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Jerry Buell,who teaches social studies at Mount Dora High School, received a ‘Teacher of the Year’ award in 2010. But this year he was suspended by his district for making anti-gay marriage comments on his personal Facebook page.

In response to the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York, Jerry wrote that he “almost threw up” over the news and that he considered same-sex unions to be a sin and part of a growing “cesspool”.

His comments were brought to the attention Lake County School District officials and the district responded by initiating an investigation and suspending Buell from teaching in the classroom. Meanwhile he has been reassigned to a clerical position at the district’s office.

Over the past year, district officials had warned teachers that the use of social networking sites or blogs:

"creates the risk of affecting your professional career."

"It is vital that you conduct yourself in such a way that it does not adversely affect your employment and/or the District."

Meanwhile, a new Facebook page has been created called:

"Support Jerry Buell; Mount Dora High School Teacher of the Year suspended"

The page urges supporters to contact the school to help Buell get his job back.

Response: Jerry Buell is a Christian who merely stated what millions of fellow Christians around the country also believe. Has it really come to this in the USA that one is no longer free to express one’s religious convictions on a personal website without suffering some penalty from a government agency- in this case a public school district?

This is actually an example of harassment and persecution right here in America. There are no complaints against Jerry Buell when it comes to his teaching or his treatment of students. This is an example of liberal PC thought police in action. In this case coming from administrators of a school district who may have different opinions than Jerry when it comes to same-sex marriage.

This case is really scary and should not be allowed to stand. The reaction should be swift and decisive against the district administrators otherwise we have entered a new era where Christian beliefs and morality are no longer publically acceptable. Freedom of religion and freedom of speech for those working in public positions is now null and void and the first amendment no longer means a thing? I guess so if you work for a school district with a bunch of egg-head liberals in charge –shades of Nazi Germany in the name political correctness!            *Top

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For those who continue to make fun of all the Millions ‘Tweeting’ away their lives, now even the Pope tweets. 

Pope Benedict XVI sent out a message on Twitter to publicize the launch of the Vatican’s new website-  News.va, The following was the pope’s first message:

"Dear Friends, I just launched http://t.co/fVHpS9y Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI"

The message was prepared for him a head of time so all he had to do was click and send. The occasion also marked the 60th anniversary of his ordination as a priest.            *Top

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Today is the 5th anniversary of this blog and my humble start in the blogosphere. In that time I have observed many different trends and changes. I have also seen many good blogs and bloggers come and go.

Here’s a link to my very first article: “Technophobe Starts Blog”

Millions of folks started blogging in 2005 and 2006 because their friends did and it became the popular thing to do. It was a golden time when 1000’s of new blogs came into existence every hour of everyday. Some of my favorites and even some of the best blogs of that era no longer exist.

Now cultural popularity has shifted towards social networking and micro-blogging like Facebook and Twitter. Regular blogging is still growing but not at the exponential rate that it once did. Fact is that Facebook and Twitter are much easier to do and require far less consistency and commitment and can be respectfully maintained on a more casual basis.

After 5 years of blogging here is what I have learned about how to keep on keeping on:

1. Purpose: Number 1 you must have a real reason to be blogging in the first place and a vision for what you are doing and want to accomplish.

2. Goals: It is a good idea to sit down at least at the beginning of the year and define and set some goals for blogging.

3. Strategies: With goals in mind, define how you plan on meeting and surpassing or even measuring your progress.

4. Action: When it comes to blogging, action involves consistent writing but also constantly adapting, changing, and maintaining your blog.

5. Evaluation: It is a good idea to stand back once in a while, maybe every 3 months or so, and evaluate your performance and check out whether you are meeting the goals that you set for yourself. Also are you being true to your original purpose and vision?

6. Correction: In response to the evaluations many times corrections are in order. Can’t tell you how many times in 5 years that I have made major changes and corrections to what I was doing on a particular blog or blogs. Particularly how I was spending my time.

6. Time out: If you are in this for the long run it means that you will need to take some time off from blogging. I usually take Sundays off every week. Then there are vacations and times to go fishing. Once in a while there are long weekends that need to be taken to keep peace in the family.

Here is a valuable tip: If you can’t seem to write, have a block, or blogging begins to seem like work rather than fun –take a day off or two. It has worked for me and I still love to blog after 5 years.

May the Lord bless you and continue to inspire you in what ever you do and hopefully the same for this blog and my efforts also.            *Top

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a New Jersey pastor has added a new commandment to the list that he expects his leaders to abide by: ‘Thou shall not use Facebook’.

The Rev. Cedric Miller of Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in Neptune, NJ has ordered his staff of 50 married church leaders to delete their Facebook accounts or resign from their leadership positions.

The pastor also says that he intends to counsel his entire congregation of 1,100 members to follow their lead and also discontinue using the social network site.

What lead to the pastor’s decision was the experience of counseling 20 different couples in failing marriages where Facebook was a factor in their trouble and actually lead to adultery with new and past friends initially found on line in the social network.

