Chocolate!

Now that I have your attention... I like chocolate and there are times when I can't get enough of it and times when I won't even touch it. It's been weeks and weeks since I had any really good chocolate. When I say good chocolate I'm not talking about a Hershey bar or Cadbury's or anything else you can find in a drugstore. Sees dark chocolate -- is the only kind I like. Don't even bother with Godiva because it doesn't even come close. There are two Sees candy stores near me but I can't get any candy from them right now because it's too hot. When the temperature reaches 110° you can't buy chocolate and bring it home because it melts. Bummer. I guess I'll have to wait until I find an excuse to go to the mall because at least I can eat a couple of pieces while I'm there.

Chocolate Reminiscing: About four years ago I had a really bad case of pneumonia/bronchitis. I managed to stay out of the hospital but I was really sick and Norm didn't want to leave me alone at home even for just an hour. At that time we had a small accessible van rental business we ran from our house. Norm often delivered vans to the airport or wherever the customer needed it. We got a call one day from someone who needed a van to pick up a friend who used a wheelchair. He wanted it delivered to his hotel but Norm explained his concern about me and asked the man if there was any way he could come pick up the van from our house. During the conversation the man asked about my health and wanted to bring me some candy to cheer me up. Norm told him I liked Sees candy. To my surprise the man showed up that evening with a 2 pound box of chocolates. What a nice gentleman. :-)

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Blogging has become something that I truly enjoy -- both as a reader of blogs and now as a writer in my own blog. It's my own personal soapbox in the universe. I wish I had more readers and commentors on what I have to say, but then I might find myself in a more difficult situation. I feel enough pressure as it is to write something for my blog even though there really isn't much of an audience here. I think the pressure is of my own making because I am inspired by so many great writers of blogs and often feel inadequate to the task.

One of my favorite bloggers, LaShawn Barber, is asking a similar question today. Sometimes I want the traffic she generates on her blog because so many people comment on what she has to say. But then I remind myself why I started my blog. I blog because I desire a place to share my thoughts, my insights, and my opinions on my daily life, my faith in God and current events. Since I'm not being paid to do this (although many people do blog for profit) I have the luxury of choosing when I blog and what a blog about. If I had a larger audience (more than just my husband and my parents and the occasional friend here and there) I might feel even more pressure to write something of substance to others. For me the importance is that I have the opportunity to write my thoughts and share them in a public forum. My hope is that someone else will get something out of my endeavor. If not, then it certainly will keep me out of therapy! (Just kidding.)

Maybe someday we'll get away from our computers and just go back to conversing in the public square. I think that's why we blog -- because we have lost that forum to our busy lives.

3 Comments: At July 05, 2005 5:49 PM, sarahk said... blogging is my favorite hobby i've ever had. don't worry, the readership will come, it just takes a while.

At July 05, 2005 5:50 PM, sarahk said... btw, i did read the part that it's ok to not have traffic. but traffic is also a real boost to the spirits if you ask me.

At July 05, 2005 6:06 PM, Karen of Scottsdale said... Yes, I do love traffic on my site!

Thunder and Lightning and Liberal Justices Run Amok

It's that time a year again here in Scottsdale (Phoenix Metro) -- monsoon season. Tonight we had our first storm of the season and it was a doozy. The wind kicks up and dust and debris swirls everywhere as we hear rumblings of thunder from the sky. The dark mass of clouds moves over and heavy rain pours down. I like to watch the storm from under my patio cover in the backyard but this time I had to go inside because 40 mph wind gusts drove the rain right into the patio and nearly blew me out of my wheelchair! The storm brought about lots of lighting and over an inch of rain. That's a lot of rain in the desert! Unfortunately, the lighting has started a fire on a mountain probably 10 miles away in Paradise Valley. The mountain has many multimillion dollar homes on it -- I hope they have insurance. At this time news reports indicate no homes have been hit. Another fire that has been raging for several days is about 25 miles northeast of Scottsdale in the Cave Creek area. Many people there have lost their homes. I do enjoy the thunder storms we have this time of year by I must admit that they can be hazardous at times. My prayers go out to those who have lost their homes. In light of today's decision by the Supreme Court allowing cities to take away one's property for commercial purposes I wonder which is worse -- losing your home to a lightning fire or having the city declare your property rights null and void so someone can build a condominium or a retail center? I think the latter would be worse because you can get fire insurance for your home and property. Unfortunately there is no such thing as insurance protecting you from our liberal Supreme Court who are taking away our rights little by little as they legislate from the bench.

