Read The Bill Petition

Is it too much for us to ask our leaders to read the laws they are passing before they vote on them? With only one or two possible exceptions, none of our leaders ever read the largest law ever passed in the history of the world.

Here is a couple blurbs about the issue from the Sunlight Foundation.

You didn't have the time to read the 1100 page stimulus bill. And neither did members of Congress—by their own choice. Most lawmakers—on both sides of the aisle—were only given 13 hours to read the bill before it was passed.

Unfortunately, this is not an anomaly. Many members of Congress wish they had more time to Read the Bill:


Read The Bill from Sunlight Foundation on Vimeo.

Hey,

Here's something terrifying: Congress passed the $787 billion stimulus bill and we're pretty sure the people who voted on that legislation didn't actually read it. And for sure you didn't have a chance to look at it, either.

That's not the first time important legislation has rushed through Congress in a matter of hours. By hurrying to vote on these bills, members of Congress might miss an earmark or tax break that could have a lasting impact on you and your community.

Let's make sure this doesn't happen again. Sign the petition and demand that Congress Read The Bill:

Read The Bill.Org Petition

Thank you for your support.

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Federal School Lunch Program Lobbying

Why Can't Bureaucrats Put Kid's Health First?

Check out this video and blurb from the American News Project. No other media gets stuff like this. Well done, ANP!

Who decides what our children are eating?

To a large degree, it is the Federal Government.

Congress and the Department of Agriculture approve what foods can (and can't) be served to over 30 million American school children who get daily meals from the National School Lunch Program. The government gets a ton of pressure from a food and beverage industry frantic to keep kids hooked on a diet of sodas, snacks and hot dogs. The competition, for a piece of this $10 billion market, is particularly fierce right now because this year, the School Lunch Program is being reviewed and revised.

Despite the enormous nutritional and financial stakes at play, ANP was the only media to cover a recent panel set up to discuss the school menu.

While nutritionists outnumbered the press, corporate lobbyists outnumbered everyone.

Tags:
school lunch lobbyist politics revolving door food lobby pork pepsi corruption washington nutrition childhood obesity obesity

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Google Sites

This clip explains Google's new application, Google Sites. This might be useful for clubs and groups.

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wii fit exercise program

I was lucky enough yesterday to find a Wii Fit Balance Board at my local Walmart. I have been looking for that device for about two weeks.

Several people told me the device helped them lose weight. I checked the Internet and saw a few people were critical of Wii Fit because it's workout was not hard enough. Then, I read the comments by Heath Bell, a relief pitcher for the San Diego Padres. Bell credited the Wii Fit with helping him lose about 15 pounds. That comment put me on the machine and I opted to try her out.

I tried it out last night. I'll write more later, but it was fun . . . and not at all easy.

Before starting, the Wii Fit program took some measurements of my fitness, weight, and posture. It concluded that I am too weak for my age. It placed me four years behind my contemporaries in age due to "weakness." It also alerted me to the fact that I am approximately 29 pounds overweight.

I have posted here eight times about PTT's Weight Loss Battle. However, the last post on that subject was way back in September 2008.

Even though I have not kept up a steady weight training exercise program, I was surprised to discover my weight has not changed. I'm still hanging in there at 209.

The Wii allows you to set goals. I set a goal of losing ten pounds in two months. I was not able to lose more than five pounds in 2008 although I kept at it pretty good. If my memory serves, I started the "Battle" at 214.

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Banking CEOs Testify Before Congress

Congressperson Jackie Speier (D) blasts Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit and other CEOs of major banks as they testify before Congressional Finance Committee to explain what went wrong with the first half of TARP, accountability to taxpayers and other questionable practices and shady dealings.

We (the taxpayer) is subsidizing you to the tune of $78 Billion. Meanwhile, you are charging credit card customers rates of 18-20%. Would you as a TARP recipient be willing to reduce the interest rates on credit cards?

Half of the major finaincial institutions claim they are not in the credit card business. The other half refuse to reduce their rates.

