Mike's Message

SBC Missions websites

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:53:00 +0000

While at NAMB for the Fireproof screening yesterday, we were given lots of literature and freebies. (I never have to buy another ink pen). Lots of the literature we were given was nice glossy finish PR pieces. But the page I liked best was just a spreadsheet listing all of our (SBC) mission education web sites.

Click here to see this table in it's own window. For best results right-click on the links in the table and select "open in new window" or "open in new tab".

Download Excel Spreadsheet

"Fireproof", from the creators of "Facing the Giants"

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Welcome To FireproofTheMovie.com - Coming September 26, 2008

This morning Terri and I are at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta attending a screening of the New Movie Fireproof. Please view the trailer below or click the link above to learn more about this movie, coming soon to a theater near you.

"Fireproof" set to be "Giant" in theaters this fall | Christian Index

Book Series - The Last Jihad

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:46:00 +0000

I have just finished reading the last book in the the series of five by Joel C. Rosenberg. I discovered this series of novels quite by accident. I first read his book, Epicenter, a non-fiction work about the prophecies of scripture that are being fulfilled in our time. It was a good book to help understand the unfolding events of the Middle East. When I began reading Epicenter, Rosenberg made frequent references to his novels that were set in the near future leading up to the rapture. Having read and enjoyed all of the Left Behind series, which begins with the rapture and runs through the Second Coming of Christ, I thought I would enjoy Rosenberg's novels also.

At the time he wrote Epicenter, Rosenberg had only finished three of his five novels. I ordered all three of those from Amazon.com. I received the first two books in short order, but I was soon notified that the third book was out of stock. After reading the first two I was hooked, and went to my library to find the third and fourth volumes. The fifth has just come out in the last month or two. I did not think the library would have it yet, so I went ahead and ordered it.

One of the characteristics of the novels is that the fictional events tend to foreshadow future events. In the first book Rosenberg writes about a plane being used as a weapon to attack the United States. He says the book was about 90% finished on September 11, 2001, when we were in fact attacked with not one, but four commercial airliners. Before the book went to the publisher, he reworked the earlier chapters so that everything that was happening happened in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. He also wrote about the United States invading Iraq before our April 2003 invasion. He wrote about the attack of a US diplomatic convey in Gaza, and that also came to pass. In his forward to the final book, Rosenberg prays that the events of that book do not come to pass.

The books are action packed thrillers. They involve Jon Bennet, a Wall Street operative who is recruited to be an advisor to the president, and Erin McCoy, a CIA agent who becomes his sidekick. The book is full of action and excitement that keeps you wanting more. Rush Limbaugh described it as reading like an episode of the Fox TV series, 24. As you might expect a love interest develops between Bennet and McCoy, as each takes turns rescuing the other from a wide array of villains. The series is unapologetically Christian, with believers frequently and urgently sharing the gospel with non-believers. There are however some very likable characters who are killed while contemplating the claims of the gospel. The reader has to feel a sense of disappointment that if that character had lived just a little while longer, they likely would have come to faith in Christ. These characters serve as a warning of the brevity and uncertainty of life.

I would highly recommend the books to anyone who enjoys high action thrillers with a Christian world view. However, like the Left Behind series before them, I think they could have a great appeal even to non-believers.

The Books in order are: The Last Jihad, The Last Days, The Ezekiel Option, The Copper Scroll, and Dead Heat.

Buy the Books on Amazon.com, Joel C. Rosenberg

find my phone

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:41:00 +0000

find my phone

My daughter lost her phone Sunday night. Someone else began using it Monday. Click the link above to see the numbers they called before I turned the phone off. None of them knew who had the phone when I called, but maybe they'll remember more for you.

Never Forget

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Henry Blackaby: Remembering America's Fallen | Baptist Press

As we pause today to remember all of the brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country, we are humbled by their courage. As the father of a US serviceman, not a day goes by that I don't think about the possibility of him, and the rest of our family, being called on to make that same sacrifice.

