marvin's Observations of Earthlings

I'm cold and calous

2012-01-23T00:27:00.000-08:00

Search: Burke's family gets $550K medical bill

The family of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, 29, (get details on her death) is working to raise more than half a million dollars to cover her medical bills. Burke's (watch videos of her) accident apparently happened at an unsanctioned event that wasn't covered by her insurance (where was she at the time?). A fundraising website (find it) has been set up to help pay the huge costs.

World famous skier makes much more money than I ever did, I'm very sure of that, but chose to do something stupid. I'm sorry she died, I really am, but now poor people are being asked to contribute hard earned and much needed money to help pay money to wealthy doctors and hospitals to pay the bill of a well off person that died after doing something stupid (what makes her death an act of stupidity was she engaged in a dangerous activity that wasn't covered by her insurance).

The doctors and hospitals have a right to be paid but the greedy relatives should sell the assests of the deceased to settle the bills instead of asking people to pony up for the bills, then pocket the money once the estate is settled.

If one wants to help another, there is a 101 year old lady just recently evicted and there are families suffering huge debt due to a loved on being injured by a drunk driver or someone trying to rob them

or in countless other ways that weren't their fault.

Presidential election

2012-01-21T18:24:00.001-08:00

I think I'll vote for Bill clinton

Big Bang not a theory anymore

2012-01-21T04:47:00.001-08:00

I now understand the big Bang that created our universe. It occurred when God said "Let there be..."

Yard work progressing

2012-01-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

I started back in October clearing the half acre of overgrowth at the church. I had a set of lobbers a hoe, a shovel, and a small hand saw but I also had a lot of determination. There isn't any way to clear all of the land since there are numerous tree trunks scattered about one section but I can clear a big portionof the property making it look better and also making it more functional.

I cleared out one section which I intend to plant pumpkins to sell to raise money to pay for upkeep to the property. My gift to the church. I hope to be selloing some at NASCAR Days in Randleman this fall.

I have some concrete blocks, brinks, and the wood from an old outhouse to get rid of, a few trees that need to be cut, and one small section of overgrowth to clean out and then I will be ready to plant grass on the one side and till the ground for my pumpkin patch on the other. I hope to be finished in about two weeks if someone brings a chainsaw to cut the trees for me. If not, I'll have to finish with my hand saw what I can and leave the rest until after I sell the pumkins in the fall.

Personal Update

2012-01-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

I signed up yesterday to be a little league baseball coach in Randleman and am looking forward to that. I finally enlisted some help on clearing the lot at the church but the mans' chainsaw blades were dull so he will have to return later to cut the trees.

Thomas tires has graciouslyy agreed to accept the discarded tires and dispose of them at no cost to the church. Thomas Tire is staffed with good people.

The landscaper at Hudges Furniture said he would use me some this year on his crews. I don't need much work, just a little extraincome.

Someone commented on my last blog but I believe it to be spam. These people should find something better to do with there time.

The little church I attend is getting some semi-permanent members next week. Actually it is a yioung preacher and his family are coming to help out while the preacher will be recovering from surgery. It would be nice if they would join but the family is from Burlington.

I am making progress with my project at the church. I did a little work inside the church. I sealed the hole where a stove pipe went through the wall and sealed a gap in the ceiling above the pulpit and moved a few wall hangings to opoen up the church building some. I have cleared my spot for my pumpkin patch and have started on the areas directly behind the church.

One day I would love to get all the tree trunks and brush piles moved but that may have to wait a year or two or maybe another lifetime.

We did have one family quit the church because he didn't like one of our pastor's sermons. The man didn't like our plans for the Christmas play, didn't like the way the ladies who have recently joined the church dressed, didn't like this and didn't like that. He said he would consider coming back if we did something about the women. Our associate pastor resigned his position due to some personal problems so given our limited numbers already, yea, those losses were a big blow but we will work hard and one day the church will grow.

temper tantrum leads to damaged property

2012-01-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

A young man lost his temper the other day and decided to blow off steam by driving his untagged truck around his yard Thurdsday. His fit caused damage to the yard at his rental home, to the church yard adjacent to his rental home, and to the business across the street from his rental home.

Fortunately for him his mother is a member of the church so not only did they not prosecute or seek
compensation for the damages, they repaired the work themselves. Unfortunately the business across the street was not so kindly disposed and they are seeking payment for the damages to that property. doubly unfortunate for the youn man, the owner of the business across the street are also owners of the rental property and the owners will seek relief through the civil courts.

It will be an expensive lesson for the young man.

Before MLK

2012-01-16T03:46:00.000-08:00

I grew up before there was a Martin Luther King, when blacks and whites lived separate lives in separate neighborhoods. Back then I earned a good income for a kid without a steady job while in school by doing what others couldn't-or wouldn't.

The south didn't have many unions and where I live there were absolutely none. When a union truck came down on a Saturday night with a vital delivery, there was no way to get in unbloaded. Of course
freight companies had normal sources of labor for these kind of jobs. White workers were ususally employed and while it was much harder for non-whites to get a job, there was almost always a steady pool of the unemployed standing on the street corner to be grabbed by any company in need of a quick fix to a labor problem.

But Saturday night was special affair. No one wanted to work on Saturday night and everyone loved to party. If a temp could be found he was usually drunk and unfit to work so when I came available I was often called out to unload a bale of cotton or a couple of boxes. I usually made $20.00 for ten or fifteen minutes work. I didn't even have to drive to work. I was picked up and took home by a company executive. $20.00 doesn't seem like muchbut the minimum wage back then was 90 cents an hour.

What does this story have to do with MLK? Nothings maybe or maybe a lot. Actually the man that hired me to do the jobs was a neighbor and he knew me as a honest, hard working teenager who did a good job mowing grass and other odd jobs for people. I was always dependable and available. But what if equality was a way of life in the USA during this period of time rather than separate-but-equal? This mans neighbor might have been a black kid or maybe the pool of day laborers would have been available on a Saturday night as these men would have had jobs and families to support and wouldn't have needed or wanted to slip off with a bottle of cheap booze to drown their sorrows.

If life had been what it should have been in American, maybe someone who really needed this work to take care of himself or his family would have been available to do it. Maybe the executive would not have had to assume that all blacks were drunk on Saturday night.

I wonder, how does your attitude about the opposite race negatively influence the lives of others?

ACC Football

2012-01-02T05:38:00.000-08:00

ACC and Football should not be used together in a sentence. Out of the entire conference only one or two teams were ranked in the top 25 teams in the nation and they didn't stay there for long. Almost all ACC teams lost in their bowl games.

In basketball it has not be unusual for 5 or eight teams to be ranked in the top twenty teams in the country from the ACC with one or two ranked in the top 5. Florida was a national powerhouse before joining the ACC and now are just a typical ACC football school.

Thant's okay. I don't care for football all that much. Too much standing around between plays and all those penalties are boring. Foul shots is one of the reasons I hate basketball, but one has to admit, the ACC plays good basketball.

I keep hoping Duke will win a football game. One day they may win the National Championship in football. And I could grow up to be president of the USA. Heck, I might even grow up.

Long Time

2012-01-01T23:54:00.000-08:00

My niece, whom I raised as a daughter, wished me a Happy New Year. That's not unusual for a niece to wish a family member Happy New Year except maybe in this case. You see, I haven't seen her but once since she was ten years old and she is 26 now. We did meet for lunch three or four months ago but she has ignored me since that day so it was a real surprise for me to hear from her again.

She has me confused.

Screw ups

2011-10-22T03:38:00.000-07:00

My wife'soldest son is one of these. several years ago in was in dire straits so I let my wife loan him some money. What I didn't know was besides the amount she oringinally asked about loaning him, she extended him three additional loans so he was in debt to us big time. There for many months he made a lot of excuses but made no payments to us.

Eventually he did repay us. I told my wife I was disappointed because the kid had learned nothing. It would have been better to take on an obligation only if one can pay it off and it is better to learn to budget and live within ones means than to make excuses and hope for a streak of luck that would enable one to pay off a debt in one lump sum.

I told my wife that he didn't learn his lesson. Well, this morning he called and says he on the verge of losing everything. His kid damaged a patrol car with her bicycle, he bought a truck but had to pay off old traffic tickets, he told a pay day loan, and now he is $4000 in debt but he can pay us back because he makes good money.

If he had learned to handle money like I asked him too several years ago when we bailed him out then he would not be in the mess he is in today. He asked for help. I said no.

Lol's and ABC's

2011-10-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what many of the initials people use now adays mean. One of the most commonly used and least understood to me is BFF. What is that; big fat friend? I don't know exactly what it is.

games

2011-10-22T02:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I play my quick little games and no matter which ones I play I can't seem to win. Single spider solitaire is a no brainer and its easy to to 40 or fifty games in a row. Free Cell is more difficult but to win 100 to 150 games in a row befotre getting completly stumbed or actually losing is not that difficult.
I win hald the hearts games and regular solitaire games I play and majong depends on the layout. One layout I win 96% of the time and there are a couple I can win half. The rest; not so much.

Even so, one would think that I would win something each time I played if I played them all but there are just some times I can't win any of them.

Today is one of those days. Normally I save Free Cell for last because it is more skill that most games so if I'm having a bad day can win a Free Cell game and not feel like a total loser. Most frustrating when one plays to a statemate there. Today, my luck has been so bad that I'm not even going to play Free Cell.

Tomorrow, my luck may be so good I can be splaying hearts and start the game with the Queen of spades as my only spade and have someone lay the Ace down first. Today, my luck is so bad I played the three of diamond to break the suit and got the black Queen of death on the first hand.

Life just sucks sometimes. sometimes it's good.

Walking

2011-10-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

For the past month I have been going to the community center to get my walking in. I started out at 2 miles each morning then went to 3 miles. Now I have decided I need to walk 4 miles each morning. The weather is getting cooler so I won't be outside as much. I ususally don't get much exercise in after the gym except for cutting the grass.

Now, besides the walking, I exercise on the Wii also. I walked 4.5 miles at the gym this morning and logged a little more than that just normal walking and working out on the wii.

Don't know if it is making any difference in my weight or body shape but I'm going to do it anyway.

Rotten kids

2011-10-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

I have one son who I adopted when he was five. He lived with me from the time he was eighteen monts put it wasn't until he was five that the adoption finally came through. His birth name was primitivo but I named him Timmy. He joined the Army out of High School and after his tour was up he disappeared for fourteen years.

I also raised my niece until she was five. Her mother became upset with me after her boyfriend kicked her out of his house and she wanted to me take care of her at every one else's expense. I was in the midst of helping a friend and told Erlinda I would be back to help her in an hour or so. It was three or four years later before I saw my niece again and I saw her for the second and last time a year or so later when she was ten. She contacted me a few weeks ago through my son and we met for her birthday.

She hasn't bothered to contact me since nor have I heard from my son.

Yes, I am bothered by that. I've tried to be a loving parent to my son and loved my niece as if she were a real daughter. What can I say? I guess I raised a couple of rotten kids.

people with colds

2011-10-13T04:39:00.001-07:00

people with colds should not go to the gym and workout. I don't appreciate hearing men suck up their phlem, cough, clear their throats, and start the process all over again, especially since I came to the gym to work out for my health. You arn't helping at all so stay home, for everyones benefit.

