A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
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Education, the Ministry, and Supporting Oneself Decently
After connivers brought down Enron in 2001, tanking pensions and lives, business education courses slapped a quick coat of ethics onto their lesson plans. That this was no more than a quick coat became apparent seven years later, when connivers nearly brought down the entire worldwide economic system, causing its greatest reversal since the Great Depression. As chance would have it, I took a business course…
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A Willowbrook Story, Part 2, with Geraldo Rivera
Usually a guy’s crowning achievement comes at the end of his career. But with Geraldo Rivera, one might argue it came at its beginning. To thousands of developmentally disabled children….now adults….Geraldo looms as the singular most influential person for good in their lives. Alas, mentally disabled as they are, they’re not aware of it. But those who advocate for them are, and owe Mr. Rivera…
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Mean Things God Doesn’t Do – Part 1
When Katrina flooded New Orleans back in 2005, Pat Robertson promptly announced the reason. It was God. God did it, he declared, because of the city's abortions and homosexuals. This made New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin mad…hopping mad, and he jumped in to set the record straight. God did not destroy New Orleans because of abortions and homosexuals, he stormed. He destroyed it because of the…
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The Rowdy Neighbors
If she said it once, she must have said it a hundred times. They weren't boy scouts back then, Mr. Sheepandgoats! Those Old Testament scriptures were written by primitive nomadic tribes - nasty, barbaric, uncouth, bloodthirsty, drooling – and yet your people, Tom, your Jehovah's Witnesses, insist on portraying them as if in a Hollywood blockbuster. Well…I may concede a little on that latter point. I…
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Smart Ancient Syndrome (SAS) and the Evolutionist Parade
Archeologists dug up something from Canaanite days and the story we heard is the story we always hear: this was an advanced civilization. Surprisingly advanced. We have no idea how they did what they did without power tools. I should have a dollar for every report like this one: An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest…
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Atheist Buses and Hellfire Buses
It was clumsy from people who aren’t known for clumsiness. It didn’t ring true to form, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. Early this year, the atheists slapped this inspirational message on British buses and sent them all over England: “There probably is no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Richard Dawkins, the grand old man of atheism, appeared himself…
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Life on the Exoplanets
Driving to work one morning, wasn't I surprised to find all my carmates believed in extraterrestrials. They didn't just lean that way. They were absolutely, rock-solid firm-in-their-heart-of-hearts convinced that there was intelligent life on other planets. This could only be the effect of too many Star Trek boneheads and coneheads, for not only had extraterrestrials never been discovered, but even extra planets outside our own…
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The Two Mennonites
In many respects, Meander With Me Mary is a cool lady. In her nineties, she has taken up blogging. Even Pop, universally acknowledged as 'cool' by twentysomethings, has not done that. That computer he got from me still sits on his desk. Once in a while he turns it on and tries to figure it out using the printed instruction manual. But you don't learn computers that…
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The French Version of Geraldo?
It's not unusual for the developmentally disabled to have issues of self-esteem. And it's not hard to see why. If your closest associates – in the vast majority of cases, your only associates – are people who have to be paid to see you, you don't think you might have some self-esteem issues? But Doug has no issues of self-esteem. He is one of the…
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Sailing Alone Around the World
All the girl wants to do is sail alone around the world. What's wrong with that? Nothing, says her nautical Dad. Nothing, says her nautical Mom. Plenty, says the Dutch Council for Child Protection, who have successfully sued for temporary guardianship. So Laura Dekker's not going anywhere, not yet, not at 13 years of age. Now, if this story didn't push a lot of buttons…