Please don't believe everything you read!

A liberal friend of mine got an email from a conservative relative. We all have them, those relatives I mean. I even did a post on my conservative relative, remember? Yes, we still speak :-)
   So anyway, this email was surprising but not shocking. The internet is ripe with lies and distortions but even more so with the election of Barack Obama. The fear was immediate, the name Barack Obama conjured up visions of Muslims walking the halls of the White House. The right wing of America are in a fear frenzy of astronomical proportions. What will happen to our Christian nation, we have a Muslim president, he wasn't born in America!!! 

The email....not in it's entirety and no names will be used to protect the innocence of my liberal friend! :-)))

chilling  facts below...

In 1952 President  Truman established  one day a year as a

"National Day  of  Prayer." 

In 1988 President  Reagan  designated  the First Thursday in May of each year as  the  National Day  of  Prayer.  

In  June 2007(then) Presidential Candidate Barack Obama  declared  that the USA Was no longer a Christian nation.  

This  year President Obama, canceled  the 21st annual National Day 

of  Prayer ceremony  at the  White House under the rouse Of "not wanting to offend  anyone" 

On  September 25, 2009  from 4  am until 7  pm,  a  National Day of Prayer  for  the Muslim religion was Held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White  House.   There  were over 50,000 Muslims that Day in DC. 

I  guess it Doesn't matter  if  "Christians"  Are offended by this event -

We obviously Don't  count as  "anyone"  Anymore.

The  direction This country is headed Should strike fear in the  heart of every Christian. Especially knowing that the  Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot  be Converted they should be Annihilated.

This  is not a Rumor – 

Go to  the website

To confirm this info:

(  _http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/_

(http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/)   )

Pay  particular attention to the very bottom of the page:

"OUR TIME  HAS COME"

I hope  that this Information will stir your spirit. 

The words of  2  Chronicles 7:14   

"If my people, Who are called by my Name,

Will humble  themselves And pray, 

And seek my face, and Turn from  their Wicked ways,

Then will I hear from Heaven

And  will forgive their Sin and will heal Their land."

We  must pray for Our nation, our communities,

Our families, and  especially our children. 

They are the ones that are going to  suffer the most

If we don't PRAY!

May God have  Mercy... 

IN GOD  WE TRUST.

Are ya shocked? I believe this was a younger person, usually this hysteria comes from the seniors who watch Glenn Beck regularly!

My friend, being the intelligent person that she is, and a loving relative to this young person, responded with this....

The contents of the email are false.

• Barack and Michelle Obama and their two daughters are Christian. He is not nor has he ever been a Muslim.

• Barack Obama has not canceled the National Day of Prayer.

• There is not and has never been in America an Islamic National Day of Prayer.

• Barack Obama chose to issue a proclamation of the National Day of Prayer as has every president and state governor in recent years.

• The National Day of Prayer service last year was headed by such right-wing fundamentalists as James Dobson and Franklin Graham (who is not and will never be the man his father Billy Graham is). Participants included people who have called Obama “Muslim,” “anti-American,” “the Antichrist,” “communist,” “fascist” and “Hitler.”

• The United States of America is not “a Christian nation,” in the sense that this country has never had an established religion. First, that would be unconstitutional as the First Amendment forbids the establishment of a national religion. Second, if the United States did establish an official religion that would make us like Iran – a theocracy. This is a democracy, not a theocracy, thank God.

• Some people will never understand “separation of church and state,” which I wholeheartedly support. Who wants our national government to have the authority to tell us how to worship?

• The citizens of this country are not just white Christians. They are of every faith, creed and color – and that includes Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists. It is the right of all Americans to worship or not worship as they please, and our government cannot order Americans to be Christians.

• Finally, this statement is false: “On  September 25, 2009  from 4  am until 7  pm,  a  National Day of Prayer  for  the Muslim religion was Held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White  House.   There  were over 50,000 Muslims that Day in DC.” This was a private ceremony conducted by Muslims. The government was in no way involved, and this was NOT a “National Day of Prayer for Muslims.”

The “facts” you sent are propaganda, designed to scare folks into believing President Obama wants to do away with Christianity. That is patently absurd! And, you can bet behind this forwarded email lies an author with evil intentions.

