I just wanted to let my friends know that we will be traveling beginning tomorrow. We will be driving more than 3000 miles over the next week and half. Your prayers are appreciated! I’ll be checking in as much as possible and replying to the comments I haven’t had a chance to get to yet.
I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas. We’ll try and take some fun pictures of our journey to share. Peace and Joy. 
I would if it were closer. From FoxNews.com:
PHILADELPHIA — A small sign that asked customers to order in English at a famous cheesesteak shop was never meant to be offensive, the shop’s owner testified Friday at a hearing to decide whether the policy was discriminatory.
I’m sorry, this is a private business. Last I checked, people like Joe Vento, founder of Geno’s Cheese Steaks, have rights too. Why should he be forced to hire bilingual employees? I just think it’s stupid, if the sign says speak English, and you don’t, then eat somewhere else or bring an interpretor.
Joe Vento, the owner of Geno’s Steaks, defended his policy before the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which filed the discrimination complaint.
“This country is a melting pot, but what makes it work is the English language,” Vento told the commission. “I’m not stupid. I would never put a sign out to hurt my business.”
Vento posted two small signs in October 2005 at his shop in a diverse South Philadelphia neighborhood, telling customers, “This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING PLEASE ‘SPEAK ENGLISH.’”
He said Friday that he posted the sign because of concerns over the debate on immigration reform and the increasing number of people from the area who could not order in English.
But he said he also wanted to keep the line moving at his busy store.
Of course, libtards relate everything to Jim Crow laws in the south:
Camille Charles, a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, testified that Vento’s signs harken back to the “Whites only” postings of the Jim Crow era.
“The signs give a feeling of being unwelcome and being excluded,” Charles said.
I speak fairly decent English, though I admit to using the word freaking way too much. However, I’ve been to numerous private businesses where I feel unwelcome and excluded. Private businesses will not experience success if this is the norm, and if they are successful, it won’t be my money making them that way. However, I’m just glad I speak English so the next time I’m in Philly and hankering for a cheese steak, I won’t slow the line down.
UPDATE: Great minds blog alike.
A must read from the Denver Post:
Bourbonnais, who was among those shot by a gunman Sunday at New Life Church, watched as a security guard, a woman later identified as Jeanne Assam, calmly returned fire and killed the shooter.
“She just started walking toward the gunman firing the whole way,” said Bourbonnais, who was shot in the arm. “She was just yelling ‘Surrender,’ walking and shooting the whole time.”
Wow. Amazing first hand testimony. I recommend reading the entire article. It’s not very long and quite astonishing.
UPDATE: Would the MSM try and dig up dirt on this heroine? You bet they would! Hat tip Lucianne poster.
The president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis says police were investigating a complaint that Assam swore at a bus driver while she was handling an incident on a city bus. He says Assam denied that she swore at the driver, but her actions were caught on tape.
Ruh Roh Shaggy! She swore?! I loved what one commenter at Lucianne had to say about this travesty:
Well I guess they did not fire her for a lack of coolness under fire or inability to hit a target under fire.
How does her past problem have an impact on her current behavior. Dirt throwing clowns.
I was wondering why the MSM wasn’t covering this much. It took them a bit to dig up some dirt. Freaking morons.
From the Denver Post:
The guard who saved untold lives at New Life Church gives credit to God for giving her cover, and boosting her firepower as she shot a heavily-armed gunman.
“I give credit to God. I say that very humbly,” said Jeanne Assam. “God was with me, the whole time I was behind cover. Based on the firepower he had, compared to mine.”
Assam spoke at a press conference in Colorado Springs this afternoon. She is one of about 12 armed security officers at New Life Church, according to Pastor Brady Boyd.
She responded when Matthew Murray, 24, began targeting church members in Colorado Springs, after a
rampage hours earlier in Arvada in which two missionary training center staff members were killed and two were injured. Two teenagers at New Life were fatally shot, and three others injured before Assam could shoot Murray.
She calmly described how the incident unfolded.
“I heard shots fired, there was chaos,” she said. “There was a lot of people in the church. People were running away from shots fired.
“I saw him coming through the doors, and I took cover, and I waited for him to get closer…I identified myself, engaged him, and took him down.”
She spoke unemotionally, but the first words she said were in tribute to the victims.
“I just want you to know it’s an honor to be here and I want to extend my sympathy to the families of the victims and of the gunman. And I mean that very sincerely,” she said.
“I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me my hands weren’t even shaking.”
God bless her. She is a hero.
Sphere: Related ContentVery sad news from the Denver Post:
The two victims who died after the shooting at New Life Church in Colorado Springs are teenage sisters, and the girls’ father was also shot, according to police.
Colorado Springs police released the names of shooting victims this morning.
The two killed at the church are sisters Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16, police said. The girls were home-schooled, according to a district spokesperson.
