All About (Worldly) Beauty Redux

WISE AND TRUTHFUL. WINNING THE TOP-MODEL GAME IS ABOUT AS LIKELY AS WINNING THE LOTTERY.

Image is superficial.  It's about how  mostly pretty white women win the genetic lottery and succeed in a crushing industry. In the end, it means absolutely nothing.  Her magazine spreads are nothing more than 'image constructions' and have nothing to do with who this woman named Cameron really is.  Good for her for being  truthful and talking about how basing her career on beauty really is:  about being insecure all the time about her looks.

How To Help EF-5 Survivors in Moore, OK

UPDATE: BLAKE SHELTON AND TOBY KEITH EACH SEPARATELY PLAN BENEFITS FOR THEIR NATIVE OKLAHOMANS FIRST, THROUGH OUR CONTINUED PRAYERS.

Then through donations to the Salvation Army. The link gives us everythng we need in whatever form we prefer to make it. Again, here's the link.

Those wishing to donate money to the effort can do so online at www.salvationarmyusa.org or by calling 800-725-2769. Contributions can also be made by texting the word “STORM” to 80888 to make a $10 donation. To confirm the gift, respond with the word “Yes.” Checks can be sent to Oklahoma Tornado Relief, Salvation Army, P.O. Box 12600, Oklahoma City, OK 73157.

Donations can also be made to The Red Cross. A $200 donation provides a full day of food and shelter to a family of four. To make your donation, call 414-586-2100. To make an online pledge click here (link to www.redcross.org/donate) or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation (the charge will be added to your next cell phone bill, and the cellular company credits the full $10 to the Red Cross). Your generous gift enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, emotional support and other vital assistance to those affected by this disaster.

Don't just think about it.  Please do now, today.

How to Cook Seriously Delicious Southern Cicadas

LAND SHRIMP SORTA---ONLY MUCH, MUCH, MUCH BETTER

MY ONLY REGRET GOING INTO SUMMER is that I may already be in Wyoming when the massive storm of cicadas hatch and take over the land. But if I'm still here in early June, you can bet I'll experiment with sauting them in olive oil (or butter, but never deep-fat frying or using lesser oils), sea salt and garlic to a crisp and serving them accompanied with chilled greens.  And maybe a Bearnaise sauce on the side.....

 Can't think of any more interesting way to add to my favorite recipes and, I promise you, cicadas are a delicacy to be reckoned with.  And just think,  I wouldn't have to go to the  grocery for fresh, free-range protein nearly as much.

PS Chocolate cicadas are not as appealing to me however.

Sunday---Faith-Filled Living in Fear-Filled Times @ River Crossing

WONDERFUL SERMON BY MY PASTOR IN JACKSON HOLE, MIKE ATKINS, ON THE ROOT OF FEAR AND SIN--- and each of our resulting self-inspired narratives that leave God out of our stories and make us feel like exiles in our own lives--- and we can't figure out why. Sermon from the Apostle Paul's book of  2 Timothy  1. God is more interested in changing the inside of me, rather than  the circumstances on the outside of me.         

2 TIMOTHY 1 (NIV)  

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. 8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. The Lord’s Grace to Paul 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. The Charge to Timothy Renewed 18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

Real IRS Scandal Is That It Exists At All

OUR COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED BY CITIZENS SKEPTIC OF BIG, BLOATED, MEDDLING GOVERNMENT

SO HOW DID WE GET HERE?

I'M TOTALLY WITH JOHN TAMNY ON THIS ONE: Bad, reprehensible and obnoxious as the current IRS snooping scandal on conservatives and Tea Partiers is, partisan harassment by the party that's in power has often led to audits and investigations of the other side of the political aisle---its political enemies---for decades. Decades.

This is nothing new. Come on, you know it's true....That doesn't make it right though.
.
So what's the real scandal here?

It's that the IRS exists at all in a free country like the United States and that it--the IRS---makes us cower every year in fear of its ever-growing big-brother taxing authority and unenumerated, seized powers to snoop into every aspect of our lives. And it's only going to get worse with Obamacare implementation soon.

While some might call it a scandal,  Tamny calls it business-as-usual. He further adds that we need to abolish the IRS and instigate a national sales tax to pare down government:

Thinking about the IRS non-scandal, it would only be a real story if the partisan IRS weren't investigating its presumed enemies.

