I just wanted to take the time to sing the praises of my favorite worship album Adoration: Worship Album by the Newsboys. I truly love this CD and it is consistently the one CD that is in or near my computer at all times. I love every single song on this album and it’s so easy to get wrapped up in- before you even realize it, you’ve listened to the whole CD. In fact, I often listen to this CD over and over for hours (Richard can attest to this, lol). It relaxes me and immediately helps me focus on positive things and on worshiping God even when I’m having a bad day. It’s great Christian contemporary worship and has a great mix of both fast and slow songs. I highly recommend this album for any Christian to purchase.

Well I haven’t posted in a couple of days because I have been consumed with preparations for my Fairfield County Right to Life meeting this morning. We had a lot to cover and not an incredible amount of time to cover it all in and unfortunately I had to rush through the end of the meeting. Over all though I think it went pretty good and we have a solid direction for our next couple of months if not the next couple of years.

I am happy though that Michael Schiavo has not been allowed to starve his ‘wife’ Terri though…..unfortunately I have to end that sentence with the word ‘yet’. Her parents have been granted a stay for a few weeks to pursue some of their appeals one of which is the denial of her religious rights as she is a Catholic and this would be what the Pope calls “euthanasia by omission”. Michael Schiavo maintains that he only has his ‘wife’s’ best interests at heart. I say ‘wife’ as I don’t know if I would consider it much of a marriage when he has lived with another woman for many years and has fathered two children with that woman. It has been said that he is engaged to this woman, so please tell me if these facts as well as the following list sound like someone who has Terri’s best interests at heart:

* Michael has provided Terri with no therapy or rehabilitative treatment since 1991 and no tests since 1993.

* Terri’s teeth have not been cleaned since 1995 and she had 5 teeth extracted in 2004 as a result.

* Terri has been prohibited by Michael from going outdoors since 2000. She is not allowed to have music or flowers and cards and holiday decorations are taken down soon after the Schindler family puts them up.

* Michael has routinely denied Terri’s parents medical information, violating a court order and they were taken off approved visitor lists for a total of 8 months from 2001 through 2004.

* Michael has frequently prohibited a Catholic priest from visiting Terri and offering her a blessing or communion.

* Michael melted down Terri’s wedding ring to have one made for himself and had her cats euthanized even though the Schindlers offered to care for them.

To read more about the Terri Schindler-Schiavo case visit Life News and Terri’s Fight.

I have to admit that I think the stress in our lives is finally catching up with me. I have been really irritable lately and during an issue this morning Mindi told me my face turned the color of my red/purple shirt I had on.

It’s pretty easy to get to where I am at, so I am trying to relax a little bit more. We’re really busy with right to life and Shrapnel and then I seem to be involved in everything at work.

I’m hoping we can take some time off an go to someplace that has warped backwards into the 19th century for a few days ;).

Barring another stay from a judge, Terri Schiavo could be starved to death by her husband as early as tomorrow evening. Terri’s parents have been fighting a battle to keep their daughter alive by not removing her feeding tube for years now and unless someone steps in, Michael Schiavo will be allowed to remove her feeding tube tomorrow. She is said to be in a ‘persistent vegetative state’ but she is anything but a vegetable as she makes sounds and attempts to communicate with her parents and other.

Michael Schiavo has refused to give Terri rehabilitative treatment for many of the years since she had the trauma that caused this condition, a trauma that many people believe may have been at the hands of her husband. Unfortunately there is no proof and many people think that the reason Michael doesn’t want her to have rehabilitation is for fear what she might say if she recovers. Michael also has refused to give Terri proper medical care for years including not allowing the doctors to do simple things like treating her for multiple infections over the years or give her a swallow test to see if she could in fact eat on her own. Michael has been living with another woman for some years now and has her children, but he will not divorce Terri and let the care for her transfer to her parents. On top of all of this, Michael would stand to inherit the money left over in an account set aside to take care of Terri’s medical bills that she was awarded during a court case.

