Monday, August 24, 2009

Tuckered Out

Ok, I'm defeated.... for today. I'm such a city girl. I was NOT built for the outdoors. I have the day off so this morning I thought, "I'd better get to the gym, then I'll come home and begin homework for my last semester of school." So I did. I went to the gym. It was arm day. Then, on the way home after a great workout I somehow decided that I can't stand the grass growing in our flower beds. I also noticed that the lawn guy hasn't been getting the side of the house. I asked Josh why, and he told the lawn man not to because there were wild flowers planted over there.

There were. Now it's just weeds, stickers and mess. I got the hair-brained idea that I would attempt to remedy the situation myself by weed whacking it all down. I've never used a weed whacker and I got my loving hubby teach me how to put gas in it and start it. Mind you, it's 12:30. Gettin' pretty hot out there and that thing is heavy and my arms are tired!

An hour and a half later, I barely put a dent in this small 8 by 20 area, and I'm feeling a bit faint. I over heated big time and I did the only thing I could do. I gave up. There are goat head stickers all over me. I had to stand outside by the dumpster and nearly surgically remove them from myself. DON'T weed whack stickers!!! I'm sure all you smart people already knew that. I have to learn the hard way. However, to give myself a break I didn't really know there were stickers in that grass till it was too late.

I guess I'll get to that homework now. (after a cold shower of course) I don't think I'll be weed whacking anything again any time soon. I will have to get the lawn mower out when it cools off a bit to get the rest of it. Come to think about it, I may just wait till someone else decides to do it. I'm tuckered out!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

For Such a Time as This....

Ladies of Childress, I will be hosting the new Beth Moore Bible study, Esther, beginning on Monday, Sept 14, at 6pm. We will be meeting on Mondays in the Methodist Fellowship Hall. I'd love to see ladies of all denominations in this class. If you are interested, let me know by Sept 1st so I can order books for everyone. This is going to be so exciting.

Beth Moore's newest Bible study is Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman. Going up against heavyweights bent on her destruction, Esther trusted God and landed a blow that saved her people. The Old Testament story of Esther is a profile in courage and contains many modern parallels for today's woman. Esther's destiny can be yours as you know more deeply the God who is in your corner.

Join Beth in an in-depth and very personal examination of this great story of threat and deliverance. She peels back the layers of history and shows how very contemporary and applicable the story of Esther is to our lives. If you've ever felt inadequate, threatened, or pushed into situations that seemed overpowering, this is the study for you. Just as it was tough being a woman in Esther's day, it's tough today. This portion of God's Word contains treasures to aid us in our hurried, harried, and pressured lives.


email me at karinrjohnson@yahoo.com or call me at 585.7417

Hope to see ya'll there!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Kiss My Astroturf! Healthcare Reform or Just Another Move Toward Socialism?

Let me start by saying that most of the people protesting the Healthcare Reform Bill are conservatives, but there is also a healthy dose of Dems in the mix that feel swindled. What is it that we don't like? We don't like the idea of a government that can't manage Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, the Postal Service, or a cash for clunker program in charge of our healthcare. They also really screwed up Fanny Pack! (oops! I'm mean Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac) Or, it could be that we just think we need a smaller government. Seems like they want control over everything, from banks, car dealers, housing, and now our health!

I know Obama said that you can keep your old health care plan, but did you know that you'll be penalized if you do? Yep, Obama wants to tax your insurance payout. Let's say you have to have surgery that cost $10,000 and your insurance will only pay $5,000. You not only have to come up with the other $5,000 to pay for it, but they want to tax you on the 5 grand your insurance paid like income! The idea is to make it so difficult to keep insurance that you inevitably have to switch over to the government's plan. In one of Obama's speeches, he specifically states that he invisions a single pay government insurance within another 10-15 years.

Of course we're frustrated that our tax dollars will go to those who already take advantage of our government programs, but most of us are really outraged that our tax dollars will go toward funding abortions as well. What? That's right. Our tax dollars would fund abortions. Right now there is nothing in the bill to keep them from using our money in that fashion. You can read the bill yourself. The Dems will tell you that there is no language that specifically says the government will use your money for abortion. This may be true, but there is no language in the bill that prohibits them using your money for it either. Any lawyer will tell you that's a "fishy" loophole. They intentionally left it out so that they can say, "See, we aren't going to do this?" and then later turn around and do just what they said they wouldn't all while saying, "there is nothing in the bill that says we can't." The American Center for Law and Justice is working overtime on Capitol Hill trying to fight this now before it passes. You can sign a petition at https://www.aclj.org/Petition/Default.aspx?sc=3466&ac=1&Zip=*Zip They want to make sure the bill has specific language stating that this money will not go towards abortion.

