R. Lee Ermey takes on the Obama Administration

As far as live-tv goes, this is gutsier than Kanye West's snide remarks about President Bush after Katrina. I only have two words:

OOOH RAH!!!

The War On Christmas

*This is a repost, but about this time of year I get absolutely fed up with the hype about people wanting to take the Christ out of Christmas when American Evangelical Christians have already eviscerated it pretty thoroughly. I mean...who took the MASS out of ChristMASS? Anyway, enjoy...

G. K. Chesterton said "Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice." Building upon Chesterton’s epigram, there are two forms of moral blindness, blindness to actual evil and seeing evil where none exists.

The bias in the mainstream media about Islamic Supremacist terror (calling it "unrest" or "freedom fighters") is an example of moral blindness to an existing evil. The statement by Nelson Mandela that America wants a world holocaust is an example of false devils - seeing an evil where none exists. A young leftist on TV claimed that the CIA destroyed the twin towers in New York. Conspiracy theorists of this sort have a double moral blindness - blindness to an actual evil combined with delusional perceptions of false devils.

One false devil that needs to be slain is the whole "war on Christmas." I'm sure you've heard about it, so I needn't go into any great lengths describing it. Don't get me wrong: I love the traditions we've received in this country that are used to hallow the Feast of our Saviour's Birth. Christmas trees from Germany (through Victorian England), Caroling from the French (again, through England), Santa Claus from the Dutch, etc. These have become such a part of the fabric of our national life that it seems impossible to remove them.

However, if people call them "holiday trees" and play "holiday music," what is it to me? They were pre-existing cultural expressions that were taken up in the service of the culture's interest. From the Middle Ages to the late Modern Era, the culture's interest was tied to Christianity (in the West, at least). That is no longer the case. So these cultural artifacts go back to doing what they've always done: reflect the culture. (And serving the crumbling gods of this age: Mammon.)

But Christians (or at least churchy-folk) get so tied up in who's not displaying a nativity scene, or who is giving equal time to other religious winter-time traditions, that we have no time to deal with the real evil: the war on Christ's Mass. We demand that the stores have ol' Saint Nick (though we do not even recognize him as the sainted Bishop of Myra), play Christmas Carols (preferably in muzak so we needn't be haunted by the words), and say "Merry Christmas!"

But most of these Christmas Commandos (in America, at least) neglect the holy preparation of Advent. Many churches aren't even open on Christmas Day for services! Remember what happened in 2005, when Christmas was actually on a Sunday? ("It'd be such a burden when we have all the family in." Wait, didn't Jesus say something about family values?)

And then the season of Christmas is abruptly over on 12/26 (National Return-the-crap-you-got-for-that-XBoxGame/Sweater-you-really-wanted Day). Where is Holy Innocents (c'mon, Prolifers!!!)? Where is Holy Family? Where is Epiphany? Where is Candlemas?

If anybody has been waging a war on Christmas, it's the Christians...the people who cram so much secular stuff into our commemoration of Christ's Nativity that we fail to leave room to prepare our hearts, our families, and - dare I say it - our churches and communities to welcome the birth of the King who comes in humility. And the atheists know it.

Which brings me to my second point. Plato said that courage is a combination of knowing what not to fear, combined with perseverance in opposition to that which is harmful and evil. This is where our insistence on playing the game of the Christmas War has really cost the church a great deal. In November, video game sales increased 10% (nearly $3 BILLION dollars, adding to the previous $19BILLION spent in the preceding months).

Let's put that in perspective. While we're swilling away our eggnog and CokeZero, over 1.1 billion people on the planet (17% of the earth's human inhabitants) can't even drink the water they have locally. Every 8 seconds a child dies from a water-borne disease. Did you know that for less than $10 billion dollars, the entire world could be given safe, clean drinking water? Thank God some people still know what to do with our national largess.

You've still got a week. Make this Christmas count.

Letter from Abp. Duncan

A PASTORAL LETTER ON STEWARDSHIP AND THE ANGLICAN CHURCH

TO ALL THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Constitution and Canons of the Anglican Church in North America boldly proclaim that "the people of God are the chief agents of the mission of the Church" and that "the fundamental agency of mission in the Province is the local congregation." Ours is a church whose focus is on converted individuals in multiplying congregations. Ours is a church also built on the tithes of the faithful: the household to the local congregation, the local congregation to the diocese, the diocese to the Province.

