My Easter wish to you.

When I look to the Cross, I see the Gift, of Jesus....
I don't deserve it, but there it is, Broken for me, Bleeding for me,
and God says...
Take it, for I so love the world,
Take it, for he is My son....
Take it, My gift of Grace...
Take it, My love for you..

We look around, us and see, what we think is love, what we hope is love,
but we come back to You, our Lord, and we find the gift of the Dove,
and you say....
Take it, for I so love the world,
Take it, for He is My son...
Take it, My gift of Grace...
Take it, My love for you...

There's no way to earn it, only one thing to do, just open your heart wide and do as he asks us do,...

Take it, for He so loves the world,
Take it, for that is his son,
Take it, His gift of Grace,
Take it, His love for you.....

Take it, it's all for you....

When we look to the cross, we see the gift of Jesus.....

Lyrics to "Take it" by Thomas Kirk.

Could this be the end of the black family?

“The black family has crumbled more in the last 30 years than it did in the entire 14 decades since slavery.”

Dr. Julian Hare, Dir. - San Francisco Black Think Tank
EBONY, Nov. 2003, p. 193

After hearing Pastor Wright's words, his spew of hate and blame, I wanted to see for myself what has happened to the black family in America. What I found is shocking, or at least it should be. The statistics of what has happened since 1964 till today are very telling of how the "Black Value System" Pastor Wright and his church espouse to has denigrated the black family. There is only one place the pastor needs to look for the reasons of the fall of the black family in the U.S., he should look in the mirror at his hate filled face. Here are some of the stats that so saddened me:

• In 1963, the year of MLK's "I have a Dream" speech, 70% of black households were headed by two parent, married couples. Today, 40 years later after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, married couples head only 46% of black households.


• Married black women declined from 62% to 31 % between 1950 and 2002


• 70% of all black children are born out of wedlock


• 85% of black children do not live with their fathers

(see this article with the statistics used in this entry: http://saveus.org/docs/factsheets/portrait_black_family.pdf )

I could go on but you get my point, this was not the case for the black family before 1964. What has happened? What has created such a difference in the attitudes of the black community concerning the raising of their children, the keeping of their wedding vows, the escalating violence among the youth. And all this against these statistics that are also quite surprising viewing the state of the family:

• 70% of blacks do not live below the poverty line


• 61% of middle-class blacks own stocks


• Black households with earnings over $100,000 have increase over 10 fold since 1960


• The number of blacks with high school or college diplomas has tripled since 1960


• several are named as wealthiest in the nation


• the front runner for the Democratic Party nomination is a black man

And yet, with all the advances, all the achievements, the black family is breaking down, and they are not reaching their full potential, as persons, as a people, as families or as a community. Read this from a paper titled "A Portrait of the Black Family (descent into destruction) 2007 edition:

Black politicians and pastors, intent on currying favor with constituencies, have consistently attributed nearly every statistical difference portraying African-Americans in a negative light as due to open or systemic discrimination. But honest observers who have no power, perks or position on the line are increasingly saying, “The explanation lies elsewhere.” As a Black research associate for the Acton Institute stated in Devaluing the Black Family, “We should be asking searching questions about churches and what they are teaching....”

And that brings us back to Pastor Wright, as he spouts off with his hate and "victimism" talk. He is the reason, and ones like him, that the black family can not get past the hurt and resentment of their history, our American history. So many people have taken Rev. King's words to heart, I know I try to live them in my walk, trying to look past the packaging, and seeing the character within. And I know that if these "Pastor Wright" thinking leaders would stop putting that big chip on the shoulders of their congregations and show them that moving on, taking responsibility for their lives and actions now, is the only way they will have the power they seek, and the black family and community can come back from the brink and start anew.

Going down a different path is what's needed, a positive hand up to the black family and there are some people, leaders, that are making a difference.

What is being done by the DreamCenter ministries is what needs to happen all across this land. Paul Benjamin, Sr., is the president of the local outreach of this program, started in L.A. California. He has planted his seeds of hope in the heart of Sanford, FL. Sanford lies in the middle of the wealthiest county in Florida. But yet 68% of the crime in that county occurs in 11 small neighborhoods with in the town of Sanford.

You can see the good works here: http://www.cfdreamcenter.org/ . Under Paul's leadership CFDC is bringing together all of the agencies, social programs and services that will make a difference in this county, and hopefully in the state. The philosophy of "Doing together what we CANNOT do alone" is what this place is all about. The success stories are heartening and show what a positive, helping hand UP can do for a person's self esteem and self worth. CFDC provides a path to hope for so many that have none. Pastor Wright puts out his hand and holds the people down, telling them they have no control over what is happening, it's not them, it's White America and they are victims and should act as such. Paul puts out his hand, lifts up and tells them you don't have to be a victim any more, take control of your life, see the value that God sees in you and start living. If only those mega-churches like Pastor Wright's would lift the people up like that, we may have already had a person with African heritage as president long ago, and it wouldn't have been such a big deal.

