Anglican Must Reads

The Rev. Canon David Roseberry has posted four articles at Stand Firm that talk about Christ Church Plano's exodus from the Episcopal Church. They are must reads.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Taco Bell: their President could have hit a home run, and didn't

Did you see the Taco Bell commercial over the weekend where their President, Mr. Greg Creed, is talking about their E. Coli outbreak, how they've been given a clean bill of health from the CDC, and how they'd appreciate it if we'd all keep buying their tacos, burritos, etc. If you go to their web site and then click on "Latest News" you can read their press release and watch the commercial. (Sorry, no direct link.)

The commercial is good. Mr. Creed said all of the right things, but at the end of the commercial could have hit the ball out of the park if he had chomped into one of their fully-loaded tacos, a 7-layer Burrito, etc. Now, wouldn't that have gone a long way to restore confidence?

Where were all of the airline presidents and CEOs after airline service was restored after 9/11? They were flying on their airlines.

After all, the first rule of aviation is: "If you won't fly in it, it ain't fixed!"

Article: "My daughter died for nothing"

This article from CNN about a mother in Kenya who lost her 4-month old daughter to malaria completely misses the real story. Want to wipe out malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases? How about DDT, fools?

Thank you, Rachel Carson. Because of you, we're saving billions of mosquitoes every year at the expense of no less than 1 million human deaths every year - 90% of which are in Africa and most of those victims are children under the age of five. How much do you want to bet that if predominately white, liberal intelligensia regions were where malaria hit hardest, they'd be using DDT to wipe out the mosquitoes?

Want to learn the facts about DDT? The folks over at JunkScience.com have a great rundown. Also, don't miss:

JunkScience.com's Malaria Clock
3 Billion and Counting

You're right, Sidi Nyanche; your daughter died needlessly. You have my prayers.

A missed opportunity...

Hear about that "Holocaust Forum" that Iranian Terrorist (oops, President) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was hosting in Tehran, complete with good ol' KKKer David Duke as an honored guest?

All of these terrorists, fascists, etc. in one place - public and known - at one time? My only thought, if I were the President would be (through the chain of command, of course) to call up the USAF's 509th Bomb Wing, task four B-2 Spirits each loaded with 16 2,000 pound GBU-31 JDAM weapons, and send a 64-ton high explosive message that would have done the whole world a lot of good.

We are at war, do not forget. Terrorists, their leaders, and those who support them are legitimate military targets.

Coming soon - my plan for solving the Iranian nuclear situation militarily. It can be done.

Congratulations, Father Ethan Magness!

The Seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Right Reverend Robert Duncan, yesterday ordained my friend, Ethan James Magness to the priesthood! Ethan is the vicar of Grace Anglican Fellowship, a church plant of St. Christopher's (Cranberry Township) in Slippery Rock, PA. May God bless Ethan, and his wife Monique, in their ongoing ministry, and may the Holy Spirit continue to pour out on northern Butler County!

"He Who Would Valiant Be":

He who would valiant be ’gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

Who so beset him round with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound—his strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight,
He will make good his right to be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, Thou dost defend us with Thy Spirit,
We know we at the end, shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away! I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.

At Dawn We Slept

From an actual US Navy communication sent on December 7, 1941:

OOOO

7 DEC 41

NSS NR 977 Z 0F2 1830 0F3 1F0 O

AIRRAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT
DRILL

COPY TO: A
B
O
COMMO FILE

CINCPAC
CINCLANT
CINCASIATIC
OPNAV

At 0753 local time, the Japanese attack on US Forces at Pearl Harbor and elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands began. 2,403 American servicemen and civilians gave their lives in defense of our country that day. Fifteen were awarded the Medal of Honor. In that "Day of Infamy", it was their finest hour.

Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto - the architect of the Pearl Harbor raid - commented after the attack, "I feel that all we have done is to awake a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." He had that right.

The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt in his address to the Congress said:

But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against
us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated
invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to
absolute victory...we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will
make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger
us...With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of
our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

Oh, would today's Democrats sound like that...

Finally, from Francis Scott Key:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto—“In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

It is 65 years today since the Pearl Harbor attack. It is just over five years since 9/11. Are we sleeping again?

Never forget. Ever.

Basic Winter Survival

All I'm going to say is that rule one of being stranded in a car in winter is to stay with the car, unless help is in sight. Don't believe me? The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says so. For me, I learned that in Boy Scouts circa 1984.

My prayers are with Kati, Penelope, and Sabine Kim for the loss of their husband and father.

The Flying "Imams"

Pajamas Media has a great round-up of developments on the adherants to the "Religion of Peace" who were removed from an aircraft in Minneapolis.

Read the police report and witness statements. Sure, let's go ahead and give these folks their own private prayer rooms in airports so they can conspire in private.

Prayers for the Church this Weekend

Please pray for the Diocese of San Joaquin and their Diocesan Convention that begins today. San Joaquin, and their faithful Bishop, the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield, are considering beginning the process of a formal split from the Episcopal Church. May God preserve the strength of their convictions!

See the following for updates on the San Joaquin convention:
Kevin Kallsen will be live blogging at CTsix.org
TitusOneNine
Stand Firm in Faith
Virtue Online

I also ask your prayers for the Diocese of Southwestern Florida, whose Diocesan Convention begins tomorrow. Southwestern Florida is in the process of selecting a Bishop Coajuditor, who will eventually take over the Diocese after the retirement in a few years of the current Bishop. Several of the candidates for the see are individuals who will uphold and stand for traditional, orthodox Christianity.

