Pink Martini - "Sympathique"

http://youtu.be/ANVQScgIeag

Tape Five "Bad Boy Good Man"

Big band sound revisited. Love this.

http://youtu.be/n8Wx80TZ8OQ

Sarah Palin's Speech at CPAC 2012

http://youtu.be/tXsrajvFGk8

If Mitt Romney wants to get the support of Conservatives, he needs to take a note from Palin.

Governor Scott Walker's Speech at CPAC 2012

Scott Walker has had the Jurassic Press tell outright lies about him and his policies in support of the corrupt unions. The State Capitol Building was Occupied and $Millions in property damage resulted. Not only did they protest there, they went to his home, not the Governor’s residence and protested. Fourteen Democrat Party State Legislators fled the state to avoid voting on the budget, mostly because collective bargaining (not a right) was going to be taken away from the unions. Judge Maryann Sumi tried blocking publication of what was termed the “budget repair bill”, and after some legal battles she was overturned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Democrat Party and their Union thugs ran a dirty campaign to get a conservative judge thrown off the Supreme Court. There was a recall of some Republican legislators. He faces a recall with money and support nationally from the Democrat Party (and Obama supports this attack) and national union thugs. In the speech below he chronicles this national Leftist attack. As a side note, this President of the United States, proving once again he doesn’t believe in States Rights, has sued a couple states and has weighed in on this attack on a sitting governor. Legislation needs to be passed that state elections and state issues cannot use money from out of state organizations. Because Leftists can do this they can centralize their agenda resulting in everyone having to obey the Federal Government. People should be able to choose to live in states that have a government to respects and has similar political, socio-economic values.

Back to Scott Walker. Some of the things he’s been able to do, in the face of massive national Leftist, Union, Democrat Party opposition is reduce the state’s $3.6 Billion deficit without tax increases or massive layoffs of state employees.  About $850 in savings to local governments have been seen. School districts can hire and fire based on merit rather than seniority. Tenure is out the window for teachers. I never did get that concept. Every other job I know of, if you don’t produce with a certain level of quality, it results in termination. School property taxes have been reduced. There’s school choice now, citizens with children aren’t forced to attend schools the government says they have to.  

This speech is the keynote speech for the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference). Actual speech begins at about 4mins.  
   

http://youtu.be/cOcjxT8ZAuU

Another side note, linking into one of my pet peeves...when I Googled attacks on Scott Walker, nearly all the results were press attacks on what was termed by them attacks on freedom of whatever by Walker. 

The Pope and Prayer

Prayer is so important to our lives; it should be the center of our daily activities.

http://youtu.be/bAUmxMkwzIo

I've written on prayer earlier:

http://metaphysicalperegrine.blogspot.com/2011/11/call-to-prayer.html

http://metaphysicalperegrine.blogspot.com/2011/11/call-to-prayer-ii.html

The New Progressive Bible

This is a hilarious satire updating the Bible to meet modern Leftist beliefs and values. Here's a taste. Full article here. 

The New Modern Library's Progressive Bible is written within a scope of only 200 words to make it accessible to everyone. It is produced in various versions, each of which targets a wide range of demographics, from God-free to God-lite (less than 3% opiate for the masses) to the Rick James "Superfreak" Version, and is suitable for any occasion - pick one that best fits your current moral needs. In the Egalitarian Bible, for instance, God is equal to everybody else in the story. He votes, drives a hybrid, is in debt, uses recreational drugs, hates Bush, participates in peace marches, complains about the minimum wage, and feels lousy about nothing like everybody else.

Exactly half of the characters are women (50% of the kings are now queens). Solomon is Shirley. Very few of the characters are Jews. Some of them are mentally retarded; the rest are progressive minorities, with the ever growing Hispanic representation and a vocal Muslim voting bloc, as well as a gay, lesbian, and transgender alliance, mirroring life itself.

Every progressive Christian worth his/her/its "pillar of salt" is sure to enjoy the revised story of Moses, whose crusading band of Zionist aggressors ambushed the disenfranchised Egyptian freedom fighters in what became known as the "Red Sea Massacre."