God bless the families of all who serve. But let us never forget, that in this current war with radical Islamic jihadists, that the first casualties were neither soldiers nor sailors, but civilians and civil servants. Let us never forget the lives that were taken from us. Let us never forget the passengers of United 93 who fought valiantly to take the plane back from the hijackers, saving our nation's capital building and all who were therein. Let us never forget the FDNY firefighters who were running up the stairwells of the burning towers while everyone else was running down.

Tominthebox News Network - Religious Humor/Satire

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sun, 25 May 2008 11:27:00 +0000

Tominthebox News Network - Religious Humor/Satire

I use Google Reader to keep up with the news and my fellow bloggers. One of the nice things about Google Reader is that it suggests other feeds you may want to subscribe to, based on what you are already reading. I found this one this morning and was very impressed with the creativity and humor. If you need to add a little humor and satire to your church experience, this is the blog for you.

New forum for my subdivision

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Residents of Liberty Square Park

It's about time the homeowners in my neighborhood started taking responsibility for protecting our children and our property values. With that in mind I started this forum for my neighbors to begin talking with one another about how we can take control of our HOA and our neighborhood.

In Memory of Maria

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:42:00 +0000

In Memory of Maria

Maria Chapman, the 5-year-old daughter of Contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman, was killed Wednesday night in a tragic accident at her home. She was struck in the driveway by a car driven by an older sibling. Please keep the Chapman family, especially the teenage driver, in your prayers.

A blog has been set up in Maria's memory. Please visit the blog and click on "comments" under either of the two entries to leave your condolences.

Adoption Community Mourns Musician's Daughter | Associated Press

Good News! Home Prices are still dropping.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:28:00 +0000

Home prices down 1.7% in first quarter, U.S. agency says - MarketWatch
If you were planning to cash out your home in the near future, or hoping to get your lender to drop your PMI, then I guess dropping home prices aren't such a good thing. For the rest of us this is either good news or relatively unimportant.

First time home buyers will certainly appreciate being able to buy homes at a more affordable rate. The drop in housing prices will save them untold thousands in principle and interest over the life or their mortgages. Many who may previously have been priced out of the housing market may now finally have an opportunity to own their own homes without dangerous adjustable rate mortgages.

Those moving up to bigger homes will also benefit from this drop in prices. Most of us begin with a small "starter" home and move up as our income increases. If your home was worth $150,000 a year ago, and you were planning to upgrade to a $200,000 home, then the drop in prices will be a blessing for you. Although your current home won't bring $150,000 now, that home you wanted to move into will now cost less also. To make the math simple, let's assume they've both dropped 10% in value. Now you are only going to be able to get $135,000 for your current home, but you are only going to have to pay $180,000 for your new home. That means the upgrade is now costing you only $45,000 instead of $50,000. While that sounds like a savings of $5,000, it's much more over the life of your mortgage.

If you were planning to stay in your home for a few years then the current trend in housing really has very little impact on you. The real estate market has up and down fluctuations, just like the stock market. But like the stock market, the real estate market has historically always performed well over the long term. While no one can guarantee the future value of your individual home, there is almost a statistical certainty that the average price of a home in the United States will be more in 10 years than it is now, or even more than it was a year ago before prices began to fall.

The next time you hear the media screaming about falling housing prices just smile and think about all the good deals that are available to you, your friends and neighbors.

4 Philadelphia Police Officers in Videotaped Beatings Will Be Fired - New York Times

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:47:00 +0000

4 Philadelphia Police Officers in Videotaped Beatings Will Be Fired - New York Times

Enough is enough. Can we not just get a law passed that says if a suspect attempts to allude police or resists arrest, he can expect a whipping upon capture? If you don't want to get whipped, don't run and don't fight. It's time we get on the side of law enforcement on this issue.

State notifies parents before releasing awful test scores | ajc.com

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:25:00 +0000

State notifies parents before releasing awful test scores | ajc.com

School uproar: Did fautly test fail kids? | ajc.com

According to the unofficial results, only 20 to 30 percent of Georgia's sixth- and seventh-graders passed the state social studies exam. In math, about 40 percent of eighth-graders could be held back because they failed the test.

