Category Archives: Ranting

Posted on

Thoughts regarding Roe v. Wade

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, and affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.

I am committed to protecting this constitutional right. I also remain committed to policies, initiatives, and programs that help prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and mothers, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption.

And on this anniversary, I hope that we will recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, the same freedoms, and the same opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.

These are words from President Obama today. I wasn’t aware that killing was a constitutional right.  If that’s the case, then why do we prosecute and put to death those who exercise their constitutional rights when they commit murder?

On this day, let us remember the more than 53 million who were aborted and had their constitutional rights taken away from them.

<sarcasm mode off>

Posted on

“Livin’ in sin is the new thing”

That’s a line from Britney Spears’ new song, 3.  I heard it one day on my way back to church from lunch and had to look up the lyrics to make sure that’s what I was hearing.  The lyrics are available here if you want to read them.  Let’s take a look at a few of the lyrics that she has in her song, shall we?

Are – you in
Livin’ in sin is the new thing (yeah)
Are – you in
I am countin’!

“Livin’ in sin is the new thing.”  Is that true?  For many, they would say that that is a true statement.  Our society has unofficially adopted that statement, as sin is something that is no longer frowned upon, but rather, promoted.  Our television shows openly endorse casual sex, sex without consequences, living together before marriage, sex before marriage, and the list goes on.  Sin is no longer sin.  Sin is now a morally accepted thing.  Their is no stigma connected to it, it’s as Britney says, “the new thing.”  It’s in, it’s happening.  Let’s take a look at another set of lyrics from her.

Three is a charm
Two is not the same
I don’t see the harm
So are you game?

This smacks in the face the 6th Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.”  What is she saying here?  A two-person relationship is so yesterday, that a relationship needs to be three-person?  And as she says, she doesn’t see the harm.  Yes, there is a harm in this.  There is a harm even in a two-person relationship when it is not in the confines which God has given to us, a man and a woman, committed to one another for life.  Does that mean a guy and girl dating is sinful?  No, but when that dating guy and girl start doing things reserved for husband and wife, then that is sinful.  What Britney says above is sinful.  Finally, the last set of lyrics.

What we do is innocent
Just for fun and nothin’ meant
If you don’t like the company
Let’s just do it you and me
You and me…
Or three….
Or four….
– On the floor!

All of this is innocent?  If you don’t like it, then it’s just the two of us, or three, or four?  That doesn’t sound like innocent fun, nor does it sound like it is acceptable to God’s Word. 

The sad part about this song and it’s “theology” is that this is a “theology” accepted by society as a whole.  Now when I say that, I don’t mean that all morals have gone out the window, but we are moving further and further away from God and His Word. 

Your thoughts?

Posted on

Car problems

So I went up to the hospital this morning to visit one of my parishioners who had surgery last night.  I come out of the hospital and see that someone has hit my car and left some damage, but “forgot” to leave a note.  I called my insurance to see if I had coverage to repair this.  Fortunately, I do, so that’s good news (after a $250 deductable, of course!).  I then called the hospital and spoke to security to see if they had surveillance video of the parking lot.  They will check and get back to me.  I then went to the police department to file a report.  Below are some nice shots of my car.

Right rear passenger door
Right rear passenger door

Right rear passenger door
Right rear passenger door
Above right rear tire
Above right rear tire

Right rear tire where they hit the tire in 3 spots
Notice where they hit the tire in 3 spots 

Posted on

Tales…from the airport, pt. 2

I thought I would update everyone on the final leg of my journey back to Gillette.

I make my way down to the Great Lakes gates and up to the ticket counter.  I’m thinking this should be a slam-dunk, seeing as how I have a ticket.  Well, not so much.  You see, my ticket was a United ticket for a Great Lakes flight.  The problem lies with the fact that now, Great Lakes has to get their money.  On the United ticket, all of the payment information is there: cost of ticket, taxes, more taxes, etc.  Here lies the problem: the computer wouldn’t accept the payment info.  For some reason, I could get checked in up until the time that you insert the payment information.  Unknown to the Great Lakes staff, the computer refused to accept the payment information.  In short, I had a ticket, was checked through to the flight, but couldn’t actually be checked in to board the plane.  Three people tried working on this and eventually, they just told me to go and that they would worry about this.  I was the last person on the plane; actually, I was holding up the plane.

