Saturday, January 14, 2006

Whatever You Do...

Even before running about the blogosphere today my head was filled with things to post about. I just wish my fingers could type as fast as I could think. Except most visitors would get bored long before I finished this post. I only use four fingers and sometimes a thumb on the space bar so this is (fortunately) not possible.

So what is it I think is the most important message I could post today? I saw it at Scotwise.

John Telfer Brown of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia has a wonderful blog filled with humor and spiritual messages that are short, sweet and to the point. Tomorrows message (he is on the other side of the date line.) is about worship. For those of you who disdain any mention of spirituality please hang in a few moments. It might give you some understanding about Christian thinking.

John quotes from the Apostle Paul:


And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - Colossians 3:17. (ESV)



Often times I hear Christians being called hypocrites but this is really not the word that describes the problem. Hypocrisy is defined: The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

Christians profess a belief in Jesus which should translate into good behaviour according to the precepts Jesus taught. Hypocrisy or hypocrites is not the word that should be used concerning Christians engaging in bad behaviour. These words would really be the term to call someone who claims to believe something he doesn't with the intention of deceiving others. For example I once met a person asking for donations for 'the children'. He had a laminated card saying he was certified to collect money. (I'm a printer. We have a laminator at work. His card did not convince me.)

"What children?" I asked.

"The children in the church." (He saw me carrying a Bible)

I finally pinned him down and found out he was a Mooney. He knew before we started the conversation that I would not donate to his group. His verbiage was that of a true hypocrite set out to deceive for financial gain.

So what about the normal Christian you know. The man or woman at your work. Your barber or hairdresser. Neighbors across the street or the auto mechanic. Are their intentions to fool you about what they believe? In most cases I think not.

When the run of the mill Christian is being called a hypocrite what is really being said? Perhaps most of those using the word concerning these people are saying, "Here is another person that does not live up to the principles and standards set by Jesus' example." In other words, "A sinner".

And why is it they do not live up to those standards? Are the standards too lofty for man to reach? I think not. The real problem is that man (and woman) has a nature separated from God that wants to do it's own self centered thing instead of following that which God's Spirit leads him to do. The story of Jonah is a good example. In Christian terms it is called the 'fallen nature'.

Back to the original Scripture quote: And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

- - - Why is it some people feel torn because they know to do the right thing and either because of fear, anger, pride or some other emotion they fail to do it? Why is it that some people feel torn because they know they should not do the wrong thing but because of lust or greed or some other emotion they go ahead and do it. (Romans 7:15+)

The reason is because sometimes we are not following that simple piece of advice from Saint Paul. "whatever you do, in word or deed"

Worship is giving time and attention to something that is worth the time and attention. It comes from the Old English worth-ship = "to ascribe worth or value to something or someone." learning to live our lives with worship continually emanating from our hearts instead of just 1/2 hour on Sunday mornings will give us the ability to do "everything in the name of the Lord Jesus."

How can we do that? Start with a bit of thankfulness, add a song and let the joy that is resident in our hearts come to the surface. With a bit of practice the unbelievers around us will really go nuts...

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Message From Mild Mannered Reporter

I had to bring this up from a previous post's comment section - Thanks to Mild Mannered Reporter of the Rosemead Times -


Supreme Court nominee Alito has been grilled this week by senators questioning his past associations, writings, and decisions. It is time to revisit how they approached another Supreme court nominee.

Let us image for a moment that a Supreme Court nominee had advocated, this week, for the following through writings and speaking engagements: (A). A constitutional right to prostitution and polygamy. (B). Attacked the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. (C). Proposed abolishing Mother's Day and Father's Day and replacing them with a single androgynous Parent's Day. (D). Called for an end to singe-sex prisons on the theory that if male prisoners are going to return to a community in which men and women function as equal partners, prison is just the place for them to get prepared to deal with women. (E). Wrote, "use the Supreme Court to enact `social change....without taking giant strides...the court, through constitutional adjudication, can reinforce or signal a green light for social change." (F). Also wrote, "boldly dynamic interpretation departing radically from the original understanding of the Constitution is sometimes necessary." (G). Advocate universal court-ordered work place affirmative action quotas, even if no discrimination is found.