An Open Letter to Presiding Bishop Schori

From CTSix.org - brilliant, simply brilliant.

Is the end of the Bill Cowher era coming?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the tank at 4-7, after the drubbing yesterday by the Baltimore Ravens, 27-0.

Everybody knows that Bill Cowher purchased a home in North Carolina and has been conspicuous in not having renewed his contract with two years left on it, as had been customary.

Now, NC State (Cowher's alma mater) has fired their head coach. Does the Wolfpack know something we don't? Will they trade one former NC State linebacker (Amato) for another on the sidelines? Let the speculation begin...

Ken Whisenhunt passed up head coaching opportunities last year - did he know something we didn't? If I had to make a prediction right now, Cowher is gone and will be the new head coach at NC State.

Hey, animal rights whackos!

One must wonder what the animal rights whacko crowd will do with these pictures of in utero dogs, dolphins, and elephants.

Seeing as how most animal rights extremists are also tried-and-true liberals all the way around, what they won't become is pro-life, at least not with respect to our own species.

God's miracles on display! Thanks to Matt Drudge for the link.

The Views of the Episcopal High Priestess (a.k.a. Presiding Bishop)

Matt Kennedy+ over at Stand Firm has posted a great roundup called "The Presiding Bishop's Top Five" that runs down how Katherine Jefferts-Schori's "theology" can hardly be called Christian.

I pray for the Church, and for Godly leaders like Father Matt. On this, the day before Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks to God for the strong orthodoxy of Bishops Duncan and Scriven of Pittsburgh, our parish's Rector Fr. Paul Cooper, our Priest Associate Fr. Terry Johnson, our Deacon and leader of our church plant in Slippery Rock Dn. Ethan Magness, and all of the other clergy standing strong for Christianity. May God be with you all!

Tech tip: HP StorageWorks MSA controller

Memo to server/storage admins:

Before going ahead and planning an update of controller cache, check real hard - physical view if possible - and find out if you've got a single 256-MB module installed (today's default) or dual 128s.

Yes, I just got personally bit by this. Anybody know of a soft way to find out? I know the ACU doesn't say...if you know of a way of determining the individual module config other than inspection, please leave it in the comments.

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Melhman out at the RNC

Reports are that Ken Melhman will be out as Republican National Committee President when his two years are up in January. No big surprise after Tuesday.

Another possible landing ground for Rick Santorum, methinks...

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Senator Allen Concedes

Senator Allen has conceded the Virginia Senate race to Jim Webb, per Fox News.

He's taking the high road, to quote:

"It is with deep respect for the people of Virginia and to bind factions together for a positive purpose that I do not wish to cause more rancor by protracted litigation which would, in my judgment, not alter the results."

There is no doubt in my mind that if this race was the opposite result, with Webb trailing by a ~7,200 vote margin, we'd be hearing the following from the Democrats:

• "stolen election"
• "disenfranchisement"
• "lawsuit"
• "recount"
• "Diebold conspiracy"
• Et al.

Here's the difference - Republicans trust our elctoral processes, because they trust the people. Democrat power brokers don't trust the people, believe that they're entitled to power, and believe in oligarchy.

VMworld 2006: Los Angeles

I've been at VMware, Inc's technical conference VMworld 2006 since mid-Monday in LA, and by and large it's been a great event. Server virtualization is something I push; it's the only way to fully utilize computer hardware in most application situations that the companies I deal with are in.

Had a great hands-on session yesterday on the Consolidated Backup feature of Virtual Infrastructure 3 - can't wait to start demonstrating that to folks!

My complaints with the event are mainly logistical:

1. The conference party last night at Universal Studios started off as a debacle. The lines for food were very long, and it didn't seem like enough eats had been laid on early enough in the event.
2. A better job of people traffic management could have been done within the convention center. There were a lot of big crowds in small spaces trying to get into session rooms.
3. The food at the center wasn't on par with what I've gotten at other events by other companies, but was passable.
4. The variety of session-break snacks wasn't great, and the coffee cups don't have lids!

All in all, glad I came. I also found out that I have to update my VMware Certified Professional credential to VI3 by December 31...guess I'll be busy with that.

Is Gates right for SecDef?

Paul Mirengoff over at Power Line brings up an interesting point in this posting about one good reason to be hesitant about Robert Gates becoming the Secretary of Defense: he's a member of the Iraq Study Group, a.k.a. the "Baker Commission". This group is expected to recommend a potentially disasterous course of action in Iraq, e.g. inviting Syria and Iran - two of the biggest state sponors of terrorists - to actively participate in reconstructing a peaceful Iraq.

I will be following Mr. Gates' confirmation hearings and public statements with great interest.

I hope he remembers:

1) There should be only two acceptable outcomes when the United States goes to war:

• Unconditional surrender of our enemies
• Total destruction and annihilation of our enemies

2) Peace only follows victory; one side has to win

3) Syria and Iran should be next on the chopping block for reforming the Middle East, not invited to the table with us.

We'll see...

Yet another difference between Republicans and Democrats

Sister Toldjah, as she so often does, hits the nail right on the head.

The Senate is gone too.

Al-AP is reporting that Webb has defeated Senator Allen, based on early canvassing. The GOP will only have 49 seats in the new Senate.

Why, oh why, is Joe Lieberman sticking with the party that gave him the shaft? One hopes we could talk some sense into him...
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