Justice has been served for a few infants and one mother whose lives were taken within the filthy walls of 3801 Lancaster Avenue.
Late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants who were born alive after botched abortions performed in his run-down West Philadelphia clinic. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old woman who died from an overdose of anesthetic drugs during an abortion procedure.
The jury’s deliberations came after six weeks of harrowing testimony detailing the brutal deaths of newborns and unthinkable mistreatment of women. The gruesome murder of moving, breathing infants after botched abortions allegedly became a regular occurrence at the filthy West Philadelphia facility, with one clinic worker estimating nearly 100 living babies were killed shortly after birth.
Many of those murders followed failed abortions performed after Pennsylvania’s 24-week limit. In addition to the four murder charges, Gosnell was also convicted of more than 200 other criminal counts including violating Pennsylvania’s informed consent law and performing illegal late-term abortions.
In wake of the trial’s disturbing revelations, many are left questioning how the oft-repeated slogan of “safe, legal, and rare” abortions can continue to encompass late-term procedures—especially of the kind that can produce live births.
There is broad consensus that abortions like those Gosnell performed should not take place, whether in a run-down Philadelphia clinic or the sterile facilities of other abortion providers. Nearly two-thirds of Americans generally oppose abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy, while 80 percent oppose abortions in the third trimester.
“The first degree murder conviction of Kermit Gosnell brings some closure to this horrific case, but we must act to address the broader problems highlighted by this tragedy,” remarked Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). “Congress should conduct a thorough investigation into the practices of late-term abortions in America with the goal of ensuring that these atrocities are never repeated in the future.…Life is precious at every stage, and America’s policies must reflect this fact at every turn.”
That policy work got underway last week, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee began investigations into current state efforts to monitor clinics and protect the rights of born-alive infants and their mothers.
Yet much more needs to be done, especially as current policy entangles taxpayer dollars in the abortion industry.
In light of the brutality that became commonplace at 3801 Lancaster Avenue and has appeared elsewhere, policymakers should rethink continued financial support for an industry that creates and supports the likes of Gosnell.
Americans must likewise reexamine the prevailing ethicofabortion-on-demand for any reason—even in late-term abortions.
“[I]n our justice system premeditating and exacting the demise of babies is only a crime if a child is fully outside the womb,” stated Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC). “We would do well as a society to consider what deciding murder based upon geographic technicalities reveals about our collective conscious.”
For over four decades since the Roe v. Wade decision, American medical practice, politics, and laws have separated the health of mothers from the well-being of the children they carry. Gosnell’s “house of horrors” should demonstrate that the severing of that connection does a disservice and risks the health and lives of both child and mother.
Read the Morning Bell and more en español every day at Heritage Libertad.
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
Two-Minute Warning: Moral Laws, Real Consequences Uploaded by ColsonCenter on Jun 1, 2011 Most people can identify a number of the physical laws of the universe, but these same people would be stumped to identify the moral laws which also govern the universe. Colson is at his finest as he explains the reality of moral […]
I saw Amy Grant perform in Little Rock around 1991 in Barton arena with Kim Hill opening. Actually I went to high school at ECS in Memphis with Kim Hill and we were on the same track team. In fact, both the boys and girls track teams won conference championships several times while we were there.
Album: Age To Age (1982), Myrrh Records.
Winner of Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary in 25th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
Amy Grant – Arms of Love
Lord I’m really glad You’re here
I hope you feel the same when You see all my fear
And how I fail
I fall sometimes
It’s hard to walk on shifting sand
I miss the rock, and find there’s nowhere left to stand
I start to cry
Lord, please help me raise my hands so You can pick me up
Hold me close
Hold me tighter
I have found a place where I can hide
It’s safe inside
Your arms of love
Like a child who’s helped throughout a storm
You keep me warm
In Your arms of love
Storms will come and storms will go
Wonder just how many storms it takes until
I finally know
You’re here always
Even when my skies are far from gray
I can stay
Teach me to stay there
In the place I’ve found where I can hide
It’s safe inside
Your arms of love
Like a child who’s helped throughout a storm
You keep me warm
In Your arms of love
Album: Age To Age (1982), Myrrh Records.
Winner of Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary in 25th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
Amy Grant – In a Little While
Got a ticket coming home
Wish the officer had known
What a day today has been
Then I stumbled through the door
Dropping junk mail on the floor
When will this day end?
But then your letter caught my eye
Brought the hope in me to life
‘Cause you know me very well
And I bet you wrote me
Just to tell me
Chorus
In a little while
We’ll be with the Father
Can’t you see Him smile?
In a little while
We’ll be home forever
In a while….
We’re just here to learn to love Him
We’ll be home in just a little while
Boy, that letter hit the spot
Made me think of all I’ve got
And all that waits for me
Guess I’ve known it all day long
Wonder where my thoughts went wrong
When will my heart believe?
Waking half way through the night
Reaching toward the lamp for light
Picking up the Word I find
Here’s another letter
To remind me
Days like these are just a test of our will
Will we walk or will we fall?
