sprucegoose

Google is requiring an update

2011-07-01T02:42:00.002-05:00

In order to keep my posts from long ago, Google is requiring me to update my blog occassionally. Well, here is an update.

If you are still connected to this blog and get a notification that I have posted something please take a few deep breaths and then slowly exhale. Yes, I am still alive and doing well.

I have been through a lot in the last 5 years and I am now 66. I have recovered enough to return to the racquetball courts and can still compete with the 20 year olds. ( Not all of them but most of them anyhow )

I now have 3 married children and a fouth will be married in Sept. I am up to 11 grandkids and counting.

I think we all need to pay close attention to life. There are some great things coming. Good and bad. Soon.

Comment if you are so inclined. I am curious as to who is still out there.

Blessings, Bruce

Dance Children Dance

2008-07-22T13:55:00.003-05:00

Please excuse the ignorant need to cuss but here is a happy video of people around the world dancing. Yup. People dancing around the world. Smile.

Where is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

You Can't Just Bomb Iran

2008-07-21T15:55:00.004-05:00

Israel does have the capacity to "hurt" Iran's nuclear ambitions but it's long range air power and strike abilities are not nearly strong enough to "finish" the job or to "clean up" afterwards. They can only drop a few bombs.

You can expect that if Israel attacks (and it will because it cannot allow itself to be nuked) it will be left up to the US to clean up the mess. Here is a report from Ralph Peters of the New York Times that explains what all is involved in bombing Iran. Bottom line ? You better do it right.

* Take out Iran's air-defense and intelligence network to protect our attacking aircraft.
* Take down its national communications network to degrade its military reaction.
* Strike dozens of dispersed nuclear-related targets - some of them in hardened underground facilities, with others purposely placed in populated areas.
* Hit every anti-ship-missile installation along Iran's Persian Gulf coast and the Straits of Hormuz. The reflexive Iranian response to an attack would be to launch sea-skimmer missiles against oil tankers and Western warships. The Iranians know that oil's now the world's Achilles heel.
* Destroy Iran's naval capacity, including small craft, in the first 24 hours to prevent attacks on shipping (expect suicide attacks, too).
* Immediately take out all of Iran's long-range and intermediate-range missiles - not just those that could strike Israel, but those that could hit Saudi, gulf-state or Iraqi oil refineries, pipelines, port facilities and oil fields . . . or our installations in the region.
* Hit the military's key command centers in Tehran, as well as regional headquarters, with special attention to the Revolutionary Guards' infrastructure.
* Expect three to six weeks of intense air and naval fighting, followed by months of skirmishing and asymmetrical warfare. And Iraq will heat back up, too.

Screw up the effort, and today's oil prices will double or triple, with severe downstream shortages showing up in a matter of weeks - every oil tanker's insurance will be canceled immediately, even if the Straits of Hormuz remain open (unlikely).
And we'll be in the global doghouse.

I think that this is a conservative estimate. I think Venezuela will suspend oil along with Nigeria and other world wide disruptions. The enemy has a strangle hold on the world. You can expect suicide bombers in Iraq and Israel. You can expect kidnappings all around the world. There would be a world wide reaction of Jihadist forces. But all in all we probably won't have any other alternative. Pray.

Iran's Missile Bluff... Like Immature Kids Playing War

2008-07-12T15:44:00.003-05:00

Here is an exaggerated picture of Iran's (photo-shopped) missile launch last week. It is like neighborhood kids playing "fort" and acting like they have really big water balloons ("so don't try to attack us") The only problem is ... these are not water balloons. They are nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Who is the big " 'frady' cat" ? Israel is not. These kind of threatening actions could result in the death of millions of Persians. It is immature and deadly to act like this.

99 Balloons; Understanding Precious Life

2008-07-11T14:41:00.005-05:00

Click here to see this video
Life is precious.

Interesting Roadside Sign

2008-07-11T01:16:00.002-05:00

Obama On Abortion

2008-07-09T12:39:00.002-05:00

Barack Obama's actual record on Abortion:

0% rating with the National Right to Life Committee and 100% rating with NARAL Pro-Choice America
Co-Sponsor of the "Freedom of Choice Act" (S.1173), legislation that would nullify nearly all state and federal limitations on abortion, including the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, parental notification laws and waiting periods. It would also allow for taxpayer funding of abortions. Obama told members of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund at their conference, "Well, the first thing I'd do as president is, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing I'd do." (July 17, 2007)
Voted against an amendment to allow states to provide health insurance for an unborn child through the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). (August 2, 2007, Roll Call No. 302)
Opposed the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act as an Illinois State Senator, legislation intended to protect babies who survived abortions. Obama spoke against the bill and voted against it three times. President Bush signed a federal version of this legislation in 2002.
Criticized Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court ruling upholding the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, saying, "I strongly disagree with today's Supreme Court ruling. . .I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman's right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and a matter of equal rights for women."
Endorsed by the two major abortion organizations: NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Barack Obama Will Make You Pay For Other's Abortions

