I HAVE LOST NO RIGHTS AND NEITHER HAVE YOU. IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE, PROVE IT.

17. May 2005 · Comments Off on I HAVE LOST NO RIGHTS AND NEITHER HAVE YOU. IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE, PROVE IT. · Categories: Domestic, General, Good God, GWOT, Home Front, Media Matters Not, Rant

I do not wish to single out any one person in a post, ever. Nor do I wish to be mean-spirited to anyone here or anywhere else. Should you ask anyone who knows me, even anyone who was with us last Saturday at the 43rd reunion of our high school class, I’m sure the answer would be that I’m kind, fair, and that I love people. Also, I believe people would say that I live my life according to the Word of God in every way that I know how, that I love the Lord Jesus and that my love for people stems from that. But here on this one post I have to divert from my normal principles, I have to name someone, and I apologize ahead of time for having to do that, but I have been backed into a corner along with a lot of other folks and I’m coming out of this corner aggressively. Kayse, I’ve bent over backwards being nice to you, but your comment responding to Timmer’s query cannot go unchallenged. Before I give my response, let me state that I too recognize that you are entitled to your opinion no less than anyone else, and those of us who have spent time in the military were and are there for the purpose of defending your right to disagree with anyone you choose.

When you say that you don’t trust your government, it gets personal. Because I, and Timmer, and Sgt Mom, and all others who here on this site were in the military or worked for civil service, ARE that government. Remember, Abe Lincoln stated that our government was of, by, and for, the people. Be that the case, you as well, are part of that government. So, just which right have you lost? You said you had lost your right to privacy. Just who, and how, has your privacy been violated? Who in the Homeland Security Department has harrassed you? How have they punished you? What has anyone in this country, part of our government, done to punish you? If you think people who work for that dark, mysterious entity that you call the government are not accountable for their actions, then you are sadly, grossly, mistaken. Let me give you an example. I work for the Army as a paramedic. In my position I have the vital statistics, including SSAN’s, of my patients, in my hands. You think I’m not accountable for how I handle that information? Then you’re as full of sh** as a Christmas turkey!! If I were so much as to write that stuff down on the wrong piece of paper, much less take any of it home with me, I’d lose my job! And the same goes for anyone else who is employed by the government. I don’t care what department, or career path you mention, we are entrusted with protecting you and your information, in many cases, to the death. It’s insulting as hell to anyone in the military for you to casually make such an assinine statement.

And get this straight. It is not the fault of your government that you cannot “easily” fly from one destination to another. You need to get it straight in that red-haired head of yours, that it was n0t the government that flew four planes full of innocent passengers to their deaths, taking nearly 3,000 other innocent citizens to their deaths. DAMMIT, IT WAS ISLAMOFASCIST TERRORISTS! Your head is just not on straight, because it was the government that you hate that instituted safety measures to protect your hide. If I sound angry, you’re dang right I am. I am angry that you so easily insult those who are bound by honor and by law to protect you, and you whine and snivel because it’s not “easy” for you to fly. What in hell do you propose? That we just open up and let anyone who wants to, get on aircraft, even if they want to crash that plane into a building or a ball game? Dadburn, woman, you sound like you’re nuts! You’d better be thanking God that you have a government that wants to keep the idiot suicide bombers at bay elsewhere instead of downtown your town. You’d better be grateful that you are a citizen and CAN get a driver’s license, or an ID card, if and when it comes to that. BTW, they can’t get that ID system out fast enough for me. I don’t worry, I already have one, it’s called a military ID.

Your comment that government employees are compiling “dossiers” on all of us is another stupid, idiotic idea. That belongs with the Area 51 and other such conspiracy theories. Who killed JFK? Have you seen Elvis lately? AARRRRGGGHHH! No one in the government gives a rat’s behind about who you are, and they certainly don’t have time to compile a dossier on you. They’re too busy protecting your butt from another attack. You need to take a deep breath and sit back, enjoy the sunshine and the freedoms you have. We do not live in a Soviet-style country, you can relax and forget all this stuff.

Your comments about ministers was uncalled for as well. You don’t have to go to any church, listen to any minister, or subscribe to any faith that you don’t want to. So, leave ministers and churches out of it. No one there is bothering you. Your so-called “fundamentalist” preachers were here, preaching the very same message, long before President Bush came along, and they will still be there, preaching the same thing, long after he has passed into history.