I get on board the plane and listen to a couple of other people who were slated for the original flight that got canceled.  It seems that they received the run-around about rebooking their flights as well.

White CastleOnce I got home, there were a couple of items that I needed from my favorite place on earth (um, not really): Walmart.  Actually, it was mostly food, but I did manage to get something which is oh so yummy: White Castles.   Unfortunately, you can’t get the real thing here, so the microwaveable will have to suffice.  This looks like it could be a scrumptious lunch.  Too bad my wife isn’t here to enjoy them!

 

So now the fun really starts: At 9:32 pm last night, I get a text message saying that the 9:24 pm flight would be departing at a later time than what was originally scheduled for.  Below are the text times and the “revised” departure times.

Text Time

Departure Time

9:32 pm

9:40 pm

9:43 pm

10:10 pm

10:14 pm

10:26 pm

10:37 pm

10:45 pm

Seeing as how I never received any more texts, I can only assume that the 9:24 pm flight eventually left at 10:45 pm.  Had I stayed there, I would have spent 12+ hours from my original departure flight to my rescheduled flight.  Good times, eh?

Posted on

Tales…from the airport

Oh the fun of traveling in the airport! 

My wife’s brother-in-law took me to the Orlando International Airport this morning at 6:00 am for my 8:31 am flight.  Not bad.  I get there and unfortunately, not a whole lot of choice to get anything to eat.  I was reduced to a two-pack of mini-sandwiches, which weren’t all that good.  While on the plane, I was able to watch a movie on my new laptop.  I found this movie on Google Video some time back.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this is available on DVD (or VHS for that matter!).  I think this might be one movie that George Lucas wishes he didn’t have his name on: Howard the Duck.Howard the Duck

I got to Denver International Airport just fine.  For some reason, there was a line of planes landing and there was another plane at our gate.  Actually, that worked out as I would have had to make quite a hike from the original gate to my departing gate.  I found a food joint and grabbed a quick sandwich, chips and drink.  I get to my gate and I asked if they were boarding the plane yet.  She told me not yet.  Ahh, a moment to breath.

I sit down and start eating some of my sandwich.  Suddenly, I get a text message informing me that my flight had been canceled.  Oh, this was not making the Preacher Man happy!

I proceed up to the ticket counter and was informed that yes, my flight had been canceled.  My original flight was scheduled for an 11:32 am departure with me arriving back in Gillette at 1:03 pm.  The next available flight would not be until 9:24 pm and arriving at 10:55 pm.

I speak with the lady at the counter to see if I can get that flight changed to Great Lakes so I can get home at a decent time; she “kindly” informed me that United will not transfer tickets.  Needless to say, I was not in a happy mood and things were getting worse.  I called Great Lakes to see when the next available flight to Gillette was.  There was a flight at 12:30 (the current time was 12:00).  I asked her if it was available.  She placed me on hold while she contacted DIA.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t do ticket sales 20 minutes prior to the flight.  She told me that the next flight would be at 5:55 pm.  I booked it, wanting to get home before midnight and not wanting to spend the next 9 hours walking the concourses!

I went to the United Customer Service Center to speak about a refund.  I spent almost the next hour in the line.  Finally, the customer service agent informed me that yes, they could port my United ticket to Great Lakes!  Lovely!  I just dropped $311 to get me a ticket home when if I would have spoken with someone who knew what they were doing, wouldn’t have cost anything!

I proceed to the Great Lakes counter (in a different terminal, of course) and speak with the agent.  They can’t do refunds, but gave me the 800 number for Great Lakes.  I call them and they say that yes, they can do a refund.  However, it will take 1-2 weeks to complete.  At this point, I didn’t care.  I just didn’t want two tickets for the same flight.