When a few students don't pass we have a problem with students that parents need to address. When 70-80% don't pass the social studies exam and 40% don't pass the math, we have a problem with the schools that the citizens need to address. Every year this problem is ignored another class of students drifts off into the world unprepared. This should be a top priority not only for our state school superintendent, but for our legislature and governor. This type of performance is inexcusable.

Pray for our Soldiers

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:56:00 +0000

Afghanistan Firefight Heard on Voice Mail|KPTV.com

Our son Jonathon joined the army last summer, and is currently undergoing training in Arizona. We are thankful that he is not currently in harms way, but are keenly aware that he may be sent into a hostile area when he finishes his training. I hope we never come home to a voice mail like this. A soldier in Afghanistan tried to call his parents, but they weren't home. Later that day, in a firefight with insurgents, he leaned against his Humvee and accidentally redialed his phone. His parents still weren't home, but 3 minutes of the firefight was recorded on their voice mail. They were able to return his call and found him to be in good health after the firefight, thanks be to God.

Be warned, the audio is not clear. Also, if you can make out the language, it is the type of language you would expect among soldiers under fire. Enough said.

Click here to hear audio from the message left on the Petee's answering machine(WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE).

Alaska Governor Lives out Pro-life Values

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:45:00 +0000

The Associated Press: Alaska governor balances newborn's needs, official duties

Al Mohler: Welcome to the Word, Trig Paxson Van Palin

In a time when up to 90% of children who are determined to have disabilities before birth are aborted, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has chosen to give birth to a downs syndrome baby. The Associated Press article states:

There was never any doubt the Palins would have the child, and on April 18 she gave birth to Trig Paxson Van Palin.
"We've both been very vocal about being pro-life," Palin said. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential."

Reading this story is the first I've heard of Palin, but I admire her for living out her convictions. In order to become governor of Alaska, she had to beat the Republican incumbent in the primaries and then beat a former two-term Democratic governor in the general election. Interestingly she has been described as a "maverick" by some in her state. It is rumored that the better known maverick, John McCain, may be considering her as a running mate. Stay tuned.

Healthy Kingdom Churches | Discipleship & Family Ministries

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Healthy Kingdom Churches | Discipleship & Family Ministries

This morning I am meeting with Greg Ambercrombie of the Georgia Baptist Convention's Healthy Kingdom Churches department. We will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of our church, and how we might become a more healthy church. In his book, The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren insist that our focus should be on church health rather than church growth, because healthy churches, like healthy plants, naturally are growing churches. Please pray for this meeting that God will give us insight into the needs of our church.

Man asks court to change his name to 'In God We Trust' | AccessAtlanta

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:02:00 +0000

Man asks court to change his name to 'In God We Trust' | AccessAtlanta

How do we show God our gratitude for His blessings, especially those blessings received during life's most difficult times? How do we adequately communicate to others His faithfulness even through life's darkest storms? An Illinois man has come up with a rather unique way to do both. Steve Kreuscher of Zion, Illinois is asking a judge to allow him to legally change his name to "In God We Trust." He says the name would be a symbol of God's help during tough times. But that's not the only reason he wants to change his name. He is also afraid the phrase "In God We Trust" will be removed from US currency. I'm not quite sure how changing his name is supposed to slow or stop that process.

The fact is we don't need the courts to change our legal names. All of us who are believers carry the name of Christ already when we identify ourselves as Christians. There is no question of whether we carry the name. The only question is whether we live a life that gives honor to the name. Do we guard our hearts to keep them pure? Do we flee sin and pursue God's face? Do we place the welfare of others ahead of our own in a manner that is reflective of the selfless, unconditional love that God has manifested toward us?

Injured Western Oregon player helped around bases after hitting homer | StatesmanJournal.com

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:11:00 +0000

Western Oregon player helped around bases after hitting homer | StatesmanJournal.com

Sometimes it really is how you play the game. Click the link above to read an incredible story of sportsmanship. Thanks to Walter Price for bringing this story to my attention.

Try Netflix for One Month for Free

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:07:00 +0000

Click on the logo and get a free month of movies from Netflix.

