A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF MUNDAY, TEXAS ESTABLISHING
A MAYOR’S ADVISORY COUNCIL (MAC) FOR THE CITY OF MUNDAY
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Munday, Texas, wants to know what is happening in every part of the city of Munday; and
WHEREAS, the City Council realizes that every citizen cannot and would not address their every individual needs or grievances to the council; and
WHEREAS, the City Council believes by establishing a Mayor’s Advisory Council that citizens’ needs, expectations, and/or dreams could be met; and
WHEREAS, the City Council understands the purpose of the Mayor’s Advirory Council (MAC) to be as follows:
Section 1. Purpose
(1) To resolve citizen grievances, to accept citizens' complaints, to determine the legitimacy of such complaints, and, to report citizen’s complaints to the mayor and City Council.
(2) To aid in making the mayor and City Council aware of problems in the Munday community.
(3) To recommend and present new and progressive ideas to the mayor and city council.
(4) To promote civic pride and community goals.
(5) To consider nominations for the wall of fame award as described below in Section 3.
Section 2. Composition of MAC and selection of members.
The MAC established by this resolution shall consist of no less than ten (10) members and no more than fifteen (15) members being representative of all ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic interests existing in the city. No employee of the city shall serve on the MAC. All members shall be appointed by the mayor.
Section 3. Qualifications.
Each member appointed shall be a registered voter. Further, each member who is appointed by the mayor shall live in the city. In the case of a 15-member council, three business people can live outside the city limits.
Section 4. Wall of Fame Award
(1) The membership of the MAC may, by majority vote, select persons as recipients of the Wall of Fame Award (known before as Attaboy Club). Such selection shall be memorialized by way of a formal resolution adopted by the MAC. This resolution shall then be forwarded to the city secretary for consideration and approval by the Munday City Council.
(2) This award shall be given to a person who has made significant and outstanding contributions to the City of Munday over a period of many years.
(3) The Wall of Fame Award may be bestowed posthumously.
(4) The City of Munday shall maintain a plaque in a prominent place at City Hall which contains the names of each recipient of the Wall of Fame Award.
Dated at the City of Munday this 13th day of October, 2009.
Buddy V. Norville
Mayor of Munday
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF MUNDAY, TEXAS ESTABLISHING
A MAYOR’S YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL (MYAC) FOR THE CITY OF MUNDAY
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Munday, Texas, has determined that the young people of our community have unique insight into the needs, desires, problems and issues which confront, and are experienced by young people; and
WHEREAS, the City Council believes that our youth, as inheritors of the community, are certainly deserving of a voice and representation, in efforts adopted by the City to identify and resolve issues which concern the youth of the community; and
WHEREAS, the City Council feels it is important to provide an opportunity for the youth of Munday to acquire a greater knowledge of and appreciation for the political system through active participation in the system; and
WHEREAS, the City Council believes by establishing a Youth Advisory Council it will instill a feeling of positive self-worth and esteem, to teach respect for the rights and property of others, to promote community pride, and eliminate potential negative influences among our future community leaders.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MUNDAY,
TEXAS:
There is hereby established a "Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council" hereinafter "MYAC". The purpose of the MYAC is to actively advise the City Council with thoughtful recommendations on issues concerning youth and to assist City staff in considering youth perspectives in its planning efforts. The MYAC shall hold periodic meetings with the Mayor and/or City Council and will attend City Council and City Board meetings when youth issues are on the agenda. MYAC shall create task forces, as needed.
Dated at the City of Munday this 13th day of October, 2009.
Buddy V. Norville
Mayor of Munday
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
To The Point
Last year Texas crops suffered a loss of over $50 million in damage to wild hogs. Just to give you an idea of their destructive capabilities, a herd of 30-40 hogs can destroy a 25-acre field in a night. Some of our readers have experienced their power. Many individuals are doing their best to eradicate these creatures. The problem is, the hogs multiply faster than individuals can kill them. It may take a disaster declaration by the governor to remedy this problem, because this is a stateside situation. The problem is larger than a city or even a county can handle. Oh, there are no funds budgeted for this type of disaster. That is not a viable answer. All we need is for these hogs to get rabies or something worse. Why didn’t President O’bama promise every Democrat a hog on his plate. Texas farmers would be more than happy to furnish the hogs for a few billion of them bail out dollars. They can even keep their Cadillac clunkers.
Early voting for the upcoming Nov. 3 statewide election begins Monday and runs through Friday, Oct. 30. Although no state, county, or city offices will be filled during this election, the fate of 11 proposed constitutional amendments is at stake statewide.
Texas has gained approximately 1,100 jobs, based on more than 230 contracts awarded from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The construction industry was the big winner regarding contracts, with road, bridge and other transportation infrastructure projects. Environmental jobs, too, were boosted by funding relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy creation and use. Texas continues to lead the nation in these areas.
I know everyone in Munday is happy to hear that October 31, will be our fall city-wide cleanup day. There are signs of trash buildup all over town, so folks are cleaning out their garages, storage rooms and their cellars, just for this time. (There is a story in another part of this paper telling where to take your trash and what time to get it there, and what you can take. No chemicals, explosive items or heat-seeking missiles. Please follow the directions in the story.)
Something of interest to Munday folks has come to our attention that has not been broadly publicized. The site for the Knox County Livestock Show will be in Munday on a permanent basis. This is due to the fact that Munday has the best facilities, with ample parking for trucks, trailers and cars of visitors. The show is always held in January.
The showbarn, formerly owned and operated by the Young Farmers, is now under the umbrella of the Development Corporation of Munday (DCM or EDC). According to Mark Reed, president, the DCM will take care of some needed repairs, install more lighting in some areas of the showbarn and apply insulation to the interior.
“Of course the whole place needs cleaning up, especially the back of the building,” Reed said, “the back has rotting railroad ties all over the area. Right now it’s hard to see them because the grass is so tall. We could really use some help back there to get this place ready for the County Show in January.”
Yeh, I know, this is only October. But the 31st is only two weeks away. And cold weather is another few weeks away. NOW would be a good time for all you volunteers to come down and help, either on or before October 31st. There is nothing that says your club or organization can’t go over there and do it all before the 31st. Please, let this be a community effort and make that area of Munday shine. Let’s show our county visitors how Munday takes care of business.
Several of us have been attending all kinds of meetings around the state learning and networking with others from all over the state. People everywhere have heard of Munday, even though they don’t remember why always. So we remind them why Munday is so well-known. We’ll be telling all about soon enough, but first we have a ton of paper work to do and thousands of photos to shoot. And some day we will hear, “Lights, camera, action!” You’ll want to keep your subscription to the Courier paid up.
Last year Texas crops suffered a loss of over $50 million in damage to wild hogs. Just to give you an idea of their destructive capabilities, a herd of 30-40 hogs can destroy a 25-acre field in a night. Some of our readers have experienced their power. Many individuals are doing their best to eradicate these creatures. The problem is, the hogs multiply faster than individuals can kill them. It may take a disaster declaration by the governor to remedy this problem, because this is a stateside situation. The problem is larger than a city or even a county can handle. Oh, there are no funds budgeted for this type of disaster. That is not a viable answer. All we need is for these hogs to get rabies or something worse. Why didn’t President O’bama promise every Democrat a hog on his plate. Texas farmers would be more than happy to furnish the hogs for a few billion of them bail out dollars. They can even keep their Cadillac clunkers.
Early voting for the upcoming Nov. 3 statewide election begins Monday and runs through Friday, Oct. 30. Although no state, county, or city offices will be filled during this election, the fate of 11 proposed constitutional amendments is at stake statewide.
Texas has gained approximately 1,100 jobs, based on more than 230 contracts awarded from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The construction industry was the big winner regarding contracts, with road, bridge and other transportation infrastructure projects. Environmental jobs, too, were boosted by funding relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy creation and use. Texas continues to lead the nation in these areas.
