Which one is Putin?

I read a story today on a speech given in Russia and saw this picture. It reminded me of another picture I've seen. Since my good friend here at work is Russian, I put the two pictures together to see if he could tell which one was which. So you decide. Which one is Vladimir Putin and which is the adorable kitten?

On the other hand...If you are looking for tough...this is tough.

Victory Update

This last Sunday was a real treat. In that service, we had an adult baptism as well as her newborn infant child. In the same service we also had Holy Communion. What a great service to have the Gospel proclaimed in Word and Sacraments. Truly it was a service of Thanksgiving. We now head into the C series of the 3 year lectionary for Christmas with our sermon series on preparing our hearts for Christmas.

Victory has been doing very well since our Grand re-launch in September at the Showtime Cinema. Attendance is creeping to 140-150 each Sunday. This Thanksgiving weekend I think there was over 160. Membership is nearing 100 if it is not over that yet. I believe we have reached self-supporting 3 months ahead of schedule as well. I guess I will have to wait until the end of December to know for sure. If anything Victory is a testament on to how to start a church on a shoestring budget (we were only funded by a mother congregation for $100,000 spread over 3 years...the rest was up to us. Now we have a budget of $125,000 a year that we can cover ourselves and have $70,000 stashed away in a land fund). It is interesting to note that if the congregation keeps growing at this rate we will be running out of room on Sunday mornings by June. We’ll have to come up with some way to expand or have multiple services.

Technology-wise we have improved greatly as well. Benhur Khamrang’s adjustments to the sound of the band have been very good. There has been some experimentation on band placement and mic’s and equipment but we have successfully moved the sound booth up by the video folks. The video feed from the Theater to the Café is now successfully beaming without the 100 foot video cable. In general I think Victory is one of the most technologically advanced churches around considering its size. I recently finished upgrading the website to ASP.NET 3.5 on IIS 7.0. That was a huge jump. I also upgraded the speed of the data connection and ability to stream the podcasts.

Karen has been singing harmony in the band much more now. We could still use a bang! pow! Lead vocalist for sure. We’ve got a ton of musical talent in the band if we could just have a power vocalist to rally around. It’s pretty good though despite that. Katie has been helping with the Bible Quest program almost every Sunday. She helps prepare the lessons or projects and sets up the video equipment and mats in the children’s theater. Ike helps a bunch too in a pinch….that happens most when Kt is not there. The Bible Quest program as well is growing very fast and is requiring a lot of helpers each Sunday. When they are short helpers, Kt jumps in a lot. I’m just happy to see my kids being so involved and actually enjoying it. Cassy is our Children's ministry director and she has developed a stellar kid's ministry program. The WELS should take note of how to design a good Sunday School program from her.

Have a great Christmas!

Family Update

So the family is coasting along. Karen is done with her current classes at Iowa and is taking a 3 month break or so to focus on her final ALU (Academy of Life Underwriting) exam. After passing this 4th exam she will attain her Fellow designation or FALU. There are not a lot of underwriters who go for the FALU and the 4th exam is a very tough exam. The worst part about these exams is when she reads me the questions or asks what I think as she's studying. Do I ask her whether I should use an MQ call verses a webservice call? No!

Kt and Ike are free of school sports at the moment. Ike goes to Mixed Martial Arts still after having a bit of a break because of interference by football followed by driver's ed. With those distractions gone he is more free for the kick boxing. Yes, Ike did pass driver's ed. He's an excellent driver, except he drives like an Asian and if you try to get in the car after he's been in it you will break your knees because the seat has to be all the way up.

Kt takes the SAT and ACT the next two weekends. With those out of the way it will be time to get ready for a school choice. She's got a few options but I suspect her final decision will wait until the end of the school year when the final picture will become clear...hopefully. Overall there is no particular rush on this choice as apparently all the other frantic parents around me who freak out about early application and all that garbage. I think Kt's final choice no matter which option it is will be relatively painless and easy to arrange at any moment.

