End of May Roundup

In the past, I used this as a collection point for things I had not gotten to in the month, but that isn't quite right. In the future, I will use it to rehash some recent (maybe more than a month) discussions, and maybe to add something to them. This hasn't been a real productive month, and I will blame it on the weather. (There has been a bumper crop of twisters in the Midwest, but what has really slowed me down is the heat and humidity here in Central Texas.) In addition, my old printer died and I had to get a new one. Kind of a daunting task. There are many models to choose from, and they all expect you to print a lot more than I do.

Blaming the weather is
kind of a cop-out,
but it beats blaming
the real problem - me.

At the end of April, I linked to a couple essays: one on Moral Bankruptcy (mostly in the system that corporations exist under) and another on The Insanity of Black Liberation Theology. Both are links to blog called Crunchy Conservatives. He gets right to the point in both essays, and shows the hypocrisy of one group and the beliefs of the other group that has them squarely at odds with real Christians.

Late last fall, I did an update on gas prices from my last summer's forecast. Even with the update (compensating for the ever weakening dollar), I came in a little low. In addition, gas prices don't seem to be slacking off any. I can say with confidence we will not see $3 a gallon gasoline again, and I expect right now to see $5 a gallon gas next May. (see update at bottom)

I finally got around to putting together a copyright and license page for this blog, but haven't put the finishing touches on it. (It is pretty good as is) Any time copyright is brought up, there seems to be some discussions of those who abuse it. And make no mistake, the government is right in the pocket of those who abuse the copyright system of law. What can we do. Not much. And if we do much, we had best keep our mouth shut about it. In the mean time, we can each make a promise to ourselves to not be one of the abusers. Like Google used to say "don't be evil" (I don't know what they say nowadays). For those of you who haven't gotten around to dealing with the copyrights on your own works, you might have a look at the Creative Commons license. (See links at right hand side of page)

UPDATE (7 June): Oil and gas prices have continued to climb almost daily. I am not sure what is happening here, but it means either consumption is still way up, or speculators are pumping money into the market. Who is consuming more fuel and/or where the speculators are getting the money to pump into the market is the question. Currently, oil is above $135 a barrel, and using my formula for finding gas prices, that would mean gas will go to $5.80 a gallon in a few months if the price of oil does not fall soon.

Monthly Heroes and Slimeballs

For the HERO of the month this month, I select Janepsy Cindy Mesa of Miami. (Sorry I couldn't find a Texan on short notice :-)

While there were some shady circumstances surrounding their lives in the months leading up to the incident, the bottom line is that someone who was very likely a drug dealer and also quite likely a murderer is Dead. And Dead is Good.

Snipped from the article (and slightly rearranged
to make a little more sense):

Ilan Nissim, 27, was fatally shot after he appeared unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon inside Mesa's home, 13365 NW 12th Ave., police said.
Mesa, 31, had been moving furniture of her Spanish-tiled house when Nissim appeared in the hallway. The front door was open.
Nissim, a ''business associate'' of her husband, attacked her after the pair exchanged some angry words, she told police. She then retrieved a black .38-caliber revolver from another room, returned and shot Nissim dead.
The man shot and killed in self-defense by Janepsy Cindy Mesa was a suspect in
her husband's murder, North Miami police said Wednesday.
For now, detectives call the killing self-defense, said North Miami Lt. Neal Cuevas.

Article in Miami Herald
Similar coverage on Local TV (just in case)


And now for our monthly Slimeball award.

The National Arbitration Forum (NAF)
(also here here here and here )
( I suppose they think by sheer numbers of names and web sites, they can try to hide their shady dealings and put on an air of respectability)

This organization, it seems to me, is intent on taking a slimy part of the law and lowering it to the lowest and slimiest possible. Arbitration is supposed to be a simple and economical way for two parties to resolve a conflict, but it is rarely used that way. In most cases, it is used as a hammer for corporations to beat down the common citizen. The NAF commonly represents debt collections organizations, and is used as a bypass for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (note that the link is a PDF of a legal document).

The non-profit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen recently conducted an eight-month examination into the credit card industry's use of pre-dispute binding mandatory arbitration based on all available data from the National Arbitration Forum. The found over 94% of the cases were resolved in favor of the business. This is probably being kind, or even hamstrung, since they used the NAF's own data to find this. Others have found worse stats.

Links of interest:
Almost all of the following links can be found here but are listed in case they scroll off of the index page.
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2006/10/bloodsuckers_go.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2006/11/more_bloodsucki.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2007/04/triumph_for_fed.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2007/06/a_small_excepti.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2007/07/stacking-the-de.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2007/07/consumer-arbitr.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2007/08/arbitration-fir.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2007/09/deathstar-arbit.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2008/03/bankrupt-consum.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2008/03/what-gets-a-law.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2008/04/san-francisco-c.html
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2008/05/naf-just-naf.html

Ephesus on hold

In the past couple of weeks I have had quite a few things happen, and so the Ephesus project is somewhat on hold. In the mean time, someone pointed out to me that much of the Bible is layed out in stories, and that provides a basis for study. It also occurs to me that the Bible says we are to come to Him as little children. Hence, one more aid to understanding the Bible would be a Bible story book. Most of these are written for children, and many are good. I do reccommend anything by Zondervan, and most anything from Family Christian Bookstore, but I am certain there are more out there.

death of a printer

After only about 28 months of use, my printer has died. As a user I am not in the "low usage" category. Actually, I print so seldom, and so little, they don't seem to HAVE a category for me.

A couple years ago, when I got this printer, I wrote a short product review on it. At the time, I didn't know anything about the problems, other than there was such a thing as ink drying in the jets. I had no idea at all how big of a problem it could be.

The from what I have read, the manufacture intended this printer to have a life expectancy over 47000 pages. I guess they expected it to be printing about 24 pages a day, which would mean a life expectancy of about 6 years. Ink for that printing, however, would be quite expensive. Using the Epson ink, that would be over $100 a month. Even using the G&G ink from a discount supplier, it would be over $50 a month. Since the printer cost just over $100 originally, I don't think their view of economics is useful.

Because I use it so infrequently, every time I used it, I had to clean it. And I had to run the cleaning cycle twice each time. It would always warn me that this used extra ink. What it did not warn me about was filling the waste ink reservoir. After only about 2000 to 3000 pages, it gave me an indication that the waste ink reservoir was getting full. And then it just died. Not sure if it died from the reservoir overfilling or something else, but I just assume it was the reservoir. The local shop told me it is not worth fixing.

I plan to replace it with a color laser. I am currently looking at the HP 1600. Of course, the color laser costs about 3 times as much, but it doesn't have the problems with the ink drying out that the inkjet has.

In summery, I have to conclude that unless they can overcome the problems with ink dryout (perhaps putting it in an artificial environment, where the ink solvent is in the air?), there is actually NO reason to buy an injet.

Just

Just a note here today, that I found a couple good essays on Beliefnet.

Bear Stearns and Moral Bankruptcy

The Insanity of Black Liberation Theology

Slimeballs and heros

This month I have two heroes, but I don't know their names.


In Arlington TX, a man refuses to be a victim, and his quick thinking son backed him up.

"One man was stabbed and his two partners are at large after a home invasion went wrong for them Monday evening, police said."

The other is in Inglewood TN. It should be noted that in many, less civilised parts of the country, the robber would have been the only one allowed by law to have a gun during the holdup, possibly resulting in the killing of the store clerk, and undoubtedly leading to more robberies of other stores.

From the news account:
"A would-be robber at an Inglewood liquor store was shot and killed Saturday night after a customer opened fire" Metro police said. "A citizen, like a police officer, has the right to utilize deadly force if there is a threat of serious bodily injury or harm," Police Capt. David Imhof said.

I am certain there are just as many slimeballs as always out there, but I have been kinda busy this month and haven't had time to research any of them.

credit card banking

I write on occasion about the immorality of major corporations, and the banking and credit industry in particular. I don't have too many war stories of my own (excepting one bank I dealt with who sold my information to one of their "partners" who attempted to swindle me out of $153 for a "free" credit report that I did not order and they did not send. That little indecent took a few days to clean up and a couple dozen phone calls.

The bigger wars happen from time to time, and on occasion I get to read about someone with good writing skills who has to fight one of these wars. This one is a lawyer. Poor choice of someone to scam. Still, they managed to create a swindle scam that is running into weeks for him to get straightened out. I think he should sue them for lost wages for the time he has had to spend fighting them.

