Hey everyone!
So I guess I haven't posted in quite a while. As in about twice in over 3 years. I always did intend to get back into blogging, just never had time, correction, I never made time for it. Never really made it a priority I guess. I've got a couple other big things cleared up lately so now hopefully I'll make time for it more regularly.
I also always intended to write more about politics and the world in general and that sort of thing, but never did. So hopefully now maybe I'll post more about that kind of stuff. I know some people think politics is boring, but as Christians we are called to be aware of what is going on in the world around us. Our culture is moving further and further from God and we as Christians must be aware of this, fight against it in our own ways, and be prepared for what may come next. I'm planning to also do some so to speak devotional type stuff. Like thoughts on certain Scripture passages and stuff like that. Ok maybe devotional wasn't the right word for it but you get the idea. For other posts I may revert back to some of my other interests; airplanes, guns, that kinda thing.
For those of you who don't see me as often I'll try to keep it a bit about what's going on in my life as well. As for what's happening now, the answer is not a whole lot. Living on the farm, working at a weld shop, hanging out with friends, that sort of thing. One new-ish thing that I've been doing this school year is teaching catechism. I really enjoy it and I'm learning a lot. So some posts might be related to stuff from that as well. So that's kind of a re-intro to my blog, what I'm hoping to do with it and so forth. For a first new post I thought I'd do a bit of a snapshot of where the world is right now, where its heading, and what our response should be.
Canada - First things first, where is our country at? Good and bad. Good; by most counts we have a good federal government right now, and for some time to come. Prime Minister Harper is a good leader in several different ways, for example his economic competence and incremental approach to certain issues. He is quite conservative especially compared to other Western leaders and I think we should thank God for him. Bad; overall Canada is still a fairly liberal country, it has some pretty far left elements in it, and it seems to be going further in that direction. Just because we have a good leader now doesn't mean we can assume that Canada will remain as free and conservative as it is.
America - This is obviously a huge topic in and of itself. There is much good left in America. But it seems that evil is gradually winning. The USA that we once knew and loved is gone, and will not return for a long time. What do I mean that evil is winning? The United States was built, and prospered, on Christian values. Now the education system, entertainment world, news media, and political sphere all have very anti-Christian agendas, and collectively have enormous influence on the American public. Former President Ronald Reagan said "If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." This is exactly what happened.
What about the American leader? Barack Hussein Obama is evil, destructive, deceptive, and very anti-Christian. But he is not only problem, he is also symptom. The millions of votes he received, and his near deification by the media and the left, are an indicator of where the United States is at.
Europe - The once powerful continent is today characterized by influences like socialism, Islamification, and general cultural decay. There are glimmers of light, for example Geert Wilders, Václav Klaus, and the outlawing of bhurkas in France and minarets in Switzerland. But these glimmers are getting farther and fewer between.
Asia - Russia remains a strong influence in some areas of the world. China and India are gaining global influence, each in their own way. Nations like Japan, South Korea and Singapore have been strongholds of Western freedom and economics, but will not be able to stand against negative Asian influences on their own.
That is a brief summary, but the point should be clear. The world is a bad place, and in many ways, getting worse.
So how must we as Christians respond to this troublesome global situation?
We must be aware. Christians must not be blind to the advance of evil in the world.
We must fight. The Church must resist the tide of wickedness by bringing God's word to the nations.
We must prepare. We cannot assume that tomorrow will be the same as today. The church must be ready for whatever comes, persecution or freedom.
Most of all we must trust in God, knowing that He is always in control and directs all things for His glory and for the good of His people.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Psalm 2:4

For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” Romans 14:11

"be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

A Real Life James Bond

Hmmm I guess it has been a little while since I posted eh:)

Here is a story you might like:


Israeli Spy Recounts Daring Mission When He Captured Nazi Adolf Eichmann, Architect of the 'Final Solution’

By Leland Vittert

Published January 27, 2011

FoxNews.com


Holocaust survivors often refer to the "banality of evil" when describing how remarkably ordinary even the highest-ranking Nazis seemed after their capture for aiding the mass murder of more than 6 million Jews during World War II.