Well, I can almost see the top of the hill
And I believe it’s worth it all
Keith Green – Asleep In The Light (live) Uploaded on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “Asleep In The Light” live from Estes Park ’78 Russ Taff – Praise The Lord 1983 (Live) For Those Tears I Died – Children of the Day Uploaded on Apr 22, 2007 Children of the Day singing For […]
My favorite Christian music artist of all time is Keith Green. Sunday, May 5, 2013 You Are Celled To Go – Keith Green Keith Green – (talks about) Jesus Commands Us To Go! (live) Uploaded on May 26, 2008 Keith Green talks about “Jesus Commands Us To Go!” live at Jesus West Coast ’82 You can find […]
AMY GRANT tekstovi 800 x 533 | 127KB | tekstovi-pesama.com Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant – El Shaddai – (Live) Uploaded on Feb 15, 2011 MICHAEL W. SMITH with AMY GRANT – EL SHADDAI – (LIVE) — From the album “LIVE IN CONCERT – A 20 YEAR CELEBRATION 2004″ — The View Chatting with Amy Grant in […]
Don Francisco – He’s Alive Adam Where Are You w/ASl & Lyrics – Don Francisco Gotta Tell Somebody Don Francisco In South Africa – “Jehoshaphat” I Could Never Promise You w/ASL – Don Francisco Dolly Parton – He´s alive (Full song) I saw Don Francisco in concert in Memphis in the late 70′s with my good […]
RISE AGAIN – DALLAS HOLM Dallas Holm Harvest Interview 2008 Come unto Jesus My friend David Rogers invited to a concert at First Assembly of God church in Memphis in the late 1970′s and we got to hear Dallas Holm sing and David Wilkerson speak. Here is some info on Dallas Holm from his website: […]
I saw Petra in concert in North Little Rock in the 1980′s. Here is the link for the bio. Classic Petra – 2011 – DVD Documentary Uploaded on Sep 17, 2011 The videos published here are for pure enjoyment, these videos are very inferior quality to the quality of the original DVD, please let us bless […]
The Rolling Stones & Katy Perry – Beast Of Burden – Live – By Request
Published on May 12, 2013
The Rolling Stones and special guest Katy Perry perform ‘Beast Of Burden’ at the Las Vegas MGM Garden Arena.
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Can’t always get what you want…but Katy Perry sure did at the Rolling Stones concert in Las Vegas Saturday night!
Yep, the 28-year-old pop star hopped on stage with Mick Jagger & Co. for a duet of “Beast of Burden.”
Wearing thigh-high boots, a white skirt and a black bustier, Perry looked right at home performing with Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood.
She was obviously excited by the gig, tweeting afterward, “Yes, I just did gyrated on Mick Jagger. WHAT?! #Stones50.” (Before you grammar snobs launch into an attack, she quickly responded to a tweeter who slammed her for her “appalling” linguistics, writing, “I noticed that. I guess I was too excited. Sorry mom.”)
She also tweeted a pic of herself and Mr. Jagger, writing, “Mick & Kate forever!”
“Thanks for letting me be the 5th wheel last night! @Rollingstones,” she added, posting a smiley shot of herself and the guys.
Clearly it was a teenage twentysomething dream come true!
Great article by Muehlenberg. Bill Muehlenberg’s commentary on issues of the day… John Lennon, Rock Culture, and Eternity It may have been “twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play,” as the Beatles sang about in their 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” but I in fact wish to go […]
I found these articles below interesting: Here is the first link: jeudi, octobre 07, 2004 Patti Hansen Ca date d’il y a déjà quelques années. Patti donc. Passionnant ? On a jamais dit ça. Patti Hansen in “Health for Women” magazine Patti Hansen was the subject of a cover story in the April issue of […]
Men’s Fraternity – Introduction Uploaded on Mar 14, 2011 A great introduction to Men’s Fraternity with clips of Robert Lewis, the creator of Men’s Fraternity. The Quest for Authentic Manhood Uploaded on Mar 14, 2011 Clips with Robert Lewis from Men’s Fraternity “The Quest for Authentic Manhood” _________ The Men of Semper Fidelis: “The Quest […]
The All-American Rejects Music Interview Tyson Ritter Full Band only on The Artist Spotlight The All-American Rejects – The Last Song The All-American Rejects – It Ends Tonight I got to go hear the All-American Rejects in Little Rock on 12-13-12. Here are some of my reactions. Tyson Ritter admitted that he lost his way […]
I’m In A Rock ‘N’ Roll Band – The Singer (Part 1) Jim Morrison – books on tape – w subtitles Light My Fire – The Doors The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction ________________________ The Rolling Stones – The Breakthrough The Rolling Stones – Brian Jones The Rolling Stones- Paint it Black Nirvana – Smells Like […]
Great article by Muehlenberg. Bill Muehlenberg’s commentary on issues of the day… John Lennon, Rock Culture, and Eternity It may have been “twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play,” as the Beatles sang about in their 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” but I in fact wish to go […]
Skillet – Awake and Alive Uploaded on Sep 27, 2010 I really have enjoyed reading about this band from Memphis. Skillet (band) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Skillet Skillet performing at a promotional acoustic show in Denton, TX in 2006 Background information Origin Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. Genres Rock,[1] Christian rock/metal,[2][3] […]
I remember hearing Dr. Adrian Rogers say that if he had to do it over again he would read from Proverbs every day to his kids. They turned out to be great kids and they were raised right. Nevertheless, if he had to do it over again he thought a more emphasis on Proverbs is the way to go. That is why I am spending so much time in Proverbs with my kids today.
John MacArthur does a great job on Proverbs and here is a portion of his sermon on Proverbs.