Most of you have tax havens off shore. Are you willing to bring those tax havens home to America?

"I cannot answer that right now."

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Gamecock Pitching

2009 Season Rides on Surgically Repaired Arms

The college baseball season starts in less than one week. The Gamecock fans are particularly excited about the upcoming baseball season. The Gamecocks will be playing in a brand new, beautiful stadium in 2009. Fans, players and coaches are raving about the new facility and the excitement level is high.

The touts, however, are not expecting much from the Gamecocks on the field. In fact, they are predicted to finish in the bottom of the SEC in 2009. The players and coaches do not agree and seem quietly confident about their chances.

The 2008 season was somewhat disappointing. The Gamecocks did not win their Regional and finished in the middle of the SEC. Most people agree that the injury-affected pitching staff was the main factor contributing to a mediocre 2008 performance.

The 2009 season could be significantly better in terms of Gamecock pitching. There are true freshman coming aboard who could contribute greatly right away. In addition, three of the Gamecocks best pitchers missed all or most of 2008 with injuries. Curtis Johnson, Jay Brown, and Jordan Costner return with surgically repaired pitching arms for the 2009 season. A lot is riding on the health of those three arms.

This post looks in depth at the statistics of the returning Gamecock pitchers, including the 2007 statistics of Johnson, Brown and Costner. It provides a bit of analysis.

The chart below shows a list of the Gamecock veteran pitchers who have statistics to analyze. The incoming true freshman (like Westmoreland, Belcher or others who all might contribute mightily the 2009 season) are not included in the charts simply because their is no comparable statistical data to evaluate. There is really no way to compare high school statistics to Division I college baseball data.


The first thing that jumps out above is the fact that Blake Cooper is a horse. He has nearly twice the innings pitched as any of the other returning pitchers. The Gamecocks are going to need another couple innings eating veterans like Cooper if they wish to compete with the upper echelon SEC competition.

Johnson is on the list twice because he pitched so very little in 2008. (Stat people might argue the 2008 sample size is too small to evaluate.) Therefore, I included his 2007 data. The 2007 statistics are in blue. Brown and Costner's 2007 stats are also shown in blue. (Neither Brown nor Costner played in 2008 due to their arm injuries.) Ray Tanner is counting on these three returning pitchers to solidify his staff.

The next chart below shows the Gamecock pitchers along with some raw pitching statistics.

Raw pitching statistics are designed to measure pure pitching skill. The more common baseball pitching statistics like the earned run average, wins and losses, or saves, tend to be skewed greatly by luck. A bloop single, poor defense, or just facing off against lucky hitters can wreck a pitchers ERA. Similarly, wins and losses depend upon a team's offensive performance and are frequently unrelated to a pitchers performance on the mound. Some guys just have hard luck. The chart below has four types of raw data.

The first chart is sorted based on the statistic, dominance. DOM is my personal favorite pitching statistic. A pitcher cannot fake his DOM stat by luck. It is a statistic that shows a pitcher's pure ability to strike out hitters. The formula for DOM as follows ( (K*9)/IP ). The DOM stat shows how many batters a pitcher fans every nine innngs. Thus, KUJO (2007) and Parker Bangs strike out slightly more than eleven hitters per nine innings. Impressive!



Pitchers who have DOM ratios in excess of 8 are strong. There are several Gamecocks in that category. However, you have to take some of the data in the chart with a degree of caution because of few innings pitched. Cross check the innings pitched to guage reliability of the statistic. The lower the IP the less reliable of an indicator is the number.

The final chart shows an equally (or even perhaps even more) important measure of a pitchers raw skill, command. CMD is a raw pitching skill statistic that measures a pitchers strike out ability balanced against his control. The statistic is represented by a pitchers strikeout to walk ratio ( K/BB ). A CMD statistic above 3.0 is an indicator of a pitcher with a good strong command of the strike zone.



One thing here that is interesting in the chart above is that the best CMD pitchers on the Gamecocks are the three injured players, CUJO, Brown and Costner. That is why so much of the 2009 season much rides on the success of their comeback.

