Darn these GLOBAL WARMING FREAKS!  I’m cold.  I like warm weather.  This has proved to be a very chilly spring with threats of snow this weekend.  I just wish they would shut up and let the place warm up.  Now, if they keep it up, I’m going to spend my summer shivering.   When I checked the temp around 11AM it was 64.  As I am writing this it is 5:30 and 41!  It is overcast enough to point to snow up on the higher peaks.  Don’t you just love Global Warming?

 

Miss Piggy is way too thin.  She’s finally off her meds.  She let me hold her today for the first time in ages.  Maybe she’s thin because she is growing.  I just noticed how the ‘calico’ marking on her face are changing.  She’s still tiny. 

 

I AM NOT WORTHY

Remember the old Mike Meyers SNL “We’re not worthy”? I’ve been thinking about that line for the past few days.  I don’t like going to Good Friday services.  I like Maundy Thursday even less.  I know we are to mediate and pray on the sacrifice of the only perfect person who ever existed, but this year I’ve had enough of loss and heart-ache.  I am fully aware it is because of my sinful nature that Christ gave His life – the ultimate act of love.  Right now there is so much suffering I can’t handle the thought of my Christ dying the way He did.  I have no illusions about my horrible nature.  I am a moody, nasty, selfish bitch.  I want everything my way.  I am bossy and opinionated,  with a hair-trigger temper.  The only reason I am decent is because of love for my Savior.  I cringe when we are forced to ‘celebrate’ His death.  So many forms of organized religion turn it into a pageant, a passion play to be enjoyed and critiqued.

 

Nothing is farther from the truth, though.  I can’t imagine the anguish He must have felt that Thursday evening.  Here He was, the only human to ever have absolute knowledge of his fate and He faced it like a man.  Maybe the way Christ accepted His death is the ultimate expression of courage and manliness.  

 

Billy Graham sees Christ as the ultimate man. 

 

 “..He also pointed out the manliness of Christ, who "was every inch a 'He-man.'" In fact, "Christ was probably the strongest man physically that ever lived.  He could have been a star athlete on any team.  He was a real man with His strong shoulders [and] squarish jaw."(54)  As for Graham, he was "fearless" when he faced a crowd.(55) …”

 

Thomas Hughes, who penned “The Manliness of Christ” was very influential in the life of Endicott Peabody.  It because the basis of Peabody’s educational theory of ‘Muscular Christianity’, of whom he felt Wyatt Earp the perfect example.  (Sorry, you know I would get Wyatt Earp in there somewhere, didn’t you?)

 

Christ knew exactly and precisely what His fate was, but never flinched.  After that night of agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, He stood up like a man and faced his fate, unflinching.  He did not strike back.  He did not rant and rail.  He did not call for his lawyer and threaten to sue everyone involved.  Now I know why I don’t like Good Friday services.  They portray Christ as victim, but He was not.  He was the Master of His own fate. 

 

He exemplified the characteristics of:

Courage

Honor

Love

Kindness

Decency

Hope

Faith

Strength

Forgiveness

Friendship

 

(Yikes, sounds like the Fruits of the Spirit, doesn’t it?)

 

Christ died that day for me and for my sins, but, death could not confine Him.  He rose from the grave and set an example for all of us.  There is life after death. There is something beyond the now.  I don’t know about you, but I think striving to spend that beyond the now with Christ is the only truly great objective of my life.  Everything else is just a pale imitation. 

 

Naturally I would like to make political commentary here, but I cannot.  To do so would take away from the above.

 

I do wonder though, when we discuss the ‘suffering’ of Christ, are we demeaning Him and discounting His abject honor and courage?  Summering is such an understandable word, especially today.  Honor and Courage are a little different.  Christ was God made Man.  He was Brave, Courageous, and Bold.  He held his shoulders back, and walked forward to His fate.  He did not have the luxury of not knowing what was going to happen.  He knew every single thing that was going to happen.  He did not flinch.  Yes, he suffered, horribly.  BUT – he suffered a commoner’s death, the death of a conquered rebel or a slave.  He did not die the way St. Paul would later die, as a Roman citizen with the honor or being beheaded.  He died like the lowest of the low.  The King of Kings allowed himself to die the lowest of deaths.  He could have called down the thunder and the lightening and refused, but He could not do that.  The Father, The Son, the Holy Spirit – Christ died the most humble death possible for His time.  And, I am going to say something that people will find horrendous – He died a very common death for His time.