To cap all this off, you say you are afraid to voice your concerns, fearing someone may put some hit team on you to erase you??? Come on, if you think that way, you need a psychiatrist! No such thing exists in this country, and we are here to insure that it never does happen. I’ve had enough of this. If you are not comfortable here, maybe you might feel more at home on DU, the Democrat Underground, or on Kos’s site. They seem to voice the same ideas that you appear to be comfortable with. However, if we don’t scare you too bad, you’re welcome to stay here and give us more of your ideas. Who knows, you may find others who agree with you! And I promise you, I’ll do my best, as will the others here, to keep the “hit squads” on other targets and away from you.

Seperated at Birth? (The I’m So Going to Hell Edition)

21. April 2005 · Comments Off on Seperated at Birth? (The I’m So Going to Hell Edition) · Categories: General Nonsense, Good God

Stryker mentioned in the comments of another post that there was something about the new Pope he couldn’t put his finger on, but he didn’t like him. Perhaps this will make it easier…

For all of us Star Wars kids…this guy is never gonna feel right.

Update: So no one could have TOLD me that Stryker did this bit on DW yesterday? I feel like such a twit…which isn’t rare…but nonetheless.

Scratchin’ My Head, Air Force Academy Edition

20. April 2005 · Comments Off on Scratchin’ My Head, Air Force Academy Edition · Categories: Good God, My Head Hurts

Associated Press, April 20 2005, AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Less than two years after it was plunged into a rape scandal, the Air Force Academy is scrambling to address complaints that evangelical Christians wield so much influence at the school that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment have become pervasive.

There have been 55 complaints of religious discrimination at the academy in the past four years, including cases in which a Jewish cadet was told the Holocaust was revenge for the death of Jesus and another was called a Christ killer by a fellow cadet.

Two of the nation’s most influential evangelical Christian groups, Focus on the Family and New Life Church, are headquartered in nearby Colorado Springs. Tom Minnery, an official at Focus on the Family, disputed claims that evangelical Christians are pushing an agenda at the academy, and complained that “there is an anti-Christian bigotry developing” at the school.

The Whole Story.

You really need to spend some time in Colorado Springs to get the full irony of this…Dr Dobson and his folks have pissed off so many locals with their intrusive brand of Evangelism that they sell “Focus on You’re Own Damn Family” bumper stickers at the 7-11s.

We Have a Pope

19. April 2005 · Comments Off on We Have a Pope · Categories: Good God, My Head Hurts

Don’t look at me, anything I could say would be meaningless to this man. He previously ran The Office of The Inquisition which means not only do we have to endure pedophile jokes, we now have a Monty Python tie-in.

If it wasn’t so freaking funny it would be so very sad.
—–
Scott writes about his Mom’s feelings over at Dean’s World . May be the best Catholic/American post I’ve seen.

FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: JUST WHO ARE THE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS PART #2

19. April 2005 · Comments Off on FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: JUST WHO ARE THE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS PART #2 · Categories: Good God

OK, now we address the beliefs of evangelical Christians. I’m not going into deep doctrinal foundation, unless someone in “comments” requests some source or reference that requires such an excursion. First, I recognize that this is mostly a military blog, and the subject matter of this post may not appeal to some, so I ask you to forgive me, just skip over this if you’re not interested in what I say here.

Christian doctrines, evangelical as well as Catholic, are rooted together, and to be sure, Roman Catholic core doctrines are identical to the core beliefs of evangelicals. You can find a good synopsis of Catholic doctrine here, something I researched in preparation for this post. The areas where we Evangelicals differ from Roman Catholics are doctrines on Mary, saints, purgatory, and sacraments. However, those areas are secondary to me, I’d rather concentrate on where we agree than curse the areas where we don’t see eye to eye.

Here are our core beliefs:

1.The Bible is the only infallible and inspired Word of God and it is the authoritative basis of our faith, the sole source of our faith and practices.

2.There is one God, eternally existent in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

3. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and that He was born of a virgin; sinless in His life and atoning for our sins in His death. That Jesus bodily rose from the dead, and that He ascended to Heaven, and that He will return for His followers in glory at a time unknown.

