Middle America's Worldview

My daughter came up to me the other day asking if she can register for another website. First there was Trollz, then Webkinz, Disney, Hannah Montana, 4kids, Polly Pocket, ..... the list goes on. Seems nearly every toy or dvd now has it's own site to register. Oh they offer free online games as enticement, but how many can one really keep up?

I actually struggled with this same question only 3 weeks ago. How many sites can one person maintain? Currently, I have 7-8 personal sites I try to maintain. This isn't counting those sites of "friends" or others I help maintain. It's to the point of enough is enough.

The other night, I caught a bit of Attack of the Show discussing this similar topic. The discussion was 'how many social networks', regarding how much is too much. During the discussion the question was how many sites do most really maintain. Most answered about 3. your personal page, social page and a hobby page.

So, now the question is, which sites to keep and which sites to do away with. Makes sense, the less to maintain the more you can dedicate to make it better.

In an earlier post I pointed out where human and animal dna are being mixed creating a hybrid embryo. Of course by legislation, they cannot keep them alive for more than 14 days. Nor are they 'suppose to' implant the living entity in a womb.

I then came across a great (but sad truth)site showing human traffic. This site shows the how children are being used in prostitution around the globe. Sigh.

Now, ACLJ is going on the offense for children. They have created a petition to stop taxes from going to planned parenthood.

I received the notification today. As of 1:20 p.m central over 2400 have signed the petition.

ACLJ states:

Every year, the federal government hands over millions of our tax dollars to Planned Parenthood under the guise of Title X funding — a program that provides an enormous influx of money for "reproductive health activities." It is a travesty of justice that you are essentially being forced to fund the largest abortion promoter and provider in America. The ACLJ is determined to STOP this offensive misuse of our tax dollars — by standing in support of legislation that calls for an end to government funding of Planned Parenthood — but we must have your help to do it! Please read the form carefully and declare your membership with the ACLJ by signing our online Petition to Defund Planned Parenthood.

Within the email, we are told...

Over the last two years, America's #1 abortion provider has been funded with more than $500 million of taxpayers' money through Title X.

Title 10 is ....

The Title X program provides public funding for family planning and preventive health screening services. Established by Congress in 1970, the aim of the program is "to assist in making comprehensive voluntary family planning services readily available to all persons desiring such services."1 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers the Title X program through its Office of Family Planning. Approximately 4,600 public and private entities, including non-profit family planning clinics, hospitals and public health departments, receive Title X funds each year.2

It was established 1970 "to assist in making comprehensive voluntary family planning services". The program was setup to assist those families below federal poverty level. It was created to allow those families to receive services at no cost. The Title X facilities are provided on a sliding scale based on income. No-one is refused services, if they were unable to pay.

However, in 1978, Congress amended Title X to place "a special emphasis on preventing unwanted pregnancies among sexually active adolescents," adding services specifically for teenagers."




According to a Planned Parenthood site....

By law, no Title X funds have ever been spent on abortion (Sollom et al., 1996). The family planning regulations require that women who face unintended pregnancies be given nondirective counseling on all of their legal and medical options (Federal Register, 2000).

So why the petition now?

Seems Congress is trying to increase tax payer funds to Title X.

Efforts intensify on Capitol Hill to increase Title X funding which would likely result in more taxpayer funds going to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider.

Our legislative affairs team in Washington is reporting that the Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Subcommittee has approved an increase of almost $28 million for Title X funding, up from $283 million to almost $311 million. This is an increase of about 10%. Planned Parenthood requested this increase and will almost certainly benefit from a large number of these dollars.

Additionally, this bill still has two more stops to make in the House – the full Appropriations Committee and the House floor. If the Democrat majority continues with their current strategy, look for this increase to grow even larger.

Title X is already funded at $283 million annually and is intended to be used for family planning. Tragically, in reality, it is used almost exclusively for abortion-related services, most often by Planned Parenthood. This year, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Planned Parenthood are asking for an additional $100 million in Title X funding. While the Hyde Amendment (if renewed) would prohibit these funds from directly funding abortions, the additional funding would certainly free up other funds to be used for abortions.

