The Peaceful Gnome

Pastor Wesley Kan in Florida prepared the following article, I lifted it from Cyberbrethren : Lutherans and the Crucifix Protestants of all denominations seem to have one thing in common. They all love to make fun of Lutherans. One of my cousins, a Covenantal Calvinist, calls me "Catholic-light." Some of my friends call Lutherans, "the nuts that did not roll very far from the Roman tree." How odd that the very same Protestants do not hesitate to claim Martin Luther as their own by ignoring the embarrassing historical fact that their spiritual forefathers abandoned the Reformation to go off on their own and that the Luther they claim detested many of the heterodox beliefs they hold dear. The very term "Protestant Reformation" is oxymoronic, a result of historic revisionism. The truth is that there was "The Reformation" reluctantly led by Martin Luther and soon thereafter certain individuals abandoned and renounced the Reformation, there...

One issue I have been studying for a long time is the relationship between science and Christianity. The problem comes when some folk on both sides of the issue try to exclude those of us who dwell in the middle. Some fundamentalist Christians will say that the only biblical interpretation allowable is 6 literal creation days several thousand years ago. Some fundamentalist atheist-evolutionists will declare that even considering the idea of creation is out of bounds. I am of the opinion that yes, the bible is true, and yes the evidence of science is that the universe is billions of years old and that there seems to be much evidence of descent from common ancestors, especially within the higher orders or "kinds" of life. I also don't find this to be a real contradiction. :-) Here is a fine article on the subject at the bethinking.org site by Melvin Tinker: No conflict Why Melvin Tinker thinks evangelicals can differ over their approach to creation ‘It is impossible...

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten Fast for Christians. I had thought of various forms of fast to do this Lent. Then I read this post from Pastor William Weedon: Is There a Lutheran Way to Fast? Yes! The Augsburg Confession disdains the distinction of meats, and does so solidly based on Colossians But that doesn't mean that Lutherans didn't and don't fast. If we remember that fast mean "to go hungry" the solution is apparent: skip meals! It's not a matter of what FOOD you give up for Lent, but a matter of what MEALS and feeding (as in snacking!) you set aside. If one follows the typical Western fast, one eats but 1 and 1/4 to 1/2 meals per day. This is not done to impress God, but to train our bodies (that our belly is not our boss) and to free up time for prayer and money for charity. I bring this up again because we are preparing to enter Holy Week. During this week as we give time to specially contemplate the Passion of our Lord, the discipli...

I actually have met these guys, they have stayed at my building several times over the last several years, really nice couple actually. From The Times February 25, 2009 Sweden's Princess Victoria to marry fitness trainer Daniel Westling (Stella/Ken Goff Photos) Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling take some informal exercise Image : 1 of 2 Marcus Oscarsson and Roger Boyes There was nothing but bleak news on the schedule in Sweden yesterday morning — the carmaker Saab flailing for life, a financial meltdown in nearby Baltic states — and most Stockholm journalists were glumly turning on their desktop anti-depression lamps for another day at the coalface. Then came the flash from the Palace: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is to marry her fitness trainer. And all was right with the world. ( read the rest )

From The Wittenburg Trail Find more videos like this on The Wittenberg Trail

The other day Lora was playing one of those machines where you try to grab a toy with a remote controlled claw and accidentally ended up with Stewie Griffin from The Family Guy . For some reason Lora thought of me when she got it and stuck it on my bed. Maybe it was the "Victory shall be mine!" quote on the tag, or his penchant for planning world conquest. Anyway, I left it on my bed for a couple of days but found it more and more repulsive, especially since I really can't stand Family Guy at all. Today Serenity picked it up and I said to her, "You can have that thing, I don't want it." As she walked down the hall with it she shouted out "Shall we behead it?" Ah, my sweet, innocent, little executioner of a granddaughter. Brings a tear to my eye I tells ya. As I posted this Serenity said "Die Stewie, die!"