4. The only means of being cleansed of sin is faith in the blood of Jesus which was shed for our redemption.

5. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, both saved and unsaved, for judgement, and that the saved shall live eternally in Heaven with God, while those who have rejected Him will be condemned to eternal hell.

There are other doctrines, such as baptism, the Lord’s Supper (eucharist), Gifts of the Spirit, etc, that some of us even within the evangelical fold have differences about, but those things that are unique to each denomination are secondary, and we all generally agree with some semantic statements that read a bit differently. Brotherly love is more important than strict doctrinal purity.

First, the Bible. My own study includes Greek, the language of the New Testament, and I have researched just how we received the several translations available to us today. Our english versions have been translated since the 16th century from a variety of ancient texts, such as the Latin brought down to us from the Vatican (Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus), and the various extant Greek texts. The most ancient Greek texts today are papyrii from as far back as the fourth century, some 320 years after Christ walked among us. Those and the Alexandrian Greek Texts from the 5th century with other texts comprise the Majority Texts, from which the latest english translations come. Worthy of note is the fact that the New Testament was written in the Koine (common) street language of the day, and that is a powerful indicator for the use of such common language in the versions we use today. For personal study and reading, I use the New Living Translation, which is, from my study of its origins, the very best adaptation to our common language in the United States today.

In Bible translations, there are two general methods or philosophies. First is called “formal equivalence,” or word-for-word translation, which can be difficult to read, and the second is known as “dynamic equivalence,” or thought-for-thought translation, which is what is used in the NIV (New International Version) and in the NLT, or New Living Translation. Certainly, any thought-for-thought translation requires that the thought in the original language be accurately interpreted and then be written in an understandable way. All this requires not only a group of highly capable scholars, but scholars who have a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit of God, attuned to His will in interpreting the Scriptures. For anyone who wants to go into depth regarding translations, I reccomend the introduction to the NLT, and the “Principles of Translation” in the front of the New American Standard Bible. Another excellent text on translations is found in the Preface to the Full Life Study Bible, which is published in KJV, NASB, and NIV.

If you include the Old Testament, which was written in Hebrew to begin with, we have a book which was written over some four thousand years by some 40 authors, with one thread running through it from one end to the other. That thread is that God wanted to provide redemption for sinful man, to provide a way for us to have fellowship with Him, which was His reason for creating us in the first place. Prophecy was a great part of the old testament, with the first prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ as far back as Genesis 3:15. Generally, the purpose of the Old Testament, aside from being a history of Judaism, is the prophecies of the coming of Christ. It foretells the New Testament, and in the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. We have the Bible today because the Holy Spirit guided men to write, and to preserve that which was written.

Of course, to validate all this, we have to let God be God. He can do all this and more, or He is not God. Evangelical Christians have all this, and more, as the foundation of our faith. What makes us evangelical is the command of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16: 16-20, where He tells His followers to go into all the world and preach His gospel. Anyone who is interested in finding out the positions of evangelical Christians can go to the web page of the National Association of Evangelicals, here , and read the various articles on beliefs, values, and mission.

OK, the ramblings of a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ. I don’t claim to be so well educated, but I’ve given my best here, and the references will bring the interested reader to places where they will find more educated scholars to answer their questions. Thanks for reading!

FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: JUST WHO ARE THE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS? PART #1

11. April 2005 · Comments Off on FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: JUST WHO ARE THE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS? PART #1 · Categories: General, Good God, History, World

This is my second try at this, as the first one disappeared into the ether – probably because of my lack of expertise with html or something like that! I want to give my best effort at explaining those of us who are defined as evangelical Christians (NOTE: NOT fundamentalists!) so people can get the information directly from someone who knows what they are talking about without any of the myths that seem to get propagated around such a seemingly hot-button issue these days. I’ll break this up into several parts so as not to take up too much of the space here, and run the segments a few days apart. That should give you time to question me, and time for me to give the best answers I can.

I really despise the idea of tooting my own horn, but I guess it is somewhat necessary to list some of my education and expertise, and some of my history as regards the subject, if I hope to be considered remotely familiar with the truth here. After that, I will go into some of our history as a church, and detail what our doctrines and practices are, with how we got there. Folks, I’ll do my best to give you the whole picture, and if there’s something I don’t know, I’ll tell you. No BS, I just don’t believe in that, and I’ll be honest and as complete as I know how.