So the call has been made to sign the petition and contact your representives to stop funding to Title X.

Talk about a sweet deal. Check this out!
Now were talking.

Fortunately, we survived another Monday.

I was able to finish up the cement work over the weekend. So at this point the backyard should be deemed, done.

We also had a freaking downpour Saturday night around 3 a.m. The news stated we received 3 inches within the less-than 12 hour span. I know it hit so hard, it woke me up.

I will give you a glimpse of our Monday (which incidentally seems to be ever Monday, anymore).

• 5 a.m. Kel is up and does her work
  
• 7 a.m I begin work
  
• 8 a.m. kids begin school
  
• 11-12 (somewhere around there) lunch
  
• 2 p.m. Kel takes kids to chiro
  
• 4-5:30 p.m daughters choir practice
  
• 3:30 sons speech
  
• 6-7:30 p.m daughters Girlscout
  
• 7 p.m. I attend school board meeting
  

This time around, Kel takes the kids to the chiro at 2 p.m. I picked our son up after speech. He and I ran to get some groceries on the way home (with a couple of other errands). I then take him to one of our friends to watch the cheerleaders (our friend's daughter is one of them), while I attend the school board.

That was pretty much our Monday.

Tuesday looks just as busy. My son and I will attend cubscout at 4:30 p.m. and then the boyscouts at 6:30 p.m. Kel and our daughter will be in a basketball meeting from 6 p.m till who knows. It will be another evening of get some food as you go.

OK. Here was the plan.
Thursday night get the backyard ready to pour the cement.
Friday morning.

Kel to hit and assist in the yard sale (someone else's home this time)

Kel's brother to be dropped over at our house to assist in the cement

Kel's mom to switch vehicles (so we can have the truck)

I would drop the kids over at the other house having the yardsale

I would grab the cement from Triple A, about a yard of it.

Kel's brother and I would get the cement done.

I would then drop said brother off at home (after returning the cement truck)

I would then shower, meet up with kids (after their tennis)

I was then planning to take them to Chuckee Cheese as a surpise.

Kel was to work at the law office till 4:30 while I had the kids for the remainder of the day.

I had taken off this Friday to not only run the kids over to a surprise, but also planned to drop some things off at Goodwill. I was also hoping to check out this nearby church's library. It was suppose to be open to the public and very impressive. Just hanging with the kids in town.

In short, the plan didn't work. We made it up to getting the cement done. On the way of taking the cement trailer back to Triple A, the truck was crapping out on us. We learned quick the ballbearing went out on the 4x4. Sigh. That stalled us. It also made us pull Kel's dad off his work to pull the trailer back to Triple A. Pulled Kels' mom home from work to meet us at our house. She called a friend who had another truck and trailer so they can take the vehicle to the shop. Since, we exchanged vehicles, I simply told Kel's mom to take the van home. This way they wouldnt be a foot. That left the kids and I home alone without a vehicle.

Kel still made it to work and will be there till 4:30. So, the kids and I have been home all day. At least the concrete work is done. I will need to clean up the surrounding dirt, but the bulk is finished. The patio work is done.

Maybe I can take the kids in the morning. Bummer man.

I saw a tickler last night speaking of placing human genes in a empty animal embryo. The tickler mentioned the hybrid would be 99.9% human and .1% animal. The scientist would be required to destroy the embryo before 14 days and it is banned to be placed in a womb.

I thought 2 things when I seen it (after my wow).

1)Why 14 days?
2)Have we really gone this far?


Seems the Government previously agreed stem cell embryo's have a 14-day limit. I guess you have to start/end somewhere.

Legislative references to the 14-day rule cite ethics committee reports. The most influential of these reports were sponsored by the U.S. government (1979, 1994, 1999, 2004), Britain (1984), Australia (1984), Canada (1994), California (2002), the leading U.S. IVF medical association (the American Fertility Society, 1986 and 1990), and a leading U.S. biotech company (Advanced Cell Technology, 2000). If you read these reports, the first thing you'll notice is that they refer to each other. We've agreed to the line because we've agreed to it—and could just as easily move it. The next thing you'll see is that many of them admit that the date is "arbitrary." The British report, from which others copied the rule, concedes that "biologically there is no one single identifiable stage in the development of the embryo beyond which the in vitro embryo should not be kept alive."

