I was moved to tears a couple times by the staggering beauty of those mountains when we were hiking. And to think that everything we see is "groaning" for release...

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Romans 8:20-22

It's unimaginable trying to figure out how much more magnificent things will look! What a glorious day that will be, for so many reasons, when we and creation are freed from the weight of sin.

Meanwhile, I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. The news is...interesting as ever. Instead of blasting right into seriousness, I thought I'd share something that caused me to laugh out loud last night. I'm a subscriber of netflix and usually read a couple user reviews before starting a movie I've never heard of. This is by far my favorite review ever:

The description of this movie is a lie. It was written by lying liars with an agenda composed of lies about lies. Rather than millions of people being trapped beneath the earth, there are like 10 people. In one building. It is dumb. If you took dumb itself and purified it using a distilling array you would not get pure enough dumb to describe this horrible horrible movie. Horrible. Simply horrible. And dumb. Composed of stupid dumbness. And lies. If you watch this movie and complain about it I will spit on you for being dumb.

I'd say that person was mostly correct...altho he neglected to mention the demographic group Hollywood most loves to hate -- those nasty Christians.

Yesterday I read an article about the BBC continuing that grand Hollywood tradition in their new series Bonekickers. The latest episode showed a radical, fundamentalist Christian lopping off the head of a peaceful, law-abiding Muslim. Huh. That sounds so familiar...almost like it's ripped from the headlines. Or not. My favorite quote in the article is this:

"A Martian watching TV drama of late would probably conclude that the country is crawling with homicidal Islamophobes, desperate to kill those few Muslims who have not already been interned by the government or shot by the police." 

It aggravates me so much, I have to admit, that I'm consuming less and less news. I've been known to storm out of the room until the news is over, or yell at the TV on rare occasions: "If you'd just quit saying everything's so bad, maybe people wouldn't be so terrified and they'd start spending money again!"

That's probably why I found the words of one of McCain's advisors this week so refreshing. He was quoted as saying we're in a "mental depression" and that America is a "nation of whiners." Forget McCain, I'd like to vote for this guy!

For years I've said, if I were President, that I'd make all teenagers go live in a third-world country for a year before they graduated high school. I've been irritated to the core by the lack of, well, reality in the minds of most teenagers who whine when their parents won't buy them a new $150 pair of jeans every week. So you can imagine how sick to death I am of the whining of my fellow Americans about the cost of rice at the local Wal-Mart when they're still chugging down $5 lattes at a record pace and movie theaters are still churning out popcorn by the boatload.

If the news media can be trusted to the slightest degree, we really are a nation of whiners with no -- absolutely no -- international perspective. Do you realize that if you have a bank account, regardless of the amount that's in there, you're wealthier than 90% of the world? Do you know how many millions, no hundreds of millions, of individuals are living on this planet without the things we consider basic necessities -- clean water, comfortable bed, more than one pair of pants? And we're throwing a national hissy fit because the price of good, clean, healthy milk that we didn't have to put a smidge of effort into producing costs 30% more than last year, that is, if you don't print out a $1 off coupon from your personal computer/printer in the comfort of your own air-conditioned, internet-enabled home before driving to the store, no doubt by yourself or with only your family, in your comfortable running-most-of-the-time automobile on well-maintained roads with street lights and friendly police officers making sure you're safe and an entire medical system on hold to whisk you away and fix you for free if you can't afford it and if your kids are screaming after the milk run you can pull through the drive thru and pick up more clean, pre-prepared food that you did nothing to produce before stopping off at the air-conditioned gym where your kids are entertained while you chug away on the treadmill, sipping from your clean bottle of water while listening to your favorite music on an iPod and reading close captions on a wide variety of television stations blaring about how rotten our standard of living is.

What we need in America is just a little bit of perspective. That's the point I imagine ol' whatshisname was trying to get across, but unfortunately the McCain camp has already thrown him under the bus... I guess I won't get the chance to vote for him after all.

