Paul Long's Ramblings

I am glad that theses two writers John Stonestreet and Eric Metaxas are helping keeping Colson's Breakpoint commentaries relevant. Beyonce and the Super Bowl Guinea Pig Kids? John Stonestreet February 07, 2013 Rachel Campos-Duffy, a blogger on the Today Show’s “Moms” site, described Monday how watching the Super Bowl like millions of other families turned into a “parenting challenge” when the halftime show began. That’s putting the performance of Beyonce and her similarly half-dressed dancers mildly. The hyper-sensual show left Mrs. Campos-Duffy’s kids with a quizzical look on their faces. The eight-year-old simply said, “She looks weird.” If only all our kids were so confused. But sadly, so many of them are thoroughly familiar with sexuality packaged as music and performance. As Campos-Duffy wryly observed, “I half-expected a stripper pole to pop out of the platform, which was actually staged to look like a peep show.” Well, the commercial for the CBS sitc...

From:  http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/08/6065 Public Discourse: Ethics, Law and the Common Good http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com view article in original form   Growing Up With Two Moms: The Untold Children’s View by  Robert Oscar Lopez August 6, 2012 The children of same-sex couples have a tough road ahead of them—I know, because I have been there. The last thing we should do is make them feel guilty if the strain gets to them and they feel strange. Between 1973 and 1990, when my beloved mother passed away, she and her female romantic partner raised me. They had separate houses but spent nearly all their weekends together, with me, in a trailer tucked discreetly in an RV park 50 minutes away from the town where we lived. As the youngest of my mother’s biological children, I was the only child who experienced childhood without my father being around. After my mother’s partner’s children had left for college, she moved into our house in town. I li...

Some photos of parts of my magic show performed for our church's Light Party 2011. Thanks Liann for taking these photos! settling down for the show after games The Light Party theme for the year was "Under the Sea" One of my favourite opening games that I had not  done for 2 years Using my magic box that stores my magic for a show and doubles as a table and a close up mat if needed due to time constraints, I cut out a few effects. This is the part I love the most - picking a volunteer :-) I love this part too when I somehow "escape"  after "messing up" :-) decided to add on to my cups and water trick with  balloons Teaching how to make a simple balloon octopus Yeah! Nothing popped :-) Still surprises me how many children want to volunteer despite the fact that they could get very wet because they want a nice balloon sculpture Part two of the trick Setting up my version of a new trick added to my ro...

This is disturbing and sad .... One child in four in single-parent home BRONWYN TORRIE Last updated 05:00 30/04/2011 Share Print Text Size New Zealand has the third-highest rate of children living in single-parent homes, an OECD study says. This means nearly one in four Kiwi children are growing up in single-parent homes as more marriages break up and single women choose to enter motherhood on their own. Of 27 industrialised countries, New Zealand ranked third in the Doing Better for Families study, with 23.7 per cent of children living in a one-parent household, compared with the 14.9 per cent average across all countries. The United States ranked first with 25.9 per cent and Ireland was second with 24.3 per cent. Children's Commissioner John Angus said Kiwi children were four times more likely to be living under the poverty line if they were being raised by a single parent. New Zealand's child poverty rate, at 12.2 per cent, is nearly on a par with the OECD average. Child ...

Just dropped my son off to school as he has to be early for band practice for his High School senior prize giving ceremony. I do not need to be there that early so just killing some time in the office. On the left is the front of the high school invitation and on the left is HIPPY invitation. What is so cool for me is to be invited as a special guest for this - meaning I don't have to sit in the "bleachers" / benches on the balcony that is such a pain on my back. I get to sit in front. Not so exciting is that I have been asked to be in the procession (special guests). I have always felt awkward in processions :-) This invitiation might be a small thing for many but to me it is an honour to be an invited special guest as it indicates that the School recognizes me as a Pastor of a local church who has genuine interest in the affairs of the school and local community. What is a bonus is that when I got in just now, there was waiting for me a letter with another invit...