SIPEDO and YOU

All of a sudden I am getting spam in my email from Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

If any of you have ever read any part of my blog, you know that I regard Obama and Biden to the equivalent of pondscum.

How did they get my email address?

I just replied to one spam message and told them they are useless and worthless and hoped that they lose it all.

Talk to you soon.

Right around Labor Day, September 5 in 2004 Frances hit.

Not far from Labor Day in 2005 Katrina Hit

On Labor Day 2008 Gustav Hit

A Category 5, named the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 hit the Keys and winded up to Cedar Key.

Are there any others that have fallen on or around Labor Day?

1948: An unnamed hurricane came ashore south of New Orleans overnight Sunday into Labor Day.

1952: Hurricane Able hit near Beaufort, S.C., overnight Saturday into Sunday with 90 mph winds and heavy rain that fell over eastern South Carolina. By Labor Day it was a weakening tropical storm inland near the North Carolina-Virginia border.

1979: Hurricane David threatened Florida at the beginning of the Labor Day weekend,

1985: Hurricane Elena ruined the Labor Day weekend for most of Florida's Gulf Coast, without ever actually coming ashore in Florida. Elena finally made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi on Sept, 2 Labor Day, as a Category 3 hurricane.

1996: The most recent hurricane to threaten the USA over the Labor Day weekend was Hurricane Edouard in 1996

A lot of this was cut and paste.  But you get the idea.  I think I'll start planning my vacation away from Florida on Labor Day from now on.

One person wrote, "The other day we were in a restaurant that created a truly enjoyable experience. The waiter went out of his way to bend the menu rules in order to satisfy our preferences. Then he continued this empowering table service by providing us with a taste test of a dessert and finalized it by taking an item off our bill because it wasn't quite right. Compare that with the typical service you get at any number of eateries where the frontline people provide less than enjoyable service because they follow their workers manual to a T. "

Are you a rule keeper or a customer keeper?

A successful team understands the importance of providing front-end people with the authority to make the right decisions for the customer in a given situation.

Are you told at work that your're empowered to make decisions that make sense?

Do you affirm this by telling stories of people who do?

Every business is different. I've been in some where I could tell that the fear of the owner, manager or other supervisor kept people from being creative, flexible, and responsive to people as needed. Of course, the antithesis of this is a business where there are no rules and everyone just sort of does his or her own thing...

The typical result is mediocrity, sloppiness, and haphazardness . But there’s a powerful place in the middle where you don’t have to create a million rules to follow but keep it simple.

One of the ways my wife has done very well in my home is by having three simple rules:

1.  We don’t hurt people.

2.  We don’t hurt things.

3.  And we don’t hurt ourselves.

I must admit, I'm not always the rule keeper.  I can sometimes have a nasty nature and hurt peoples feelings.  When I realize what I have done, I realize I am only hurting myself.

Pretty much everything can fit into one of these three categories. Teaching these simple principles is far more effective than teaching a multitude of rules.

So, are you a rule keeper or a customer keeper?  Think About It

When can rules get in the way of doing business?  What rules can drive away a customer?

Here's another simple story: I deposited a certified cashiers check into my checking account the other day.  I was told there would be a 9 day hold on the funds.  I explained that I needed the money sooner than that to pay some overdue bills, including a mortgage payment.  I did the leg work, and within two days, the bank where the check was drawn had already paid the funds.  Still, my bank would not make the funds available until the limit was up.  They could have bent the rules and released the funds upon verifying the the check had been paid.  Instead, they chose to follow the rules, hold my money longer than they needed to, at which time I closed the account and went to another bank that does not have such stringent rules.

So, which are you?  A rule keeper?   or a Customer Keeper?

How old are you?  This is one of the easiest questions to answer.

How much do you weigh?  Another easy question.

Neither seem to be easy for women.

My late aunt died at the age of 87, she played tennis until she was 86, and was never afraid to tell how old she was.  My mother passed at 76 and played softball until she was 70, and was never embarrassed or afraid to tell her age.

Why is a "woman's perogative" to disclose her age?  Why is it such an issue?

The whole argument that you should "never ask a woman how old she is or how much she weighs" is TOTALLY STUPID!!

You are what you are.  If you're young, celebrate it, if you old, celebrate it.  If you're thin, celebrate it.  But if you're FAT (I'm FAT), start eating right and excercise. (yes, I do take my own advice, and I'm not as FAT as most.)

So, I'm breaking the trend.  I'm going to start asking.  How old ARE you?  How much do you weigh?  If you can't give an honest answer, then I'll just tell everyone that you're 29 years older than you look.

By the way,  I'm 42 and I weigh 192 pounds.