Tuesday Afternoon Adventure

Last week Norm and I tried to visit the new Chick-fil-A that opened here in Scottsdale but the drive-through line was two blocks long so we decided to wait another day. They opened a couple of weeks ago so I decided that we would have to go in the middle of the afternoon in order to get in to such a popular place. I have been working very hard the last several days on a project and, since I reached a point where I'm waiting on review of the work thus far completed, I decided it was time for something fun. It was nearly 2:30 p.m. when I realized I had not had lunch so today would be a good day for a middle of the afternoon visit to Chick-fil-A. Norm loves to drive me around so we got in the van and off we went. I noticed the outside temperature indicator showed 110°F -- yes that's hot! Twenty minutes later when we got to Chick-fil-A the temperature indicator showed 117°F and it sure did feel that way when we got out of the van! Even though it was really hot it was sure worth the trip. I ordered their original chicken sandwich, waffle fries and an unsweetened iced tea and all of it was good! Eating that chicken sandwich took me right back to the last time I had Chick-fil-A which was about 26 years ago. I was living in South Louisiana at the time and we were visiting friends in Lafayette. We went to the mall and had Chick-fil-A for lunch. It was good then and it was good now. I will definitely be returning to Chick-fil-A. It's one of the few fast food places that is as good, if not better, than it was when I was in high school

Update 6/21 4:24 p.m.: Thanks to the persecution.blog I learned that the convent has been closed and the monk/priest has been suspended from the priesthood and excluded from monastic life as well and being indicted along with four nuns in the murder of Irena. While scanning the news today I came across this tragic story about a Romanian Orthodox priest who ordered the crucifixion of a young woman living in a convent. According to the news accounts the young woman had come to visit a friend at the monastery in northeastern Romania and decided to stay in the convent. She had been there for a few months when she had a public argument with the priest. She was punished with the help of the nuns and had been shut away in a room for several days, her hands and feet tied and without food or drink. The young woman, Irena, was found dead, gagged and chained to a cross, on Wednesday after fellow nuns called an ambulance. The priest is unrepentant and said he ordered the crucifixion because the young nun was "possessed by the devil." He now faces murder charges. What these people did this woman was as far as it could be from Christian teaching. Here's why I think so: 1. Was this woman demon possessed? I do not know although the news accounts said that she was suffering from schizophrenia. That does not necessarily mean she was demon possessed nor does it mean that she wasn't. In reading the Bible we find that Jesus and the apostles encountered many demon possessed people who suffered all kind of symptoms such as raging anger, uncontrollable physical movements, uncontrolled speech, and foaming at the mouth. You can read for yourself about these accounts in the four Gospels and the book of Acts. In none of these accounts do we find that Jesus tormented or physically abused any of the demon possessed people he encountered. He rebuked the demon or demons and commanded them to leave the person's body. It was only the demon who harmed the person's body -- not Jesus and not those who followed him and cast out demons in Jesus' name. 2. Crucifixion in the time of the Romans was a form of capital punishment. Jesus was crucified on our behalf so that we would not have to pay the penalty for sin which is death. In order to receive God's gift of grace and forgiveness for our sins we have only to ask. Nowhere do I find in the New Testament where we need to be punished in order to receive forgiveness or favor from God or to be released from demon possession. If you have something to add or wish to explore this topic further with me please do so in the comments section below or send me an e-mail using the link on the right side of this page. 1 Comments: At June 21, 2005 2:20 PM, Anonymous said... I posted this story at persecutionblog.comThanks for the tip! Any other stories you find that pertain to persecution, please let me know. Stacy L. Harp

But It's a Dry Heat

Not according to Old Spice -- which released its Top 100 Sweatiest Cities List and ranked Phoenix as the nation's top "perspiration producer for the second time in four years."

