Brought to you without comment:
Worried about the safety of her family during a stormy Memorial Day trip to the beach, Clara Jean Brown stood in her kitchen and prayed for their safe return as a strong thunderstorm rumbled through Baldwin County, Alabama.
But while she prayed, lightning suddenly exploded, blowing through the linoleum and leaving a blackened area on the concrete. Brown wound up on the floor, dazed and disoriented by the blast but otherwise uninjured.
She said ‘Amen’ and the room was engulfed in a huge ball of fire. The 65-year-old Brown said she is blessed to be alive.
Consider this an open thread. If you have any ‘explosive’ issues you would like to talk about, post them here and I will try to get to them with ‘lightning’ speed. I pray you don’t have too many controversial topics.
Brian
Rule #1 when praying:
Never pray with self-serving ends in mind. (“I want….”, “God, can you make sure….”, “God, if you do this for me, I’ll never again practice bestiality or….”.)
God’s will is God’s will.
Krista
Maybe that’s what God was trying to tell her. :)
Eh…I’m still waiting for a pro athlete to publicly blame God when their team loses.
DecidedFenceSitter
PR Issue? What PR Issues?
Did the Bush WH suddenly hire the Democrat’s PR advisors?
John S.
Don’t tell other people how to pray. It is a persoanl matter between the one saying the prayer and the one whom it is intended for.
Marcus Wellby
Thank you! I am so sick of people telling how I must or must not sacrifice my bulls for Jupiter. I do it the way that works for me within my personal relationship with Jupiter Optimus Maximus.
chefrad
The WPOST’s online discussion today touched upon the viabilty of Bill Frist as a presidential candidiate. I would say he has little chance, but I have a question.
Do the cat lovers on this site agree that a guy who “adopted” pets in order to experiment on them will meet resistance from the electorate when the word gets around? I have never had a cat or dog but the story burns ME a bit.
canuckistani
Is it a miracle when God tries to kill you and fails?
Personally, I expect it’s because she’s a member of the Synod of Southern Presbylutheran Fundamentalist Baptists, instead of the Reformed Synod of Southern Presbylutheran Fundamentalist Baptists. God can tell who is secretly serving Satan.
Perry Como
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959
The Purpose Driven Life Takers:
Quite the Christian video game. Those
scarysilly Dominionists.KC
Ha. My girlfriend mentioned something about this incident to me last night. Pretty interesting. I guess the lady said something wrong . . .
Pb
ROFL. That’s great. Christian Smote By God, Thanks The Lord She Lived Through It! Maybe next time she can remember to add in something in her prayers about not getting struck by lighting or engulfed in a ball of flame either.
In other news, this weak Atheist (aka Agnostic in the original sense) had a perfectly safe and sound Memorial Day. I also didn’t go to the beach.
Brian
Ugh! Get a life!!
neil
How bizarre that the woman would tell reporters that she was praying when it happened. If it was me, I’d say I was just minding my own business — why tell the whole world that God is out to get you?
Tim in SF
I’m new here. I find the topics interesting. I’m left-leaning and like the diversity of opinion on this board. There are one or two frequent commenters whom I would like to filter out. Is that possible? This is an “open thread” so I am hoping someone can tell me if there’s a technology (setting on my browser or shareware or something) that will filter out posts from Darrell, as well as responses to him? No offense, but I don’t find he lends much to the discussion and I would rather not read his comments. Thanks.
lily
Looks to me like she got left behind.
Ancient Purple
Bill Frist said the two most pressing issues on the American agenda are preserving the sanctity of marriage and preventing flag burning.
I feel sorry for the people of Tennessee that they have this brainless clown representing them in the Senate.
Krista
There is one – I can’t remember who told me about it, though. It was one of the regulars, though, so you should get your answer before too long.
Perry, do you remember who it was? I think I remember you being there when it was brought up.
Krista
Sorry, that comment was in response to Tim in SF. I guess John’s not the only one with ambiguous writing…
Brian
Can you amplify on this?
Perry Como
They should make a movie about this woman’s experience:
The power of Christ propels you!
The power of Christ propels you!
/bad reference
Tim in SF, I wrote a Greasemonkey script for Firefox that will collapse comments from certain users (you set the list). If you use Firefox and have the Greasemonkey extension installed I can dig it up and repost it.
