Hurt - Johnny Cash (A Reformation Day Tune)

I'd say this is a Lutheran hymn

Mom! You made me go to St Thomas as a young boy in the 70s?!

Settlement reached in sex abuse case invilving Brick Twp. pastor

Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 7:41 PM
Updated: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 7:55 PM

Jeff Diamant/The Star-Ledger

Twenty-two men who claimed they were molested by the same Lutheran pastor in Brick Township when they were boys in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s reached a financial settlement today with the estate of the pastor, Robert Slegel, and with other parties in their lawsuit, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The amount of the settlement was not made public, as the agreement forbids the parties from discussing the terms, said Robert Fuggi, a Toms River attorney representing the plaintiffs.

Fuggi had been seeking $5 million per plaintiff in the suit, which was filed in 2005 against Slegel, St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Brick, and the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The settlement was reached after a mediation session, Fuggi said in a statement.

"While the settlement will do much to help my clients," he said, "it will not in and of itself alleviate the lifelong struggle that victims of child sexual abuse, and especially clerical sexual abuse, have in struggling to find healing and closure."

The Rev. Stanley Ellison, current pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran Church, said he was pleased the suit is now resolved.

"We're very grateful that it's settled -- very, very grateful to everyone who worked so hard to come to agreement on it," he said. "And we're grateful to God. We hope that this brings closure to everybody involved -- the plaintiffs, the church and the school."

Slegel had resigned in 1993 as pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran after police charged him with soliciting an adult male prostitute in Lakewood. He died in 2006 in North Carolina, at age 77, just over a year after the lawsuit was filed.

In court papers, the plaintiffs, identified by initials only, contended that the abuse occurred between 1967 and 1985 and occurred for between one and nine years for each plaintiff. The plaintiffs contended they were between five and 15 years old when they were abused.

The suit contends that Slegel would fondle the boys and himself, usually in the church or in his office, and then would verbally pressure them not to tell anyone what happened. The plaintiffs included parishioners at the church, students at the school associated with the church, and children from the area.

With 22 plaintiffs, the case ranks among the largest involving clergy sex abuse in New Jersey. Other large cases have involved Catholic priests in Morris and Camden counties.

Attorneys for the defendants argued last year that the case should be dismissed on the grounds that civil statutes of limitations had expired. But Superior Court Judge Thomas E. O'Brien ruled the case could proceed.

The school connected to the church downsized last year, closing its first through eighth grades. It still has a pre-school and kindergarten.

Voices Carry - Til Tuesday (Aimee Mann) Live, 1985, The Ritz

An excellent 80s music video

Lay Down - Melanie Safka

An excellent 70s music video

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum (The Word of the Lord Endures Forever) is the motto of the Lutheran Reformation, a confident expression of the enduring power and authority of God’s Word. The motto is based on 1 Peter 1:24-25. It first appeared in the court of Frederick the Wise in 1522. He had it sewn onto the right sleeve of the court’s official clothing, which was worn by prince and servant alike. It was used by Frederick’s successors, his brother John the Steadfast, and his nephew John Frederick the Magnanimous. It became the official motto of the Smalcaldic League and was used on flags, banners, swords, and uniforms as a symbol of the unity of the Lutheran laity who struggled to defend their beliefs, communities, families and lives against those who were intent on destroying them.

"Senator" Boxer

Henry V's St Crispin's Day Speech - William Shakespeare

St Crispen's Day Speech given by King Henry V on October 25, 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt:



Enter the KING

WESTMORELAND: O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING: What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Jefferson on Tyranny

Ramadan Bombathon 2010

Once again, this year's data has been compiled:

Ramadan Scorecard    2010 In the name of The Religion of Peace In the name of All Other Religions Terror Attacks 226 1 Dead Bodies 1028 1

Obama's Under The Sea

Flotilla Choir: We Con The World

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Muslim Brotherhood)

An interesting article by Robert Spencer. Read it in its entirety at http://www.jihadwatch.org/

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Muslim Brotherhood) likens resistance to Islamic supremacism to racism


$13,350 from the group that wants to destroy the West from within

As I noted in December 2008, when it was first revealed that Ellison's Hajj was paid for with $13,350 from the Muslim American Society:

The Muslim Brotherhood "must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." -- "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America," by Mohamed Akram, May 19, 1991.

What does that have to do with Congressman Ellison? Everything. The Muslim American Society paid for his Hajj. And what is the Muslim American Society? The Muslim Brotherhood.

"In recent years, the U.S. Brotherhood operated under the name Muslim American Society, according to documents and interviews. One of the nation's major Islamic groups, it was incorporated in Illinois in 1993 after a contentious debate among Brotherhood members." -- Chicago Tribune, 2004.

Zinnia Jones Stands Against Islamofascism

Manifesto for Saving America - Dr Michael Savage

Love or hate Michael Savage (and we love him), his "Manifesto for Saving America" seems to be right on:

1) Close the borders
2) De-fund and repeal Obamacare
3) Institute a flat tax
4) Privatize the regulation of Wall Street
5) End Affirmative Action
6) Liquidate tarp
7) Impose tariffs on China
8) Strike down anchor babies law
9) Use profiling to prevent terror attacks
10) Run the country like a business and not and Empire

Savage's Manifesto for Saving America can be pruchased at: https://www.savageonlinestore.com/index.jsp

Summary from: http://mobyrebuttal.blogspot.com/

Lutheranism 101 - New book

Lutheranism 101 examines Lutheran beliefs and heritage in a fresh way. If you are a lifelong Lutheran searching for more information or new to Lutheranism looking to understand what we believe, this book will be your guide. It is written in an easy-to-read conversational style with short articles, side-bar features, and some humor. Lutheranism 101 helps create a solid foundation of reference upon which a lifetime of sound teaching can be built.

Explore the basics of Lutheran theology by digging into the history of Lutheranism and making connections between what Lutherans believe and what Lutherans do.

Visit lutheranism101.com for more information.

The president of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Rev. Matthew C. Harrison, Reading "Lutheranism 101" - He is obviously a man of discriminating tastes