A fact of prenatal development.

Pregnancy begins at conception, the time at which the male sperm and the female ovum unite. What results is called a zygote, a one-celled biological entity, a stage in human development through which each of us has passed (just as we have passed through infancy, childhood, and adolescence).

It is a misnomer to refer to this entity as a "fertilized ovum." For both ovum and sperm, which are genetically each a part of its owner (mother and father, respectively), cease to exist at the moment of conception. There is no doubt that the zygote is biologically alive. It fulfills the four criteria needed to establish biological life:

• (1) metabolism,
  
• (2) growth,
  
• (3) reaction to stimuli, and
  
• (4) reproduction.
  

Second fact of prenatal development

Second, not only is the conceptus human insofar as being caused by humans, it is a unique human individual, just as each of us is. Resulting from the union of the female ovum (which contains 23 chromosomes) and the male sperm (which contains 23 chromosomes), the conceptus is a new -- although tiny -- individual.

It has its own unique genetic code (with forty-six chromosomes), which is neither the mother's nor the father's. From this point until death, no new genetic information is needed to make the unborn entity a unique individual human.

Quote

This is why French geneticist Jermoe L. LeJeune, while testifying before a Senate Subcommittee, asserted:

To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion. The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence.

It is vital that you -- the reader -- understand that...

You did not come from a zygote.

You once were a zygote.

You did not come from an embryo.

You once were an embryo.

You did not come from a fetus.

You once were a fetus.

You did not come from an adolescent.

You once were an adolescent.

But have we gone so far as mixing DNA to create hybrids? We have attempted pig heart transplants in the past.

I recall a bible prophecy stating "37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. "

It is found in the book of Matthew chapter 24. The coming of the Son of Man refers to the rapture of the true church. Noah was found to be righteous with God. He with his immediate family were saved by the Ark. We recall the story from Sunday school.

The Noah story is found in Genesis chapter 6. The chapter makes reference to 'sons of God' taking the 'daughters of men' as wives, creating offspring referred to as 'giants' and men of name.

Some scholars believe Noah not only found grace, but was also pure in genetics. These sons of God and daughters of men had created a different gene pool.

This thought came to me as I watched the tickler, referring to 99.9% human and 1% animal. With the stem cell research, we could easily begin to change our gene pool.

You can view some videos of embryos here.

"What we've found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the Universe," Williams said.

I found this quote very interesting in the full article. University of Minnesota astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across. The empty space is void of stars, galaxies, gas and the mysterious unseen dark matter.

"Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota astronomy professor. Rudnick, along with grad student Shea Brown and associate professor Liliya Williams, also of the University of Minnesota, reported their findings in a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.

The finding surprised the Astronomers. As quoted by Williams, the finding is not normal with their idea of 'large-scale of evolution of the Universe'.

The article goes onto trying to explain the absence of anything in roughly 6-10 billion light years from Earth by using 'dark matter' as the cause.

Members of APEC are to be in their yearly meeting to discuss free trade, ect. However, this year, it seems terrorism, free trade, security will not be on the forefront of discussion. Rather, the big concern is the weather. Yes, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, is pushing for the climate change to be the hot topic (pun included).

The countries that make up APEC are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. India is keen to join.

Climate Expected to Top Asia-Pacific Meeting Agenda
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
September 04, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - World trade and security will be on the table, but as Asia-Pacific leaders gather in Sydney, Australia, this week the issue of climate change looks set to dominate the headlines.

Some of the 21 nations whose leaders will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting are unhappy with the environmental focus at a forum historically aimed at promoting free trade.

But Australian Prime Minister John Howard is set on achieving some kind of climate agreement, noting that the leaders of the world's biggest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) -- the "greenhouse gas" many scientists blame for climate change -- will be attending.

With the presidents of the United States, China and Russia among those around the table, progress on the issue was vital, Howard told a press conference in Sydney.

