Yada Yada

Search Amazon.com for yada yada prayer group seriesI have been reading the Yada Yada Prayer Group books by Neta Jackson.

I am enjoying the stories immensely. These books are really "How to pray" manuals disguised as novels.

The story (because all seven books are really just one long story) themselves are very entertaining. They focus on a group of women from many different backgrounds gathering together to pray and love each other. Between the twelve of them, they go through about every issue facing christian women today.

I highly recommend them.

And the Weather is....

Windy!

Beginning to wonder if I should have a tonado shelter! Man is it blowing!

My brother is coming up next week for Thanksgiving. So look forward to his visit. I know it has been hard on him since his wife's passing last spring. We are too far away to be of much help but prayer. :-(

Growing children

I measured my fourteen-year old son last night.

Six feet, one and one-fourth inches! He has less than three inches before he catches his dad! How weird to look my baby in the chest!

My eleven-year-old just passed five foot. Won't be long and I'll be looking up to him too.

And my ten-year-old is only an inch behind that.

The little girls are chasing them hard, though I don't expect them to cause quite so much neck strain to look in the face when they are grown.

My oldest (17yo) has been a half inch taller than me for about four years now so I am used to that.

Where did all my babies go!?

Sicko update

We are all doing better. Mom, Hubby and I still coughing and not up to snuff, but better. Children seem over it.

Busy day today; possible homeschool consult, grocery shopping, etc.

While I was sick, I didn't feel up to doing any actual writing (so my Simple Bible, Family and Church, and End is Closer blogs have suffered). but I felt too good to lay down. So I took a lot of polls on faceBook. One
of which has lead to a discussion with an atheist about evolution verses creation. Very interesting mental challenge to prove your point about Jesus and creation without using the Bible. You can't use the Bible in these discussions becasue that is circular reasoning; I believe this becasue the Bible says so. The Bible is true because I believe it. You have to first prove your point with other methods, then use your sucessful points to prove the Bible is true. Then, hopefully, you can prove the need to repent and serve God from that.

I think all christians should study logic. Logic is one dialect of the language of Reason (algebra and Latin are two others). If you start with true statements and apply proper logic, you will always come up with a true conclusion. Example: A dog is a mammal. All mammals have body hair. Thus all dogs have body hair. However if you begin with bad starting statements you end up with bad conclusions: All mammals give live births, The platypus lays eggs, The platypus us not an animal. Good logic. Wrong starting stement (most, but not all, mammals give live birth). Of course there is the all too present bad logic: All dogs are mammals, all cats are mammals, all dogs are cats (this is bad form and will allways yeild a wrong answer.) Common logic mistakes are the Strawman, circular reasoning, and circumstancial evidence. Evolutionists and politicians and, sadly, christians, all make these mistakes way too often.

I have considered jsut lettignthe discussion drop at every round, but God has quietly told me "If you, who have spent more than 20 years studying this issue, can not stand up for the truth, who can? Who will tell this person they have been lied to if you don't?" So I have continued and am enjoying it. I hope they answer my last post with some good questions.

A Commune System That Works

I have been reading Charlotte Mason's second book ("Parents and Children"?) I am only in the introduction, but I have run across an interesting idea.

She compares the family to a commune. Think about that: all property is held in common (except what the rulers [parents] decide can be private). Everyone has their job to do and everyone receives the benefits of the whole household. She's right, you know.

And that is why a communist government will never work. "Communism" requires a Father and Mother who 1)are the wisest, most informed people in the group and 2)are concerned more than anything with the well being of their subjects, not their own personal comfort. Isn't that the definition of good parents?

With a government structure, however, you have a group of (in the case of America) 300 million intelligent, informed adults. No human being is qualified to take point number one. There does not exist anyone who is smarter and more educated than absolutely every citizen in the country (and, frankly, if there is, he is unelectable). No adult has the right by virtue of his position to tell another adult what to do. Oh if you do evil you should be punished, of course. But no one has the right to tell you what to do with your time, energy and money. Adults don't take to this kind of bossing very well.

Point 2- "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" Thomas Jefferson wasn't talking about horse-power. Those who gain total control of their fellow citizens will be tempted by the power to "feather their bed" so to speak. It is unavoidable. That is human nature.

A third point about the family commune is that all the "regular citizens" (children) have a hope of growing into ruling their own little "commune." They know this totalitarianism is just temporary. This is simply not possible of a government. Adults chafe at being kept eternal children which is what is required for the survival of a communist government.

Communism simply can't work with an adult population.

Socialism is just a politically correct term for communism.

