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From The Papers of George Washington

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor--and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be--That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

Amen.

Posted by at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have long said that it was only a matter of time before the "Wall of Separation" crowd attempted to repeal the Declaration of Independence because of it's religous content.

According to this Reuters News Article it is starting to happen.

It is only a matter of time before we become British subjects again. ;-)

Posted by at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

It is alarming the kind of people that are idolized today.

Yahoo! News - Trump Casino Empire Files for Bankruptcy

Trump denied the bankruptcy was a setback.

"I don't think it's a failure, it's a success," he said in the interview. "In this case, it was just something that worked better than other alternatives. It's really just a technical thing, but it came together."

"We have one of the most powerful gaming companies the day it comes out (of bankruptcy). There's no way we could have done that without the 'B' word," he said.

In other words, his company made commitments that could not be kept, and are going to be stronger by breaking our promises to our creditors, and that is a good thing.

Gambling is an immoral activity. The people who engage in it for a living are immoral people. We shouldn't be looking up to them as businessmen. They are con-artists on a grand scale. Now we are raising an entire generation of Business students with this guy as a role model.

Posted by at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

It looks like this Vioxx mess is going to offer us a taste of truth.

Yahoo! News - Expert Warns Against 5 FDA-Approved Drugs

I would argue that "Safe Drugs" are probably as safe as "Safe Sex". That is better than nothing, but not really all that safe at all.. Abstainence is the only real way to be safe. You may get a few moments of pleasure (or pain relief), but one time can sometimes cause a lifetime of disease, addiction or psychological trauma.

Human beings are a pretty amazing piece of machinery. We may think we know how one works, but really we have only theories. There are millions of parts interacting together to make a Human being. It is difficult to know what any substance is going to do to the perfomance of the millions of parts.

Pain generally serves a purpose. I think it is dangerous to eliminate pain by taking a pill. Half of the people on the steet are constantly medicated. If something is really going wrong, will they even notice? Or will they just pop another pill?

Posted by at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

iowahawk: Sears/Kmart Acquires France

Twice in a week this iowahawk guy has had me rolling on the floor.... I wonder if he is getting big contract offers yet... Letterman will need a replacement someday...

Posted by at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

So last night I embarked on a grand windows adventure...

1 I use Partition Magic to resize my partitions on my hard drive so that Windows would have breathing room.

2 I converted my system from fat32 to NTFS

3 Ran defrag, which needed to be run for the last several months, but didn't have room to operate.

4 Installed XP Service pack 2.

Looks like everything is back online now.. I can breath again.

Posted by at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I suspect that our economy is growing like mad. Every person I chat with is extraordinarily busy at work right now.

It will take the economists a while to notice...

Posted by at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Yahoo! News - Birth Rate for Young Teens Lowest Since 1946

CDC researchers said the drop in births among girls aged 10
to 14 might be a sign that programs emphasizing abstinence and
other forms of birth control were having an impact on this
high-risk group.

Posted by at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

the evangelical outpost: Zogby's Crystal Ball:
Values Voters and Moral Relativism
From a James Zogby study in January:

But the differences between the two groups are not only found in their voting patterns but in their views as well. "Red State" voters, for example, tend to believe that moral values are "absolute" while "Blue State" voters were more inclined to accept "a live and let-live" moral philosophy.

I think now is the time for Moral Relativism to stand trial. I believe it is a fad that will soon die. Hopefully we don't have to witness the results of a society that fully buys into this "nothing is absolutely wrong" mentality.

Posted by at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I got firefox 1.0 installed on both my Windows machine and my Linux machine. It is quite nice.

I got firefox installed properly this time on Linux so that users have permissions to install the plugins.

My favorite plugin is the Mouse Gestures 1.0. I have been using mouse gestures for a year or so, and it is painful to browse the web without them now.

I also install the livelines plugin that interfaces with Bloglines and the JustBlogIt plugin that interfaces with Movable Type.

Everyone should start running Firefox now. There is no reason to run IE. Firefox does all of the good things that IE does, and very few of the bad things (Spyware, Popups etc)

As always, I have a link to firefox in the menu on the right

My employer didn't want firefox installed on my production machine. There is a workaround for this:

Portable Firefox 1.0 (USB Drive-Friendly) :: Mozilla Stuff :: JohnHaller.com

Posted by at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

iowahawk: Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values

Posted by at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Radical Congruency � What Will Replace Evangelicalism?