Other revised inspirational stories of moral relativism include:

·             The Organic Garden of Eden

·             Pharaoh Has Two Mummies

·             What Happens in Sodom and Gomorrah Stays in Sodom and Gomorrah

·             Noah Builds Ark to Survive Global Warming

·             Jonah Saves the Whale

·             David Appeases Goliath

·             The Bilingual Writing on the Wall

·             The Tower of Babel & The Controlled Demolition Theory

·             Uncle Samson & The NY Times Reporter Delilah

·             Judas The ACLU Lawyer

·             Joseph & Mary Celebrate Holiday Season By Donating Fetus To Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Bank

·             Government Program Feeds The Multitudes with Five "Whole Grain" Loaves And Two Non-Endangered Fishes

Racial Code Words? Decoding Juan Williams False Charges of Racism

Funny and true. Really, the words "food stamps" are racist?

http://youtu.be/90mKETE-a5A

Every once in a while Juan Williams actually says something right. Not too often. When he does, I have a little glimmer of hope. Just a glimmer.

How the Democrats Are Defending Their Assault on Freedom of Religion

There's the observation man isn't a rational being, but a rationalizing being. This vid shows Dems justifying forcing religious institutions to submit to the State in violation of their teachings and beliefs, and in violation of the First Amendment. The most frightening of all this justifications comes at 2:04. This woman is actually a national politician, as well as incredibly stupid. Gwendolyne Moore, Wisconsin Democrat: "The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families, that for 30 years, to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy." Pregnancy is a health and safety issue that women are exposed to? It's a prospect of something unhealthy, or something.  What?



The government mandating what products and services citizens should buy. In the case of the Catholic Church, it's been suggested that going forward they needn't hire employees that don't have the same values and belief system as the Church. How many law suits would that generate, denying employment based on ideology?

If a government controls healthcare, it controls every aspect of every citizen's life. Every citizen will have to obey the State to get health care. Guns are unhealthy. Ban them. Religion endangers the health of women. Suppress it. Leftists/Democrats have done very well suppressing free speech with political correctness, to the point now, if you call a black man "Juan" without the correct inflection you're a racist. Traditional press has given up it's freedom; it willing and with joy does the bidding of the State. Pretty much us in the blogosphere are what's left of the free press, and the State is doing everything it can to get control of that. 

Rick Santorum's CPAC 2012 Speech - Impressive

This is the first time since we began this process of picking a presidential candidate for the Republican Party, that I was impressed by Santorum. He talks about founding principles, conservative principles; it would be good to have someone in the White House that could re-teach and advocate for those.

 “Are we going to believe, as our Founders did, that our rights don’t come from the government, that they come from a much higher authority?”… “There are those in the Oval Office who believe that’s not the case, that rights do, in fact, come from the government, and they have gone around convincing the American people that they can give you rights. We see what happens when government gives you rights. When government gives you rights, government can take away those rights. When government gives you rights, they can coerce you in doing things in exercising the rights that they gave you.”

“As a result, government will own because you will have to pay tribute to Washington in order to get the care you need for your children.”

This is well worth the 20 minutes. Impressive, profound, and, strangely enough, moving. 

http://youtu.be/RxHM2_9t7G8

“Why would an undecided voter vote for a candidate the party is not excited about? We need conservatives now to rally for a conservative to go into November, to excite the conservative base, to pull with that excitement moderate voters and to defeat Barack Obama in the fall. … Please walk out of this gathering and choose the candidate that you believe is the right person to lead this country, so you can say, ‘I have done my duty. I have kept my honor.’”

Indeed. 

"Hidden" Mortgage Fee Paying for Payroll Tax Cut

Here's a tax that will be imposed for the next 10 years on most mortgages and refinancings and it lasts for the life of the loan. For every $200,000, it amounts to an extra $15 dollars a month. That 2% payroll tax the gov gave everybody last Dec. This is how they'll pay for it and them some, to the tune of an extra $35.7 billion to the general treasury. Bet you didn't hear this one. Gov offers a few dollars back out of paycheck, takes $billions back. Good deal for them, and no one knows, until now. Thanks to CBS for actually doing some reporting for a change.  