No Due Dates
No Late Fees
Free Shipping Both Ways

Hurry! Offer Expires May 31, 2008

I got a promotional offer in the mail today with four cards to give a friend for a free month. If you'd like one, just ask me. Or just click on the logo above.

If you have any problems with the link just send me an email, and I'll send you a new link.

Scheduling a Blogger Post

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:10:00 +0000

Blogger has a new feature currently available only in draft mode. It allows you to write a post now and have it automatically posted at some point in the future. Let's say you've written that great 10 part series on the mating ritual of the mosquito, but you don't want to publish the whole thing at once. You can upload all 10 pieces to blogger and have it publish an installment each day or week until they are all uploaded.

I think it's a pretty neat feature. Some people in our church sent me a link to a YouTube video via email several months back. I thought it was great, and since it dealt with the passion of Christ, I wanted to embed it on our church website just before Easter. I went ahead and wrote up the post, and saved it as a draft. Now all I had to do was remember to come back in early March and publish it. Well I forgot. It's there now. Although I have an early March date on the post, it was actually mid April before it went up.

With this new feature all I would have had to do is go ahead and set the date and time that I wanted it published back when I wrote it. Then it would have automatically shown up at the appropriate time.

How to do it:

Log into blogger in draft mode by going to draft.blogger.com.
Create Your Post
Click on "Post Options" in the bottom left-hand corner of the post editor.
On the right-hand side indicate the date and time you want the post published.
Click on the orange "Publish Post" button.

That's it. Your post will be published, but not before you want it to.

Additional Reading at Bloggerindraft.blogspot.com.

Obama's ex-pastor speaks out about church, sermons - CNN.com

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:33:00 +0000

Mr. Wright has repeatedly complained that his controversial comments have been taken out of context and used unfairly against him. Responsible journalist certainly have a duty to place any comments he has made in their proper context. After all, he may be quoting and condemning someone else's comments, as he claims in this article. But when given the opportunity to place his "chickens coming home to roost" comment in it's proper context, he berates the CNN reporter who asked the question. He repeatedly asks her, "Have you heard the whole sermon?" When she admits she has not, he says, "Well that nullifies the question."

How does one complain about being taken out of context on the one hand, and then respond that someone who does not already know the context has no right to ask what the context was? Yet he then goes on to explain the context to us anyway. First he says that he was quoting the Iraqi ambassador. That explanation might fly if he was quoting him to discredit him. Yet as he continues to explain we see that he must have been agreeing with the Iraqi ambassador. He quotes Jesus teaching known to millions as the golden rule:

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. Matthew 7:12

He then does us the kindness of interpreting the text to mean that the United States could not do acts of terrorism without expecting to be victimized by terrorism. Funny, that's exactly what I thought he meant back when he was being taken out of context.

Grace and Truth to You: A Sentimental Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:26:00 +0000

Grace and Truth to You: A Sentimental Surprise

Wade Burleson, Southern Baptist Pastor and rebel rouser from Enid, Oklahoma shares an animal story you won't want to miss.

See also my update to the Expelled post, where I have added the movie trailer.

A God Gap for Obama? -- It's an Issue Gap

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:41:00 +0000

The Swamp: A God Gap for Obama?

The article reference above explores a swing in regular church goers in their support of Obama from the time of the New Hampshire Primary to the time of the Pennsylvania Primary. Obama was seen as more attractive to people of faith back during the New Hampshire primary. It was thought that he might actually be the candidate who could break the stronghold Republicans have had over the last two decades with voters who have come to be known as "the Religious Right."

Yet in the Pennsylvania Primary where Clinton out polled Obama by 10%, her lead was twice as big among those who described themselves as "regular church goers." Clearly the Jeremiah Wright scandal and the disparaging remarks in San Francisco about those who "cling to God and guns" have hurt Obama among people of faith. But while the winds may be changing among Democrats who attend church with some regularity, I don't believe that Obama ever truly had any chance of pulling votes from churchgoers who traditionally vote Republican. Many in the media think that the Religious Right desires to make our nation a theocracy, and will vote for any candidate who says he is a Christian and uses spiritual or faith based language. There is an assumption that the "religious" voter is unsophisticated and easily manipulated.

