It’s a GIRL!

The baby is healthy, normal, perfectly adorable and a girl. 

How St. Patrick Changed History

Rome fell Sept. 4, 476.

In the centuries preceding, Rome was overrun with immigrants: Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Lombards and Vandals. They first assimilated, many working as servants, but then came so fast they did not learn the Latin language.

Worldwide military conflicts strained the highly trained Roman legions.

Rome had centuries-old government bureaucracies.

Rome had a trade deficit, having outsourced its grain production to North Africa. When Vandals finished “vandalizing” the Roman Empire, they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and captured the grain fields of North Africa, cutting off Rome’s resources.

Attila the Hun, called the “Scourge of God,” committed terrorist attacks. Callinicus wrote in the “Life of Saint Hypatius” (c. A.D. 450):

“The Huns … became so great that more than a hundred cities were captured. … So many murders and blood-lettings that the dead could not be numbered. Ay, for they took captive the churches and monasteries and slew the monks and maidens in great numbers.”

Exorbitant taxes were needed to fund Rome’s military campaigns and welfare programs.

The entire city of Rome was on welfare with citizens given free bread. One Roman commented: “Those who live at the expense of the public funds are more numerous than those who provide them.” Tax collectors were “more terrible than the enemy.”

Demanding “bread and circuses,” Romans distracted themselves with violent entertainment of gladiators in the Coliseum.

There was exposure of unwanted infants, infidelity, sexual immorality continuing from the times of Pompeii and homosexuality in Roman bath houses and gymnasiums (“gymn” is the Greek word for naked).

Time-Life’s “Great Ages of Man: Barbarian Europe, “1968, states: ” … in the causal brutality of its public spectacles, in a rampant immorality that even Christianity could not check.”

Fifth-century historian Salvian wrote:

“The Goths lie, but are chaste; the Franks lie, but are generous; the Saxons are savage in cruelty … but are admirable in chastity. … What hope can there be for the Romans when the barbarians are more pure than they?”

Salvian continued:

“O Roman people … be ashamed of your lives. Almost no cities are free of evil dens. … Let nobody think otherwise. The vices of our bad lives have alone conquered us.”

In the midst of this cultural decline, Patrick was born in the Roman province of Britain sometime between A.D. 387 and A.D. 415.

He was not a leprechaun, an elf, nor full of blarney. He did not drink green beer or wear a “Kiss me, I’m Irish” pin, but what he did was more notable than a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

While a teenager, Patrick’s community was left unguarded as Roman legions were withdrawn to defend Rome. Unprotected, Britain was attacked by raiders who carried away thousands.

Patrick was captured and sold as a slave in Ireland, which was ruled by Druids. The Druids, from whom Halloween originated, believed forests were inhabited by spirits which needed to be appeased. These were passed down as elves and leprechauns.

In “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” Thomas Cahill wrote that the Druids:

“sacrificed prisoners of war to the war gods and newborns to the harvest gods. … They displayed proudly the heads of their enemies in their temples and on their palisades; they even hung them from their belts as ornaments, used them as footballs in victory celebrations, and were fond of employing skull tops as ceremonial drinking bowls. They also sculpted heads – both shrunken, decapitated heads.”

For six years, Patrick was a slave, herding animals for his Druid master, Milchu. He wrote in his “Confession:” “But after I came to Ireland, every day I had to tend sheep. … The love of God and His fear came to me more and more. … In a single day, I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain.”

Patrick continued:

“And there the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God … who comforted me as would a father his son.”

Then Patrick wrote: “One night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me: ‘It is well that you fast; soon you will go to your own country.’ And again, after a short while, I heard a voice saying to me: ‘See, your ship is ready.’ And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps two hundred miles. … I took to flight, and I left the man with whom I had stayed for six years. And I went in the strength of God.”

Most likely, Patrick fled to Killala Bay or Westport where he found a small ship carrying wolfhounds to Europe.

Tossed in a storm, they shipwrecked in southern France. Patrick met St. Germain (A.D. 380-448) who discipled him and brought him back to Britain.