Ancient Purple
So, it appears that Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Virginia) doesn’t live in Pennsylvania anymore.
I am sure the people of Penn Hills are just loving their taxes going to support the education of the children of someone who doesn’t reside in the state.
Why a single person in Pennsylvania would ever vote for Santorum is beyond me.
kc
When are you going to de-link Protein Wisdom?
John S.
Says the guy appointing himself the prayer police.
LOL
Ryan S.
I found this Wired article especially internesting.
Peter ve
That Allah fella sure does get testy sometimes.
Ryan S.
Hmmm… can’t spell interesting. Interesting.
Jim Allen
Marcus Welby said:
I had to read that twice before I realized the sacrifice was bovine in nature.
jg
Thank God the congress is working on another tax cut. the last one knocked nearly 3 dollars off my bi-weekly paycheck. WooHoo!!!!
Sstarr
I only pray to Jupiter Optimus Prime.
John S.
Is he the one that transforms into a Komatsu tractor?
Brian
If that’s what you took from my comment, you’re a buffoon.
Are you the same “kc” that’s was stalking the conversation yesterday? You are a loathsome individual, and have no right to demand Cole delink anyone. Who the hell are you?
Pb
Sstarr,
Is he related to Jupiter Fortress Maximus?
Pb
Brian,
Et tu, spoofe?
srv
Scrutator.net is BJ w/o Darrell.
Davebo
http://www.felbers.net/fa/2006/05/30/pentagon-to-do-list/
John S.
You’re a real piece of work, kid:
The buffoon trying to tell people how to pray would be YOU.
Pooh
Tim in SF
If you are using FireFox, there is a greasemonkey script which works like a charm for blocking certain handles. I believe that Perry Como is the programmer.
Brian
John S.,
I was not trying to instruct people how to pray. Pray as you wish, if you do at all. My point, which went way over your head, was to highlight the foolishness of thinking that God will follow our wishes in the way this woman expected.
God is not some customer service desk for addressing life’s problems or fears.
Marcus Wellby
Ha! Well said, though most, I would imagine, view God just like that. I find the trivial nature of what some people pray for borders on the blasphemous.
Hell, watch any reality show and witness yahoos praying to win a lame competetion, or gain the strength to eat a bowl of worms. Its just pathetic.
SeesThroughIt
ZING!
Did anybody else see that episode of Upright Citizens Brigade in which the Fundamentalist Christians played the Crazy Christians in basketball? All the players would pray before every single action (“Oh Lord, let this pass find my teammate Tom open for the the jumper with your blessing!”), though the Fundies were understandably discombobulated by the Crazies’ constant mention of a river of ram’s blood. It was pretty awesome.
Brian
Here’s an open thread question.
I’ve been following this story out here in L.A., about these grannies who took out life insurance policies on homeless guys, only to see them offed after a couple years so they could collect the payments.
Is there anyone out there with knowledge of life insurance plans? I am incredulous that these women could get these policies written up, without anyone from the company wanting to see the men, or without having any insurable interest in them (unless they claimed they were the spouse).
When I got an insurance policy, a nurse checked me out (BOY, did she check me out!), and the company asked a slew of questions that had to be substantiated in the answer.
Any agents out there who know the tricks?
Tim in SF
Can you amplify on this?
Nope. Res ipsa loquitur.
Tim in SF
Please do so. I am very curious.
Punchy
Ok, open thread. Discuss this!
Here’s a primer (this is so hard to believe…):
UPLAND, Ind. – A family who sat by their comatose daughter’s bedside for weeks after an April 26 crash killed four Taylor University students and an employee learned the woman was not their daughter, but instead another student who was in the van when it was struck by a semitrailer.
The Other Steve
LOL!
Apparently it would have been illegal for Harry Reid to reimburse the boxing commission, since what he received were “credentials”, not tickets. That is, credentials are given to govt officials so they can observe how the boxing commission does it’s work. They get to sit in folding chairs, not ring-side seats.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000786.php
Apparently the check McCain gave them went to charity, and his main motivation was because he brought along his wife.
It’s funny the Republican definition for scandal. They set the bar so low.
RSA
True. That’s the Devil’s job.
JWeidner
Brian Sez:
How about:
NO OFFENSE, BUT I DON’T FIND HE LENDS MUCH TO THE DISCUSSION AND I WOULD RATHER NOT READ HIS COMMENTS.