As James Bovard put it in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this week, a politicized IRS has been the norm since at least the 1930s. To presume otherwise is naïve, so while it's perhaps good politics for President Obama's opponents to be political about the IRS's revolting doings, any righteous indignation seems overdone. Any government entity is going to be political, and because the latter is true, it's hard to assign scandal to what the IRS was doing.

It seems the better answer is to acknowledge what's more of a certainty, that the IRS itself is the scandal. Not asked enough before and after the news about our tax authority is how a nation uniquely founded on skepticism about politicians and government could have ever created something like the IRS.

The Founders created the federal government, then proceeded to grant it very few rights; most of those related to our allowing the feds to protect our right as individuals to live as we want. And while its meaning has been totally perverted in modern times, even the General Welfare clause was written to ensure not an expansive government, but to rein in the political class any time its use of the limited powers granted to it weighed on our rights as individuals.

Back to the IRS, the brilliant concept that is the United States, one founded on the belief that governments by nature are not to be trusted, has allowed for the rise of an entity that allots for itself an obnoxious portion of our paychecks. More hurl inducing is the sad reality that we must prove our income to this unelected tax authority.

The ‘revelation' of a politicized IRS brings new meaning to ‘blinding glimpse of the obvious.' The bigger scandal is that once a year we do our taxes fearful that an accounting error could have us in serious trouble with our nation's tax authority, and more broadly, with the law. That's why we must scrap the income tax code altogether and institute a national sales tax.

Though our federal government's role should be naturally limited so that we as individuals can choose large or small government based on the state we live in, the federal government is empowered to protect us from foreign intruders, coin a currency, and required to protect....

Imagine if we could get rid of the IRS gargantuan bureaucracy AND  Obamacare all at the same time! What a coup that would be....and is it really so far-fetched?  Maybe not.

Read Tamny's entire piece.  Amen brother.

Again, our country was founded on the basic abhorrence and skeptism of Big Government and now we are living in a country where the government is increasingly suspicious of us, private citizens.  This is the real scandal---that we've let this government over-reach happen.  And it's of heroic proportions.

Peggy Noonan: No Ordinary Scandal

Karl Rove Takes Aim At Hillary Clinton's Coverup of Benghazi Terrorist Attack---Launcing First Salvo in 2016 Presidential Election

UPDATE: DEM SENATE INVOLVEMENT IN IRS SCANDAL

THIS WHOLE BENGHAZI COVER-UP JUST GETS MORE SHOCKING and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton---what difference does it make?!---should be truly ashamed. Hopefully she will be disqualified from ever running for high office again as a result of the fallout of this major controversy. This woman doesn't have the principles and integrity to ever be trusted  by the American public again.  What ever was she thinking?

It does make a difference, Mrs. Clinton.

Watch Bonhoeffer Discussion---Resisting Hitler & Racism--Then See the Amazing Jackie Robinson Movie---'42'

DAVID SOLWAY: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT IN OUR CULTURE
GREAT DISCUSSION WITH ERIC METAXES AND PASTOR JOHN PIPER.

It helps to remember how far we've come in the past 60 years. In 42,  Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey gives  the performance of his life. And if you think racism was only endemic to the south in 1945, then see this movie and think again. And again. My only criticism is 42 plays down Robinson's strong faith in Jesus Christ, taught  him first by his sharecropper mother living in South Carolina.
 


Jackie Robinson was a real American hero who took tremendous racial heat to become one of the icons of pro baseball in the 1940s and the Civil Rights Movement beyond. Below, Rachel Robinson, 90,  his  widow discusses their story and lives together and his real faith and dependence on prayer and going forward on his knees.

Angels' Endless Fascination With Christ's Good News for Mankind On Earth

THIS WEEK PASTOR TIM KELLER WROTE @ Daily Keller:

One of the most startling passages in the Bible connects the magnificence of angels with the mystery of the gospel. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care….It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. - 1 Peter 1:10-12

Although angels are incredibly majestic and powerful beings living in God’s eternal presence, there’s something that has happened on earth which is so stupendous that even these immortal beings experience the persistent longing “to look into these things.” What are “these things” that could possibly and consistently consume the attention of God-fixated creatures? The Gospel. The angels never get tired of looking into the gospel.

This means there is no end to gospel exploration. There are depths in the gospel that are always there to be discovered and applied, not only to our ministry and daily Christian life, but above all, to the worship of the God of the gospel with renewed vision and humility.”

