28,000 emails brings God back to the Washington Monument

28 THOUSAND!!! Wow. Just wow.

Park Service restores 'God' at Washington Monument

In response to public protest sparked by an exclusive WND report, the National Park Service today told WND it is rebuilding the display of the replica of the cap on the Washington Monument so that the Latin inscription "Laus Deo" – meaning "Praise be to God" – is no longer obscured from public view.

As WND reported, Pastor Todd DuBord of Lake Almanor Community Church in California noticed the problem with the current display during a recent visit to Washington and wrote to the Park Service requesting that the problem be fixed.

The actual 100-ounce aluminum cap on the peak of the 555-foot stone monolith includes engravings on its four sides. Since the inscriptions are not legible from the ground, the Park Service displayed a replica inside the monument but placed the side with "Laus Deo" against a wall so it couldn't be seen.

David Barna, director of communications and public affairs for the Park Service in Washington, told WND the original placement of the replica was a mistake and the concealment of the reference to God wasn't intentional.

He said the Park Service got 28,000 e-mails today raising the issue.

"It was stupid," he told WND. "We're going to fix it.

Collin Raye - The Gift

My wife and I sang this at our wedding in May of 1999.

America's Christian heritage bulldozed by Washington again...

...and again...

Now, God banished from Washington Monument

The National Park Service has banished God from a key display of America's Christian heritage in Washington, and a California pastor who regularly leads teams of visitors to see markers of the nation's religious history wants Him restored.

The reference is an engraving of "LAUS DEO," which is Latin for "Praise be to God," and is on the east side of the 100-ounce aluminum cap of the Washington Monument.

Since the actual inscription on the cap, which on the other three sides provides other information, is unviewable atop the 555-foot stone column, the National Park Service has created a replica, which is on display inside the white-colored obelisk of marble, granite and sandstone.

...

But the following photo, from this year, shows how the cap replica has been straightened and moved close to the wall so that visitors are unable to see the inscription at all, a point raised by Pastor Todd DuBord of Lake Almanor Community Church following his recent visit in Washington.

...

After returning home, DuBord investigated, and found that not only had the cap replica been repositioned, the description also was edited to remove God.

The 2000 description, he said, was:

APEX OF THE MONUMENT Reproduction The builders searched for an appropriate metal for the apex that would not tarnish and would act as a lightning rod. They chose one of the rarest metals of the time, aluminum. The casting was inscribed with the phrase, Laus Deo, (Praise be to God).

The last sentence was edited out for the 2007 display, he said, which includes only:

CAP OF THE MONUMENT Reproduction The builders searched for appropriate metal for the cap that would not tarnish and would act as a lightning rod. They chose one of the rarest metals of the time – aluminum.

Flag-folding recitations for vets banned because of religious content

Complaints about religious content have led to a ban on flag-folding recitations by Veterans Administration employees and volunteers at all 125 national cemeteries. It all started because of one complaint about the ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery in California.

During thousands of military burials, the volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors. For example, the 12th fold glorifies "God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost."

The complaint revolved around the narration in the 11th fold, which celebrates Jewish war veterans and "glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

The National Cemetery Administration decided to ban the entire recital at all national cemeteries. Details of the complaint weren't disclosed.

...

Veterans and honor detail volunteers, including Bobby Castillo, 85, and Rees Lloyd, 59, are furious. "That the actions of one disgruntled, whining, narcissistic and intolerant individual is preventing veterans from getting the honors they deserve is truly an outrage," Lloyd said. "This is another attempt by secularist fanatics to cleanse any reference to God."

Who says good things don't come out of Minnesota?

A great performance of the 1812 Overture by the University of Minnesota Brass Band.

Hillary! Uncensored

The truth is coming to light.



The last third is particularly shocking, especially with the Clinton-appointed judge making sure he protected Hillary.

Sorta new S&B; feature

If you scroll down to the bottom of the main page or the scroll down to below the signature line (with my name, time, comments and trackbacks) of any individual post, you'll find a space for webpages that link back to S&B.; The list at the bottom of the main page shows all webpages and the list on each individual post lists those for that particular post. I had this for a little while in the blog footer to test it out, but now I moved it so it's a little easier to find.

LB:EF - Some screenshots

First I want to share a ridiculous image that someone who obviously hasn't played the game created:

Click to enlarge.
See what they did there? They marked every gun-wielding character on the screen with a cross and other characters with Star of Davids and a Islamic star and crescent symbol. For those of us actually familiar with the game, the truth is much different. The characters with the guns are the Antichrist's forces, not Christians. I can tell this from how they are dressed. Each character type in the game has a unique appearance and those characters are dressed as Global Community Peacekeepers. The woman on the ground under the Islamic symbol, the woman in the background under the left-hand Star of David, and the man in the lab coat (a doctor) next to the latter woman are Christian characters. Again, this is according to their appearances. Notice how these unarmed non-combatants are being targeted and killed by the "U.N." (NOT!) soldiers.