Fifth, control your body. Any witting father who has any sense at all realizes that young men are going to develop passions that can lead them in to tragedy upon tragedy unless they learn how to control their body, their bodily desires. And as you get in to this section, this is THE dominant theme throughout these first few chapters of Proverbs. Go to chapter 2 for a moment, verse 16, this is repeated and we don’t have time to go in to all of it but I’ll give you a little sense of what the writer says…2:16, he’s talking about wisdom and wisdom alone, that is the wisdom of God, spiritual wisdom that a father is supposed to teach his son, is able to deliver you from the strange woman. Well what does the word strange mean? Foreign. Why do you have to worry about a foreign woman? Because she’s away from home. Well what does that mean? Well she’s away from her husband, she’s away from her family, she’s away from her friends, she’s away from accountability and so being…she’s the out‑of‑town woman, if you will. And it’s real easy for her to act any way she wants because the constraints are off. You beware of that roaming woman who is away from the point of her responsibility. Beware of the adulteress who flatters with her words, that leaves the companion of her youth…that’s her husband…and forgets the covenant of her God…that’s her marriage vow. Beware of her because her house sinks down to death and her tracks lead to the dead. Why? Because adultery by biblical prescription required the death penalty. She’ll bring you to death.
Some think that this is a reference also to a venereal disease or even to the divine intervention of God in an act of punishment. But I think the primary issue here is way back to Deuteronomy chapter 22 where God says people who commit adultery are to be executed. Passion is as strong as it is, however, as evidenced by the fact that men who would know they would have perhaps to lose their life would still follow their passion. At the moment in time lust for sex outweighs the desire to live. Stay away, teach your son sexual self‑control, Father, so he doesn’t destroy his life, destroy his family.
Chapter 5 follows it up. Verse 1, “My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding that you may observe discretion, that your lips may reserve knowledge.” Here’s a very important lesson for the son, “The lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech, her kisses are sweet and she’s going to sweet talk you but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two‑edged sword, her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of Sheol, she doesn’t ponder the path of life, her ways are unstable, she doesn’t know it. And now then, my sons, listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth, keep your way far from her and don’t go near the door of her house and don’t give your vigor to others.” That is, don’t procreate through others. Don’t give your years to the cruel one and let strangers be filled with your strength and your hard earned goods go the house of an alien. Don’t have to support the children of some woman that isn’t even in your home. Don’t give away your seed to someone else. Don’t create children through someone else. Don’t give your strength to another family and have to spend the rest of your life paying some kind of alimony or whatever. In the end your flesh and body are consumed. You’ll say, “How I have hated instruction and my heart spurned reproof and I haven’t listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructor.” Some day you’re going to say I wish I would have done what my dad told me. Teach your son sexual purity.
Chapter 6 takes it further, verse 20 and all the way down to the end, pick it up in verse 24, “Wisdom is given to you to keep you from the evil woman, the smooth tongue of the adulteress, don’t desire her beauty in your heart, don’t let her catch you with her eyelids, for on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread.” She’ll turn you into nothing quick. An adulteress hunts for the precious life. There you are, this precious life, she just wants to hunt you. Can you take fire in your bosom and your clothes not be burned? Can you walk on hot coals and your feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife, whoever touches her will not go unpunished. It’s going to cost you and it’s going to cost you dearly. Verse 32, “Anyone who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense. He who would destroy himself does it.” Why do people do that? “Wounds and disgrace he will find. And his reproach will not be blotted out.” Let me tell you, an adulterer has a reproach not blotted out. You know, that’s a good thing to keep in mind when you remember that it says in 1 Timothy 3 that one who is an elder must be above reproach. And if an elder or a pastor falls in to sexual sin and adultery, this text says that approach will not be blotted out. And once you bear that reproach and that stigma, it appears to be a permanent one, a permanent disqualification. That’s a heavy price to pay.
Chapter 7, the whole chapter is devoted to a fascinating scenario. We can pick it up in verse 6, here’s the victim, this hair‑brained, feather‑headed, naive guy wanders in to temptation. He’s in the part of town he shouldn’t be in. She’s at the window of the house looking out through the lattice. I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths a young man lacking sense…just the kind she likes. Who was passing through the street near her corner and he takes the way to her house. He knows what he’s doing, he’s down in a part of the city he has no business being in, he’s roaming around in his stupidity, not knowing what he’s going to get in to. That’s the victim.
The hunt starts in verse 10. There he is in the twilight in the evening in the middle of the night and she comes, verse 10, she comes to meet him dressed as a harlot, cunning of heart, boisterous, rebellious, her feet do not remain at home, she is now in the streets, now in the squares and lurks by every corner. That’s the hunt. The tactics…look at how she goes after this guy. Verse 13, this is what’s known as the direct approach, she seizes him and kisses him. Whoa! I remember walking through Iponema(?) one time in Brazil and having a harlot grab me and a harlot pull on my coat and literally…I kept walking and she kept yanking on my coat insisting that I go with her. That was the direct approach. And I kept whacking at her hand to get off my coat. Nothing new, they’ve done it that way before, I guess. Verse 14, she gives him this business…I was due to offer peace offerings, today I paid my vows. In other words, help me celebrate, this is a big religious day for me so will you come and help me with my religious celebration? And then comes flattery in verse 15, “O therefore I have come out to meet you to seek your presence earnestly and I…you’re just the guy I was looking for.” Sure. Just the one I sought.