 

You see, when you are the King of Kings, you can become the lowest of the low.  It takes honor and courage.  Christ had more honor and courage than any man who ever lived.  Christ knew how to forgive.  In forgiving is triumph.  His forgiveness paved the way for MY salvation. When we fail to keep our heads, to blame everyone for things that we have done and cannot walk forward like grown ups, if we claim to be followers of Christ, we demean him.  In honor and courage there is triumph.  In forgiveness there is eternal life.

 

IF

By Rudyard Kipling

 

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

 

 

PET FOOD RECALL

It keeps on getting worse, if you ask me.  Every time one of my cats or Rumsfeld even cough I worry.  There is a blog set up to memorialize the littlest victims.  Their stories sound so much like Georgie.

Another site has even more information, and much of it is not good. Anderson Cooper has discovered the melamine added to the wheat gluten may have been deliberate, to increase profit.  

“JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day would end with a provocative question: Was the pet food accidentally contaminated. Or was it deliberate?  But it began with another recall, this time, an Alabama company that makes dog biscuits. It received some of the suspect wheat gluten containing a chemical known as melamine, believed toxic to dogs and cats. The FDA said recall of the products manufactured by Sunshine Mills pet food company was delayed, because Sunshine apparently got its Chinese wheat gluten from a middleman distributor that had purchased the wheat gluten from another U.S. supplier, a company called ChemNutra.  DR. STEPHEN F. SUNDLOF, DIRECTOR, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION CENTER FOR VETERINARY MEDICINE: So, it was a little circuitous route, took us a little longer to trace that all down. But now we believe that we have accounted for all the wheat gluten that came from China, that shipment that is -- that is high in melamine, that we have accounted for all of it that has come into this country. And -- and, by the way, it all went into pet food. JOHNS: Meaning it did not enter the human food supply chain. How and where the melamine got into the wheat gluten is still a mystery. But the investigation took a new turn today, when the FDA told CNN it is looking whether there could have been a profit motive for deliberately introducing melamine into the wheat gluten. In other words, it might not have been an accident and may have been about money.  That's right. Until now, the assumption has been that this was an accidental contamination, because melamine is used in plastics and pesticides, and has no business in pet food. However, the chemical could potentially be used to raise protein levels in the gluten, which could increase the price or make it easier to sell.  SUNDLOF: That's -- that's one of the theories that we have. In fact, that's one of the ones that we are pursuing, because, as you indicated, adding something that would increase the protein content of the wheat gluten would make it more valuable. So, that's -- that's a distinct possibility. But it's -- it's only one theory at this time.  JOHNS (voice-over): All the companies, including the company in China, have denied adding melamine to the wheat gluten in the pet food.  The FDA also that the number of pet food complaints it's received since the start of the scare is now at 12,000, the volume it would normally get over a two-year period. In announcing the latest recall, Sunshine Mills said, no dog illnesses or deaths have been traced to its dog biscuits, which contain 1 percent or less of wheat gluten. Pet owners aren't the only ones watching. Plans for hearings in the Senate have now firmed up. SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: What's happened over the last several weeks is unacceptable. What we have found is a threat to the lives of pets, dogs and cats, across America, a threat that should have been minimized and maybe even avoided. JOHNS: When asked whether the worst is over, the FDA says it thinks so. The number of dead pets as a result of all this remains unclear. Officially, FDA only confirmed 16, though the real number is likely to be much higher..”.

IMMIGRATION

Maricopa County’s Joe Arpaio has gone up in my estimation.  In other words, he is enforcing the law and is not racist, and admitted if the immigration laws were changed, he would enforce the law.  I think this is important because in that Clash of the Titanic Egos last night  between Geraldo and O’Reilly, I think O’Reilly truly hurt himself.  He came across as a racist.  I was wrong about Arpaio.  I admit I was wrong.  He is the son of immigrant Italian parents and doesn’t appear to have an anti-Hispanic bias.  But O’Reilly – he was absolutely disgusting.  Too bad he can’t get upset like that over a few other issues.  When a person go so ballistic the way he did, it just looks like racism.            Below the Beltway

 

Medved has a great comment today.  

