Emmanuel Kelly’s Song

Admittedly, I don’t watch much television beyond sports and what we receive via Netflix, but today my mother played this clip for me, and I had to share it with the blogosphere.

I don’t agree philosophically with the song that he chose to sing, but… this was very moving.

EDIT:

The version I saw was a higher resolution, but it was via Facebook, so.. I’m going to see if I can find a better resolution on YouTube than this one.

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Conviction, how you sting…

“…many of us could answer the question, ‘What would happen if we died tonight?’ but maybe the next question has to be, ‘How do we live if we are not going to die tonight?’”

Read more at Take Your Vitamin Z. He is blogging through the sessions at Together for Adoption, and has the first session up: Together For Adoption 2011 – Darrin Patrick – Session 1

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Herman Cain: Is he pro-life?

Does Herman Cain support abortion rights?

Cain seemed to contradict himself in the interview. He first said that he  believes “that life begins at conception,” telling Piers Morgan: “Abortion under no circumstances.” Pressed on whether that includes cases of rape and incest, Cain seemed to say yes. (From the transcript: MORGAN: “Rape and incest?” CAIN:
“Rape and incest.”)

But Cain then accused his interviewer of “mixing two things here” and seemed to reverse himself, saying, “it’s not the government’s role or anybody else’s role to make that decision.”

“So what I’m saying is it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make,” said Cain. “Not me as president, not some politician, not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide, they decide. I shouldn’t have to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive issue.”

Cain went on to say that “I can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation.”

“The government shouldn’t be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to social decisions that they need to make,” he said. Representatives for Cain told CBS News they were working on a clarification of Cain’s comments on Thursday morning, but they have yet to provide one. The candidate posted a Tweet around 1:00 p.m. Eastern reading, “I’m 100% pro-life. End of story.”

Interesting. I’m all for the whole “less-government” thing… you know, being primarily libertarian, and all… but I also think that being pro-life is about as libertarian as you can get – that child has the right to life! Who are we to take that away? Regardless, if he thinks that life begins at conception, as he stated, then would not the government have a piece in that? If you believe life begins at conception, then it follows that “removing” that life is “killing” it, yes? Should the government not have a say in life and death? What are your thoughts, folks?

See my other posts regarding Herman Cain here.

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Blog recommendation: “Outstretched Arms” >> aging out adoption

I recently came across a recommendation for Outstretched Arms, an adoption blog that tries to advocate for children who are “aging out” of various adoption systems around the world. These children still need homes, still need to know the love of a parent’s hug, still have the chance at a bright future. Please take two minutes out of your day to cross-post Outstretched Arms onto your blog, place it your Facebook Wall, e-mail to friends and family, et cetera; you never know who might stumble across it and be able to welcome one of these children into their home.

Aside from posting photos and information on waiting children that they are advocating for, they also list resources for potential adoptive families, such as an Expedited Chinese Adoption Timeline, Discussions to Have with Your Social Worker, and Families Who Adopted Aging Out Kids.

Two of the most recent posts at Outstretched Arms are for a couple of thirteen year-old boys, David and Jonathan.

SN: Repaired CL/CP, pigeon
chest (now it is age)

DOB: 07/1998

SWI Jingyang District

Jonathon was born in 1998 in southwest China. After being abandoned by his parents at birth, he went straight to the hospital. The doctor said this boy doesn’t have long for life. He not only survived but he is
now a thriving young boy with amazing potential. He is in 7th grade and is a hard worker. His passions are studying, sports and people. This guy is a thinker. The orphanage director says he thinks even more than many adults. The director also says he is a perfectionist.

Each time my friend goes to the orphanage he is welcoming, friendly and quite helpful. He has stated repeatedly that he wants to be adopted! He wants a family!

His special need was cleft lip and palate. He has had 3 surgeries to repair his
mouth. The 3rd surgery was plastic surgery. His file states: He is liked by teachers. He likes to answer the questions. He is always the first one to finish the homework. He has no special needs. He is considerate and self-esteemed. He is the cleverest one in his roommates. He always helps caretakers to feed younger children. He also helps caretakers with cleaning. He is a considerate child. Caretakers in SWI all like
him.

DOB: June  1998

SN: Repaired CL/CP (and now his age)

SWI Jingyang District

“David” has been waiting his entire life for a family. He was born in 1998 in southwest China. This boy is enjoyable and energetic. When my friend visits the orphanage, he is always eager to get out and play soccer, volleyball or whatever sport anyone will play with him. David is quiet and enjoys drawing. The orphanage director says he is quite mature and very smart. David has amazing potential to be a strong leader.
His special need is cleft lip and palate.

He has stated repeatedly that he wants to be adopted! He wants a family! He only has about 10 months to be adopted. In China, children are not allowed to be adopted when they turn 14 years old.

His care takers say he is very clean, he helps the teachers clean up after school ends, he loves school, loves doing his homework. He loves little kids and will help feed the younger children.

I am not sure if they are in the same orphanage or not, but they are apparently in the same district. Perhaps some loving family out there would be willing to open their home and their hearts to both David and Jonathan and make them brothers?

