A friend of mine from college who lives in Vermont inadvertently drew a firestorm on Facebook when she simply posted a link to an article about the University of Vermont not permitting Ben Stein's documentary Expelled to be shown on its campus. The mere posting of the link brought on derision and insults from many of her so-called friends, many of whom openly scorned the documentary and also the very notion of Intelligent Design.

Having previewed the documentary myself, it is clear that those posters did not watch the film or they would have known that they were flaunting the very ignorance highlighted in it, especially since Intelligent Design is not synonymous with Creationism. Additionally, many of the claims that these Facebookers made were - as addressed in the documentary - not science-based, but of the metaphysical realm.

I watched Expelled a second time recently and continue to be amazed not only at the frightening intolerance for free thought and speech in Big Science (at the Smithsonian Institute, universities across America, and in journalism) but also the fact that our tax money is propping up so much junk science. All this when modern scientists can not agree on where life originated, but insist that Intelligent Deisgn - in other words, a guided process - can not even be so much as mentioned in the debate. It further floored me, as a German major, to discover the glaring link between Darwinism and the horrors the Nazis committed on human beings, and realize that for the six years I studied German language and culture - both in the United States and abroad - not one of my instructors ever felt it important to mention the tie.

Of course, all that has been happening in the last century with real science being diluted and victimized by a select group, then paraded in our schools as gospel truth, was predicted long ago as being a sign of the last days (2 Peter 3:3-5). It is interesting, too, that scientists such as Newton and Boyle and Pasteur were men of faith, and that their knowledge of science simply reinforced what they already believed, and vice versa. As the Irish scientist Kelvin stated, "Do not be afraid of being free thinkers! If you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to the belief in God. You will find science not only atagnostic but helpful to religion." Of course, one can assume that Kelvin was addressing the religious establishment with that statement. His assertion, however, is the very thing that those who made Expelled possible are trying to avoid.

If you've seen the documentary, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts, and if you haven't, it's an eye-opener and worthy of watching. I leave you with two quotes

"Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality." -Abraham Lincoln

And this from an unknown source - On Creationism, Naturalism, and Pantheism: "Every thing has to have come from something else, therefore something has to be eternal!"

My mother recently asked me if the name Grace Lee Whitney rang a bell. I told her it did not. She proceeded to tell me that Grace Lee Whitney was the actress who played Yeoman Janice Rand in the original Star Trek series. In case you're not familiar, on Star Trek, she was the blond babe best known for her micro-mini uniform and unrequited crush on Captain Kirk. In real life, Whitney had had a versatile film and television career in the 1950s and 1960s, working with the biggest stars in Hollywood.

My mom then proceeded to tell me some interesting history on Whitney. After appearing in thirteen episodes of the 1966 season of Star Trek, her character was written out of the show. The sense of failure and rejection she felt sent her into a tailspin of alcoholism, drug abuse, and sexual immorality. She got to the point where she was drinking on skid row street corners right out of the bottle. Hospitalized, she was told by her doctors that the gin she had been drinking was eating a hole in her esophagus, and had nearly destroyed her liver. If she didn't stop drinking, they said, she would be dead within a couple weeks. Whitney was scared but she didn't know how to stop drinking.

A friend took her to a recovery group, where the group said the Lord's Prayer together. Although the prayer had always sounded like gibberish to her, at that moment it suddenly made perfect sense. It was the first time she ever really knew that God cared for her and she immediate stopped drinking and using drugs. In the weeks that followed, God led her on a journey to Israel. On a walking tour outside of Jerusalem, she came to a gate with a sign that read "Garden of Gethsemane." In her autobiography, The Longest Trek, Grace Lee Whitney recalls what happened next,

"I put my hands on the iron bars of the gate and looked through, into the Garden of Gethsemane. Suddenly, I felt weak, as if I was about to faint. I had to hold onto the bars to remain standing. Then I saw Jesus. He was beyond the iron bars, praying in the garden.

. . . I thought, But I'm Jewish! As if He could read my mind, He turned and looked at me and said, "So am I."