The last time I checked, the only pre-requisites to running for the Presidency, or the VP for that matter is that you must be born as a United States citizen, and that you must have reached 35 years of age.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that make Sarah Palin qualified?  How about Barack Obama?

All of the analysts (notice the word begins with four letters "anal") are pointing to here political inexperience, especially on foreign policy and national security.

I say, SO WHAT, experience is NOT a pre-requisite.  Many former Presidents have had little or no foreign policy or national security experience.  So what is the difference if a VP candidate has little or no experience.  I say it makes them MORE qualifed for the job because they are not marred yet by the corruption that IS Washington DC.

During the 7th Inning Stretch, when the play God Bless America at Yankee Stadium, you have to remain in your seat.  Recently, one man had to go to the bathroom really bad, and tried to leave his seat to go to the bathroom during the 7th Inning Stretch's playing of God Bless America.  He did not know about this rule.  Two of the NYPD stopped him and said he would have to wait until the song was over.  He said he had to use the bathroom really bad, and right now, he cared more about that than God Bless America.  He was ejected from the Ballpark.  A later police report stated that the man was standing on his seat, drunk, cursing and shouting obscenties.  Both he and a season ticket holder who was sitting next to him have said this is not true.  The ACLU has said that New York's finest have crossed the line.  So I guess  Yankee Fans and Owners would rather see a guy pee his pants in the stands when he couldn't hold it rather than go to the bathroom during the playing of God Bless America.

Maybe I could understand it through the singing of the National Anthem, but NOT this.  I am as patriotic as the next guy, but this is ridiculous.  What if this had been a person with a serious medical condition?

Last week, a young man named Jordan succumbed to a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma.  He was to be twenty one years old yesterday.  Jordan fought hard.  This young man loved basketball, where he played on a college team near Greenville, SC.  He was a member of a youth group at a church where I was once the youth director.  His family prayed hard, hoping for a miracle, but the miracle they wanted never happened.  They had a celebration of life service for him this past Saturday.

This past Saturday, another man named Jim succumbed at the age of 63 to a 15 month battle with another form of Cancer.  He played guitar at the church where I am currently the music director.  Weak from the disease, he played the guitar for the last time on August 17 with our church band.  Always dedicated, and up until he passed was waiting for that last minute miracle, always expressing his faith in God.

Today, I sit at my computer, not knowing what will be next for me.  I have my own health issues that cause extreme pain, and are preventing me from working full time.  This is a burden physically, and financially. I am hoping God will work wonders for me, but to date, nothing has happened, and my diagnosis still remains the same.  I hope and I pray that "miracle" will come, but nothing so far.

All three of us, Jordan, Jim and Myself have kept faith.  Two of us have succumbed.  I have not been so fortunate.

There are days when I just want to give up.  There are days when I give God the ultimatum to either heal me or take me.  He does neither. So much for giving God ultimatums.

There are days when I want to curse God.  There I days when I want to send Jesus back to the cross and re-crucify him.  Why isn't God answering the prayers of His people and healing those who follow hard after Him?

In all of this, I still cannot reverse my faith.  I know that I have to trust God.  I know that circumstances will come that will make me strong.  I know that I am a very small part of a very big picture.  Many will affect the lives of a few, and a few will affect the lives of many.  Which one am I?

What would you do?  Some of you are in similar circumstances, or know someone who is.  What keeps YOU going?  What keeps THEM going?  How do YOU and THEY keep the faith from going in reverse?

A society of churches in Germany has set up its own gas company to help credit crunch families hit by rising prices. The Society for the Supply of Energy to Church and Social Institutions is not for profit and wants to undercut commercial power companies by 10 per cent.

Chairman Johannes Baumgartner said: "If we can supply gas at a lower rate by cutting out the middle man, then we have done a good job. We just want to be cheaper...  "At first we want to concentrate on supplying gas to our parishes and to charitable and social organizations here in Baden-Wuerttemberg. If that works out well, we'll be glad to welcome others from outside who will increase our purchasing capacity." 

Is this an innovative idea? Or should the church stay out of it? Even if this served as a great foot in the door, should the church be in the gas business?

How and where should churches be involved in non-church activities?  Churches already run schools, orphanages, counseling centers, food kitchens, low income housing, malls, and coffee shops, so, why not gas companies?

Over half of the gold medals awarded to China are in events that are judged.  Nearly all the gold medals wond by the US are in timed events.  The clock doesn't lie.  But judges can, and do effect the outcome for a gold medal.  It is my contention that something dishonest is going on, not just in the age of gymnasts, but in the decision of judges.  Not that some of those gold medals won by China are not deserving, some of them are not.  It makes you wonder if the judges, who are chosen by the IOC, are even qualifed to rate in a given sport or event.  The disparity in the number of gold medals makes this highly suspect.

