Did Anyone Else Believe George Tenet?
...His interview on "60 Minutes" last night showed why he was director of the CIA. He couldn't answer any question directly. He implied that we had no reason to go to war in Iraq; but we already knew that. He stated that we had intelligence on two of the terrorists who flew into the World Trade Center, but never discovered their names on the passenger manifests until after the bombing.
...I am afraid that trying to force Iraq to have a democracy may not work, because inherent in democracy is the rule of moral people with a biblical ethic. It is beginning to unravel in the U.S.; so why should we force it upon nations who have no moral fiber to sustain it? The corruption among the Iraqi ministry is evidence of similar morals to our own Congress, e.g. the Washington, D.C. madam who is naming names of high-ranking officials who used her "escort service."
...It seemed to me that Mr. Tenet was more loyal to the CIA than to our country. Why didn't our executive branch listen and take heed to his advice before we involved ourselves in the culture of another nation?
...Why can't Pres. Bush admit mistakes and change courses of action? Because it is not in his nature; he was the same type of Governor of Texas before he became Commander in Chief.
...Edmund Burke said that America is good, but that if America ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great.
...Mr. Tenet would never admit that we torture prisoners to get information from them. He considers "waterboarding" a normal interrogator's tool.

Relatives Open New Store...
...Wanda's daughter, Donna Hayes along with her husband, Kyle, have purchased a Sears Dealership in Liberal, KS. It will provide a place for their whole family to work.
...To shop online from their store, go to www.seardealer.com and enter the Store No. 3270. Then you can shop like you usually do online.
...It is just 25 miles from our house to the store, so I have been working part-time as the resident computer advisor and am learning how to do sales as well as menial task from day-to-day.
...Donna used to manage the Zales store across the mall from the Sears, so she has plenty of experience. Kyle operates his own business, Hostco, which repairs and installs meter runs for natural gas wells in the oil patch. He also does well pumping and runs a cattle ranch in his "spare" time.
...Their younger son, Kolt, is in college and plans to pursue an advanced degree in being a Chiropractor. Their older son, Kasey, is a professional bull rider on the PBR circuit and is doing quite well in his third full year in the profession.
...Wanda and I are proud of all of them for their current and future accomplishments.

Super Earth Just 20 Light Years Away?
...The news media reports that a European astronomer has discovered a planet similar to Earth just 20 light years away.
...First, it was discovered by observing the wobble in a distant star and calculating the estimated mass of the object that would case that wobble using a computer model. The star was estimated in its intensity and the distance of the wobbler from the star was used to estimate the possible temperature to be in the right range for water to exist as liquid.
...Second, the media then hired an artist to draw a planet that looks amazingly similar to Earth and put a red star in the sky. It is called in some newspapers an artist's rendition and in other articles it is just called a photograph, as if someone took a camera to capture it.
...Third, the discoveries are usually used to justify more expenditures of tax money for NASA to explore space.
...What are the actual possibilities for human exploration of such a planet, which is the only reason to consider it a "Super Earth?" Consider these calculations: 20 light years means the time it would take to travel to that object from the observation point if one could travel at the speed of light, 186300 miles per second. Let alone the fact that Einstein's Theory of Relativity predicts that light speed not only is the upper limit, but that the mass of the traveler expands as the speed is approached. Using our current technology, space travelers can move at 25,000 miles per hour, which would mean to travel the 117,583,617,600,000 miles from Earth to this Super Earth would take 536,544 Earth years. Communications just one way would take 20 years per transmission.
...Not only does evolution theory require extremely huge amounts of time, the possibility that life would evolve on another planet at exactly the same time is also enormous. The fact is that mathematics predicts it is nearly impossible from a statistical analysis for evolution to even occur, much less simultaneous evolution in another place 120 trillion miles away!
...One astronomer who is part of the discovery team even stated, "It is only 20 light years away; we can go there." I am amazed that seemingly intelligent people believe such scientists, purely because they have the title of "scientist."
...(sarcastically) I assume we will spend tax-payer dollars to assemble a team of NASA astronauts and Halliburton explorers to go look for oil! I hope we can get the rocket off the launch pad with enough fuel to last for the entire trip and hopefully the return trip, plus supplies to keep those travelers alive for the 500,000+ years it will take for the trip, and I hope in those years, the object hasn't changed too much. Wait, we might need additional supplies, if in that much time, the humans evolve into something different, and by the time they get back with the Super Earth rocks, one million years later, we haven't changed into something they won't recognize. Just think, Hollywood doesn't have a monopoly on fantasies!
...It isn't that it takes so much energy to escape the Earth's gravitational field, but that it takes so much speculation about space travel to escape the Earth's supposedly unsolvable problems. Is it possible that taking sinful humans into space, we are taking the problems with us?

Senior Adult Spelling Bee...
...went well. I won the event in the Fourth Round.
...next, I go to Midwest City for the Oklahoma State Senior Spelling Bee.
...more studying of word lists and countries of origin.
...We'll visit the relatives in Oklahoma City after the Bee.

Here's a picture of the group of contestants and judges:

Lance's church is now NewSpring...
...Read about the changes at Lance's church in Wichita, KS, by going to the new link on the sideboard: Lance's Pastor, Mark Hoover.
...I assume that Lance will change all his media presentations to NewMusic, NewWorship, NewBand, etc.
...Look for a NewLogo, that will represent the new name.
...I am so proud of my son in getting involved where God is moving. I understand that over 3,000 people attended the 3 services over Easter weekend. That makes having 35 at Clearlake Baptist kind of understated, but for my church which averages about 20, we were excited to see a bigger crowd of people!
...Lance grew up in a church which had been part of a denomination, but had become an independent Bible-believing church. He is not new to making changes and exhibiting the reality of his convictions. He also experienced a church and Christian school going through name changes.

Survived April Fool's Day...
...how about you?
...A retired first grade teacher said she usually had to laugh at each attempt by her students to pull a prank on her on April 1st.
...Maybe this holiday has been so upstaged by others that require purchasing a gift that it is gradually disappearing, much like St. Patrick's Day's wearing of the green.
...It may also be so insignificant in the same month as that other significant special day, April 15th, or IRS Day; time to enlarge the U.S. Treasury again.
...It probably wouldn't be such a big thing for me if I weren't also taking care of the financial responsibilities of my mother-in-law, and being Trustee of a Trust Fund, with quarterly reports due also on the 15th.
...Spent April 1st in church with Wanda at Forgan Baptist Church on the first two services of their Across Oklahoma Revival. The spirit was great and the results were awesome! Tonight, I will do some visitation for my own church, Clearlake Baptist inviting people to a relationship with Jesus or attending Easter service next Sunday.
...Funny seeing the children during the children's sermon, waving their "palms" for Palm Sunday. I doubt that any of them really know what palm leavers were.