Luckily, the young person responded back with a "thank you for clearing that up!" 

Like I said in my previous post, we must continue to educate the nutters! The right is always telling us we are the sheep, we believe every thing Obama says to be gospel! Funny huh??

  

A Christian Hipster reflects on G-pack's Liturgy at New Life

I went to a church service in Jesusland* and I liked it.

I am on my final spring break of the combined times of College and Supra-college. I am spending a good chunk of it in Colorado Springs (Jesusland), CO. Since yesterday was Palm Sunday, I knew I was going to be in church. On Sunday morning, I went to an Episcopalian service with an Episcopalian friend. Later, I was spending time with some quality folk that Sunday. This included a few friends from Azusa Pacific.

I wound up going to New Life, for their evening service. It was run by Glenn Packiam -G-pack, if you will- who is incorporating the Book of Common Prayer, the Nicene Creed, and Readings of scripture into the standard, de facto mega-church liturgy. This is a bold move for G-pack, since many people in that tradition consider the "t-word" and the "l-word" the rote incantations of those who don't rely on the Holy Spirit or whatever. G-Pack has written a nice explanation and defense of what he is doing. I applaud him for his efforts and bravery.

The net result of the service was an interesting concoction. For the New-Life regulars, this was an unfamiliar, and strange addition to what they are used to. For me and other high churchgoers it seemed an odd dilution of the order of worship that we are used to. Reciting the Lord's Prayer and the Nicene Creed is not new to me. Those are what I hear every Sunday. It is not the new addition to the service time. It is the heart of the service time.

G-pack read prayers of confession from the Book of Common prayer. Everyone prayed the Lord's Prayer in a Lectio Divina style. This is clearly not normal of a mega-church, and I think it is a good move. Evangelicalism suffers from doctrinal apathy, historical amnesia, and sometimes presumptuous view of the Holy Spirit. What G-pack does will no doubt help with all these maladies. After all, Evangelicals should not have to go to a Christian college to learn where Christology came from.

Alas though, my high church sensibilities still prevented me from taking communion, though it was offered. The Sacrament of communion was still handled according to the standard liturgy of evangelicalism. The bread and the wine where placed on several different tables out at the periphery of the worship center. Everyone wandered out to them and took them on their own. After that, everybody took the sacrament and then listened to G-pack, who stood center stage. This is a very sharp contrast: the Minister in the center under the spotlight, and the bread and wine lurking by the door way in the shadows.

I do not know what G-pack things on this last issue, but this manner of handling communion will always be odd to those of us deeply ingrained and sympathetic to high church liturgy. When we see take the bread and the wine, we do not feel that we are merely doing a remembrance. We feel that we are touching the the literal, physical, presence of Christ. Because of this, it is odd that the literal physical presence of Christ would be literally and physically on the periphery of the Church. If we are going to the Church for the communion, it is odd that a minister's "talk" (what is formally known as a "sermon") would be central with Christ casually placed beyond the back pews. Even if I suspend my commitment to the real presence, it still seems odd that a sacrament could ever play second fiddle to a sermon on the same Sunday.

Please understand, this last bit is not a criticism of G-pack or New Life. If I am not in a church that is committed to the real presence in the bread and wine, I can't very well fault them for not acting like it. Yet still, I feel that Christians that really understand the traditions that G-pack wants to bring to New Life are generally also committed to a very serious and very privileged view of communion. It will be hard, even after many years, to imagine New Life changing in such a way that it can accommodate this aspect of high church liturgy. What G-pack will do is anyone's guess.

For now though. God bless new life and God bless Glenn Packiam.

Just doing my part to educate the rightwing nutfucks

Really, I know I shouldn't, none of the sane people on the left should visit the retards on the right and try to have a civil conversation about the HC bill and the good it will do for Americans. BUT, I did not take my own advice and this rightwing moron wanted me to write a summary of the bill and what's in it for her and her retard blog friends. When I gave her this CBS news link she went into a ranting tirade and said she HATED the bill, she doesn't care what's in it, she doesn't even care that it's the same as Romneycare and Romney is her GOD!! So my friends that tells me one thing and one thing only... she HATES liberals, she HATES Obama with a passion, she HATES smart people who show her up, she HATES the HC bill because a Democrat president is responsible for HC reform, A BLACK Democrat President Obama. Why oh why do I bother, they are still talking death panels and birth certificates, fear mongering and hate mongering, the anti-Christ and Jesus Christ, Bush versus Obama, they want Bush to come back and Reagan to rise from the grave and join him.
       MORONS!!!!!!!!! 