As the leader of a small Southern "God clinging" congregation I can tell you that my faith guides my thinking on certain issues. And no matter how much spiritual language a candidate uses, no matter how often, or seldom, he attends worship, I will be voting on those issues. There are several issues that guide my political preferences, and my faith plays a part in all of them. But those most influenced by my faith are:

Marriage and Family. A candidate that supports gay marriage, civil unions, and other so-called "gay rights" supports a family hostile social cause. I'm not homophobic. I neither fear nor hate homosexuals. I not only do not condone violence against homosexuals, I adamantly condemn it. I am, however, concerned about redefining marriage and family to the degree that they really have no meaning at all. I am very concerned about living in a culture where the highest value is tolerance, which has been translated into having no values at all. If a person of faith expresses the Biblically based belief that homosexual behavior, or even extramarital heterosexual behavior is morally wrong, he is branded as a hater, a bigot, and a homophobe. His beliefs are not tolerated because they are not tolerant of a do whatever you want world view.

I'm not suggesting that I want a president who will police sexual behavior. I honestly believe that in a free society, consenting adults should be legally allowed to engage in whatever sexual activity they want. But being legal doesn't make it moral. And in a society that persecutes and ostracizes those who dare to speak up for what is moral, I certainly will not support a president who bows to the pressure of homosexual special interest groups seeking not only for special rights based on their sexual behavior, but whose true agenda is to create a societal belief that such behavior is not a perversion of God's plan, but is part of the natural order. As long as Obama, Clinton, or any other Democratic candidate panders to the homosexual lobby they will not make inroads into the faith community.

Further Reading: Al Mohler's The New Face of Gay Marriage

Abortion. My wife teaches in the public school system in Georgia. She shared with me this weekend that she has actually had an opportunity to teach a pro-life lesson in the classroom. She has a supply of incubating eggs that her class is caring for. I assume the lesson is a science lesson, though she didn't say. But she did tell me that they were able to hold the developing egg in front of the bright light of a video projector. The light actually penetrated the shell of the egg so that you could see the developing chicken embryo inside. None of the children had any doubt that what they saw in that egg was a living, moving, baby chicken. Terri hopes and prays that when those children vote as adults, when they have to make their own ethical decisions about an unexpected pregnancy, they will remember that baby chick. They will remember that they didn't just see a mass of tissue, they saw a living chicken.

The "Religious Right" voter believes that a human baby in the womb is also already a living person. But unlike that baby chick, who will one day make some Baptist family a fine lunch, we believe that human life, even unborn human life, is sacred. We value human liberty and want women to have all the "choice" in the world. But we know that values sometimes conflict, and therefore must be prioritized. The right of one individual to live supersedes the right of another individual to choose. As long as Obama, Clinton, or any other Democratic candidate values individual liberty above the sacredness of human life, they will not make inroads into the faith community.

Education. Our church sits on the southern edge of Clayton County in south metro Atlanta. The entire county's school system is about to lose accreditation because of a school board that can not get it's act together. Thousands of children must settle for a sub-standard education unless their parents can either afford to send them to a private school, or can find a way to move the family to another county. This type of substandard performance happens when there is no competition in the market. Christian parents have for many years sought alternatives to secular government education. Many have sent their children to private schools where they can be taught lessons of faith, and where they won't be taught that they were descended from some type of amoeba. Others have educated their children at home so that they can exercise their responsibility to train up their children in "the way that they should go."

In recent weeks we've heard about a Christian student who was given a failing grade because his art contained a scripture reference (John 3:16) and a cross, while other students were aloud to draw art depicting demonic beings. California courts have just issued rulings making homeschooling essentially illegal. In order to educate the children at home the parents would have to obtain state certification in education. We've all heard the stories of schools providing condoms and abortion counseling to students without parental notification, much less parental consent. Behind all of this is a world view that says the state knows better than the parent what is in the best interest of the child.

