Sunday, March 30, 2008

Michigan Politicians - - Do They Get Any Worse

I am not involved in the recall attempt against State Representative Andy Dillon, and really am not that well informed on it, but what I am seeing in this video is troubling to say the least.




H/T Gateway Pundits

I have had my own run-ins with political thugs when I refused to sign a Union Card a number of years ago when the UAW was in a failed attempt to organize my shop, though they sadly succeeded later (and did absolutely nothing for us except make political donations on our behalf.) I was told if I refused to support the unionization of the shop I would lose my job when the union gained control. Another employee was cornered and forced to sign a card petitioning for a union vote, and when he complained about it to management he found his car and personal property vandalized.

Friday, March 28, 2008

He's An Artist Too!

Most people know of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, AKA Dr. Death, as the demented Doctor who defied the law to help people kill themselves.

Be that as it may, he is also an artist of sorts and his artwork is available.

I will not post any of his pictures as they are not pretty at all. But this link will take you to a site where one can view and arrange to purchase copies of them. What is really scary though is not the art itself, which is disturbing enough, but his commentary on them showing what really is in the heart of this disturbed and disturbing man.

The annual resurrection by dumb bunnies of a pathetic, despairing, almost scorned image of the purported divinity is hardly noticeable amid the tawdry paraphernalia of irresistible paganism at its vernal orgy.

Sad.

One Tough Ex-Marine

As a former sailor I know about inter-service rivalry, which is usually taken in good fun with a few exceptions, but when troublesome civilians start on a serviceman of any branch . . . well it's all servicemen and women serve together. A former sailor can joke about marines, and visa versa, but one who has never served had better not try it.

Marines can be tough and they often stay tough.

One punk kid found out.

You gotta love it.!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Like A Hamburger Without Beef

or an omelet without eggs.

We now have a "Christian" Church in Canada that doesn't believe in Jesus.

There is no law that says that someone must be a Christian in any western nation. If one doesn't believe in Jesus, legally speaking that is his or her right. They may be completely wrong in their belief but state cannot punish them for it.

A Christian is by definition, someone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, Saviour and rightful ruler of the earth (though He will claim that authority when He returns, we are not to take up arms and conquer the world in His name.) A Christian believes that Jesus told the truth when He said

I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me. (John 14:6)

I found the webpage of the Congregation in question in the article and spent a lot of time there. It became clear that they are good-hearted and good intentioned people but a Christian is defined by belief as much as by character (and these are seen as two sides of the same coin - - you need both.)

I read somethings that disturbed me very much.

Christianity has grown up. Or, to be more precise, parts of Christianity have grown up. Passing through the stage known as “critical thinking,” those cantankerous adolescent years when nothing anyone ever says is simply taken as fact, we’ve asked the questions, pried open the mysteries, tasted the holy water and found it all based on very little. Very, very little. The Bible, the book with all the answers, the authoritative word of God, comes apart in tatters in our hands when we look at it too closely, its authors all too human, its hopes all to simplistic for us to believe anymore. We are left with no proof of God, no words from God’s lips, no divine child saving us forever and ever, and nowhere to turn for that simple hope we once knew. We are left, too, with a sick feeling in our stomachs, the aftermath of a destructive, tribal faith that is responsible for far too many sallow pages of pain and horror in the book of life.

What's left?

We too, have lived an unwritten faith these many years. In the ashes of what we once believed, we have found gifts of truth that are eternal—the need to live in right relationship, to build community, to honour life and all creation, to find within another’s eyes a dignity whose fragile presence is only held there by our gaze, to care enough to reach beyond our own self care and want to ease another’s burden. Where these truths came from, how we know them, what it is that rises in our hearts when we encounter them, we neither know nor understand and will not deign to say. But we do know we must live by them.

I suppose they think they are being simply honest. Do they believe in Jesus? In a manner of speaking perhaps. It all comes down to this: Did Jesus tell the absolute truth and did He rise from the dead? If the answer to these questions are "Yes!" and I believe it is, then Christianity in its narrow definition is true.