Slimeballs and Heroes

This month I will be skipping the normal Slimballs and Heroes to focus on an action at the Supreme Court. This week they have heard the case DC v. Heller. This is a huge case deciding whether the US Supreme Court Justices can read plain English or not.

The following is a link to most of the discussion on the case:
Scotusblog Index-to-Heller-Coverage/

I often wonder why it is so easy for many of the elitist leftists and their drones to understand the meaning of the word "people" in several other places in the Constitution, but when they get to the second amendment, they treat it like some Cryptic Satanic message that cannot possibly mean "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

There is actually one commenter that said

Individual-right advocates frequently compare it to the First Amendment. The difference is that the First Amendment protects speech, but the Second Amendment protects, in some form, the right to have a deadly weapon. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Where do theses imbeciles come from?

UPDATE: (6 Apr 08)
It has been pretty quiet on the net about Heller v. Washington DC
A couple posts to note, however:
Sentencing Law and Policy Analysis
Intellectual Conservative Second Thoughts

UPDATE: (11 Apr 08)
I see there is a Washington Post article on Obama's position, or more like non-position on gun control. I see that he was for gun control before he was against it. Or so he says. Having lived in Illinois for many years (and never going back to that police state) I will say that his new position is temporary and just for the sake of getting elected. No one should be taken in by his false face he wares when saying he believes in an indevidual right. He says he taught constitutional law for 10 years. In all that time, he didn't cement his position on the 2nd Amendment? Horsehokky. He will revert back to being a gun grabber, immediately after the election, with more speed than the striking of a rattle snake.

Ephesus: Study methods Part 2

Reading about the books, people and places.

Reading and studying the Bible one chapter after another can seem a bit intimidating. In fact, if you studied half an hour 4 times a week using the method I outlined in study methods, part 1, you would find two things. First it would take you more than 10 years to go through the entire Bible, and second, you would run into passages for which this method of study makes no sense.

Some variety is needed, both to help keep perspective, and to gain the most learning in the least amount of time. It also helps psychologically, by keeping the learning more interesting. Remembering our goal is to understand the Bible, and get as much learning and understanding accomplished as possible in the first months and years of study.

There are two things a beginner student of the Bible needs, to make learning easier in the future. One is learn the order of the Books, so that when a teach (or pastor, or preacher) refers to a chapter and verse, it only takes half the work to find it. This will let you concentrate on what is being taught, and less on just "keeping up."

I have found that writing out the names of the books - five at a time - helps. I am always having trouble with the books in the last half of the Old Testament, so from time to time I will sit down with a pen and pad of paper and write out the names of five or so of them in the correct order. When I started this, I used the same technique to learn names of the books in the New Testament. About five at a time. I say five at a time because it has been shown that most people do best with a short list of five or so items, rather than a long list.

The other thing that will help immensely is to learn about the books in the Bible. There are several really good tools for this. Fist the Study Bibles I discussed earlier are a great tool. Many of these Study Bibles, in addition to having notes at the bottom of each page, will preface each book (or sometimes, section) with a couple pages of notes about that book.

A second tool for this is Zondervans Pictorial Dictionary that I have mentioned before - or some other Bible Dictionary might work. Look up the name of a book and read what it has to say about it, its author, and the times and places written in it. Sometimes you will need to look up stuff you find in one article (these dictionaries are more like encyclopedias than regular dictionaries) by looking in other articles. For instance, Ecclesiastes will lead you to Solomon, who wrote much of three other books of the Bible.

A third tool for this kind of study is a Bible Handbook. I haven't gone over these, but will soon. Also, as a note, someone with whom I discuss scripture regularly pointed out to me, another obvious study method using a Study Bible, so I hope to post an article on that method soon.

End of Month Round Up

Well, it was a short month. With some wind and some cold and dry, it has been a constant danger of fires most of the month for most of Texas. Good news is a friend of mine is getting married tomorrow to a long time friend.

I added some new information about dictionaries to the Ephesus Project, and established what may be copied from this blog under the copyright laws.

Gas prices have begun to spike upwards. This is an entirely normal phenom, but in the climate of constant campaigning and constant political posturing nowadays, every penny is a feeding frenzy for the press.

Well, less than 30 hours until March.
Until then...

Of Heros and Slimeballs (monthly)

As I have said before, this feature will only continue as long as I can find a hero to feature each month.

Our hero of the month goes to the homeowner who shot one of three men attempting a robbery. This took three thugs off the streets of a small city in Washington - one permanently.

14 Feb 2008 Yakima Washington
YAKIMA -- Two men are arrested at gunpoint Thursday afternoon after a deadly shooting in a house in Terrace Heights.

Police say the shooting happened just after 11 a.m. on the 200 block of Observation Drive. They say three suspects entered a home. The homeowner and a guest were home at the time. The homeowner shot one of the suspects, who was dead when investigators arrived. The guest was also accidentally shot by the home owner, he has been treated and released from the hospital.

The other two suspects ran away from the scene to the Burger King on Yakima Avenue where they were arrested at gun point inside the restaurant.


Slimeball of the Month award FEB 2008 goes to:
"JG Wentworth" where you can "Sell your structured settlement or annuity payments" according to their own advertisements. I give this award both for the frequency of the ads (others are probably just as bad, but they come to mind because I hear them more often - advertising works)

As the analysis done here shows, they often take 30% to 50% of the money as a reward for this "service." I put service in quotes, since any financial councilor can tell you that giving a lump sum of money to someone who can't manage a cash flow will make them much worse off in the end.

Copyright Information

It should come to no surprise that I find the current state of affairs in the area of copyright law disgusting, immoral, and opposed to what the Constitution intended. The DMCA is both immoral and unconstitutional, providing power to a thuggish band of professional criminal families (such as the RIAA, MPAA, Sony BMG and other producers).



If anyone doubts these people are thugs, read this:
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=984

I only read the first few comments to that article, but something struck me. They think the RIAA and such will be fearful of their liability if their is a lawsuit. In the ruling against Sony for planting rootkits into thousands (maybe millions) of computers, the court ruled that damages would only be about $8 for each computer that was compromised. This, despite the fact that it takes about 2 days work to successfully remove such a rootkit. Not exactly something to strike fear into their hearts. Of course the lawyers that arbitrated the case got millions (in one of their documents, they listed their fees as a "reasonable" $245 dollars an hour.



Having said this, I must tell my readers what copyright law says about this blog. Up until recently, anyone wanting to cut and paste from this blog had to get written permission from me to do so, or the FBI could come knocking at your door, unless you are one of those thuggish bands of professional criminal families mentioned earlier. And the protection against that crime of spreading information without a license from the king lasts until about 70 years after I die. Since I despise such despotism, I guess I need to correct that.



I am placing all information on this blog under Creative Commons License. I looked at other, similar licenses (many worse, and a few better), but finally decided this would be the one easiest to use. Don't know how to "install" their logo on my blog, so a couple links in the linklist will have to do.


There will be more information, including some clarifications of license rights in the near future. For now, the following will suffice:

You may use portions of this blog, under the following guidelines:
You may copy whole articles as long as attribution is given.
You may draw material out of pages only if a reference (link) to the original article is included.
Comments by others are not part of my work, but may provide context therefore, quoting comments
is permissible, as long as the entire chain of comments for an article is used.
If you use any of this blog for commercial purposes, such as a book, you must
reciprocate by providing me a copy of the work.

UPDATE: More Thuggish Behavior from RIAA
Despite collecting an estimated several hundred million dollars in P2P related settlements from the likes of Napster, KaZaA and Bolt, prominent artists’ managers are complaining that so far, they haven’t received any compensation from the labels. According to a lawyer, some are considering legal action.
RIAA keeps settlement money - torrentfreak news
and Infringement - NY Post

Bad news but good

The worst kind of good news is when someone you want to leave has no work and therefore must go back home. It should be noted the subject of this article is illegal immigrants, something you have to read almost all the way to the end to find out (and even then she calls them undocumented, to obscure reality).

Day Laborers Feel Foreclosure Fallout (EVELYN NIEVES 16 Feb 08)

GRATON, Calif. (AP) — The most desperate men park themselves on corners well before dawn, hoping for first dibs on jobs.

Most days, no one gets dibs — no one gets jobs.

