Planting, Watering, Blogging and Counting Hits

I keep coming back to the similar subject of numbers within churches. There are some churches that draw large crowds. Often these are churches that stress Evangelism. They are led by pastors whose gift is Evangelism. They grow quickly in numbers and have lots of new converts to the Christian Family.

Often these churches do not have enough leadership in order to take care of all the discipling that is needed. The focus is on Evangelism and not discipling. The numbers are impressive, but the depth of growth and faith among them is not and some even fall away. I talked about this in more depth in my post "Why do we Blog?".

I remember reading once about a minister that was discouraged about his numbers and also jealous of this other minister that had a huge church. It seems to me that it might have been Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but I'm not sure. Instead of the Lord blessing him with larger numbers, he was asked to pray for the growth of the larger church that he was jealous of. Reluctantly, he obeyed. What made it even worse was that the prayer for this other church was answered.

This minister's smaller church was near by and continued to only grow at a snails pace. Eventually, though, as this larger Evangelistic church grew, some of it's members began to seek council from the minister at the smaller church. Like is so often the case, the larger church lacked the leadership required to handle the load of the rapid increase in their numbers.

Hungry for Discipleship and something more than just the basic Gospel Message taught over and over again, those who wanted something deeper than that overflowed into this other minister's church and his church began to grow as well; never as fast as the larger church, but it was a growth that represented not just an introduction to the faith, but a greater depth and growth.

The principle here is illustrated in one of Paul's letters to the Corinthians...

"6) I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7) So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8) The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." (1 Corinthians 6-8, NIV)

So what does this have to do with Blogging. Well, different bloggers have different gifts. Just as in the Church "One Plants and Another Waters", so also in the Blogosphere, one plants the seed of a new idea into the hearts of many and than another picks up the job by trying to weed out all the obstacles that are blocking people from accepting the idea.

The second of these jobs is more intense and requires much time and thought. The second of these jobs involves a greater depth that is not accepted by and does not draw all of the crowd.

As one last thought, I ought to add that influence goes out like the ripples from a pebble thrown in the stream. As I am often influenced by people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as by many of you, and my blogging is influenced by you all. As you influence me, you influence how I write and than what I write influences how other bloggers write, which influences what other people write, which influences all that is available on the Web to read.

Interestingly, when ever I pray and ask God to do this or that in our world, God ends up assigning me at least part of the job. For example, I asked him once to give energy to all the bloggers on the web that are writing about what is true. Since I don't have the energy to do the whole job myself, I need God to give energy to all others that are doing it as well. Considering that prayer, is it any wonder that aside from my originally thought that I'd be blogging about Politics and the fact that God seems to keep drawing me away from that and into more Spiritual Subjects; that aside from all that, I am also drawn often to the very subject of blogging itself? As soon as I submit this post, I will be able to say that I have done more posts on this subject than any other subject. Why the subject of Blogging? Well, because this is one way in which I can encourage other bloggers and "give energy" to them to continue presenting what's true.

When you think about it, there are two ways to influence the world. One is to directly influence someone and play a part in changing their mind on something. The other is to influence those who influence. In a lot of ways, the second of these contains more power.

The Sacrifice/Cost of Efficiency

There are things Sacrificed for the sake of Efficiency that I am simply not willing to Sacrifice. For example, most Efficient Bloggers Read Fast, Type Fast and Comment Fast. The problem is that many of them read a whole bunch of Posts as fast as they can, while giving minimal thought to each Post they are reading and occasionally Comment as quickly as they can, while giving minimal thought to what they are saying. Some "Efficient" Bloggers are obsessed to the point at which they are spending too much time on the computer and don't have enough of a life spent apart from it.

In order for me to keep up with this level of Efficiency, I have to make all the same sacrifices and me even more so, because I am a slow reader. Aside from my reading speed, the other main difference between me and highly Efficient Bloggers is that they think that the price they pay for Efficiency is worth it, but I do not. That which is Sacrificed just plain isn't worth it to me, so instead, I just keep plodding along, at my own slow little pace, and hope that a few loyal followers will still come by.

It's like the story in the Bible about Mary and Martha.

"38) As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. 39) She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40) But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 41) 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, 42) but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.'" Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

I've used this story often in order to remind myself that when I have company, it is more important to spend a little undistracted time with them, than to plan an extremely complicated meal that keeps me in the kitchen. Even the house work, if left to the last minute, like I so often do, causes me to feel tired when the company arrives. It is so easy to forget our priorities.

The other thing that this passage is about, though, is about spending time at Jesus' feet, in both Bible Reading and Prayer. This is more important than all of our busy, Efficiency Goals and even than our Ministry.