Then the sensual seduction, “I spread my couch with coverings, with colored linen of Egypt, sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon, come let us drink our fill of love until morning, let us delight ourselves with caresses.” This is sensual seduction. And then she gives him the safety pitch, verse 19, “The man is not at home, he’s on a long journey, he’s taken a bag of money with him, at full moon he’ll come home.” In other words, he’s got so much money because he’s got so much business to do and he’s going to be there a while, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
And after all of those attempts she finally tries to kill him with words, verse 21, “With her many persuasions she entices him with her flattering lips she seduces him.” She talks him to death, just talk, talk, talk, keep the seduction going. Then comes the kill. Suddenly he follows her…stupid feather‑brained naive guy…as an ox to slaughter and one in chains to the discipline of a fool until an arrow pierces through his liver as a bird hastens to the snare, so he doesn’t know that it will cost him his life. The end of verse 27 says he goes into the chambers of death.
Teach your son that. Teach your son sexual purity. Teach your son to control his body. Chapter 9 verses 13 to 18 go further through that scenario…a woman of folly who wants to lead you to the grave. Sure stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but it will kill you…it will kill you. Teach your son, keep mentally away. Don’t go to certain places in town. Don’t get caught in certain comprising situations. Keep your hands to yourself. Stay away from women like that. Guard your feet. Guard your eyes. Guard your ears. Teach your son that. Control his body for purity and he’ll be a delight to you and blessed by God.
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ONE FINAL QUESTION: WHAT DO THESE VERSES MEAN?
PROVERBS 5:1-6
1-2 Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom;
listen very closely to the way I see it.
Then you’ll acquire a taste for good sense;
what I tell you will keep you out of trouble.
3-6 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet,
her soft words are oh so smooth.
But it won’t be long before she’s gravel in your mouth,
a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart.
She’s dancing down the primrose path to Death;
she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her.
She hasn’t a clue about Real Life,
about who she is or where she’s going.
Alabama players celebrates after their 32-28 win in the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game against Georgia, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hyosub Shin) MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TV OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT / AP
Bob Stoops believes the dominance of SEC football is overstated.
He considers the SEC a top-heavy conference whose bottom half is nothing special.
He thinks the perception of total SEC superiority is due to “a lot of propaganda.”
Know what? The Oklahoma coach is right.
There, I said it. And I’m a charter member of the SEC propaganda machine of which Stoops spoke. Wonder when SEC Commissioner Mike Slive will revoke my hospitality room privileges?
Look, everyone fixates on the SEC’s extraordinary accomplishment of seven consecutive national championships and eight in the past 10 years. Often, that is used as a basis for the argument about utter superiority.
Yes, the best SEC teams are better than anyone else in the nation. The BCS bowl records don’t lie. Likewise, the best handful of teams in the SEC tend to be better than the top four or five in any other league on an annual basis.
But as you work your way down the standings, there is some pretty mediocre and even downright bad football being played in the SEC. In other words, that tier is just like the bottom tier in other BCS conferences.
And what about those eight national championships in the past 10 years? Those titles were won by four programs — Alabama (3), LSU (2), Florida (2) and Auburn (1). While that is impressive, it’s not like the crystal trophy is being handed around to everyone in the league.
They say a rising tide lifts all boats. Where perception is concerned, it’s the same with a rising Crimson Tide. When Alabama wins three out of four national titles, it elevates how SEC football as a whole is viewed. Every team in the conference gets a boost.
But reality is different from perception. Take last season, for example. Alabama repeated as national champion. Seven SEC teams were ranked in the AP’s final Top 25 poll, including five in the Top 10. After that, though, things got dicey.
Five SEC teams finished 2012 with losing records. The coaches at four of those schools were fired. Stoops’ brother, Mark, was a beneficiary of the turnover, landing at Kentucky. There, he will attempt to recapture the good old days of — get this — Rich Brooks.
And it cuts deeper. The cliché that any SEC team can beat any other SEC team on a given Saturday is largely a myth. It simply doesn’t happen.
In 2012, the top six teams in the SEC — Alabama, Texas A&M and LSU in the West, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina in the East — went a combined 30-0 against the bottom eight. A year earlier, the top six’s record against everybody else was 28-2.
If that doesn’t tell you there is a definite division of power in the conference, nothing will.
Cue Stoops, who told the Tulsa World: “So they’ve had the best team in college football. They haven’t had the whole conference. Because, again, half of ’em haven’t done much at all. I’m just asking you. You tell me.”
He’s right. Like everybody else, the SEC is a league of Haves and Have Nots.
Consider: Tennessee’s 7-6 record in 2009 is the Vols’ only winning season in the past five years. Auburn won the national title in 2010 but is a combined 9-23 in conference games in the two years before and the two years after that championship season, which makes a case for Cam Newton as the greatest player in SEC history.
And with all due respect to the great job James Franklin is doing at Vanderbilt, let’s not pretend the Commodores have become a major player on the national scene just yet. The 9-4 record last season was nice, but the best team Vanderbilt beat was North Carolina State — a team Tennessee defeated in the season opener. The Commodores’ three conference losses were by a combined 96-33.
But what about the 2013 NFL Draft, you say. The SEC had 63 players selected, more than double any other conference. Doesn’t that prove the SEC’s total superiority?
No. It proves the total superiority of the SEC’s superior teams.
If you examine the numbers, you again see the top-heavy nature of the league. Five SEC programs accounted for 41 of those draftees. The other nine schools combined to produce 22 draft choices.
In sum, the SEC is a great football conference, but that doesn’t mean everybody in the conference is great.