Meanwhile, I ran across a site that made my heart swell today. Three cheers for Fox News and their new campaign: Real American Stories. If you're tired of all the woe-is-us stories, in frequency matched only by America-is-horrible stories in the mainstream media, check out this site and remember for a few minutes why you live in the greatest country in the world.

A plan is being discussed by lawmakers in Iran that would require the death penalty for anyone who leaves Islam for Christianity or someone who promotes such a conversion even on the Internet, according to a new report from Compass Direct News. 

More. 

• "Toddlers who dislike spicy foods racist." Yes, if your British 3-year-old says "yuk" when offered a bit of internationally unfamiliar food, you might have a racist on your hands and intervention is called for.

• Learning about other religions and cultures is one thing, but when directed to pray to Allah in a UK public school, two seventh-grade boys refused. Too bad for them and their individual religious rights rebelliousness...they got detention.

• A new "secret" British report on the international food shortage lays the blame squarely on the quest for biofuels <not unlike my ethanol arrogance post last week>. My favorite part of the story? They say the report is still an unpublished "secret" because they don't want to embarass President Bush. Get real.

• Related to the above, I read a very entertaining article about global warming from an Australian perspective. The reporter lambasted some of his own government officials for trying to impose multi-million dollar changes to reduce CO2 emissions when their output is negligible compared to that of China and India. The officials even admit the effect would be negligible, they merely want to spend the money so they can basically try to lead by example and hope those two countries will "follow our sacrifice by cutting their throats, too." China said "our efforts to fight climate change must not come at the expense of economic growth." India "would rather save its people from poverty than global warming, and would not cut growth to cut gases." In addition, India actually did a little research to conclude man-made global warming is a hoax. Now where have I heard that before?

Dear Beloved in Christ,
 
It is by the grace of God that I received Christ in my life, knowing the truth and the truth have set me free, having known the truth; I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God & his mercies and glory upon my life.
I am Mrs.Edwards the wife of Mr. Spelling Edwards, my husband worked with the Chevron Texaco in Egypt for twenty years before he died in the year 2002.We were married for ten years without a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again Christians.
Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of ($6, 000, 000,00) with a Bank in Nigeria. Presently, this money is still with the Bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary to come forward to sign for the release of this money or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf if I can not come over.
Presently, I'm in a hospital in Ghana where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few weeks to live. It is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations anywhere in the World. Because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them.
Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me Stand and collect the Funds from the Bank and as soon as the fund enter your account take 30% of the total money, while 70% will be for work of God.
I want a person that is God fearing that will use this money to fund churches, orphanages and widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is maintained. The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband's relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's hard earned money to be misused by unbelievers. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner. Hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus {14 VS14} says that the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my soundless voice and presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to kn! ow about this ! d evelopment. W it
As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact to the Bank in Nigeria where the money is been deposited. I will also issue you a letter of authority and deposited certificate of claim that will prove you as the new beneficiary of this fund.
Psalm 23
Your in Christ,
Mrs.Edwards

Read more here.

Somewhere in the middle of my four day spree I filled up my motorhome with 10% ethanol fuel...not too much later I vapor-locked because of that self-same ethanol and lost an hour of travel time waiting for the engine to cool down.

Needless to say I was unimpressed with ethanol.

Now my feelings have turned more toward outrage. I had lunch with a good friend this past Sunday -- someone involved with agriculture who spends a lot of time traveling in poorer countries. He gave me a few more facts I almost wish I hadn't heard. For instance:

• Because of outrageous government ethanol subsidies, a vast amount of American farmers have turned their fields over to corn production. It's more profitable than growing anything else these days.
• Because of that turnover, there are now shortages in all kinds of products. Potatoes are generally grown for $4 a 100-weight and, for the past several years, have been sold for $5 or $6. This year potatoes are selling at $40 for the same weight. Farmers who didn't switch to corn will make up 10-years of loss in just one season. And that increase holds true for many products across the board.
• And finally, the kick in the gut that exposes the whole ethanol debate for the scam it is -- it takes more than one gallon of diesel to produce one gallon of ethanol. We're losing with each gallon we make!

