Stand and Deliver.... Part two

Earlier this month, I posted a story about Mr. Escalante, the CA math teacher that the movie Stand and Deliver was based on.

earlier today, Mr Escalante passed away. he was 79.

Stories like his, inspire all of us in some form or another. In my humble opinion, People like Mr. Escalante are on a path chosen by God, himself, to help others.

US 'Stand And Deliver' teacher Jaime Escalante dies

Escalante was played by Edward James Olmos in the 1988 film

The California maths teacher who inspired the film Stand And Deliver, Jaime Escalante, has died aged 79.

Escalante, a Bolivian immigrant, transformed a tough high school in Los Angeles by motivating struggling students to excel at maths and science.
The school had more students studying advanced calculus than all but three other state schools in the US.
Escalante died in Reno, Nevada, where he was undergoing treatment for bladder cancer, AP news agency reported.
Edward James Olmos played Escalante in the 1988 film Stand And Deliver.
Olmos said Escalante had proved that inner city students were able to perform at the highest level, and left an important legacy for American education, AP said.

When we bend over too far one way, Guess what, we'll get walked over

I found this article just a few minutes ago on BBC News.

The title?

CHRISTIANS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, BISHOPS WARN

It's for the UK but if it can happen there, what's stopping it from happening here?

Like I said in the title. If we bow and grovel for every other religion, our own will be thrown to the wayside. what's with the double standard anyways?

Is Demonic Possession real?

Earlier this week, Constitutional Crusader told me that in a recent comment on a blog he used to follow he got inflammatory responses to his response about "Demonic Possession"

I don't know about you, my readers, but I, personally do believe that it is real, even though it's rare. And I also believe that a person can be possessed by an evil spirit along with the devil himself. My examples will be of evil spirits, not the devil as the Chief exorcist says in this article.

I've been watching the Ghost Adventures guys on the Travel Channel and I have seen in three different episodes and in three different areas, two demonic possessions (either full or partial) and one non-evil possession. Two of the episodes the possessions happened to Zak, and in the other example, Nick Groff was possessed.

In the episode of "Poveglia Island" (2009), the team goes to the island of Poveglia, off the coast of Venice Italy. The place has had a long and dark History behind it, including a mental hospital, a place they sent plague victims, and murders. if you go to the link I have provided, you can watch the clip of Zak's possession. There's a moment where Nick was provoking the spirits, calling in Italian to use their energy. a few seconds later, Aaron doubles over light headed and feeling like his energy was drained. A few seconds after that, while Zak was using a digital EMF detector, an unexplained orb of light zooms across the screen, disappearing before it hits the detector. The detector then read 22.2 in a place that had no electricity. after the phenomenon, the detector completely shut off as if drained of it's batteries. Shortly after this, Zak started to act differently than he is normally.  He yelled at Aaron and was cussing (though they do cuss when surprised by some unexplained noise or movement). He resisted Nick as Nick tried to get him out of there, out of the 'bad room' as they later deemed it. Later in Zak's narrative of the episode,  he said he remembered a red fog going over his vision and a feeling of Anger filling him. Once Nick finally got Zak from the building, the feelings of anger left him.

I don't know ho these things can be made up, especially after I have witnessed paranormal and unexplained things happening to me (granted no demonic possessions)

In another episode, "Moon River Brewery" (2009), Nick started to back out. On screen, Nick was acting weird. When they (Zak and Aarron) flipped from night vision to normal lighting, they tried to get Nick to respond to him, after the second or third time, they finally got Nick's attention. The look on Nick's face was that of angry intent. As they were trying to get Nick's attention, they caught a black shadowy figure leave though Nick's back. A second or two after that, Nick snapped back to reality and was disoriented.
Nick said later that there was voices in his head that wanted him to kill Zak and Aaron. The team along with some paranormal experts that they talked to, believed that it was a partial demonic possession.

I also believe in Non-demonic entities could possess someone.

For example. in the "Preston Castle" episode (2009), Zak was possessed by the spirit of a murdered woman (I think). He started acting stranger than normal when they came across the area that the woman was murdered and wandered off by himself. Nick and Aaron followed him, wondering what was wrong with him. They found Zak in the room that used to belong to the murdered woman. Nick headed down to get something for the spirit of the woman that they had left at her murder site. Aaron tried to get Zak to come out of the room.
Zak shook his head and told him that it was too dangerous.

