This story just freaks me out.
A young female soldier, 7 months pregnant was found dead last week in a hotel room in Fayetteville, NC. A letter was sent to the local newspaper that was quite startling. Read full article.
Please send your prayers out for the family of Specialist Megan Lynn Touma. May God have mercy on their souls.
Well its official: JJ is now an Idahoan. The air smells fresher, the water is clearer, and the potatoes are tastier. Yes, life is just that much better in Idaho. Fortunately for everyone who is reading this post, you too can become an Idahoan! There are a few things you must do first:
1) Repent of your Californian/New Yorker residency
2) Sell your house/ End your Lease
3) Pack your belongings and family up
4) Drive to Idaho
5) Unpack your stuff in your new Idaho house
6) Enjoy your new freedoms!
Simple as that.
Well I have weathered 3 weeks in New York and now have returned back to God’s Country. I am glad to be back to a state where I am able to legally defend myself.
Everything did go well in NY and our business seems to be moving along nicely. Thanks to all who prayed for my safe travels.
Tonight has been a rather somber evening in my neighborhood of (the usually very quiet) Greenacres. It seems as though the Jeep that killed the local boy, 14-year-old Rick Gomez, was found at a house of a young couple who lives across the street from me. Rick Gomez was struck this last weekend about a half mile away from our neighborhood, right down the street. He was killed by the collision and the Jeep fled the scene. The couple who own the jeep, are in their mid twenties and actually have children of their own. I pray for both of these families but especially for the Gomez family. May their son and brother be greeted by God in paradise.
I took a few photos tonight and spoke with some of my neighbors and news crews. This event is quiet shocking to us all.
Today the NFL and NFL fans mourn the loss of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor.
“The 24-year-old player died at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he had been airlifted after the shooting early Monday, family friend Richard Sharpstein said. Sharpstein said Taylor’s father informed him of the death at about 5:30 a.m. His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me,” said Sharpstein, Taylor’s former lawyer. “It’s a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously God had other plans. Sharpstein said Taylor’s girlfriend told him the couple was awakened by loud noises, and Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor, Sharpstein said. Taylor’s 1-year-old daughter, Jackie, was also in the house, but neither she nor Taylor’s girlfriend was injured. Police found signs of forced entry, but have not determined if they were caused Monday or during the previous burglary.” (From Breitbart.com)
I am a Seahawks fan, but I also root for the Redskins when they play. Sean Taylor was having the best year of his short career and his team and family will miss him dearly. This is a perfect example of why it is important to be able to exersize your right to keep and bear arms for self defense purposes. You have heard the saying, “Like bringing a knife to a gunfight” right? This is exactly what happened. You cannot defend yourself with a machete. The bad guys have guns. The world is filled with evil people who don’t think twice about taking everything you have, including your life.
We pray for Sean’s family and may he rest in peace.
I arrived in NYC last night on what is expected to be an interesting business trip. When you have a chance cruise over to my photoblog to get updates of what I got going during the trip. I’ll probably be out here about three whole weeks working on a variety of things involving our new company located in New Hartford, NY. Three weeks is a long time to be away from the family, especially in a place like New York. I made sure to train the wife on my tactical security protocols for the household (ie: she can shoot my .45 now).
Keep me in your prayers! (Speaking of that, I think we need a “prayers” section in our forum for folks to share their prayer needs).
The new 3G forum is up!!!!! Springer45.com is our new forum and we invite everyone to come register and start sharing! I am still getting the template modified and your ideas are warmly welcomed. Thank you to those who have suggested the forum.
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I remember an incident from almost 15 years ago. I had just left to run an errand with my young son when a predator called my house. When my wife answered the phone, a man told her that he had both me and our son and unless my wife would engage in phone sex with him, he would hurt us.
Thankfully, M’Lady K had the presence of mind and common sense to push back her fear and see through the scam. It was by no means easy, especially since she struggled with fear a great deal at that time, but she did it. She ran next door and the man of that house pretended to be me coming back home. It turned out the caller was an inmate in an out of state prison with a few minutes of phone privileges left who randomly dialed our number. While we were randomly selected, the intent to savage another human being for selfish gain using their love for their family was both intentional and despicable.
You expect that sort of exploitation from scum in prison. You’d think that those on the outside would be more caring, thoughtful and law abiding. You’d be wrong. The scum are at it again. And once again, it’s intentional. This time, the target isn’t housewives - it’s military wives and they are phishing as identity thieves. Thanks to Mike at Lamplighter for pointing me to this story.
