Before today, I had considered Kathleen Parker an intelligent and informed newspaper columnist.  Before today, I had not realized the woman thinks there are multiple ways to get to heaven.

I have no idea what Ms. Parker's faith is, or lack thereof, but her column Mapquesting God's Place shows her gross ignorance of true Christianity.  In her column, she is stating that God would honor the prayer of a Muslim or a Hindu just as He would a Christian, even though a Muslim or Hindu doesn't understand that Jesus is the Christ.

Perhaps Ms. Parker doesn't understand Jesus is the Christ, either.  That's not for me to say or even speculate on, but she suggested that Reverend Franklin Graham may have been "feeling cross" when he explained in a USA Today interview that all beliefs coming together in prayer to their respective gods will do no good whatsoever.

I am here today to tell you that Rev. Graham is utterly correct.  The Bible, the only real instruction from the only real Deity that exists, states in Ephesians 4:5 that there is "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."

Read that again:  "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."  Now how can anybody confuse that?  Only one God exists.  Only one God has ever existed and ever will, yet we have these knuckleheads running around insisting we be "tolerant" of other religions.

Let's review:  "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."  These words were written before the Muslims' "sacred" prophet Mohammad ever drew breath and dreamed up the Muslim false religion.  These words were written before Buddhism was ever invented, and I guarantee ya that Mohammad and Buddha are dead.  My Jesus is alive.

John 10 states: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."  To the Muslims and the Hindus and all the other false religions who think they're going to heaven, Jesus just called you a thief and a robber.  He made it even more clear in verse 7:  "Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep."  Jesus is the only door, the only way into heaven.

I get so disgusted when I hear people yak about being politically correct and being "tolerant" of other religions.  When I'm asked to be tolerant, I am being asked to tolerate sin.  The Lord has made it clear in His word that there are no other religions, no other beliefs.  Everything but Him is false; it always was and it always will be.

Over the years, people have tried to rewrite the Bible or stick their own ideas into God's word.  God doesn't take kindly, putting it lightly, to people attempting to monkey with His word, as He warned us in Revelation 22:19:  "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book. "  Jesus also said in Matthew 5:18: 
"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

We can't change the Gospel.  We can't deceive ourselves into thinking it's okay for everybody to pray to their respective little gods that don't exist and ignore the real and only Lord, then scold all the Christians because we're not "tolerant" of all the malarkey!

Another terribly disturbing passage of Parker's column states that a poll taken by an evangelical firm found that many Christians under 30 believe that "there are many ways to God, not just through Jesus."  Additional surveys, conducted by David Campbell, a professor at Notre Dame, show that "nearly two-thirds of evangelicals under 35 believe non-Christians can go to heaven".

What heresy is the modern churches teaching our young people?!  Such ideas are absolutely not in the Bible; God positively told us, clearly and repeatedly, in His word, that we MUST believe in Him to be saved!  John 14:6 says:  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."  God could not make it any plainer than that.

No Christian worth their salt will accept such false thinking and false doctrines, and if they do think that anyone makes it to heaven without wholeheartedly believing and accepting Jesus, they are not Christian, and they are not saved.

So go ahead; call me intolerant because I'm calling all other so-called "faiths" false, but know this:  The coming of Christ, our real and only Lord, is very, very close, much closer than most people realize, and while people like Parker and Obama are busy being politically correct and trying not to offend the violent Muslims, I'm telling all who will listen about Jesus.  He is real; He is love and righteousness and real salvation and a holiness and purity these other defiled beliefs will never understand, and He rose from the dead, crucified for your sins, over 2000 years ago.  It is my hope, my most heartfelt prayer, that all who read this today who haven't accepted the precious Christ will open their hearts to the real God, so their prayers will be honored and their souls saved before it is too late.

May I see you in the Rapture! 

Richard Brodsky wants your kidneys.

He also wants your liver, corneas, your heart, and whatever else he can get his hands on.

Richard Brodsky is a New York assemblyman, who believes wholeheartedly in organ transplants because his daughter has had two kidney transplants.  The problem here is he wants your organs without your consent.