According to this report "... the average Phoenix resident produced .76 liters of sweat per hour during a typical summer day in 2004 -- more than 2 12-ounce glasses of lemonade. In a two-hour period, residents of Phoenix collectively produced more than enough sweat to equal a 12-ounce glass of lemonade for everyone in the state of Arizona..."

No wonder I don't like lemonade!

2 Comments: At June 19, 2005 7:03 AM, Pastor Jack, Sr. said... Dry heat does not mean you do not sweat, it means the sweat evaporates so you do not feel so sticky. Nor is dry heat as oppressive. Having grown up in the Imperial Vally (formerly known as Earthquake Valley) where it can stay above 110 all night, I do not consider humidity to be low unless it is single digits. Having also spent 10 years in the swamps of Louisanna I can assure you that 110 with very low humidity is to be much prefered to 85 with 95-105% humidity. However, now living in San Diego I must say anything below 65 and above 75 degrees is bad as are humidity levels below 50 or above the middle 70s. O well, living in one of the best climates in the world has its tough times. Hope you all feel sorry for us!

At June 29, 2005 6:28 PM, songstress7 said... Why do you suppose they decided to compare sweat to glasses of lemonade, anyway? I'd think... Gatorade, or something more salty/minerally would be more appropriate.

It's Friday and We Got Cake!

Last night I went online and ordered our groceries and they were delivered this morning. Each time I go on Safeway.com they are offering something new. Not only can you order regular grocery stuff but you can also order from the bakery. We don't eat a lot of deserts around here (yeah right) but when I saw that you can order cake by the slice I could not resist. So along with all the other groceries like bag of salad, bananas, milk, cereal, tortillas, etc. there was cake! Too cute little plastic boxes of white cake (a huge cut of cake actually) with white frosting and purple frosting flowers with green frosting leaves. Yummy! I can't wait until dinner! It's Friday so Norm is taking me on a date to the movies after he makes dinner, of course. I am so lucky -- cake and a date on the same day! Update: (10:09 p.m.): The cake was good and so was the movie "Batman the Beginning."

A Comment to My Post about Terri Schiavo

I thought you might be interested in this comment from Pastor Jack, Sr. on my posts about Terri Schiavo. I'm putting it here because I know most of you may not read the comments section on each entry.

"Having worked in a hospital counseling critically ill and dying people and their families I can assure you that the inability to respond in no way means there is no awareness of what is happening around them nor that they are unable to hear what is being said around them. I have seen people considered, by today’s standard, to be in PVS who later are able to respond tell what went on and what was said. We never discussed a patient’s condition in any negative terms in their hearing. We would however provide encouraging conversation. We live in a world today where modern technology can keep a person "alive" by putting them on a machine that breathes for them and causes their heart to keep beating by electrical stimulus. Once it is determined that there is no hope of a person recovering from this I have no problems with pulling the plug in these situations and in fact have been involved in helping people make these decisions, both families and patients. In these cases I consider that we are simply putting a person into the hands of a loving God and letting Him determine what happens. But food and water is not something that God has provided to be generated automatically in our system. We have to ingest them and when we, or others for us, refuse them we die. One would be considered suicide the other murder. So much for my 2 cents"