I am surrounded by sickos

I mean that literally. Snot everywhere! The children acted off all last week so it wasn't a surprise when I arrived at my mom's to pick them up Friday to find them all down. Headaches, sore throats, one fever and two boarderline. No one felt good enough to care about anything.

We don't usually watch much TV (and then only videos). but when theya re sick I let them run the vids all day. TV has been clinically shown to be a sedative. Works great. So our TV has been going now for four straight days. I am going nuts! Today it si off.

Still some runny noses and few coughs here and there, but mostly the children seem about over this.

Hubby and I however...

Snot everywhere!

We started in Sunday. I have been napping but hubby can't even stay home from work. His boss is on vacation and they have the crew down to absolute minimum due to the economy. So the poor thing has to work when he would rather die. To make things worse, his coughing is so bad he couldn't sleep last night. I welcome your prayers for him.

On a good note, I am getting some more reading done.

"There is no great loose without some small gain."
Ma Ingals

More on healthcare reform

This entire “reform” is really about taking total control of this country for the government. That is, those in office telling us how to live our lives.


Socialism= dictatorship by committee.


What is in that 10,000 pages? I know of some who have actually read it. Here is one example; every parent of a new-born baby will be visited by a social worker to make sure they know what they are doing and taking care of the baby instead of abusing it. How would you like that? A government employee comes into your home without just cause of wrongdoing or a court order, presuming you are guilty of child abuse until you prove you are not. This is a direct violation of our Constitutional Fifth Amendment rights!


Did you know that this all comes back to evolution? If evolution is true, than “right and wrong” are constantly changing. Society decides what is good and evil. Thus, those in office (being smarter and better educated, of course, or survival of the fittest wouldn’t have allowed them to lead), have the right to tell us what is evil (not buying into insurance, having too many babies, homeschooling, preaching from the Bible, witnessing, going to church, saying anything negative about the president….) and what is good (saving the whales, recycling, abortion, euthanasia, …). The things in the Constitution, and especially in the Bill of Rights, only apply to the 18th century and have nothing to do with us.


However, if Creation is true, there is a God who has told us what good and evil is (Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not be selfish. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not be mean. Thou shalt not commit adultery. See Galatians, Ephesians, and Exodus). He is the only One with the right to make those decisions. These standards are universal. Our founding Fathers searched out these universal truths and codified them in the document we call the Constitution with the addition of the first ten amendments we call the Bill of Rights.


Honestly, do you really want to live in a society where the leaders do not believe in absolute right and wrong? Many citizens say they don’t believe in absolute morals, but I bet they would change their tune quick if the government decided their particular group was bad and needed exterminating.


And what is to keep our government from making such a decision? Without the foundation of biblical morals, there are no restraints whatsoever. That is what this whole “healthcare reform” is really about. This group of people think that because they are in charge of the most powerful country in the world they have the right to decide good and evil. Why should they respect private property rights, parental rights or the right to life? There are NO controls; no reason to acknowledge such rights.


Why not kill the handicapped?
Why not steal private property?
Why not lie?
Why not force people to hold the jobs you want them to hold?
Why not force people to marry who you ant them to marry?
Why not force them to live where you want them to live?
Why not remove all foods from the market except the kinds you like or think people should be eating?
Why not keep all the technology to yourself?
Why not let elderly people die?
Why not force women to have abortions? Or even kill their wanted babies if they are inconvenient?


Why not?


What is to stop them?

Health care points

An editorial in our local paper recently had the title “It’s time to stop the politics and just get behind Healthcare reform.” This is like saying, “Let’s stop all this playoff nonsense and just give the trophy to MY team.” Healthcare reform IS politics. Some facts:


We already have universal emergency care in America. Don’t believe me? Just go to your local emergency room without your insurance card. It is against the law for them to turn anyone away. The cost is absorbed by taxpayers (through hospital write-offs) and insurance companies (through higher premiums).


We already have non-emergency care available to the poorest of our country through Medicaid. In fact, if the real goal in healthcare reform was a single payer system, all they would have to do is raise the maximum income level for Medicaid by a few percentages a year. In no time everyone would qualify and insurance companies couldn’t possibly compete. No big meetings, no 10,000 page documents. Very simple, really.


“Ahhhh, but this bill will require everyone to buy health insurance thus sharing the costs.” First of all, we already share the costs through our taxes. Secondly, what this bill really does is make it illegal to pay cash. Surprise, surprise, there are some people out there who consider insurance to be one big Ponzi scheme and simply pay for their own expenses out of their own pocket. There are also groups who share each other’s expenses; not as insurance companies (paying before hand to “insure” the bill will be paid) but sharing the bill after it is made. This legislation will force them to buy insurance, thus forcing them to either pay twice for their care or to participate in a program they don’t want to (much like all those who provide their children with private education).


