My dog Special had died suddenly. It was November 27, 2008. I remember digging his grave in the pouring rain....thankfully therefore....as I thought at the time...that my tears could not be seen. I needed something temporary to do. I sat down at the computer which I knew little about....Googled...."How to write a blog'....and these were the first words pecked out...."If only it were just a 'vast wasteland!' Unfortunately, television sculpts and molds the American mind. We have become a society that learns from visual sources rather than the written word and we are at the mercy of the cable package."
Do you want to watch the Rose Bowl....Americans have done that for seventy years....they would just turn on the tube and find the channel....for there were only a couple....but today you need a larger cable package then just basic. It was similar situation recently with a Republican debate.
Our local newspaper very recently stopped home delivery. They prefer that you read it on the computer....but will mail it to you if you desire....(good luck getting it every day.)
So if one is not computer literate....or if you do not even know what streaming is.....and have no desire at your age to learn....or if you cannot afford an expanded cable bill....then you are just one of the disenfranchised. I'm adding this thought a little later. We only have basic cable. That means that in the past few years I missed out on nightly sitting down and watching Tucker Carlson! That may prove to be one of the biggest blessings in my life!
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There was an article within the past few days....from a major American newspaper....the article carried by other newspapers including our local paper....where the writer ridiculed those of us who 'worry' about all the violence in America. His evidence was statistics showing certain crimes of violence decreased over the past year. It was all a big joke where now we were unhappy with the statistics because we had nothing to worry the public about. Meanwhile....back in reality....one mass-murderer a few weeks ago penned that he had always wanted to be a mass-murderer....and more recently a fifteen year killed some of his friends....and said that he had always wanted to kill somebody. What has it been...a few days...a week or so....since some youth killed his sibling or his parents?
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Last night....New Years Eve....at about two minutes before midnight....while on the computer I tuned in some....'Times Square website'.....to see the crowd and the ball drop. I don't even know what website I was watching.... but as the people were quiet and looking up at the ball....(I presume it was the same ball as usual)....John Lennon's voice could be heard over the crowd....
"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
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I posted the following words on February 6, 2016...."The origin and meaning of the phrase may be somewhat in doubt but it still holds its sway in our minds....'The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton'....but if a similar phrase is to be constructed in the future it may read....'American liberty and freedoms were lost on the playing fields of ESPN'."
Players can just change schools if they think they can play more somewhere else....they can make millions on their 'brand'....or after a university gives them a chance....and a coach builds them into a football player....they can just opt out of a bowl game if they think that they might get hurt and lose money.....and now they are talking about actually paying these players. This is no longer character building sport as on the playing fields of Eton....or Annapolis....or any school of the distant past. I wonder if some of these players know that if there is a draft.....military not NFL....that there is no longer a student deferment?
I viewed the pandemonium after the Michigan win tonight....I been there! I also penned in that 2016 post...."I testify that all of the emotions combined in a life based on sports is not equal to but a moment of feeling the grace of forgiveness found at the foot of Calvary, and that all the excitements combined of winning cannot compare to understanding the caption written on the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19:16....'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
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I'll use Michigan as the example since in my observation they seem to be the college football tradition whose fan base dominates. I have friends....highly intelligent professionals....and their whole extended family seems almost to live for Michigan football....and this is right in the middle of Pittsburgh. So this may be their year. Before I continue....I've been there folks....I revelled in downtown Pittsburgh after Super Bowl wins. Ultimately it has been a wasted year in the lives of these folks....as it had been with me. And this is only football....college football....for there are multiple other sports that can dominate lives just as much. What is it....a week for the big game to determine the....national champion? And if they win....the big prize....the goal attained....is that they get to brag....and someone has to be around to hear it....a month later and it is past history....with everyone talking about March Madness. And if Michigan loses? Well it's even worse. What a sad commentary on American life. Five minutes before starting this paragraph there was a visitor to these posts from Russia. How much importance do you think that Michigan football would have in their life? I would think that food and heat and war is on their mind....as it may be on our mind before too long.
Update: There was also a visitor from Israel.
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I wonder what I would be more astonished by....a UFO landing on the White House ellipse as in The Day The Earth Stood Still....or Donald Trump actually returning to the White House after what started on that ellipse on January 6, 2021? Pastors in America failed to warn their sheep on who this man was and is. Only God's Word can explain blindness like this. As I have posted often....I voted for this man....and then celebrated....and then did what others did not do....saw him in action and started to investigate. I recommend to you the one-hundredth book that I read on Trump.....for it is directed to us.....evangelicals. There are a couple of posts below on this book....The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory....American Evangelicals In An Age Of Extremism....by Tim Alberta. Those posts on this book are....Where It Began....I Can Begin To Knowing....and...."From Whence Come Wars And Fighting." Folks this is not politics! It is biblical prophecy....false prophets and delusion and deception! So which one would astonish me most? It might be that evangelicals put an antichrist into the White House....as John labels the many antichrists that will come....and that despite all the evidence....they want to return him there!
Trump jokes about the boots that Ron DeSantis wears....and the way he walks. Come on Iowa evangelicals....wake up. DeSantis does have a foot problem....so to speak....an Achilles heel. He is a decent man who has vocalized conservative causes since he came on the scene through talk radio in 2012....but he bought into the anti-vax and anti-mask and anti-social distancing hysteria. I remember the day a group of young teenagers came up and took their place behind him on a podium. They wore masks....and DeSantis gruffly said...."Take off those masks"....before thinking twice and telling them to keep them on if they wanted to. This is nonsense that we bought into. We have Aaron Rodgers and Novak Djokovic as our science and medical heroes. DeSantis needs to say....to make people think that he is not completely gone...."Look, we have more important things to be concerned about than vaccinations and masks."