After that experience, Grace Lee Whitney gave her heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. She was set free from her addictions, her enslavement to immorality, and her sense of failure. Today, she goes to Star Trek conventions and women's prisons and television talk shows, telling everyone who will listen about the Lord and what He has done in her life.

To quote Spock, I found her story "fascinating" and thought I'd share it here, as we observe Passover, Good Friday and Easter. (The above photograph is an ancient olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane - striking, huh?)

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend, and may His Presence be very near.

For those of you following the news, or if you're like me and trying unsuccessfully to avoid the daily drear, you may have heard about the "Employee Free Choice Act," or "Card Check." Deceptively mislabeled like any other bad piece of legislation, this bill essentially is a forced unionization effort. Essentially, Unions could come into a private small business, pump up employees with talk of better wages and benefits if they choose to "go union" and then say individually to an employee, "Look, all your co-workers signed 'yes' and if you don't, there'll be a big blank next to your name and everyone will know you let them down on the possibility of more money and better benefits."

I saw this bill introduced last year, saw it fade, and now it's been re-introduced. Big Labor had millions in this election, and now they want payback from their candidates they helped get elected.

In a nutshell, this legislation would effectively eliminate the private ballot in union organizing elections, pave the way for unprecedented government intervention in the workplace and deepen the economic recession for small businesses. On top of the sheer economic cost, the right to a private ballot is inherent to American democracy. Under existing law, a private ballot election is guaranteed and administered by the National Labor Relations Board. However, under a card-check system, union organizers decide whether or not to utilize a private ballot--needlessly exposing workers' votes and making them vulnerable to misinformation, intimidation and coercion tactics. Perhaps the most frightening and less obvious consequence of the proposed card-check system is the fact that employers could face binding arbitration contracts if benefit negotiations stall. The legislation would give an employer 120 days to negotiate a contract with the union. If the employer and the union fail to agree to terms by then, the bill requires that a federal bureaucrat come into the place of business and decide the terms of a two-year wage and benefit contract for employees.

If you want to do something practical but don't have a lot of time and energy to commit, one thing you can do is go to NFIB's (non-partisan, pro-market group) site which explains the bill and they have a format letter which will automatically be sent to your state reps and congressmen: http://www.nfib.com/object/IO_40204.html

There are so many issues out there that are just bad legislation, but this one would devastate so many people I know, regardless of political affiliation, and it will definitely worsen the economy and affect the nation as a whole. It's set to be voted upon April 30th so please take action if it's something you care about. Thanks!

Yesterday evening PBS ran "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America" and featured celebrity smart alecks, including Larry David, W.C. Fields, Redd Foxx, Paul Lynde, Groucho Marx, Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Chris Rock and Phil Silvers.

Some of the clips were pretty hilarious alright, and I was surprised at how much W.C. Fields' black-and-white sketches pushed the envelope, considering his Silver Screen audience. What struck me is how consistently miserable a lot of these guys were/are in their personal lives - they made their money off of witty wisecracks and making the American public laugh, but at home they were and are some of the most frustrated, selfish and insecure souls you'd not want to live with. Strange, huh?

A couple weeks ago, PBS ran a special on Carol Burnett (my favorite Comedienne of all time) and I blogged previously on the "Pioneers of Television" that they ran on Johnny Carson and other c*l*a*s*s*i*c comics. Just curious who has a favorite c*l*a*s*s*i*c and contemporary comic and what ingredients endear you to them the most or make you guffaw the loudest, and if you want to list your least favorite and why, feel free to name him or her, too.

What a great weekend for football, especially if you're a Pennsylvanian like me who loves the Pittsburgh Steelers and despises the Philadelphia Eagles!

By halftime, I thought the Cardinals had it in the bag, and went out to make Mac 'N Yack for our family's Steelers gathering later that evening. I grew increasingly alarmed at the updates shouted from the living room by my husband, especially when the previously lackluster Eagles were within five points, and then when they'd overtaken Arizona by one.

I was positively gleeful, though, as we watched the last six minutes of the game and saw Arizona come back to clean up the job. All the way to my parents' house, I cackled as we passed flickering televisions in living room windows, knowing there were some disgruntled Eagles fans lurking in some of them, and even more delighted at the thought of the whole city of Philadelphia and its traffic-jammed suburbs just a couple hours away from us, turned on its head, foiled once again out of a Super Bowl.