For every $200,000, it amounts to an extra $15 dollars a month.

$35.7 billion collected in fees go to general fund for congress to spend any ol’ way the want. 

Jackie Evancho "To Believe"

http://youtu.be/foUrBztgzZA

Alison Krauss "A Living Prayer"

http://youtu.be/kv3WSrZ-9bM

In this world I walk alone
With no place to call my home,
But there's one who holds my hand
Through rugged roads, through barren lands.
The way is dark, the road is steep,
But He's become my eyes to see,
The strength to climb, my griefs to bear.
The Savior lives inside me there.

Chorus:
In Your love I find relief,
A haven from my unbelief.
Take my life and let me be
A living prayer, my God, to Thee.

In these trials of life I find
Another voice inside my mind.
He comforts me and bids me live
Inside the love the Father gives.

In Your love I find relief,
A haven from my unbelief.
Take my life and let me be
A living prayer, my God, to Thee.

Take my life and let me be
A living prayer, my God, to Thee.

Yet More Attacks on Christianity by Our Secularist, Bigoted President & His Party

This President and his political party have made it abundantly clear they are Secularists, and specifically anti-Christian. Here’s a few items to make the point.

I had written earlier that I’m disgusted by the use of Our Savior Jesus Christ being used as a political pawn. The anti-Christian bigot Obama did just that when he attended a prayer breakfast and used the time meant for communing with God to make a Marxist campaign speech, saying Jesus' admonition to help the poor means the government must raise taxes, especially on the rich.

Obama: “When I talk about shared responsibility, it’s because I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling and at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income or young people with student loans or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone.”  … “And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense.”

“But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’ teaching that, ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’”

He added this even more appalling observation:  “…mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others.” Since Christianity came first, and Islam imperfectly picked and chose what it wanted and needed to oppress people, I don’t think so.

http://youtu.be/jRA6l-VCttg

The quote, “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required,” does not mean from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs. Obama sees everything through Marxist lenses. It’s his religion.

Part of that religion is to ignore the establishment clause of the Constitution (and the rest of the Constitution too, but I need to stay on point), “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” and the free exercise clause, "... or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". The latest kerfuffle is his forcing the Catholic Church to adhere to his secular religion, which advocates the killing of babies, i.e., abortion, over the life of babies. Add to that forcing, against the teaching/values/beliefs of the Church requiring them to provide contraception. This Administration ruling forcing the church to provide abortions, sterilizations, and contraceptives as part of their health care programs is a requirement from Health and Human Services Department, not even legislation. They can get away with it because, contrary to what was said to the public by Obama and the Democrats, mandating abortion is in ObamaCare. This doesn’t only apply to the Catholic Church, but to all religious organizations; if the Catholic Church and other organizations stick to their guns on this, many religious funded hospitals, health facilities and companies will be forced to shut down. The Obama administration isn’t entirely insensitive to this issue; all the affiliated organizations have a year before being forced to comply or shut down.

Archbishop Timothy Nolan has published a letter to the president in protest, and there are several with some variations from many Bishops in America. A copy of one is at the bottom of this article.

He's also forbidden Chaplin's in the military to comment on this abuse of power, this ignoring of the Constitution, this forcing of Religion, specifically Christianity, to ignore and reject the teachings of their respective churches. He is Commander in Chief and has the legal right to do so, but not the moral right. 

Recently struck down by the Supreme Court, and not reported or under reported by the re-elect Obama press, was a ruling requiring Churches to adhere to equal opportunity legislation. This requires the Catholic Church to allow female priests, and Jews female rabbis. You may color me wrong on this, but aren’t elected officials sworn to uphold the Constitution? If I’m right, the Secularists in power that took that oath are definitely ignoring both the establishment clause and free exercise clause.

