2008

Happy New Year! I will post some more photos in a day or two.

Blog Reading Level

Here is a cool little tool that spits out the reading level of any blog or website you enter.

Get a Cash Advance.

When installing on your blog, cut off the html code (after visiting the link) beginning with alt="cash and it will remove the cash advance banner and will look like this on your blog.

Any way I entered a few websites and here is what was returned:

cnn.com reading level is junior high
ronpaul.com reading level is college undergrad
foxnews.com reading level is junior high
veritaspress.com reading level is genius
dailykos.com reading level is high school

and...drum roll please..

new-think reading level is genius (as seen above)

Clearly the tool is accurate.

Just Thought You Should Know

Hmmmmm. Global oil demand is sky-rocketing. Crude oil prices break records again and again. Anyone care to guess why we haven't seen a significant sustained supply increase since the end of 2004? By the way....EIA and IEA demand numbers for 2008 are higher than expected supply. Interesting times.

p.s. If you really are clueless about the reason for this....follow the link below.

http://new-think.blogspot.com/2007/06/peak-oil-primer.html

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas

Gingerbread Houses

It has become a tradition in our family for the kids to build gingerbread houses every Christmas season. Here are some photos.

Mathan
Kori, Anna, Molly
Millicent
Anna, Molly, Katherine, Kori
Kori
Anna
Katherine, Kori, Millicent
Ashlea, Mathan

Story Time with New-Think

New-Think reader Blip has submitted a short story based upon (and even one instance of outright plagiarism) one of the many works of philosopher Francis Schaeffer. Enjoy.

Oh....for those who cannot be bothered with the short story...enjoy the cartoons. Click cartoons to enlarge.

Our Father
by Blip

There was a time before Great-Grandfather Hegel when we lived in blissful and reasonless hope. There was cause to believe that the effect of Great-Grandfather Hegel’s ways would be to bring a great enlightenment to our people. He died still believing it, never knowing, that he had opened a door to a staircase spiraling downward, below despair.

Back then no one really questioned why others would stop to help a stranger on the side of the road or band together to defeat a common enemy. We all knew what the enemy had done was wrong. It wasn’t even worth questioning. Someone robbed the grocer, we put him in jail. Someone was elected mayor, we gave him due respect. Little Suzy got pregnant before she was married and she was surely sent away. That is the way bad girls were handled.

Great-Grandfather Hegel was correct that we weren’t seeing things for what they really were. “Things aren’t always black and white”, he was fond of saying. What of the motive of the man who robbed the store. We don’t really know everything there is to know about Suzy, either. And about our enemy…..let’s look at things from his perspective. And about right and wrong….things aren’t always black and white. In such a diverse world we need to find unity. He had great faith that reason would lead the way.

Grandpa Hegel had many many children. This is the tale of the descending spiral staircase, however, so we will focus on Grandfather Kierk (Great-Grandfather Hegel’s first son). You and I call him Grandfather, but the truth of the matter is he is the father of everything that now is. Great-Grandfather Hegel opened the door to the staircase, but Grandfather Kirk grabbed the hands of our toddler parents and ran on the path of unaided reason down the stairs for everything he was worth.

Grandfather Kierk followed the path of reason his father had begun walking so many years before. Unfortunately, he found that the path did not lead where his father had hoped. And the staircase did lead beneath despair and Grandfather Kierk did give up hope that reason would lead him to the unity that had been sought for so long.

You see, his father said everything wasn’t always black and white…and Kierk had believed it. He would find a way to explain the grocery store robber. He would find a reason to help a stranger on the side of the road. He would find them on the path of reason. But he never found his answers. Funny thing though, he still knew that the stranger should be helped….later, many of his children found this a spineless thing.

So anytime Grandfather Kierk was asked about the purpose of life or the validity of love or about any other big, meaningful question that children are fond of asking he had only one answer. The answer was that he really had no answer based upon the path of reason he had followed. To find the answer to such a question one must jump onto the path of faith, which must be leapt onto from the path of reason….because the two paths never touch. He called it the leap of faith.

Like Great-Grandfather Hegel, Grandfather Kierk also had many children. They did not get along with each other. They all searched for the cornerstone that would hold everything up and bind everything neatly together. A few of them claimed to have found it.

Uncle Jasp said that one only needed to wait for a “final experience” that would give meaning to life. He could not tell you about his “final experience” because, according to him, it was inexpressible in normal language and categories. Besides, even asking the important questions that the “final experience” answers, betrays the fact that the asker has not had a “final experience”. There was no talking to Uncle Jasp.

It should be noted, however, that many followers of Uncle Jasp (and he still has many today) began using mind altering chemicals in hopes of gaining a “final experience” in doing so. An anonymous student penned the following:

King Heroin is my shepherd, I shall always want.
He maketh me to lie down in the gutters.
He leadeth me beside the troubled waters.
He destroyeth my soul.