What would you have done?

An email I've seen before, but it moves me every time someone thinks enough of me to send it to. Thanks Cathy!


What would you do?....You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?


At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.The father continued.

"I believe, that when a child like Shay,physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:


Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.


"Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.


In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?


Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.The game would now be over.


The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates....Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second! "Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.


By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay" Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third Shay! Run to third!"As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators,were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.



"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".


Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!


AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces. If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process? A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete

2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day

Because he's Black? The "PC" trap!

"Ferraro 'absolutely not' apologetic on Obama remarks." That's the head line for a story from the LA TIMES. And she shouldn't be, because everyone knows that it's true. She said this "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman [of any color] he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." But she also said this, "I was talking about historic candidacies," she said. "In 1984, if my name were Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been chosen as the vice president."
And that is true as well. Why does this truth hurt the Obama campaign so much? They, the media, are always talking about how he's doing in the black community or that people want to vote for him because they want to see a black man in the White House for the first time and it will go a long way in "righting wrongs" from the past. But then when someone, someone from their own party, says these truths, they are made out to be racist bigots. See the story from the LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ferraro13mar13,0,3428699.story

This is the "PC trap" I'm talking about. And it's all about offending people. Listen up, if I or anyone offends you, it's only because you, yes you, have given me or them the power to do so. Let me say that again, YOU GIVE THE POWER TO SOMEONE TO OFFEND YOU! Now I can't stand the Obama campaign, he is an empty suit as far as I'm concerned. But Ms. Ferraro is absolutely correct in her statements, he's there because he's black. He has great charisma, looks good, very...should I say it.... "articulate" and seems to be running a good campaign. He's a strong candidate. But God even knows that he's there because he a man with African heritage. And if that offends someone, and you want to tell everyone I'm a racist bigot or Ms. Ferraro is one, then go right ahead. I for one know it's not true and know that who ever calls me that must be an absolute idiot. I won't be offended and won't give one flying leap about it. I will not give them the power to offend me. It's that easy.

Last word, if anyone votes for Obama because he's black, OR, votes against him because he's black, they are a PIN HEAD. Same with the female thing with Clinton, if it makes your decision, you're a PIN HEAD. Enough said about those two.

4/14/08 PS:More support for this argument; Johnson cites race in Obama's surge
Bobcats owner, who supports Clinton, says Ferraro said it right
JIM MORRILL
jmorrill@charlotteobserver.com

DAVIE HINSHAW / Staff Photographer
4/14/08 - Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson talks with Observer reporters.

Wading back into the Democratic presidential race, billionaire businessman Bob Johnson said Monday that Sen. Barack Obama would not be his party's leading candidate if he were white.

Read the article: http://www.charlotte.com/559/story/581394.html

Obama, the antichrist?

Nothing could show the mainstream media's bias more than this clip from Glenn Becks program. He says something in jest, it gets picked up by some loon and posted to his blog, picked up by a well known blog, started by non other that Hillary her self, Media Matters, and then goes on straight to MSNBC's Keith Oberman's show. Then finally to the New York Times, the ultimate liberal blog. Thanks Glenn for providing the best evidence yet about how the mainstream media and the liberal nuts that run them get their cutting edge news of the day.

The Science is settled is it? Here are a few folks that have a little bit to say on the subject.

Mar 05, 2008The Manhattan Declaration - from the 2008 International Climate Conference
2008 International Conference on Climate Change

We, the scientists and researchers in climate and related fields, economists, policymakers, and business leaders, assembled at Times Square, New York City, participating in the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change.
Resolving that scientific questions should be evaluated solely by the scientific method;
Affirming that global climate has always changed and always will, independent of the actions of humans, and that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant but rather a necessity for all life;
Recognising that the causes and extent of recently observed climatic change are the subject of intense debates in the climate science community and that oft-repeated assertions of a supposed ‘consensus’ among climate experts are false;
Affirming that attempts by governments to legislate costly regulations on industry and individual citizens to encourage CO2 emission reduction will slow development while having no appreciable impact on the future trajectory of global climate change. Such policies will markedly diminish future prosperity and so reduce the ability of societies to adapt to inevitable climate change, thereby increasing, not decreasing, human suffering;
Noting that warmer weather is generally less harmful to life on Earth than colder:
Hereby declare:
That current plans to restrict anthropogenic CO2 emissions are a dangerous misallocation of intellectual capital and resources that should be dedicated to solving humanity’s real and serious problems.
That there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity has in the past, is now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change.
That attempts by governments to inflict taxes and costly regulations on industry and individual citizens with the aim of reducing emissions of CO2 will pointlessly curtail the prosperity of the West and progress of developing nations without affecting climate.
That adaptation as needed is massively more cost-effective than any attempted mitigation and that a focus on such mitigation will divert the attention and resources of governments away from addressing the real problems of their peoples.
That human-caused climate change is not a global crisis.
Now, therefore, we recommend
That world leaders reject the views expressed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as popular, but misguided works such as “An Inconvenient Truth.”
That all taxes, regulations, and other interventions intended to reduce emissions of CO2 be abandoned forthwith.
Agreed at New York, 4 March 2008. See the Manhattan Declaration here.

