There was a time when I wouldn’t have said that under my breath in a howling wind storm, but now I am willing to volunteer it in print. Thank you, Annie, for the gift of your youngest daughter and for meeting me half-way.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Can you recommend another blog or web site I should be following? I already follow (and recommend) Sheep and Goats. From time to time I comment there and occasionally you will find Tom commenting here, as well. We’ve exchanged emails “behind the curtains” and he seems like a genuinely likeable Brother. I’ve also been introduced to “The Ultimate Bible Reference Library” and some other commercial sites such as “Theocratic Ministry School Software”. I use, and recommend, “Service Record” from Savard Software which comes as shareware with a nag-screen. If you hate nag screens as much as I do, you’ll send Br.(?) Savard the (lifetime) registration fee because you won’t want to get rid of the software. By the time you’ve used it for a few months you’ll wonder why it isn’t available over the literature counter. Well it’s not … get over it … but you can get it free online. This program is begging for an open-source simulacrum or Doppelgänger so as to speed translation and feature acquisition.

BTW, as I write this, Tom’s newest post contains the memorable line: “am I really so immodest as to think what is needed in the brotherhood is 7 million carbon copies of ME?” Read the rest of the post and I think you’ll agree that there is a need for all of us to be thinkers.

However, with so much of what a search turns up turning out to be, at best, ‘junk’ after a few pages (apostates and opposers have to show their cards eventually), I could certainly use your help in locating ‘the good stuff’. I’m sure that I have no more than scratched the surface, if that.

I define “The ‘good stuff’” as material that complies with instructions from the Faithful & Discreet Slave regarding the various “do’s and don’ts”.

You may notice that I’ve been steering toward a more open expression of my religious beliefs here. That trend is expected to continue. Along the way I will no doubt alienate some readers while becoming more attractive to others. I read all of the comments appearing here several times a week … so right here is a good place to respond with any recommendations you might have. Feel free to self-recommend, too. If it’s ‘the good stuff’, I’ll say so. If it’s not, I’ll say so.

Right here.

If you like the changes, please spread the word.

– Bill

This is a personal blog. So, with your permission, I’d like to take a moment to get personal with you.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Just this month Forbes called Monsanto heroes.

(hack, cough, cough) Balderdash. I try not to use stronger words, but they would certainly apply.

I should probably post this link on my long-neglected organic gardening blog and, after I post it here, I might just do that.

But this blog gets somewhat more traffic and I think that this video, about the effects of chemical farming in India is instructive. I know that your time is valuable. I’m asking for 30 minutes of it with the promise that I will not waste that 30 minutes. Start by viewing the film for the first 26 minutes.

Click here to read on, my friend.

I just had a really good day that I am thankful for. It was busy, productive, included good friends, a couple of laughs and some cookies.

What’s not to like about a day like that?

Click here to read on, my friend.

Let your voice be heard, whether or not it is to the taste of every
jack-in-office who may be obstructing the traffic. By all means, render unto
Caesar that which is Caesar's -- but this does not necessarily include
everything that he says is his.
      -- Denis Johnston, _The Brazen Horn_

At what point does submission to God and to the “superior authorities” part company?

Try to be specific in your comments. Give guidance, not shadow.

What do you call a man who says one thing and does another?

What do you call a religion that preaches one thing but does another?

What if that religion preached peace, but endorsed war?

Click here to read on, my friend.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227063.800-swine-flu-the-predictable-pandemic.html

Have you bought into the (lack of) news in re: swine flu yet? Lots of people have. They’re calling the people who expressed fears about its scope ‘hysterical’.

Now that a Democrat is president, we aren’t hearing about the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq like we were before, either. So what stopped … the dying or the reporting?

Click here to read on, my friend.

Last fall, on one of those almost-warm autumn afternoons that Michiganders relish so much, with leaves changing and just a bit of chill in the air, a little girl in a frilly dress, sweater and patent leather shoes ran toward me in the parking lot. As I knelt to meet her, she launched herself into my arms and wrapped her arms in a death grip around my neck. I scooped her up and stood with her, swaying back and forth like we always did … or would, if we had ever hugged before.

Click here to read on, my friend.

“DPS fails kids, fed school chief says” – Detroit News, 2/14/09 front page

Well, much as we agree with that statement, Mr. Arne Duncan, Education Secretary under President Obama, was quoted as saying “I am extraordinarily concerned about the poor quality of education, quite frankly, the children of Detroit are receiving. I lose sleep over that one.”

Quite frankly, Mr. Duncan, what little credibility you once had, evaporated the moment you unloaded that lie on us. Click here to read on, my friend.