I would think that the fact that he is living with another woman and has had children with her would be enough to declare a conflict of interest and Terri awarded a court appointed guardian PERMANENTLY to protect her interests, but amazingly no judge has taken away permanent guardianship from Michael Schiavo. Terri needs a miracle to stop her husband from starving her to death tomorrow, I hope everyone says a prayer for her who reads this.

http://www.terrisfight.org/

On February 1st, I told you about a case of Eminent Domain abuse in St. Louis. In that story I also told you of another cause of Eminent Domain abuse in Connecticut and that case is set to be reviewed by the Supreme Court starting tomorrow. Eminent Domain is a practice that allows a person’s property to be condemned and the land converted for a greater “public use.” It has traditionally been employed to eliminate slums, or to build highways, schools or other public works. The Supreme Court last addressed the issue in 1954, allowing private property to be seized in so-called distressed or blighted neighborhoods. Since then, various lower courts have said the mere opportunity to create jobs or generate tax revenue is enough to apply eminent domain.

This is the justification that the city of New London, Connecticut who has given, via Eminent Domain, nearly 100 properties to a developer to build offices, condos, hotel complex, conference center and an aquarium on the property so that they can get more tax revenue. Homeowners argued that since their neighborhood is neither a slum nor crime-ridden, it does not meet legal standards for application of eminent domain. The Supreme Court will in essence decide whether governments can forcibly seize homes and businesses, for private economic development. Legal analysts said they see the case as having major implications nationwide in property rights and redevelopment issues.

Every homeowner or future homeowner should pay close attention to what decision comes down from the Supreme Court and what implications that decision has on your property rights.

The last two weeks have just been insane. I have had a ton of training at work, which is great, but most of it is on first shift so my sleep cycle is just gone. Mindi and I have gotten a lot done for Shrapnel and for our other web projects but it’s been stressful while being fun.

I am looking forward to getting back on a somewhat normal schedule and I am excited at how much progress I have made in a lot of areas in my life lately.

Mindi and I had a nice candlelit dinner for Valentines and watched The Notebook, which was an incredibly moving movie.

Actually Mindi and I have had a lot of talks lately about the last 10 years of our married lives. We have had our ups and downs but we both know we were meant for each other and that God is guiding our steps to something we can’t yet see. I am looking forward to the day when all of our dreams are realized.

Kind of of rambling hmm? Well I’m in that kind of mood :P.

Well time to sign off….

Indiana is trying to chip away at abortion in their state through over a half dozen legislative bills. The bills focus on everything from abortion mill medical regulations to informing women looking for an abortion of the severe pain their unborn child will feel. To read more about the bills before the Indiana Congress, go here.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but yet another woman has been taken to the hospital from George Tiller’s abortion mill. This will make two from the last month and a half. The first woman died of complications and the signs don’t look the best for this woman either. We still don’t know her status and the emergency management office is refusing to give out public records of the 911 call which is illegal.

See the story here.

(AgapePress) - All charges have been dropped against four Christians who were arrested in October for sharing the gospel at a pro-homosexual event in Philadelphia. Charges pending against a minor who was also arrested at the time are expected to be dismissed as well.

Last fall, Philadelphia police arrested 11 Christians as they were taking part in street witnessing on a public sidewalk at a “gay pride” event. Charges were dropped against six of the believers in January, but the four adults and one juvenile — all members of the group Repent America — faced serious charges under Philadelphia’s “hate crimes” laws. Those five were charged with criminal conspiracy, “ethnic intimidation,” and riot. In a case that brought national attention, each of the five faced as much as 47 years in prison if convicted.

Now charges have been dropped against the four adults. On Thursday (February 17), Court of Commons Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe dismissed the charges, ruling that peaceful expressive activities like those of the Christian demonstrators are fully protected by the First Amendment. She also stated that prosecutors were unable to make even a minimal showing of any criminal conduct.

To read the full story including information about their federal lawsuit against the city for trying to suppress the first amendment please go here.

Earlier this month, legislation was introduced to remove the wording that was added back in November 2002 when ‘actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity’ were added. Back when the wording was added, legislators and other opponents warned then that the law could be used against the First Amendment rights of Christians, a charge sponsors adamantly denied was the intent. Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania even recalls one of the measure’s supporters accusing opponents of having “an active imagination,” and saying the bill was about “thugs, hooligans, murderers, and blood in the street,” not about infringing on the rights of Christians.