Edit:

Additional ”older child adoption” resources are in this post over at Treasured Pearls.

Additional edit:

Some pertinent videos:

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It’s time for a few laughs…

As a follow-up to my previous humor post, I thought I would post more pictures that I’ve come across on Facebook, Google Reader, and e-mail.

Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to pass them along.

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Graphing the 3rd quarter military donations

Some of you may have read my post earlier this week regarding the numbers each candidate was able to fundraise from active duty military. I also cross-posted a graph that someone else had posted, but that only included a few of the candidates. I lamented that I did not have a graph of all of the candidates, nor the time, really, to sit down and make one, what with the Wee Goon being around and all. Curiously, patience for pie charts is not something that most seven month-olds possess. Go figure.

But! Ah, but. Apparently my tenth-grade mathematics teacher noticed said lament on Google+, and the next day I received the following e-mail:

Hey there,

You mentioned on Google+ that someone should make a graph of the military
donations to the presidential campaigns. With no more prodding than that, I
quickly put together a 3D pie chart of the information. Unfortunately, I was
unable to share it there OR on Facebook. So here it is — back on the
old-fashioned, reliable e-mail. Hope you can find a way to get it out into
cyberspace.

Well, Stephen, I have found a way! A bit of copy/pasting into Paint, and typing-in of the numbers, and here we have it!

(As a side note, it seems entirely strange to be referencing you by your first name, but since I’m twenty-two years old now, I suppose that I’m.. you know.. an adult, and can call other adults by their first name. Weird, right?)

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Blueberry Almond Baked Oatmeal

So, I’ve been following SortaCrunchy’s “Green Resource” posts each week, and have thought to myself, “I should participate. I do green things. …don’t I?”

Well, I do. I just don’t always think to take pictures when I do them, and pictures “make” certain kinds of posts, if you ask me. But I digress. This morning, amidst the housework of laundry and dishes, I decided to alter my standby baked oatmeal recipe in order to utilize the blueberries from July 2010 that were languishing in the back of my freezer.

So, I pulled out the Chocolate Chip Banana Baked Oatmeal recipe that I usually use – which, if I can’t find the original place I wrote it down from online to refer you to, I will be posting here soon – and started switching it up.

Now, most baked oatmeal recipes that I’ve seen call for using already-cooked oatmeal. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a great way to use up leftover oatmeal, but in our household, nobody really -likes- cooked oatmeal. So. That would be adding an extra step, and who wants to do that? As such, this recipe starts out with uncooked oats.

So here you have it:

Blueberry Almond Baked Oatmeal
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3 c. Oats*
1/2 c. Brown sugar**
1 c. Milk
2 Tb. Butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. Baking powder
3/4 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Vanilla
~1 c. Blueberries***
1/2 c. Slivered almonds

Throw all the ingredients in your mixer (or mixing bowl, depending on the kitchen), and… um… stir. Until the ingredients are all moist and… mixed. I know, I’m so technical.

It’ll be pretty wet. That’s okay.

The original recipe called for 20-25 minutes, or longer if you wanted a crispy top. This mix seemed moister than the original, which was weird to me because I would have thought the banana would’ve led to a moister mix, but what do I know? Regardless, I set it for twenty… then checked it, gave it another five, checked it, and gave it another three or four. I suppose it really is going to depend on the oven, but I pulled mine out to cool on the stovetop at about twenty-nine minutes.

*I have used a mixture of “quick cook” and “old-fashioned” from our local grocer because that’s what was on sale, and found that they cooked equally, so it’s up to you. I would like to try this with steel-cut oats once I reach the end of these containers, but I imagine that the cooking time would be a little different. If anyone tries this, please let the rest of us know how it worked for you!

**I woul like to try substituting with honey, but I’ve been plumb out of honey for a while now and just haven’t had the chance. Again, if you try it, let us know!

***Most recipes that call for using frozen fruit seem to call for thawing it first. I’m lazy. I didn’t. It turned out fine. So, whether yours are fresh or frozen, it’s entirely up to you what you would like to do.

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Folk music giveaway…

…over at The Common Room! The CD is “Golden Kids’ Rules” by Chip Taylor & The Grandkids. I’m a little lax in both entering it and posting about it, because the giveaway ends today, but head on over there and enter yourself before it’s too late!

 

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The Nevada debate…

…I don’t have time for a post right now, but one question: did I miss it, or was Ron Paul the ONLY one of the seven who was not allowed to answer the last question, regarding why each candidate believes he or she would be the candidate to beat Obama?

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“Humor can be an incredible, lacerating and effective weapon.”

It’s time to lighten the tone a little around here. It’s time to post a few humorous images that have ended up in “MY Pictures” of late via the blogs I read, e-mails I receive, and the news feed on Facebook. After all, like that ol’ Chinese proverb says… ”One never needs their humour as much as when they argue with a fool.” And if that doesn’t describe our times, I don’t know what does…

In the words of Billy Graham, “A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant, overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable.”

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