Brodsky wants New York, which would be the first state in America to do so, to pass a "presumed consent" law about organ donation.  This means that no family member, if the law actually passes, will have authority to override their deceased loved one's decision to become an organ donor.  Bad as that is, this will degenerate into people having no choice at all about becoming organ donors, meaning that unless people have specifically stated in writing that they do not want to become organ donors, the organs will be "harvested"--taken--at death, regardless of the surviving families' wishes.

Brodsky believes so strongly in organ donation that he states "People's survival should not rest on acts of God alone."

I thought I'd heard everything.  Now we have an assemblyman who thinks he knows better than God who should live, and is quite willing to wrest that decision out of God's hands and deny families the God-given right (of deciding) whether to donate organs or not.

I realize organ donation can save lives.  That's not the issue here.  Again, what we're dealing with is a growing invasiveness, more losses of freedom to live our lives the way we choose and make our own decisions about personal matters.  No one has the right to dictate to you or your family that you must donate your organs!

This is a very disturbing trend in America.  We're sliding headfirst and fast down the hill to a controlled, socialist state.  In Europe, twenty-four countries already have "presumed consent" laws.  This is still America, not socialist Europe, and "presumed consent" laws are not acceptable here.

Not incidentally, Richard Brodsky is a Democrat.

I do not understand why so many Democrats now consider themselves so superior that they think they know best for everybody else and don't care what the public's opinion is on anything any more.

Mr. Brodsky, you cannot automatically have my organs upon my death.  Such an intimate decision is utterly none of your business, and you are not God.

You will do well, sir, to remember just that.

The Obama drama continues to unfold.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine any President so powerful that he could change me from a Democrat into a Republican, a better description of me being "Patriot" now.

I have the passage of the "Affordable Health Care for America Act", better known as "Obamacare",  to thank for my transformation.  Yes, I can change, President Obama, and I did.  I'm also far from alone in my change.  A Pew Research Center report shows an "historic low" of only 22% still trusting the government.

My, I wonder why!!  Why wouldn't the American people continue to trust a government that rammed health care reform down our necks, despite knowing the majority of us didn't want it?  Why wouldn't the American people heap praise on the President that made the outrageous statement that "whether we like it or not", America is still a super power?  Why wouldn't the American people want its President to go around APOLOGIZING to other countries for America?

What I really wonder is why the majority of the American people actually elected this dude to be President!

Fortunately, it's not too late to correct this abominable situation we have now with Obama and his Democrats, with the mid-term elections hitting this November, and the Democrats are likely going to be toast.  The Democrats' approval rating has plummeted to 38%; back in 1994, when the Democrats lost over 50 House seats in the mid-terms, the party's favorable rating was 62%.  That makes me feel like pulling out the party hats and noise makers now, and why wouldn't it?  The more I learn of Obamacare, the more horrific this piece of totalitarian legislation shows itself to be what it is.

Today, I learned that a change in the tax code affecting flexible spending accounts (FSA) or health savings accounts (HSA) will cause something like a 40% increase on the over-the-counter health items you're buying for granted now.  Under Obamacare, it will actually be cheaper for people to see their doctor every time they get something as mundane as a headache, to obtain a prescription drug, instead of buying aspirin or Tylenol from your drugstore!  Another tidbit I learned is that in 2016, 4 million Americans will be socked with fines of $1,000 if they don't buy health insurance; the fines kick in at 2014, but are fully phased in at 2016.  Get this:  One of the few exemptions allowed will be those members of American Indian tribes.  I have nothing against American Indians, God bless every one of them, but do I smell some discrimination here?

The only thing sicker than Obamacare are those, thank God in the minority, who still think it's a good thing that's happened to the country.  Those of us who've studied it, and will continue to study it, know better, and will not be silenced or intimidated into silence.  We will loudly, continuously and vehemently broadcast the truth about Obamacare until we get it overturned.  We're not going away until our America, the one that we love and is rightfully ours, is returned to us from the political thugs who kidnapped our country.

America as we know it changed last week; our liberties were bludgeoned by President Obama and his gang of Democrats under the guise of passing universal health care.  Americans who believe this was a too-long-in-coming act of kindness are either deceiving themselves or simply do not understand the implications of this sinister bill.