Foreclosures are at record highs, home sales are at record lows and skittish consumers are cutting back on spending, all of which means contractors, construction crews and carpenters are no longer hiring. Neither are landscapers, cleaning services or homeowners.

Work, never a given for day laborers in the best of times, is almost nonexistent these days.

"These are the worst of times," would-be worker Ramon De la Cruz said recently in Spanish, noting that he had worked only one day in the previous six.

To read the rest of the article, you will have to chase it down somewhere else, since AP will likely only carry it for a couple weeks.

Still, the only real progress we will make in this matter will have to be after we build a fence, closing the entire southern border. Mexican officials (naturally) have condemned US plans for a 700-mile (1,125km) fence along the two states' border. But they seem to have no problem with their conscience when securing their own southern border.

Ephesus: Dictionaries, Part 2

Some weeks ago I posted an article on dictionaries, especially Bible dictionaries.

In that article, I mentioned some things I require of a Bible dictionary, like it must have pictures, and around 5000 or more entries. In addition, before I recommend a Bible dictionary, I check some of the words in it to insure it isn't way out in left field theologically. (The good news is that all of the dictionaries I have found so far meet this test, except the one that didn't have all of the words)

Currently, I look up the following seven words and read their definitions. They are essential to the central theme of the Biblical, and must be right to preclude some of the distortions of Biblical teachings that were common until the 70's.

Here are the seven words I currently look up:
- baptism - sin - Jesus - principalities
- wine - profane - elect(ion)


In addition to the above two tests for dictionaries, I have noticed there are several words that most dictionaries do not do justice. Many times the dictionary (even a Christian dictionary) will list the correct definition along with several popular but less correct definitions without distinction, just because those lesser definitions are used frequently in modern times. Words in the Bible have very specific meanings, and their dilution in today's language is an unfortunate side effect of our culture.

Here is a list of words and definitions I believe a beginning Bible student should know without having to rely on modern dictionaries. In the future, I plan to have a list of vocabulary words at the end of most articles, with definitions that will reduce confusion for the student.

Epistle - This is an old english term for a letter of serious matter. If you did indeed look up all of the words in Ephesians, you may have already found this one.

Church - Many people think this is a building. In the Bible, this word ALWAYS refers to a group of believers, or to all believers.

Fold - In old times, this was a protective corral, used to keep sheep safe from wolves and such, especially at night. To be in the "fold" means to have the safety of the group, under the watchful eye of the Shepard.

Love - NOT an emotion. This may be one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible. In virtually every instance, this word refers to decisions, work, and actions. It means "to do that which benefits the person who is loved." For instance, when a man is told to Love his wife - it is a command to do that which will benefit his wife.

Ephesus: Why? Part 2

Why Christians need to study the Bible.

At the beginning of January, I wrote about why I started this project, but I did not answer the other side of the question, which is "Why should a Christian put effort into reading the Bible?" You may ask why isn't praying and singing in Church enough?

Of course, the easy way out of this would be "why would anyone NOT want to read and study the Bible?" Anyone knowing my own history would see both, the answers to that question, and the hypocrisy of my taking that route.

While the Bible doesn't say that you cannot be a Christian without reading and/or studying the Bible, I would roundly assert that the Bible teaches that if you are able to study it, you have an obligation to try. As evidence, I will point you to:
Paul's letters to Timothy (a young pastor), where he says "All Scripture is profitable" and "Teach these things to faithful men." Also, the letter from Jude to Christians everywhere, telling us that "certain men have crept [into the Church] unnoticed" and that these pretenders will pervert the Scripture.

Indeed, the Word of God has always been under attack from pretenders throughout the centuries. In some times and places, the attack was obvious, as in the martyring of Christians under the ancient Roman government, and more recently under the governments of virtually all Islamic nations.

Many times the attack is more subtle, as in the perversion of scripture for profit by many former and current "televangelists" and others (such as cult leaders) who will use various passages of Scripture out of context to control their victims. (I should note here that not all televangelists are bad, but without knowledge of the scripture, how will you know) Chief among these pretenders who pervert the Scriptures is the Pope, (and no, he is not the Antichrist, but that is for another day) who I have written much about over the years.

Also, I should point out a little noticed phrase in the Gospel according to John (17:3) "and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ" which begs the question: What better way to know Him than to read His Word.

The entire Ephesus project is based on a desire to learn the Bible, and the purpose of the project is to help the new student get the most benefit in the least amount of time (and without spending too much on books or other tools).

Mitt Romney sets the Bar

And he shows the world how to graciously bow out of a race.

He did it without compromising his beliefs, and without endorsing nor bashing any other Republican candidate. He let Us, and the world, know what is at stake and what is important (in his view, and mostly, in mine).

Ephesus: January Roundup

I started off on this project with some mis-steps, but THE place to start reading and studying the Bible is the Gospel According to Luke.


I wrote about why I started this project, and although I had intended to create them in booklet form, but it has become clear they will not fit into a booklet. I am posting these essays on the Internet because I am writing this for people who generally will not sit down and read a book. Hopefully, this format will allow people to read in "bite sized" chunks, and read only the sections that they need.

I have already had to go back and update one article, and some others need update, thus the reason for the monthly roundups. This is where I intend to list the new articles, and list the updated or expanded articles. I will include a little about their subject matter; maybe a sentence or a paragraph. I will also list plans for "Future Articles."

I need to expand Ephesus Project: Cheats and helps.

I plan an article on why Christians need to read and study the Bible, a second article on Dictionaries, a further article on study, and an article on other tools to help with understanding the Bible. Then I will post an essay I wrote a couple years ago about how the Bible got from the hands of the authors into our hands.

And yes, I know ALL of this is "if the Lord is willing" so I ask now that anyone who sees this prays for me.

Monthly Heroes and Slimeballs

I decided that since Counterpane has his doghouse, and privacy international has the big brother award, that I could have a Slimeball of the Month award.

Here comes the hard part. I decided that I would only do this if I could also post something positive, so I have a hero of the month in the same posting. Finding Slimeballs isn't hard, but finding heroes is, so this will only contiinue if I can find a hero each month.

The Hero of the Month for this month is the 14 year old who foiled a burglary with a ball bat. (Hat tip to Combat Effective)

Slimeball of the Month award.
This one is for people, agencies, or organizations that:

• promote zero tolerance
• steal the rights of citizens
• take money from the poor by slight of hand
• destroy our national sovereignty
• undermine the defense of our nation
• promote myths about ...
  

The award this month goes to Jackson-Heiwitt for their aggressive marketing of their "Money Now Loans," which have come with fees of $70 and up. I think it ironic that last year their ads showed GhostRider on fire (he only lights up in the presence of evil) and this year their ads show dysfunctional people, both the ones using their services, and those needing their services but having gone somewhere else.

Links of interest:
http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/2008/01/04/
http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/category/7/118/320/
www.nedap.org/pressroom/documents/4-7-06Bloomberg.pdf

Ephesus: Study Methods pt1

Words and phrases and paragraphs.

This is the beginning of actually studying the text of the Bible. Most of the Ephesus project will be geared to reading the Bible, or even reading about the Bible, but from time to time some passages will get some close attention. This is one of those times.

The study of Ephesians will involve a great deal more reflection. It was written by the most highly revered teacher of Christian living, to the Church in the city of Ephesus, and it was written about what it is to live "the Christian life."

Every phrase in this letter has an easy meaning - and a deep meaning. I recommend first reading through, a chapter at a time, to get the overview - then go back and read one paragraph at a time. It is good to note that no word is in the Bible by accident (well, with English translations, this may only be 98% true) and each word is worth pondering.

As you begin this process, it will be helpful to look up each word, sometimes even if you think you know what it means (I strongly recommend looking up every word of four or more letters). Also look closely at each "Him" or "His" to see what they are really referring to. (If you can remember diagramming sentences, it will come in handy here - I can't remember how, but after taking a class in Bible interpretation I now know why they taught it in English class.)

This is the reason I preceded this article with one on Bible Dictionaries. Every word in the Bible will likely be in either a Bible Dictionary, or in an ordinary desk dictionary. Many will be in both.

As you read one paragraph (see below for paragraph divisions) at a time, look and think about each and every word and each and every phrase - and how they relate to the entire book. This should normally take several weeks.

If you find you cannot study a good half hour on each paragraph, you seriously need to get together with a mentor who can help you learn how to do this. But don't fret too much, your skills will improve with practice.

