Neighborly Escapade

It is said that St. Thomas Aquinas' brothers were a tad bit tired of their brothers continuous study. They could not understand why he didn't indulge himself in the world. Brilliant, honorable men that they were, Aquinas' brothers decided to spice things up and sent up a prostitute to his room. Just so he could lighten up a bit. G.K. Chesterton records the following:

"When he saw her [the prostitute] he sprang from his seat & snatched a brand out of the fire, and stood brandishing it like a flaming sword." G.K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas, 44.

Aquinas didn't hurt the lady but let's just say there was no interaction between the two. Aquinas ravings like a mad man worked and she ran screaming out of the room. Not exactly a subtle tactic but it seemed to do the trick.

I did not get much sleep last night. In fact I was up till about 5 AM this morning. It is not fun to sleep on the couch, especially when no one put you there. Why was in my living room, in my boxers, trying to sleep? Because once again my bunny rabbit neighbors were enjoying one another's company a little to much. I woke to crashing and banging at 3 AM and, for a second, thought someone was getting beat up, again; not this time. I sat there amazed at the audio spectacle that was coming through my walls and thought about banging on the wall to make them realize it's 3 in the morning, could they keep it down. Then the screaming started and I realized it wouldn't do me any good so I went to sleep.

I woke up this morning with a raging headache, very frustrated, and a tad bit annoyed that once again I was put out by my neighbors escapade. Yet, as I sat here I couldn't help think of that story of Aquinas and then of another person who had his world interrupted by the opposite sex, King David. If I was meant to learn anything last night, it was this; no matter where we are, no matter what situation we are in, we face temptations at every turn. Some of it undeserved (3 AM and unlike King David I was were I was supposed to be) some of it we put ourselves into (King David again) The question is, what do we do about it?

Aquinas' story reminds me of this situation because men of God are going to go out of there way to protect there integrity. It is not a natural reaction for a man to turn a women away. Most men can not stand the sight of a woman rejected, crying, or any other thing which seems to melt away our defenses. However, some women know that and still bring the apple of temptation our way. We have two opposite stories which show opposite results and it leaves us the question of which is the more "manly" thing to do. David fed his lust and sinned with Bathsheba. Aquinas acted like a mad man and drove the women away. Manliness now a days is defined by the David story but it seems that when presented with temptation, Aquinas was the more manly.

I believe this is the case because a real man is not going to steal moments that are not his. A real man does not look at sex as something which I can get but something which I can give. A real man is going to react violently when presented with something which violates that. A real man does not put a price on his integrity because if there is a price, the devil is going to buy it.

Malcolm Muggeridge once told the story of a business man who was on his way to some country on an airplane. As he sat down he couldn't help but notice the beautiful, young, 20 year old, brunette who took up the seat next to him. As the plane took off they struck up a conversation. The Business man decided to see something and very boldly asked the woman if he would have sex with her for a million dollars when they landed. The woman looked shocked but you could see the million dollar figure quickly breaking down her defenses. She finally agreed. As the plane was about to land the man then turned to her and asked if they could drop the price down to 100 dollars. The woman became angry, looked at him harshly, and stated: "What kind of girl do you think I am." The man smiled at her, "Honey, we already know what kind of girl you are, now we are just negotiating the price."