The Other Steve
LOL!
Apparently lawsuits don’t work, so they resorted to murder.
Apparently we don’t need Tort Reform after all.
Perry Como
JWeidner FTW.
Tim in SF, it’s up at http://www.hedonistlab.com/downloads/antitroll.user.js
To control the list of users type in about:config in your address bar then look for greasemonkey.scriptvals.http://hedonistlab.com/download//AntiTroll.trolls
It’s a comma delimited list (no spaces), so Foo,Bar,Baz if you want multiple blocks.
Brian
Why aren’t the kids protesting? Well, maybe because there’s nothing to protest about, and because they see the futility and childishness of it. Protest is only meaningful when there’s some inherent risk associated. Today, the Sixties hippies only protest for the sake of it, and to reminisce over old times.
Pooh
POTD
Pooh
Brian is right, in his own little way – John only promised/threatened to delink those who didn’t sign not those who signed and broke the pledge. Big difference…
Some Other Brian Guy
Actually it’s calculated strategy. The longer this goes on the more damaged the Republican party is.
The Other Steve
Excellent point!
And besides, wasn’t the guy guilty of intentionally disruptive behavior? So really the statement of principles doesn’t apply.
Brian
And to think you call yourself Brian. With an “i” and not a “y”, no less.
You bring shame to my name. (Hey I’m a poet!)
John S.
I pray that sanctimonious assholes such as yourself who question whether or not other people are as holy as thou get exactly what they deserve.
Perry Como
Here’s another religious themed news story:
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war…
Brian
John S.
I’m not sure what your problem is, nor do I really care. Whatever issue you have with me, for whatever imaginary reason you have it, should be taken to a professional right away. You sound quite deranged.
srv
So what happens when you fabricate a story about Jews having to wear stars in Iran and get discredited?
You get invited to the White House
Some excerpts from Tony today
We don’t need a plan. We just need faith.
Pooh
How bout Feith?
Sine.Qua.Non
Just loaded the extension myself to check it out. Have yet to try it. Thanks for the directive. Here is the link for everyone:
GreaseMonkey
The Other Steve
you gotta have FAITH FAITH FAITH!
FAITH FAITH FAITH! You gotta have FAITH FAITH FAITH!
Perhaps George Michael can be the new Whitehouse spokesperson.
Pb
Well I guess it would be nice
If I could bomb your country
I know not every country
Has got the oil you do
You know I won’t think twice
Before I give the store away
And I know all the games you play
Because I play them too
Oh but I
Need some time off since my promotion
Time to clear some brush up off the floor
And when the bombs rain down
launched from the ocean
Well it takes a strong man, baby
Cause I’m showing you the door
‘Cause you gotta have faith…
Oooo you gotta have faith. you gotta have faith, faith, faith,
You gotta have faith, faith, faith,
Ah, baby
Though you’re not asking me to stay
Say please, please, please, please go away
You say I’m working for the Jews
Maybe
You mean every word you say
Can’t help but think of yesterday
And when I tied you down with UN rules
Before this river
Becomes an ocean
Before you blow your hearts back on the floor
I’d never reconsider
My foolish notion
You say you need someone to stop me
But I’ll wait for something more
Yes You’ve gotta have faith…
Brian
Some here may know that I consider Google to be a suspect source for news, believing that the search engine manipulates results to show politically biased results. Here is more evidence of this, using Haditha as criteria.
And here’s the same criteria via Yahoo. As you can see, Yahoo links to genuine news sources, not agitprop.
Any qualified commenters care to make sense of this, or is it to you the blatant bias it is to me?
srv
You’d do great at the WH. You link to a cherry-picked search or you’re lying. Let’s see, running on google now:
Canada.com
Guardian
Alarab
Brad Blog
BBC news
Scoop.co.nz
Scotsman
Arab News
CBC
Media Matters
Prensa Latina
MSNBC
Telegraph
Reuters
Newswire
SF Chron
Aljazerra
PEJ News
Radio Netherlands
…
You’re like the guys on pokerstars trying claiming statistical anomolies after playing two hands.