Things You Won't Hear in the Mainstream Media About the Autopsy Report

Michelle Malkin has shed more light on the autopsy report on Terri Schiavo. The mainstream media (MSM) has misled us once again. I'll give you a synopsis of Michelle's findings. 1. The autopsy report does not support Michael Schiavo's claim that she had suffered an eating disorder which caused her collapsed in 1991 or that she had suffered a heart attack. 2. This this reflects directly on Michael "Schiavo's credibility regarding his claim that Terri would have wanted to die." 3. While the autopsy report does cast doubts on the Schindler family's believe that Terri suffered a traumatic injury it also notes that without comparing the autopsy record with original bone scans of "no other conclusion can be reasonably made." 4. The report cannot determine when she actually lost her sight. 5. The autopsy report does not prove she was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) although that is what most news articles portray. Not Dead Yet , the disability rights group, sheds more light on this. PVS is a clinical diagnosis not a pathological one which means that it is not determined through an autopsy but rather an opinion by a "medical expert." Not Dead Yet points out that there is no way to really know if someone is conscious and just because there has been significant brain atrophy that is not the same as saying she has no cognitive ability. This is where I find it most interesting -- Stephen Drake, a research analyst for Not Dead Yet, said, "When it comes to the hard science, no qualified pathologist went on the record saying she couldn't think or couldn't experience her own death through dehydration." "Diane Coleman, president and founder of Not Dead Yet, agreed. "The core issues remain the same. Protection of the life and dignity and people under guardianship, and a high standard of proof in removing food and water from a person who cannot express their own wishes. These are issues of great concern to the disability community -- evidenced by the 26 national disability groups that spoke out in favor of saving Terri Schiavo's light over the past few years." I don't think I could've said it better myself! 1 Comments: At June 17, 2005 8:26 AM, Pastor Jack, Sr. said... This is in response to this post and the one previous one on Wed.Having worked in a hospital counseling critically ill and dying people and their families I can assure you that the inability to respond in no way means there is no awareness of what is happening around them nor that they are unable to hear what is being said around them. I have seen people considered, by today’s standard, to be in PVS who later are able to respond tell what went on and what was said. We never discussed a patient’s condition in any negative terms in their hearing. We would however provide encouraging conversation. We live in a world today where modern technology can keep a person "alive" by putting them on a machine that breathes for them and causes their heart to keep beating by electrical stimulus. Once it is determined that there is no hope of a person recovering from this I have no problems with pulling the plug in these situations and in fact have been involved in helping people make these decisions, both families and patients. In these cases I consider that we are simply putting a person into the hands of a loving God and letting Him determine what happens. But food and water is not something that God has provided to be generated automatically in our system. We have to ingest them and when we, or others for us, refuse them we die. One would be considered suicide the other murder. So much for my 2 cents

The Treatment of a Brain-Damaged Woman Versus Prisoners of War at Gitmo

Teri Schiavo's autopsy report was released today. I'm sure you've already heard about it and how the media is saying that it proves she was in a persistent vegetative state and not physically abused -- oh, and she was blind. They just don't get it -- it doesn't matter if her brain was only half the size it should be and she was blind -- you just don't deny a living human being food and water. How ironic that reports of "torture and abuse" of terrorists held as prisoners of war at Gitmo make us look like the bad guys and yet a judge allows a man to deny his wife food and water. I was angry about Teri Schiavo's treatment and I'm still angry about it. It doesn't matter that she was blind or that her brain was half the size it should be. She still deserves food and water. Food and water are not medical treatment -- they are necessities of life for all human beings no matter how we may view their quality of life. I think it's highly possible that Teri Schiavo's brain shrunk because of the lack of stimuli brought on by the fact that her husband placed her in hospice care several years ago and denied her rehabilitative treatment and even disallowed her to go out of her room or spend time outdoors. It may be that she would never recover to the person she once was but that doesn't mean she needs to be locked away and dehydrated. Liberals and the media are judging the way we treat prisoners of war as if we are the same kind of people as Nazi Germany, Hitler, the Pol Pot regime, and Saddam Hussein. Nothing done to those prisoners, who are terrorists who want to kill us, is as bad as anything done to prisoners of war held in Nazi Germany, the Jews of Eastern Europe, prisoners of war held in Vietnam, people living in Iraq during the regime of Saddam, people in China who want to express their religious views and are held by the Chinese government -- I could go on and on. And yet, the same people who are criticizing how we treat terrorist prisoners of war are the very same people who applauded Michael Schiavo and that disgusting man who is his attorney while they tortured Teri Schiavo to death. Yes, I am angry and I sickened by the knowledge that those who are suffering and in need of help because of physical infirmity are treated worse than terrorists! By the way, prisoners of war at Gitmo eat better than prisoners in Sheriff Joe's Maricopa County (Phoenix metro) jail where they serve green bologna and make prisoners wear pink underwear. They have to sleep in tents even when it's 110° here at night. Where is Amnesty International now?