Uncle Sart could plainly see that we live in an absurd universe. The sum total of everything, he said, was ridiculous. He claimed that acts of human will were the only means to authenticate anything. If he saw his neighbor bleeding on the side of the road he could equally authenticate himself by carrying him to the doctor or by finishing him off with a brick to the head. Even as far down beneath despair as Uncle Sart found himself, he never chose the brick to the head…..although many who learned from him found it a convenient justification for their immoral acts. I don’t know if he found that odd.

Uncle Degger was a strange old man. He also found everything meaningless and ended up in the same place as Uncle Sart….looking for proof that his existence was authentic. He did not do it through an act of human will like Uncle Sart, though. No, he authenticated his existence by feeling the incomprehensible angst. An indefinable sense of foreboding. Dread….which is not to be confused with fear; because fear has an object. He was strangley insistent about the distinction.

And then came my generation. What were we left with? Much that was rooted in nothing. So we look back to Great-Grandfather Hegel. Was he correct in saying that things aren’t always black and white? Before him we had believed that there was wrong and right, and good and evil….without knowing why we believed that. Maybe originally there had been some reason….but no one could argue with Great-Grandfather Hegel. No one could show him any unity in the diversity he saw. No one could give him a credible source of judgment between good and bad. Just a bunch of arbitrary rules and conventions. So he opened the door, and his offspring tumbled below despair.

Our generation cries out for an answer, for authenticity, for reason….and we do not even know why we desire these things. Perhaps there is a clue in the desire itself. Who will give an answer?

1 Corinthians 1
20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

More Photos

Kori Holding
Millicent

Pregnant Michelle

Millicent

Katherine

Tubing

Day Hike

New Driver

Mill and Dad

Mom, Dad, and Katherine

Photos in December

So every year Michelle likes us to drag ourselves to Oklahoma City to take Christmas photos. She makes it up to us by buying us all pizza at Cici's. Anyway since I haven't posted anything since August...here are a couple of photos. Merry Christmas.

Clockwise: Jeff, Katherine, Millicent, Michelle, Kori, Ashlea

Good Photos

Sweet 16
Everyone But Dad

Biggest Sister / Smallest Sister

Climbing Fences In the Yard

Fun on the Tire Swing

Garden

It's been about 20 days.....sorry. Here is a photo of our wind-blown garden for your patience. If you are within driving distance we have free cucumbers.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam

Michelle and I spent some time in Oklahoma City this weekend. On the way out of town a black gentleman in a suit approached my window selling a newspaper with an interesting headline….so I bought the paper. Turns out it was a copy of “The Final Call”. Evidently it is a mouthpiece for Louis Farrakhan black American Muslims. There are so many things I could tell you about what I read….I will leave you with some of the demands of black American Muslims as portrayed in this publication.

1. Full and complete freedom.

Good so far right?

2. Equal justice regardless of race, color, or creed. Equal membership in society.

Preach on…we are with you!

3. People in America who are descendants of slaves should be allowed to establish a separate territory of their own on this continent or elsewhere. Former slave masters are obligated to provide the land (must be fertile and minerally rich). Former slave masters are obligated to supply their needs for the next 20 to 25 years-until they are able to supply their own needs.

Ummmmm….what!?!?!?! I thought all of the slave masters were dead. If we find any maybe they will pay up. Is this the society you want equal membership in….or the one you are currently in? How can you want equal membership in a society and then say you don’t want to be part of the society?

4. Freedom for all believers of Islam now held in federal prisons. Freedom for all black men and women now under death sentence.

Are you serious????

5. We do not believe that after 400 years of free labor that so many black people should have to subsist on relief, charity, or live in poor houses.

Who in America HAS to subsist on those things? Many, however, choose to. So I guess the free land and quarter century of support they demand in point number 3 are not considered relief or charity. Good thing….because that would be a contradiction.

6. Separate schools for boys and girls (black kids only please). The U.S government should provide, free all necessary text books and equipment, schools and college buildings. Muslim teachers shall be left free to teach and train their people in the ways of decency, righteousness, and self respect.

I thought they didn’t want charity…..what would a person with this mindset do if they no longer had anyone to blame for their problems.

7. Intermarriage and race mixing should be prohibited.

See demand number 1. Makes you wonder what other items will be left out of their definition of "free and complete freedom". Sounds like they are asking to be set free from slavery...but it appears they are willingly stepping into another form of it. Ask the women in militant Muslim countries how free they are.

Mountains

This weekend I took the 5 youngest kids to the mountains. Kati (seven years old) wrote a few sentences about it. Here is her perspective along with some photos I took.

