Monthly Archives: August 2008

Aug 25

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE NEWS?………….

Posted on by

Where is Walter Cronkite?  Edward R. Murrow?  Etc.?  Who are these monsters with mics growing out of their ears at CNN?;  Raising obsurb points, questions, anything to keep you tuned?  Have any studied American society, history, culture, to help us understand the greatness of the true America?  Or are they idiots that have only studied and been primed to keep your attention until the next commercial?

Do we even know of the reporters of newspapers and networks that have editors that have the independence to state what they see without regard to the corporations that have the largest ad investments?  THE ONLY HOPE FOR AMERICA IS THAT A MAJORITY OF US WILL LOOK FOR THE UNADULTERATED TRUTH AND VOTE ACCORDINGLY.  I AGREE; IT IS THE LESSOR OF 2 EVILS, BUT THAT’S ALL WE HAVE UNTIL WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  IF WE DON’T GET INVOLVED, IF WE ACCEPT THE SPOON FEEDING OF THE IGNORANT REPORTERS, HIP SHOOTERS, AND PREACHERS, WE DESERVE OUR FALSE CONCLUSIONS AND WILL SUFFER THEIR CONSEQUENCES.

Rome eventually fell, but I believe that you will search to know the truth (not that I know yet) and vote accordingly.  THE ICE CAPS ARE MELTING, A MAJORITY OF SCIENTISTS SAY WE ONLY HAVE 6 to 8 YRS TO TURN IT AROUND, AND WE, IF WE HESITATE, MAY NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLAIN OUR STUPIDITY TO OUR GRANDCHILDREN (I’ve already had to do that).

THERE WILL COME A TIME WHEN WE WILL FAIL AS A CULTURE AND NATION.  IS IT NOW, OR WILL WE POSTPONE IT THROUGH OUR ACTION?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Aug 25

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO INDIVIDUALITY OF THINKING AND SPEECH?

Posted on by
MANY OF THE GREAT SPIRITUAL LEADERS OF THE PAST LEFT EVERYTHING TO SPEND TIME ALONE IN THOUGHT AND MEDITATION TO FIND TRUTH.  WHERE ELSE IS THE CREATOR (SPIRIT OR CAUSE) OF THE UNIVERSE REVEALED MORE THAN IN NATURE AND HUMAN BEINGS, THE HIGHEST CREATION?  WE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN THINK.  WHY AREN’T WE DOING IT?
 
WHERE DID ANY OF THESE GREAT SPIRITUAL LEADERS (JESUS MOST OF ALL IN MY MIND) TALK ABOUT BUILDING BUILDINGS, MONUMENTS, STATUES, ETC.  WHERE DID THAT TALK ABOUT CEREMONIES AND RITUALS?
 
WHY HAVEN’T BELIEVERS OF THE MOST HIGH (WHOMEVER YOU THINK) UTILIZED SCHOOLS AND EMPTY BUILDINGS TO DO THEIR MINISTRIES INSTEAD OF BUILDING BUILDINGS?  ARE YOU AWARE OF HOW LITTLE THE MONIES OF CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES, ETC GO TOWARDS CARRYING OUT THEIR LEADERS’ TEACHINGS?
 
IT IS SAID THAT JESUS HAD NO PLACE TO LAY HIS HEAD.  DO YOUR LOCAL SPIRITUAL LEADERS ADOPT THAT LIFESTYLE?
 
I HAVE RELIGIOUS DEGREES UP MY SPINE (THAT’S CLOSE), BUT THEY ALL TAUGHT ME THEIR DOCTRINES.  WHAT ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN US AND THAT ALL OF HIS CREATION IS RELATED TO EACH ONE OF US?
 
IT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE THAT THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ABOUT THE CAUSE OF IT ALL IS TO STUDY OR GO TO A NON-RELIGIOUS FULLY ACCREDITED INSTITUTION THAT SEARCHES FOR FACTUAL TRUTH WITH NO RELIGIOUS BIAS.
 
WHY NOT SUPPORT A CHURCH THAT ACCEPTS SAINTS AND SINNERS, BELIEVERS AND NON-BELIEVERS?  DO YOU KNOW ANY PASTORS THAT WILL ACCEPT NO MORE INCOME THAN THE AVERAGE OF HIS/HER/ITS FOLLOWERS?  THE CREATOR SURELY MADE THEM ALL AND THAT MAKES THEM A PART OF US, DON’T YOU THINK?
 