My agricultural friend sent me a link this morning to a New York Times article celebrating Florida's purchase of a sugar refinery. The state will buy United Sugar for almost 2 billion dollars in order to return their land to its pre-white man purity. Are you kidding me? And where are we going to get sugar from then...the pristine purity of China?

I'm not anti-environment by any stretch of the imagination. I think we should take care of the planet God granted us; we should certainly be more careful than we are...but there are other factors to consider. National security and stability for one -- what in the world are we going to eat if we get to the point where we're importing everything and the world decides it's in their best interest to cut us off?

But I think the more important issue is that of responsibility to our fellow man. It is pure, unmitigated arrogance on our part to be so wrapped up in environmentalism <which is at the root of this ethanol nonsense> that we significantly impact the fate of the rest of the world's stomach. As if we didn't already have enough to be held accountable for.

While all residents may ask to be called by a preferred first name rather than their legal one, the policy says males who believe they are female must be called "she" and females who believe they are male must be referred to as "he." Staff must use the preferred name and pronoun in any documents they file.

There've been numerous stories recently about new laws under consideration in Florida, California, Colorado, and the New England states where public restrooms and locker rooms are being opened beyond the traditional -- and quite frankly logical, rational, reasonable, etc. -- definitions.

And as we've been doing for decades, we're exporting our cultural degeneration to the rest of the world. Here's a story out of Thailand I saw recently:

For teen boys who prefer to dress as girls at one rural high school in Thailand, taking a bathroom break no longer means choosing between "male" and "female" restrooms. There's now a "transvestite toilet."

For a very interesting read about where this is all headed, check out this article about the clash of gay rights and religious liberties over at NPR. It's sorta long, but well worth the read. Pay particular attention to Act Three.

• A father was having trouble with his 12-year-old daughter's internet use and ordered her to stop surfing. She disobeyed and posted inappropriate pictures of herself, so he grounded her from going on a school outing. Sounds reasonable so far, right? Too bad they live in Canada, where the girl was able to retain an attorney and find a judge to rule that staying home from an outing was "excessive" punishment for the crime <via WND>.

• Again in Canada, a case of suspected sexual abuse was opened for an 11-year-old autistic girl...because the case worker saw a psychic who told her a girl with the initial "V" was being abused. There was no other evidence besides the psychic's, um, report, but the mother had to defend herself in an investigation <via WND>.

• And finally, a couple has been sentenced to three months in jail...for homeschooling. No, for now this couple isn't from California <although we might be seeing that story soon>, they're German <via WND>.
  

Aberdeen is home to the thickest accent in Scotland so my teaching partner and I were really relieved to find the church we chose had a visiting Brit as interim pastor. We had difficulty understanding the announcements and singing, but at least we heard the sermon...so you can perhaps imagine how well our students did with their immersion experience. But I digress.

It was a fairly stressful episode in my life, and one thing my teaching partner and I did was institute routine whenever we weren't working. We got home to our flat around four, completely exhausted from the day's efforts, and flipped on Oprah. After that hour I'd drag myself off the couch to make dinner while she watched Star Trek, then she'd clean while we watched another American show I can't quite remember.

Yesterday I flipped on the television, which happened to be left on NBC. Oprah talked in the background while I was scanning through the guide, and I eventually tuned in to the fact that she was talking about polygamy. I flipped the guide off and listened for awhile, then paused <don't get me started on the joys of TiVo> and went for a piece of paper to take a few notes.

I missed the first 10 minutes or so, but watched the rest of the show and was a bit stunned when I finally flipped the TV off. The first segment I saw showed a polygamous family living in a compound of like-minded individuals in Arizona. A man and his three wives and ten children were portrayed incredibly favorably in Lisa Ling's on-site report, then they came on to speak with Oprah in person.

