I’m thankful for:
Let’s gather together and ask the Lord’s blessing…
Creed:
I like writing about secular bands whose members call themselves Christians. I perceive they’re trying to remain secular and keep the fanbase, but at the same time, they seek something deeper themselves and/or want to spread subtle messages to fans. I don’t have anything against overtly Christian music per se, but I find tension in the former fascinating.
Check out my article at Christianity Today, Glimpses of God: Creed: Full Circle. An excerpt:
“The not-a-Christian-rock-band Creed was huge in the late 1990s and early 2000s, eventually selling 26 million albums in the U.S. The band’s first three studio releases, My Own Prison (1997), Human Clay (1999), and Weathered (2001), spawned such hits as ‘One,’ ‘Higher,’ ‘With Arms Wide Open,’ and ‘My Sacrifice.’
“Creed began as a crew of college-age friends making music together, and rose from independent band to full-blown arena rock band after signing with Wind-up Records. Opinions about Creed tend to run hot and cold, with little room for lukewarm. Some called them derivative, and others lambasted frontman Scott Stapp’s onstage ‘Jesus’ poses. Rolling Stone called Creed a ‘ham-handed version of early Pearl Jam.’
“Love them or hate them, the band reached stratospheric heights. Stapp confirmed the worst successful-yet-tortured-artist stereotypes, however, when he came crashing down in an alcohol-fueled rampage, dragging the multi-platinum-selling band with him.”
As someone who also stopped a nasty alcohol habit, I’d love to talk to Stapp about his. If you know him, tell him to call me!
Related articles:
Abortion:
I blog about abortion a lot these days. The issue’s become more important to me. Can’t stand the idea of a tiny human being sucked down a sink. Check out my latest Pajamas Media column, The Return of Abortion as a National Issue.
MLK:
Do you subscribe to the Christian Research Journal? I wrote a looooooog article critiquing Martin Luther King, Jr’s theology, to be published in the February/March 2010 issue.
What a great title.
I bet I shocked some readers when I titled a post, Obama Says God Bless Sodom. The “S” word is supposed to be passé, offensive, and just plain mean. I call things by their names. I don’t dress them up in PC or neutral terms designed to obscure what’s really going on.
I’m glad to see someone else dare to use the word Sodom. An excerpt of Star Parker’s latest column, “Sodom in the nation’s capital”:
“According to DC’s HIV/AIDS office, three percent of the local population has HIV or AIDS. The Administrator of this office notes that this HIV/AIDS incidence is “…higher than West Africa…on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya.” And the principal way that HIV is transmitted continues to be through male homosexual activity.
“Amidst this dismal picture, the DC City Council, perhaps on the theory that serving up another glass of wine is the way to help a drunk, is scheduled to vote on December 1 to legalize same sex marriage in America’s capital city.
“Looking at realities in Washington, DC should make clear why George Washington said “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
“But the America that our first president had in mind was very different from the vision of our DC government officials.
“George Washington’s America was one in which the point of freedom is to allow Man to rise to what he can become. To do this, the greatest challenge he faces is conquering himself. To rise above his baser instincts, to rise above the many temptations that lead him astray. And to achieve this end, as Washington said, ‘religion and morality are indispensable supports.’
“In left wing America, of which the DC government is a poster child, freedom means to indulge every instinct that the tradition and religion of George Washington would have us overcome.
“Where does it lead? Well, look at DC.”
It’s not a pretty sight. Read the rest.
I forgot to note my blogiversary. Again. I forgot last year, too.
I started blogging on November 5, 2003, and received 4,960,172 visits since then. I briefly tasted big blog success, and it was good. Mostly. Thank you, readers! It still amazes me.
Will I resurrect past glory? Maybe. Perhaps, one day. Such things used to mean a lot more to me than they do now.
Blogging is no longer rebellious or novel. It just…is. My whole life I’ve tried to be different from the crowd. It’s a compulsion. However, a blog is still a wonderful medium, and I encourage anyone to give it try.