Tithing and Discipleship

God led us to build our Province on committed disciples, the local congregations and the tithe: all for the purpose of reaching North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. The Holy Scriptures caused us to do things this way. We had (and have) a special stake in basing the whole of our life on the direction Scripture gives. While it is only one aspect of discipleship, imagine what God could do through us if all of us tithed! No congregation would any longer be "short," no diocese would lack for funds for new works, and the Province would rightly live within the tithes sent to it. We need to start challenging one another about this at the local level. God promises (Malachi 3: 8-10) to open the windows of heaven if we cease to "rob Him" and give Him our "full tithes."

If you are not already doing so, this would be a great year to take the leap. The tithe to your local congregation is the beginning point. If not yet tithing, even to move a percentage point a year over the next several years will make an amazing difference, both to the Church at every level, and most significantly to your own personal relationship with God.

Extra Mile Giving

Our Church, like Scripture itself, also teaches that the tithe is the beginning of our giving. Many of us give more than a tithe - Nara and I do so. It is all about thanksgiving to the Lord for what He has done. Some give to a point of sacrifice. They are among my heroes. Jesus and the apostolic Church most often teach either 50/50 or 100 per cent giving. Most of us who heard our friend Dr. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church speak to us at our Inaugural Assembly cannot forget the witness he and his wife make in giving away 90 percent of their income and just keeping 10 per cent. He is actually not alone in this practice that only a few can undertake, but most of us can stretch farther than we do. Pray and ask the Savior what He wants of you.

Our Provincial budget is based on the tithe of our dioceses, just as diocesan budgets are based on the tithes of their congregations. When all our local congregations get to right order, and all our dioceses get there too, we are convinced that the Province will well be able to live within these tithes for our annual operations. We have a distance to go before all our members are Biblical tithers. So at present we have a gap. For several years we know that we will have to ask some of our people and some of our congregations to "go the extra mile" beyond their tithe to help meet Provincial needs. This is not the long-term picture.

The Provincial Gap and Extra Mile Fund

The very good news is that we are almost half of the way to where we need to be to fund the base-line Provincial work. That is quite an accomplishment given the fact that the Province was only birthed 16 months ago! For now I need to ask for "extra-mile" giving to fill the gap.

At the August Executive Committee meeting an "Extra Mile Fund" was established to stand alongside "the Founders' Fund." Gifts to each - beyond your tithe to your own parish - will make it possible for our Province to be well launched in these "gap" years in which I will be serving you as first archbishop. Parishes that are able are also asked to consider gifts - beyond their diocesan tithe - to the Extra Mile or Founders' Funds.

Individuals and parishes are asked to consider a direct gift to the Province this year, and perhaps during several of the next years. We do not yet have all our households and congregations tithing, but as discipleship improves the need will diminish. This is the Archbishop's gap appeal. Individual and parish gifts directed for the ACNA of up to $10,000 will be credited to the Extra-Mile Fund. Gifts over $10,000 will be credited to the Founders' Fund. We need some $480,000 for this year's operation on top of the $900,000 already committed by dioceses, parishes and individuals. Please remember that the Province is providing both direct and subsidiary support to 20 Dioceses and more than 640 congregations in North America.

Help me, please, in these "gap" years to be your archbishop and do what the Provincial Council believes is essential. We started a year ago as a Province and have come a very great distance. For the long-haul, tithe and teach the tithe and the windows of heaven will be open for your parish, your diocese and our province, as well.

God bless you each and every one.

Faithfully in Christ,

Archbishop and Primate

[1] Canon I. 10, Section 1
[1] Constitution Article IV, point 1.
[1] Canon I. 9, Section 1 and Canon I. 10, Section 2, point 5.
[1] Typical are Lk 3:11; Lk 12:33-34; Acts 2:44-45; Acts 5:40-42; Lk 9:23-24.

P.S.

If you wish to be part of the Extra Mile Fund there are two ways to make a contribution:



You can send a check payable to:
Anglican Church in North America
800 Maplewood Ave.
P.O. Box 447
Ambridge, PA 15003

Please note in Memo section: "Extra Mile Fund"

Or contribute online at : http://anglicanchurch.net/?/main/donate

Religion in a Recession

A troubled warden approached his pastor and said, "We've got serious problems. Our members don't invite people to church. Our members don't give enough to pay the bills."

The pastor said, "As you know, my job is spiritual development. You'll have to bring that up with our evangelism and finance committees."

