color I was looking for. And she said, "Well, it's got ever color in it." And I said, "No, I don't think I'd want that." And I thanked them and I left and I went out and I realized that she had quilted her husband's theology into that quilt, sort of metaphorically. That quilt was like a metaphor for her husband's eclectic theology. It was a whole bunch of nothing all sewn together that made no sense.
That's a little incident that sticks...by the way, I bought my wife a quilt somewhere else in Arkansas, it worked out fine, a blue one, you know, just blue. But I realized as I think back, it was like a sort of a symbolic experience, no discernment, no discrimination theologically and she had no discrimination in terms of beauty.
You know, so many people's lives are like that. They're just ugly quilts that make no sense, that have no rhyme or reason, just the bits and pieces of life all sewn together without any particular pattern. Indiscriminate.
I'm afraid that is pretty typical of the contemporary evangelical scene. There is a lack of precision in thinking, there's a lack of consistency, there's a lack of integrity. It's just a hodgepodge, listening to anybody and everybody, reading anything, making no particular judgments. In fact, to make a judgment may be seen as unchristian. Boundless, endless credulity, anything and everything except there's got to be good in all of it, how dare you question anybody's view on anything. And I really believe that because of this pervasive attitude, evangelical Christianity, biblical Christianity as we know it is fighting for its life. Amazing to think about.
But by the grace and intervention of God, the biblical Christianity that you and I know could go out of existence if left in the hands of the general evangelical consensus. So it seems to me that if any problem outstrips the other problems in the church. And if any problem outstrips the other problems in an individual Christian's life, this growing lack of spiritual discrimination is, in my judgment, the main issue. This is...this is really what is the death knell to biblical Christianity, bad decisions, faulty reasoning, superficial understanding, shallow knowledge, ignorance are contributing and always have contributed more anguish to the church than any persecution. I would rather the church be persecuted. I would rather Christians shed their blood than abandon their theology. I would rather see Christians crucified upside down than to have them let go of the truth of God in a constant environment of compromise. In fact, there's no question historically that the lack of discernment, discrimination, precision regarding the truth has cost the church far more than all the persecutions of the church combined. You show me a persecuted church and I'll show you a church that clings to tenacity to the truth. You show me an affluent, flourishing, comfortable church and I'll show you a church that easily abandons the truth.
Persecution has taken its toll on lives but it strengthens the church because it strengthens our grip on the truth. So I want to talk about this issue of discernment. And I'm not just talking sort of historically, although we'll look at that a little bit, I want to get it down eventually as we go through the week to our own practical lives.
Now just in general, if you look at the literature of the Bible really from the beginning to the end, the Lord makes it very clear that there are two things sort of available to us in the world. One is the truth of God and the other is the lie of the enemy. So we live in a world where truth and lies are in constant conflict. And you get that all the way back in the book of Genesis where Satan comes to Eve and he says to Eve, "Did God really say this?" He's causing her to question what God said. And then he says, "You shall not surely die," which is to say God lied to you, God said you'd die, I'm telling you, you won't. And therein is the conflict framed up in its simplicity. God says one thing and Satan says another. So you have two systems working in the world, the truth and the lie.
Does it matter whether you sort that out? Does it matter whether you come to the truth or not? It does matter. It matters for your own life and it matters for the honor and the glory of God's truth and it matters for all the people that you influence that you influence them with the truth.
So, Scripture is filled with warnings about liars. God hates liars. God hates those who tell lies. God cannot lie, the Bible says. He always speaks the truth. He is truth. Satan is a liar. He is the father of lies. They all sort of generate out of his spiritual mind set. We then have to be able to discern between the truth and the lie with regard to everything that God has revealed to us. We are warned in Scripture about ear-tickling teachers who just want to give the feel-good message to us no matter whether it's truth or not. We're warned about doctrines of demons, demonic lies, destructive heresies, myths, perverse teachings, commandments of men rather than God. We're warned about speculations that lofty ideas raised up against the knowledge of God. We're warned about deceitful spirits. We're warned about worldly fables. We're warned about false knowledge, empty philosophy, science falsely so-called, traditions of men, worldly wisdom, corrupters and adulterers of the Word of God. We're warned about all of that. We're warned about the wolves in sheep's clothing who come along to devour us. They come as if they are prophets, they turn out to be destructive agents of Satan. I mean, we have these warnings all over the place in the New Testament. They're also everywhere in the Old Testament.
And to put it simply, there is a world of chaos and confusion out there and Satan is very adept and very clever and very powerful and very systematic in the structure of evil that is wrapped up in the system in which we live. Against that is pitted the truth of God. We have to be able to discern the difference.
If you understand the warnings of the Bible and you understand how critical it is that you know the truth, that you have discernment. You cannot be gullible. You cannot be sucked off into error without dishonoring God. God is truth. He is revealed truth. He loves truth. He has given you the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth. He's given you His Word which is truth. How terrible it is to think you might drift into lies. But people do it all the time, even people who sit in churches under very often weak teaching.
Let me give you an illustration of what we might be talking about. Turn to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16, just a simple illustration comes in the first four verses here. The Pharisees and the Sadducees who never could get together on anything except their mutual hatred of Jesus, they hated each other and they wouldn't cooperate but they hated Jesus worse so they agreed to cooperate in assaulting Him. So they came up to Him and the reason they couldn't get along was the Pharisees were the hard-line fundamentalists and the Sadducees were the religious liberals and naturally the fundamentalists and the liberals don't get along well, but they did agree to assault Jesus.So, they came up as they often did, in testing Him, asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning there will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening. Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky but cannot discern the signs of the times?"
What Jesus said to them was interesting. He said, "You're religious authorities, you're the religious elite and frankly, your primitive way of telling the weather is better than your spiritual discernment." That's what He's saying. Shocking. You have a very limited knowledge of weather.But as simple and primitive as that is and not necessarily accurate, it's better than your theology. You cannot discern the signs of the times. What He means by that is you can't discern spiritual issues. You don't even know you're addressing the Messiah of God. You don't even understand that the Kingdom of heaven has come to you, you're unsophisticated weathermen but you're better at that than you are at your theology.
And so, this is the issue that I want to talk about a little bit, the ability to distinguish between the false and the true which is essential and possible for you as a Christian in order that you might make the right decision. Two passages that sort of set the frame for us. Go to the end of 2 Corinthians, for a moment, chapter 11...chapter 11. I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness, verse 1 of 2 Corinthians 11, and Paul obviously had a lot of problems with the Corinthian church. Repeatedly they failed to fulfill his hopes and desires for them, falling into all kinds of sinful patterns as well as believing false teachers. And here was his concern. Verse 2, "I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I am betrothed to you like a husband." In other words, I have a relationship with you that's like a marriage and it's really a marriage not between myself and you but between you and Christ and I want to present you to Christ some day, you know, when you enter into His presence as a pure virgin. So I have this godly jealousy. I have linked you to Christ and I want to keep you pure until the time you meet Him. But I'm afraid, verse 3 says, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray.
That's what he was afraid of. He was afraid that their minds would be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Verse 4, "If someone comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, different than the Holy Spirit, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully." You tolerate it...another Christ, another gospel, another spirit and you don't have a problem with it. You lack discernment.
"My great fear, my great fear is this, that you will be led astray." I can tell you as a pastor, I can tell you as a president, that's a great fear that I have for you. It's happened with people who have gone through t he college and graduated and been led astray into some false teaching that dishonors God, some lies. And then it boils down too to the decisions you make day in and day out that effect the course of your life, manifesting discernment at that level is critical as well.
Now, I want to take you to the main passage that we're going to be dealing with 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. Now this is a very important passage of Scripture. It's one of those really great summary passages in which the Apostle Paul pulls together like what you would call bullet points, basics of Christian living. Verse 16, "Rejoice always," verse 17, "Pray without ceasing," verse 18, "In everything give thanks," verse 19, "Don't quench the Spirit."
And then comes verse 20, 21 and 22, and that's where we want to focus. "Do not despise prophetic utterances." That would be revelation from God. Do not despise God's revelation through spokesmen who speak for Him. But examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil."
Now this is virtually a call to discernment...a call to discernment. Let's go back and just kind of take the text apart. Verse 20, "Do not despise, do not downgrade," that's what that Greek word means. Do not make light of. Do not belittle. Do not treat as trivial or insignificant prophetic utterances, propheteos. What is propheteos? It is the gift of interpreting the divine will. It is the gift of interpreting divine purpose. It is the skill for the public proclaiming of God's Word.
What he's saying is, do not despise preaching, do not despise the presentation of the divine will.
Don't belittle preaching. We could say a few things about that in a day when preaching is often belittled. But he says don't belittle preaching, don't treat it lightly or trivially, don't downgrade it, though many people do that today. But while you're hearing preaching and while you're elevating propheteos, the gift of interpreting and proclaiming the divine will, do this, examine everything carefully. That's what that word means. Examine is dokimazo, very important Greek word. Very familiar word, by the way, to the students of the New Testament with language, used very often to refer to something that is tested, something that is tested very carefully so as to reveal its genuineness. Something that is subjected to scrutiny, analysis, sometimes it's used of testing metals to determine the degree of their purity. Test everything you hear. Be like the noble Bereans, he is saying, search the Scripture to determine whether these things in fact are so.
If you have had the opportunity to come to the Master's College and to be trained here, taught here, and go out of here, you ought to be a front-line person in terms of assaying what you hear, what other hear. You ought to be on the front line of discernment. You ought to be useful in the dokimazo process. Test everything to determine what's true. And, he says, what you find is good, cling to it, hold on to it.
On the other hand, verse 22, "Whatever comes across as evil, whatever its schema, whatever its form, the word abstain means to push it away from you. You have to be able to make that distinction. Precision is everything. Discernment is everything. I mean, if you were to go to the medical doctor and you are having severe headaches, debilitating headaches, you went to the doctor and the doctor said, "Well, it could be a lot of things. It could be a fatal brain tumor growing or it could be too much sugar, drinking too much soda pop. Or it could be just being out in the sun. But you're welcome to believe anything you want." That's not helpful. That's not helpful.
You can say, "Well I choose to believe that it's just being out in the sun, so I'll wear a hat, drink as much Coke as I want." That's not helpful. But the one thing you want to know is the truth about your condition. Why if we demand such precision to that regard do we not demand precision in the spiritual realm and in the interpretation of divine truth? Test everything.
It was said of King David, 2 Samuel 14:17, that he was able to discern good and evil. Paul said, "Learn what is pleasing to the Lord." It's the same thing. Hold on to what you determine is kalos, good is the word kalos. It doesn't mean good in the sense of beautiful, that's agathos, that's where the old name Agatha came from, it means beautiful. Agathos is something that has the appearance of goodness or the appearance which is desirable or lovely. Kalos is what is inherently noble, what is inherently true, what is inherently right and righteous and genuine.
So when you're listening to the preaching or when you're reading what's written, or when you're hearing somebody espouse something, examine it carefully, put it to the test. And the test is always the Scripture, like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if these things were so. And when you determine that something is good, cling to it, grip it, clutch it. And, on the other hand, as I said, in verse 22, if it is not good, if it is evil in any firm, the word literally means shun it,, apa is the prefix, hold it far away from you, separate yourself completely from it, don't sit under it, don't expose your mind to it. It has a corrupting influence. And evil, by the way, is always understood in an active sense. It's never something static. You can't ever play with evil as if it were something completely objective, something fixed, something static. Evil is always presented in Scripture as something malignant, something harmful, something working disaster, something growing, corrupting, defiling and influencing and injuring everything it touches. Evil is like poison. It is like an infectious disease, stay away from it like you would stay away from a plague. This is a call for discernment.
And Lenski, the New Testament commentator writes, "The worst forms of wickedness consist of perversions of the truth, spiritual lies." You know, I think that's really an important statement. "The worst forms of wickedness are the perversions of the truth, spiritual lies."
There are a lot of wickedness...elements of wickedness in the world. You can talk about sexual sin, you can talk about covetousness, you can talk about all the elements of materialism. You could talk about the horrors of war. You could talk about all of the terrible crimes. You could talk about abortion, whatever. Pick whatever category. I think he's right, THE worst form of wickedness that exists in the world is a perversion of truth, that's the worst.
So don't be guilty of that. And don't be sucked in by those who are guilty of it. And by the way, the word here, just for your filling out your knowledge on this, the word "form" is eidos, eidos. It simply means shape. Evil in any form, any shape, any appearance of any kind, any sort, any species, shun it. This is critical. Or you will be susceptible to being led astray, as we read in 2 Corinthians...yeah, 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
So this then is a call for discernment. And this is such a critical thing and I can't emphasize it too strongly, young people, your value to the Kingdom of God, your value as a Christian as one who serves Christ is going to be directly related to your discernment regarding the truth. Also, the blessedness, the productivity, the fruitfulness, the joy of your Christian life is going to be directly related to your ability to discern because that's going to aid you to make good choices.
So I say, when the church loses its ability to discern, it puts itself in a disastrous situation, absolutely disastrous. And I'll go back to what I said at the very beginning. I think evangelical, biblical Christianity is fighting for its life. And the reason it's fighting for its life is because it has lost its discernment. I can't even keep up with all the aberrations. I can't keep up with all the theological aberrations that are coming out of the Evangelical Movement, staggering to me.
Now with that sort of as a foundation, we're going to ask some questions this week and then we're going to get to the practical application regarding discernment. But let me start with an initial question that sort of fills out our thinking for this morning.
Why is there such a lack of discernment? It's obvious it's there, the question is why is it there? What has contributed to this? And simply, I'll give you the main contributor, is a weakening of doctrinal clarity and conviction...it's a weakening of doctrinal clarity and conviction. There were much better times in the history of the church when Christians were encouraged to think, to think biblically, to think theologically, to think precisely, to search the Scriptures thoroughly, to distinguish carefully its truths. Churches weren't in the hands of pastors and leaders who didn't think deeply or clearly or precisely or carefully about the Word of God.
Theology will disappear in the hands of novices, that's very, very obvious. Especially in an environment where there's no real persecution. Today if you take a strong stand on a theological issue, you're criticized because I know I'm criticized quite frequently, pretty much routinely. In fact, one guy...I was introduced one time at the Booksellers Convention as John MacArthur, the guy who is much nicer in person than he is in his books. And the reason they say that is because when you take a position in a book that's definitive and says, "Here's the truth of God," that's not acceptable in the pluralistic, syncretistic tolerant environment that we live in now. You're criticized as a heresy hunter and all of those kinds of things.
One night Benny Hinn was on TBN and they got talking about me. And the question came up, "Well what would you do...what do you do about John MacArthur?," or something. And Benny Hinn's response was, "I would like to take my Holy Ghost machine gun and blow his brains out." That's a strange attitude, isn't it? I don't know what a Holy Ghost machine gun is but...that shows you how strongly affected error is by the truth.
I remember going to lunch when I wrote the book, The Gospel According To Jesus, a very well-known pastor took me to lunch and he said, "Your book is a problem, big problem." And I said, "Really?" He said, "Yeah, it's divisive...it's dividing the body of Christ. It's a severe problem causing a huge division in the church."
And I said, "Well I think I'm aware of that. But...I said...can I ask you a question? Is it true? Is what I wrote true?" Because that's all I'm responsible for. I'm only responsible to teach the truth of God. Just because it creates chaos doesn't change my responsibility. Jesus came and he preached the truth and it killed Him, but it didn't change the fact that He preached the truth. Paul preached the truth and they killed him. All the Apostles preached the truth and they killed all but one of them and they exiled him to Patmos. It's just about the truth, that's all it's about.
And he said, "Well, I don't agree with you."
"Oh," I said, "the issue is you don't agree with me theologically, so we need to talk about that, you need to read the book." It's just about the truth. But when the superficial unity overpowers the role of the truth, you have obvious problems.
So the fact that there is this tolerance and this disdain for precision and doctrine and clarity in understanding the Word of God is not because people disagree when they've done the hard work in the text, it's because people who haven't done the hard work in the text want to be accepted in the mainstream of evangelicalism without anybody questioning what they believe. This is not an accident, believe me, because what Satan would want to do more than anything else is to become powerful in the church by getting the church not to make an issue out of a right interpretation of Scripture. Just tolerate everything and lack precision and conviction.
There is very little doctrinal clarity today...very little conviction about doctrine. I remember when I was on Larry King, I couldn't believe my ears. I was on Larry King with Hathout, the Muslim and Deepak Chopra, the con-man, quasi-Hindu snake oil salesman who is taking money out of people's pockets. And then with an evangelical, the guy who wrote the Prayer of Jabez. And I'll never forget Larry King said to him, "Is God a Christian?" And he said, "No." I almost fell off my chair. No? What is God, a Buddhist? What is God, a Hindu? God is a Christian, God is Christ. How can you say that God is not a Christian?
And then he said, "God is the God of everybody." No He's not. Why did he say that? Cause he doesn't have any conviction. He probably wouldn't have said that if he was speaking here, but if your theology is that adaptable, then it's not a conviction. There's just really the death of clarity in doctrine and with the death of clarity comes the death of conviction.
And so, what we want to do as we go through our education here, certainly in your behalf, is to make sure you get your theology right and it comes right out of the Scripture.
There is a movement that slowed down now is the Vineyard Movement. The real architects of the Vineyard Movement, John Wimber and another guy in England, David Watson, they led t he charge of relativism into the church, they really did. Certainly David Watson led the charge of relativism into the Church of England and partnered up with the Vineyard here. They were really some prime movers in the early years of sapping the church of its doctrinal confession and conviction. And this is what David Watson said. Now David Watson was an Anglican and this is what he said. "The reason I travel with a team...he has kind of a music praise team...the reason I travel with a team gifted as they are in the performing arts is that they are able to communicate the gospel much more effectively than I could with mere words."
What in the world does that mean? You can...you can communicate the gospel more effectively through performing arts than through words? God didn't give us a music video, He gave us a book. These are words and words demand precision. The reason God gave us a book is because printed material is frozen and that leads to evaluation, assessment, comparison, contrast, exegesis. It's there, it's unchanging. Not one jot or tittle will ever pass away of this eternal Word. There isn't any performing arts that are going to communicate the gospel more effectively than the words which God has given us.
And then he, David Watson, went on to criticize the Christian church. He said, quote; "Most churches rely heavily on the written Word and then they wonder why so few people find the Christian faith to be relevant."
So go back 30 years to the Vineyard Movement and you're going to find that they began to bring relativism into the church to replace the written Word with entertainment, performing arts because the Word couldn't convey the truth of God in a relative way...they say. They were really saying that relevant Christianity is not mental, it's not rational, not doctrinal, it's psychological, it's emotional, it's experiential, it's mystical.
So that's what we've got...experience, and emotion, and sort of Christian mysticism in the church without real doctrinal conviction. That's the first reason why discernment has disappeared cause if you don't have sound doctrine and you don't hold with all your passion to the conviction that those doctrines should bring to you, then you have no standard by which to discern anything cause you have no fixed point by which to measure anything.
I have a doctrine that I believe with all my heart, it's the doctrine of the Trinity. So when somebody comes along and says God is not three in one, I say that's a lie, right? I have a doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ that says He is the God/Man so when the Gnostics come along and say Jesus is a created emanation that descended from God down the long chain of emanations and is an elevated angel, I say that's a lie because I understand the Bible teaches that He is God.
The Bible teaches the doctrine of justification. If somebody comes along and writes a book and say you can be saved without ever hearing the gospel, or you can be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, not necessarily believing in the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, I say that's not true, that's a lie. I don't care who said that, I don't care who wrote that. That's contrary to the truth which is established in Scripture.
So the point is, you can't even have discernment unless you have the fixed standard. That's why it's absolutely critical that you know theology. Look, theology...the theology that has come down to us from the Word of God has been protected and preserved and fought for, for millennia. Here we are fighting for it today, no different than any other time. They've been fighting for it, the Christians who believe the truth, for two thousand years fighting to hold on to this, earnestly contending for the faith, preserving, protecting, guarding the faith. And it comes down to us intact. Then we've got this willy-nilly superficial kind of quasi-Christianity floating around that doesn't want to say anything for sure. And that's how you lose the faith all together.
So, you have to stand where the Bible is crystal-clear on these issues. That's the fixed points. They don't change, they don't move. And by that, you begin to measure. And then you go from there to matters of sanctification and matters even of discerning the will of God and matters of sin and righteousness and you know exactly what the Bible teaches. You know exactly what the Bible teaches about divorce. You know what the Bible teaches about issues like abortion, homo-sexuality, fornication, pre-marital sex. You know what the Bible teaches about cheating, about covetousness, about materialism. You know all of those things, those are fixed in the Word of God with unmistakable clarity. They have to then become convictions and against the plumb line of those great truths you make choices. Then you have discernment. If you don't affirm those doctrines, then you can't be discerning whatsoever.
So if we're going to be discerning, we have to start with a conviction about sound doctrine. That's why in this institution, the entire faculty agreed on a doctrinal statement, the most lengthy one of any Christian college that I know of in America because that's the standard by which everything is then discerned. I thank God for the faculty from all the various places they've come, they agree completely on these great truths, not because I told them to or our administration told them to, but because they're reading the same Bible. That's where discernment starts.
Well, more on Wednesday. We'll leave it at that point for today.
Father, we are again aware of the fact that we wouldn't know anything unless You told it to us. And how human wisdom leads us nowhere, the world by wisdom knows not You. Where is the wise man? Where's the scribe? He can't on his own come to any true knowledge so therefore he's comfortable with just opinions. But we have come to know the truth, the truth revealed in Your Word. And may we take that truth and may we learn and even master that truth to the degree that You've revealed it in Scripture so that it becomes the fixed framework, the plumb line against which all issues are discerned and measured. May we be people of the truth which truth then provides our doctrine, our conviction and guides the choices we make as we live our lives to Your eternal glory. We ask these things in Your Son's name. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I know it might not seem like it from my general tone when I write cool sites, but I'm naturally a rather melancholy person. I tend to have very high highs, but my flatline is pretty melancholy. I'm not saying I'm always a gloomy gus, but I can have long periods of what I like to call meh'ness.
To work on improving my overall attitude and to consciously think about being grateful for the things I have in life (which are plenty) I joined this site called Happify.
It's free, and dedicated to helping people improve their mood by using the latest innovations in the science of happiness into activities and games that will help people lead a more fulfilling life. I mean that's what we're all searching for, right? To be deeply, passionately connected to our friends and family and really satisfied with our lives. Well, it's certainly what I'm aiming for!
My roommate actually showed the site to me, because she had been using it for about a week and really liked it. She likes to use it help her stay positive and unwind from her stressful job. At first I thought it was going to be a little hokey, but I was pleasantly surprised that not only was it fun, but that I was thinking deeply about what I wanted out of live and about who and what was important to me.
So with that said, to get started all you have to do is click the Request an Invite button. And follow the information they give you to get signed up, because the site is in beta right now.
Then after you're all signed up, log n and take the quiz they give you. The quiz helps determine what happiness track you should be on. This will fine-tune the tasks you're given and make them the most meaningful to you and what is going on in your life.
Then you'll start your happiness track (if at anytime you don't like what you've been assigned you can switch tracks) with two or three activities, as you do them you'll earn points and unlock more activities. And the really cool thing is each track is extended over different goals so you'll be reinforcing what you learned the last time and learning new things about yourself at the same time.
Last but not least, check out the About section to learn about how it works specifically and the science behind it. It's really cool!