More about Me

When I started my blog back in April I wanted to call it GimpGirl.com but somebody was using that already! As a child I was used to being known as the "crippled girl" or the "girl in the wheelchair." It's my distinguishing characteristic! At least I know people always remember meeting me. My parents get the full credit for both my independent nature and my sense of humor. God gets all the credit for my joyful spirit. Don't get me wrong, I have my moments just like everyone else in which I'm sad or depressed or feeling insecure about any and everything. I don't believe in the myth of the "super crip" who is able to overcome life's hardships. It is God's daily grace that doesn't allow me to stay in pits of despair. For that I am truly thankful. I have Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 2 which is a motor neuron disease. It's one of the muscular dystrophies -- and yes, I was one of "Jerry's Kids." I have had a love-hate relationship with the MDA for a long time. When I was a child they were very helpful by providing summer camps and medical clinics and support for parents. However, as an adult I don't find much benefit from them at all. I feel they have placed all of their efforts into "finding a cure" which I think will never be found in this life. People donate millions of dollars to MDA thinking they are helping people like me when in fact all they're doing is financing grants for doctors to do research. I have seen no benefit of any of that research. If it were up to me I would prefer the money go towards providing equipment that would help make life with a disability better and enable people like myself to be more independent physically. Equipment such as motorized wheelchairs and customized vans and technology for the home environment are extremely expensive. Oh dear, I rolled onto that soapbox again! I have used a wheelchair my entire life. One might consider me a quadriplegic only in that I'm not able to use my arms and legs. I have enough movement in my arms that I can use a computer and write but I'm unable to lift a glass of water or raise my arms above my head. I used to type but now I use speech recognition software but I can still use the mouse. As I have gotten older my limitations have increased. When I was in my 20s I was able to drive a super special modified van that looked like the inside of an airplane cockpit. I drove for about 12 years but I had to give up driving because of my progressed weakness. Modern technology has greatly improved my life. Because of my computer I am able to create and be productive. Those abilities are important because they enhance one's life and provide purpose and usefulness. However, the truth is that even if I could not be creative or productive or even useful my life would still matter. Those who love me would still love me. While technology is a benefit to my life it is really the people in my life that give me a quality life. Without the loving care of my husband and my parents I could not do most of what I do each day. For them I am truly thankful. When I was in high school I wanted to drive so bad. I wanted the independence everyone else had. It took some doing and there was a long struggle but I was able to get a van that I could drive when I was 21. It wasn't long before I realized that if I wanted to go on a date I had to do the driving. You see using a motorized wheelchair makes it impossible to ride in someone else's car. Being a woman it felt awkward to do the driving on a date and I thought in the back of my head (you know that place where you have your dreams) that the man that I would marry one day would already have a van that I could ride in. Be careful what you dream! When I met Norm (which is another story I'll share here one day) he already owned three vans equipped for wheelchair access and he isn't disabled. When he picked me up for our first date and I rode in his van -- well the rest is history! Stay tuned for more. 1 Comments: At August 08, 2005 1:36 AM, Cal Native said... Thanks for sharing your story. I hope I can share your optimism when I feel I have it tough. Your husband has my respect as well.

Parking Lot Gestapo

Norm and I were out doing errands today when he decides we need to visit a photography store one of his video buddies told him about so we can look for some special light kit he is trying to find. It's in an old part of Phoenix and the building we drive up to has a very small parking lot with no handicap parking. Luckily there is a parking space available near the front of the store and so Norm pulls in at an angle so I can exit the van via the ramp on the passenger side. The space is a rather wide one and so we are not taking up two parking spaces like we normally do when handicap parking is not available. We're in the store for about 15 or 20 minutes and there are more than a dozen people in the store. Norm is talking to one of the sales personnel when a woman walks near him and says, "Is that your dark blue minivan out front?" Norm replies, "Yes it is." Then the woman says, "Did you notice how you parked crooked?" Norm impatiently answers, "Yes, I did that on purpose." She then says rather incredulously, "Well is not very nice for everyone else." At this point the woman has not seen me -- or at least I don't think she did -- because Norm is standing in front of me and I cannot see her. He quickly responds, "I had to park that way because my wife uses a wheelchair and..." at which point she walks off with a disgusted huff. I look at Norm and he looks at me and we just shake our heads. At that point we are ready to leave the store and we go out to our van and get in. As we are pulling out of the parking space the lady walks out of the store and goes to her car which is two or three spaces a way from us. Norm acts like he wants to run her over -- but I beg him not to do so as it will only increase our insurance rates. We pull out of the parking lot and are waiting for the light to turn when her car passes us and goes the other way. We notice she has a Kerry bumper sticker and we both laugh. The way we had parked our van was not impeding anyone else's use of the parking lot so I think she got upset about the way we parked because we have a Bush bumper sticker on our van. Either that or people who support Kerry think they have to tell everyone else how to park.