Does that make me narrow-minded (which some people seem to think is the ultimate fault of any religious belief)? Yes I guess it does. What did Jesus Himself say about that.

Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it, For the gate is small and way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it. (Matthew 7: 13, 14) Jesus did not have a problem with people being narrow-minded. One's mind should be open to the truth, but not so open that in the end it retains nothing.

The Higher Criticism of the Bible that leads one to conclude that it was written much later than claimed works entirely on circular reasoning and thus, like those who believe the Bible, depends on faith. The "search for the historical Jesus" is based on the idea that nothing written about Him was true so we need to fill in the blanks.

If you choose not to believe in Christianity, that is your right and I will not deny you that right. It does not mean that you are necessarily a bad person, but it does carry consequences. Part of the difficulty is this simple fact: Christians are not the best people in the world, but we are the people who have been redeemed from this world and promised a better one. Me? I'm looking for better world to come.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Power and Corruption

As I continue to think about Federalism and the original intent of the Constitution, I become aware of why the power of the Government was spread over three branches (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial) and three levels (Federal, State, and Local.)

It's because of a simple little maxim.

Power almost always corrupts.

Now the more power is concentrated in one place the more powerful the corruption is going to be. If power is totally decentralized then no one person is going to be able to exert corrupt power over the entire nation. If we have two corrupt individuals working at cross-purposes, their own corruption can serve as a check on each other, but if corruption is centralized, then it ceases to work at cross-purposes and begins to work together through cronyism.

One thing I have decided is that as far as who has power, it doesn't matter what kind of government or economy you have, the same type of person, and possibly even the same person is going to gain power. An intelligent, charismatic, driven and ambitious individual will always be the kind that finds power, and regardless of what they say, will do so for their own self-interest. (I once heard ambition defined as a moral disease born of the excessive worship of the bitch goddess named Success.)

Regardless of what type of government we have the same kind of people are going to wind up in power. Now some may say that in a Monarchy power is hereditary but the King is not the only power, but he will have "friends" and advisers who will be very powerful who again will be this type of person.

If this is the case, does that mean Democracy is futile? No. First off, by separation of powers and also by separation of levels of Government, the effect of corruption can be limited and controlled. Secondly the act of voting can restrict corruption by holding those with power accountable to the people. Term limits are of some help, but they too have problems, like someone pulling the strings and controlling both the older office-holder and his/her successor.

Separation of Powers between three branches and Separation of Spheres of Sovereignty between three levels of government, if maintained and respected, will manage, though never eliminate, corruption in the government. That is why we have to keep all three branches and all three levels from overreaching their authority. Overreach seems to exist in all three branches and that has to be dealt with. Overreach also seems to be a problem in the Federal government, moreso than the other levels and that is unacceptable.

Depending too much on one level of Government has other problems too, as the residents of New Orleans discovered when Hurricane Katrina hit a while back. Because of over-dependence on one level of government, there were needless deaths and suffering. If the State and Local governments had recognized and acted on their responsibility it would have been much much better. The mayor and governor were both better situated to handle the crisis than the Feds were, but they totally failed to act and the Feds took too long. We have reached the point where everything is a Federal responsibility and that just won't work.

Three Branches of Government, Three levels of Government. Let's keep all of them doing their own jobs and not each others. This will help contain and manage the inevitable corruption, and also lead to a better and more responsive government.

Monday, March 24, 2008

An E Mail

I got this from two different people today and thought it was quite good.

Great Military Comebacks

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of ‘empire building’ by George Bush.

He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.

It became very quiet in the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day. And they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?

Once again, dead silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks, but a French admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.’

You could have heard a pin drop

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on.

'You have been to France before, monsieur?', the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'

The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.

''Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!' The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained: 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any damn Frenchmen to show it to.'