My history: I was raised Southern Baptist until age 16, when I started attending a Pentecostal church, the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) – there are several denominations with the same name – and it was with the Church of God that I got my first formal and semi-formal Bible education courses. I attended Lee College via correspondence, graduating with diploma in Theology. Later, I moved over to the Assemblies of God, a denomination with identical theology and doctrine but different structure and polity, and received further education from Berean University- an AA in Christian Pastoral Ministry. Most of this was done while I was on active duty with the US Air Force, from which I retired in 1993. Also, during a break in service, from 1973-1977, I attended New Hampshire College in Portsmouth, NH, where I earned a BA in Business Management. Not related, I had almost 2 years of electronics tech schools in the AF, and graduated from EMT school in 1978, then paramedic school a few years later.

While in the service, I managed to pastor several small churches part-time, and after retirement I also pastored churches. An injury while working as a paramedic forced me to resign my last church, and today my ministry is mostly teaching and writing, with preaching as a fill-in when I can. Truthfully, teaching has always been the love of my heart as regards ministry, and I think that’s where the Lord can use me best. Today I spend a lot of time on this weblog, and also with my own weblog site, here. On that site, I have a number of links that can be used to explore other Christian websites and get into their doctrines should one so desire.

Aside from all that, I’m trying to get a small business started doing business writing such as technical/mechanical manuals, business proposals, and such type of work for companies who need a professional writer to help them out with composition and publishing/printing. Not being busy enough, I’m still working on a manuscript that I started on a laptop in the back of a C-130 during Gulf War I, true stories of ambulance calls and the heroes who save lives. The title is “LIFESAVERS!”, and with God’s help, I may finish it and get it published someday! Believe me, writing is hard work…..

OK, that’s enough for now. Next, I’ll take a look at Evangelicals and our doctrines, faith, and practice. Thank you for your patience, stay tuned!

Vatican Gives Cardinal Law Role of Honor

07. April 2005 · Comments Off on Vatican Gives Cardinal Law Role of Honor · Categories: Good God

Via AP World News on Newsday dot com:

VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston over his role in the clergy sex abuse crisis, has been given a role of honor in the mourning for Pope John Paul II.

The Vatican announced Thursday he will lead one of the daily Masses celebrated in the pope’s memory during the nine-day period that follows the funeral, called Novemdiales. The service will be held Monday at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston.

It speaks for itself.

Growing Up Catholic

05. April 2005 · Comments Off on Growing Up Catholic · Categories: Good God

Okay, I’ll say it…I have issues. I’m going to throw them out here, take a look at them, probably delete them by morning because that’s what fallen Catholics do. We go off on mad rants and then we shut up like good little Catholics and hide our shame in prayer in dark corners of chapels and churches. Some of us drink heavily, some of us used to drink heavily. Some of us never set foot in a church again and some of us go back from time to time because we miss the warm, familiar, meditation of the mass. Some of us have read books by Father Joseph Girzone and for a brief time we may actually believe that it’s OUR church not their church. Some of us find other religions but never feel quite right because we’re taught from the get go, we’re the one true church, any others are simply shadows. Some of us find good and loving people that finally teach us the difference between religion and spirituality. We never had a problem with God…just some of the folks who said they worked for Him.

If we went to catholic schools anytime in the 60s and 70s we may have had the last of the ninja nuns. Brandishing their samurai yard sticks and hurling their erasers of death they terrorized us little urban terrorists with rulers and threats of kneeling in the corner for hours on end. After one particularly long kneeling marathon…I wasn’t sure if I would ever walk again but hey…I was six…everything was a big deal at six. If we really screwed up, we got sent to Father or Monsignor.

Sister Mary Beatyanow and Father Killyalater. Characters out of comedy sketches for a lot of folks. Part of the freak show of the memory reel for others.

Something else we do. We make excuses for our leaders and our church. Because if a man or woman of God caused us pain, we either had it coming or it was good for us. “Offer it up.” That’s what we were told. Any sort of pain, “Offer it up.” Suffering adds to your holiness. That’s a hell of a setup isn’t it? If we beat the shit out of you it’s good for you. If something bad happens, it makes your spiritual side stronger. My favorite message? You must have done something to deserve the bad thing that happened. You know, when the pedophilia “thing” broke, I wasn’t even suprised…all I could think was, “Damn, we got off easy.”