Omnipotent Global Warming

A complete list of things caused by global warming
Acne, agricultural land increase, Afghan poppies destroyed, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, Africa in conflict, aggressive weeds, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), anaphylactic reactions to bee stings, ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, Antarctic grass flourishes, Antarctic ice grows, Antarctic ice shrinks, Antarctic sea life at risk, anxiety treatment, algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic ice free, Arctic lakes disappear, Arctic tundra to burn, Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, Baghdad snow, Bahrain under water, bananas grow, beer shortage, beetle infestation, bet for $10,000, better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billions face risk, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, bird visitors drop, birds confused, birds return early, birds driven north, bittern boom ends, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, bluetongue, brains shrink, bridge collapse (Minneapolis), Britain Siberian, British gardens change, brothels struggle, brown Ireland, bubonic plague, budget increases, Buddhist temple threatened, building collapse, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north, camel deaths, cancer deaths in England, cannibalism, cataracts, caterpillar biomass shift, cave paintings threatened, childhood insomnia, Cholera, circumcision in decline, cirrus disappearance, civil unrest, cloud increase, cloud stripping, cockroach migration, coffee threatened, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), cold wave (India), computer models, conferences, conflict, conflict with Russia, consumers foot the bill, coral bleaching, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , cost of trillions, cougar attacks, cradle of civilisation threatened, crime increase, crocodile sex, crops devastated, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, curriculum change, cyclones (Australia), danger to kid's health, Darfur, Dartford Warbler plague, death rate increase (US), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, depression, desert advance, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, disappearance of coastal cities, diseases move north, Dolomites collapse, drought, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt, early marriages, early spring, earlier pollen season, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spins faster, Earth to explode, earth upside down, Earth wobbling, earthquakes, El Niño intensification, end of the world as we know it, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, English villages lost, equality threatened, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, eutrophication, evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (human, civilisation, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, ladybirds, pikas, polar bears, gorillas, walrus, whales, frogs, toads, plants, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, penguins, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, mountain species, not polar bears, barrier reef, leaches), experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, fading fall foliage, fainting, famine, farmers go under, fashion disaster, fever,figurehead sacked, fir cone bonanza, fish catches drop, fish downsize, fish catches rise, fish deaf, fish get lost, fish stocks at risk, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, flesh eating disease, flood patterns change, floods, floods of beaches and cities, flood of migrants, flood preparation for crisis, Florida economic decline, flowers in peril, food poisoning, food prices rise, food prices soar, food security threat (SA), footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frog with extra heads, frostbite, frost damage increased, frosts, fungi fruitful, fungi invasion, games change, Garden of Eden wilts, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, giant oysters invade, giant pythons invade, giant squid migrate, gingerbread houses collapse, glacial earthquakes, glacial retreat, glacial growth, glacier wrapped, global cooling, global dimming, glowing clouds, god melts, golf Masters wrecked, Gore omnipresence, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, Great Lakes drop, greening of the North, Grey whales lose weight, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harmful algae, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, health affected, health of children harmed, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes (Australia), heat waves, hibernation affected, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, homeless 50 million, hornets, high court debates, human development faces unprecedented reversal, human fertility reduced, human health improvement, human health risk, human race oblivion, hurricanes, hurricane reduction, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, ice shelf collapse, illness and death, inclement weather, India drowning, infrastructure failure (Canada), industry threatened, infectious diseases, inflation in China, insect explosion, insurance premium rises, Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, invasion of cats, invasion of herons, invasion of jellyfish, invasion of midges, island disappears, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, jets fall from sky, Kew Gardens taxed, killing us, kitten boom, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, lake