*******

I've just linked this week to Daily Keller on my sidebar for daily inspiration and refection. 

Whatta Finish! It's Rosario On Orb For Shug @ K-Derb

WHAT A TERRIFIC, FUN, MUDDY, MESSY DERBY! Is anything more fun than seeing the winner come from behind and take the purse? 

Details.

Queen Beatrix Abdicates Her Throne To Son Willem-Alexander With Princess Maxima In Attandance

A HAPPY OCCASION IN THE NETHERLANDS

MAKING A INTERESTING PHOTO OP though not much else, it's always fun to see royalty doing its thing in Europe.

Still it's better any day than seeing another photo of American's obsession---the ever publicity-seeking Kardis.

Seems altogether appropos that the erstwhile queen has abdicated---rather than hanging on till the end---to let her capable son and his lovely-looking princess wife take charge in the Netherlands while she can  enjoy her retirement with family and friends.

Wonder what Queen Elizabeth is thinking about all this and whether she will ever abdicate to Charles and Camilla?  Not likely, in my opinion.

Sunday, Duck Dynasty's Commander Phil Robertson Gives His Testimony

FAITH, FAMILY, DUCKS....

IF YOU'VE BEEN ON PLANET EARTH the past few months you've heard of the wildly popular cable hit Duck Dynasty. The stars are a bunch of red-neck hillbillies and their wives and children from the back country of Louisiana who've made their fortunes making a business of duck callers. To say they have long hair is putting it mildly. Anyway, who knew they are also a bunch of evangelical followers of Christ. The real thing too. So today, I want to let several of these men speak for themselves about their walk and view of their families.

Come to think of it, these men look a lot like the Old Testament patriarchs with names like Moses, Elijah and Samuel.....just sayin.

Thanks to The Gospel Coalition: 9 Things You Should Know About Duck Dynasty.

Below here's Willie Robertson speaking at Harding University last fall. Wise, wise words indeed:

Saturday in the Subway

BETTER THAN THE WHCD BY A LONG SHOT

UNDER LINCOLN CENTER, MICHAEL BUBLE TEAMS UP A CAPPELLA WITH NATURALLY 7 for a fantastic impromtu song from his latest release. So fine.

SOURCE

Tom Brokaw Talks Downhill Slide of the White House Correspondents Dinner and Press Corps

WHERE DIGNITY GOES TO DIE

THIS INTERVIEW WITH TOM BROKAW BY POLITICO IS VERY REVEALING and well worth the ten minutes needed to watch it. I couldn't agree more with what he says. The MSM press corps of all ilks is increasing salacious, petty and unserious as it caters to our---and their---insatiable need to be  entertained.  Lindsey Lohan was his breaking point. I agree:  what could be more pathetic than our obsession with this poor, unappealing, unattractive woman?

What passes for journalism today is only a shadow of what passed for it in Tom's and my day. To put it  more concisely, we are increasingly a culture of voyeurs  wanting to be spoon-fed what passes as news by a silly, inconsequential celebrity-obsessed press corps vultures.

We're a culture that majors in the minors. We don't mind throwing dignity to the wind for a photo op and a few drinks with celebrities. This is especially unfortunate at a time we have so many pressing issues as a nation to address with depth and maturity. When the chickens come home to roost because of our and the press' superficiality, will we be shocked and say we never saw it coming?

I don't know, but wouldn't be surprised if we are. Meanwhile,  Brokaw's reputation has gone up with me as a result of this interview.

ADDITION:  PHOTOS OF EXPECTED CELEBRITIES ATTENDING this self-congratulatory smooze-fest.

ADDITION 2:  Updated celebrity guest list

The New Presidential Library I Hope to Visit

PHOTO ESSAY: ALL THE REASONS WE MISS W!

Hubris: Two Rich/ Famous Tennesseans Who've Embarrassed Themselves---Reese Witherspoon and Pilot Oil's Jim Haslam

UPDATE:  PILOT PUTS SOME SALES STAFFERS ON LEAVE AND ANNOUNCES AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR

WE'VE ALL READ OR HEARD THE STORY of Reese Witherspoon's very unbecoming behavior in Atlanta several nights ago when she and her new husband Jim Toth encountered a policeman on Peachtree Street because Toth was weaving in traffic.  In the wee hours of Friday morning, Jim and Reese had clearly had too much to drink before he was pulled over and arrested for a DUI.  That was bad enough though certainly not uncommon. Yet it was Reese's unruly and disorderly conduct during Toth's arrest that added fuel to the flames and made the story an international spectacle.

