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Pastoral Ministry: Acquaintance, Not Hearsay And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" --Luke 24:32 "It is one thing," said Henry Suso, "to hear for oneself a sweet lute, sweetly played, and quite another thing merely to hear about it." And it is one thing, we may add, to hear truth inwardly for one's very self, and quite another thing merely to hear about it.... We are turning out from the Bible schools of this country year after year...

The Heaven of Heavens March 3, 2009  "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings 8:27)  The term "heaven" is not just a general term for where the souls of the righteous go after death. The Bible actually speaks of the "third heaven," the realm to which Paul was once temporarily "caught up into paradise" (2 Corinthians 12:4). The term is also applied to the realm of the atmosphere, and to the realm of the stars (e.g., Genesis...

Supervisor Chris Daly plans to introduce a series of new laws that's intended to help renters during these tough economic times -- a proposal that is likely to anger landlords. The proposals include the suspension of any rent increases that would cause a tenant's rent to exceed one-third of their income; expansion of the rights of tenants who want to add roommates to help pay their rent; and limiting the amount of "banked" rent increases -- where annual rent increases allowed under city laws are saved up and then imposed at one time -- to 8 percent.

A Blast from the Past! A short excerpt to get you started. - - - - - C L I P - - - - - Graphically, What Does the Illusion Look Like? Note: There are two key issues: One is asset overvaluation, and second is the overly optimistic expectation of annual asset value growth. The conditions combine to create a “double whammy” expectation of future wealth. Assumptions: “Expected” by the Average Investor: An expected “real” asset valuation growth of 5% annually; excluding inflation. “Reality Based upon History”: · A -21% current asset base adjustment to reflect historical asset-to-GDP ratios....

BARGAINING BULLETIN March 3, 2009 The Fresno Bee bargaining committee met Tuesday morning with Fresno Bee management to be briefed on layoff plans and a company proposal for fewer layoffs combined with pay cuts and other measures outlined below. Basically, we have two options: 1. Layoff of 21 full-time and five part-time employees in the bargaining unit. Under our contract, the company can do this without our consent. . 2. Layoff of 16 full-time and five part-time employees in the bargaining unit, plus all of the following. This option requires approval by our membership: a. Pay cuts, effective April 13,...

It hasn’t even been two months yet and this President and administration has managed to put forth executive orders and policies that make the movie Nightmare on Elm Street look like Leave it to Beaver. Where do we begin? With this massive economic down turn and Americans struggling to find money, we are now forced to pay for international abortions and counseling. It isn’t enough to pay for our own. Speaking of abortions, Obama has now pushed to force Doctors to give abortions whether they want to or not. If a Doctor feels that this is a grave violation of...

Hugh Chavez, the “elected” president of Venezuela, has been told by his doctor to stop talking in order to rest his vocal chords. The loony leftist often delivers rambling diatribes that stretch on for five hours or more, putting enormous stress on his vocal chords and his listeners. “I am a little affected by the intensive,... ...continue to a dig to Obama

Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive and high-profile Republican, underwent surgery at Stanford University Hospital Monday for breast cancer, her chief of staff said Monday evening. Fiorina was diagnosed with breast cancer Feb. 20, the day before she appeared at a GOP convention in Sacramento. "The surgery went very well. Her prognosis is excellent and she expects to make a full recovery," Deborah Bowker said in a phone interview with the Mercury News. "She remains enthusiastically committed to a full range of activities and looks forward to her future choices with great optimism." Bowker declined to discuss what treatment the...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called Rush Limbaugh an important leader of the conservative movement Monday night and said he was glad that Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele had apologized for describing Limbaugh’s show as “ugly” and ‘incendiary.” But he also described Steele as a “breath of fresh air” for the Republican Party. Appearing on CNN’s “Larry King” show, Jindal explained that he agrees with Limbaugh’s opinion that President Barack Obama’s massive deficit spending programs are not good for the country. The transcript: King: All right, governor, here was Rush Limbaugh at this weekend's CPAC Conference. Watch. Rush Limbaugh: What is...