Another important lesson relates to a few words that I put in Bold Print in the above passage. When we are interacting with people, we need to listen and not just talk and we need to try to do so very intently, without distraction. When we pray, this is true as well. We need to listen to God and not just make our requests. This involves the Reading of Scripture and also moments a quite reflection, in which we stop complaining and requesting and just listen to that still small voice inside of us; the Holy Spirit; God's Voice.

So how does this relate to Blogging? Well, first of all, time spent in Bible Study and Prayer is more important than our Blogging. There are other non-Blogging priorities that we need to tend to as well. We also need to seek God's direction in our Blogging and not just do it from our own strength or even from our own passion. This is why we need to Listen Intently to God, Without Distraction and than after this is accomplished, then we can Blog.

It's very interesting how so often when I try to write about politics, I get writers block and I'm not able to return again to the blogging until a give in to writing something Spiritual. Isn't that the strangest thing? It's as if God Himself causes the writers block, in order to get me back on track again.

Blogging Fatigue/Sometimes God has Different Plans

Ok. Once I got thinking, I decided that maybe I should make my response to the last comment on the previous post into a new post, whether than just a comment. Interestingly, though, I thought that this post was going to be about our puppy, yet as I began expressing a frustration that I have, it became Spiritual instead and also relates once again to frustrations with Blogging.

BB's Comment
In what is now the last comment on the previous post, BB-Idaho was talking about "getting bruised up a little in the political blog arena, with the Election coming up and most folk uptight."

My Response
Your frustration with politics at this time is interesting. I've actually been annoyed with God a little over how my life has been going since we got our puppy. I've been thinking that it is such bad timing with the Election coming up and all.

I even asked God just before the puppy arrived to please send one that would fit with His plan, not only in relation to what ever life lessons we need to learn, but also in relation to not being too much of an interruption to something that I have considered a ministry, such as my blogging.

Since I prayed this prayer, I have to trust that what ever happens is what God wants, yet I've been so frustrated because what was sent to us was an extremely difficult puppy that requires a lot of our time and causes me to feel almost too tired to blog. I've been very frustrated and have been asking God why. Why at a time in which it would seem that blogging would be all that much more important, has God allowed me to be experiencing this distraction? I haven't had much time to blog or to visit blogs. My hit count is way down to the point at which there are only a small handful of people coming by and looking at my blog. I want to thank those who still do come by and tell you how very greatly I appreciate you.

And yet from the above comment, it seems that one of my most loyal supporters is almost pleading with me to not post about politics. How odd and yet, you know what? It just goes to show you that sometimes what we think is really important is not what the people who we are interacting with really need.

Perhaps just before an election is not the best time to sway people's basic political views anyway. If I thought that there might be some undecided voters reading my blog, that might be different, yet for the most part, I get the feeling that Bloggers in general are rather opinionated people who are difficult to sway. What mostly appears to be happening on Blogs is that those who feel passionate about something have the chance to vent their feelings and they draw others to their Blogs who feel the same way that they do and are also venting. I wonder, at times, how much actual persuading is going on.

And as for me, I ask God for guidance and he distracts me with a difficult puppy.

The bottom line is this...

The Bible says "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)

Perhaps the key to effective communication both politically and otherwise is Humility, Prayer, Seeking God, Purity, Honesty and Sincerity. Unfortunately, Passionately and Obsessively expressing our views doesn't usually produce the effect that we would like it too.

Rupert, a Premature Baby Fawn Survives in an Incubator

While considering moving to a little lighter subject, someone sent the most precious story to our Email Box. It's the story of a little fawn delivered Caesarean section from it's mother who was killed by a car. The story and some very precious pictures appear below...

After reading this very precious story, you may also be interesting in the comments because they tell the actual outcome of the baby fawn and also go in an interesting direction.

This tiny deer was delivered by Caesarean section at a wildlife hospital after his mother was killed by a car. Little Rupert, who is so small he can fit in an adultʼs hand, was born after vets failed in their battle to save his mother.

At just six inches tall and weighing just over a pound, he is now in an incubator in the intensive care unit at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire. He has only recently opened his eyes. Les Stocker, founder of Tiggywinkles, said: ʽRupertʼs mother had very severe injuries. We brought him out and got him breathing and then he went into an incubator on oxygen. He is now being fed by a tube.ʼ

Tucked up: Rupert in an incubator.

Rupert pulls a striking pose for the camera Staff are optimistic Rupert, now five days old, will make a full recovery. ʽ"Deer are very, very tricky but this one has spirit. Heʼs an extremely feisty little guy and quite pushy," Mr Stocker said.

Asleep: Rupert takes 40 winks.