When some 'famous' person starts spouting off and throwing their weight around, as in asking if the  policeman  knows who  she is and he'll be sorry for this, it's almost the kiss of death as far as I'm concerned.  It's like saying, Look Bud,  we're famous, rich etc.  We're above the law, so back off and leave us alone to do whatever we want so nobody gets hurt. We're way too big for you to tangle with.

To add insult to injury, Reese had the gall to accuse the policeman of being an impersonator. When told to sit her butt down in the car and stay there, she jumped out and declared I'm an American citizen and have a right to stand on U.S. soil whenever I please.  They were both taken for a short time to the Atlanta jail and  booked before being released to their own arrogant recognizance. But the saga is far from over.

Bad acting and cringe-worthy behavior to say the least. I would certainly not like to be her right now no matter how she spins it from here out.

To Reese's and her agent's credit,  she has graciously apologized today, claiming she's deeply embarrassed about this drunken episode,  as she should be.

It's the least she could say to begin to redeem herself.  Still the Legally Blond girl-next-door from Nashville, Tennessee has forever tarnished her squeaky clean image with hubris the size of the Hollywood Bowl.  I'm embarrassed for her and hope this is the last time something like this happens.....

*******

If Reese Witherspoon's episode over the weekend was bad and embarrassing, then the hubris of  Knoxville businessman Jim Haslam---head of Pilot Flying J Truck Stops, brother of Tennessee governor Bill Haslam, owner of  the NFL's Cleveland Browns and best friend to US Senator Bob Corker---is downright shocking and maybe even tragic.

Last week Pilot's corporate headquarters in Knoxville were suddenly descended on,  raided and impounded by a  federal SWAT team of FBI and IRS agents. Evidently Pilot has been defrauding trucking companies---especially the ones that were 'too unsophisticated' or 'lazy' to understand their rebate statements---to the tune of tens of millions of dollars since 2008 with the knowledge and approval of upper management. Because an inside informant secretly taped some of upper management's recent meetings detailing the fraud and laughing about it, they've been caught red-handed,  with their pants down.  It's altogether possible that besides many heads rolling at Pilot, some of the top brass---including Jim Haslam unless he exonerates himself---will go to federal prison after they've paid back boatloads of back-rebates to trucking companies that have lost money and  trust in business dealings with Pilot.

 Pilot's good reputation and balance sheet may be ruined. It may be the beginning of the end of the largest truck stop company in the country. Trucking company executives and drivers are outraged by Pilot's alleged fraud and greed.

Hubris, thy name is Reese Witherspoon and Jim Haslam.  None of us are without hubris, greed and pride at times, but these current examples sure take the cake and are a cautionary tale.  Stay tuned.

Sunday: The Marathoner's Fragile Glory

MARATHON RUNNER FINISHES THE RACE VICTORIOUSLY AND LOOKS BACK AT HOW QUICKLY THE WORLD CHANGED THAT DAY:

But when I walked out of the restaurant, I stepped into a world that had changed. Suddenly our achievements, our medals, and even whether we had finished the race became astonishingly trivial. The near-sacred enchantment of the Boston Marathon vanished before my eyes; our medals became mere pieces of metal around our necks, the finish line was only a band of colored paint, and we found ourselves in a new race to discover if our friends were safe amid the confusion and sadness. This race had an urgency the marathon never did. Death and evil openly entered the equation, and they changed the atmosphere completely. Instinctively, we all knew this new race, in a limited way, was about salvation. "Is so and so safe?" we asked each other anxiously as we worried and texted. In those moments, rescue and safety became the only thing relevant as we thought about our friends on the course.

Updated---Speaking To High School Students At My Alma Mater

FLY FISHING---WHERE THERE ARE NO BAILOUTS----ONLY FAILURE, FRUSTRATION UPON FRUSTRATION, WAITING, PATIENCE then often losing the big one again and again until one day, you net him for a brief  second, then let him go to fight and thrill someone else again.  Here I am fishing at the head of Orvis's private waters in Wyoming and everything worked for a fabulous round-of--fishing and applause. (In truth, it was easy water, unlike my daily much harder routine) Most of the time it doesn't happen that way!  Then it's back to patience and learning from my mistakes---which are myriad---in the school of hard knocks and mud under your toe and fingernails worthy of an auto mechanic on a daily basis, truly.  I wouldn't have it any other way! 