At a gathering for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which marks the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, Rafi Eitan looks like any other aging great-uncle: hearing aids, thick glasses, and a gray sweater under his blazer. His demeanor and appearance is much more fitting an aging insurance salesman than James Bond. The casual observer would give him the highest compliment for an intelligence field operative: There is simply no way he could be a spy.

"I knew we are doing something (that) will be in Jewish history, maybe world history, will be written as one of the just operations," he said, perhaps giving away that behind his kind and quiet smile is a man who embodies the banality of greatness.

The only thing that betrays his past is the twinkle that comes to his eyes when he tells the story of a spy mission so daring, so incredible, so brilliantly executed that it’s still held as the gold standard for intelligence services worldwide.

Eitan led the Israeli Mossad team that captured Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi architect of the Holocaust, on a street in Argentina and brought him to Israel for trial in 1960.

Eichmann had been in charge of organizing the Holocausts’ “Final Solution" -- the Nazi plan to exterminate Jewish people -- right down to the schedules of Death Trains to the camps.

Like many Nazi war criminals, Eichmann escaped to Argentina in the confusion following WWII.
He lived under the name Ricardo Klement while working various jobs and living with his family, whom he had brought from Germany. Rumors began leaking out of Argentina in the mid-1950s that Eichmann was there.

Famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal received a postcard from a friend who said he saw Eichmann on the street, and slowly Israel's intelligence services began closing in on him.
For months, surveillance teams trailed Eichmann, trying to match pictures of him to those from his days in the SS.

Finally, they sent word back to Tel Aviv that they thought they had their man.

Israel, as a country, was less than two decades old. The Mossad was very adept at operating in Israel and the Arab world, but Argentina was a very long way from home.

Mossad officers hatched a plan so simple, yet so daring, that it would stun the world. A Mossad team would fly to Buenos Aires as part of the Israeli delegation to celebrate Argentina's 150th birthday. The team would then kidnap "Klement" as he came home from work, verify that it was indeed Eichmann, and smuggle him out of the country.

What if Eichmann put up a fight? What if someone saw them snatch him? What if his family called the Argentinean authorities when he didn't come home? Everything had to work perfectly: just one wrong turn, one observant cop, one contingency unplanned for could land the Mossad team in jail and allow Eichmann to escape.

On the night of May 11, 1960, as Eichmann walked home from his bus stop, two Mossad agents were "fixing" their broken down car. One of the agents asked for a cigarette, and that’s when they grabbed him.

They threw Klement into the car and, driving into the night, one agent told him, "if you value your life...keep quiet."

Eitan ripped off the man's sleeve to check for a scar on his left arm, and pulled his shirt up to feel the scar on Eichmann's belly.

"The moment I have Eichmann, on my knees I am, saying to myself the song of the Jewish partisans which says at the end, ‘We are here and we shall return,’" Eitan remembers.
The Mossad team began questioning him and Klement finally acknowledged what the team already knew: He was Adolf Eichmann.

Next came smuggling one of the world's most wanted men out of Argentina.
They drugged Eichmann and dressed him up as an El Al airline mechanic. The Mossad team donned similar disguises and they set out for the airport talking their way passed a guard shack under the rouse that the "mechanics" in the backseat were drunk.

Eventually they made it to the El Al plane for a long flight home -- a flight where they almost ran out of fuel before making it to Dakar, in western Africa, for a scheduled stop.

Eichmann stood trial in Israel for his crimes. The proceedings were broadcast live around the world and it was one of the first times Holocaust survivors told their stories on television.

On December 15, 1961, the court of three Israeli judges convicted Eichmann and sentenced him to death by hanging.

At a reunion of those involved in Eichmann's capture and trial, Eitan looks like the kindly great-uncle with a twinkle in his eye.

“I was 51 years younger (then)," he said. "But I am able and ready to do the same thing again."

This Day in History - Admiral Nelson's Burial

Hey everybody, sorry I haven't posted in sooooo long. I had a pretty busy holidays and I've been busy with school. I'm a bit behind in school so it could be a while again before I do another post. Seeing as there's not much new in my own life except school and more school I thought I'd do another one on history. This one is about one of my favorite military heroes, Sir Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson (he actually has a lot more titles than that).
































