Conservative Papa

Today marks four years or 1,460 days or 35,064 hours or 210,3840 minutes or 126,230,400 seconds of marvelous matrimony. Four years, two children, one wonderful family. God has truly blessed us! Happy anniversary, sweetheart!

Now that I’m home, I’ve found a wedding picture on the home computer. Isn’t Carolyn pretty? My, how thin Paul and Darrell are.

Today, Rush Limbaugh read excerpts from this horrifying article from the BBC.

There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases.

But now there are claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies.

Please read the entire article. This is the end result of using stem cells from any source that involves killing — whether before or after birth. I am in full support of adult stem cell research which, incidentally, seems to be more promising than embryonic stem cell research. We must vigilantly guard against moral compromises in this area here in the USA, or our country will suffer a worse fate.

Joseph, Mary and little baby Jesus share the stable with their Touch ‘n Feel friends: the fuzzy donkey, a camel with a curly head and hump, the wooly sheep and a cottony cow. A second sheep and their trusty shepherd dog join the two shepherds. Put the angel atop the stable and she activates the star that guides the three wise men from afar, and the holiday favorite “Away in a Manger” plays.

Sold on walmart.com.

I can’t decide whether this is a wonderful recognition of the true reason for Christmas or an unabashed attempt to profit from it. In our capitalistic society, I suppose the line begins to blur at times. Undeniably, the toy is a refreshing departure from Barbie, Bratz, Sponge Bog, and the like. I might purchase this toy for my little crumb crunchers, but I imagine that the star only shines while an annoying electronic version of “Away in a Manger” grates on parents’ nerves. (Readers without small children, please understand that any song-playing toy quickly becomes a perpetual juke box for the happy child.) This toy is in that special class of toys from which grandparents often select an instrument to exact retribution on their children — er — to show their abounding love for their grandchildren. Um, this post is getting rather long, so comments about abounding love in my family will have to wait for another time.

We were awakened before 7:00 this morning by the sound of Andrew choking. Oh, that it were so simple. He was actually throwing up — all over himself, the floor, and two pieces of furniture. After cleanup detail, Carolyn compelled me to borrow some ginger ale from my parents to sooth Andrew’s stomach.

Obviously, we did not attend church.

Several naps have improved his condition.  He actually put himself back to bed this morning, but now he seems to be his normal self.

Here’s a message from Big Brother, courtesy of the National Weather Service:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A HARD FREEZE
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT TO 9 AM
CST SATURDAY. A HARD FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO
9 AM CST FRIDAY.

NOW IS THE TIME TO CHECK EXPOSED WATER PIPES FOR ENSURE ADEQUATE
INSULATION IS IN PLACE...AS WELL AS MAKING PLANS TO MOVE PETS AND
COLD SENSITIVE POTTED PLANTS INDOORS. ENSURE VEHICLES AND
STATIONARY ENGINES SUCH AS AUTOMATIC GENERATORS HAVE ADEQUATE
ANTIFREEZE.

CHECK YOUR HOME HEATING SYSTEM AS WELL AS CARBON MONOXIDE AND
SMOKE DETECTORS. ALSO CHECK ON ELDERLY NEIGHBORS AND RELATIVES
ENSURING THEY HAVE ADEQUATE HEAT. ENSURE SPACE HEATERS ARE IN
GOOD WORKING ORDER AND PLACED AWAY FROM COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS.

AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS SHOULD CONSIDER PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR
LIVESTOCK...GREENHOUSES...ORCHARDS...AND MACHINERY FOR THESE
UNUSUALLY COLD TEMPERATURES.

A HARD FREEZE WARNING IS LOCALLY DEFINED AS TEMPERATURE REACHING 26
DEGREES OR LESS FOR MORE THAN 5 HOURS BEING IMMINENT OR HIGHLY
LIKELY. THESE CONDITIONS WILL KILL MOST CROPS AND OTHER SENSITIVE
VEGETATION.

Can’t they just tell us there will be a hard freeze and leave it at that?  Is everyone such a lemming that they can’t figure out what to do when it’s cold?  I must be paranoid crank.  Oh, oh!  Big brother forgot to remind us not to lick any flagpoles.

This morning, I celebrated Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, by going to the Pear Harbor Survivor’s Project site and reading Al Bertus Cory’s Story.  It’s an interesting read.  Here’s the paragraph that talks about his experience during the attack:

We were moored to two large Concrete Pilings called Fox’s. Tied along side us was the USS West Virginia, immediately astern was the USS Arizona. The Arizona was bombed and on fire. The flames were scorching our stern and the burning oil was flowing in our direction. By keeping our screws turning we were able to lessen that threat. Meanwhile The West Virginia moored to us but on our out board side. The West Virginia received seven torpedo strikes and was sinking while still moored to us. Every time a torpedo would strike the West Virginia, and the Arizona exploding, the concussion would come down the stack and extinguish the fire in the boiler fire box. It was my job to re-light the hot oils in the fire box. Which was about like throwing a match in a tub of gas. The concussions and the sudden movements of the ship caused the asbestos covering on all the piping to dislodge and fall to the floor plates. We stayed in the fire room for 36 hours. In the meantime we were walking ankle deep in asbestos. Being teen age kids we had to have some thing to do so we had battles with chunks of asbestos. Today I have asbestosis.

The story goes on to list all his duties until his release from active duty in 1960.  As I read about how Mr. Cory was transfered from ship to ship and went here and there all over the world, I couldn’t help but think that the USA really knew how to fight a war back then — at least after December 7, 1941 woke the country up!  September 11, 2001 didn’t turn out to be the Pearl Harbor it should have been.  Sure, we started out taking action and doing things right, but apathy has set in.  Now everyone seems to be talking about negotiating with terrorists and how best to get out of Iraq.  Will a mushroom cloud over one of our great cities be enough to get our full attention? Will we stand up and fight even then?

An interesting thing happened in church Sunday night. First, you have to understand that our church encourages parents to use the nursery to “enhance the spirit of worship.” While we understand the point, we’re not sure how our children are supposed to learn to worship in church with us without being in the church service. So, we (along with about a dozen other families) take up residence toward the back of the balcony. That way, we cause minimal disturbance when the need to make a hasty exit with a noisy child arises. The second thing you must understand is that even though our church is a Baptist church, it has a reserved atmosphere. We don’t generally clap or jump around or shout “Amen!”

So, anyway, the choir finished a stirring choral number; and in the hush that followed, some guy (probably a guest) yelled out “Amen!” This happens from time to time, and nobody thinks much of it. This time, Andrew heard it and decided to follow suit. He made a loud, sharp noise similar to what he had just heard. Reflexively, I clamped my hand over his mouth and shushed him. I was startled, but not angry. I realized he must have thought it was OK, since the other guy did it. Andrew began to cry quietly — out of embarrassment and confusion, I think. Somehow, I whispered my way through a consolation and explanation so that he stopped crying before becoming a major distraction.

Really, I felt rather sorry for Andrew. He was just mimicking what he had heard and trying to participate. Being a three-year-old is difficult at times!

My darling wife has the radio tunned to Christmas 107.3 and every so often they play this charmingly adorable song:

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don’t want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

The awful thing is that the song sticks in my head and I want to sing it in that aggravating kid’s voice. Really gets me in the spirit! “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas…”

I saw this as a signature line on a discussion board and thought it was hilarious. Too bad it only works well as a written joke. Of course if you’re type 10, you probably don’t understand it at all!