If you want to continue reading, the comments went off into some interesting subjects. Aside from just a few comments about Rupert and Animals getting killed on the road, there is also some discussion on Abortion and how often Animals are valued above people and then the discussion went into whether or not Animals have a spirit or soul and will they go to heaven when they die. Also, what distinguishes People from Animals? As you can see the discussion got interesting, so please do feel free to read on.

Susan Jacoby's "The Age of American Unreason"

I need to do another post because the Comment Thread of the last post is becoming quite long. If I was going to just pick up the conversation where we left off, it would be with the following link that was submitted by BB-Idaho, which thankfully is available again, even though it appeared for a time to be disabled.

Susan Jacoby's "The Age of American Unreason"

BB submitted this link in relation to a discussion on Evolution verses Intelligent Design, yet I fail to see the connection, for there is no mention of the subject in the Linked Page.

I sort of agree that there is often an air of "Public Ignorance" in our country, as well as "a Culture at odds with America's Heritage" and "with Modern Knowledge and Science", yet I would define "American's Heritage" as the Morality of the Founding Fathers, that was mostly based on their strong Belief in God and grounded in Christianity and would define "Modern Knowledge and Science" as ALL of science, including that which has been introduced by those who support Intelligent Design.

The "Anti-Intellectual Tendencies", as well as the "Anti-Rationalism" that this Link speaks of is just another way of describing what I have heard called "Post-Modernism", which among other things, involves a mistrust for both Science and also Objective Thought. The Subjective is respected more than the Objective, yet unfortunately, truth can not be found completely by just exploring a few examples from a few individual lives.

The description of TV and Videos that is made in the Linked Web Page reminds me of how I studied recently of how so many of the current action shows change from one screen to the next so rapidly that it has a Hypnotic Effect that has a tendency to shut the brain off, allowing very little room for the viewer to think rationally about what he or she is seeing on the screen.

I'm not sure what is meant by "Junk Thought" on Blogs, though not requiring students to obtain "a thorough grounding in American and World History, Science and Literature" is obviously a negative and "Disdain for Logic and Evidence" is a negative as well.

Yes, we have Poor Education and yes, we have "a lazy and credulous public, increasingly unwilling or unable to distinguish between fact and opinion". I even agree that we have an "Anti-Rational Government".

I was glad to read that Susan Jacoby describes "Dumbness" relating to both the Political Right and the Left, for I would agree with that.

I actually found the Linked Web Page, it's description of "The Age of American Unreason", of our "Descent into Intellectual Laziness" and of our "Flight from Reason" quite interesting and I was following Susan Jacob's ideas and even agreeing with them right up until the phrase "Anti-Rational Religious Fundamentalism" was mentioned. That came across to me as a False Accusation and a clear example of Stereo-Typing.

Interestingly, I agreed with all that I read, with the exception of one Stereo-Typing Phrase and I also do not see how this is relevant to the discussion of Evolution verses Intelligent Design. The subject is not at all mentioned in the Linked Page and in order to make it relevant, one would have to add another Stereo-Typing phrase implying that those who support Intelligent Design are guilty of all that is mentioned on this Linked Page and to that I would have to say that I do not agree with the accusation, but than again, the subject of Evolution verses Intelligent Design was not mentioned at all in the Linked Page.

Please take the time to read the discussion below my post Equations we Live By/Gen./Evolution v. Intelligent Design, as well as the others under the Label to the Right, "Science and Research".

Christianity Under Attack on All Fronts, even Science

You know, it's truly amazing to what extent anything that has any remote connection to Christianity or Religion is under attack, even within Science. It is not only in the area of the Government, due to the Separation of Church and State, but also in relation to Science.

I remember mentioning one time in the comment section of another Post, the whole scientific fiasco relating to Abortion and Breast Cancer. Perhaps I should get the Brochure on that sometime and do a complete Post on it, but for now, I just think that what I've already said in the comment section of a previous Post is worth repeating. The non-italics is what I've added to it today.


"No matter what the issue, if it is political, than there is research supporting both sides. BB-Idaho actually left a Link in the comment section on one of the below Posts supporting the 'Safe Sex' program."

I hadn't done the necessary research when he left this link, yet the next Post down, below this one, is at least in part, a response to that and illustrates very well how Abstinence, since it is also taught within Christianity, is Under Attack.

"It's just like the issue of Abortion and Breast Cancer. There is research that says there's a link and research that says that there isn't.

"A group of people who study research collected a bunch of the available research and analyzed it, applying high standards as to what was good quality research and what was not and they found problems with the research that supported no connection, yet most of the research that supported the connection passed the test.

"Unfortunately, all it takes in order for those who want to deny the connection and keep this issue in the 'Controversial Mode' is for them to keep repeating their faulty research results and this is listened too, whether there are problems in the research or not."