When Patrick was about 40 years old, he had a dream calling him back to Ireland. He wrote in his “Confession”:

“In the depth of the night, I saw a man named Victoricus coming as if from Ireland, with innumerable letters, and he gave me one, and while I was reading I thought I heard the voice of those near the western sea call out: ‘Please, holy boy, come and walk among us again.’ Their cry pierced my very heart, and I could read no more, and so I awoke.”

Patrick returned to Ireland, confronted the Druids, converted chieftains and used the three-leaf clover to teach the Trinity.

A dozen times Patrick faced life-threatening situations, writing in his “Confession”:

“They laid hands on me and my companions, and on that day they eagerly wished to kill me; but my time had not yet come. … they put us in irons and on the fourteenth day the Lord delivered me. … Daily I expect murder, fraud, or captivity, or whatever it may be; but I fear none of these things because of the promises of heaven.”

Baptizing 120,000 and founding 300 churches, he wrote:

“Patrick the sinner, an unlearned man to be sure. None should ever say that it was my ignorance that accomplished any small thing; it was the gift of God.”

World Book Encyclopedia wrote that Patrick “found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.”

Saint Patrick died March 17, around A.D. 461.

The century following his death, Irish missionaries went to Britain to evangelize the Scots and Picts. An Irish missionary named Columbanus (A.D. 543-615) traveled Europe and evangelized the tribes which overran the Roman Empire, founding nearly 100 monasteries as far south as Italy.

More than a thousand years later, Scot-Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics fled the British Empire for American colonies to gain political and religious freedom.

During the Great Irish Potato Famine, 1845-1850, millions of poor Irish immigrated to the United States, with so many dying of dysentery, typhus and malnutrition during the six-week passage that their overcrowded ships were called “coffin ships.” These mostly uneducated Catholic immigrants lived in slum tenements which bred disease, resulting in the deaths of 80 percent of infants born to Irish immigrants in New York City.

The Irish were so discriminated against that a common saying was, “The Negro is black outside; the Irishman is black inside.” The Chicago Post wrote, “The Irish fill our prisons, our poor houses … Putting them on a boat and sending them home would end crime in this country.” Five Catholic churches were burned in Philadelphia and businesses posted signs “No Irish need apply.”

Parades served a purpose. Whereas the British monarchy did not grant equal status to Irish, no matter how large their population was, in America the Saint Patrick’s Day Parades in Boston and New York turned out thousands, resulting in politicians taking note. This, along with their willingness to assimilate, their work ethic and their volunteering to fight in the nation’s wars, increased respect for Irish and raised their political standing.

The 2000 U.S. Census reported 30 million Americans, or 10.8 percent of the population, claim Irish ancestry. This is the nation’s largest ancestry group after German (15.2 percent), followed by African-American (8.8 percent) and English (8.7 percent).

Ten U.S. presidents had Irish ancestors: Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

But on St. Patrick’s Day, everybody is Irish. Erin go braugh! (Ireland forever!)

(Author: William J. Federer, Amerisearch, Inc., P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 www.AmericanMinute.com)

Fantastic

I love it when someone challenges the political correctness of this country that allows any religion BUT Christianity to be publicly practiced!  I don’t mind other religions nearly as much as I mind that they are allowed but mine is not.  Check out this article from World Net Daily….

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish…Blue Fish…

I’ve always been frustrated by people who spout the very convenient and shallow diatribe of “just trust God and it’ll all work out.”  There are things that just don’t need to be said.  Some of these can be quite humorous, like asking me a month before my wedding if I was excited.  Nah.  Not really.  (???)  Or even now, as I am expecting a baby.  “Are you excited?”  Sorta….maybe…. (???) 

Sometimes it’s in telling you minutes after you watch dirt poured over your dead sister’s casket that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Duh.  We know.  You saying it just makes you look like an unfeeling callous person that obviously has never had something quite like this happen to you.  It’s one thing for ME to say that – it’s another for you to say it to me.

In another form, it’s knowing nothing about your life situation, nothing of your financial state, and then assuming one does, the ever present verbal bubble: “Just trust God and it’ll all work out.”

Explain to me, dear soul, how one looks at the hard line of numbers marching across the paper and the absolute and very disturbing MINUS at the bottom.  Explain to me how exactly God provides you with food and shelter when your paycheck isn’t enough?  Do you really mean that God will provide a credit card for you to use until you’re so far in debt you hardly notice anymore? 