The warden returned not long after that and said, "Things are getting worse. Attendance is down. Giving is down. We might not be able to pay the staff!"

The pastor said, "Why didn't you tell me it was that serious? But as you know, my job is spiritual development. We'll have to bring up these problems at our next vestry meeting."

Immediately at the start of the vestry meeting, the warden stood up and said, "Pastor, we have a spiritual problem in our church."

America does not have a failing economy.

America's churches don't have attendance and money problems.

Our spiritual problem is being exposed.

2 Chronicles 7:14.

The American Dream

From Salon.com

For a generation, most Americans have been told by left, right and center that they would be failures if they ended their educations with high school, worked hard, saved cash for emergencies and bought modest homes they could afford. They have been told that to succeed in life they need to ape the lifestyles of the upper middle class that provides most of America’s politicians, pundits and scholars.

The result has been an experiment in social engineering that has gone horribly wrong: the creation of a faux mass upper middle class. Millions of Americans who by objective standards belong to the working class or lower middle class have persuaded themselves that they are part of the professional-investor elite, because they have worthless degrees from diploma mills, negligible amounts invested in stocks, and suburban trophy houses they cannot afford. For the college graduates at Starbucks working to pay off student loans for degrees that they will never use, as for the millions of Americans who are now "underwater," owing more on their mortgages than their houses are worth, the American dream has turned into a nightmare.

Read it all here...

Why we need vouchers

I'm a homeschooler. Our current tax code doesn't let me deduct a single penny for educational expenses; nor is there a penny of help. (And obviously, we don't get a child care deduction or credit because my wife is home.)

How much education could YOU buy in your area if you had even $5000 to spend per child?e

Scary

Rogationtide

The minor Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before we commemorate our Lord’s Ascension to the Father in Heaven on Ascension Day. “Rogation” comes from the Latin “rogare”, meaning “to beseech.” Although the term “beseech” could be taken as a call for penitence, this is not the intention of the Easter season. Rather it is one of asking for God’s blessing on the works of our hands—industry and agriculture—the means of our livelihoods. A singularly Anglican holiday, it’s no longer observed in the Church of Rome, but, since the reign of Elizabeth I, it has been a decided observance of the English church.

While we no longer “beat the bounds of the parish,” there are ways to adapt this tradition to meet today's need for thankfulness. Rogation Days are an ideal time to remember—and rededicate our jobs, investments, and other economic activities to our Lord, in Whom we live and move and have our being, while invoking His Presence in all we do, committing our ways to Him, so that He, as promised in Scripture, guides our paths.

Taxman

Obama mashup to the Beatle's "The Taxman."

Missed opportunity

Apparently it was more important to seem like you're addressing the problem by getting something (anything) done by Christmas recess than it was to actually put the country on the road to healthcare reform.

Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's Senate floor speech, given about 1a EST this morning right before the vote is a sobering must read....

Tonight marks the culmination of a long national debate. Passions have run high. And, that's appropriate because the bill we are voting on tonight will impact the life of every American. It will shape the future of our country. It will determine whether our children can afford the nation they inherit. It is one of the most consequential votes any of us will ever take. And none of us take it lightly....

But make no mistake: if the people who wrote this bill were proud of it, they wouldn't be forcing this vote in the dead of night.

Here are just some of the deals we've noticed:

$100 million for an unnamed health care facility at an unnamed university somewhere in the United States - the bill doesn't say where - and no one will even step forward to claim it.

One state out of 50 gets to expand Medicaid at no cost to itself - while taxpayers in the other 49 states pick up the tab.

The same Senator who cut that deal secured another one that benefits a single insurance company - just one insurance company - based in his state.

Do the supporters of this bill know all this? Do they think it's a fair deal for their states, for the rest of the country?

The fact is, a year after this debate started few people could have imagined that this is how it would end - with a couple of cheap deals and a rushed vote at one o'clock in the morning. But that's where we are.

And Americans are wondering tonight: How did this happen?

So I'd like to take a moment to explain to the American people how we got here, to explain what happened - and what's happening now.

Everyone in this chamber agrees we need health care reform. The question is how?

Some of us have taken the view that the American people want us to tackle the cost issue, and we've proposed targeted steps to do it. Our friends on the other side have taken the opposite approach.

And the result has been just what you'd expect.

The final product is a mess - and so is the process that's brought us here to vote on a bill that the American people overwhelmingly oppose.