The spirit obviously thought that it was back when she was alive, or she knew of the malevolent spirits that still wandered around the place.
After Nick came back with the potted plant, or flowers (I can't remember) the spirit seemed to leave Zak. They believe after that, that Zak had suffered a parial possession.

Sylvia Browne, the renowned psychic, has said that there are dark souls out there. So naturally, if there are dark souls, the soul would remain behind after the body has gone from this world. and some, especially malevolent could want to possess people.

what do you think?

To Girls who consider themselves Geeks,

I found this and wanted to pass it on. Please enjoy

We are Americans...

A friend of mine showed this on her face book page and I read the poem by a fellow Tea Party American.

The Poem is here

If you can, do read it, It's very true and it will touch you.

Thanks
Daphne

E-mail: Is Roe v. Wade happening again?

I checked my email today and found this in my email.

Dear Friend of Life,

We're teetering on the precipice of the greatest tragedy since
Roe v. Wade.

In the next few days, under the guise of "health care" reform, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senator Reid - with the help of Planned Parenthood - could pass the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade ... and your tax dollars could be paying for it.

If they win, 2010 will be remembered as another 1973 - another milestone in their battle to promote abortion on every street corner in America.

We cannot let this happen.

Americans United for Life is leading the fight against taxpayer-funded abortion, and our need is urgent. Will you stand with us again by making one more emergency, tax-deductible contribution of $50, $100, $250 or more now, when our need is greatest?

It is a fact: "health care" reform could use your tax dollars to finance abortion-on-demand. Harry Reid's Senate has already passed this heinous bill. Now, President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are mere days away from rewarding their friends at Planned Parenthood by giving them access to your tax dollars.

In the next few days, Planned Parenthood may realize the pro-abortion movement's dream: passage of a program that allows your tax dollars to pay for abortion-on-demand. This dramatic addition of tax dollars would give them the funds they need to place their abortion "mega-marts" in communities across America.

Americans United for Life is calling on you to join the fight with an emergency, tax-deductible contribution of $50, $100, $250 or more.

I need you to stand firm with us today because the clock is ticking.

I don't know, but wouldn't calling your congressmen do more than contributing? I'm not trying to denounce what they are trying to do... I guess I don't know what they are trying to do.

Thank You

I wanted this to be the 50th post, but now would be okay.

I just wanted to thank my followers and those who have read my blog (leaving a comment or not). Just knowing that someone somewhere has read what I've got to say is heart warming.

Again thank you for reading Musings of bored mind.

Always
Daphne

IOUs....

A friend of mine on Facebook came across this story and shared it with his friends on FB. I read it over, since Social Security affects us all in one way or the other, We're either paying into it or drawing out of it.

Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam's IOUs

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. – The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.
It's time to start cashing them in.
For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.
Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes — nearly $29 billion more.
Sounds like a good time to start tapping the nest egg. Too bad the federal government already spent that money over the years on other programs, preferring to borrow from Social Security rather than foreign creditors. In return, the Treasury Department issued a stack of IOUs — in the form of Treasury bonds — which are kept in a nondescript office building just down the street from Parkersburg's municipal offices.
Now the government will have to borrow even more money, much of it abroad, to start paying back the IOUs, and the timing couldn't be worse. The government is projected to post a record $1.5 trillion budget deficit this year, followed by trillion dollar deficits for years to come.
Social Security's shortfall will not affect current benefits. As long as the IOUs last, benefits will keep flowing. But experts say it is a warning sign that the program's finances are deteriorating. Social Security is projected to drain its trust funds by 2037 unless Congress acts, and there's concern that the looming crisis will lead to reduced benefits.
"This is not just a wake-up call, this is it. We're here," said Mary Johnson, a policy analyst with The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group. "We are not going to be able to put it off any more."
For more than two decades, regardless of which political party was in power, Congress has been accused of raiding the Social Security trust funds to pay for other programs, masking the size of the budget deficit.
Remember Al Gore's "lockbox," the one he was going to use to protect Social Security? The former vice president talked about it so much during the 2000 presidential campaign that he was parodied on "Saturday Night Live."
Gore lost the election and never got his lockbox. But to illustrate the government's commitment to repaying Social Security, the Treasury Department has been issuing special bonds that earn interest for the retirement program. The bonds are unique because they are actually printed on paper, while other government bonds exist only in electronic form.
They are stored in a three-ring binder, locked in the bottom drawer of a white metal filing cabinet in the Parkersburg offices of Bureau of Public Debt. The agency, which is part of the Treasury Department, opened offices in Parkersburg in the 1950s as part of a plan to locate important government functions away from Washington, D.C., in case of an attack during the Cold War.
One bond is worth a little more than $15.1 billion and another is valued at just under $10.7 billion. In all, the agency has about $2.5 trillion in bonds, all backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. But don't bother trying to steal them; they're nonnegotiable, which means they are worthless on the open market.
More than 52 million people receive old age or disability benefits from Social Security. The average benefit for retirees is a little under $1,200 a month. Disabled workers get an average of $1,100 a month.
Social Security is financed by payroll taxes — employers and employees must each pay a 6.2 percent tax on workers' earnings up to $106,800. Retirees can start getting early, reduced benefits at age 62. They get full benefits if they wait until they turn 66. Those born after 1960 will have to wait until they turn 67.
Social Security's financial problems have been looming for years as the nation's 78 million baby boomers approached retirement age. The oldest are already there. As that huge group of people starts collecting benefits — and stops paying payroll taxes — Social Security's trust funds will shrink, running out of money by 2037, according to the latest projection from the trustees who oversee the program.
The recession is making things worse, at least in the short term. Tax receipts are down from the loss of more than 8 million jobs, and applications for early retirement benefits have spiked from older workers who were laid off and forced to retire.
Stephen C. Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration, says the crisis has been years in the making. "If this helps get people to look more seriously at that in the nearer term, that's probably a good thing. But it's only really a punctuation mark on the fact that we have longer-term financial issues that need to be addressed."
In the short term, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that Social Security will continue to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes for the next three years. It is projected to post small surpluses of $6 billion each in 2014 and 2015, before returning to indefinite deficits in 2016.
For the budget year that ends in September, Social Security is projected to collect $677 billion in taxes and spend $706 billion on benefits and expenses.
Social Security will also collect about $120 billion in interest on the trust funds, according to the CBO projections, meaning its overall balance sheet will continue to grow. The interest, however, is paid by the government, adding even more to the budget deficit.
While Congress must shore up the program, action is unlikely this year, said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., who just took over last week as chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees Social Security.
"The issues required to address the long-term solvency needs of Social Security can be done in a careful, thoughtful and orderly way and they don't need to be done in the next few months," Pomeroy said.
The national debt — the amount of money the government owes its creditors — is about $12.5 trillion, or nearly $42,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. About $8 trillion has been borrowed in public debt markets, much of it from foreign creditors. The rest came from various government trust funds, including retirement funds for civil servants and the military. About $2.5 trillion is owed to Social Security.
Good luck to the politician who reneges on that debt, said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut who is now president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
"Those bonds are protected by the full faith and credit of the United States of America," Kennelly said. "They're as solid as what we owe China and Japan."

I don't know about you, but isn't more money going out than what is coming in a BAD thing?

Pay It Forward-ish

I just got home from shopping and am humbled. I was worried that I didn't have enough money to pay for what we needed to get and the kind lady in front of me in line over heard me asking Rich to put some things back and told me that if I went over what I had, she'd pick up the difference.


Thank God for the kindness and selflessness of strangers. And God Bless that stranger.

In GOD We trust...

I was looking at Yahoo just a bit ago and the headline "Court upholds 'Under God' in Pledge of Allegiance."

After reading it... I'm both happy that they have upheld it... and saddened that Newdow is yet again back in the news.... hasn't his 15 minutes of fame expired by now?