Pb
Heh. I’ve been known to rail against Google News in the past for perceived right-wing bias in their news source selection–for example, they’d syndicate stories from Red State, but not from Daily Kos! But really, apart from that, the rest is automated–it has everything to do with the search terms, the clustering, the recency, and what outlets are running the story in the first place. Perhaps the word “massacre” biases the results a tad…
Pb
My comment is awaiting moderation, with only two links in it? That’s new. Anyhow, I guess I should also mention that you’re comparing apples to oranges when you compare a generic Yahoo! search to a Google News search. The proper comparison would be a generic Google search. But what are the odds that you’re actually ignorant of this, and not just blatantly disregarding the facts as usual… spoof on, MacDuff.
Zifnab
Yes yes. Damn that liberal media.
I hear Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Chris Mathews and Joe Scarbrough and Ann Coulter complain about it all the time.
If only there was some sort of news channel that would give an alternative to the incredible left-wing media bias. Some journalist branch that was unequivically conservative. Some radio station that stood proud as a right-wing pundit. Some author who was consistant in her Republican ideology.
I suppose we can only wait and hope and pray. I’ll just have to continue keeping the faith.
John S.
Thank you for your professional analysis, Dr. Frist.
Bruce Moomaw
Well, there you have it, John. She was obviously an evil woman, and God hates hypocrites.
In the same category, consider the novel argument of some religious conservatives as to why global warming can’t possibly be a threat ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1786227,00.html ):
“In his office in Washington DC, Rich Cizik, vice-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the largest such umbrella group in the US, is… feeling battered. His mistake has been to become interested in the environment, and he has been told that is not on the religious right’s agenda.
“Mr Cizik, an ordained minister of the Evangelical Presbyterian church and otherwise impeccably conservative on social issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and homosexuality, believes concern for the environment arises from Biblical injunctions about the stewardship of the Earth. The movement’s political leadership, however, sees the issue as a distraction from its main tactical priorities: getting more conservatives on the supreme court, banning gay marriages and overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 abortion ruling…
“US politics
——————————————————————————–
Wing and a prayer: religious right got Bush elected – now they are fighting each other
Campaigners who fail to keep the hardline faith face threats and intimidation
Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Wednesday May 31, 2006
The Guardian
In his consulting room in a suburb of Montgomery, Alabama, gastrologist Randy Brinson is a worried man. A staunch Republican and devout Baptist, Dr Brinson can claim substantial credit for getting George Bush re-elected in 2004. It was his Redeem the Vote initiative that may have persuaded up to 25 million people to turn out for President Bush. Yet his wife is receiving threats from anonymous conservative activists warning her husband to stay away from politics.
Article continues
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
“They’ve been calling my house, threatening my wife,” said Dr Brinson. “The first time was on a day when I was going up to Washington to speak to Republicans in Congress. Only they knew I’d be away from home. The Republicans were advised not to turn up to listen to me, so only three did so.”
The reason he has fallen foul of men whose candidate he helped re-elect is that he has dared to question the partisan tactics of the religious right. “Conservatives speak in tones that they have got power and they can do what they want. Only 23% of the population embraces those positions but if someone questions their mandate or wants to articulate a different case, for the moderate right, they are totally ridiculed.”
In his office in Washington DC, Rich Cizik, vice-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the largest such umbrella group in the US, is also feeling battered. His mistake has been to become interested in the environment, and he has been told that is not on the religious right’s agenda.
Mr Cizik, an ordained minister of the Evangelical Presbyterian church and otherwise impeccably conservative on social issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and homosexuality, believes concern for the environment arises from Biblical injunctions about the stewardship of the Earth. The movement’s political leadership, however, sees the issue as a distraction from its main tactical priorities: getting more conservatives on the supreme court, banning gay marriages and overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 abortion ruling.
“It is supposed to be counterproductive even to consider this. I guess they do not want to part company with the president. This is nothing more than political assassination. I may lose my job. Twenty-five church leaders asked me not to take a political position on this issue but I am a fighter,” he said.
Another Washington lobbyist on the religious right told the Guardian: ‘Rich is just being stupid on this issue. There may be a debate to be had but … people can only sustain so many moral movements in their lifetime. Is God really going to let the Earth burn up?’ “
Bruce Moomaw
Gaaah! I just blew up John’s site again without thinking. Sorry… (I imagine lightning will now strike ME.)
RSA
On the site Brian links to, we find the complaint,
Here’s a clue: The vast majority of the world is vehemently against the war in Iraq.