Surely no Senator would support Alito if he had such views. And surely no president, no matter how outrageous, would nominate such a candidate.

Unfortunately, the hypothetical nominee I have just described is, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg on June 22, 1993. A mere six weeks later, on August 3, 1993, the Senate confirmed her nomination by a 96-3 vote.

In conclusion, it is hard to imagine any senator attacking Alito's respectable record with a straight face, while confirming an extremist like Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Cross posted at Rosemead Times.



I would encourage people to go there to leave comments for the Mild Mannered Reporter...

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Stolen From Phil's Place

- Another Man's Meat -

I was visiting Phils Blog - Another Man's Meat - Which is the best place to go if you want to visit Middle America - and had commented on the Alito trial. The next day I read comments after mine and saw that Jay had made a comment after mine. I will not say I was disgusted or that I threw up because neither happened. I fully expected that ignorance would rear it's ugly head and had prepared myself with facts and logic. - Following is the comment from Jay and my response. -

P.S. Appypollyloggys to Phil for being in the middle -


Jay said...

Glad you're feeling better.

So...You're okay with a justice that believes women and blacks should not be allowed to enter college?

What part of your bible does that cover?
3:19 PM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

prying1 said...

Phil - I hope you do not mind my answering Jay -

- I - prying1 - do wish that you - Jay - would get your facts straight before you post comments. The democrat Senators have been IMPLYING that Alito is a sexist/Racist. They have never come out and said it to his face!

Now you might ask, "Why have they not said it to his face?"

Because it is not true!

(Why did Alito's wife leave crying today? - The true reason not the made up one by the MSM!)

The organization he belonged to wished for Princeton to remain a boy's school which at the time was not sexist. At the time girl's wanting to go to a boy's school was considered abnormal. - At the same time we would have considered any boys wanting to go to a girl's school as either a pervert or normal. (Call me any name. I'm not running for office.)

The same organization wished that people who attended Princeton would have the qualifications to attend and not be given special 'points' because of ... (place reason here)

In the mean time I want to know if Senator Biden is a SEXIST and a HOMOPHOBE (a recently made up word that means any one who disagrees with the homosexual lifestyle - prying1's words! not Phils!) which is contrary to any liberal code! - http://www.radioblogger.com/#001293 -

I also want to know Why Joe Biden put on such a show concerning Princton over the last couple of days???

Do the Democrats really belive that Alito is not capable of filling the post or are they afraid that the country might return to the constitutional principals this country was founded upon?

Feinstein Tries To Prove She is Dumber than Boxer!

Ok, here is the setup. Feinstein is grilling Alito about a dissenting opinion he had given in a case concerning the sale of machine guns...


FEINSTEIN: So if I understand this, you essentially said that you wanted to follow precedent, newly established law in this area. And you left a little hedge that if Congress made findings in that law, then that might be a different situation.

If Congress did make findings, would you have agreed that that statute would been constitutional?

ALITO: What I said in the opinion and what I will reiterate this afternoon is that it would have been a very different case for me. I don't think I can express an opinion on how I would have decided a hypothetical case.

FEINSTEIN: It's not hypothetical. I'm just asking you, if there were findings as you said, you might have sustained the law.

ALITO: And I reiterate that...

FEINSTEIN: And I'm just asking you would you have sustained the law...

ALITO: I don't think that I can give you a definitive answer to the question because that involves a case that's different from the case that came before me.



prying1 sez:
I have to wonder if anyone on the Democratic side started crying when this exchange took place...



Thanks to Ann Althouse for the link to the Washington Post Transcript

And a special thanks to Hugh Hewitt for playing the tapes on his show yesterday! I'd suggest going to his website and listening in on his show today or better yet, every day!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Hoax IM Making the Rounds!



- I received the following via Yahoo IM -
Quote -
If someone by the name of itsgarry@yahoo.com (please note - email to this address gets bounced as undeliverable/Not available if you try to sign up with it.) wants to add you to your list dont accept it. Its a virus. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on your list adds them you will get it too. Tell everyone on your list not to open anything from angell11, tewwtuler, and sassybitch. It is a hard drive killer and a very horrible virus. Please pass this on to everyone on your list. We need to find out who is using these accounts. Sorry for the inconvenience. Right click on your group name of your buddy list and click Send Message to all. Copy and paste this message. Thanks... someone sent this to me so i wanted to let my people know on my list
-end quote -

Some hints as to why this is a hoax:

1.)Accepting someone's request to add them to your buddy list simply copies their information from the IM server to your computer - it does not execute any virus programs.

