Separation My Eye

This fine article from the racist and poorly written AmericanThinker.com explains a concept of which I've made similar concepts on various blogs, including this one. If one is honest, one can easily see how the stifling of religion in the public square has contributed to what the late Sen. Patrick Moynihan called, "defining deviancy down". Two recent incidents made the reading of this article all the more compelling.

The first was the receipt of a solicitation for donation to an outfit that is both pro-life and a promoter of chastity. (It seems the wife already discarded this into the recycling container and at this late hour I'm not up for digging it out. I'll update this post later if I can recover it. It's a most worthy cause.) In it's letter it described a behavior amongst teens called "sexting" wherein the kids take pix of themselves naked for attracting dates or just for exchange. It speaks of teens, particularly college girls, turning to prostitution as if it's just another job. It also speaks of statistics such as 1 in 4 kids having some form of VD.

The second was a piece I just saw on a news station speaking of a hazing incident involving girls from Glenbard North High School in the Chicago suburbs. It had to do with some kind of sports team wherein senior girls engaged in a very brutal and savage assault on junior girls. There was a keg of beer and eventually other students showed up, and kids being stupid, some video-taped the event. About a dozen senior girls were expelled, some junior girls suspended and several girls were taken to the hospital for serious injuries including a broken ankle, a severe gash on the head from being hit with a bucket, and other assorted fun. To view the tape was sickening.

I maintain and insist that the stifling of religion within the schools and in the public arena, but worst of all, within the homes of most of these kids, is at the heart of all of it. There has been nothing that has adequately replaced God in the lives of these kids and their parents. Is it any wonder that our culture is so warped? No one's looking for a theocracy here, but those who insist that it is soley up to the parents alone are generally those whose kids indulge in these behaviors, and often indulge in them themselves. Our country can no longer afford this crap. Everyone needs to grow up.

UPDATE: This article from Yahoo is relevant to this discussion. It speaks of Mississippi taking over as the state with the most teen births. It mentions all versions of why a rise in teen births has occurred and why it might be more in one state than the other. But the reason of culture is given only a mere mention. Of course culture is a far larger reason because it made it OK for these kids to have sex in the first place. I would have preferred that the article spoke to pregnancy rather than births, for I feel the stats would be more alarming. Also better would be some kind of national survey that indicates how many kids are engaging in any kind of sexual activity beyond mere kissin' and huggin'. That, too, would likely surprise.

Incredible Christmas Story!

I found this this morning and think it supports what I was saying two posts down. Tell me there hasn't been significant and tangible progress in Iraq because of our involvement there. It can be said that this was always possible, that it could have eventually come to this, but there was no such movement in this direction until George W. Bush made the decision to go in and oust Hussein. Even the kids notice the improvements.

Merry Christmas To All!!!

God's blessings on all who visit here. Thanks to all for prayers and concern shown for my recent forced vacation.

Insightful

I found this piece this morning, and found it insightful as well as humorous. I especially liked the author's notice of how true liberty brings out people of "courage", that despotism never does. Comparing the Bush's shoe-throwing attacker to the courageous Dixie Chicks is right on the money. If Bush had been half the demon depicted by the left, fewer lefties would've exercised their free speech rights. It's easy to be courageous when there's no real risk in doing so. As the author suggests, that the shoe-thrower lobbed his loafers at all is a sign that Bush's policies in Iraq have successfully brought about the freedom he sought for them.

You're F**kin' Kidding Me!

The title of this post represented the first words out of my mouth when my employer laid me off this past Friday morning. I didn't say a whole lot more than that. Needless to say, my emotions quickly rose to a dangerous temperature. When emotions rise, intelligence dips, and had I tried to speak again, the result would have been either incredibly pathetic or incredibly illegal. So, as I turned in my inventory, I did so in a number of trips to the car instead of one trip loading up a cart, so that I might walk it off as best as possible, that I might regain some composure before they seek to elicit from me any comments. If I was more like Paul the Apostle, I would rejoice in this episode allowing me the opportunity to act like a Christian for His Glory. But to my shame, I think only of how easily I could render them permanently justified in parking in the handicapped space. God grant me peace.