Aside from Abstinence Education and the Connection between Abortion and Breast Cancer, I've seen this same scenario going on in the Evolution verses Intelligent Design Debate. If one takes the time to listen to what is actually being said, the arguments in favor of Evolution are full of false accusations against those on the other side, such as the discussion that took place on one of the Posts at the "Bring It On!" blog, which came across to me as more accusations between the participants, than actual arguments offered.

Bring It On! - Academic Freedom Legislation: The Creationists Back Door?

Now that I've visited the site again, I've realized that there are duplicate copies of a lot of my initial comments. That's because I kept trying to submit these comments, but was given no message about them being held for moderation. They appeared to just disappear, but apparently, they all went through. Oh well.

If you want to review the Evolution verses Intelligent Design discussion that took place on my blog, just click on the Label for it to the right. Griper did a post on the subject as well and the Link to it is below.

The "Good News" Declared

Attack on Abtsinence Education: Fact or Fallacy?

I was going to post the link that's at the bottom of this post quite some time ago, yet wanted to make sure and read it first and it is quite lengthy; 17 pages to be exact. The other thing that I sort of wish I had the time to do was to give a more complete summary of every part of the document, yet since it has been awhile since I've posted anything political and also since I seem to have limited time these days, I will just do the best with the time I have and will have to just summarize the parts of it that stick out for me in my mind.

First, I'll start with the "Executive Summary" that starts the linked article. The link below is to a Technical Paper, written by a group of professionals for the "Medical Institute for Sexual Health", in response to a couple of Articles that were published in the January 2006 Issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. The first is entitled "Abstinence and Abstinency-Only Education; A Review of US Policies and Programs" and the second one is entitled "Absinence-Only Policies and Programs; A Position Paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine". Both of these were written by a team of authors headed by John Santelli and the Position Paper simply restates the arguments presented in the Review Article.

The authors of these articles claim all sorts of crazy stuff about Abstinence Education Programs, but offer very poor arguments to support their claims. They claim that Abstinence programs threaten Fundamental Human Rights to Health, Information and Life and that such programs are Unscientifically, Ethically and Morally Problematic. These authors are critical of any Educational Policies that are in any way influenced by Morality and accuse Abstinence Proponents of being primarily concerned with Religious and Moral Beliefs, whether than Public Health. They also accuse such of using Morally and Culturally Specific Definitions of Abstinence. They claim that Educational Policies that have Moral Components are Unscientific and that Abstinence Policies are in conflict with Public Health Principles, yet they have no evidence to support this point of view or opinion.

In the paper that I have provided a link to below, the authors respond to all of these accusations and show how the articles that they are responding to contain Serious Omissions of key areas of research that don't support their point of view; Misrepresentations to the point of acutually stating that a source says something that it does not; Deviations from Accepted Practices or Nonstandard Research Methods, Opinions Presented as Facts and Faulty Logic, such as concluding that the failure to prove an affirmative is proof of a negative. They say that the Scholarship is lacking in rigor, that their Key Points are based on Non-Peer-Reviewed Sources, that they site a lot of Secondary and Tertiary Sources, whether than Original Ones and Opinion Pieces and Editorials and On-line News Magazines, whether than Scientific Articles. They fail to inform the readers when their key point are supported by Non-Peer-Reviewed References and some of their Declarative Statements are not Referenced at all.

One interesting contradiction that was pointed out was how in the First Half of the Review Article, the idea of "Moral Beliefs" is rejected, yet in the Second Half of this same article, they talk about Human Rights in relation to "Ethics". This contradiction is an Unsound and Misleading, yet Clever, Plausible and Subtle Argument or Reasoning (Definition of Sophistry), or as the authors of the linked article put it, "The authors initial rejection of 'Moral Beliefs' and their later adoption of 'Ethics' as a guiding principle for sex education is the height of Sophistry."

In the Linked Article, one of the first things that the authors do is define a few terms including "Moral" and "Ethical", to show how similar these two words are, in that, part of the definition of "Ethical" is "Conforming to Moral Standards".

I don't want to leave this page in the Linked Article (Page 4) without mentioning that they mentioned the limited scope of this one particular study involving only one of the 50 states, which happened to be Texas. This caught my eye since one of my commenters to a previous Post also gave me a link to a Texas Study that showed Ineffective Abstinence Programs, yet it is not logical to conclude that the presence of one group of Abstinence Programs that doesn't work proves that none of the Abstinence Programs work.

The "Definitions of Absinence" section of the Linked Article (Page 4) is very good.

