Monthly Archives: July 2006

FDA may allow Plan B without a prescription

Read the story here.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Non-prescription sales of a “morning-after” contraceptive could be approved for women 18 and older within weeks, U.S. health officials said on Monday in a surprise announcement after years of delays.

Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Plan B pills would be kept behind pharmacy counters and women would need to ask for them, a Food and Drug Administration official said. Anyone younger than 18 still would need a prescription.

I honestly don’t have a solid opinion on this. I can seeboth the pros and cons of this issue. What it really boils down to for me is whether or not this really will reduce the number of abortions performed. Or if it encourages promiscuity. The first is a good thing; the latter isn’t.

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Everything you ever needed to know about what’s wrong with America…

…learned from the tag on a chair.

Great piece. Seriously. Go read it.

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Preschooler for Republicans!

This is a hilarious account of a 4 year old’s perspective written by his nanny (HT: MKH).

Christian Carnival 132

This week’s Christian Carnival is up at the Faith at Work Blog.

This week’s highlights:

  • Only Natural — Did you know there were two tin woodmen in Oz? Probably not–the second one appears for the first time in this short snippet of a story. 
  • Spiritual Depression, Rest, and ASSISTANCE Buttons — If you struggle with depression you bear a difficult burden to be sure, but if you diminish the sufficiency of God’s Word to help in even the most difficult situations of life you are your own biggest beast of burden.
  • Does Vegas share in Sodom’s real sin? — There is a school of thought that holds that the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, not for the sexual immorality that was rampant within their walls, but for displaying a lack of hospitality toward strangers.

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Shower outside? Not for me, thanks!

There’s a really interesting article in the Washington Post about outdoor showers–and their growing popularity.

“I think the best thing is taking a warm shower while it is raining,” says Carol Cissel, who this time of year showers outside in a weathered wood enclosure by the screened side porch of her Victorian house in Berwyn Heights. “That’s just about as close to nirvana as one can get. It feels like you are in an old-growth forest in Oregon and have discovered a secret waterfall all for yourself.”

An outdoor shower usually seems like an indulgence reserved for the beach, stationed outside the back door so that sand doesn’t get tracked all over the floor. But some in-town enthusiasts, inspired by the carefree hedonism of beach showering — also known as being naked outside — have discovered that there is more to an outdoor shower than keeping grit off the floors. Showering outdoors, according to devotees, is a way of life.

One gentleman who lives on Capitol Hill opted not to use a privacy screen with his shower because it took up too much room on his back deck. He warned neighbors, and, since it’s semi-privately nestled in a back corner, feels there’s no problem. The best line in the entire story?

The Post did not attempt to contact his neighbors for comment.

The story continues:

Dick and Carol Cissel have no such privacy worries with their outdoor shower in Berwyn Heights. The space, constructed of weathered wood fencing, is connected to their Victorian house next to a screened-in side porch. Large holly bushes add to the seclusion and screen the shower from the yard and street. It is plumbed for hot and cold water.

The shower serves a practical, as well as a sybaritic, purpose: easy cleanup after gardening or hiking. Muddy family members trek right into the shower instead of tracking dirt and mulch across the house.

I dunno. It just seems weird too much. Slightly reminiscent of a summer camp and the beach, but more weird than anything. I wouldn’t want to take a shower outside for the whole world to potentially see.

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Baseball and Bibles

I think this is pretty cool:

After the final at-bat of Thursday’s game between the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins, the stadium seats will turn into pews.

That’s because it’s “Faith Day” at Atlanta’s Turner Field. No, the hot-dog vendors won’t preach John 3:16. But churchgoing fans – with, promoters hope, their non-Christian friends in tow – will assemble after the game to hear Braves star pitcher John Smoltz share how his life changed by believing in Christ.

Read the full story here.

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My Children Bore Me!

Awesome post by Freeman Hunt responding to an article written by a mother called, Sorry, but my children bore me to death!

The lies started when my eldest son was less than ten months old.

Invitations to attend a child’s birthday party or, worse, a singalong session were met with the same refrain: ‘I would love to but I just can’t spare the time.’

The nanny was dispatched in my place, and almost always returned complaining that my son had been singled out for pitiful stares by the other mothers.

I confess that I was probably ogling the merchandise at Harvey Nichols or having my highlights done instead. Of course I love my children as much as any mother, but the truth is I found such events so boring that I made up any excuse.

Unfortunately, this woman is for real. Check out Freeman Hunt’s breakdown of the article.

Spanking Children

There’s an article posted on CurrentEra.com that has really left me kind of speechless. It was written by the host of the site NoPaddle.com (I really don’t want to link to it). As you can probably guess, it is an anti-spanking site. Before I delve into the information found on the latter site, I want to tackle the article first.

This man (Jeff Charles) equates spanking with sexual behavior. Repeatedly. He links it to S&M practices and child pornography. Then to top it off, he describes it as being anti-Christian.