Much of what is broken is evangelicalism's reputation with non-Christians, especially those on the other side of the political aisle from the Christian Right. Just as the US has alienated other nations by invading Iraq as part of the "war on terror", the Christian Right has alienated much of the American public in the quest to see God's will done "on earth as it is in heaven."

I disagree. I believe that the Church is healthy, and this media barrage that it is facing is silly excuse making by the democrats and the liberal media.

According to The Barna Group\, Evangelical Christians make up 7% of the population and 11% of the electorate. They voted for Bush by an 85-15 margin.

Evangelicals have tended to vote Republican anyway, so while this is a good margin, it is not surprizing. frontline: the jesus factor: evangelicals: the evangelical vote | PBS

The Democratic candidates in recent years have gotten about between 30 percent and 40 percent of the evangelical vote.

Really we should be looking elsewhere to see why Bush won. He made substantial gains in the Catholics, Substantial gains among hispanics, and modest gains among African Americans.

In the 11 states where there where gay marriage amendments on the ballot they recieved support from an overall average of 2/3rds of the voters. 2/3rds of Americans do not belong to the "Christian Right". Even assumeing that a majority of evangelicals voted for these amendments there still where a ton of non-evangelicals voting for them.

The secular left is calling these voters "Ignorant". I believe that this stratagy will work quite poorly, and will alienate them from the secular worldview and move them to seek fellowship with people who share their values. Hopefully the church will have an excelent opportunity to share Christ's love with them.

Contrary to the left's conspiracy theories, by and large the church teaches it's congregations what the Bible says. They do not tell the members who or what to vote for.

If Churches did take political stands, I feel that often they would be much different than the voting patterns of their members. The IRS bans political speech from the pulpit, so it is hard to tell.

The Church will always have (And always has had) people who hate it. This is nothing new. They may have a new reason, but if it wasn't this reason, there would be another.

Posted by at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

So, Now that the election is over I have been a bit slow to Blog.

I see Christians being painted with a pretty broad brush these days. The democrats and the media are trying to say that "Values voters" voted for Bush over the gay marriage issue. This may be partially true, but there where a lot more issues driving voters to the polls than just that one issue. Many values voters don't like the idea that it is legal to pull a baby partway out of it's mother and then grind it's brains out. Many don't believe that the government should establish Atheism as a national religion by abolishing any government reference to a creator.

All of these assaults are coming from one branch of the government: the judicial branch. Our government is a system of checks and balances. When one branch begins going against the will of the voters, the voters respond by making sure there is balance in the other branches. It appears to be working properly to me.

Posted by at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Andee and I had a great time today at this marriage conference that was being held in Couer d'Alane this weekend:

FamilyLife Conferences: Weekend to Remember (R)

It was a great time, and we learned a ton.

One of the points I thought was most key, was the idea that marriage is not a 50/50 endevor. It should be 100/100. Also if you only give in porportion to what you are getting from your spouse, pretty soon, neither of you will give anything, and you will be very unhappy.

Anyway, I would highly recommend this conference to anybody who has a spouse, or is engaged. Learn God's model for marriage.

Posted by at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If the democrats ever want to be competive and relevant again, they will need to listen to people like this guy:

The Backseat Philosopher: To My Fellow Democrats

Dismissing everyone from the Red States as ignorant seems to be the democratic sentiment right now. We are not ignorant. We have reasons for our beliefs. Liberals will never make any progress if they are too arrogant to have a real discussion.

Via Wild Bill

Posted by at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think there is a ton of disinformation going around about the Evangelicals effect on the election.

Here is an example from Sidney Blumenthal that a "less conservative" friend sent to me today:

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | A moral dilemma

The evangelical churches became instruments of political organization. Ideology was enforced as theology, turning nonconformity into sin, and the faithful, following voter guides with biblical literalism, were shepherded to the polls as though to the rapture. White Protestants, especially in the south, especially married men, gave their souls and votes for flag and cross. The campaign was one long revival.

I have been to a lot of evangelical meetings in the last few months... At least 2 per week, and I didn't see any effort by any church to make us vote for a particular candidate. I was encouraged to vote. That is it.