The first thing I noticed, and frankly what caused me to go for a piece of paper, was when Oprah said something like this is a polygamous family. Excuse me, the politically correct term is plural family. The man and his wives answered at different times, but I heard things like this is about family, we take care of each other. There was an incredible exchange that could have been lifted right from several different arguments I can think of off the top of my head -- this is about choice. We want people to have the choice to live how they want. We're being prosecuted for choice. I'm standing up for choice. There are so many alternative lifestyles in America, we don't want to be considered criminals for choosing this lifestyle.

These folks had some slick preparation. There was no mention of the illegality of polygamy in the first several segments -- merely a lovely, rational discussion about how great their situation is, how much they love and support each other and enjoy their alternative lifestyle.

The next segment was when I really got stunned. Oprah turned to one of the Jeffs compounds in Arizona, especially emphasizing when she did the voiceover: the FUNDAMENTALIST Church of Latter Day Saints. The whole tone was different; it seemed to me the picture was even darker, like they'd tinted down the footage. Lisa Ling and a woman who had escaped from that compound went back and talked about the horrible life she'd led. Cars honked as they went past, lots of shots of people looking out from behind darkened windows, people not answering the door. Lisa called it "secretive," she had "chills" from being watched.

The next segment was back in the studio with Oprah, talking about how terrible this FUNDAMENTALIST branch was. I was amazed at how Oprah managed to separate the reasonable and loving folks who were just making an alternative lifestyle choice, from those other people. It seemed to me she worked really hard to humanize the first family -- telling them she'd been misinformed, thanking them for their courage to come on, calling them the "moderates," that they'd shown her another side and changed her mind. Whereas the FUNDAMENTALIST branch was presented as just plain evil all the time.

Now I'm not saying they aren't plain evil all the time, I'm just saying I found it extremely interesting and somewhat disturbing to watch a very calculated line being drawn between your regular-average-Joe "plural" family, and the fundamentalists who were taking it to the extreme and giving the lifestyle a bad name.

The show ended with a discussion about legality. Oprah asked the gal who had escaped whether she thought polygamy should be legalized. No, that'll never happen. Ok then, should it be decriminalized? <As an aside, can someone tell me the difference between legalizing and decriminalizing, other than Orwellian doublespeak?> The woman said yes, for sure it should be decriminalized, because after all you can't prosecute everyone. We need to bring children out of the dark, mainstream them. They referred to themselves again as the "moderates" and condemned the Jeffs compound, likening it to living in Iran.

I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert on the topic, but it seems from what I've read that one of the top arguments put forth against gay marriage is the "slippery slope" argument. If you take away the classical and historical meaning of marriage as one man and one woman, there is no legal way to stop any other combinations you can possibly imagine. In my opinion, Oprah's show couldn't have been a better opening salvo in the battle to have polygamous marriage legitimized.

Was it merely coincidence that the show aired on the first day gay marriage was legal in California?

• Closer to home, a couple in Ohio requested time in their local library to offer a financial planning seminar, using a room available to any and all non-profit organizations. Unfortunately they planned to quote the Bible occasionally in their discussions, an admission so heinous their request was refused. Maybe they should have said they were going to have a discussion on pornography -- that would have garnered them a top spot on the reservations list.
  

• Wonderful news out of England where a mother attempted to abort her baby, then found a few weeks later that the procedure hadn't worked. The language in this article surprised me -- the author continually referred to the baby surviving the abortion procedure, the son of the woman, etc. Don't they know it's supposed to be called a fetus, a by-product of conception? But I guess the Webster definition doesn't really apply anymore -- you call it a baby or a by-product based on whether or not the mother wants it. Yeah, that makes sense...

• And finally, England tries again for outrageous story of the week, and succeeds. A man got to laughing so hard at something on the telly that he fell off his couch, whereby the neighbor called the police because he thought something was wrong. The police came and eventually pepper-sprayed and arrested the aforementioned laugher after he got mad and tried to shut the door on them.
  

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