Later in the Linked Article, they state that "Despite having previously rejected Moral considerations to inform public health prevention messages, throughout the last 3 sections of this article, the authors tout internationally recognized Ethical obligations as the ne plus ultra of public health decision making. They appear oblivious to the fact that Ethics has to do with Conforming to Moral Standards or to professional standards of conduct."

The other word that the authors needed to define was the word "Virgin", for in the articles they were responding to, the word "Virgin" was claimed to be a moral term, yet a recent PupMed search of the term yielded 197 articles, so it is obviously a "Medical Term" and is defined in very simple, morally neutral, terms in Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary.

Gee! How in the world are we supposed to study the Medical affects of having sex or not having sex, if we keep removing words from the Medical Dictionary just because they are occasionally also used in relation to Morality? That's absurd!

One more point that comes to mind is a couple of Research Studies that were Omitted from the Evaluation done in the Articles that were written opposing Abstinence Programs. Starting with the Chart on the page marked page 9 at the bottom and reading on to the first 6 paragraphs of page 10, it is explained why "The Absence of even a remote allusion to these studies by Santelli et al is particularly Inexcusable." This is especially true in light of their statement that "Based on our review of the evaluations of specific AO(sic)E Curricula...in actual practice the efficacy of AO(sic)E Interventions may approach Zero." In response to this, the Authors of the Linked Article have said that "The conspicuous Omission of the Articles, coupled with the authors' Hyperbolic Declaration, demonstrates Systematic Misrepresentation of the Evidence."

There were many more good points made in the linked article. I've only had the time to touch on a few. Here is the Link.

The Attack on Abstinence Education: Fact of Fallacy?

Gaining Control over One's Life & One's Puppy

I know that Samoyeds, just like any other Alaskan or Siberian breed, are stubborn and difficult to train, but I had forgotten the full extent of the battle. It's just like battling with a 2 year old child. I tell our puppy, Shasta, "No!" and he rebels and complains and barks at me. I keep telling him, "Now look! You are not the boss. I am.", or in doggy terms, "You are not the head dog. I am and you WILL obey me!"

The potty training seems to be taking awhile, we've had Shasta now since a week prior to Yesterday and he still occasionally peas in the house, but I've noticed that he sort of does it when he's excited, so I guess it's not such a good idea to get him too wound up while in the house. The problem is that he has lots of energy to burn off. During the day, we can take him for walks and let him run in the yard, yet we keep him in at night because of the animals (Raccoon, Bear and Mountain Lion). He's way too small yet and thus, could be a target for such animals, so at night, we have a real problem. He can't run outside cause of the animals and he can't run too much inside cause it might make him pea in the house. If we discipline him and insist that he remain still, he may sleep too much during the day and than be too hyper at night, when it's time for bed. I'm not sure what the solution is. Oh well. I know it'll get better in time.

If you want to read more about our adventures with our dog, Shasta, there is more in the comment section of the next post down, as I'm sure there will also be in the comment section of this one. One of the things I was writing in one of my comments below the next post down, though, was about how the beauty of Alaskan and Siberian breeds (sled dog types) does not come without a cost. The long hair requires brushing. The floors require vacuuming. The high energy requires exercise and the stubbornness requires a lot of patience and persistence. I personally think that it is worth it, but there are some people I know that do not agree.

When I wrote out the title of this post, I was thinking about how the dog training books claim that puppies feel best when they are on some sort of a schedule. This probably is true. If the puppy has a normal "scheduled" play time, maybe we would be able to plan our lives better around his more quiet nap times, for he does sleep a lot. I just need to learn how to make use of the times in which he does.

Now, Isn't that the Cutest? (Our New Samoyed Puppy)

Now, isn't that the cutest and the prettiest thing that you have ever seen?


His name is Shasta. He is nine weeks old today. He has been so much fun.

We picked him up from the airport around 11:00 AM on Friday. He was a little scared and reluctant to come out of the travel cage at first, but once he did, he took to us really fast. In fact, he followed us everywhere.

At least one of our first impressions of him was "Imagine that! A Samoyed that actually comes when called!", for that was quite a contrast from our earlier Samoyed, Casper, that was so scared when we first got him that he ran away from us and we had to earn his trust. Casper turned out to be a very good dog, yet he was such an independent sort and wouldn't always come when called.

Shasta, the new one pictured above, was just the opposite at first and came across as a little clingy, yet as time has passed, and he has gotten more used to us, he is already becoming more and more independent, has began to take off on his own and explore and as he does that, I am beginning to see that typical Samoyed stubbornness emerge. Samoyeds are a little independent, stubborn and difficult to train, but that's part of their charm. They are very gentle and friendly and would never hurt a fly, as I can see, this one will be as well.