I know everyone in Munday is happy to hear that October 31, will be our fall city-wide cleanup day. There are signs of trash buildup all over town, so folks are cleaning out their garages, storage rooms and their cellars, just for this time. (There is a story in another part of this paper telling where to take your trash and what time to get it there, and what you can take. No chemicals, explosive items or heat-seeking missiles. Please follow the directions in the story.)
Something of interest to Munday folks has come to our attention that has not been broadly publicized. The site for the Knox County Livestock Show will be in Munday on a permanent basis. This is due to the fact that Munday has the best facilities, with ample parking for trucks, trailers and cars of visitors. The show is always held in January.
The showbarn, formerly owned and operated by the Young Farmers, is now under the umbrella of the Development Corporation of Munday (DCM or EDC). According to Mark Reed, president, the DCM will take care of some needed repairs, install more lighting in some areas of the showbarn and apply insulation to the interior.
“Of course the whole place needs cleaning up, especially the back of the building,” Reed said, “the back has rotting railroad ties all over the area. Right now it’s hard to see them because the grass is so tall. We could really use some help back there to get this place ready for the County Show in January.”
Yeh, I know, this is only October. But the 31st is only two weeks away. And cold weather is another few weeks away. NOW would be a good time for all you volunteers to come down and help, either on or before October 31st. There is nothing that says your club or organization can’t go over there and do it all before the 31st. Please, let this be a community effort and make that area of Munday shine. Let’s show our county visitors how Munday takes care of business.
Several of us have been attending all kinds of meetings around the state learning and networking with others from all over the state. People everywhere have heard of Munday, even though they don’t remember why always. So we remind them why Munday is so well-known. We’ll be telling all about soon enough, but first we have a ton of paper work to do and thousands of photos to shoot. And some day we will hear, “Lights, camera, action!” You’ll want to keep your subscription to the Courier paid up.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Obama is sure about somethingSandy Rios - Guest Columnist
Do you remember the anticipation surrounding the great non-debate between Barack Obama and John McCain hosted by Pastor Rick Warren? Televised from Saddleback Church as millions watched, Warren pledged to ask the hard questions in order to get to the truth. It was a critical juncture in the presidential campaign and there was much public discussion over faith and values and marriage and Proposition 8 and where, exactly, each man stood.
So there it was...proof. The skeptics of Obama's Christian faith and his position on the moral implications of same-sex marriage had been put in their place. The man had said he believed marriage was between a man and a woman, it was sacred and that it was his Christian faith that informed him of this. It was convincing and powerful and many social conservatives breathed a sigh of relief and voted for the charming candidate with the lovely smile, believing they were affirming a new era in race relations and signing on to "hope and change."
Fast forward to a recent appearance by the president in Washington, DC. The occasion was the annual dinner for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the leading organization promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. That audience was also eager to know just where he stood. Restless with his perceived inaction on their issues, they waited eagerly as Obama rose to speak.
He promised them the world. He promised a hate crimes bill that will put an added measure of federal law enforcement on anyone perpetrating a violent crime against a gay, lesbian or transgender person. If passed, murdering a gay man will be a much more serious crime than killing a grandmother. With bravado, he pledged to name this bill after Matthew Shepherd, the young gay slain in Wyoming in 1998. ABC tried to correct the narrative not long after the incident to clarify it was robbery not "homophobia" that resulted in the murder, but the story was already larger than life. Matthew was known for soliciting straight men and abusing drugs. His murder was tragic, but he was no hero. Still, Obama advanced the legend, and gave tribute to a man not known for his character, but for his sexual preference.
Next he promised ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) to punish moral objections to hiring of GLBT persons -- even in schools, churches, private business and government offices. The next time you visit your child's school, after it passes, you could be met by a male teacher in a skirt or a drag queen as the office secretary.
"There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors, even loved ones -- good and decent people -- who hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes," Obama continued.
I wonder if he had Rick Warren or the audience at Saddleback or the Christian world in mind. Surely that inference to a homosexual audience very clearly suggested that objections to homosexuality on moral grounds constituted those "outworn arguments" and "old attitudes." What could be older than the biblical prohibition against same-sex sex?
"I'm here with you in that fight....My commitment to you is unwavering....Do not doubt the direction we are headed and the destination we will reach," the president promised to the applause of the crowd.
If he had only made promises that definitive to Rick Warren....But he did say this during that televised "debate" in the heat of the campaign: "I'm not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage."
Really? He promised those at the HRC banquet he would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Ultimately he fought against Proposition 8 in California, a vote by its citizens to prevent same-sex marriage. And later he made sure he spoke in opposition to traditional marriage advocates in Iowa who were, with his help, defeated.
But the promises to the Human Rights Campaign didn't end there. In spite of objections by the best military minds who have cautioned about the dangers to troop cohesion in the face of open sexuality of either gender, Obama declared defiantly, "I will end 'Don't ask, don't tell.' That's my commitment to you!" Commitment to the homosexual activist community...not so much to our troops in the field.
"My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians whether in the office or on the battlefield. You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as between a man and woman...I am committed to these goals...."
Indeed, I believe he is. For a man who is so uncertain on so many things, of the need to advance homosexual rights he seems passionately convinced.
Monday, October 12, 2009
to the point
The State’s involvement in the sales tax revenue is even more incredable, when they send us back only two percent of what we send to them. It takes a lot of sales in Munday to come out with much at the rate of two percent on the dollar.
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Now that you are in a mode for dealing with statistics, here’s a few for you from the crash calendar of 2008.
Statistics show that Texas has a significant traffic safety problem. In 2008 there were approximately 3,468 traffic related fatalities, with 1,422 (42%) being speed related. Fatalities in traffice crashes in rural areas accounted for 1,877 deaths (54.1%). That’s right, over half of the deaths occurred in areas like Munday.
There were no deathless days on Texas roadways in 2008. Friday, August 8th was the deadliest day with 32 persons killed in traffic crashes. August and October were the deadliest months with 320 persons killed in both months.
Of those killed in 2008 56% were not wearing seat belts. Of 529 motorcyclists (operators and passengers) killed, 56% were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash.
Single vehicle, run off the road crashes resulted in 1,116 deaths. This was 32% of all deaths. There were 829 people killed in crashes occurring in intersections or related to an intersection. Another 510 were killed in head-on crashes.
There were 975 killed in crashes where a driver was under the influence of alcohol. This is 28.1% of the total killed. More DUI-alcohol related crashes were reported in the hour between 2:00 a.m. and 2:59 a.m. than any other hour of the day. Also, more alcohol related crashes occurred on Saturday than any other day of the week.
Pedalcyclist fatalities totaled 48, a 4% decrease from 2007.
Okay, so you think you’d feel safer walking than riding in a car? Pedestrian fatalities totaled 48 in 2008. This is a 5% increase over 2007. So it was more dangerous to walk in 2008 than it was in 2007.
Then there are the airlines who brag about how much safer it is to fly. I don’t know how one would go about comparing statistics realistically. One airline says it is safer to fly with them because they had fewer accidents per takeoff. Another says they are safer because they have had fewer accidents per 100, 000 flying miles. Another is safer because they have the best peanuts in the air. One website, sponsored by a law firm, says if calculated by distance, planes are 62 times safer than cars and trucks However, if calculated by journey, planes are three times more dangerous than cars.
Another site, sponsored by a book on air safety, says more a realistic figure is the rate of fatalities per number of journeys. By this measure, air travel takes on a different complexion. Fatalities per 100 million passenger journeys are 4.5 for cars, 2.7 for trains, and 55 for planes. This means one is 12 times more likely to die on a commercial jet compared to a car, and 20 times more likely to die on a plan than on a train.
A good statistician can crunch the numbers to come up with any story his boss wants, whether they are correct or not.
Just give people the facts about Munday and how great it is and you’ll be correct in every way.
Today one might expect to pay at least $130 for a speeding fine, plus $97 in court costs. In 1994 a speeding ticket was anywhere from $58-$63. A no driver’s license fine was only $67, whereas today it could be around $200. Today’s fees reflect more involvement by the State of Texas in our business. For instance the State tells the courts how much to charge for court costs and how much we can keep in Munday. Not much stays here. And if we don’t collect as much as they prescribe, we still have to send it to them every quarter.