text:
Fraggle - Tuesday 01/08/2006, 12:26
Imperator - HK's fox on typewriters
In order to fight agains't unfair players who let the games run out, each player unfairness will be evaluated at the end of the day.
We take account expired games on your turn vs fully played games.
Example: if I play 100 games and let 10 run out, I will have a value of 10.
Values between 0 and 5 (inc) will be considered "green".
Values between 5 and 10 (inc) will be considered "orange".
Values above 10 will be considered "red"
Thoses colors will appear very soon in the players list and on every player's profile.
I've had a problem myself a few times, when I'll ask someone to play, and then later rather getting a reply from them, getting a message saying the game has timed out. Is that an error on my side or on the games side? I'd hate to be anything but green if I can help it.
1st_Griffin - Tuesday 01/08/2006, 16:52
I had the same problem as kedanna,but 3 times
A Ravenshadow - Tuesday 01/08/2006, 17:39
Veteran - The Gathering
Any chance we could have the little faces show when someone challanges you?
Love the idea, but it only seems useful when you are the person doing the challanging.
StormWhisper - Tuesday 01/08/2006, 19:22
Imperator - Wise Men Distracted
This is definately a step in the right direction. Can you add people just not answering challenges to this meter as that will immediately become the new way to "Beat the system"
Coure - Tuesday 01/08/2006, 21:56
Guru - FairPlayers
None of this solves the problem of people simply leaving after the 3rd round. They may not get any points (for ELO) but neither do you. If all my games had been completed I would have had more points over the month
And how U want to eliminate playest who are invisible?
The best will be to have this smile beside chalenge offer too
Plus now what happened to me. I was chlanged by one I accept battle but he do not played and in the batle I was chalanged by someone else.
Fraggle - Wednesday 02/08/2006, 06:12
Imperator - HK's fox on typewriters
First, to answer someone's question, no, you'll not get a lower rating if the match has not begun and it expired.
Second, the info when -receiving- challenges will be added soon.
Third, not answering challenge will not be "the new way to beat the system" as it is really not useful to be in a game just to
"not answer challenges" (and you cannot send a challenge if you haven't answered a waiting one).
And last but not least, as already said, in ELO, if someone let the game timeout, he will be -punish- at the end of the day
(severly). (and the ratio of "timed out" games in elo vs "correct" games in quite fine)
You have to understand that it is NOT possible to avoid all the problems if some people just don't want to play fair.
For example, some people dont "let the game timeout" as a strategy but simply quit because they don't like to lose, over time
they will become orange, then red, and nobody will want to play with them.. maybe they will learn
With over 600 players connected at time, I'm sure you'll be able to find the right peoples.