Any challenge of this size and scope has always been dealt with on a bipartisan basis. The senior Senator from Maine made that point at the outset of the debate, and reminded us all how these things have been handled throughout history.

The Social Security Act of 1935 was approved by all but 6 members of the Senate. The Medicare and Medicaid Acts of 1965 were approved by all but 21. All but 8 senators voted for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Americans believe that on issues of this importance, one party should never be allowed to force its will on the other half of the nation. The proponents of this bill felt differently.

In a departure from history, Democrat leaders put together a bill so heavy with tax hikes, Medicare cuts and government intrusion, that, in the end their biggest problem wasn't convincing Republicans to support it, it was convincing the Democrats.

In the end, the price of passing this bill wasn't achieving the reforms Americans were promised.

It was a blind call to make history, even if it was a historical mistake - which is exactly what this bill will be if it's passed. Because, in the end, this debate isn't about differences between two parties, it's about a $2.3 trillion dollar, 2,733-page health care reform bill that does not reform health care and, in fact, makes its price go up.

"The plan I'm announcing tonight," the President said on September 9th, "will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government."

"My plan," the President said, "would bring down premiums by $2500 for the typical family..."

"I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficit," the President said, "either now or in the future."

And, on taxes? "No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase," he said.

He said he wouldn't cut Medicare.

People who like the plans they have wouldn't lose their coverage.

And, Americans were promised an open, honest debate. "That's what I will do in bringing all parties together," then-Senator Obama said on the campaign trail, "not negotiating behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN."

That was then, and this is now.

But here's the reality: the Democrat bill we're voting on tonight raises health care costs. That's not me talking -- that's the administration's own budget scorekeeper.

It raises premiums -- that's the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office talking. It raises taxes on tens of millions of middle class Americans.

And, it plunders Medicare by half a trillion dollars It forces people off the plans they have -- including millions of seniors.

It allows the federal government for the first time in our history to use taxpayer dollars for abortions.

So a President who was voted into office on the promise of change said he wanted lower premiums. That changed. He said he wouldn't raise taxes. That changed. He said he wanted lower costs. That changed. He said he wouldn't cut Medicare. And, that changed too.

And, twelve months and $2.3 trillion later, lawmakers who made these same promises to their constituents are poised to vote for a bill that won't bend the cost curve, that won't make health care more affordable and that will make real reform even harder to achieve down the road.

Now, I understand the pressure our friends on the other side are feeling, and, I don't doubt for a moment their sincerity.

But, my message tonight is this: the impact of this vote will long outlive this one frantic, snowy weekend in Washington. Mark my words: this legislation will reshape our nation.

And, Americans have already issued their verdict: they don't want it. They don't like this bill -- and they don't like lawmakers playing games with their health care to secure the votes they need to pass it.

Let's think about that for a moment. We know the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to this bill.

And yet, the people who wrote it won't give the 300 million Americans whose lives will be profoundly affected by it so much as 72 hours to study the details.

Imagine that: when we all woke up yesterday morning, we still hadn't seen the details of the bill we're being asked to vote on before we go to sleep tonight.

How can anyone justify this approach? Particularly in the face of such widespread and intense public opposition.

Can all of these Americans be wrong? Don't their concerns count? Party loyalty can be a powerful force. We all know that.

But Americans are asking Democrats to put party loyalty aside tonight -- to put the interests of small business owners, taxpayers, and seniors first.

And there's good news -- it's not too late.

All it takes is one. Just one. One can stop it -- or every one will own it.

My colleagues: it is not too late.

Public Option for kids

This is a youtube video - you'll have to come to the blog or go to the host.
Because some people still don't understand basic economics.

If your healthcare reform doesn't deal with the rising cost of healthcare by opening the path to private competition, then you're just shuffling money around.

Chinese Healthcare in America

As the New York Times reported Sunday, Chinese officials are questioning American officials about health care reform in the U.S. As the Times wrote, “The Chinese were not particularly interested in the public option or universal health care....They wanted to know, in painstaking detail, how the health care plan would affect the [U.S.] deficit.”

Why would the Chinese be so interested in our deficit? Well, for all intents and purposes, China is the official banker of the United States government. China is the number one foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities. This has MAJOR implications on our independence and security, as well as our stance on issues of human rights.

The hard questions they are asking right now are about how much the health care bill will raise the deficit. And make no mistake, if the Chinese decide not to continue financing our debt, the dollar could drop through the floor. America could have a huge financial crisis.