Are the Chinese holding guns to the heads of judges so they win the most gold?  Or do the judges despise the Americans and other countries THAT MUCH?  Or are they afraid of retribution by the Chinese government if China does not come out of the Olympics not only with the most gold medals, but the most medals overall.  As of this morning, when I last checked, the US and China were tied in the number of medals at 79 each, but China had 45 golds and the US had 26.  Othere contries lag far behind the US and China in number of medals.  I believe this years Olympics will go down in history as the most corrupt of them all.

I mostly boycotted the Olympics, but could not resist watching Michael Phelps who won 8 Gold Medals in TIMED EVENTS.  Like I said.  It makes you wonder.

This post is intended to post in the news rather than sports, because I believe that this is more news than sports.  It is about criminality more than athleticism.  Whether FOX posts it at Sports of News is at their discretion.

Have you ever heard of LIMBO?

In the Bible, Jesus speaks of a real place called Hell.  In fact, he spoke more of hell than he did of heaven.  He said it was a very bad place, and was just as descript as about it as heaven.

There are many Christians who do not believe in hell, but they say they believe the Bible.  So, if there is NO Hell, why does Jesus speak of such a place?

There are a couple of other places that the Catholic Church allows that are never mentioned in the Bible.  One is called Purgatory, and the other of all places is called Limbo.  Yes, Limbo.  No, it's not a dance.  It is supposedly a real place.

In Roman Catholic theology, Limbo is a hypothesis about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being ASSIGNED to thell of the damned, also known as gehenna.  Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Catholic Church.  Some theologians from Medieval periods described the underworld of hell divided into four parts.  Hell of the damned (gehenna), purgatory, limbo of the fathers, and limbo of the infants.

Is this confusing for you?  It sure is to me.  I don't get it.  How could anyone conceive of such a notion?  Apparently it grew out of Catholicism.

Would you care to dance?

On Saturday Night, August 16, 2008, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama will participate in a forum at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest California.  The pastor of Saddleback, Rick Warren will give indentical questions to both Obama and McCain.  Obama will go first, and McCain will go second.  McCain will not hear the responses of Obama.  At the end, Obama and McCain will appear on stage and shake hands.  What do you think about this?  Should a pastor be doing something like this?  Both of the presidential hopefuls agreed to the forum only if pastor Rick Warren gave the questions.

I'm going to watch this at 8:00 on CSPAN.  I'd be interested in hearing your feedback after the forum is over.  It should be an interesting time.

It seems that a family that was the beneficiary of ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition is losing their home to Foreclosure.  Their original home was torn down and a new home put in it's place in January of 2005. Three and a half years later, and BAM!

I guess it wasn't enough that the materials to build the home, which were donated to build this mini-mansion would have been about $450,000.  In addition, the family received about $250,000 for things like scholarships for the children.  The family took out a mortgage on the home, for whatever reason, and now it is to be auctioned off on the courthouse steps.

I just don't get it.  How could this happen?  You have a home handed to you, and then for whatever reason you take a large mortgage out on the home?  I can't help but think that these people had poor counsel or none at all.  I can't help but think that they somehow acted foolishly.  I can't help but think that may ABC needs to stop handing things out like this, and maybe do it the way Habitat does it.  Make them work, make them pay, and don't overdo it.   Each person who gets a home through Habitat for Humanity does not get the home for FREE.  They have to take part in the construction, they have to make mortgage payments, and they have to agree to donate their time to future things.

Too many people who appear to have fallen on bad times are there because of foolish decisions.  This sort of thing makes me sick.

I was surprised to find out that Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California has convinced both Barack Obama and John McCain to have their first forum at his church.  Both agreed to the forum if the megachurch pastor was the only one asking the questions.  Rick said he won't ask many questions about the hot potato issues dominating the campaign, but more pointed questions about their world views and defending the constitution.  Warren appeared on CNN to discuss the upcoming forum.

Both Obama and McCain claim to be people of great faith, and Warren claims he is friends with both of them and likes both of them.

Now, how to I categorize this?  As NEWS, POLITICS, OR RELIGION?

Either way, I suspect it will be a refreshing change from the debates and rhetoric of the typical campaign.  I think if they can get away from the issues, they might be more telling of what an Obama or McCain presidency might look like. I still don't like either one of them though.

Did you know that there are still what could be considered Dinosaurs on the earth?

Did you know that there is more scientific evidence supporting accounts in the Bible than there are in support of Evolution?

Did you know that Evolution has been debunked repeatedly, time and time again, it is a theory of falsities and outright lies, and is still being taught as fact in our public schools?

Do you remember in 1977 when Japanese fisherman found what you might call a "water dinosaur"?  US Media Outlets refused to carry the story, but it was such a popular event, that the Japanese government issued a postage stamp to commemorate it?