Another unhealthy looking statistic is the CMD ratio for Sam Dyson.

Preseason reports indicate Dyson might be selected as the Gamecocks Friday night starter. The CMD numbers for Dyson in 2009 are going to need to be a lot better than his 2008 numbers. He has a powerful arm, but Dyson will not last long as Tanner's Friday night starter if his CMD does not improve substantially in 2009.

The other two raw pitching statistics in the chart are HR% and OBA. The HR% statistic simply shows how many gopher balls per nine innings a pitcher gives up. Good major league pitchers tend to keep their HR% below 1.0. The lower the number, the better in this category. The statistic is an excellent tool to measure a pitchers raw skill at keeping the ball down in the strikezone, or avoiding mistake pitches. Luck has little to do with the dinger.

The OBA statistic ( (W+H)/ 9 ) is a measure of how many baserunners a pitcher allows per inning. (It is also sometimes called the WHIP statistic.) Pitchers that allow a lot of base runners--unless they are very lucky or very dominant--tend to give up more runs and post higher ERAs. While defense plays a significant role in the number of hits a pitcher gives up over the course of many innings, walks are pretty much a pure pitching skill statistic. The combination of walks and hits per inning can give folks a good idea about a pitchers skill in keeping the opposing team off base.



Technorati Tags: gamecocks, pitching, staff, tanner, 2009, sam, dyson, curtis, johnson, injuries

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Florida Congressman Grayson (D)

This guy, a freshman in the House, is an emerging hero.

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Greer Community Ministries

Bridgepointe Church in Taylors is helping to stock shelves in the Greer Community Ministries Food Bank Pantry. Our task at Bridgepointe is to provide the Pantry with 100 one pound boxes of spaghetti noodles. We will regularly collect the boxes of spaghetti at our church to fill the pantry.

Greer Community Ministries Food Pantry has a goal of feeding the hungry. The ministry is inspired by the words of Jesus Christ:

“For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me . . . .”

Matthew 25:35-36.

If you live in the Taylors and Greer community, please help us stock the Greer Food Bank Pantry. The mission of the Greer Community Ministry is nobel. "No elderly, homebound or disadvantaged person in the Greater Greer area will go hungry."

Technorati Tags: greer, community, ministry, food, pantry, bridgepoint, ministry

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Jackson Doing Skate Tricks

Here is a video I made of Jackson doing some skate tricks in front of our house.

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Man Of Lawlessness

Bible End Times Prophesy

This Sunday our Bridgepointe Abundant Life class is looking at a difficult passage in scripture, 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2. In the latter verses of Chapter 2, Paul describes a coming apostasy and a man of lawlessness that must come before the Day of the Lord. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 states as follows:

Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. For [that Day] will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.

Jerry Gunnells, the writer of the Explore the Bible Lifeway Lesson Guide for Thessalonians, asserted that the Paul's Letter is talking about a person Bible scholars think will appear in the end-times. That person is the Antichrist.

As he has in other passages of Thessalonians, here Paul is again writing about the end-times and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Gunnells explained in the Guide that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians because the believers in Thessalonica were troubled by a false teaching. The false teaching involved a forgery of an alleged Letter from Paul that told people that "The Day of the Lord” had already arrived. That false teaching greatly troubled the believers in Thessalonica.

Paul's Letter of 2 Thessalonians refuted the false teaching and shed light on the distant future of the end times. In assuring the Thessalonian believers, Paul asserted that the Day of the Lord (the Second Coming of Christ) cannot come until after a man of lawlessness is revealed. Because that event had not yet happened, Paul comforted the Thessalonian believers in the knowledge they had not missed Jesus' Second Coming. Paul's Letter then described more information about the end-times events.

Like First Century Christian, modern believers are also curious also about the timing of the second coming of the Lord. This post looks at the 2 Thessalonians 2 verses and considers what to make of the differing Bible interpretations of end time events.

Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:5-7 that the period of apostasy (falling away from the faith) would take place at the same time of the appearance of the man of lawlessness (Antichrist). Paul gave some important details about that time period:

Don't you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? And you know what currently restrains [him], so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed.

2 Thessalonians 2:5-7. As stated above, the passages in 2 Thessalonians likely refer to the Antichrist. Many more verses about this evil man are found in the final Book of the Bible, Revelations. One of the main end times eschatology theories (Premillenialism) inspired the Tim LaHay Left Behind science fiction series of books enjoyed by many.

In this difficult to understand passage, Paul talks about God's "restraining" of lawlessness. That reference perhaps correlates to the Revelations end times verses found at Revelation 20:2-3.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the 1,000 years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

Interpretation of the meaning of "thousand" in Revelation 20, either literal or symbolic, distinguishes the the primary interpretations of Bible end times. A brief summary of these end times views are set forth below.

Premillennialism: This is the eschatology forming the basis of the Left Behind books. Premill folks believe we are living in a partial aspect of God's kingdom. In time there will be a great climax involving Christ’s return when He will start his thousand year Kingdom full on. Jesus will literally reign on earth for a thousand years. Then, there will be a great battle. At the end, God will have His judgment the Kingdom will merge into the eternal kingdom, in an age of peace and righteousness on a new earth. Most American evangelical Christians are Premillennialists.

Postmillennialism: This view theory asserts that all or nearly all humans in the world will eventually be converted to Christianity. Then and only then the millennium of a new earth filled with peace and prosperity begin. This view has Christ returning after the millennium, and we Christians in charge; it is up to us to engage this before His second coming. Then, Christ presides over the final judgment and eternity.

Amillennialism: This eschatology interprets the Greek term for “thousand” as symbolic. This view concludes that we are currently living in the present reign of Christ, God's kingdom. After the judgment of the earth on the Day of the Lord, the new heaven and new earth will be formed—God's eternal, perfect kingdom.

All of these man-made eschatology theories interpreting scriptures are fallible. Every one of them is a mere human interpretation of scripture. Does that mean we ought to ignore them?

No! "Don't despise prophecies." 1 Thessalonians 5:20.

As we read in Thessalonians, Paul advised us to, "test all things. Hold on to what is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Therefore, even though we cannot know for sure (until we see for ourselves at the end of time) which theory is right, it is still worth our time weigh the merits the scholars' competing theories about the end times.

When studying the Bible's verses dealing with end-times, it is wise to always remember that the Bible's inspired scripture teaches us that human beings cannot ever figure out the hour and time for God's timing of the end times. Jesus Christ warned his followers to stay alert and be ready for His second coming. Jesus also cautioned that “the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” and “you don't know what day your Lord is coming.” Matthew 24:44, 36.

Therefore, when you read Bible scholars assert that their brand of eschatology is more definite or inspired than others, as some do, you have to wonder about the truth of such claims. You are wise carefully scrutinze them and view all of them with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Technorati Tags: prophesy, eschatology, thessalonians, man, of, lawlessness, antichrist, jesus, lifeway, explore, the, bible, you, can, stay, calm

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Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman

On the Lighter Side

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Charles Schumer: "America Really Doesn't Care"

PTT's Blog Part of the Chattering Class

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Paulson's Parting Gift to Bankers--$140 Billion Tax Break

Secret Treasury Tax Law Change

Check out this story. Why doesn't the mainstream media report these kinds of stories? This is a huge issue of corruption at the highest levels of government. Why don't the Democrats do something about these wealthy Wall Street rip offs?

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Fiscal Reality Central

The CATO institute has published a response to President Obama's false claim that a huge majority of economists are Keynesians. In fact, history proved that Keynesian economics does not work.