text:
6. SOPA/ACTA/PIPA fiasco
This could have been the year that internet rights took a nosedive, thanks to a series of regulations such as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the Protect IP Act (PIPA), and commercial treaties such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
SOPA and PIPA were American inventions, put forward by Big Media's Congressional minions to try and bolster up a business model that's failing fast in the face of internet development. ACTA had the same Big Media sponsors, but it was a transnational trade agreement rather than direct legislation.
Thankfully for most of us, all these attempts failed thanks to a combination of user activism, technology lobbying dollars, and bad management by legislators and governments. As the year draws to the close all the regulations that looked so worrying have been stymied – but it could have gone very differently.
SOPA and PIPA initially looked like they would get through Congress without much difficulty. True, there were the usual naysayers, but with a political deal or two the pair of legislative actions looked likely to pass this year. Although large sections of the media barely covered the issue, word got out about the proposed changes, and companies such as Google and Facebook got onside.
Wikipedia and a host of other sites went dark for a day in protest over SOPA's website-takedown powers, security experts pointed out damning flaws, and legislators started to get nervous. Meanwhile, Google and others were using their increasing lobbying muscle to work from the inside.
In SOPA's case, even the White House expressed disapproval, prompting an angry rant from Rupert Murdoch and dark threats from the Motion Picture Ass. of America. But by January the game was up, and both bits of legislation were shelved.
But only a week later, ACTA was signed by 26 governments, and a lot of the same people who were protesting about SOPA transferred their attentions to the treaty. The signing itself was hardly auspicious, as the EU negotiations monitor resigned in protest at the way debate had been stifled.
ACTA started life in the Bush presidency and was originally billed as a way to stop the trade in counterfeit goods, but quickly got expanded to include digital rights management and a host of other goodies that industry wanted sorted out. All the negotiations were conducted in strict secrecy, with only government negotiators and industry bodies getting to see the draft treaty.
Secrecy sometimes has its advantages, but as draft recommendations started to leak out, many interested parties got increasingly worried. Some early drafts called for customs officers to be drafted to search travelers' goods for stolen or pirated material. Those involved in the treaty made reassuring noises, but still refused to open the process. Fears grew.
When it came to signing off on the final ACTA treaty, it looked as though this closed process had worked. Here in the US it looked like a done deal – the Obama administration argued that as this was a trade treaty it didn't need a vote from elected representatives - but thankfully Europe still holds truck with this messy democracy business.
There were public demonstrations in the streets of European capitals over ACTA, with members of the Polish parliament staging their own. Several countries that signed off on the treaty expressed doubts about its contents, and national governments like Germany postponed ratifying it until the European Parliament had voted on the matter.
European commissioners tried to delay any voting until the fuss had calmed down, but that calming wasn't happening. When member states actually got to cast a vote, ACTA was declared dead in the water and the treaty's other signatories were left with a useless piece of paper.
You could argue – and you'd be right – that there was a lot of useful stuff in SOPA/PIPA/ACTA. We are going to need to take a good look at how rights and property are managed in an online world. But it's clear that one-sided regulation isn't the way to do it.
5. Top-dog CIA email bungling
If you're the head of the CIA, it might be expected that you'd know something about email security. Not so in the case of David Petraeus.
In November the head of the CIA was forced to resign after it was revealed that he'd had an affair with his biographer. One has to wonder at the poor vetting procedures at the CIA that failed to spot this, since the news leaked only after some email shenanigans using Petraeus' account were reported to an FBI agent.
It appears that Petraeus and his paramour were exchanging messages by a simple method – one that's used by criminals for years – of writing a draft email, saving it, and then handing over email login details to the recipient so they can read it and reply without actually sending a traceable email message.
While this does mean handing over your email account details to a third-party, it eliminates an email trail. What is doesn't do is stop your paramour looking though your email account, finding details of someone who they consider a rival, and abusing information in that account. Considering Petraeus' day job, the account could also have contained very sensitive material.
A subsequent investigation found out about Petraeus' dirty little secret – and the news came out just after President Obama's election, which gave conspiracy theorists something else to natter about. Petraeus resigned because of the affair; although I can't help feeling the lack of security should have been the reason for his resignation.
4. RIM's roller coaster
RIM was going to be higher up on the list, but the company has showed remarkable resilience under the leadership of CEO Thorsten Heins, appointed back in January of 2012.
RIM was in serious trouble when company stalwarts and co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis quit in January and Heins took over. The company had rested on its laurels too long and was losing to Android and Apple because it hadn't grasped the changing nature of the smartphone market. BlackBerry 10, the OS to rebuild the company, was delayed until 2013 and its stock price and revenues were in the toilet.
Meanwhile, its attempt to break into the tablet market with the PlayBook was a dismal failure, and decent sales were only achieved by such savage discounting that RIM was losing money on each device sold. Developers weren't keen on it, either.
While the company is still hemorrhaging revenues, it does look in slightly better shape at the end of the year than at the start. Heins' efficiency plan and mass redundancies have let it with a healthier balance sheet, and it's still growing its subscriber numbers year-on-year. Meanwhile RIM's new handset looks very interesting and developers are getting paid to code for it.
It all now hinges on next year. RIM has a cash reserve of around $3bn to try to buy its way back into the smartphone market, and there are still a lot of enterprises that like BlackBerry and which might be persuaded to stay. If Heins can pull it off, his RIM resuscitation would make him a hot property in the CEO market.
3. Metro or Not-Metro?
When is a Metro interface not a Metro interface? When someone at Microsoft screws up, it appears.
As Microsoft geared up for the launch of Windows 8, it was trying to sell the world on a user interface it called Metro. This UI consists of large tiles for use by thick-fingered fondleslab buyers whom Ballmer & Co. hoped would fall in love with the new look and propel Redmond forward to a bright new age of consumer domination.
Then in August, just a few short months before the launch, Microsoft announced it was dropping the term Metro to describe the interface, and said this had just been a codename all along. For most of the year journalists and the public had been told about Metro and Metro-style apps, but now we were all told to forget it ever happened.
It has been suggested that someone at Microsoft hadn't done their trademarking due diligence and had missed the fact that someone had already had the rights to the term Metro – such as the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens that runs Paris' famous Metro railway system.
The suggested alternative term – "Windows 8 Store Apps" – hardly rolled off the tongue. It was also inaccurate: where did it leave applications that aren't sold via the store. Developers at this year's BUILD conference also expressed no joy on the topic.
Sadly, Microsoft chose not to go with El Reg's suggestion: The Interface Formerly Known As Metro, or TIFKAM.
Sponsored: How to simplify data protection on Amazon Web Services