That was until the pro-homosexual Outfest event in October 2004, when the “ethnic intimidation” charge against the arrested Christians was drawn from Act 143. Gramley says opponents of the measure now have the proof they need — and 17 of them have co-sponsored House Bill 204.

To read more about the bill go here.

A Pennsyvania abortion practitioner is being charged with practicing without malpractice insurance, giving expired drugs to patients, letting unlicensed staff administer drugs, failing to check his patients’ ages and identities, and performing abortions without a licensed registered nurse. Furthermore, Harvey Brookman has been cited by the Pennsylvania Department of State for unprofessional conduct and negligence. Upon further review, Brookman wasn’t even licensed to offer medical services to the public as his license currently is such that he can only perform medical care for himself and his family! He had surrendered his license in NJ in 1996 and NY revoked his license that same year. Pennsylvania suspended his license the year before that! But yet he was allowed to preform abortions in that state for years before he was finally found out! He is also being sued by a woman who says she was injured during an abortion in 2002. Oh yeah pro-death camp, abortion is safe. /sarcasm

Here’s a link to one of the media stories.

Yes, that’s right a first grader has been punished to two days of in-school detention for a bag of dirt. This is another one of those no tolerance policies gone bad. It seems 6-year-old Michaela Boyd was playing on the playground at her school when she found a plastic bag on the ground. Michaela then got the idea to make her friend a gift. She then put rocks, dirt and clover in the bag, tied it with a ponytail holder and gave it to her friend. After recess her friend gave the bag of dirt to the teacher and that’s when her innocent gift of a 6 year olds heart became tainted. At a meeting that the teacher and the principal had with Michaela’s mom, Michelle, they told her that the bag “looked like a bag of weed.” Michelle also said this about the meeting, “They said it would be on her school record as far as disciplinary that she made a look alike drug but I don’t feel like that’s right. Because she didn’t do anything wrong.”

To read the rest of the story go here.

Well it’s been several years coming but the “Choose Life” license plates are now an option in Ohio. The official bill was held up in committee in one house of government by a committee chair who was pro-death. However, recently a member of the other house of the Ohio Congress added it on to an existing bill and it was passed. Governor Taft signed the bill into law today and all of us Ohio Pro-Lifers couldn’t be more pleased. Part of the money for each license plate will be donated to Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Ohio. And it just goes to show that there is always another way around a problem….or in this case a committee chairman.

Well this is going to be another weird week for us as Richard has more training, but the good thing is he only has to work 4 days since he had yesterday off. However Richard’s messed up schedule couldn’t have come at a worse time since we are trying to prepare for a Fairfield County Right to Life meeting and finish up the new website for the group. We will get throught it though as we always do, we just might be ready to collapse by the end of this month!

And finally, just because we celebrated Valentine’s Day last night doesn’t mean I still don’t want to wish my sweetheart a Happy Valentine’s Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY SWEETIE!

Well today Richard and I celebrated Valentines day, we watched a couple romantic movies this afternoon that were on TV, I fixed a romantic dinner which we ate by candlelight and then we turned out the lights and watched The Notebook. To tell you the truth I hadn’t paid much attention to this movie but when we decided to do Valentine’s in this year I went looking for what movies had recently come out on DVD. The Notebook had great customer reviews even though it didn’t necessarily have the best critic reviews and since I often don’t agree with the critics I went with the customer reviews and we rented it. I’m very glad we did, it was a great movie-we laughed and we cried. The ending is a real tear-jerker and I advise anyone looking for a great romantic movie to watch with your spouse to RENT THIS MOVIE.

I ran across an interesting essay over at RedState by Jay Reding about a chilling article of a woman who aborted her baby in the second trimester. The reason the woman aborted the baby……..”I wanted a genetically perfect baby, and because that was something I could control, I chose to end his life.”

Jay talks about how the Third Reich murdered tens of thousands of disabled people and how people like Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, Teddy Roosevelt, H.G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw all supported eugenics to prevent what they saw as a crisis to mankind. Jay goes on to show how eugenics is alive and well in America as witnessed by this woman’s article about her justifications for having a second trimester abortion for her previously wanted baby, even though she ADMITS it was killing her baby and not a simple blob of tissue, simply because he wasn’t ‘genetically perfect’.