Now that you are in a mode for dealing with statistics, here’s a few for you from the crash calendar of 2008.Statistics show that Texas has a significant traffic safety problem. In 2008 there were approximately 3,468 traffic related fatalities, with 1,422 (42%) being speed related. Fatalities in traffice crashes in rural areas accounted for 1,877 deaths (54.1%). That’s right, over half of the deaths occurred in areas like Munday.
There were no deathless days on Texas roadways in 2008. Friday, August 8th was the deadliest day with 32 persons killed in traffic crashes. August and October were the deadliest months with 320 persons killed in both months.
Of those killed in 2008 56% were not wearing seat belts. Of 529 motorcyclists (operators and passengers) killed, 56% were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash.
Single vehicle, run off the road crashes resulted in 1,116 deaths. This was 32% of all deaths. There were 829 people killed in crashes occurring in intersections or related to an intersection. Another 510 were killed in head-on crashes.
There were 975 killed in crashes where a driver was under the influence of alcohol. This is 28.1% of the total killed. More DUI-alcohol related crashes were reported in the hour between 2:00 a.m. and 2:59 a.m. than any other hour of the day. Also, more alcohol related crashes occurred on Saturday than any other day of the week.
Pedalcyclist fatalities totaled 48, a 4% decrease from 2007.
Okay, so you think you’d feel safer walking than riding in a car? Pedestrian fatalities totaled 48 in 2008. This is a 5% increase over 2007. So it was more dangerous to walk in 2008 than it was in 2007.
Then there are the airlines who brag about how much safer it is to fly. I don’t know how one would go about comparing statistics realistically. One airline says it is safer to fly with them because they had fewer accidents per takeoff. Another says they are safer because they have had fewer accidents per 100, 000 flying miles. Another is safer because they have the best peanuts in the air. One website, sponsored by a law firm, says if calculated by distance, planes are 62 times safer than cars and trucks However, if calculated by journey, planes are three times more dangerous than cars.
Another site, sponsored by a book on air safety, says more a realistic figure is the rate of fatalities per number of journeys. By this measure, air travel takes on a different complexion. Fatalities per 100 million passenger journeys are 4.5 for cars, 2.7 for trains, and 55 for planes. This means one is 12 times more likely to die on a commercial jet compared to a car, and 20 times more likely to die on a plan than on a train.
A good statistician can crunch the numbers to come up with any story his boss wants, whether they are correct or not.
Just give people the facts about Munday and how great it is and you’ll be correct in every way.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The ACLU's real agenda in the Mojave Desert
Robert Knight
Where is Art Carney when you need him?
The straight man for the classic Honeymooners TV show could deliver a line sorely needed at today's (Oct. 7) Supreme Court hearing on the fate of the Mojave Desert war memorial cross: "Simmer down, Ralphie boy!"
In this case, Ralphie is Frank Buono, a man who has gone to absurd lengths to find offense. In fact, it's reminiscent of the false knock on the Puritans that they above all else feared that someone, somewhere was having a good time. In Frankie's case, he apparently fears that someone, somewhere might take comfort in a cross erected to honor America's fallen heroes.
At issue in Salazar v. Buono is the five-foot-tall (estimates vary) cross that is the latest in a series of crosses erected on Sunrise Rock since 1934 in California's Mojave National Preserve. The original was built by World War I veterans with the Veterans of Foreign Wars who had gone to the desert for their health and decided to honor their fallen comrades and the rest of America's war dead by erecting a wooden cross. The current one, made of pipe, was built in 1998 by a local resident, Henry Sandoz. The cross is in a remote region seen by few. But one of those is Buono, a former Park Service employee and ACLU member who told the ACLU that although he moved to Oregon, he comes down and sees the cross "two to four times a year." That was enough for the ACLU to file a lawsuit in 2001 demanding that the National Park Service tear down the cross.
A quick comparison. In Berlin, Ronald Reagan thrilled millions by saying "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The ACLU, on the other hand, squeals loudly, "Courts, tear down this cross!" Whose country would you rather live in?
In 2004, Congress passed laws designating the site as a national war memorial and swapping the land on which the cross stands for some privately owned acreage. But Mr. Buono, whose complaint was that a cross on taxpayer-owned federal land violated his First Amendment right against establishment of religion, filed an injunction halting the transfer. He claims that he's an injured party although the government gave him relief on his original request: "Stop saying 'yes' to my demands, or I'll sue!" Naturally, the wacky Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco found merit in his argument, bringing us to the Oct. 7 hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Park officials years ago covered the cross in canvas lest the sight of it burn Mr. Buono's eyes on one of his strolls. After some patriot tore off the canvas, the cross was covered in a plywood box. Could there be a more apt symbol of what the ACLU wants to do to religion in this country?
C.S. Lewis once remarked that the agenda of the Left is to make pornography public and religion private, a goal clearly reflected in the ACLU's endless string of nuisance cases. They've gained a lot of ground. While America is awash in Internet porn and ever-more coarse trash on TV, an obscure cross honoring our war dead gets hammered into a box.
In June, the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU), an antidote to the ACLU, filed an amicus brief that says Mr. Buono has no standing in this case because he is claiming injury based on his own injunction that has foiled the relief that he had sought.
The brief by ACRU attorneys Peter Ferrara and Ken Klukowski observes that,
"It is therefore not an end to taxpayer support for the cross that Mr. Buono seeks, but rather to employ judicial power to compel the executive branch to destroy this war memorial. Standing doctrine should not be construed to empower plaintiffs to use the courts to convert the executive branch into a demolition crew that levels crosses to the ground."
The VFW and many other groups also have submitted briefs in defense of the cross. There is much at stake. An ACLU victory could imperil crosses and Stars of David on the graves of soldiers in 22 war memorial cemeteries and encourage the ACLU to look for yet more targets. They are still trying to tear down the 29-foot Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross near San Diego. In recent years, they've sued to have religious symbols removed from the seals of Stow, Ohio; Redlands, California; Duluth, Minnesota; Plattsmouth, Nebraska; and Republic, Missouri. In Los Angeles, the mere threat of an ACLU lawsuit motivated the County Board of Supervisors to vote to remove a cross from the county seal in 2004 despite the wishes of 94 percent of the residents.
This past week, the Pentagon reported that eight more American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. They paid the ultimate price defending freedom and America's security.
What do you think their fathers, mothers, wives, and children would say if they came upon that cross covered up in a box?
Robert Knight
Where is Art Carney when you need him?
The straight man for the classic Honeymooners TV show could deliver a line sorely needed at today's (Oct. 7) Supreme Court hearing on the fate of the Mojave Desert war memorial cross: "Simmer down, Ralphie boy!"
In this case, Ralphie is Frank Buono, a man who has gone to absurd lengths to find offense. In fact, it's reminiscent of the false knock on the Puritans that they above all else feared that someone, somewhere was having a good time. In Frankie's case, he apparently fears that someone, somewhere might take comfort in a cross erected to honor America's fallen heroes.
At issue in Salazar v. Buono is the five-foot-tall (estimates vary) cross that is the latest in a series of crosses erected on Sunrise Rock since 1934 in California's Mojave National Preserve. The original was built by World War I veterans with the Veterans of Foreign Wars who had gone to the desert for their health and decided to honor their fallen comrades and the rest of America's war dead by erecting a wooden cross. The current one, made of pipe, was built in 1998 by a local resident, Henry Sandoz. The cross is in a remote region seen by few. But one of those is Buono, a former Park Service employee and ACLU member who told the ACLU that although he moved to Oregon, he comes down and sees the cross "two to four times a year." That was enough for the ACLU to file a lawsuit in 2001 demanding that the National Park Service tear down the cross.
A quick comparison. In Berlin, Ronald Reagan thrilled millions by saying "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The ACLU, on the other hand, squeals loudly, "Courts, tear down this cross!" Whose country would you rather live in?