Here's another screenshot from a mission where your chapel comes under attack:

Click to enlarge.
The armed characters are the Antichrist's forces again trying to destroy your chapel. (Yes, they're shooting guns to destroy a building. Not exactly realistic, but that's not the point.)

This next one is cool because is shows the level of detail the game creators used in creating the streets of New York:

Click to enlarge.
You can actually read the street signs! I don't think I've seen another game with such an attention to detail.


Previous posts:

LB:EF - What neutral reviewers have to say about the game
LB:EF - The latest brouhaha and the left's continued lies
LB:EF - Revisiting my earlier concerns (by request)
LB:EF - Mission 19
LB:EF - Mission 18
LB:EF - More falsehoods spread in the media
LB:EF - More response to criticisms
LB:EF - Mission 17
LB:EF - Mission 16
LB:EF - Missions 13, 14, and 15
LB:EF - Mission 12
LB:EF - Missions 9, 10 and 11
LB:EF - Addressing an opening animation criticism
LB:EF - Easter egg?
LB:EF - Email from the game's senior producer!
LB:EF - Missions 6, 7 and 8
LB:EF - The first few missions
LB:EF - Tutorial
LB:EF - the manual
New S&B; series: "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" in detail
The left's lies about "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"

Schwarzenegger speaking out of both sides of his mouth?

On the one hand he does this:

Schwarzenegger vetoes gay marriage bill again

But on the other, he does this:

Mom' and 'Dad' banished by California
Schwarzenegger signs law banning anything perceived as negative to 'gays'

LB:EF - What neutral reviewers have to say about the game

I've been confronting some of the bloggers who have continued to spread the "convert or kill" myth about the game. As a result, some of them and their readers have been visiting my blog. To help them out, here's a quick recap of what neutral sources (and even one hostile one to start out with) have had to say about the game (the first three were originally found in my very first post about the game):

The Anti-Defamation League:

Conversion to Christianity in the game is not depicted as forcible in nature, and violence is not rewarded in the game.

IGN:

To keep the balance of power in your favor, you'll have to find non-violent ways to avoid getting killed. Your units will definitely fight back in a life or death situation but, for the most part, you want to either avoid your enemies or have a ready plan to convert to your side using musicians and disciples. This gets much harder as the game progresses.

ArsTechnica.com:

Many groups have made inaccurate statements about this game that need to be corrected. For one thing, it is not particularly violent. While there are violent aspects of the game, the game makes it clear that shooting is the last resort. Second, it is not hateful to other religions. It does have an agenda, and I think you need to know that going in, but there's no bashing of other faiths.” and “…the game is fun, it'll keep parents happy with its light levels of violence, and it'll be sold at video game stores, religious book stores, and everywhere else people spend money on God. This game will certainly get the message out.

GameSpy:

The other "controversial" aspect of the game is its explicit connection to evangelical Christian philosophy. Here too, the hysteria is seriously overblown. Within the game itself, the amount of proselytizing is kept to a minimum. Units bow their heads to pray in order to replenish their "spirit" resource and giving a unit orders may elicit a response like "For the Lord!" or "In His name!" Prayer scrolls with Biblical verses are also available as power-ups that can call down angels for bonuses, but anyone looking for explicit "Kill the unbelievers!"-style content to justify their fear of the game won't find it here. The biggest "message" portion of the game is actually the "Learn more" screens that become available after each mission. These display interesting text passages about the history of Christianity and CliffsNotes versions of aspects of evangelical theology while playing cuts from top-selling Christian musical acts (with a convenient "buy the album" link to the Internet).

Previous posts:

LB:EF - The latest brouhaha and the left's continued lies
LB:EF - Revisiting my earlier concerns (by request)
LB:EF - Mission 19
LB:EF - Mission 18
LB:EF - More falsehoods spread in the media
LB:EF - More response to criticisms
LB:EF - Mission 17
LB:EF - Mission 16
LB:EF - Missions 13, 14, and 15
LB:EF - Mission 12
LB:EF - Missions 9, 10 and 11
LB:EF - Addressing an opening animation criticism
LB:EF - Easter egg?
LB:EF - Email from the game's senior producer!
LB:EF - Missions 6, 7 and 8
LB:EF - The first few missions
LB:EF - Tutorial
LB:EF - the manual
New S&B; series: "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" in detail
The left's lies about "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"

LB:EF - The latest brouhaha and the left's continued lies

[Greetings, visitors from ExChristian and other blogs. Please check out my more recent post about LB:EF that addresses and disproves the claims that the game promotes killing non-Christians.]

As I struggle to figure out how to survive level 20 of the game, I came across the latest "controversy" surrounding the game. It turns out that Left Behind Games has decided to address the lies that a lot of people have spread about LB:EF. LBG recently sent out a letter to various blogs politely but firmly requesting that they remove all misleading or false information they have spread about the game or face potential legal action. Of course, it's virtually impossible to find any neutral coverage of this situation as the people who are reporting it are the targeted bloggers and/or their supporters. Here's a sampling of what you can find:

Left Behind Games Inc. Sent me a Nastygram
Makers of "Left Behind" Game Threatening Bloggers?
Left Behind Threatens To Sue
We’ll sue if you post a poor review of our game

That last one is pretty indicative of the usual false portrayal of what LBG did (kind of like how they falsely portrayed the game). This letter wasn't about poor reviews in general, and that is proven by the large number of websites that didn't receive the letter. The letter was about misleading and false information about the game. I'm certain that it refers primarily to the claim that the game promotes killing non-believers. That seems to be a common thread among the blogs that have received the letter.