When I started back in 2003, it felt new and exciting. These days, I still see the value in it, and I can’t imagine giving it up. But I’ve mellowed in six years, and some things just aren’t worth the aggravation. My blog is nowhere near as popular as it once was, and that’s by design. I slowed down, chilled out, and took it in stride. Now, I make a living blogging and writing for others.
“La Shawn Barber’s Corner,” and the wonderful people I’ve met online and in person, made it possible.
Thanks again, readers. 
(Image: Bloggersblog.com)
“…I saw that baby trying to get away from the probe that the doctor was using…I just wanted to make it stop…I could see it twisting and just saw it crumble…I will never do this again.”
Christians, pray that the Spirit of God convicts more Planned Parenthood workers and infuses them with the courage to expose the abortion mill’s practices.
Related post:
11/6/09: Let’s see. He’s a Muslim, and he shouted “Allahu Akbar!” before the slaughter. I wonder what that’s about.
Some pro-lifers oppose publishing photos of aborted babies. I’m not too wild about it, myself. But…
I think people who believe women have a right to kill their unborn babies, and pregnant women considering it, should know what it looks like. They should fully understand that this is no ordinary “medical” procedure. A tiny, developing human being is violently torn from the mother’s womb.
All in the name of convenience.
Does he feel pain? Does he cry?
Graphic image warning: Here’s the blood.
You’ve probably heard about this phishing scam on the news, or you may have fallen for it. A scammer sends an innocuous looking e-mail. You open it, click on a link, and the scammer steals your password. No attachment downloading required.
The scammer pretends to be you and sends an e-mail to your contacts. You’re in a foreign country, and you’ve lost your wallet and need cash fast. Someone hacked into an LBC reader’s e-mail account and sent this to his contacts:
“My Predicament!!
Thursday, November 5, 2009 7:32 AM
From:
This sender is DomainKeys verified
REDACTED
Add sender to Contacts
To:
undisclosed-recipients
This had to come in a hurry and it has left me in a devastating state,I’m writing this with tears in my eyes,I came down here to London,England for a short vacation to visit a resort and got mugged at gun point last night at the park of the hotel where i checked in.All cash,credit cards and cell were stolen off me.My flight leaves today and i’m having problems settling the hotel bills.
The hotel manager won’t let me leave until i settle the hotel bills($1,940) now am freaked out.Please reply and let me if can you have the money wired to me through western union i promise to pay back as soon as i get back home.”
Most people are smart enough not to fall for this, but just in case…
I can’t believe it. The people of Maine came through. They rejected homosexual “marriage” in their state.
But that doesn’t mean the fight’s over. There’s something about that “will of the people” jazz some politicians just don’t like. Fundamentally. For example, 54 percent of voting Californian’s barred their government from hiring, contracting, and admitting on the basis of race. Thirteen years later, the California legislature drafted a bill bringing back set-aside contracting for minority businesses. Last summer, Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the racial quota bill into law…although the constitution, which he swore to uphold, prohibits it.
Well done, voters of Maine. Last November, California voters (including me) said YES to adding the understood-throughout-the-ages definition of marriage to the state constitution: Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. The vote in Maine will be challenged, just as it was in California.
I’ll have more to say later. Must process this.
Avoid poverty and overcome inequality by getting married before you have children.
“Although immigration and trade are often blamed, a more important reason for our lack of progress against poverty and our growing inequality is a dramatic change in American family life. Almost 30 percent of children now live in single-parent families, up from 12 percent in 1968. Since poverty rates in single-parent households are roughly five times as high as in two-parent households, this shift has helped keep the poverty rate up; it climbed to 13.2 percent last year. If we had the same fraction of single-parent families today as we had in 1970, the child poverty rate would probably be about 30 percent lower than it is today.”
Follow the path to upward mobility by getting married before you have children.
“Of course money is a factor in upward mobility, but it isn’t the only one; it may not even be the most important. Our research shows that if you want to avoid poverty and join the middle class in the United States, you need to complete high school (at a minimum), work full time and marry before you have children. If you do all three, your chances of being poor fall from 12 percent to 2 percent, and your chances of joining the middle class or above rise from 56 to 74 percent. (We define middle class as having an income of at least $50,000 a year for a family of three.)”
