Neither Here Nor There

• Tim Challies has posted about 9 things he's learned from the DVD set "Planet Earth". I've watched it myself and would agree that both the films themselves and the lessons Tim has extracted from them are wonderful!
• Linda Schrock Taylor's recent article, Dear Parents, About Reading Skills… has some helpful and specific advice for parents of young children regarding writing, spelling, and writing. One particular emphasis is the benefit of reading books aloud to children.
• Apparently X-ray vision to see through clothes is no longer just the domain of comic book advertisements appealing to young teenage boys!
• Huckabee, former presidential candidate, is starting to show his colors. In a recent interview, he's indicated that libertarianism is a great threat to his vision of Republicanism, even more of a threat than liberalism! He called libertarianism a "heartless, callous, soulless" form of economic conservatism. Thanks to Code Monkey Ramblings for pointing out the interview and also providing a helpful critique. My thoughts? Sorry Mr. Huckabee, I've seen enough of "compassionate conservatism" to know that I'd rather have "heartless, callous, soulless" libertarianism.
• Kim Riddlebarger provides us with a fascinating glance at how deeply many Christians are enamored with Israel. He provides some questions that the "Jerusalem Prayer Team" poses to judge whether your church is sufficiently supportive enough of Israel and then provides some thoughtful (and I'd say humorous) responses. The list is absolutely insane. According to the Jerusalem Prayer Team, if your church doesn't have an Israeli flag, it just might mean that your church "refuses to believe the Bible, and rejects God’s Eternal promises to the House of Israel"!!!! We Reformed Christians laugh at these things, but some of these people are dead serious about this stuff! Kim's answers are great! I love his answer to the Israeli flag question: "Sorry, there are no flags in our sanctuary--no Israeli flag, no American flag, no Christian flag"