Thursday, November 24, 2011

Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?


Psalm 78

1Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

3Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

5For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

6That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

7That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

8And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

9The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

10They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

11And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

12Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

14In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

15He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

16He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

17And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

18And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

19Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

20Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

21Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

22Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

23Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

24And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

25Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

26He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

27He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

28And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

29So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

30They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

31The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

32For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

33Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

34When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

35And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

36Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

37For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

38But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

39For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

41Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

42They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

43How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

44And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

45He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

47He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

48He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

50He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

51And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

52But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

55He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

57But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

60So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

61And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

62He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

63The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

67Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

68But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

69And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

70He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

71From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Magnitude-5.9 quake hits near Japan nuclear site

Updated 10h 36m ago




  • The Unit 4 reactor building of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station on Nov. 12. A new quake struck Thursday not far from the plant.

    By David Guttenfelder, AP

    The Unit 4 reactor building of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station on Nov. 12. A new quake struck Thursday not far from the plant.

By David Guttenfelder, AP

The Unit 4 reactor building of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station on Nov. 12. A new quake struck Thursday not far from the plant.

TOKYO (AP) – A strong earthquake struck Thursday morning near the Japan nuclear power plant hit by a powerful tsunami earlier this year. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-5.9 quake struck shortly before 4:30 a.m. local time. It hit 62 miles (101 kilometers) east of the Fukushima Dai-ichinuclear power plant. The quake struck at a depth of 23 miles (37 kilometers).

The quake struck 151 miles (244 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue a tsunami alert.

Similar quakes have struck in the region since a March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami wiped out part of Japan's northeastern coast and left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

The March tsunami also touched off a nuclear crisis when it heavily damaged the Fukushima plant, forcing about 100,000 people to flee their homes. They still have no idea when they can return.

The region lies on the "Ring of Fire" — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim. About 90% of the world's quakes occur in the region.



Source

Vegan Thanksgiving: No Turkeys Harmed


Wands and her daughter check on rolls they are baking.


By Deborah Salomon

As of Tuesday, November 22, 2011


Take the turkey out of Thanksgiving and what’s left? Thanks giving.

“Turkey is the wrong focus,” says Kim Wands, vegan cook and vendor at the Sandhills Farmers’ Market. “Thanksgiving isn’t about the centerpiece. It’s about what is around the table.”

Wands, a former paramedic and ER nurse who lives in Carthage, hasn’t eaten turkey for 35 years. Her mother became a Seventh Day Adventist, embracing with the religion the Genesis Diet that some Adventists follow. Wands fishes a Kindle from her bag and pulls up Gen. 1:29 — God’s admonition to Adam and Eve:

And God said behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. To you, it shall be for meat.


“If we can stay with a simple diet as close to fresh as possible, we’ll be healthier,” Wands believes.

Because of her home environment, Kim Wands never learned to prepare meat. As a bride, she told husband Joel Wands, a fellow paramedic, that he was welcome to eat any meat he wanted to cook. That didn’t happen.

“He enjoyed the things I fixed,” she says. “I even make a wal-o-burger out of walnuts, oats and bulgur.”

The Wands family goes several steps further: They grow nutrient-dense greens, mill wheat and use natural, preservative-free baking ingredients. At 47, Kim — who wears a head covering as a sign of respect to God and her husband — has rosy cheeks, smooth skin and happy eyes.

Her business, Our Daily Bread of the Sandhills, grew from a project mounted by daughter Emily, now 16. Emily wanted a horse; her parents insisted she map out the yearly cost and divide it into weeks.

“I can do this,” Emily said, viewing the number.

Kim Wands had taught Emily and younger brother Evan bread-baking as part of early home schooling. Emily proposed baking the bread and having her mother sell it to nurses and doctors at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, where she worked.

The bread became so popular that arrangements were made for a booth at the farmers market. During peak season, the family bakes 160 loaves per week in five rescued ovens installed in their garage. Proceeds support Emily’s equestrian dream — and then some.


“It’s fun having a family business, doing things together,” Emily says.

By 5 a.m. Tuesday, Kim and Emily Wands were busy-busy-busy preparing cornbread, pies, sweetbreads, scones, muffins, rolls and ready-to-bake stuffing in her Carthage kitchen. Christmas carols played softly in the background. The near extinct aroma of home-baked breads: divine.