In all fairness to the people of France, they have changed directions lately with the election of a president who is friendlier to and more appreciative of the Americans. Still there are other nations who have failed to appreciate us.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Gotta Post This

Fake or real? Who cares?

A (Not So) Small Victory

While I am a Protestant and quite insistent about it, I am still tickled pink to see the Pope himself convert a Muslim to Christianity. Admittedly he was a non-practicing Muslim or perhaps a Muslim-in-name-only, but it still takes guts on his part. There will no doubt be a fatwa demanding the death of the "apostate" and more denunciations of both the Pope and Christianity. It takes courage for any Islam to step into the light of Christianity and I pray for his safety and growth as a Christian.

It goes back to a posting I did a couple of years ago where some Muslim scholars were concerned because Islam lost 2 million more people to Christianity every year than they gained from them, in fact, if it wasn't for Islam's prodigious birthrate, they would not be growing that much.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Hmmmm . . .

I followed a link to a preacher who doesn't care for Obama or Jeremiah Wright.

I don't know what I think of this guy. He makes some sense but he says some odd things and comes across as somewhat deranged.




Where are the sane preachers?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Death of a Great One

It is with sadness that I note the passing of Sci-Fi great, Arthur C. Clarke, the writer of the brilliant, but sadly overly optimistic, 2001 A Space Odyssey. He along with Robert Heinlein were great Sci Fi writers (My opinion of Isaac Asimov is not that high - - he was smart but arrogant beyond words and boring.)

Constitutional Law

What would it mean to go back to the Constitution as the sole source of FEDERAL authority?

It would mean the Federal Government would have to give up a lot of power and the state and local governments would have to pick up a lot of slack.

The Constitution clearly outlines the duties of the Federal Government and, according to the 10th Amendment, anything not specifically enumerated in the Constitution is an area where the States are sovereign.

The following Departments are almost completely unconstitutional in what they do.
The Department of Education.
The Department of Health and Human Services.
HUD

This does not mean that they don't do things that are important or needed, but it means they are doing things that the Constitution does not allow. The Constitution, by its exact wording, requires the states to take responsibility for education, as well as the welfare of the individual citizens. Some say that the Preamble to the Constitution says that the Federal Government is to promote the general welfare, and it does use those words, but the preamble gives the intent of the Constitution and the rest of the Constitution is how to do it, and the "how" that the Constitution uses is to hold the states responsible for it as it is not enumerated as a Federal responsibility. Remember that the Federal Government may do only what the Constitution specifically says it can or must do and the states can do anything not specifically forbidden to them.

Now a total return to the Constitution would be disastrous to some people, as it would mean an end to Social Security, Unemployment Compensation, and a couple of other things. (And a Federal universal medical program is also not allowed by the Constitution.) We can't just end these, but we also need to stick to the Constitution. Perhaps we would be wise to amend the Constitution to allow, but severely limit, some of these programs as just ending them would be inhumane.

Some say that the Federal health inspectors assure the quality of, oh let's say our meat. The Feds may inspect meat within the limits of the Constitution, provided that meat is going to cross state lines to be sold or consumed. If it is being raised, slaughtered, sold, and consumed in the same state then it is that state's responsibility to make sure it is safe.

One thing that would have to change is that the Feds would have to tolerate the states passing laws that they don't approve of. Here's the hard thing. The Constitution does not forbid stupid laws! It forbids unconstitutional laws. I agree completely with what Robert Bork said about Griswold vs Connecticut. The law that was struck down was allowed under the Constitution but, as Mr. Bork said, it was a very stupid law! The Supreme Court should have said "The law as it stands is permitted by the Constitution, but it is a foolish, intrusive and ill advised law. We encourage the good people of Connecticut, and other states, to reconsider it and to take it off the books." Instead they played with loopholes until they came up with a Rube Goldberg path of logic that made it unconstitutional.