2008-07-08T13:53:00.004-05:00

Barack's new health plan includes abortion. The Chicago Tribune reported last year, when Senator Obama was "asked about his proposal for expanded access to health insurance, Obama said it would cover 'reproductive health services.' Contacted afterward, an Obama spokesperson said that included 'abortions.' The Obama campaign does not deny Senator Obama supports taxpayer funded abortions.

Although in recent days Senator Obama has tried to downplay his extremist views on abortion, his own Presidential website says, "...he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President."

Minnesota citizens already pay for 45 babies to be killed every day. This is Minnesota state law. Now, under Obama, we would be required to pay for 4,000 more every day. How can we be forced to pay for the destruction of innocent life?

The sad thing is that McCain is just as bad. When will this end ? Where will it end? True Justice is on His way. Come Lord Jesus.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's wife

2008-07-01T22:59:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of the first lady of Iran. Does something seem wrong with this picture ? I'm jes' sayin'

The Growth Of The International Space Station

2008-06-23T16:07:00.005-05:00

The space station, a dream on "Disneyland" in the 60's, is now a reality. It is growing larger every year. Here are some pictures to show you the growth of this amazing engineering marvel. No telling what they can do from up there. I'm jes' sayin'

Kingfisher

2008-06-14T02:45:00.004-05:00

When I first moved into our house in the "hood" of North Minneapolis I saw a kingfisher from time to time down by Shingle Creek. But that was 21 years ago and I have not seen one of these since then, until this week. I was very blessed.
And a male pheasant comes and checks out our yard every morning. Not bad for the center of such a large metro area.

Ramsey County Harasses Churches In Minnesota

2008-05-31T01:31:00.003-05:00

Officials in Ramsey County asked over 800 churches for documents to justify their tax-exempt status. There is no reason for this because they were justified when they were given tax-exempt status by the state. Ramsey County officials have not given a reason yet for the aggressive and hostile move towards established religion. To threaten to revoke tax-exempt status for non compliance to their request is nothing less than harassment by bureaucratic anti-religious officials according to legal experts.

Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit. The entire thing looks like a fishing expedition by the County Assessor to increase the county's property tax intake.

More here.

What Substance Is Holding Us All Together?

2008-05-30T20:13:00.004-05:00

Have you ever heard of Laminin? It is a protein that holds the cells together. It is like the "rebar" of the human cell. Just like a slab of cement is bound to break without interior support from metal rebar, so is the human cell without the support of Laminin.
It is a type of glue that keeps the cytoplasm together in a shape that is useful. And it is, amazingly, a protein that resembles the shape of a cross.

Colossians 1:17 “He (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

You can see a video by Louie Giglio about this here.

Fogbow

2008-05-29T14:39:00.003-05:00

I keeping with the theme of "rainbows and moonbeams", here is a picture of another type of rainbow. They are calling it a fog bow. Here is the text from the web site I saw this on.

Explanation: What is that white arch over the water? What is being seen is a fogbow, a reflection of sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colors. The fog itself is not confined to an arch -- the fog is mostly transparent but relatively uniform. The fogbow shape is created by those drops with the best angle to divert sunlight to the observer. The fogbow's relative lack of colors are caused by the relatively smaller water drops. The drops active above are so small that the quantum mechanical wavelength of light becomes important and smears out colors that would be created by larger rainbow water drops acting like small prisms reflecting sunlight. The above striking image of a fogbow was taken last week with the Sun behind the photographer. The rocks in the foreground are part of Ocean Beach in California, USA.

Barack Hussein Obama & Black Liberation Theology

2008-05-22T22:14:00.010-05:00

An African American neighborhood kid that grew up in my yard with my kids recently told my son that he thought that Obama was the anti-christ. I don't think Obama is the anti-christ but he will do until the real one comes along.

There was, at first, just something that I could not put my finger on about Obama. He was, "too popular." People did not seem to be reasoning correctly about his bid for president. He was clearly not mature enough to lead this country.

But then, the media made him their darling. It was as if nothing he said or did was being parsed. But I passed this off as just simply the "liberal" press.

Well, now it all comes together. Black liberation theology ! That is what he stands for.

