Without a shadow of a doubt 2012 is the year of beards. Beards have finally risen to the pedestal of prominence they deserve. Men, take notice. Your time has come.
I propose that the bearded man be nominated as TIME magazine’s person of the year.
Observe:
Since antiquity, the bearded men have spoken. Hear their memes…
Last night, Noah decorated his third Christmas tree for his first Christmas. Well, he played while we decorated.
Because my grandmother was allergic to evergreens, I grew up with a plastic tree we assembled every year after bringing it down from the attic. Not until I was married did I have my own live tree. Now I get to decorate three trees a year: our own, my parents’, and my in-laws.
My wife comes from the home of the perfect Christmas tree, a little town called—I’m not kidding—Spruce Pine. Since we got married we would always drive up there and pick a Christmas tree from this nice guy who sold trees at a reasonable price, and even offered us a deal on grass fed beef (we had to decline—we don’t eat that much beef). We’d stuff it in our Corolla, shoving it in the trunk and yanking it through. We would drive three hours with a tree between us. A child’s car seat prevents us from doing that ever again.
Continue reading
Rush Limbaugh on his radio show the other day:
“I truly blame the First Lady and her Socialist push for healthy food. This is all Michelle Obama’s fault, I feel as though a part of me is dying. We can’t let this happen! Not in America! We need our food made of chemicals and pretend sugar filled with preservatives. I don’t like knowing what I’m eating. Carrots?! Apples?! Strawberries?! How boring does this White House want us to be?! We’re not Americans unless we’re eating things that are bad for us. It’s what makes us great! I’m so upset right now I think I need go to a commercial.”
Continue reading
[back to part 9: Education]
“And other issues to consider”
or
“Issues I may not care less about, but am squeezing together for time’s sake”
or
“Ok, Caleb Coy, let’s hurry up and wrap this thing up—I gotta vote in like 3 days.”
So, remember how I’ve been going on about Ron Paul because I’m writing his name in even though he’s not running? In this post I will get into things I disagree with him on, or am unsure about. This post will also cover other issues I have yet to mention. After this, I plan on having a final post to reflect on the whole experience before we all go and jump in those booths. It may be that I have a post after that to reflect on the results, and I already know that no matter what I will be reminding us all not to panic, because Christ will still be King when it’s all over.
Continue reading
[back to part 7: Healthcare]
“The War on Some Drugs”
or
“The War on Poor People Who Have Drugs”
or
“The War on Drugs Pharmaceutical Companies Aren’t Cashing In On”
or
“The War on Black People” (ok, that one’s harsh)
Take a brief look at what’s happening in America today:
Fully Armed Swat team shoots at ex-marine 71 Times in Marijuana raid—No Marijuana found
Marijuana raid kills father to be
And several other tragic drug war fatalities
In the simplest of terms, any substance that affects the body in a way that can impair a person is a drug, whether it be for medicine, recreation, or any other purpose. Thus, the term “drug” is a neutral term. However, we often hear about a so-called “war on drugs,” which is actually, if we apply it honestly, a war on particular drugs and for particular reasons, benefitting only particular people.
[back to part 6: Abortion]
“Consult Your Doctor”
or
“Big Bandaids and What To Do with Them”
or
“Man, do we have to talk about healthcare again?”
When the new Health Care bill was passed this past summer, I offered thoughts on that that you can view at the post: Big Bandaid. Rather than revisit the entire post, I’ll recap some of the major points:
The teachings of the Christ are for us to take care of the poor and needy, and this combined with his miraculous healings stresses the importance of looking after the medical wellness of others (among the other things the miracles did, of course). The examples of giving and caring shown by Christ and his followers in the New Testament demonstrate that the optimum way to do this is by individuals and communities actively caring for the “orphans and widows,” those society neglects.
Continue reading
[back to part 5: Foreign Policy]
“Civil Rights for the Unborn Class”
or
“Understanding what Abortion means to a Nation and a Community”
or
“Being Pro-Seamless-Garment-of-Life”
Take a moment to, no matter your opinion, erase as much as you can concerning the preconceptions of people who exist on the “abortion stance spectrum”, including the terms we use.
Now I want to tell you that I believe that a sound civil government respects a woman’s right to her body. I also believe that every person has a right to life, even those who are not yet recognized citizens. I know that slightly more than half of children conceived in the world are women, and they have a right to live. Because women and men are equal, I must conclude that all male children conceived in the world have a right to live. Therefore, I believe all children have a right to live. The government should not interfere with a woman’s body (or a man’s), but if a woman has another woman inside her, and she is trying to end that life, then the government is at a crossroads, having to make a decision between not interfering with one woman’s body, but also protecting the life of another.
Continue reading
Red Letter Christians » Commendable in an Age of Short Cuts: Kings, Presidents and Prophets
No matter what anyone says, economy is a heavily moral issue. It is not a side issue.
Continue reading
Real Life Hobbit Village Proves the Greenest Way to Live is Like Bilbo Baggins
A real life hobbit village. And it’s sustainable.
I remember reading an article in the St. Austin Review that described Tolkien’s Hobbiton as an embodiment of a social philosophy known as “distributism.” G.K. Chesterton was a big proponent of it. Wendell Berry—know him? You could call him one too.
It’s basically agrarianism where everyone is a peasant and nobody is a lord. In Hobbiton, all the farms are for sustaining the community, not trading with the outside world at large. The mill is the closest thing to an industry, but once again it is for producing enough for the Shire. “Distributists were ‘greens’ before anyone had the label,” and it certainly wasn’t because they worshipped the earth or anything. As Christians, they believed not that all creation was God, but that all creation was God’s temple.
Leaders of Chick-fil-a, I first want to extend my sympathy towards you after the loss of your vice president of public relations, Don Perry. Public figures are often targets of hateful attacks, even in their deaths, and I am saddened to hear that there are so many people spewing hateful rhetoric in the wake of his death. There is no reason to dance on the grave of anyone.
I also hope your claim is true that it was not anyone in your PR department who created fake Facebook profiles using stock photos of teenagers in order to booster your company’s reputation. I believe your denial that you did so, although we would hopefully agree that whoever did so was guilty of lying and deceit. I hope that your denial, which represents a denial that you would stoop to such a low place, encourages other people and organizations not to use stock photos to represent people who do not exist.
Continue reading
CALEB COY 