Worship and Service

I've been getting hit from a couple of directions with teaching hovering around the following two verses:

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." (John 4:23)

From the White Horse Inn's recent broadcast, "Worship in Spirit and Truth" and from Desiring God Radio's recent broadcasts ("The Son of Man Came to Serve" Part 1 and Part 2 and "The Son of Man Came to Give His Life a Ransom for Many" Part 1). From these, I've been challenged to think of what a worship service is, and the differences between our service and God's service.

Michael Horton on the White Horse Inn argues that "spirit and truth" in John 4:23 refer to the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ Himself as The Truth (see John 14:6). The guys share interesting insight into Cain & Abel's offerings (Genesis 4), and the Israelites and the golden calf (Exodus 32), and Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, offering "strange fire" (Leviticus 10) and Isaiah's vision in Isaiah 6.

Horton comments on Isaiah's vision:

"This is the way worship is supposed to work... We come in thinking we're okay. We have a little glimpse of God's holiness and are completely undone. He stoops to forgive us; confirms that, ratifies that, with bread and wine, and then He sends us out into the world as witnesses and people who are loving and serving our neighbors in our vocations."

Horton on our "worship experience," tainted by the Fall:

"Ever since the very beginning, we want to offer what we have. We don't want to be served by God. We don't want Him to come down to us in judgment and justification. We want to rise up to Him to justify ourselves."

Kim Riddlebarger had this to say about Sunday morning services:

"This is an amazing event that's about to happen. The Creator and Sustainer of all; the Redeemer of my soul is going to come and visit me and my fellow sinners. He's going to speak to us. He's going to serve us this wonderful glorious feast. He's going to be present when we sing to Him."

From the end of John Piper's sermon, "The Son of Man Came to Serve" (originally delivered December 17, 1995):

"Our new daughter, Talitha Ruth, arrived in our home Friday night at 9 1/2 weeks old. She smiled. She cooed. She ate. And she fell asleep in her crib. And slept for seven hours. She did not serve us at all. She is totally dependent on being served by us. If she insists on serving us rather than our serving her, she will die. This is why Jesus said, 'Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 18:3).

"It's almost Christmas. Open your heart to receive the best Christmas present imaginable: Jesus giving himself to die for you and serve you, all the rest of eternity. Receive this. Turn away from self-help and sin. Become like little children. Trust him. Trust him. Trust him with your life."

From Piper's opening prayer in "The Son of Man Came to Give His Life a Ransom for Many":

"We call this a worship service and I sometimes think we get it all wrong. It is Your service of us now. You are serving us with Your word. You are serving us by Your spirit. You are serving us a banquet of truth and of life-changing insight into your character and your glory. And I pray that You would humble us not to serve You now, but to receive Your service."

I highly encourage you to listen to these - they're tremendous.

Offended?

In reading through the gospel of Luke, I was struck by these words, spoken by Jesus:

"And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." (Luke 7:23, ESV)

An Illegal Alien Drug Dealer Also Lied?

Big news in the ongoing saga of imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Yesterday, their appeal came before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:

From the Dallas Morning News:

Judge E. Grady Jolly, one of three judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals hearing the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, questioned
whether the two agents would have been charged if they had reported the
shooting.

"For some reason, this one got out of hand, it seems to me," he said of
the agents' prosecution.

And from the El Paso's Newspaper Tree:

U.S. officials also admitted that confessed drug dealer Osvaldo
Aldrete-Davila lied under oath.

"He told some lies on the stand," Attorney Mark Stelmach was quoted as
saying. Stelmach is representing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who prosecuted the
two agents, in front of the Appeals Court.

Wow. First off, to the comment in the Dallas Morning News about "if they had reported the shooting," I've shared before the fact that there were 7 agents and 2 supervisors at the scene of the shooting when the casings were being picked up, and that an oral report is all that was required - no written documentation. But then you get to the fact that the prosecution's star witness, the illegial alien drug dealer, committed purjury. And it's taken more than a year since Ramos and Compean were convicted for the prosecution to disclose that Aldrete-Davila lied under oath?

Glenn Beck spoke with a handful of people about this latest development on his radio show today:

• Tara Setmayer from Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's (CA) Office and Congressman Ted Poe (TX)
• David Botsford, appeals attorney for Ramos
• Sara Carter, Washington Times writer who has been following this story for quite some time

HuckChuck Facts

This is my favorite political ad ever:

It's nice to see a politician who can have some fun and not take himself too seriously all the time.