Guilt. Fear. Shame. Peer pressure. Peer banishment. Good old fashioned beatings. Bloody knees and knuckles. And that was just in grade school. If you graduated to the “Teen Club” where the really cool kids got to hang out on Friday and Saturday nights (parish gym and a record player with lots of dark corners and a priest chaperone who couldn’t smell the beer from the vodka on his breath…woohoo) you got to go through an initiation ceremony that the folks at Abu Ghraib would have enjoyed. Good clean fun. To this day I’m pretty sure that if it wasn’t for me and Danny, a gal we knew would have been gang-raped by the football team with “coach father” cheering them on. We simply couldn’t pass the climb up the slippery pole test even after they dried the Wesson off for us…at least not until the gal left.

So yeah…I usually keep my mouth shut about the Catholic Priest Pedophilia “thing.” It’s not something I think about on purpose. I’m usually okay with it on the back burner. And yeah, I’ve been to counselling, with a priest no less. They’re not all sadists and perverts. Some of them are even sober. Some of them even have their own personal relationship with God in spite of the church. That’s pretty impressive.

In case you missed it, I’m having problems with JPII’s death. The irony of his being a champion of children while Cardinal Law lives in luxury in the Vatican is a bit much even for my most cynical self.

The weird thing is that I really WANT to be proud of the religion I grew up in. Growing up the way I did though, I don’t get to. Having the church continue to remain silent on this issue is simply unacceptable.

And yeah…I’m going to over-react to anyone who I even think is minimalizing or disregarding this “thing” until the church goes back to being on the back-burner so I can put my freak show back where it belongs. Not your fault, you’re just caught in the crossfire. God knows it’s much easier to go after one of you than it is to go after the church. Your face isn’t etched in my head with a ruler in your hand.

Squirm

03. April 2005 · Comments Off on Squirm · Categories: Good God

That’s what I’m doing as I write this, but that’s just the image of Sister Agnes with her ruler that’s burned in my head. Which is more than part of this post.

James Joyner over at Outside the Beltway has expanded on a discussion about what we’re NOT hearing about the Pope’s legacy.

I am very sad and still in mourning over this Pope’s death. As Mom mentioned I didn’t think I’d be this affected by it. Along with the sadness though is a sense of relief and anticipation. Perhaps now Rome will correct the evil that’s also part of this Pope’s legacy. It’s painful to even think about on so may levels, but let us not forget:

Children were abused and raped by “Priests.”

Those “Priests” were sheltered and protected by the church and many of them are still in hiding, still allowed to perform the sacrements.

One of the most culpable members of the church’s leadership has been allowed to stay in Rome to avoid American justice and basically lives the life of a prince.

The church’s doctorine of protecting the innocent is forever tarnished and it’s moral authority completely and utterly destroyed as long as the silence and non-retribution remains policy.

Is all of this Pope’s good whiped out or tainted by this? Not if you pay attention to the news. Not if you pay attention to The Knights of Columbus. And I would say no also. He did some amazing things as Pope and I’m more than a little loathe to bring it up…but dammit, children were abused and raped by “Priests” and the silence of Rome is deafening.

Update: OMG. Baldy questions the timing. Because of course, if you’re not for us, you’re against us…and a Commie to boot. Okay…she doesn’t say that…that’s just what I read.

Pope Slipping Away

01. April 2005 · Comments Off on Pope Slipping Away · Categories: Good God

Father please take your shepherd into your loving arms…we’ll miss him but he’s done good…bring ‘im home.

The Ultimate Victory – Over Death!

26. March 2005 · Comments Off on The Ultimate Victory – Over Death! · Categories: General, Good God, The Final Frontier, World

It never fails that just when things are going great, I manage to get humbled. Tonight as I was preparing to write my three Easter posts, for this site, and for Patriot Flyer and BNN, my DSL signal went bumping off into the night, taking a holiday. Panicky, I swapped modems, swapped computers, strung wires all over the place, nothing. I got on my dialup – backup, and that worked fine. Calling Bellsouth, I found out that there was a problem, that it couldn’t be fixed tonight, and I will have to suffer the ignominious dragging slowness of dialup until Monday! Check the temper, Joe old boy, you can’t do anything about it, so thank the Lord for dialup, spend a weekend working in a medium that you’ve already forgotten about, and come Monday you’ll be much more thankful for your speedy little dsl signal! OK, Thank the Lord, pass the asdfgqwerty’s and let’s see what is in store for Easter 2005! God bless you every one!