Sign the Petition Here.

In which sense are our churches really and truly houses of God? In which sense are they places of the real and essential presence of Christ? We can desire nothing more beautiful and greater for our houses of God than that they be places where the Holy Supper is celebrated according to the institution of Christ, and a believing congregation is gathered about the altar to receive the true body and the true blood of our Lord. Only then will the church of the Gospel, the church of the pure doctrine remain among us. Only then will it remain, but it will truly remain, "and the gates of hell shall not overpower her" (Matthew 16:18) And everywhere a congregation is gathered about her altar in the deep faith in the one who is her Lord and her Head because He is her Redeemer, where she sings the Kyrie and the Gloria and lifts her heart to heaven and with all angels and archangels and the entire company of heaven sings, "Holy, Holy, Holy" to the Triune God - there will h...

...when I skip even one lousy day of reading the sNEWs? They go full tilt bozo bonkers commie and threaten to nationalize the freaking banks!! U.S. Lawmakers Clash Over Nationalizing Banks to Stem Declines By Alison Vekshin Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senate and House Democrats who steer financial-industry legislation clashed over having the government take over some banks as a way to help lenders that have been hammered by the worst economic slump in 75 years. Full story. Idiot commie crap! That's what I say. Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to be reading the news, but if they do this after only one day what will they get away with by the end of Lent? I could come back from the fast to find out we have freaking King or something! Gah! Snarfle gack fracking insanity! @#^%#@^!

Father Hollywood thinks pointing out the nakedness of the Emperor might still make sense: The police state's worst enemy is the little boy who points out the emperor's nakedness, the one not buying the propaganda and not intimidated into silence. That's why the police state doesn't want those "little boys" of every age and sex to have signs, blogs, or radio programs. ( Full post )

Well, since I can't talk about politics I guess I'll forward this "science" article I received from my sister Kari this morning ;-) -- New Element Discovered Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion ...

Oh man, I just said it was all over and it was pointless to continue screaming and fighting, now even one of my idols, the great Fred Reed , has thrown in the towel. :-( Now is a good time to bow out. My reasons for inditing the sucker were, first, to see whether a web column could work and, second, to get away from the strangling grasp of political correctness. A third reason, common I suppose to most columnists, was the hope that, however minor my voice might be, in combination with thousands of others it might engender pressure for slowing the rush into the high-tech medieval twilight that the culture has undertaken. This by now is clearly quixotic. The civilizational changes we now see are both irremediable and beyond control. The peasantrification and empty glitter of society, pervasive hostility to careful thought, onrushing authoritarianism, and distaste for cultivation are now endemic. I do not know where these lead, but we are assuredly going to get the...

A big part of unschooling is giving freedom to the child to direct her own life. We've gone so far as to make bed time free choice. It turns out Serenity is a total night owl. She hates getting up in the morning and dislikes going to bed at night before about midnight. This is not really a problem most of the time, she gets plenty of sleep, just on her schedule. Only if there is a family outing, like church on Sunday, do we pretty much insist she get up in the morning. I mention this because over the last couple of months I made the mistake of signing Serenity up for not one but two morning classes ! What was I thinking?!? To be honest they were both MY idea and not hers. I think I was getting nervous about the whole unschooling thing and wanted to make sure that she was "learning" something. There was the wonderful art class at Monart and then a science class at a local homeshooler's house presented by a "real science teacher." Serenity gave it...

I'm sort of holding to my attempt not read politics, which makes most of my blog reader activity just clicking on "Mark all read" for the time being. Today is the anniversary of the death of Martin Luther in 1546: + Martin Luther, Doctor and Reformer + from Aardvark Alley by Orycteropus Afer 18 February AD 1546 Martin Luther, born on 10 November 1483, in Eisleben, Germany, initially began studies leading toward a degree in law. However, after a close encounter with death, he switched to the study of theology, entered an Augustinian monastery, was ordained a priest in 1505, and received a doctorate in theology in 1512. As a professor at the newly-established University of Wittenberg, his Scriptural studies led him to question many of the church's teachings and practices, especially the selling of indulgences. His refusal to back down from his convictions resulted in his excommunication in 1521. Following a period of seclusion at the Wartburg castle, Luther returned ...