I was against the Health Care Reform Bill before it passed; now that it is the law of the land, I vehemently oppose it and will do everything in my power to see that it gets overturned.  In the past week, I did a lot of research and I am aghast at what I have learned, so what I present to you now is not so much my opinion as it is actual facts about this tyrannical assault on our freedoms.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=528137

This is an article containing information taken directly from the law as written, explaining just how ludicrous the required insurance coverage will be:   A single man with no children must still buy health insurance that has pediatric coverage; a woman unable to bear children is still required to have a policy covering maternity care.  A teetotaler is required to carry substance abuse treatment coverage.  Is this the Democrats' idea of eliminating waste in the health care system?

As you probably already know, insurance will be mandated in 2014, and those who refuse to buy insurance will be fined.  The fines will be enforced by hiring 16,000 new IRS agents who will ensure we comply.  How's that for maintaining a right to privacy?

Those who already have health insurance will see their premiums go up this coming January.  Don't get complacent in thinking you have until 2014 for more of your hard-earned money to fly out of your pocket.

Medicare will see massive cuts.  This will obviously hurt the elderly in what they'll have to pay out of pocket, and how much care they'll actually be allowed to have.  We were told by the Democrats that "death panels" were nonsense and simply scare tactics, but are they?  If our elderly loved ones are deemed too old, too sick to justify spending rationed health dollars on by some bureaucratic advisory committee, who knows nothing about your dear old Mom and Dad and cares even less about them, what else can this be dubbed except "death panels"?

The "subsidies" that will help further bankrupt this country are a joke to the paycheck to paycheck families who'll be forced to buy health insurance in 2014.  Those of us who can't spare an extra $10 or $20 a month can't possibly afford any more bills, let alone the premiums on health insurance policies!  With this new imposed financial burden, countless people will not be able to buy groceries or keep their utilities turned on.  Possibly they'll have health care, but there won't be any food on the table.

Also, unnoticed by many and slipped into this monstrosity legislation, is the complete takeover of the student loan program by the Federal government.  Banks like Citigroup and Chase stand to lose billions from this blow.  Anyone care to tell me how that move will help our crippled economy and create jobs?

So with this horror of a legislation, the government will be taking control of 1/6th of our economy, and Americans will lose many of our cherished freedoms.  We've been told we have a right to health care.  If this is America, we should also have the right to decline health insurance and make our own choices about our own health care.  No one, no matter what piece of legislation is the "law of the land", has the right to dictate to you how you choose to take care of yourself and your family, and the majority of Americans knows this.

I was a lifelong Democrat before this corrupt health care reform was passed, and I'm profoundly ashamed of the Democrat party for ignoring the will of the people.  This government is still "Of the people", and "By the people."  Because of the Democrats' arrogant, and probably unconstitutional actions--so far 13 states have filed lawsuits against this legislation--I will now be voting Republican.

Fortunately, the worst of this nightmare doesn't fully take effect until 2014, and fortunately, we have a mid-term election on November 2, 2010, and a Presidential election in 2012, so we can--YES WE CAN--get this act of control and tyranny overturned!  We do not have to tolerate the actions of a small group of legislators who claim to have Americans' best interests at heart, when by their own admission, mouthed by Representative John Dingle, that this legislation is enacted to "control the people."

The Democrats stand to suffer large losses in the House and the Senate this November; although the whole legislation is not likely to be repealed until Obama has been booted out of office and sent back home to "organize", he must have financial authorization from Congress to implement his plans, and he won't get that if we vote enough of his Democrats out this November.  If we vote enough of them out, we could get a 2/3rds majority, sufficient to override Obama's veto power.  So remember in November:  Vote against every lawmaker responsible for enacting Obamacare.  If you're not registered to vote, get registered.  Your God-given rights are at stake.

In the meantime, you can fight Obamacare now.  It's a long time until November, and there is a lot of work you can do.  Call or write your Congressional representatives and tell 'em how mad you are that your viewpoint on health care reform was totally ignored.  Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers.  Attend political meetings that support the repeal of Obamacare.  Facebook has a public group on it opposing Obamacare; join it!  Research, get your facts straight, so when you talk to people about Obamacare or blog about it, you know what you're talking about and are not just giving your opinions.  Join the GOP movement to fire Nancy Pelosi:  http://www.gop.com/firepelosi/

Sign petitions; here's one you can start with now:  http://repealitpledge.com/

So get busy!  Together, we can get Obamacare repealed, and whatever you do, don't do it quietly.  Nothing worth doing is done quietly or in secret, and this is America.  We're still free.  This country was founded on freedom, and you have the right to stand on and for that freedom, thank God!