I’m honestly really fed up with this whole shallow spit up of words people toss out so casually.  I KNOW to trust God, but has it ever occured to you that trusting God doesn’t always mean that the bills get paid on time?  That it should be no excuse for you to look the other way when we show up to work without lunch for the next week?  Come on!  (Not saying that we are, just hypotheticals.)

So my plea is this: when you come across a situation where you might not know what to say and one of these Hallmark card answers comes to mind – swallow it and simply let the person know your sincere sympathy and willingness to pray for them – even pray with them right there. 

I say this, as a somewhat hidden request for prayer in our situation.  Long gone are dreams of full time mom-work only.  Even with our basic house, trimmed down budget and nearly paid off debt, we are still stuck in a minus position of several hundred unless I work part time after the baby is born.  Thus being said, we have also found out that our somewhat perfect situation has somehow been lost due to forgetful bosses so not only will most of that NOT be allowed from home but also the baby is discouraged from being with us at work.  Long story short – I will not be mom to my baby for 15-20 hours a week.  This is highly distressing to me and while I am trusting God, it does seem a lot like the carpet has just been pulled out from under me because a month ago, God fixed it all so that it was perfect.  Somehow, it’s been messed up. 

In a nutshell – I’m very disheartened right now.  Especially because I know God can work things out, but once He has, man can still screw them up again and this is a very annoying fact.

Fish Stories

So I have found out that the scare of eating a lot of fish, especially tuna, while pregnant is actually an environmental group scam. 

According to extensive research, even if a pregnant woman eats double the amount of fish recommended by the FDA (Frequently Dumb Apples) she will still be protected from reaching the “mercury harm” limit by 500%.   

Going even further in the research, fish contain the necessary Omega 3 fatty acids that prevent heart problems, strokes, diabetes, arthiritis, different kinds of cancer, and kidney disorders.  Furthermore, fish consumption help to eliminate pre-term delivery, post partum depression and even low birth weight! 

A 2005 study published in Archives of Neurology showed that elderly people who eat fish at least once a week can slow their rate of mental decline by between 10 and 13 percent.  Research published in the same journal in 2003 found that adults who consume fish once or more each week have a 60 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.  

A 2004 study of children in Bristol, England showed that the children of pregnant women who consumed high amounts of fish scored higher on mental development tests.  (I read elsewhere that those who were born to those who avoided fish while pregnant scored in the low 25 percentile of the IQ test given.) 

Even if Americans could eat enough fish to jeopardize their health from mercury intake, it would take decades for the speculative health effects to take place.  Environmental Protection Agency scientist Kathryn Mahaffey created the statistic that 630,000 children are born with such high levels of mercury in their blood that they are at risk for having neurological disorders.  This statistic was based on the amount of mercury intake recommended by the FDA, which is 10 times lower than the amount of mercury that the EPA believes might cause health risks.   

The standards set down by the Canadian government, the British Food Standards, and the World Health Organization for fish intake (especially while pregnant) is 4.7 times higher than what the American EPA/FDA permits. 

Long story short – environmentalists have created statistics and myths to protect fish from being eaten, despite the numerous health and brain power benefits that research proves fish hold, despite the small amount of mercury they ingest because they are fish.

Statistics Reign Supreme Over Opinion

The controversial subject of gun control rises to the surface in many conversations and debates.  Plainly and in few words, my personal opinion of guns and the controlling of them is as follows:

A human being that has committed a criminal act using a gun or any other weapon of deadly possibility should not be considered a human being with continued rights to own a gun.  John Douglas (my hero and former director of the FBI Profiling department) will be the first and foremost word on this subject.  A paraphrase of his beliefs: persons who commit crimes against other persons have taken the rights of another person (whether it was that person’s right to happiness, innocence, possessions or life)  and thus no longer deserve their own inalienable rights.  This is also a general concept of the civil laws in Deuteronomy.  If you murder, your life is forfeit.  If you rape a woman, you are to pay her father lots of camels and marry her….or else. 

