The new dance year has begun. As I first stepped into En Pointe's (EP) studio yesterday afternoon, I was inundated with small tasks, queries, and greetings. It was pleasantly crowded, and I was a bit overwhelmed. Nevertheless, I was happy to be back. » read more »

Finally getting fed up with numerous school bus dangers, I decided to start working my way through government to figure out how to hold dangerous and errant drivers accountable. I cannot say for sure if the accountability is genuine, but I did manage to make contact with the head of the Gwinnett schools' transportation system. » read more »

I just received this from PJI:

For Immediate Release: August 18, 2008

Contact: President Brad Dacus (916) 857-6900

Cal. Supreme Court Rejects Doctors' Rights of Conscience

Sacramento, CA - In a major decision likely to re-draw the battle lines of the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court today ruled against two doctors who declined to artificially inseminate a lesbian. » read more »

Our church's pastor managed to do a sermon this week without screwing up any doctrine or demonstrating his incompetence with Koine Greek (let alone Hebrew). He preached on John 15:2. His sermon was, as usual, baby food, but at least he didn't lead people astray as he usually does.

Like Georgia, the U.A.E. appeals to international law in its dispute with Iran over Abu Mousa. The mistake they make is this: such an appeal assumes a rule-of-law philosophy at work in all concerned parties. Iran has amply demonstrated it does not follow this philosophy. » read more »

This is a good article on the Russian invasion of Georgia, the West's abandonment of their ally, and the lessons to be learned in defense of Israel. » read more »

A friend once asked me if it were acceptable to publicly deny Christ while privately, secretly remaining faithful. I had only Scripture as an answer: "Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." and "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." » read more »

Unverified, but easily believable: » read more »

Fox reports again on the recent attacks against Christians by the CA University system. In this case, the University is denying course credit to students who learn from a Biblical or creationist worldview. Absolutely predictable, of course. The ungodly world--don't fool yourself into thinking America is still Christian by any means--is on the warpath against God's followers. This is just an attempt to discredit creationism while avoiding any scientific investigation into its claims. » read more »

Apparently, English-Only rules in the workplace, etc., are all but illegal. The EEOC's policies state that such rules are assumed to be in violation of federal law (discriminating based upon national origin), unless the employer can prove such a rule is necessary for safety's sake or otherwise necessary for conducting business. Such proof must include actual evidence of the harm of speaking foreign languages in that business' context. » read more »

Have you been dreaming of an opportunity to serve the Lord in a worthy ministry? Have you been itching for a job that eats up all your vacation days and much of your sleep, breaks your back and wears out your feet, leaves you dehydrated and hungry, makes you a servant to all and master of none, and gives you plenty of opportunities to open your wallet in generosity? Then Praise In Motion Tech Crew is the job for you! Only true believers need apply. » read more »

I've blogged a bit in the past about the demise of this once great nation and the inevitable need for another revolution to restore liberty once again. I've repeatedly said it's not yet time for revolt, despite our present government's abuses being far worse than the British crown's in the mid-to-late eighteenth century. In discussions of late, I've come to realize just when it is time for revolt, armed if necessary. » read more »

Michael Reagan writes:

President Bush should issue an executive order denying any federal funds to those cities which either officially or unofficially provide sanctuaries enabling illegal aliens who commit crimes to escape deportation. They need to learn there is a price to be paid for exposing their citizens to criminal activities by aliens here illegally.

Bull! Denying federal funds is laughable. No, instead those city councilmen need to be tried for treason and executed if found guilty. » read more »

In 1 Timothy 2:11-15, Paul wrote:

A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. » read more »

Some believers see devils everywhere, blaming them for all their woes. In so doing, they're avoiding personal responsibility for what is really just the natural consequences of their own sins. The recently popular euphemism for seeing demons behind every difficulty is "spiritual attack". » read more »

Self-test for Autism Quotient: http://www.msnbc.com/modules/n...

Bear in mind, it's a self-test. This means its accuracy will be highly suspect, especially by those personalities that can easily and naturally morph.

From http://voxday.blogspot.com/200... ...

[Vox quotes from http://article.nationalreview.... ...]

An acquaintance of mine, an academic in the human sciences (not Charles Murray) holds the opinion that across an IQ gap of more than one standard deviation (i.e. about 15 points), communication between two people becomes difficult, and that beyond two standard deviations it is effectively impossible. » read more »

I found an interesting book by William James Sidis. Though Sidis was supposedly a super-genius (so far, I'm not seeing it), the flaws in his logic show through. To be fair, he was more up front about his assumptions than most "scientists" but not as much as he should have been. I'm only a third of the way through yet, but it's proving to be a very interesting read, flaws notwithstanding. » read more »

It seems this page is one of the most frequently visited on TuscanyCircle by web searchers (e.g., Googlers, Yahoo-ers, etc.). People must really be interested in emotional maturity these days. In a way, I suppose that should be an encouraging sign. What would be more interesting, though, is knowing what people are taking away from TuscanyCircle. Are they truly seeking emotional maturity? Or are they merely looking for affirmation, evidence showing how they're more emotionally mature than their peers? » read more »

From Pacific Justice: » read more »

Treason is essentially working for the enemy. The Third World is invading our nation through mass, unchecked, illegal migration. Those who help this invasion of criminals are guilty of treason. I wonder if those who cater to foreign languages in this country are aiding this invasion by making it more feasible for them to live here. » read more »

What percentage of men have an issue with lust? It's often joked that it's 100%. I suspect the real number isn't quite that high--probably closer to 99.999999%. Why is lust such a prevalent sin among men? What can Godly men do about it? » read more »

Vox references some stupid "brights" (pardon the redundancy) as claiming:

...Darwin's dangerous idea provided a powerful foundation for the secular worldview. » read more »

I'd like to propose a new euphemism for public- and private-schoolers: aggregate-schoolers. While it should be immensely insulting to those who partake of such an inferior form of education, it's probably just subtle enough to escape such offense, especially among those generally less likely to perceive subtleties. » read more »

How do you wake another person up from his slumber of stupidity? How do you get another to begin questioning his purpose in life? How do you encourage someone to seek the Lord, to submit his life to Him, and to walk in Godly obedience forevermore? These are important parts of evangelism or witnessing. Many people are in bad situations and are not handling them well. The Lord can help them, but He allows us the freedom to choose. This means it may take some appropriate nudges to get him to seek the Lord's way. » read more »

I don't know what more I could add to this story about putting taser-like bracelets on all airline passengers. Frankly, I hope they do it. I hope it does end the airline industry. While we're at it, I hope I live long enough to see the total collapse of American stupidity. I would say I'd grieve the loss of America herself, but that happened a long time ago.

Doug Apple gives good advice to young women and teen girls. Doug talks about how dressing to attract men's attention really only gets them interested in a woman's body parts, not the woman herself. Surely, this is not the kind of attention she really wants. To be more frank than Doug: Ladies, don't dress like whores unless you want to be treated like whores. » read more »

Most believers have no clue about Biblical doctrine. Barna's survey showed only 9% of born-again Christians actually held a Biblical worldview, and the criteria was very basic: » read more »

1. Do absolute moral truths exist?
2. Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?
3. Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?
4. Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today?
5. Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned?

Moby shared this:

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. » read more »

I usually appreciate Vox' blog entries. He's a reasonably smart dude, and that's refreshing. He's not the strongest theologian, so his worldview occasionally suffers (e.g., creationism), but I think he'd admit to that anyway. By and large, he's most often right. I plan to continue reading his blog more or less regularly. » read more »