Christian parents want to protect their children from being taught a world view that is in opposition to the family's system of faith. They will support candidates who support giving parents more instead of less choice in education. One of the greatest ways our government can do this is with a voucher system. Instead of forcing all parents with limited financial resources to send their children to the government's schools, parents should be allowed to send children to the schools of their choosing, and the government money should follow the children to the schools. Not only would this allow parents the freedom to choose a school that shares their values, but such a system would introduce a free market that would prevent the fiasco going on in Clayton County, Georgia right now. If a voucher system were in place, the private sector would have been providing quality alternatives in education to this county years ago. As a result, the public schools would also be in much better shape, because they would have had to compete keep both the students and the money that follows them in the system.

But Obama's party has long been in the pocket of the unions. And no union is more powerful in the United States than the teachers' unions. A voucher system would mean that some of their schools might lose students to private schools or homeschooling, and that they might in turn lose their jobs. So this party has consistently voted against vouchers and parental control, in favor of these unions. As long as Obama, Clinton, or any other Democratic candidate puts the jobs of government teachers ahead of the values of Christian parents, they will not make inroads into the faith community.

So poll all you want. Speculate on whether the "God gap" favors Senator Obama or Senator Clinton. Come November the bulk of religious conservatives are going to be voting for John McCain, not because he is regular in church attendance, or uses the right religious jargon, but because he and his party have a history of being on the right side of issues that people of faith hold dear.

Bush says rebates should help economy | ajc.com

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:09:00 +0000

Bush says rebates should help economy | ajc.com

Evidently the tax rebate checks are coming sooner than first announced. We were told they would be here in May, but now we are told that the first ones will arrive via direct deposit as early as Monday (April 28, 2008). I didn't take time to read all of President Bush's comments, but I'm pretty sure he's encouraging all Americans to donate the rebates to the First Baptist Lovejoy building fund. No, really.

OK, maybe not. But if they can call it a tax rebate when they are sending it to people who paid no taxes, why should I be bound by little things like facts?

Sorry, there's a brief ad you'll have to wait through
before you hear a word from the president about the tax rebates.

Colliding Galaxies

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:37:00 +0000

Wired.com has some great pictures of colliding galaxies from the Hubble space telescope. Evidently galaxy collisions happened much more often back in the old days (billions of years ago) so all of these pictures are of galaxies billions of light-years away. And I thought the movies on TBS were dated.

What's Up with Plaxo?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Plaxo is an online service I started using a couple of years ago. It was an add-on for outlook that helped me keep my Outlook address book synchronized between two computers. Another nice feature was that if some people in my address book were also Plaxo users, then anytime they updated their contact information in Plaxo, it would automatically be updated in my address book. But about a year ago I quit using Outlook all together in favor of gmail. Consequently I haven't been using Plaxo either, but I never got around to going online and deleting my Plaxo account.

Lately strange things have been happening. I've been getting emails about once a week about some guy named Paul Rhoub and his favorite songs for the week. I don't know who Paul is, and don't care what songs he thinks were good this week. And we obviously don't have the same taste in music because I never even heard of any of the songs. But somehow Paul must have ended up in my Plaxo address book, and I'm getting a feed anytime he updates this list or posts anything to his blog. Additionally people I know have been accepting my connection requests for Pulse, a new social networking feature of Plaxo. It's nice of these friends to accept these connections, except that I never requested them. However, when I log on to Plaxo there is a long list of people from my address book that I supposedly requested "connections" with back on March 8, 2008. That's just creepy. And nowhere on their site did I see information about how to cancel my account.

Luckily a Google search took me to a forum, where I learned I could go to support.plaxo.com and type "cancel" in the search box to find instructions to cancel. I did so and no longer have an account with Plaxo. I encourage you to do the same. This is creepy.

Ben Stein Vs. Sputtering Atheists - Yahoo! News

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Ben Stein Vs. Sputtering Atheists - Yahoo! News

I've read several reviews this week for Ben Stein's new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, that was released in theaters this weekend. Undoubtedly Brent Bozell's is the best I've read. I plan to see it soon, and absolutely insist that the children (both teens) in my household see it also. I'll let Bozell handle the review, but I will tell what it's about. The movie is a documentary that exposes how academia blackballs legitimate scientists who believe in Intelligent Design.

Updated April 27, 2008: Movie Trailer