The Lenten Fast is approaching and once again I am considering what to "give up for Lent". In the past I've done such things as skipping meals, not eating meat and not reading the news or making political comments. I think that this year I will do the last one, I will not read the news, I will not make any political comments. I will also start early this year and from today on I'll keep the fast. Maybe I can even manage to make it a permanent habit ;-) Ha ha ha ha ha ha! :-)

...well in England in any case. Here in the USA? Probably the same story at this point. The Republican and Democratic wings of the One Ruling Party of America are both dedicated to the imposition of a totalitarian police state on the ruins of the Old Republic so the chances of it being reversed peacefully are exactly zero. Cute little squeals by Ron Paul and company with their well intentioned but ineffectual Campaign for Liberty will do nothing to stop this juggernaut. Armed revolt has the same chances of starting and even less of succeeding as turning it around politically. Why? The subjects of the American Empire don't actually want freedom, they like the all powerful nanny state, even though it comes with that slight inconvenience of the iron fist of totalitarian police power. "Your papers please." Hey, they said please! Brits show Yanks how a police state is done from Disloyal Opposition by J.D. Tuccille In years to come, those of us mourning the erosion...

People who posted this thought it was a slam against Darwinism, but most atheistic Darwinian types would have no real problem with it: It is amusing though. :-)

Of course today is also the birthday, on the same day in 1809 as Darwin, of the despot and mass murdering war criminal, destroyer of the republic and vile pig, Lincoln. Here is a nice sampling of real Lincoln information for those who only know what they were taught in the government indoctrination centers of their youth... From Lew Rockwell.com A 'Lincoln Scholar' Comes Clean by Thomas J. DiLorenzo by Thomas J. DiLorenzo Historian William Marvel is a past winner of the Lincoln Prize and the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for his scholarship. The author of Lee’s Last Retreat , Andersonville , and A Place Called Appomattox is described by the renowned Steven Sears as "The Civil War’s master historical detective." He is also unique among all the "Lincoln scholars" who I have read in that his books do NOT read like defense briefs in The War Crimes Trial of Abraham Lincoln, filled with hundreds of bizarre rationalizations for every odious or barbaric act. Ins...

Today was Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, or would have been if he hadn't dropped dead long ago. :-) Serenity and I celebrated with some TVE Homeschool folks out in Livermore. Jenny set up a huge time line covering 3.8 billion years that was very cool. There was also a demonstration of the sexual aspect of natural selection using colored tiles which demonstrated that even though a trait like a bright color might make a species more susceptible to predation the increased success in breeding due to that trait can result in that trait driving out what would otherwise seem to be a better trait. Another demonstration used a variety of colored beans to demonstrate differences in survival rates under predation. Colored beans were scattered around the front yard and the kids "hunted" them down. Starting with 100 each of six different types we discovered, as expected, that large white beans were easy to locate and "capture" while the small green beans blended...

Of course prior to the election when we libertarians claimed Obama was a socialist people for the most part scoffed and called us alarmists. But now that the economy has been thoroughly nationalized with trillion dollar buy-outs, well the main stream press is admitting what we knew all along. So Long Freedom! It was fun while it lasted. Your papers please, thank you very much, now give us all of your money, we will provide gruel and a roof, don't bother working... Newsweek: We Are All Socialists Now Well, I'm not a socialist, I will never be a socialist yet I will not continue to fight against it. It's the end of the American Republic in all but name, there is nothing left to fight for!