text:
Natura pet issues voluntary recall of specialized dry pet foods.
FREMONT, Neb. � Natura Pet Products is voluntarily recalling specific lots of dry pet food because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms.
Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.
Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain.
Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.
These products were packaged in a single production facility. During routine FDA testing, a single lot tested positive for the presence of Salmonella.
There have been no reports of pet or human illness associated with this product. In an abundance of caution, Natura is voluntarily recalling all products with expiration dates prior to June 10, 2014.
The affected products are sold in bags through veterinary clinics, select pet specialty retailers, and online in the United States and Canada. No canned wet food is affected by this announcement.
The affected products are:
Innova Dry dog and cat food and biscuits/bars/treats
EVO dry dog, cat and ferret food and biscuits/bars/treats
California Natural dry dog and cat foods and biscuits/bars/treats
Healthwise dry dog and cat foods
Karma dry dog foods
Mother Nature biscuits/bars/treats
Consumers who have purchased the specific dry pet foods listed should discard them.
For further information or a product replacement or refund call Natura toll-free at 800-224-6123 open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
List of stores selling this prodcut:
Petland Ft Walton
415 Mary Esther
Ft Walton, FL 32548
(850) 796-2424
Sharon's Barnyard & Beyond
1051 John Sims Pkwy E
Niceville, FL 32578
(850) 678-2270
Laura's Pet & Horse Supply
1051 John Sims Pkwy
Niceville, FL 32578
(850) 678-2270
The Doggy Bag
34904 Emerald Coast Parkway Suite 126
Destin, FL 32541
(850) 837-9833
Pets Fifth Avenue
297 County Line Road
Niceville, FL 32578
(850) 837-5551
Bow Wow Meow Pet Company
4935 E County Hwy 30A Ste 3
Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459
(850) 534-0009 Website
Furry Fanatics LLC
56 Spires Lane
Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459
(850) 278-6902 Website
Ocean View Pet Supplies
2278 Hwy 87
Navarre, FL 32566
(850) 939-0792
Pet Nation
1898 Andorra Street
Navarre, FL 32566
(850) 936-8201
Soundside Animal Hospital
7552 Navarre Parkway Suite 3
Navarre, FL 32566
(850) 939-6080


