"If you believe in your God, tell people about it..."

I came across this video while looking through youtube videos and was immediately intrigued when I saw that it was Penn Jillette with Piers Morgan. I felt this way because I knew before this video that Penn was an atheist and very open about it and before this video I was not a big fan of Piers Morgan, mainly just from Americas Got Talent. After watching this video my thoughts on Piers Morgan had changed because I thought as a believer he handled that topic very well and stood up for what he believed and expressed what he believed. He felt angered by Penn's recently released book, " God, No!", and he told him that and told him why. And I agree with that, as a believer myself, I would hope that if I was in that situation I would be able to do the same as Piers and stand up for what I believe in, but not only be defencive, but explain why I disagree and why I believe that he is wrong, which I think that Piers did. However, I found myself after watching this video respecting both of these men more, including Penn. As a Christian and him being an Atheist, we have very different beliefs and lifestyles, but he is open and public about what he believes and that is more than many Christians can say, including myself... which is very unfortunate. I respect Penn because he not an Atheist who hates every religious person (I don't know if any Atheist's are like that), he respects people who will stand up for their beliefs and try to explain it to him and possibly convince him. It's the people who say they are Christians or religious and do nothing about it who he does not respect and I agree. My favourite part of this video is near the end when Penn is talking about how he loves when people speak out about their beliefs and their religion and he says, "If you believe in your God, tell people about it, pray for me, explain it to me". It is people like this and hearing things like this that should make Christians want to go out and express their belief, I know it does for me.

Cornel West vs. Obama

My professor showed this video of Cornel West, a professor at Princeton, in my International Development class the other day. President Obama was inaugurated on Monday and he swore the oath on the same bible that Abraham Lincoln did and on the personal bible of Martin Luther King Jr. To give you some background, in 2009 the government of Haiti passed a law that raised the wages of workers from 24 cents an hour to 61 cents an hour or 5 dollars a day. Because the companies that have factories in Haiti like Levi Strauss, Haynes, and Fruit of The Loom are American companies that are not willing to pay that amount to the workers of Haiti. So, the Obama administration pressured the President of Haiti not to increase the minimum wage, they eventually came up with 3 dollars a day, which is about a 7 cent increase per hour. This is the example my professor used to help explain to us how President Obama is clearly not trying to rid the world of extreme poverty. In this video Cornel West provides more examples of how President Obama has not supported the beliefs of Martin Luther King Jr. and therefore does not deserve to use his personal bible according to Cornel West. And I must say that I do agree with West that Obama has made a point to use Martin's bible, but he does not follow the morals and beliefs that Martin Luther King Jr. did. He is known widely for standing up against racism and dying for it, but he also stood up against war crimes and especially poverty and poverty in America. I do not do it justice in trying to explain it myself so you must listen to Cornel West because he explains it very well and is clearly a very good speaker.

A day in the life of a dog (if he could speak)

My name is Cuddles and I am a dog. If I could speak the first thing I would say is Cuddles is a crappy name. I am a dog not a gerbil. Why not Paul? Petey? or even Barney? Since I can speak for only a limited time, my name for now will be Ralph... and this is a day in my life...
The first thing I usually do is wake up, sometimes to the first sound of people or just to yell through the window at the less superior animals making a mess in my backyard. On this particular day lets just say that I woke up to my humans walking around up stairs. So of course I race up stairs as fast as I can and get a good scratch from every person I come in contact with. I know I don't really have a full understanding of people, but to me it seems that in the morning (or anytime during the day for that matter) everyone is so busy and is always rushing, nobody just sits and takes the time to enjoy the beautiful day. I don't understand it, but myself on the other hand, I do take the time to relax, might have a quick snooze before the female lets me roam outside for the day where I, unlike people, will enjoy this wonderful morning. I usually do a few laps around my fence chasing a few birds, maybe even a plane or two, then once I know everyone has left the house I relax again and stop pretending like I am actually guarding the house. Then I will do my daily butt cleaning and give it a good scrub, yes, with my tongue, it's a natural part of life, just accept it. After that I might do a little more running and then sleep and sleep and sleep... Then I usually wake up to the sound of my people arriving back home where I am then allowed to come back inside. At this time of day I get a much more thorough and longer belly rub, which makes me quite happy. Once everyone has arrived back home and given me a good scratch or two I go back to sleeping and they go back to being busy where they come and go and are running by me not realising how beautiful the sunset is. They spend most of their time on funny looking gadgets and very little of it interacting with each other or playing with me (which is very important). Then night time comes and each person eventually goes off by themselves until there is one person left, usually the man of the house, this is my favourite part of the day because throughout it nobody really has time for me or for anyone and in this last moment of the day the man will lay down beside me and give me a really nice scratch and he will even talk to me. I have no idea what he is saying, probably about his day and why he was in such a hurry and what everyone in the family is up to these days, but I am still a good listener, maybe that's just what he needed, a good listener. But then he goes to bed seeming a little happier and I go off to my bed knowing I did my job (man's best friend). If I could speak to a person and tell them something, I would tell them to slow down. I would say slow down and relax, don't take your time in this life for granted. I would also say to enjoy the little things of this world, the beautiful sunny days, the bright green grass, the singing birds (which I find extremely annoying, but you guys seem to enjoy it for some reason), the hot summer days, the rare time of the day you get to be with your family (dogs included), and even your lonesome dog who all he wants is to play with you. I think people could learn a lot from dogs, we might not have the best values or exciting lives, but we certainly know how to enjoy life.

Superman's "Bucket List"

1. Climb Everest within a minute.

2. Beat every strong man record.

3. Show Lois the view of the world from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

4. Witness a miracle rather than always creating them.

5. Kill Chuck Norris.

6. Have a family.

7. Have a normal life.

8. Beat Usain Bolt's world record (only by a split second of course).

9. Build a house on the moon.

10. Actually dig to China.

11. Change the world.