empties, lake shrinking and growing, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers' income increased (surprise surprise!), lives saved, Loch Ness monster dead, lush growth in rain forests, Malaria, mammoth dung melt, Maple production advanced, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, Meaching (end of the world), Mediterranean rises, megacryometeors, Melanoma, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, methane runaway, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), migratory birds huge losses, microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, minorities hit, monkeys on the move, Mont Blanc grows, monuments imperiled, moose dying, more bad air days, more research needed, mortality increased, mountain (Everest) shrinking, mountains break up, mountains melting, mountains taller, mortality lower, National security implications, natural disasters quadruple, new islands, next ice age, NFL threatened, Nile delta damaged, noctilucent clouds, no effect in India, Northwest Passage opened, nuclear plants bloom, oaks dying, oaks move north, ocean acidification, ocean deserts expand, ocean waves speed up, opera house to be destroyed, outdoor hockey threatened, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, Pacific dead zone, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts, plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plant viruses, plants march north, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears drowning, polar bears starve, polar tours scrapped, popcorn rise, porpoise astray, profits collapse, psychiatric illness, puffin decline, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rape wave, refugees, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice threatened, rice yields crash, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, river flow impacted, rivers raised, roads wear out, robins rampant, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, rooftop bars, Ross river disease, ruins ruined, salinity reduction, salinity increase, Salmonella, satellites accelerate, school closures, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, seals mating more, sewer bills rise, severe thunderstorms, sex change, sharks booming, sharks moving north, sheep shrink, shop closures, short-nosed dogs endangered, shrinking ponds, shrinking shrine, ski resorts threatened, skin cancer, slow death, smaller brains, smog, snowfall increase, snowfall heavy, snowfall reduction, soaring food prices, societal collapse, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, space problem, spectacular orchids, spiders invade Scotland, squid population explosion, squirrels reproduce earlier, storms wetter, stormwater drains stressed, street crime to increase, subsidence, suicide, swordfish in the Baltic, Tabasco tragedy, taxes, tectonic plate movement, teenage drinking, terrorism, threat to peace, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tornado outbreak, tourism increase, trade barriers, trade winds weakened, transportation threatened, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed,, trees could return to Antarctic, trees in trouble, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, trees lush, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, truffle shortage, turtles crash, turtles lay earlier, UK coastal impact, UK Katrina, Vampire moths, Venice flooded, volcanic eruptions, walrus pups orphaned, war, wars over water, wars sparked, wars threaten billions, water bills double, water supply unreliability, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, weeds, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whales move north, wheat yields crushed in Australia, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced, wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine - more English, wine -German boon, wine - no more French , wine passé (Napa), winters in Britain colder, winter in Britain dead, witchcraft executions, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World at war, World bankruptcy, World in crisis, World in flames, Yellow fever.
and all on 0.006 deg C per year!
Advice of any omissions (with sources) or broken links is welcome at warmlist@numberwatch.co.uk
Note: All links were live at time of posting. Inevitably some will disappear, particularly from Yahoo News.
Thanks to correspondents for additional entries; especially, as always, Our Man in Puerto Rico. Also, thanks to "Scraperguy" for the script to form the following:
The dead link collection
Africa hit hardest, anxiety, asthma, atmospheric defiance, bananas destroyed, boredom, cardiac arrest, challenges and opportunities, cod go south, cold spells, cremation to end, damages equivalent to $200 billion, dermatitis, desert life threatened, diarrhoea, drowning people, Earth spinning out of control, extinctions (bats, pandas, pigmy possums, koalas, turtles, orang-utan, elephants, tigers,) god melts, hazardous waste sites breached, human health improvement, lightning related insurance claims, little response in the atmosphere, Lyme disease, malnutrition, marine dead zone, mental illness (Alberta), mudslides, oblivion, oyster diseases, ozone loss, plankton loss, plant viruses, psychosocial disturbances, rainfall reduction, reindeer larger, riches, rivers dry up, rockfalls, salmon stronger, shrimp sex problems, tree beetle attacks, tree growth increased, tsunamis, walrus displaced, walrus stampede, white Christmas dream ends.
Index

