Archive for March, 2008

In Just Spring…

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Driving home from work, with the sun shining and the temperature in the high 70’s, I was reminded by the announcer on the radio that today is the first day of spring.  This time of the year always reminds me of a poem by e.e. cummings that I would end up reciting imperfectly, because I hadn’t read it since high school, some four decades ago.

Through the magic of the Internet, I’ve been able to find it after all this time.  Reading it actually brought tears to my eyes, like running into a long lost friend.  Here’s wishing you all a Happy Springtime; I hope you enjoy this poem as much as I do:

    in Just-
    spring       when the world is mud-
    luscious the little
    lame balloonman
    whistles       far       and wee
    and eddieandbill come
    running from marbles and
    piracies and it’s
    spring
    when the world is puddle-wonderful
    the queer
    old balloonman whistles
    far       and       wee
    and bettyandisbel come dancing
     from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
    it’s
    spring
    and
         the
                 goat-footed
    balloonMan       whistles
    far
    and
    wee

The Liberal Who Came to His Senses

Friday, March 14th, 2008

As fantastic as this sounds, this is real.  I would give some detail, but I don’t want to ruin anything.

 Playwright and Film Director: “Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal”

Also for fun:

Sung the way it should be!

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

I just had to post this.

Energy Breakthrough – Part II

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Back last September, I reported on a discovery by inventor John Kanzius that could revolutionize the field of energy independence. This discovery involved the “burning” of salt water by exposing it to radio waves.  Here’s a link to the original article:

http://www.ivorydome.us/2007/09/14/energy-breakthrough/

During the ensuing months, I’ve been monitoring this story, but little was being reported (except a fair amount of skepticism).  However, there appears to have been a breakthrough in understanding this potential energy source.

Since last November, Rustum Roy, Ph.D. and a team of researchers from Penn State University have been quietly investigating this phenomenon, trying to determine what causes the unexpected release of energy.

Then finally, last Friday (March 7, 2008), Dr. Roy published an article entitled “Observations of polarised RF radiation catalysis of dissociation of H2O-NaCl solutions” in Materials Research Innovations, a London-based journal. 

Here’s a link to the abstract:

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/mri/2008/00000012/00000001/art00002;jsessionid=1lks2qo790v1o.victoria

The full text article costs $48.00.  Even if I were to purchase it, I probably wouldn’t understand it.  But I’m sure that the scientific community will be studying the findings and reporting on this soon.  Stay tuned; this may be the breakthrough we’ve all been waiting for.

This Is a Story About an ACLU Attorney Who’s Not Ashamed of His Marxist Roots

Monday, March 10th, 2008

UPDATE (03/13/08): Thanks to Grits for Breakfast (from the blog of the same name), I’ve come to understand that the title of this post is somewhat misleading.  Jeff Blackburn is not (nor has he ever been) an ACLU staff attorney (which is what most people think of when they hear the phrase “ACLU attorney”).  He has been, according to the ACLU’s website, an ACLU “volunteer attorney” and was referred to as an ACLU cooperating attorney in an early press release regarding the Tulia civil rights suit.  On at least one other website, Mr. Blackburn is referred to as a member of “the local ACLU board.”  I had thought about retitling this post “This Is a Story About an ACLU Volunteer and/or Cooperating Attorney and/or Local ACLU Board Member Who’s Not Ashamed of His Marxist Roots,” but even the original title was too cumbersome, so I decided to handle it this way.  I hope this addendum clears up any confusion that might have arisen from my original title.

While visiting our favorite left-wing website, I came across an interesting post entitled “some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness spilled upon them.”  In it, our friend Spacedark waxes eloquent about Jeff Blackburn, the hero of a “Tulia Texas,” a new documentary about the imfamous Tulia Drug Bust.

Spacedark was kind enough to provide a link to the film’s website, which provides some great photos of Tulia, as well as a preview to the film (click on “watch the preview” at the top of the page).  In the preview, each of the main characters gives their take on what the story is all about.  The last to speak is Jeff Blackburn, defense attorney in the criminal case and plaintiffs’ attorney in the subsequent civil rights suit.

