Religious Intolerance

This article from the Christian Science Monitor explains how the U.N. is making another effort to rip our already tenuous and rapidly disappearing liberty away from us:

"Islamic countries push a global 'blasphemy' law"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20091027/ts_csm/edefamation

According to the article, the 57-nation OIC (Organization of the Islamic Council), under the leadership of Pakistan, intends to take the non-binding resolutions to limit offensive religious speech, and turn them into a legally binding treaty.

This means that every government that signs on to the treaty would have to prosecute every incident of religious "hate speech" that was reported.

Tell me where the slippery slope will end?
What if a Christian, Hindu or Jew disagreed with Sharia Law?

Suprisingly, Hillary Clinton, came out for freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

"Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called antidefamation policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion. I strongly disagree," said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week.
She went on to argue that the best antidote to religious intolerance is enforcement of antidiscrimination laws, government "outreach" to minority religious groups, and "the vigorous defense of both freedom of religion and expression".

Though I'm too conservative to agree with "government outreach"...whatever that may be, I applaud the former first lady and current Secretary of State for making this statement.

I'm also too much of an optimist to believe America would agree to sign such a treaty, though I think President "57-states" Obama would sign (it's just my opinion, but what I've seen so far in the presidency makes me believe this with every fiber of my being).
However our Constitution says the majority of congress must also sign international treaties for them to become the law of the land.
That means Americans would really have to love this treaty...and I don't think we will.
And if congress tries to sell it to the public, they would only wind up looking foolish.

No, I really don't think this attempt to squelch religious freedom will gain much traction.
And now we know it's out there; now we know who wants it and who is the most religiously intolerant.
...but do we know why?
There will always be something or someone in this world who wants control, and of course they will either take it by force, by law, or with persuasion that our loss of liberty is in our best interest.

So, as a red-blooded Conservative, I'm passing on my humble opinion that in here in America, we need to be aware of the fragility of true freedom. It is certainly not free and bears constant vigiliance.
Freedom is messy and imperfect...but beautiful and filled with hope.
I'll fight for it.

redink

http://img2.allposters.com/images/LPIPOD/lpi13645_5-FB.jpg

The Bad Luck of the Irish

I'm part Irish...who isn't?

There might be a few Americans out there who haven't a drizzle of Irish fairy dust on them, but it doesn't matter.

Share a beer with an Irishman and he'll find you some Irish in you...if he has to go back to Adam and Eve and claim the Garden of Eden originated in the County of Cork...er, West Cork...and don't you be forgettin'.

Maybe that sort of happy embrace into Irish arms explains this:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmQwMzM3MWE4MmRhOWVkMTY1ZDE5ZTZkOGVhOTFjMGQ=

(from "The Great Irish Surrender" by Nile Gardiner)
"The Irish ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon will pave the way for the biggest erosion of national sovereignty in Europe since the Second World War."

Ireland has finally caved to European Union pressure and signed the Lisbon Treaty.

The significance of this is the gradual eroding of Ireland's national sovereignity.
Even if none of us were Irish, we are all American enough to appreciate what happens when you centralize a government.

This is what the Lisbon Treaty is:

(FTA)

"It is in essence a blueprint for a European superstate, paving the way for the creation of a European Union president, foreign minister, foreign service, and diplomatic corps."

Europe is not a United States and never will be.
So for the European Union to contrive a superstate out of a compilation of such diverse countries spells disaster for individual culture, economic freedom or any other liberty.

The Lisbon Treaty will centralize all political power into one entity and remove all decision making from each nation-state as to what is in their own best interest.
All for one..?

(FTA)
"The Treaty is all about building a vast supranational political entity that will increasingly challenge and oppose American leadership on the world stage. It is inherently undemocratic, and it will ultimately strip away the ability of individual nation-states within Europe to shape their own destinies."

At the moment, Eastern Europe is still holding out, but they don't have the clout or the military might to keep a united Europe at bay. If in the end, if England signs the treaty, than they too, will be absorbed with little or no say in the matter.

...but all is not as bleak as it looks.

(FTA)
"If Great Britain does derail the European train as it advances toward “ever closer union,” she will have struck a huge blow for the cause of liberty, freedom, sovereignty, and democracy in Europe."

The British are struggling under the liberal policies of Gordon Brown and their Consevative Party is beginning to make some headway.

It's very possible that with a change in leadership, England will pave the way for the rest of Europe to tell those "wankers" in the EU to stuff their "dodgy" treaty in the fat "gobs" and put an end to their power grab.

(Who would want to see such cultural excellence end up like Prussia?)

Oh!

...did I mention I was also part English?


redink

Hi. My name is America.