David Climer’s columns appear on Friday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Contact him at 615-259-8020 or dclimer@tennessean.com.
ESPN’s final recruiting rankings are not as good as others as I have seen. I do have a hard time with Missouri (38) having such a good ranking when other services had the tigers tanking their class this year compared to other SEC schools. However, Kentucky (36) is almost as bad when there is vast […]
Nick Saban Streeter Lecka We finally found a Top 25 in which the SEC is more dominant than the USA Today Coaches’ Poll: the post-Signing Day recruiting class rankings. ________ I have to say the SEC is really doing well these days. Everyone expects Alabama is going to be on top on most years […]
I am not so mad anymore about Arkansas being ranked number 64 in recruiting this year while Auburn is #20 and Tennessee is #30 and even Kentucky is doing better than us. That is because they racked up lots of players when they had coaches during the year while we had John L. Smith. What […]
It is no surprise that John L. Smith and Derek Dooley may be heading out the door at the end of this season. That was expected by most people that watch SEC football. However, could Gene Chizik of Auburn being out the door too? If that happens then I must admit that I did not […]
I am very happy with the new football schedules that the SEC released for next year. It is a stand alone schedule that will not affect the final decision that make concerning the rotation in the 2014 schedule and beyond. 2013 Georgia Bulldogs Football Schedule Date Opponent Time/TV Tickets Saturday 04/06/13 G-Day Spring Game […]
Arkansas defensive tackle Jared Green (57) and linebackers Alonzo Highsmith (45), and Tenarius Wright (43) attempt to tackle Alabama running back Eddie Lacy (42) as offensive lineman Barrett Jones (75) looks on during second quarter action of an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/David Quinn) ___________ When you […]
Photo by Adam Brimer, Knoxville News Sentinel The Volunteer waves the Power T flag during the Vol Walk down Peyton Manning Pass outside Neyland Stadium before the Vols’ matchup against _____________- My son Wilson and I got pretty wet during the Arkansas- Alabama game. We got to visit with Rex Jones at halftime. His two […]
I don’t have anything good to say about the Hogs’ performance last Saturday but some other SEC teams did pretty well. I am looking forward to the Tennessee Florida game since both teams looked very good last week. QB TYLER BRAY (Tennessee) — Completed 18-of-20 passes for 310 yards and four touchdowns in Tennessee’s 51-13 win against […]
It may have been “twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play,” as the Beatles sang about in their 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” but I in fact wish to go back one more decade. Old folks like me will well know what I am talking about here.
Exactly thirty years ago today, ex-Beatle John Lennon was shot to death outside of his New York apartment. It is always a great tragedy when anyone’s life is cut short prematurely. Undoubtedly his worldwide legion of fans will be especially saddened today.
He of course is not the only rock celebrity to die young. On occasion I give a talk on popular music. I point out just how many of these lives have been cut short. Indeed, it is incredible just how many rock stars and pop stars have died young. Here are just a few of the more well known cases:
Brian Jones (Rolling Stones), died July 1969, age 27, drug related
Jimi Hendrix, died September 1970, age 27, drug overdose
Jim Morrison (Doors), died July 1971, age 27, drug overdose
Janis Joplin, died October 1970, age 27, drug overdose
Duane Allman (Allman Brothers Band), died October 1971, age 25, motorcycle accident
Elvis Presley, died August 1977, age 42, drug related
Bon Scott (AC/DC), died February 1980, age 33, alcohol related
Stevie Ray Vaughan, died August 1990, age 35, helicopter crash, but drug and alcohol problems
Freddy Mercury (Queen), died November 1991, age 45, AIDS related
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), died April 1994, age 27, suicide
Michael Hutchence (INXS), died November 1997, aged 37, drug and alcohol related suicide
Michael Jackson, died June 2009, age 50, drug related
There are in fact many hundreds of other such examples. One can ask just what it is about the rock scene that results in so many premature deaths. But let me get back to John Lennon. He was clearly a colourful figure, as well as part of one of the great pop song-writing teams of all time (Lennon and McCartney).
He certainly caused major waves back in 1966 when he said in an interview, “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink … We’re more popular than Jesus now – I don’t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity.” Well, he did not quite get that right. Christianity is still here, while he and the Beatles are not.
It seems that he never did come to know the one true God who created him, and the Redeemer who died to save him. Indeed, he is also noted for his rather silly atheist anthem, “Imagine”.
Ecclesiastes 8-10 | Still Searching After All These Years
Published on Oct 9, 2012
Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 7, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider
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Ecclesiastes 11-12 | Solomon Finds His Way
Published on Oct 30, 2012
Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 28, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider
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I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of his own secular view. I salute him for doing that. That is why I have returned to his work over and over and presented my own Christian worldview as an alternative. Take a moment and read again a good article on Woody Allen below. There are some links below to some other posts about him.
I have a strange sort of appreciation for Woody Allen, though I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a single one of his many films. My entire sympathy for Allen rests in the interviews and comments that I read about him from time to time. Some day, I may have a Woody Allen film fest to get to know him a little better.Today I read another interview/excerpt about Woody Allen, and it did a good job of expressing his hopeless world view. Here is a quote for you to get the feel of his philosophy, “The fact that there is no god and that we’re alone in the universe makes it more important than ever to act decently, but people don’t, very frequently.” Allen believes that there is no God at all, and yet he persistently and stubbornly insists that people ought to “act decently.” The natural response to that is, “Why, Woody, should we act decently then?” It seems that it is precisely this sort of question that has driven his most recent films.His latest film, “Cassandra’s Dream,” demonstrates Allen’s struggle with this very question. He says, “I’ve always felt that the worst kind of crimes and sometimes not the worst crimes often go unpunished. Everyday, from genocide in the political spectrum to street crime, people do terrible things and get away with it.” If there is no God, then Allen is precisely right, which again begs the question of why people ought to “act decently.” Allen has no good answer for that.