Bush, Geldof and Africa

An email to Dr. Bill Bennett.

Dear Dr. Bill

A few days ago I heard Michael Medved mention that he asked some Marine instructors as to what languages they were teaching our best and brightest, and to his surprise and mine he said " Portuguese and French". What???...that’s what I said. He went on to explain that after they are successful ousting al qaeda from Iraq and Afghanistan they (al qaeda) will move there operations to Africa and prey on the misery there. Many of the primary or secondary languages in Africa are these two.

I heard this after I read the Times article by Bob Geldoff ( http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1717934,00.html ) about his time spent with President Bush on Air Force 1. He had some very complementary thing to say about his efforts in Africa and the literal millions of people he has saved from ugly deaths from Aids and other childhood diseases. Bob had to through in a little of his politics concerning the war which was of course negative. But he also made the statement that I heard you eco, that Bush has done a poor job of promoting his efforts in Africa.

Now bringing these things together, I see the line Bush is taking and I think he is more brilliant than I thought before. Seeing that al qaeda will be moving to Africa he has made a preemptive strike of a different kind, saving millions of lives, over 3 million to date from Aids and other miseries, opening trade with many of the poor countries to help there economies and providing food aid at unprecedented levels. Fighting for their hearts first before we fight with tanks shows me he really gets the big picture and knows what he is taking about, if only more Americans would listen. If they could listen to the words of one African, a worker in a hotel the president was going to stay at, as he said, “we kicked everyone out of the hotel because the ‘president of the world is coming’. That speaks volumes about what the African people think about him and our country.

On a related note, when looking at what we do around the world, the aid we provide, the protection against terror, freeing millions from dictators and despots and creating an economy that drives the world economy, it gives me such pride that my country is and will always be the greatest country on earth, the most selfless, the most giving and the most caring. We have the power to conquer the world if we saw fit, yet we win WWII and create better countries for our former enemies to grow from and become our allies. We feed the world’s hungry and ask nothing in return. We are the light on the hill, someone really smart said that once, and the world's last, best hope.
Thanks Bill for letting more people see the light.

27 Billion Tons of CO2? No, I don't think so!

This an email that I sent to the USGS (US Geologic Survey) to let them know of this mistake I found concerning the 27 Billion tons of CO2 supposedly being dumped in to the air by us humans every year. If you can find where I can see an actual report or paper showing that we do this I will write an apology.

Dear Sir:
I am concerned that a mistake in the article on Volcanic Hazards http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Hazards/What/VolGas/volgas.html#reference has created a wide spread misunderstanding in regards to the amount of CO2 released by man into the atmosphere each year. Here in the article you will see the reference to the 27 Billion tons of CO2 released;

From "Volcanic Gases and Their Effects"

Comparison of CO2 emissions from volcanoes vs. human activities.Scientists have calculated that volcanoes emit between about 130-230 million tonnes (145-255 million tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Gerlach, 1999, 1991). This estimate includes both subaerial and submarine volcanoes, about in equal amounts. Emissions of CO2 by human activities, including fossil fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring, amount to about 27 billion tonnes per year (30 billion tons) [ ( Marland, et al., 2006) - The reference gives the amount of released carbon (C), rather than CO2, through 2003.]. Human activities release more than 130 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes--the equivalent of more than 8,000 additional volcanoes like Kilauea (Kilauea emits about 3.3 million tonnes/year)! (Gerlach et. al., 2002)

Then there is a footnote, (Marland, et al., 2006) I saw the link (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/meth_reg.htm) , and went there. Seeing nothing that stated 27 Billion tons of carbon released I proceeded to the bottom of the page and linked to the CDIAC page http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/em_cont.htm , which lead me to the "On Line Trends" page. I looked under the global http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/tre_glob.htm , and Keoto page http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/annex.htm and only found information that would lead me to see that only 7.9 Gt of CO2 were released. This is too much, but nothing like the 27Gts that is stated in the above reference article.
Please tell me where the "27 billion tonnes per year" comes from. As you can see, the paragraph is not structured well and can create confusion. Look at the sentence right after the highlighted segment. "The reference gives the amount of released carbon (C), rather than CO2, through 2003'. Does this mean that the 27 Billion tonnes is what was released up through 2003, meaning including all the years hence? Or just for 2003. If it is just 2003, it flies in the face of the IPCC and Keoto numbers of 5Gts to 8Gts.
Where did the 27 billion come from, I see no reference to it in any footnoted article or in any of my research?
Please respond as soon as you are able. Thank you for your time and efforts.