Easter, though some things like the easter bunny crop up to muddy the waters, is a particularly Christian holy day; not a holiday in our secular sense, but truly a very holy day, the very pinnacle of the Christian faith. It is not replicated in any other religion, it was not borrowed from any other culture, it is unique, just as what we celebrate is unique. Let me digress for a moment. I posted on Patriot Flyer yesterday a sort of terse sentence, wherein I said that anyone who is offended by Christianity should just take a hike while we celebrate Easter. I say it again. I promise I won’t get offended by your religion or whatever, if you will just leave the Christians to their celebration without a lot of whining. You might even learn something, if you’re not a Christian and wish to read on, and we most cordially invite you to do so.

Central to the message of the Bible is the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. I do understand that our Jewish brothers do not accept Him as Lord, but we do share the Old Testament Scriptures, and counter to the stories of hatred on the part of many Christians in earlier centuries, we Evangelical Christians today closely embrace the Jews, and we are indeed the best friends Israel has in the world. Continuing with my message today, Jesus is central to Christianity, and central to all of that is the resurrection. My views are somewhat narrow here, by design. I believe, supported by scripture, that Jesus did arise from the dead, that he ascended to the Father, and that He is coming again. If we do not accept those truths, there is no Christianity. The Apostle Paul stated in First Corinthians 15, that it is a fact that Jesus arose from the dead. He went on to say(v.20) that Jesus is only the first of a great harvest of those to follow who will be raised from the dead! “So you see,” he continues, “just as death came into the world by one man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ Jesus.” In a nutshell, by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, death came to us, God having given his son Jesus to die on the cross as propitiation for our sins, has provided for us life, resurrection from our state of death, to live in eternity with God. Redemption. That is the subject of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Not a “religion that someone wants to ram down anyone’s throat,” but a genuine message of God’s love for us all, love that transcends even death. Christianity is an invitation for us to bask in the love and forgiveness of God.

Further down in the I Corinthians passage, Paul writes of how our bodies will be transformed into everlasting spiritual bodies when Jesus comes back for us, and calls to mind a passage from Hosea in the Old Testament, regarding the victory that death seems right now to have over us. He says, that when this time comes, we will see fulfillment of that scripture, that death is swallowed up in victory. “O Death, he says, “where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (15:55)

I really do anticipate with joy the day when I can join the throng of millions of believers from across the centuries, bought from death with the blood of Jesus Christ, as we march into the holy city, the New Jerusalem, as described in Revelation 21 -22. That day is coming as surely as I write this tonight, and I look forward to meeting you there.

And it’s all because Jesus loved us, died for us, and rose again on the first Easter!

God bless you, and may you have a blessed, holy, and happy easter!

Joe Comer

(all scripture quotations from the New Living Translationof the Bible)

Life is a Precious Thing

20. March 2005 · Comments Off on Life is a Precious Thing · Categories: General, Good God

I know I’m stepping into the middle of controversy when I mention the current issues brought to light by the Terri Schiavo case. I don’t mean by this post to step into the personal family dispute here, so I apologize ahead of time to those who take my comments or my thoughts wrongly. Timmer, I understand why you closed the comments on your own post, and I respect that. I hope to deal with the matter on a different level here. The case embodies feelings that touch us all, and brings to the public forum our many different ideas concerning life and death, a vital issue to everyone, as we shall each face death eventually. And we will each face the end of this life on earth with our own views, with our most personal of beliefs. Since that is assured, maybe we owe the Schiavo and Schindler families a debt of gratitude for making us face our own mortality.