Eventually, this sort of reasoning must lead one to ponder why to live at all, which is another thing that Allen ponders. What, exactly, is the point of life. Here’s Allen again, “I feel the trick is to try and find, not meaning, because there is no meaning, but to try and find some enjoyment in that context and know that it’s meaningless, short, nasty, brutal, and still, you know, find a modicum of enjoyment, get what you can get out of it, which is not a lot.” Can you see the connection between believing that there is no God to the inevitable conclusion that there is no meaning to life? Once God is erased from the equation, one is left with a meaningless existence in which the best one can hope for is to scratch a “modicum of enjoyment” out of life.
This leads to the final Allen quote in the article. His philosophy of life eventually cause people to ask him the ultimate question. Here he answers in his own words, “People say, `Well, why go on at all?’ Camus’ question, why choose life? And the only answer I can ever give to that is we seem to be hard-wired to. The brain asks the questions, but the blood says live. So if a guy comes in here with a gun, you do everything you can to get it away from him. You do whatever you can to live. You bargain, you lie, you jump on top of him.
“You’re hard-wired for self-preservation, but when you think about it cerebrally, why, to what end, what am I savoring here? And you can’t really think of a good answer, so you give up and say, `I can’t think of an answer, but my body fights to live, so I’m not going to resist that. I’m going to go along and trust the impulse toward life.”
I find Woody Allen interesting because his reasoning is sound. He is right to say that if there is no God, then art and life and love and everything here is meaningless. I like reading about him because he is clearly uncomfortable, or so it seems, with this dismal outlook. His philosophy forces him to admit that horrible crimes will ultimately go unpunished, and that truly, there is no reason to go on living because life is both meaningless and without purpose. In his films, he struggles with this Godless reality. I grieve for him and for others like him who can have no hope for any meaning beyond fleeting, worldly pleasures.
Perhaps you wonder why I find this interesting at all and not simply morbid. I find it interesting because Woody Allen displays the inherent hopelessness of a godless universe and the bleak truth that without God, there truly is no purpose in the anything. That explanation will never satisfy one made in the image of God. Fallen as we are, we still long for something more than that. I hope that Woody Allen can find mercy in Jesus Christ, in whom we find purpose and justice and meaning for life.
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Here is a complete list of all the posts I did on the film “Midnight in Paris”
I read this on http://www.crosswalk.com which is one of my favorite websites. Life Lessons from Woody Allen Stephen McGarvey I confess I am a huge film buff. But I’ve never really been a Woody Allen fan, even though most film critics consider him to be one of the most gifted and influential filmmakers of our […]
“Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 6) This is “Music Monday” and I always look at a band with some of their best music. I am currently looking at Coldplay’s best songs. Here are a few followed by another person’s preference: My son Hunter Hatcher’s 15th favorite song is “trouble.” Even though […]
Woody Allen, the film writer, director, and actor, has consistently populated his scripts with characters who exchange dialogue concerning meaning and purpose. In Hannah and Her Sisters a character named Mickey says, “Do you realize what a thread were all hanging by? Can you understand how meaningless everything is? Everything. I gotta get some answers.”{7} […]
“Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 5) This is “Music Monday” and I always look at a band with some of their best music. I am currently looking at Coldplay’s best songs. Here are a few followed by another person’s preference: Hunter picked “Don’t Panic,” as his number 16 pick of Coldplay’s best […]
(If you want to check out other posts I have done about about Steve Jobs:Some say Steve Jobs was an atheist , Steve Jobs and Adoption , What is the eternal impact of Steve Jobs’ life? ,Steve Jobs versus President Obama: Who created more jobs? ,Steve Jobs’ view of death and what the Bible has to say about it ,8 things you might not know about Steve Jobs ,Steve […]
I am a big Woody Allen fan. Not all his films can be recommended but he does look at some great issues and he causes the viewer to ask the right questions. My favorite is “Crimes and Misdemeanors” but the recent film “Midnight in Paris” was excellent too. Looking at the (sometimes skewed) morality of […]
(The signs are up on the buses in Little Rock now and the leader of the movement to put them up said on the radio today that he does not anticipate any physical actions against the signs by Christians. He noted that the Christians that he knows would never stoop to that level.) Debate: Christianity […]
Dave Hogan/ Getty Images This is “Music Monday” and I always look at a band with some of their best music. I am currently looking at Coldplay’s best songs. Here are a few followed by another person’s preference: For the 17th best Coldplay song of all-time, Hunter picks “42.” He notes, “You thought you might […]
Foreigner was an ’80s rock icon with Lou Gramm. Today, he is still performing after battling a brain tumor that almost killed him… The Christian Broadcasting Network CBN http://www.cbn.com
CBN.com – Scott Ross [reporting]: On the strength of hits like “Juke Box Hero,” “Hot Blooded,” and “I Want to Know What Love Is,” Foreigner sold over 50 million albums worldwide with Lou Gramm behind the mic. Today, 30 years later, Lou is still performing after battling a brain tumor that almost killed him.