I have been working on my web hosting server. I made the big move to bring the server in-house and buy a new machine with all the latest and greatest. I have gotten the sites I host up and running and am currently working on upgrading one of those websites from ASP coding that is nearly 10 years old to the newest version of ASP.NET. This will take me a few months as it is a very large application. I have a wickedly fast data connection now and it helps to have the machine right there to do maintenance and updates. Now I would like to host more websites and actually collect money for them. All the sites on this server are basically donated to church related websites.

Zach is moving from the NAS in Pensacola, FL to a school at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, NC. Apparently it is a quick move and he was notified today and will be there on Friday. His specialty there will be Aviation Communications/Navigation sytems. I have yet to find out how long he will be there. I suspect it will still be until April. At least his best friend will shortly be stationed at New River, NC about 45 miles away. They can still hang out I guess. He will be home for Christmas from the 18th through the 2nd of January. This will be a vacation though and not a recruiter's assistance leave like the last visit home. It will be nice to have him home for Christmas again. So far that's not too bad. 2 out of 5 Christmas' he could be away that he has been able to be home. We'll see how many we can get.

I think that covers the family tidbits for now. Have a great Christmas.

Conservative on the Constitution...or what's left of it.

There was a time in the 80’s, the 1780’s that is, where the founders of this great country desired states to retain most of their powers so that governing and representation was for the most part a local activity and remained with the people. The states agreed to cede a few of their powers to a central government, 17 of them specifically, that were important to the good order of the country. In case you’ve forgotten, here are the original 17.

• To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
• To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
• To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
• To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
• To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
• To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
• To establish post offices and post roads;
• To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
• To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
• To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
• To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
• To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
• To provide and maintain a navy;
• To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
• To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
• To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
• To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles (16 km) square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.

It is important to note that true evilness began with the passing of the 16th amendment in 1913. The 16th amendment allows the direct taxation of income of US citizens. With this ability, the government claimed the most important power which had been reserved to the states and now had the ability to fund the emerging progressive movement conveniently growing at that very time.

From that time forward the progressive movement has continued nearly unfettered. FDR’s New Deal, Johnson’s Great Society, and now we have Obama’s New France. During this nearly 100 years Americans have little by little handed over pieces of the freedom this country was founded on to the federal government. The country has already handed over a good share of their retirement pension and healthcare. Now the country is willing to hand over the rest of the nation’s health to the government. Now the government wants to create three new agencies to regulate the financial health of America and strip those abilities from the FED. Now the government wants to take over the banks. Now the government wants to take over Car companies. In NH the government is even bailing out Newspapers..because government intervention in the press is always a good idea. The government wants to influence the arts through the NEA and the list goes on and on and on.

There was a time in the 80’s, that is the 1980’s, when this nation got just a glimpse of what it might be like to turn back the clock to what the founding fathers of this country intended to create as a FEDERAL government. Ronald Reagan inspired this nation to take back personal responsibility, patriotic initiative, and reduce the size of government. It’s not as if his 8 years could rollback a tide of decades of progressive intervention in our lives however he made a small dent and it gave hope to those of us who believe in consummate freedom and the ability of the unfettered individual to accomplish the American Dream on their own.

However after America was set on the cusp of something great with approval at an all time high we got the “Read my lips” shaft. We got a “Contract with America” that buckled under some bleeding heart criticism with nary a wimper. I can tell you I became instantly apathetic to all politics at that time. Reform was done, Republicans and Dems were all the same. Spineless and weak and lacking the gonads to legislate this country according to the values it was founded on. I figured, “what’s the point?” What can I do? I don’t have any candidates who really will do anything.