But this situation also affords me the opportunity of once again affirming my position that we are where we are as a result of actions taken or not taken, decisions made one way or the other. Can we sustain the injury of such unceremonious treatment? What can we do to insure that we can? It is a necessary concern that each of us is as totally covered against major inconveniences as we can make ourselves. It is a task that should have total priority. The reason for this is that one never knows what life has in store. Maybe it's not a layoff, but a catastrophic illness or injury. Can we survive it financially? If not, why not? What the heck are you doing with your money, with your life, that you can't secure this responsibility?

If you are an employee, this warning must be taken more to heart. One gives up at least eight hours, plus whatever time is used up by being employed, including lunch breaks and commuter time. One also gives up the full right to determine when one can take time off for vacations, sick time, personal time, how many holidays are honored. One is limited by pay to living a life limited by that level of pay. In other words, one's life is not one's own. The trade is not equitable, unless you feel your time, that 10-12 total hours devoted to a job, is worth only what your employer is willing to pay you for renting it.

The main thing to keep in mind is that there is nothing more one's employer owes than that to which both parties agreed upon one's hiring. And that goes especially for keeping you employed. Think about that. Did anyone negotiate the permanence of their position upon hiring? Thus, one can be let go at any time, no matter what your union rep tells you. Plus, the employer might be stupid and running the business into the ground and the business folds. Or, the company could be bought out and your position eliminated. The bottom line is, how are you prepared for this? Just as death, the loss of one's job comes like a thief in the night. At least it feels that way.

There's one overriding purpose for having a job: that's to have money that one can invest in order to provide another, hopefully passive, form of income that will at least match one's wage at the J.O.B. As it is being developed, all debt should be paid down at once. Then, with debt removed, more investing can take place. Learning to make money work for you is a study worth mastering.

Anyway, I haven't been practicing what I've preached to the best of my abilities. The loss of this meager gig is troubling. There's no doubt about that. But I am not without resources and the mortgage will be paid before we run out of dough. Though I'd like to find a situation quickly, we can handle things for an extended period. Not good enough by a long shot, but fortunately, we've managed to get to this point, so that shows that better things can be had if effort is actually exerted. The opportunities are endless and there truly is no excuse for poverty, none for not being prepared to fend it off should the time come.

What War?

I stumbled upon this today. Tell me there's no war on Christianity or religion. Of course it's not just Christian or religious words that have been removed from the Children's dictionary. A variety of fruits and veggies, common names of plants and words related to English history and culture have also been removed. Many of the words still have value and are descriptive, having a place in the common lexicon. Some of the words that have been put in their place are, first of all, not words but are phrases, but also not likely to need a dictionary for modern kids to know. They're computer related and most kids with a modest introduction to the technology has at least heard the words, if not used them themselves.

But to remove all those religious terms is really appalling, since there's little left around from which kids can get a sense of the all-permeating aspect of God. Nonsensical "scholars", who have yet to find anything that has adequately replaced the lack of Christianity in the schools and public square, have taken another step toward the descent of Western Culture by banishing these words from the lives of the next generation.

Rights vs "Rights"

In a recent post, Shedding Light, I ruminated on a few aspects of the homosexual agenda situation and in the subsequent comments once again dealt with questions concerning why I should feel threatened by the country someday granting marital "rights" to homosexuals. One of my concerns regards the clashing of our well established right to practice and express our religious faith vs. the "right" to openly live as a homosexual and go through life pretending there is no difference whatsoever between them and heterosexuals, otherwise known as "normal people", forcing them to act as if they believe it, too. And without a doubt, clash we will, just as we are doing now. This piece from Illinois Family lists a number of case studies where that clash has actually played out, and how the already well established right has too often been dealt a blow (pardon the expression) in favor of the fantasy "right". In addition, there is also the right of free association that will be expected to take a back seat to the rights of these sadly confused people.

I offer this from the same newsletter as a kind of companion piece that shows the determination of the homosex activists to force the rest of us to comply with their selfish sex-based demands. They have a friend in Barry Obama and likely most of the Dems that he has chosen to staff his cabinet.