The President has just returned to Washington in order to address a congressional move to place the Schiavo case into the federal courts, in order that a final, very public, hearing may be held to establish just how much response this unfortunate young woman may have to events surrounding her. Regardless of one’s stand on the case, I fail to understand why anyone could object to having the matter examined in the light of day. If it were me, and if someone were in a rush to end my life, and objecting strenuously to giving me a last chance to prove that I were in that body, I would hope that someone would show an interest in having proof of my incapacity before allowing me to die. I appreciate knowing that President Bush has taken an interest in the case, as it affirms my belief in the man’s committment to freedom and life. It tells me that should I have been the one in that situation, he would have cared as much for me, and this gives me comfort.

I do want to make one thing very clear. I am in great doubt at this time about what Terri Schiavo’s real wishes were, and I am in doubt as to how she got into the condition where she is today. It just reeks of suspicion that there is nothing in writing, and no viable disinterested witnesses to her “verbal living will.” Living wills are right and just, and should be completed by everyone, in writing or on video and witnessed. No one should have their right to life adjudicated by any lone judge or any family member, without recourse. Let’s save the life of this young woman, and then let’s then change the law, even make it a matter of federal law if necessary, to require living wills to be in writing or on video, to be properly witnessed, or in the lack of same, defaulted to life. Life is the normal situation, until God Himself calls us home to heaven, but cannot be recalled if we humans take it. The situation here is not that of “heroic measures” such as heart-lung machines, or any technology keeping her alive. It is simply a matter of providing nutrition and hydration, the basic things that we all need to stay alive. There should be no hurry to let Terri die, we have the time to give her proper medical examinations, to find out the truth in her case.

Why is this important? Because it is a matter of life and death, and it could apply to you or me tomorrow. It is an issue for society, not just one family. And Terri Schiavo is one of us, no different from any of us . We owe her the best of care our society can offer, because we could be next.

We’ve Already Established I’m Going to Hell…

27. February 2005 · Comments Off on We’ve Already Established I’m Going to Hell… · Categories: Good God

…so would it suprise you that I’m less than sympathetic with the Catholic League being upset about a comedy show making fun of the Eucharist? Is it just me or do they seem much more upset that Catholics are being made fun of than they are that the Eucharist is being blasphemed?

With all due respect Mr Donahue, all things considered, we don’t get to whine about comedy picking on us okay? We just don’t. When we’ve cleaned up our act…maybe…but not yet.

Via Malkin, whom I’ll leave alone from now on…she just can’t seem to help herself.

It’s Ash Wednesday

09. February 2005 · Comments Off on It’s Ash Wednesday · Categories: Good God

…43 years old and I still have to spell-check “Wednesday”…

Others are explaining their religious points of view, I thought I’d try something a little more fun and in the spirit of the season as it were.

The most radical and shocking statement that Jesus uttered during his time on earth was:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Make yourself some mac and cheese and salmon cakes while you reflect on this or just discuss in comments.

Yes…I know John said it first. Jesus picked it up after John was sent to prison and ran with it. But still. It was the wildest thing anyone had said about God or has said since.

To me it means stop waiting. The time to get your collective sh…stuff together is NOW. There are no ordinary moments. We’re spiritual beings on a physical journey not physical beings on a spiritual journey.

2000 years later there’s an entire culture waiting for the end of all things instead of living in this moment as if it was the holiest of times. If Jesus is the Son of God, I can’t imagine how sad he must be.

No…not back on the Percocet…just the kid who thought he might want to be a Priest kicking up.

One Tough Week!

14. January 2005 · Comments Off on One Tough Week! · Categories: Good God

Maybe y’all have missed my big mouth – or fingers – this past week. Or not. Well, all of the above have been sort of out of commission since last Saturday.

I got up last Saturday morning, traipsed into the bathroom, and seconds later I put a 4″ crack in the side of the bathtub: with my head. One minute I was fine, the next I was waking up on the floor with a decided headache! Nurse Jenny was there, checking to see if it was OK for me to try moving. It wasn’t. Or, I couldn’t, quite yet. It seems my blood pressure had bottomed out suddenly and the brain (no snide comments, now!) needed blood, and there wasn’t any to give……When I managed to turn over I looked, and sure enough, I had really cracked a fiberglass bathtub! And did I ever feel it! Sheesh!

