In looking back, I honestly think that I would have had more fun with a cougar.

lol ....  They probably are more predictable. My wife and I both are animal lovers. My wife is especially a sucker for a stray cat. At one time we had 25 dogs and 35 cats. I should say they had us.

One of the cats we had was a Guam feral cat or what they called a "Booney Cat" in Guam. Here in the states we used to simply call them alley cats. She was a very small black and gray tabby. We rescued here from the top of a hot transmission of an old car. She was black with dirty oil that had leaked out onto the transmission. It took two days to get all the grease off her. We had her for 15 years. She was queen cat and took nothing from all the bigger cats, even the big Toms bowed to her. Yet she was the gentlest cat when it came to babies both human and kitten/puppies.

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

May the Love of JESUS CHRIST fill your hearts and homes every day until HE comes to take us home.

Praise The Lord!

Merry Christmas to all!

My family has had oodles of cats in the past. For the most part Beps I must agree, they are a vicious lot. I had one though that was almost human. It followed me everywhere. It ignored anyone calling "kitty kitty". If I was working in the garden it was there on my shoulder watching. When I worked on the car it would get up on the front quarter panel and watch me. It wouldn't eat cat food, instead it had to eat what I was eating. Tomatoes was its favorite food. This cat refuse to use the litter box. Instead it got up on the commode and used it like a human. I only wished it had learned to flush the toilet.  

I am glad that you all are back. It got to quiet and somewhat boring with everyone gone. I am glad though that everyone had a great time with their families.

My kids and grandkids are all right here in the same town with me so I get to see them frequently. I did spend several hours with them on Thanksgiving but I had to go home for a rest after that as it pretty well wore me out.

In fact I had all the grandkids over here just today. It is great to have them around.

Congratulations!!

Hi Terri,

This has just been a small portion of what gripes me. The ACLU and other groups that are in association with them are doing all they can to take Christ/God out of our public. Even to the point of changing history in our American history books. If you look in the "Parenting" or "Politics and Political Issues" you will see that I am not hesitant in the least to preach against them and to get the truth out.

It tears at my heart to see children do not know of our Christian heritage and only know the lies that these people want them to know. You will also see many groups that I have listed and what they are doing to fight against this abomination.

Where is the ACLU for Christians?

They are the primary ones fighting against us and then boldly saying that they are not.

Hi air,

Glad to hear you had a good time with your daughter and that everyone is safe.

Haven't heard anything from Bronzesnake or his family. My brother is doing fine. Thank you for asking.

Experts: Next Hurricane Season Likely to be as Active
By VOA News
30 November 2005

The busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record ends Wednesday, but forecasters say next year's season could be just as active.

Since the season began June 1, a record 26 storms have achieved wind speeds high enough to be classified as tropical storms.  The latest, tropical storm Epsilon, formed in the Atlantic Tuesday.  Thirteen of those 26 reached hurricane force.

Three hurricanes: Katrina, Rita and Wilma -- temporarily became Category Five storms, featuring winds of at least 249 kilometers per hour.  All three weakened before making landfall.

Experts say Katrina was responsible for the deaths of some 1,300 people as well as tens of billions of dollars' worth of property damage.  It wiped out some Gulf Coast towns and left at least 80 percent of New Orleans under water.

Some experts say this year's severe storm activity is part of an active cycle that will last more than a decade.  Others contend it is the result of global warming.

Economy Grows at Robust Pace Despite Storms

WASHINGTON (AP) - The economy grew at a lively 4.3 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in more than a year. The performance offered fresh testimony that the country's overall economic health managed to improve despite the destructive force of Gulf Coast hurricanes.

The new snapshot of economic activity, released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, showed the growth at an even faster pace than the 3.8 percent annual rate first reported for the July-to-September quarter a month ago.

The upgraded performance reflects more brisk spending by consumers and businesses as well as more robust investment on residential projects than initial estimates revealed.

"In anybody's book this is an outstanding performance for the economy," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

On Wall Street, the positive report gave stocks a lift. The Dow Jones industrials gained 28 points and the Nasdaq was up 7 in morning trading.

The third-quarter's showing marked a sizable pickup from the 3.3 percent increase in gross domestic product registered in the second quarter of this year.

GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is the best barometer of the nation's economic standing.