Now, maybe you are pro-choice and you don't mind your hard earned money being spent this way. That's fine, but don't expect me to go along with it and pay for it. Don't I have rights and a choice too? I choose not to agree. I want that bill to clearly express that tax dollars may not be used to fund abortion. Call me crazy, but I don't see how anything in this bill is good for our nation.

Now all the bill specifics aside, I'm sure you've all seen the "angry mobs" that have turned out at town hall meetings filling your television screen. These people are mad and they are exercising their First Amendment Rights to freedom of speech and right to assemble. I have to say I'm appalled at the remarks Obama and speaker, Nancy Pelosi have given about the public's outrage. They are saying that the GOP is calling on Republicans everywhere to protest. This isn't true. I've been a member of the GOP for a long time and I've never gotten an email or letter urging me to do this. They are calling it "manufactured anger" and Pelosi said we were like "the Astroturf of the grassroots movement!" They want to insenuate that the public isn't really all that mad and that a majority of people are for this. What? As if we need someone to tell us to get mad and protest. As if we can't make decisions on our own? Um no, we REALLY are mad. All on our own! And believe it or not, it's a LOT of people.

It's not really in our conservative blood to rally and protest. That's always been reserved for the lefties, and seems to be one of their strong suits. Yet, finally we have something we feel is important enough for us to protest about and they are calling us crazy! Sheesh. We had to listen to the libs prattle on about how horrible Bush was, and we watched them rally and protest for 8 years. Give us some slack now that the tides have turned. This is complete hipocrasy. So now speaking up and protesting is only allowed by the left?

Final thing for me to rant about tonight; our freedom of speech. Our president is saying that there is a lot of "disinformation" going around about this Healthcare Reform Bill. He's getting scarily old East Germany on us. The White House blog specifically says, "If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov." They want names and email addresses. What are they going to do with this information? Put me on some crazy radicals black list and screen everything I do? Do it! It's not going to stop me from expressing my opinion.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Out with Capitalism, in with Terrorism

Read up... This is totally scary. Do people need to see more attacks on American soil before they wake up? How is this sort of stuff even going on here? It's taking place in Obama's back yard, Chicago. I'm fed up! There is a reason these people are banned from many countries. They are even banned from Arab countries because of their ties with terrorists. -Karin

Group Reportedly Linked to Al Qaeda Holds First U.S. ConferenceSunday, July 19, 2009

Protesters gathered outside a Chicago area hotel Sunday as an Islamic extremist group reportedly linked to Al Qaeda held its first official conference on U.S. soil in an attempt to step up Western recruitment efforts. Members of Hizb ut-Tahrir — a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — met Sunday inside a Hilton hotel to host a conference, "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam. "Hizb ut-Tahrir insists that it does not engage in terrorism, and it is not recognized by the State Department as a known terror group.

But some terrorism experts say it may be even more dangerous than many groups that are on the terror list. "Hizb ut-Tahrir is one of the oldest, largest indoctrinating organizations for the ideology known as jihadism," Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told FOXNews.com. Phares said that Hizb ut-Tahrir, rather than training members to carry out terrorist acts like Al Qaeda, focuses instead on indoctrinating youths between ages of 9 and 18 to absorb the ideology that calls for the formation of an empire — or "khilafah" — that will rule according to Islamic law and condones any means to achieve it, including militant jihad.Hizb ut-Tahrir often says that its indoctrination "prepares the infantry" that groups like Al Qaeda take into battle, Phares said. "It's like a middle school that prepares them to be recruited by the high school, which is Al Qaeda," he said. "One would compare them to Hitler youth. ... It's an extremely dangerous organization. "Phares said Hizb ut-Tahrir has strongholds in Western countries, including Britain, France and Spain, and clearly is looking to strengthen its base in the U.S.