Surprisingly there are areas of controversy where the Feds do have Constitutional authority. The Federal Highway system is allowed as the Feds are required to build and maintain "Post Roads", the Space Program is allowed as it is the responsibility of the Feds to develop the frontier that is outside the territory of individual states.

The thing is, once we start ignoring this or that part of the Constitution, the whole thing is danger, including the Bill of Rights. Those who would ignore the rights and responsibilities of the individual states will not hesitate to ignore the rights and responsibilities of the individual citizens.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Just A Note

I am here. Just a little sidetracked right now.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Great Speech by a Great Canadian

America is facing tough times again and some are wondering if America is about to go down for good, or at least cease to be the major player in the world.

Maybe it's time we hear or read this again. The precise information is dated but the message and spirit are as true and needed as ever.

"The Americans" - Original Script

"LET'S BE PERSONAL" Broadcast June 5, 1973 CFRB, Toronto, Ontario

Topic: "The Americans"

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did.

They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon?

You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.

When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped.

ORIGINAL SCRIPT AND AUDIO
COURTESY STANDARD BROADCASTING CORPORATION LTD.

(c) 1973 BY GORDON SINCLAIR
PUBLISHED BY STAR QUALITY MUSIC (SOCAN)
A DIVISION OF UNIDISC MUSIC INC.
578 HYMUS BOULEVARD
POINTE-CLAIRE, QUEBEC,
CANADA, H9R 4T2

The story behind this magnificent work can be found here.

God bless America and God bless truly great Canadians such as Gordon Sinclair.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

An Hour's Pleasure

It's common knowledge now that Gov. Spitzer of New York spent over $5000 dollars an hour for a high cost hooker. That is astonishing to me.

Two comments.
1. This was not a good or smart thing for him to do but why did he get in more trouble for this than for trying to give legal status to illegal aliens. Both are bad and both are foolish, but licensing illegals is worse.

2. Why spend $5000+ for this? That is outrageous.

You know what you can get for a little more than that?

This.


That is not a woman but a very expensive sex toy (in fact there are some very visible seams on it.) I saw the website some time ago when police were called to an apparent homicide and someone had decapitated one of these dolls. It's the same story. Thousands of dollars spent foolishly for mere pleasure. But these dolls aren't illegal, I don't think.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

E.L.F. Members Charged

A week ago radical environmentalists burned houses to protest their existence. No names yet but other members of the Earth Liberation Front will be going on trial here in Michigan. In 1999 they started a fire at Michigan State to prevent the production of genetically modified foods. (While they do increase profit for corporate farms, they also increase the amount of food available for hungry mouths.)

MSU police and the FBI announced today that Marie Jeanette Mason, 46, of Cincinnati, Frank Brian Ambrose, 33, of Detroit, Aren Bernard Burthwick, 27, of Detroit and Stephanie Lynne Fultz, 27, of Detroit, are being charged with a range of crimes including conspiracy to commit arson, aggravated arson and arson in connection with the Dec. 31, 1999 fire.

They can't remain anonymous forever and they will face trial and punishment for their actions.

A slightly longer account can be found here.

They are facing 5 to 20 years in prison if convicted. If they're guilty then let's give them enough grief to pay for their disregard for the rights of others.

Monday, March 10, 2008

An Interesting Survey

Daily Kos talks about the Spitzer Dilemma and wants to know what readers think about it. Here is what the Chart for the survey looked like at about 11:10 EDT.


Interesting results. What they basically say is that it is better to have no moral values and live up (down?) to the absence of values then it is to have values that are difficult to live up to and sometimes fail.

Mar 10, 08

Two stories out of today's Lansing State Journal caught my eye and interest.

The first was about a delegation from Lansing's sister city in China (I didn't even know they had one!), Sanming. I note that they discussed trade. This had better more than Lansing importing from Sanming. I want to know what Sanming is going to import from Lansing. It had better be something. China has got to start importing more American goods period.

Secondly two political groups are being harassed at Michigan State University.