In 2004, Congress passed laws designating the site as a national war memorial and swapping the land on which the cross stands for some privately owned acreage. But Mr. Buono, whose complaint was that a cross on taxpayer-owned federal land violated his First Amendment right against establishment of religion, filed an injunction halting the transfer. He claims that he's an injured party although the government gave him relief on his original request: "Stop saying 'yes' to my demands, or I'll sue!" Naturally, the wacky Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco found merit in his argument, bringing us to the Oct. 7 hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Park officials years ago covered the cross in canvas lest the sight of it burn Mr. Buono's eyes on one of his strolls. After some patriot tore off the canvas, the cross was covered in a plywood box. Could there be a more apt symbol of what the ACLU wants to do to religion in this country?
C.S. Lewis once remarked that the agenda of the Left is to make pornography public and religion private, a goal clearly reflected in the ACLU's endless string of nuisance cases. They've gained a lot of ground. While America is awash in Internet porn and ever-more coarse trash on TV, an obscure cross honoring our war dead gets hammered into a box.
In June, the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU), an antidote to the ACLU, filed an amicus brief that says Mr. Buono has no standing in this case because he is claiming injury based on his own injunction that has foiled the relief that he had sought.
The brief by ACRU attorneys Peter Ferrara and Ken Klukowski observes that,
"It is therefore not an end to taxpayer support for the cross that Mr. Buono seeks, but rather to employ judicial power to compel the executive branch to destroy this war memorial. Standing doctrine should not be construed to empower plaintiffs to use the courts to convert the executive branch into a demolition crew that levels crosses to the ground."
The VFW and many other groups also have submitted briefs in defense of the cross. There is much at stake. An ACLU victory could imperil crosses and Stars of David on the graves of soldiers in 22 war memorial cemeteries and encourage the ACLU to look for yet more targets. They are still trying to tear down the 29-foot Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross near San Diego. In recent years, they've sued to have religious symbols removed from the seals of Stow, Ohio; Redlands, California; Duluth, Minnesota; Plattsmouth, Nebraska; and Republic, Missouri. In Los Angeles, the mere threat of an ACLU lawsuit motivated the County Board of Supervisors to vote to remove a cross from the county seal in 2004 despite the wishes of 94 percent of the residents.
This past week, the Pentagon reported that eight more American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. They paid the ultimate price defending freedom and America's security.
What do you think their fathers, mothers, wives, and children would say if they came upon that cross covered up in a box?
Commies, Fascists and Perverts, Oh My!
By Matt Barber
Obama’s inner-circle is shaping-up like the bar scene from Star Wars. It’s a swollen throng of unaccountable czars and policy advisors comprised of some of the most bizarre fringe leftists imaginable. As mom always said, you’re known by the company you keep and Obama keeps some downright creepy company.
Here’s a sampling: First, we have disgraced former green-jobs czar Van “tinfoil hat” Jones. Jones, a self avowed communist and 9-11 “truther,” was forced to resign after revelations of his extremism became public.
Then there’s science czar John Holdren, the unzipped Harvard professor who wants a “Planetary Regime” to control world population through compulsory sterilization and forced abortion.
And of course there’s the administration’s very own Dr. Dolittle: regulatory czar Cass Sunstien, who advocates that animals be allowed to sue people.
But perhaps the creepiest of Obama’s advisers is “safe schools” chief Kevin Jennings. Jennings – an open homosexual activist – is former director of GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), a highly controversial group of adult homosexual activists who promote sexual anarchy and tacitly work to normalize the criminal practice of pederasty.
GLSEN’s primary purpose is to push dangerous and even deadly homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors in our government schools on children as young as five. So bold is Jennings in his promotion of homosexual behavior among children that he even penned the foreword to a book entitled “Queering Elementary Education.” (I don’t know about you, but Jennings and his ilk will “queer” my elementary-age kids over my dead body.)
A number of Jennings past activities disqualify him from holding any position relating to children; but a recently revealed scandal involving an exchange between him and a former tenth-grade student leaves no doubt that he’s unfit to serve in his current capacity. Jennings has admitted that while he was a teacher, a boy –– whom he understood to be 15 years-old –– shared that he had been sodomized by an “older man” who lured him home from a bus stop toilet.
Of course any reasonable teacher would have immediately called police and notified the student’s parents. But Kevin Jennings –– an anti-Christian bigot who once said of Christians: “F – k ‘em! … Drop Dead!” [in a church]– is anything but reasonable. Instead, he affirmed both the man-boy homosexual encounter and the boy’s “gayness,” flippantly telling him, “I hope you knew to use a condom.” (Jennings recently admitted that he “should have handled this situation differently” but, as of yet, has arrogantly refused to step-down or even apologize).
Still, Jennings’ cavalier attitude toward adult-child sex should really come as no surprise. In a1997 speech he voiced his admiration for Harry Hay, longtime advocate of the homosexual/pedophile group NAMBLA (the North American Man-Boy Love Association.)
According to NAMBLA’s website, Hay made the following statement in a 1983 address: “I also would like to say at this point that it seems to me that in the gay community the people who should be running interference for NAMBLA are the parents and friends of gays. Because if the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world. And they would be welcoming this, and welcoming the opportunity for young gay kids to have the kind of experience that they would need.”
Sickening, right? Shocking, no? Well, not to Kevin Jennings. His take? He gushed, “One of the people that’s always inspired me is Harry Hay.”
But, again, this should come as no surprise. Homosexual/pedophile groups like NAMBLA and homosexual activist groups have long been brothers-in-arms. In many instances, members of both groups are one-in-the-same. According to the non-partisan homosexual activist watchdog organization Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, NAMBLA marched alongside “gay” activist groups in “gay pride” parades for years until it became politically burdensome for homosexual activists to continue allowing them to do so.
As with “gay” activist pioneer Harry Hay, legalizing adult-child sex has long been a goal of many homosexual activists (for years, overtly and today, covertly). Boys and teens utilized for homosex are referred to as “chicken” in “gay” lexicon.
In fact, part of homosexual activists “1972 Gay Rights Platform” called for the “repeal [of] all laws governing the age of sexual consent.” This should send a chill down the spine of any parent. Such a repeal would legally allow homosexuals and pedophiles to access your children and teens for their own predatory sexual gratification – so long as those children “consented” to having sex (like the boy who confided in Jennings).
To be sure, Jennings is no stranger to scandal. In a 2000 GLSEN sponsored event, adult homosexual activists were caught in an ACORN-style sting teaching children as young as 13 the horrific practice of “fisting.” (For a definition click here, it’s not fit to print). Jennings’ response? He defended the event and even filed suit in an attempt to cover-up the scandal.
But “cover-up” is at the very core of Jennings’ strategy. In 1995, while summarizing his political approach of manipulation and indoctrination, he warned fellow homosexual activists to hide their true motives and avoid using language about “promoting homosexuality.” Instead, he astutely observed that “the effective reframing of this issue” through the disingenuous use of propagandist euphemisms such as “safety” and “violence” was “the key to…success.”
It’s worked like a charm.
But rather than being appointed by Obama to such a position of power and prestige, both Kevin Jennings and GLSEN should be held liable for engaging in reckless educational malpractice. By promoting and facilitating homosexual behavior among children, they demonstrably place children at risk.
Multiple studies have established, for instance, that homosexual conduct, especially among males, is considerably more hazardous to one’s health than a lifetime of chain smoking.
One such study – conducted by pro-“gay” researchers in Canada – was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE) in 1997. (see the study here: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/26/3/657.pdf)
While the medical consensus is that smoking knocks from two to 10 years off an individual’s life expectancy, the IJE study found that homosexual conduct shortens the lifespan of “gays” by an astounding “8 to 20 years” – more than twice that of smoking.
“[U]nder even the most liberal assumptions,” concluded the researchers, “gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871. … [L]ife expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men.”
The risks associated with homosexual conduct are so drastic, in fact, that U.S. health regulations prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have had sex with MSM, from ever donating blood. (Yet Jennings and GLSEN encourage children to engage in the very behaviors that – for quantifiable health related reasons – would preclude them from giving blood … ever.)