In fact, let’s talk about those “45,000,000 uninsured.” Two-thirds of those are illegal aliens who should be deported, not medicated. Now, I believe whole-heartedly that we should be allowing more LEGAL immigrants into this country. Since we don’t have enough babies, we need the extra workers. However, illegals are, by definition, breaking our laws by being here. They are criminals. Letting them stay is a slap in the face to everyone who has jumped through the hops to come here legally. It has also created an entire slave class who do not have the same rights as everyone else.


That leaves us with only about 15,000,000 uninsured. About half of those don’t have insurance because they are between jobs. As soon as they are reemployed they will be covered again. This is not an issue for healthcare reform, but for economics.


We are down to about 7,000,000 uninsured now. Half of those are in the category mentioned above: those who don’t want insurance.


So, what the politicians are really doing is trashing the best healthcare system on the planet for the benefit of 3,000,000 people. With a population of 350,000,000, that means less than 1%.


Do we have the best system? Surveys here and in other countries show that more Americans are happy with their care than any other country on the planet. People from other countries often come HERE for there care. In fact, all those who are saying Canada is so much better, do not go there for their care, even though travel is very inexpensive. They stay right here, using this supposedly horrible system while griping about it.


The healthcare systems of other countries are about to break them. They are collapsing and, in several countries, they are moving away from single payer systems. They have people dieing from ailments that are simple to treat (such as a dose of penicillin). They are totally messed up in most areas. Why in the world would we want to duplicate this??!!! We need to come up with our own solutions instead of following the fashions of the times. We need to be the leader, not the follower.


There are several possible solutions (if indeed a solution is needed at all).

The one with the most likely chance of passing is vouchers. The government simply sends each legal resident a check to put in a medical savings account. This money can be used to buy insurance or pay medical bills directly. Any money left over at the end of the year, the owner gets to keep. By putting the power back into the people’s hands, we reestablish the free market controls. No longer will the insurance with the biggest kickback for your bosses secretary get your business, but the one that best meets your needs at the cheapest price. No longer will procedures be chosen by what insurance will cover, but by what YOU think you need. No one will even need Medicaid or Medicare anymore. Everyone gets an equal chance at great insurance.

The better, though much less likely solution would be to remove the government from the entire industry.


A little history here: originally insurance was something everyone bought themselves, though only those in certain industries even needed it. During WWII the government froze wages. This presented a real problem, since companies needed to be able raise salaries to keep and attract the best employees. Since they couldn’t offer them money, they began offering them insurance. After a time, the government passed laws that all companies with a certain number of workers HAD TO provide this bennie. Then, because it wasn’t “fair” for the poor to not have it available, they invented the medi’s. They set the price that the medi’s will pay for procedures and the insurance companies follow along. And, as has happened with EVERY industry ANY government has gotten involved in, the price has skyrocketed and the quality has begun to fall.


Now, if you removed Uncle Sam from this equation, companies could pay their people cash instead of insurance if they wanted to and let the individuals decide if they needed insurance or not. And the free market would be able to control prices and quality again. Some businesses would still offer insurance to attract the best workers, but others would find that the higher salary would work better for them.


These solutions solve any problems (and it really is stupid that our insurance is tied to our jobs), and control prices and quality through the free market forces God invented.


Simple, natural solutions.

Unfortunately, they aren’t going to even be considered. Why? Tune next time….

Stem cells

This is a letter I wrote to our editor following a desperate plea to legalize stem cell research:


Ms Gafford is absolutely right that stem cells hold great promise. They have already been used to grow a new tooth, used for blood-forming in transplants for 40 years, to treat leukemia and related bone/blood cancers, to regrow a trachea, and many other things.

However, these stem cells were all collected from consenting adults. The collection process does no harm to the donor (some cells are simply scrapped off the lining of the inside of the nose).

What Ms Gafford fails to mention in her letter is that she wants us to use FETAL stem cells. These are collected from unborn, un-consenting babies and the process kills them. This is human sacrifice to the “god of science.” It is evil. We will not succeed in doing good through evil means.

Other countries have been experimenting on these cells for years. They have come up with exactly ………. NO …….. cures or treatments for anything whatsoever. It doesn’t work.

Even if it did, do we really want to be a nation that gets her health from child sacrifice?

I have a few much better, more promising ideas: 1) Let’s do more work on cord blood and placentas. Though discarded as waste in America, they are used in traditional medicine around the world with startling results and may very well give many advantages while harming absolutely no one. And 2) Let’s put our money into learning how to prevent these diseases. Isn’t that much better than needing to cure them?

Let’s find the causes instead of killing for the cures.