Glad we have DNA

2011-10-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

I was watching a show about a murder the other night and was reminded of something from my past. In the show a hairdresser was murdered but a witness saw the killer. She discribed the vehicle the killer drove, gave an accurate physical discription and a composite drawing was madethat looked as good as a photgraph of the real killer.

Not long after the murder a newly arrested amn was talking to other prisioners about the murdered woman and how much he liked her. He had no alibi for the night she was killed, drove a similar vehicle, and fit the composite exactlt and was picked out of a photo line-up. If that has been the only evidence presented at a trial he would have been convicted. Trouble was he wasn't guilty.

The guilty man turned out to be a 17 year old high school student who also drove a similar vehicle, was about the same size as the first suspect, and also matched the composite drawing to a T. His DNA was a match.

Many years ago I worked in the Post Office in San Miquel, Philippines and someone stole some Postal Momey Orders and the investagators interviewed me. I really thought one of the workers named Leslie Ball was the guilty party. He was a drug abuser, looked weird, acted strange, and often stayed late or re-entered the post office after hours and knew how the money order system worked.

It turned out not to be him but a highly honored employee that was guilty. I learned not to judge anyone untill sufficient evidence was given to prove guilt bufore convicting someone.

Neglected Blog

2011-10-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

I did post of Southgate news an article about my niece I really should have posted here. Sorry about that.

Our neighbor next to the church I attend has decided that it is okay for him to utilize or parking lot for his own personal use. It isn't. If you can't understand why I'll come park in your driveway.

Six or eight months ago we met a man at McDonalds and asked him to join us at our table. He started coming to the church ever Sunday. About six weeksago we asked him to consider joining the church and maybe even serving as a trustee. He saif he wasn't a joiner and was afraid that we would take all his money. He hasn't been back since. Some people are really weird.

My niece hasn't had contact with me in sixteen years. It wasn't her fault, at least most of the time wasn't. I raised the little girl as my daughter until her Mom got mad at me and has refused contact between us since. I suppose once she turned eighteen or moved out on her own at 21 or 22 she could have contacted me but she didn't--until two weeks ago. We had lunch and I haven't heard from her since.

I guess this is about it for now. I'll try not to stay away so lon.g

Priorities

2011-08-23T01:43:00.000-07:00

Reading headlines this week I noticed we have things out of order. The big news was Kate Whinsett escaping a fire with the second biggest story was about that reality star woman, Kardasianm getting married. Two of the other big stories, the 76 year old boy scout leader who was stabbed to death and the 49 fan killings paled in comparison.

I suppose in a way it is good that we don't focus on murder and mayhem but on the good news of weddings and escaping tradgedy except that the two big stories involve TV and movie stars and the follow up stories only involve regular people whose tragedies have the potential to affect of all.

Had the participates in the news stories refersaled roles, with Kardasian and her husband getting beat up at a foorball gam and Kate Whiseet getting murdered while taking her kids on a nature walk, one would have never heard about someone escaping a fire nor a baseball fan getting married.

Short cuts

2011-08-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

I suppose to a teenager cutting across some ones property to save a few steps is acceptable, especially in to days society where people seem to have less respect for others than in bygone eras but I think it is a dangerous practice is some cases and always impolite.

This spring I had just strung some wire for my moon flower vines to climb on and this young man comes cutting across my property in the direction of the wire I had just strung. Unless one knew the wire was there one wouldn't know until one had walked into it.

Today, or rather this morning, I had cleared out all the briar's and blackberry vines on the edge of my property so the area would look better and if the blackberries grow back they will grow in a more controlled environment so I'll have bigger and better berries.

I hadn't quite finished and would you believe three teenagers cut across my property right in front of me like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Since they are so discourteous as not to ask permission I suppose I'll have to get legal enforceable "No Trespassing " signs to hang up.

I don't like the invasion of privacy and I am concerned that one of them will get hurt and then sue me.

I wonder what would be the best way to handle the situation without confrontations or making people angry with me. Asking them not to tresspass hasn't seemed to work so far.

Not so!

2011-08-03T12:32:00.001-07:00

this picture is from an article about the top 100 worst yearbook photos but as a big Marvin the Martian fan I have to disagree.

Team USA invites Obama to World Cup

2011-07-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

US vs Japan in Women's world Cup final and the USA is heavily favored but Japan can play a good game of soccer or they would not be in the finals either. The American girls think it is inevitable that they will win. They have to play first.
Confidence in ones abilities is good but being cocky isn't. Cocky people get frustrated easily if they aren't doing what they fell they should be doing and the harder they try the worse things go for them.

Of course I'm rooting for the USA team but I think it is too presumptuous of the team to invite Obama to Germany to watch them win the World Cup. They might lose.

Famous sayings (not really)

2011-07-12T04:42:00.000-07:00

things I observed this week reduced to a cute saying:

When a man feeds a woman he is being passionate; when a woman feeds a man she is being subserviant."

A saying for those people who think churches have too many hypocrites: "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."

Social animal

2011-07-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

I am not a social animal. I don't have night's out with the guys or friends over. Most often I'm uncomfortable around people and even when I manage to make a friend I've found that it isn't a good idea to trust them with anything personal.

It's not that I want to be anti-social. I don't believe I am but I'm just not the type of person that people warm up to.

I had a good friend once, a woman, but that friendship faded once I got married. No, my female friend wasn't secretly attracted to me.

I suppose it's my fault for notputting an effort into making friends. I suppose having friends is like any relationship-one has to work at it and I'm basicly a lazy person when it comes to friendship.

Newsweek cover

2011-07-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

The price, his wife kate, and Princess diana all in the same photgraph isn't quite right, I believe. If Newsweek wanted to do an age-enhance phot of Princess diana by herself in celebration of her 50th birthday it would have been okay but to superimpose her with her son and his wife, while not wrong in any sense of the work, isn't an appropriate thing to do.

Mollie King

2011-06-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Mollie King, whomever she is, had a a wardrobe malfunction along with half a dozen other women. I suppose if one wants to get on TV and the news, have ones clothes fall off or open up or just spread the legs apart and flash a little underwear.

personally I'm a little tired on these wardrobe malfunction stories.

There are a lot of hero stories about our brave men in women in the armed forces, or doctors and nurses serving others at their own expenses, or even ordinary men and women standing up against the crimanal element that would be a much better read than a TV or movie personality losing control of their clothes.

The Rapture: Real or not

2011-05-24T00:13:00.001-07:00

Just because some one predicts when the rapture will occur does not mean it will. I think because it has been two thousand years since Jesus Christ was crucified many believe His return is imminent. It may well be but then again, it may yet be awhile.

Playing the numbers game, one can be led to believe that 6,000 years ago god created the heavens and the earth, populated the earth in six days, rested, and then Adam and Eve sinned, got kicked out of Eden and two thousand years later God destroyed the earth's inhabitants with a flood, repopulated the earth, sent His son to die, and now we are at the end of mans time waiting on Jesus to come and reign for the last day (thousand years)

There is a quote in the bible that says to God a thousand years as is a day and a day as a thousand years. That does not means that the six days of creation were done in six 24 hour periods of time and that man shall inhabit the earth for just six thousand years. It does mean that to the creature who was, and is, and shall ever more be, time doesn't means anything.

I have no idea how long after God created the heavens and the earth before he created man. It is believed by some that when God tossed Satan out of heaven, the devil destroyed God's creation so God found the earth was void and without form. That isn't how he created it.

Sometimes this sounds like mythology and stories about the Greek gods or Indian tales about the Great Spirits and whether it is or not comes down to one senario: the cruciafition of Christ, His burial, and resurrection. If that is true, then the whole bible is true. It that isn't, the then bible is a lie.

We know that Christ was not born in December, we know nothing of his early life save for one incident when he was a kid, and much of what he did and said while on the earth remains a mystery.

The description in the bible of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is described in enough deatail and to lend itself to study and analysis. The actions of his followers, the facts that the women were told first and the conversion of Paul all speak to the truth of the Easter story.

This same Jesus that was crucified for our sins promised that he would come again, first for his bride and then to set up his kingdom on the earth. God left no numerical clues in the scriptures making it possible for man to predict Christ return but He has given us plenty of time to decide what we want to do about the situation.

You may laugh and scoff or just quietly reject the Christian view and you could just possible be right in your thinking. If you are you will never get the chance to say "I told you so" because you just want exist anymore. On the other hand if you are wrong, well, let's try not to think about that part of it.

Deep River Cafe

2011-05-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Deep River Cafe in Randleman is a newly opened restaraunt featuring home cooking. The lunch menu is the standard fare of hot dogs, hamburgers, and sandwiches, but just a little bit better than most places have. I've heard the buffet is excellen. The menu was posted and the selections are limited but if they are as much better than standard as the hot dogs and hamburgers were, then one really wouldn't complain about having just a few items to select from.

The ambience isn't the best but you have to drop by for a loaf of their blueberry bread. At $5.99 a loaf one might be hesitant to try it but after one bite one will have regrets at not picking up a second loaf. It's good, that's all I can say.

One weekend is enough for interleague play

2011-05-23T00:29:00.000-07:00

By TIM DAHLBERG AP Sports Columnist The Associated Press
Sunday, May 22, 2011 6:40 PM EDT
as reported on the home page of North State

What a depressing article. Kinda makes one want to go shot thrmselves. Really, if I had been suffering from depression, reading this article woulod have pushed beover the edge and I would have ended it all right then and there.

New era for golf

2011-05-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

I'm ready for a new era in golf. It seems like forever since one could read a story about golf without a certain player being mentioned. At first it was he was winning or how he was coming from behind or how he intimitated other golfers, and then it was how he had cheated on his wife, and then how poorly he was playing and now how bad he feels. Win, lose, draw, playing, not playing, it didn't matter, somehow a sports writer had to make the golf story about him.

Before him there were golfers who dominated but not just one at a time: Snead, Palmer, The Big Bear and the competition was fun to watch. But with one guy and then everyone else, not so much.

No, I haven't anything against someone or a team being exceptionally good at their job or profession and winning often but if another player won, the story was not about the winner but about the one everyone thought would win. It's like "Yea, he won but he wouldn't haveif the favorite had played up to his potential. he was hurt, or whatever excuse could be found to fit to tarnish the win for the victor.

If the favorue won, no where in a story would be mentioned the fact that the 17th ranked player finished 25th, but Lordy if the 17th ranked player won, the story would not be about him this time either but about the number 1 ranked player not winning.

It's like eating to much cadny; its good but toomuch makes one sick.

Ronald McDonald is facing a midlife crisis

2011-05-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

I suppose the fact that RM is coming under fire as promoting unhealthy eating habits in kids and is out of touch with children being more tech savage should be blogged as news but it is my personal opinion that Ronald McDonald is a clown.

I know is is supposed to be a clown, dressed up in stupid looking clothes with a dumb haircut and awful make-up but I mean he is a clown like that goofy co-worker that looks sloppy in his clothes and is always drawing the ire of his boss and co-workers is a clown. In other words, I never liked Ronald McDonald and he is one of the reasons I never cared to eat at McDonald's.