text:
Midway between Albuquerque, NM., and Lubbock, TX., sits the small, yet infamous, town of Roswell, NM. In past decades, the town is best known for its debatable "government space experiments," and has built a reputation as the "UFO capital of the world." Despite the way Roswell is viewed, one local citizen, Orlando Vargas, wants to change the world's focus from what's hovering in this southwest community's skies to what's cruising on its streets ― its sleek Lowriders.
Growing up in this town, Orlando couldn't wait for the next sighting; that is the next issue of LRM hitting the local neighborhood store. As a pre-teen, he would build his bikes like those in the Lowrider publication, and even at that age, he always had the passion for the Bomb features. In high school, young Vargas was cruising his first Low, a '72 Impala. While the ride was nice, he was unsatisfied, as he still craved for the wide steel curves of his childhood passion; "Bombs". In his senior year of high school, the thirst would be quenched, as Orlando found this 1951 Chevrolet truck. "I bought it for $300. Back then, that was a lot of money for a high school kid, so the owner let me have it in payments of $20.00 a week. I still have the handwritten receipts," laughingly states this classic truck owner. For the next few years, the five-window Deluxe was a staple in the local cruising scene. However, in his mid-twenties, Mr. Vargas had to park his ride for a "minute," as he had started a family. Needless to say, that "minute" became a decade. During those years, this family man never stopped looking through the LRM pages and envisioning his customizing ideas, which he kept to himself, yearning for yet another day as a builder.
Finally, in his mid- thirties, Orlando decided that "only as a hobby" (as he described the project to his wife), would he spend some time in getting the truck back to cruising condition once again. This hobby gradually became a five-year all-out build. "I would buy parts and send parts to be chromed, not realizing that when it was time to put it together, this was no longer just a cruiser." This solo build was coming out so well, that it grabbed the attention of Cruz Rodriguez of the local chapter of Imperials Car Club. With a little persuasion, Orlando soon displayed the legendary club plaque on his newly completed, "Round Brown." "Joining the Imperials was a great high point in the build," Orlando says with pride.
Since its completion five years ago, this pearlescent brown beauty has placed throughout the tandem state show circuit, and pleased many boulevard onlooker as well. Look for the next sighting of this Roswell spacecraft at the Phoenix and Las Vegas LRM Super Shows in the near future. Orlando wants to thank his family; Miguel, Andres, Leticia, and his wife Sonia, for their patience and support. Paz, Tejas
Tech Specs
"Round Brown"
Owner: Orlando Vargas
Car: 1951 Chevy Truck
City/ State: Roswell, NM
Club: Imperials C.C.
Body/Paint: The owner shaved the firewall and repositioned the spare tire carrier to install a full rear fender. He refinished the upper tone with a Chroma Base White Diamond Pearl and the lower tone with a pearlescent Autumnwood Mist. Chrome with gold plating by El Paso Plating.
Engine/Chassis: Orlando rebuilt the 235 Inline/ 6 cylinder and added chrome accessories, and replaced the manual tranny to automatic Powerglide, and replaced the stock rear axle with a '68 Nova rear end.
Hydraulics/Air: Front/ Rear- 2 pump airbag system.
Sound System: Kenwood Deck with Rockford Fosgate amp and speakers.
Wheels: American Wheel 13-inch chrome with Gold lace spokes.
Tires: 155/75 Dayton Tires.


text:
Im a little worried about this game. I dont know why but I have that feeling and its not good..
*Sent from my HTC EVO using Tapatalk Pro.
Im a little worried about this game. I dont know why but I have that feeling and its not good..
*Sent from my HTC EVO using Tapatalk Pro.
Another day yet and we'll kick some Clowns *** and end their season with a THUD!
This game is totally different than last year. First of all last year was not the last time they played, Pittsburgh already took one that the Browns "wanted badly".
Anyhow here's the difference:
1. The Steelers are not coming off a four game losing streak, including a home loss against the Raiders, into a short week for a thursday night game.
2. Thanks to last year's lessons, the Steelers will not overlook the Browns.
3. It will not be a negative degree wind chill factor...it won't be Antartica like last year,
in fact it will be a quite balmy 1:00 game.
4. The Steelers, at the time, did not know that loss in Cleveland would eventually end their play off hopes, in fact they still had a slight chance to get in the last game of 2009.
This year it couldn't be more cut and dry: Win and they are AFC north champs and clinch a bye. They are seasoned vets, they will seize it.
5. The Steelers have had a mini bye going into this game, they should be like a bull in a pen, rearing to go. Browns just played a physical game with the Ravens.
6. The Steelers are the better team.
Last edited by Moondog; 01-02-2011 at 10:08 AM.
Were gonna beat them by 14. to bad i gotta work
FROM THE LAND OF BURNING RIVERS. Go Steelers.
And their fans.
Steelers have a lot more to play for then the AFC north today, they need this bye week to get healthy before they play New England. No way they make the Superbowl as a 5th seed this year. This is a MUST win game today!
Looks like Troy is active and will start today so there is no excuses why the Steelers don't shut down the Browns
Last edited by Steel Trap86; 01-02-2011 at 11:46 AM.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)


text:
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Talking NASCAR TV On The Rowdy Podcast
Thanks to the boys at Rowdy for including me in their Tuesday podcast. Click here to open the Rowdy.com homepage. Click on the "Play Today's Podcast" link on the right side of the page to open the podcast. It will load quickly and then play.
Let me know what you thought of the topics we discussed. Lots of good questions and issues in NASCAR TV land at this time of the season.
To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
Posted by Daly Planet Editor at 1:30 PM
4 comments:
- PammH said...
You sounded great!
- October 12, 2010 at 7:13 PM
- S_Banerjee said...
I enjoyed listening to you when you were on the Rowdy podcast in the past so looking forward to it again.
- October 13, 2010 at 2:00 AM
- AncientRacer said...
Usually do not listen to podcasts because I read much faster than I hear. But since I get up early I did this morning. Good interview, though my overall impression was that you come across as more of a mellow fellow than many of congregation. Me included.
- October 13, 2010 at 5:54 AM
- diane said...
You make many good and reasonable points.
- October 14, 2010 at 8:13 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Editor's Note: David L. Berg, current chairman of the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) and immediate past president of the Northeast Campground Association (NCA), took a good look at the season ahead during the recent 46th Annual Northeast Conference on Camping & Trade Show in Springfield, Mass. A director of the Maine Campground Owners Association and owner of Red Apple Campground in Kennebunkport, Maine, Berg essentially sees good things for 2010.
WCM: As we head toward spring, what's the campground sector look like.
Berg: I think it's going to be a banner year. The shows are up substantially, reservations are up throughout the Northeast region and many other areas of the country. Units are starting to move again. Obviously, they are still low compared to three or four years ago. But it's a big improvement over last year in the industry.
WCM: We don't want to jinx anything, but do you think the campground sector will continue to escape the recession as it did last year?
Berg: Before I would say we are recession-proof, I've had years when I was down a little bit. But when everybody else is having terrible years as the economy gets more expensive, people look at the best value for a vacation, and camping clearly is that. Along those lines, camping is a recession-proof business. We had a banner year after 9/11 — the good with the bad — everybody got back to family camping. That wave has held to that day. When people can't afford the $200-a-day ocean-front hotel, they'll come back to the $40 RV site and bring their family and sit around the fire. This is going to be one of the years when we see that sight again.
WCM: What issues do you see on the forefront at any level – ARVC, NCA or your state – that are front burner this spring?
Berg: Advertising. Everyone in this business has to advertise and sell what we have and what we have to offer. We have to get out and work more with the state tourism areas and get camping in the state advertising. We've worked with Go RVing to get more campground shots. Gasoline is important. It does affect the motorized industry. Gas has leveled off some in the Northeast, and if it stays below $3 it won't have a big impact on anything. Right now the stock market is going well. Peoples' retirement accounts are starting to build again. All those things are important to the future of our industry.
People need to listen to their customers and make their parks better. The average customer wants it all. We have to make sure we keep our parks up, improve them, bring in the amenities they want and make them feel welcome.
WCM: What other factors are you monitoring on the horizon — for better or for worse?
Berg: The biggest issue over the last two years has been weather. In the Northeast region, we've had rain, and then we had rain, and then we had rain. In early March, we had nine inches of rain in two days. I'm hoping that's getting out of the system and we'll have some sunshine.
In respect to being recession proof, there are people who are far worse off. If you've got a reservation with a motel, you've got until 6 o'clock at night to cancel it. And if the sunshine isn't showing for the weekend, you cancel it. In the camping world, you are paying a deposit and people will come. You have to give them things to do if the weather is bad.
But the biggest issue in Maine is taxes. We get taxed two or three times, depending on how your park is run. If you have seasonal (guests), they pay personal property tax. I have to pay property tax on the same land they are on. States are in a financial crunch and they are always trying to tax the tourists because they think it's an out-of-state tax. In Maine, the vast majority of people who camp are local. So it has a severe impact on our economy when the legislature just thinks it's an import tax. That's what New Hampshire did. States are trying to put their budget woes on the backs of tourism.