Fiscal Reality Central

Posted using ShareThis

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Giant Porkulus (i.e., Nelson-Collins Substitute) Bypasses Cloture 61-36

Don't you love how the Republican Senators who voted for the Democrat spending spree are tagged with its fingerprints. Another Republican, Senator Coburn, itemizes the pork in their "compromise" Senate bill:

Wasteful and Non-Stimulative Spending

• $2 billion earmark for FutureGen near zero emissions powerplant in Mattoon, IL
• $39 billion slush fund for "state fiscal stabilization" bailout
• $5.5 billion for making federal buildings "green" (including $448 million for DHS HQ)
• $200 million for workplace safety in USDA facilities
• $275 million for flood prevention
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
• $650 million for the DTV transition coupon program
• $307 million for constructing NIST office buildings
• $1 billion for administrative costs and construction of NOAA office buildings
• $100 million for constructing U.S. Marshalls office buildings
• $300 million for constructing FBI office buildings
• $800 million for constructing Federal Prison System buildings and facilities
• $10 million to fight Mexican gunrunners
• $1.3 billion for NASA (including $450 million for "science" at NASA)
• $100 million to clean up sites used in early U.S. atomic energy program
• $10 million for urban canals
• $2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars
• $1.5 billion for carbon capture projects under sec. 703 of P.L. 110-140 (though section only authorizes $1 billion for five years)
• $300 million for hybrid and electric cars for federal employees
• $198 million to design and furnish the DHS headquarters
• $255 million for "priority procurements" at Coast Guard (polar ice breaker)
• $500 million for State and local fire stations
• $180 million for construction of Bureau of Land Management facilities
• $500 million for wildland fire management
• $110 million for construction for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• $522 million for construction for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
• $650 million for abandoned mine sites
• $75 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth
• $412 million for CDC headquarters
• $500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD
• $160 million for "volunteers" at the Corp. for National and Community Service
• $750 earmark for the National Computer Center in MD
• $224 million for International Boundary and Water Commission – U.S. and Mexico
• $850 million for Amtrak
• $100 million for lead paint hazard reduction

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Porkulus Stimulus Bill

AKA "The Generational Theft Act"

On February 6, 2009, the Senate voted down an amendment to the the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," the so-called emergency stimulus law, that would have prohibited millions of tax-payer dollars from flowing to "Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now" (ACORN) groups.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on passage of the overall Bill today at 3:00 P.M.

ACORN, many will remember, was involved in multiple scandalous voter fraud issues during the Presidential campaign. The group registered thousands of fraudulent voters in battleground states under fake names like “Mickey Mouse,” etc. ACORN is the subject of investigation in twelve states.

ACORN lobbying was also instrumental in triggering the current financial and housing crisis. The group lobbied the government organizations like FannieMae and FreddieMac to pressure banks to issue loans to borrowers with suspect credit. The bad loans have resulted in "toxic" mortgages that persuaded Congress to pass the $700 Billion "TARP" bailout.

The Stimulus Bill as it now stands provides for payment of $4.19 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities.” ACORN is eligible, along with other groups, to bid for projects to which the government would issue $750 million from that pot of money.

The proposed Amendment to the law was quite simple. It stated as follows: “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used directly or indirectly to fund the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).”

The Senate voted down the amendment 51-45. The chart below shows the voting patterns on the amendment.


Now, the Senate has voted to reward ACORN?

More charts and data is available at Gov Track.

Conservative Columnist Michelle Malkin put it like this:

As I’ve reported previously, the Generational Theft Act and other Democrat spending boondoggles will serve as giant slush funds for far Left non-profits. Republicans failed to do anything to stop it when they held the White House.

To the victors go the spoils. Stolen from the pockets of your children and grandchildren.

Technorati Tags: ACORN, stimulus, economic, stabilization, pork, spending, amendment

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Bridgepointe Church

Sunday Evening Bible Study

I made a video clip of our Sunday evening study group at Bridgepointe Church in Taylors. This video was edited with Corel Video Studio 12.

Type rest of the post here

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Stimulus Watch Lists Projects

A website, Stimulus Watch, has compiled a list of possible projects nationally that will benefit from the giant "Stimulus."

The link to Stimulus Watch Projects in South Carolina is here.