Off on a tangent here; the first female ex-Speaker of the House, a professed Catholic, stated about the issue: “First of all, I am going to stick with my fellow Catholics in supporting the administration on this. I think it was a very courageous decision that they made, and I support it.” Say what? She’s one of many Catholic politicians that are pro-abortion and contraception ignoring the teachings of the Church she professes to be a member of. For most of us practicing Christians, God comes first, and informs our beliefs and actions. If one is a politician, and speaks honestly about his\her Faith, they should let it be known and live by it. I think if a Catholic runs for office on a pro-abortion platform, or lives and legislates in opposition to the Church, they should renounce the Church. If not, and I’m not Catholic, so I don’t know how exactly this works, but if they stay in the Church and support the kinds of regulation written about here, they should be excommunicated. It shouldn’t bother these anti-Christian, anti-Catholic Catholics anyway since they apparently don’t believe or practice Church doctrine.  

There’s a whole section of the Bible discussing Spiritual Warfare, mostly in Ephesians 6: 10- 18. This is where it manifests itself in physical world. We have the leader of the free world leading an assault on Christianity (and supporting Islam). Good for the Catholic Church for standing up to these bigots and secularists.

Jotta A e Michely Manuely - Aleluia

I've heard at least a dozen performers do this song. This one's a stunner.

http://youtu.be/bblSFm9pZls

Rep. Allen West - "Obama, Reid, Pelosi, get the hell out of the USA"

http://youtu.be/o8YDnd1Yoyk

Those Violent TEA Partiers Are At It Again

Well, not exactly. Did you know that the violent "Occupy" movement, supported by President Obama, the first female ex-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry "Dusty" Reid, all Democrats (not to put too fine a point on it) support this? The Democrat Party is still saying it's the TEA Party that is violent and the "Occupy" people are peaceful...even after hundreds arrested, rapes, murders and clashes with police. These pics are from the "peaceful" Occupy thugs in Oakland yesterday. Below the pics is an article describing the events of the "peaceful" protests. The AP by the way, also supports the Occupy movement. And below the AP article are pics of "violent" TEA Party protests.

The Pro-Occupy Associated Press reported this (even they can no longer avoid reporting this thuggish violent behavior). [During the rise of the TEA (Tax Enough Already) Party, they, along with the rest of the Jurassic Press, reported that the TEA Party gatherings were violent.

Police used tear gas and “flash” grenades Saturday to break up hundreds of Occupy protesters after some demonstrators started throwing rocks and flares at officers and tearing down fencing.
 Three officers were hurt and 19 people were arrested, the Oakland Police Department said in a release. No details on the officers’ injuries were released.
 Police said the group started assembling at a downtown plaza Saturday morning, with demonstrators threatening to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center. The group then marched through the streets, disrupting traffic.
 The crowd grew as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.
 The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and “destroying construction equipment,” the release said.
 Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.
 … Most of the arrests were made when protesters ignored orders to leave and assaulted officers, the release said. An hour later, the bulk of the crowd had left the convention center and headed back downtown.
 The demonstration comes after Occupy protesters said earlier this week that they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a social center and political hub. They also threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.
 In a statement Friday, Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana said the city would not be “bullied by threats of violence or illegal activity.”
 … Oakland officials said Friday that since the Occupy Oakland encampment was first established in late October, police have arrested about 300 people.

 Below are some typical TEA Party Protests. 0 Arrests, 0 Deaths, 0 Rapes, 0 Murders

What Was Gingrich's Ethics Violation Anyway?

For those that aren't political junkies like myself, and are wondering what the ethics charges were against Gingrich, CNN, certainly not known for honest coverage of Conservatives and Republicans, provided this report. I'm not happy with Romney and other Republicans and Conservatives saying Gingrich resigned in disgrace. Plus, how many news programs are even saying what the charge was? He taught a history course that his political opposition said was political. And how many non-political junkies know he was exonerated? This vid is good summation.

http://youtu.be/qMpBBRUCMd8

Speaking - True and Funny

http://youtu.be/hnjJvzprjN0

Change Your Words, Change the World

http://youtu.be/Hzgzim5m7oU

How to Manage Debt

If America were a family, this is what the national debt would look like. There are politicians that think this is a good way to do things.

http://youtu.be/Li0no7O9zmE

Revenues and Expenditures

Breakdown of where taxes come from and how they're spent. Enough to make you weep.

http://youtu.be/u24nH03NccI

What Obama Likes About the Military

What Obama likes about the military isn’t the it protects freedom, helps people in dire straits, but that it’s so damn organized and everybody just submits.

