Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Montana Plane Crash

Mar 24th, 09 / 0 Comments

On March 22nd, a plane went down in Montana, killing 17 people.  Among the dead were a number of Adventists.  My prayers go out to everyone who lost friends and family on the flight.

“Tragedies such as this remind us of the importance of our belief in the blessed hope. It is at the second coming of Jesus Christ that events such as this will be eternally healed,” said Pastor Don Schneider, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, referring to the March 22 plane crash in Butte, Montana. Those that perished in the crash include members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Northern California territory. They include:

The Jacobson Family (members of the Pacific Union College Seventh-day Adventist Church)

Dr. Erin Jacobson
Amy Jacobson
And three children; Taylor, Ava, and Jude

The Ching Family (regular attendees of the Chico Seventh-day Adventist Church and Paradise Seventh-day Adventist Church)

Brent Ching
Kristen Ching
And two children; Hailey and Caleb

The Pullen Family (members of the Lodi English Oaks Seventh-day Adventist Church)

Michael Pullen
Vanessa Pullen
And two children; Sydney and Christopher

According to news reports, the plane, a Pilatus PC-12, was believed to be taking its occupants on a ski trip to Montana.


Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi Dies at Age 70

Dec 22nd, 08 / 3 Comments

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi. I have been a subscriber to his newsletter since it it first started up, and have always relied on his perspective on things theological. I haven’t always agreed with him, of course, but I used his views as a kind of barometer of Conservative Adventist sentiment.

Dr. Bacchiocchi had been battling liver cancer, and on December 11th was taken to the emergency room because of internal bleeding. His family was kind enough to send updates to the newsletter mailing list throughout the ordeal. On the 18th the family was happy to report Dr. Bacchiocchi was sent home from the hospital, weak but out of the woods, so they thought.

Dr. Bacchiocchi was not quite as recovered as everyone had hopped, unfortunately. In the latest message from his family, they report his death as follows:

Shortly after midnight on Saturday, December 20, Samuele Bacchiocchi breathed his last breath. During his last breaths, he was surrounded by his three children and wife of 47 years (today would have been his 47th wedding anniversary), and we read together 2 Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” This quote sums up the life of a man who sacrificed practically all of his time and energy to help others understand the Bible more fully, even up to end as he gave his last seminar in England the Sabbath before being taken to the emergency room.
– From the newsletter dated Sunday, December 21, 2008

My prayers are with the Bacchiocchi family as they deal with this loss. The Adventist community has been truly blessed to have such an internationally respected theologian and historian. I am honored I have been able to correspond with Dr. Bacchiocchi personally on issues of Homosexuality in the Adventist church… despite our differing opinions of the biblical research available on the matter.

May Christ watch over his slumber, and may he rest in peace until that day the trumpet sounds call him forth from the grave to join his Lord in the sky.

Other links:
http://spectrummagazine.org/blog/2008/12/21/passing_dr_bacchiocchi%E2%80%8F
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuele_Bacchiocchi

The Electoral College

Sep 29th, 08 / 43 Comments

Anyone who has known me for any length of time has probably heard me rant about how unfair the Electoral College is, and how any system that allows for a President to be elected when they lose the popular vote is a system not worth using. Well… today is your day to gloat …. or to pass out from shock.

I still believe it is wrong for someone to “win” an election when they have lost the popular vote. I believe that is a flaw in the system, but one that could be fixed if congress would just take the time to do it. I suppose since it has only happened 4 times (as of today.. I’ll be watching this year’s election *quite* closely) they must not think it a problem worthy of their attention. In my opinion, it should never have happened at all. But I digress…

Yes, there are problems with the system, but I have come to make peace with it, as flawed as it is. It is NOT because I have switched to a Jeffersonian mindset; i do not think people are too stupid or uninformed to be able to vote for the president directly. However, I do now see that the Electoral College system ensures an even distribution of power between the states. In the same way the House of Representatives strives to ensure equal voice for the citizenry of the country, so too does the Electoral College strive to ensure equal weight for the votes of that citizenry.

