My bonus room is a dump.  Well, a dumping ground, at least. Our intent has always been to use it as a guest room/kid playroom/media room, but instead, it seems to get filled with outgrown clothing, toys from yesteryear, and the general flotsam and jetsam of 21st century suburban, family-of-four life.  It has become a kind of "stuff" purgatory, where things that aren't of immediate use to us, but may still have life for another person or purpose, get placed until we get a spare moment (ha!) to decide their fate.

Of course, those moments seldom arrive, and essentially we end up with an entire room of the house devoted to storage vs. any practical or enjoyable use. And storage of things we don't even want or need anymore.

So it was with great delight that the kids and I began tackling the boxes and piles and bags today.  We sorted the clothes and loaded them up-- one set ready to go to the neighbors and another set delivered to our local church charity ministry.  We went through old school papers and child-art, and were ruthless in keeping only those 2 or 3 pieces that really had emotional or sentimental resonance.  We gave away a half dozen board games, most played with only once or twice and one still in its original wrappings, and we organized and re-dressed and re-capitated a good 15-16 Barbies, which my daughter has not looked at for at least 2 years or longer-- the last time the Barbies held any entertainment value for her, she and a few of her friends decided it would be great fun to stip off all the Barbie clothes and try to put them on the Beanie Babies instead, and just for fun while they were at it, carefully separate each Barbie-body from the long-blonde-haired Barbie-head.  It was a bit unsettling, let me tell you, to come across an entire bin of naked, headless Barbie dolls.

But at the end of the day, there are some clean spaces, both in the physical room and in my housekeeping-consciousness.  There are items now in the hands of people who can enjoy them. And it's great to think that soon again I can be using that room for guests intead of guilt.

So what are you cleaning up or cleaning out?  What's in your own corners and piles, both real and emotional?  How's your summer going?  And as always, what are you drinking, and what's for dinner?  This is an open thread.

It's getting billed as a major new development, but really it's more of a continuation with a few tweaks:

Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.

Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday in Zanesville, Ohio, at Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services.

"The challenges we face today ... are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "We need all hands on deck."

[editor's note, by PoliSigh] I have a very early morning today--see you tomorrow!


Please join our community in prayer.  Just leave your prayer requests and pray for the requests of the community. I welcome all people to join in as the power of prayer/good energy is undeniable.

If you have any favorite prayers or passages or quotes or meditations, please send them to me to share, meeshka1@msn dot com

Please do not argue about the requests of others--you may do that elsewhere!!! If you wish to offer comments of support--please do so! If you choose to rate prayer requests, I like to use a "4" as an AMEN! If you disagree with a request, please just refrain from rating--this is a place where people need to feel they can reveal and unburden their hearts without being criticized. Should any trolls come our way, just surround them with prayer.

Prayer requests remain on the list based upon my judgment.  Removing requests is my decision.  I have no hard and fast rules--I simply act when the list seems to get too long or it seems the request no longer applies.  If I take one off which you would like to remain, please simply request it again.  If the request can be removed earlier, please let me know.  I'm sure we all would appreciate an update.

Thank you!

There's more:

I don't blame him, nobody really understands us, not even us. But this is not quite right:

As James Dobson has inartfully pointed out, Obama is not a traditional evangelical when it comes to biblical interpretation and certain moral issues. But this should hardly surprise us, since Obama has never claimed to be. He came to faith in the United Church of Christ, one of America's defining liberal denominations -- the first to ordain women (in 1853) and to endorse same-sex marriage (in 2005). Obama is properly understood as a man of the religious left, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. According to a recent poll by Calvin College's Henry Institute, Obama has expanded his appeal among mainline Protestants (who, it is often forgotten, are traditionally Republican). But he also seems determined to call an evangelical bluff: Since you now praise King as a model of religious involvement in politics, you need at least to consider me.

In fact, as I've said many times before, while the UCC has many liberal aspects to it - including the national setting, which is where it gets its progressive image - there are many very traditional or even conservative types in the denomination.

Witness a conversation I had with a couple of guys from Salem last week:

MEMBER #1: Have you heard all this baloney about not drilling in the Arctic because they want to protect the caribou and the bears? We're paying $4.00 a gallon here, we've got all this oil we're sitting on, and they're not doing nothing!

ME: Uh, actually, it would take about 17 years for that oil to make it to market, and even then it would only change prices by a penny or two.

MEMBER #1: So what? We're going to need that oil sooner or later!

MEMBER #2: Yeah, I don't trust that Lambada guy. You just can't believe anything he says.

ME: Obama. His name is Obama.

MEMBER #1: Lambada or Obama, whatever. He's just like all the rest of them. I'm not voting for him or McCain. I'm going to write in Daffy Duck or just leave it blank.

ME: Okay...

As you can tell, elitist academic leftists abound in our church.

Anyway, Gerson also implies that Obama is reaching out beyond the UCC to mainline Protestants, which is of course silly. We are mainliners, and up until recently, we leaned more Republican than Democrat, just like everybody else (except the UU's).

But that's changing now. Mainline Protestants have swung away from the GOP, and it seems unlikely that they're coming back any time soon. In other words, Obama's not moving from left to center - he's staying in the middle, exactly where he and his denomination have always been.

Welcome to Coffee Hour, that minute or ten twenty where we savor a cup of something soothing, grab a snack, and chat with our fellow Prophecy Street residents about matters great and small. If you're new to the Street, welcome! Take one of the special mugs or cups (red white & blue this week), give us a hearty hello! and we'll make extra sure to greet you!