Horatio Nelson was born on September 29, 1758, in Burnham Thorpe, England. After having some schooling he joined the navy through the influence of his uncle and he quickly began to climb through the ranks. After some civilian sailing, which included a trip close to the North Pole, as well as some time on Navy escort ships, Nelson was given command of his own ship. He was only twenty. His obvious skills soon came to the attention of Sir Peter Parker, the British commander in charge of the Caribbean area, under whose command he served for some time. Nelson was given charge of bigger and bigger ships and he sailed and fought all around the Caribbean as well as some other places in the Atlantic before returning to England in 1783. He was married in 1787 and stayed home in peace until France declared war in 1793. When this happened he was given command of a ship and fought the French navy in different skirmishes around the Mediterranean. In 1794 he lost his right eye while fighting with land forces trying to take a French held town. In 1795 Nelson routed a French attack on the Island of Corsica in what is known as the battle of Genoa. Other than that and a few small skirmishes there was not much action until the battle of Cape St. Vincent. In this battle Nelson showed his skill and bravery by sailing straight for the enemy ships instead of staying in a line with the other ships, as was British naval tradition. This was direct disobedience of orders but he captured two Spanish ships that were both much bigger than his own. Soon after this Nelson lost his arm in a failed attack on a Spanish held island. Although Nelson was partly to blame for the failure, he returned home a hero because of his bravery at Cape St. Vincent. In 1798 Napoleon was reported to be building an invasion fleet and Nelson sailed back to the Mediterranean in command of a fleet, bent on destroying Napoleon's invasion fleet. At first he didn't know where Napoleon was planning to land and he spent several months trying to locate the enemy fleet. By the time he found them, the French troops had landed safely in Egypt. He had failed to stop the invasion but Nelson still wanted to destroy the escorting French warships, which were anchored Aboukir Bay, near Alexandria. In a brilliant tactical move, Nelson managed to get some of his ships in between the shore and the French ships and then attacked them from the seaward side with the rest of his ships. Surrounded on both sides by British ships the French fleet was almost completely destroyed. He returned home but was soon called again, this time to fight in the Baltic. Several northern nations had begun to form an alliance against Britain so Nelson launched a strike against Denmark, hoping to nip this threat in the bud. He attacked the Danish fleet in Copenhagen harbor and captured or destroyed many of their ships. Nelson's last great battle came when Napoleon began planning an invasion of England. Napoleon needed the combined French and Spanish fleets to protect his invasion barges so if Nelson could destroy this fleet beforehand, the invasion would be thwarted. He pursued the combined enemy fleet for over two years before finally forcing them to fight on October 21, 1805 off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. The standard tactic of the day was to form two parallel lines of ships and fire at each other but instead Nelson formed his ships into two lines that were perpendicular to the enemy line. He then sailed these two lines of ships directly into the enemy line, cutting the French and Spanish line in three pieces. This plan worked. The French and Spanish lost 22 ships and the English didn't lose any. This was a crucial victory for England because if they had lost, it is quite likely Napoleon would have been able to carry through with his plans to invade England. But this monumental victory came at a cost. While directing the battle from his flagship the Victory, Nelson was shot by a sniper from a nearby French ship and died three hours later. He was buried on this day, January 9, 1806, in St. Paul's Cathedral, in a coffin made from the mast of the French flagship at the Battle of Aboukir Bay.

Flight 7 - Eagle Riddle Answer

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately guys, life has been keeping me kinda busy.
A couple posts back I put this picture on and I asked you what way the plane was flying.















For those of you who said it was flying towards the camera, you are right. Maybe it wasn't as hard to tell as I thought it was but I found it pretty hard to tell at first. I was convinced of both views at different times as were some of my family members so I thought I'd put in on here at see what you guys thought.
If you wondering how to tell for sure that its flying towards the camera, look at the pods on top of the tails, one is thicker and one is thinner. In the pictures lower down if the plane is flying towards the camera the thicker pod is on the right, as it is on this picture.