What compelled Evangelicals to vote wasn't a big conspiracy by Carl Rove or threats of eternity in hell from their pastors. It was liberal activism. "Under God" being removed from the pledge of allegiance. The imminent demise of the partial birth abortion ban. Activists deciding to write their own laws and begin performing gay marriages in several places across the country. The war against Ten Commandment monuments in courthouses. All of these activities have been going on in the last 12 months, and there are a lot of evangelicals who are offended by these actions. The only thing that they can do about these issues is to vote. And vote they did.

Most denominations opposed the Iraq war. Some very strongly. But Conservative Christians Where Biggest Backers of Iraq War The churches really don't have nearly as much power over politics as they are given credit for.

I would guess that if the IRS didn't prohibit churches from taking political stands, most pastors would be more moderate than the stereotypical conservative Christian. The values would likely be the same, but the intensity would be different.

We should be looking to God for solutions, not to the President, Congress, the Courts or anybody else in this world. People like myself who become consumed by politics get separated a bit from our prayer life. We argue pridefully, and not prayerfully. We become more human, and less Christian. When a non believer hears an unprayerful argument from a Christian, often it comes across as arrogant, and intolerant. A prayerful argument tends to bring out an internal examination. A non-believer will still be attracted or repelled by a "Spirit driven" the argument, but It will be much more effective, and much more reflective of Christ's love.

Good pastors know that too much faith in political solutions becomes competition for faith in the Living God. We should vote our consciences and do what we can in this world, but remember our prayer is much more powerful than our ballot.

I think that the real underlying issue that caused religious folks to vote heavily for Bush, and non-religious folks to vote for Kerry was moral relativism. Bush is quite "Black and White" while Kerry is mostly "shades of Grey". Religious people inherently accept the fact that there is a truth. Non religious people don't; everything is relative. Bush appears insane to the moral relativists, but those who believe there is an absolute truth don't get understand what the big fuss is about, and think that the anti-Bush activists are the crazy ones..

I would argue that activism nearly always helps the incumbent. Nixon, Reagan and Clinton and now Bush 43 where all quite controversial and had people marching in the streets, declaring them Satan and the like.. Moderates are turned off by this behavior. If they don't want to join your parade, usually they run the other way. These presidents all won their elections pretty convincingly. Jimmy Carter and Bush 41, where quite a bit less controversial, and they where defeated with a yawn.

What went wrong with the Kerry Campaign? Move-on.org, George Sorros, Michael Moore. Too much activism. Kerry's proper response would be to run away.. Instead he joined the parade at least here and there. This was the same parade that moderates where running away from.

Posted by at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It looks like there is little doubt that the republicans did very well this cycle. Republicans Up in the Senate, Up in the house, and defeated the senate minority leader.

Bush garnered more votes than any other presidential canidate in history.

It was quite entertaining to wantch Brokaw, Rather and Jennings all try to tear into Ed Gillespie for expaining that there is no way that Kerry would win Ohio.. It was evident that the mainstream media was in denial. "Can't we wait for a day?" they asked.. We can wait, but the laws of arithmetic will not change overnight.. Math is not spin.

Posted by at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Watching the talking heads jabber on about electoral vote paths and the like has been entertaining and boring all at the same time..

Everyone talking about the how the states need to fall in order for Kerry to win have written off Florida to Bush... But the networks refuse to call it.. If they know Kerry can't win, why don't they call it? Chicken? I would say so..

Posted by at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Kerry's Discharge Is Questioned by an Ex-JAG Officer - November 1, 2004 - The New York Sun

Kerry spokesman David Wade did not reply when asked if Mr. Kerry was other than honorably discharged before he was honorably discharged.

It makes quite a bit of sense that Kerry would be dishonoroably discharged. That fact that his campaign won't say "It aint so" adds to the credence of this theory.

Kerry did venture into criticizing Bush's Texas Air National Guard record, so if it turns out that he was too busy chatting with the Vietcong and slanderingour soldiers to complete his own duty he would come accross as a first class hypocrite.

Another important quote from that story:

A member of the Harvard Law School admissions committee recalled that the real reason Mr. Kerry was not admitted was because the committee was concerned that because Mr. Kerry had received a less than honorable discharge they were not sure he could be admitted to any state bar.

President Carter pardoned the draft dodgers and upgraded the discharges on a lot of soldiers about the time that Kerry recieved the discharge papers on that he now displays on his website.

Posted by at 6:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)