Health Care Reform Bill Summary: A Look At What's in the Bill

Posted by CBSNews.com 

Updated March 23, 5 p.m. ET

By CBS News Capitol Hill Producers Jill Jackson and John Nolen

Cost:

• $940 billion over ten years.

Deficit:

• Would reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the first ten years. That is an updated CBO estimate. Their first preliminary estimate said it would reduce the deficit by $130 billion over ten years. Would reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion dollars in the second ten years.

Read more on the CBO Report
Coverage:

• Would expand coverage to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured.

Health Insurance Exchanges:

• The uninsured and self-employed would be able to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges with subsidies available to individuals and families with income between the 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level.
• Separate exchanges would be created for small businesses to purchase coverage -- effective 2014.
• Funding available to states to establish exchanges within one year of enactment and until January 1, 2015.

Subsidies:

• Individuals and families who make between 100 percent - 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and want to purchase their own health insurance on an exchange are eligible for subsidies. They cannot be eligible for Medicare, Medicaid and cannot be covered by an employer. Eligible buyers receive premium credits and there is a cap for how much they have to contribute to their premiums on a sliding scale.

Federal Poverty Level for family of four is $22,050

 Paying for the Plan:

• Medicare Payroll tax on investment income -- Starting in 2012, the Medicare Payroll Tax will be expanded to include unearned income. That will be a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for families making more than $250,000 per year ($200,000 for individuals).
• Excise Tax -- Beginning in 2018, insurance companies will pay a 40 percent excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" high-end insurance plans worth over $27,500 for families ($10,200 for individuals). Dental and vision plans are exempt and will not be counted in the total cost of a family's plan.
• Tanning Tax -- 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services.

Medicare:

• Closes the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" by 2020. Seniors who hit the donut hole by 2010 will receive a $250 rebate.
• Beginning in 2011, seniors in the gap will receive a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs. The bill also includes $500 billion in Medicare cuts over the next decade.

Medicaid:

• Expands Medicaid to include 133 percent of federal poverty level which is $29,327 for a family of four.
• Requires states to expand Medicaid to include childless adults starting in 2014.
• Federal Government pays 100 percent of costs for covering newly eligible individuals through 2016.
• Illegal immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid.

Insurance Reforms:

• Six months after enactment, insurance companies could no longer denying children coverage based on a preexisting condition.
• Starting in 2014, insurance companies cannot deny coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions.
• Insurance companies must allow children to stay on their parent's insurance plans until age 26th.

Abortion:

• The bill segregates private insurance premium funds from taxpayer funds. Individuals would have to pay for abortion coverage by making two separate payments, private funds would have to be kept in a separate account from federal and taxpayer funds.
• No health care plan would be required to offer abortion coverage. States could pass legislation choosing to opt out of offering abortion coverage through the exchange.

**Separately, anti-abortion Democrats worked out language with the White House on an executive order that would state that no federal funds can be used to pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or health of the mother. (Read more here)

Individual Mandate:

• In 2014, everyone must purchase health insurance or face a $695 annual fine. There are some exceptions for low-income people.

Employer Mandate:

• Technically, there is no employer mandate. Employers with more than 50 employees must provide health insurance or pay a fine of $2000 per worker each year if any worker receives federal subsidies to purchase health insurance. Fines applied to entire number of employees minus some allowances.

Immigration:

• Illegal immigrants will not be allowed to buy health insurance in the exchanges -- even if they pay completely with their own money.

There ya go, simple huh? I guess if you are like that rightwing moron and already have insurance then you probably feel the same way she does, you really don't give two fucks about the citizens who will benefit from this reform bill. But that's OK, whatever floats your boat.
Nikki you're missing Hannity, better go before you miss the part where Palin comes on to spew her stupidity.