Surprise! There seems to be a disportionately large number of projects for Charleston and Columbia. As I counted, there are no (as in ZERO) allegedly "shovel ready" projects slated to any receive stimulus pork money in the Upstate.

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November 1957

I was born in November 1957. Here is a November 1957 picture from Life Magazine of a football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears.

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Ronald Reagan "The Speech"

I remember when I was a little kid, my Dad got really excited about a politician. It is the only time I can remember my father taking an interest in national politics. He did get a little riled at Z-grams during the Vietnam War. However, the only letter I recall him writing one letter to a politician, and it was written on behalf of Barry Goldwater.

On October 27, 1964, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech called a "A Time for Choosing." It has later become known as "The Speech." Reagan made this historic speech on behalf of my father's favorite politician, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. Below is a black and white recording of Reagan's famous speech.

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Demographics of Wade Hampton High School

I was checking out the Wade Hampton High School "Parent Portal" today. On the site, there is a link to some graphs about the demographics of the school. Take a look.

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Generational Theft Act

Senator Coburn Itemizes Earmarks and Waste

On February 3, 2008, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn posted a message that addressed the Senate Stimulus Bill. The Honorable Senator Coburn stated, “The bill represents both the mindless partisanship of recent decades, and the failed interventionist policies of the 1930’s. The Senate can, and must, do much better. As currently written, this bill represents the worst act of generational theft in our nation’s history.”

Some of the wasteful spending included in the “stimulus” bill has little to do with the stated purpose of stimulating the economy. Some of those spending items were detailed by Senator Coburn on his website. The list included the following:

• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Dept. of Energy defunded last year because the project was inefficient

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship)

• $448 million for constructing the Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters

• $248 million for furniture at the new Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees

• $400 million for the CDC to screen and prevent STD’s

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges

• $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property

• $500 million for building and repairing NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD

• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service

• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the VA “National Cemetery Administration”

• $850 million for Amtrak

• $75M to construct a new “security training” facility for State Dept Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems

• State Medicaid Bailout: $87.7 billion Through 3 different mechanisms, the bill would provide additional federal funds to state Medicaid programs over the next 3 years. This is nearly $70 billion more than the governors asked President Obama for in December, and should be a loan to be repaid by the states.

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Wade Hampton Footballers Ink Scholarships

Three Sign Letters of Intent

On February 4, 2009, three of Head Coach Kent Haltiwanger's football players received college football scholarships. Lineman Ashton Ornelas (on the left in the video) and running back Shannon Stone (center) received scholarships with the Newberry Indians. Punter and placekicker Patrick Morgano, who never failed to send a kickoff into the end zone, will play football for the Presbyterian Blue Hose. See the video below.

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National Signing Day 2009

Gamecock Football Reloads

In January 2008, I wrote a post about college football's National Signing Day. Unless you are a college football fan, you may not appreciate this day. It could just spin right by and you wouldn't even know that a huge day for some has come and gone.

In case you missed it, today is college football's National Signing Day. Many folks like to keep up with the players their favorite school is signing as incoming college freshman who will play football. The Gamecock Athletic Department has a page devoted to developments as the day progresses. Another link to updates as the day progresses is provided by Phil Kornblut.

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Federal Reserve Loans More Than $1 Trillion

Fed Balance Sheet More Than $2 Trillion

Were you aware that since September 2008, the United States Federal Reserve, an organization operated by unelected bankers appointed by Congress, has increased its balance sheet by $1.2 Trillion? On top of that, the Federal Reserve is resisting provision of information about its huge bank lending operation. The Fed does not even want to provide information about who got our tax money to the elected representatives in Congress.

Here is a very interesting video compiled by the American News Project. Their site is worth saving to your favorites. Watch Freshman Representative Alan Grayson (D) grill the Treasury witness in a Congressional hearing.

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Gamecocks Downey Kentucky With 3.2 Seconds

On Saturday, January 31, 2009, Devan Downey hits a shot in final seconds, and the Gamecocks beat the Wildcats 78-77 at Kentucky.