The 4.3 percent growth rate matched the performance posted in the first quarter of 2004. The last time economic activity was higher was in the third quarter of 2003, when the GDP soared at a blistering 7.2 percent pace.

The upwardly revised reading for GDP in the third quarter also exceeded the expectations of business analysts. Before the report was released, they were forecasting the economy to clock in at a 4 percent pace.

Consumers and businesses did their part to keep the economy rolling - even as they coped with elevated energy prices during the third quarter.

The lifeblood of the economy, consumer spending, grew at a sprightly 4.2 percent pace in the third quarter, stronger than the 3.9 percent growth rate previously estimated. The new figure marked the fastest pace in consumer spending since the final quarter of 2004.

Businesses boosted spending on equipment and software at a 10.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter. That was better than the 8.9 percent growth rate first estimated for the period and close to the 10.9 percent growth rate seen in the second quarter.

Investment in housing construction and other residential projects grew at a brisk 8.4 percent pace in the third quarter. That was up considerably from the 4.8 percent growth rate initially estimated but was down from the 10.8 percent pace registered in the second quarter.

An inflation gauge tied to the GDP report showed prices rising at a 3.6 percent rate in the third quarter, slightly less than initially estimated for the period.

When food and energy prices are excluded, "core" inflation- which the Federal Reserve watches closely - actually moderated. Core inflation rose at a rate of 1.2 percent in the third quarter, a tad less than first estimated and down from a 1.7 percent pace in the second quarter.

The good news on the economy, however, hasn't helped President Bush's approval ratings in polls, which have sunk to some of the lowest levels of his presidency.

While the overall economy has weathered fallout from the hurricanes well, the labor market has felt more deeply the devastation from the storms.

Employment in September declined for the first time in two years; In October payrolls grew by just 56,000 - an anemic performance.

When the government's new employment report for November is released Friday, many economists are forecasting a healthy rebound, with the economy adding more than 200,000 jobs during the month.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues, at their Nov. 1 meeting, said the hurricanes only "temporarily depressed" employment and production and that rebuilding efforts would energize activity going forward.

Mayland and other economists believe the economy in the October-to-December quarter will grow at a pace of around 4 percent.

More worried about the prospects of inflation flaring - rather than any serious business slowdown - in the wake of the hurricanes, the Fed opted to boost interest rates in November and signaled another rate increase was likely at its next meeting, Dec. 13.

Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in late August, with Rita following in late September. Those storms, which battered crucial oil and gas facilities, choked off commerce and destroyed businesses, sent energy prices skyward and fanned inflation fears.

After Katrina, energy prices surged to record highs. Oil prices shot up past $70 a barrel in late August and gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon. They have moderated since then. That's helping to lift consumer confidence along with retailers' hopes for a brighter holiday sales season.

Meanwhile, a measure of corporate profits tied to the GDP report showed after-tax profits falling by 3.7 percent in the third quarter from the prior quarter, reflecting the impact of the hurricanes. Over the year, however, profits are up a healthy 9.4 percent.

Huge natural gas field 'discovered' in Texas
Major energy firms seeing benefit in developing domestic sources
Posted: November 30, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Though it's been in production for nearly 25 years, a huge natural gas field in Texas is now drawing the attention of major energy companies – but only after independent operations proved its worth.

Fort Worth, Texas, is built on top the Barnett Shale natural gas field, a field so vast that the U.S. Geological Service estimates it contains some 26 trillion cubic feet of yet-to-be-discovered natural gas. Estimates are that as much as 160 billion cubic feet of natural gas are in place per square mile in the Barnett Shale formation. The Barnett Shale field is the largest gas-producing field in Texas, covering some 15 counties in the northern part of the state. The core area comprises about 120,000 net acres that stretch north from Fort Worth to the western outskirts of Denton.

The field was undiscovered until 1981 when independent Mitchell Energy drilled the first well. The largest operator in the Barnett Shale field is Devon Energy Corporation, one of America's largest and most successful independent oil and natural gas companies, headquartered in Oklahoma City. In January 2002, Devon completed the acquisition of the field's pioneer, Mitchell Energy. Today, Devon operates more than 1,700 wells into the Barnett Shale core area, wells that today produce more than 550 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

According to Brian Engel, manager of public affairs for Devon, the company's success in large part derives from developing a light sand, water fracturing technology that permits efficient natural gas exploration from the field.