Jay’s essay and the article it speaks of is an eye-opening commentary on what the pro-life movement is facing as the ever increasingly emboldened pro-abortionists become more vocal and display their callous attitudes toward human life.

I know this should come as no big shock to many of us, but a Conservative Club started on a High School campus in Boston has caused a stir with the faculty. Chris Bowler, a student at Hudson High School, started a Conservative Club on campus. To advertise the first meeting of the club, he decided to put up posters around the school. The posters included a website of a national organization for high school conservative clubs. However, after the principal realized that the website included links to videos of beheadings by Iraqi insurgents saying the links are meant to show what terrorists can do, he ordered all the posters to be taken down and access to the website be blocked from the school’s computers. Last month the posters were also squelched.

Principal John Stapelfeld said, “It seemed to be supporting violence more than supporting the conservative message.” Bowler and his supporters, however, believe that the real reason for this reaction is because the school is biased against Conservatism.

What I find hypocritical about this story, is Bowler says this school has received praise for it’s innovative civics and community service programs and up until now they have prided themselves on giving everyone the chance to say what they feel.

An expert in Student Law said that they can only curb such speech in the U.S. if it will create a “substantial disruption”. Furthermore, the state of Massachusetts has laws that grant public school students even greater free speech protection than the First Amendment does.

The principal has said that at first he was thrilled about having a conservative club on campus but that the images condoned violence as a way of solving problems and didn’t reflect “mainstream conservatism”.

However, I think this statement that the principal makes later shows his political bias. He said that showing terrorist murderers doesn’t address the more central problem of growing anti-Americanism abroad and “Unfortunately, we really haven’t dealt with the fact that we’re not well received in the world anywhere,” he said. “That’s the issue.” (ed. note: so it’s okay to have the conservative club as long as you get to tell them what they have to focus on and believe in?)

Bowler says this is exactly the type of liberal bias he’s talking about. He and other members of the conservative club have said that teachers have urged them to attend anti-war protests, have confronted conservative students and interject their liberal political views into their teaching. One teacher has even been accused of hanging an unflattering picture of President Bush including a joking comment he made about about dictatorship back in 2000. The students believe the teachers have tried to intimidate them and even the principal has admitted that he has talked to some teachers about injecting their personal views in political and social topic discussions.

Is anyone surprised by this? Especially in MASSACHUSETTS, the state who’s senators are John Kerry and Edward Kennedy?

Well I’m certainly not!

To read the full story go here

Also take a look at the site they had put on their posters. There’s some interesting links to some pages distributed by the high school in question to students in the 9th grade that Bowler says shows more of their liberal bias. High School Conservative Clubs of America

Well it seems Lancaster’s top officials think so. With the defeat of the sales tax initiative, the lawmakers in our county are having to look at other options to add money into the budget. One such possibility is to raise the conveyance fee for buying a home. Currently the fee is only $1.00, but it could be raised to as much as $4.00. The county commissioner is THINKING about supporting a fee of $3.00. This means everyone who buys a home would have to pay a mere $2.00 extra for the purchase and this fee would raise an estimated $1.2 million dollars to be added to the budget. This would greatly help bridge the $2.15 million dollar deficit they are projecting and this was something that was talked about as a possibility before the vote even happened on Tuesday.

So why did they choose to try to increase the sales tax over a $2.00 raise in a fee for purchasing a home? Well one reason is because some of the county’s officials think it will have a negative impact on the real estate market in our county!!! HUH? A THREE DOLLAR raise in the conveyance fee is going to keep people from purchasing a house? I seriously doubt it. In fact I would go further and say that if you can’t afford $3.00 then you have no business buying a home in the first place!

Other officials are concerned about next years budget from the State of Ohio MAY be reduced by as much as $2 million for our county. They consider this an emergency fund (the conveyance fees) and don’t want to touch it in case they need it for next year. Can someone please explain to me how raising the fee this year and using the extra money raised by the fee this year, that would otherwise not be there if the fee stayed the same, could be a detriment to having the extra money next year? After all if it’s not raised then there isn’t the extra money, if they raise the fee next year they will have not gained anything over raising the fee this year. The only thing I can see is they would be putting off having to make as many cuts this year than next year IF we loose that money from the state. And that’s just an IF at this point.