The new Brady gun ban lists are already leaked

Governor Dave Heineman told a packed chamber of homeschool families that he was proud of their efforts. Speaking to a capacity crowd in Warner Chamber of the Nebraska Capitol on February 18, the governor recalled last year’s battle over testing bill L.B. 1141. Former Senator Dianne Schimek introduced the bill that would have radically changed Nebraska’s homeschool law, creating unprecedented burden on homeschooling families. “I told you last year that I would veto that bill if it came to my desk. Because of your hard work it never reached my desk. In fact, the bill never left the committee.” L.B....

Here is video (via Gateway Pundit) of CNBC's Stock Guru Jim Cramer yesterday saying that the Obama Administration is yet to show any sign that they realize that their agenda is destroying the life savings of millions of Americans. Cramer said he "felt it everywhere he went" this past weekend, and told of a kid who pulled him aside and told him, "You were right to say we've elected a Leninist," a reference to Vladimir Lenin who was the father of the communist movement. Below is a video clip from February 3 when Cramer compared the rhetoric of Obama to...

President Obama says he wants to be president of all the people. But some groups are urging him to make an exception for the Boy Scouts of America. Critics of the Scouts who are outraged that the group is allowed to exclude gays and atheists while receiving federal funding are urging Obama to reject the group's honorary presidency, a designation bestowed on every U.S. president since William Howard Taft in 1910.

One more day in February wouldn't have done much to salvage yet another bad month of sales for the U.S. auto industry, but it wouldn't have hurt. All of the big automakers saw sales down around 40% or more last month compared to February 2008. Chrysler Co. (-44%), Ford Motor Company (-48.4%) and General Motors (-52.9%) again took the brunt of it, but Toyota (-39.8%), Honda (-38%) and Nissan (-37%) weren't far behind. This just goes to show that the argument about U.S. domestic automakers not selling what people want to buy is bogus, as people just aren't buying across...

California could generate an additional $1.2 billion in revenue annually by increasing its excise tax on alcohol if a new bill proposed by San Jose Assemblyman Jim Beall becomes law. Beall wants to raise the tax on alcohol for the first time since July 1991. He says the tax money would be devoted to emergency services, alcohol and drug treatment programs and law enforcement operations related to alcohol and drug abuse. His bill, AB 1019, would increase the tax by approximately 10 cents per drink for beer, wine and hard liquor.

In his trial on Feb. 12, Matthew Hastings listened to Judge John Wulle as he read court documents and found Hastings guilty of attempted murder and assault. (TROY WAYRYNEN/The Columbian.) Matthew Hastings' sentencing hearing exploded into angry bellowing between him and Superior Court Judge John Wulle on Monday as 10 or more custody officers stood by to prevent violence. During the first heated exchange, Wulle yelled for Hastings to "Shut your damn mouth, sir!" Wulle then sentenced Hastings to about 120 years in prison for firing gunshots at SWAT officers during a standoff in Cascade Park on July 18,...

Obama, today: "On the other hand, what you're now seeing is profit and earning ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it." Did he mean price-to-earnings ratio? The traditional definition of PE ratio? If Bush had said the above, it would be ipso facto evidence of his idiocy.

In a [1] story in the Sunday Times of London, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, a leading spokesman for liberal economics, says this about the Obama budget: It is the boldest budget we have seen since the Reagan administration, and drives a nail in the coffin of Reaganomics. We can basically say goodbye to the philosophy espoused by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. There is no question that President Obama’s budget, and his economic plans more broadly, are an effort to drive a nail through the philosophy espoused by Reagan and Thatcher. And so it’s worth asking: What exactly...

RosannaPulido2009.com The polls will close in IL-5 at 7:00 pm Central time, and the results of the Republican congressional primary should come in almost immediately. So, when our AIP Electronic National Town Hall starts at 8:00 pm Central, we should know the result. We have asked Rosanna to join us for at least a few minutes, if she can possibly break away from her admirers and the adoring Chicago press. ;-) Be there if you can!

Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, says his party has lost two elections in a row - "big-time'' - and it's time to rally anew. On the spat that radio's Rush Limbaugh has stirred with President Barack Obama, prompting the White House and Democratic Party alike to assert that radio's "Rush'' is the new voice of the GOP, McCain had this to say on the FOX News Channel today: "I think there's a lot of voices in our party. Rush Limbaugh is one of them,'' McCain told Neil Cavuto on FOX's Your World with Cavuto. "(RNC Chairman) Michael...