"The aim of this conference is to recruit within the Muslim community in America," he said. "The Middle East governments go after them, but in the U.S. they are protected, so having a base here is going to help their cells around the world. "Representatives of Hizb ut-Tahrir declined to comment when contacted by FOXNews.com. Oren Segal, director of Islamic Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, said the conference is cause for concern. "While they're not, for the most part, engaging in violent activities, and they publicly say that they're against violence, there have been examples around the world where people who have spun off of this group have engaged in violent activity," Segal told FOXNews.com. "That's why they're banned in several Arab and Central Asian countries, as well as Germany and Russia."Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is one of the group's most famous alumni, New Statesman journalist Shiv Malik reported, citing intelligence sources.

In addition to plotting the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he also is implicated in the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, the Bali nightclub bombings and the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.Malik's report, the public policy institute the Nixon Center and the counter-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation agree that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq until he was killed in June 2006, also was once a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. They say other former members include Asif Muhammad Hanif, a British man who blew himself up outside a bar in Tel Aviv, killing four people (including himself) and wounding more than 50; and Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric currently banned from Britain who praised the 9/11 attacks, raised funds for Hezbollah and Hamas and called for attacks on the Dublin airport because U.S. troops transfered there on their way to Iraq.

Segal said Hizb ut-Tahrir is becoming more active online in the U.S. — particularly on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace — and now it may be able to add a significant number of Americans to its ranks. But one place the group will likely not be recruiting is a local Islamic school that backed out of hosting the conference. The non-profit Aqsa school in Bridgeview said Hizb ut-Tahrir had deceptively portrayed the conference as a bazaar-type event where traditional food and clothing would be sold. "They misrepresented themselves and the event. We don't want to be in the middle of something like that," the school's business manager Rana Jaber, told CBS News. The conference's new venue doesn't seem to mind. Hilton Oak Lawn General Manager Rick Harmon said Hizb ut-Tahrir used its own name when it reserved the room for the conference, but the hotel was not aware of the content of the event, which includes lectures entitled "Capitalism is Doomed to Fail," "The Global Rise of Islam," and the "Role of Muslims in America," until after the contract was signed.

Still, Harmon said the hotel is open to all kinds of meetings, that don't necessarily reflect its position or beliefs."We're United States citizens and an American business — if it's legal, we're able to host it, as long as it's nothing that disrupts our other guests' privacy and security," Harmon told FOXNews.com. According to the Khilafah Conference 2009 Web site, the group aims to do neither. "Hizb-ut-Tahrir is convinced that change must start in the minds of people, and therefore does not accept for people, or societies, to be forced to change by means of violence and terror," it reads.The site, which includes a promotional YouTube video, says the group "does not work in the West to change the system of government, but works to project a positive image of Islam to Western society. "But former member Ishtiaq Hussain said Hizb ut-Tahrir is repackaging itself as a moderate organization as a tactic, while in reality it is "extremist."

"They don't recognize countries like Israel, for example; they don’t believe Israel should exist," Hussain, now a trainer for the Quilliam Foundation, told FOXNews.com. "Some of their leaders have denied the Holocaust, and they believe homosexuals should be thrown off the highest building. ... It's actually a very dangerous group."

Hizb ut-Tahrir itself has also published writings that seem to contradict its tenet of non-violence. In his book, "How the Khilafah Was Destroyed," Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zalloom, the former global leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, says anyone who rules by a non-Islamic system should "either retract or be killed ... even if this led to several years of fighting and even if it led to the killing of millions of Muslims and to the martyrdom of millions of believers. "Hizb ut-Tahrir's official ruling on the permissibility of hijacking planes says, "If the plane belongs to a country at war with Muslims, like Israel, it is allowed to hijack it, for there is no sanctity for Israel nor for the Jews in it."

And one of the organization's more recent leaflets, published in March, calls for the declaration of "a state of war against America. "Click here to read the leaflet.But, despite these threats and calls to action, Hizb ut-Tahrir remains off the State Department's terror watch list, and it is free to host the Khilafah Conference and any other event like it. "In other parts of the world where they're really very active, they've drawn tens of thousands of people to some of their events," Segal said."It'll be interesting to see to what degree they'll be welcomed here."FOXNews.com's Diane Macedo contributed to this report.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Adopted kitty gets re-adopted

A few weeks ago I brought home a starving little orange kitten that had been hovering around my mother-in-law, Nita's house. Of course he had to be an outside kitty since my indoor kitty is so used to being an only child. Another reason is because she has feline leukemia and it is transmittable to other cats through body fluids and the sharing of food, water, and litter boxes. I didn't want this new kitty to contract it. So, we had been keeping him in the back yard and I made sure to go out and play with him several times a day and feed and water him.
I hadn't had time to take him to the vet for shots yet. I was going to do that this week when we got back from our trip.