Lou Gramm: I’m left taking about 15, 16 prescribed medications twice a day.
Ross [reporting]: Even still, Lou enjoys remembering the late 1970s when Foreigner was rock’n’roll royalty.
Gramm: It’s pretty staggering, and it happened extremely fast. It seems like we would come right off a tour, into the studio, and the last two weeks of the tour, we’d be putting ideas together for the next album.
Ross [reporting]: One song seemed to stand out and blew the world open at the time: “I Want to Know What Love Is”.
Gramm: When the New Jersey Mass Choir sang, “I want to know what love is,” and we were in the control room, I can remember the short hair on the back of my neck standing up.
Ross [reporting]: But after 15 years of drugs, sex and rock’n’roll, Lou had a revelation.
Gramm: I think it was a night after we’d played Madison Square Garden. I really believed that the lifestyle had the better of me and that I couldn’t walk away from it now. I needed it more than it needed me. I prayed for the strength and the sense to break the chain.
Ross [reporting]: The next morning, Lou checked himself into rehab and was soon praying the sinner’s prayer with a staff pastor.
Ross: This pastor prays with you, you pray, Jesus Christ comes into my life?
Gramm: Yes
Ross: It was one of those kind of prayers?
Gramm: Absolutely.
Ross: It was a conversion prayer?
Gramm: It certainly was.
Ross: Did you tell your band mates?
Gramm: Not right away. I waited until the next tour, and we were on the bus . The cocaine lines and the joints came out, and I let them know that I wouldn’t be doing that with them and that I wouldn’t be doing that anymore.
Ross: And their response was?
Gramm: “What in the world’s wrong with you?”
Ross [reporting]: Lou remained with Foreigner for years, finally parting ways in 2003. Around that time, while recovering from brain surgery, he remembers feeling called to sing a new song.
Gramm: After my operation, which there was a very good chance I might have died on that operating table, I had thought long and hard about making a Christian rock album.
Ross: The Lou Gramm Band.
Gramm: Yes it is.
Ross: With the Graham brothers.
Gramm: You better believe it.
Ross: Singing…this album is Jesus?
Gramm: Yes it is, and it rocks hard!
Ross: So, Lou Gramm is back?
Gramm: Yes. I think about the years wasted before I knew the Lord. Everybody has to go through something different. I don’t mourn those years, because I am where I am now and that’s the best news ever.
At the 3-27-13 Razorback Club Fish Fry Bret Bielema said that the SEC speed really is what the difference is between the Big 10 and the SEC. You will notice that is mentioned below too from Flint Harris in this earlier article:
Bret Bielema and then fiancee, now wife, Jennifer Hielsberg, celebrate Wisconsin’s win in the Big Ten Championship in December 2011. Photo from M.P. King
Arkansas is set to introduce former Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema (Bee-La-Muh) Wednesday as new head coach at 4pm (watch it here). I came up with reasons why I like the move and why I do not like the move. Let’s start with the positives:
1. Rose Bowls
I know it is the Big 10 and us SEC folk think little of them (deep down we know they are slightly better than we give them credit for), but three Rose Bowls in a row is rather impressive. Now, TCU and Oregon both won, and Stanford is a 6.5 point favorite in the upcoming game, but y’all remember how much fun going to the Sugar Bowl was? Me too. I’d love for those to start being part of my New Year’s tradition and eventually the wins would come.
2. 68-24
Bielema was 68-24 in seven years at Wisconsin, which is 9.7 wins a year in a good conference with about 3.5 losses per year. He won at least 10 games in four of his seven seasons. One must go back 23 years to accumulate four 10-win seasons for Arkansas.
3. 7 Straight Bowl Games
Bielema is consistent. In his first season his team beat Arkansas in the Capital One Bowl despite getting outrushed 202 to -5. The Badgers continued to a bowl game every year under Bielema with appearances in three Rose Bowls, one Outback Bowl, one Capital One Bowl, and two Champs Sports bowls. The Hogs has missed bowl games twice in the last five seasons.
4. Running the ball and stopping the run The Hogs were dead last in the SEC in rushing in 2012 with 118 yards per game. The top 5 rushing teams in the SEC are Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and LSU. Lookie there…all of those teams are ranked in the Top 10 in the final polls. Wisconsin finished third in the Big 10 in rushing with 237 yards and 12th nationally. Wisconsin averaged 594 rushes per season the last three seasons. The Hogs averaged 400 rushes per year. I know the Arkansas offense has been fun to watch the past few years, but winning is the most fun. Run the ball and stop the run!
Russell Wilson’s transfer bailed out Wisconsin in 2011 when the Badgers did not have a quality QB. Photo from US Presswire
Some causes for concern…
1. 3-star U
Bielema’s last three full recruiting classes were ranked 88th (holy smokes!), 40th, and 56th. And we thought Petrino wasn’t up to par in recruiting. This is coming off great success on the field for the Badgers. I have longed called Arkansas 3-star U because for the most part we get a bunch of 3-star recruits and either coach them up (Petrino) or don’t (John L, Houston).
2. Urban Meyer
Meyer won 2 nationally titles in the SEC. He then went to an Ohio State on probation and promptly went 12-0. It worries me when a Big 10 guy comes to the SEC the results will be the opposite. Sunshine pump of the day is Nick Saban came from Michigan State to LSU. That worked out.