UPDATE: TEARED UP AS WE SANG OUR SCHOOL ANTHEM TODAY AT ST. CATHERINES. So beautiful and rich and much more poignant with all that's going on up the East Coast right now, as radical Islam strikes again. May God be with and help us all.

 

GIVING THREE LECTURES TODAY AT CAREER DAY HELD AT MY HIGH SCHOOL ALMA MATER in Richmond, Virginia. Will be talking about my second career of becoming a fly fishing guide in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
How do you speak to young women about such incredible Grace and luck that would whisk me out of a big city and plop me down in the most beautiful wilderness area in the world to work and play and live? Can I adequately tell of all the interesting, talented people I've met along the way?  Or what I've learned, often the hard way? I can only relate what happened to me after a divorce and getting my children mostly grown.  Can only assure them it was not my doing but a Higher Plan I surrendered to--- not without a struggle, I might add.  T'was never my dream when I was younger. But life happens when we least expect it. And the rest is history and gratitude, gratitude, grantitude.

Former Secret Service Agent On Gun Control

BOSTON: EMPATHIZE NOT TERRORIZED @ ZERO HEDGE

APPROPRIATE IN VIEW OF TODAY'S FRIGHTENING BOMBINGS IN BOSTON. There's no such thing as gun control...only people control. And what about bomb control?.....hopeless.

Here, here, Dan Bongino. Talk is cheap.

HT:  My Bad Influence

Sunday, Powerful Video of Hope

TWR: Speaking Hope to the World from TWR on Vimeo.

HT CHALLIES AND The Apostle Paul in Romans 8. This dark world needs hope of Jesus Christ by Grace through Faith as never before.

Gosnell Late-Term Abortion-Murder Film

@ AT THE ATLANTIC: WHY GOSNELL'S TRIAL SHOULD BE FRONT-PAGE NEWS

THE 3801 LANCASTER FILM PROJECT is an ongoing documentary series about Kermit Gosnell, of the Women's Medical Society, and the cover-up by state and local oversight agencies.

At the Gospel Coalition, 8 Reasons for the Media Blockout of Gosnell's Murder Trial.

I continue to wonder why all the outrage for the Newton kids---horrible as it was---and yet so little interest in the worst kind of ongoing slaughter.  The natural end of a woman's right to choose gone down the slippery slope of relativism.  It will be the same with gay marriage.  In a few years, there will be people wanting to group marry and marry their pets.  And then there will be fighting over tax payers paying for group benefits and pet benefits and spaying.

I shudder to think. May God help us all.

Bubba's Hover Craft

 HUMOROUS INTERLUDE: NORTH KOREA MISSILE TEST LAUNCH


GREAT IDEA BUBBA WATSON! PROBABLY NOT YET PRIMED FOR THE MASTERS.... but stay tuned one of these years.

Remembering Maggie

VIDEO: THE PM WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

LIKE SO MANY OTHER NEWS SITES POSTING THIS WONDERFUL PHOTO OF FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER MARGARET THATCHER, I second that emotion and think it most perfectly embodies one of the greatest political eras and bright chapters of history, liberty and strong leadership the world has ever known.

Meanwhile here in America, we have the antithesis of Thatcher in our national leadership :  a regime of big government that reaches and spies into every aspect of our everyday lives and pocketbooks, a country in exponential  moral and fiscal decline and increasing hopelessness and helplessness.

May we find our Maggie Thatcher here before it's too late.

MORE--- Andrew Klavan:  THE BEST PEOPLE ARE OFTEN HATED

Queen Will Attend Thatcher's Funeral

Sunday: Spring Finally Comes to Middle Tennessee And Thoughts on Hell

IT'S BEEN ONE OF THE LONGEST, GLOOMIEST WINTERS IN RECENT HISTORY. But finally, spring and warm weather have arrived. I often wonder if hell is like being in eternal cold and grayness increasingly separated from the warmth of our beautiful sun. However, Hell is far worse than just eternal winter.

