ii

buh bye

This is the final entry for Clarity Amidst Chaos. Everything from here on will be posted over at Spare Change. Thanks for coming, and I look forward to the next stage of the adventure.

I thank God upon every remembrance of you.

carnival, christian

The Christian Carnival is up, with many good posts.

Also, too, at the same site, you can take part in a poll to gage what matters in the presidential election.

i'm a mess

According to the Color Quiz, I've got all kinds of baggage. I had no idea.

The results are too detailed to reprint. And depressing.

I'm really more of a glass-half-full type guy.

Thanks to Sarah for the downer! (really, it's okay)

box score

Cotter had his last basketball practice/game this morning. They finally got to play against one another. Kelli reports that my son was the stud of the court! He scored fifteen hoops, while two other kids scored one hoop apiece, and nobody else scored at all. The coach valiantly tried to give everyone a chance to play & score, but by the end of the game, even all the kids were shouting, "Give it to Cotter, he'll make it!"

Yeah, I'm proud....so what about it?!?

Baseball starts tonight.

sung to the tune of headin' out

Just a few more hours until Clarity will be a vacant studio, having moved over to roomier digs.

Update your bookmarks to the new location, which is The home of Spare Change.

It will be a rolling Grand Opening, but we're making progress!

playing church

Church is not a building
It is not a business
It is not a Sunday morning
A Wednesday night

Church is not
A committee
A council
Or even a team

Church is a body
A fellowship
A group of believers
United in purpose, bound by faith

Saved by grace
Worshipping in truth
Loving one another
Serving all

Church is
God-ordained
Christ-focused
Holy Spirit empowered

Anything less is heresy
Anything more is legalism
Quit playing church
And start being it

an honest question

Why isn't this offensive to African Americans?

I can't deride Clinton for this label that other people have placed upon him. And that he comes from Arkansas and now has offices in Harlem, he has an undeniable level of popularity with African Americans (though census reports seem to show that fewer blacks were under the poverty level in 2001, than were in either 94, 96, or 98).

It just seems to be to smack of condescension when the person asking to be the "next black president" hails from Massachusetts (with a total African American population of under a half million), and on his own campaign site, he gives special attention to Native Americans and GLBTs, but not to African Americans.

In fact, it appears his greatest tie to the African American Community is that he married one, albeit one who is decidedly caucasian in her complexion and worth $400 million dollars.

last man standing

To nobody's surprise, Kerry has sealed the deal for his side.

-- Most liberal senator in Congress.
-- 19 years of Gollum-like leadership.
-- Anti-American rhetoric and defunding the military are two of his trademark policies, unless he's actually questioned about them, then he cries about having his patriotism questioned.
-- Apparently served in Vietnam, though you'd never know about it.
-- Has a serious identity crisis, known to repeatedly ask, "Don't you know who I am?"
-- Cannot confidently acknowledge the provision of God's blessings in our history.

Oh yeah...his message is going to resonate.

so what do you think?

Michael sent me a note to let me know he saw my testimony over at mostimportantthing.org

Y'all should take the few minutes necessary to add your own.

And check out some of these videos to remind you that we all still have work to do.

keeps on tickin

The Passion took in another $10 million yesterday....($135 million total)

try the prime rib, its delicious

Cap'n Ed picked my caption as the winner for his contest.

muchos gracias, el capitan!

a friendly reminder

We're living with the end in "site" over here at Clarity Amidst Chaos. The proverbial plug is to be pulled in just 30 or so hours. Then, you'll have to find us under the new Spare Change Banner:



We've got a great team put together to cover a wide range of subjects, and I'm very excited about it.

Tomorrow you'll receive link/blogroll update information.

Thanks for being a part of this!

you have the right to remain stupid

from Mikey:

RULES FOR BANK ROBBERS
According to the FBI, most modern-day bank robberies are "unsophisticated and unprofessional crimes," committed by young male repeat offenders who apparently don't know the first thing about their business. For instance it is reported that in spite of the widespread use of surveillance cameras, 76 percent of bank robbers use no disguise, 86 percent never study the bank before robbing it, and 95 percent make no long-range plans for concealing the loot. Thus, this advice is offered to would-be bank robbers, along with examples of what can happen if the rules aren't followed:

1. Pick the right bank. Clark advises that you don't follow the lead of the fellow in Anaheim, Cal., who tried to hold up a bank that was no longer in business and had no money. On the other hand, you don't want to be too familiar with the bank. A California robber ran into his mother while making his getaway. She turned him in.

2. Approach the right teller. Granted, this is harder to plan. One teller in Springfield, Mass., followed the holdup man out of the bank and down the street until she saw him go into a restaurant. She hailed a passing police car, and the police picked him up. Another teller was given a holdup note by a robber, and her father, who was next in line, wrestled the man to the ground and sat on him until authorities arrived.

3. Don't sign your demand note. Demand notes have been written on the back of a subpoena issued in the name of a bank robber in Pittsburgh, on an envelope bearing the name and address of another in Detroit, and in East Hartford, Conn., on the back of a withdrawal slip giving the robber's signature and account number.

4. Beware of dangerous vegetables. A man in White Plains, N.Y., tried to hold up a bank with a zucchini. The police captured him at his house, where he showed them his "weapon."

5. Avoid being fussy. A robber in Panorama City, Cal., gave a teller a note saying, "I have a gun. Give me all your twenties in this envelope." The teller said, "All I've got is two twenties." The robber took them and left.

6. Don't advertise. A holdup man thought that if he smeared mercury ointment on his face, it would make him invisible to the cameras. Actually, it accentuated his features, giving authorities a much clearer picture. Bank robbers in Minnesota and California tried to create a diversion by throwing stolen money out of the windows of their cars. They succeeded only in drawing attention to themselves.