The other first impression that we had was that he didn't seem to have quite the energy level that we expected. Our other dog, Casper, just loved to run and was so incredibly fast it was unbelievable. Samoyeds are sled dogs and love to run. I guess Shasta was tired and a little shy around such a new environment, but that is changing as well.

When we first got him, we had to teach him how to go up and down these two small steps over a retaining wall in our yard and also up into the house. He liked it outside and didn't really want to come inside, though he is going to have to be a house dog because of the warmer climate in California. We are up in the mountains, making the weather cooler than in the valley's, yet it is still quite often in the 90s and it even breaks 100 degrees 2 or 3 days out of the year. Samoyeds are winter sled dogs and have very thick fur.

Friday and Saturday, Shasta mainly just trotted and only occasionally broke into a run when he was chasing us, yet yesterday, he was picking up speed and ran without needing to have anything to chase. Yep, he's a Samoyed alright. He was just taking his time getting started. He slipped on the dirt a few times, he's still just a puppy. He runs much better on the grass. I'm sure he will pick up both his energy and speed as he grows. It's so fun watching him learn.

This is so much fun and we are so in love with our new little friend.

McCain and Obama Camparisons

The information on the below chart is really scary, especially in relation to Obama's plan in relation to taxes. He is going to totally ruin our economy.

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON TALKING POINTS

ISSUE		JOHN McCAIN	BARAK OBAMA
Favors new drilling offshore US		Yes	No
Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it		Yes	No
Served in the US Armed Forces		Yes	No
Amount of time served in the US Senate		22 YEARS	173 DAYS
Will institute a socialized national health care plan		No	Yes
Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy		No	Yes
Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately		No	Yes
Supports gun ownership rights		Yes	No
Supports homosexual marriage		No	Yes
Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase		No	Yes
Voted against making English the official language		No	Yes
Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals		No	Yes
CAPITAL GAINS TAX
MCCAIN	0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.
OBAMA	28% on profit from ALL home sales. (How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.)
DIVIDEND TAX
MCCAIN	15% (no change)
OBAMA	39.6% - (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president. The experts predict that 'Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.')
INCOME TAX
MCCAIN (no changes)	Single making 30K - tax $4,500 Single making 50K - tax $12,500 Single making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 60K- tax $9,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250
OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)	Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Under Obama, your taxes could almost double!
INHERITANCE TAX
MCCAIN	- 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)
OBAMA	Restore the inheritance tax Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes.
NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA
New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet. New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren't high enough already) New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity) New taxes on retirement accounts, and last but not least....New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level of medical care as other third-world countries!!!

You can verify the above at the following web sites:

http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/election/2008/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.taxes.html
http://elections.foxnews.com/?s=proposed+taxes

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/politics/articles/mccain_obama_offer_different_visions_on_taxes.html ;
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/barack_obama/

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/john_mccain/

Ramblings about Blogging

Sometimes I just feel the need to make another comment about blogging. Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I should just keep the heat on in relation to some of the political stuff, such as my most recent; Abstinence, Safe Sex and STDs.

It's just that sometimes I feel frustrated and I don't know where to put my comments in relation to what I feel because so much of what's out there is political and let's face it, politics can be quite frustrating.

I do think that I've grown as a blogger. I used to get overwhelmed every time that my Email box fills up with comments relating to all the posts on all the blogs that I've made comments on. I click the "Sent Follow up Comments to my E-mail" boxes because that is the only way I know of keeping track of where I've been. I could keep notes, I suppose, but haven't gotten that organized. I know there are probably people who are going to tell me that I shouldn't check those boxes because it appears to be driving me nuts, yet I'm actually sort of proud of myself because I've been managing it much better that I used to.

Just as I was getting ready to say; I used to get overwhelmed every time that my Email fills up with comments relating to all the posts of all the blogs I've made comments on, yet more recently, I just shake my head and laugh at myself saying "Oh look, Lista! You did it to yourself again." lolol.

I comment on most of what I read because it makes me feel like I'm more likely to remember what I've read, for why read it, if I'm moving so quickly in my reading from one post to another without really thinking much or trying to analyze anything or if I'm not going to remember most of it anyway? I'd rather analyze it to death. Than I not only remember it, but know what my opinion on it is as well. This slows me down, yet I'd rather read less and remember it, than read more and not feel quite sure what all I just read. That's just me.

Anyway, here's my short break from all the political stuff, but I'm Ok now. I'll be back to responding to all the many comments on various different blogs soon.

Abstinence Verses "Safe Sex"

I'll be adding a link soon relating to the research relating to Abstinence verses "Safe Sex" programs, yet for now, I'll just give you this one.