Because this process takes so long, you will need to read through the book on occasion to refresh yourself of the overall picture. On the days you read the whole book through, you may notice some things. One is that (after the two verse greeting) Paul starts with who God is, then what God has done and then goes on to what our duty is, as part of the Body of the Church. This is a constant with Paul - all of his books, from Romans through Philemon, begin with doctrine and end with duty.

Note On Paragraph Divisions:
I break up the letter to the Ephesians slightly differently than most Bibles - in their original form there were no verses or paragraphs (these are "historically recent" inventions, developed in the past thousand years, to help us locate and read stuff)

I would begin study at each of the 25 verse numbers listed below:

• chap 1: 1,7,11,15
• chap 2: 1,8,11,14,19
• chap 3: 1,8,14
• chap 4: 1,7,11,17,25
• chap 5: 1,8,15,22,30
• chap 6: 1,5,10,13,21
  

Ephesus Project: Dictionaries Part 1

In a previous article, I mentioned that many of the words and phrases in the Bible meant something different when they were written than they would mean today, or would at least have a different shade of meaning. A good Bible dictionary will help bridge the cultural differences surrounding words and descriptions in the Bible.

I break Bible Dictionaries into four catagories:

First is scholarly dictionaries. The pastor who taught me to study the Bible recommends Vines. I don't: for beginners it is far too advanced. These dictionaries are too detailed for the average Christian, and often require looking up a word in more than one section to fully understand the definitions.

As the goal of this project is for first year students to gain understanding the need is for something with lots of pictures, drawings, diagrams, tables, and maps. Many "Study Bibles" will have some of this already in them, but usually only a few pages.

The second catagory are those that are great for beginners: These dictionaries - at least 500 pages in length, have many picture and charts. They are also detailed enough the average Christian beginning serious study will not "grow out of" them for several years. The definitions also should refer back to the Scriptures.

I recommend Zondervan's Pictorial Dictionary. There are others (and I will review them in time), but this is the one I use extensively. It is available in four or five varieties: compact, pocket, paperback, and full. If you are serious about studying, I recommend the full one. It is about 875 pages, and has over 5000 entries, over 700 picture, and many charts and maps. I give the others for gifts, which leads me to the ...

Third category - those that are great as a gift: Same as above, but less than 500 pages so as to not overwhelm the recipient. These still must be theologically accurate (see below). If the recipient gets serious about studying, they may outgrow these quickly.

In addition to the Zondervan Compact Bible Dictionary (see above), I have found "The Student Dictionary" (about 250 pages by Karen Dockery, Johnnie Godwin, and Phyllis Godwin). This one meets my basic criteria as a good beginners book - but is a little one the light side. On the plus side, it has wonderful pictures, graphs, charts and explanations. In this, it attempts to cover some territory of a Bible Handbook. Great as gift, especially for younger people.

A good price on these at the end of 2007 was $20 for the serious ones (for beginners) and about $9 for the ones I give as gifts.

The forth category are the ones I have found that are not very useful: These either don't have enough pictures and charts, or provide definitions that don't refer back to the Scripture, or the definitions are either theologically shallow or simply inaccurate.

Nelson's Pocket Reference Series Bible Dictionary is one that I would not recommend buying. This is a 3.5 inch by 5 inch book of 314 pages. It sells for about $6 at several grocers and supermarkets in my area. While it does give easy to understand definitions, it is actually aimed "too low" to be of any real use. The pictures are too few in number, and not of good enough quality, and several of the words I looked up are not in it. It states it has "over 1500 entries" and I guess that is proof that 1500 is not enough. In addition, the copyright is too restrictive if you would ever try to quote it (actually, if you take it literally, you can't even "use" it), and it is printed in China. While I would not throw this dictionary away, if you already have it, it is in no way worth the $6 price. I wouldn't even pay $1 for it, but if you already have it, there is a series of articles in the back of it that are worth reading.

Two that I "thumbed through" in the book store are "Unger's Bible Dictionary" and the "Layman's Bible Dictionary" I haven't really looked at the definitions in these dictionaries, since they don't have enough pictures to suit me.

This got a bit longer and more involved than I expected, and there are a few more dictionaries that I want to review, so I will pick up the topic again in a few weeks.

Ephesus Project: Cheats and helps

What do you do if you are still struggling to understand what you read in the Gospel according to Luke?

The video game industry would not be what it is today without a set of "helper tools" known as Cheat Codes. They were originally used to allow programmers and some who were not so adept at the game to reach levels of play they otherwise would never have reached.

Don't we wish there were cheat codes for Bible understanding? Well, there some things that can help.

Most people know that Charlton Heston made (at least) a dozen Bible based movies like the Ten Commandments and Exodus. Most people don't know that he made them amazingly accurate. A couple of them are virtually word for word out of the Bible.

Also there are some comic book style books that have the Bible text illustrated. The Picture Bible by Iva Hoth has the storeys of the Bible layed out in story fashion, with, obviously, pictures. It is not "The Bible" word for word, but gives a picture style feel for the people and events of that day. Available thru Family Christian Book Store or thru Amazon.

There have also been other "comic book" style texts from the Bible. I ran across some in Family Christian Book Stores last year that each one contained the complete text from one book of the New Testament in illustrated form. Unfortunately they don't seem to be around any more. But I will keep looking.

After Luke: Beginning Study

I debated long and hard about which epistle should be next, but settled on Ephesians. Here is the difference between reading which a beginner should do a lot of, and studying, which is also necessary for a beginner.

There are many words in the Bible (and sometimes in other things we read) that we really don't know the meaning of. Many times we decide on a meaning that fits with our understanding of the context, and usually we are at least close. But at times we can miss a lot by assigning the wrong meaning to words, and in the case of the Bible, that is increased by the differences between the culture of the authors and our own.

Remember the goal here is to UNDERSTAND the Bible, and getting some basic groundwork is important, so that is what I will concentrate on in the near future. Exploring some tools and methods to overcome the basic hurdles that can trip up a beginning Bible student is a primary goal of this project.

Of course, the first step in studying Ephesians is to read it through. As it is a fairly short letter, it can be read in a few short sittings. (If you read through it in one sitting, you may find this whole guide to be somewhat oversimplified.) After reading it through, go back and begin a detailed study of each paragraph, verse and word in it. How to go about this detailed study I will cover in an article in a week or so.

To study the text, however, you will need to understand the words, and towards the goal of understanding the words, I will explore Bible dictionaries soon. In the mean time, you will also need a regular dictionary. I prefer Oxford, but Webster will do fine also. Desk size dictionaries are fine, but I would stay away from "pocket," "abridged," or "college" dictionaries.

The next article, however, will be aimed at those struggling with the simpler things. It will be for those who are either unChurched, or are in Churches that do not teach the Bible at all.

Translations 2 - Study Bibles.

The question of which translation is best is somewhat sticky, because there are so several good ones. I always tell anyone who is studying the Bible they should eventually have at least two translations. Since a Bible you don't read and understand is less than helpful, one of those translations should be chosen for ease of reading. The second translation is to compare wording in case you have a question about the meaning of a passage.

In addition, at least one of them needs to be a "Study Bible." A Study Bible is one of three basic tools to help you understand the Bible. These tools are very helpful in comprehending the time, places, and social differences the Bible discusses. They should also help with fitting some of the various pieces together to get at the understanding of the Bible.

If you have a translation that is easy to read, and is a word for word translation, and is a Study Bible, there is absolutely no hurry to get a second translation.

The following are a few Study Bibles any of which I would recommend.

The NIV Study Bible by Zondervan is one I have reviewed myself, and it is a good one, both from the standpoint of easy to read and having an abundance of good notes. It is made for beginners and fairly middle of the road theologically.

The Scofield Study Bible was an old and trusted source for many conservatives in the past. There is a newer version, and also a Scofield III version today. The Scofield III is available in some newer translations, such as NKJV, NIV, NASB, and Holman translations.

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version by R.C. Sproul and Keith Mathison is likely to be a good one. I haven't reviewed it, but I have read some of Sproul's other work, and it is good.

The Holman Illustrated Study Bible: Holman Christian Standard Bible has had several good reviews. I have seen some other Holman Bible products and they are good, so I would trust this one also.

It is important to note that any study reference is going to have their own slant as to the interpretation of some particular doctrine. The ones above are fairly middle of the road, from a Baptist point of view.

