Samantha Pierce

I heard Josh Levin of Slate on NPR today comparing bloggers to rappers . It sounded pretty much like another blogger put down piece that has been in fashion of late. I wasn't going to worry my head about it but the dude made the claim that, like women rappers, women bloggers can't get any recognition without getting raunchy. He gave the examples of Lil' Kim and Wonkette . Come on now. This guy works for Slate so he's no stranger to the internet and really should know better. (And political bloggers do not just rip a few chunks out of stories and type out a few comments. Who's blogs has he been reading?) The idea that women can only achieve notoriety in the blogosphere by being raunchy is just wrong. There are plenty of us blazing our way up the ecosystem not by raunch and over sexualization but by intelligence, shrewd insight, gentle (and not so gentle) wisdom, and just by being the women were we made to be. If the only women who can get your attention are the ra...

Is Autism a hidden epidemic? That is the question raised by this article. While I do not claim to be any sort of expert on the subject of Autism and related conditions, I have over the course of my life observed some things that make me question whether Autism is really a hidden epidemic, or whether it has been in plain sight all along and we as a society did not see it for what it was. "Once a rare diagnosis, it seems there’s now an epidemic of autism sweeping the nation. Many of us know a child with the disorder, and concerned parents are searching for suspicious signs even in young babies. But while more kids are being labeled with autism, whether the condition is truly more common among today’s children than past generations of youngsters is largely unclear." Growing up in the late 80's and early 90's autism was not a word that was heard often in my world. In fact, my earliest knowledge of the "disorder" came from the movie Rainman. I thought all people ...

I'm thankful that: I'm alive. My husband loves me. We are one day closer to spring. Sophia got a clean bill of health from the doctor this week. Ethan has had a good week home from school. Isaiah sings the alphabet song. I got a new keyboard for my computer. No more sticky keys! I get to see my sisters this weekend. I finally got hubby to let me cut his hair! We are one day closer to spring. Badgermum (the originator of Thankful Thursday) is also thankful . What are you thankful for?

(This was originally part of the post below but I decided to separate the two items.) At this point I haven't got much confidence that the authorities will do the right thing. I feel like we're about to begin a long slow deathwatch as Terri Schiavo is slowly starved to death. This reminds me a lot of the episode of Daniel in the lions' den (Daniel 6). The king had passed a law that would cost Daniel his life. The king realised that the law was wrong and an innocent man would die because of it. By custom he could not change that law. In For the Love of God: Volume II , D. A. Carson writes, The expression "laws of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be repealed" (6:8) was probably a badge of honor in the empire. Probably the policy was designed to discourage favoritism, corrupt exceptions, shifting pragmatism. But no legal system can ensure consistent justice. Corrupt people will always find ways of exploiting the system to oppress others and advance themselve...

I got this email this morning about Terri Schiavo: Dear Pro-Life Friend, I’m taking the unusual step of emailing the entire pro-life blogs mailing list because of a critical situation that has developed in the case of Terri Schiavo. Today, the courts rejected the pleas of Terri’s parents to stop her husband, Michael, from withholding food and water from her. He has promised to begin starving her tomorrow at 1 pm. Most of you are aware that Terri is not a "vegetable" or "brain-dead" as Michael and his lawyers claim, but responds to others and is aware of her surroundings. She laughs, smiles and, according to her nurses, has a small vocabulary. Terri is not on life support and is healthy. She needs help eating and is fed through a tube (helping someone eat and drink who is impaired has never been considered artificial life support). While Michael asserts he is carrying out Terri's wishes, he waited until after he received a large sum of money from a lawsuit again...

According to this I'm, " 63% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score! " via Dappled Things

As I shudder at thinking about just how much more miserable I was just a mere 24 hours ago I'm thankful for: Nyquil. Steaming hot showers. Feeling well enough to lead Bible study this morning. Getting to Bible study on time and getting a parking spot in the driveway. Friends who help me round up the boys when they keep running off in different directions. Hubby who wanted to go out with me even though I was so sick I didn't want to go out with me. Healthy kids. What are you thankful for?