"The Barnett Shale formation," says Mr. Engel, "has rightfully emerged as the largest natural gas field in Texas and one of the most important natural gas fields in the nation."

Now that the independents have proven Barnett Shale to be hugely productive, major companies including ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell have moved in to buy up production rights.

"It makes sense," explained Tom Biracree, senior financial editor with John S. Herold Inc., an energy research and investment valuation firm based in Norwalk, Conn. "The industry is seeing a decided trend moving toward the development of on-shore natural gas resources in the continental U.S."

Why? "It's an economic market play," explained Biracree. "With the price of natural gas at $10 per thousand cubic feet, not $2, it becomes very attractive for the major industry players to focus more attention on exploring for natural gas right here at home."

Biracree continued, "Developing natural gas resources in the continental U.S. also permits the major companies to avoid the political risk of working overseas. The rules of the game don't change here like they can when you're dealing with a foreign government."

Biracree noted that the industry is learning today how to explore deeper and extract more natural gas profitably from what, in years past, were considered riskier enterprises.

"We have growing expertise in the technologies which make extraction of natural gas from shale profitable," said Biracree. "Besides, today the demand for natural gas is growing in the United States and the market has established very attractive prices. It's the same principle why Wal-Mart trucks in snow shovels in a snow storm." In other words, opportunities like Barnett Shale are market-driven.

Technically, the U.S. Geological Survey describes the Barnet Shale formation as the "Greater Newark East Frac-Barrier Continuous Barnett Shale Gas Assessment Unit." The rock is identified as a Mississippian formation, dating back some 330 million years. Geologists describe the formation as "source rock" or "reservoir rock," assuming that the organic material in the metamorphic shale has morphed into the "kerogen" traditionally assumed as needed to produce natural gas.

Barnett Shale is deeply fractured, with fissures that tended to be sealed by calcium carbonate. The field went undiscovered until Mitchell Energy experimented with employing large gel fracture methods to open the wells to natural gas. The full potential of the field waited for the light sand, water fracture technology developed by Devon Energy Corporation, a technology that fractures the shale so the natural gas can be extracted. The Barnett Shale formation lies at a depth of between 1 to 2 miles below the surface, with the shale running some 400 to 500 feet thick.

Commented Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., co-author of "Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil": "With the field only discovered in 1981, the Barnett Shale natural gas resources were not known when Shell Oil geologist M. King Hubbert started worrying about 'peak production.' With natural gas resources this abundant, we can be reasonably assured there remains a large quantity of natural gas to be extracted at home, right on the continental U.S. That abundance should be apparent even to those who want to maintain the doctrinaire position that the Barnett Shale natural gas is organic in nature."

Another school
censoring Christmas?
Teachers reportedly prohibited from wearing pins, using C-word
Posted: November 30, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Teachers at a Georgia elementary school reportedly were told to nix any religious pins and refrain from referring to a party as a "Christmas" party, while the local district has censored certain religious Christmas songs from its "winter" program.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a religious-liberties law group, wrote a letter to the district yesterday informing the Jackson County School System in Jefferson, Ga., that it stands on shaky constitutional ground due to its actions.

"Frankly, it's ridiculous that we're even discussing whether it's OK to say 'Merry Christmas.' I'm sure just about everyone would rather have a merry Christmas than a meaningless winter holiday," said ADF senior legal counsel David Cortman in a statement.

Cortman penned the letter to the chairman of the board of education and the superintendent of the school district. According to ADF, the letter was written on behalf of a teacher in the after-school program at Benton Elementary School.

The district has reportedly prohibited teachers from wearing "any pins, angels, crosses, clothing" that contain any religious connotation or affiliation, referring to any party as a "Christmas" party, or displaying a Bible in their rooms. ADF says the district has also removed certain religious Christmas songs from a "winter" concert and censored the word "God" from another song.

"Jackson County school officials are attempting to prohibit teachers from expressing any religious aspect of Christmas," Cortman stated in the letter. "Classroom decorations may no longer include nativity scenes and angels. Jackson County has gone so far as to prohibit the common greeting 'Merry Christmas,' and also now refers to the Christmas break as 'Winter Break.'"