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Corporate Greed on Wall Street

Bankers' Bonuses Branded Shameful

We do not agree with our new President on the giant $1.1 Trillion Stimulus Bill.

However, when it was reported that Wall Street bankers, whose institutions allegedly needed hundreds of billions in tax-payer bailout money, received almost 20 Billion Dollars in bonuses last year. Barack Obama spoke out. On January 29, 2009, President Barack Obama branded Wall Street bankers shameful on Thursday for giving themselves huge bonuses as the economy was deteriorating and the government was spending billions to bail out some of the nations most prominent financial institutions. This an President Obama statement we can cheer.

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What Does It Mean To Rejoice Always?

Study of 1 Thessalonians 5:16

Our abundant life group at Bridgepointe Church in Taylors continues to study about the New Testament Bible Book of 1st Thessalonians. This week we are studying chapter 5. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Paul wrote that believers of the Thesselonian church must “Rejoice always!”

Does this mean that individual believers may never grieve or express sorrow?

If so, what are we supposed to do when a loved one passes away, or he or she is suffering with a serious health problem, or someone loses a job?

Chapter 12 of Paul's letter to the Roman church shows that a strict interpretation of that verse is incorrect. In Romans 12:15, Paul instructed believers to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.”

The Bible represents the revelation of God's truth to man. Therefore, one of the primary rules when interpreting the Bible is understanding that no part of the Bible may be interpreted so as to contradict another part. (See, Article XVII, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy; and N. Geisler, Explaining Hermeneutics: A Commentary on The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics Articles of Affirmation and Denial) Therefore, considering scriptural inerrancy, this post looks at how we must harmonize Paul's instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 with what he wrote in Romans 12:15.

First, the instructions Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5 were directed at the group more so than at individual members of the church body. Bible hermaneutics demands that Bible scripture must be read in context. (See A. S. Kulikovsky, A Short Guide to Biblical Interpretation). The context of the entire paragraph above verse 16 shows the instruction to "rejoice always" was given to the group. (See verse 10, 11 and 13).

The wisdom Paul is conveying here is that a church body of believers must never let itself sink into an atmosphere of gloom, despondency, and pessimism. Even when fire destroys our building, or our friends, brothers, and sisters are struck down by cancer, or they are laid off from their jobs, we must still remain joyful as a group. Paul is saying to us that no matter how bad things get, we still have hope in the Lord, our salvation. At the same time we may be mourning individually over such human losses, as a group we are to “Rejoice in hope.” Romans 12:12.

We place our trust in God rather than in our bank accounts, our health, or our personal and national security. We understand that Christ suffered, and sometimes we must also suffer. We understand that no matter how much suffering, persecution, and death smites us, we will always have joy in the knowledge of Christ, which means eternal life, faith, hope, and love. Therefore, as a group, we (by the power of the Holy Spirit and grace of the Lord) will ever be joyful and optimistic always . . . even in the worst of situations.

On the other hand, it is obvious Paul is not teaching that believers are supposed to run around laughing and smiling, while our friends, brothers, and sisters suffer. Nor are we supposed to advise them to buck up and be happy because that is God's will. Clearly, the Bible explains people who behave that way would not only be acting inappropriately on a cultural level, but also against God's will.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4, the Bible says:

There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven: . . . a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance . . . .

Thus, Paul's Letter and instructions set forth in Romans 12 is more in the context of how individual members of a congregation ought to behave toward one another. As, for example, Paul writes in Romans 12:10b, “Outdo one another in showing honor.”

Clearly, it would be inaccurate to interpret 1 Thessalonians 5:16 as a command to behave with false joy when such an emotions would be inappropriate. Instead, as individuals we should “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15. This means that we as individual believers must empathize with those who are suffering and reflect that sorrow as we comfort them in their trouble.

At the same time, as a group, we can never forget that when our time here passes we will be with our Lord and Redeemer--a place of unimaginable love and endless rejoicing. It is that hope that should make believers "rejoice always!"


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