THE FROGS VS. THE CLOGS

Things are so bad in The Netherlands as they bend over backwards to accomodate violent Muslims, even the French are calling them cowards.

Come on guys, cowboy up!

After all these years and dollars of leading the way in extravagant programs and being imitated all over the country, Willowcreek Church had done a study and realized that all those programs did not result in more mature Christians.

I feel vindicated.

Who knew? There are Aggies in Wisconsin. See: www.bootsandsabers.com.

I wonder if their Inbox is full of "Fire Fran" stuff like mine is.

Here are some little known facts about Texas:

1. Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles

2. Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles

3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas

4. World's first rodeo was in Pecos, July 4, 1883.

5. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water.

6. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach for Rice University in Houston.

7. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America.

8. Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only
remaining flock of whooping cranes.

9. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson (that's the name of the town) in 1978.

10. The worst natural disaster in U.S. history was in 1900 caused by a hurricane in which over 8000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

11. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston.."

12. King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island.

13. Tropical Storm Claudette brought a US rainfall record of 43" in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July 1979.

14. Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY (known as Constitution of 1845 by Republic of Texas to enter the union) instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the US flag, and may divide into 5 States.

15. A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.

16. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

17. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period after Dr in Dr Pepper.

18. Texas has had six capital cities:

1. Washington-on-the-Brazos
2. Harrisburg
3. Galveston
4. Velasco
5. West Columbia
6. Austin

19. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington DC (by 7 feet).

20. The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning friends. Tejas is not Spanish for Texas.

21. The State animal is the Armadillo. (An interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies! They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females. Well, I thought it was interesting anyway).

22. The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.

As conservatives struggle with the current crop of candidates, evangelicals have really stsruggled trying to find someone who represents their ideas and beliefs and has a chance to win. All the while, in the back of their minds, the idea haunts that the wrong choice results in the Socialist Republic of Hillary.

Mark Demoss has decided to work for Mitt Romney. Many evangelicals have a hard time with Romney's Mormonism. I do,too. While he has many conservative ideals, you have to wonder if evangelical endorsement will not result in further maintreaming Mormonism and further confusing our post-Christian culture as to the real meaning of Christianity.

Demoss answers some of the questions, for himself, in an article in Time Magazine. You can read it online here.

Here is the money quote: But I concluded that I am more concerned that a candidate shares my values than he shares my theology."

I'm not sure I can do that.

Dan Phillips has a good post concerning the Republican candidates. If the leading man alienates 27% of the voters, why should the voters adapt, rather than the candidate withdraw? Good point.

ONE OF THOSE "THIS DAY IN HISTORY DEALS"

On this date, in 1635, the Massachusetts Bay Colony banished Roger Williams, finding him guilty of spreading new and dangerous opinions. Williams preached religious tolerance in the sense that the government should not enforce religious views. The leaders of the Colony called his views “Satan’s policy”.

The theological dispute concerned the first “table” of the Ten Commandments. The leaders of the colony felt it was the duty of the civil government to enforce all of the commandments, including the first table. That meant heretics were tried under civil law. Williams maintained they should only enforce the second table. Governor John Winthrop, ancestor of John Kerry, noted the judicial proceedings in his journal.

Williams left the Colony and bought land from the Narragansett Indians upon which he and his followers established a settlement called Providence.

Williams was an English Puritan who came to America hoping for religious freedom. He was a Separatist. He wanted the Puritans to break with the Church of England, the national church of Great Britain. He came to America to avoid arrest in England.

Williams is credited by many with establishing the first Baptist church in America. Southern Baptists often claim him as a supporter of separation of church and state, except when they are interfering with the operation of the state. Williams considered himself a friend to the Indians, but he did not try to convert them to Christianity.

Williams began to call himself a Baptist, but, like many Baptists today, he didn’t stay one. Later he called himself a "seeker". I haven’t researched to see if this is where the “seeker friendly” service started. But, he certainly became a forerunner of the nondenominational Christian.

Williams prevailed in the long run. At least his ideas did. None of the commands of the first table are now enforced in civil law. Only three of the commands of the second table (murder, theft and perjury)are enforced by civil law. Williams was the first to use the term "wall of separation" between Church and State. Thomas Jefferson later appropriated the term for his letter to the Danbury Baptists. Lots of people today think it is in the Constitution, but it is not.

Williams is also know in connection with Anne Hutchinson. Men in the Colony held meetings on policy and theology to which women were not admitted. (Modern Baptists call those deacon's meetings.) Hutchinson held meetings at her house where women were included. They often discussed theology and often expressed views opposed to those of the leaders. Governor Winthrop had Hutchinson exiled from the colony. Where did she go? She went to join the settlement of Roger Williams, who tolerated religious varieties. Hutchinson was later captured and killed by Indians.

Maybe Williams should have tried to convert them.

If you go here and click on the pink button, a sponsor will pay for a mammogram for someone who cannot afford it. You can donate without spending money, a Scotsman's dream.

TRAVELING HAS ITS DISADVANTAGES

Colorado was wonderful, but you do see some weird things on the road.

The English may have a better grip on environmental reality than Americans. A court in England ruled that Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth is not appropriate for schools because it is politically biased and contains serious scientific errors and partisan political views. I think I might like this judge. He further ruled that schools must give a warning before they show the film about global warming.

I think the warning should be “Al Gore emits more gas than the rest of the civilized world combined”.

Alexander Tyler, Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh in the 1700s:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."