My loathing of the Eagles comes entirely out of knowledge of their unmitigated fans. While other franchises may have their allotted troublemakers and punks, I've yet to meet anyone, including those familiar with the goings-on of New York's Meadowlands, who will dispute that Philadelphia Eagles fans are hands down the worst. They are the first - and to my knowledge, the only - stadium to have its own District Justice on account of the crime committed right there within its walls, and they now have TWO jail cells within their newly constructed home. Well known for cheering injuries on other teams, they are also infamous for throwing amber-colored liquids on other fans during their games - if you're lucky, it's only beer.

Back in January 2005 when the Eagles were hosting the falcons in the playoffs, I happened to be attending a fundraising event in Center City Philadelphia. We were staying in a five-star hotel, discounted thanks to involevement with the fundraiser, and we found out after check-in that we had gotten bumped to another one because of the Falcons' arrival. We happened to be walking by when the Falcons' bus arrived, and I was never more ashamed in my life as I watched a crowd gather from the streets of the City of Brotherly Love and begin cat-calling and cursing out Atlanta's players as they stepped from the bus. I was on a plane heading to Philadelphia once on which a passenger got drunk and started causing trouble - sure enough, he was clad entirely in Eagles regalia. Low on loyalty, a great many Eagles fans were hoping their team would choke much earlier on to ensure that McNabb, Reid and others would not return. But whether the Eagles win or lose a game shouldn't really matter to their fans, who inevitably react the same way to either outcome, with rioting and burning anything that's flammable in the streets.

My little sister ended up buying tickets to the AFC Championship on ebay and she and my cousin drove from Annapolis to Pittsburgh yesterday and sat shivering in the nosebleeds, thoroughly pumped, despite my parents' trying to talk her out of it. While the Steelers-Ravens game wasn't nearly as exciting, save for the very beginning and end, I'm thrilled to see my team advance to another Super Bowl. I've been a fan all my life, and a diehard even throughout the embarrassing Bubby Brister years, the tepid Neil O'Donnel days, and the lackluster Kordell Stewart era. These past few years have finally given us something worth getting excited over, and I'm thrilled to see the Steelers in a match-up with Arizona Cardinals, of all unlikely teams. It will be interesting, too, to watch Pittsburgh's former offensive coordinator-turned-head-coach-for-Arizona, Ken Whisenhunt, as he goes up against his old stompin' grounds. I think it will be a performance of two deserving, cla*s*s-act players and staff...just hope Pittsburgh wins

Merry Christmas, Everyone! I don't know about you, but December 26th is my least favorite day of the year. After all the Christmas anticipation, it's so anticlimatic and depressing. I think Christmas should universally be extended at least until New Year's Day.

So I'm wondering what the top gift(s) was/were that you gave or received this year?

The best gift I gave was a Homedic Shiatsu heated roller massager to my husband - the high-tech version that maybe you've used at the mall. It was the best gift I gave because I anticipate using it myself quite a bit

I was given a complete makeover of our living room, pretty much unintentionally at first, when our upstairs toilet sprung a leak and seeped in part through the ceiling in the living room...lovely! And all this only three weeks before our house was scheduled to be on the Christmas Tour of Homes for the historical society. Thanks to the leaky commode, we had our ceiling redone, electric installed for overheard lighting, had the floors redone, and the disdainful pastel pink walls transformed into a rich red. We also had the original hardwood floors redone and larger crown molding put up, so this was really quite a nice gift.

My husband ended up working a twelve-hour day Christmas Eve so he never made it to the store to get me a little something for a surprise, but I think I'm getting one of those Playstion PSP's. I was introduced to one at our extended family's Christmas at Rehoboth Beach this past weekend when my little cousin asked me to play him in miniature golf - now I'm hooked! I'll let you know how I make out...we might go shopping for one tomorrow

Here are a couple photos from our tour -- I wanted to post them because who knows when our house will be this clean again...