However now I say, “ Enough already!” I can hardly take any more. I am becoming a very politically pissed off individual. Don’t worry I won’t be shooting off any weapons in some sort of Lutheran Jihad but I can assure you that I have shaken off my political apathy that has afflicted me since BUSH 1 gave up on Reagan’s values. Whereas I used to say I was Republican, I will tell you that I am no longer. I am conservative period. I see aspects I like in Libertarian and Conservative Party ideology. If the Republicans fold up the big tent and come back to their values, then we shall re-examine that, but currently, I think they are rudderless in the search for true values and leadership. Don’t tell me what party you’re from. Tell me you’ll represent the people who elected you and that you’ll fight to limit the government to what it was designed to do.

I think George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were correct in their dislike for political parties. They have ruined the political process for Americans. Accountability is shot and Americans are losing their country without a shot fired. Come on America! We need to stop being frogs in the boiling pot. Regardless if you are liberal, conservative or even one of those uncommitted, fence-sitting, conviction-less, moderate political mutts, we will all lose when we have no more ability to shape our own destiny. I have seen the enemy and it is I.

Political Summary

Alright, here is a video that I happen to watch and started going ..."Yeah!!! that's me he's describing." It is a perfect summary of where I am politically. I remain pessimistic that the tide will actually change like I want it to as Glenn describes at the end of the video, but perhaps it might happen. Especially note the Chalkboard part of the speech.



I might note that this is the first I've ever seen of Glen Beck. On a trip home from Florida I heard about an hour of his radio show once. It seemed good but he had some wacky conspiracy theory ideas that he would spew out here and there and it tempered my enthusiasm for the rest of what he said. However, perhaps I will be checking him out more.

Tidbits of weirdness that have tickled my fancy.

A Jet overshoots the airport on a flight from San Diego to Minneapolis, MN (the same flight my daughter has been on in the past) by 150 miles because they say they were distracted by a heated discussion…or as some speculate, they perhaps fell asleep. I can understand the heated discussion story. It is similar to how my lunch group solves the problems of the world 30-45 minutes at a time M-F with the amazing clarity of conservatism and common sense. We also could forget to land the plane.

Also amusing to me. The story about a man in Duluth, MN who was arrested for drunken driving in a Lazy boy. He had a Lazy Boy attached to a riding mower frame with a cooler and drink holders and everything. He hit a parked car with this rig and had a blood alcohol level of .29. I’m not sure I could handle being the officer who made that arrest. It doesn’t feel right to be laughing hysterically while arresting someone. I pretty much think it would be amazing to have a drivable Lazy Boy.

Again in MN (You get the sense that MN is the center of weirdness but it is just coincidence….or is it?) a woman was ruled against in that her bong water should be considered part of her drug paraphernalia instead of as a controlled substance. The problem being that the bong water contained traces of Meth and was 37 grams of water (two and a half table spoons). This constitutes a felony conviction of up to 7 years in prison for having a large amount of drugs instead of a misdemeanor conviction for having drug paraphernalia consisting of a fine of $300. So, druggies...remember to empty your bong water.

Victory Update

Well Victory of the Lamb continues to grow. For September our average attendance was 140 people per Sunday. In addition there are over 4 Bible classes running right now during the week. The Bible Quest Kids have almost topped 30 kids too. All these are great blessings from the Lord as he has graciously been blessing our ministry.

I personally have bequeathed my sound "engineer" status to an actual sound engineer/musician who knows what he is doing. Benhur, his wife and little daughter are new arrivals at Victory from Santiago, Chile. He is originally from India but met his wife who is from the Milwaukee area in Chile while she was teaching English at the ELS mission church in Santiago. He married the teacher but after mission defunding they ended up back here in the US staying with his wife's brother. He has been a huge asset in improving the sound of the band and in arranging some of the hymns and songs with new sounds and styles. He speaks in a sound language I don't even understand so I just let him do his thing and occupy my time setting up the cables and taking down.

All in all our ministry is doing well and lots of people are stepping into the various roles. It is gratifying to see God bless this ministry and bringing ever more people who do not know Jesus into the church.

Links to Benhur's secular videos