Furthermore the County Commissioner admits that other counties around us have done this, but then says it wouldn’t have much of an effect. Wouldn’t have much of an effect?!?! We’re talking about eliminating over half of the deficit for this years budget with a decision that is made by the commissioners to raise a small fee (this won’t require a vote), and that isn’t much of an effect? We’re not even talking about raising it to the maximum $4.00 for Pete’s sake! It stands to reason if they raised it to $4.00, they would have $1.8 million of the 2.15 million dollar deficit this year. And if they only raised it to $3.00 this year, they would still have the option to raise it the other $1.00 next year IF the state budget allocation for Fairfield County gets cut.

Am I talking in a foreign language here? What’s the problem? Because I certainly don’t see it.

Oh wait, could it be that the sales tax not only would have raised enough money to do all the special projects they wanted to do in the next 5 years, that it was AUTOMATICALLY RENEWED even after the projects (new jail, new 911 call center) were completed? And then they wonder why people didn’t support the sales tax…..

Side note: Some of the departments aren’t helping out the situation either. The Ohio Revised Code allows certain departments the right to mandate their budgets from the county’s general fund regardless of the state of the general fund. Three of the five mandated areas-common pleas, probate and domestic relations-have not only refused to decrease their budget, but are mandating increases in their budget above the amount of their expenses in 2004 despite the knowledge that the county is needing to trim it’s expenses to meet the available funds.

Well the sales tax issue failed by a 2:1 ratio. Now I am waiting for the next set of scare tactics to start and to see if they will try to put it back on the ballot in May. For now though, the voters told the city to come up with another plan or use our tax dollars more wisely.

That was about the only thing that was good today as my internal clock is all out of whack since Richard had to work such a late shift last night. We slept in as late as we could this morning but between the phone ringing and the light coming in the room, it wasn’t really restful sleep. So Richard and I both woke up this morning with like a fog over our heads and I had to making lunch almost immediately after we got up so Richard could eat and have time to get ready to go back into work today. To top it all off, I have been battling a huge headache for the last few hours and still no relief in sight. Unfortunately after Richard gets home late tonight he has to go back to work early tomorrow morning for a training session.

Calgon, take me awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

I have just realized that this is going to be a very long two week stretch for us. I have a lot of training revolving around Project Management coming up, as well as some fairly significant projects at my work place that are altering my schedule. It’s nice to be needed and to get opportunities, but I may need a vacation soon :).

The good thing is when it is all done I get to go home and be with my Wife, who makes the whole thing worthwhile.

So if you don’t see me posting much you will know why. There’s no reason to alert the authorities.

So it’s been a REALLY full day and sad it say, it isn’t over. Richard has a really weird work schedule this week between special projects and training he is taking. Today he has to work 5pm-2am. So right now he’s about 2/3rds of the way through his shift. I always worry about him when it’s really late as he has an hour drive home from Columbus. Today started out though with dropping the dog off at the groomers. We had never taken Jax to a groomer before and didn’t know what to expect. I usually groom Jax myself, but with the infection he has in his paws he won’t let me touch them and it was getting to be more of a struggle than I could handle. So our vet suggested a groomer for us to take him to so he could have his nails cut and his hair trimmed.

However, since I had never taken him to the groomer before I made the fatal mistake of forgetting to tell them that we are actually trying to grow Jax’s hair long and when we picked him up later they had basically shaved him completely except for some of the hair on his ears. I know that a lot of people do this with their dogs, but I absolutely HATE it. I shaved him once last summer since I thought he would be really hot all summer with the long hair but I really didn’t like the way he looked. I have always been fond of long haired dogs. There’s nothing wrong with a short haired dog if that’s what you like, but I just don’t like it. I especially don’t like the shaved look, especially on Cocker Spaniels. They have beautiful coats that reach all the way to the floor when allowed to grow properly.