UPDATE: A friend pointed out to me that I didn't discuss "Life Applications Study Bibles," and she is correct. I have not yet really looked at any Bibles in this catagory and don't know much about them. I may look into them in the future, especially if someone leaves a comment asking me to look into them.

Versions or Translations of the Bible

I often hear two related questions regarding different translations of the Bible. One is why are there so many versions, and the other is which one is the best to use. Entire books have been written on the subject, so I won't go into detail here, and anyone who reads this can ask questions by way of the comments.

The first question is mostly a misunderstanding. The Bible has been translated into English by several different groups of scholars over the years, mostly because English continues to evolve. It is a little like translating it into different (but similar) languages. There is, of course, some differences in how the text is represented. Some of these scholars wanted to make it more reliable for study, and some wanted to make it more appealing to less scholarly readers. Hence, it is more correct to say these are different translations, than different "versions."

There are also, of course, some truly different Bibles. Bibles used by the Catholics and the Masons actually contain different added or subtracted passages. I am not addressing these, as I use only the Bible recognised by the Protestant, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran Churches. There are some additional writings (like the apocrypha and writings of Josephus) that others will encourage you to read, but for a beginner, these are more of a distraction than a help.
(I will write more on this subject later, if asked)

Michael Johnson maintains a list of Bible translations here:
http://www.ebible.org/bible/biblefaq.htm#translation
In general, his assessment of these translations seem a little bit on the liberal side to me, but close enough to be useful.


There are basically three kinds of translations worth discussing.

First there is word for word translation. None of the translations listed below are perfectly word for word, but strive to be as close as possible, while still being readable. Ancient languages were so different in syntax and grammar from our own, that true word for word translation is difficult to achieve and would be next to impossible to read. The following are nearly word for word:

The King James Version (KJV) has an almost "cult" following that claims all others are a compromise. I don't subscribe to that thought, but the KJV is very accurate, and has some advantages for study, such as showing differences between "you" singular and "you" plural.

The New King James Version (NKJV), and the Webster Bible are both taken from the KJV, but use somewhat more modern words to make them more readable.

New American Standard Bible (NASB95, most recent, 1995 version is most recommended) is the one my Church keeps on hand. Accuracy is exceptional, and it is very easy for modern readers to read.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Of the four in this group, I haven't reviewed this one personally, but it comes with high recommendation from people I trust.

The second kind: Phrase by phrase or thought by thought translation provides much better readability, and if the Bible is to be read out loud to those who are not used to reading it for themselves, New International Version (NIV) is an excellent translation that is highly accurate. (see also my discussion on Study Bibles, will posted in a couple days). I have personally reviewed this translation and recommend it.

I have also reviewed the New Living Translation (NLT), and it is good for reading out loud. It does however, depart significantly from the original text, and therefore is more suited for storytime than studytime.


There third kind is Online Bibles.
The only two I know of at this time are World English Bible (WEB) and New English Translation (NET). Both seem to be excellent translations (I have not yet done a thorough review of them yet).

There are a few translations you should avoid.
One where I disagree with Michael Johnson (author of the above named FAQ) is Today's English Version (TEV), also called the Good News Bible or Good News for Modern Man. The translation has so many departures from the original language that I can not recommend it. He and I both agree the following should be avoided: The Living Bible (TLB) and The Message.


The question of which one is best is somewhat sticky because there are so many good ones. In addition, every Christian should have a "Study Bible." I will try to get to those questions in the next couple days.

UPDATE: In discussing this with my pastor, I discovered I had ommitted one more good word for word translation: the English Standard Bible (ESB)

Ephesus: Reading Luke

I got off to a somewhat confusing start with this project, by announcing it just before Christmas and recommending the Gospel according to Luke as a starting point (and how to read it). Then I discussed why I started the project and where I came from to get here.

True, I probably should have wrote those in a different order, but I think the highest importance is just to get started. I might get some flak from my teachers on that note, because I have forgotten to say that an important step before attempting to study the Bible is to pray to God for peace and understanding.

Maybe because I wrote this for Christians, I began thinking that goes without saying, but really it doesn't: especially for men, who tend to have a hard time learning to pray. Men, myself included always think we can do it on our own, and that sometimes extends to thinking we can gain understanding without God's help. Not so easy, without God's help, most of us (myself included) will flounder.

As soon as Bible study begins, someone always brings up: which translation of the Bible is best? That is where I expect to go next. Any questions or comments are welcome.

Why the Ephesus Project?

The reasons are many.

All Christians should study the scriptures (Bible), but many of us do not. There are too many of us who go to Church each Sunday, more to be entertained, than to learn.

"The Bible is the best selling, least-read and least-understood book." (attributed to Andy Dzurovcik of Faith Lutheran Church)

One of the main reasons I began this project was that I spent several years mostly spinning my wheels (see discussion here) trying to learn the Bible. And when I DID find a pastor who taught a class on Beginning Bible Interpretation, he was teaching just below the semanary level. Great. But ...

From that course, I did learn the basics (I never did really rise to the level of his course) and more importantly, got turned on to several tools to learn. The tools are important because the Bible was written long ago in a civilization that was so different that most Americans do not even understand how they lived. And because, in any endeavor, there is an amount of jargon that must be learned so the things you read and the people you talk to make sense.

Well, maybe you are one of those who sat in the pews, sang, and listened, but never read the Bible. Now, for some reason, you are seeing the light. You just realised you need to know what is in that Book, and maybe you need to become a teacher.

Maybe your reasons are a little more mundane. You have heard too many people "quote" the "good book" and wonder if those things are really in the Good Book. There is a running joke among some of my friends, about things found in the book of Hezekiah. The joke is because there is no book of Hezekiah, and we say that when someone provides a "quote" that is no where in the Bible. There are also those who will quote things so far out of context that the quotation is completely without its original meaning.

Ultimately, this study is for those who want a real, but realistic, understanding of the Bible, but don't want to spend years spinning their wheels looking for how to make heads or tails of it. It is a beginning point, to start a journy of discovery of the Bilble and all of its riches.

I, myself, am only a few miles down this road,
but I invite others to come along.

It is well worth the effort.

Ephesus announcement pt3

This project isn't meant for unbelievers, or those who have just converted. While they may find good stuff in here - it is meant for the Christian who, after years of sitting in Church and listening to the preacher, and after hearing others talk about the Bible for years, decides to dust it off and read it for his (or her) own self.

I hope those whom I did not create this project for can also find enlightenment, but I think they would be better off seeing their local Baptist Pastor (yes, I am a Baptist. While there are other good Christian denominations, this is the one I know) for advice.

For those of you already reading Luke, I recommend reading and considering each passage (a passage is somewhat shorter than a chapter), rereading it if necessary, to remember it. Except the last half of Chapter 3. Starting with verse 24, this genealogy is in there for some important reasons that are clear to Bible scholars, but are unnecessary (unless you are REALLY into genealogy) for a beginner. In fact, I never read this particular passage, but will look things up in it from time to time.

This book, the Gospel according to Luke, is written by Mary's personal physician (this can be discerned from the first chapter, and some other various clues), to a high ranking theologian. It is fairly simple to read, and while largely written from the viewpoint of an observer, it was largely (but not completely) observed firsthand.

follow up to anouncement

Maybe I should have mentioned yesterday, that the best place to begin reading the Bible, especially if you have never read any more than a verse or a quick passage, it the Gospel according to LUKE.

This is especially relevant today, since the Christmas story is in Chapter 2.

I recommend that beginners read Luke like a story (but not necessarily in one sitting, only pausing to reflect, and only re-reading to insure you really remember what you read. If you happen to be reading from a Bible with notes at the bottoms of the page, you can glance at them, but you should concentrate on the text of the story itself, at this time.

I will go more into detail about Luke in the near future.

Anouncing the Ephesus Project

For some time now, I have been known in some parts as knowledgeable on the Bible. For a similar time, I have been attempting to put together a pamphlet on the subject of Bible study.

Why?
In my first attempt at Bible study, I began (without any one's assistance) with Genesis Ch. 1 and soon crashed and burned badly. My second round was more successful - I read all of the Bible , but ultimately proved Acts 8:30,31 (where a disciple asked a man "do you understand what you are reading" and the reply was "how can I, unless someone guides me?"

In addition, I have made some brash statements in this blog and on Combat Effective about what I do or don't believe, that I fear theocracy, and that I feel the Roman Catholic Church has been leading people astray. Well then, what do I believe? I believe each and every Christian who has normal mental faculties should read, study and learn (and learn about) the Bible for their own self.