Most will be sold Wednesday at the Southern Pines Farmers Market on Morganton Road. When the market closes at 1 p.m., the family will load their van and drive to Chattanooga, Tenn., where Kim’s parents live and son Evan attends a church school.

This year, guests at Thanksgiving dinner include a family recovering from the death of a father. They gather at 2 p.m. for a vegan feast: cornbread dressing studded with vegetables, creamy mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, a green salad, whole-wheat dinner rolls, corn from their garden and macaroni with a rich, velvety, better-than-cheese sauce.

The meal ends with pumpkin and pecan pies followed by hot orchard wassail, a combination of cranberry and apple juices with citrus slices and, Kim concedes, a bit of sugar.

Before dinner, each participant expresses personal thanks. This year, Kim is grateful for how the plant-based diet she suggested helped reduce the pain of a friend suffering from a debilitating illness. She’s also grateful, she says, “for the love of God in all things.”

Afterward, in lieu of football, the family takes a long walk. Even without the big bird, they are stuffed.

“You shouldn’t measure Thanksgiving by the turkey,” Emily concludes. “This isn’t Turkey Day, it’s Thanksgiving Day.” Kim smiles proudly at her daughter and adds, “The importance of the holiday is being together. Things can change real quick. You never know when you’ll be together like this again.”

Contact Deborah Salomon at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.


Source

Black Friday Store Stampede (Getting in the Hollly-day Spirit)

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Small Business Saturday is Nov. 26

Submitted by collin on Tuesday, 22 November 2011



Atlanta City Councilmember Yolanda Adrean was joined by her colleagues Monday in declaring Nov. 26 as Small Business Saturday in Atlanta – a day to support the local Atlanta businesses that create jobs, boost the local economy and preserve the unique character of our neighborhoods.

Celebrating its second year, Small Business Saturday is a national movement to drive shoppers to local merchants – minus the hustle and bustle and long lines of overcrowded, big box chain stores.

“Small Business Saturday is a great reminder of the wonderful businesses established right here in the City of Atlanta,” Councilmember Adrean said. “There are many creative, stress-free gifts you can purchase from local merchants. Examples include gift certificates to neighborhood restaurants, specialty shops and theatre venues, as well as crafts and jewelry made by local artisans. So when you make your list this year, first think of our local small businesses. Behind each of those storefronts are our friends and neighbors. Small business owners have not only made tremendous investments in our communities, but they also provide a fabulous array of gifts and services during the holidays and throughout the year.”

Small business plays an important role in the local and national economies and is a strong driver of job growth and innovation. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there were nearly 28 million small businesses in the United States last year. Over the past two decades, they have generated 65 percent of net new jobs. If independents regained their 1990 market shares, entrepreneurs could create 200,000 new small businesses generate nearly $300 billion in revenues in the retail and restaurant sectors and employ more than 1.6 million American workers, according to Civic Economics.


Source

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Television: The Image of Sin (Documentary)



Uploaded by on Jan 10, 2011

What are the implications of a device that has been created for the sole purpose of so-called entertainment. Many arbitrarily use this device thinking there is not a vast physiological and psychological effect.

This documentary exposes how children and adults are manipulated by TV programming.

(Disclaimer: This documentary is solely used for the purpose of education and is in accordance with Fair Usage Copyright Laws! Any usage or duplication of said "documentary" shall be deemed for non-profit, education according to section 107 of Fair Use Act. The creator of this film is exempt from any legal ramifications. Viewer Discretion Advised)

Created By: Rick "Depths"
Narration by : Nathan Janes, Mike Kelly
Music by: Hanz Zimmer, Norman Lowell, Bear Mcreery
Visual Content: Various Sources

Special Thanks to Mike Kelly(Adventisttruth), Jason (Sentientmind), Norman Lowell(nlowell1), and YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS!!!

REMEMBER THE TRUTH DOESN'T FEAR INVESTIGATION!!!!