After all of this was complete, I needed a drink.  Lo and behold, there was a grille and bar and I had me a nice cold glass of Samuel Adams.  Now that I was rehydrated and relaxed some, I did some walking around the terminal.  I found me a nice quiet spot to work on my sermon a bit.  Finally, after sitting for a while, I thought that I would grab me some food since I still had about 2.5 hours to kill.  I ate and now here I sit typing this.  I have enough time now to post this, use the bathroom, grab a drink and head on down to the Great Lakes gates.  Hopefully, at 7:15, I will be pulling into Gillette like my ticket says and I can call it a night. 

So, here’s hoping for a good flight.  Wish me luck!

Posted on

Five cops on paid leave after 1 flushes fetus

This appeared under the “States in brief” section of today’s paper.  The following story comes from Mesa, Arizona.

Police in Arizona say five officers have been placed on paid leave after one allegedly flushed a fetus down a toilet.

Mesa Police Chief George Gascon says four officers responding to a call about a possible miscarriage at a motel on Monday discovered a woman who apparently lost a fetus estimated to be 12 to 14 weeks old.

Gascon says an officer who wasn’t at the motel instructed the four over the phone to flush the 4-inch fetus down the toilet rather than take it to a hospital.

A supervisor who was reading incident reports came across details about the disposal of the fetus and shared them with a superior.

Apparently, life, dead or alive, is not important to these officers.  It’s good to see that they will continue to be paid so as not to cause any inconvenience to them.

Posted on

Meetings, meetings, and more meetings

Last week, I had a meeting which lasted for 3.25 hours (3 hrs, 15 min) and not everything was finished.  A follow-up meeting was scheduled for tonight.  Last night, we had a meeting which lasted 2.25 hours (2 hrs, 15 min).  Our follow-up meeting tonight was 2.25 hours (2 hrs, 15 min); we still didn’t address everything on the agenda from last week’s meeting. I have a meeting tomorrow, which if the last 3 meetings are any indication, I’m guess at least 2.25 hours or more.  Next week brings with it 2 more meetings.  Ah, the joys of church work!

Posted on

Thank you, spring snowstorm

Because of the latest spring snowstorm, my mother-in-law’s flight plans were greatly changed.  She was supposed to come in Friday to Gillette, but that did not happen.  She managed to get to Denver like she was supposed to.  Low-flying flights were canceled; she was stuck in Denver.  There was a possible flight to Billings, but it already left.  What was she going to do?  She had a couple of options:

  1. Find a return flight to Indy and schedule a flight at a later time
  2. Find an alternative flight to Gillette

She went with option 2.  She booked a flight to Rapid City so that meant we had to go and get here (we were originally going to go over Sunday after church and come back Monday).  We left in the afternoon and stayed the night to keep from coming back late, which would have thrown off Wesley’s bedtime routine.

All I gotta say is thank you spring storm; so much for enjoying  time in Rapid City!

Posted on

A statement regarding “Issues, Etc.”

The following comes from the KFUO-AM website.

Issues, Etc.

For programmatic and business reasons, the decision was made this week to discontinue the “Issues, Etc.” program on KFUO-AM.  We look forward to bringing you new programming in this time slot in the near future. Also, we thank “Issues” host Rev. Todd Wilken and producer Mr. Jeff Schwarz for their years of service on behalf of the station. Those interested may still download past “Issues, Etc.” programs from the “Issues” archive on this website. Thank you sincerely for your continued support of KFUO’s radio ministry.

Personally, that doesn’t say anything.  I want a real reason as to why “Issues, Etc.” was canceled.  Tell me that Rev. Todd Wilken said or did something to step over the line.  Tell me the Synod has gone bankrupt and is not able to produce the show anymore.  Tell me that Jesus has come back and there is no need to preach the Gospel any longer.  We as loyal listeners and supports of “Issues, Etc.” deserve a true, straightforward answer.  When will we get it?