Tom Ascol has 4 Truths on Hell that are well worth reading and contemplating: It's separation from God, a state of association (but not community since everyone is focused on themselves), punishment and an eternal state. Most of us don't take time to really let these things sink in though we should at least try especially at this wonderful time of year when God graciously brings forth new life for us in the Northern Hemisphere. When Jesus lived on earth, he spoke more about hell and separation than he did on heaven. (Susan Hunt artwork.)

Simple, Elegant History of Wall Street For 15 Years

WATCH THE ENTIRE SLIDESHOW @ BUSINESS INSIDER if you dare and see if it doesn't ring true, true, true. BI calls it hilarious. I'd say it's hilarious only if you're on the inside of big bankstas getting paid unconscionable amounts of printed money at the expense of your naive victims and the middle class working man.

 I'd call it horrendous if you're that tax payer, or kid on whose backs this folly is being foisted for generations to come.

At St. John's Episcopal Church In Washington: President Obama's Ugly Easter Sermon

KELLER: FOUR KINDS OF PEOPLE

FILLED WITH STRAW MEN AND MEAN-SPIRITED NONSENSE, the sermon dripped with right-bashing without giving one example, one quote or attribution to back up the ridiculous claims. Liberal elitism at its most condescending low loves to make things up and then react indignantly as if it were truth.

Sure glad I wasn't there because I would have walked out.

Dreaming of A White.....Easter?

UPDATE: I BELIEVE

T'WAS A LONG, SLOW BUT BEAUTIFUL WINTER WONDERLAND DRIVE to DC SUNDAY and this morning. One of the lovliest snowfalls I've ever seen for over 350 miles. Gosh, it's been a long winter, and clearly not over yet. Don't know what happens to the cherry blossoms when it snows like this. Guess they'll survive.

Now for a little nap---a late winter-spring nap---before being regaled with Washington (Post) politics....

PS--My intrepid host has disclosed that he now finds Obama a small-time, major bore of a politician.
Wow! 

Sunday, Interview With Rosaria Butterfield

FOR THE PAST FEW SUNDAYS I've posted excerpts from Secret Thoughts of An Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield, formerly a radical lesbian English professor at Syracuse University. Her journey to now being the wife of a reformed Presbyterian minister (a man) is fascinating and extremely heart wrenching.

Here she is interviewed, talking about her unlikely conversion. It's over an hour long, but well worth the time to watch. By the way,  I think all conversions are unlikely and amazing. When people say and think that they can't change---they are what they are, especially with regard to their sexual preference---I believe they are mostly correct.  It is only with a supernatural relationship to Jesus Christ with the sanctifying, guiding power of the Holy Spirit that this kind of radical change can occur. 

Our God is a God of radical transformation and works in each life entirely uniquely. Praise God for his unlikely work in our lives!

Ship In A Bottle

A WONDERFUL LITTLE DOCUMENTARY ON AN AMAZING CRAFT!

Surprise! Google's Eric Schmidt Prefers Blackberry; And How Tennessee Will NOT Use Its Tax Dollars At UT

AS DOES THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT and me. Schmidt prefers the real keyboard. I do. Also like the light weight and size. To each his own, however, I'm a devoted Blackberry user.

*********

IN OTHER NEWS, or should I say non-news, drummed up bya radical loud, obnoxious and 'proud' gay community---evidently desperate for attention in Knoxville--- the state of Tennessee will not, read that NOT, underwrite  a depraved sex week project designed to 'help' students advance their sexuality and bondage skills.  One of the favorite tactics of these folks is announcing that the wider community is fully supportive of this pathetic kind of event.  Not the case, and  never be.  These people will never, ever be satisfied with gay marriage---a reality in some parts of the country---and will never go quietly into the night if it becomes the law of the land.

Indeed these extremists will never be satisfied until they have mentally, if not physically, sodomized every last one of us and brow beaten America into saying we like it, and God approves of it.  

What people do in the privacy of their own homes is their business.  But what they purport to do in the name of 'higher' or should I say lower education at a state university sanctioned event using my tax dollars is another matter altogether. It's then my business.  I don't like it. Do these people have no shame?

With all the many slippery slopes we're on in this country, the moral relativism and spiritual decay, it's time for a wonderful song I love from England:  Just One Touch of the King:

Black Conservatives Discuss the Second Amendment and Founding of NRA

GUN CONTROL IS REALLY PEOPLE CONTROL. Without guns, without God and without the Constitution, America's end will be hastened.

History worth remembering from people who should know.