The Bureau and the Mole, David A. Vise


The Bureau and the Mole, David A. Vise

Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002, 272 pages,------- hc, ISBN 0-87113-834-4

The real story of Robert Hanssen is the type of material from which spy thrillers are built. For decades, Hanssen sold US state secrets to the Russians. He sold out American spy networks, betrayed critical contingency plans, passed reams of technical information to the other side and probably caused a number of agents to be arrested or executed. As a tech-savvy senior agent within the FBI, Hanssen had unparallelled access to a wealth of government material from a variety of sources, multiplying the damage of his actions.

And yet, Hanssen fit none of the popular expectations of how a spy should behave. Not only was he married and father of two children, he was an active member of the ultra-conservative Opus Dei catholic sect. And yet there was another layer behind the austere and righteous facade: Hanssen had a relationship with a stripper, had a fixation on Catherine Zeta-Jones and posted amateur pornography on Usenet groups. Even today, trying to make sense of Hanssen remains a challenge.

And yet that’s what David A. Vise attempts to do in The Bureau and the Mole, one of several non-fiction books to document Hanssen’s covert career. Pushed by the release of the film BREACH, which also tackles the Hanssen affair (don’t miss the exceptional performance by Chris Cooper as Hanssen), I dug into my pile of books to read and came up with this one. Call it documentation selection by proximity.

I’m sorry, in a way, that I don’t have anything but a movie and the official story to compare to the book: Trying to evaluate non-fiction without other references is always risky.

But I can still tell you that The Bureau and the Mole is a bit of a mess, especially if all you were hoping to get was the story of Hanssen’s life. As the title suggests, Vise soon makes an attempt at opposing virtue to Hanssen’s perfidy: To this end, the narrative spends what seems to be an inordinate amount of time lionizing FBI director Louis Freeh in between the looks at Hanssen’s occult career. Interesting idea in small doses, but the extent to which the FBI’s general history comes to dominate the narrative eventually feels like padding more than context. Describing the FBI’s ironically thwarted efforts to find the traitor within their ranks is fine. But spending a chapter on the FBI’s anti-mafia efforts feels superfluous.

There is little doubt that the book is well-researched. Vise does have a Pulitzer prize under his belt and there’s a lot of good material here and there in The Bureau and the Mole, gathered from interviews with people in the know and other sources who can’t be acknowledged. One of the most embarrassing revelation in the book is the transcription of a pornographic story about his wife that Hanssen posted, apparently using his own name, to Usenet groups. (Just when the story couldn’t get any weirder… no wonder even the movie doesn’t dwell on the subject.)

Yet the book still feels padded with barely-relevant material. Worse yet are the usual sins of disappointing non-fiction: lack of an index, simple theories out of thin facts (a long chapter on Hanssen’s relationship with a stripper seems vaporous, unrelated and overly moralistic) and few discussions about deeper motivations.

For all of the facts and the context, one comes away from The Bureau and the Mole unsatisfied by the result. We understand that Hanssen saw spying as a way to prove his intellectual superiority over his less-capable colleagues. But Vise often seems too eager to wag his finger at Hanssen, momentarily distracted by shiny events in Louis Freeh’s life or the FBI’s history. The book intrigues more than it satisfies, giving the impression of a dynamite magazine article stretched over two hundred pages. Too bad, given the inherent interest of the Hanssen story. Looking at the inflated Canadian price tag of the book, I’m even more happy than usual that I’ve been able to get a cheap copy at a used book sale.


Source

Related:
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Vise spins a first-rate spy thriller (though one that occasionally stumbles into psychobabble), alternating chapters on Hanssen with ones on Louis Freeh, the bureau chief who brought him to justice. Both men were driven fathers of six who even attended the same conservative Catholic church in suburban Washington, D.C. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,252587,00.html

Louis J. Freeh vows an independent probe into Sandusky case at Penn State University


Posted on Breaking Midstate News with The Patriot-News

on November 22, 2011, 4:00AM


Updated: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 8:19 AM
LouisFreeh.jpgPenn State University trustees turned to former FBI director Louis J. Freeh to lead an inquiry into child sexual assault allegations involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

After enduring harsh criticism over its handling of a child sex abuse scandal, Penn State University on Monday took the strongest step since it fired coach Joe Paterno by hiring a former director of the FBI to investigate what went wrong.