We went to Arkansas for a few days and my dad came over only to feed him once a day. He must have gotten lonely. When we got back my dad said that he hadn't' seen the cat in a two days and I was a little sad, but hoped that he had been taken in by someone since he is such a loving little guy.

Well, the night after we got back I was out watering the veggies when this little orange kitty came running over to me. I could see the excitement on his face. He was so happy I was back. He jumped on me and started purring right away. I noticed a pink flea collar on him with the name Dexter written in marker. I couldn't help but laugh. As it turns out, our neighbor took him in, which is just as well. They have a gray cat that he has befriended. I've seen them cuddling and cleaning each other. Also, they have kids and let him inside, which he can't do here. So, all in all it's for the best. He still comes over when we are working outside and plays with us. He hops in my lap if I'm sitting down. I love the little guy, but he's found a new home. I took all the food I'd bought him next door so they could feed him. Marylin couldn't eat it anyway. She's on a prescription diet. They thought it was kinda funny too. At least he's not so far I never see him. Just a good leap over the fence away.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Marriage...


I have to post about a friend's blog.  She is spot on with her concern for the state of marriages today.  Visit Cowgirl's newest blog here.

I'll post my response to her blog here, but you should really check it out.  She's doing an awesome giveaway for those who participate.  Hooray for free stuff!

Here's what I have to say on the subject...

"Well, I have been praying for marriages too. I feel as though Satan is really working overtime these days in marriages, churches, and relationships in general. 

The best advice I can think of is work hard at communication. Always let your partner know how much they mean to you, and don't take them for granted. Always pray for your spouse every day, even if you're mad. Ask God to help you love them in the way they need to be loved, be patient, sit back, and watch God move. 

I'd have to agree with Amanda that it really helps if you marry your best friend, but if that's not the case, you can make it happen. You have to actively work at spending time with and communicating with your partner. Keep God first in your marriage. 

I've been really blessed and pray for continued blessings in my marriage but I also realize that Satan is always around, and that a broken marriage could happen to anyone. This is why it is so important to pray for your spouse and marriage even when things are going well. It is important to put on the armor of God and stick that shield of faith up every single day."

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Pop goes the Gaga...


It seems that I only feel the need to blog when I'm concerned or irritated about something. So hear goes my latest rant....

Ok, so most of you know that I am completely out of touch with the real world and don't know much about pop culture, by choice, mind you.  We don't have cable or even bunny ears for the TV.  I usually get my daily dose of news on the web.  I don't listen to local radio or anything.  I do peruse myspace and the web a bit just to keep up with some current stuff.  I'm telling you this because you need to know that I am not a reliable source of "what's hot."  I get perplexed easily when it comes to things mainstream.


So, lately I've seen these advertisements for Lady Gaga, and I know that some of you have added her as a friend on one of the social networking sites or have put her songs on your profiles, so I would like to know what it is people like about her.  I just don't get it. 


I decided to see what the hype was all about and I listened to her songs and watched some of her videos earlier.  She's kinda creepy. 


No, she's real creepy...


Did I understand her lyrics correctly?  Does she "want to take a ride on your disco stick?"


What the heck?  Really?  I suppose she'll never be known for her profundity with song titles like, "eh, eh", "Kaboom", "Shake Your Kitty" and "I Like it Rough".  


I was actually disgusted and even more shocked and appalled at the videos.  What a freak show.  She's not selling music... I can tell ya that right now.  I have to admit was a bit embarrassed for her and I felt really sorry for her.  How lost....


This is why I stay as free and clear from pop music as I possibly can.  It just puts me in a bad mood.  I know I'm getting old when I'm asking questions like, "what is this world coming to?"  


So, I'm sorry if I just bashed one of your favorite new songs or "artists", (if you can call her that).  I just don't see any talent other than possibly her impressive flexibility.  


But seriously, if there is something that some one really likes about her, comment back to let me know.  I would truly love to hear it....