Did you know that in Texas, and in other places in the world that there are human footprints right along side of dinosaur footprints?

Did you know that the largest human skeleton found was found in Italy, it was that of a woman and stood 11 feet 6 inches tall?

Did you know that while drilling for oil in Arctic Alaska, some 1400 feel down they found the remains of plants and trees that only grow in a subtropic to tropical climate?

You've heard of the Mammoth that was found frozen in the Frost in north?  But did you hear about the sheep and horses and cows, and that one in particular had buttercup still in it's mouth, a plant that is not native to that area?  Or was it?

These are just tidbits of information, and you can find it all on internet.  Much of it debunks evolution, and definitely debunks the notion that man did not appear on the earth until 2 millions years ago and that dinosaurs are extinct.  Don't ask me to point to the sources.  You need to do the research for yourself.

There is so much evidence to support a very young earth, and there is no evidence whatsoever that has been able to debunk anything at all in the Bible. Absolutely nothing.  Many have tried, and they have their theories, but that is all they are, and those theories are not grounded in any type of reality.

Yet, many still continue to believe lie after lie after lie.  Evolution as taught in our schools is a lie.  But, some people just can't handle the truth.  Theories about the age of the earth being 4-6 billion years old are purely conjecture.

But all too often, we choose to believe what we are told, and we fail to do the research ourselves.  So what's stopping you?

I pulled this off of a website, http://www.carm.org and I am posting it here.

I think people of faith could learn a lot from this article.  Maybe even northton could learn a little from it.

I have highlighted parts of the points that stuck out to me.

1. Labeling Atheists
   1. Some Christians have labeled atheists as evil, stupid, devil-worshippers, or morally void. Though there may be some atheists who fit these categories (as would many in the general population), atheists are not categorically evil, stupid, devil-worshipping, degenerates with no morals. Many of them are fine citizens, honest, caring, loving, and patient. For a Christian, or anyone for that matter, to make a blanket statement about atheists in a derogatory manner is wrong. It is the same thing atheists sometimes do when they accuse Christians of being irrational, psychotic, or stupid. Such accusations have no place on either side of the argument of truth.
      

      Generally speaking, atheists are not stupid. Many of them have thought through their position over a long period of time and arrive at conclusions after much thought. Some were raised in religious homes, have seen what religion has to offer, and have rejected it. Of course, I think that atheists have drawn incorrect conclusions about God, but it doesn't mean they are dumb. Some atheists have presented very cogent arguments against the existence of God, which need to be addressed.

      So, just because someone believes in God and encounters someone who doesn't, that does not mean that either side is stupid.  Labeling and name-calling have no place in the discussion.

2. Ignoring Atheists' Questions
   1. If you were standing on a railroad track and a train was heading your way, closing your eyes and ignoring the locomotive will not make it go away.  If an atheist asks a question and you ignore it repeatedly, it would be fair for him to conclude you were incapable of answering the objection.  Of course, this does not mean you have to always answer everything because dialogue flows both ways.  But, it is important that you face issues.  If you don't have an answer, admit it. That's okay.   It doesn't mean you are wrong.  It means you don't have an answer.  Go study and get an answer and get back to him.
3. Stating that Atheism is a religion
   1. Atheists will repeatedly tell you that they are not in a religion. A religion almost always is defined to include belief in a deity of some sort. Atheism is non-belief in a deity. It isn't necessarily a "belief that there is no God," (though it can be)but is "not believing either way."
      

      To label an atheist as a religious person is to put up a roadblock to effective communication. It would be like someone saying to a Christian, "You believe in a mean, tyrannical being who likes to torture people." The Christian would simply roll his eyes and think that the person doesn't know what he's talking about. So, how much effective conversation could there be in either instance?  Not much.

4. Stating unsupportable facts
1. No one has all documentation for everything they say.  It is not reasonable to require proof from an atheist on everything said.  Nevertheless, if you are going to state a fact or two, it is good to have the documentation at the tip of your tongue -- at least occasionally, of have access to it.  It adds to your credibility.  Of course, you don't have to document everything, but if you have some illustrious fact to use, try and have it documented. Never admitting when you are wrong
5. 1. Pride is a harmful thing.  It caused the fall.  It ruins marriages.  It leads to anger and self-righteousness.  It has no place in the Christian's life.  Never admitting you are wrong is being prideful.  If an atheist, or anyone, proves you wrong is something, be kind and courteous.  Admit you made a mistake and go on.  Everyone makes mistakes, even atheists.  There is nothing wrong with admitting an error.  It no more proves you are wrong about Christianity than being wrong about the color of a boat means boats don't exist.  But, if you never admit when you are wrong, you will not be able to convince anyone in a discussion of your position.  You will simply lose the respect of the one with whom you are debating.