A growing Mexican political movement calling for ‘duel’ citizenship is terrifying to some sectors.  It may just be the only way to bring change to Mexico. 

IRAN, IRAQ, ISLAM, TERROR

Islamists in the Air The Flying Innocent Imams and the Incident at Love Field.  Are they related?

Atlas Shrugs

Captain’s Quarters

Malkin

  

The Muslim Brotherhood in Holland.

Fascinating Blog Lizard commentary on Al Qaeda in Iraq.  A good read.

Curt over at Flopping Aces on the Al Qaeda-Iraq connection.   

 

Blogs for Bush has an absolutely fascinating commentary on the fact that Iraq now has a larger standing army than does the UK.  Now I don’t know about you but, this is quite remarkable.  I think it is the greatest indicator of all that the very last thing we need to do is cut and run.  No wonder the Dems want to sand-bag GWB as quickly as possible.  If these numbers hold, and we can maintain positive relations with Iraq, as well as a permanent military presence there, with bases – are we looking at another Japan?

THOSE DIRTY LYIN’ DEMS

Dirty Harry’s (D-Las Vegas) dilemma. 

 Dirty Lyin’ Democrats- Atlas Shrugs

 American Thinker on how Dems out manipulate the GOP.  Maybe they are smarter than we are.

Mac’s Mind wants Carl Levin to answer a few questions.

NANCY’S BIG ADVENTURE

Over at the WSJ Robert Turner is asking the same thing quite a few of us are asking.  Did HRM Nancy I commit a felony when she went to Iraq  Are we having fun yet, boys and girls?  Oh yes indeedie we are!

 

“…The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, "without authority of the United States," to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government's behavior on any "disputes or controversies with the United States." Some background on this statute helps to understand why Ms. Pelosi may be in serious trouble….”

 

Let’s face it, she was out to embarrass the Prez.  We all know that.  Oh, wait, she is more powerful than the President of the United States, able to leap through diplomatic hurdles at a single bounce…look, up in the sky, it’s a liberal, it’s a Democrat, it’s SUPER SPEAKER!    (cue music – try HowdyDoody)

 

Blue Crab Blvd.

My favorite Limbaugh

Fred Barnes

Blue State

Perri Nelson

Conservative Cat

USA Today

Gateway Pundit

NewsBloggers

Called As Seen

Flopping Aces

Blogs for Bush

Fausta

Mac’s Mind

Red State

Strata Sphere

Wizbang

REPUBLICANS

Dick Cheney is headlining a huge fund-raiser for Lindsey.  You know all those comments about “conservatives” looking for someone to run against him.  This $1000 a pop deal is co-chaired by Jim DeMint and Mitch McConnell and is also a fundraiser for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.  This tells me the status-quo including ultra conservative Senate cohort DeMint are squarely behind Lindsey. 

PRIMARIES 2008

Romney, flipping and flopping as a life long hunter – with all of two hunting trips his whole life! 

Is Hillary allowing Obama (the messiah) to play in the Big Leagues so she can have some time to maneuver?

Obama (the messiah), ears, Maureen Dowd, and grownups. 

A MINI RANT - THE TRASHING OF RUDY GIULIANI

Have you noticed how Drudge takes hits at Giuliani, rarely posting anything positive? The thing I like most about Giuliani is he does not take himself seriously.  If anything he exposes a complete lack of a sense of humor in the press and some of our blessed conservatives.    I like Giuliani’s love me or leave me theory.    If I weren’t supporting him, I would consider his position simply because he is thumbing his nose at the up-tight, oh so perfect, pompous selection process.   Powerline has a take on the situation.   Captain Ed has a commentary on the subject, picking up on the point that Giuliani might have been sand-bagged by Drudge.    And over at HotAir, the Allah Pundit weighs in on the fact that Rudy bashing is starting to get annoying. Let’s face it, the only reason we are seeing this coordinated attack on Giuliani is the fact that he shows signs of winning.  Let’s also stop and think about who is usually behind such attacks and it isn’t Hillary.