In my opinion, the main problem is not in the presence of teaching about methods of Birth Control, but in what is emphasized. Remember that Teens are greatly influenced by the messages that they receive about sex in school. Too often Abstinence is downplayed, whether than stressed, while sexual activity and condom use are encouraged. The idea that Children are going to have sex is assumed, whether than challenged. Surveys consistently show that parents want schools to include strong abstinence messages, not just a brief mention of it as an option.

Abstinence education does more than just tell teens to say no to unwed sex. It teaches young people the practical skills they need to maintain their purity. They are taught about Self-esteem, self-control, decision-making, goal-setting, character education and communication skills. Please do read the link and I'll be back with more soon.

More Abstinence and STD Statistics

This post may seem sort of similar to the previous one, but I have posted some additional statistics.

The last post I did on this, that is the next post down, was mainly about how the attitudes about Abstinence and Virginity before marriage have changed over the years and then I gave some statistics relating to STDs and explained how teenagers are even more susceptible to them because of an immature immune system.

Here are still some more statistics on STDs. These are taken from a brochure entitled "Is Sex Safe? A look at:Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)", put out by Heritage House 2006. The bold emphasis is mine. Consider these facts.


- STDs are the most common diseases in America next to the common cold and flu.
- More than 1 in 5 Americans are presently infected with an STD.
- 19 million people become newly infected with STDs yearly - 52,000/day.
- 1/4th of STD infections occur in teens and 2/3rds of them occur in people under the age of 25.
- 65 million Americans are infected with an incurable STD.
- 35 - 50 different kinds of STDs exist. 25 of which occur commonly.
- 20 different STds are rampant among the young. At least 25 STDs are spread primarily through sexual contact.
- STDs infect 4.75 million teenagers each year, over 13,000 new cases per. day.
- 80% infected with an STD do not develop the initial symptoms.
- STDs are contagious even though no sypmtoms exist.
- New strains of STDs are resistant to treatment.
- STDs often cause chronic pain and permanent damage.
- STD infection can increase the possibility of contracting AIDS.
- Some STDs are incurable, life-long infections. Some can lead to life-threatening diseases and even death.


Another thing that is mentioned in this brochure is five risks that the sexually active need to be aware of.


- Your partner may not know he/she has an STD. 80% infected do not know their condition.
- Your partner may not tell you the truth if he/she has been sexually active in the past.
- You can have an STD and have no symptoms for weeks, months, possibly years. STDs are contagious even though no symptoms exist.
- Teens are much more suseptible to STD damage because they have lower level of antibodies than adults.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control, condoms do not provide complete protection from any STD or pregnancy. Infection can occur in both males and females whether or not a condom is used.


The conclusion given is that the only way to avoid the risks is to Save Sex for Marriage.


That was a quick preview of what some of the brochures at our center are like.


The concluding statement in the previous post is worth repeating here...

Dr Teresa Crenshaw, past President of the American Association of Sex Educators, said "Saying that the use of condoms is 'safe sex' is in fact playing Russian roulette. A lot of people will die in this dangerous game."

Do we really want to play this game with our young loved ones by leading them to believe that sex is Ok as long as they use "protection"?



P.S. - If you find this page by doing an Internet Search, Please also check out my other page on the subject.  That One Also has more Comments below it; 29 to be Exact.

Abstinence and STD Statistics

Abstinence and STD Statistics

In the comment section of the previous post, BB-Idaho and I began discussing the pregnancy center that I work at, which lead up to a discussion of Pregnant Teens, Abstinence, Sex and STDs and I'm not even sure if I have the answer yet to all of the things he brought up, yet I do know that there is information at the center about Abstinence and "Safe-Sex" statistics. Since it's a long weekend, I won't be back there until Tuesday, yet I assure you that there will be more coming besides what I put in this post.

If you would like to read the previous discussion that was made on this subject, go to the next Post down entitled "Avoiding the Extremes in Both Parties", click on the title and then use the "Find on this Page" feature within your browser to find the words "Pregnant Teens". You might have to hit the "Next" button once to get to the mention of this in the comment section. This is where my discussion with BB on this subject begins.

Meanwhile, I though that I might post some of the statistics that I already have handy relating to Abstinence attitudes and STDs.

BB presented some information about birth rates. Here are some statistics about the rate of Abstinence over the years, as well as the current rates of STDs...


A poll conducted in 2001 revealed that 60% of Americans believe that there is nothing wrong with a man and woman having sex before marriage and of course, the media reinforces this idea. The problem is that as our attitudes about sex have changed over the years, so has the decline in those who practice Abstinence before Marriage.