Hi everyone. I'm America.

(Hello, America. Welcome to Al Anon.)

Thank you for letting me share.

First I just want to say, that I never thought I'd find myself in this position--reaching out for help like this. But I'm suffering right now and have no where else to turn.

When I first met my husband, I had no idea things would turn out this way.

I met him in the Church of Communism...a friend talked me in to going one day, just to broaden my horizons, he said.

I didn't really want to. I'd always heard the Church of Communism hated people like me, but the day that I went, I met this man...I know we have to keep things anonymous here, so I'll just refer to him as "Mr. O"...

Well, Mr. O immediately came up to me, welcomed me warmly and told me how much I needed someone like him in my life.

It felt kind of nice to be wanted so badly. I'd been through a lot these last few years, and I was a little insecure. Mr. O was so full of charisma and smiles and he kept telling me to have hope, that he could change all that had gone wrong in my life.

Little did I realize what he meant by hope and change.

We were married last November and he took charge right away.

At first it felt good to have someone be so completely involved in my life, but I began notice some things that started to give me second thoughts right after the wedding.

I had gotten into debt...not too terribly, mind you and I was working hard to pay it off.

I still had a nest egg for retirement, I still had a job, I still owned my own home, I was always a pretty independent person.

But my new husband decided to take my nest egg and give it to the people in my neighborhood who were losing their homes.

Mr. O insisted the money would stabilize the neighborhood, providing greater protections for me and my kids.

I believed him.

But it didn't work out like he said.

Everyone took the money...some of them weren't even from my neighborhood!

And then they left their homes anyway.

It went down hill from there.

Mr. O told me to give him my paycheck so he could spread it around, then everyone would love me and become more productive.

I tried to tell him I was struggling as it was and barely had enough for my own kids.

I didn't understand how anyone could become productive by just giving them someone else's money.

But he told me I should be ashamed for only thinking about what I wanted.

He told me I had the chance to make a great moral statement about myself and show the world what it really means to be generous.

I couldn't help it, friends...Mr. O has such a way with words.

I gave him my paycheck.

But he turned around and gave most of it to a bunch of crooks who made off with the money, never to be seen or heard from again.

Then he gave the rest to a street gang from the worst side of town and they used my money to recruit more people to stir up trouble so I wouldn't go asking for my money back!

I started to get angry, but he called me childish and said I wasn't giving him a chance to change things around.

That I wanted a quick fix for the things I messed up before I met him and it wasn't going to be easy.

I had to learn how to sacrifice for the good of others.

It all sounded so familiar...I didn't realize at the time that I'd heard these very words in the church I had met him in.

Then Mr. O told me to give up my car because it was polluting the environment and wasting resources.

I did as he asked and lost my job when I couldn't get to work.

He also made me turn off the heater right in the middle of winter! He told me I should get some extra blankets, but I had no money to get any.

Mr. O went out with his friends all the time, flying around the world, enjoying five star hotels and restaurants, while I stayed home with the kids trying to keep warm and fed.

I went into denial. I didn't want to admit what was right in front of my eyes.

...that Mr. O is a Communist.

He is throwing my money away and destroying my freedom.

He is telling me I have no right to defend myself and that I am no better than anyone else in the world.

And still I stayed with him, defending him to my friends and neighbors who became concerned that I would lose everything.

But if losing my job and all my money wasn't enough, Mr. O had to go around insulting my friends.

They were the only ones there for me when I got attacked a few years ago by a another street gang. They didn't usually come to my neighborhood, but somehow they snuck in and beat me to a pulp!

I survived only because I was strong at the time.

I was still independent and surrounded by friends who saw this gang as a threat and helped me fight them back to their own street corner.

But now my husband has alienated all my friends, ignoring them, making fun of them.

Not only that, but he took away our guard dogs...even the ones I had already given to my friends.

He put those dogs in the pound where they are wasting away...and he muzzled the rest so they are sitting ducks in case the gangs come back to harm us.

To make matters worse, Mr. O actually went to visit the gang that hurt me and apologized for my behavior and that of my friends.

Now I feel like it's my fault this gang attacked me!

Can you believe it?! I feel so betrayed.

I know...I know, this is classic co-dependency, right?

And we all know that being co-dependent means always having to say you're sorry.

I have such regret now.

I've been married to Mr. O for less than a year, but I don't know if I'll survive till the end of this marriage.

He's so controlling, but persuasive at the same time.

He still has charisma, but the rest of my friends are starting to see how battered and ashamed I look and they're questioning whether this marriage is worth saving.

I have to do every thing he says all the time. He doesn't allow me to disagree with anything he says.