Once I stopped in a McDonald's (I was a passenger) and the value menu was a burger, fries, and drink. For my drink I wanted coffee and they said no. I pointed out that coffee was cheaper so they would make more money and they said no. I pointed out that the sign said drink, not soda and coffee was definitely a beverage and they still said no.

It's kinda of like that time I wanted to buy one each of the toys at a fast food place and they said no, I had to buy a kiddie meal to get a toy. I ordered three kiddie meals to get the three toys, took the toys out and threw the food away.

"Why did you do thet?," the schocked cashier asked.

"You could have sold me the toys for the price of the value meal and I would have paid it but you insisted I had to buy the food too, and I didn't want the food."

Honestly, if your spokesperson is a clown, don"t expect me to take you seriously.

Virgins

2011-05-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure if the virgins promised to terrorists who die at/in gihad have to be women or if they could be men, depending on the terrorists gender or preference but I do have it on good authority that george W. Bush gets to pick the twelve for Osama.

It ain't heaven, believe me.

osama killed

2011-05-02T02:24:00.000-07:00

By now I'm sure you are aware of Osama bin Laden was killed by a shot to the head from a Navy Seal Team Six member during a raid on bin Laden's hideout. Former President's Bush and clinton were contacted and both commented, congradulations our current President and expressing their happiness that such an evil man is now dead .

No one offered a prayer for his family or for other Muslims or the survivors of the war or 9-1-1 attacks.

All Christians should be seeking God's guidance in these matters and if Chritians were as adament in converting Muslims and the lost as the terrorists were in klling Americans, this would be a better world. I believe we have fallen short of our calling.

high school reunions

2011-04-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

Ihave never been to one. The first few we had I lived too far away to attend or was in the US Navy and after that my high school and I lost contact with each other. I had the opportunity in 1985 to attend my 20th but didn't want to go because I had gained too much weight. The school and I lost contact after that until a couple of years ago.

I really though about attending the one last year but realized that I would be attending an expensive event with a group of people I did not know nor care about.

I do get a newsletter from time to time telling me what the same old snobs from school days are doing in their exciting successful lives. The common folk are not mentioned at all unless they were either widly popular in school due to athletic success or had achieved newsworthy success after graduation.

Where I attended school one was either in the in-crowd because of the wealth of ones parents (and there were many of them) or you were a loser.

A perfect example: Hight School consisted of the 10th through twelth grades. After the ninth grade, the students from each junior high picked their fasvorite cheerleader to be on the high school squad the following year. The two candidates from Grandview were Jean Shell and Cindy Peeler. Cindy was a skinny little rich kid while Jean was a beautiful exotic daughter of somebody.

The students voted overwhelmingly for Jean but Cindy was the cheerleader in hight school because, for the first time every, the teachers decided that they, and not the students, should have had the right to pick the incoming cheerleader.

There was one interesting tidbit in the recent newsletter though. The Hickory native who won "Last Comic Standing" is the son of a classmate of mine.

Why does this matter?

2011-04-23T03:22:00.000-07:00

Linsay Lohan was sentenced to jail for 120 for probation violation. We should care about the human condition and our fellow man. But another internet article was entitled "What did she wear to court?" Why would that matter to anyone?

I would say chances are if you really cared what she wore you don't care about Linsay.

A perfect day for fishing

2011-04-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

I don't do much for myself. Most days I'm taking care of the yard, or taking care of the church yard, or driving to Hickory to take care of Mom. On rare days when my wife and I have a day off together I try to entertain her. Today I'm going fishing.

My myself.

Christian beliefs

2011-04-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

I was reading some posts tonight concerning the tornado tragedy and the topic of discussion was God. People would say "Thank God" no one was killed at the Lowes that collapsed. Someone else said Christianity was a cult and practiced cannibalism or at least a simulated version of it. I assume that were referring to the Lord's super where he said "this is my blood, take ye and drink and this is my body "take ye and eat." No one actually drinks blood or eats flesh but we do take a piece of bread and grape juice.

There is nothing cannibalistic about the ritual, real or symbolic.

Jesus Christ is real and you may choose to not believe Him or to deny His existence but one day every knee will bow and everyone will call Him "Lord, Lord".

I'll see you in church.

Barrack Obamas speech

2011-04-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

Yea, he made another speech yesterday.

Frankly I am one of the poor he wants to distribute others peoples wealth to. If he was my rich uncle giving me his own money I would be glad to accept it. The truth is, Uncle Sam is not my Uncle and he is not rich. The fact is, Uncle Sam has no money of his own so takes a little from some and a lot from others in order to do things that benefit all. That's not a bad thing. There are things that we need that we could not or would not pay for on our own, like the military to protect us from foreign invaders, and roads and bridges and damns and water projects and, well, you get the idea.

For the rest of our needs, we should be and once were expected to work to provide for ourselves. The majority of people once did work but there are some who are just too lazy, too trifling, or too dishonest to get a job. Those people the government decided to help out with free food, free or low cost housing, and prison.

Then there some people who lost their job through no fault of their own and the government helps them for awhile anyway, long enough in most cases until they can find a job.

Some people have a job that pays really, really well like my young brother and some have a job that pays really well like my older brother and then some us have jobs that pays okay, like me. Others have sorry jobs that don't pay much at all and then some have incomes that are only dreams for most people and some people have money through no fault of their own, like the Kennedy's, the DuPont's, the Fords, and the Hilton's.

I know that some of these poor people have really cute kids and the kids get sick and the poor people can't have the kid doctored properly because they have little money and no health insurance.

Yes it would be nice if we lived in a society that valued each person equally and said that Joe is brilliant and can take an idea and turn it into reality and have a thriving business and Jill there can take a few pieces of knowledge and find a cure for an illness or a new way of doing something. Bob, on the other hand, is lucky enough to be a great singer and Jose is very athlete. Alice, on the other hand is capable of running a cash register.

In a society like that, then each person would be given equal pay for doing the best they could at what they are capable of doing.

That sounds nice but unless Joe likes working extremly hard to build something that is of no practical good to him, then he has no incentive to perform. Betty can run a cash register much faster and more accurately than Alice but if the monetary rewards are the same, why should she?

On paper the perfect society sounds nice but in reality it doesn't work. The Ameican system of capitalism and democracy doesn't work perfectly either but it actually works much better than the system that seems fairer on paper and in theory.

That is until people with good intentions try to turn the American way of life into the perfect, care for all equally society then things become a totaly mess, like we are in today.

The US keeps printing money as fast as it can and so much of it the other countries have begug to lose faith in thge dollar as the reserve currency of the world and are looking for alternatives. If one is found then the American economy will collapse around us.

We have to stop the madness before it is too late for us. It may already be.

Koi Babies

2011-04-09T01:53:00.000-07:00

I transferred both koi babies from the small pond to the large one yesterday. the fish have grown quite large during their first year.

One of them is white with an orange spot and I named it Zero after the WWII Japanese warplane. The other is orange and black, almost identical to Shark so I named it Tiger. Tigers are black and orange with stripes and as this fish is most likely the offspring of Shark, I though Tiger was appropriate as in Tiger Shark.

I referred to my fish as it only because at the tender age of less than a year, one cannot be certain if they are boys are girls.

I have two females (Showa and Orange) and two males (Shark and Spot) plus the two babies. I should know by next year what gender they are.

They are really enjoying the new waterfall and their appetite is picking up as the weather warms.

Hopefully I'll get some floater plants soon. The farmers market has Hyacynth at $3.99 or 3 for $10.00. I purchased my there last year and they quickly filled my pond. Aquamains closed their doors last year and they were the only other place I know to get pond plants not in a can.

Guilty or not

2011-04-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

Some people claim Pastor Terry Jones is guilty of a crime because he knew that burning the Quran would cause violence somewhere and people were likely to be hurt or to die. Others agree that he was just expressing his rights of free speech.

There is a limit on speech being free. A word or sentence can be deemed a crime is the person speaking those words knows or should have known that death or serious injury would be the likely outcome especially if those words were not true when spoken and were spoken with the intent to cause harm, like yelling "Fire" in an overcrowded venue.

But it is my opinion that the act of burning the Koran is not illegal but protected free speech even though the pastor knew or should have known that harm would come to others because of that act because it was not his act that caused the people
to react violently but it was their choice to do so.

Well, it is a persons choice to flee a crowded room when there is believed to be a fire, one could argue but that scenario is different because that is an immediate reaction to a perceived threat to a persons well being and panic sets in as a disassociated group turns into a mob from fear.

The violence in reaction to the burning of the Quran was done not from fear or a mob mentality but from anger and a misguided believe that the paper holding the words of the Quran are somehow holy.

The Holy Bible of Christianity contains what Christians believe are the Holy words of Almighty God yet it is the words that are sacred and not the paper that contains the words. Burn all the books you want, but Christians are not going to attack, kill and injury in response.

What that preacher did is shameful just as what those people protesting at funerals is, but that is the great thing about American. Burning a Quran is just as much protected free speech is as publishing Hustler was or signing God Bless American.
Some people think that should be illegal too.

Yanking a chain

2011-04-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

My two brothers and I are not close. For years I was blamed for something that didn't even happen and during that time period my brothers have been fooling with my moms head about me.

For example, on a trip to NC to visit his mother my younger brother took Mom to Burlington from Hickory to visit her sister. On the return trip, around two in the afternoon, he called my house to inquire if we could get together.

As are most people who have a job, at two in the afternoon I was at work. He could have called me the day before or two days before or the week before or even that morning. Of course, he acted disappointed and let Mom know he really wanted to see me.

I had gone back to roadrunner and after my yahoo address was compromised, I notified all my contacts to us roadrunner. But my wife and I decided to switch to northstate so I no longer have my rr address. My brother told Mom that my e-mail address no longer works and he really wants to get in touch with me.

Bull.

The only e-mails I ever get from him are the forwarded kinf, never personal or important. Even when I notify him of something important, I get dead silence as a response. Before I married my wife, I had thought about moving to Hickory so I could be available to help Mom and was accused by my older brother of trying to set myself up to inherit her house and cut him out of the will.

Now if he really wanted to get in touch with me, he could contact my wife as he has her e-mail address, he could call me as I have a listed number, my younger brother has all my contact info as does my younger brother and my son and my mom and he knows how to get in touch with all of them and heknows how to call an operator or do a goggle search.

But no, he cries to Mom that I changed my e-mail address and he can't get incontact with me and he really wants to keep in touch.

Spare me oh wardward brother of mine and quit trying to yank my chain. It isn't attached.

Another stupid lawsuit

2011-04-02T02:03:00.000-07:00

It takes just a few minutes (actually, more like seconds) of Web searching to find several reports of high school players getting seriously hurt by batted balls. The case that has attracted the most attention is 18-year-old Brandon Patch, who was pitching in an American Legion game (American Legion is a summer league for high school players) in Montana in 2003 when he was struck in the head and killed by a batted ball. His parents have campaigned for a ban on metal bats and have sued the bat manufacturer.

campaigning against metal bats is okay and I can understand the parents anger about the death of their son but the lawsuit against the bat manufacturer is stupid unless there was a defect in the making of the bat. People have to understand that things happen that are tragic. We all know the risks we take when we drive, walk across the street, or run outside to get the mail in while it is raining.