In his opening campaign speech given as the State of the Union Address a couple days ago, paring away the Marxist rhetoric was praise of the military, he said.

 “At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think about the America within our reach.”

Our Dear Leader would like us all to follow him, like soldiers follow their sergeant, lieutenant or captain. This fits in with what he said to the racist group La Raza (that has changed its name to sound less racist), a group advocating the violent overthrow of the US government. Back in 2011, addressing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus:

 "As I mentioned when I was at La Raza a few weeks back, I wish I had a magic wand and could make this all happen on my own," "There are times where -- until Nancy Pelosi is speaker again -- I'd like to work my way around Congress."

"We live in a democracy, and at the end of the day, I can't do this all by myself under our democratic system." At a July 2011 speech he told the Racist organization La Raza: "Some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own" and that he found the idea very tempting. Really.

That brings us back to his praise of the military and his mistaken notion that like them, we should give up our freedoms and submit. The true meaning and application of submission here. Obama with this statement reveals his desire for us all to be like military units, and submit to the commands of the State, and most especially to him, Our Dear Leader.

Back to his campaign speech before Congress, and his view that we should be more like the military, taking yet more credit for the killing of Bin Laden:  “All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves.” This is how he wants us citizens to behave. He continued saying the mission “only succeeded . . . because every single member of that unit did their job. . . . More than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other — because you can’t charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there’s somebody behind you, watching your back. So it is with America.” No, it is not so with America. We became great and exceptional because we are messy and unruly. More: “This nation is great because we worked as a team. This nation is great because we get each other’s backs.”

Obama has said in several speeches and interviews that he will work around Congress, and he has.

http://youtu.be/V5ZjtNT-ZZ8

Rob Quirk, KOAA-TV:(@ 8:20) “And one year from today we will know if this a one-term or two-term president. So, I asked the president what will it take from now until then to not only win Colorado again, but reelection as well.”

President Obama: “Well, what we’re going to have to do is continue to make progress on the economy over the next several months. And where Congress is not willing to act, we’re going to go ahead and do it ourselves. But it would be nice if we could get a little bit of help from Capitol Hill.”

This president does not like nor believe in democracy. He believes in obedience to the State. If he had it his way, obedience to him.

"Obama Lied" The Food Stamp President

About 950,000 citizens have quit looking for jobs so they don't show up in the unemployment stats. As a result more people are getting food stamps. When Obama was elected the unemployment rate 6.8%. It’s now 8.6%. Add those 950,000 in and it's about 11.5% unemployed. Three years into his presidency, Obama still blames Bush. Now he's telling, shamelessly, a bald faced lie:

“First of all, I don’t put people on food stamps. People become eligible for food stamps. Second of all, the initial expansion of food-stamp eligibility happened under my Republican predecessor, not under me. Number three, when you have a disastrous economic crash that results in 8 million people losing their jobs, more people are going to need more support from government.”

Remember "Bush Lied" all during his administration? Well....Obama Lied. 


Here's a visual.

Of course if one calls Obama the "food stamp president" it's racist. How is that when most people on food stamps are white. I would think since his policies have impoverished so many white people that he's the racist; if we apply the Leftist 'racist' standard. It come to this with the Left, if you say the name "Juan" and Juan is Black it's racist.It's also racist if you use the term "black" now. 

The Debt Generation

http://youtu.be/GnDyXrSwJnA

Obama and Democrats by the Numbers

A Republican in the Executive Branch with the record laid out below would be driven out of office without hesitation. Bush 1 was driven out of office after one term, and overall didn’t do so bad a job. Bush 2 was excoriated in the media daily. He had, I think, 54 consecutive months of economic growth, and managed the beginning of World War IV; including ensuring no successful terrorist attacks on US soil. That was done with his opposition doing everything they could to assist the enemies of the United States...can’t listen to suspected terrorists conversing with people in the US, or follow their money, etc. Bush 2 blew it in the end by giving up on free markets and signing off on TARP and some other socialist stuff. Overall, pretty good job though. Clinton, overall, a pretty good job, though you can bet if a Republican was bangin’ the female staff in the oval office; he would have been booted out of office PDQ.