It had taken me 8 months or so to get his hair grown out as far as it was after I shaved him last summer. So now it looks like I lost about a years worth of growth and I am back at square one. Also Jax will be freezing for the rest of the winter, and trust me in Ohio winter can linger through the end of March or beginning of April. I’ll admit that I should have been more specific with the groomer (I was busy giving the receptionist other instructions about being wary of his paws and such and forgot the most important thing), but I am also a little irritated that it was just assumed that I would want my dog, who had a good 6-8 inches of hair hanging down from his back, to be shaved. So now he looks like a rat and I’m really not happy. Actually some rats may have longer hair than he does at this point. The whole thing was very frustrating and emotional. Yes, I said emotional. Jax is like our child since we don’t have any children yet and it’s as if someone took your child and shaved their head.

So anyway, in between when we dropped off Jax and picked him up, we went to vote. Of course, as this was a special election, we got in and out very quickly. We did notice a new sign since last November concerning voting at our precinct. It seems that someone must have complained in November as now there are signs on the door that said “Absolutely no political signs or discussions beyond this point”. I figure it was someone who voted for Kerry most likely that complained and I’ll tell you a little story why I think that. Last November while EVERYONE in the Kerry camp in Ohio were complaining about the long voting lines in poor and urban districts, no one said anything about the long lines in districts like ours. That’s right, predominantly middle class, republican precincts had long lines too!

We got to the polls about 10:45am on November 2nd only to find that we had a THREE HOUR wait in front of us to vote. That’s right, THREE HOURS STANDING IN LINE TO VOTE! Richard and I of course had already planned on the high turnout and had Richard take the day off from work so we could have plenty of time to go vote together and then watch the returns in the evening. So let me ask you, you have three hours with the same people all around you and nothing to do, what happens? PEOPLE START TALKING! Yep that’s right, no big surprise there, especially since a lot of these people live in your neighborhood and have many things in common. And what are many people going to talk about since their in line to VOTE? POLITICS OF COURSE!

So a lot of people (Richard and I included) were talking to people next to us in line. The people in front of us already new one another from a local church and it wasn’t long before Richard and I were drawn into the conversation and were talking about churches, religion, Fairfield County Right to Life, politics, values, etc. We kept it to acceptable voice levels although I will admit there was one man in this line that was not so considerate to others and you could sometimes here his voice above the rest. Now back to why I think it was a Kerry voter(s) that complained and got the ‘no political talk, etc’ sign put on the door. Remember when I previously said that my precinct (my whole county in fact) is predominantly Republican? Well much of the talk was very pro-bush and on top of that, we were voting on State Issue 1, a proposed protect marriage amendment to the Ohio constitution (it passed, if you’re wondering). Our area is very conservative, so I highly doubt it was one of the conservatives in that building that complained.

Now to the reason I brought all this up; I understand the laws about the signs (although I would like that more defined) but the political talk thing I have a curiosity and concern about. Aren’t we supposed to have free speech in this country? I mean I am not talking about people campaigning for candidates, but when hundreds of people are stuck in a line for THREE HOURS and are standing next to people with similar interests politically and socially they aren’t allowed to have a discrete conversation? Also, what are we going to define as political? Almost everything in our culture could be defined as political by someone. To an atheist, religion can be political. If someone were talking about a christian school their children went to, that would be considered political by those who don’t like voucher programs. Even the mere fact that my husband has a leather jacket could be political to someone who is against wearing animal skins. And back to the sign issue, I understand actual campaign SIGNS, but would my Bush 2004 gold pin I wear on my lapel be considered a sign? Could someone who has a hat for one of the candidates be considered a sign? Could someone have an NRA shirt on and be told to go home and change before they can vote because it could be considered a sign? Simply put, the definitions are too ambiguous.

Also what kind of message does this send? Are we all so weak in our beliefs that we can’t stand to hear someone talk to someone else about an opposing view point? Do we have no restraint and will react in a negative way to someone wearing a shirt or a hat for the opposing candidate? This whole thing is quite interesting to me as the very people who say we should have tolerance for other people’s beliefs are the very people who want to shove political correctness down everyone else’s throat.

So which is it, because saying we should tolerate other’s beliefs and then wanting people to shut up and keep their opinions to themselves is like saying you love winter but hate cold and snow; the two statements just don’t mix.