Building a nest first, then having children…building a nest first, then having children, protects children from a multitude of social pathologies.
A child’s risk of being poor, a high school drop-out, a juvenile delinquent, or knocked up as a teenager (or knocking up a teenager) decreases if the child’s father is married to his mother and living in the same home as the child. In other words, if you want to give your children the best foundation possible, being married to their father is a good start. Generally speaking.
Source: Brookings Institute
…and resigns from Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. Praise God! As someone who’s seen the horror up close, she can testify. More like her, please:
Abby Johnson has been spending time at Coalition for Life, and she’s convicted about her previous support for killing unborn babies. More here.
A girl’s got to protect herself. I’m brushing up on my ninja techniques. Busy weekend. I won’t rest easy, but I hope you will.
(Image credit: My 10-year-old nephew, who was a baby only last week. How did he get to be 10? That means I’m…)
You Generation Y types probably have no idea who Scott Baio is, but Gen-X-ers like me should know. Baio was Chachi on “Happy Days” and spin-off “Joanie Loves Chachi,” and Charles on “Charles in Charge.”
I just learned this morning, through Jill Stanek, that Baio is pro-life and a conservative. He responded to someone on Twitter, and his leanings leaked out. He tweeted, “People that are Pro-Choice should ‘Thank’ their Mother for being Pro-Life.”
But, as Jill notes, the tweet is no longer there. “For whatever reason Baio – or his agent – apparently decided it best to remain underground with his pro-life convictions.”
That’s too bad. I’ve made similar complaints about Christian rockers who don’t like talking about their faith.
One actor who isn’t shy about his pro-life views is actor Jim Caviezel, probably best known for portraying Christ in “The Passion of the Christ.”
So few in Hollywood (or in the music business) hold views similar to mine. They’re like diamonds buried in a pile of manure. When I find one, I’ve got to pluck it out, clean it off, and present it.
Sparkly.
The 22nd SFLA National Conference will be held on January 23, 2010, at the Pryzbyla Center, Catholic University in Washington, DC, my old stomping grounds. (Left the capital a year ago after almost 10 years, and don’t miss it. Much.)
Top 5 Reasons You Need to Attend the 22nd SFLA National Conference:
Check out the proposed schedule. No Lila Rose of Live Action or Erik Whittington of Rock for Life?
Read about both in my recent off-blog effort.
(Image: an “abortable” 12-week-old unborn baby from BabyCenter)
Later…A man who killed a 13-week unborn child faces murder charges. Unborn life is only worth protecting if the woman carrying him wants him. Otherwise…
The wanted unborn baby is protected under law. The unwanted baby is not.
Does that sound right to you?
Related: “old” article at Pajamas Media about NYT aborted baby photos.
We know a lot more about the development of babies in the womb since Roe v. Wade. A re-examination of the law is overdue (pardon the pun).
*********
If you live long enough, you’ll eventually see everything.
I used to watch “Law & Order.” Fed up over what I considered leftist preaching and no longer willing to suspend disbelief over the statistically weak saga of the Great White Defendant, I stopped.
Anyway, in the usual “ripped from the headlines” fashion, a recent episode was loosely based on the murder of infant killer George Tiller. An abortionist performing a partial birth abortion failed in his attempt, delivering a viable baby. He asked the mother if she wanted him to finish the job he botched, and she said yes. The abortionist kills the baby, which at that point is murder as defined by law. A “pro-life” man murders the child killer. One detective investigating the case is pro-life, and the other is pro-abortion. Interesting exchange between the two at the beginning of the episode.
Jill Stanek, pro-life blogger and former labor and delivery nurse, posted the episode on her blog. I watched it. Still not a fan of the show, but I’m pleased the writers, likely pro-abortion, crafted such a script. Kudos to the network for airing the episode. There are a couple of pro-life swipes here and there, but overall, it’s watchable. The show is, for lack of a better word, groundbreaking.
Ironically, groundbreaking was used to describe pro-abortion shows in the 1960s. How times have changed. If you have 43 minutes to spare, check it out.
(Photo source: National Medical Slide Bank/Wellcome Photo Library)