If the parents knew metal bats were unsafe then they should have challeged the use of them before their son was killed. If a particular manufacturer was making dangerous products, the time for the lawsuit was when one gained that knowledge the
of danger.

When one engages in any activity, one has to anticipate the potential hazards, weigh the risks, and make a decision accordingly. Any concerns about defective products being used or devices that could be used but arenot should be engaged from the start.

In other words-think and accept responsibility for your own decisions.

(I wonder if the boy had won the batting championship if the parents would have said "It isn't my son that did this. The credit goes to the manufacturer of the bat for making a superior product).

Where did this guy go to school?

2011-03-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

Anybody who has attempted to search up to 20 minutes. Knows there is no similar thing as a mobile phone directory. Mainly or any other web detective yourself research. To begin the web detective is just a bunch of free links expediently together. That's it. If you pay a subscription for a search engine as well the release of their money. Only one way to get the name and address of a cell or unlisted number. In this way is to hire a private investigator. It costs $ 40. You can also try locating cell or Data trace for $ 59 each issue. Note that these companies were operating illegally and still not being sued by the attorney general of Illinois and face a fine of $ 50,000 per violation. Injunctions have been placed by all major cell phone companies. Try it yourself, spend all day looking for a reverse number and see what happened to you. As approved and linked researcher I can tell of the days (not hours) online investigate you get what you pay. We search and other companies have databases of two years. I wanted to track down fugitives from bounty hunters throughout the day.

Can anyone tell me what this writer said? I haven't a clue.

2011-03-31T03:16:00.000-07:00

Talib, who started all 11 games that he played last season, was arrested in August 2009 in Florida for assaulting a cab driver. The incident drew a one-game suspension from the NFL, but the charge was dismissed after Talib agreed to perform 15 hours of community service and attend anger management classes.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Aqib Talib surrendered to Texas police Wednesday morning on a warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

He's probably angry because his parents named him Aqib.

Mila Kunis

2011-03-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

No one I knew would watch "The 70's Show" and I don't watch much TV and if I do it's COPS, Cold Case Files, or Dateline. I like "All Worked Up" and "Southern Fried Stings"

I have never watched House, Lost, the Real Housewives from anywhere, Jon or Kate, any of the day time soap operas or any football, basketball, or any other sports game except for three World Series games the Giants were in last year.

But I did zcatch a glimpse one day of Mila Kunis on the 70's Show when I turned on a TV set once. I must admit I watch the show from time to time just to catch a peek at her. Not at all what one believes Russian women look like.

Milia is not in the same league as Jodie Foster or Sandra Bullock when it comes to acting or even looks, but she does have that cute factor down pat.

Goals

2011-03-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

There are three things I'd like to accomplish: 1. To write something profound or important 2. to lead someone to Christ. 3. To be able to live off what I grow on my own property.

I have no doubt that I will achieve all three.

The kill team

2011-03-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

A news story describes the kill team in Afganistan. Fueled by their haytred of Afgan civilians, five US soldiers decide to kill a civilian. It didn't matter who but just in a situation that won't raise suspicion nor have any witnesses. They failed in both endeavors but were not investigated or charged in that incident, at least at that moment. This group of five soldiers isnow accused of four murders and probably is not an isolated rogue group, or so investigators believe.

Some how we Americans believe we are above such behaviour but it is much more common and accepted that we would even like to think. We are no more moral than people of any other country and less so than many others.

Another, yeah, right moment

2011-03-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

Lindsey Lohan wants to stop using her last name so she can distance herself from her father who was recently arrested. Maybe she is afraid his arrest will tarnish her good reputation?

Yeah, right.

Recycled stories

2011-03-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

Homepages do it, TV does it (re-runs), and now some websites atre doing it too. I once really like to read Crime Library. Not only did they post stories about older notorious or famous crimes but they employed writers who kept us abreast of news worthy happening in the crime world. I found this helpful as I like to write and crimes people commit gives me ideas for stories and how to make a senario realistic.

TruTV purchased the old Crime Library site and promptly let go its writing staff.
Now they just recycle old news stories and sometimes they do post oitorials of related crimes such as attorneys in jail, movie stars in trouble, and sex workers who have lost their moral standing but there is no actually cover of what is really going on. As much crime as there is in the world, one would think a reader didn't have to read the same old stuff over and over.

First Day of Spring

2011-03-21T01:08:00.000-07:00

Today is the first full day of spring for this year and I'm going to be putting some seeds in the ground. I'll wait a few weeks for my tomato plants but most of my vegatable and flower seeds will be planted today. I'm up early at four in anticipation. (Actually sleeping till 4 am is sleeping in for me. I'm normally up by three)

I am waiting for my pampas grass to arrive. No, I'm not planting it beside my driveway as many others have. Such actions cause accidents because the plants block everyones view. No, I'm planting mine on the backside of my water pond to block the view of my neighbors delapitated outbuilding with the tar paper shredding in the wind and flapping in the breeze. I have some other ornamental grasses to plant arounf the pampas once I get that into the ground.

One of my peach pits finally gave up its seed and is growing into a tree. I just don't know where to plant it.

I also have six or eight fugi apple trees started from seed (I only needed one ) so I'm not sure what to do with the excess there.

I will be more cautious with my hibiscus trees this year. I sat them out too earloy last year and between the frost and the drought they just didn't have a chance. This year they will stay inside until they are large enough and strong enough to survive most anything.

The hardest part about growing stuff for me is the part where the instructions say to "thin" the plants. I find that so cold and callous and its hard for me to intentionally take the life of a plant like that. I know that may be silly but maybe the people who talk to plants will better understand.

Maybe the plants cand sense I care because people say I can grow anything anywhere. I wish that were true but I have been known to place a piece of broken plant into the ground and grow another plant. sometime I end up with just a piece of dead vegatation but one never knows.

But anyway, I sure hope you enjoy your first day of spring, even if you have to work today.

facebook

2011-03-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

I resisted for the longest time getting a face book account and now that I have one I seldom check in at the site. I posted the picture of myself cleaning my pond and put my name on it and that's about it.

Every month or so when I check the site I find that it has been busy with friends chatting back and forth, celebrating birthdays, and having babies and returning from Iraq and participating in various church activities.

It is a good bunch of people on my face book page.

FOX Sports ExclusivePeterson compares NFL labor to slavery

2011-03-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

Now that is funny!! What Gilbert Gottfried posted on his twitter account was ill-timed and not so funny.n AFLAc is right in letting him go. Just about anyone can do the AFLAC duck.

Sorry, Nopictures

2011-03-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

Spring Revival and Spiritual Renewal

Rev. Charles Garrett, Pastor, One Way Baptist

A new spring is dawning bringing in a freshness that has been missing during the cold winter months. People stir, anxious to be outside, working the soil, planting, growing, becoming one with nature. The apple tree, the mighty oak, the beautiful dogwood tree, come to life and the tulip bulbs push their heads from the cold hard soil into the newly warm air. It is a time for renewing of life.

While drinking in the wonders of nature, it is important to remember the important things of life like family and friends and the God that put His blessings on this great nation. At One Way Baptist, we are celebrating this renewal with a spring revival. It is our way of celebrating a new season, of rekindling our spirit of thankfulness, and reminding ourselves of the things that are truly important. Come celebrate the rekindling with us with guest pastor Rev. W. A. Seawell, Jr. from Hilltop Baptist of Thomasville, NC.

Rev. Seawell is a much sought after speaker and One Way is fortunate to have him for our services

What: Revival

When: Starting April 10, 2011 at six o'clock and running nightly starting at 7:OO p.m.

Where:. One Way Baptist Church, 604 Sunset St. (off Stout St) Randleman, NC 27317

For more information spiritual guidance or counseling, contact Pastor Charles Garrett 687-3079

Rev. William Arthur Seawell, Jr.

Tamra Barney from 'Real Housewives of OC' Got Roofied by a Fan

2011-03-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

The truth is that they probably got wasted and passed out and thought it would be a convenient cover story to blame it on a fan and a date rape drug. They have no proof that there was additives to their drinks.

Missing in action

2011-03-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

I haven't checked in with the Troublemaker in well over a year and for some reason i was thinking about him the other day soI decided to check out his blog tonight. It seems he hasn't been on it since I last was. Some of the comments had been delected that might have given me a clue to what happened to him. ..I know he had just moved to Glenwood and was blogging about getting the place cleaned up.

Nothing has changed, at least not for the better.

Ben Holder, where are you?

Lincoln's real views on black people

2011-03-06T00:38:00.000-08:00

It doesn't really matter now. He signed legislation abolishing slavery in the United States and it his his actions that count. sometimes what a person does as a leader does not always coincide with their personal views. Sometimes a person just knows something is wrong but because of prevailing views at the time maybe does not appreciate the fullness of all thatr is wrong with the popular view, or maybe he was just reying to figure out a way that was best for peace for all concerned.

But like I said, it doesn't matter now. He did what he did, it can't be undone, it was the right thing to do no matter what the motivations were for doing it, and that should be the end of the story. Sometimes it takes a lot of guts to do the right thing. It cost Lincoln his life.

Balance balls for fitness and fun

2011-03-05T16:52:00.001-08:00

you write the article. I'm laughing too hard.

Teachers wonder, why the scorn?

2011-03-03T02:27:00.000-08:00

I've had some good teachers but just a few. Mrs. smith and Mrs. McQuire, my first anf sixth grade teachers were outstanding. Mr. Caldwell, my eighth grade teacher was a saint.

Miss Hefner/Mrs. Carlisle/Miss Hefner, my seveth grade teacher was the devil's wife and so mean he couldn't stand her. Oh, and let's not forget Mr. Jones would litterally kicked my ass while I was drinking from a water fountain and broke one of my teeth.

There have been a couple of other good teachers like Mr. Hefner (no relation to my seveth grade teacher) who taught ninth grade English. My only problem with him is that he made fun of me for reading Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in front of the whole class. My junior year math teacher was a good teacher and was my senior year math teacher.

My second grade teacher wasn't good at her job, or at least didn't seem so to me and most of the others are non-memorable except for Mr. Barrett, my junior year science teacher. I'm not saying he was good or bad but he did seem to like me better than I liked him.

And then there was this Dean at Sam Houston State college (now University). I received my draft notice while I was in school and had to drop out and go into the military. The school informed me that I would be issued a final grade based on my current average since the semester was almost complete but one Dean was livid and said I had to take a test in order to receive a grade.

He handed me a technical manuel 5,000 pages long, gave me two days to read the book, and was to take a 100 question essay exam and would receive the grade for the semester based wholly on that test score.

After serving my country for four years I wanted to return to scholl and finish that degree but was blocked from doing so by that very same professor who still held a grudge because I had talked to the dean who overrulled his decision about that ridiculous teat.

I've meet many a teacher who had a poor command of the English language and what is happening in New York is beyond mind boggling. There are over 4,000 teachers not allowed to teach but who can't be fired because of union rules. In this economic crises NY is going to have to let go several thousand teachers but it can't be the ones who aren't allowed to teach but will come from the ranks of the most recently hired.

I understand the need for certain protections. The tenture system was set up to allow a teacher the freedom to say things that a nontentured teacher who probably get fired for but I just don't believe a tenure should allow a professor or teacher to do weird things and excape discipline.