Response: Wow, where to begin? Where does this type of control end?

Maybe the Rev. Miller might also tell all of his leaders to get rid of their computers entirely since recent research shows that over 40% of the Christian men in America have some difficulty with pornography including pastors. Then maybe he could include TV and ‘R’ rated movies on the list since there are so many depictions of adultery in today’s entertainment media. Then maybe he could move his entire congregation out of the demon American culture to some rural out of the way place like maybe Guyana?

On the other hand he could stress the positive uses of Facebook while counseling against the dangers. He could encourage his leaders and congregation to bear their testimonies to one another and reach out to folks encouraging them to seek Jesus. Fact is that many ministries have used Facebook to bring thousands to Christ. It is a tool and one that can be used for good or for the alternative.

Here’s another thought. The Rev. could teach his folks the Gospel of Jesus Christ including everything that Jesus taught about even thinking about the opposite sex (Matt. 5:27-28) then let his people be guided by the Holy Spirit- even when it comes to Facebook.            *Top of the Blog

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I am attending the BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas today (Fri. 10/15) A great time to meet new people, see old friends, find new programs and apps. and re-evaluate everything you are doing online. Its like on big ‘Time-out’.

The day started with a ‘key note’ discussion about how blogs and new media are affecting politics and particularly the mid-term election cycle we are currently in the midst of.

The speakers included Mark Penn, a former advisor to President Clinton and PM Tony Blair and Karen Hughes, a key advisor and Under Sec. of State for President George W. Bush. The panelists included two media folks, Hugh Hewett, the radio talk host and law professor plus Reid Wilson of the print media.

Interesting conversation and frustrating at the same time. Not enough feedback and questions from the conferees. All agreed that the Internet and new media had changed politics forever. Mark Penn and especially Karen Hughes seemed to be lamenting that it was nearly impossible to control the message in a political campaign now as compared to the days when there were only 3 major networks to worry about plus the AP and half a dozen major newspapers across the country.Here’s a taste:

Also in the video are pictures from some of the sessions and the exhibition hall plus lots of ads.

The exhibition is always my favorite part of the conference. I always find something new that I can use. New apps, new programs, new equipment, new companies serving the blogging industry, and lots of new ways to sell stuff and monetize a blog or website.

I will spend the next couple of weeks sorting through all of the brochures and info sheets I picked up and somewhere in that huge bag of goodies is bound to be something that I can really use and not live without.

Plus I was there when the largest cup of coffee was made-2010 gallons- a new Guinness world record. Not only that but the coffee was actually very good indeed.

My only regret is that there isn’t any ‘Christian’ track at this conference. In the past, there were ‘GodBlog’ sessions sponsored by Biola University along with a booth and gathering area in the exhibition hall. I miss the camaraderie of fellow Christian bloggers this time around.

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Here’s a couple of CNN hosts discussing the possibility of regulating and controlling the Internet and particularly blogging.

Response: An over-the-top response to the ‘Sherrod incident’. Many in government and the MSM would love to control the Internet. It has become the ‘wild west’ when it comes to ‘free speech’ and an alternate source of news.

The Internet is rather inconvenient to liberal politicians who would like to control the news and have been rather successful when it comes to the major media which is so much of the time on the same page.

Let’s just say that these CNN folk are making a rather ‘self-serving’ response here. The Internet and blogging has become ‘a burr in their saddle’ and increasingly competitive while the MSM has been on a decided decline. Fewer and fewer people get their news from newspapers and TV. Folks are increasingly turning to the Internet and alternate media for their news as the MSM marches in liberal lockstep.

Usually it is the Main Stream Media that is caught in the midst of distorting and coloring a story with partial facts. A fact that is entirely ignored by these two boobs is that parts of the ‘new media’ began to question immediately whether the ‘Sherrod’ video had been edited and many concluded that it had and were asking for the original. Also, no one has ever called for greater regulation of the major media for their many mistakes –only for greater balance.          *Top of the Blog

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The story has become viral on the Internet. A six story 62 Foot high statue of Jesus was hit by lightning and destroyed by fire Monday night.

The atheists are having fun with the ‘act of God’ part of the story.

Then there are a large number of  Muslims who claim that the lightning and fire proves that Jesus was not the Son of God?

Even some Christians are suggesting that the money could have been better spent on missions or maybe food for the poor.

However lot’s of folks have made fun of this statue long before it was destroyed, calling it various names:

-Touchdown Jesus

-Drowning Jesus

-Quicksand Jesus

-Big Butter Jesus (Buttery color)

-Big J

-Giant Jesus

-8-Ball Jesus

The real name of the statue is- “King of Kings”

On a more serious note, the damage to the statue and the nearby building was estimated at $700,000. Not a joking matter at all for the Church that built it- Solid Rock Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Not only that, but many Christians in the area actually liked the statue and found it inspiring. So much so that according to reports the church intends on rebuilding it and the original artist has agreed to be involved. In fact in the wake of all of the media attention donations are flooding in to help in the repairs.

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