Micro-crud is continuing its ongoing effort to bring all progress in computer software to a grinding halt by it's ridiculous patent farming scheme... First read this on Cnet: Microsoft gets 10,000th patent Then read this to discover just how horrible the first one really is. Seen and Unseen Costs of Patents by Jeffery Tucker . And if you are really ambitious and have lots of free time read Against Intellectual Monopoly . Patents and copyrights are both evil. No matter what the FBI warning says at the start of your DVD (my granddaughter chants "Blah! blah! blah!" whenever it flashes onto the screen) copying it is not a crime in any real sense. No more than smoking unapproved herbs is anyway.

From the Houston Chronicle : I heard a commentator try to put the number 1,000,000,000,000 into perspective. We throw these numbers around so easily. What do they mean? Here's one way to think about it. We could spend one million dollars every day since the day Jesus was born and we would still not have one trillion dollars. Do the math. Jesus was born about 2012 years ago. 2012 x 365.2 = 734,782.4. So if we spent one million dollars every day since the day Jesus was born, we'd have spent $734,782,400,000 or almost 735 billon dollars. The numbers we are dealing with are staggering. This is, of course, on top of what we have already spent in corporate bailouts and our oppressive debt left over from the last 40 years of overspending our budget. Yikes.

They finally got the link up on Issues Etc. so here is the actual podcast:

Proving they remain the heretics they were 490 years ago when brother Martin grabbed a hammer and eventually restored the gospel to the Church... Brother Martin has some comments on Strange Herring: Plenary Indulgence Proclaimed, Lutherans Raid Hardware Stores for Hammers Posted by Martin Luther (Doktor) on February 10, 2009 I should never have dropped dead, then I wouldn’t be alive now to see this . For the last time: sin in unquantifiable. The idea of some Treasury of Merits from which the Church can extract a handful of grace-filled pixie dust and sprinkle it on the sufficiently contrite is a ludicrous perversion of the meaning of grace itself. It is God’s merciful and UNMERITED disposition toward us in Christ. It is not to be manipulated, bargained with — or, Heaven help us, earned . Dispensing penances based on the severity of sins is like experimenting with vitamin regimens on Julius Caesar. If it makes you happy … But I despair of salutary results … The Cross ...

I have a habit of reading through the Psalms and Proverbs once a month, I've done it for quite a while now, yet almost every day it seems there is something new that leaps out at me from my readings. The Psalms are the prayer book of the church, they have depths we cannot exhaust in or short mortal lives. Last night Psalm 49:5-9 and then Psalm 49:15 spoke to me while I was feeling a little bitter toward the rich looters grabbing the wealth of America at our expense and claiming it's for our own good. In the end they will have nothing , while we as Christians are the heirs to God and so have everything ! :-)

Well the totalitarian semi-Lutherans running the LCMesS have struck again. I'll let Todd Wilken explain it below. Note to the LCMesS "leadership": guys, you are looking more and more foolish and vindictive. We know you are not Lutherans, why don't you just give up the "Issues Etc." trademark, and while you're at it you might consider dropping "Lutheran" from LCMesS! You can keep the "Missouri Synod" part and the confessional Lutherans can keep the "Lutheran Church" part. Deal? Well, I was going to "embed" the short segment where Todd talks about the trademark and lawsuit threat but it seems not to be on the web page at Issues Etc. So, here is the iTunes URL instead, you can download and listen to it there. Just click on play after iTunes opens and it should play an Open Mikes segment of about ten minutes. It's worth listening to and will really tick you off if you are a Missoui Synod Lutheran.

Obama is no different , he's just Bush with more melanin , so what was all the excitement about? Obama sticks to Bush stance on torture suit So, the wars go on, torture goes on, the economy implodes while the government prints phony money to drive us all into poverty while still trying vainly to prop up a collapsing but useless and pointless empire. Duh.

United States of Zimbabwe talk again, i t's looking more and more like we are heading down the road of hyperinflation , which will finally be the end of the Empire, if not the USZ itself.

