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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Media Hostility

Why are the media in general so hostile to good news from Iraq?

A recent story headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said "Little Joy In Baghdad", but the story actually was about the positive results of the initiatives in Iraq, in particular the ability of
Iraqi Christians to celebrate Christmas with a great enough sense of security to put up trees in their homes and to go out to attend Christmas services at their churches.

This is not the first news report from the wire services (this one was an AP article), that I have seen that had a negative headline, but a positive story. Why do they do that? Is it that they know that the majority of Americans will read the headline only, conclude that things remain in chaos in Iraq, and decide there is no point in reading the article, thereby missing out on the real story?

Something else to think about; those against the war like to point out that this one has now gone on longer than WWII. Well, that is not exactly true. WWII stared a number of years before the United States entered into it. For Europe, that war had been going on for at least a period of two to three years.

We were also in Viet Nam for a longer time than we have been in Iraq. We had military advisers in Viet Nam before 1960, and didn't leave there until 1974. People check your facts. Stop believing the lies of politicians.


Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Teen Pregnancy

So, another teen star is in the news for being pregnant. And the point is?

Teen age girls/women in this country are showing an increase in statistical incidence
of teenage pregnancies. You can not tell me that they don't know about birth control
when birth control information is all over the media.

Don't try to tell me that Evangelical Christians are to blame for it because we have
insisted that sex education should emphasize abstinence as the only fool proof method.

I am a firm believer in the Truth of God's Word in the Scriptures, and that includes
the Ten Commandments. That also means that I have sinned, because I have broken every one of the Ten, and I was in need of the Salvation to be found in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Our children need moral guidance, and most of my generation threw away their moral
compass in the 1960's. Again, I confess, that included me, but I have found forgiveness
and repentance.

For God's sake, literally, Christians need to forgive these young teens while not abandoning
the effort to train up our own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
We can't judge them, and it is God's Word that judges their sin. While we can call sin, sin,
let us not abandon these children who will have children to the work of Satan, but let us be
salt and light; reaching out to them to bring them the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, that hopefully, they might take the remedy that God has offered, and find their
moral compass, and raise their children up in a higher standard than that which many of us
have practiced.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Whose vote is it anyway?

Every election cycle, especially Presidential elections, you hear people
complaining about how some independent candidate "stole" votes from
their preferred candidate.

Take for example the case of Ralph Nader running for President as an
independent, and the subsequent complaining by Democrats that Ralph
"stole" votes from the Democratic candidate.

Let's be very clear about one thing: the vote belongs to the people, each individual
voter having the right to cast their vote for the candidate of their choice. Once they
have cast that vote, you could then say that that vote belongs to the candidate for
whom they voted.

Please, vote your conscience; and if you are not comfortable with voting for a
candidate presented by either major party, feel free to vote for a third, even a
fourth party candidate of your choice.

The Constitution of the United States of America did not establish a two party system
and there is no reason we have to choose from either of the two major parties in "lesser
of two evils" scenario.

Do not feel like your vote has been wasted if your candidate of choice does not win,
you cast your vote as you wished, and it is going to take a lot of us voting for candidates
that may lose to start a tide going out that will sweep business as usual out to "sea".

Why the name?

The name I have chosen for this blog is "The Encyclopedic Blog". Am I saying that my knowledge is encyclopedic ? Not at all.

I have chosen this name, because like the Encyclopedia Britannica that I grew up with,
my blog will include a wide range of subjects.