Aldrete Davila Arrested

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, whose testimony sent two U.S. Border Patrol agents (Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean) to prison, was finally arrested and indicted on drug smuggling charges yesterday, just over 2 years after using a "border pass" from the Department of Homeland Security to smuggle drugs across the Mexican border.

The El Paso Times has two stories about the arrest:

• Man shot by Border Patrol agents arrested at bridge
• Smuggler shot in '05 taken to court today

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who prosecuted Ramos & Compean, released a statement about the arrest, closing with the following:

Just as Aldrete’s alleged illegal conduct did not excuse the crimes committed by Compean and Ramos, likewise, their crimes will not excuse his. Compean and Ramos had their day in court and received justice in accordance with well established laws. Now, Aldrete will have his day in court and my office will work tirelessly to ensure that justice is done.

Are you kidding me Mr. Sutton? You were responsible for building the case on the testimony of an illegal alien drug smuggler, and giving him immunity, and yet you have the gall to say that Compean's and Ramos's "crimes will not excuse his"? Of course not, you excused his. If not for Aldrete's continued drug smuggling and illegal entry into this country, he would still be a free man today.

This whole case continues to make my blood boil. What the heck is going on? Not to beat a dead horse, but why would the U.S. government take the word of an illegal alien drug smuggler over up to nine U.S. Border Patrol agents? Why would the reports of the September/October 2005 drug loads led by Aldrete not be admissible evidence?

My Only NASCAR Post Ever

From the Onion:

FORT WORTH—Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson, who took the points lead in the NEXTEL Cup championship with his win in the Dickies 500 after dicing with Matt Kenseth for several laps, was visibly excited by his victory Sunday while hollering at reporters for over 40 minutes in his post-race Victory Lane press conference. "Yeeeeeeeee," exclaimed Johnson, while repeatedly firing the twin pistols awarded to him for his win into the air, "Haaaaaaaaw!" When told that his victory relegated his teammate Jeff Gordon to second place in championship points, Johnson displayed admirable humility by removing his black ten-gallon cowboy hat and muttering a respectful "Awwww."

"The Greatest Scam In History"

From John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, found in part here and in whole here.

COMMENTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

By John Coleman

jcoleman@kusi.com

it is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM.

Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data back in the late 1990's to create an allusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental wacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

Environmental extremist, notable politicians among them then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda.

Now their ridicules manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment.

I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party.

However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you "believe in." It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a nonevent, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won't believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.

I suspect you might like to say to me, "John, look the research that supports the case for global warming was done by research scientists; people with PH D's in Meteorology. They are employed by major universities and important research institutions. Their work has been reviewed by other scientists with PH D's. They have to know a lot more about it than you do. Come on, John, get with it. The experts say our pollution has created an strong and increasing greenhouse effect and a rapid, out of control global warming is underway that will sky rocket temperatures, destroy agriculture, melt the ice caps, flood the coastlines and end life as we know it. How can you dissent from this crisis? You must be a bit nutty.

Allow me, please, to explain how I think this all came about. Our universities have become somewhat isolated from the rest of us. There is a culture and attitudes and values and pressures on campus that are very different. I know this group well. My father and my older brother were both PHD-University types. I was raised in the university culture. Any person who spends a decade at a university obtaining a PHD in Meteorology and become a research scientist, more likely than not, becomes a part of that single minded culture. They all look askance at the rest of us, certain of their superiority. They respect government and disrespect business, particularly big business. They are environmentalists above all else.

And, there is something else. These scientists know that if they do research and results are in no way alarming, their research will gather dust on the shelf and their research careers will languish. But if they do research that sounds alarms, they will become well known and respected and receive scholarly awards and, very importantly, more research dollars will come flooding their way.

So when these researchers did climate change studies in the late 90's they were eager to produce findings that would be important and be widely noticed and trigger more research funding. It was easy for them to manipulate the data to come up with the results they wanted to make headlines and at the same time drive their environmental agendas. Then their like minded PHD colleagues reviewed their work and hastened to endorse it without question.

There were a few who didn't fit the mold. They did ask questions and raised objections. They did research with contradictory results. The environmental elitists berated them brushed their studies aside.

I have learned since the Ice Age is coming scare in the 1970's to always be a skeptic about research. In the case of global warming, I didn't accept media accounts. Instead I read dozens of the scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct when I assure you there is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. It is all a scam, the result of bad science.

I am not alone in this assessment. There are hundreds of other meteorologists, many of them PH D's, who are as certain as I am that this global warming frenzy is based on bad science and is not valid.

I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.

In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped.

The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway.

I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.

