Loving Or Intolerant?

Are you an Old Testament or New Testament kinda person? Do you think Christians today are confused about the message of the New Testament? Thank you Doonesbury for reminding us.

Senator Pat Roberts - Big Coward

"I am a strong supporter of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and civil liberties, but you have no civil liberties if you are dead." Pat Roberts 2006

Yeah, Democracy is sort of nice except when someone might get hurt. Just do away with warrants and you will be safe from terrorists attacks. Sen. Roberts is a disgrace to the Marine Corps.

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" Pat Henry 1775

Whooping Cough in Saranac Lake

Two confirmed cases of whooping cough in the Petrova Middle School.

Whooping cough is a disease caused by infection with Bordetella pertussis, a gram-negative coccobacillus. The bacteria is transmitted through the air. The time from infection until signs of the disease appear is about 7-10 days. The incidence in 2002 was 3.01/100,000 when 8,296 cases of pertussis were reported. More info on incidence at wrongdiagnosis.

Whooping cough is a toxin mediated disease. B. pertussis produces pertussis toxin (pertussigen) and adenylate cyclase-hemolysin among other toxic substances.

More lay information about Whooping cough can be found here. At this website you can even hear the typical 'whooping' cough sounds made by an infected child and compare it to a non-whooping cough of a coughing uninfected child.

Opus Dei - A Cult?

Had to include a graphic of Rick Santorum (R-Opus Dei)

There is a huge fuss over the role Opus Dei plays in Dan Brown's novel (and now movie) 'The Da Vinci Code'. But what exactly is Opus Dei and how did it come about.

Opus Dei (the work of God) is a lay Catholic organization that was founded in 1928 by Spanish Catholic prienst Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer (now Saint Josemaria). There is a lot of religious 'politics' involved with St. Josemaria and Opus Dei. First of all, Opus Dei was made a 'personal prelature' by Pope John Paul II. This means that Opus Dei enjoys autonomy from local bishops, a privilege no religious order enjoys. As far as St. Jose, well he was put on a fast track to sainthood. During the beatification process some witnesses had questions about Father Escriva suitability for sainthood. Father Escriva was accused of having a bad temper, that he was cruel, that he was vain, that he was close to Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, that he was pro-Nazi and that he was so dismayed by the Second Vatican Council that he even traveled to Greece with the idea that he might convert to the Orthodox religion. He apparently did not care for Pope John XXIII. He has been criticized for his attitudes towards women. Others wondered whether Opus Dei is a cult and asked whether they use 'brainwashing' techniques to recruit members?

Though he doesn't believe Opus Dei is a cult, Father James LeBar, who has been the Archdiocese of New York's consultant on cults for some 20 years told ABCNEWS.com that some of Opus Dei's practices resemble those used in cults: "Yes, because they do use practices that were prevalent in the 1950s in all Catholic orders, [though] many of the orders have done away with them, the close supervision ... " he says.

Pope John Paul II supposedly wasn't interested in hearing criticisms of Father Escriva. More about Father Escriva can be found here.

Opus Dei is controversial enough that there is even a dedicated 'Opus Dei Awareness Network'. ODAN claims Opus Dei even has a forbidden book list. Authors such as Sinclair Lewis, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, John Updike and Allen Ginsberg may not be read unless permission is obtained from the Prelate of Opus Dei in Rome.

What Is It?

High Tech Cheating

Photograph your test questions with your cell phone camera and send it to your buddy. Your buddy looks up the answers and text messages them back to you. Here. Kids today have all the advantages.

Religion

I'm currently reading the 'Atheist Manifesto'. Get your own copy of this interesting article here.

My favorite religion blog? Cristo Lumen. Please visit this religious liberal blog at least once, it really is good. You will learn fun stuff about 'God Casting', beer saints, and of course the Da Vinci Code. Hey, I'm an atheist and I really enjoy this blog.

Is Bush the anti-Christ? This is a really good article! Here.

Miller classifies Bush Christians as modern Pharisees—the allegedly proud, rigid, legalistic hypocrites John the Baptist called "a generation of vipers." "The worst condemnation that Jesus has for anybody, I mean the worst, is for Pharisees," says Miller. "If you asked Jerry Falwell who the Pharisees are in our society, they can't point anybody out." There are no mirrors in Bush's church.

I'll buy that for a dollar.

Yup

Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call on you to do a service for me.

Does GW Look Insecure?

A face only a mother could love.

Bush's Immigration Speech

It appears most conservatives didn't care too much for it. If you can stomach it you can go here to the Minuteman Blog Central and see what they think of the speech.

Bush only promised to reduce immigration not stop it 100%. There is only one way Bush could satisfy this group. Some illegal immigrants must be shot while attempting to sneak into the country.

Mark Levin of the National Review thinks "This is pure idiocy...."

You could go here and read what Michell Malkin has to say. I wouldn't recommend it though because you would have to disinfect your entire computer after you were finished at that website.

Assrocket at Powerline says "He had his chance and he blew it. He should have given the speech I told him to".

Oh yeah, you couldn't find a better bunch of Bush asskissers than these guys, but now they are through with Bush.

This from people who have been kissing Bush's ass for the last 6 years. Et tu Brute?

Science Questions - Related to Hygiene Hypothesis

1. Name the organ.
2. Guess the infections for each picture.
3. Which picture shows less gross pathology?

Rumor Has It.....

That Karl Rove has been indicted. Here, here and here. But all the rumors seem to originate at Truthout.org.

Byron York says rumors are greatly exagerated.

Bush On Illegal Immigrants

Whatever his plans are, the Minutemen are not buying it. Their biggest concern? Will the National Guard troops be armed?

The big question: WILL THE PRESIDENT SEND THE NATIONAL GUARD TO THE BORDER UNARMED?

Jerks.

G.W. Bush and the Constitution of the USA

I was watching 'West Wing' last night and something inside me felt odd when I heard the new 'President' recite the "Oath of Office". You can read the Oath here. I guess I had forgotten that the Oath of Office is precisely stated in the Constitution in Article II, Section 1.

The question that comes to mind is, 'has G.W. Bush failed to keep his oath of office to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the USA'? We all now know that, as President, you can be impeached if you lie about getting a blow job, so that seems to be the standard for impeachment. I would argue that Bush 2 has broken his oath of office numerous times. But why listen to me - a godless, blue state, commie liberal who 'hates America'?

I was somewhat surprised to see that the Cato Institute agrees with me, although those guys are a bunch of 'anything goes, just leave me alone, libertarians'. They actually have a document called "Power Surge: The Constitutional Record of George W. Bush". You can order a free copy (if they hadn't run out) or download the pdf here. The authors of this document are Gene Healy who thought President Clinton was an 'out of control Imperial President' and Timothy Lynch, who felt the same about Pres. Clinton as Mr. Healy. But, compare what Clinton did with what Bush has done. There really is no comparison.

At least good ol boy George has finally kept his pledge to be a 'uniter, not a divider'. He has finally united liberals and conservatives against him.