lunes linkage - 8/4/2008

The Afghan lawyer defending a journalist on death row in Kabul has been bombarded with death threats urging him to drop the case.

Islamic extremists repeatedly threatened to murder Afzal Nooristani after he agreed to defend Sayed Pervez Kambaksh in his high-profile appeal.

The 23-year-old student writer was sentenced to death for circulating an article about women’s rights. He was tried in a closed court, and denied a defence lawyer. His case has sparked worldwide protests.

emphasis mine…yep…sounds like complementarianism..(NOT)
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lunes linage 7/28/2008

The war on men:
A man is called a “pervert” for taking photographs of his own children on an amusement park slide.

Advertisement by the Southern Nevada Water Authority: the Man is watering lawn at the wrong time…(man bad), woman notices and rings his doorbell (woman good)…man gets good hard kick in the “groin region” (violence against men acceptable to our society).  DON’T MAKE US TELL YOU AGAIN (see the video and listen to the last line)

False allegations of abuse during a divorce…big surprise…children being used as pawns…another “surprise”.

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Dick Cheney’s house (google maps)

Dick Cheney’s house (yahoo maps)

Nothing significant…just interesting.  Inside the circle of the google map, details are digitally altered - on the yahoo map, they are not.  Look closer at the area inside the circle.

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Lanny Davis:

I remember the exact moment I had my first serious doubts about whether I was 100 percent right that the U.S. preemptive invasion of Iraq and the take-out of Saddam Hussein was a serious mistake. (…)

I just know I can’t get out of my mind that lady with the purple finger held up, smiling into the camera. If getting in was a mistake, then getting out — how and when — is not so simple as long as there is hope that she can some day live in a democratic Iraq that can help America in the war against terror.

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um…

J.I.MacJoe?

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lunes linkage - July 21, 2008

MzEllen Reads:  “Save the Males:  why men matter, why women should care” by Kathleen Parker.

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Next up:

Yet another false rape cry.

Clearfield police said a teenage girl’s claims that she was raped in the middle of a church parking lot in broad daylight are false.

In a statement sent to the Deseret News on Friday, Clearfield Assistant Police Chief Greg Krusi said laboratory test results and other evidence analyzed did not match up with the girl’s claims about being attacked.

“The juvenile was formally interviewed again by investigators at which time she admitted to fabricating the story due to personal issues occurring in her life,” Krusi wrote.

At least this one wasn’t aimed at a real person whose life could be ruined by a “wolf” cry.

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And…the most offensive site of the week:

Since I followed a couple of links to this site, and the sites that I followed to it are full-egalitarian (and don’t seem to much care that “soft-complementarian” is different than “hard-patriarchy”…I really have no clue whether a Godly man who leads his home and church is equivalent (in the eyes of this blog-writer) to the taliban, Hitler and those who kill their daughters for dating the wrong man.

If a picture is worth a thousand words…this says volumes about what the  posters of this logo think about those who disagree with them on the gender issue.
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In the spirit of the above link (NOT), here are a few things to ponder…

“Muslim “judge” rules kidnapped Christian girls “converted to Islam and cannot return home”

Two girls (ages 10 and 13) are kidnapped by a Muslim “fruit vendor” who turned them over to a friend, who organized a “marriage”.  Here’s the thing…

The girls’ uncle does not conceal his preoccupation, and denounces to AsiaNews that the Muslims involved in the kidnapping are acting as a “gang”, recruiting the girls in order to “make them work in a bordello”. This alarm has also been heard by the Catholic commission for justice and peace (NCJP) in the country, which confirms the words of Khalid Raheel: the kidnappers are believed to be human traffickers linked to prostitution, known to the police and under the protection of some local politicians.

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New York:  Muslim stabs his sister because she was a “bad Muslim girl”

Infuriated because his younger sister was going to clubs, wearing immodest clothing and planning to leave her family for a new life in New York City, Waheed Allah Mohammad stabbed her outside their Henrietta home, prosecutors allege.Afterward, he told Monroe County sheriff’s investigators that he attacked his sister because she had disgraced their family and was a “bad Muslim girl,” according to court documents.

Mohammad, 22, is scheduled to appear Friday in Monroe County Court on charges of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the May 8 attack on Fauzia A. Mohammad, 19.

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  Remember these two girls?