Here are a couple more good sites related to the scam of global warming:

• John Coleman's weather blog (filled with links to various resources)
• FAQs and Myths about global warming

Cool Music Site

Just found out about a cool music site - Pandora.com. Go there, enter an artist or song, and it will create a radio station for you based on what you entered. Here's how they explain what they do:

When was the last time you fell in love with a new artist or song?

At Pandora, we have a single mission: To play music you'll love - and nothing else.

To understand just how we do this, and why we think we do it really, really well, you need to know about the Music Genome Project©.

Since we started back in 2000, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts has been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart's content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.

You can create as many "stations" as you want. And you can even refine them. If it's not quite right you can tell it so and it will get better for you.

The Music Genome Project was founded by musicians and music-lovers. We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help you connect with the music YOU like.

We hope you enjoy the experience!

(HT: Vitamin Z)

UPDATE: I may have just created the best radio station ever - featuring this song:

Yep, that's Eddie Murphy singing "Party All The Time," written and produced by Rick James.

How Lame

This has got to be 3 of the dumbest minutes in the history of broadcast television:


Yeah, green! Let's conserve energy by lighting some candles, while we show on our huge plasma TV that Matt Lauer is lighting up the Arctic Circle in order to tell us how they're sending people all over the planet to report as part of their "Green is Universal" initiative. But I'm sure those lights in the Arctic Circle are powered by solar powered batteries. And I bet those three (Lauer, Al Roker, and Ann Curry) all rode their bikes to their destinations. Could they be any more disingenuous? If you want to be friendly to the environment, that's great. I'm all for conserving natural resources and taking care of the planet. But at least be consistent and sincere about it. This reeks of ratings and $$. I hope NBC bought some carbon credits to reduce their footprint during this initiative. (Yeah, no joke - want to help the environment? Instead of conserving natural resources yourself, just pay someone else to do it!)

Mark Driscoll on Joel Osteen

Are Blue Hens Racist?

Check out these statements from the Diversity Facilitation Training at the University of Delaware (the Fightin' Blue Hens):

RACISM: Racism is race prejudice plus power. (Definition, by People's Institute. I use "white supremacy" as a synonym for racism.)

...

REVERSE RACISM: A term created and used by white people to deny their white privilege. Those in denial use the term reverse racism to refer to hostile behavior by people of color toward whites, and to affirmative action policies, which allegedly give 'preferential treatment' to people of color over whites. In the U.S., there is no such thing as "reverse racism."

A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities or acts of discrimination. (This does not deny the existence of such prejudices, hostilities, acts of rage or discrimination.)

About the only thing I agree with there is that "there is no such thing as reverse racism." Ah, to be able to define terms the way we want. I'd like to define a couple of terms:

LOVE: to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest

INTELLIGENT: lacking good judgment; stupid; dull-witted.

And using those definitions, I'd like to state the following: I love when people make intelligent arguments.

Maybe I'll just stick with a dictionary, like the American Heritage Dictionary, to define "racism:"

The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

Based on those definitions, I feel it's safe to say that there are probably white people who are racist, black people who are racist, and Blue Hens that are racist. I think painting an entire "race" as racist is actually a racist thing to do. I would say it's a little like the pot calling the kettle black, but I'm not sure if that's politically correct.

Democratic Agenda

Thought this was pretty funny, posted at Liberty Pundit:

Agenda for 2008 Democratic National Convention

7:00 pm: Opening flag burning

7:15 pm: Pledge of Allegiance to the U.N. in Spanish

7:20 pm: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

7:25 pm: Nonreligious prayer and worship with Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton

7:45 pm: Ceremonial tree hugging

7:55 pm: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

8:00 pm: How I Invented the Internet – Al Gore

8:15 pm: Gay Wedding – Barney Frank presiding

8:35 pm: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

8:40 pm: Our Troops are War Criminals – John Kerry

9:00 pm: Saddam Memorial Rally – Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon

11:00 pm: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

11:05 pm: Collection of Osama Bin Laden kidney transplant fund – Barbara Streisand

11:15 pm: Free the Freedom Fighters from Guantanamo Bay – Sean Penn

11:30 pm: Oval Office Affairs – William Jefferson Clinton

11:45 pm: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

11:50 pm: How George Bush Brought Down the World Trade Towers – Howard Dean & Rosie O‘Donnell

12:15 pm: “Truth in Broadcasting Award” – Presented to Dan Rather by Michael Moore

12:25 pm: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

12:30 pm: Satellite address by Mohmoud Ahmadinejad

12:45 pm: Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Nancy Pelosi

12:50 pm: Speech and toast by Hugo Chavez to the departure of “the great satan”, George W. Bush

12:55 pm: Hillary proposes a toast to our 89 million new Democratic Mexican voters

1:00 am: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

1:05 am: Coronation of Hillary Rodham Clinton

1:30 am: Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

1:35 am: Bill Clinton asks Ted Kennedy to drive Hillary home.