HOW DO THE NEWS NETWORKS AND TALK SHOW HOSTS MAKE MONEY?  BY ATTRACTING MORE LISTENERS AND VIEWERS TO THEIR PROGRAMS.  HOW DO THEY DO THAT?  BY STATING HALF-TRUTHS (AND WHOLE LIES) THAT NEVER COME TRUE, BUT EXCITE PEOPLE TO TUNE IN.
 
HOW DO MANY CHURCHES AND NON-PROFIT ORGS MAKE PROFITS?  COULD IT BE THAT THEY POINT OUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OTHER GROUPS AND THEMSELVES AND HOW SOMEHOW THEY KNOW MORE ABOUT THE TRUTH?
 
I’M ALL FOR A PERSON HAVING THE RIGHT TO MAKE ALL HE CAN ON HIS OWN, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO MAKING IT OFF THE BACKS OF HIS/HER/ITS EMPLOYEES AND BANKRUPTING THEIR PENSIONS AND BENEFITS…DO YOU THINK THAT IS DEMOCRACY, BEING FAIR?
 
HOW CAN WE EVER HAVE A MORE FAIR ELECTION SYSTEM THAN THOSE WHO RAISE THE MOST MONEY WILL WIN THE ELECTIONS?  COULD IT BE THAT WE DO AWAY WITH THE 2 PARTY SYSTEM, LET ANYONE RUN FOR OFFICE AND LIMIT THEM ALL TO A SAME LEVEL OF FINANCES?
 
I WON’T EVEN MENTION THE CORRUPTION OF LOBBYISTS WHO PAY POLITICIANS NOT TO LISTEN TO YOU.
 
MORE LATER.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Aug 25

5 QUESTIONS TO ASK ALL POLITICIANS……

Posted on by

Dear MK,

Yesterday I challenged you to help me monitor faith’s role at this week’s Democratic National Convention – we will have another challenge for the Republicans next week. But, we need to be ready to ask candidates at all levels important questions about their views on the intersection of religion and government.

Today, Interfaith Alliance introduces new online resources with 5 questions to ask every political candidate.

As religion plays an increasingly prominent role in American politics, preserving the boundaries between religion and politics is more important than ever.

We want you to ask the candidates for every level of political office:

Visit www.interfaithalliance.org/5questions to watch videos from me about why we need the answers to all of our 5 questions, and read more about each one. I hope you will post your perspective – and stories about asking one of the 5 questions to our candidates – in the comments section for each of the 5 Questions.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Aug 25

NEWS YOU CAN USE……

Posted on by
A COUNTRY HUNGRY FOR CHANGE…(summary)

Stop.

Wildfires scorch the West, floods pound the Heartland and tropical storms slam the Gulf Coast. Elsewhere, the United States leads wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s chaos in Pakistan. Russian troops occupy tiny Georgia. Iran test-fires missiles, while North Korea grudgingly begins nuclear disarmament. Genocide consumes Darfur. Poverty and disease blanket Africa. Israelis and Palestinians struggle still. A failed White House bid against George W. Bush in 2000 put this man — with his white hair, rapid-fire pace and quick wit — on the national political scene. Tall, trim and easygoing, Obama rocketed onto the national stage as a U.S. Senate candidate who gave a stirring keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Both McCain and Obama are senators, fathers and husbands. Both talk of faith, family and freedom, patriotism, purpose and pride.

McCain is the elder, Obama the youth. McCain is white, Obama black. McCain is a political veteran, Obama still a virtual rookie.

McCain has largely a conservative Senate voting record, while Obama’s is mostly liberal — and their proposals for the future essentially adhere to those ideologies.

On war and peace, McCain is a hawk, Obama a dove. On economics, McCain is a free-market advocate, Obama a “fair-market” proponent. On cultural issues, McCain opposes abortion rights, while Obama supports them.