Before asking your government whether or not we can afford this new interventionist policy, perhaps it would be wise to ask the Chinese.


We cannot spend our way out of debt. We must conserve resources and invest wisely in the surest turn-around.

Sanity from the Global Warming Crowd

A recent study in Climactic Change offers one of the most hopeful solutions to the production of green-house gases: Bring the Green Revolution to the earth's great deserts.

Unlike many of the half-baked ideas (in both economics and science) for dealing with emissions, this is one that has a feasible pricetag, and is based on achievable methods.

Moreover, we could learn how terraforming changes ecologies, and how to take long-term incremental steps to revamping bioshperes - information that will come in useful when we look to colonize other planets. So this is a win-win: present help, future progress.

Now if only we can keep the greenieweenies from ruining it.

h/t PhDiva

Hobbit House

My wife thinks I'm crazy for wanting to live under the earth. But I think it makes a lot of sense, ecologically and from a security standpoint. Now that I've seen this, I also have the aesthetic argument wrapped up!Some key points of the design and construction:

• Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
• Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
• Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
• Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthaetically fantastic and very easy to do
• Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
• Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
• Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
• Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
• Anything you could possibly want is in a rubbish pile somewhere (windows, burner, plumbing, wiring...)
• Woodburner for heating - renewable and locally plentiful
• Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
• Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
• Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
• Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
• Water by gravity from nearby spring
• Compost toilet
• Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

Can I get this signed by Joel Osteen?

h/t NakedPastor

Black and Blue Laws?

I'm old enough to actually remember Blue Laws in our little mountain community that made the whole town shut down (except for a few restaurants, a handful of gas stations, and a few big-box retailers & pharmacies).

I still can't buy alcohol on Sundays in Indiana. It's also illegal on Christmas Day and election days until the polls close.

Now if only it were illegal for politicians to keep spending like drunken sailors, even when they have to borrow $0.50 on every dollar to do it!


h/t FailBlog

Speak your mind or mind your speech?

From the Church Times:

The liberties we enjoy in a demo­cracy are inseparable from freedom of expression. The exercise of that freedom makes demands on us all. Nowhere are those demands more highly charged than where religious groupings believe their faith has been insulted.

Those sections of society that are unable to tease out the relationship between freedom of expression and self-restraint, or to understand that, when offence is given, challenge — rather than violence or prohibition — should be the response, pose a threat to the fabric of a democratic state.

FREEDOM of expression is a dearly bought and cherished attribute of democracy. Respect and consideration for the sensi­bilities of others should be equally valued. The freedom to hold an opinion does not confer the right to express it regardless of context. Neither does personal or collective offence necessarily license pro­hibi­tion of offending material.

There is no right to be protected from offence, but there is a right — even a duty — to engage in debate, and thus to challenge the giver of offence. It is through debate that we learn what may be tolerated and what must be proscribed. Violence of speech or action short-circuits this civilised usage, and gives rise to oppression, fear, and resentment.

Prohibition has reinforced the idea that violent protest is the only response to false­hood....defamation must be met with dialogue. Neither tolerance nor self-restraint is learned under the rule of the censor.

Prohibition of free speech isn't as far as you think. In seminary, a friend was called into the dean's office for using biblical language about God - because some people found it offensive. You can't imagine the opprobrium - the violent political moves and abuses of professorial power - that is heaped on anyone who would limit feminine universals in language...but masculinity is ruled right out. It's tragic because in losing God's masculinity we lose God's transcendence...and we are placed on the road to paganism and panentheism.

Why Did Obama give the Queen an iPod?

Because she was already using the royal Wii.


Get it? Pluralis majestatis?

Oh forget it...

Evangelicals and the Housing Bubble

The NY Times recently hosted an analysis that “found that during the last two housing booms in the United States, regions with high concentrations of evangelicals saw lower gains in home prices and less volatility than similar regions with fewer evangelical residents.”

They've taken into account that rural areas are likely to have more evangelicals. And the as-yet-unproven assertion that evangelicals are lower-educated and less-payed than non-evangelicals - the results weathered both challenges admirably. The bottom line is found in this observation: “unchecked greed and speculative frenzy are seen as undesirable in the evangelical community.”

The next time some incredulous soul says that it doesn't matter what you believe, or that theology is just a head-game with no real-world implications, point to this and take heart. When the American empire crumbles, the City of God will go on.

Salt & light, people. Go be it.

That's no moon

It's a moonbat!

h/t Tim from GairneyBridge