text:
Howl's Moving Castle
The Princess Bride
This Is Spinal Tap
Monsters University
Parental Guidance
Tooth Fairy
Tell Them Who You Are
Get Bruce!
Analyze That
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
All Billy Crystal photos
All Billy Crystal films
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.
Copyright © 2020 FANDANGO MOVIES.


text:
Wiring Java Applications with Spring
The Spring Framework
In 2002, J2EE expert Rod Johnson published an influential book entitled Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development. This book encouraged readers to take a more pragmatic approach to developing J2EE applications, rather than just assuming standard technology, such as Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), were always the best solution to the problem. Rod suggested that there was a rather wide gap between the promise of technology such as EJBs (simpler development, improved performance, and so forth) and what the technology was actually delivering. To demonstrate solutions to common J2EE programming problems, the book introduced code examples using a framework that Rod Johnson had authored based upon his own experiences. The Spring framework is essentially the product of improvements made to this framework first presented in the book, along with additional features inspired by ideas from existing frameworks. A vibrant developer community and subsequent book releases have followed, resulting in a new way of thinking about J2EE.
This article is intended for those who are new to the Spring framework, but would like to know more about it. The Spring framework addresses a variety of topics. This article will focus on what is perhaps the most important, and useful, aspect of the framework: Inversion of Control.
Spring, the IOC Container
public interface Drive { public void read(); ... } public class HardDrive extends Drive { public void read(); ... } public class Computer { private Drive drive; //Other properties... ... //Constructor Computer() { drive = new HardDrive(); drive.read(); } }
This approach is far from ideal because it couples you to a specific implementation. What if you wanted to swap out the current drive for another type? You would have to modify the Computer class. It is therefore always a good idea to mask such implementation details, preferably coding to interfaces. In the past, several methods have emerged to avoid hard coding an implementation. These approaches usually involve using design patterns such as Service Locator and Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) lookups (which you'll learn about in a bit).
In addition to coding to interfaces rather than a specific implementation, it's a good idea to limit the number of object instances as well as who is responsible for creating those instances. Developers often turn to the Singleton design pattern, and custom object factories to address these issues.
As we proceed, I hope to convince you that a Spring 'ApplicationContext' offers a superior approach to all of the aforementioned solutions, making it easy for you to develop applications with less code, less coupling, and, in general, less problems!
Wiring Dependencies with an ApplicationContext
If you work with Spring, you will most surely meet the ApplicationContext. A Spring ApplicationContext is essentially a registry of application objects. The ApplicationContext object actually extends a Spring class called BeanFactory. In reality, BeanFactory provides a good deal of the functionality developers often associate with an ApplicationContext. A BeanFactory reads configuration data from a file typically, but not always, formatted in XML, and creates the types of objects desired. It manages dependencies between objects and provides a mechanism to control their lifecycles. Spring is an 'interface-driven' framework and ApplicationContext (which includes BeanFactory) implements numerous interfaces that define its behavior.
In trivial applications, a BeanFactory may fulfill your needs. However, ApplicationContext adds a rich layer of functionality above and beyond BeanFactory, including support for Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP), internationalization, transaction support, and event handling. The feature set is pretty extensive. Most of the behavior you will explore comes from BeanFactory. However, most applications will use ApplicationContext to take advantage of its extended functionality.
As a means of introduction, what follows are a series of examples designed to highlight the use of Spring's ApplicationContext. The examples will involve a sample program that manages client/sales representative relationships. There will be little in the way of functionality, just enough to get the point across.
First, consider two domain objects: SalesRep and Client. These objects represent a sales person and a client assigned to a specific sales person:
public class SalesRep { private Integer id; private String name; //Clients assigned to SalesRep private Set clientSet; //getter/setter methods.... } public class Client { private Integer id; private Integer id companyId; private String contactName; ... //Which rep is assigned to the client? private SalesRep salesRep; //getter/setter methods.... }
As you might expect, SalesRep contains a Set of clients, and Client contains a reference to a SalesRep. Typically, these types of objects represent data from a database and are created as needed by the application's users. In other words, there can be numerous instances floating around the system at any time.
Along with these objects, however, there is a need for objects to manage the business functions that operate on the domain instances. Two commonly used objects include the Session Facade and Data Access Object (often simply referred to as DAO). Basically, a Facade consolidates all the business services your application provides to its users. It serves as a gateway to business logic. A Data Access Object conceals the complexities of dealing with a data source. A primary goal of both is to avoid dependencies upon a specific implementation. In a typical scenario, a user invokes a facade method, and the facade in turn will call upon a data access object to perform some of the work that involves the database. As you will see, it is these types of objects that you will most likely want a Spring ApplicationContext to manage. Here are snippets of your Facade and DAO, including interfaces and their implementations.
//Session Facade Interface public class SalesManagerFacade { SalesManagerDAO salesManagerDAO; public void assignClientToSalesRep(SalesRep salesRep, Client newClient); ... } //Facade Implementation public class SalesManagerDefaultImpl(SalesManagerDAO) { private SalesManagerDAO salesManagerDAO; public void SalesManagerDefaultImpl(SalesManagerDAO salesManagerDAO) { this.salesManagerDAO = salesManagerDAO; } public void assignClientToSalesRep(SalesRep salesRep, Client newClient) { this.salesManagerDAO.addClient(SalesRep salesRep, Client newClient); } ... } //DAO Interface public class SalesManagerDAO { public String setImplType(); public void addClient(salesRep, newClient); ... } //DAO Implementation using JDBC API public class SalesManagerJdbcDAO { private String implType; private Map dbProperties; public String setImplType(String implType) { this.implType = implType; return this.implType; } public String setDbProperties(Map dbProperties) { this.dbProperties = dbProperties; } public void addClient(salesRep, newClient) { Connection conn = DbUtils.getConn(); //perform database work via JDBC... } ... }Note that the Facade implementation contains a reference to the DAO so that it may invoke DAO methods. Also, there is no reason why all application users can't share a single instance of each of these objects. The DAO implementation contains a Java Collection to hold connection properties and a Java String to specify the current implementation type. Keep in mind that this is purely for purposes of the demonstration and not to suggest this is the ideal way to store this information.
Page 1 of 3
This article was originally published on May 12, 2005
IT Solutions Builder TOP IT RESOURCES TO MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
Which topic are you interested in?
Data Storage
IT Management
What is your company size?
What is your job title?
What is your job function?
Searching our resource database to find your matches...