I had to much fun today. And we went to the mountons and we wonted to go up mnt scott but the gate was closd. And we got to feed prairie dogs. They wer so cute I wanted to tacke one home. They wer so cute. I would care for it. We got to go to medesen parck and their was a gient scorpien and a artest lived ther I had so much fun we ate at IHOP and I had a funny face pancake and millycent had chicen strips and frys so did kasidy. Kori had a egg omlet and pancks dad had 2 sanwiches we sa a dam and it was runing so pretty I wanted to sit on the rocks and the sound was butifull and I wanted to live by it and there was o castle.

Vaccines and Autism: New-Think Responds

This post is an ongoing conversation with a reader of New-Think. You may wish to read the previous 2 posts to bring yourself up to speed. Note: The reader chose the name "Geezer" for himself/herself, it is not an attempt by New-Think to disparage him/her.

Cheers,

JJ

Random Debating Skeletons

Geezer: I have a few comments about the autism article: Regarding vaccines and autism: Most of the "government required" vaccines have been administered widely to children since the 1950's--when the baby boomers were children. Why was the spike in autism not seen in their generation?

New-Think: New-Think does not claim that vaccines (and or thimerasol) are or are not the reason for the spike in autism. New-Think has merely pointed out that this has been a controversial issue for a while that is now getting its day in court.

Geezer: Regarding using material from aborted fetuses as a vaccine ingredient: This claim is fascinatingly similar to one that was going around 20 years ago that cosmetic companies were using collagen from aborted fetuses in their products. Since cattle, hogs, and chickens also contain collagen, and millions of them are slaughtered yearly it would seem to make a lot more sense that collagen from animals would be a lot more plentiful (as well as a lot cheaper) than the supply available in whatever "market" that might be in aborted fetuses. Turns out this was an urban legend widely circulated among some well meaning people. I suspect this may be one as well.

New-Think: There is a logic problem here…..Allow New-Think to paraphrase: I once heard a similar claim. It turned out not to be true. Therefore, this is not true.

I guess you would like resources to back up the claim. Fair enough. See the links at the bottom of this post.

Geezer: The post contained some seemingly propagandistic language. When I see blame being ascribed broadly to "big oil" or "big pharmaceutical companies" or whoever, red flags immediately go up in my brain. I go into "on guard" mode.

New-Think: My friend. Perhaps you have been a victim of propaganda, but not from New-Think. First, New-Think assigned blame to no one. Furthermore we did not claim that there was anything to be blamed on anyone. We agree that making generalist arguments against big entities (big oil, big pharmaceuticals, big tobacco) is typically a mark of those who cannot be bothered to think through their positions and are just looking for someone to blame for something they do not like.

Our problem with your statement above is that you seem to equate New-Think’s call to not blindly vaccinate with having a grudge against “big pharmaceuticals”. Quite the contrary. We concede that many vaccines have done a great deal of good for mankind. Our point is that does not mean we should assume that all vaccines will benefit every child. This conclusion goes back to the type of logic you seemed to use earlier. Again, let us paraphrase this logical fallacy: Some vaccines have done a great deal of good for a lot of people. Therefore all vaccines are good for people.

So let’s grab the bull by the horns. Even if we assume that pharmaceutical companies and the larger medical establishment have our best interests in mind or are at least neutral…there are some facts we cannot ignore. These are the same groups who originally thought it was safe to use x-ray machines in shoe stores, gave pregnant women Thalidomide for morning sickness and once allowed mercury in medicines. They assured us Vioxx and Duract were safe painkillers, prescribed Rezulin for diabetics and then denied any of them were responsible for patient deaths. If we never questioned these groups, we might not have discovered that Fen-phen and the dietary supplement Ephedra are not safe weight loss products, that antidepressants in kids can lead to suicidality and Viagra can cause blindness. The list goes on.

We are not assigning blame. Our position, which evidently was not clear, is that we should take the responsibility of our children’s safety into our own hands in the matter of vaccine administration…..and everything else.

Geezer: The writer is either assuming something about my beliefs or subliminally trying to influence them without discussion. While these large entities certainly have their interests, there is always another side to the story. I would gently urge Newthink to foster careful examination of all sides (or at least more than one side)of topics like this, and also to use more neutral language.

New-Think: The above collection of sentences is perplexing. It implies that New-Think has an agenda other than urging parental responsibility. Nothing was assumed about the readership of New-Think. It was mentioned that some are suspicious of drug companies. It was also mentioned that sometimes it seems folks who sue drug companies are on witch hunts. Which one of those statements should have been left out to make the language more “neutral”?

At the end of the original post 2 links were provided. One of the links better represents the government/CDC position. The other link is more skeptical. Again, which of these links should have been omitted to make the post more “neutral”?