Says the attorney: "Many school districts aren't trying to be difficult; they simply don't know the facts about the law. The fear, disinformation and intimidation that the ACLU and other groups like them have promoted over the years with regard to religious expression on public property at Christmastime have led to such misconceptions. ADF desires to educate schools, teachers, and students on the truth about what the law really says."

As part of ADF's Christmas Project, attorneys allied with the organization have contacted more than 9,100 school districts nationwide this year to inform them of what is constitutionally protected religious expression at Christmastime.

[A step in restoring Christian America?]

Louisiana hails Judge Moore-inspired bill
Act would prevent courts from ruling on acknowledgement-of-God issues
Posted: November 30, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Ron Strom
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

The Louisiana Legislature has approved a resolution urging Congress to pass the Constitution Restoration Act, a bill that would prohibit federal courts from ruling in cases involving government officials who acknowledge God "as the sovereign source of law, liberty or government."

During a special session this month to address Katrina recovery issues, Sen. Mike Smith, a Democrat, introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 30, which passed the body by a 34-0 vote. The measure passed the state House by acclamation.

The first of its kind in the nation, the resolution finds that "… the federal judiciary has overstepped its constitutional boundaries and ruled against the acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty and government by local and state officers and other state institutions, including state schools. …"

The measure urges Congress to pass the Constitution Restoration Act of 2005, saying that by doing so lawmakers would be "protecting the ability of the people of Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in public places, to express their faith in public, to retain God in the Pledge of Allegiance, to retain 'In God We Trust' as our national motto, and to use Article III, Section 2.2 of the United States Constitution to except these areas from the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court."

As WorldNetDaily reported, the legislation, H.R. 1070 and S. 520, sponsored in the House by Rep Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and in the Senate by Sen Richard Shelby, R-Ala., was birthed in the aftermath of the ouster of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was sanctioned by the courts for acknowledging God by way of a Ten Commandments monument in the state's judicial building. Moore, now a Republican candidate for governor, is a constituent of both lawmakers and was instrumental in drafting the measure.

Touted by some supporters as one of the most important pieces of legislation in U.S. history, the bill states:

    The Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an element of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official personal capacity), by reason of that element's or officer's acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.

The legislation also addresses what many high-court watchers consider a dangerous trend: Supreme Court justices looking to foreign law and rulings for guidance when deciding cases. States the bill:

    In interpreting and applying the Constitution of the United States, a court of the United States may not rely upon any constitution, law, administrative rule, Executive order, directive, policy, judicial decision, or any other action of any foreign state or international organization or agency, other than the constitutional law and English common law.

Under the bill, any judge who violates the proposed rule by making "extrajurisdictional" decisions will have committed an offense that is grounds for impeachment.

The House version currently has 44 co-sponsors, while the Senate bill has eight.

Retired Judge Darrell White, who lives in Baton Rouge, La., and is founder of Retired Judges of America, praised the Legislature's action, highlighting on his blog a recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League showing that 64 percent of the American people believe religion is "under attack," and 53 percent say religion as a whole is "losing its influence in American life."

Wrote White in a op-ed piece published in the Baton Rouge Advocate: "[The Constitution Restoration Act] – the ACLU's worst nightmare – would eliminate Michael Newdow as a topic of conversation. We should have done it a generation ago."

A step in restoring Christian America?

Who owns
your kids?
Parents ask full 9th Circuit Court to rehear school sex-survey case
Posted: November 30, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Seven California parents filed a petition with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside its controversial decision declaring they had no right to be "exclusive providers of information about sexual matters."

Ruling on a complaint against a sexually charged student survey, the three-judge panel concluded Nov. 2 parents "have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students."

With the new filing, the parents are requesting that the case be reheard before the full panel of judges.

Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Florida-based Liberty Counsel, which represents the parents, said the 9th Circuit's ruling "strips parents of their constitutional rights to protect their children."

"This ruling is an assault on every parent whose child attends public school," he said. "Parents do not cease being parents when their child walks through the schoolhouse gate."

There is no set timetable for the 9th Circuit to rule on the petition, Staver noted.

The petition says that if the Fields v. Palmdale School District ruling stands, the public schools must come with a warning that, with the exception of treason, "the school has absolute authority to teach whatever it decides, no matter how objectionable or inappropriate, to any child, at any age, at any time, in any manner."