That is all well and good, but I just got through saying that my first two tries were less than successful, so why do I try to hold my fellow Christians to such a high standard? Because, for one, the Bible says we should (but I'll get to that later). There are other reasons. Mainly so that other, less scrupulous people won't lead them astray. And to aid in their study, I am embarking on a series of articles to help them through that first few months of study where most people seem to flounder.

As I said at the beginning, I have been trying (without much success) to put this all into pamphlet form. There are many good books, some hundreds of pages long trying to cover this same subject. But face it, if you were inclined to read them, you would be inclined to have read the Bible by now. On the other hand, I have found getting this into pamphlet form near impossible. So the next best thing is a series of interlinking articles, where you can skip around, and pick and choose what you need, when you need it.

I call the whole thing the Ephesus project. A detailed study of the ancient city of Ephesus and a study of the Bible would explain why I chose that name, but for now, it is just a name to make it easy to find my articles on this subject.

I will be looking forwards to writing more on this, and I hope to get some feed back along the way.

Importing our demise

(Some hope at the bottom of this rant.)

Just a couple weeks ago, I ranted about the poisoning of our food (and toys) by eastern nations. Well, as a follow up, there is more bad than good. President Bush, at the time, promised more scrutiny of our imports, but I have seen no evidence of it.

In addition, we might consider prescription drug imports. Does anyone remember, from 2003 and 2004, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials claimed (see paragraph 9) that reimporting prescription drugs from Canada is unsafe?

Then why are we deliberately pursuing importing drugs from a country that has a history of trying to pass poisonous products through the supply channels?

The FDA claims to perform 100 percent screening of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Well then, why can't it get and screen a list of ingredients in childrens toys?

There is some hope. While only up since August this year, there is a new blog focusing on China free products.
http://china-free-products.blogspot.com/

UPDATE: the china free blog above isn't what I thought it was, but here is a better one:
http://notchinamade.net/ this web site is for sale, however, so I don't know how long it will last. In the mean time, check along the right side of it for good links to stuff not made in China.

Ray-O-Vac

I began worrying about this company a few months ago. They have historically been known for providing batteries in larger quantities to those of us who use quite a few batteries. This means that as we began embracing LED's, and our use of batteries has dwindled, they might have a hard time staying around. This became more of a concern for me when the local Lowes hardware store stopped carrying Ray-O-Vac batteries (leaving me with virtually no reason to go there).

Should not have worried, though. If I had kept up with the technicle news, I would have known that they have diversified their product line. I discovered this when I needed a new flashlight for my wife's car (you will recall that I work outdoors, and often at night, so I have several lights for myself). As I browsed through the displays, I noticed a couple of new LED flashlights from Ray-O-Vac, and that got my curriosity going.

I have been lamenting that the technology for the headlamp I use at work is getting a bit dated, but it looks like they are creating an assortment of products that I may switch to in the future. This one that I use has been reliable far longer than the ones I used in the past. The switch is getting some wear, but still reliably turns on (the detents are worn almost smooth, however). The only part that seems to be wearing completely out is the elastic headband.

In case the engineers at Ray-O-Vac are listening, a bit less red light in the night vision setting and a 1-watt LED instead of the kripton lamp would be an improvement, and maybe market a replacement headband for when they wear out, would be nice. Otherwise keep up the good work.

For the rest of you, they have several methods for sales outlets, one of which is Rayovac Direct, and no, this isn't a paid post. I don't do that (yet), but I do think a visit to their website is worth the trip.

sedition

Another attempt at undermining America by rewriting its history and denying its Christian traditions.

Seattle School Administrator spreads a myth about myths.

Keep in mind, this is not a teacher, and as such has no tenure, in addition, she is not engaging in freedom of expression, but rather trying to compel teachers to express untruths to their students.

It should also be noted that the 11 myths that this person foisted upon these teachers and children were not from some carefully researched study, but mostly a PC rewrite of history done be a few "scholars" in resent years. The many of the footnotes of this PC piece of crap lead to other PC pieces of crap.

possibly a good book

This is just a cut and paste from an advertisement for the book. I don't know much about this book, and have always been somewhat skeptical about the publisher's motives, but the ad comes through a news service that is military friendly, and seems legit. On the other hand, many years ago, when I used to read the Doonesbury comic strip, the author seemed pretty even handed on how he handled issues from all sides of political debate. (Anybody still read him? My current newspaper doesn't carry him)

A series of dispatches from servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been compiled in a new book that offers a glimpse of life on the front lines. Conceived by Garry Trudeau, creator of the long-running, satirical comic strip Doonesbury, "The Sandbox" is a 309-page compilation of roughly 90 online journal entries penned by scores of the military's most talented scribes, the thousands of military bloggers (or milbloggers) in Afghanistan and Iraq who use the Internet to tell an unfiltered version of war to family members and friends. Proceeds from The Sandbox will be donated to the Fisher House Foundation. Visit the Fisher House Foundation website for more information.

This is where I copied the ad from, and where to get the book.
military bloggers compile new book

Under mining our knowledge

In recent times, there has been a concerted effort at either hiding information about candidates, or spreading misinformation about them. Now, I find out that Wikipedia, too, has been undermined as a reliable source for information. Candidates today have staff memebers who, on a regular basis, "massage" the articles in Wikipedia to place their candidates in a more favorable light. Or to just plain remove information they don't want us to know about. The articles get changed several times a day for this reason.

I noticed this first with Nancy Polosi's Wiki entry. A paragraph about the book keeping she did on favors (credits and debits) for her father's political career while she was in college (or was it high school) disappeared while she was campaigning for office.

Wikipedia article on WikiScanner

Wired article on WikiScanner

The WikiScanner website
(scanner goes down often due to high traffic)

Evil in our midst

From time to time, the evil in our midst becomes just a little too much for me to not write about it.

I don't know which is worse for our country, the so-called free trade agreements that allow other countries to poison our food supply, or Hollyweird trying to poison our childrens' minds, or the attempts by certain corporations to undermine democracy by poisoning our voting system.

Poisoning our voting system:

I voted tuesday, and once again, e-Slate voting machines (known as direct recording electronic - DRE - voting systems) were the thing advertised in the polling place. Fortunately, several of us who know about computers and voting machines were there (at least while I was there to vote) to insure they could not falsely tell people the machines were secure.

I should note that e-Slate is just one of several systems in use, and I only name it because it is the poison of choice here in Central Texas. None of these systems can be trusted unless they print out a paper ballot and allow you to drop the paper ballot into a ballot box. This has been proven over and over, and the corporations who build and market this snake oil keep hiring "experts" to tell us what they are paid to tell us.

One site I recommend for good info is Verified Voting Foundation.

Article discussing Corporations trying to hide the facts.

And a Resolution on Electronic Voting that is also a good digested read on the issues.

As a parting word on the subject: Several of us stated that we worked with computers and therefore understood that the systems could not be trusted, and so we wanted paper ballots. I wonder, in order to preserve the economic interests of these manufactures, will they make such statements illegal in the future? (currently it is only illegal to discuss items on the ballot at the polling place, not the ballot itself) And might they try to force us to change to the DRE systems by creating shortages of the paper ballots? (This is how Microsoft forces us to new computing platforms.)

Poisoning of our childrens' minds:

Golden Compass is a movie designed to counter "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" Release Date is planned for Dec 7, which is ironic for something designed to help undermine the US by undermining our Christian heritage. On the other hand, it is perfect for the kind of sneak attack on our values that this film represents. Plot Outline is stated:

In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.

But the mysterious organization is a thin veiling of the Christian Church and
to save her best friend, she has to kill God.

A little more on the controversies surrounding this project.
His Dark Materials

Deliberate poisoning of our food by eastern nations:

I heard on the news today, in addition to lead paint on our toys, several oriental countries have been shipping us tainted fish.
This is a good read from Fox News.

This has been known since June

Why are Americans falling for the "free trade" crap? Just a quick rundown
from a WorldNewsDaily article:

Those reports, so far, have documented poisoned pet food, seafood unfit for human consumption because it was produced in sewage-contaminated water, toys and fireworks that were dangerous, electrical products that failed to meet safety standards, even honey that had been tainted with a potentially life-threatening antibiotic.

