YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2006 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they
don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone
is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the
screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the
first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you
turn around to go back and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this
message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this
list.

AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.

"The Computer"

A French teacher was explaining to her class that in
French, Unlike English, nouns are designated as either
masculine or feminine.

"House" is feminine-"la maison."
"Pencil" is masculine-"le crayon."

A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the
class into two groups
- male and female - and asked them to decide for
themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computer"),
because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal
logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with
other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long-term
memory for possible later review; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find
yourself spending half your salary on accessories for it.


The women's group, however, concluded that computers
should be masculine ("le computer") because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn
them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for
themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but
half the time they ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if
you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won ...

STEVE RAY'S OPEN LETTER TO THE FILIPINO CATHOLICS

For a change...a different and insightful view of Filipinos


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We stepped into the church and it was old and a bit dark. Mass had just begun and we sat toward the front. We didn't know what to expect here in Istanbul, Turkey. I guess we expected it to be a somber Mass but quiet and somber it was not-I thought I heard angels joyously singing behind me.

The voices were rich, melodic and beautiful. What I discovered as I spun around to look did not surprise me because I had seen and heard the same thing in other churches around the world. It was not a choir of angels with feathered wings and halos but a group of delightful Filipino Catholics with smiles of delight and joy on their faces as hey worshiped God and sang His praises. I had seen this many times before in Rome, in Israel, in the United States and other countries.

Filipinos have special traits and they are beautifully expressed as I gazed at the happy throng giving thanks to God. What are the special traits which characterize these happy people? I will share a few that I have noticed-personal observations-as I have traveled around the world, including visits to the Philippines.

FIRST, there is a sense of community, of family. These Filipino Christians did not sit apart from each other in different isles. They sat together, closely. They didn't just sing quietly, mumbling, or simply mouthing the words. No, they raised their voices in harmony together as though they enjoyed the sense of unity and communion among them. They are family even if they are not related.

SECOND, they have an inner peace and joy which is rare in the world today. When most of the world's citizens are worried and fretful, I have found Filipinos to have joy and peace-a deep sense of God's love that overshadows them. They have problems too, and many in the Philippines have less material goods than others in the world, yet there is still a sense of happy trust in God and love of neighbor.

THIRD, there is a love for God and for his Son Jesus that is almost synonymous with the word Filipino. There is also something that Filipinos are famous for around the world - their love for the Blessed Mother. Among the many Filipinos I have met, the affectionate title for Mary I always hear from their lips is "Mama Mary." For these gentle folks Mary is not just a theological idea, a historical person, or a statue in a church Mary is the mother of their Lord and their mother as well, their "mama."

The Philippines is a Catholic nation-the only such nation in Asia-and this wonderful country exports missionaries around the world. They are not hired to be missionaries, not official workers of the church. No, they are workers and educators, doctors, nurses and housekeepers that go to other lands and travel to the far reaches of the earth, and everywhere they go they take the joyous gospel of Jesus with them. They make a somber Mass joyful when they burst into song. They convict the pagan of sin as they always keep the love of Jesus and the Eucharist central in their lives.

My hope and prayer, while I am here in the Philippines sharing my conversion story from Baptist Protestant to Roman Catholic, is that the Filipino people will continue to keep these precious qualities. I pray that they will continue loving their families, loving the Catholic Church, reading the Bible, loving Jesus, His Mother and the Eucharist.

As many other religions and sects try to persuade them to leave the Church, may God give the wisdom to defend the Catholic faith. As the world tempts them to sin and seek only money and fame and power, may God grant them the serenity to always remember that obedience to Christ and love for God is far more important than all the riches the world can offer.

May the wonderful Filipino people continue to be a light of the Gospel to the whole world!

Interview of Anne Graham: A Good Read

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

-------------

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorist attacks, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

Bong Austero's Open Letter To Our Leaders

The original is in:


http://bongaustero.blogspot.com/2006/02/open-letter-to-our-leaders.html


This blog by Bong Austero caught my attention and I wanna share it with you. This is an excellent piece of writing.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!


----

Open Letter To Our Leaders

Dear Tita Cory, Senators, Congressmen, Businessmen, Media people,
Leftists, and all Bleeding Hearts Out There:

I am angry. And I know that there are many out there who are angrier
than I am for the same reason. And that reason is simple. I am sick
and tired of all you guys claiming to speak for me and many Filipinos.
I feel like screaming every time you mouth words about fighting for my
freedom and my rights, when you obviously are just thinking about
yours. You tell me that the essence of democracy is providing every
citizen the right to speak his or her mind and make his or her own
informed judgments, but you yourselves do not respect my silence and
the choices I and many others have made. In other words, your concept
of democracy is limited to having your rights and your freedoms
respected, at the expense of ours.