Miscellaneous Politics

Some great stuff the past couple of days from Liberty Pundit:

1) A story I would have expected to read at the Onion, but it's actually true, posted at Yahoo News: "Iraqi fisherman nets shark 160 miles from sea:"

A two-meter shark has been caught in a river in southern Iraq more than 200 km (160 miles) from the sea.

The shark was pulled from the mouth of an irrigation canal that joins the Euphrates River.

Locals blamed the U.S. military for the shark’s presence.

Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a “75 percent chance” Americans had put the shark in the water.

“This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter,” said fisherman Hatim Karim.

2) A great video about S-CHIP:



3) John Edwards' plan for a socialist America:

John Edwards says if he’s elected president, he’ll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he’ll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes.

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called “College for Everyone.”

4) A video showing Democrats before the war in Iraq:

For My Wife

From Steven Curtis Chapman's new CD, "This Moment."

Here are the full lyrics:

You're up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
Like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Oh, maybe you just don't know
Or maybe you've forgotten

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

With every "I know you can do it"
Every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
They're just like the drops of rain over time
They become a river

And you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
How you're changing the world
You're changing the world

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
Oh, I believe that you
You are changing the world
One little heartbeat
At a time

And you're changing the world

Words Cannot Do This Justice

(HT: Vitamin Z)

Why Should This Surprise Me?

I wrote yesterday about a Maine middle school (Portland's King Middle School) considering handing out birth control pills to girls as young as 11. Sure enough, the school committee approved the proposal by a 7-2 vote:

Five of the 134 students who visited King's health center during the 2006-07 school year reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland's school health centers.

Committee member Sarah Thompson, also the mother of a King eighth-grader, supported the policy, even though it made her "uncomfortable."

"I know I've done my job as a parent," Thompson said. "(But there) may be a time when she doesn't feel comfortable coming to me... (and) not all these kids have a strong parental advocate at home."

Nothing like teaching our kids to find any way to avoid consequences other than actually abstaining from actions in the first place. So basically this school - and the state of Maine - is saying that it's okay for kids as young as 11 to have sex, as long as they use protection and the girl's on birth control.

Slippery Slope In Action

I hate the phrase "slippery slope" because I think fallen man is far beyond a slippery slope and is on more of an iced-over black diamond mountain. But I digress. The title above is the same used in an email newsletter from Glenn Beck, with the following explanation:

What do you do when five out of 135 middle school students say they are sexually active? Of course, you give them condoms! If you are in Maine at King's Elementary School, you don't stop there. King's free loving administrators are looking to hand out birth control pills to those who want them. Glenn hopes that, for the sake of consistency, the MIDDLE school is also handing out clean syringes, for those students who wish to use heroin. After all, kids will be kids---and we don't want them using dirty needles. Glenn appeared on Good Morning America to talk about the subject with Diane Sawyer---and sexologist Logan Levkoff who argued the school is doing the right thing. She, by the way, has a website that is sponsored by Trojan. ABC neglected to disclose that this guest was in the pocket of 'big condom'. Watch the Video from GMA.

Go watch the video. It's tremendous. I especially enjoyed this quote: "I think providing birth control pills may encourage some kids to have sex if they think that it's safe, but what's the alternative? Unsafe sex? Pregnant 12 year olds?" How about the alternative is parents that teach their kids that sex is for marriage? I also enjoyed the "Sexuality Educator" talking about "sexual health." What in the world does birth control for middle school students have to do with sexual health? Pretty sure last I checked the pill did not prevent against STDs. What's next, free abortions for high school students?

I'm sick of this garbage. Does this trickle-down from our government, or "trickle-up" from parents and families? It's the whole attitude of, "Well, people are going to do it anyway..." Whether it's illegal immigration, sex, underage drinking, drugs, whatever, it seems like we have lowered our expectations to the point that anything goes - we'll encourage dangerous behavior and try to make it safe somehow, because "they're going to do it anyway." How about standing up for convictions, and teaching our children to have some? How about enforcing laws? How about wanting our children to be better than us?

Environment & Public Works

Found some interesting stuff at Senator James Inhofe's EPW Press Blog:

1) Global Warming Hysteria: There is an abundance of new peer-reviewed studies, analyses, and data error discoveries in the last several months that has prompted scientists to declare that fear of catastrophic man-made global warming "bites the dust" and the scientific underpinnings for alarm are "falling apart."