Consider that, according to the Food and Drug Administration, MSM, “have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8,000 times higher than repeat blood donors.”
Adults and children who engage in homosexual conduct – especially males – are also susceptible – at an astronomical rate – to nearly all other forms of sexually transmitted disease (STD). For example, the Hepatitis B virus is about five to six times more prevalent among “gays,” and Hepatitis C is twice as common.
Furthermore, a 2007 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, although homosexuals make-up only a fraction of the population (one to two percent), they account for an epidemic 64 percent of all syphilis cases.
So, all of this begs the question: Why on God’s earth is this Kevin Jennings nut – whose entire life’s work has irrefutably placed children at risk – in charge of promoting “safe schools”? He’s even bragged in his personal memoirs about his own drug and alcohol abuse.
Indeed, Obama’s Jennings appointment was a gold medal blunder among a litany of Olympic-sized missteps. If his administration seeks to salvage any modicum of rapidly waning credibility, the President must force Jennings to step down and denounce his reckless behavior.
Every day Jennings remains in place is another day he hurts Obama; but more importantly, it’s another day he hurts children.
The real scandal is that Jennings was ever appointed in the first place. He must go and he must go now.
J. Matt Barber is Director of Cultural Affairs with Liberty Counsel and also serves as Associate Dean with Liberty University School of Law. He is also a Board Member of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality.
By Matt Barber
Obama’s inner-circle is shaping-up like the bar scene from Star Wars. It’s a swollen throng of unaccountable czars and policy advisors comprised of some of the most bizarre fringe leftists imaginable. As mom always said, you’re known by the company you keep and Obama keeps some downright creepy company.
Here’s a sampling: First, we have disgraced former green-jobs czar Van “tinfoil hat” Jones. Jones, a self avowed communist and 9-11 “truther,” was forced to resign after revelations of his extremism became public.
Then there’s science czar John Holdren, the unzipped Harvard professor who wants a “Planetary Regime” to control world population through compulsory sterilization and forced abortion.
And of course there’s the administration’s very own Dr. Dolittle: regulatory czar Cass Sunstien, who advocates that animals be allowed to sue people.
But perhaps the creepiest of Obama’s advisers is “safe schools” chief Kevin Jennings. Jennings – an open homosexual activist – is former director of GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), a highly controversial group of adult homosexual activists who promote sexual anarchy and tacitly work to normalize the criminal practice of pederasty.
GLSEN’s primary purpose is to push dangerous and even deadly homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors in our government schools on children as young as five. So bold is Jennings in his promotion of homosexual behavior among children that he even penned the foreword to a book entitled “Queering Elementary Education.” (I don’t know about you, but Jennings and his ilk will “queer” my elementary-age kids over my dead body.)
A number of Jennings past activities disqualify him from holding any position relating to children; but a recently revealed scandal involving an exchange between him and a former tenth-grade student leaves no doubt that he’s unfit to serve in his current capacity. Jennings has admitted that while he was a teacher, a boy –– whom he understood to be 15 years-old –– shared that he had been sodomized by an “older man” who lured him home from a bus stop toilet.
Of course any reasonable teacher would have immediately called police and notified the student’s parents. But Kevin Jennings –– an anti-Christian bigot who once said of Christians: “F – k ‘em! … Drop Dead!” [in a church]– is anything but reasonable. Instead, he affirmed both the man-boy homosexual encounter and the boy’s “gayness,” flippantly telling him, “I hope you knew to use a condom.” (Jennings recently admitted that he “should have handled this situation differently” but, as of yet, has arrogantly refused to step-down or even apologize).
Still, Jennings’ cavalier attitude toward adult-child sex should really come as no surprise. In a1997 speech he voiced his admiration for Harry Hay, longtime advocate of the homosexual/pedophile group NAMBLA (the North American Man-Boy Love Association.)
According to NAMBLA’s website, Hay made the following statement in a 1983 address: “I also would like to say at this point that it seems to me that in the gay community the people who should be running interference for NAMBLA are the parents and friends of gays. Because if the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world. And they would be welcoming this, and welcoming the opportunity for young gay kids to have the kind of experience that they would need.”
Sickening, right? Shocking, no? Well, not to Kevin Jennings. His take? He gushed, “One of the people that’s always inspired me is Harry Hay.”
But, again, this should come as no surprise. Homosexual/pedophile groups like NAMBLA and homosexual activist groups have long been brothers-in-arms. In many instances, members of both groups are one-in-the-same. According to the non-partisan homosexual activist watchdog organization Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, NAMBLA marched alongside “gay” activist groups in “gay pride” parades for years until it became politically burdensome for homosexual activists to continue allowing them to do so.
As with “gay” activist pioneer Harry Hay, legalizing adult-child sex has long been a goal of many homosexual activists (for years, overtly and today, covertly). Boys and teens utilized for homosex are referred to as “chicken” in “gay” lexicon.
In fact, part of homosexual activists “1972 Gay Rights Platform” called for the “repeal [of] all laws governing the age of sexual consent.” This should send a chill down the spine of any parent. Such a repeal would legally allow homosexuals and pedophiles to access your children and teens for their own predatory sexual gratification – so long as those children “consented” to having sex (like the boy who confided in Jennings).
To be sure, Jennings is no stranger to scandal. In a 2000 GLSEN sponsored event, adult homosexual activists were caught in an ACORN-style sting teaching children as young as 13 the horrific practice of “fisting.” (For a definition click here, it’s not fit to print). Jennings’ response? He defended the event and even filed suit in an attempt to cover-up the scandal.
But “cover-up” is at the very core of Jennings’ strategy. In 1995, while summarizing his political approach of manipulation and indoctrination, he warned fellow homosexual activists to hide their true motives and avoid using language about “promoting homosexuality.” Instead, he astutely observed that “the effective reframing of this issue” through the disingenuous use of propagandist euphemisms such as “safety” and “violence” was “the key to…success.”
It’s worked like a charm.
But rather than being appointed by Obama to such a position of power and prestige, both Kevin Jennings and GLSEN should be held liable for engaging in reckless educational malpractice. By promoting and facilitating homosexual behavior among children, they demonstrably place children at risk.
Multiple studies have established, for instance, that homosexual conduct, especially among males, is considerably more hazardous to one’s health than a lifetime of chain smoking.
One such study – conducted by pro-“gay” researchers in Canada – was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE) in 1997. (see the study here: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/26/3/657.pdf)
While the medical consensus is that smoking knocks from two to 10 years off an individual’s life expectancy, the IJE study found that homosexual conduct shortens the lifespan of “gays” by an astounding “8 to 20 years” – more than twice that of smoking.
“[U]nder even the most liberal assumptions,” concluded the researchers, “gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871. … [L]ife expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men.”
The risks associated with homosexual conduct are so drastic, in fact, that U.S. health regulations prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have had sex with MSM, from ever donating blood. (Yet Jennings and GLSEN encourage children to engage in the very behaviors that – for quantifiable health related reasons – would preclude them from giving blood … ever.)
Consider that, according to the Food and Drug Administration, MSM, “have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8,000 times higher than repeat blood donors.”
Adults and children who engage in homosexual conduct – especially males – are also susceptible – at an astronomical rate – to nearly all other forms of sexually transmitted disease (STD). For example, the Hepatitis B virus is about five to six times more prevalent among “gays,” and Hepatitis C is twice as common.
Furthermore, a 2007 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, although homosexuals make-up only a fraction of the population (one to two percent), they account for an epidemic 64 percent of all syphilis cases.
So, all of this begs the question: Why on God’s earth is this Kevin Jennings nut – whose entire life’s work has irrefutably placed children at risk – in charge of promoting “safe schools”? He’s even bragged in his personal memoirs about his own drug and alcohol abuse.
Indeed, Obama’s Jennings appointment was a gold medal blunder among a litany of Olympic-sized missteps. If his administration seeks to salvage any modicum of rapidly waning credibility, the President must force Jennings to step down and denounce his reckless behavior.
Every day Jennings remains in place is another day he hurts Obama; but more importantly, it’s another day he hurts children.