If schools and teachers did a good job, then why is our educational system lagging behind many other countries?

Still too cold

2011-03-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

I'm anxious to get my pond fixed for the upcoming warm season but it's still too cold and windy and dry to work on it. To fill the pond with water is expensive plus it is far better to let mother nature refill it for me--better for the fish, that is. I have to take the net off, pull out all the plants, drain the pond, pull the liner out, put carpet in the bottom once the pond bottom dries out, put water in the pond to hold the liner in place, secure the top of the line with rocks, put the plants back in and hope that it rains right afterwards to at least get enough water in the pond for the large fish to survive in.

It's not an easy job especially for one guy to do. It makes it difficult to get the line smooth and the pond level so it fill up correctly, which was a big problem last year.

The waterfall mound is fill in and should be very pretty this year. Had a bull frog singing out there yeasterday and my fish are becoming active. Hopefull I'll have the right combination of time, temperature, and rain to finish the job quickly and correctly this time.

Evolution, Theory of

2011-02-26T04:33:00.000-08:00

The theory of evolution makes certain assumptions. First, life began on earth. Secondly, the first life form was animal and began as a single cell . Thirdly, the the animal needed to adapt, or evolve to survive. No account that I have read mentions the evolution of plants or why they would evolve.

Fair or Fact

2011-02-26T02:30:00.000-08:00

There is one truth to life and that is that it isn't fair. I was born in America while someone else was born in Haiti. I was born to middle class parents while Paris Hilton was born into a multi-millionaire family. Some people spent thirty years in the military and some people die shortly after enlisting.

One can spent hours and days and probably months and even years listing the inequities of living and I doubt there would be much of an argument against that fact. Sometimes a solution to a situation makes sense but it reality is a bad idea. The bible says "There is a way that seemth right unto men"

The cruise liner suffers a big tear in its side and is taking on water quickly and soon will sink. The damage has left some of the life boats unusable so some will have to fend for themselves in the water while others can attempt to save themselves in a lifeboat. Life's not fair but that is the way it is. The captain of the ship, in a long standing tradition of decency commands , after issueing the order to abandon ship, that women and children be given access to the life boats first.

But that isn't fair. Why should one person be shown favoritism over another, one be given opportunities that is denied another? Giving preference to the women and children lessen the possibilities that any will survive. That's just not fair and is discrimitory.

In sports women can try out for the men's team but men cannot play on a women's team. The reasons are obvious but one can claim that is separate but equal and that policy has been shown not to be fair. We still discriminat because of size and strength based on the gender as a whole but make exceptions for some who shown exceptional ability, like Michelle Wie playing with the men. But no matter how old and bad Tiger Woods gets at golf, he will never be allowed to play on the ladies tour.

In order to form a society in which members of that society can live and work together and protect themselves, humans have set up governments and laws and traditions. Some cremonies and laws aew unique to a particular group but some traditions and practices are universal. Marriage between men and women is one of institutions that is universal.

It seems that some people think that not allowing people of the same sex to be united in marriage is discrimitory, it really isn't. I know, to man it seemth right that all who want to be married shuld be allowed, but it really isn't.

Asshole

2011-02-23T22:35:00.000-08:00

Google asshole in wikileaks and you will be directed to an article about the Gadhafi family.

How quaint.

Everything is wrong

2011-02-23T00:06:00.000-08:00

I take a medicine to make me urinate and one to make me stop. It seems all my medical conditions cause sexual dysfunction and all the treatments make the condition worse. I am suppose to eat certain types of food to help in treating one condition but those foods aggravate another medical issue.

I am suppose to eat more fruits and vegetables and avoid sweets but artificial sweetener aggravates one condition I have as does dairy products, citrus fruits, coffee and tomato products. Seven of the ten foods to avoid are among my favorite foods, like hot sauce. Hot sauce adds flavor and studies have shown that adding hot sauce to ones food helps reduce caloric intake, which is good for people like me, but is on a list of foods that aggravate my medical ailment.

One kind of food that lowers my cholesterol raises my blood pressure.

Damage to ones body starts when a person is young and is a slow process that takes years. At the time it seemed that thetre was plenty of time for my body to adjust and but after one starts to sufferm they wish they could undo what they have done.

But the truth is, we only live in the moment. The past doesn't seem real any more and the future is just a dream. Now is the only reality.

Proof

2011-02-18T00:48:00.001-08:00

Several years ago one of the bloggers on Randolph is Talking told me he could prove evolution was true and set out to give me his proof. After several pages, he quit, saying he believed it to be true but he just couldn't offer anything that made it sound as if it was even remotely true.

Some people deny the existence of God and the bible never attempts to offer ahy proof. From the very first sentence, the scriptures speak of God as existing just as we would speak of our father, mother, sibling or spouse as existing. We never think we have to prove something we know to be true.

The bible does spent much time in forcasting the birth and character of Jesus Christ and Hebrews offers proof of the deity of Jesus. One of the witnesses to the deity of Christ is God the Holy Father Himself. In order to be a witness, one would have to exist and God, being who He is, would have to be believed and that's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Oh! Me!

2011-02-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

WHY I'M DEPRESSED

Over five thousand years ago Moses said to the children of Israel , ‘Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land.’

Nearly 75 years ago (when Welfare was introduced) Roosevelt said, ‘Lay down your shovels, sit on your asses, and light up a Camel, this is the Promised Land.’

Today, Congress has stolen your shovel, taxed your asses, raised the price of Camels and mortgaged the Promised Land!

I was so depressed last night thinking about Health Care Plans, the economy, the wars, lost jobs, savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc . . . I called a Suicide Hotline. I had to press 1 for English. I was connected to a call center in Pakistan ... I told them I was suicidal. They got excited and asked if I could drive a truck......

Squares

2011-02-17T02:22:00.000-08:00

Squares and protests seem to go together. Russian has its Red Square, China its Tenanmen Square, Egyptsprotests took place in its square and the protestin Bahrain is being held in a square.

Maybe dictatorships and oppresive governments should look into banning squares or calling them rectangles, cirles, or open air spaces.

In this country, squares arein the news often. In Newy York City, it seems most important events celebrated by the masses occurs in Time Square.

Silican

2011-02-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

I discovered a new word today and I determined that its meaning is a person with a lazy mind. The person is not necessarily undeducated or inflicted with a learning disability but is just too lazy to bother either learning something or finding the answer to something, even if the answer in convenient to be found.

The word came to me today when a co-worker wrote silican to let me know which sausage was Scilian. He used all rhe correct letters and the correct number of letters. He does not have a learning disability. He is just too lazy and stubborn to learn or to bother looking at the sign or checking the scales or price book for the correct spelling.

Feel free to use the work, silican.

Irrational behaviour

2011-02-16T01:38:00.000-08:00

Mubarak resigns and some poke fun at him for being weak. Maybe he was sick and old and had exercised good sense like we wish other people would. Or would his detractors prefer the Iranian reaction: to shoot protesters, or perhaps the Chinese method of running them over with tanks, or Russia with their labor camps.

It seems that the middle eastern countries are made of of war lords and ethic factions that only cooperate as a country through force and if the ruthless dictator in charge is ousted then the factions break up and killing begins.

Watching Iranians, and Iraqis, and others from that area behave, there is no way to convince me that Islam is a religion of peace and it is only the extremists who cause problems. Eighty percent of Egyptians want strict Muslim law, according to news reports broad casted during the peaceful revolt, which is the kind of law that encourages all the behaviour we consider irrational.

That area of the world is becoming more unstable every year. Of course they can live in peace if they could destroy the United States of America and Israel, or least that is what they claim. It is our fault that the Begalis and Punjabs could not get along, the the Sunnis warred with everyone else in Iraq.

War and violence is not the way to change people minds. True, being held captive will make a man compliant for an uncertain amount of time but given the opportunity he will revolt. Jihad is a failed policy just like our war effort has been.

Maybe Mubarak was sick and old and now depressed but maybe he was the only one would exhibited rational behaviour in the last ten years, at least.

Valentines Poem to my wife

2011-02-14T03:56:00.000-08:00

I have no flowers or candy
No fancy dinner for two
But I do have a joy in my heart
That tells me my love belongs to you

I made that uplast night.

It's true.

Confusing

2011-02-13T01:34:00.000-08:00

The Mosaic Law stated that if you didn't work neither would you eat and taught us to love one another and our neighbor as ourselves. Far right wing conservatives would have us believe that welfare programs should be eliminated and most people are leeches living off the government while liberals we are all entitled to an equal chance at life and should share and share alike. Didn't our parents teach us this when we were kids?

I really can't believe that God taught one group of people one way to live and another group a totally different way. For example, my neighbor next door is struggling to survive. He is a hard working man in his seventies living off a little bit of social security. From time to time I loan him a little money. Ten dollars for food, $20.00 for a load of wood to burn. I'm sure he wants to repay me and it would be nice but I don't expect to ever see the money again. My relationship with a good neighbor is far more important than money.

One the other hand, I have some friends that have been struggling to better themselves. The lady had been a crack-addicted street prostitute in Greensboro and is now a married woman off drugs and off the street. It's tough finding a job when one has a background like hers and I honor her struggle. I gave her moral support, some furniture and provided her with guidance with some problems she faced.

However when she asked for my monetary help because she was about to have her power disconnected I had to say no.

Why would I help a neighbor and not a friend?

Simple: My neighbor is a good man, a hard working man, that is doing is best to support himself. My friend, on the other hand, has no drivers license and no car insurance yet owns a car and drives, has quit or been fired from every job she has had , has twice attempted to sue her former employers, and still keeps in contact with the girls still on the streets and her husband is an alcoholic and I have suspected that perhaps the two sell a few pills now and then to supplement their income.

Americans are charitable people. I don't mind helping a neighbor in need but it upsets me to be forced to help someone that just wants a handout. My neighbor comes up and gives me a hand from time to time in my yard. He once loaned me his lawn mower when mine quit half way through my mowing task and while I was finishing cutting the grass he took my mower and had it repaired. He tilled my garden last year and has helped me on my pond, given me rocks and shared from his garden.

I have to admit my friends helped me move into my new house several years ago
but one still gets the feeling the friendship is only as deep as my pockets. Like the couple you were visiting the church. One Sunday night they announced to the church they had decided that our church would become their permanent church home and would attend no where else. Later in the week they asked to borrow $500,00 from the church and when their request was denied, they have no been back.

The good Samaritan went way beyond the call of duty to help someone he was expected to despise but I'm sure if the same man kept going out and getting drunk and ending up in the same situation, even the Good Samaritan woud say enough is enough.

I contribute to charities, give to the church and pay my taxes but I am a poor working man and when helping my friends and neighbors becomes a reoccuring theme and a burden on my wife and I rhen I will have to say no.

I'm sure Moses would have saw to it that a man trying to feed his family that may have broken a leg or arm or suffered an illness received help to see him through his rough time but when a fellow tribesman refused to help himself, the Moses said enough is enough. If you try I'll help but if you don't, then you are on your own.

Many Reasons Why.