Here's the article

SAN FRANCISCO – An appellate court has upheld references to God on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting arguments they violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
"The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded," Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 ruling Thursday.
Bea noted that schools do not require students to recite the pledge, which was amended to include the words "under God" by a 1954 federal law. Members of Congress at the time said they wanted to set the United States apart from "godless communists."
In a separate 3-0 ruling, the appeals court upheld the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins and currency, citing an earlier 9th Circuit panel that ruled the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic and "has nothing whatsover to do with the establishment of religion."
The same appeals court caused a national uproar and prompted accusations of judicial activism when it decided in Sacramento athiest Michael Newdow's favor in 2002, ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment prohibition against government endorsement of religion.
President George W. Bush called the 2002 decision "ridiculous," senators passed a resolution condemning the ruling and Newdow received death threats.
That lawsuit reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004, but the high court said Newdow lacked the legal standing to file the suit because he didn't have custody of his daughter, on whose behalf he brought the case.
So Newdow filed an identical challenge on behalf of other parents who objected to the recitation of the pledge at school. In 2005, a federal judge in Sacramento decided in Newdow's favor, prompting the appeals court to take up the case again.
Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who was part of the three-judge panel that ruled in Newdow's favor eight years ago, wrote a 123-page dissent to the 60-page majority opinion.
"Under no sound legal analysis adhering to binding Supreme Court precedent could this court uphold state-directed, teacher-led, daily recitation of the 'under God' version of the Pledge of Allegiance by children in public schools," wrote Reinhardt, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Newdow, a doctor and attorney who founded a group called the First Atheist Church of True Science, told The Associated Press he would ask the appeals court to rehear the case. If it rejects that request, Newdow said he'll appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The whole argument that 'under God' wasn't placed into the pledge for religious purposes is bogus," Newdow said. "I hope people recognize this is not against God or people who believe in God. It's about the government not treating people equally on the basis of their lawful religious views."
Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, said the Supreme Court is unlikely to review the case because Thursday's ruling is the third appellate court decision upholding the pledge.
In addition, Congress passed legislation reaffirming the pledge in 2002, following the 9th Circuit's ruling that struck it down.
"I think this is the last word on this particular lawsuit," Little said. "It's an important ruling."
Greg Katsas, who argued the currency case on behalf of the U.S. government when the appellate court heard the case in December 2007, said the panel made the right decision Thursday.
"I think these two phrases encapsulate the philosophy on which the nation was founded," said Katsas, who now works in private practice. "There is a religious aspect to saying "One nation under God," but it isn't like a prayer. When someone says the pledge, they're not praying to God, they're pledging allegiance to the country, the flag and the ideals of the country."

Hello GhostBusters.... I may need you...

I was just in the living room talking with my fiance and my mom and I heard the microwave on. So my first thought since my fiance didn't have dinner, that he was warming something up in there and asked what he put in the microwave. When he said he didn't put anything in there and I started smelling something burning, I went to investigate.

When i got there, I pressed the stop button or any of the other buttons (None would work.) and the display screen was blank. and I heard some small clicky poppy noises as well. so I had to open the door and unplug the thing. No one besides me and my fiance have been in the kitchen today and the last time either of us were in there was well over three hours ago...

So I don't know what to think, other than it's smelling up the house. window and fan is on so hopefully it was just a fluke...

Ray Steven's New music Video : Caribou Barbie

Gotta Love Ray Stevens

Wow... I... don't know what to say

I found this video on another blog and thought I'd share it with you. The link to the blog I found this on is here

Where's the money coming from? Did the Magical Land of Zamora allow us in to use their money trees?

I came across this article today while on Facebook.

Apparently, the government has come up with a new plan for the foreclosure mess.

They want to Pay you to get out of your home.

The story is here

In a perfect world, sure this stuff will work, Or even in 'Obama-land' this would work, but we don't live in either.
My question, Where is the money that the government is going to use for this coming from?

Barking up a wrong tree.... Yet Again

Can the MSM get OFF of dissing Sarah Palin? Seriously.... Now they are bitching because she took the free SWAG at some awards luncheon earlier this week.

The story is here

It's Free stuff.... what's the problem? the vendors come to these things to give free stuff away, am I right? ARGH it's so.... annoying to find that these people are so afraid of her that they have to bitch her out for taking FREE STUFF. Yet no one comments on the free stuff that the other Celebrities took, now do they? No....

Stand and Deliver....

Several months ago, my fiance and I watched the movie, Stand and Deliver. I was touched with Mr. Escalante's story. Tonight, while watching the local news, we saw a story about the teacher, who is now facing stage four bladder Cancer.

You can read the story here

I hope that they'll be able to help him either fight it into remission, or god rest his soul, ease his pain in the final days of his life. I hope someday that there can be a cure for the nasty disease that is cancer and many people can be saved. God Bless the ones that have already succumbed to it's siren song

Faceplant insert here

I want a Grant.... oh wait, that's Reagan....

A congressmen in North Carolina wishes to change the president of the 50 dollar bill to that of Ronald Reagan from that of Grant. The story is here.

The story got me thinking, How long has Grant been on the 50 dollar bill. for 96 years, since 1914, Grant has graced the bill. I don't know, I guess, changing the face of a bill that's been around for that long, to me at least, is like telling me that Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

so I'm wondering, what do you think?