The real scandal is that Jennings was ever appointed in the first place. He must go and he must go now.
J. Matt Barber is Director of Cultural Affairs with Liberty Counsel and also serves as Associate Dean with Liberty University School of Law. He is also a Board Member of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality.
Obama's HRC appearance will 'alienate' Americans
by Allie Martin
The president of an organization dedicated to exposing the homosexual activist agenda believes President Barack Obama will alienate many Americans when he speaks this weekend at a meeting of the largest homosexual-rights group in the nation.
On Saturday night, Obama will deliver the keynote address at the 13th annual National Dinner in Washington, DC -- an annual event organized by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest homosexual activist group in the United States.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says it is clear President Obama is trying to appease homosexual activists, many of whom have been vocal about their disappointment with the chief executive.
"The problem with having the homosexual lobby as an ally is that they're very loud and obnoxious -- and if they don't get their way immediately, they start carping and complaining," says LaBarbera.
"That's what they've been doing -- they're saying Obama is not moving fast enough," he continues. "But the further and faster Obama moves on the gay agenda, the more he will alienate mainstream and middle-of-the-road Americans."
LaBarbera points out that HRC has "Bible studies" online that claim homosexuality is not sinful. Among those studies is one HRC says is designed to train individuals to "move people of faith and congregations from acceptance to public advocacy."
What does it tell you about President Obama when he refuses to acknowledge thousands of pro-life or 'TEA Party' demonstrators - but finds time to speak at a 'gay rights' event?
by Allie Martin
The president of an organization dedicated to exposing the homosexual activist agenda believes President Barack Obama will alienate many Americans when he speaks this weekend at a meeting of the largest homosexual-rights group in the nation.
On Saturday night, Obama will deliver the keynote address at the 13th annual National Dinner in Washington, DC -- an annual event organized by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest homosexual activist group in the United States.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says it is clear President Obama is trying to appease homosexual activists, many of whom have been vocal about their disappointment with the chief executive.
"The problem with having the homosexual lobby as an ally is that they're very loud and obnoxious -- and if they don't get their way immediately, they start carping and complaining," says LaBarbera.
"That's what they've been doing -- they're saying Obama is not moving fast enough," he continues. "But the further and faster Obama moves on the gay agenda, the more he will alienate mainstream and middle-of-the-road Americans."
LaBarbera points out that HRC has "Bible studies" online that claim homosexuality is not sinful. Among those studies is one HRC says is designed to train individuals to "move people of faith and congregations from acceptance to public advocacy."
What does it tell you about President Obama when he refuses to acknowledge thousands of pro-life or 'TEA Party' demonstrators - but finds time to speak at a 'gay rights' event?
7 October 2009
To The Point
Where was the dance? We usually have rain only when Rita schedules a dance. No dance, okay, thank You God for the rain and cooler weather.
Those fall gardens should be coming around soon. Clarence Searcy has been experimenting with delayed scheduled planting -- I think there’s a name for this, but I couldn’t come up with it. Every few weeks he plants another crop of peas, or whatever. He’s had good luck with this experiment. He will have peas long after the first planting has quit bearing. Today he has a black, one-eyed pea, next month he may have black, cross-eyed peas. Experiments like this is how things evolve. Keep it up Clarence, and let us know when you get peas with blue eyes.
Someone actually went to the market place last Saturday and found no one there, “not even the mayor was there.” I’m sorry about that. We all wanted to be there, but a bug of some kind kept us away. No, I don’t think it was swine flu, I haven’t eaten pork in weeks. Actually I think it was beef sausage I had in the freezer since last year. Dummy, don’t you know better than to keep things that are out-of-date? I didn’t notice the date, until I dug it out of the trash later. So do what I say but not what I did. Or can the mayor say that? Only about old sausage, not about your lot in life. Okay!
I won’t mention the place, again, but I was eating out one nite recently when I overheard that same group of golfers that I wrote about earlier. They must have been rehashing the same story, because the situation with those who drink and pitch has not improved. I guess it’s time we appointed a morality squad to look into these golf cart capers at the golf course. We could train some of those wild hogs that run around the golf course how to sniff out and eat beer cans/bottles. Then we could sell the special mineral-laced pork for premium prices.
I guess you can tell it is a bad week for ideas to write about. But I have one more sighting from the same restaurant I want to tell about. Everyone knows the layout, I mean the size of the east parking lot and all. I’m sure everyone has noticed the grassy area on the southeast corner. I’ve noticed our out-of-town customers will usually park at the back of the lot near that grassy area. Then they will open the back door and let Rover or Ruby out to “stretch” their legs. I think we should put in for a federal grant to erect a fire hydrant in the center of the grassy area. Of course we would have to get the mayor to write a Proclamation for the ribbon cutting of Munday’s latest, Puppy Pooper Park. Then we could market Munday’s own Puppy Pooper Park Pooper Skoopers.
For parents of any age, I found a good web site for you to go to for help raising your teens. The hype for this 12-page article reads like this: “If you are ready for the truth and ready for the inside information you need to better undestand your difficult teenager, this free, special report will be the most important thing you’ve ever read. And by the end of the article you’ll begin to understand how your teen’s life really is, rather than what you think it is.” I’ve read it and encourage all parents to do the same. I’ve thought about adopting a teen so I could try out the suggestions.
This article talks about how the teen will hustle or scam their parents in an effort to get what they want. I know this isn’t one of your teens I’m about to describe but read on: Sometimes kids won’t do their homework or help out around the house. But they seem to have an amazing instinct for figuring out the system that they are in and manipulating it to get what they want out of you or the adults around them.
I’m not saying that your teen is a bad egg or that you are a bad parent. Kids sometimes don’t have the sense of right or wrong that we expect from them. The problem is adults often think teens are going to soak up the morals like a sponge, and they don’t. As a parent, YOU have to teach them morals and ethics, or they are not going to get them. Go to www.tameurteen.com/freereport today and download this article and read it and put it into practice tonight.
Don’t forget to tell folks on your next out-town trip how wonderful Munday is.
To The Point
Where was the dance? We usually have rain only when Rita schedules a dance. No dance, okay, thank You God for the rain and cooler weather.
Those fall gardens should be coming around soon. Clarence Searcy has been experimenting with delayed scheduled planting -- I think there’s a name for this, but I couldn’t come up with it. Every few weeks he plants another crop of peas, or whatever. He’s had good luck with this experiment. He will have peas long after the first planting has quit bearing. Today he has a black, one-eyed pea, next month he may have black, cross-eyed peas. Experiments like this is how things evolve. Keep it up Clarence, and let us know when you get peas with blue eyes.
Someone actually went to the market place last Saturday and found no one there, “not even the mayor was there.” I’m sorry about that. We all wanted to be there, but a bug of some kind kept us away. No, I don’t think it was swine flu, I haven’t eaten pork in weeks. Actually I think it was beef sausage I had in the freezer since last year. Dummy, don’t you know better than to keep things that are out-of-date? I didn’t notice the date, until I dug it out of the trash later. So do what I say but not what I did. Or can the mayor say that? Only about old sausage, not about your lot in life. Okay!
I won’t mention the place, again, but I was eating out one nite recently when I overheard that same group of golfers that I wrote about earlier. They must have been rehashing the same story, because the situation with those who drink and pitch has not improved. I guess it’s time we appointed a morality squad to look into these golf cart capers at the golf course. We could train some of those wild hogs that run around the golf course how to sniff out and eat beer cans/bottles. Then we could sell the special mineral-laced pork for premium prices.
I guess you can tell it is a bad week for ideas to write about. But I have one more sighting from the same restaurant I want to tell about. Everyone knows the layout, I mean the size of the east parking lot and all. I’m sure everyone has noticed the grassy area on the southeast corner. I’ve noticed our out-of-town customers will usually park at the back of the lot near that grassy area. Then they will open the back door and let Rover or Ruby out to “stretch” their legs. I think we should put in for a federal grant to erect a fire hydrant in the center of the grassy area. Of course we would have to get the mayor to write a Proclamation for the ribbon cutting of Munday’s latest, Puppy Pooper Park. Then we could market Munday’s own Puppy Pooper Park Pooper Skoopers.