2011-02-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

Reasons NOT to attend One Way Baptist Church in Randleman:

1. The church is small
2. The church building is small
3. The church has few programs
4. The preacher is long winded
5. The preacher is old-fashioned
6. The preacher is not an apologist
7. The preacher is not an expositor
8. The church is not a social club

Reasons to attend One Way Baptist Church:

1. The church is small but wants to grow by adding converts and workers
2. The church has few programs but lots of opportunities
3. The preacher is long-winded and we view it as a good thing as it is inspired preaching.
4. The preacher is old fashioned
5. The preacher is not an apologist
6. The preacher is not an expositor
7. The church has a strong belief in God and trust in Jesus Christ and a love for one another that is rarely found.
8. It is a little light in a dark place. Come early; seating is limited and the services are inspiring.

Dysfunctional Family

2011-02-04T00:39:00.000-08:00

I suppose many families are dysfunctional to some degree and the one I grew up in was no exception. My dad worked long and hard and often stayed late or went back to work not only to earn extra income but to avoid his wife who seemed not to be able to quit talking. Mom was a "housewife" as stay-at-home Moms were called back then who cooked, cleaned and yelled at the kids.

My younger brother turned out to be an upper middle class yuppie conservative with a liberal lifestyle and by older brother turned out to be a middle middle-class working stiff who spends money like there is an endless supply and then complains about being poor, masquerades as a Christian while holding a grudge against one of his brothers for an incident that never occurred, never shares of himself with anyone and wonders why his family isn't closer than it is.

Me? I turned out to be a contradiction also, a hard working stiff full of bright ideas produced by what educators call a brilliant mind but who lacks the confidence in himself to step up and lead. Its hard to overcome the feelings of not being worthy drummed into a person during their childhood.

My father passed away and neither of by brothers have every changed nor will they likely change and Mom still talks too much and would probably be just as mean and hateful as she was when I was a kid but I've learned how to deal with the issues today. As far as my brothers, I hope I can figure out how to deal with them when the time comes when we have to be together. And I suppose it won't be far in the future either as my sister-in-law is ill with cancer and will not survive long.

I hate it for her but she took her chances as a three pack a day smoker so she had her pleasures. Mom is old and getting more feeble now but should have a few more years left in her. I dread the day when I have to deal with my older brother and his five ill bred, illegitimate, heathen children, who are sure to be the first to show up at Mom's house to loot what they can and trash what is left.

Can't have it both ways, can you?

2011-02-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

Scientist amazes me about how they drawn conclusion, what they conjecture, and what they are willing to accept and what they choose to reject.

Last month there was a story about the discovery of a cave or dwelling place at which was discovered a dog bone in a fire pit. The conclusion of the matter was that man had domesticated dogs much earlier than previously believed and that man
raised dogs as a food source.

Now the truth could have been that a man discovered the rotting remains of an animal that had been killed or died of natural causes and decided to burn the remains so he could sleep or live in a peaceful and less smelly environment.

It is common among some peoples to burn the bodies of their dead so if we were to find bones in a fire pit are we to assume the inhabitants were cannibals?

On the other hand, a book describes an ancient city in great detail and an archaeologist happens to discover remains of that city in the place and time that the book says it existed and from the way it was built it fits the books described to a T. But because the entire city was not unearthed some scientist reject the city as being the one in the book.

People are willing to accept one wild story based on scant data even though there is more likely many explanations for the event discovered and yet are eager to reject another that has almost a certainty of being true because the entire thing does not exist.

What about scientific polls which use sampling of people to project a whole range of truths? These samplings have been shown to hold true for the whole. To discovered what is probably 25% to 40% of an ancient city that conforms to a description of it is probably that city but is rejected by many as not being conclusive enough while one dog bone in one fire pit is enough to "prove" than man raised dogs for food many hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.

I believe what has happened is that one group is excited about their discovery and makes up a good story to make their discovery seem much more significant than it probably is while another group rejects a theory that is probably a fact because it cotridicts what they believed prior to the discovery.

Science, sonetimes is as much about egos as it is facts.

Trouble in paradise

2011-01-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes even the best of people can get dicouraged and those who care just can't seem to get through to them. It happens in the best of families between parents and their teenaged children and it happens other places too and in happens in places and to people one would never expect.

But sometimes it takes the words of strangers to bring home the truth, love, and caring people can have towards one another. And sometimes, that is all it takes is the kind and understanding word that lets one know that maybe things are okay.

I finally won

2011-01-29T16:25:00.000-08:00

Last spring I was headed to the mountains to visit my property in Old Fort when a passenger in an SUV started throwing cans at my vehicle. I was on the phone with the highway patrol when the SUV exited off the highway onto the exit where the patrol station is located. The passenger then exited the SUV at the stop sign and attacked my car with his fist.

Finally the Morganton police showed up and while I was talking with them, the police told the other people to leave. I couldn't believe it. I then discovered I had locked my keys in my car with the engine running.

Not to worry, I called my auto club and was told they had a locksmith on the way. Thirty minutes later my auto club called and informed me the locksmith woyuld not be coming and I was on my own.

I ended up having to break a window to get back into my car and I thought it only right that the auto club reinbursement up to the amount that they would have had to fork out for the locksmith, especially since they had erred in leaving me stranded 130 miles from home.

They admitted they had erred in handling the situation and said to send them the bill. I did and they refused to pay it claimming I did not have the spare tire replacemnt option on my policy. It didn't matter who I contacted, from service reps, to the president, to the council that oversees the entire operation to public relations, I got no positive feedback. Most often I was ignored and if I received a response, it was always about the spare tire thing.

The anual membershee dues are coming due and we received the billin the mail. I asked my wife to call and ask for a free year to compensate us for having to replace the window on the car. "Nooo! we can't possible do that" AARP responded. Maybe we can give you partial credit but we can't give you a whole year free."

A year is only $56.00.

Three days later, I received a call saying we would be receiving a check for $200.00 for the cost of the window I had to replace.

They should have done that to begin with. I'm sure many people have read all the negative comments I posted about AARP auto club and I can not undo what they have read.

I'm glad they finally did the right thing in the end though.

I bet you care now

2011-01-29T15:26:00.000-08:00

I asked a fellow writer to help me with my first book and was turned down because my subject was no a popular one. "You have to write about things or people that others care about" I was told. "No one cares about prostitutes".

I suppose she was right, unless. of course, the prostitute happens to be involved with someone famous, like the governor of New York. I have found that people told care enough to even be mildly interested in finding ways to break the cycle of drugs and incarceration.

I have discovered that some of the girls that prostitute themselves do so in spite of their families and their background and there seems nothing that anyone did or could do that would make any difference. Then there are others that seemed to never have had a change to be anything but what they are and just a little care and encouragement could make the biggest difference.

Then there are others who find their way out and make something out of their lives, sometimes spectacularly. Now it seems one who did so has been outed by Kitty Wells who writes unauthorized biographies of famous people. Shockingly real, one of the worlds richest and most influential women was a former prostitute.

What's New with Obama

2011-01-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

"Pleading for unity in a newly divided government, President Barack Obama implored Democratic and Republican lawmakers to rally behind his vision of economic revival for an anxious nation, declaring in his State of the Union address Tuesday night: "We will move forward together or not at all."

The idea is the same. Two years ago Obama was touting bi-partisianship and imploring Republicans to do things his way and now he is still imploring that everyone should share HIS vision.

Honestly, I am one of the poor people and his ideas are to my personal benefit. I have already received the new home buyers tax credit (and I wasn't aware such a thing existed when I purchased my house). When he talks about sharing the wealth I am one of the people you have to share with.

A little extra income sures makes a big difference in my life. Believe it or not, I am actually paying less for my house than I did in rent for the tiny country apartment so buying the house was not a burden by any means. I do not mind collecting money that I earned. Veterans benefits I believe I earned the right to collect on them To this date, the only two I have used was the education one and the one for a VA housing loan.

I served four years in the US Navy, with 36 months of overseas duty (not counting Pueto Rico) and two tours of duty in a war zone. I don't think it unfair to believe that I should be able to receive medical benefits if those ailments are connected to my service.

The truth is, I didn't earn the stimulus check issued by the Bush government nor the housing tax credit give by Obama. I don't want free medical care. I've seen how people act when they see the word free. Instead of being grateful, many people try to figure out how to game the system and eventually it will become a curse to me instead of a blessing. Any time you do something nice for people, some will try to take advantage of you.

No, I think Obama needs to get off his high horse, as my daddy used to say, and stop expecting everyone to see the wisdom of following Obama blindly. maybe he should just take time to listen to the concerns of the other side and then maybe Congress could find a way out of the mess that our government has lead us in to.

Missing

2011-01-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

The man sat in his usual pew, third back from the front on the right hand side when one enters the church. He looked over to his left where another family had taken their seat for years now and the seat was empty. It had been empty for several years now and other people have taken their turns sitting there. Even today, even though someone else occupied that seat, to him it was still empty.

A bond had been broken, a fellowship denied, a lonliness taking its place. he was glad others were coming and that the church, especially in these difficult times, was growing. Still, he missed the family that had sat there.

He wished that he had spoken to them when they did come.

See you in church Sunday

Science versus God

2011-01-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

If evolution is fact does that mean there is no God? I can neither prove nor disprove the existance of God but I have not been convinced that evolution exists either. To me, it just seems totally unlikely that a whole species could replace itself with something different. Maybe one or two creatures within a species would change and then slowly gain an advantage and eventually replace the less evoled self but the evidence discovered so far does not suggest that.

The best evidence in nature of evolution is an animal will change color to help in survive but perhaps the animal had the ability to do so prior to the need to do so.

But even if evolution is a fact, it would not prove God does not exist but only serve to show that He is even more wonderous than anyone could ever have imagined.

See you in Church.

Baseball

2011-01-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

I am really enjoying the tapes my son gave me for Christmas about baseball. It's great to explore the history of the game and to learn the personalities of some of the old players, managers and innovators of the game.

Growing up I played a lot of sports. I played football and ran the mile on the track team as well as playing baseball. I remember my first track meet. I really had no training but was drafted by the coach after my performance on "field day", an event in which all the students were required to entire at least three events. I choose pull-ups, the softball throw, and the mile run. I finished second in pull-ups and was leading in the softball throw until a much bigger boy made his toss and beat me by three yards. I won my heat in the mile run, beating one of the track stars who ran that event on the track team.

When I ran my first race at College Park Junior High, I didn't not know about pacing myself and gave out at the end of the third leg and was soon passed by all the other runners. I wanted to give up when all the other runners had finished and I still had a hundred or so yards to go. The fans encouraged me to finish so I did to a cheering crowd. It felt great.

I did some amazing things playing football, especially considering I was a little fellow back then. I was especially good at kick-off and punt returns and my aggressive running style made me a hard man to tackle but as the other players grew and I didn't it proved to be a more painful experience than I cared to endure.

To some, baseball seems a slower and more subdued game than football but I find that true only if one views the game as a whole rather than concentrating on individual battles, defensive posturing, and strategies.

Most sports play not only against another team but also against the clock and often times a game seems foolish when it becomes obvious that the losing team cannot possible win, even if the team that is ahead goes home but the game still goes on because there is time left on the clock. That is the height of boredom to me.