However, gun control for the rest of the population of decent law biding citizens is in essence leaving decent law abiding citizens wide open (and empty handed) to the risk of being prey to those persons who would take rights to happiness, innocence, possessions or life. 

Time and time again, we can argue that guns are dangerous and yes, they are.  So are drivers using cell phones, tractor trailers and apparently routine connecting flights.  (I refer to the Conair takeoff that ended in the entire plane going up in flames due to a overworked employee’s distraction.)  We can also argue that a gun can be used against a person – indeed.  Someone could also stab you in the eye with a pencil or gossip about your moral character at church.  We can list instances of horrible abuse with a gun – but I can also name off horrible abuses at the hand of fist, tree limb and belt.  Some of the most vile serial killers DO NOT USE A GUN to commit their heinous and degrading crimes.  (I refer to the case that haunts me the most….perhaps because once upon a time, I could have been in such a similar place.  Suzanne Marie Collins, USMC.)

What is the key to proper gun ownership?  Knowing how to use a gun properly.  For just a few hundred dollars one can be thoroughly trained in the proper and safe use of a gun in a controlled defensive manner.  The government would be well off in sending current wild eyed shaking handed untrained gun owners to these classes instead of trying to prevent them from owning a gun.  

Note Canada, where gun ownership is similar in fashion to the US.  A license must be purchased, background checks are conducted and permits are sometimes required to carry.  There are approximately 2.3 million gun owners in Canada, approximately 26% of the population.  Canada gun laws requires that owners take a Firearms Safety Class and pass a test demonstrating basic understanding of how to handle a gun safely and properly and the responsibilities of owning a gun.  The violent crime rate in Canada has been declining over the last few decades by approximately 10% each decade. 

As for violent crimes involving guns in Canada – approximately 300 per year, or 5 per million people.  In Great Britain?  9,974 – 125 per million people.  I see gun control (complete removal of citizen and police gun ownership) has done a lot for GB.  The US reported in 2000 there were 5.5 homicides for every 100,000 persons.  Canada that same year was 1.8 homicides for every 100,000 persons.  (Note violent crimes include robbery, rape, assault vs. homicides/murder.) 

Gun usage in violent crimes in the US is 41% vs. Canada’s 16% per 100,000 persons.  These statistics take into consideration not the total amount of people, as Canada is less populated than US, but per a specific number.  Canadian gun owners are reported in using a gun in self defense against human and animal threats 40-80,000 times per year.  US statistics show that there are 80-82,000 uses of a gun in self defense per year.  There is an approximate population of 33,000 in Canada; US population is approximately 304,000.  So the same number of reported self defense incidents occur but they have a population of 271,000 fewer! 

Approximately 39% of American households own at least one gun.    America currently requires licensing, background checks, and permits to carry.  There are no other requirements on how to use a gun properly and safely. 

In a study conducted in the 90’s it was estimated that approximately 2.45 million crimes were thwarted each year by a gun owner presenting a gun in self defense (US).  In most cases, the potential victim did not even fire the weapon; in approximately 28% of the cases, the potential victim did fire the weapon in self-defense at the violent offender.  During the same period of time, approximatley 46,000 homicides involving guns occured, and another 2,628,532 non-fatal crimes involving guns occured.  So approximately 4 million crimes occured and another 2.4 million were thwarted.  I would say the odds could be improved if of that 1 in 1000 persons owning and knowing how to use their weapon in constructive self-defense (remember, 72% of those persons did not even fire their weapon!) was 100 in 1000 persons. 

Leftists who jibber about how much crime is caused by so many people owning guns should look at the actual numbers and note that while Canada has 33 million people and the US has 300 million, their crime per capita is nearly half what the US suffers and we have half as many self defenders preventing crimes from happening to us as Canada. 

Rightists who jibber about the government messing in their business should get a more balanced opinion and realize that some of us moderate folks are just as scared of someone who thinks everyone should own a gun without any restriction or training as we are of someone who thinks no one should own a gun.

The long and short bottom line of all this is: those who sit on the fence on the right hand or left hand side are both incorrect.  The balanced and logical key is for the government to require training for decent law abiding citizens prior to gun ownership and to continue to ban criminals from getting anywhere near a gun or any other dangerous weapon (even if tree limbs and fists are plentiful enough).