I've tried reasoning with him, compromising with him and even shouting till I'm blue in the face. But it's always his way or the highway.

He belittles me all the time and tells me I don't know what I want...as if I were a child!

I'm 233 years old, for cryin' out loud!

I fought a war to become my own person, fought another with myself to root out a terrible sin in my life, fought two world wars to help my friends and keep us all from becoming slaves, tried to fight two other wars, but my husbands then were not in the mood to win, so I took a beating.

I guess at some point, I lost my nerve and felt too much like a victim.

I wanted everyone to like me so much, that I gave up my freedom and who I really am to please my husband.

Mr. O made such promises and I believed everyone of them.

But now...I'm here, trying to cope with what I've become.

Realizing that all his words were just fancy dressing covering up his own ego.

When did this relationship become so abusive?

I realize too late, that my husband never really liked me...he was taught in the Church of Communism after all.

Hello?? I guess that should have been my first clue.

And he didn't want any children...he had a record of counseling women in the church to abort their babies. But at the time, I really believed he was helping them like he said.

Now I know he didn't care about them, he just wanted to be the one who made decisions about life and death.

I guess Mr. O thinks he's kinda like God that way.

And everything is always about him...never about me, or what's good for me.

He gets to buy whatever he wants and go out whenever he feels like it.

But I have to stay home and work my fingers to the bone, I've even spent a weekend on the street corner trying to panhandle....so much for independence.

I don't feel like celebrating holidays anymore. Mr. O keeps turning them into a party for himself.

I can't call up my friends and hang out with them, because Mr. O doesn't make them feel welcome anymore.

I'm afraid to travel, even if I could afford to. That street gang is just waiting for me to step into their territory.

I don't have a future, and Mr. O won't let me talk about the past unless I admit I screwed my life up before I met him, and now he's here to fix it all.

Lots of people think he's a wonderful man still, but they don't really know what he's like at home.

He pastes on his smile for the world, but at home he is trying to put me in a box.

I want out now.

I want a divorce.

So I came to Al Anon today to get my thinking straight.

I know you have a saying called stinkin' thinkin' and I believe I fit the bill.

But I need to take the first step...right?

I know the first step is to admit I'm powerless over Communism and that my life has become unmanageable.

...I tried so hard to make myself believe it could work this time. I know now, it was all an illusion.

Step two is to realize that a power greater than myself can restore me to sanity.

...I used to think that power was Mr. O. But he's definitely not restoring my sanity. So I better take a closer look at who's really in charge.

The third step is to turn over my will to the care of God.

...Ah! I thought it was someone other than Mr. O. Now things are starting to make sense.

The fourth step is to make a searching an fearless moral inventory of myself.

...wow! that's a hard one, but I can't get away from men like Mr. O if I don't.

The fifth step is admit to God, myself and others the exact nature of my wrongs.

...see, I always thought Mr. O knew all my wrongs and was trying to right them...when in fact he'd gotten my wrongs--wrong! The only thing I did wrong was hand over my liberty to such a man. He won't even let me think for myself anymore.

The sixth step is make myself entirely ready for God to remove this defect in my character.

...this is going to take a lot more humility than I thought. But really, what do I have to lose now? Mr. O has already humiliated me more than anyone else could ever do...including myself.

The seventh-ninth steps are to make a list of persons I have harmed and make amends when and where I can.

...I'm sooo, sorry Eastern Europe! I'll get those missle defense shields up and running as soon as I unload this worthless husband. I'm sorry, also, Israel. Of course you have the right to defend yourself! Just because Mr. O is a kiss-butt to your enemies doesn't mean I go along with it. Hey! If you need a hand...I'm still here. My hands are just kinda tied right now. And the rest of my old friends...don't worry. Just ride this out with me for a few more years. I'm working on real change.

The tenth step is to continue to take a personal inventory and when I'm wrong, promptly admit it.

...I'm going to keep a closer eye on things now. There's just too much at stake not to anymore.

The eleventh step is basically a recap of the the first three

...go to God with the big stuff and pray for guidance. He's the one really in charge after all.

The twelfth step is for me to share as I am doing today, a lesson learned the hard way. And to give my encouragement to others that all is not lost.

...Mr. O is doing me a lot of damage, yes, but having admitted I had a problem is giving me enough detachment to do something about it.

And realizing that God is bigger than Mr. O's mistakes, gives me just the hope I need.

Thank you for letting me share today.

(Thank you for sharing, America.)

Let us end our meeting with the Serenity Prayer:

"God, grant us the serenity

To accept the things we cannot change,

Courage to change the things we can,

And the wisdom to know the difference."

