For your afternoon diversion: bears playing in a swimming pool. Notice the cubs in the back. I like the way they sit upright and look around. Heh, reminds me of my brother and myself as kids when we went to the pool.

Here's the article. "Sometimes I come home and the sprinklers are moved, the pool sweeper is moved and there'll be water and sticks, sand and berries in the pool, and I'll say 'Whoa, looks like there's been a party here.'"

A friend of mine from the heartland, who goes by "Dingy Blonde" online, sent me a video file of her three-year-old daughter singing nursery rhymes. She prompted the little tyke to sing, who then jumped up and down excitedly, chuckling, and stuck out her tongue. She started with "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Then "Itsy, Bitsy Spider." Curiously, she picked up the speed for a bouncy rendition of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" ... umm, gently down the stream.

Here's an edited log of my chat with Dingy in Yahoo! Messenger.

Her: It's a big file. It's my daughter singing.
Me: it's downloading now
Her: Ok
[I watch the video]
Me: [smiley with beating heart]
Her: Isn't she cute?
Her: She's my angel
Her: [angel smiley]
Me: You should send this to the terrorists. They'd call the whole thing off.
Her: She wants to let you see her face [on the web cam in Yahoo! Messenger].
Her: I would hope it would.
Me: The way she sings, it doesn't look like GENTLE rowing down the stream. LOL
Her: lol
[...]
Me: Thanks for the video, it made my day
Her: Oh I'm glad!
Me: This is what life is all about. This makes it all worthwhile.
Her: Innocence
Me: Joy, life in peace
Me: Children teach us how to be happy
Her: Yes. Peace of mind as well. Knowing you may not have a million, but you can be the richest person in the world if you have family that cares and your health.
Her: Yes they do.
Me: Enjoying the simple things. Singing and dancing
Her: We are finding that out now
Her: Yes exactly
Me: Being together
Her: Yes
Me: Mom and her little chicks
Her: LOL
Me: You're blessed with a good family
Her: Yes, God has blessed me.
Me: If they were all like yours, we'd have world peace.
Her: Awwwwwe thanx *hugs*
Me: and sing nursery rhymes together lol
Her: I have to find that place and remind myself not to be poutful and wish I had what I obviously don't NEED, and remember the blessing in my life.
Her: and remember I have the things I NEED, not all the things I WANT.
Her: I love what I have.
Me: You have more than you need, really
Her: True.
Me: But that's good. With your webcam, you can share your joy with others. (for example)

Everybody in the world claims to want peace. But we have different definitions of peace. Different visions of peace. This is my vision of peace. We talk about peace processes. Well, this is what peace looks like: mothers and children singing innocent nursery rhymes together. (No, "Arabs Our Beloved and Jews Our Dogs" does not count.) Peace is when a family can live in its own home without constant fear of Kassam rockets crashing through the roof (a relatively common occurrence in the hotbed of peace plans) or nukes leveling the city. Living, working, and playing in freedom and security. If a "peace plan" doesn't actually lead to this, it is not a plan for peace.

Shabbat shalom.
And shalom b'Yeshua, the Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace).

I hope this will be my last post on the cartoon controversy.

When all is said and done, here's what I think about it.

On a completely different note...

As a Christian, I am O u t RA g E d by this religious provocation against my faith!! Fellow Brethren of the Cross, let the riots and pillaging begin!!!

*immediately sets up online shop selling flags of Islamic states*
Profit!!

A Muslim protester -- This woman is apparently protesting the fact that the Danish cartoons were much too tame. I suppose I am to infer that a landscape drawing of Mohammad proudly posed amidst a sea of mass graves would have been more to her liking.

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You have heard it said that Islam forbids any depictions of the "prophet" Mohammad (piss be upon him). Is this true? I present to you the Mohammed Image Archive. (* Mirrors at bottom of this JE *) The archive includes Islamic depictions of Moham' going back to Medieval times. The Danish cartoons are there, too.

I highly recommend you to click on the "Recent Responses to the Controversy" section. The first cartoon there is just perfect!

Warning: After the red-faced Mohammad depiction (about mid-page in Recent Responses), the cartoons start to get a little sexually foul, so you may want to stop scrolling at that point.

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QOTC (Quote of the Controversy)

"Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back."
-- Ann Coulter, "CALVIN AND HOBBES -- AND MUHAMMAD," Feb. 8, 2006

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I found an Arab blogger who is laid-back: Rantings of a Sandmonkey. Check out the right column (above the blog roll). I do wish he would clean up his language, though, but it's no worse than that on Slashdot.

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Here is the ultimate site on The Religion of Peace. Features detailed, up-to-date terror statistics.

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* Mohammed Image Archive mirrors * (do not necessarily contain the latest updates to original page): evtek.fi (Finland), Retecool (Netherlands), Outpost911 (USA), Aaron's cc (USA), Nordish.net (Scandinavia), jthz.com (Germany) (may be temporarily overloaded), Beth (USA) (may be temporarily overloaded), info2us.dk (Denmark)

Their national flags were burned by the 9/11 cheerleaders, the PA Arabs.

To Denmark and Norway, I say: Welcome to the club! When terrorists in Hamas-stan hate you, you know you're doing something right.

INN reports that 79% of Danes think their PM should not apologize on Denmark's behalf. That's impressive, especially for Europeans. Maybe it's simply the free speech issue. Anyway, I'm proud of them. On behalf of the Hated-By-IslamoNazis Alliance, I wish them congratulations and mazal tov.