It is quite possible that this equalization has been a strong factor in how our country has survived for so long without imploding. A representative democracy is not an easy thing to maintain, yet we;ve managed to keep it running. I’m beginning to think that some of these things, which I have been so verbally against for so many years, have actually been part of the glue that has held this country together.

May Columbia and Uncle Sam forgive my impudence.

That said… I still have one issue: The Electors themselves. Quite honestly, they seem superfluous to me. Many (but not all) states have created laws that say the Electors are required to cast their votes in line with the popular votes of the state. Those state lacking such laws have Electors who are mealy “pledged” to vote a certain way; they are legally free to vote however they wish. With more and more states passing laws to remove the “pledged” part of the Electoral College, and even some states moving from an all-or-nothing division of Electoral Votes to a congressional district division of Electoral Votes, it seems odd to me that we still have physical Electors… people who simply go to a meeting and hand in the states votes. It seems to me that we should be able to cut out the middle man. Thy have already been stripped of independant thought in many states, so why not get rid of them completely?

The states collect popular votes and divide up the Electoral Votes however they wish, and then simply report to the Federal Government on how their Electoral Votes have been cast. Simple. Done, and Done. Why do we even bother with the physical Elector anymore?

Anyway… there you go: I’m okay with the Electoral College now. I see the underlying benefit it has on our government and in how it helps ensure political stability across so many different states. All we have to do is get rid of the superfluous physical Elector, and fix the holes that allow someone to lose the popular vote yet still win the election, and you’ll never hear me complain about it again :mrgreen:

Finally DONE With School!

Sep 10th, 08 / 23 Comments

Of course, you do realize… now that I’m actually finished with school, the very next day WOULD be the day they turn on the Hadron Collider and destroy the world. It was inevitable. If you notice (not sure when it will change, so it may not be the case by the time you read this) the International Earth-Destruction Advisory Board changed their alert from “Green” (Earth is A-Okay) to “Red” (/demoman, ka-boOOOOooom), with the following alert:

It is our duty to inform you that as of 7:35:05am UTC on September 10, 2008, the Earth has been destroyed.

Yeah… I guess you can blame me. I think I did actually say at one point, it would be the end of the world before I finished school.. heh.. sorry.
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CA Rules on Gay Marriage

May 15th, 08 / 2 Comments

Read the CNN Story: California ban on same-sex marriage struck down

The California Supreme Court removed the ban on same-sex marriage in CA… this from a court where 6 of the 7 members are Republican. :shock:

I am pleased, of course, but I am also bracing myself for the backlash… which has already started:

“The California Supreme Court has engaged in the worst kind of judicial activism today, abandoning its role as an objective interpreter of the law and instead legislating from the bench,” said Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues for the group Concerned Women for America, in a written statement.

Okay, great! So we all agree that the job of the court is to objectively (as much as is possible, anyway) evaluate/interpret law against the standard of the Constitutions. So… what exactly is wrong here? How is this “legislating from the bench”? What I see is the courts doing their job: “Hmm.. this law discriminates against people based on sexual orientation. Isn’t that already illegal? It is? Well, that makes *this* illegal too.”

Interestingly, and something that renews my faith in politics, Governor Schwarzenegger issued a statement saying he would not support a Constitutional Amendment that would overturn the courts ruling. Good on you, Arnie. He has enough respect for the law to not go around changing the rules just because he doesn’t like the outcome of something. Bravo.

It still really shocks me that people so desperately want a Constitutional Amendment that ingrains discrimination into the fabric of America. Why? Should there have been one back when Blacks and Whites were not allowed to marry one another? Would that have been appropriate? Why is discrimination based on sexual orientation any more acceptable than racial discrimination? That’s what I’m hearing from people… or are these people who WOULD try to legislate racial discrimination if they could? I think they are. Bitches. :evil:

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