Conservative groups at Michigan State University, under investigation for months for alleged violations of the university's anti-discrimination policy, have begun to question whether that investigation has political motivations.

One involves a mess that happened when people from the Minutemen tried to speak and leftists tried to shout them down resulting in a few arrests. (Now the protesters are complaining because they were arrested and shouldn't have been because those "racists" should not have been allowed on campus.

Of course the administration of the University is denying that there is a real problem. But they always say that if the complainants are conservative or GOP. Only liberals and Democrats have valid complaints in these peoples' eyes.

My suggestion. Campus groups that investigate harassment for philosophical, political and religious reasons should be exactly evenly divided between conservative/traditionalists and liberal/"progressive"s.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

A Minor Memory

We had teen-aged stars when I was a kid too and yes, they did have their share of problems. But they didn't seem to go as crazy as a few have today.

Marie Osmond was a lovely young lady with amazing talent when she started recording at the age of 14, (and being all of 16 myself at that time, thought she was alright in other ways too). Yes she had problems and some embarrassing episodes in her life but she never totally trashed out as a few young stars have recently.

I remember seeing her on TV singing this very song and one word went through my mind repeatedly.

Wow

But then I was only 16.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Chavez Wants Peace

Like the bully he is, Venezuela's president Chavez is threatening a war with Colombia. Ordinarily he'd be right about a nation chasing criminals into another country, but Ecuador allowed rebels against a legitimate government to operate within their borders as a safe haven for attacks in Colombia.

He wants "peace" alright as in a big "piece" of Latin America.

Chavez dreams of conquering and ruling a Latin American Empire with him as the Caesar.

This is Venezuela's flag.


I think this flag is more appropriate for Chavez's vision of Venezuela.



The Blame America First crowd will have a totally predictable, and senseless, response of America caused this. Bringing down America will not feed one hungry mouth but will cause more hunger and will enrich only the kleptocrats who rule these countries as they can enrich themselves while the poor of their countries suffer even more.

The solution to world poverty is to bring the 3rd world up, not bring us down. But its easier to blame your own poverty on the wealth of others than it is to generate wealth.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Mar 03, 08

The crew I am part of consists of three people and our job is simply to keep the work area clean enough to be safe and efficient for the production workers. It's an easy job when we're all there but let's see. I left Thursday afternoon because I had gotten word that things were getting rough with Dad, but two can handle the job, not easily but it can be done. Then after I left, another member of the crew, a guy about 60 had a heart attack on the factory floor. I felt bad first off because he had a heart attack and he's a good guy, but also because one person, who never complains, was stuck doing all the work, normally done by three. Not a good week for the production janitors. (Though I do expect to return to industrial painting in a couple of weeks - - God willing.)

Dad had a tracheotomy done today and things appear to be going well.

I guess Jihadists aren't the only terrorists in the world. Ecoterrorists are burning down houses to prove a point. While I despise the beliefs and conduct of these people, I'm not sure the term terrorist is appropriate here. A terrorist kills innocent people while these idiots destroy property instead. I would much prefer a term such as felonious vandalism or some such term. It makes them sound less political and more like the common, but dangerous criminals they are. We certainly should do nothing to exalt these animals. I felt the same way about the old abortion clinic bombers (abortion is murder but I oppose the bombing of clinics). As long as the bombs didn't kill or target people, they were vandals, not terrorists. A terrorist seeks to kill people.

Another Space Flight already. The ISS is going to add a bit more internal space and a bit more complexity. Kind of impressive but I'd be more impressed with definite plans for a return to the moon, a lunar base, and a flight to Mars. Sadly too many people have no vision and no understanding of the importance of space for both our nation and humanity as a whole.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Today

Well he's hanging in there. I stood by his bed, held his hand, and spoke to him. He opened his eyes, looked at me for a few seconds, and then went back to sleep. I can't really tell if he's getting better or not and am still very concerned.

Thanks for all the prayers and concerns. Thank you for being very understanding about limited blogging.