7. Take right turns only. Avoid the sad fate of the thieves in Florida who took a wrong turn and ended up on the Homestead Air Force Base. They drove up to a military police guardhouse and, thinking it was a tollbooth, offered the security men money.

8. Provide your own transportation. It is not clever to borrow the teller's car, which she carefully described to police. This resulted in the most quickly-solved bank robbery in the history of Pittsfield, Mass.

9. Don't be too sensitive. In these days of exploding dye packs, stuffing the cash into your pants can lead to embarrassing stains, not to mention severe burns in sensitive places--as bandits in San Diego and Boston painfully discovered.

10. Consider another line of work. One nervous Newport, R.I., robber, while trying to stuff his ill-gotten gains into his shirt pocket, shot himself in the head and died instantly. Then there was the case of the hopeful criminal in Swansea, Mass., who, when the teller told him she had no money, fainted. He was still unconscious when the police arrived.

interesting

WSJ BOTW points out a randomly discovered link of Tipper Gore at Yahoo. That she is listed as an enemy of freedom. Following the link takes you to a biographical webpage (apparently an official document from Clinton's days), that gives no other hint on why she has been classified as such.

I'm no fan of the Gore clan, but I personally think Tipper is the greatest thing going for Al.

revised numbers

The Passion passed $125 million for the weekend.

Best Wednesday opening movie ever.

Even better, more people are talking about Jesus than before.

Ahhh...these are good days.

May all the discussion lead to some trusting in Him for salvation.

protecting our borders

At work, the proliferation of viruses has caused our IT watchdogs to quarantine any files with a .zip extension.

This no doubt rocks your world.

rumsfeldisms

I enjoyed this compendium immensely.

My favorites:

Donald Rumsfeld
"We aren't running out of targets; Afghanistan is."

"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty."

"Our task, your task... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction."

a house divided

Tim Blair adroitly reveals the bias at CNN, using its own Gollum-like treatment of unemployment statistics. It's worth the read ---much more interesting than I've made it out to be.

a paradox wrapped in an enigma just for men

This week on The Apprentice, contestants try to solve the mystery of Trump's hair.

the fugitive

Last night, flipping through the channels, we came across The Fugitive. The following is pretty close to actual discussion:

Cotter: Hey, that's Han Solo!
Me: That's right.
Kaylyn: Why is he running?
Me: Because they think he did something bad.
Kaylyn: So Han Solo is a bad guy?
Me: No, he didn't do what they said he did.
Kaylyn: So who did?
Me: A one-armed man.
Cotter: Hey! That's 'K.'
Me: Oh yeah. That's right. Agent K is trying to catch Han Solo.
Cotter: Where's 'J?'
Me: He's not in this movie?
Cotter: Is that singing dog in this one?
Me: No, he's not in this one.
Cotter: Who let the dogs out? Woof woof woof woofwoof woof!
Me (to Kelli): That's a little unrealistic...the Chicago Police would not shoot at him if he was unarmed.
Kaylyn: What do you mean unarmed? He's has two arms. I thought you said a one-armed man was the bad guy. I'm confused!
Me: No...wait...Han Solo...does have two arms....'unarmed' means he doesn't have a weapon.
Kaylyn: Han Solo uses his arms as weapons?
Kelli (to me): I am laughing at you, Professor 'Inside the Actor's Studio.'
Me: Let's see what else is on....

that's gold, jerry!

I've decided to submit my Return of the Kerry submission to this week's carnival of the vanities in honor of the movie's clean sweep at the Oscars (and who else loved M. Moore getting stomped by the war elephant in the opening montage?!?!), and my own conviction that the frighteningly-tall schizophrenic legislator has an evil "I" more dangerous than Sauron.

i passed. do you?

Can you place all fifty states?

According to the quiz, all of Christopher's students should be able to do it...

its official

We no longer have any babies in our home.

Kelsi turns two years old today.

And if you ask her how old she is, she'll either hold up one finger and say "fee," or she'll hold up the international sign for "I love you" and say, "I don't know what to do."

where's lee greenwood when you need him?

You're the United States of America!

In school, you were probably the guy who stuck up for the little guy when nobody else would.  You keep your promises when nobody else will, you hold other people's feet to the fire to do the right thing, and you're awfully proud of yourself.   You're pretty inventive and have a really good sense of justice.  You just never get around to asking others to do their fair share, and you get a lot of flak for your independence.  Incredible potential remains yours to take advantage of.
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

Just so you know, I took this quiz from the perspective of someone who thinks poorly of America, and I changed the text to suit my tastes. I'm thrilled with the results, and I make no apologies!

I love my country!

take two and call me in the morning

Here's a little quiz...match up the Corporate Pharmaceutical with the malady it claims to treat or cure (click on the link to cheat).

1. aranesp
2. viracept
3. symbyax
4. mepron
5. augmentin
6. neumega
7. malarone
8. wellbutrin
9. namenda
10. diflucan
11. crestor
12. gabatril
13. hepsera
14. novantrone
15. kadian
16. bextra
17. oxytrol
18. zoladex
19. caverject
20. phenargan
21. pentassa
22. relpax
23. zemuron
24. femring
25. geodon
26. mucinex



a. lower your cholesterol
b. thinning respiratory expectorant
c. sinusitis
d. erectile dysfunction
e. depression
f. anemia
g. female hormone replacement
h. bipolar depression
i. alzheimer's
j. pain relief
k. neuromuscular anesthesia
l. migraines
m. cattle nutrition
n. HIV
o. yeast infections
p. malaria
q. multiple sclerosis
r. hepatitis b
s. arthritis
t. overactive bladder
u. motion sickness
v. low platelets due to chemotherapy
w. schizophrenia
x. epilepsy
y. chronic bowel disease
z. prostate