For parents of any age, I found a good web site for you to go to for help raising your teens. The hype for this 12-page article reads like this: “If you are ready for the truth and ready for the inside information you need to better undestand your difficult teenager, this free, special report will be the most important thing you’ve ever read. And by the end of the article you’ll begin to understand how your teen’s life really is, rather than what you think it is.” I’ve read it and encourage all parents to do the same. I’ve thought about adopting a teen so I could try out the suggestions.
This article talks about how the teen will hustle or scam their parents in an effort to get what they want. I know this isn’t one of your teens I’m about to describe but read on: Sometimes kids won’t do their homework or help out around the house. But they seem to have an amazing instinct for figuring out the system that they are in and manipulating it to get what they want out of you or the adults around them.
I’m not saying that your teen is a bad egg or that you are a bad parent. Kids sometimes don’t have the sense of right or wrong that we expect from them. The problem is adults often think teens are going to soak up the morals like a sponge, and they don’t. As a parent, YOU have to teach them morals and ethics, or they are not going to get them. Go to www.tameurteen.com/freereport today and download this article and read it and put it into practice tonight.
Don’t forget to tell folks on your next out-town trip how wonderful Munday is.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
To the Point
By Bunny Norville
We are seeing signs of fall in the daily weather patterns, and we are feeling the temperature changes, especially early mornings. Welcome! Those hottest days of summer are gone, we hope, at least. Of course Sunday was a sweaty reminder that the Weather Maker is still in charge.
Farmer’s Market, what can I say. It’s not dead, at least the idea isn’t. There was one lonely table Saturday morning, with some vegetables, too. Possibly folks look first for the burritos, if they aren’t there, they drive on by. M A we miss you. Munday’s resident expert on wild flowers was there with a box of wild flower seed. I doubt if the famous Las Angeles Farmer’s Market has someone like our own expert.
We are not giving up on the idea of having a downtown market place, be it vegetables, crafts, or fleas. The main idea is to get folks out and about, especially downtown where we still have a few businesses. Some of them are even open on Saturday. By getting this started we hope to attract more people to move to Munday and more businesses to locate in Munday. Think positive.
I attended a workshop recently about becoming a “Certified Retirement Community.” The total program was upbeat, encouraging to small towns like Munday, and presented as a possibility. Other than filling in this lengthy application and coming up with a little money, we need to accomplish a few things to bring Munday into a competitive-minded mode. The main thing is, Munday has to want it. If Munday as a whole doesn’t want it, then all the work some of us do will be in vain. This application will bring out the wants and want nots of Munday citizens.
We hope to get many of our own exes to retire to Munday without the certified route. Even then we need to show our exes we want them and we are trying to improve our situation here. If those who don’t recognize the “situation” could move away from Munday for awhile and then move back, they would see what so many of us who have moved back saw and continue to see.
Munday has changed in ways that people who have never lived away from Munday do not see. thesse changes have occured over time, so slowly that people havn’t even noticed them taking place. But someone who has been away for some time can see the changes.
I mention the DQ so often that you probably think I live there. No, I just eat there, too Much. Anyway I was there for lunch last Saturday and witnessed a random act of kindness. There was an older couple eating at a booth and one of them evidently had spilled a drink on one of the benches. Before I could even process what had happened a woman, who was in line in front of me, went back to the kitchen area and found a wash cloth and a plastic container. She went to where the couple were sitting and proceeded to wipe up the icy spill. No doubt she had done it at her house many times before. I’m sure everyone would know her if I mentioned her name. But since I failed to get her permission to use her name, I won’t embarrass her by printing it.
In your daily walk how many acts of kindness do you see? Maybe you see so many that one act alone doesn’t even register. Munday is a friendly town, that’s why a lot of peole like it. In case you didn’t know, people do say that about Munday. Munday, keep on being friendly and keep on doing those acts of kindness. They don’t have to be random, make them regular.
Woodworkers, or those who want to become a woodworker, we need to have a meeting. I’m going to say this up front: we don’t need to over organize the thing. Over organizing can ruin a good thing early. I’ll explain what I’m talking about if you want me to. Let’s meet at the DQ Wednesday morning, September 9 for lunch at 11:30. Call me if you can come, or if this is not a good time. Just call me and tell me you are interested, 421-3334. You don’t really need a lot of tools to be a part of this club. But let’s meet and talk about what, how, when, where, and any other question that comes up.
In the mean time say good things about Munday. And if you can’t think of good things to say about a Munday citizen, just don’t say anything. Let’s create an atmosphere of kindness all around us. If we can do that, we will all be blessed. If you are a stick in the mud, just don’t say anything, let others enjoy the blessings of being kind.
By Bunny Norville
We are seeing signs of fall in the daily weather patterns, and we are feeling the temperature changes, especially early mornings. Welcome! Those hottest days of summer are gone, we hope, at least. Of course Sunday was a sweaty reminder that the Weather Maker is still in charge.
Farmer’s Market, what can I say. It’s not dead, at least the idea isn’t. There was one lonely table Saturday morning, with some vegetables, too. Possibly folks look first for the burritos, if they aren’t there, they drive on by. M A we miss you. Munday’s resident expert on wild flowers was there with a box of wild flower seed. I doubt if the famous Las Angeles Farmer’s Market has someone like our own expert.
We are not giving up on the idea of having a downtown market place, be it vegetables, crafts, or fleas. The main idea is to get folks out and about, especially downtown where we still have a few businesses. Some of them are even open on Saturday. By getting this started we hope to attract more people to move to Munday and more businesses to locate in Munday. Think positive.
I attended a workshop recently about becoming a “Certified Retirement Community.” The total program was upbeat, encouraging to small towns like Munday, and presented as a possibility. Other than filling in this lengthy application and coming up with a little money, we need to accomplish a few things to bring Munday into a competitive-minded mode. The main thing is, Munday has to want it. If Munday as a whole doesn’t want it, then all the work some of us do will be in vain. This application will bring out the wants and want nots of Munday citizens.
We hope to get many of our own exes to retire to Munday without the certified route. Even then we need to show our exes we want them and we are trying to improve our situation here. If those who don’t recognize the “situation” could move away from Munday for awhile and then move back, they would see what so many of us who have moved back saw and continue to see.
Munday has changed in ways that people who have never lived away from Munday do not see. thesse changes have occured over time, so slowly that people havn’t even noticed them taking place. But someone who has been away for some time can see the changes.
I mention the DQ so often that you probably think I live there. No, I just eat there, too Much. Anyway I was there for lunch last Saturday and witnessed a random act of kindness. There was an older couple eating at a booth and one of them evidently had spilled a drink on one of the benches. Before I could even process what had happened a woman, who was in line in front of me, went back to the kitchen area and found a wash cloth and a plastic container. She went to where the couple were sitting and proceeded to wipe up the icy spill. No doubt she had done it at her house many times before. I’m sure everyone would know her if I mentioned her name. But since I failed to get her permission to use her name, I won’t embarrass her by printing it.
In your daily walk how many acts of kindness do you see? Maybe you see so many that one act alone doesn’t even register. Munday is a friendly town, that’s why a lot of peole like it. In case you didn’t know, people do say that about Munday. Munday, keep on being friendly and keep on doing those acts of kindness. They don’t have to be random, make them regular.
Woodworkers, or those who want to become a woodworker, we need to have a meeting. I’m going to say this up front: we don’t need to over organize the thing. Over organizing can ruin a good thing early. I’ll explain what I’m talking about if you want me to. Let’s meet at the DQ Wednesday morning, September 9 for lunch at 11:30. Call me if you can come, or if this is not a good time. Just call me and tell me you are interested, 421-3334. You don’t really need a lot of tools to be a part of this club. But let’s meet and talk about what, how, when, where, and any other question that comes up.