Keep coming back...it works if you work it!.

redink

http://www.choices-nyc.com/images/product/s_Books_Paths_to_Recovery_28.jpg

God Bless Amerika

These are the lyrics of a song taught to schoolchildren at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in New Jersey.

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand [?]
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be clear today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said Red, Yellow, Black or White
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
Yes
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama


(UPDATE: youtube video no longer available)


I just wanted to know if anyone...anyone at all is disturbed by this?

And no...I do not think this speaks to the downfall of America, despite the title of the post.
It just makes me think and wonder on the changes we're willing to accept when
our schools deliberately teach children to praise the President with words usually reserved for Jesus Christ.


redink

Logic and Lying

I'm going to ask your indulgence as I once again use C. S. Lewis' marvelous story to illustrate something about the recent flap over Rep. Joe Wilson's shout-out during the President's speech on health care reform.

From "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

Lucy Pevensie has just discovered another world in a wardrobe.

Her siblings do not believe her tale of fauns and white witches.

But one day her brother, Edmund stumbles upon the magical world of Narnia and finds all that Lucy said to be true.

However, he has his own reasons for lying about this knowledge and later betrays Lucy by telling the other siblings, Peter and Susan, that Lucy was in fact, lying.

Peter and Susan go to Professor Kirke for advice and here is the interesting part--the part I wish to focus on:

(Professor Kirke) "How do you know," he asked, "that your sister's story is not true?"

"Oh, but--" began Susan, and then stopped.

Anyone could see from the old man's face that he was perfectly serious.

Then Susan pulled herself together and said, "But Edmund said they had only been pretending."

"That is a point," said the Professor, "which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance--if you will excuse me for asking the question--does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?"

"That's just the funny thing about it, sir," said Peter. "up till now, I'd have said Lucy every time."

(Susan concurs when the Professor asks her the same question)

"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either you sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth..."

Now, about Joe Wilson's outburst...I have no desire to get into an argument about propriety.

Accusing the President of lying is more important than where and when it happened.

If the accusation is false, then the decorum was terribly breached. If the accusation is true then I believe Rep. Wilson's outburst to be excusable.

So let's focus on the accusation and try to figure out who was lying.

Let's apply Professor Kirke's logic:

Either Obama or Joe Wilson is lying, mad or telling the truth.

First let's ask: who is known to be the more truthful?

Has Joe Wilson contsistently lied during his tenure as Representative in South Carolina?

Has President Obama consistently lied during his time as Senator and President?

I'll leave that question to be answered by your own research.

I have posted numerous words about the President's "misrepresentations" throughout his time in the spotlight...so I'm not trying to be coy.

As for Joe Wilson, I've done some reading up on him since his foray into the hottest spotlight of all, and so far I've seen nothing untoward or nefarious in his past behaviors.

If someone has a different take, I'd be happy to take a look at it.

As to Joe Wilson's accusation against the President, let's apply the three possibilities:

Either Joe Wilson is lying, mad or telling the truth.

I see no evidence of insanity...on the contrary, the democrat-controlled congress are on the verge of looking insane if they keep ignoring the public outrage at their drunken spending sprees.

Is Joe Wilson lying?

According to the Congressional Research Report for H.R. 3200 (Obama's health care bill),

there is no provision in the bill to exclude "non-resident" aliens from government healthcare...which means they can get it if they want it.

The reference to illegal aliens and healthcare is the denying of a "tax credit" which residents with proof of citizenship will receive for their healthcare.

Ironically, citizens would be taxed extra for not taking the public option while illegals would not be taxed extra if they decided not to be forced into government healthcare with the rest of us.

It appears then, that Rep. Joe Wilson's accusation has merit.

(I need to take a moment to sigh deeply here...this whole debate is based on the premise that this healthcare bill will pass...and I'm not ready to accept the downfall of American liberty just yet.)

*SIGH*

So here we have it: Joe Wilson isn't crazy and he isn't lying. He is telling the truth.

What about President Obama?

Is he crazy?

I don't think so...obtuse when he doesn't get what he wants, but crazy? Like a fox, perhaps?

Is he telling the truth?

If he hasn't read the bill, then in a sense he believes what he is saying, but that would make him rather stupid to keep pushing this bill to the public without having read it.

And if he's that stupid, how many other things has he gotten wrong?

And why if he doesn't know what is in the bill, did he accuse certain congressmen of lying to misrepresent the bill?

Is he, as Rep. Wilson accused, lying?

According to the provisions in Obama's healthcare bill itself...yes.