3. Urban Meyer-Part 2
Bielema got agitated Meyer continued to pursue high school players verbally committed to other Big 10 schools. Listen BB, that is common practice in the SEC. So, buck up.
4. SEC Speed
The most obvious concern is a coach from the Big 10 who also played in the Big 10 finding top end SEC speed and playing at SEC speed. We always make fun of the slow Big 10. Bielema is probably going to find some good speed on this roster, but Arkansas needs more speed throughout the roster and will have to play faster.
I believe the absolute value of the positives is greater than those of the negatives. However, the fact that I have as many negatives as positives is the reason I like this hire and do not love it.
The Heritage Foundation has issued the following statement in response to Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) comments about our new study on the cost of amnesty.
Senator Rubio’s family story is a testament to the American Dream. His parents’ ability to scrimp and save and sacrifice for their children is something in which we all take pride. The story of the Rubios, in fact, makes the point we make with our study. They represent the immigration model that worked for America for centuries and one we need to get back to.
Senator Rubio’s parents came here in 1956, almost a decade before the introduction of the Great Society programs that laid the foundation of the modern welfare state. Over the following four and a half decades, our government has added layer upon layer of government involvement in our lives, creating a dependency that undermines self-respect and self-reliance.
That dependency has been devastating to our society; it has shattered communities, families, and individuals. It is now threatening the American Dream. This is true for all—native and immigrant alike, lawful or unlawful. We do not blame immigrants for being entrapped by that system; we blame the people who created that system. We especially blame people who now seek to expand it.
This is why Heritage has been leading the fight on the need to recreate upward mobility for low-income and middle-income Americans. The current welfare and entitlement systems lower opportunity and make it all but impossible for people to climb the ladder of success.
Heritage has worked with Senator Rubio on numerous issues, and we admire him. He is right: Our study is “an argument for welfare reform and entitlement reform.” He cannot pretend, however, that this already herculean task will be made easier after we have added millions of new people to a failing entitlement system. The time to fix it is now. We are ready to work with him and any man and woman of either party who realizes the urgency of our plight.
As Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, once said:
It is one thing to have free immigration to jobs. It is another thing to have free immigration to welfare. You cannot have both. If you have a welfare state, if you have a state in which a resident is promised certain minimum level of income or a minimum subsistence regardless of whether he works or not produces it or not. Well then it really is an impossibility.
I like Milton Friedman’s comments on this issue of immigration and Ron Paul and Dan Mitchell do well on the issue too. Question of the Week: What’s Your Take on the Immigration Debate? April 7, 2013 by Dan Mitchell A reader from overseas wonders about my views on immigration, particularly amnesty. I confess that this is one of […]
Two very wise men below: Milton Friedman – Illegal Immigration – PT 1 (1 of 2) Professor Friedman looks at the dynamics of illegal immigration. See part two:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfU9Fqah-f4http://Libertypen.com_______________________________________ Back in 1980 I read the book “Free to Choose” by Milton and Rose Friedman. I noticed that Milton made it clear both in […]
Part 5 Milton Friedman: I do not believe it’s proper to put the situation in terms of industrialist versus government. On the contrary, one of the reasons why I am in favor of less government is because when you have more government industrialists take it over, and the two together form a coalition against the ordinary […]
Where the USA’s economic success come from? An Amazing Story of Economic Success May 5, 2013 by Dan Mitchell I’ve written before about the remarkable vitality of Hong Kong and Singapore, two jurisdictions that deserve praise for small government and free markets. Pretending to be a jet-setter in Monaco I have also praised Switzerland because of policies such as genuine federalism […]
Why are despicable people sometimes subsidized by taxpayers? Are You Happy that Your Tax Dollars Subsidized the Tsarnaev Family? April 28, 2013 by Dan Mitchell The bad news is that there are despicable and evil people seeking to kill innocents. The worse news is that some of these pathetic excuses for protoplasm are subsidized by […]
Obama is up to his old tricks again and here comes the White House’s political motivated chicanery with the FAA Privatization Is the Best Response to the FAA’s Deliberate Attempt to Inconvenience Air Passengers April 24, 2013 by Dan Mitchell In an interview with Neil Cavuto earlier this month, I mocked proponents of big government for […]
Sad case indeed. Immigration, Terrorism, and Welfare Tourism April 24, 2013 by Dan Mitchell So we’ve now learned that the Boston Marathon terrorists were welfare bums. Why am I not surprised? “Thanks for the handouts, suckers!” Heck, it was only a couple of days ago that I announced the Moocher Hall of Fame and included terrorists from theUnited Kingdom and Australia (and […]
President Obama is from Illinois and he is running our nation like the politicians of Illinois run their state with lots of wasteful spending and too many high taxes. It’s Tax Freedom Day, So Congratulations (if You Don’t Live in New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, etc) April 18, 2013 by Dan Mitchell It’s time to celebrate. […]
The IRS agents are as well thought of as Zacchaeus who was the tax collector that only Jesus was nice to. Here is a fine article by Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute. Some Good Cartoons if You’re Suffering from Post-Tax Return Traumatic Stress Disorder April 16, 2013 by Dan Mitchell For the past 30 or so […]
Sad that the government wastes so much of our money and it wants more from us under President Obama. An Aggravating Reminder of Government Waste on Tax Day April 15, 2013 by Dan Mitchell Remember the Spending Quiz from 2010, which asked people to guess whether absurd examples of government waste were true or false? Well, […]
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