University trustees turned to Louis J. Freeh, appointed by President Bill Clinton to head the FBI from 1993 to 2001, to lead an inquiry into child sexual assault allegations involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Freeh said he will look at the university’s governance, decision-making and actions regarding the allegations of child abuse. He is empowered to investigate all university employees, as well as the board of trustees. Freeh said any findings of criminal conduct will be reported to law enforcement.

He said he will conduct the investigation with “complete independence and take it wherever it may lead.”

Freeh was hired by a special committee formed by the trustees to oversee what committee Chairman Kenneth Frazier called a “comprehensive and independent investigation into exactly what happened.”

The investigation’s findings and recommendations would be made public when completed, but no interim reports would be issued, Frazier said.

The university made the announcement at a downtown Philadelphia hotel, perhaps trying to gain a handle on the allegations at the insular campus in State College.

Former state Attorney General Walter Cohen said the trustees made up ground for not acting when the scandal broke in March when The Patriot-News reported on the attorney general’s grand jury investigation into the sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky.

Sandusky was indicted Nov. 4 on 40 charges of sex crimes against boys, some dating to Sandusky’s coaching days at Penn State. The indictment followed a nearly three-year investigation by the attorney general that started in early 2009 when a Clinton County teenage boy told authorities that Sandusky had inappropriately touched him over a four-year period.

The scandal led to the resignation of university President Graham Spanier, the retirement of Vice President Gary Schultz and a leave of absence for Athletic Director Tim Curley. Curley and Schultz were charged with perjury and failure to report a crime.

“But if they know they need the former director of the FBI to tell them what they knew when they knew it, then they should go ahead and [hire him],” Cohen said.

Frazier and state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis, the special committee vice chairman, said Freeh’s background in law enforcement was important to his selection.

Gov. Tom Corbett said Freeh “understands the role of a grand jury investigation and the role of the prosecutors, and he will work well with the attorney general’s office.”

The governor was consulted on Freeh’s hiring, said Kevin Harley, a Corbett spokesman.

Tomalis said a key consideration in selecting Freeh was that he had no ties with Penn State or Pennsylvania.

But hours after his hiring was announced, Freeh’s independence was called into question.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Freeh was employed from 2001 to 2006 as vice chairman and general counsel to MBNA, a financial company that had a lucrative arrangement with Penn State that gave the credit card issuer access to the university’s student and alumni addresses. MBNA also had ties to The Second Mile Foundation, a charity founded by Sandusky.

The story also reported that Freeh’s former boss at MBNA was Ric Struthers, a Penn State alumnus who is on the board of The Second Mile Foundation.

Attempts to reach Frazier and Tomalis on Monday afternoon about whether they were aware of these connections when they hired Freeh were not successful.

A spokesman for Freeh downplayed the link.

Stefanie Goodsell said in a statement that Freeh had no personal connection to Penn State and that he had no role in MBNA’s agreement with the university. She said that contract was entered into years before he joined the company.

MBNA was acquired by Bank of America in 2006, which, citing Securities and Exchange Commission documents, the Inquirer reported resulted in Freeh cashing out stock awards worth more than $20 million beyond his compensation.

Despite that history, Goodsell concluded her statement saying, “The investigation will be completely independent.”

Speaking about Freeh’s hiring at Loew’s Philadelphia Hotel, Frazier apologized to the alleged victims in the cases spelled out in lurid detail in the grand jury report. He said it was especially heartbreaking because some of the alleged acts might have occurred on university property.

He voiced hope that those allegations serve as a stark reminder of the need to report and stop such crimes. But for now, he said it’s time to look into what went wrong that allowed alleged incidents that the grand jury report says date to at least 1998 to essentially be swept under the rug.

Freeh’s pay has not been finalized. Frazier said the trustees have had no conversation with Freeh about his fee and no cap has been set on his charges.

The committee he chairs will comprise six trustees, a faculty leader, a graduate student and an alumnus or alumna. Tomalis said the committee’s role will be to offer counsel to investigators when needed.

No one will be above scrutiny, including the administration and trustees, Frazier said.

But the investigators will not have subpoena power or the ability to compel people to talk, particularly if they could find themselves to be criminally liable.

Frazier and Freeh didn’t give a timeline for the completion of the investigation that will go back to 1975 — 23 years before the earliest allegation of abuse mentioned in the grand jury report.