In baseball, it does not matter how far behind one team is they always have a chance to win. As long as they do not make three outs, an inning can last forever. The game is simple yet intricately difficult at the same time.

My Dad and his three sons played backyard football for five years in a vacant lot beside the house and once Dad understood the rules of the game, he and I never lost to my two brothers until the very last time we played. He had gotten too old to move quickly and I had grown too fat to run.

It was fun but since my two brothers played together, I believe that had much to do with the strained relationship among us. My two brother remained close but I have always been left out of the loop.

Baseball, on the other hand, forged lasting memories from the earliest days from playing cow pasture ball in the nurseries in Longview, NC where my older brother, because of a speech impediment, was call a swoosh hitter to the end of my baseball career when, in much pain, I asked the coach to remove me from the game.

I played sand lot ball, little league, pony league, Babe Ruth League, and on school teams and outlaw baseball. My Dad would gather up a bunch of kids and we would travel from ball field to ball fields in search of other people playing. We would stop and challenge them to a game. Eventual this practice led to an organized league with firm schedules and even a state tournament in Kings Mountain, NC.

Such things didn't happen in basketball, track, football, or any other sport that I am aware of.

Unlike many other sports where the best teams can go all season and dominate every team they play like winning all 12 or 15 footballs games or going 32-0 in basketball, no such domination occurs in baseball. Over the course of a season, the team with the better players will most likely win the championship but every game is unique. Ever the Mets won forty games their first season.

When one see a man that is six foot five, he is asked "Did you play basketball?' and when you see a big man at over six feet and twohundred and fifty pounds, he is asked "Did you play football?" The is no such look for baseball players. Some professionals have been big men at six-eight and somme have been less than three feet tall.

I think too, that with the opportunity to play a lot more games in one season than in other sports, there is more room for memories.

Of all the sermons my Dad preached, I can remember the title of only one because he preached the same message on the first Sunday of the New Year and I can recall a few, but now many, of the things he said while I was growing up in his home, but my head and heart of full of things he said and did on the baseball field. Baseball was he passion and a way of sharing with his children, a bond that was never broken with his family.

My dream for retirement is to once again to be able to participate in a ball game by being a coach, not for the glory of winning, for life is more about losing than winning, but for the memories the game leaves us with and the reflection of life that the game reveals.

It is the greatest game of all time.

I thought only Paris Hilton talked like this

2011-01-19T03:53:00.000-08:00

"DeGeneres: "The thing that I'm hearing is that Ryan ... I guess there's a competition of who's a bigger diva, you or Ryan."
Lopez: [laughs] "He definitely has so many more shoes than me. I mean, I'm telling you. It's crazy. [laughs] We always have jokes like that because from the very beginning, as soon as everybody knew I was doing the show, it was like we didn't get along. You know, Ryan is my friend. He's a friend of mine and Marc's for like years now. And so it was funny they picked the two of us. but it's fine. We just laugh about it. Everybody knows he has a bigger entourage than I do. It's no secret in the business." [laughs]
DeGeneres: "Yeah, he's a huge diva. He knows it."
Lopez: "I love him and again, we've been having a great time."
DeGeneres: "Well, I can't wait. I'm looking forward to seeing it."

More: The Return of 'American Idol' | Season 10 gallery

Lopez explains why she posed with her kids for Gucci ad:

DeGeneres: "Why did you decide to do it [the Gucci ad] with them? Did they ask to start modeling?"
Lopez: "They're like, 'Mom, hello! Hair and make up!' No. Actually Frida Giannini from Gucci said she was going to launch the Gucci's kids line and they were going to do it in conjunction with a big donation and they were going to do it with UNICEF and would we do it. It was kind of weird because Marc didn't really want to put the babies in an ad or anything like that. And I was just like, if they do it, I'd want to do it with my kids because it is for the kids. That's the connection. That's what makes it real. We don't really parade "

Why is she still talking like a 90's teen-age groupie?

Holy brotherhood, batman

2011-01-19T03:24:00.000-08:00

"BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned Tuesday whether he can be fair to non-Christians.

"Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother," Bentley said Monday, his inauguration day, according to The Birmingham News.

The Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday called Bentley's remarks shocking."

(from a story on Yahoo)

This story is shocking only because the shocked person is a liberal political-correct idealogist.

In orther words, in a non-Christian but a practicioner of another religion would have said the same thing then that would have been okay because that is culture but Christianity isn't culture but pure religion.

I suppose if you are not a Christian you would not understnd the meanings of those words and it is foolishness for me to try and explain the concept to you.

My question then becomes why would one be shocked by a concept they don't understand?

The liberal asks "Can he be fair to people who are not his brothers and sisters?

Well, what did the man say?

If you would just listen maybe the mans statement will give you the answer. He said he wanted all to be his brothers and sisters. he didn'tsay family because family could be father, mothers, son, daughter, cousin, or in-law but a brother and sister are blood relatives and of equal status.

Now if he had siad, "Not everyone is my friend but I want everyone to be my friend" then would that be shocking? I doubt that would be so so why is it shocking that he is looking for a closer relationship than even a friend would be?

If someone is seeking you out to be your brother or sister, he will not get far with the proposal if he is not fair to you.

No, what is shocking is that liberals do not understand that statement "I want everyone to be my brother or sister."

An acid tongue

2011-01-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

I don't watch award shows whether they be for country music, TV, movies, or fan chosen. I did, however, read an article about that British man that hosted an awards show and had used really biting comments, persoanl attacks in some cases, as an excuse for humor. Any smuck can do that.

"Does your girlfriend stay inflated or do you have to blow her up every time?"

See.

That was easy.

It just wasn't nice nor was it funny.

Gracho Marx was funny. He said "If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

Everyone has heard that line though few remember who first said it.

In it's own way it was a nice thing to say.

It was funny.

It isn't easy to come up with good lines like that.

Some people are scum

2011-01-17T03:47:00.000-08:00

Being small often means not being taken seriously, as being somehow vulnerable and less able to take care of one self. Thieves, liars, and scum think that being few in number makes a church desperate, less mature, and easier to take advantage of.

A couple of older folks have been attending on a regular bases but not every week but often enough that they began to feel like one of us. They said that they have been pulled between joining our church or the one at which the ladies son-in-law preaches. Last week the couple announced that their intentions were to attend only One Way and join with us.

During the week they asked the church to give them $500.00 to catch up since they made a mistake in balancing their checkbook. When they were informed that funds were not available to help them, they promptly withdrew their pledge to attend the church and vowed their allegiance elsewhere.

Large churches have their fair share of people wants charity and many people not only believe the church should provide but is duty bound to help. That is not the calling of a church. A church is a group of like-minded believers that meet on a regular bases for knowledge and encouragement so they may carry out their Great Commission. Churches are not social clubs nor are they charitable institutions.

Odds and ends

2011-01-16T02:36:00.000-08:00

As I get older, I have to constantly look for ways to keep up at work. I use several knives so I always have one handy that is sharp. I keep a set at each block so I don't have to waste time carrying my knives from one block to another, and I am always on the lookout for little tricks that will enable me to keep up the pace.

So far, I am able to maintain my speed and quality that enable me to produce a superior product in an above average time but it doesn't come without its toll. Besides my drawn up fingers, I have a constant ache in my right shoulder from tendinitus, and my body hurts in many places.

I migrate to the jobs at work like cutting and wrapping that doesn't require moving much as I navigate slower than the younger fellows. That quicknest that I was know for even just a few years ago is now a thing of the past. Aging changes ones perspectives on life too. External things take on less importance and people, especially family, takes on more.

Shot where

2011-01-15T01:01:00.000-08:00

"A Winston-Salem man who had been in critical condition since Tuesday after being shot in the parking lot"

exactly what part of the body is the parking lot?

I'm sure the writer meant the man was shot while in the parking lot but left an entirely different meaning to the statement than was intended.

This seems to be such a common mistake.

Power tools

2011-01-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Tools, especially power tools,I believe are essential to a mans well being, giving a man a sense of power to change his environment by building or tearing down or reshaping things. I wonder if there is a coralation between the violence towards women and the number of power tools a man ownbs and is able to use?

Maybe someone can get a grant to study that and if they do, maybe they will reward me with a power tool.

Political rhetoric

2011-01-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

Some intellectuals are now debating political rhetoric after the shooting of Gabby Giffords. Some people have gone so far as to place the blame on Sarah Palin because she once showed some politicians in what appeared to be gun sights.

One of Palins aids foolish claimed the cross hairs were those of a surveyors tool and not a gun sight. Such false claims only serves to add fuel to the condemnation of the ads by acknowledging that there may have been something incendiary about the ads, while any reasonable person would not think that way.

No one in their right mind would take that ad to mean that those candidates should be killed any more than the phrase "thrown under the bus" would incite anyone to run another person over with a large vehicle.

We have come to the point that each party thinks the other party is full of crazy people that are unreasonable and just totally out of their mind.

I have, on occasion, listened to another persons reasons for holding to a particular viewpoint totally different from mind and was able to see how they felt the way they did, and in some cases have changed by position on an issue after learning things I had not thought of before.

JFK said "Let us ask what we can do for our country" which is the opposite of what most think the Democratic party is about. Quite often A Republican viewpoint will be adopted by the Democrats and bitterly opposed by the Republicans and sometimes it is the other way around.

I can understand why some women think abortion should be legal and I also can understand the opposite position. I should be able to disagree with another on an issue without being labeled a lunatic.

Sarah Palins gun sight ad is no more inciteful than Obamas promise to "kill then at the polls" and neither statement is an endorsement of either hate nor violence.

To now want to provide a secret service agent to every candidate or congress person is over reaction and beyond our means to pay for. Adequate security measures can be found that would do a much better job than a secret service agent could do.

Yes, I believe we need to be more respectful of each other and more willing to talk and to earnestly listen to the opinions of others and maybe some of the political rhetoric needs to be toned down, but we can't be placing blame on people for what is a totally unrelated incitdent.

As far as the Arizona shooter, it seems he has had a problem with the lady politician for almost four years now, long before anyone ever heard of Sarah Palin.

Al Gore

2011-01-11T00:42:00.000-08:00

Mr. Gore, please find a cure for Global Warming as I am so damn cold I'm thinking of moving further south.

The Washington Post and the Civil War

2011-01-10T23:31:00.000-08:00

I don't know why some insist on calling it a civil war when there was nothing civil about it but I can't see why it is necessary to print an article virtually calling Southerns liars and Americans stupid about this time in our nation's history.

Even though southern states attempted to succeed from the union, not all people supported that movement. Remember it was brother against brother, etc. as families split over the issue, one member fighting for the north, another for the south and maybe another wishing not to fight for either side.

That was ended 150 years ago, the slaves were freed, and I, for one, would like to move on. Maybe we should just leave out that part of American history and one day no one will ever know that parts of our nation were enslaved and that we fought a war over it.

It seems that some segments of society will never let southerners forget that their ancestor supported slavery. It isn't any more true that southerns supported slavery than it is that northerners were opposed to it.

If that is true, then why did major league baseball not integrate until the 1950's and we had to have a civil rights movement in the sixties to win equal rights for some Americans?

Throughout our nation's history, we have been marked by hate. Whether it be Jewish people, Irish, Africans, or Chinese, we have found a way to isolate certain people from society.