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Last night we had our Christmas Party at youth group, and with 39 senior high kids contained in a single room, waiting to delve into a pile of gifts and food, I decided to keep the devotional short and sweet. The following is what I wrote for them and read, and it ties in beautifully with one of my favorite Christmas songs . Sharing it here with my tv.com friends ...

The Ultimate Romantic

It was hailed as both a scandal and also the love story of the century by newspapers in London and New York: Edward VIII, King of England, formally announced his abdication of the throne in 1936 in order to be with his love - a foreign woman with no ties to royalty. In a speech broadcast across Europe and the United States, Edward explained to the world that he was unwilling to go on living without the love of his life, a woman who could not be royalty because of the opposition towards her from the King's family, from political forces, and from the Church of England. Edward instead handed the throne over to his brother, the Duke of York, and gave up the privileges and title of king in order to follow his heart. He was the only British monarch in history ever to resign willingly from the throne. The two were married, but exiled from England and estranged from the royal family. They lived out the remainder of their lives together in France.

The highly publicized story of Edward VIII and the American he loved, Mrs. Wallis Simpson is indeed like something out of a fairy tale. How much greater and more beautiful, though, is the love story of a God so smitten with the people He created that He would leave His throne and come to earth. He was willing to give up the glory of Heaven to romance the world that had rebelled and messed things up and gotten it wrong so many, many times, just so that He could be with us forever!

Paul writes of Christ, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! (II Philippians 2: 6-8 )

This Christmas, and the next time you see headlines about some Hollywood romance or hear a love song on the radio, compare it to the ultimate love sacrifice that was made for you by a God who was willing to step down from his throne and be humiliated and even killed - simply because He couldn't bear to live an eternity without you.

© 2008 EMT

Last night we went to the viewing of an older man whom I'd known since I was a child - he was the father of someone in our church and his wife used to baby-sit us back in the day. He had succumbed to cancer Friday after battling it valiantly for a long time. While we were driving to the church, I got a phone call from one of my closest friends. She told me that she had bad news: a friend and woman we knew from work - Janet - had died suddenly. As I held my breath in utter disbelief, she explained that they didn't know what happened yet, that as far as everyone knew she was in great health, but that now - well - she was just gone. This news hit me hard. Janet wasn't youthful, but she wasn't elderly, either. More than that, she was vital and vibrant and a bundle of energy. She was the kind of woman who wore purple eye shadow and spoke coyly every once and a while about the bachelor minister of her church and who threw parties every year at Christmas and Fourth of July. I had known her for ten years, and her trademark was her frugality. While she drove a Cadillac and owned over twenty acres of farmland that had recently doubled in value thanks to a casino being built down the road in the last year, she was a woman who sought out the leftovers at every party she attended and when we made coffee at the gym she took it home with her if no one else seemed to be drinking it and froze it for later. But she was warm-hearted and upbeat and always had a bag of homemade goodies for me at Christmastime and never ever missed remembering my birthday with a card and a cartoon that she had clipped. The last time I saw her was three weeks ago at a party for a mutual friend who had just passed the bar exam. She and I had sat and talked for a half hour about her latest delight: two stray kittens and their mother which she'd adopted, and which gave her endless hours of enjoyment in her solitude. When we'd left the party, she had been certain to collect a plate of leftovers from our gracious hostess, and then had given me one of her warm, unbreathable hugs. What would I have said if I had known it would be the last time I'd see her?

When I woke up this morning the first thought that crossed my mind was "Janet is gone." As I plod through the routine of this day, it seems impossible that someone wouldn't call and tell me it was all a mistake, that she'd passed out for a moment but was revived now - at least long enough for me to say good-bye, and tell her how much I loved her and how her quirks made me laugh. She had no husband, and her only daughter's death decades ago was a subject she never wanted mentioned. The only relation she had was an elderly aunt that she often telephoned when she came to the gym because it was a long-distance call that she could make for free. As I wait for details of her funeral, my mind goes back to wondering, absurdly, who now will take her care of those stray cats.