“Contrary to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline, he didn’t actually say he was innocent. He said he had done nothing wrong. That’s not the same thing. According to an earlier story on this case, he confessed to killing his daughter, and explained that he had done it to cleanse his family’s honor. When he appeared before the judge, it is unlikely that he changed this story. He just said he didn’t do anything wrong. And by the lights of the Islamic culture from which he comes, which thinks that a father killing a daughter who has sullied his family’s honor is perfectly justified, he indeed hasn’t done anything wrong. ”

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 Here’s something new:

A popular Hamas children’s television program shows a giant bunny character who is lured into stealing money — and then is sentenced by a child host to have his hand chopped off.

Oh wait, that’s not very “new”, Muslims have also made anti-Semitic children’s programs as well.
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Contrary to “popular belief”, complementarians do not teach that it’s “nothing wrong” to kill their daughters, sell them to prostitution rings or stab them for going to clubs.  Nor do we make children’s shows that encourage amputations as punishment for minor crimes.

To those who are attempting the comparison between godly male leadership in Islam.  NOT HELPFUL.
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Another set of “black and white” twins!  (although being a fan of a certain adult beverage, I’d most likely call them “black and tan”.

  

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“No Subpar Food for Senators”

The Senate restaurants, which include not just the stately Senate dining room in the Capitol but a huge cafeteria and coffee shops scattered in the two-building Senate compound, have lost $18 million since 1993 and are slated to lose $2 million this year.

Without an immediate $250,000 subsidy from the taxpayers, they won’t be able to make payroll next month. The restaurants have lost money for 37 of the 41 years they have been in “business,” but the taxpayers have made up the difference.

The food in the Senate eateries is “noticeably subpar,” said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who, as chair of the Senate’s Rules and Administration Committee, supervises these culinary/fiscal horrors.

MY favorite quote?

And the Senate that knows it can’t even run a restaurant will soon vote to have the government run health care. 

Indeed.

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File under:  Look, mom…it followed me home…can I keep it?

GORHAM, Maine — A woman checking her laundry Wednesday afternoon found an 8-foot-long snake wrapped around the clothes inside the washing machine at her Gorham home.

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The pope would not have been impressed

(personally, I like snakes - the big ones…I don’t like surprises)

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Global COOLING?!?!?

Late last month, some leading climatologists and meteorologists met in New York at the Energy Business Watch Climate and Hurricane Forum. The theme of the forum strongly suggested that a period of global cooling is about emerge, though possible concerns for a political backlash kept it from being spelled out.

However, the message was loud and clear, a cyclical global warming trend may be coming to an end for a variety of reasons, and a new cooling cycle could impact the energy markets in a big way.

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eatpes.com

(mostly) “clean” (the only off-color one was “roof sex” and that involved furniture.  The part that made it worth watching was the apartment owner getting after the cat for scratching up the furniture).  “Western Spaghetti” is wonderful!

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Photo of the week:

lunes linkage - 6/14/2008

(AD HOC) organization of the week:  ConnorWatch.

Connor Williamson: son, brother, nephew, and friend, has been seriously injured while diving at camp.

This is a place for friends and family to communicate their hopes, fears, pain, and thoughts, and to not be alone during this worst of times.

Most of all, this is a place to see the hand of God at work.

Join us as we journey with Connor.

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also from California…
POTTER VALLEY, Calif. —  A Mendocino County woman who was trying to kill mice in her trailer with a gun ended up shooting herself and another person.

The 43-year-old woman pulled out her .44-caliber Magnum revolver after she saw the mice scurrying across the floor of her trailer on Highway 20 in Potter Valley, sheriff’s officials said.

But she accidentally dropped the gun, which went off as it struck the floor. The bullet went through the woman’s kneecap, bounced off the keys sitting on the belt loop of a 42-year-old man in the trailer and grazed the man’s groin before ending up in his coin pocket.

Authorities did not release the shooting victims’ names.

The mice escaped the shooting unharmed.

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For those who like to compare complementarianism to Islam:

“Honor killings” are distressingly common throughout the Muslim world. Phyllis Chesler reports that “in 1997, in Cairo Egypt, twenty-five-year-old Nora Marzouk Ahmed’s honeymoon ended when her father chopped off her head and carried it down the street. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘the family has regained its honor.’ Nora’s crime? She had eloped.” And “in 2002, in Tehran, an Iranian man cut off his seven-year-old daughter’s head after suspecting she had been raped by her uncle. ‘The motive behind the killing was to defend my honor, fame, and dignity.’ Some people called for this man’s death under Islamic law, but ironically, only the father of the victim can demand the death sentence.” (…)

“Last I checked my history books common Europeans didn’t go around killing their daughters for marrying ‘wrong’ and neither did their ages old Monarchs.”