Freeh said his team will include former prosecutors with decades of experience in working on pedophile and predator cases and will examine evidence and records and interview witnesses.

The investigative team will review the university’s policies related to identifying and reporting sex crimes and misconduct, including a recent allegation made by a student that involved a faculty member.

Frazier said the internal review is intended to address the scandal that has done “irreparable harm” to Penn State.

“The university is more than just these terrible acts that now dominate the public discourse about Penn State,” he said.

How you can help
Former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said the university has set up a confidential, toll-free hot line for anyone with information that could assist in this investigation. That number is 855-290-3382. An email account has been set up at PSUhelp@freehgroup.com.

Staff writer Charles Thompson contributed to this report.


Source


*Louis J. Freeh:

Early life and career

Born January 6, 1950 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Louis Freeh was educated by the Christian Brothers and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University in 1971. He received a J.D. degree from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1974 and an LL.M. degree in criminal law from New York University School of Law in 1984. Freeh was an FBI Special Agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City field office and at F.B.I. Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as an assistant U.S. attorney. Subsequently, he held positions there as Chief of the Organized Crime Unit, Deputy U.S. Attorney, and Associate U.S. Attorney. He was also a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.[2] In 1991, President George H. W. Bush appointed Freeh a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a position he held until he was appointed FBI director by President Bill Clinton in 1993. As a youth, Freeh became an Eagle Scout in 1963 and in 1995 was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award by the Boy Scouts of America.[3][4]

Freeh and his wife, Marilyn, have 6 sons. He is a devout Roman Catholic, although is not a member of the Opus Dei prelature (as rumors have stated).[5][6] According to The Bureau and the Mole, a book by David A. Vise, Freeh's son was enrolled at the private The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland, which Vise describes as "an Opus Dei academy".[7] Several of his sons are now enrolled in Archmere Academy, a Catholic school in Claymont, Delaware. One of his sons currently attends Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Source: Wiki


The Obama's desperate Public Relations campaign

I hate to mention it, but, I can't help but notice certain things; Especially, when they are so obvious that even the blind can see through the political gimmicks.

What am talking about?

Over the weekend there was a 'news headline' that caught my attention:

First Lady Michelle Obama at a NASCAR event



The other abnormal 'headline' that drew my attention was President Obama hosting a Country Night at the White House.

On a Monday night? (11/21/2011)



On the Obama's part: I see a decided attempt to appear down-home, traditional, and middle-America Friendly. When they really appeal to the radical, revisionist element within the country.
The President's campaign handlers are trying hard to portray the first family as main-stream, middle-class, and as American as Biscuits and Gravy. Ooh, wee; My, my, my!

NASCAR?
Country Music? Hootie of the Blowfish?
Now, they don't do the bump? Like BHO did on Ellen?




On top of all the publicity stunts, they will now have a PBS (The network that promotes a Democratic Party Agenda) TV Special to be presented around the Holidays; This will be a program billed as an holiday program reminiscent of the old time The King Family TV Christmas Special.

An Obama Country Christmas, maybe?


How patriotic, how old-fashioned and family-ORIENTated?

Yeah, folks, our first Asian-American President ("America's first Pacific president") is really one of the fellows, and his family is as American as Soccer, etc.

I can't help my self, but, this is so pollyannaish, it's ridiculous. I just had to share this joke.

Arsenio.


Obama At Church: The Tricky, Exciting, Distracting Business Of Worshipping With A President

President Obama And Church

First Posted: 11/20/11 12:56 AM ET Updated: 11/21/11 02:26 PM ET


The Secret Service agents arrived at Shiloh Baptist Church on a reconnaissance mission just a few days before Easter Sunday. They swept through the sanctuary, eyeing every pew from the pulpit to the balcony. Not a Bible or hymnal was left unturned. Church leaders took a vow of secrecy. Even the most respected church members were kept in the dark until the very last minute.

Easter service at any house of worship can be a painstaking affair, but this one had to go off without a hitch -- President Obama and the First Family were coming to church.

For a sitting president, even the most routine activities become complicated logistical feats. Date nights can be impersonal affairs, with gawkers and special agents lurking around every corner. Sporting events and recitals are overshadowed by the spectacle of a POTUS appearance.