He noted that the APEC meeting comes ahead of two major climate events -- a conference of major economies called by President Bush in Washington later this month, and the annual meeting of the U.N.'s climate change body in Bali, Indonesia, in December.

"Nobody is arguing you can fix climate change at the [Sydney] meeting," he said. "If we can get some consensus on a way forward on climate change out of a body including America, Russia and China, that's a huge step forward."

President Bush, who was due to arrive in Sydney later Tuesday after a surprise stopover in Iraq, said ahead of leaving Washington that climate change would be an important part of the APEC meeting.

"If you're truly interested in dealing with greenhouse gases, people need to focus on the development of technologies that will enable us to, on the one hand, grow our economies, on the other hand, be good stewards of the environment," he said.

Bush said the Australian prime minister would take the lead on the issue, "and the United States will play a constructive role."

Bush and Howard have been berated by environmental activists for years for their antipathy towards the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 international treaty that requires industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by set amounts by 2012.

Arguing that legally mandated emission curbs would harm their economies, the U.S. and Australia -- a major coal exporter -- were alone among industrialized nations to reject the protocol. They also criticized the fact that countries like China and India, although major emitters, were exempt from mandatory reductions under Kyoto because they are considered "developing" nations.

The U.N. meeting in Bali in December aims to discuss a successor agreement to Kyoto for the post-2012 period.

Howard's proposals are believed to involve goals to reduce "energy intensity" in the APEC region -- not Kyoto-style mandatory emission cuts.

On Monday, the Australian leader reiterated his view on Kyoto.

"We do not believe that continuing down the Kyoto path is going to provide a solution to the problem," he said. "We think that will be a recipe for a partial and ultimately ineffective response to a growing problem. What I would like to see the APEC meeting in Sydney do is develop a consensus on a post-Kyoto international framework that attracts participation by all emitters."

Speaking in Washington late last week, Dan Price, deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs, said the climate-related topics for discussion in Sydney would include energy efficiency, forestry, technology development, alternative energy and efforts to reduce barriers to trade in environmental goods and services.

'Undermining Kyoto'

Howard's plan to have climate change on an APEC forum agenda for the first time has drawn some opposition.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz was quoted as saying neither Australia nor the U.S. had the credentials to use APEC as a forum to address climate change since they are not Kyoto signatories. Officials from several other Southeast Asian countries have also voiced unease.

Environmental activists in Australia are skeptical of Howard's agenda too -- and not only because he faces an uphill re-election campaign in the coming months.

Greenpeace called on APEC countries to reject Howard's "efforts to undermine the Kyoto Protocol."

"Real action on climate change means moving away from coal and shifting to clean, renewable energy -- and we don't have the luxury of time for expensive talkfests that have no concrete outcomes," said Ben Pearson, energy campaigner for Greenpeace.

In an open letter to APEC leaders, the Climate Action Network Australia urged them to embrace Kyoto.

"To avoid dangerous climate change, a post-2012 agreement must be built using the architecture of the Kyoto Protocol: absolute emission reduction targets for developed countries, and expanded mechanisms that facilitate contributions from developing countries," said the group, a branch of the international Climate Action Network.

"The very best way for Mr. Howard to demonstrate international leadership at APEC would be for him to get together with President Bush and ratify the Kyoto Protocol," said another organization, the Australian Conservation Foundation.

'Support, don't attack'

During his four-day visit to Australia, Bush will also hold one-on-one talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and several other leaders, a three-way breakfast meeting with Howard and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and a meeting with the leaders of Southeast Asian nations.

As has become commonplace during such gatherings, demonstrations are expected by various groups campaigning against free trade, globalization and U.S. foreign and environmental policies.

Howard has taken the unusual step of posting a clip on the video-sharing Website YouTube urging protesters to refrain from violence at the summit.

Anyone planning to be disruptive, he said, should "stop for a moment and consider that if they really are worried about the issues such as poverty, security and climate change, then they should support APEC and not attack it."







Major security precautions put in place in Sydney include a steel and concrete fence designed to keep protestors -- and terrorists -- away from the 21 leaders and their delegations. Some 5,000 police and troops will be on duty.

Members are APEC are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. India is keen to join.