Also, from the same article:
The shooter was shot and killed by a volunteer security guard at the church, said Boyd.
Boyd said the security guard, a woman with a law enforcement background, whom he did not identify, encountered the gunman in a hallway at the church and fired on him, saving many lives.
“He had enough ammunition on him to cause a lot of damage,” Boyd said.
Boyd said the gunman has no ties to the church.
“It was just absolutley random,” Boyd said. “A senseless random attack.”
Praise God for that courageous lady.
My most sincere sympathy to the families who lost loved ones in this tragic ordeal.
Sphere: Related Content
UPDATE 3: From the Coloradoan.com via Slapstick Politics:
The gunman was shot and killed by a female member of the church’s armed security staff, the source said. Four people were shot, and the source did not know their conditions or whether the shooter was one of the four. A SWAT team was searching the building for an explosive device, but the source could not confirm any details.
Now, I’ve got to get to bed. Please relay any updates you find as I’ll be working all day tomorrow. It is also now known that a teenage girl was killed in the CO Springs shootings. May God comfort them.
UPDATE 2: I’m watching Fox News and the report is that New Life Church in Colorado Springs has armed guards, and it was an armed guard that shot the killer. Thank God! Thank God they did not have to wait on police to arrive!
Rocky Mountain News has the story:
A gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Colorado Springs church today, hitting four people, the church’s pastor said.
The conditions of the people shot outside the New Life Church were not known, El Paso County Sheriff’s Lt. Lari Sevene said.
Lance Coles, a pastor at New Life Church, told The Associated Press he received a report that a man was shooting at people in the church parking lot and that the gunman may have entered the church shortly after 1 p.m.
Police believe the shooter may be “down” inside the church’s main sanctuary.
Officers said one person was detained in the investigation, but wouldn’t confirm a statement from a church official that the lone gunman was dead. Hundreds remained locked in church buildings as police conducted what they said was a precautionary search for additional gunmen, police Lt. Fletcher Howard said.
It was unknown what condition the victims were in or how many were shot. New Life Associate Pastor Rob Brendle said there were fewer than 10 victims.
So much missing information in the entire story. Please let me know if you hear anything new regarding this murderous spree.
It was not immediately known whether the shootings were related to an earlier shooting about 70 miles away in Arvada. There, two people died and two were wounded early today when a gunman opened fire in a dormitory at a missionary training center on the campus of Faith Bible Chapel.
Of course, the article also mentions the church in CO is the same one Ted Haggard pastored and doesn’t fail to list the offenses against him. Sorry, that ticks me off and has NOTHING to do with a killer shooting people, possibly in two different CO locations. Just the media getting their jabs in. Freaking RETARDED!
Is CO a conceal and carry state? Are the police responsible for the downed gunman inside the New Life Church sanctuary, or an armed civilian? So many questions … please, bring any updates here as you find them out. Also, link your sources. In the meantime, if you are a prayer, pray for the victims of this terrible ordeal and their families.
Here’s the link regarding the first shooting.
UPDATE: Slapstick Politics has the story going too. They even have a moonbat commenter over there:
So the shooter killed only two and wounded two others. Too bad he didn’t have more time to get some more. Religious missionaries are very legitimate targets since they stick their noses into other people’s private religious affairs. America needs more shootings like this in the future to put the religious fanatics and loonies in their place.
It is difficult for me to imagine the degree of hate the commenter above has. The victims are good people with a heart to help others. The commenter has a black heart full of evil.
Sphere: Related ContentWell, actually the AP is reporting at MSNBC.com, but I am asking your opinion on the matter.
HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Hershey Co. said Friday it is considering changes to the design of a mint that
Philadelphia police say looks nearly identical to a tiny heat-sealed bag used to sell powdered street drugs.
Apparently the street thug drug dealers have the market on the design?
Hershey at first rejected the police claims. “The product is clearly labeled with product identification, ingredients and nutritional information and is clearly branded as an Ice Breakers item,” the company said in a statement earlier this week.
Ice Breakers Pacs, which first hit store shelves last month, are nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside. The pouches come in blue or orange and bear the Ice Breakers logo.
Police warn of the danger:
The firm said Friday the mints were never intended to resemble anything — but the similarity was so striking that longtime veterans of Philadelphia’s police narcotics squad were fooled when they saw the mints.
Philadelphia police Chief Inspector William Blackburn last week said the mints glorify the drug trade. And he warned that the resemblance could have consequences if, for example, a child familiar with the mints swallows a heat-sealed bag of cocaine.
Well, what about those unfortunate children familiar with the cocaine packets accidentally swallowing a packet of ice-breakers?
“If Hershey is considering changes, that’s a good thing, that’s the prudent thing to do,” Blackburn said Friday. “And that’s what we wanted — we wanted to prevent a tragedy.”
