Early Christmas Gift - Live News Feed - Bottom of the Page

I added a live news feed at the bottom of the page, courtesy of Blogger. A lot of information mavens use this site, so I decided to enhance their experience.

Thank you for all the kind comments, from around the world.

Synod Minders

Synod minders make sure that all the news is sunny-side up, that all dissenters are hushed, silenced, trashed, or their families divided. Holy Mother Synod comes first.

Some Ichabod readers may have noticed the new comment on MLC Blows Budget, allegedly from a member of MLS board. That is more proof that Holy Mother feels obliged to answer some questions from the flocks they are fleecing. And the short answer is, besides asking your synodical PR agent, this song -

Curtain up! Light the lights!
We got nothing to hit but the heights!
I can tell, wait and see.
There's the bell! Follow me!
And nothing's gonna stop us 'til we're through!
Honey, everything's coming up roses and daffodils!
Everything's coming up sunshine and Santa Claus!
Everything's gonna be bright lights and lollipops!
Everything's coming up roses for me and for you!

The glassy-eyed Kool Aid drinkers will sing that song until WELS-Enron finally tells the truth about where all the money went.

Columbus, Ohio: The Cutting Edge in Family Affairs

Senator Edwards: There are two Americas, and I have two families.

Some think Senator John Edwards should not speak at the Democrat convention because of his mistress and love child, his refusal to face the public, and his recent Father of the Year Award.

No problem, says WELS in Columbus, Ohio. We solved that problem years ago.

Suppose a man is forced out of the ministry on Saturday, his DP preaching in his stead on Sunday, because that minister was caught in the act. Suppose his wife sues for divorce and wins custody of the children. The Wisconsin Sect answer is to make that man a consultant to WELS congregations, a youth leader, and a speaker at other WELS congregations. Wait, there's more. He starts a Community Church in the name of WELS. He is so bad at all this that the district VP writes him a letter of recommendation for a Lutheran parish call.

Ask the pro-life synod about the baby.

So, taking the Wisconsin Sect's leadership into consideration, especially its advertized Biblical principles, the Democrats should make John Edwards their vice-presidential candidate. Or, he could become a mission counselor.

Power of Positive Thinking

Rev. and Rev. Osteen

ABC News

Can a crankiness land you in court? The case of Sandra Brown v. Victoria Osteen is the story of a chance encounter on an airplane that turned into a nasty legal battle.

Victoria Osteen stands beside her husband, Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, during services at...
Victoria Osteen stands beside her husband, Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, during services at the church in 2005. She has been sued by a Continental Airlines flight attendant, who said Osteen pushed and shoved her after she failed to promptly clean up a spill on Osteen's first-class seat.
(Pat Sullivan/AP Photo)Osteen is the wife of popular self-help author and television minister Joel Osteen, who heads the Lakewood Church, Houston's largest congregation. Brown is a flight attendant for Continental Airlines.

Osteen and her family were on Brown's flight from Houston to Vail, Colo., two years ago when, according to court documents, witnesses said Osteen became upset about a spill on the armrest of her first-class seat. She asked the flight attendants to clean up the spill and when they did not respond quickly enough, Osteen became confrontational, according to documents filed in the civil case that goes to trial today.

The lawsuit, filed in Harris County Civil Court in Houston, alleges that Victoria Osteen "shoved, grabbed and pulled the flight attendants." The suit goes on to claim that Osteen elbowed Brown, who was the flight manager, while allegedly trying to get into the cockpit of the airplane.

Brown's attorney, Reginald McKamie, contends that Osteen has a dark side that the trial will expose. His client, he said, was forced into civil court because Continental did not call police when the incident happened. Osteen and her family were asked to leave the flight; Osteen was later fined $3,000 by the Federal Aviation Administration for interfering with a flight crew member.

The attorney representing Victoria Osteen in the lawsuit is the legendary Rusty Hardin, who said his client's actions have been exaggerated and that he looked forward to having her side of the story told in court.


Hardin has represented embattled baseball pitcher Roger Clemens. He also famously won a case (on appeal) against the accounting giant Arthur Anderson over charges that the company had destroyed Enron documents.

But Hardin prevailed over Anna Nicole Smith, blocking her attempt to inherit all the vast fortune of J. Howard Marshall II, her late husband.

The portrait of an out-of-control Victoria Osteen painted by the lawsuit contrasts with the image of the perfectly groomed spouse who is seen helping her husband broadcast his message around the world each Sunday from the Lakewood Church. She was recently named co-pastor of the 60,000-member congregation. The Osteen's ministry reaches millions more through television, and through Joel Osteen's best-selling books.

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GJ - Robert Schuller, the inventor of Church Growth, had a similar shoving incident on a plane. What gives with these positive thinking apostates? I am happy to get a small bag of peanuts, a warm cola, and a window seat.

Be sure to read this expose of Osteen's non-faith. I find him pretty boring, so I never look at his books or watch his show.