Author Archives: MzEllen

• 1 Comment

•

I am not a fan of Jeanie Miley - and I'm not a fan of "meditation" (Eastern religion style).  But this book has some good points.  It's out of print now, but Amazon still has links to book sellers who have it.

The thrust of the devotionals is that we can reach out for Christ, know Him better, become more like Him - by getting into the Gospels, meditating on the Word, seeing the narratives from different points of view.

From the introduction:

An old tale from the desert fathers related by George Maloney in his book "Why Not Become Totally Fire?" tells of a disciple who went to Abba Joseph and said, "Father, according to my strength I sing a few psalms, I pray and fast a little, I meditate, and as well as I can I cleanse my thoughts  Now what more can I do?"

Abba Joseph stood up, spreading his hands toward heaven.  His fingers were like ten lamps of fire.

"If you want," Abba Joseph said, "why not become totally fire?"

Encountering Jesus through the stories in the Gospels is a way of becoming fire.

The first few devotionals are based on John 1:35-39

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"

They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

"Come," he replied, "and you will see."

So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

•

Blogs on "voter registration fraud"

Sassafrassin:

So we have 644,197 people eligible to be registered in Marion County/Indianapolis, and 677,401 people registered. Congratulations go to Indianapolis for having 105% of its residents registered!

Just remember, the New York Times will continue to tell its readers that there’s no voter fraud across the country and that efforts to try and clear the rolls of bogus entries is somehow illegal or restricts the rights of those people to vote. The Times is wrong.

The New York Times and Washington Post forgets that every bogus vote cast or indicated means that your legitimate vote gets offset by someone who is voting illegally. Your right to vote is harmed by these illegal and bogus votes. That’s the crime committed here, not trying to clear the voter rolls of bogus names, preventing those who are barred from voting (illegal aliens or felons or dead people) from casting votes, and ensuring that the voter rolls are accurate.

Instapundit

MORE REPORTS OF MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD BY ACORN. "They turn in 5000 new voter registration forms in Indiana, election officials start checking them and give up after the first 2100 were found to be fraudulent." Where's the Department of Justice on this? CNN report below.

News articles on "voter registration fraud" (or voter fraud)

WREG (Memphis, TN)

"It's important we protect the integrity in our election process," said Gibbons.  "We're going to do everything we can to make sure we do have that."

New York Post

O'jahnae Smith is ready and registered to vote this November.

There's only one problem: She's 7 years old.

The Connecticut girl is 11 years too young - and nobody in her family knows how she ended up on a voter registration form submitted by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Click2Houston.com

Investigative reporter Amy Davis shows you how hundreds of voters could sway this year's election -- voters who are not even alive.

"All-in-all, a great person, a great woman, just a wonderful person" is how Alexis Guidry described her mother to Local 2 Investigates.

"As far back as I can remember, they've always voted in the election," Guidry said of her parents.The March 2008 Primary was no exception.

Voting records show Alexis' mom, Gloria Guidry, cast her ballot in person near her South Houston home."It was just very shocking, a little unsettling," said Alexis Guidry.

It's unsettling because Gloria Guidry died of cancer 10 months before the March Primary.

"She'd be very upset," Guidry said when asked what her mom would think.

KOAT - Albequerque

The New Mexico Republican Party said they believe 28 people voted fraudulently in an Albuquerque state House district in the June Democratic primary.

The Republican Party found the problems in a review of 92 newly registered voters in House District 13.State Rep. Justine Fox-Young, an Albuquerque Republican, said a number of the suspected fraudulent voters voted by absentee ballot.

Republicans released details for 10 of those votes. The registration cards that were filled out had no social security numbers, drivers license numbers or birthdates for the voters.

MLive.com

LANSING -- Michigan's attorney general is charging a former employee of a community organizing group with forgery after he says the man falsely submitted six voter registration forms.

Antonio Johnson is being held in Jackson County on a parole violation. The 23-year-old is accused of falsifying the registration forms between May 20 and June 6 in Jackson.

He worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

Jackson Clerk Lynn Fessel suspected a problem and asked police to investigate. Two residents said they didn't sign the forms and that some information used to complete the forms was incorrect.

(Ellen's not:  This means that the forger didn't sign up "Mickey Mouse"- he signed up real people again. )

• 1 Comment

•

put down your coffee cup...

So, Sarah Palin's advisors decide that it is time for her to meet a bunch of serious world leaders. They head to Europe, where, first up, she has an appointment with the Pope. The Pope and some of his Cardinals invite her for a boat ride on the Tiber. As they are sitting in the gondola talking, a wind starts up and blows the Pope's hat into the water. Palin looks around and realizes that no one is going to do anything about it, so she calmy rises, takes off her her high heels, and steps off the side of the boat. Instead of diving into the water, however, she walks across it, to the hat, picks it up and walks back across the water to the boat. She climbs in, hands the Pope his hat and continues discussing whatever it was they had been talking about. The Cardinals are open mouthed in astonishment at what they have just seen. The news media, in nearby boats are busy discussing among themselves how to report it. Headlines the next day at the New York Times, The Washington Post and the networks all blare: New Revelation: Sarah Palin Can't Swim.