During the 80's I made a trip to the Honduras / Nicaragua border to bring some rice and black beans to some starving Mosquito Indian refugees living there. They were fleeing from the Sandinista government who was killing them as enemies of the state. It was what was known back then as a Contra camp. It was an amazing adventure. During that trip I, as a young pastor, found out about "liberation theology." I actually did a report on what I studied and learned for our denomination.

The keynote of this theology pictures Jesus as not only Savior but also the liberator of the oppressed. Think communist socialism. Think about Che Guevera replacing Jesus on the cross. Think about violent revolution as a doctrine of Christianity. A counter part of this Latino liberation theology was the new urban USA "black liberation theology." Black Muslims and Christians working together for violent revolution. Maybe it is not "violent" anymore, but it is about revolution.

This is what Obama and his wife believe. This is who they are. This is their background. This is what his church was all about. This is why his pastor says, "God damn America."

Here is a great video that has been watched by over 2 million people. Let's hope everyone in the USA watches it. The "theologian" James Cone who Hannity is asked by Jeremiah Wright if he has ever read, has said that the antichrist is the white Christian body. Here is the entire interview with Hannity and Wright.

This needs to be shouted from the housetops. The church needs to explain what is wrong with "liberation theology."
When the Catholic church discovered that its house was full of people who believed this they cleaned house. It is totally not the doctrine of grace, mercy, and love. It is racist at best and communist antichrist at worst. As the world drifts from orthodoxy it is heading for the great apostasy, if it doesn't crash on the hidden rocks first.

Minnesota Charter School Turned Madrassa Attacks Channel 5 News

2008-05-20T03:30:00.003-05:00

The charter school that was operating as an Islamic Madrassa teaching Islam to students in Inver Grove Heights was visited by a channel 5 (KSTP) news crew today. The response of the administration was to attack and injure the crew doing the filming from public property. You can view the video of this from here. I for one will not tolerate appeasement from the board of education. This cannot and must not be tolerated.

Free Flight Over Mars

2008-05-19T14:40:00.003-05:00

Here is a movie of a virtual flight over the planet Mars. During your flight you will see the Mars rover. My son-in-law helped develop the altimeter on the rover. This is really a spectacular flight. Hold on to your hats. Here you go.

Minnesota Taxpayer's Paid $1,652,978 For 3,937 Abortions in 2006

2008-05-16T01:30:00.005-05:00

The money taken from me under the pretense of taxes for the running of the state has been diverted, against my will, to pay for the killing of unborn children. Our money is used to kill human babies at the rate of $420 per child. It is wrong. This is all I have to say.

Read more here.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 14

2008-05-13T23:11:00.004-05:00

You have to watch the laws being passed all around the world today, not just the laws in your city or your state. Laws being passed in the world are having direct effect on your future because of the move to globalism. American judges now quote from laws being passed in other parts of the world, not just American law.

Well here is one that should set you spinning. The UN (is it good for anything?) has been passing laws on the Rights of the Child
YOUR CHILD ! Now they are discussing the idea of religion (your religion) "indoctrinating" the child. Keep your eye on this. Religion is now being considered as child abuse. You can read more here.

Heroes Part 1

2008-05-10T23:27:00.004-05:00

I have decided to start a new series of blog posts. From time to time I am going to post about heros I have met or heard about. I don't have many heros and the ones I do have are usually are not the types of heros that most would choose to emulate.

Todays hero just happens to be the governor of Alaska. She is a 44 year old Republican, but I guess you have to be in some sort of party to get elected. She just found out that she is pregnant. That is always good news. Here is the story.

Alaska governor eager to rear child
May 5, 2008
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The results of Gov. Sarah Palin's prenatal testing were in, and the doctor's tone was ominous: "You need to come to the office so we can talk about it."

Mrs. Palin, known for a resolve that quickly launched her from suburban hockey mom to a player on the national political stage, said, "No, go ahead and tell me over the phone."

The physician replied, "Down syndrome," stunning the Republican governor, who had just completed what many political analysts called a startling first year in office.

She had arrived at the Capitol on an ethics-reform platform after defeating the incumbent Republican in the primary and a former two-term Democratic governor in the general election. Her growing reputation as a maverick for bucking her party's establishment and Alaska's powerful oil industry quickly gained her a national reputation.

Now she is trying to balance caring for her special-needs child and running a state.

The doctor's announcement in December, when Mrs. Palin was four months pregnant, presented her with a possible life- and career-changing development.

"I've never had problems with my other pregnancies, so I was shocked," said Mrs. Palin, a mother of four other children.