1. Rights come from God. This is a fundamental American tenet that is acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence. Rights can neither be created nor destroyed. They exist because they are truly right. Government may impede or afford freedom for them, but they exist independently of government on a higher plane.
2. Wealth is not a right. You are not entitled to acquire certain possessions, even "decent housing," via the resources of other people. (Charity is great, but gifts are privileges, not birthright entitlements.) However, the freedom to make choices to improve your life (e.g. finances) is a right.
3. Being black is not a sin. Sexual perversion is a grave sin that is known to incur God's wrath and condemnation--literal fire and brimstone--on the whole of society that condones it.
4. The Dream is about freedom, not equality, per se. The expansion of freedom results in equality of opportunity. State-engineered equality of effect is based on authoritarianism, not a love for fellow man, which is (or, should be) the highest objective of society.
5. MLK was a great orator for civil rights, and he got his best material from the Holy Bible. Strangely, this is a book that some of MLK's supposed followers accuse of containing "hate speech" promoting genocide, slavery, racism, sexism, bigotry, and "homophobia."
6. King is an inspiration to us, but his inspiration was the King of Kings, the Son of God. In America's near idolization of MLK, let us not forget who the real Savior and Liberator is.

Is there any significance in the fact that New Year's is 8 days after Christmas and if Jesus was born on Christmas then New Year's would have been his bris milah?
- JH

i knew there was a good reason for the big party.
- eliyahu

* Spelling/grammar minimally corrected, WP link added. No link back to blog since I don't want to promote it.

A terrorist known in his hometown as "Hitler" both for his physical resemblance to the German dictator and for his policies has swept local primaries and will represent his district for the ruling Fatah party in upcoming Palestinian legislative elections, according to Palestinian sources.

Islamo-Fascism

"While the nickname came because of his looks, he is known more as Hitler because of his policies. He runs a tight ship in his town through fear and intimidation. And he not only calls for executions but personally carries them out in public so everyone can see what happens when 'Hitler' thinks you collaborated with Israel."

Familiar voter's dilemma: Choosing the lesser of 10^2 evils

[Hitler] was one of dozens of terrorists and militant leaders to dominate the local elections.

Terror leader/serial killer a popular favorite

Also yesterday, Palestinian election officials certified the landslide primary win of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Founder Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life terms in Israeli prison for planning suicide bombings and shooting attacks. Israel accuses Barghouti of orchestrating the Intifada, the terror war launched by the Palestinians in 2000.

Barghouti took 96 percent of the votes to head Fatah's roster in Ramallah, spurring calls from Palestinians and some Israeli ministers for his immediate release.

Moderates also garner wide support

On October 25th, Secretary of State Rice called Islam a religion of "peace and love"

Peace and love? Are those the new euphemisms for fascism and terror? Orwell is enjoying a belly laugh in his grave.

If anyone comes across examples of Condi Rice praising Christianity or Judaism please bring it to our attention.

Good point. Here's the full speech that she gave to Muslims at the White House during Ramadan.

"So, of all nations, America has no cause for false pride and we have every reason for humility."

Well, by logic, nobody has cause for pride that is false. From the latter part of the sentence, it seems that this is not an intentional use of a double negative ("no" and "false") and that she meant to say, essentially, "America has only false cause for pride." That puts her squarely at odds with mainstream America, especially conservatives.

Ironically, the personal account that she gave of how racism in America was overcome by grassroots reform and of how she was able to rise up in society to her current position is a shining testimony of why the US does have true cause for true pride! We, as a people, repented from our sin and overcame our cause for shame.

I can't believe she said, "of all nations." Now, that is just blatant America bashing. Uh, Somalia? Iran? Her ultra-egalitarian speech would be borderline-illegal in most Islamic countries. Her success could not have happened in most countries, least of all Arab/Islamic countries. A black... Christian... woman? Ha ha ha! That's three strikes.

Why would Rice say something so awful? Does she think she has to besmirch America's character to make Muslims like her? I'm getting fed up with Rice. I used to be a big fan, but since she became Secretary of State, she's taken a terrible turn for the worse. She and Bush keep bullying Israel and praising the ideology of our enemies. *sigh* There's something about Washington, DC that inhibits, and even rolls back, learning and wisdom.

Just laugh. Don't try to understand it. Enjoy, and have a good weekend.

Not exactly, but I like to dream.

I'd like to dedicate this song to Courtney Love who has, sadly, lost her hairbrush.

Neighbors being neighbors.

Black Books, no red tape.

The country should do more tithing and less taxing.

Distraught resident Harvey Jackson told a local television station about losing his wife in the floodwater as they stood on their roof.

Viewing note: You will probably need to load the page in Internet Explorer, but it's well worth the trouble.

I trust that after watching this video you will follow me in prayer for this family and the many others grieving and in crisis situations.

Edit: I just found a page highlighting bloggers' harrowing accounts and pleas. This is absolutely terrifying: "My family is stranded the attic of my sisters house at 2117 N. Robertson St. Cross streets are Claibone and Elysian Feilds Please help them there are 8 little kids in this home please help them!!!!!" God help them!

Edit: KatrinaHelp Wiki

Edit: Wikipedia has a story. The body of the man's wife has been found.