I am utterly flabbergasted that you still do not get it: we already
responded to your calls, and our response has been very clear - we
chose not to heed your calls to go to EDSA or to Fort Bonifacio not
because we do not love our country or our freedoms or our rights, but
precisely because we love our country even more. Because quite
frankly, we are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to
move this country forward. You may think that is not correct, you can
tell me all the dire warnings about the evils of authoritarian rule,
but quite frankly all we see is your pathetic efforts to prop up your
cause. You tell me that you are simply protecting my freedoms and my
rights, but who told you to do that? I assure you that when I feel
that my rights and my freedoms are at a peril, I will stand up and
fight for them myself.

You tell us that GMA is not the right person to lead this country
because she has done immoral acts. As someone who sees immorality
being committed wantonly in many ways every day and by everyone (yes,
including the ones you do), I may have become jaded. But you have not
been able to offer me any viable alternative, while GMA has bent over
backwards many times to accommodate you while continuing to work hard
despite all the obstacles and the brickbats you have thrown her way.
From where I sit, she is the one who has been working really hard to
move this country forward while all of you have been so busy with one
and only one thing: to make sure she does not succeed. So forgive me
if I do not want to join you in your moral pissing contest. Forgive me
if I have chosen to see things from another perspective. You say she
is the problem. I say, we are the problem, more to the point, I think
you are a bigger problem than she is. Taking her out may solve part of
the problem, but that leaves us with a bigger problem: you. That is
right, YOU!

While I felt outraged that she called a Comelec official during the
elections and that she may have rigged the elections, I have since
then taken the higher moral ground and forgiven her. Yes my dear
bishops, I have done what you have told me to do since I was a child,
which you say is the Christian and moral thing to do: forgive.
Especially since she has asked for forgiveness and has tried to make
amends for it. Erap certainly has not apologized and continues to be
defiant, continuing to insult us everyday with his protestations. Cory
has not apologized for her incompetence but we have forgiven her just
the same because like GMA, she has worked hard after all.

I know you do not think that GMA's apology was not enough, or that she
was insincere, or that that apology should not be the end of it, but
please spare me the hypocrisy of telling me that you do so for the
sake of protecting the moral fibre of society. The real reason is
because you smell blood and wants to go for the kill.

Well, I have news for you. I do not like her too. I did not even vote
for her. I voted for Raul Roco. But as much as I do not like her, I do
not like you even more. I may not trust her, but guess what, I do not
trust you even more.

You know why? Because all you do is whine and sabotage this country.
You belittle every little progress we make, conveniently forgetting
that it is not just GMA who has been working so hard to achieve them.
Every single day, we keep the faith burning in our hearts that this
country will finally pull itself out of the mess and we work so hard
to do that. Every little progress is the result of our collective
effort, we who toil hard everyday in our jobs. Yet, you persist in one
and only thing: making GMA look bad in the eyes of the world and
making sure that this country continues to suffer to prove your sorry
point. In the process, you continue to destroy what we painstakinly
try to built. So please do not be surprised that I do not share your
cause. Do not be surprised that we have become contemptuous of your
antics. You have moved heaven and earth to destroy her credibility,
you have convened all kinds of fora and hearings and all you have done
is test our patience to the core. For all your effort, you have only
succeeded in dragging us further down. I say enough.

Don't get me wrong. I am not asking that we take immorality lying
down, or that we let the President get away with anything illegal. But
you have tried to prove your accusations all these time and you have
not succeeded, so it is time to let things be. Besides, you are doing
something immoral as well if not utterly unforgivable. The Magdalo
soldiers are consorting with the communists - the same people who have
been trying to kill democracy for years. Cory has been consorting with
Erap and the Marcoses.

So please wake up and take a reality check. In the absence of true and
genuine moral leadership, many of us have decided to cast our lot with
the President, even if we do not like her. A flawed leader is better
than scheming power hungry fools who can not even stand up for their
convictions in the face of an impending arrest.

Your coup attempts and the denials that you have consequently made
only underscore what we think is true: you are spineless and
unreliable people whose only defense is to cry suppression when your
ruse do not work. You are like bullies who taunt and provoke, but cry
oppression when taken to task for your cruelty.

I would have respected you if you took the consequences of your
actions like real heroes: calmly and responsibly instead of kicking
and screaming and making lame excuses. You say you are willing to die
for us, that you do all these things for the country and the Filipino,
but you are not even willing to go to jail for us.

Come on, you really think we believe that you did not want to bring
down the government when that is the one and only thing you have been
trying to do in the last many months?

We love this country and we want peace and progress. Many among us do
not give a f*&k who sits at Malacanang because we will work hard and
do our share to make things work. If you only do your jobs, the ones
that we elected you to do, things would be a lot simpler and easier
for every one.

The events during the weekend only proved one thing. You are more
dangerous and a serious threat to this country than GMA is. We have
seen what you are capable of doing - you are ready to burn this
country and reduce everything to ashes just to prove your point. If
there is something that we need protection from, it is protection from
you.