Farewell, Grandmomma

My husband's grandmother passed away today. She was 82 and a Christian so it is bittersweet. We will certainly miss her.

Blogwise you will not hear from me for a while as we are travelling out of state for the funeral.

Single Mom on Purpose

Ann Colter (whom I generally find too caustic) has a good article in which she compares the MSM's reaction to smoking and being a single mom on purpose (as opposed to divorced or widowed). Here are some quotes:

According to hysterical anti-smoking zealots at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking costs the nation $92 billion a year in "lost productivity." (Obviously these conclusions were produced by people who not only have never smoked, but also don't know any smokers, who could have told them smoking makes us 10 times more productive.)

Meanwhile, single motherhood costs taxpayers about $112 billion every year, according to a 2008 study by Georgia State University economist Benjamin Scafidi.

Smoking has no causal relationship to crime, has little effect on others and -- let's be honest -- looks cool. Controlling for income, education and occupation, it causes about 200,000 deaths per year, mostly of people in their 70s.

Single motherhood, by contrast, directly harms children, occurs at a rate of about 1.5 million a year and has a causal relationship to criminal behavior, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, sexual victimization and almost every other social disorder.

First, the reason the children "tend to grow up poor" is that their mothers considered it unnecessary to have a primary bread-earner in the family.

Second, the Times simply made up the fact that poverty, rather than single motherhood, causes anti-social behavior in children. Poverty doesn't cause crime -- single mothers do. If poverty caused crime, how did we get Bernie Madoff?

Studies -- including one by the liberal Progressive Policy Institute -- have shown that controlling for factors such as poverty and socioeconomic status, single motherhood accounts for the entire difference in black and white crime rates.

God's plan is always better. He planned for children to have a mother and a father. Our children deserve at least that.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Justice Ginsburg (a Bill Clinton appointee and the Supreme Court's only woman) under went surgery for pancreatic cancer. According to this article, pancreatic cancer is tough to beat. Though Justice Ginsburg has already beaten colon cancer. And I certainly don't wish her ill. In fact, I hope that she has a speedy recovery.

But all of this does raise the question, should she have to step down, what kind of a person would Pres. Obama nominate? Maybe I should be more specific. How far left is he willing to nominate?

Appearances

I have been listening to Christian radio lately. One thing really struck me. About 75% of the ads have to do with appearances. There are wrinkle cures, hair removal, baldness cures, weight loss commercials, etc. This got me thinking. Just how much should Christians be concerned about their appearance? I understand that people often judge us by our appearance. But how much should Christians care what others think? Now I am not advocating just letting yourself go and being as disgusting as possible. But when do fashion and outward beauty become idols or stumbling blocks?

Two Questions

1. Is God against global harmony? When the world was in complete agreement, they started building the Tower of Babel. Part of the reason God disturbed their languages is because He did not want all people to have a united mind.

2. What is the difference between Heaven and the Garden of Eden? If there had been no fall, Adam and Eve would have lived forever. (Hence the guarding of the Tree of Life.) They were in perfect communion with God. The only difference I can think of is marriage. (Jesus specifically says that their will be no marriage in Heaven.)

So I would love to hear your thoughts on these two questions.