Of course, these blogs are complaining that the letter didn't specify exactly what information LBG wanted removed from each blog, asking, "How do we know what to remove if they don't say exactly what their asking to be removed?" Aside from the fact that one could simply just check either the company's and game's websites or even neutral websites that actually reviewed the game instead of the theology behind it, last time I checked, ignorance (real or claimed) was not a legitimate defense against wrongdoing in any court of law. The hostility these bloggers have against the game, the company and fundamentalist Christian in general doesn't allow them to think clearly, logically or rationally about this situation, though. They are convinced that they are absolutely right about the game, even if they have never played it themselves, and nothing - not even the threat of legal action against them - will convince them to re-examine and/or retract their faulty claims.

They also complain that LBG is bullying bloggers and that no one has ever done anything like this before. Untrue on both counts. Look at it this way: LBG is a company that produces a product and they have every right to defend that product against false, damaging claims against it. This is absolutely no different from a food company protecting its products from false claims that they are contaminated or deliberately poisoned. No one would fault a food company from threatening or taking legal action against people spreading such falsehoods, so why are people faulting LBG for doing the same? The answer is simple: the critics don't want to admit fault. Not to fundamentalist Christians, anyway. It's all about prejudice and bigotry - the only prejudice and bigotry that is acceptable anymore, in fact.

UPDATE: You know, I wish every blogger had either comments enabled or at least an email address to be able to contact them. This guy got the letter, but doesn't have a clue as to why. I'd like to help him figure out why. He apparently thinks it's about his sharing the company's public financial information in this post, completely ignoring that he wrote this:

Those who do not convert are killed by their “would be” saviors.

When I first heard about these letters, I was completely convinced Left Behind Games was targeting the "kill the unbelievers" falsehoods. When I looked at what people who have received this letter (including this guy) had said about this game, it only confirmed my conviction.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I found an email address for that guy. I just had to dig a little deeper into his various websites. I sent him a little helpful note.


Previous posts:

LB:EF - Revisiting my earlier concerns (by request)
LB:EF - Mission 19
LB:EF - Mission 18
LB:EF - More falsehoods spread in the media
LB:EF - More response to criticisms
LB:EF - Mission 17
LB:EF - Mission 16
LB:EF - Missions 13, 14, and 15
LB:EF - Mission 12
LB:EF - Missions 9, 10 and 11
LB:EF - Addressing an opening animation criticism
LB:EF - Easter egg?
LB:EF - Email from the game's senior producer!
LB:EF - Missions 6, 7 and 8
LB:EF - The first few missions
LB:EF - Tutorial
LB:EF - the manual
New S&B; series: "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" in detail
The left's lies about "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"

Evolutionists just lost a major argument for evolution

The human appendix is no longer a vestigial organ. Or rather, it never was and scientists have now discovered that it isn't:

Apparently the growth is a sort of “safe house” used by good bacteria in the battlefield of our digestive tract. The good germs can hide in there while our bodies purge the bad germs in an ugly bowel-clearing process that happens when humans contract diseases such as cholera or dysentery, according to a study by Duke researchers in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.

Duke University Medical School professors said the wormish growth that measures between three-quarters of an inch to several inches long, is also a love nest for good bacteria where they breed and multiply.

As you can see from this article on a pro-evolution website, the now defunct argument about the appendix being vestigial was a major argument for evolutionists:

Conclusion: The vermiform appendix is vestigial

Currently, arguments against the vestigiality of the human vermiform appendix have been based upon misunderstandings of what constitutes a vestige and of how vestiges are identified.

From an evolutionary perspective, the human appendix is a derivative of the end of the phylogenetically primitive herbivorous caecum found in our primate ancestors (Goodman et al. 1998; Shoshani 1996). The human appendix has lost a major and previously essential function, namely cellulose digestion. Though during primate evolution it has decreased in size to a mere rudiment, the appendix retains a structure that was originally specifically adapted for housing bacteria and extending the time course of digestion. For these reasons the human vermiform appendix is vestigial, regardless of whether or not the human appendix functions in the development of the immune system.

From a nonevolutionary, typological perspective, the human appendix is homologous to the end of the physiologically important, large, cellulose-fermenting caeca of other mammals. Even though humans eat cellulose, the contribution to cellulose digestion by both the human caecum and its associated appendix is negligible. Regardless of whether one accepts evolutionary theory or not, the human appendix is a rudiment of the caecum that is useless as a normal mammalian, cellulose-digesting caecum. Thus, by all accounts the vermiform appendix remains a valid and classic example of a human vestige.