"Nothing is more probable," said the Professor, taking off his spectacles and beginning to polish them, while he muttered to himself, "I wonder what they do teach at these schools."

redink
www.homeschoolblogger.com/thelionsmane/

The Deplorable Word

In the story "The Magician's Nephew" by C.S. Lewis, we find out the origins of the White Witch from the Narnia series.
When two children use magic to enter the dying world of Charn, they awaken the powerful Queen Jadis who tells the children how she destroyed every living thing in her world.
She tried to take the throne from her sister by force, but was defeated. When her sister declared victory, Queen Jadis spoke "The Deplorable Word" at the last moment and all life was destroyed.

What was the "Deplorable Word"?

(From the book)
"That was the secret of secrets," said the Queen Jadis. "It had long been known to the great Kings of our race that there was a word which, if spoken with the proper ceremonies, would destroy all living things except the one who spoke it. But the ancient kings were weak and soft-hearted and bound themselves and all who should come after them with great oaths never even to seek after the knowledge of that word. But I learned it in a secret place and paid a terrible price to learn it."

I took a facebook poll on this question:
"Should President Obama be allowed to give a nationwide address to school children without parental consent".
Now the question's importance lies in the "without parental consent" part, and out of the 160 thousand who took that poll, over sixty percent voted "no".
And every reason written in the comment section revealed their disfavor with the President overriding parental consent...pretty simple.
Presidents don't get to tell our children how to think, feel or act without our say-so.

But the majority of comments revealed a word that popped up continuously from those who voted in favor of Obama's speech without parental consent.

The word was "racist" or "racism", directed at those who disagreed with the President.

I read conservative websites daily and I've never read one single article from a journalist or blogger who wrote against Obama's policies because of his race.
In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find out what our President's race is when reading arguments against any of his policies.
His race only comes to the fore when Obama himself brings it up...which is sadly, quite often.

Racist: The Deplorable Word

No one can fight such a charge.
It removes all focus from the real arguments and annhililates the person protesting Obama's policies.

Once said aloud, the Deplorable Word continues reverberate.

It spreads across the whole debate of whether something is right or wrong, constitutional or lawless and turns everything to dust.
And it no longer matters if Obama is wrong to bypass parent's wishes, because the Deplorable Word has elimnated the objectors.

If you object to the President's wealth-destroying, anti-capitalistic economic policies, he can use (or have his minions use) the Deplorable Word.
Poof!
His policies are all that's left standing afterwards.
See...I used two perfectly sound adjectives (with hyphens, no less) to describe Obama's policies and they have nothing to do with his race.

If you object to the President's naive and dangerous foreign policy, the Deplorable Word will eliminate your arguments and make you disappear.

If you object to the President's economy-crushing, life-endangering health care bill, he has only to speak the Deplorable Word and reduce a townhall meeting full of everyday Americans to rubble.

...but Americans have their own Deplorable Word: "ruler"

(From the Book)
"But the people?" gasped Digory.
"What people, boy?" asked the Queen.
"All the ordinary people," said Polly. "who'd never done you any harm. And the women, and the children, and the animals."
"Don't you understand?" said the Queen. "I was the Queen. They were all my people. What else were they there for but to do my will?"
"It was rather hard luck on them, all the same," said he.
"I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State? You must learn, child, that what would be wrong for you or for any of the common people is not wrong in a great Queen such as I. The weight of the world is on our shoulders. We must be freed from all rules. Ours is a high and lonely destiny."

"Digory suddenly remembered that Uncle Andrew had used exactly the same words. But they sounded much grander when Queen Jadis said them; perhaps because Uncle Andrew was not seven feet tall and dazzlingly beautiful."

(my translation...with apologies to Mr. Lewis)
Americans suddenly remembered that Stalin, Hitler, Kim Jong Il and Mao had used exactly the same words. But they sounded much grander when President Obama said them; perhaps because they were not tall and dazzlingly African-American.

redink

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/284/2/5/The_Magician__s_Nephew_by_suburbanbeatnik.jpg

Courage, Friends...Life is Beautiful

It takes courage to live this life.

Courage to face painful times,

Courage to face broken relationships, rebellious children, addicted spouses.

Courage to deal with loss.

The loss of our homes, our money, our dreams.

And courage to look death in the face and see all the beauty of life.

For Deidrea and T.K. Laux, their courage gave them five precious days with their son, Thomas.

Thomas was born with Trisonomy 13, a fatal disorder.

They filmed this heart-wrenching tribute to their son, to parenthood, to life.

And now they have the memory of those five days when they got to hold, feed, bathe and change Thomas.

Five days to love and bond and imprint their hearts with the knowledge of their child.

Five days in which Thomas lived a lifetime of love in the arms of his courageous parents.

Life is Beautiful.

redink

HT: Barbara Curtis at Mommy Life

http://mommylife.net/