2:) "If somebody on your list adds them you will get it too." - Fear factor! Always a good motivator to get people to act stupidly quickly. Someone else getting a virus does not automatically give you a virus.

3.)The name itsgarry@yahoo 'at this time' brings up 3 websites with the identical message. Nothing from the Big Virus Clearinghouse companies!

- The following page (Please note sample letter 2!) shows this to be a hoax: - http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/imvirus.html -

prying1 sez:
Hoping this one dies real soon. Be careful out there but on the other hand check out the message before passing it on!

UPDATE: - 1 Feb 06 - I've been getting a lot of daily hits on this posting. Please notify the people who IM'd or emailed this message to you that this is a hoax! Let them know that this is a farce. Make sure they tell those they sent it to that they are idiots and passed on junk info... Whatever it takes get 'em to stop! - I also appreciate comments. - I have to wonder if visits to this page will ever end. (sigh!) - Have a nice day! - :-) - Thanks - prying1

I'd also appreciate it if you leave a comment. Let me know

Sunday, January 08, 2006

web_loafer at Sanity's Bluff Said I Could Borrow This One

If you ever hear a truck driver say,

"You'll never believe this,"

Sit down and listen up, it'll be worth your while.

You'll never believe this, but on my return run back to the city tonight, I noticed what looked like a person face down on the shoulder of the road. I stopped as soon as I could get my diesel truck safely over on the shoulder, set the brakes and quickly climbed down to the road. I ran back (well ran may be stretching it a bit, cut and paste, walked quickly, for ran) to see if I could help.

Out of breath, I finally made it to where the person was. Yes it was a person, a man, and the man was obviously inebriated for he was crawling on all fours.

Well, not exactly on all fours... he was using two feet and one hand to crawl down the side of the highway. In his free hand he had one of those Blackberries, Blueberries or whatever they are. You know, those miniature computers with wireless cell phone internet.

It really was an eerie sight. Pitch black night, and a drunk crawling along the side of the highway, using his little handheld's LCD Display to light his way.

I walked along side of him for a short while, but finally had to ask... ... "Excuse me sir, do you need help?"

The drunk stopped crawling and painstakingly slow, sat up and while his head was swaying north to south, slurringly* informed me.

"Nah... I'z got Google Earth mappin me way home."


* - See original post re: slurringly* - *
A big thanks to web_loafer for this one! Click on the header of this post to read the original posting of this or click here to visit Sanity's Bluff more recent postings!

All Quiet on the Sober Front

"The Sober attack predicted for last Friday has not happened, possibly because of the publicity surrounding the potential outbreak."

For those who missed it, the code was cracked in advance of a Sober virus attack. This little 'sleeper virus' would infect a computer earlier on and wait for the clock to tick down to zero hour. It was designed to reach out to a number of websites and download "a more sophisticated version of itself (or it transforms the infected PC into a conduit for spam, pornography, or a host of other malicious uses)." (link to cnet article)

Because of the code being cracked the addresses to be contacted were carefully watched and the virus writer didn't show up.

A couple of quotes from ZDnet Australia:


"It's great! This is good news," Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at F-Secure, said.

"We've been monitoring the locations of the files that infected machines are now trying to download. So far none of them have activated," said Hypponen.

~~~~~~~~~~

"We've not seen anything. This is what we envisioned would happen. Everyone knew about [the imminent attack], and took steps to mitigate the effects. The virus writer is probably running scared. It's great -- everybody in the antivirus community helped each other out. It would be good to do this with more malware," said Mark Toshack, manager of antivirus operations at MessageLabs.

~~~~~~~~~~

But F-Secure warned that now was not the time to be complacent, as the hacker could still try to activate the download routine.

"The Sober guy laid low, but he might publish a little later. We've seen secondary download routines with other variants uploaded by the writer when he's ready -- so perhaps he's still writing it. It doesn't necessarily mean he won't activate the threat in the future."



prying1 sez: Be careful out there. There are 'not nice' people in this world.