text:
Wikipedia Editor Threatened With Lawsuit For Participating In Discussion Leading To Deletion Of Entry
from the skin-in-the-game dept
After weathering earlier attacks on its reliability, Wikipedia is now an essential feature of our online and cultural landscapes. Indeed, it's hard now to imagine a world where you can't quickly check up some fact or other by going online to Wikipedia and typing in a few keywords. But that centrality brings with it its own problems, as a post from Benjamin Mako Hill about legal threats he received thanks to his work as a Wikipedia editor makes clear.
You can read the long and involved tale on his site, but the facts are basically these. A Berlin-based organization called the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) is unhappy because an entry about it had been deleted from Wikipedia. Hill explains why that happened:
Although the Wikipedia article was long and detailed, it sent off some internal Wikipedian-alarm-bells for me. The page read, to me, like an advertisement or something written by the organization being described; it simply did not read -- to me -- like an encyclopedia article written by a neutral third-party.
After discussions among some of Wikipedia's editors, the article was first proposed for deletion, and then duly deleted -- but not before Hill's own Wikipedia page had been edited to accuse him of slander and defamation. Things went quiet for a while, and then another Wikipedia page about ICD appeared:
I looked through the history of the article and found that the article had been created by a user called Icd_berlin who had made no other substantive edits to the encyclopedia. Upon further examination, I found that almost all other significant content contributions were from a series of anonymous editors with IP addresses associated with Berlin. I also found that a couple edits had removed criticism when it had been added to the article. The criticism was removed by an anonymous editor from Berlin.
Several months later a new article was created -- again, by an anonymous user with no other edit history. Although people tend to look closely at previously deleted new pages, this page was created under a different name: "The Institute of Cultural Diplomacy" and was not noticed.
That was problematic, for the following reason:
Deleted Wikipedia articles are only supposed to be recreated after they go through a process called deletion review. Because the article was recreated out of this process, I nominated it for what is called speedy deletion under a policy specifically dealing with recreated articles. It was deleted again. Once again, things were quiet.
But not for long. On 25 February of this year, yet another article about ICD appeared on Wikipedia, once more "out of process", and by a user with almost no previous edit history. The next day, Hill received the following email from Mark Donfried, who is described on ICD's Web site as "Executive Director and Founder of the institute for Cultural Diplomacy":
Please note that the ICD is completely in favor of fostering open dialogue and discussions, even critical ones, however some of your activities are raising serious questions about the motives behind your actions and some even seem to be motives of sabotage, since they resulted in ICD not having any Wikipedia page at all.
These events indicate how important it is becoming to have a Wikipedia entry -- preferably a favorable one. Indeed, it's getting to the point where some people think that they actually have a right to one. Although that's a wonderful sign of Wikipedia's power and importance, it also means that it will find itself increasingly under pressure from those who are unhappy at not having an entry, or because of the things the entry says. Maintaining objectivity and a neutral point of view was always hard, but is bound to get harder in the future.
We are deeply concerned regarding these actions of yours, which are causing us considerable damages. As the person who initiated these actions with Wikipedia and member of the board of Wikipedia, we would therefore request your answer regarding our questions below within the next 10 days (by March 6th). If we do not receive your response we will unfortunately have to consider taking further legal actions with these regards against you and other anonymous editors.
Moreover, it seems likely that Hill finds himself on the receiving end of legal threats because he uses his own name on Wikipedia, rather than operating anonymously as many others do. ICD's current actions almost certainly mean that fewer people will be willing to take that risk, and will instead opt to carry out their work under the cloak of anonymity, or may not want to get involved at all. That last point -- the potential chilling effect -- is the most worrying, as Hill explains:
If I can be scared off by threats like these, anybody can. After all, I have friends at the Wikimedia Foundation, a position at Harvard Law School, and am close friends with many of the world's greatest lawyer-experts on both wikis and cyberlaw. And even I am intimidated into not improving the encyclopedia.
We may come to look back on today's Wikipedia as the project's golden age, before those "with skin in the game" started their assault in earnest, and before Wikipedia editors increasingly gave up trying to ward them off for fear of legal reprisals.
I am concerned by what I believe is the more common case -- where those with skin in the game will fight harder and longer than a random Wikipedian. The fact that it's usually not me on the end of the threat gives me lots of reasons to worry about Wikipedia at a time when its importance and readership continues to grow as its editor-base remains stagnant.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+
Filed Under: benjamin mako hill, deletion, legal threats, mark donfried, wikipedia
Companies: institute for cultural diplomacy


text:
I have over thirteen years of experience teaching in a variety of classroom settings. I have taught in public, private, charter, and alternative special needs schools. My experience has given me a wide range of lesson topics and ideas which is why I have a wide range of products in my store. I have taught all grade levels art from pre-K to 12th grade and in the past have also taught classes such as financial literacy.
I believe in student centered education and plan lessons that will make my students engaged and excited about learning. I teach using a variety of methods so I can engage all learning styles.
I was fortunate to become a National Board Certified Teacher recently in adolescent and young adult art education.
I have recieved a Bachelor in Fine Arts from a small private college and am looking forward to purse a masters degree in the future.
My favorite subjects to teach include art, financial literacy, and life skills.
PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, Higher Education, Homeschool
English Language Arts, Creative Writing, Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, Specialty, Math, Arithmetic, Basic Operations, Graphing, Numbers, Other (Math), Science, Earth Sciences, Social Studies - History, Ancient History, U.S. History, World Language, Spanish, Arts & Music, Art History, Visual Arts, Graphic Arts, Other (Arts), Other (Specialty), ELA Test Prep, Other (ELA), Life Skills, Critical Thinking, For All Subject Areas, Classroom Management, Character Education, Word Problems, Study Skills, Writing, Reading Strategies, Holidays/Seasonal, Thanksgiving, Christmas/ Chanukah/ Kwanzaa, Poetry, Autumn, Mental Math, Halloween, Winter, Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, Decimals, Black History Month, St. Patrick's Day, Spring, For All Subjects, Summer


text:
Citadel Sends My Mail Out With A Different "From:" Than I Specified In My Email Client.
Although this is more often an issue for administrators, it does at times arise for the average user. This issue can only be resolved by your citadel administrator, not the average user.
Administrators may complete the following steps to resolve:
- Go to Administration
- Navigate to Edit site-wide configuration
- Proceed to the Network section and
- Uncheck Correct forged From: lines during authenticated SMTP


text:
Engraved Bamboo Coaster Set "Vino Sayings"
$ 29.00
Make it matter more with a set of beautifully engraved coasters that are stylish—and protect furniture surfaces from heat, cold and moisture. A set includes 6 bamboo coasters with holder.
We use all natural wood with no staining. Please allow for slight variations in the wood and the engraving. No two coasters will look alike.


text: Since the abdominal area contains many different organs it is divided in smaller areas. One division method, uses one median sagittal plane and one transverse plane that passes through the umbilicus at right angles. This method divides the abdomen into four quadrants. Medical personnel can easily refer to these quadrants when describing pain or injury regarding a victim.


text:
Throwback Thursday: See Photos Shared By Ariana Grande, Justin Timberlake + Moreby Mandi Salerno | PopCrush
Girls and guys, young and old, celebrities and regular citizens — we all come together to enjoy Throwback Thursday. Whether by personally posting or just scrolling through Instagram or Twitter feeds and hitting the like button, everybody gets involved in this weekly social media event.
We've gathered some of your favorite stars' best #TBT posts from this week, and there are some amazing finds in here! Take a look at the throwbacks below and let us know which one you love the most!


text: Would you buy insurance from a duck? Aflac counts on it! To soften the financial stresses during periods of disability or illness, Aflac sells supplemental health and life insurance policies, including coverage for accidents, intensive care, dental, vision, and disability, as well as for specific conditions, primarily cancer. It is a leading supplier – more... of supplemental insurance in the US and is an industry leader in Japan's cancer-insurance market (with 14 million policies in force). Aflac, which is marketed through -- and is an acronym for -- American Family Life Assurance Company, sells policies that pay cash benefits for hospital confinement, emergency treatment, and medical appliances. – less