I'm running out of checks. I hate ordering checks.

Don't get me wrong. I like lots of choices in life, but having half a zillion get-your-checks-cheaper-and-prettier-than-those-ugly-things-from-your-bank companies tend to intimidate me.

I don't get 'em free like Mom does, so I have to think about ordering checks instead of grabbing the phone and telling some underpaid worker at the bank that I need a fresh supply.

I put off ordering as long as possible, then finally bit the bullet and spent a few hours looking at check designs on the 'net...

...Yes, I said a few hours. For me, though I hate the hassle, I think my checks should make a statement. They should capture my personality somehow, and I think checks should be fun. Hey, I gotta pay bills with the things, so give me some entertainment while I'm doing it!

I am a complex person and one design can't say everything about me, and I can't really expect that.

I found rural scenes, religious scenes, musical themes, all a part of me, but I couldn't find anything fun that defined me. I couldn't find my flying pink pig design that had the pig's butt next to the amount to be written of the check (I REALLY loved those things! What a statement about paying bills!)...So I had to look for another design.

I was ready to give up until I found this site:

https://www.carouselchecks.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=131

Carousel Checks are for eccentrics like me, and they got my attention.

So I don't have my castle yet, and I don't have the money to build my castle yet...

...But I've got multiple castles on my checks now, and 'til I can build my castle, I can sit and look at my checks!

Life can indeed be fun after all, but sometimes we have to make our own!

Happy New Year everybody!

I always thought the old saying about trouble being someone's middle name was a joke, until the last few months. Now I'm not so sure...

My middle name starts with an "M". I think my name is "Mess".

I've been trying to get back to blogging--writing in general, because I found a website wanting me to write for them--but I've had one explosion after another and I just couldn't get to it.

A few months back, my dear Uncle Ivan started having car trouble. He took his car to our friend and trusted mechanic, Roger, and soon learned, after a bill of over $500, that the head gasket was cracked and leaking anti-freeze.

We did not know how SEVERELY the head gasket was cracked, nor did we know that the fuel pump AND the fuel line was defective, and the latest estimates on further repairs to Ivan's '88 98 Olds is $1,000...IF we can find a fuel line for a car that old.

...And no, the mechanic's not trying to rip Ivan off. We've known this guy for years. He's a straight shooter. If I had any doubts about Roger's diagnosis, they vanished as I followed the trail of white smoke from Ivan's crippled car, on the way to Roger's garage.

Ivan can't afford to get that car fixed, nor can he afford to get another car...

Now while all this is unfolding, Ivan has dropped his supplemental health insurance and has transferred to the VA Hospital for preventive care to save money since he's on an extremely limited income, a fine idea, but we live in a rural region approximately 50 miles away from the nearest VA center. With Ivan's car virtually past driving, I'm elected--and gladly so--to transport Ivan to necessary appointments.

In the meantime, I put Ivan on my car insurance and gave him my '85 Blazer to drive around home.

We are not financially comfortable people, thus we drive ancient cars.

Shortly after I thought the car mess was settled, Mom and I got home from Wal-Mart late one evening and discovered the water heater in her trailer (the politically correct term being "manufactured home") was leaking, badly, and had flooded the back portion of the trailer.

That consumed most of the night, trying to locate the non-existent shut off valve, finally shutting off the water to the trailer at 2 a.m., and in the process, the outside shut off valve began leaking, as well.

A trip to the nearest Home Depot brought home a water heater, which once installed, had leaking intake lines. Some more plumber's goo glue, or whatever the stuff is called, fixed that, or so we thought. I spent a portion of the next day removing sodden, ruined carpet.

Oddly enough, once removed, we noticed the floor was still soaked a few weeks later, so Thanksgiving night was spent removing more floor covering and sealing the still leaking water heater lines. The thing had been leaking on top, and we hadn't known it.

We haven't yet seen water bill from this...

A couple weeks later, a cold front blew through the whole nation, bringing a wind with it that howled as if it was a live thing. I never heard such a racket.