This is a blurb from Howard Dean's speech accepting the chair of the Democratic National Committee. It seems to have been intended to appeal to religious types like myself who would recognise the biblical reference. It just made me wince at the clumsiness of it. Republicans wandered around in the political wilderness for 40 years before they took back Congress. But the reason we lost control is that we forgot why we were entrusted with control to begin with. The American people can't afford to wait for 40 years for us to put Washington back to work for them. It can't take us that long. (The rest of the speech can be found here .) The phrasing of this bit of the speech was no doubt intended to bring to mind the chosen people of God wondering in the wilderness after they had escaped captivity in Israel. Someone must have thought it would be a good way to throw a bone to the religious types. You know, show everybody how moral and values centered the Democrats can be. But this ...

A message from Terry Schiavo's father. By now you have probably heard about a young woman who is threatened with starvation in Florida. That young woman is my daughter, Terri. In 1990, through circumstances which are shrouded in mystery (and may involve a criminal act by Terri's estranged husband), my daughter was left severely brain-damaged. But before I go any further, I must put an end to the lies and misinformation that are circulating around the country through the media concerning my daughter's condition. Contrary to anything you may have heard, Terri is NOT brain dead; Terri is NOT in a coma; she is NOT in a "persistent vegetative state;" nor is she on ANY life-support system. Terri laughs, Terri cries, she moves, and she makes child-like attempts at speech with her mother and me. Sometimes she will say "Mom" or "Dad" or "yeah" when we ask her a question. When I kiss her hello or goodbye, she looks at me and "puckers up...

So Howard Dean is the new dude in charge of the Democratic National Committee. Conservatives and Republicans cackled with glee and pulled up their chairs to watch the ensuing circus of gaffes and the continued demise of the Democratic party. I thought surely they must be exaggerating. Dean couldn't really be that bad. Well, maybe I was wrong . The next four years are going to be very interesting.

My kids love me so much they just had to share their germs with me. Now I feel quite wretched. I wish I could peel the front of my face off and drain my sinuses. I managed to do the dishes and pay the bills today but now I'm done for. Posting will be light to nonexistent until I can keep both eyes open at the same time for more than 2 minutes with out feeling like some one is trying to squish one of them like a grape on the floor in the grocery store (cough cough). Oh, happy Valentine's Day and happy birthday Grandma (sniffle sniffle).

I'm pooped today. More than a week of taking care of sick kiddies has taken a lot out of me. I think I'll just throw up some links for y'all to check out today. On a another note, I want to say thanks to my regular readers (there's at least a handful of you now I think). I also want to thank those who comment and give me feed back and have offered kind words and encouragement. On to the links. La Shawn Barber has been all over the Eason Jordan mess for over a week now. Check it out . She's also writhing on Easongate.com as well. Tim Blair writes about New York Post copy editor Dawn Eden who was fired for inserting certain facts into an article about invitro fertilization. Discussion in the comments about whether she was right to insert the facts in the first place. Dawn speaks about the matter here . Hubby writes about Terry Gross being out of touch and about abortion and coercion . Baldilocks has come out of blog-atus (she's got some interesting characters...

I was having a hard time remembering to be thankful this week with three sick kids to take care of and my keyboard going haywire (I'm typing on a spare keyboard hooked up to my laptop). While I was randomly clicking on links to blogs in my referrals list I came across this at Damascus Road : Psalm 46 1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. I am thankful that: God is my refuge. The kids haven't made us sick yet. We have eucalyptus oil and hot steamy water to help clear stuffy little heads. I got email today from a far away relative that I haven't seen in years. I've had a good week blogging despite sick kids and sleep deprivation. Ethan is thankful for the snow, he's out stomping around in it right now. Isaiah is thankful that Ethan knows ho...