Last Saturday marked a one-of-a-kind occasion: a friend of mine hosted a lavish party honoring ten women who had impacted her the most this past year. This friend wanted an excuse for all us ladies to dress up and feel like a million bucks. She is not by any means wealthy, but she and her husband had a little bit of money leftover from selling off some items when they moved, and they decided to split it and use it for something special and impractical. She took her share and created a festive, memorable night for all of us.

The first part of the gala was held at a top local restaurant, then continued back at my place with coffee and dessert while she dished out the best parts: gift bags, a bouquet of our favorite flowers, and a personal written tribute to each one of us. Everything was customized.

My husband waited on us back at the house and then snapped all the photos - he offered to be the live entertainment as well, but I declined on that one.

Contents of the gift bags were: a book, a journal, a gift certificate to Victoria's Secret, a picture frame, and our tribute written in script. All in all, a very special night.

Excited about an Obama victory? You're not alone. Enemies of the United States across the globe are whooping it up after not-quite-one-term Senator Obama pulled out a victory Tuesday, running on a platform that parroted "change" and "hope" and gave no further details as to their what or how.

After watching the Manchurian Candidate rise to power over these past couple years, it has continued to amaze me that this guy actually manipulated so many votes. Besides not providing any details of his policy or strategies, getting caught in almost daily lies and conflicting statements about his past and his Muslim upbringing, his ties with radicals and his own racist comments, a wife who openly ridiculed this nation until advisors finally shut her up, and his total lack of experience, he still managed to do quite nicely at the polls Tuesday. Which led me to marvel at what was wrong with our country.

At first thought, I reasoned that for any person to have voted for Obama, they would have to be either mindless, moral-less, or a Marxist. The three go together naturally in a trinity, to be sure. As witnessed by many in my college c*l*a*s*s which graduated at least a 70% Socialist demographic, certainly there is a growing faction of such people infesting our nation. Still, at best guess these extremists only comprise about 19% - 26% of the population.

However, I know at least four people in my immediate social and family circle who do not fit one of the "three M's" of the Obama profile and yet voted for him. Knowing each of them well and having discussed what one issue could possibly motivate them to vote for such a man, I came to the following conclusion. Of the four, none were voting issues, nor had dug enough into B.O.'s past to know any one of the items I questioned them about regarding his political platform nor his past. "Change" and "hope" spoke to two of them (deeper than facts could, apparently), and another said she cast her vote based on a "gut feeling." The other appeared to have a "white guilt" complex, as Shelby Steele phrased it, and I surmised that for Obama to have been elected, the meandering herd of moderates to which these folks fit were simply deceived.

Like the Clintons in the '90s before him, Obama was blessed with a Soviet-s t y l e media that was comatose on all his contradictory statements and his slim-but-unimpressive record, and flat-out covert on statements that the Senator had made on radical policy items such as the Redistribution of Wealth and his disdain for the Constitution, evidenced in his laments that the Warren Court had not gone far enough. At the same time B.O. was being built up and sold like some packaged Hollywood Star, his rival McCain was either ignored or portrayed as some sort of doddering corpse, a far cry from the impassioned ardor that the fence-riding Arizona Senator had come to know and expect from the media throughout the rest of his tenure in the Bush administration. For the past eight years, after all he was painted as maverick and darling by these same elitists for his role in subverting Bush policy and going across the aisle to work with Leftists such as Feingold and Kennedy. This dropping of McCain, however, was nothing compared to what the media had in store upon discovery that his running mate was a Conservative, and a Christian at that. Where tabloids had run such articles with titles such as "Obama: Why Michelle Loves Him," they now splashed unflattering photos of an open-mouthed Sarah with headlines that asked about an obscure brother-in-law, minimized her achievements in Alaska (as well as the necessity of the state itself) and questioned [gulp!] her experience. (The mainstream media is STILL trying with all their might - as witnessed by today's headlines - to take her down in order to render Palin's political career ineffectual from hereafter).

Top Five List

5. Please make it so I can come to this site without donning sunglasses.

4. Please make the fonts legible.

3. Please revert to the former system of show/episode/person rating and get rid of the harder-to-use, harder-to-understand facial expression system.