The power went out a few hours, but came back on again, and we thought all was clear 'til the power suddenly went out again. I walked out and found a giant tree limb had torn the wiring loose from the house. We called the electric company, and the linemen said there was so much damage, with the hot wires ripped from the wall, that an electrician would have to repair everything.

Fortunately, we have a wonderful ex-contractor friend from church, who'd replaced the leaking outside valve from the water heater fiasco, so we called on good ol' Dave again.

Dave replaced all the ruined electrical parts, put up an oak board to attach the conduit, and we were cookin' pretty good until a couple visiting preachers came by and accidentally backed into the newly replaced outside shut off water connection, knocking the water out to the whole place.

We have ANOTHER friend as talented as Dave, so we called him, and he and Husband John installed another new water line while Dave was still working on the electric mess.

That whole weekend cost around $600, including the $88 extension cords we had to run across the field to run the wood furnace blowers to heat the house.

We had a few scant weeks of relative financial peace, but then last week Mom looked out the trailer--remember, I'm not politically correct; we call the thing a TRAILER--window and saw dear ol' Ivan walking, sans Blazer.

The Blazer had quit and dumped him in front of our place. He'd monkeyed with it with a neighbor's help, and they couldn't get it started again, so I called poor longsuffering Roger again.

Roger called three tow services and couldn't get anybody, so I called our neighbor, Silas, who brought his truck and tow trailer. I threw the key on the Blazer to put it in neutral, and that crazy thing STARTED. So I ran it up and down the road a bit, but not knowing what happened, Ivan and I decided it needed a physical and we drove it to Roger's.

So Ivan was without wheels again over the Christmas weekend...

Today, Roger called and said the Blazer was ready, and he thought the problem involved the distributor; the bill was $177.01.

That's the good news.

The carburetor is shot and is spewing gas on the spark plugs. The estimate for that disaster is $600 to $700. The particular model Blazer I have contains a very expensive carburetor.

Anybody remember the old HeeHaw show, where the guys did a skit, singing:

"Gloom, despair, and agony on me,
deep, dark depression, excessive misery--
if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all,
gloom, despair and agony on me."

It was really funny, and one of guys moaned loudly between the lines.

I kind of feel that way about my life now, and I'm trying--with some success--to keep a sense of humor about it all.

The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. That is absolutely true. ...And I'm trying, really trying, to take it all in stride...

So, ahem, does anybody know where I can get a rebuilt carburetor for an '85 S10 Blazer for under $500?

That'll save me a few bucks for the next disaster...

Would you rather be rich and stupid or poor and smart?


I was reading the Features section of The Courier-Journal today; Angie Fenton's "The Buzz: News & Nonsense" had an item about Paris Hilton. Ms. Hilton is being sued by Zeta Graff for libel; the illustrious Ms. Hilton allegedly planted a fake story in the New York Post to embarrass Ms. Graff.

Ah, such is the life of the rich and famous, who too often have little to do but behave like morons. Ms. Hilton's statements from the (leaked) court transcripts reveal her finite knowledge of the world: Paris says she didn't know that London is in the United Kingdom. Madame also believes everyone in Europe speaks French, and she cannot remember some of her friends' names.

How enlightening about the dear girl. I don't know whether one should laugh or cry.

I consider the woman an utter pathetic joke, but I didn't consider her stupid before I read this item about her.

I will not generalize and label all jetsetters like her as stupid, but I wonder if it's not so much stupidity as it is just being so full of themselves and selfish that they've tuned everything out that doesn't affect their decadent, privileged world. Surely somebody like Hilton was educated. I like to credit people with intelligence, but sometimes it's just impossible.

This is much worse than Jessica Simpson's famous "Is it chicken or tuna?" question. Unless one actually reads the Chicken of the Sea can label, it would be possible to confuse what manner of beast lies in the can. When I was a very young child, I wondered about that, too.

I doubt Hilton's and Simpson's intellectual dullness has anything to do with them both being blonde, either, as the article half-jokingly hints.

Obviously, not all rich people are stupid, and not all poor people are smart, but I'm now curious: If you were given the choice between being rich and stupid or poor and smart, which would you choose?

I would choose being poor and smart, because despite the poverty, being smart still leaves lots of potential for life and changing one's poverty.

Which one would you choose?