Church services, which for many are a time for self-reflection and expressions of faith and fellowship, require the same planning and strategizing as any other presidential event: metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs, traffic snarls and spectators and media displacing regular attendees.

White House officials said all of the excitement and scrutiny makes attending one church with any regularity difficult for the Obamas. After several months of searching for a church home at the beginning of the president's term -- no doubt vetting the politics of the ministers and their sermons -- the First Family was unable to settle on one. In lieu of church membership, the family makes the occasional appearance at a number of historic local churches in Washington, D.C., or they attend Evergreen Chapel, the church at Camp David.

"The preparation to accommodate a president is intense,”said Bishop T.D. Jakes, who has hosted presidents and other dignitaries at The Potter's House church in Dallas. “It is ... very difficult to manage for any local church. I also think that many of them don't want to be a distraction of what should be the focal point of the service, which is to worship the Lord."

For security reasons, the Secret Service declined to answer any questions about specific security measures taken when the president is planning a trip to church.

While President Obama has not been a regular churchgoer since taking office, administration officials said the president is delivered daily devotionals and has called on a number of faith leaders from around the country for spiritual nourishment, including Bishop Jakes.

"President Obama is a committed Christian," said Joshua DuBois, head of the White House's Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, "and observing and deepening his faith is important to him."

DuBois is responsible for crafting and delivering the president's daily devotionals via email each morning by about 6 a.m. They can be anything from a passage of scripture or a quote from someone like C.S. Lewis, Howard Thurman or the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jakes said these experiences allow them a couple hours of normalcy. "Without exception, I have not seen a president, whether he was in office or about to go into office or after they are out of office, who doesn't seem to really enjoy being a part of the church experience,” he said. “They love the music, they love the freedom of expression, and they love not being under such scrutiny at that time, to be able to blend in. They feel a sense normalcy that is a very precious commodity that is very hard for them to come by."

PRESSING THE FLESH
Beyond the inconvenience of extensive security measures, there are the congregants themselves who want to get a glimpse of the president. Otherwise proper and dutiful churchgoers have been known to whip out their cellphones and snap a few pictures of President Obama, more focused on him than the sermon.

"It has always been an issue, going back even to the 19th century," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, an author and historian who has written about presidential history and customs. Abraham Lincoln would draw such a crowd when he attended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington that he would reportedly sit in the pastor's office so that he could hear the sermon and remain unseen.

President William McKinley was a strict Methodist who, before becoming president, went to church every Sunday in his hometown of Canton, Ohio. After moving to the White House, going to church became a nightmare.

"It was a really difficult thing, because he really felt like the whole point of it for him was to find some peace, spirituality and reflection," Anthony said of McKinley. "He really hated the experience."

While Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office, he frequented his hometown church in Hyde Park, New York. Churchgoers and community folks grew weary of the press and attention drawn to their little country church. Roosevelt didn't help much, historians say. He informally christened the place, "The President's Church." (Church members would reportedly respond, "It used to be God's church.")

Dwight D. Eisenhower once blasted the pastor of his Presbyterian church for publicizing his membership and threatened never to return if it happened again.

John F. Kennedy, the only Catholic president, attended Mass nearly every weekend with his family. Anthony said that Kennedy often had to be dragged there by the first lady.

Richard Nixon, who was raised a Quaker, would be the first to hold interfaith services at the White House, inviting religious leaders from different faiths to join in general prayers and a sermon.

Ronald Reagan, who was also the target of an assassination attempt, spent most of his weekends with his family at Camp David. To deal with security issues and for convenience, he built Evergreen Chapel there, which has been frequented by the presidents ever since.

Jimmy Carter, a Baptist minister, continued to teach Sunday school during his four years in Washington.

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?
Church-going has also played a major role in some political flare-ups.

In 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was in office, stories about his affair with his slave and mistress, Sally Hemmings, was hot fodder for gossip hounds and the press. Jefferson, who questioned the divinity of Jesus and was not a religious man, started showing up with his pregnant daughter, Martha, at religious services then held at the Capitol to demonstrate his piety. He was an early adopter of the idea that church attendance could be a political asset.