Now we have a Marxist ideologue, racist, anti-Christian, pro-Islamist buffoon as president. A guy raised by Communists, hung out in college with racists, Marxists, Stalinists, advocating the overthrow of democracy; our a constitutional republic. That’d be us, Americans. Throw in his blatant religious lie about his quarter century in the anti-American, pro-communist, anti-Christian (they were all about liberation theology, not the teachings and acceptance of Jesus Christ as personal savior) racist church of Jeremiah Wright. Obama said after a quarter century, hey, who knew? Truly?

That’s the set up. Here’s the numbers.

Obama gets elected with the unemployment rate 6.8%. It’s now 8.6%. About 950,000 people are no longer looking for work; they are not longer factored in. Add them in, and the unemployment rate is about 11.5%. About 25% of African American men are unemployed. How's that hope and change thing working?

Gas was $1.88 in 2009. It’s about $3.50 now and climbing. 102% increase.

Average electricity bills for households have increased about $300 per year since he’s been in office.

The Census Bureau reports about 146.4 million people are living at or below the poverty line. That’s 4 million more that when he took office.

Credit card debt is going up, especially among seasoned citizens who are having to supplement their incomes.

The average age of a car on the road now is 10 years. Over the past 20 years the average age was about 6.5 years.

Our national budget is about $3.8 trillion, but heck, lets round it up to $4 trillion. Our revenues are only about $2.1 trillion, and revenues will be going down, spending will be going up. Another $Trillion is being added to the debt ceiling this session of Congress. 

Much talk lately of this being the “food stamp president”. The Media Outlet for the Democrat Party, aka NBC, CBS, NY Times, LA Times, ABC, Time Magazine, etc. are all saying there were more people on food stamps under Bush. It’s amazing such blatant lies are fabricated and reported as fact, but we’ve come to expect it. Journalism died with the election of Barak Hussein Obama. Right now about one in seven Americans are on food stamps, about 14 million more people that when he took office. Pointing this out to the Jurassic Press and Democrats means you’re a racist. Problem is the majority of people on food stamps are white. I guess one could say Obama and the Dems are racist, forcing white people to go on food stamps.

Racial tension has skyrocketed. Energy costs have skyrocketed. The national debt has skyrocketed. Personal debt has skyrocketed. Everything that benefits the citizens of this country has plummeted.

Remember too, most of the 20th Century, the Democrat Party held power in Congress. They can blame Republicans all they want, but most legislation passed in the last 100 years was passed by them. The first two years of this administration, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. They are the establishment. They write the rules. They are the ones responsible for this mess. The Republican Party is stupid and weak. Cowards. Blaming them for this mess is like blaming the little kid for getting beaten up by the bully. 

The guy is a looser, for the rest of us. For him and the Democrats, he’s a winner. They’ve gotten what they wanted. It’s like Nikita Khrushchev said, “We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.” Obama and the Democrats are continuing this legacy.

There’s way more at stake with this election than jobs and debt. 

Roman Glories: Scipio Tombs Reopen in Rome

~ “LETTERS FROM EUROPE” - by Rob (Wind Rose Hotel) ~

Not many remember who Consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbato was. Yet there is a very good reason why we should remember him, in fact, besides being a member of the distinguished gens Cornelia, he was the founder of one of ancient Rome’s most illustrious clans, the father of Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina, and, what is most important, the great-grandfather of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–183 BC), also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, i.e. the man who defeated Hannibal at the final battle of the Second Punic War at Zama—a watershed event in the history of the world—and one of the finest commanders in military history.

History, however, is not the focus of this post. Rather, the focus is on archaeology and …tourism. In fact, a few days ago, for the first time in two decades, the tomb of the Scipios has been reopened to the public (Via di Porta San Sebastiano 9, Rome). It’s a great opportunity—among the Scipios entombed there were both Scipio the Elder and Scipio the Younger, who destroyed Carthage and ended the Third Punic War!—for those who live in Rome or are just visiting. To book a visit, call +39060608.