Good post over on " Life without School " about laziness, or what is perceived by laziness by the culture: Dinner with unschooling friends; kids mixing and mingling all around, is the perfect place for a blog post to begin. Lively conversation, intense debate; it's all excellent fodder for my brain to percolate on educational philosophy and our collective parenting culture. This particular evening led to lots of conversation about the way our culture views laziness . Webster's says that the definition of lazy is: averse or disinclined to work, activity, or exertion; indolent. Sounds pretty negative, huh? Particularly because we live in a culture which values work and productivity above many other things. We've created a system of pay-offs and incentives to train children to become workers so that we can continue making more, being more, doing more, and then we hurry up and do a little bit more so that we can finally relax when we're 70. Interesting s...

Yesterday evening Lora, Serenity and I took the train to San Francisco for the Lunar New Year Parade. It was pretty good, though it's not something you need to see every year :-) After the parade we went and had dinner at Tadich Grill , the oldest restaurant in California, founded by Croatians in 1849 and still owned by Croatians today, though there are no Croat dishes on the menu ;-/ The waiter said that they do serve Dalmatian stew from time to time, the menu changes regularly so you never know quite what you are going to get, it's always good food though! "In 1849, an unassuming coffee stand was founded on the San Francisco waterfront. Enduring earthquakes, fires, and changes of name, location, and ownership, that establishment still stands, now known as the Tadich Grill, California’s oldest restaurant. The constants throughout the Tadich’s evolution have been hearty seafood and other local specialties, and the stewardship of Croatian American families. John Tadich im...

...and the whole American Empire of course. She is a typical politician though, stupid, vicious, power hungry. But stupid always comes first. 500 million Americans will lose their jobs? Here is Video proof of a real American Hero ... idiot in action. Thanks to Strange Herring , again.

...why did he make them out of meat? (and taste so good?) I fell off the wagon again ;-) I had a buy one get one free coupon from Quiznos and instead of getting two veggie subs I got a "Traditional" with roast beef, turkey, ham and cheese along with a "Honey Bacon Club" with turkey, bacon, ham and cheese. Not quite vegan subs those. :-P OK, I start over again tomorrow. Taste aside the moral and environmental issues have to carry quite a bit of weight with me...

Who needs NBC anyway? Not me, not when fine entertainment like "Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager" is on the web. Chad Vader is Darth Vader's less charismatic younger brother... Here is episode one from last season (Check out the full series here .)

So, I was checking out the latest cartoon and blog post on Bizzaro.com and found out via this link that Dan Piraro is Vegan! Cool. Which reminded me that I was intending on going that way myself but people keep shoving animal flesh at me and I keep eating it. Blech. I must try be less polite, you know me, always so genteel and shy about expressing my opinions that I just go along with everything proposed, even against my will. ;-) This cartoon also brought back to mind the classic "Cows with Guns" video.

Ah, this just really makes me PROUD (proud in this context means embarrassed and disgusted) to be an American! From Lew Rockwell.com : What's the best way to get a tough guy to cooperate? You lean on his family, right? Even the hardest case will usually break if you smack his kids around, threaten his wife or ... send 20 federal agents crashing through his mother-in-law's front door? Yup. That's what the federal government did as part if its jihad against accused steroid-user Barry Bonds; a mob of IRS and FBI agents raided the home of Madeleine Gestas, mother to the wife of uncooperative trainer Greg Anderson. It should be no surprise that the federal government uses mob-like tactics in pursuit of its goals. Fundamentally, government is just the Mafia with better PR. You tick off the wrong people, you'll wak...

I would boycott NBC, if I ever watched it that is. I actually never watch anything on the old line networks, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX. Everything I watch is on the cable only stations... do they still broadcast over the air? Ah well, this story is about the fact that it seems NBC refused to air an ad put together by some Catholic outfit that features an embryo and all of the hardships it faced in early life ending up with the revelation that they were talking about Obama. Here is the ad , check it out and see how unoffensive it is. Like I said, if I watched them I'd quit now. :-/