"It took awhile to open up the book that the doctor gave me about children with Down syndrome, and awhile to log on to the Web site and start reading facts about the situation."

The 44-year-old governor waited a few days before telling her husband, Todd, who was out of town, so she could understand what was ahead for them.

Once her husband got the news, he told her: "We shouldn't be asking, 'Why us?' We should be saying, 'Well, why not us?' "

There was never any doubt the Palins would have the child, and on April 18 she gave birth to Trig Paxson Van Palin.

"We've both been very vocal about being pro-life," Mrs. Palin said. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential."

Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in the fetus' cells. It's a genetic abnormality that impedes physical, intellectual and language development.

The mother's age is a large factor in the chances of having a child afflicted with Down syndrome. Once a woman turns 40, the chance is 1 out of 100, according to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Three days after giving birth, Mrs. Palin returned to work in her Anchorage office, accompanied by Trig and her husband.

This was not a mother's typical visit to the office to show off the new baby; instead, she was serving notice that a child of special needs would not hinder her professional commitments.

"It's a sign of the times to be able to do this," she said. "There is no reason to believe a woman can't do it with a growing family. My baby will not be at all or in any sense neglected."

Neither, Mrs. Palin said, will the state, as she prepares to lead deliberations for a multibillion-dollar natural-gas pipeline. She calls it the economic future of the state, a means of getting North Slope natural gas to consumers throughout North America.

"I will not shirk my duties," she said.

Bugs Use Telephones ... ?

2008-04-27T12:50:00.003-05:00

In news of the strange stuff in God's creation, scientists have found out that insects have telephones ! No, really ! And they are "cell" phones.

Scientists have discovered that bugs use plants to communicate with each other like we use fiber optic networks.

Don't look at me like that ! Read this.

Ontario To Close 300 Schools... No Children

2008-04-25T00:23:00.005-05:00

Because the West has bought into the lie that children are too much trouble, and the lie that there are too many people on the earth and the abomination of abortion, that is why there are not enough children in Ontario Canada to justify keeping 300 schools open.

Well, if you wait a little while, you can import Muslims and they will have lots of kids. They actually believe that kids are a blessing and that God wants them to have them. This is how Islam is rising to power. And the opposite of this is why Christian and Western culture is in serious decline.

Imagine, 300 schools full of kids learning. What potential would be in those walls? Try googling "empty schools" and think a minute.

You can read more here.

Eye Candy 18

2008-04-23T11:04:00.004-05:00

This is a lenticular cloud clinging to a mountain in Flagstaff, AZ on a dazzling star lit night. Quite a sight isn't it?

As usual you can click on the picture and see it at a much greater resolution.

Messianic Jews Must Receive Equal Treatment In Israel

2008-04-23T10:54:00.003-05:00

This is an historic ruling. The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that Christian Jews have the same right of return as any other Jews. The court has ordered that the persecution of Christian Jews must stop. This is in response to a lawsuit by 12 Jews who had been denied the right to return to live in Israel because they were Christians and suspected of "missionary activity"

Even though any other type of Jew has been allowed, even atheists, Christians have been denied entrance by the department of Interior. This ruling changes all of that. Glory !

Northern Yellow-Shafted Flicker (Woodpecker)

2008-04-15T17:57:00.005-05:00

I was in downtown Minneapolis today in front of the Grain Exchange building and there before me sitting on the sidewalk with its head tucked into its wing was what looked like a pigeon sized bird with markings like a pheasant and a red stripe on its neck. Animal control was called and picked the bird up but when they reached for it and wrapped it in a towel you could see that it had a beak like a woodpecker with a slight curve downward to it.

The Animal Control guy didn't know what it was and I suggested that it was some type of woodpecker. We looked in his bird book but found nothing that looked like it under "woodpeckers". After I finished up downtown I went online to see what kind of bird it might be. After an hour of looking I could not find anything that matched it. So I called Animal Control to see if they knew what it was now that they had brought it in. I found out that they had transferred the bird to the Golden Valley Humane Society. They have a bird recovery hospital. I called Golden Valley and got a recorded announcement. so I left a message. They nicely called me back and told me that this was a Northern Flicker. I had looked at many pictures of Northern Flickers and none of them looked like my bird.

But then they told me that it was a Yellow-Shafted Northern Flicker. (Vs. Red-Shafted West of the Rockies.) It seems the two species have been in-breeding now for many generations and there are many, many variations. Anyhow, I found a picture and a web site and finally confirmed that this bird today was a Yellow-Shafted Flicker. It was interesting. At least to me...;-)