2. Please conform the current layout of profiles, forums, show overviews, etc. closer to the former model.

1. Please don't let personal arrogance or childish obstinacy drive your users away - please have the grace to admit this was just a really bad idea that no one likes and humble yourself enough to respond to your clientele.

I'm late posting this blog but I'm finding that the new design layout keeps me away from tv.com for the first time in the year-and-half since I joined. Just not enjoying it like I used to - never mind the glitches, the format is just confusing and chaotic compared to "the old days." Whoever dreamed this up, you should be using your talents and ideas to create havoc and waste in government somewhere. That way you can demoralize even greater quantities of people for no apparent reason.

On to the topic at hand: this weekend marks our 4th annual Elvisfest tradition at the beach in Delaware. My husband and I left Thursday night after youth group, arrived in Rehoboth Beach, DE a little after midnight, and spent three glorious days enjoying seafood, shopping, biking along the beach...and oh, yes - Elvis.

A local joint - The Rusty Rudder - hosts a weekend-long "Elvisfest" in which impersonators from all over the country come and perform on two different stages. It's a riot. Yes, I am a fan of Elvis, and no, I do not believe he is alive. If he were, he would have come out of hiding when Lisa Marie announced her intention to marry Jack-o. Some of these impersonators are really talented, both in ability to sing and sound like Elvis and also in their gyrations. There's always a band of spirited older ladies who nearly succeed in toppling the more sexually appealing Elvis look-alikes while they sing and mingle with the crowd (some of the Elvises, frankly, do not belong in jumpsuits). This year, my 70 year-old aunt (who owns one of the beach houses where we stay) was in Rehoboth and joined us for the festivities (see below). At first she was wary because she had pulled a muscle in her back the day before and was in some pain. She went though, and when we arrived the Elvis on main stage was horribly flat. However, the next guy did not disappoint, and my aunt was riveted the entire three songs he performed. Later she told us "He made my back spasm all over again!"

35 youth in a converted barn for 40 hours - what a weekend! We had a retreat this weekend and it was awesome. I love sports and I love being around youth because they're still in shape enough to play hard. The rain held off Saturday so we were able to get outside for games and just enjoy the six acres of grass and woods and stream (anyone else out there do Ultimate Frisbee or Capture the Flag? They're youth group staples where I come from).

The most humbling aspect for me was this guy's knowledge - and I mean inside out - of scripture. He just knows his Bible like the back of his hand and if you say, "you know that place where it says" and you're referring to one little paragraph hidden in Leviticus - you can be certain he'll not only know it, he knows the reference, too.

Anyway, it was awesome. And running through my mind all throughout Saturday was a passage from The Chronicles of Narnia, specifically the book The Silver Chair. There is a part in which a girl - Jill - new to Narnia is alone in the woods and terribly thirsty, when she finally comes to a stream. To her dismay, she finds it guarded by a lion. This lion is Aslan, who in C.S. Lewis' books is a Christ figure.

"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.

"I'm dying of thirst", said Jill.

"Then drink," said the Lion.

"May I - could I - would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

"Will you promise not to - do anything to me, if I do come?", said Jill.

"I make no promise", said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

"Do you eat girls?", she said.

"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms", said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

"I daren't come and drink", said Jill.

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.

I read this passage to the kids before the evening session Saturday night and reminded them: He makes us no promise that it won't hurt if we come and drink, but He is the Living Water. There is no other stream.

...and the Nominees are...

Last night I unintentionally ended up watching Palin's speech at the Convention. I've been disillusioned about both (un-)Presidential candidates for different reasons, and as a political junkie have managed steadfastly to avoid politics (except here and there and mostly on this site) for the greater part of these past six months. However, my husband wanted to watch and I was in the same room. I found myself drawn into her speech irresistibly, and after listening to her, I have to concede. Sarah rocks.

As I mentioned here on someone else's blog, I've been waiting a long time for a Margaret Thatcher type - a woman with similar qualities. (Not a man-woman like Hillary whose only indication that she was female at all was the pitch of her voice). Palin fits the description a friend of mine designated to Thatcher: "like Mother Teresa, but with an Uzi." In addition to everything else, I was lovin' listening to Palin give it to the media (the same media, I will add, that just a few short weeks ago coddled John Edwards for having an affair while his wife was battling breast cancer, but now is determined to take Palin down for the same allegation - [only in her case, this ugly charge hasn't been substantiated]). Beyond her short but proven track record, I also love the fact that this woman has a sense of humor. How can you not if you're in politics? Finally, a candidate who isn't a yawn!