Many mistaught Christians are surprised to learn that spanking is not a Christian teaching at all, i.e., there is not one New Testament teaching for anyone to hit any child. Jesus and the Apostles did not spank children or teach others to, and they certainly did not have “school paddling” sessions. Nonetheless false religious teachers with a wide variety of sinister motives, often mixed with ignorance, have perpetuated the myth that spanking and school paddling are “Christian duties.”

Christians who would never dream of citing the “Old Testament” to support animal sacrifices and beating slaves to death “pick and choose” a few verses of Solomon about fathers beating their sons and selectively try to bring those Old Testament verses alone into Christianity. Theologically this is bad Christianity. The Apostle Paul warned that anyone who tried to bring even one OT law into the new was guilty of making Christ of no effect. Beyond that Solomon himself was not even an Old Testament Prophet or teacher. He was a king who had 300 wives, 700 concubines, erected idol temples, and according to 1 Kings 11 was so evil that for his practices alone God decided to rend the Kingdom of Israel in two. But even if he was a prophet and if it was God’s law then to hit children, it would nonetheless still not be “Chistian.” Child beating would belong to another dispensation, along with slavery, stoning people to death who worked on the Sabbath, and animal sacrifices.

First of all, where did this guy get his definition of Christianity? I am a Christian and my Bible contains two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. It seems that Mr. Charles is perfectly content to throw out the entire Old Testament–and misquotes the Apostle Paul in order to do so.

I am not arguing that we are to follow the Law as laid down in the OT. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are no longer bound by that law. But that law was laid forth in the first five books of the OT–Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Scriptures that speak of disciplining children are not found in those books. They are found primarily in Proverbs (13:24, 22:15, and 23:13-14). These verses show that a wise parent will discipline their child by spanking.

  • He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. Prov. 13:24
  • Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. Prov. 22:15
  • Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. Prov. 23:13-14

Those are neither laws nor commandments. But it is clear what the wise parent will do. Spanking (as well as all forms of discipline) are signs of love.

Mr. Charles also equates spanking with slavery!

The reason paddling is so common there now, as well as among African-Americans generally, is due to the continuing legacy of slavery.

I’m sorry, but I find the idea utterly ridiculous. My parents spanked me as a child (I was even paddled once in school), and I never ever would have considered the notion that they were treating me like a slave.

From Rapture Ready:

Discipline is all of the things a parent does to teach a child about God and His desires for that child. Discipline is the whole process, whereas spanking is one tool that may be used in that process. The objective of discipline is to make a disciple of Jesus out of a child. Spanking is typically used when a child is old enough to withstand a swat and yet not old enough to reason the issues of life. As a child grows older, spankings should drop off–not because they are necessarily wrong but because other tools are more effective at that stage and spanking can even become detrimental (imagine a 16-year-old receiving a spanking). Spanking should never be the objective of a parent; it should be considered as one of many tools with which to reach an objective in childrearing.

Parents abuse this tool when they choose to: 1. Discard it totally. 2. Use it as the only form of training. 3. Lose sight of its objective (disciplining the child). 4. Use it to humiliate the child or to get even with him or her. 5. Use it in anger or with selfish desires.

Now, to be fair, Mr. Charles is primarily concerned with paddling within the school system (but his argument is for spanking across the board). This practice is legal in public schools in 22 states and in private schools in more than that. And, depending on the policy, I don’t have a problem with it. As I mentioned above, I was once paddled in school. But, before the deed was done, my parents were notified and their consent gotten.

Paddling is lifetime harmful to the victims, witnesses, and even the paddlers themselves, who are at a very high risk of developing lifetime sadism “on the job.” The states and districts that have abandoned paddling are doing better overall in every measurable way.

I don’t think so. Take a look around at our culture and society! It’s abundantly clear that children today receive no discipline. Crime rates are up. Children do not know how to respect themselves, their parents, authority, or anyone else. Our society is going to hell in a handbasket (where did that phrase come from, anyway?) and I think it’s directly linked to the lack of discipline in our culture. Children run the show in most households. Have you seen the show Super Nanny recently? I’m appalled that a show like that would even exist! When I was a child, if I acted remotely like any of the children on that show, I was punished. And then I didn’t do again.

I miss the good ole’ days when parents could parent their children.

Blogs who link to this post: Conservative Cat

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Cell phones…

Cell Phones

What would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?
 
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
 
What if we turned back to go get it if we for got it?
 
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
 
What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
 
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
 
What if we used it as we traveled?
 
What if we used it in case of an emergency?

What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t ever have to worry about    our Bible being disconnected, because Jesus already paid the bill!

~Author unknown

Things we do for fun in NC

From MKH’s blog:

Ahh, the things we do for fun in North Carolina:

This ice cream comes with an unusual stipulation — customers must sign a waiver before tasting it because it’s so hot.Cold Sweat, a flavor sold at Sunny Sky’s, an ice cream shop on N.C. 55, is made with three kinds of pepper and two kinds of hot sauce.

“It tastes like fire — with a side of fire,” said Scott McCallum, a regular customer, who was eating the more sedate butter pecan flavor.

“I thought it was a cool idea, but I didn’t think he’d make it that hot,” McCallum said of proprietor Scott Wilson.

I don’t think I’d ever be brave enough to try it!