12 Witnesses

This is different than the Link Load I offered you earlier in the week in that here, you get commentary on “news articles” and not just links to blog articles and interesting sites. Just so you know.

San Jose Mercury News - Sunnyvale homeowners told to cut redwoods that block solar panels

…or… Environmental Activism goes schizophrenic in California, are you surprised?

The Mercury News reports that active environmentalists are in a spat about which one is doing the best for the environment to the detriment of the other.

Make no mistake, there is something in it for everyone. The tree owners want their redwoods and their privacy, while the solar energy proponent wants the savings his arrays provide.

In case you’re wondering if it is worth it to click the article link, here is the silliest sentence in the article:

Kurt Newick, who sells solar systems for a San Jose company, says he loves trees as much as anyone, but he falls on the side of solar energy.

Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that he makes a living off of solar energy, could it?

By the by… If the San Jose Mercury News wants you to input your info to see the article, try inputting this:

email: dont@bugme.com password: bugmenot1

You’re welcome.

Bug Foggers cause house explosion

Hey, you just can’t make that kind of thing up. It turns out that reading the label on the can would have pointed out that pilot lights would need to be out. That and not setting off SIX cans of the stuff simultaneously. Just how bad could the bugs have been? If they were that bad, wouldn’t you just be better off setting fire to the joint and then starting over? Hey…

Is Dobson’s political clout fading?

Time magazine asks the question as Focus on the Family gets close to endorsing a cadidate - once a necessity for a Republican in America. The article delves into the mix of Mormonism and Evangelicalism as Romney and Huckabee vie for evangelical favor.

Dobson seems to hold Romney out as a possibility and to hold off on Ordained Baptist Minister Mike Huckabee, who once would have been the “no brainer” candidate for Focus on the Family. The difficulty, it would appear, is that Dobson doesn’t want to back a loser:

Huckabee, Dobson cautioned after his Iowa victory, “may not become the Republican nominee.”

Well, Dr. D needs to figure out what Rush Limbaugh tauted years ago. It is not that he sways the masses, but speaks what is on the mind of the masses. If Dobson thinks he can endorse Mitt Romney and expect that Evangelicals in America will vote for him, he is in for the shock of his life. Instead, he will find himself drifting on a sinking dingy, looking back at the masses on the shoreline shaking their heads and wondering what happened to that guy of which they once thought so much.

Reminds me of the Southern Baptist Convention. But that’s a story 1 year, 2 years and 20 years old.

Kite to pull ship across Atlantic

This seems vaguely familiar. Didn’t we replace sailing ships with motorized ships for cargo use? Are we saying that might have been a mistake?

Not dead yet, Chilean man wakes up at his own wake

Is this good or bad? I might rather be in Heaven, if I were him. Nevertheless… I suppose this means they don’t embalm in Chile. Again, a positive if you are just cold and sleeping. And thirsty.

Canada reconsiders ban on polygamy, Mel Gibson funds his church with another $8 million, Indiana man arrested for battery over exorcism, Church and toilet company part ways over ad with naked posteriors, and cussing Catholic priest is pushed out over YouTube video

Canada urged to review legality of polygamy ban Members of the Mormon breakaway group, Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints were forcing minor girls to marry older men as part of their practice of polygamy. Prosecutors had been afraid to press charges against the practitioners for fear that the law would be struck down as unconstitutional.

2 questions. 1. What kind of constitution fails to protect women, much less women who are really children and is it worth having? and, similar to the first question, 2. What good is a law that gets struck down if you try to enforce it?

Mel Gibson sinks $8 Million more into controversial church Mel Gibson is a breakaway churchman himself. He built a church in California that is “Holy Family Catholic Church” - a breakaway of the Roman Catholic Church, which does not recognize Gibson’s brand. Not a bad idea, though since Gibson, his father and most of the parishioners are holocaust deniers. After his drunken anti-semitic rant, that may not come as a surprise to many. His father has been noted donating to several Neo-Nazi organizations. Anyone want to join up?

Orange Co. man arrested for battery during exorcism A 22 year old former high school star athlete, valedictorian and ministerial student physically abused an autistic child in an effort to exorcise demons. The mother initially allowed the attempt, but was then intimidated into staying in the room when she later wanted to stop and call the police. Silver lining: The pastor of all the parties was the one who called the police. Here is a pastor who realized that something criminal had happened and did not try to save the church’s reputation by hiding the wrong doing. In my opinion, he increased his church’s reputation. What do you think?

Times Square Church Ends Fight Over Bare Bottoms Billboard *Snicker* Apparently the high rent ad space on the church was a temptation, but when backsides were on the agenda, desire for the lucrative ad buy was countered by concern over nudity. How is this a dilemma? Why are you using your church building for ad space? Truth is, our church has quite a bit of land on I-44 and I have had to ward off several folks who have wanted to lease out some of our land - right next to our building - to billboard advertisers as a source of income to the church. My immediate reaction was that it would be a cold day in… Tijuana… before I would open the door to having inappropriate messages being displayed for 50k cars per day on our church property. I don’t care what the money is, once the door is open, it puts you in a tight bind if you have to say, “No,” as this church found out.

YouTube Video Pushes Catholic Priest Out of Church Last Saturday, I linked to the story about a Catholic Monsignor who was taunted mercilessly by some skaters and finally lost his cool. In his anger, he failed to “sin not” and let fly a stream of profanity and racist remarks. It appears that his inability to retain his cool has come with some consequences, despite the early support of some of those surrounding him. As I said before, I have lost my cool on numerous occasions around teenagers. I have never used profanity or racist remarks, but I can say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” What about you? You ever lose your cool at church?

I’m not moving back into the SBC politics, thing, but this story transected my feed reader (I’ll explain in a new post later about the new things I’ve done with my feed reader, bloglines) and I just thought it was an interesting parallel. Obviously, this is a church organization that is organized with a hierarchical system, unlike the SBC. Still, I thought it interesting for you SBCers out there.

Zimbabwe: Church Excommunicates 15 Executive Members

This story is about a Catholic Monsignor in Australia who was taunted badly by some teen aged skaters and subsequently lost his cool. After 19 years in Youth Ministry, I can say I have lost my cool more times than I can remember. I never have lost it bad enough to curse at kids. Warning: If you follow the link in the story to the video on You Tube, you will be subject to some opulent profanity.

Red faced church sorry for blue dean

Amnesty International and the RCC are parting ways over the issue of abortion as a result of rape, which is being used as a tool of intimidation in wartime. Full story:

Amnesty, Catholic Church go to war over abortion

Here is a sobering story. Pornography is making its way into lives of women. It used to be that porn was targeted at men and even teenaged boys, but now, women are falling prey to the chains of this sin. xxxchurch.com is cited in the story. I admit readily to you that I have the accountability software produced by xxxchurch installed on the laptop at home and my church laptop. I have helped several others install it on their computer. Porn is insidious and addictive. I think the church needs to address porn in a real and open way. Right now, we avoid the subject because some people in the church think that the topic of sex or anything related to it should be avoided at church. When we do that, we surrender our congregations to the influence of the world who talks about sex from a twisted and worldly perspective. Moreover, we allow the world to caricature the church’s position into a ridiculous one: that God hates sex and that you should feel guilty about it even when you are married. We have to be honest with our people about sex and quit pretending that it is something that we should feel guilty about, because when it is according to the plan of God - you shouldn’t. Anyway, here is the full story:

Revelation: Women joining men in porn-addiction ranks, Christian groups say