The big joke in all this is how the country and the party's base have responded to Palin: they're suddenly energized, excited, and hopeful - after the long despondency of finding out the lukewarm, mediocre McCain was leading them into battle, and the subsequent fumbling and bumbling of issues on his part, always pandering to the media and the 'Crats while trying to keep one foot on the Right. The question to McCain and all the other tepid Republican candidates is this: do you not now see that elections are yours for the taking? You have to get back to the basics: fiscal responsibility, less government interference, and STAND UP TO THE MEDIA, don't cower and ride the fence and ho hum around hard issues that are threatening to make or break this country! Take your punches and call them on it!

So now McCain, you got yourself a running mate more dynamic and with more moxy and far more personality than you possess - hurray! Let her carry you into the election, and step out of the way. One last thing: go get yourself a tan, for cryin' out loud - you look about as pale and dead as the Clinton Health Care Plan!

Hi All~

Hope everyone is enjoying this weekend. I probably shouldn't bring this up in light of what other regions of this great land are experiencing, but we finally got some vastly needed rain Friday into Saturday and the dry, crunchy grass is already green again. (Sorry if you're in a part of the country that has seen too much precipitation). The Japanese beetles (blasted little vermin) are thankfully gone, too. They've been wreaking havoc on the roses these past few summers, eating the beautiful petals to bits in a matter of hours. Thanks, whoever brought them over from Japan! (to my Canadian friends - have these destructive little buggers made it that far up north, or have you managed to avoid them?)

So the roses are blooming and I took pics of just a few: the one on the top left is called Angel Face and the camera did not at all do justice to its delicate, lavender color. Yellow Roses are my favorite flower of all...my mom has a kind called "Midas Touch" that I hope to grow at my house next summer and is featured in the banner. Any other rose/flower enthusiasts out there?

In other news, I mentioned a few blogs ago about reconnecting at a local park with my best friend from high school, whom I hadn't seen in several years. Her parents host a service in their home every Sunday night, and my husband and I attended last week at their invitation. I hadn't been to their house since high school days, and so it was like a homecoming. The service was awesome, and I especially liked the diversity represented there: people from Kenya, Venezuela, Canada, and Viet Nam as well as old order Lancaster County Mennonites wearing beards and head coverings (men and ladies, respectively ); there was a humorous, 87 year-old gentleman who delivered the message (having been called into ministry at the age of 67, he said) and told us all by way of introduction that he was going to die before Christmas (as we gasped in unison) before adding "I just don't know which Christmas" to a young girl with piercings and kool-aid colored hair who later shared a testimony of how God had delivered her from a lifelong bulimia disorder and a cocaine addiction - something 47 different state and psyche hospitals and various programs spanning many years and cities couldn't do. She had been clean one year and one month, and just got baptized. We were all there in the huge great room, gathered to worship. It just seemed like a little glimpse of a microcosm of Heaven and the redeemed - from every tongue and tribe and nation joining in the song of the Lamb.

One of the highlights was a young woman approaching me after the service - a total stranger whom I'd never met - and saying, "I don't know you or even know your name, but..." and proceeded to give me a prophetic message that was exactly the very topic my husband and I were discussing with some anxiety just on the way over to the service. No one on earth could have known it because we'd never discussed it and dropped the topic long before we came into the house. She certainly didn't either, even prefacing it by saying "I don't know what this means, but I was prompted to tell you..." What an encouragement! It was so unexpected and so right on, that it made even my sturdy, manly husband weep

Today I meant to watch the Murder, She Wrote marathon on Hallmark, but the day has been so busy (tennis in the morning with our pastor and some of the youth, hanging out with my sister on her way back from D.C. and clipping coupons [woo-hoo!], and cleaning and gardening) that I am just getting to it now - anybody else watching Labor Day marathons or other stuff today?