Superabundantly

Limitless.............................

Not many things are. In fact I cannot think of anything that is limitless? A lot of places have "endless" cups of coffee or soda but that can be a little deceptive because while the coffee may always be there our body can only take so much. Basically, in the end there is a limit to the limitless. Even if we could continuously drink, the place would eventually close. Again, big let down.

In Ephesians 3.20 the Message Bible states, "God can do anything you know-far more then you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!" I read this verse tonight and had to laugh.

"I don't know God, I can think of some pretty wild things."

Yeah, not exactly what you would call the most spiritual of moments but this verse kind of stuck with me in my readings tonight and I'm beginning to understand why. Interesting that the first thing that I think of are "things". I mean we all would! If we had God's credit card, which seems to be how many view this verse, what things we could be capable of! Yet, this isn't the point, no matter how much we may want it to be!

Anything that I dare think of is going to have limits. It is going to have an end. It will have an expiration date. It will eventually fade and start to miss the shiny exterior. No matter what it is, it isn't limitless. These are things that I can think of NOW, it does not include the things I may need LATER. I can't really know what I need in the future cause I'm never guaranteed to have the future. I can still ask but God is the one who knows. I like how I read this passage in a commentary. It goes something like this:

Now to the One who is able to do beyond all things, superabundantly beyond and over and above those things that we are asking for ourselves and considering,

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997, c1984), Eph 3:20.

These are the words I like to hear. Not out of some selfish, prosperity motivation but out of the fact that not only can I sort of do things for myself, my God can do beyond all things. Not even just beyond all things but superabundantly beyond all things. Not even just superabundantly (which isn't an English word according to the red squiggly line underneath it at the moment) but over and above superabundantly and beyond. Basically, the verse is saying that while I can ask for a lot, God can do better. He can do superabundantly, over, above, and beyond all things which I could even ask myself or even THINK about asking! I stated that I have a lot of things which I can ask...God simply asks: is that the best I can do?

The catch then? Simply put, it is this: "He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us." (vs.20) This does not mean God gives us His credit card to put anything on it, we have responsibility in it! God can do anything, we just have to do something! His Spirit works in us deeply and gently, leading us into the right direction, the way which He thinks will give us this superabundance. The life that we could never naturally find outselves because we could only chose things with limits. God offers more. The limitless.

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Abortion-Less Sociey vs. Less-Abortion Society

I recently had a very good conversation with a friend from school about my adamant stance against abortion. I hope to represent what he stated because his challenge to me is extremely important to all of us and vitally important to the issue at hand. Looking at the landscape of America right now, it does seem very possible that abortion will not be ending soon. According to my friend, if abortion were to be ended tomorrow, what would America do with all of those children? I kind of gawked at the question (which he quickly pointed out) because this doesn't work. If the child is truly a child in the womb then we are killing a person, a soul, a possible human being. Does that mean that we are going to start killing off everyone else because they cause a burden on society? Does that justify even partially accepting the 1 million babies who are aborted each year?

I think my friends argument is seriously flawed, and hopefully he will see that, however he does bring up a legitimate point and in many ways its one worth considering. It goes like this. The Democrat party has made it a platform, for the most part, to push for a "less-abortion" society. No Democrat would state flat out that abortions are "good" for society (a serious flaw in the logic of their argument) but they will state that the greater good is the woman's right to chose. Many Republicans gleefully declare that they are for an "abortion-less" society, with provisions for certain cases, and that abortion on demand should be eliminated all together. The question I posed to my friend then is which is better?

If abortion is truly the killing of a person, the most innocent of persons, then it truly is worse then slavery. However, many injustices happen all over the world, all of the time. Which should be the center of our focus more? I encourage you to read Jim Wallis' interview with ChristianityToday to get the full context of his answers to the abortion question because I do agree with him on some parts. However, I do not agree and utterly reject the following:

"I don't think that abortion is the moral equivalent issue to slavery that Wilberforce dealt with.I think that poverty is the new slavery. Poverty and global inequality are the fundamental moral issues of our time. That's my judgment."

Wallis' answer here is drastically unrealistic and sadly seems to be the view of many who are tired of the false promises of politicians promising to "end abortion". Slavery/poverty/etc. are devastating issues that affect the "sanctity of life" there is no doubt. Wallis rightly points out later in the interview that something like 30,000 children die from starvation a day. That is frankly unacceptable and should be combated. However, I would argue that abortion is truly a grave and utter crime that is worse then slavery, as horrendous as poverty and slavery were and are, if the child is truly a child. If the "fetus" is a child then the abortion is a policy of death which is the law of the United States. We fight slavery and poverty, we promote and fund abortion? Which is worse?