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Gay man sues Bible publishers:

A homosexual man who has a blog on Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign website is suing two major Christian publishers for violating his constitutional rights and causing emotional pain, because the Bible versions they publish refer to homosexuality as a sin.

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On the political scene…from the Michigan Republican blog comes this blurb:

OBAMA OFFERS MORE OF THE SAME…GRANHOLM-OMICS…which put Michigan in a single state recession for the last 6 years. Obama’s economic policies are almost identical to those that Granholm has implemented here in Michigan.  America can’t afford the risk!

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(OFF COLOR ALERT) From Jamaica:

Tesha Miller, the reputed leader of the Clansman gang, could be charged with possession of contraband after the police took a cellphone from his butt yesterday.

THE STAR was told that a search of the accused man’s cell was organised after police believed he had a cellphone in his possession. The police theorised that he had been using the device to contact his cronies.

An initial search of his cell found one cellphone; however, as the police were about to leave, another device rang.

Gloves used

This led to a further search and after combing the cell thoroughly again, it was discovered that the device was inside the accused man’s body. Gloves were said to have been requested, and the phone retrieved from the man’s body.

In a release last night, the Constabulary Communication Network said the phone was was found in Miller’s rectum.

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I’m actually thinking about these (because they look cool)

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lunes linkage

Organization of the Week: Snowflakes Adoption:

When a family has been successful in having a child through in vitro fertilization, remaining embryos are often cryo-preserved. This results in the question of what to do with the remaining embryos. These frozen embryos can be the hope of a child for an infertile couple.

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Who is Ali Jawad?

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I still can’t embed youtube on the site.

But here…

The Michigan Republican Party blog says:

But if John McCain said this — if he mistakenly said he’d visited 57 states..and had 1 more to go…while still missing Alaska and Hawaii???? — the media would be all up in his grill, accusing him of a senior moment. A double standard???

Clinton and Obama are getting tired.

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What would you do if your pastor was in error?

I’d go to the pastorate. And to the board…and to the denomination. And eventually I’d leave, but stay in contact with a pastor in the same classis.

HT: Think Christian

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lunes linkage 5/5/08

“Organization” of the week:

The Elisha Foundation.

The Elisha Foundation was founded to provide refreshment and encouragement to families caring for people with special needs. Through programs such as family retreats, we seek to provide access to resource professionals, educational specialists and other valuable resources while spending refreshing quality time as a family.

We recognize the need to encourage families who are caring for these special people. Our family retreats provide a balanced schedule of workshops and activities for the family, as well as for each individual, while providing a refreshing and fun environment for the entire family.

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J.I. Packer leaves the Anglican Church.

Some say that the homosexual issue is the breaking point, but the problem is liberalism

Packer urged Anglicans who are adamantly opposed to liberal developments in the Anglican church in Canada and the U.S. to remain “tough” as they re-align themselves under Archbishop Venables into a new non-geographically-based form of Anglicanism.

HT: Denny Burk

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John Piper on TULIP (mp3’s)

Nine sessions and notes.

HT: Between Two Worlds

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Morbid, yet…interesting…

chocolate skulls. Made from a cast of a real human skull.

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And another photo from one of my favorite photo sites: Dark Roasted Blend.

okay…just one more.

lunes linkage 4/28/08

“Organization” of the week: Making Great Waves for Kids.

GRAND RAPIDS — Less than two months before the start of the swimming season, organizers say they need private donations to ensure six outdoor pools stay open for a full eight-week run.

But a businessman who has helped make sure Grand Rapids kids can enjoy a summer splash says it’s time for the city to step up.

So far, the Making Great Waves for Kids campaign has raised almost $167,000 toward its goal of $300,000. That’s probably enough to open the pools but not enough to make sure they all stay open through August, organizers said.

Click on the first link for contact numbers for more information on how to donate money to keep the pools open, or gently used swim suits.
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“Narrowing the Risk of Mate Selection” - a short review at “Voice of Vision”

A seasoned marriage counselor has observed how couples wound one another in their marriage. He gave the following:

What Wounds A Woman

• An awareness that she is not first in her husband’s life
• Her husband’s failure to recognize her attempts to please him
• Unfavorable comparison to other women
• Her husband’s lack of spiritual leadership
• Rejection of her opinion as important
• Inconsistency in the discipline of the children
• Attempts to correct her in public

What Wounds A Man

• Resistance to his will
• Lack of confidence in his opinion or decisions
• Resentments for past failures
• Failure to build loyalty in the children
• Lack of a grateful spirit
• Inconsistency in the discipline of the children
• Criticism in public

OF COURSE these are not all-encompassing. OF COURSE there are more things that wound a person. OF COURSE there are exceptions to every “rule”.

lunes Linkage

Organization of the Week

Throughout the year, Mel Trotter Ministries provides shelter, food, clothing, education, Biblical teaching, computer-based learning, and work training and experience to meet people at the physical and spiritual points of need.