Free Trade? Does anyone remember the occasional defect in our food supplies that resulted in the possibility of contamination with hormones, genetically enhanced food, or other problems? Possibility. Our food was banned immediately and completely.

I guess the "free" in free trade only runs one way. We must live up to perfect standards, and the rest of the world (china in particular) is allowed to get away with literally murder.

There is a concerted effort afoot to undermine our nation, and we had better wake up and do something about it.

November Chronicle Part 2

Haven't written much in here in the past month. Had to do some soul searching. Among other things, I have been wondering what I will do in the not too distant future. Unless Fred Thompson wins the presidency, or unless there is a conservative uprising (yeah, I know they have been predicting a resurgence for a few years now), it will become very dangerous to speak the truth on the net in a couple of years. Not that anything will happen right away, but archives of what we write will be kept longer and longer, and will be scrutinized in the future for evidence of "hate speech" towards Islamists, social progressive race baiters, gay (and child molester) rights activists, evangelical atheists, and other assorted groups. In other words they will be watching for who is willing to tell the truth, so they can criminalize us.

White House helped Craft Bill
Jail Grandma for Hate Speech
Bible as Hate Speech
Hate Speech Laws (Conservative Voice)
Hate Speech Laws (Interfaith)
Google Calls Christian Advertisement Hate Speech


An old Russian Proverb says: Speak the truth, then leave quickly.

I thought briefly about taking this blog down, but then I can't easily remove my comments from several other blogs where I have spoken on these topics. In addition, I ran across the words "stand fast" in my Bible (Ephesians 6:13), and decided the best course of action for the near future is to forge ahead.

So here goes.

November Chronicle

I had planned an end of month news round up for yesterday, but then my wife and I decided to take in a homeless dog that had been passed from one friend to another around our town for a while. We are keeping the dog. She wants to call him Baily, which I think sounds too much like a girl, so I will call him Beetle Baily, after the cartoon charactor.

News about WW2

Not it's not. But Penraker has a great review about a recent release called "The War." While he pans it in general, he makes a note that the history of WW2 is being overwritten by the politically correct crowd, and that is why I decided to make a note here.

I think this would be a great Christmas or Graduation gift for anyone age 19 to 30, as they generally have no clue about our nations struggles in the past.

Penraker review of it

Amazon Link where you can get it.

beginning a new fiscal year

Thought I would start off the new (government) fiscal year with how various government agencies are taking care of the people. (yeah, right)

Veterans Affairs control of property and personal data (this is stuff they have been required to secure for years, but never seemed to get a handle on it, and seem to be getting worse.)
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d071100t.html
The VA: still not doing its job for those
who did their job of keeping America safe.
Not a new problem - headline from two years ago:
Weaknesses Persist at Federal Agencies Despite Progress
Made in Implementing Related Statutory Requirements
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05552.html

And they are not alone. The two year old document states:

Pervasive weaknesses in the 24 major agencies' information security policies and practices threaten the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of federal information and information systems.

And this document says:
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d07935t.html

Federal agencies have recently reported a spate of security incidents that put sensitive data at risk. Personally identifiable information about millions of Americans has been lost, stolen, or improperly disclosed, thereby exposing those individuals to loss of privacy, identity theft, and financial crimes. The wide range of incidents involving data loss or theft, computer intrusions, and privacy breaches underscore the need for improved security practices.

Well, this stuff has been going on for some time now. Five years since the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 was passed, and 33 years since the Privacy Act of 1974 began to require protection (among other things) of personal data. http://www.epic.org/privacy/hew1973report/c4.htm

low tech - Reading Glasses

If you are in your 30's you should be especially aware that in a few years if you are not already wearing glasses, you will be. It is just a fact of life that almost everybody, as they get into their early 40's, lose the ability to focus close up.

Now, what to do about it. While there are a number of reasons to visit an eye doctor, needing glasses to read is not one of them. If you have been to one in the last 5 years, you might want to save some money and stop by that little display at your grocery store and get a $10 pair of glasses. (yes, they vary from $3 to $30, but $10 is a reasonable price)

For a little more detail on the subject you can read about "readers" here (be aware, this site is indirectly involved in the eye ware trade and may have some conflict of interest), but there are some other things you might want to know. Like how to tell how strong to get your first pair.

The first few times I stopped by the display, I noticed there was a little blurb written to explain what strength glasses to get. The test they described didn't make sense the first time I read it and after reading it several times, then actually using reading glasses for a few months I realized it was nonsense.

If you didn't wear glasses when you were 35, and you have begun to notice you are having trouble with small print, you should begin with the weakest glasses you can find and concentrate on what style you want. I initially made the mistake of getting "moderate" strength, a pair of which I keep around in case I need to look at something really close up. As a general guide, if you can focus on print closer than one foot, they are plenty strong. Referring back to the article, you will need to decide whether you want them for general reading (newspapers and books) or if you need some that you can look over the top of when you need to see far away. I have a job that sometimes requires me to look at a list in my hand, then immediately look out the window at some equipment several hundred feet away. Half glasses are great for that, otherwise they are second best. On the other hand, after some practice, I learned in Sunday School to wear regular glasses and just ignore the fact that people across the room are a little blurry. (My Sunday School is like a round table classroom, with books and study guides and Bibles)

As time goes by, the average person's eyes get a little worse (see note 1) and after a year or two, you may find you need stronger glasses. Keep the old ones for tasks that don't require as much strength. My monitor is 30 inches from me, and I use some weak glasses while at my computer desk. (as opposed to this idea about computer glasses)

Of course, my life is ecletic - I almost never do the same thing for more than a couple of hours before I have to attend to a different task. If your job requires you to focus at one distance for hour after hour, you may need to spend the money and get something made just for you.

Also, if you have any other problems with your vision, like astigmatism, all of this may go out the window, since readers are not currently made to compensate for that. (See Note 2)

Well, here's to going through our 40's.
Keep reading.
TRex


1. Optometrists used to use this tendency to tell their patients "you have to wear these to keep your eyes from getting worse," and some people used to say don't watch TV in a dark room or your eyes will go bad. Nowadays, some charlatans use this tendancy to say that eyeglasses are a crutch that will cause your eyes to get weaker and you need to use our secret to see clearly without glasses. All three of these ideas are bull.

2. This is something I would love to see fixed. The vast majority of people could be served if only eight variations of asigmatic lenses were available. While this wouldn't work a the grocery level, it could be marketed through a web site. It could be boiled down to 8 astignatisms, times 12 primary strengths, times 12 styles - for a total of 1152 variations. With a customer base of thousands it wouldn't work, but with a customer base of millions it would.

Latest Spambots Attack Blogs

Just the latest varient in the ongoing spambot wars.

BBC Tech News

"The criminals responsible for this spam campaign are experts at exploiting social engineering to propagate their botnets," said Bradley Anstis from security firm Marshal.

The spam messages have been changed to capitalise on news events and the viral payload has been updated many times to fool anti-virus programs.

Just don't click on - errr, umm, interesting things - that don't belong in the blog.

TRex

CFC and United Way

I have written about this in the past, for instance
The CFC and You (link disabled)

The government will be pushing the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) again this fall. This is the military (or government) equivalent (extension, actually) of the United Way, which is also kicking off their Fall Drive. I DO NOT support these campaigns, for the following reasons:

1. They don't have any way to vett the list to insure that the organizations on the list are actually trying to help people. In fact, an attempt a few years ago to insure there were no terrorists on the list was derailed by the ACLU and the NAACP. (The ACLU didn't want to have to determine if they were supporting terrorists, either.)

2. Any attempt to "direct" your donation to some specific organization will be undermined by the accountants employed by the CFC in order to insure "fairness"

3. Some organizations on the donation list have been mortal enemies of each other for many years (ie. Planned Parenthood and Right to Life are both recipients)

4. My attempts to determine if there have been changes to the above were fruitless - as the CFC doesn't seem to advertise (at least not on line and in advance) who is going to benefit from donations.

5. All of the links I have found while attempting to gather information on this subject are out of date, which is why I am posting this. Also, I haven't found anything recently to tell me if they provide your name and address to others, which would put you on mailing lists, resulting in your getting tonnes of junk mailings asking for more money.


As I have said before: I believe it is important to give to charities, but it is best to give to local ones, or ones your Church supports on a regular basis (in which case you can give through your Church). Today, it is best to also give anonymously.