Therefore, the question still remains. Which is a better society? Wallis uses the illustration of Wilberforce and I find that interesting given that many echoed Wallis' arguments AGAINST Wilberforce's fight to defeat slavery. Wilberforce, however, realized as I do, that while slavery was truly a stain on national integrity, he had to continue to convince and fight for it. Many around us today are telling us to knock it off, there are other issues, don't be a one issue voter. I commend them for their apparent ability to ignore the death cries of almost an entire generation. I, however, will agree with them that I am working for a "less-abortion" society and that extends from beyond the womb into all manners of life. However, I dream of the day when there will be an "abortion-less" society and fight on to see that in my time. To state that it will never happen is a travesty. Therefore, I am a one issue voter because a person who does not have that as his/her goal will not get my vote; period.

Can We Impeach an Ex-President?

Jimmy Carter, diagnosed with Stockholm syndrome, leaves a wreath at Yasser Arafat's grave:

I'm convinced *global warming does bring certain death*

I admit it; I am now a disciple of Al Gore. I completely buy that the car I am driving is one of the reasons for the current turmoil in the world. I completely believe that global warming will cause famines, death, destruction, and poor children starving. I believe global warming is causing this not because of the climate, not because of Co2, not because of my carbon foot print, but because all of those things are now beginning to happen. Here's proof.

The picture that is to the left is of a protester in Port-au-Prince. He is eating grass. Why exactly is he eating grass? Because he is on the negative side of the continuous rise in prices for food. I'm sure you've faced it to. Milk is more, soda is more, it seems like everything is more. The question then is why?

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama recently did a "compassion forum" and it was the usual, "we are going to win the 60 year old war on poverty" mantra but there was not one substantial policy discussed; as seems to be the case this election year. We have three candidates who are experts at saying nothing. If they were to be honest, they would let you see the following facts.

"U.S. food prices rose 4 percent in 2007, compared with an average 2.5 percent annual rise for the last 15 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the agency says 2008 could be worse, with a rise of as much as 4.5 percent." Basically this is the highest inflation of food prices in 17 years. And this isn't an America problem.

"The reality is that people are dying already," said Jacques Diouf, of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "Naturally people won't be sitting dying of starvation, they will react," he said." The natural reaction to the above statement is to think that there are multiple reasons for this to be happening. The forum the other night was proof of that. However, there are two articles which (suprisingly) gives a couple of the main reasons and those of you who buy the man made global warming myth should really consider what it is you are being sold.

"We drive, they starve. The mass diversion of the North American grain harvest into ethanol plants for fuel is reaching its political and moral limits."

Last year congress approved a massive increase in bio-fuels in order to supposedly cut down on our dependence of foreign oil. This is the result of this policy:

"The UN says it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank with ethanol. That is enough to feed a child for a year. Last week, the UN predicted "massacres" unless the biofuel policy is halted."

Many people say that using "ethanol" is going to help the planet. The fact of the matter is that is just simply not true. Burning corn is more destructive and burns off more energy and that is on top of the fact that now prices for food which are corn based (which is pretty much every food) have spiked the highest we've seen in recent years. This has led to many leaders of Africa up in arms against America. There is no doubt that recent "meat" price spikes (tied to corn based products being fed to the meat going up?) has also had a major effect however Jim McGovern (D-MA) said the following:

Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he had come to realize that Congress made a mistake in backing biofuels, not anticipating the impact on food costs.

The moral of the story is this. When we buy a false premise there are still going to true outcomes. When you plant a bad seed, you are still going to get something. Wither it is desirable or not. The question then is, which is more "moral" in many people's mind. The supposed destruction of the planet because of oil, which is produced by the planet, or the increase in prices that is now jacking up the prices not only in America but in many countries of the world. Places where there really is "poor and desolate". But I guess this would make some of the global warming people happy. If you don't believe me, check out this web site:

"Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health."

Guess we reap what we sow?