That is human nature. A sorry part of our nature to be sure, but a nature normal survival instinct that we need to learn to control and not let it control us.

lucky or unlucky

2011-01-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

I suppose luck is just a matter of how one looks at a situation.

True story:

I woke yesterday with a smell of an electrical burn in the house and a faint trace of smoke. It wasn't enough to really tell if it was smoke or not and I was still half-asleep so i didn't give it much thought.

"Maybe the ordor was lingering from something my wife fixed herself the night before," I thought since I retire early anbd she gets home really late. I got up at three, dressed and headed for my Mom's house. When I got home my wife was already gone and the house was cold. I checked the thermostat and it was blank. It would not respond so I checked the circuit breaker and it had been tripped. When my wife got there we called a repairman. It seems the fan had burned out.

The bill was $446.00 which would have left us tapped out of avaiable cash. My had had just received a class action settleman check for $426.00 that very day.

Now is it good luck that the check arrived in time to cover the repair bill or back luck tyhat we had a big repair bill just as we came into some extra money?

what interests people

2011-01-08T05:27:00.000-08:00

Check out news stories and you will eventually notice something interesting about people, besides the fact that an overwhelming number of them cannot write five sentences with out spelling a word incorrectly. I'm not talking about a typo, which I make many because of my crippled fingers, but out and out wrong spellings of words.

No, the odd thing is that if its a sports story there may be 1100 comments but a regular story or important news story gathers 7, 10, maybe up to a hundred.

That goes to show what people are really interested in.

weather

2011-01-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

We just came out of a record breaking summer with temperatures hovering above 95 for what seemed like forever. We have already had four snows on the ground this season at my house with another one expected in the morning and a bigger system hitting the area in a few days.

Do you think we will ever have a normal weather pattern in this area again? It seems it is exrtremely cold, extremely hot, extremely dry, ot usually wet. This weather makes it hard to plan outdoor activities and projects.

Excellent Sermon

2011-01-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

Rev. Charles Garrett should be preaching at a church with 1,000 members. Not one of the modern expository preaching, doctorate demanding congregations of the inter city, prim and proper pious churches of modern America but at a church that wants to grow by winning souls for Christ, where the members want to know and live the truths of the scriptures, who are not frightened by the demands of a loving God but firmly believe in the reality of a risen saviour.

With a congregation that is small, some members out sick and others away doing their Christian duties to the men and women who cannot leave their prisons to seek out the truth for themselves, I was half expecting a sermonet but received the full meal as if I had been only one of hundreds.

That man can preach.

Maybe you are one of those who has a disdain for the old style firm and brimstone preachers and prefer the modern expository style popular among churches today. And there are many good things to say about expository preaching and no, it doesn't have to be fire and brimstone to be enlightening as well as motivational but one can hardly blame the preacher for getting excited in the pulpit when he is talking about what his saviour did for him any more than one can blame a Boston Red Sox fan for getting excited when a Red sox gets a hit while playing thee Yankees, or when their favorite football team scores a last minute touchdown to win the big game.

Someone in the congregation shouts "Amen preacher" and a visitor thinks "This is a bunch of crazy people" and then goes home and paints his face blue in support of the Duke basketball team as they begin play in the March Madness road to the national championship.

Excuse me if I get excited about the things that are really important.

Church Vandalism

2011-01-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

Thursday Dec 30, 2010 someone vandalized the church sign at One Way Baptist Church in Randleman. The church is located on Sunset just off Stout street. I reported a few weeks back that the church was creating a stir in town and I guess this act of vandalism is one way the devil has of fighting back.

Thank you Satan for the church will use this act of childishness to God's advantage, or rather God will use this act of vandalism to the good of the church.

We will say a prayer for the vandals tonight. One day they will be punished whether in this life or another unless they accept Jesus as their saviour then this vile act will be blotted out.
o
I'll see you in church.

can the x-factor beat american idol?

2011-01-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

"Can the X-factor beat American Idol?" asks the headline of a web based story. First of all, I have no idea what an X-factor is and I do not care to know. I will admit I once was a fan of American Idol but I think the talent pool is not of the quality it once was. Another thing about the show is that the most popular and best singer on the show is not always the winner and on at least three occasions one of the losers has gone on to bigger and brighter things than the winner did.

As far as last season, I was unimpressed with the singers I heard on the one show I did watch. I think Ellen Degenerate was a joke for a judge. I don't even like her talk show or whatever she calls it. I know Simon was sarcastic and brutally honest but at least he was honest. Paula Abdul was talented both as a singer and a dancer and she was the cheer leader of the group and admittedly a little strange--okay, a lot strange, but the interaction between the three judges, especially between Paula and Simon was as interesting as the competitors were.

The novelty has worn off, the winners have turned out to be duds for the most part,
and the interaction among the judges has lost its luster. For the second year in a row, I will not be tuning in. I won't be watching the X-Factor either.

Dogs Mercy Tour

2010-12-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

I just finished watching Dog the Bounty Hunter's special on his book signing tour.
Dog was a member of a motorcycle gang and went to prison on a murder charge and when he was released from prison he was determined to make something of his life.

He became very wealthy as a bounty hunter and then gained more wealth and fame from his TV show and now has a book on th Time's best seller list.

Dog realizes he has a special gift from God that enables him to touch people's hearts to make a difference for good in this world and I am glad we have people like him in this world that proves that anyone can become a success. I'm not talking about material things in particular but about achieving worthwhile goals and making ones life meaningful.

When his program first aired I thought it was just a pogram about a colorful character who chased people down for money but Dog is so much more than that. Dog and his wife Beth are special people.

Game show

2010-12-29T03:31:00.000-08:00

A new game show is in the news for screwing a contestant. The show works by giving the contestant a million dollars to begin with and then the contestant bets certain amounts of it on being able to answer a question correctly.

It seems the contstants wagered $800,000.00 on the question "Which came first."

They bet their money on Post-it-notes the the show said the Walkman was the correct answer but it wasn't (maybe).

Some people are claimming the couple was cheated out of their money but the truth is, it's a game and they begZn the show with nothing. They did not lose anything.

If you start with zip and leave with zip, you have lost zip.

You can't cheat a person out of something that wasn't theirs to begin with, especially since that something was yours!

My question is, if the couple were given the million dollars to start the show with, then aren't they libel for the taxes on the money even though they eventual lost the money? In that case, they should be given back the $800,000.00 they lost on that question.

The whole thing seems trite to begin with but it really isn't. If the money, the million dollars, they were given to begin the show with was really theirs to keep or lose, then it becomes income at that point and they owe taxes on it, and it doesn't matter if they lose it in the next 15 or twenty minutes to the people who gave itto them. It is still taxable income.

If the show had gave them the money under the stipulation that they had to play the game, then after they were asked a question the contestants said they refused to bet, could they have taken the million dollars and left? If so, the money is taxable because it is income.

If the answer is no, then they have not lost anything. They had fun.

Shut up and go away.

)

Fair Tax

2010-12-29T02:48:00.000-08:00

Every so often I hear talk of tax reform, making taxes more fair, taxing the rich, lowering taxes, tax increases, redoing or amending the tax code, etc. but nothing new or revolutionary in income tax reform has come along until recently. The new proposal is called the Fair Tax.

The Fair tax really isn't an income tax at all nor is it a sales tax. Under the fair tax all income taxes will be eliminated.

i don't hear commentators mentioning the fair tax when discussing tax reform or analysis debating it. Few people are aware of it and I believe politicians are afraid of it because it takes away so much of their ammunition against the other parties and eliminates much of their power.

For a better understanding of what the fair tax is and how it works, visit Rep. bob Woodalls site at http://www.fairtax.org

Conspiracy theory

2010-12-27T05:52:00.000-08:00

Americans love controversy and conspiracy theories and there is a new one going around about John Wilkes Booth that is being taken seriously enough that plans are being made to exhume his body.

According to descendants, it was Edward Booth who dies in the barn and not John and the killer of Lincoln lived another forty years.

Well maybe it was Edward who killed Lincoln and not John so they got the right man afterall.

Maybe there were two shooters in the book depository in Dallas the day Kennedy was shot. Maybe the second shooter was Jack Ruby.

I hear about the grassy knoll theory but I have never seen a common technique used and that is to trace the shot backwards to determine exactly where the shooter would have had to been to have shot Kennedy from the grassy knoll. maybe if we did we might find the killer or determine that it was impossible for someone to have fired a gun from there or at least fire one unnoticed.

It might have been vitally important to discovery the truth about Lincoln's death and Kennedy's death in the immediate future of their death's but this many years removed -not do important.

Gay Troops

2010-12-26T05:26:00.000-08:00

Now that the old policy anbout gays in the military has been changed, i have reflected on an experience I had while aboard an aircraft carrier in the Gulf off the coast of Vietnam.

It was one day after working sixteen consecutive hours and I just wanted to shower and hit the bunks for some much need rest. After an incident a few days earlier I checked the showers for other people. I wanted to find the showers either full or empty. If there had been just one or two other people I would have waited for another time.

A couple days earlier I was resting in my bunk when another sailor, dressed only in a towel wrapped around his waist, kneeled beside my bunk and inquired if I was heading to the showers. When I looked over at him his privates were exposed to me and he was aroused.

I informed him I wanted to rest first and would shower at a more convenient time.

This afternoon, I just wanted to get my shower and get out before the guy could get me alone.

The showers were empty so I picked a stall and began to shower. In just a minute or so another person entered the shower area and picked the stall next to mine. If the walls of the showe stall had made a complete enclosure things would have been fine but the wall separating the showers had a two or three inchgap. i noticed something protruding into my stall from the stall with the other person in it.

It was his penis.

I quickly finished my shower, grabbed my towel and clothes, dressed wet and toweled off my head once I was back among people.

Once a few weeks later I was working in a docking line where two hundred men were
positioned like a tug of war competition pulling an aircraft carrier up to the dock. While struggling with the weight I felt a hand caressing one of mine. "Surely this isn't what it seems" I thought.

Just a few short weeks later I was discharged from the service and a couple of years later I had just dropped my wife off at work and was coming home when I saw someone sitting on my front porch. It was the same sailor who had tried to entice me aboard the ship.

I let him stay for a couple of days then sent him back to New York, never to hear from him again.

Do I have a problem serving with gays in a military setting? No, I didn't then and I certainly don't have a problem working with gays in civilian life either.

The only time I've had second thoughts about a persons sexual orientation was once I was called out of town on an emergency and the only employees available to go with me were a female and an openely gay man. since we would have been required to spend the night and it certainly would not have been appropriate for the female and I to share a room for the night, I didn't believe it would have been any more appropriate for me to have shared a room with the gay man so I excused both from the trip and handled the situation by myself.

Rightfully so or not so right, that was the decision I made and I believe it to have been the appropriate one. Some allowances have to be made but one has to let the situation dictate whats appropriate.

The military will function just as effciently after the new policy goes into effect as it does now: maybe even better as a percentage of troops can stop living in fear.

Americans should not have to give up their rights, even as a soldier or sailor. No American should have to live in fear of government policy.

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

-- Senator Barry Goldwater: 1964 Republican National Convention,
July 16, 1964 in San Francisco, CA