Gospel of Judas

We had a discussion today about the current controversy surrounding the Gospel of Judas...but sometimes it is just better to defer to your betters when it comes to issues of serious scholarship, thus I suggest reading John Mark Reynold's article dealing with the Gospel of Judas.

If it is on video

It must be true....right?



WRONG

Don't believe everything you see on the internet

Al-Maliki Nominated for Iraqi PM Job

Baghdad- The Iraqi Parliment has been struggling to pick a new Prime Minister for the emerging new government and today nominated Jawad al-Maliki to the post. Al-Maliki, the Deputy Leader of the Islamic Dawa Party was exiled to Syria while Saddam was in power.

Al-Maliki was a major player in the Iraqi National Congress, an organization that many have criticized for their relationship with the American government.

UPDATE
Al-Maliki has in fact been appointed as the new PM of Iraq.

Tax Time

While everyone is getting two extra days this year, it is once again that lovely time of year when taxes are due (sarcasm intended).

An interesting glimpse into the special frustration that is paying taxes in our current system is this article...too bad it will not cause them to consider making the system more manageable.

Michael Yon is reporting again

Michael Yon, blog reporter extraordinaire, is overseas again, this time reporting from Afghanistan.

For those of you who remember, he is the author of Gates of Fire, possibly the finest piece of writing on the Iraq War.

Computer Problems...

If you have sent me an email in the last 24 hours, it has disappeared into the ether. If you need an answer, please resend the original. Thank you.

The Twelfth Iman

I spoke about this earlier today in class, and I thought it would be interesting to put up a link about the "The Twelfth Iman"...aka Mahdi. A cental figure in the beliefs of some followers of Shi'a Islam.

Most troubling among the believers is Iranian leader
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has stated his desire to remove Isreal from the map.

"He was addressing a conference entitled The World without Zionism and his comments were reported by the Iranian state news agency Irna.

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," he said, referring to Iran's late revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "

Anyone from my generation will likely be uneasy with anyone who embraces a position of the Ayatollah Khomeini after his behavior in the 1980's.

This is doubly troubling in light of today's revelation that Iran now is claiming success in their nuclear enrichment program.

The Immigration Debate.

I am frequently a critic of those who only criticize, but never actually offer a solution. So I have decided to weigh in on the ongoing debate over immigration. Protests continue around the country, but there is no end in sight on the issue, since Congress has gone on their Spring Break, and will not take up the issue again for a while.
This issue is one wrought with emotion, and one that has a unique ability to render those participating in the debate completely beyond rationality.

I think a multi-pronged approach is necessary to "solve" this growing problem.

1st, I think it is essential to construct a border wall along the Mexico-US border. Thomas Friedman, columnist, has, I think stated the issue most clearly by calling for a High Fence and a Wide Gate. His approach, which is similar to my own, is that the border must be secured. Those who claim that the building of the wall is similar to the Soviet building of the Berlin Wall, do not remember History very well. That wall was built to keep people inside Berlin, this wall's primary purpose will be to stem the tide of illegal immigration that now plagues us.

2nd, we must streamline the process of legal immigration, and create a realistic guest worker program. The current situation, with waits of as much as 5 years for Mexican immigrants is a recipe for increase illegal immigration. It is ridiculous to expect people to wait that long. If people are really interested in coming to the U.S. with an eye on eventually achieving citizenship, then we should streamline the system to limit the time that takes to 1 year. That means making INS work better than a Federal version of the DMV, and yes, it will cost some money to make that happen, but the overall cost should be offset by the reduction in cost necessary for border security. For those who have no desire to become U.S. citizens, but merely wish to come here to work, guest worker status needs to become a reality. The wait for legally crossing into the U.S. needs to be no more than 6 months for such a case. They need to secure a promise of a job inside the U.S., with health care benefits. They need to provide an address within 1 month of entering the U.S., and they need to be given a tax id number, to allow for the withholding of payroll taxes. The six month and 1 year periods should be enough to allow a check of criminal records and make necessary homeland security assessments.

3rd-Real Penalties have to be put on those who willingly employ illegal immigrant labor. If you want to hire legal guest workers, fine. But if you attempt to use illegal labor, it needs to cost, and cost a lot. For those who attempt to work on forged documents, automatic expulsion from the U.S. has to be the result. Do it legally, or do not do it.

If prong 3 is employed, many will naturally return to Mexico. No job, no reason to stay.

Chapter 14-4 Notes

This is an example of notetaking/blogging on a section (this represents notes on 1 paragraph from Chapter 14-4)



The Peace of Augsburg effectively ended the relationship of the Germans with the Holy Roman Empire. The spread of Protestantism, ensured that the Church would not be united.

Two Protestant movements came out of Switzerland, Zwinglianism and Calvinism

Chapter 12 MS History

Practice Test

Edline Check-in for 10th WH

Go to the Edline page, and click on the button for new activation codes, and enter yours. Follow the steps, and set up your account. Your grades should be accessible.

Why the sudden flurry of articles on Jesus

...not Religious articles, but rather an odd number of articles dealing with issues like this, and this gem.

Strange that the gospel writers didn't mention the ice chunks in the water that night....and why no mention of a shivering Peter after he began sinking...

UPDATE
Today's special-Jesus asked Judas to betray him.

I will let an expert deal with this one.

Tigers Win!

Ah, the joy of opening day.

The Detroit Tigers today defeated the Royals in Kansas City.
Chris Shelton, the Tiger 1st Baseman hit two home runs in the 3-1 victory.

Posted without comment...for now.

2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist?

Troubling Test

The Iranian Government has been rattling their sabres again, now with a test of an Anti-Ship Weapon. The weapon is apparently as fast as the world's fastest torpedo, the Russian VA-111 Shkval.

The troubling aspect has to be that Iran may utilize these weapons against U.S. ships that patrol the Persian Gulf, an area with a long and difficult history.