Remember Pearl Harbor!

I could have titled this either under flight since it was the first major naval attack using airplanes or I could have titled it under this day in history since it happened on December 7 but I decided to neither and title it Remember Pearl Harbor!, a slogan which quickly became popular immediately after the attacks. President Roosevelt's words the following day sum up quite simply and quite well (especially considering I am posting this on December 8) what happened that day "Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." The Japanese had, completely unprovoked, a nation with which they said they were at peace. Early Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the Japanese navy and air force attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii by launching over 400 planes from 5 aircraft carriers and using them to bomb and launch torpedoes. They sank 5 battleships and 4 other ships and damaged at least 14 other ships. 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 more wounded. 188 American aircraft were also destroyed. But why would Japan do such a thing, especially to a nation they were supposedly at peace with? The reason is this: they desperately needed oil and other raw materials for their war with China so to get these materials they decided to conquer many of the islands in the Pacific, on which these materials were readily available. They knew that their main opposition would come from the U.S.A. To prevent American interference they tried to wipe out American power in the Pacific in one blow, by attacking Pearl Harbor. They failed miserably. But why did they fail if they killed so many men and sank so many ships? Well first of all out of the five battleships they sunk, one was not being used anymore and two others were pulled back up and repaired. Second and more importantly, battleships were outdated at the time of Pearl Harbor. The most important ship was the aircraft carrier, not the battleship, and all the American carriers were at sea at the time and were unharmed. The U.S. then used these carriers to quickly strike back at the Japanese and take the islands back one at a time until after 3 years, 8 months and 24 days of war, the Japanese surrendered. The question then is why did the Japanese make such a suicidal and shortsighted attack? The answer to that question is that they did not understand the American ideology and philosophy. They believed that they could shatter American resolve and morale in one blow, but instead they strengthened American resolve so much that the U.S. decided they were going to defeat Japan no matter what the cost and no matter how long it took. As was said at the time "they awoke a sleeping giant".

These pictures are from top to bottom:

The USS Arizona burning.
A Japanese aerial photo of Pearl Harbor under attack.
The USS Maryland and the capsized USS Oklahoma.
An army airfield burning.
The USS Arizona exploding.
The USS Arizona burning.
Burning ships in Pearl Harbor dry docks.
USS Virginia burning.

Flight 6 - Eagles (cont.)

Ok one last post on eagles, this is the last one, I promise. It has been requested that I do a post on Golden Eagles so enjoy!

The Golden Eagle is North America's largest bird of prey, with a wingspan of over seven feet and a length of over three feet! They weigh between 5 and 15 pounds and can dive at 240 kilometers per hour! These eagles are so strong they have been known to attack caribou, wolves and even a bear cub! They are vicious hunters with sharp talons, a strong beak and very, very good eyesight. They mate for life and have approximately two chicks per year but usually only one survives. In the wild they live for about 30 years.

Here are some pictures:

This day in History - A great man was born

Ok I'm going to take a break from my series on flight to do a quick post on one of my favorite statesmen and politicians of all time. The reason that I am doing this today is because he was born on this day in 1874. Although as far as I know he was not a Christian, God certainly used him to protect his people. This man led his people through five and a half long years of war. This man was a courageous and fiery orator. This man was a very keen and witty politician. This man was Winston Churchill. In the late 1930s when Adolf Hitler was taking Europe for himself one country at a time, Winston Churchill was one of the few politicians in England, or the world for that matter, who realized just how bad Hitler was. At the time almost nobody would listen to him and he was a social and political outcast, but eventually he was proven right and was made Prime Minister. He also proved to be an excellent military leader. His ability to lead came mostly from his ability to inspire people to follow him by his speaches. Here are some of my favorite quotes from him, first political quotes and then wit.
(P.S. Sorry if this doesn't sound very well written, I usually kinda ramble on without much of a logical pattern)

Political/Inspirational:

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

Wit:

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.


These are just a few of my many favorite Churchill quotes, here is a link with a whole bunch more:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/winston_churchill.html

Oh and of course I should put some pictures on.