Political Humor

Rosie O'Donnell (a female version of Dean) was supposed to appear on the Sean Hannity show today because she blasted all over Sean while he appeared on "The View" yesterday. How kind of Sean to invite her on his show after the way she screamed at him during his interview. This afternoon Sean announced that Rosie had canceled her appearance on his show. He wants to give her the benefit of the doubt as to why she canceled, but I think something else is going on. Howard Dean calls Rosie O'Donnell and tells her that he is the only one allowed to scream and rant and rave and make a big fool of himself by putting his foot in his mouth on behalf of liberal Democrats. How dare she try and take over his job. Of course she is obligated to cancel her appearance on the Sean Hannity show. By the way, the reason why Howard Dean got elected to the chair of the DNC is simply because of Liberal's misuse of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Howard Dean gets a job because he is mentally and emotionally disabled, i.e., anger management issues. I use a wheelchair, am a conservative Christian white girl with an MBA and I can't get a job! Again an example of Liberals misuse of the ADA. I'm rolling off the soapbox now. 2 Comments: At June 09, 2005 11:01 PM, Norm - the Husband said... Woman, you have a job....Keeping this almost 62 year old man on the straight and narrow..... At June 10, 2005 11:12 AM, Pastor Jack, Sr. said... Have been out of town so have not been able to keep up. Caught up today. Great stuff!!!

Learn the Language First

When I was a kid I attended summer camp for handicapped kids. We had blind kids, deaf kids, kids on crutches and kids like me who use wheelchairs. I learned some sign language so I could communicate with the deaf kids. I thought sign language was pretty cool so I taught my little brother a few signs so we could communicate in public without other people knowing what we were saying. One time we were at a party given by my dad's boss. There were tons of families there and people all over the house and the backyard. I was sitting at a table with my brother and some other people that I did not know. I needed to go to the bathroom but I needed my mother to help me and I could not see her anywhere. Not wanting to embarrass myself by saying out loud to my brother, "Can you go find Mom and tell her I have to go to the bathroom?" I decided to sign my message to him. He got up to go look for her and then the man sitting at the table near me began signing to me. I only knew a little sign language so I did not understand what he was saying to me since he was only using sign and not speaking. I looked at him dumbfounded and said out loud, "What?" He said, "Oh, I saw you signing to your brother and I thought you were deaf." I was so embarrassed when I realized that he understood what I said to my brother about needing to go to the bathroom. Don't ask me why that was embarrassing -- it just is when you are 12 or 13 years old. He introduced himself to me and explained that he was a teacher at a school for the deaf. He turned out to be a really nice man. It took a year to get over my embarrassment! 1 Comments: At June 08, 2005 6:30 PM, sarahk said... yes, at that age, it's really embarrassing. 2 years later, you're yelling out in the hallway at school, "i gotta pee!"

Being a Christian Is so Cool

For the past couple of months I have been reading a devotional on prayer. Jesus gave us a model on how we should pray and so I have been using "The Lord's Prayer" as a guide for my daily prayer time. The devotional booklet I used talked about the importance of the section where he says "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Over the past few weeks I have made a concerted effort to pray for God's kingdom and for my part as a servant of God by asking God to use me for his kingdom. Well, here's the cool part, it's happening. I've always known that it has been happening in my life but most of the time I don't really see how God is using me for his kingdom. Yesterday, a friend called in desperate need of prayer and asked me to pray for him on the phone right then and there. And then today it happened again -- while I was out doing errands -- another person asked me to pray for her right then and there. I think that is so cool! I don't think my prayers are any more special than anyone else's but I am excited when someone asks me to pray for them -- right then and there -- because I know that God created us to serve each other as we serve him. 1 Comments: At June 08, 2005 6:37 PM, sarahk said... it really is great, isn't it?