Some Background Information:

CFC calendar of events:
http://www.opm.gov/cfc/html/cal2006-2007.asp


http://www.blackcommentator.com/103/103_security_johnson.html
(this article is hostile to my point of view)
"all charities...must now certify that they do not knowingly employ individuals or have ties to organizations found on any terrorist related list promulgated by the U.S. Government or other international sources."
the ACLU’s executive director, Anthony D. Romero, admitted never having consulted the terrorist lists.
NAACP joined the ACLU and 14 other organizations in a coalition (aclu article) to protest the new policy.


wikipedia - Combined Federal Campaign
"Terrorist screening controversy" portion is out of date, but good news - the ACLU quit the CFC
And in more good news - the ACLU also turned down money from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations instead of certifying the money would not be used to further terrorist aims.
(Strom, Stephanie, "ACLU rejects foundation grants over terror language,"
The New York Times, October 19, 2004)

TRex

U.S. Prosecuter we should have Fired

I started out looking for something current on the US Mexico Border Fence Project, but was immediately attracted to an apparent crime committed by a US Prosecutor in West Texas.

Did the US prosecute Ramos and Compean at the request of Mexico?

Is Attorney Johnny Sutton working for the Mexican government?

Or is the corruption higher up?

These are questions that must be answered, especially knowing that Johnny Sutton. is a born liberal, UT grad, who presided over a shrinking Texas Prison System.


He (and the Judge, who seems to be colluding in all of this) gave a drug dealer, not just immunity for testifying, but basically carte blanch to cross back and forth across the border while the trial was going on - allowing him to continue his smuggling operation during his testimony basically amounts to paying him to testify against the agents.

But he is not the only one attacking and trying to tear down the integrity of the United States, unnamed officials of the Dept. of Homeland Security met with Rep. Ted Poe, Rep. John Culberson, Kenny Marchant and Michael McCauland accused the Ramos and Compean of being "out to shoot Mexicans" but have given no proof, and yet some are themselves hiding, behind anonymity.

Johnny Sutton and his superiors continue to push the lie that the smuggler was basically shot in the back, using the word "behind" to describe the location of the wound, instead of his hip, which might shed light on the fact that the bullet entered his side - confirming that he had turned towards the agents, as the agents have said all along.

In addition, Johnny Sutton claims there was no way to prosecute the smuggler
since he had gotten away, leaving no evidence (another lie) to connect him with the scene. On the other hand, they found him
without too much help, and connected him to being shot by the agents, even though ballistics evidence did not support him being shot by Ramos's gun, and the use of a statute adding 10 years to their sentences for discharging a firearm in the commission of a crime (since when is apprehending a smuggler a crime?) shows the vindictiveness of the prosecution.

In addition to the above hiding the evidence of fingerprints, and ballistics, and
Johnny Sutton hid the fact that the smuggler left a cell phone in the van,
the fact that the van was owned by the smuggler, and that he was acting on behalf of the Mexican Consulate.

This is not the only prosecution of law enforcement officials at the request of the Mexican government, there are others, indicating that this is a coordinated effort to prevent the Border Patrol and other law enforcement from apprehending illegals and smugglers entering the US.

We hear, on a regular basis, about the "activist judges" who thwart law enforcement efforts by legislating from the bench - and there seems to be plenty of that in this case also - but we need to remember that the renegade judges are only one part of the equation. Renegade prosecutors acting on orders from criminal regimes such as Mexico and China, and an Executive Branch so intent on creation of a North American version of the EU are just as damaging to our nation.

Gas Price Forcast

It is time for my annual forecast of gas prices for the next fiscal year. This is not meant to be anywhere nearly accurate enough to help anyone invest in commodities markets. It is really meant to (and is a reaction to the failure of) allow people and organisations to figure into their budget, the right amount for gas expenditures for the next year.

Bottom line right here on top:
Expect to be paying $2.65 this fall
and expect prices to spike
to $3.46 next April and May.

Gas varies seasonally, and right now it is running high, but slowly declining as it does every summer. It will spike upwards if any hurricanes travel through the Gulf of Mexico (higher costs and risks involved). It will drop further in the fall, usually near the end of September, but sometimes the drop isn't seen until November. It will begin to rise again next February, and will spike upwards around the end of April.

These seasonal changes reflect mostly our driving habits, but also reflect the increased cost for summer blends required to beat the evaporation that otherwise would take place as summer heats up.

My formula for next April May price spike is as follows:
Take the predominant price of crude oil in July, (that was $74, I think) divide by 25 (giving $2.96) and add $.50 to account for the taxes.
Therefore my forecast for next May is $3.46

The last factor will vary widely by location, as taxes and EPA regulations add more in many locations. The table below only gives a partial picture, I add an extra $.10 to the tax listed in that table in areas where transportation is easy and EPA regulations don't aggravate. In "LA", Chicago, Deming or Las Vegas New Mexico, and some other parts, add extra.
Gasoline Tax Statistics by State 2002

A different method is to look at the price you were paying in May this year. Subtract $2.60 from it and use the remainder instead of the $.50 in the figures above.

Christian vs Catholic

The Pope took me by surprise earlier this month, by stating "saying non-Catholic Christian communities are either defective or not true churches, and the Roman Catholic Church provides the only true path to salvation."
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56612

I decided immediately to write about refutations to his claims. This took a lot longer than I thought, and I was surprised at the difficulty in finding good scholarly works refuting Roman Catholic Doctrine and this doctrine in particular.

This may be for a number of reasons. First, the web is not geared to the scholarly writings and over time it has become a trash heap of half baked ideas, first drafts and other debris. Second, many who could most resoundingly refute this doctrine are "old school" scholars, and not likely to use the Web. Third, none of this is new, so except for some students (and this is summer break for many universities) many scholars have heard all of this before and may not think it really necessary to discuss it again.

(As a side note: there are other Churches who call themselves Catholic, and thus the distinction "Roman" Catholic.)

Don't get me wrong, there is no shortage of people with the same initial thoughts I had: "Pope shows the true, evil nature, of the Roman Catholic Church" and in researching these, I did come across some really good stuff.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56612
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56671
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility

Now, to be sure, just as there are people misrepresenting the views of Islam, there are also people who will misrepresent the views of the Catholic Church. Therefore, I need to show first what the Roman Catholic Church really teaches.
if a person is outside of the Catholic church -- whether they:

Are a Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or a member of another non-Christian religion,

Are a member of another Christian denomination,

Consider themselves an unaffiliated Christian who follows the teachings of Jesus, or

Are an Agnostic, Atheist, Humanist, secularist, etc.
they cannot possibly be saved
http://www.religioustolerance.org/rcc_othe3.htm


Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released yesterday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.
This article also has a question and answer section, which is worth more than the article itself.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1864197/posts

Now, why I disagree with the Roman Catholic Church. First and foremost, my belief is that the Bible is the supreme authority on religious matters. The Roman Catholic Church supplants that with the notion that the Church itself and the Pope in particular are a higher authority than the Bible. In fact, they stand in direct conflict with the Bible in many matters.
Overview of how Catholic faith contradicts the Bible.
bible.ca overview false teaching
(This second one is a bit of a cult - more on that in a minute)
Jesus-is-Savior dotcom - Roman Catholicism vs Bible
A few other links of interest:
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/dodone/MST.html
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/dodone/Latin.html
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/dodone/

Now to be sure, several sects of Christian Churches have their own cultures of exclusionary teachings. As a Baptist, I am familiar mostly with this one:
The Baptist Standard page id=6626
http://users.aol.com/libcfl/chart.htm
Another cultish group is the one that says the only true Bible is the King James Version. While I love that translation, I don't agree with their teachings whole heartedly. And the Jesus-is-Savior dot com site is not only into that culture, but quite far out in their other beliefs too. (wander around the site and you will get an eye full)

Again, the difference between Christians and followers of the Roman Catholic Church is that we believe the Bible. Beginning with the reformation period associated with Martin Luther and a few others, we have fought a long battle to teach people that the Bible is the true source of wisdom and truth about God.

Other notes:
Along the way, I found a couple other works of interest.

Careful examination, however, shows that the Pope's "Day of Pardon" was in fact not an apology, but rather a day of deception.
http://www.bereanbeacon.org/articles/papal_pardon_seduct.htm

Methods Muslims use to attack Christianity
http://www.carm.org/islam/muslim_attacks.htm

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY
http://www.carm.org/
(check out their theology quiz)