Ron Paul On Bill Maher

No Explanation Needed... Pure Joy

Freedom Watch With Judge Andrew Napolitano has Ron Paul on the Show

Judge Napolitano and others discuss the "stimulus" package with Ron Paul (part 1 of 6).

Paul Krugman on Looking Ignorant

I particularly enjoyed this one. Nobel prizes are worth less than the krona these days.

Quote of the Week XXI

The laws of logic are universally and necessarily valid, but our use of them, like our use of everything else, is fallible, because of our finitude and sin.

(Frame, John M. "No Other God: A response to Open Theism" p 42. P&R Publishing. 2001.)

Given that God is so powerful and so gracious... we should not cease to come before Him and ask that our thinking be made right. He can do it and we should believe that He has not idly exhorted us to do so.

Westminster Shorter Catechism...

Quote of the Week XX

I have all the corners, and most of the edges, but no middle.

(Melanie Reed, in a conversation about love and relationships)

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Gabriella y Rodrigo are amazing.

The death of death is all my joy
The death inside is all my pain
The death of God is sung in vain
And everywhere We dream...

"We shall overcome,
we shall overcome,
we shall overcome,
some day."

Her voice I hear in the streets
And on the radio
And under all the working,
I hear hear it everywhere.

But do I heed the voice I hear?
Do I do the work I know?
Is there hope before I die?
Is there hope today...?

Things We Want to Say.

"Today is the first day of something..." I think we've all felt and thought (sometimes wrongly) that before. The thing I hate the most is when I want to believe that but can't. You know, it's those times when you would like a new beginning-- but you are just too cynical, or just don't have that kind of faith in God's desire for you to have good. The thing is, despite ourselves, there are new beginnings everyday. God never stops working. He never stops caring. Despite all the awfulness around and inside us, His mercies are new every morning. So maybe today is the first day of something after all.

Sea Bass

Genesis 2:22 explains the creation of Eve saying, "And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man." God made the earth and called it good, but even before sin entered the world God said it was not good for the man to be alone. So, God made Eve to be with the man as a lover, helper, and friend. Until that point, Adam had never seen a woman because one had not been formed by God's hands. All that Adam had seen to that point in his life were the aardvarks, sea bass, and other animals that would not look good in a wedding photo. Eve may or may not have been beautiful, but to Adam she was glorious because she was all he had ever known. Practically, he had no standard of beauty to compare his bride to-- she was his only standard of beauty.

(Driscoll, Mark. "Porn-Again Christian: a frank discussion on pornography & masturbation." RE:LIT.)

I have often wondered weather or not I believed in an objective standard of beauty or not- often going back and forth on the spectrum. This provides me with some food for thought. Would we consider Eve to be beautiful? Did Adam? Does beauty demand that there be an agreement between the two?

Quote of the Week XIX

The basic structure of Christian Theology is simple. Its every teaching should be taken from the scriptures of the Old and New Testament as being the words of prophets and apostles spoken on the authority of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, the Saviour of sinners.

(Van Til, Cornelius. "The Defense of the Faith." pg 7. The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company. Phillipsburg, NJ: Third Edition, 1967.)

A Child For an Hour

I went winter trail-riding for the first time yesterday. I felt like a kid again. I just pedaled and pedaled and pedaled... it was awesome. I rode a "Kula 2-9" from one of my buddies. It was so much lighter than my winter commuter- and the wheels were so much bigger- and so much wider... I just don't even know where to begin. The bike was amazing- but the real significant thing is what that amazing bike made possible- which was riding through trails in the woods in the snow in the middle of winter... it was incredible. I am very thankful to God for the whole experience. It was refreshing and comforting to be filled with awe and wonder once again.

Cold and Dark

So on my bike ride to work this morning, it was nineteen degrees below zero F. I was riding along, trying to pedal faster and not think about my toes too much when the thought struck me-- "it really is a nice day out." Now, I wouldn't recommend bike rides in the middle of Fairbanks winters to most people, but there is something about getting outside at least once a day and being in God's creation. I'm still trying to work out how the Godhead is evident-- but I'll keep working on it.

