Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Charitie de Cheney Lees Smith Bancroft
1841-1923

Comfort Food

Being "single" (I hate using that term) again, I've had to learn how to cook for myself. I'm not all that creative, but I do enjoy seeing how I put my own stamp on an old favorite. Here's a recipe I developed last night, and it turned out excellently:

Timotheus' Hearty Meatloaf
(reduced sodium)
adapted from a old recipe with modifications inspired by Alton Brown

1 pound ground chuck
1 pound ground sirloin
3/4 c. uncooked oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. catsup
1/4 c. milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
------
1/2 c. catsup
3 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 tsp. prepared spicy brown mustard
1 Tbsp. prepared horseradish

Combine the first 9 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine thoroughly, but avoid compressing the meat.
Use a large loaf (10 inch) loaf pan to mold the loaf shape.
Onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, turn the meatloaf out of the pan onto the center of the tray.
(Alternatively, use two small (7.5") loaf pans.)
Bake at 350F degrees for 40 minutes.

Combine the last 4 ingredients; spoon over meat loaf and bake 15 more minutes (or until meat thermometer registers 155F degrees.)

Sodium content: 400mg/serving

"It Didn't Happen"

From an interview with John Kerry: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-kerry_zuckmanjul23,1,7201443,full.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

Opponents of the withdrawal proposal argue that Iraq would be left in chaos and that genocide would occur as a result.

"We heard that argument over and over again about the bloodbath that would engulf the entire Southeast Asia, and it didn't happen," Kerry said, dismissing the charge out of hand as he argued that the American presence only makes the situation worse every day.

This is what John Kerry says "didn't happen" in VietNam:
http://www.dartcenter.org/dartaward/2002/hm3/01.html

To corroborate the experiences of refugees now living in Orange County, the Register interviewed dozens of former inmates and their families, both in the United States and Vietnam; analyzed hundreds of pages of documents, including testimony from more than 800 individuals sent to jail; and interviewed Southeast Asian scholars. The review found:

* An estimated 1 million people were imprisoned without formal charges or trials.

* 165,000 people died in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's re-education camps, according to published academic studies in the United States and Europe.

* Thousands were abused or tortured: their hands and legs shackled in painful positions for months, their skin slashed by bamboo canes studded with thorns, their veins injected with poisonous chemicals, their spirits broken with stories about relatives being killed.

* Prisoners were incarcerated for as long as 17 years, according to the U.S. Department of State, with most terms ranging from three to 10 years.

* At least 150 re-education prisons were built after Saigon fell 26 years ago.

* One in three South Vietnamese families had a relative in a re-education camp.

Don't worry folks, according to John Kerry, "it didn't happen."

And what of Cambodia?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0414/p09s02-coop.html

When the Khmer Rouge victoriously entered Phnom Penh 30 years ago, many people greeted the rebels with a cautious optimism, weary from five years of civil war that had torn apart their lives and killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. All of the city dwellers were sent to live and work in the countryside, joining the peasantry in one of the most radical revolutions in history.

During the nearly four years following that day - April 17, 1975 - Cambodia was radically transformed. Economic production and consumption were collectivized, as Pol Pot and his circle mobilized the entire population to launch a "super great leap forward." The labor demanded was backbreaking, monotonous, and unceasing.

Everyday freedoms were abolished. Buddhism and other forms of religious worship were banned. Money, markets, and media disappeared. Travel, public gatherings, and communication were restricted. Contact with the outside world vanished. And the state set out to control what people ate and did each day, whom they married, how they spoke, what they thought, and who would live and die. "To keep you is no gain," the Khmer Rouge warned, "To destroy you is no loss."

In the end, more than 1.7 million of Cambodia's 8 million inhabitants perished from disease, starvation, overwork, or outright execution in a notorious genocide.

No, matter... "It didn't happen."