The Coal Cars

I was sitting at a train crossing today watching a freight train go by. All the cars were those open coal cars where you can see the coal mounded over the top. Watching them go by and listening to the sound of the wheels clacking on the tracks made me realize how close we are to our ancestors. As different as our world is today from 200 years ago, so many things haven't really changed. 200 years ago they used coal in their fireplaces. A hundred years later, they used coal to power the engines pulling the trains. Today, we use coal to make power. So, in a round about way, we are still using coal to heat our houses!

Dog Story

I sit here in tears after seeing a story about a dog. Her name is Ariel. She spent the last three years in a field, never allowing anyone to get close to her. Her first adopted mom had to move and another took over, coming every day to make sure she had food and was still alive. Last week she got trapped in the basement of a home under construction and animal control was able to catch her, finally. It took her only a couple of days to settle down and let people touch her and love her. Animal control got in touch with her first adopted mom to let her know that Ariel had finally been caught. She flew down from Idaho to get her and take her home. Ariel recognized her immediately. And I sit here bawling my eyes out!

End of Marriage

I've just come across some disturbing news on the internet. It seems James Dobson believes activist judges to be more powerful than God. He said so on CNN. You can read the whole letter he wrote here. But this is the excerpt I found to be interesting:

If the battle to protect marriage takes even five more years, liberal judges and activists will have destroyed this 5,000-year-old institution, which was designed by the Creator, Himself. Even now, they are close to achieving that coveted objective.

To get some other perspectives on the power of our judges check out Andrew Sullivan's blog and this other obscure blog Andrew links to.

For the record (and for those who may read this and not be familiar with my views), although I think that civil gay marriage should be allowed, I do not think any religious institution should be forced to recognize the validity of that marriage. After all, couples are married every day at court houses all across the nation and never seek spiritual recognition or blessing. That being said, our government has an obligation to extend to all of its citizens the same rights and priviledges. To do otherwise is government sanctioned discrimination. To allow civil gay marriage is the right thing to do. Any argument against such marriage with its foundation in religious belief should be ignored, because we are discussing "civil" marriage. If a church wishes to recognize these marriages, that would be gravy for the couple. But if not, it would be no different from the current stance of the Catholic Church, which doesn't recognize a marriage unless it has been blessed by a priest. Nuff Said!