See here for some more info in English, and here for a thorough description and history of the site in Italian.

Photo courtesy of Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali, Rome

The Diminishing of Boys and Men

It’s obvious our culture is in decline. My view is this is so because we have turned our back on God. Worded another way, we’ve decided to ignore natural law, and enforce behaviors denying who and what we are. The ignorant self important ideas of behaviorists, sociologists and government bureaucrats is doing huge damage to how we treat each other, diversity is driven out, and kids are being more abused, neglected and untaught.

A quick note about diversity. Secularists want everyone to accept everyone else based on race or socio-political philosophy that rejects ideas that have worked for thousands of years. The result of this social engineering is more division between the races, arguably the worst since the 1960’s. What’s lacking is diversity of ideas; everyone must think like a Secularist. You must think like them, or you’re stupid and intolerant. To do this you must reject natural law. Even more harmful than categorizing and defining people by race and socio-political philosophy, is the continued attempt to make this a unisex society, to be accomplished by turning boys into girls.

I first remember this idea in the 1960’s. It’s not enough to raise girls up to be independent women, boys had to be diminished, and men insulted. Women wanting to stay home and raise children were mocked. Boys had to act more like girls. Now we have an increasing number of stories of boys being given dolls instead of trucks to play with so they will be more like girls. Parents even dress their boys like girls so they can decide if they want to be a boy or girl, as if. Bi-sexuality and homosexuality is being taught in elementary school, not only as an alternative to heterosexuality, but preferable. Social engineering must begin early; we don't need no stinkin' three R’s. Time magazine had the cover story proclaiming that after much research, there’s a difference between males and females. Really, they needed a study to conclude that. All this stems from ignoring natural law, God’s law, His design.

Now we have little boys, doing little boy things, being given drugs to control them. No wrestling, running, fighting, pretend shooting with any object. Boys will still use anything to pretend a weapon if parents don’t provide them with a toy gun. We all grew up with toy swords, pistols and rifles, part of the learning process to being a boy, and maybe later a cop or soldier. No longer allowed. If you’re a boy and do such things, you’ll be force fed a drug and made to obey.

There was a time, in all societies, that there were initiation rites, that marked a specific point of changing from boy to man. Now we have boys in their twenties; men living with their parents; going to school on their parent’s dime until they’re in the mid-twenties. It’s now a cultural norm to diminish men. One result is we have men portrayed in nearly every commercial as weak, stupid and inept (is a pet peeve of mine).  

Even churches, the religious community, have seemingly bought into this notion. At one time, when a majority of people went to church, boys and girls were mixed with all generations. Kids grew up knowing the values, culture and experience of not only their parents, but grandparents and great grandparents. There existed experiential evidence of the difference between boys and girls, men and women, and generations. Now churches are less attended thanks to a successful campaign of bigotry by Secularists; plus being a religious person is really difficult. What’s being taught now in the religious community is this lovey dovey let’s be all kindness, and just get along, be nice, have high self esteem without earning it mentality. Exactly what’s being done in the secular world.  What often gets neglected is the other side of life; standing firm on one’s principles, fighting for those principles, courage, duty, manly honor. Growing up we sang “Onward Christian Soldiers” a lot. Not such a popular hymn now. Churches need to reject this trend. Both boy and girls need to be taught goodness, kindness and sometimes one needs to just kick some ass.  

Churches need to return to scripture. “For everything there’s a season”; boys and girls need to be taught all aspects of life, not just what Secularists define as correct feminine behavior.  Even Secularists know the Bible verse “When I was a child…” They’ve rejected it. We in the religious community need to be reminded of it, and act on it.

http://youtu.be/JisThSctb3U

Light

"Northern Exposure" may arguably be the best, maybe only show thoughtful show I can think of. I came across this gem.

http://youtu.be/U2TPMoP01Sc

This is the song by Enya

http://youtu.be/uO1DlemGZ68

"Daily Show" About Journalistic Hypocrisy

Even some Leftists like Jon Stewart are beginning to catch on...

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I'm Coming Home - The Staple Singers (1959)

http://youtu.be/Rekp7rRcSFs