A Precursor To A Rough Draft

It's what I long for now
It's what I need right now
I never really got it
I never really understood...

Finding it is not so easy
Losing it is not so hard
Starting it is so much simpler
Holding on is quite another thing.

One is hard-pressed to rise without it
One is hard put to lay down in its absence
"It is not good..."
Ain't that the truth...

Where are there boundaries?
Where are there rules?
Why am I on my own in this?
When I can barely stand without it.

Having it is like a drug
But one that leads to health and not to shame
Living it is like a dream
It takes away so much sorrow even when it brings its own pain.

Who am I to question God?
Who am I to think I know better?
Who am I to think I cannot be blessed?
How dare I...?

I do not know what will come tomorrow
I do not know what will come today
I am not full of joy right now
And maybe that is ok...

Why Comments On Local Internet Newspapers Are So Worth It

I thought Pomeranians were those fruits they eat in the places like Iran and India. Oh, wait, that's pomegranates. It's so easy to confuse the two.

-from "The_Alaska_Curmudgeon" commenting on an article from a small-town newspaper.

The Spaniard Plays To The Weeping Dog

Who is it that would back down?
Who is it that would back away?
Who is it that would stay on the ground?
Who is it that would cede the day?

All around the weakness crashes
All around the death comes hard
Bombs, and screams, and ashes
We are not many and I am just one.

Ugly is this fighting
And nothing in it seems so true
But I am not born for quitting
And I was not set free for chains and fear.

I hear the stomping round and round me
Dancers in their soldier's garb
Music plays and plays and plays and plays
And I just want to fall.

One more day and one more mile
On and up and on we go
My being hurts so much I cannot feel it
And everything is numb.

Play for me that hymn of Jesus
Play for me that sweet guitar
Play for me that haunting rhythm
Play me somewhere away so very far.

"We Don't Have Time For This!"... Or Do We?

It seems that the new American President has made one or two decisions already that have been both noticed and welcomed in the international press. In an article from "Le Devoir":

Finies la torture et les prisons secrètes

Claude Lévesque

Barack Obama a ordonné hier la fermeture de la prison de Guantánamo d'ici un an ainsi que le gel de toutes les procédures devant les tribunaux d'exception qui y siègent, de même que la fermeture, «le plus tôt possible», des geôles secrètes de la CIA et l'interdiction des formes d'interrogatoires, largement qualifiées de torture, qui ont été pratiquées par les États-Unis depuis le 11-Septembre 2001.

And then from The Times:

Philippe Naughton

Barack Obama has wasted no time in getting down to the business of government, asking prosecutors to halt controversial military trials at Guantanamo Bay within hours of his inauguration.

The request was issued via the Department of Defence even as President Obama and his wife Michelle waltzed their way through a series of glitzy inaugural balls.

Mr Obama pledged during his campaign to close the prison camp on Cuba set up in 2001 to hold detainees from the 'War on Terror'. The camp's legality has always been questioned, and former inmates and human rights experts said the harsh interrogation techniques deployed inside it amounted to torture.

Last night's request was for a 120-day stay in the trials of five alleged 9/11 plotters - including the self-proclaimed 'mastermind' behind America's worst terror attack - and of a Canadian accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan. Mr Obama had been expected to issue an executive order as early as today for the full closure of the camp, but accepts that it might take months to rehouse some 250 inmates still held there.

And then from Le Monde we have an expansion of the theme.

Guantanamo a marqué les années Bush. Bagram ternira-t-il l'ère Obama ? Situé au nord-est de Kaboul, le plus important centre de détention américain d'Afghanistan compte près de 630 prisonniers capturés par les forces de la coalition. Afghans pour la plupart, tous ne sont pas des "combattants ennemis", mais, à en croire les rapports du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR), leur sort n'a rien à envier à celui des détenus de Guantanamo.

The international press is on to something here. The question is: How far is President Obama willing to go on this?

Quote of the Week XVIII

In war there is hope.

-Sarah Connor, From the TV show: "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"