Author Archives: MzEllen

• 3 Comments

•

"A God without wrath brought man without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." (H. Richard Niebuhr)

I had the opportunity to visit the "Cathedral of Faith" Sunday.  They are a Pentecostal, Word-of-Faith church.  This week they started a new series, "Treasure Hunters".

Key words:  "self esteem",  "abundant living", "finding your dream".

this week's lesson - what is stopping you from reclaiming your dreams is fear.  The speaker said several times that the "greatest - ahem...the commandment given most often in the Bible is 'not to fear'.

If only we would stop being afraid, there is nothing that we could not accomplish.  Let go of our fear, grab onto the power within us and remember our dreams!

"Star Wars" theology.

No mention of the cross, of Christ's finished work, of redemption, repentance.

Only "get out of the boat", "expect to get wet", "Jesus won't let you drown".

"We are saved, after all that we can do."

It's all about what is within us, helped by the "genie in the bottle", Jesus.  The "stuff" that we have forgotten how to access can be ours once again.

"A God without wrath brought man without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." (H. Richard Niebuhr)

For those for whom the terms of that sentence are well nigh incomprehensible, English biblical scholar T. W. Manson's spoof may strike closer to home: "Jesus goes up to Jerusalem to give a course of lecture-sermons on the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and then becomes the victim of an unfortunate miscarriage of justice." Substitute one or another therapeutic banality ("I'm O.K., you're O.K."? "Follow your bliss"?) for the subject of the talks, and Manson's jibe still tells.

•

Organization of the Week:

Stop Prisoner Rape

Our Mission

A national 501(c)(3) human rights organization, SPR works to put an end to sexual violence against men, women

(HT: Joe Carter - The Evangelical Outpost)

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

On "Obama's Abortion Extremism"

But Obama's record on abortion is extreme. He opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion -- a practice a fellow Democrat, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once called "too close to infanticide." Obama strongly criticized the Supreme Court decision upholding the partial-birth ban. In the Illinois state Senate, he opposed a bill similar to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which prevents the killing of infants mistakenly left alive by abortion. And now Obama has oddly claimed that he would not want his daughters to be "punished with a baby" because of a crisis pregnancy -- hardly a welcoming attitude toward new life.  (...)

I guess, as Barbara Boxer said...

When [she] was pressed to affirm that she opposed the medical killing of children after birth, she refused to commit, saying that children deserve legal protection only "when you bring your baby home." It was unclear whether this included the car trip.

(emphasis mine)

The Tech.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is playing with LEGOS

•

Nutrients in cat food (above)

Our cat, Henry, is diabetic. A few months ago he dropped half of his weight and was walking as if he had had a stroke (only not side-to-side, his back half wasn't working right). The vet called his "neuropathy" - nerve damage due to diabetes. With insulin he might improve or he might not. He did improve, but not much.

THEN...we put him on a pretty strict low-carb diet and he put his weight back on (with less fat, more muscle) and his walking is nearly normal. You would not notice his limp-i-ness unless we point it out.

(my favorite information page: Binky's.)

Cats are carnivores in the wild! God designed them to eat meat. In fact, their "perfect" diet is the exact ratios that you would find in the carcass of a mouse (3 percent carbohydrate, 40 percent protein, and 50 percent fat).

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

Recent studies show that cats with diabetes can be better and even sometimes brought into with a low-carbohydrate (sometimes called "Catkins", though more properly Hodgkins) diet. ( It's hardly surprising for cats, who eat about 5% calories from carbs in nature. Veterinarians are gradually switching their recommendations to a low-carb diet as well. The Feline Diabetes Message Board discovered the benefits of this diet along with "Zone" author Dr. Barry Sears and bestselling author Sherry Sontag, back in 1999.

There are a lot of vets out there that will tell you that a high-carb dry food diet is the #1 cause of diabetes in cats. In the summer, when Henry goes in for his checkup, I will not be surprised if his diabetes is well under control, or even in remission.

Dry food is a great convenience and may be necessary in some cases when the guardian is gone long hours or cannot feed on a regular schedule. But at least 50% of the diet (preferably 100% if you want to ensure optimum health!) should be a high-protein, high-moisture, low-carb diet such as canned or homemade food. Your cat will be healthier, and while you'll spend a little more on food up front, ultimately you'll save hundreds, if not thousands, on veterinary bills!

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

There are very few low-carb dry foods and some of them are very expensive.

The Eukanuba is $15.99 for 7 pounds at PetSmart (and if you order through AA.com, you can get 4 sky miles for every dollar spent. I do this on the first of the month).