I managed to get back to bed, and after resting a bit, tried to finish what I had started, but down I went again. OK, my personal nurse checked my BP again, 70 over zip. A few minutes later, they were loading me into an ambulance, and off we went to the local ER. They wanted to admit me, whereupon I put in to be transferred to Ft. Stewart, Winn Army Hospital. OK, they got me transferred, and on the way over there – 60 miles – I started getting nauseous. They put me in ICU, whereupon I proceeded to lose my last year’s meals – all at once.

This day was going from bad to worse! By the time the vomiting started we were already 12 hours into this mess. Now, the Army doc wanted to get me out of there, as WACH is not a level II facility. At this point they were thinking everything from cardiac to gastric. Gastric, for sure, jeez, I coulda told ’em that! All you had to do was look at the basin I was worshipping, with all the greenish-yellow guck in it! So, here comes an ambulance crew, we’re off for another agonizing ride. With my former EMT partner as my paramedic. That was one surprised dude when he came into the room and he found out who his patient was. So we left FS behind and they took me to Savannah Memorial, further still from home. I had wanted to go to FS to avoid a hospital bill, and I wound up in a major hospital, in ICU, anyway. Some days you just lose.

After 3 more days in ICU, chained to a bed with IV’s, cardiac monitors, and not wanting to get up anyway, they finally cut me lose Wednesday night. And to tell the truth, I didn’t rush right back to the computer anyway. Still a bit funky……

Today, I feel much better, and I have a good BP. The diagnosis? On top of the dropped-out BP, which came roaring back to more than 200/90, pancreatitis. Not surprising, really, as I’ve had it before, and it is one of those things that, once you have it, you have future tendencies to have recurrences. One thing good that came out of my first episode of this accursed thing, back in 1994, was that I had a better feel for my own patients with pancreatitis. Now I knew why they were writhing around on the stretcher, hollering! That is one painful thing! Yikes!

Well, enough of my moaning. I’m gonna post this and kick back in the recliner for a while. See y’all later.

Joe

You know it can’t be good

01. January 2005 · Comments Off on You know it can’t be good · Categories: General, Good God

So there I was, doing a bit of organization, (another New Year’s resolution) when I get a Yahoo mail notification. It was a comment on one of my posts, and I knew it wasn’t going to be good when I saw the “name” of the emailer: “rape porn.” Don’t know if it’s just me, but looks like the freaks are out today in full force…

Congratulations, But…

04. November 2004 · Comments Off on Congratulations, But… · Categories: Good God

First of all, let me add my congratulations to President Bush and the Republicans. I think it was an amazing race and he stuck to his guns the whole way. I’m simply amazed. It would have been much easier to give a little here or there, but he didn’t do it.

I also have to give a lot of credit to Senator Kerry for not subjecting us to a repeat of 2000. He had 10,000 lawyers standing by and he chose to accept the will of the American people and I don’t care what anyone else says, that’s good on him. I think that’s the most admirable thing I’ve seen him do the entire election and it surprised the hell out of me.

The rest of this was going to be a comment to HerkyBirdMan’s post below but decided that it needed to be right out here on the front page.

Some of us who voted for President Bush strongly disagree with him on his stance on homosexuality and his anti-abortion agenda. I don’t share his values in those areas. Don’t believe for a moment that everyone who voted for the President agreed with 100% of the far-right agenda or are comfortable with the Evangelicals assumed influence on the man.

Yes, in my opinion, there are far too many abortions as birth control, but it’s not my body, nor is it yours. That’s between the ladies and their God, if they even have one. I think there’s got to be a middle ground, no I don’t know what it is, but I’m not willing to have the ladies go back to the days of having abortions in back alley clinics. Their choice, not mine, not yours…that’s what I believe is more important. Free will…it’s a real bitch sometimes.

As for homosexuality…I have never understood how giving gay or lesbian couples the same rights that my wife and I enjoy under the law in any way makes my life any less holy or blessed. What you consider an abomination, I consider perfectly okay. It’s not bothering me or my family if their family has some protection. Do I think the gay and lesbian folks blew it by pushing “marriage” versus civil unions? Yep. And now it’s going to be even harder for them.

Some of us voted for the President IN SPITE OF his Evangelical leanings, not because of them. I’m not trying to blow your party Herk, I just don’t want my silence to pass for agreement.

Not all of us are all conservative or all liberal. There’s still a center in this country, and the first candidate to figure it out next time will have it much easier than this time.

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