I’m not going to comment on the merits of either the criminal or the civil case; that’s already been played out in the court of public opinion.  But in the preview, something about the footage of Jeff Blackburn (presumably shot in his office) caught my eye. 

If you look at the bookshelf, directly above and to the right of Mr. Blackburn’s head, there’s a bust of none other than Владимир Ильич Ленин (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin), founder of Bolshevism and leader of the Great October Revolution.

And people wonder why we call PTS the “Panhandle Правда Squad”!

“Who do you say I am?”

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

Last week, I received an email from an acquaintance of mine.  The subject line was simply “Oprah,” and the body of the email began with the following:

Jesus Christ being reinvented, redefined, and blasphemed and, this false New-Age Christ teaching is about to make huge inroads into the world, with the help of the queen of television talk shows, Oprah Winfrey.

This piqued my interest, so I read on:

Oprah Winfrey, beginning January 1, 2008, on her daily radio program will offer a year-long course on the New Age Christ, in a lesson a day and completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles “Workbook.”

I usually take emails like this with a grain of salt, lumping them together with urban legends like poisoned soda cans and Madalyn Murray O’Hair petitioning the FCC to outlaw relgious broadcasting.  Add to that the facts that the the email had been forwarded several times, was about Oprah (who had been the brunt of other hoaxes in the past), and referred to January 1, 2008 in the future tense, and my skepticism was raised a notch or two.

But the topic of “A Course in Miracles” was just too intriguing for me to dismiss outright.  I was first exposed to this New Age treatise about 20 years ago, while living in California.  For the uninitiated, “A Course in Miracles” was allegedly “channeled” through Helen Schucman, Ph.D., a clinical and research psychologist, between 1965 and 1972 through a process of “inner dictation.”  The source of this material was said to be “Jesus.”

But in one section of the book entitled “About the Author,” the following is written:

Helpers are given you in many forms, although upon the altar they are one. Beyond each one there is a Thought of God, and this will never change. But they have names which differ for a time, for time needs symbols, being itself unreal.  Their names are legion, but we will not go beyond the names the course itself employs. [Emphasis added.]

Compare this to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5, verses 6 – 9:

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” [Emphasis added.]

This so struck me that I sat down at my old 8088 computer, prepare a half-page commentary on this, printed it out on my dot matrix printer, and placed it inside every copy of “A Course in Miracles” that I could get my hands on.

There are many other quotes from “A Course in Miracles” that are antithetical to the historical Jesus of the New Testament.  For example:  “There is no sin…”; A “slain Christ has no meaning”; “The journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey.’”; etc., etc., ad naseum.

Fast forward to 2008:  After a little research, I discovered that Oprah Winfrey has in fact been presenting “A Course in Miracles on her XM radio show.  Here’s a link to the web page with links to the arhived workbook pages.  If you want to dig deeper, here’s a link to the searchable “Urtext” (the original version) of “A Course in Miracles.”

In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew (verses 13 – 16), Jesus asked His disciples the question of the ages:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

 ”But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

When Barack Obama, exclaims, “I pray to Jesus every night,” as he did in recently in Nelsonville, Ohio, I have to take him at his word.  But in the back of my mind, especially in light of the beliefs of his friend Oprah Winfrey (I won’t get into the teachings of Trinity United Church of Christ; that’s a topic for a whole other post), I can’t help but hear the voice of the Savior asking him, ”Who do you say I am?”

Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams on Islam

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

My cousin wanted me to post this for him.

“John Quincy Adams, founding father, sixth president of the United States, looks over your shoulder at the morning newspaper and contrasts the two opposing spiritual forces between which war must rage for yet another generation. While his language may offend today’s postmodern sensibilities, it is the vernacular of the men who loved Christ and cherished freedom—the mighty men who secured our liberty.”