For the source click on:
 
 






  •  

    Part Of The In-group? A Surprising New Strategy Helps Reduce Unhealthy Behaviors

    August 25, 2008 — Public health campaigns intended to reduce unhealthy behaviors like binge drinking and eating junk food often focus on the risks of those behaviors. But a new study suggests a relatively simple but … > full story






  •  

    Insomnia: Changing Your Bedtime Habits Could Help

    August 23, 2008 — Many people sleep better when they are on holiday, and wish that they could sleep as well all the time. But according to the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care, it is not only … > full story






  •  

    Alcohol Dependence Among Women Is Linked To Delayed Childbearing

    August 21, 2008 — Alcohol use can cause reproductive dysfunctions for both teenage and adult females. A new study is the first to examine alcohol’s effects on childbearing onset across reproductive development. … > full story






  •  

    Sports Stadiums Serve Alcohol To Minors And Intoxicated Fans, Study Suggests

    August 21, 2008 — In a novel study looking at the propensity of illegal alcohol sales at sports stadiums, researchers reported that nearly one in five people posing as underage drinkers, and three out of four … > full story
    • Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    Aug 23

    WERE WE MISLED IN GEORGIA?

    Posted on by
    (summary-no opinion stated)
     
    Everyone who has spent more than five minutes perusing the data on U.S. military contracts understands that the big bucks are still to be made in the production of high-tech, cutting-edge, whiz-bang weapons platforms of the sort that enriched several generations of contractors during the Cold War. But – damn it! – the Cold War had the impudence to dry up and blow away back in the early 1990s, seemingly never to return. Of course, the contractors could always direct their wiles and their lobbying budgets toward reminding members of Congress that we never know when another Big Bad Enemy will pop up. For a while China was the favorite emerging threat to serve up at defense-industry banquets and military-association get-togethers. Yet, coming up with a truly convincing replacement for the USSR proved to be an extraordinarily difficult task. China appeared to be more interested in supplying Wal-Mart and bankrolling the U.S. Treasury than in attacking the United States .
    The onset of the war in Iraq diverted the defense-industry boys from their usual fun and games, but only slightly. Although KBR, Blackwater, Dyncorp, Bechtel, Fluor, Triple Canopy, and many others have made a killing in Iraq, the truly humongous proceeds in military contracting continue to be made by bending metal for aircraft, ships, missiles, satellites, and combat vehicles and by supplying the countless related items of software, maintenance, remodeling, upgrading, training, and so forth that can keep one of these big projects going strong for decades in a sole-source, competition-free environment with limitless potential for engineering change orders – “contract nourishment,” as it’s known in the trade. (The B-52 project, for example, has been going strong for more than 60 years and has no end in sight. If you are a U.S. taxpayer, the Boeing Company says thank you very much.)
    The Russians have not been very cooperative about reviving the Cold War. Not that they’ve demonstrated themselves to be Mr. Nice Guys, especially in Chechnya, but in their relations with the West, they’ve shown more interest in soliciting foreign investment, exporting oil and gas, and purchasing mansions in Cyprus than in nuking London and Washington. It’s true – and a fact that bears more repeating – that they still possess thousands of nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them accurately anywhere on earth within the next hour. But since the USSR ‘s demise, they have not been talking menacingly enough to maintain the Russian threat as a terribly serious fear in the minds of American taxpayers.
    Which brings us back to the little nation-state known as Georgia . 
     

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    Aug 22

    See ‘I.O.U.S.A.’ and weep for our kids (and their descendants)…

    Posted on by

    (a summary)

    Thursday, August 21, 2008

    Over the last few years, millions of homeowners borrowed more money than they could repay. They were living beyond their means, hoping that sometime in the future, something would come along to bail them out.

    They’re now paying for that lack of responsibility. In the second quarter of 2008 alone, more than 700,000 homes went into foreclosure, driving housing values lower and gutting the nation’s construction industry.

    There’s an important lesson in that tragedy, not just for Americans as individuals but as citizens of the United States of America . As a nation, we are living well beyond our means and behaving just as irresponsibly as those individual homeowners who mortgaged their family’s future for a plasma TV or European vacation. Our national debt — the accumulation of year after year of deficit spending by our government — is approaching $10 trillion and growing, with almost 45 percent of it owed to foreigners.

    And just as overextended homeowners lost their homes, we Americans may lose our country, or at least the prosperous, powerful country as we’ve known it. The debt is growing so large that last month alone, interest payments totaled $24 billion. Again, that’s a single month.