According to the Red Cross, whose name and reputation are used for credibility in the scam, it works like this:
The caller (young-sounding, American accent) calls a military spouse and identifies herself as a representative from the Red Cross. The caller states that the spouse’s husband (not identified by name) was hurt while on duty in Iraq and was med-evacuated to a hospital in Germany. The caller stated they couldn’t start treatment until paperwork was accomplished, and that in order to start the paperwork they needed the spouse to verify her husband’s social security number and date of birth. In this case, the spouse was quick to catch on and she did not provide any information to the caller. The American Red Cross representatives typically do not contact military members/dependents directly and almost always go through a commander or first sergeant channels. Military family members are urged not to give out any personal information over the phone if contacted by unknown/unverified individuals, to include confirmation that your spouse is deployed. It is a federal crime, punishable by up to 5 years in prison, for a person to falsely or fraudulently pretend to be a member of, or an agent for, the American National Red Cross for the purpose of soliciting, collecting, or receiving money or material. In addition, American Red Cross representatives will contact military members/dependents directly only in response to an emergency message initiated by your family. The Red Cross does not report any type of casualty information to family members. The Department of Defense will contact families directly if their military member has been injured. Should any military family member receive such a call, they are urged to report it to their local Family Readiness Group or Military Personnel Flight.
These con men play on the deepest fear and worst nightmare a military spouse has. Pass this on to any military families you know and let’s get the word out on this one. Snopes.com posted this at their site just yesterday.
Thinking while our guys are fighting for what is precious to us over there, the least we can do is keep an eye out for what is precious to them back here …
Blue Collar Muse
I haven’t posted about Bible Prophecy in a good while. In light of the recent Pentagon report to Congress I want to open it up for consideration. Foxnews reported the following:
Pentagon: China Building Military Might
China: U.S. Exaggerating Military Threat
U.S.: China Lacks Power for Taiwan Fight
China Govt Blasts US Report on Military
In the report the Pentagon said,
My wife and I have 5 children ranging in age from 8 to 18. Something we have experienced with every child is the dislike they had for punishment when they did something wrong. Each child went through the same progression. First, they were sorry we disapproved of them doing something wrong. Next they were sorry they had been caught doing something wrong. Finally they were sorry they had done something wrong.
These three stages are ones we all pass through. At first we don’t know what we do is wrong. Then we only do what is right if we are forced to or if we believe that we’ll be caught and punished if we do the wrong thing. Finally we arrive at the place where we do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.
With the exception of psychopaths, pretty much everyone older than 10 knows right from wrong. That just leaves two stages to pass through. It is amazing how many people get stuck in stage two.
The time spent in stage two varies from person to person. Some never move on. Some do so only after many years. Most of us make the move anonymously and it’s a good thing since there is much we’ve done that we wouldn’t want to be made public. But some of us don’t. The latest to miss the anonymous trip is American Idol’s Antonella Barba.
Ms. Barba, recently voted off of the popular reality show, is just 20 years old. Despite being talented enough to make the show’s lineup, her personal life left a few things to be desired. She was involved in a sexually active relationship with a recent boyfriend. She allowed him to photograph their intimacy. She also posed for erotic photos in very public places, including a graphic wet t-shirt picture while she was in the fountain at the WWII memorial in Washington DC. After her breakup with the boyfriend she became an American Idol celebrity and her ex posted these pictures on the Internet.
In short, Ms. Barba got caught and is suffering the consequences. Not because she did something right, but because she did something wrong.
They media won’t spin it that way, of course. They’ll sympathize with her, feel sorry for her and denounce those who think what she did was illegal, immoral or, worst of all, sinful! The truth behind the story, however, is Ms. Barba’s actions wouldn’t be newsworthy if we didn’t all know, deep down, what she did was wrong. We may not say it, but everyone knows it.
Sometimes you get away with what you do. The Lord knows I surely have on multiple occasions and I’m grateful for the grace. But sometimes, sometimes the world crashes in on you for one moment of carelessness. I’ve had that happen, too. When it does, you show the world what sort of person you are by how you respond.
Before this morning, I had a great deal of sympathy for Ms. Barba. She messed up, was caught publicly and is paying the price. I wondered how she was really dealing with it and figured I would never know since I don’t know her personally.
This morning, though, World Net Daily linked to a Houston Chronicle story on that very topic and my heart sank. The headline to the story is, “After racy photos on Web, ousted Idol singer wary of trust”.
Having endured all of the negative publicity, the scorn, the pain, the anguish an event like this must certainly bring, the most important thing she learned was, “Be careful who you trust!” I was hoping for, “Be certain anything you do you would be proud to have splashed over the front page of media around the world!” How tragic not to have come away with more considering what this has cost her.
Tragic because Ms. Barba is stuck in stage two. Chief among her criteria for judging her own behavior is, “Will I get caught and how bad will it be if I do?” If I can be certain I won’t get caught, if I’m sure my companions will not rat me out later, I can do whatever I like because there will be no consequences. If I’m not sure my companions are trustworthy, then I better be careful because they might roll over on me later and I’ll have to deal with what I’ve done.
There is no morality. There is only, “What can I get away with!” You can protest, “I do TOO have morals!” However, that some of what you choose to do is generally accepted as “good” means nothing. What you do when everyone is watching is not ‘Character’. ‘Character’ is what you do when NO one is watching, when you’re SURE you won’t get caught. It’s when you do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do! It’s stage three.
Hoping Ms. Barba chooses to perform there soon…
BCM
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