In the mean time say good things about Munday. And if you can’t think of good things to say about a Munday citizen, just don’t say anything. Let’s create an atmosphere of kindness all around us. If we can do that, we will all be blessed. If you are a stick in the mud, just don’t say anything, let others enjoy the blessings of being kind.
Study: Religiosity and Parental Involvement in
Sex-Ed Protect Youth from Risky Behaviors
By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study from Marquette University has found that religious attitudes toward sexuality, parent-based sexual education and intact two-parent households have a positive influence upon youth in their sexual practices and the onset of first sexual intercourse.
Researchers took a nationally representative sample of 3,168 men and women ages 15-21 years old from a 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and obtained the data from 60-90 minute interviews with participants from the 2002 survey.
The study's findings confirmed previous research literature, which suggests "religiosity" - defined by the authors as a set of institutionalized beliefs, doctrines and rituals, and ethical standards for how to live a good life - is "a protective factor that appears to contribute to decreased sexual risk behaviors."
According to the study, those who viewed religion as "very important" reported an average of 1.9 lifetime sexual partners and on average began sexual activity at 17.4 years. In contrast, those who viewed religion as somewhat important or "not important at all," began their first sexual activity at 16.9 years and had an average of 2.9 lifetime sexual partners.
However, researchers found that high religious attitudes toward sexuality (RAS) "appeared to be the most protective religiosity variable in terms of decreasing sexual risk."
RAS had the greatest influence for youth remaining virginal by 21 years - an effect greater than just frequent attendance of church services or religious values.
Among those who valued religion as "very important" 20 percent were still virgins by age 21; among those who attended church services frequently, 25 percent of participants reported they were still virgins by 21 years.
But those who had high "religious attitudes on sexuality" reported the highest rate of virginity by 21 years and the highest rate of delayed first sex. 34 percent of these youth remained virgins by 21 years, and the average onset of sex began at 18.8 years.
By contrast, researchers found that only 8 percent of those with low religious attitudes toward sex were still virgins by 21, and began their first sex on average at 17.0 years old - just about the same time as those who did not value religion (16.9 years).
However, parents and an intact two-parent household also have an enormous effect on children and the choices they make in regards to sex, researchers found.
"Those adolescents who lived in a two-parent family from birth to the age of 18 were 14 percent less likely to ever have had sex compared to those who did not and had significantly fewer lifetime sexual partners" researchers reported.
Of youth with parents who raised them with a "just say no" attitude toward pre-marital sex, 31 percent remained virgins until 21 years, and the mean age of sexual debut for the group was 17.4 years. For youth, who "did not learn to say no," having their parents involved was also beneficial: 29 percent remained virginal until 21 years, although the average age of first sex for this group was 17.1 years.
Just parental involvement in children's sexual education and voicing their expectations for their children in regards to sex was superior in reducing the rate of risky sexual behaviors and onset of first sex than formal sex education. Researchers found that the topic most brought up by parents with their children was "how to avoid having sex," but the study found primarily that "speaking with parents about abstinence was associated with decreased sexual risk behaviors."
Youth who had only formal-based sexual education were far more prone to engage in sexual behaviors than their peers who had the involvement of their parents in sex-education. Of those trained in "abstinence and abstinence-plus" sex-education 26 percent remained virginal by 21 years, and on average began their sexual debut at 17.6 years. Those without any abstinence-component to sex education had only 25 percent remain virginal by 21 years, and began having sex at 17.1 years.
"It is important for parents to make it explicit that they do not approve of adolescents engaging in sexual activity," researchers concluded. "This 'simple' practice of letting one's child know about expectations for their sexual behavior has been shown to be efficacious."
"Further, the influence of parental education about avoiding intercourse was strengthened when there was a close relationship between the parent and the child."
The researchers conclude that formal sex-education in the United States - even abstinence-based education - has thus far failed on its own power to address rampant sexual promiscuity and high numbers of sexual partners among youth. A new approach is needed, but the study's findings indicate that integrating religiosity and close parent-child relationships into sex-education may be the most promising avenues for fixing the problem.
The results and conclusions of the study are contained in a paper called "The Association of Religiosity, Sexual Education, and Parental Factors with Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents and Young Adults" written by lead researchers Kristin A. Haglund and Richard J. Fehring.
Sex-Ed Protect Youth from Risky Behaviors
By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study from Marquette University has found that religious attitudes toward sexuality, parent-based sexual education and intact two-parent households have a positive influence upon youth in their sexual practices and the onset of first sexual intercourse.
Researchers took a nationally representative sample of 3,168 men and women ages 15-21 years old from a 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and obtained the data from 60-90 minute interviews with participants from the 2002 survey.
The study's findings confirmed previous research literature, which suggests "religiosity" - defined by the authors as a set of institutionalized beliefs, doctrines and rituals, and ethical standards for how to live a good life - is "a protective factor that appears to contribute to decreased sexual risk behaviors."
According to the study, those who viewed religion as "very important" reported an average of 1.9 lifetime sexual partners and on average began sexual activity at 17.4 years. In contrast, those who viewed religion as somewhat important or "not important at all," began their first sexual activity at 16.9 years and had an average of 2.9 lifetime sexual partners.
However, researchers found that high religious attitudes toward sexuality (RAS) "appeared to be the most protective religiosity variable in terms of decreasing sexual risk."
RAS had the greatest influence for youth remaining virginal by 21 years - an effect greater than just frequent attendance of church services or religious values.
Among those who valued religion as "very important" 20 percent were still virgins by age 21; among those who attended church services frequently, 25 percent of participants reported they were still virgins by 21 years.
But those who had high "religious attitudes on sexuality" reported the highest rate of virginity by 21 years and the highest rate of delayed first sex. 34 percent of these youth remained virgins by 21 years, and the average onset of sex began at 18.8 years.
By contrast, researchers found that only 8 percent of those with low religious attitudes toward sex were still virgins by 21, and began their first sex on average at 17.0 years old - just about the same time as those who did not value religion (16.9 years).
However, parents and an intact two-parent household also have an enormous effect on children and the choices they make in regards to sex, researchers found.
"Those adolescents who lived in a two-parent family from birth to the age of 18 were 14 percent less likely to ever have had sex compared to those who did not and had significantly fewer lifetime sexual partners" researchers reported.
Of youth with parents who raised them with a "just say no" attitude toward pre-marital sex, 31 percent remained virgins until 21 years, and the mean age of sexual debut for the group was 17.4 years. For youth, who "did not learn to say no," having their parents involved was also beneficial: 29 percent remained virginal until 21 years, although the average age of first sex for this group was 17.1 years.
Just parental involvement in children's sexual education and voicing their expectations for their children in regards to sex was superior in reducing the rate of risky sexual behaviors and onset of first sex than formal sex education. Researchers found that the topic most brought up by parents with their children was "how to avoid having sex," but the study found primarily that "speaking with parents about abstinence was associated with decreased sexual risk behaviors."
Youth who had only formal-based sexual education were far more prone to engage in sexual behaviors than their peers who had the involvement of their parents in sex-education. Of those trained in "abstinence and abstinence-plus" sex-education 26 percent remained virginal by 21 years, and on average began their sexual debut at 17.6 years. Those without any abstinence-component to sex education had only 25 percent remain virginal by 21 years, and began having sex at 17.1 years.
"It is important for parents to make it explicit that they do not approve of adolescents engaging in sexual activity," researchers concluded. "This 'simple' practice of letting one's child know about expectations for their sexual behavior has been shown to be efficacious."
"Further, the influence of parental education about avoiding intercourse was strengthened when there was a close relationship between the parent and the child."
The researchers conclude that formal sex-education in the United States - even abstinence-based education - has thus far failed on its own power to address rampant sexual promiscuity and high numbers of sexual partners among youth. A new approach is needed, but the study's findings indicate that integrating religiosity and close parent-child relationships into sex-education may be the most promising avenues for fixing the problem.
The results and conclusions of the study are contained in a paper called "The Association of Religiosity, Sexual Education, and Parental Factors with Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents and Young Adults" written by lead researchers Kristin A. Haglund and Richard J. Fehring.
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