    To see where that will inevitably lead, “we only need to look at the fate of other countries who have lived beyond their means for a long time,” warns former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who was fired from his Cabinet post by President Bush for daring to insist that deficits matter. “When you get extended to the point you can’t service your debt, you’re finished.”

    O’Neill issues that warning in “I.O.U.S.A.,” a documentary about our nation’s pending fiscal crisis that opens tonight, for one night only, in 400 movie theaters around the country, including eight in metro Atlanta . (For a list of theaters, go to www.iousathemovie.com).

    As the movie points out, a country deep in debt to the rest of the world loses control over its own future. Most of our foreign-held debt is owned by Japan , China and the oil-exporting countries, giving them enormous potential leverage not just over our foreign policy but over our domestic economic policies as well.

    In addition to O’Neill, the movie features financier Warren Buffett, former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and others. But its two stars are David Walker, until recently head of the Government Accountability Office, and Robert Bixby, head of the Concord Coalition, who have been traveling the nation trying to stir up grass-roots concern about the problem.

    The Concord Coalition, founded in 1992 by a Democrat and two Republicans, has been studiously nonpartisan. As Walker puts it, “The facts aren’t Democrat or Republican. The facts aren’t liberal or conservative. The facts are the facts.”

    But facts being facts, two presidents in particular come in for pointed criticism. In one clip, Ronald Reagan is seen pointing out correctly that “for decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children’s future, for the temporary convenience of the present.”

    But as he speaks, graphics point out that in Reagan’s eight years as president, our national debt almost tripled, from $909 billion to $2.6 trillion.

    The current President Bush is given similar treatment. In a press conference, he is seen proudly awarding himself “an A for keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible with the people’s money.” But as graphics demonstrate, our national debt was $5.7 trillion when Bush took office; it will be almost twice that when he leaves. There is no curve in the world on which that performance merits an “A.”

    The film does not offer a detailed solution, but it does express restrained outrage at the immorality of one generation of Americans — you and I — willing to mortgage the futures of our children and grandchildren to satisfy our own selfishness.

    It’s the scariest movie you are likely to see this summer, not least because we play the villains.

     

    For the source click on:

     

    http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/bookman/stories/2008/08/21/bookmaned_0821.html

     

    U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCKThe Outstanding Public Debt as of 22 Aug 2008 at 12:00:08 PM GMT is:

    $ 9 , 6 1 1 , 2 4 3 , 0 5 3 , 5 9 9 . 0 9

    The estimated population of the United States is 304,587,535
    so each citizen’s share of this debt is $31,554.95.The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
    $1.84 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
    Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

     

     

     

    For update and much more info click on: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    Aug 21

    ACCESS TO EVIL (are there neocon ministers?).

    Posted on by

     

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    (I state no opinion on the following but thought that you might want to read another point of view not reaching the mass media or talk show hosts. -mackie)

    “After barring Ron Paul, the Republifascists will give the main convention speaking slots to the sanctimonious neocon monster Lieberman, the crooked neocon monster Giuliani, and the neocon war criminals Cheney and Bush.

     Also today, at a town meeting, when a questioner said the State needed a military draft to be able to kill enough foreigners, McCain said he didn’t disagree with anything she said.

     Ron Paul made a (yet another) great point yesterday, about what an outrage it is that one man can select the vice president. According to the original Constitution, the vice president was the man who came in #2 in the electoral college vote. But wouldn’t that mean he would be keeping an eagle eye on the presidentas versus being his willing enabler, that’s right.”

     For the rest of the article click on: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/

    ———————————————————————

     (Our National Anthem starts off with “Oh Say Can You See…….”.  Can we? -mackie)

     ——————————————————————–

    “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the U.S.

     ”When the Axis Powers win, we will have to convert ourselves permanently into a militaristic power on the basis of war economy.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the U.S.

    Click on:

    http://redwhitebluepolitics.blogspot.com/2007/06/beware-of-military-industrial-complex.html

    EVIL THRIVES WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING. 
    What can we do?  Call our Congresspeople:
    Here are their phone numbers: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
     
    (click on “Email Vote Tracker” for a weekly email on how yours are voting)
     
    SHOULDN’T WE AT LEAST LET THEM KNOW WE ARE WATCHING?
    Aug 19

    WHO STARTED COLD WAR II (by a famous American Conservative)?

