Free Republic

This post has been a long time in the making. For the past decade, every time I read a post by some avant-garde religious/church-planting/emergent/post-modern blogger, I think, “Hmmmmm. I should respond to that.” Then kids need diaper changes, sermons need to be written and shut-ins need to be visited. Right now, however, I have some time to write a response. Time and time again, I have read blog posts about how the church is doing church wrong. The church is a victim of its ambivalence toward its own perpetual exclusivity of the present generation who has needs that are not...

Lightman's wife Jan suffered a TIA ("mini-stroke") during church service Sunday. She was taken to the hospital for tests and seems to have recovered functionality, but is still suffering from weakness on her right side. Please offer up whatever prayers you can for Jan, lightman and their family!

A proposed ban on the use of cell phones while driving bit the dust in a House of Delegates committee late last month. Good riddance. While well-intentioned, it's a misguided sledgehammer approach. [snip] To defend that freedom, there are some simple practices cell phone users can follow: • Keep it short. • Don't dial anything longer than 911 while in motion. • For incoming calls, keep the phone where you can reach it easily, without fumbling. • Except in a dire emergency, don't pull to the shoulder of a closed-access highway to make a call. • Move to the right...

A trial will be conducted in October in which the father of a fallen Marine alleges protests at his son's funeral defamed the Marine and his family. Last week, U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett set the jury trial for Oct. 22 in federal court in Baltimore. The trial is expected to last for two weeks. Depositions will begin in March, the York Daily Record reported. ... snip ... Several members from Phelps' church protested at the service carrying signs that read, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

President Bush has said that the war against global jihadism is more than a military conflict; it is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. We are still in the early years of the struggle. The civilized world will either rise to the challenge and prevail against this latest form of barbarism, or grief and death will visit us and other innocents on a massive scale. Given the stakes involved in this war and how little is known, even now, about what is at the core of this conflict, it is worth reviewing in some detail the nature of...

One man's infection is another's attraction ... or so it seems with a common parasite that scientists have discovered can turn women into 'sex kittens,' while making men less attractive. The parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects about 40 percent of the world's population, an Australian researcher has found, and it has different effects on women versus men. ...[snip]... "Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women,"...

The Westboro Baptist Church has been ordered to pay $3,150 for costs and fees associated with a summons and complaint filed by the father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the extremist group. Albert Snyder of York, Pa., is suing the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Topeka, Kan.-based church after church members demonstrated at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder of Westminster, and posted pictures of the protest on their Web site.

Taneytown became the first municipality in Maryland to pass a resolution declaring English its official language but stopped short last night of a proposed change to the city charter that had drawn criticism from civil rights groups and some residents. Mayor W. Robert Flickinger said the nonbinding English Language Unity resolution was preferable to a change in the charter, which would have been costly to implement and probably would have drawn lawsuits. [snip] A 2002 [State] law requires all state agencies to provide interpreters and to translate crucial documents into any language spoken by 3 percent of the population.

We are told by careful pollsters that half of the American people believe that American troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately. This news discourages supporters of our efforts there. Not me, though: I am relieved. Given press coverage of our efforts in Iraq, I am surprised that 90% of the public do not want us out right now. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2005, nearly 1,400 stories appeared on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news. More than half focused on the costs and problems of the war, four times as many as those that discussed the...

The legislative committee investigating Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s personnel practices filed a petition in Harford County Circuit Court this week to compel former gubernatorial aide Joseph F. Steffen to testify. Again. - snip - The committee has spent the past year evaluating whether administration officials fired longtime state workers because they were Democrats. Republicans say the investigation amounts to an election-year smear campaign against the governor.

“Blazing Saddles” “Airplane!” “There’s Something About Mary” “Caddyshack” “Love and Death” “Kentucky Fried Movie” “Team America: World Police” “Porky’s” “Song of the South” “Bad Santa”

WBAL News has learned that Doug Duncan is dropping out of the governor's race. The Montgomery County executive has called a 2pm news conference to talk about the future of his campaign. Multiple sources tell WBAL he will announce he is withdrawing from the race, and will say his decision is based on health concerns.

My son Jimmy passed away this afternoon, about two weeks shy of his fourth birthday. He had been fighting severe epilepsy for over two years and he lost his battle today. When he has been in the hospital before, my dear friends here on Free Republic have been more than generous with warm thoughts and prayers. For that, you all have my sincere thanks.

BORNE ANNOUNCES BID FOR STATE SENATE IN 8TH DISTRICT Craig Borne of Perry Hall has announced that he will seek the Maryland Senate seat in the 8th district. He is the first Republican senate candidate to announce his intentions so far. The seat is currently held by Democrat Kathy Klausmeier who has not yet been challenged from within her party. A civil rights attorney, Borne says he is anxious to get his campaign up and running. "I look forward to working closely with our Governor, Bob Ehrlich, on issues important to the families and the constituents of the 8th district....

CASA of Maryland sued the state Motor Vehicle Administration Tuesday, claiming the MVA has unlawfully denied driver's licenses to immigrants and placed an undue burden on foreign-born residents seeking driver's licenses.The suit says the MVA has refused to accept legal forms of identification and that it violated the Maryland Administrative Procedure Act when it changed the rules for foreign-born applicants to obtain a driver's license or learner's permit.The MVA is reserving comment until it sees the suit, said agency spokesman Buel Young.Regulations begun in July 2004 have made it cumbersome for non-U.S. citizens to obtain licenses. They must make an...

Traffic is being reopened on all lanes of Interstate 895, and the process to reopen all lanes of the Fort McHenry Tunnel is underway, according to Maryland Transportation Authority Police Chief Gary Mclhinney. The Baltimore Harbor Tunnel was closed while the Fort McHenry Tunnel was partially closed this morning, with one lane of traffic moving in each direction, said Lt. Col. David Franklin of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. A call listing a possible non-specific threat to a tunnel was received by an unnamed police agency last Friday, according to the FBI. Carla McIntosh, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Baltimore...

SO, WHICH image of black folks does more damage to the race? The one of Memin Pinguin, the little guy on the Mexican postage stamp who looks like he was yanked off the screen of a cartoon in the 1930s or 1940s? Or the image of rappers 50 Cent and Tony Yayo on the cover of XXL magazine that its editors proclaimed "The Jail Issue" and dedicated to "hip-hop's incarcerated soldiers"?

With a hammer, pliers and baby bottles filled with blood, Carol Gilbert and two other Dominican nuns defied America's military might three years ago, cutting through a fence to paint red crosses in blood on a nuclear missile silo in Colorado. Released yesterday after 33 months in federal prisons, Gilbert returned home to Baltimore and a potluck dinner party thrown by friends. Her only regret is that she was locked up during the war in Iraq when peace protests were at a peak. "I would do the same thing all over again," she said during the dinner at St. Peter...

My mother-in-law's cancer has come out of remission and is spreading very rapidly. Her doctor says she probably has about a week to live. At this point, all I can ask from my FRiends is for prayers that her passing is easy and her way to Heaven clear. A little background: Several years ago, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. This was treated with aggressive chemo and radiation therapy, which subdued the tumor in her abdomen into remission. She named it "el nino" and went on with her life, doting on her grandchildren and generally driving her son and...

Senate joins House, OKs bill that in effect applies only to Wal-Mart; Ehrlich might veto measure; Low spending on benefits would trigger penalties Maryland would become the first state to tax large companies that failed to meet a mandatory level of employee health-care benefits under a bill approved yesterday by the state Senate. The measure would affect one corporation, retailing behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sent representatives from its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters to argue against it at committee hearings this year. But other, smaller businesses worried that the measure could be altered to include them in the future. -snip- As...