Jesse Jackson has of late been pontificating about the difference between "progressive" Christianity and "conservative" Christianity, and attempted to suggest that conservative Christians defended slavery, while the liberals opposed it... that conservatives don't care about feeding the poor, while liberals do, etc. The reality is that he is imposing an anachronistic distinction upon the past. It was only in the early 1900's that a serious divergence began to manifest itself between those advocating a "Social Gospel" and those just advocating the Gospel. And it was only after this that we began to see the beginings of what is commonly known as "liberal" Christianity.

I'm tinkering with my template again. What do you think?

Here's the latest from a church missionary just back from Sri Lanka. (Previous message from another missionary on the same team here .) TRIP REPORT Sri Lanka January 19 - February 3, 2005 Travel: We flew into Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, and took a day to recover from jet lag and to debrief with the previous team. Then we headed by bus across the island of Sri Lanka to reach the refugee camp near the east shore. Our total travel time was nearly 3 days in each direction. En route back, we stopped to ride elephants! Refugee camp: We stayed in dome tents in a large refugee camp, surrounded on 3 sides by fields of tents filled with refugee families. There was no electricity or running water, though the government filled large water tanks several times a day. Members of our team spent hours each day filtering and purifying the water for drinking and cooking. We enjoyed spicy, curry-filled food, provided by a local church. Clinic: Each day, we set up a large cli...

I'm a Nazi, you're a Nazi, we're all Nazis. More and more these days the way to express your disagreement with someone else's views is to call them a Nazi. Janeane Garofalo has decided that ink stained fingers is Nazish. Paying tribute to our fighting men and women of past and present is Nazish. Those who died on September 11, 2001 as the result of terrorists crashing civilian airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field were Nazis . Do people even have a clue about who the real Nazis were any more? Do they remember what they did ? Or do they not care? Just in case you don't know here's Wikipedia's description : Nazism (abbreviated from the German: Na tionalso zi al ism us, "National Socialism") or also called Hitlerism is a type of fascist/totalitarian ideology. The term is most often used in connection with the dictatorship of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (the "Third Reich"). This ideology was ...

Fr. John Whiteford writes about Christians who were martyred in Communist Russia. Very interesting reading. The Day They Began Killing Christians "It was total cruelty."

I don't know if you've noticed or not but people have been talking a lot about values lately. Specifically since immediately after George W. Bush won reelection on November 2, 2004. On that day (just hours after they realised that they had lost) Democrats discovered values talk. Before they pretty much mocked people like me for our values (and still do). We were right wing nut jobs conspiring to take this country back to the dark ages for sticking to our values. Now just about every Democrat who gets a few seconds in front of a camera makes sure to blurt out the word "values" as many times as possible. Democrats also discovered Christians. Specifically evangelical Christians. It seems we are the ones to blame for their loss. It wasn't that they ran an awful campaign with a candidate that grated on the nerves of even those who supported the Democratic party. No, not at all. It was all of us evangelical Christians who seemingly materialised out of nowhere and sto...

Dude! This year's Super Bowl half time show is way wicked better than last year's. It's like real music! Real musicians! Note to all half time show producers THIS is what you are supposed to offer us! Rock on Sir Paul! Cool.

Sis 1 emailed this to me today. It was funny and hit close to home in a few places so I thought I would share it with all and sundry. TO THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's....... First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with...

The Four Living Creatures One frequently encounters an unusual image in churches and, particularly, on the front of Books of the Gospels. It is the combination of a winged man, a winged lion, a winged ox, and an eagle. There are two biblical antecedents here. The first is to the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, where the prophet describes a winged, heavenly creature with four faces... The second references is to the Apocalypse, where St John sees four separate beasts, with wings and the same faces as in Ezekiel... I've always thought that the visions recorded in the Old Testament and Revelations sounded like bad acid trips. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like to experience them. It would have totally freaked me out to be visited by winged creatures and what not.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has a new policy statement on breastfeeding . It is interesting to note that the biggest obstacle to breastfeeding in the US is people's attitudes. Here's the policy statement conclusion: Although economic, cultural, and political pressures often confound decisions about infant feeding, the AAP firmly adheres to the position that breastfeeding ensures the best possible health as well as the best developmental and psychosocial outcomes for the infant. Enthusiastic support and involvement of pediatricians in the promotion and practice of breastfeeding is essential to the achievement of optimal infant and child health, growth, and development. My mother always insists on pestering me about giving my babies extra this or that because she's convinced that exclusively breastfeeding can't really give babies all of the nutrition they need. This despite the fact that my boys pretty much hung out above the curve on the growth chart when the...