A study in 1992, (same year as a study presented by BB), 55.1% of all women born between 1933 and 1942 reported that they had abstained from premarital sex and only 27.4% of women born between 1953 and 1962 reported the same (Edward O. Laumann et. al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the US (University of Chicago Press: 1994)). Later studies revealed that between 1971 and 1995, the rate of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 who reported having premarital sex increased from 30% to 49% (Joyce C. Abma and Freya L. Sonenstein, "Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Practices Among Teenagers in the US", 1988 and 1995; "Data from the National Survey of Family Growth", National Center for Health Statistics, Wasshington, D.C., April 2001, Table1). As far as I'm concerned, these percentages are far too high.

This whole picture wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the rate of STDs going up as well.

Over 65 million Americans currently have an incurable STD and each year there are 15 million new STD cases in the US, of which 50% are incurable (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Tracking the Hidden Epidemics: Trends in STDs in the US", 2000). Also, at least 1 in 3 sexually active people are estimated to have contracted an STD by age 24 (The Kaiser Family Foundation, "Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the US", Feb. 2000).

Each year, over 3 million teens are infected with an STD (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, "Teen Sex and Pregnancy", Facts in Brief, 1999).

Gonorrhea rates are highest among females 15-19 years old (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Tracking the Hidden Epidemics: Trends in STDs in the US", 2000).

Also, at least 10% (that's 1 in 10) of all sexually active teens are infected with Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, a condition most often caused by untreated Gonorrhea and Chlamydia that can lead to infertility and ectopic Pregnancy, or Pregnancy in the Fallopian Tubes (The Medical Institute for Sexual Health, "Medical Updates: Frepuently Asked Questions").


Young people are often led to believe that they will be safe from STDs and pregnancy if they use condoms, however conveying such a message can be dangerously misleading. Condoms protect against HIV/AIDs, but only at the rate of 85%, or put another way, they reduce the risk by only 85%. Personally, I think that 15% is a huge window and what's more, there's no evidence to support any protection at all against the many other STDs, now more than 50 strands, many of which are incurable and Birth Control Pills offer no protection at all.

Many sexually active young people do not view themselves as being at risk for STDs and tend to form perceptions of their own risks and their partners risks based on impressions, rather than factual information.

The unfortunate truth, though, is that an immature immune system places adolescents at increased risk for STDs and teenage girls face a greater risk because of an anatomical variance. The outer covering of a teenage cervix is more susceptible to infection by the bacteria and viruses of STDs.

Dr Teresa Crenshaw, past President of the American Association of Sex Educators, said "Saying that the use of condoms is 'safe sex' is in fact playing Russian roulette. A lot of people will die in this dangerous game."

Do we really want to play this game with our young loved ones by leading them to believe that sex is Ok as long as they use "protection"?


For more Statistics, see my other page; "More Abstinence and STD Statistics"

Avoiding the Extremes in Both Parties

In the comment section of one of Griper's posts, BB-Idaho said something very interesting.


"It's just perspective..

"Q: How do you tell the difference between a liberal and a conservative?
"A: Easy. Watch a man drowning fifty feet offshore.

"The conservative will throw out 25 feet of rope and shout 'swim for it!'

"The liberal will toss out 50 feet of rope, drop his own end, and go off to do another good deed."


I guess that this could be taken as a joke, but I found it to be rather profound and it's just the sort of thing that's right down my ally. I've often talked about the subject of what's wrong with both of the extremes within both the Republican and Democratic parities, and BB said it so perfectly.

The problem with the Republican approach, as described above, is that they assume that the drowning man has the ability to swim 25 feet, which may or may not be the case. The problem with the Democratic approach, as described above, is that they are so eager to do a large number of good deeds, that they do not put adequate thought into each one. Quite often they just give out food, such as a fish, but they do not stick around to teach the person how to fish.

Republicans are willing to teach someone how to fish, but do not give them enough fish in the mean time in order to give them the energy that they will need in order to carry out the lesson. Perhaps I should add that the fish can represent not only food, (what is needed for the body),but also counseling and emotional support (what is needed for the spirit and the soul). Too often, those who are drowning emotionally are expected to swim without any emotional support, just expectation and judgment.


Griper and I were discussing on his blog, not too long ago, about the contrast between Government Programs and Private Charities. I guess it's pretty plain that Government Programs are run pretty inefficiently, yet when it comes to free hand outs, sometimes Private Charities don't do as much better at this as one might think, for many of them do primarily give out hand outs as well.

At the place where I work, we help pregnant teens. We just started a new program in which we have decided to no longer just give out the cloths and baby supplies free, but instead to start requiring them to watch videos and tapes about pregnancy, health, child rearing, budgeting, relationships, sexuality, etc. Interestingly, the girls actually appreciate, whether than resent it.