Words to Live By

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV

See Your High School Photo Online

I learned recently people are scanning their high school yearbooks and uploading them to this site. See if you can find your high school picture.

We Like Freebies

For our Friday night date Norm took me to see Cinderella Man. It was a great movie and I highly recommend it unless you are squeamish about realistic boxing shots. I have to admit I did close my eyes a lot during some of the boxing scenes. It was a wonderful story about people struggling through the Depression Era and the feelings of hope and triumph over adversity that one man brought to his community. While we watched the previews before the film started the projector kept breaking down and we all sat there in the dark as somebody up in the projector booth would get it started again. Sure enough, during the actual film, the projector broke again. This time it took longer to fix so the manager came into the theater and apologized for the inconvenience and said the movie would start up again in a few minutes. Somebody in the audience yelled, "Hey! How about free popcorn for everyone?" The manager yelled back, "Show me your ticket stubs after the movie and I will give you a voucher for another movie." At that point everybody began talking and you could hear people murmuring their excitement over free movie tickets. And, yes, we got ours!

A Deep Deep Throat?

There has been a lot of talk this week about "Deep Throat," a.k.a. Mark Felt, and how he is a hero. I was just a young baby when Nixon was president and I grew up hearing about Watergate and how it was such a horrible scandal and a disgrace to the presidency. I remember talk of "break-ins" and "wiretapping" etc. As a teenager I saw the movie about Chuck Colson and how he became a Christian during the time he was convicted and sent to prison for his role in Watergate and later founded Prison Fellowship Ministries. What I did not know until today was that Chuck Colson was sent to prison for giving one FBI file on Daniel Ellsberg to a newspaper reporter. Wait a minute -- isn't that what Mark Felt did? He leaked the contents of FBI files to Woodward and Bernstein of the Washington Post. So if Mark Felt is a hero then why isn't Chuck Colson? There is an interesting interview with Chuck Colson which you can read here. He said that Mark Felt did not choose the honorable way to handle the situation he was in. Mark Felt was the number 2 man at the FBI and as such he was sworn to uphold the law. There is a good reason it is against the law to divulge FBI files and Mark Felt knew that and that is why his identity as Deep Throat remained a secret until now. Chuck Colson admits that the way he handled the situation was wrong but so was Mark Felt. Mr. Felt should have gone to the director of the FBI with his concerns about a White House cover-up and he should've tried to talk to the president. If neither of those means would have worked then the honorable thing to have done would have been to resign and then make a public statement about his concerns over a White House cover-up. I think it is wrong for people to think that someone is a hero for breaking the law when there are legal means for them to right a perceived injustice. A person of honor and integrity would choose the right thing to do even if it had a negative consequence for themselves. What Mark Felt did was not heroic -- it was criminal. Pat Buchanan has an interesting and humorous column about "Deep Throat" from an insider's viewpoint. You can read it here. (Hat tip: La Shawn Barber) As an aside I want to say that I think it's amazing the good that God brought out of Watergate through the life of Chuck Colson. Through Prison Fellowship God has changed the lives of millions of men and women around the world. Now that's deep!

Don't Tread on Me

I'm sure you've all heard of Campaign Finance Reform which was nothing more than an assault on our free speech rights by maverick Senator John McCain. Even though the Supreme Court upheld it I still believe it's a violation of our First Amendment rights given by the Constitution. To make matters worse the Federal Election Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding political activity on the Internet because of a court ruling that required the FEC to include the Internet in its definition of public communications and to begin regulating activity online. Without getting into all the gory details I will sum it up by saying that there's been quite a bit of concern expressed that these rules regarding campaign finance reform will affect people who blog on political issues and candidates. If you would like more information about this check out www.onlinecoalition.com/blog which talks about the opportunity to comment on the FEC's rulemaking. I signed the online petition today. I also found the McCain-Feingold insurrection blog and by displaying this flag I have joined the insurrection! I declare and assert that my blog is a sacred expression of my First Amendment protected right of free speech and I will say whatever I want regarding our government and anyone who runs for political office. I also declare that I have not been paid by any political organization or campaign and that if I do ever accept funds from the aforementioned I will declare it by public statement on my blog.