Each Day Already is a Challenge

Wednesday - Weird and Wired

Okay. I feel like doo-doo today. Both physically - the fibro flare-up is still in progress. And emotionally. I should have gone to the church for a few hours today for my volunteer time.

I should also go across town for two hours this afternoon. I have another consumer panel/study where I can earn $150 for two hours of my time - talking about toothpaste and toothbrushes. Not an exciting topic to me, but the money would help.

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I had the TV on this morning and saw the newest commercial against Wal-Mart by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. It got my attention. Here's the website home page: http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/

And here's the link for the latest ad: http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/video/beapatriot.html

I haven't done much shopping at Wal-Mart myself since mid-2003. I didn't shop at Wal-Mart at all when I was living in Michigan and have only been there once since I arrived in Cincinnati at the end of 2004.

Years ago, when I traveled all over Florida selling and recruiting for House of Lloyd/Christmas Around the World, it bothered me that, as I drove down the highways, the only way to tell that I had entered a new county or a new town was that there was another Wal-Mart. They bought former farm land to put those stores on the highways. In town after town, I noticed fewer people shopping in the quaint, little town shops and more and more people in those Wal-Marts. That bothered me even back then and I avoided shopping at the big stores and faithfully shopped at the smaller mom and pop stores.

The ad I saw today says that Wal-Mart is buying more and more from China. And that China is selling weapons to Afghanistan, weapons that kill our U.S. troops.

I don't know about you, but I'm rather wary about merchandise from China any more. First it was a food recall. Then a dog food recall. Most recently, there has been a tire recall. People didn't know that their new SUVs had tires from China. I guess that explains why they fell apart and why some people died.

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Do you ever read World Magazine? It's a weekly magazine, much like Newsweek, except with a Christian slant. If you cannot afford a subscription, perhaps your library has copies. Or you can see the latest news at http://www.wordmag.com

In an essay by Marvin Olasky, we're reminded that George W. Bush is trying to return Washington to the principles of our founding fathers.

It also reminds us that George Washington said in 1789:

"Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." Washington also said - as many of our founding fathers did - that if Americans stopped believing in God, the nation was in big trouble.

This article also points to a book by Stephen Mansfield called Ten Tortured Words: How the Founding Fathers Tried to Protect Religion in America...and What's Happened Since. Sounds like a book I'm going to seek out.

Another great excerpt from the recent issue:

By Nancy Tishler, Professor Emerita of English at Pennsylvania State University, and author of studies in Scripture and ligerature: "When Paul told the Philippians to try chewing some tough meat, he meant something deeper than the feel-good theology of a satisfied people. Rathen than baby's milk, too many Christians settle for cotton candy or angel food cake, when they should be seeking to understand suffering and God's mercy."