text:
Blog post
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2010 - Christmas Tree - December 1
The Christmas tree that dominates my childhood memories was tall and bushy. Although it was an artificial metallic one, it was beautiful. The silvery tinsel branches shimmered and the baubles stood out like jewels. I didn't understand it when one year my mother said that the tree's time had come, we needed something new.
Before I sat down to write this post, I dug out a few pictures of that lovely tree.
Sadly, the photographic evidence does not do my memory justice. The tree is smaller than I recall. Not tiny, but small enough that it is almost obscured in the photos by a child standing in front of it. The silvery tinsel is duller than my memory would have it. The branches.. well, they look like they could put a running child's eye out. The baubles, although there, are not quite as plentiful as I imagined.
Looking at those old photos of myself and my siblings (who wouldn't appreciate me posting picures of them here) there is something else that strikes me about the picture of us sitting around that tree...
It's the joy, shining from our faces.
The photographic evidence confirms it - that tree was beautiful!
This post is part of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, hosted by Geneabloggers.
3 comments:
Your post reminds me of the trees my Dad used to cut himself for our Christmases. They were not grown on a farm and regularly trimmed. They were always crooked, with bald spots that I can see now in photos. But when I was little they were so beautiful!ReplyDelete
Ah, the benefits of rose-coloured spectacles!ReplyDelete
I have the same sensation when I look at old photos of our Christmas trees - they were kind of short and scrawny, not at all what I remembered!ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Keeping your options open in a cloud solution
In on-premises solutions we have the full range of options open for a given computing solution – but we don't always take advantage of them, for multiple reasons. Data goes in a Relational Database Management System, files go on a share, and e-mail goes to the Exchange server.
Over time, vendors (including ourselves) add in functionality to one product that allow non-standard use of the platform. For example, SQL Server (and Oracle, and others) allow large binary storage in or through the system – something not originally intended for an RDBMS to handle. There are certainly times when this makes sense, of course, but often these platform hammers turn every problem into a nail. It can make us "lazy" in our design – we sometimes don't take the time to learn another architecture because the one we've spent so much time with can handle what we want to do.
But there's a distinct danger here. In nature, when a population shares too many of the same traits, it can cause a complete collapse if a situation exploits a weakness shared by that population. The same is true with not using the right
tool for the job in a computing environment. Your company or organization depends on your knowledge as a professional to select the best mix of supportable, flexible, cost-effective technologies to solve their problems, whether you're in an architect role or not.
So take some time today to learn something new. The way I do this is to select a given problem, and try to solve it with a technology I'm not familiar with. For instance – create a Purchase Order system in Excel, then in Hadoop or MongoDB, or even in flat-files using PowerShell as an interface. No, I'm not suggesting any of these architectures are the proper way to solve the PO problem, but taking something concrete that you know well and applying that meta-knowledge to another platform will assist you in exercising the "little grey cells" and help you and your organization understand what is open to you.
And of course you can do all of this on-premises – but my recommendation is to check out a cloud platform (my suggestion would of course be Windows Azure :) ) and try it there. Most providers (including Microsoft) provide free time to do that.


text:
Search Results
There are 14 item(s) tagged with the keyword "DOJ".
- Displaying: 1 - 10 of 14
- 1. Tom Morrissey to Speak at Rim Country Republican Club - 5/29/17
Please come to the Memorial Day meeting of the Rim Country Republican Club to hear a presentation byTom Morrissey, Past Chairman of the AZ GOP. The meeting will be held on May 29 at Tiny's Restaurant, Highway 260 in Payson Arizona at 11:00 am. Mr. Morrissey's talk will be about his experiences with the Establishment in our party when he was State Chairman and what really goes on behind closed doors, far from the eyes and ears of the grassroots and true believers.
Click here to read more
- 2. Arizona Joins Texas in Lawsuit to Stop Federal Overreach
In response to a letter from Arizona lawmaker Representative Bob Thorpe (R-LD6), Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas announced that Arizona will Join Texas in a Lawsuit to Stop Federal Overreach. Co-signers of Rep. Thorpe's letter included Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-LD6), and Representatives Brenda Barton (R-LD6), Paul Boyer (R-L20), Karen Fann (R-LD1), Mark Finchem (R-LD11), Anthony Kern (R-LD20), and Vince Leach (R-LD11). (Please express your thanks to Bob Thorpe and the other legislators who signed his letter, as well as Mark Brnovich and Diane Douglas. See email addresses below.)
The COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF concerns the May 13, 2016 "Joint Guidance" issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education relating to requiring public schools that receive federal funding to allow transgender students to use whatever restroom or locker room they wish, based on how they identify their gender.
The threat to withdraw federal funding from any school that doesn't comply is very clear in this sentence: "Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student's sex, including a student's transgener status."Click here to read more
- 3. Who is the Leftist? Who is the Liberal?
Please stop referring to Leftist Democrats as Liberals. They are not Liberals. Leftist Democrats have so perverted the language that it is too late for Conservatives to be identified as who we truly are—Classic Liberals. However, it is not too late to call the Democrats what they are: Leftists. If Democrats don't like that label, they need to look at their elected representatives' voting records. Start with Barack Obama and move down the food chain. Don't like it? Then change your party affiliation.
Leftists fraudulently call themselves Liberals, because they like to think of themselves as noble, broad-minded, unprejudiced, and kind. They think they defend the weak against the powerful. They "care." The Truth is their policies are exactly the opposite.
But let's look at two definitions. Then, YOU decide who is the Leftist and who is the Liberal.Click here to read more
- 5. 1070 Turns Three While Amnesty Looms
by Sen. Russell Pearce, former president of the Arizona State Senate and current board member of the Arizona Conservative club and chairman of BanAmnestyNow.com. Portions of this article appeared in the May 12, 2013 Sunday edition of the Arizona Republic.
SB-1070 has been extremely successful!
SB-1070 is now three years old. All but a few small pieces have been upheld as constitutional by the highest court in the land, and "America's toughest anti-illegal immigration law" is not only on the books here in Arizona, but working quite well. Crime rates are dramatically down. Our state, county, and city governments have saved hundreds of millions of dollars in K-12 education with fewer illegal aliens in the classrooms, and saved tens of millions more in social services.
Illegal aliens have taken lives. More than a dozen Phoenix police officers have been killed or maimed by illegal aliens. Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz was murdered during the debate on SB 1070. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered near the border, and the list goes on.Click here to read more
- 6. "Bobby Kennedy didn't die so jackbooted thugs could stand out in front of polls."
This statement was made by Bartle Bull, an attorney and veteran rights activist from the 1960's, who worked for Democratic candidates Charles Evers in Mississippi, Robert F Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter, when asked to comment on the New Black Panthers' actions in Philadelphia. So distrusting of Barack Obama, Bartle Bull refused to campaign for him, calling Obama a "hustler." Instead, he did what he could to help John McCain.Click here to read more
- 7. The Department of INJustice Shop of Horrors
The lawlessness of Attorney General Eric Holder's DOJ never ends. Some time ago, I published a "Cliff Notes" version of "Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Administration," written by J. Christian Adams, a former attorney for the Voting Rights Section of the Department of Justice. He details the bizarre agenda of the DOJ, which is infested with radical leftwing attorneys whose sole purpose is to transform a system based on "equal justice under the law" into a lawless system that is fixated on racial grievance.Click here to read more
- 8. Zimmerman Family Member Calls out Eric Holder: Arrest New Black Panthers for "Hate Crime"!
The New Black Panthers has put a bounty on George Zimmerman's head. The New Black Panthers gave the Sanford authorities an "ultimatim" saying they want George Zimmerman arrested "alive or dead." The New Black Panthers recently have called for more violence. They have stated to "suit up and boot up"and prepare for the next stages of the "race war."Click here to read more
- 9. DOJ Doesn't Care About U.S. Citizens, just the Criminals
Introducing Gilbert Watch's Conservative Letters to the Editor: An Ongoing Series. I have been encouraging as many conservatives as possible to send Letters to the Editor (LTE's) to both the Arizona Republic and the Tribune. Both of these newspapers lean Left in their news articles and LTE's. They don't report the news anymore. They prefer to shape public opinion.Click here to read more
- 10. INJUSTICE: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department
Author: J. Christian Adams, former attorney for the Voting Rights Section of the Department of Justice. 2008. Regnery Publishing, inc. (You may order this book via the Gilbert Watch "click-through" ad for amazon.com. Gilbert Watch receives a small commission, and it doesn't cost you any more!)
If you are a Republican who believes that Sheriff Arpaio should be voted out of office, then you should read this book before you cast your vote. If Arpaio loses the next election as the result of the "show trials" that have been waged down at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings by leftist radical publicity hog Randy Parraz, you will have witnessed Soviet style justice prevailing in what used to be the United States of America. And you will have been suckered by a "mainstream" media that reports every one of Parraz's indignant outrages, and those of his leftist cult followers.Click here to read more
- Displaying: 1 - 10 of 14


text:
Thursday, August 5, 2010
ROMAC Sub Committee Meeting August 2, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment
I would ask that if you would like to leave a comment that you think of Local 157 Blogspot as your online meeting hall and that you wouldn't say anything on this site that you wouldn't, say at a union meeting. Constructive criticism is welcome, as we all benefit from such advice. Obnoxious comments are not welcome.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)