Time to clean out the favourites list and move some new links into my blogroll. Black Bloggers Association , you'll find links to black bloggers of stripes here. Rooftop Blog , "Exploring the news and interplay of the Four Estates--family, church, government, and the media--and the moral imagination of a culture informed by the Judeo-Christian tradition." Evil White Guy's Blog , "Just your average 'Evil' conservative..." Reading, Writing and Ranting , "One...two...three pundits in one." Sneakeasy's Joint , "Eventually, EVERYONE comes to Sneakeasy's. Enter an establishment of infinite delights: Creative Writing, and discourse on Cycling, Hiking, Cinema, Books, Genealogy, Humor, Cats, Politics, Society, National and World Event, and even My Everyday Life are some of what can be sampled here. So wear your Thinking Cap, check you expectations at the door and don't forget to tip the Bouncer on the way out......." ...

You know, I thought this was stupid when I heard about it last year . With Al Sharpton now in on it it's become a stupid circus act. Like I said before, if PETA had any real interest in improving the lives of food animals they would be in the business of developing humane methods of treating said animals. They would also be promoting companies that use those methods to the public instead of trying to run farmers and food companies out of business.

Life tends to conspire to try to make us forget about the blessings that God has granted us all. Having said that today I am thankful that: Our family doctor always takes time to chat with us when we're in the office no matter how busy his day is. Ethan's cold hasn't turned into a sinus infection yet (last winter he either had four in the space of about a month and a half or one that just wouldn't go away). Ethan is peacefully sleeping in his room instead of whining miserably. Isaiah has not yet succeeded in the mischief he keeps trying to cause today (the kid is like a tree frog, he'll try to climb anything!). Sophia rolled over for the first time. At least I think she did. I set her on her tummy on the bed next to the computer before I went to get Isaiah out of the bathroom again. I came back in time to hear a light thud and see Sophia flailing face up on the computer keyboard. Online banking, online bill pay, and direct deposit. I don't even need...

Lots of folk are going to be talking about Social Security (SS) reform in earnest now since the President's State of the Union (SOTU) address last night. I might as well throw in my two cents on the matter. I never expected the government to take care of me and mine. I never expected that Social Security would give me jack when I get older. No matter what is done with it I still won’t expect jack from SS. Many pundits have noted that the majority of younger workers don't expect to get anything from SS. I have yet to hear anything from anyone to convince me that it will be otherwise. All the opponents of the President's SS reform plan have offered us so far is the assertion that there will be something for us when we reach retirement age. And they know this how? In any case, it shouldn’t be the government’s job to take care of me when I get older. It’s my responsibility and that of my family. The grand solution of personal accounts makes no sense to me. The gove...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This can't be happening! UPN/Paramount finally kills off Star Trek Enterprise . The show was just starting to get good again (I never thought it had gotten all that bad to begin with). Putting it on Friday night up against the SciFi channel heavy hitters was a very good move. There are some fan sites dedicated to saving the show. One of them is EnterpriseProject.org . The links to other fan sites in the Trek Today article don't seem to be working. This is just one more reason why I don't like CBS: TrekToday sources report that CBS president Les Moonves himself yesterday reached the decision to pull the plug on Enterprise. Most Enterprise crew members only found out about their show's cancellation this morning. The only reasons they're not completely on my bad side are JAG and NCIS . Hubby comments on this travesty as well.