HT:  No Fighting, No Biting

•

cAs usual, the extremes are where the problem lies.

On one hand, the link of centering prayer to the meditations of Easthern religions might be seen as a bad thing.  One another hand, even the most vile untruths may contain a kernel of something we can use.  The danger is in trying to sort it out.

A long time ago I bought a book, "Becoming Fire" by Jeanie Miley.  I disagree with a lot of what Miley teaches...but this book was very helpful to me at a critical part of my life.

Looking at definitions:

contemplate: To consider carefully and at length; meditate on or ponder: contemplated the problem from all sides; contemplated the mystery of God.

Meditate: To engage in devotional contemplation, especially prayer.

And I'm reminded of this passage

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Phil 4:8)

Anyway...back to the book.  Miley takes several Scripture passages about the life of Christ and turns them into devotional meditations...she asks the reader to look at the passages from the viewpoints of different people within the passage; to put oneself in those shoes.

Then, read the passage...again.  and again.  And then spend 20 minutes going over the passage in your head...just you and Scripture.

Does that sound like a bad thing?

•

What happens when the people paying most of the taxes are not paying enough to cover the direct tax credits that are promised to the people who even now are paying little or nothing?

What will happen when the 40% of the people who pay 95% of income taxes can no longer pay for the checks that the feds (under Obama) will be sending those of the 40% of the people who currently pay ZERO taxes, who will be getting the direct tax credits (not deductions) under Obama's plan?

What will happen when the 5% who pay 60% of the taxes cannot cover Obama's new spending?

•

I've only really read about Obama/Wright(or Ayers) and McCain/Keating.

The Obama case is about what Obama believes.  Wright and Ayers are both radical leftists in their politics.  If sharing a belief in radical leftist political figures is an indication of one's own political leanings, it is very relevant.   If the experience with Wright helped shape Obama's political ideology, why would we not take that into account?

On the other hand, McCain/Keating is also very relevant - it is about what McCain has done.  The question I ask is "What did you learn and how have you changed?"  In the case of McCain, it was his dealings with Keating that was the trigger for his strong political beliefs and actions on campaign finance reform and governmental deregulation.  He (in an article I read not too long ago) said that he did nothing wrong(illegal), but that brush with Keating was a "light bulb moment" (my term).  In that moment, his ideology was formed.  If the experience with Keating helped to shape McCain's political ideology, why would we not take that into account?

The difference between Obama and McCain?  Obama says, "that's not the guy I knew" (as if he could sit in the guy's church for 20 years and not know...AND write about the political beliefs of Wright and not know about them).

McCain says, "it looked wrong, I should not have done it and because of my experience I'm going to work toward fixing the system.

It's not about "GBA".  It's about what formed the political ideologies, how close are the ideologies of the student to the ideologies of the mentor (which is how Obama has described Wright).

It is about "what have you learned and how have you changed?"

McCain has told us and shown us.  If Obama sat in Wright's church for 20 years and cannot tell us what he has learned and how it has changed him...that says volumes about Obama.

•

Yes.  I believe that Barack Obama's connection with William Ayers matters.  It matters a lot.

Yes, William Ayers was a member of a radical domestic terrorist group who bombed a number of buildings.  Yes, he is unrepentant.  Yes, Obama had to have known about Ayer's history.

But...is it really the connection between terrorism and Obama that is important (or even real?)  Not really.

Obama's connections to radical leftists of all sorts of flavors is the concern, whether or not they were "terrorists".

Barack Obama's list of radical, liberal associates is varied:

  • Jerehiah (God damn America) Wright
  • William Ayers
  • the "New Party"
  • ACORN

When one choose to have associations with radical left-wing people or groups, it is generally because one has idealogical commanalities.  The more you have in common with leftist idealogies, the more associations you have.

Ultimately, as with most elections, I think that the election will fall - not necessarily to Obama or McCain - but to the party that is liberal or conservative.

We tend to look beyond the problems with  "our" candidate - if we are relatively sure that the candidate will stick to the party line.

When looking at McCain, we ask, "what party line will McCain stick most closely to?

When looking at Obama, we can also ask, "what party line will Obama stick most closely to?" This is where his radical associations are most important, because they give the best clue into his idealogy.

• 1 Comment

•

This is funny...I can tell when history classes have a research paper due. How?

Google searches. One of the research papers I wrote that I had the most fun with was: Compare and contrast Martin Luther and Henry VIII. I put a few of my papers online and this one is there also. That is by far the most popular search that brings people to this blog.

Of the top 5 google searches on my sitemeter page, 4 of them are looking for...yep. And they're not in the same place.  The cities:

  • Dallas, Texas
  • Tallahassee, Florida
  • Staten Island, New York
  • Van Buren, Arkansas

And I just thought my professor was being inventive...

So...if you're googling for information...please don't plagerize; give credit where credit is due...and enjoy history.