Cruise ships still find a Haitian berth

Sixty miles from Haiti's devastated earthquake zone, luxury liners dock at private beaches where passengers enjoy jetski rides, parasailing and rum cocktails delivered to their hammocks.

The 4,370-berth Independence of the Seas, owned by Royal Caribbean International, disembarked at the heavily guarded resort of Labadee on the north coast on Friday; a second cruise ship, the 3,100-passenger Navigator of the Seas is due to dock.

I actually have a little sympathy for the cruise line. They are stuck in a no-win situation. Avoid Haiti and you take away the only real income opportunity for a segment of the population. Go to Haiti and they are painted as uncaring. I don't know what I would do in their shoes.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

PolitiFact Texas

PolitiFact Texas is a partnership of the Austin American-Statesman and PolitiFact.com, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site of the St. Petersburg Times, to help you find the truth in politics.

Every day, reporters and researchers from the American-Statesman examine statements by Texas elected officials and candidates and anyone else who speaks up on matters of public importance. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get our lowest rating, Pants on Fire.

Click the image to go to the site.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

How can I Tell a Cult?

Our church is in the middle of the sermon series called 'Your Questions'. People have submitted questions and each week the congregation gets 4 to choose from. You text in your vote and the 'winning' question is the sermon for the next week. The staff will then answer some of the 'losing' questions on the church blog.

One of the losing questions this week was 'How can I Tell a Cult?'.

A non-Christian religion is an organized group that teaches something clearly different than Christianity does about God or the spiritual/supernatural realm.

A cult is a group that can, at first, appear to be aligned with the orthodox teaching of Christianity but upon further examination actually does not hold to the same beliefs as Christians on core doctrinal issues. Often these groups will deem themselves to be “Christian.” Trying to discern? Start with these questions:

Click on the image above to read the blog post.