*Antarctic ice has GROWN to record levels,

*The Southern Hemisphere has COOLED

*Global averaged temperatures have not risen since 1998 and

*A survey of 538 peer-reviewed studies reveals that less than half of published scientists endorse man-made global warming theory and only 7% believe that man-made gases are a major cause of global warming.

*But despite all of these developments, the American people are soon going to be asked to pay thousands per family for so called "solutions" to warming.

RELATED LINKS:

New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies Chill Global Warming Fears

Scientists Counter Computer Model Sea Level Rise Fears

2) Law of the Sea Treaty: Senator Inhofe is also currently working to ensure that the United States does not make the grave mistake of hastily joining the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by ratifying the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). LOST would detrimentally impact the sovereignty of the United States by:

*Creating a governing body known as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) which regulates 70% of the Earth's surface, placing seabed mining, fishing rights and deep-sea oil-exploration under control of a global bureaucracy

*Granting the ISA the power to levy a global tax

*Possibly infringing on the War on Terror by interfering in the President's Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) combating the transfer of WMD's.

*We must have an open, honest, and thorough discussion on this treaty. This is not a treaty to be glossed over and rushed through - the implications are too far reaching and the consequences for our national security would be grave.

RELATED LINKS:

Statement of James M. Inhofe

Hearing: Full Committee "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea". (Tuesday, March 23, 2004)

EPW Full Committee "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea". (Tuesday, March 23, 2004)

3). WRDA: There is a critically important national infrastructure bill [the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 or WRDA (H.R. 1495)] that is long overdue and a model of fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, President George Bush is threatening to veto this bill, saying it contains "excessive spending".

*The WRDA bill is an authorization bill, not an appropriations bill, so it doesn't spend a dime of Federal money.

*The WRDA bill authorizes projects in the areas of navigation, flood damage reduction, hurricane and storm damage reduction and environmental restoration.

*If it fails now, there will be no restraints - no upper limit -- placed on Congressional spending for infrastructure.

*I will personally demand a 60 vote super majority before allowing any project to exceed its authorized level.

*The authorization process is the most significant part of the process that STOPS runaway spending and distinguishes between political earmarks and true needs. -

*As the most conservative member of the United States Senate, as ranked by the American Conservative Union, I have long argued that the two most important functions of the federal government are to provide for the national defense and to develop and improve public infrastructure.

*Again, this bill does not spend any money.

RELATED INFORMATION

Paul Weyrich: Senator Inhofe: Leader in Appropriations Accountability

INHOFE CONTINUES TO MAKE HIS CASE IN SUPPORT OF WRDA, DRAWS MORE PRAISE FROM OKLAHOMA NEWSPAPERS

You should really take some time to find out about this "LOST" treaty, or "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea." If you're up for some light reading, here's the full text; it's only a 202 page .pdf file. But in all seriousness, this thing has some issues. I'm hesitant to use the word "sovereignty" in regards to nations, because there is really only one Sovereign, but put in the limited perspective of nations, I kind of like how the U.S. is set up, and would like to keep it this way. I don't want the U.N. telling us that we can't stop boats in "our" waters to stop terrorism. And I don't really want the U.N. taxing me. They have no authority over me - they provide no rights or freedoms or protection for which it is right for me to owe them anything. From all I can tell, what they do best is corruption, paranoia propaganda, and America-hating. But that's just me.

Osteen "Mini-Roundup"

• Tim Challies reviews Osteen's new book, "Become a Better You."
• InternetMonk.com has some reactions to the 60 Minutes piece last night.
• The White Horse Inn has an Osteen page with various links, including their latest podcast.
  

Slap In The Face

I just had to post this for the last line. It's from Glenn Beck's email newsletter (which you can receive by signing up on the front page of GlennBeck.com):

Democrats are pushing legislation that will declare Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians a 'genocide', which will likely anger Turkey and threaten to strain relations enough that critical supply routes to US troops would be cut off. According to the New York Times, 'The issue is nettlesome for both the Bush administration and Democratic lawmakers, exposing the former to charges of seeming apathetic about Ottoman-era atrocities, and the latter to charges of being indifferent to American troops in Iraq.' Hmmm, which side do would you err on? Being apathetic about Ottoman-era atrocities? Or indifferent to US Troops currently involved in war? It would seem at first glance that those in Congress of The United States of America would consider this a 'no brainer'---at second glance it appears that most in congress simply have no brains. Read the transcript. (Insiders listen here).