Free Republic

Just an FYI, Chris Britt was the political cartoonist for the State Journal Register, the local Springfield, IL paper - and the major reason I dropped my subscription years ago. He was eventually fired. The Illinois Times is a free weekly that you can pick up at grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, etc.
The IL Times “news” articles run on only a few pages, are mostly left leaning but not all that bad - their cartoons though are communist/socialist drivel. Most people pick up a copy for local event info listings (which they do very well). While disgusting, Britt’s cartoons have a very limited audience.

“Of Course I Still Love You” is the name of one of the sentient planet-sized starships in Ian. M. Banks “The Culture” series of sci-fi books. All of the giant AI war machines chose odd or weird names for themselves in those books.

Obama's being somewhat of a weasel - there are actually five "versions" of the Address. The most common one we know is the Bliss Version, written in Lincoln's own hand and considered the "final version". There are other versions, though - the first and second drafts of the speech did not contain "Under God". So if pressed, Obama can say that he was reading from the first or second draft. Gettysburg Address

Wow...this is the bishop in my own town. While I’m Lutheran, I’m very proud of the stance he’s taking. Would that more men of God across all denominations start publicly “speaking truth to power”, to use a phrase.

Whoops, bad timing makes it look like I’m accusing you. I was composing my response when you posted your latest. My apologies.

I’m tired of my church getting lumped in with the pro-homosexual denomination, just because both have “Lutheran” in their name. The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) strongly opposes any form of gay marriage and gay clergy, and stands fast against the homosexual agenda while the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has given in and recently voted to officially recognize and promote gay clergy and gay marriage.

That being said, we are all sinners and as Christians we have an obligation to pray for and witness the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to this angry man rather than lashing out in anger. “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Matthew 5:44

This was my first thought when I heard of the shooting: What have the Sikhs ever done to anybody?

Sikhism itself appears to be a blend of monotheistic Abrahamic religion and some Eastern spirituality. They believe in one God, are very family oriented, reject the caste system of India, are peaceful, and generally live according to a moral code that Christians and Jews would find very familiar.

Different folks then those of us of western European ancestry, but good people and good Americans nonetheless.

A very sad day.

Not sure about VoteVets, but Tammy Duckworth, while she served honorably in the armed forces, is a very leftwing politically. She was originally part of the Rod Blagojevich crew of Illinois state agency appointees - that ought to be a big warning flag for anyone who is thinking about voting for her, left or right.

Give me a break. I’m vacationing on Sanibel right now, and there’s a ton of families and kids here. We don’t need this perverted crap here. Wish these sickos would take their disease somewhere else. Like Antarctica or something.

I wish that the CDC would start issuing some warnings on this vaccine; people should be very careful in weighing whether they should take this vaccine if they have any kind of pre-existing neurological conditions. My niece, who has some problems, being born partially blind and partially deaf, has always been weak, and came close to death last spring from pneumonia. Just a day after she received the H1N1 vaccine she started have massive seizures (never had seizures in her life, ever) and that was enough to put her into a coma on life support - the docs are saying that something neurological is interfering with her ability to breath, as well as her weakened lungs have developed pneumonia again. As of today (11/19/09), we are afraid that we might lose her for good this time around - and I’m placing the blame squarely on this H1N1 vaccine. I’m not the only one either; a quick Google search brings up many posts and example of people who’ve had severe seizures associated with the vaccine. Of course, many people have taken it and have been just fine, but it still begs the question: was this thing ever fully tested, or was it just rushed out the door in response to a fake media panic?

It looks like a bad cross between the movie Fern Gully and the Halo videogame. Can’t wait for more anti-military drivel. Not.

Great line by Carlos in this clip: "I'm not white - I don't apologize for what my country did to become great." Now if we could just get the whiny liberals in this country to agree with that. Then again, they wouldn't be whiny liberals if they did.

Central and especially southern Illinois sits on some of the richest coal mining territory in the world. Only trouble is is that Illinois coal, although higher in energy BTU's, is dirtier than most - sending the eco-greenies into a tizzy. With improved smoke-scrubbing technology these days, Illinois coal is poised to make a huge comback.

Every day until he died, my grandpa would cough and hack up a lung, a result of working in the mines here in central IL when he was five (back in the day before child labor laws).

East of Springfield didn't get hit hard by the tornado, but towns like Riverton and Rochester are having a devil of a time with Ameren/Cilco getting their power restored - its a cold night here, and that company plain stinks for service (snowstorm in Nov. knocked folks with that company out for 48 hours without power).

But mostly it was the dense southwest shopping district in Springfield that got torn up.

That is news I did NOT want to hear, Tiggy. I'm here in Springfield too, managed to escape the worst of it (although have a flooded basement).

Have to give credit to the local talk radio WMAY - they were on all night when no one else was and was our only lifeline to news and warnings.

Gonna stock up tomorrow again, hope they're wrong about the supercells.

I have the book, its called Expedition , by sci-fi fantasy artist Wayne Barlowe. Excellent stuff; the aliens are truly alien, not people and animals in rubber masks.

What's the difference? Isn't Lutheran ... er ... Lutheran?

Not exactly. Like all of Protestantdom, we are fractured into various groups, we call ours synods. The largest, and most disgustingly liberal synod, is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). They are an amalgamation of several smaller synods that joined in the 80's. The 2nd largest synod is the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS, named sobecause its HQ is in St. Louis. Its also my synod). It is much more conservative than ELCA. Then the next largest is the Wisconsin Synod, a small but very very conservative group. There are several others (AALC, ELS, etc.) Most other Lutheran synods do not associate with the ELCA over their liberal stances on the authority of the Bible, female "priestesses", and homosexuality. I suspect that if they rule on the affirmative on these resolutions, the ELCA will dissolve, as there are many good churches in the ELCA who are stuck in a liberal denomination.

I'm proud to say that this is my hometown. We've always had the Lincoln tourist stuff here, but this museum is nothing like we've had before. I admit, I was very sceptical when it was being built, I coulnd't imagine why the heck anyone would want to visit our town to see yet another dry, dusty, boring museum. But sneak previews given to the press have got the local journalists and radio DJ's just raving about it (and they're a cynical bunch, having to cover Illinois politics and all), and anyone else who's already seen it has given it very positive reviews. Several thousand people waited hours in line yesterday to buy general admission tickets for opening day. We may be a smaller city, but this museum is going to be a source of big-city sized pride for us.

Same thing happened here in my hometown; depressed northeast side of town had a Wal Mart move in a couple of years ago. Now there's so many new businesses going in up there that you can barely keep track of them. Completely revitalized a formerly crappy part of town.

I agree 100%. A new "super" Walmart was built on my city's depresses northeast side just 3 years ago; now the whole area has experienced an economic rennaissance - new stores, parks, new subdivisions, the whole works. All because Walmart moved in.