    Posted on by

    (a summary)

     The American people should be eternally grateful to Old Europe for having spiked the Bush-McCain plan to bring Georgia into NATO.

    Had Georgia been in NATO when Mikheil Saakashvili invaded South Ossetia, we would be eyeball to eyeball with Russia, facing war in the Caucasus, where Moscow’s superiority is as great as U.S. superiority in the Caribbean during the Cuban missile crisis.

    If the Russia-Georgia war proves nothing else, it is the insanity of giving erratic hotheads in volatile nations the power to drag the United States into war.

    From Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, U.S. presidents have sought to avoid shooting wars with Russia, even when the Bear was at its most beastly.

    Truman refused to use force to break Stalin’s Berlin blockade. Ike refused to intervene when the Butcher of Budapest drowned the Hungarian Revolution in blood. LBJ sat impotent as Leonid Brezhnev’s tanks crushed the Prague Spring. Jimmy Carter’s response to Brezhnev’s invasion of Afghanistan was to boycott the Moscow Olympics. When Brezhnev ordered his Warsaw satraps to crush Solidarity and shot down a South Korean airliner killing scores of U.S. citizens, including a congressman, Reagan did – nothing.

    These presidents were not cowards. They simply would not go to war when no vital U.S. interest was at risk to justify a war. Yet, had George W. Bush prevailed and were Georgia in NATO, U.S. Marines could be fighting Russian troops over whose flag should fly over a province of 70,000 South Ossetians who prefer Russians to Georgians.

    The arrogant folly of the architects of U.S. post-Cold War policy is today on display. By bringing three ex-Soviet republics into NATO, we have moved the U.S. red line for war from the Elbe almost to within artillery range of the old Leningrad.

    Should America admit Ukraine into NATO, Yalta, vacation resort of the czars, will be a NATO port and Sevastopol, traditional home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, will become a naval base for the U.S. Sixth Fleet. This is altogether a bridge too far.

    And can we not understand how a Russian patriot like Vladimir Putin would be incensed by this U.S. encirclement after Russia shed its empire and sought our friendship? How would Andy Jackson have reacted to such crowding by the British Empire?

    As of 1991, the oil of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan belonged to Moscow. Can we not understand why Putin would smolder as avaricious Yankees built pipelines to siphon the oil and gas of the Caspian Basin through breakaway Georgia to the West?

    For a dozen years, Putin & Co. watched as U.S. agents helped to dump over regimes in Ukraine and Georgia that were friendly to Moscow.

    If Cold War II is coming, who started it, if not us?

    The swift and decisive action of Putin’s army in running the Georgian forces out of South Ossetia in 24 hours after Saakashvili began his barrage and invasion suggests Putin knew exactly what Saakashvili was up to and dropped the hammer on him.

    What did we know? Did we know Georgia was about to walk into Putin’s trap? Did we not see the Russians lying in wait north of the border? Did we give Saakashvili a green light?

    Joe Biden ought to be conducting public hearings on who caused this U.S. humiliation.

    The war in Georgia has exposed the dangerous overextension of U.S. power. There is no way America can fight a war with Russia in the Caucasus with our army tied down in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nor should we. Hence, it is demented to be offering, as John McCain and Barack Obama are, NATO membership to Tbilisi.

    The United States must decide whether it wants a partner in a flawed Russia or a second Cold War. For if we want another Cold War, we are, by cutting Russia out of the oil of the Caspian and pushing NATO into her face, going about it exactly the right way.

    Vladimir Putin is no Stalin. He is a nationalist determined, as ruler of a proud and powerful country, to assert his nation’s primacy in its own sphere, just as U.S. presidents from James Monroe to Bush have done on our side of the Atlantic.

    A resurgent Russia is no threat to any vital interests of the United States. It is a threat to an American Empire that presumes some God-given right to plant U.S. military power in the backyard or on the front porch of Mother Russia.

    Who rules Abkhazia and South Ossetia is none of our business. And after this madcap adventure of Saakashvili, why not let the people of these provinces decide their own future in plebiscites conducted by the United Nations or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe?

    As for Saakashvili, he’s probably toast in Tbilisi after this stunt. Let the neocons find him an endowed chair at the American Enterprise Institute.

     

    For the source click on: http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan94.html

     

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]