New-Think thanks it’s readership for thoughtful responses and encourages participation is discussions like this. Even if we do not reach similar conclusions we do know that, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”. Thank you brother for sharpening us.

http://www.whale.to/m/aborted.htm
http://www.physiciansforlife.org/content/view/1296/2/
http://www.dgwsoft.co.uk/homepages/vaccines/alternatives.htm

Vaccines and Autism: A Reader Responds

All,
One of the readers of New-Think recently took the time to post a lengthy response to last weeks post entitled "New Thinking About Vaccines and Autism". I am pulling it up to the main page for you to review and comment on. I will be responding to this with a new post within the next few days.

I have a few comments about the autism article:1. Regarding vaccines and autism: Most of the "government required" vaccines have been administered widely to children since the 1950's--when the baby boomers were children. Why was the spike in autism not seen in their generation? I doubt that the manufacturers would have only relatively recently intentionally added mercury or other well known bad actors. See this link to a John Stossel report on vaccines and autism: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=2892683&page=1Seems the relatively recent increase in child autism diagnoses correlates almost exactly with the decrease in diagnoses of childhood mental illness. You mention the drug companies' interest in promoting childhood vaccinations. There is also obviously an interest by personal injury lawyers in keeping the autism/vaccination scare (factual or not) alive and well stirred.2. Regarding using material from aborted fetuses as a vaccine ingredient: This claim is fascinatingly similar to one that was going around 20 years ago that cosmetic companies were using collagen from aborted fetuses in their products. Since cattle, hogs, and chickens also contain collagen, and millions of them are slaughtered yearly it would seem to make a lot more sense that collagen from animals would be a lot more plentiful (as well as a lot cheaper) than the supply available in whatever "market" that might be in aborted fetuses. Turns out this was an urban legend widely circulated among some well meaning people. I suspect this may be one as well.3. The post contained some seemingly propagandistic language. When I see blame being ascribed broadly to "big oil" or "big pharmaceutical companies" or whoever, red flags immediately go up in my brain. I go into "on guard" mode. The writer is either assuming something about my beliefs or subliminally trying to influence them without discussion. While these large entities certainly have their interests, there is always another side to the story. I would gently urge Newthink to foster careful examination of all sides (or at least more than one side)of topics like this, and also to use more neutral language.

New-Thinking About Vaccines and Autism

A landmark court hearing is about to begin and is expected to wrap up sometime around the end of June. The hot topic: childhood vaccinations. The premise of the case and the charge of the plaintiff is that thimerosal (a mercury containing vaccine additive) caused their 12 year old daughter’s autism. Nearly 5,000 people are standing in line behind them waiting for compensation if the ruling goes the way of the plaintiff. To win, the plaintiffs must prove a better than even connection between the vaccine and autism.

So what is the position of New-Think? It is clear that throughout the years folks have put stuff into their bodies and the bodies of others in the name of prevention and health that have been determined, in retrospect, to be horribly toxic to humans. It is very difficult to sort through the opposing sides of an issue like this. On the side of the drug companies we often are left with suspicions about whose interests are being served. On the side of folks who claim to have been negatively affected we are often met with raw emotion and outrage from the outset. Sometimes, but not always, more like a witch hunt than a scientific investigation.

There are two easy paths that can be taken…one is to blindly vaccinate your children with everything the government tells you they need. The other is to fear all vaccinations and thus never vaccinate. Both of these paths are less responsible (and easier) than the middle ground which seeks wisdom about these decisions and takes the responsibility on oneself to learn and decide what is best for each individual child. As parents, we alone are responsible for what goes into the veins of our children. Take time to learn about individual vaccinations. Are they controversial? Why? What is the likelihood of the illness the vaccine prevents affecting your child? How does that risk compare with the statistics of adverse reactions to that vaccine? Has adequate testing been done on the vaccine? The task is not easy….but what else about raising children properly is?

Our children trust us to be wise adults. Proverbs 14:15 says, “The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps”. Let’s give thought to our steps. We are children of God, not lemmings.

All of that being said the number of folks who choose to take the path of blindly vaccinating (instead of blindly not vaccinating) appears to be much much larger. So to shock you into thinking about it I will leave you with a list of vaccines that were derived from human fetal cells (from aborted fetuses).

Poliovax…………………………….......Polio
MMR II…………………………….......Measles, Mumps, Rubella
Biavax II…………………………….....Measles, Rubella
MR-VAX………………………….........Rubella
Imovax……………………………........Rabies
Hivrax………………………………......Hep A
Vaqta………………………………........Hep A
Twinrix……………………………........Hep A/B
Varixax……………………………........Chickenpox
Acambix 1000……………………….....Smallpox
MedImmune (manufacturer)…….......Influenza (flu)

Resources:

http://www.vaccineinformation.org/

http://www.vaccinetruth.org/

Some New Family Photos

Jeff Loves Michelle

The Entire Crew at Frontier City in Oklahoma City

Our Lovely Ladies in the Front Yard

Millicent Loves Watermelon.......

....A Lot!

All Wet at Frontier City

Millicent Has an Announcement (hint: read her shirt)