Questions in the survey, which was conducted in class, included asking children as young as 7 years old about the frequency of:

    * Touching my private parts too much

    * Thinking about having sex

    * Thinking about touching other people's private parts

    * Thinking about sex when I don't want to

    * Washing myself because I feel dirty on the inside

    * Not trusting people because they might want sex

    * Getting scared or upset when I think about sex

    * Having sex feelings in my body

    * Can't stop thinking about sex

    * Getting upset when people talk about sex

Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the the unanimous opinion for the court [pdf file]:

    We agree [with the previous ruling], and hold that there is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children, either independent of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children or encompassed by it. We also hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students.

The controversy began in 2001 when a volunteer "mental health counselor" at Mesquite Elementary School set out to conduct a psychological assessment test of students in the first, third and fifth grades.

A letter to parents asked for their consent to conduct the study but did not indicate that questions of a sexual nature would be asked. The survey included 79 questions divided into four parts. Ten of those questions were of a sexual nature.

According to the court's opinion, the plaintiffs took action after their children participated in the survey and later told their parents about the sexual questions. Seeking damages and injunctive relief, the parents charged the district violated their federal constitutional right to privacy.

 Rabbi: Disengage from State

In new book, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe says Israel should be replaced with ‘true Kingdom of David,’ calls on followers to refrain from praying for Jewish state’s wellbeing. ‘We are now in exile,’ he says
Efrat Weiss

A prominent Jewish messianist has called for religious Jews to disengage from the State of Israel due to the evacuation of Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip last summer.

 
In a new book entitled "Between Light and Darkness," Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, a leader of the Chabad Chassidic sect that believes its chief rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the messiah, says religious Jews should view the secular government as an "administrative body, like the British government who controlled Israel before the country’s establishment.

 
Wolpe also says, "The religious Zionist public should prove that the State is unholy, and cannot serve as a means for achieving salvation. It must not pray for the country's wellbeing. We are now in exile and are waiting for the kingdom of the house of David."

 
Wolpe's call represents a sharp change from traditional Chabad-Lubavich thinking and match similar calls by some segments of the national-religious community to disengage from the State in reaction to the Gaza disengagement. While Chabad, like most ultra-orthodox groups, has always been reticent about secular Zionism, group members serve in the army and have rejected insular approach of other orthodox groups in favor of engaging the secular world in order to encourage Jews to observe the mitzvoth, or commandments

 

Sharon a 'false Messiah'

 
The cover of "Between Light and Darkness" carries a picture of the lit Temple's Menorah, and underneath it a darkened picture of the Knesset's building.

 
In the book itself, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is referred to as a "false Messiah" and as Haman, the historic nemesis of the Jewish people.

 
The bulk of the book is dedicated to the disengagement plan and to the uncertainties it spurred within the religious Zionist public.

 
"So many prayers were said from the bottom of the heart in the last year, in a bid to prevent the eviction and destruction," Wolpe writes. "The heart must wonder, why did God do this to this land? How is it possible that such a wicked man like the prime minister was able to jump over so many political hurdles, until he achieved his goal, the crime of the withdrawal" he asks, and answers:

 
"It is we that gave him the power. We determined that him, his state and his government are the beginning of our salvation. We blessed him before an open bible every Saturday. With such powers, it is no wonder that the false messiah storms forward without stopping, while taking his devotees and the rest of the Israeli people down to the abyss with him."

 
‘Replace Israel with true Kingdom of David’

 
According to Wolpe, the pullout was a sign from God that there is no relation between the existence of the democratic state and salvation, and that the religious public should therefore cease to believe in the holiness of the State and its institutions.

 
Referring to the religious Zionist teens who forcefully attempted to prevent the disengagement, Wolpe writes that "the Orange youth prays only for one thing: That the current rule, which is called 'the State of Israel' is abolished and replaced with the true Kingdom of David."

 
In the post-pullout period, Wolpe's ideas are not a rare sight among the rightist public. In a conference held in Jerusalem a few days ago, the participants wholeheartedly supported the principles expressed in the book, and thousands danced to the words of the song, "we do not believe in the rule of the heretics, and disregard their laws."

 

Hi Praise1,

Welcome to Christians Unite. I am one of those other grandparents that Brother Tom mentioned. I have three grandchildren now with a set of twins on the way.

I look forward to seeing more of your posts also.