I'm very excited about this week... I love fireworks, AND we have guest coming into town to go see them with us.  Now, going to the fireworks may not sound like a big deal, but we're going to the Esplanade in Boston to see them. We won't get seats to see the Boston Pops; no, those go waaaaaaaaay early, and we have two kids to drag with us. No, we'll wait til maybe 10am, and go get seats on the banks of the Charles River, right in front of where the fireworks barge is parked.  We then occupy ourselves until night falls. It's been a decade since we had people willing to go!!

The next day, I'll be inworld in Second Life for a fireworks display over the Statue of Liberty. I've seen a preview and they are indeed spectacular.

What are your plans for the US Independence Day holiday?

I might just as well beat my head against a wall as argue with the folks at UCCTruths, but for this begs for response:

For starters, I'm not advocating for torture at all - it is completely immoral and it is wrong. All I'm saying is that the timing of John Thomas' statement on torture is suspicious since this isn't an issue of public dispute and there are no new allegations of torture. Further, as a country we crossed a moral threshold long ago when we decided that a war was necessary. Excuse me if I see a big moral difference between a belly slap and killing someone. Basic logic to me, but not to Pastor Dan.

As far as Abu Ghraib goes, Pastor Dan is completely right and the perpetrators were rightfully prosecuted. It also has nothing to do with Thomas speaking out now.

McCain hearts Osteen

McCain's transformation is so complete that at a recent town-hall meeting in Nashville, when asked to name an author who inspired him, the candidate — who once described televangelists of the Jerry Falwell genus as "agents of intolerance" — put none other than Joel Osteen at the top of his list. "He's inspirational," McCain said.

 More of this outrage below...

let us pray* for our community, the world, and all those in need.

Matthew 10:40-42

You know, sometimes I think that we make our faith too complicated. We talk about how you have to believe this and think that and behave just so, or you won't get into Heaven.

God, meanwhile, says it's as simple a glass of cold water. Don't overthink it.

Here's the situation: Jesus sends his disciples out into the world on their training mission. As they go, he tells them that things won't always be easy for them. People are mean, is the bottom line. But if anyone so much as gives you a cup of water, Jesus says, they're in. They just made the cut for salvation, because they're not just welcoming you, they're welcoming me. And they're not just welcoming me, they're welcoming God.

Don't overthink it. Take the cup of water and bless them. Chalk it up as a win. You done good.

The message is equally clear for readers such as us, looking over the disciples' shoulders, as it were. Be good to one another, be good to those who come to you in the name of God. That's all. Offer one another a cup of cold water on a hot day, how much easier could God make it to get into heaven?

Now, having said that, I've pretty much given you the primary point of my sermon. That leaves us with about another 14 minutes and 30 seconds to fill, and there's really no advantage in expounding on a very simple idea. So let me tell you a couple of stories to fill out the point.

Still grey and gloomy here.  I am starting to mold....yick.  Everything feels damp.  I did have an excellent day yesterday with Common Sense Mainer and Bill in Portland Maine!  We met in Freeport, world headquarters of L.L.Bean. We had a yummy lunch and then shopped--I went to a little British Import shoppe where I found my all time favorite cookies, Bourbon Cremes.  They are a less sweet version of oreos.  I also got some Digestives and Cadbury Milk Chocolate and Fruit bars--the American ones are not nearly as good as the ones from Great Briton!  I think it's the milk or something.  I also found a couple of cute "Life is Good" T-Shirts.  We went into Beans and then headed back to Portland.  I got to see Molly and Vegas!  Molly and I had a great time playing and getting kisses.  I had a top on which has ribbons sewn down from the shoulder to about the midriff, then they hang from there.  When we got to CSM and BiPM's, Molly didn't see me at first coming up the stairs as she was intent on getting outside--she spotted me and stopped on a dime, and then lifted her head--her nose got all tangled in the ribbons from my blouse--she looked sooooo cute with all these ribbons on her face!  She then gave me a kiss!  Vegas is looking great!  We talked and laughed for a while and then I had to get going to get back to my girls.  It was so good to spend time with good friends.  CSM is now a non-smoker, but it is still hard.  Please say a prayer for his resolve.  

I need to get to Mom's to do a couple of things for her and maybe tomorrow get paint so I can get started at my house.  I picked out colors for the rooms--and I need tile mastic for tiling the backsplash at Mom's. I will post photos when I get done!

How is your weekend going?  What are you up to????  Grab some coffee or whatever and sit and chat for a while.

Even by McCain standards, this is pretty outrageous.  McCain fights against the bill to increase GI benefits -- in fact, nearly kills it.  Then, when it passes the Senate, McCain doesn't even show up to vote.  Then, after it's done, he boasts about "we" have accomplished.  Obama, by the way, supported and showed up in the Senate to vote for the bill.  

Stop!  My sides are hurting!  This is toooooo funny!
Larry Craig and David Vitter — “two United States Senators implicated in extramarital sexual activity” — have named themselves as co-sponsors of S.J. Res. 43, the Marriage Protection Amendment. If passed, the bill would amend the Constitution to declare that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”

Weekend edition, because it's happenin'!  See below.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with some people?

I think it's a disingenuous statement since the harshest treatment now is "longtime standing". If there are new allegations, it might be worth exploring but to make it an issue now makes it clear to me that this a political fight, not a moral one.

But since we are on the topic and there is little substance on what United Church of Christ John Thomas is actually whining about... here is the list of the types of torture we have done:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. The Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Longtime Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

6. Waterboarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

The moral argument against torture is also disingenuous at this point because we are in a war where we are aiming guns at people and blowing their heads clean off their shoulders. If we as a country accept that this is a morally wrong but necessary thing to do, than I'm quite a bit less sensitive to concerns about a belly slap and I haven't honestly explored it's moral implications.

Having lost the debate on the war seven years ago, Thomas is left with complaining about torture which, in the context of a war where we kill people, is simply a meaningless wedge issue.

All that and a picture of the Three Stooges going at it, ha, ha, ha!