Your gracious donation of $28.80 will provide food and care for 15 hungry, homeless, and hurting people. Men, women, and children are counting on you to provide help and hope.

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Audio Bibles in MP3 format (the only English one available is KJV - but there are a few languages that are available for download, free)

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I have purchased WAY more of this guy’s music than I intended…

Denez Prigent.

Please watch this youtube video (Denez Prigent and Lisa Gerrard singing for the soundtrack from “Black Hawk Down”

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Willow Creek discovers that you reach the lost by equipping the saints!

Hawkins says, “We used to think you can’t upset a seeker. But while focusing on that we’ve really upset the Christ-centered people.” He spoke about the high levels of dissatisfaction mature believer have with churches. Drawing from the 200 churches and the 57,000 people that have taken the survey, he said that most people are leaving the church because they’re not being challenged enough.

Because it’s the mature Christians who drive evangelism in the church Hawkins says, “Our strategy to reach seekers is now about focusing on the mature believers. This is a huge shift for Willow.”

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Rice for V.P.?

It should be a profoundly offensive notion to any freedom loving person in a democratic context, that the promotion of an inexperienced new face somehow represents black achievement while the promotion of a sitting Secretary of State, former National Security Advisor, former Stanford University Provost, and chief confidant to the sitting President of the United States should be considered a nasty ploy to garner black votes! Given the comprehensive evaluation we have had of her over the past twenty years but more specifically over the past ten years, she would seem the natural selection – contra wise, Obama and Clinton would seem the nasty ploy to garner black votes.

(…)

However, injecting considerations of race and gender in the case of Condoleezza Rice is incredibly infantile, ridiculous and arbitrary. The time to discuss that with regard to her was nearly a decade ago. Condoleezza Rice is now the most qualified name being explored for the Executive – certainly more qualified then Obama and Clinton with their resume’s combined. I am not asking you to vote for the ticket that she may be associated with simply because she is a black woman…contra wise, I am asking you to vote based upon the content of her character and the quality of her leadership alone as judged through her experience and until it is confirmed that she is on the ticket, to dismiss with vehemence anyone who would reduce this possibility to a mere racial and/or gender consideration. Condoleezza Rice represents all that blacks and feminist have been fighting for these many years! Lets not dismiss her simply because she is a conservative: this is the change we’ve been waiting for – real live personal achievement with slave blood still running through her veins, Jim Crow memories yet playing on the canvas of her mind, and still single – the requisite consequence of female strength and independence.

(HT: Reformed Blacks of America)

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“What is a ‘Reformed Church’?”

What is a Reformed church anyway? Why are they called “Reformed”? What do they believe? Where did they come from? What do they do? These are the types of basic questions I hope to introduce here. What I hope I am able to communicate to you here is that Reformed churches are Christian churches—believing that the Bible is the Word of God, that there is only one God who exists eternally as a Trinity, and that Jesus Christ is both God and man. Reformed churches are also Protestant churches—rejecting the claims of the Pope to be the Head of the Church, acknowledging instead that Jesus Christ is the Head of his Church, and that he rules and governs his Church by his Word and Spirit. Finally, Reformed churches are just that, Reformed churches—believing that sinful humans are saved by grace alone, from eternity past to eternity future, and that we experience this grace of God as the Holy Spirit uses certain means that God has appointed in the Church: the preaching of the Word and celebration of the Sacraments.

(HT: Oceanside United Reformed Church)

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and the photo of the week…

From “Michigan in Pictures“

lunes Linkage

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.

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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.

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

lunes linkage (3/10/08)

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Ministry of the “week”

Forgotten Man Ministries
The Great Commission Ignoring those in jail or prison would be to disobey the clear, direct command of our Lord. He said “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…” Inmates need to hear the Gospel of Christ and be made disciples as Jesus commanded. We must follow the example of Jesus who ministered to the publicans, sinners, thieves and harlots. Those people were sick with sin and needed the Great Physician to heal them. Today, FMM follows in Christ’s footsteps by bringing the healing powers of the Great Physician to those behind bars.

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and…it’s been a pretty slow week.  So that’s about it.