Maybe if we sealed the freaking border and stopped imprisoning border agents trying to do their job, their might not be so many little cocaine packets floating around? Just an idea.
Seriously, there can be a variety of views on this and I’d like to hear yours. I mean, I’m a little naive to tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell powdered street drugs. Is Hershey as naive as myself?
Sphere: Related ContentGood for Reverend Creflo Dollar! Sorry folks, I’ve kept silent on this issue long enough. I happen to enjoy many of the ministries who have been probed by the invasive Senator Grassley. I think Creflo has answered correctly.
A lawyer for preacher Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church International in suburban Atlanta has asked Sen. Charles Grassley to either refer the matter to the IRS or get a subpoena, according to a letter from Dollar’s attorney obtained Wednesday by the AP.
Continuing from the article:
Grassley emphasized the other five still have time. The senator also reiterated that his probe “has nothing to do with church doctrine” and is strictly concerned with making sure the tax-exempt groups are following the law.
Well, if that’s the case, how is this Grassley’s or the US Senate’s business? Wrong agency. Creflo has it right — the IRS should be handling this. You would think someone basically inviting the IRS to take a look at things is on the up and up and most likely have their T’s crossed and their I’s dotted.
Also, many of you may take issues with the Gospel of Prosperity, so to speak. However, I see no where in the Word indicating that God wants us poor. To me, prosperity is clearly included in the Gospel, but I’m unwilling to debate it because it doesn’t matter to me if you agree or not. I think it’s obvious that it is impossible to spread the Gospel without money. These particular ministries have huge followings or congregations. When someone is the CEO of a private business, they earn a large salary. I see know reason why men and women of God shouldn’t earn the same. Not to mention, these ministries have huge overhead and employ hundreds of people per ministry.
You can save your holier than thous they’re in the ministry and shouldn’t flaunt their money speeches. If you don’t like it, don’t give to them. It’s a free country, people can support whatever ministries they choose. Oh, but they take advantage of the elderly and those on fixed incomes?! Phooey! Gambling casinos that send buses to retirement centers the day social security checks arrive are taking advantage of the elderly on fixed incomes. Jump on that bandwagon.
Most of the people who are whining about people getting taken advantage of are selfish idiots upset that someone in their family gives to a particular ministry instead of giving them the money.
Oh, and if you think I’m denying that there are ministries doing things wrong financially, you would be incorrect. I realize those situations exist, and I know God can deal with it. He’s big enough. Christians attacking other Christians can become ridiculous. Many times, these same denominational ministries doing the attacking and finger pointing are the exact same denominational ministries who are apologizing to the freaking muslim community for offending them; calling that vile cult the religion of peace. I’m one that believes we should choose our battles a little more wisely.
Also, critics never look at all the wonderful things these ministries do. Kenneth Copeland ministries played a huge role in Louisiana after Katrina. Did the MSM cover that? I think not.
That felt good. I feel liberated! Now, where’s my checkbook … anyone standing up for their Constitutional rights such as Reverend Creflo Dollar makes me just want to write a check! :) Join in if you feel the Spirit move you!
We need to pray for the people in Omaha — especially victims and relatives of victims.
UPDATE: Very strange coincidence. I heard Debora Maruca-Kovac, a surgical nurse at Nebraska Medical Center, being interviewed by some guy on CNN before we left for church tonight. Funny thing, she forgot to mention that, “Oh by the way, the kid who shot these people today has been living with my family over the last year.” The CNN guy had no clue when he had her on the phone earlier. Typical homicidal maniac:
Though he had his troubles, Hawkins was gentle and loved animals, Maruca-Kovac said.
But he also had a drinking problem and would occasionally smoke marijuana in his bedroom, she said. Hawkins liked to listen to music and play video games “normal teenager stuff,” she said.
“He was a very helpful young man, but he was quiet,” Maruca-Kovac said. “He didn’t cause a lot of trouble. He tried to help out all the time. He was very thankful for everything. He wasn’t a violent person at all.”
Call me cynical, but I don’t believe a word of it.
UPDATE: HotAir has a thread going on the incident
UPDATE 2: I enjoy this blog and PTG has a great post regarding this tragedy. Sample:
I don’t understand why any self-respecting citizen would let a store or mall policy take away their natural right to self defense by force of arms, whether such right is deemed guaranteed by the US Constitution or not. I‘ll not be reduced to “huddling in a corner” as David Codrea at War on Guns describes today’s victim’s plight.
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Comment of the Week!
Ah ha! I didn’t forget! (Mostly because I set an alert to remind myself with Outlook and am writing this Thursday night prior to hitting the sack.)
Yay!! It’s Friday!!! Always remember, EVERYONE is a winner that comments at Sunflower Desert (except for libtards).
Anyway, I thought it would be fun for the winner to be our favorite atheist elephant commenting on my Creflo Dollar tells Senator Grassley where he can put it post:
Remember how to play:
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