ChowHound carries Innova Evo food for cats and dogs.

* EVO Cat and Kitten Food is made WITHOUT GRAINS!

* EVO Cat and Kitten Food has the HIGHEST MEAT CONTENT of any dry cat food!

* EVO Cat and Kitten Food contains 50% PROTEIN, 22% FAT, and only 7% CARBOHYDRATES, the lowest in the industry!!

* EVO Cat and Kitten Food is made with the same ingredients as you might find in a typical ''wild'' feline diet - RAW, MEATY BONES & cartilage, veggies & fruit.

Evo for cats is $36.09 on Amazon (but you have to pay $12.00 in shipping). If you have a ChowHound, you can get it there and you can see the price is comparable). It is about 8% carbs, so it is in a pretty good range...the best for a dry food.

HERE is a chart for dry cat food by nutrition.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

Canned food:

A couple of the best low carb cat foods are from...Walmart. At least carb-count wise. We've found that the most economical way to handle the cat feeding issue is to feed canned most of the time (two or three cans a day) and to let him graze on the dry in between.

HERE is Binky's chart for canned food by nutrition.

I have a list of the preferred foods that I keep in my planner (including wet and dry food, taken from Binky's lists). My preferred foods include dry food at less than 25% of the calories coming from carb and canned foods at less than 5% of the calories coming from carb.

•
Thirteen Things "Cinderella stories"
1. Ashpet: an Appalachian Tale, retold by Joanne Compton2. Cinder Edna, by Ellen Jackson**3. Cendrillon : A Caribbean Cinderella**4. The Korean Cinderella, by Shirley Climo
5. The Enchanted Anklet: A Cinderella Story from India translated and adapted by Lila Mehta

6. Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, by John Steptoe

7. Prince Cinders, by Babette Cole**

8. Sootface: an Ojibwa Cinderella Story, retold by Robert D. San Souci

9. Tam Cam: The Vietnamese Cinderella Story by The Goi**

10. Yeh-Shen, a Cinderella Tale from China, by Ai-Ling Louie

11. Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella**

12. Domitila: A Cinderella Tale from the Mexican Tradition

13. The Way Meat Loves Salt: A Cinderella Tale from the Jewish Tradition; by Nina Jaffe

(There are over 500 versions of the Cinderella story from around the world, the oldest is "Rhodopis" from Egypt,

around 2,000 years ago. The oldest written Cinderella story is "Yeh-Shen" from China, around 850 AD.

** indicates which of the stories are in my collection)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
 

• 2 Comments

•

look under the fold for the the whole article:

“Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old,” he said. “I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at age 16, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information.”

...continue reading →

• 2 Comments

•

Organization of the Week:

ASA, the nation’s leading grassroots autism organization, exists to improve the lives of all affected by autism. We do this by increasing public awareness about the day-to-day issues faced by people on the spectrum, advocating for appropriate services for individuals across the lifespan, and providing the latest information regarding treatment, education, research and advocacy.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

No beer at the barber shop in my town...

"Barbershop asks attorney general to OK free beer "

Here's the thing...I know a woman who goes to a particular beauty salon because they give her champaign during her hair cut. But the guys can't get a beer?

I think that it should either "cut" both ways or not at all.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

The Amish are being prosecuted for not keeping up with technology...

MORRISTOWN, N.Y. (AP) _ The religious rights of 10 Old Order Amish men are being violated by an upstate New York town that is selectively prosecuting them for building homes without permits, a national public interest group charged Tuesday.

Meanwhile, elected officials in rural Morristown accuse the state of turning its back on them in the dispute, which the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said involves discrimination against the Amish.(...)

The fight began in July 2006 when a member of the conservative Swartzentruber sect was charged with building a house without a permit. Since then, nine other Amish men have been cited for failing to adhere to the town's building code.

Building codes are established by the state and enforced by towns, villages and cities. Morristown updated its 22-year-old building codes in 2006 based on a model law provided by the state. The code requires new and existing structures "to keep pace with advances in technology in fire protection and building construction."

"The basis of the Old Order Amish faith is that they don't conform to new technology," said Steve Ballan, the St. Lawrence County assistant public defender who is representing the Amish men. "So if you have a law that says you have to keep pace with technology, that's the same as having a law that says no Amish allowed."

The men do not deny building houses without permits. They are willing to purchase building permits, but contend the requirements of the codes _ such as having smoke detectors, submitting engineering plans and allowing inspections _ violate their religious beliefs, Ballan said.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

MMM...chocolate.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~