Lyndon B. Johnson once attended a church near Williamsburg, Virginia, Anthony said, and was forced to sit through a sermon in which the minister blasted the government's involvement in the Vietnam War.

Obama's own church affiliation, of course, has been a source of controversy. When videos featuring the sermons of his former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, and his fiery and racially polarizing rhetoric from the pulpit went viral, then-Senator Obama was forced to denounce his spiritual mentor and distance himself from that church.

“Who you are as president is kind of an armor around you, protecting who you are as a person,” Anthony said. “That's the paradox of a president going to church. He is going there to be treated before the eyes of nature or God or savior or creator, to worship and to be one among equals with all other human beings, and yet, they get him in and out as quickly as possible and the people are not allow to come up and touch him or even say hello."

THE COMMANDMENTS

For Obama, given his standing as the country's first president of color, attending church with a traditional African-American congregation becomes even more of an exhibition.

When a visit to the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church was planned in 2010 to commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Cornelius Wheeler said he was given 10 days notice.

In the coming days the Secret Service came to survey the place and coordinate a plan of action. He said he subsequently ran down a list of "do-nots" to his congregation.

Do not approach the president.
Do not approach the balcony railing.
By all means, do not act a fool.

That Sunday the congregation swelled from its normal 600 or so to more than 750. No sooner had Obama stepped to the pulpit, the cellphones were in the air and photos were being snapped.

"They are still excited," Wheeler said of his congregation. "It's been two years, but it's a signal event that the first African-American president came to our church."

A VISIT TO SHILOH
Back at Shiloh Baptist Church last Easter, a few days before Sunday service, word began to trickle out that the president would be coming to visit.

"We don't know how it leaked," said Rev. Thomas Bowen, a minister at Shiloh, a historic black church built by freed slaves. Perhaps an overly excited deacon. An usher who had been waiting to lay eyes on the president. Or the men and women of the choir, whose lips ran a little looser than normal.

Or maybe it was all the strangers in dark suits milling about the church.

"We were told not to talk about it but, hey..." Barbara Williams, a member of Shiloh's choir, said with a laugh. "We knew it was as a special guest. The only person that could create that kind of arrangement would be the president."

"We've had other presidents to worship with us, but never have we had the scrutiny that came with President Obama," Bowen said.

Hours before the president was to arrive for the 10 a.m. service, the Secret Service agents made their final preparations. The second row would be kept empty for the First Family. The choir would be cordoned off in a separate area, a bubble of special agents would be sprinkled among the pews, and sections of the church would be off-limits to the congregation.

Certain entrances for the ministers, ushers and everyone who had a role in the service. Everyone would be searched. If anyone had to leave the church and return, they'd be searched again.

"It was really well organized, but terribly inconvenient," said Williams, who, with her fellow choir members, had to arrive two hours earlier than normal. "There's the security, they have to sweep the church, they have the dogs, there are places that we can't go in our own church. And you know what? It's okay, because we don't want anything to happen to him, particularly in our house."

As the choir sang a rousing rendition of "Total Praise" to keep the energy high before the guest of honor arrived, the last of the congregants were seated.

And then came the big moment.

The president, the First Lady, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, strode in. As the first family was ushered to their reserved pew in the front, the choir lifted its voice.

"It was really magical," Williams said. "There he was, and with his wife and his children -- you know, it was such a magical moment."

When the congregation talked back to the preacher, so did the Obamas. When it was time to stand up and clap and sing with the choir, so did they.

At the service's conclusion, the president was being led out by the Secret Service when he broke away and headed over to 98-year-old Euna Smith, a long-time member and matriarch of the church. She had been meant to greet the president on his arrival but had been unable to. Obama took her hand in his and smiled. After the service, she just couldn't stop talking about how she had met the first black president of the United States. A few days later the White House sent Smith a copy of a photograph taken by a White House staffer.

"It was awesome for her and for us too, to know that he would care enough to make it special for her," Williams said. (Smith died in September.)

"Every other day, [presidents] are dealing with the prospect of terrorist attacks, protecting our borders, dealing with the economy and all of the horrific issues that they have to ward off," Bishop Jakes said. "To be able to be in a calm place and a peaceful place and be rejuvenated by the Word is special for them."

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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, take in church services at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.