Adams on Jesus Christ and Christianity, Relative to Muhammad and Islam“And he [Jesus] declared, that the enjoyment of felicity in the world hereafter, would be reward of the practice of benevolence here. His whole law was resolvable into the precept of love; peace on earth – good will toward man, was the early object of his mission; and the authoritative demonstration of the immortality of man, was that, which constituted the more than earthly tribute of glory to God in the highest… The first conquest of the religion of Jesus, was over the unsocial passions of his disciples. It elevated the standard of the human character in the scale of existence…On the Christian system of morals, man is an immortal spirit, confined for a short space of time, in an earthly tabernacle. Kindness to his fellow mortals embraces the whole compass of his duties upon earth, and the whole promise of happiness to his spirit hereafter. THE ESSENCE OF THIS DOCTRINE IS, TO EXALT THE SPIRITUAL OVER THE BRUTAL PART OF HIS NATURE.” (Adam’s capital letters)….[pp. 267-268]

“In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE (Adam’s capital letters)….Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant…While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men.” [p. 269]

And From AMERICAN SPHINX The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis,

“Several muslim countries along the North African coast had established the tradition of plundering the ships of European and American merchants in the western Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, capturing the crews and then demanding ransom from the respective governments for their release. In a joint message to their superiors in Congress, Adams and Jefferson described the audacity of these terrorist attacks, pirates leaping onto defenseless ships with daggers clenched in their teeth.

They had asked the ambassador from Tripoli, Adams and Jefferson explained, on what grounds these outrageous acts of unbridled savagery could be justified: “The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of the prophet, that it was written in their koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their [islams] authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners….”

This event occured between 1784-1789 while Jefferson was ambassador to France and Adams (2nd president) was ambassador to England.When Jefferson became President he proceeded to send the US Navy to Tripoli defeating the terrists and saving Americans who were taken into slavery under the able leadership of Commodore Stephen Decatur whose name I use with pride.This was our secound undeclared war I believe.

Abram (Abraham) Hagar and Ishmael

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;

so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

“Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.

And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”

The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”

The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.

He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” (the birth of Islam)

She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Words of Barack Obama from "Dreams of my Father"

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Guilt is a luxury that not everyone can afford

My stepfather Lolo said, “Guilt is a luxury only foreigners can afford. Like saying whatever pops into your head.” Mother didn’t know what it was like to lose everything, to wake up and feel her belly eating itself. She didn’t know how crowded and treacherous the path to security could be. He was right, of course. She was a foreigner, middle-class and white and protected by her heredity whether she wanted protection or not. She could always leave if things got too messy. That possibility negated anything she might say to Lolo; it was the unreachable barrier between them.

Biracial heritage has caused identity crisis

As I imagined myself following Malcolm X’s call, one line in his book stayed me. He spoke of his wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged. I knew that, for Malcolm, that wish would never be incidental. I knew as well that traveling down the road to self-respect my own white blood would never recede into mere abstraction. I was left to wonder what else I would be severing if and when I left my mother at some uncharted border.

Source: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p. 80 Aug 1, 1996

There is some hope of eventual reconciliation between races (thru Islam?)

If Malcolm X’s discovery toward the end of his life, that some whites might live beside him as brothers in Islam, seemed to offer some hope of eventual reconciliation, that hope appeared in a distant future, in a far-off land. In the meantime, I looked to see where the people would come from who were willing to work toward this future (Islam) and populate this new world. (the US?)

Source: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p. 80 Aug 1, 1996

“It was done for Religious Purposes says Harvard”

Sunday, March 2nd, 2008

In response to a request by female Muslim students, Harvard University has created women-only workout hours at one of its campus gyms. The decision has angered some students at the Ivy League university.

Since Jan. 28, the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center has been open only to women from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays.

The change was prompted by a request from the Harvard College Women’s Center, which was approached by six female Muslim students, said Robert Mitchell, communications director of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

“It was done for religious purposes, but it’s not closed to other women who may want to participate,” he said.

Ola Aljawhary, a student and a member of the Harvard Islamic Society, said the women-only gym is needed.

“These hours are necessary because there is a segment of the Harvard female population that is not found in gyms, not because they don’t want to work out, but because for them working out in a co-ed gym is uncomfortable, awkward or problematic in some way,” she told Boston University’s Daily Free Press……more

Unbelievable.