Monks, A Monastery, and Coffee

While New York is dealing with the construction of a large religious building, there is another similar controversy on the other side of the country, in Meeteetse, Wyoming.  

The Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel want to build a monastery that will have a 150 seat church, inside a 144,000 square foot French Gothic-style compound that will include a coffee roasting barn and living quarters for the monks. Its marker will be a 150 foot spire.

This story caught my eye because they are the Carmelite monks that make “Mystic Monk Coffee”, which I have a banner ad for on this blog site.

The controversy has arisen because some ranchers in the area don’t like the idea of a huge compound in a traditional ranching area. They question the impact the monastery will have on wild life, traffic, and water usage. They also, being a religious institution, won’t be paying any property taxes. I have to wonder if these ranchers see any pluses here. 

The property has already been purchased, zoning approved, plans drawn up. The last legal thing that needs to be addressed is the Park County commissioners need to make the final approval. That’ll happen on Oct. 5, 2010.

These monks started with just two people, have now grown to 18, and several more are applying to join the order.

The traffic issue is interesting. I have to wonder just how much traffic a few monks is going to generate. They have their coffee beans trucked in, and they’ve said they would reduce shipments to once a month. There’s an easement to an irrigation pond that would have to be moved, and the monks said they would take care of that. They also grow most of their own food, so traffic for that would be limited too.  

The site is about 14 miles from the nearest road, and about 20 miles from the nearest town. I could probably do without the spire, but it doesn’t look like it could be seen by anyone nearby. The site sits on 2500 acres.

Unlike like the NY Mosque of Triumph, I really can’t see an issue here. How much of an impact are a few monks praying and roasting coffee beans going to have?

Ranch owner Dave Grabbert, who sold the Order the land said: “What's puzzling to me is if people complain about these guys as neighbors, what kind of neighbors would they want?”

Why Did Islam Become What It Is?

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

I have always thought that nobody who has an ounce of common sense—not to speak of sensibility and culture—cannot help but respect other people’s religious beliefs, except for those which are manifestly contrary to universal human right principles. Such is, of course, my attitude toward Islam. Hence my deep appreciation for thinkers such as G.K. Chesteron, whose respect for Islam is as strong as his “humanistic” approach to life in general. Which obviously generates some kind of tension between the two needs: respect, but awareness of the most controversial aspects of Islam, with regard to its (much) less humanistic approach…

Here is an example of his, so to speak, “bivalent attitude” toward Islam. There is in Islam “a paradox which is perhaps a permanent menace,” he wrote in his 1917 Lord Kitchener...

The great creed born in the desert creates a kind of ecstasy out of the very emptiness of its own land, and even, one may say, out of the emptiness of its own theology. It affirms, with no little sublimity, something that is not merely the singleness but rather the solitude of God. There is the same extreme simplification in the solitary figure of the Prophet; and yet this isolation perpetually reacts into its own opposite. A void is made in the heart of Islam which has to be filled up again and again by a mere repetition of the revolution that founded it. There are no sacraments; the only thing that can happen is a sort of apocalypse, as unique as the end of the world; so the apocalypse can only be repeated and the world end again and again. There are no priests; and yet this equality can only breed a multitude of lawless prophets almost as numerous as priests. The very dogma that there is only one Mahomet produces an endless procession of Mahomets. Of these the mightiest in modern times were the man whose name was Ahmed, and whose more famous title was the Mahdi; and his more ferocious successor Abdullahi, who was generally known as the Khalifa. These great fanatics, or great creators of fanaticism, succeeded in making a militarism almost as famous and formidable as that of the Turkish Empire on whose frontiers it hovered, and in spreading a reign of terror such as can seldom be organised except by civilisation…

Islam as “the great creed born in the desert.” That’s the key argument he makes to explain both what is wrong and what is the sublimity hidden in the heart of the religion of Muhammad. Two faces (what is sublime and what is “a permanent menace”) of the same coin—a Weltanschauung which is son of the desert and which generates both great mystics and huge fanatics and creators of fanaticism.

But it was not until 1919 that Chesterton had the opportunity of making this perfectly clear to himself, when he left his home in Beaconsfield, and traveled backward through time to the place which is sacred to the three “religions of the Book.” And his 1920 The New Jerusalem, is just a philosophical travelogue of his journey across Europe, across the desert, to Palestine.

Chesterton saw Islam as the Way of the Desert. The desert being a place of loss of perspective, and Islam personifying that loss of perspective. When the mind has grown used to the monotony of the desert, he wrote, a curious change takes place:

It may sound strange to say that monotony of its nature becomes novelty. But if any one will try the common experiment of saying some ordinary word such as "moon" or "man" about fifty times, he will find that the expression has become extraordinary by sheer repetition. A man has become a strange animal with a name as queer as that of the gnu; and the moon something monstrous like the moon-calf. Something of this magic of monotony is effected by the monotony of deserts; and the traveller feels as if he had entered into a secret, and was looking at everything from another side. Something of this simplification appears, I think, in the religions of the desert, especially in the religion of Islam. It explains something of the super-human hopes that fill the desert prophets concerning the future; it explains something also about their barbarous indifference to the past.

We think of the desert and its stones as old; but in one sense they are unnaturally new. They are unused, and perhaps unusable. They might be the raw material of a world; only they are so raw as to be rejected. It is not easy to define this quality of something primitive, something not mature enough to be fruitful. Indeed there is a hard simplicity about many Eastern things that is as much crude as archaic. A palm-tree is very like a tree drawn by a child—or by a very futurist artist. Even a pyramid is like a mathematical figure drawn by a schoolmaster teaching children; and its very impressiveness is that of an ultimate Platonic abstraction. There is something curiously simple about the shape in which these colossal crystals of the ancient sands have been cast. It is only when we have felt something of this element, not only of simplicity, but of crudity, and even in a sense of novelty, that we can begin to understand both the immensity and the insufficiency of that power that came out of the desert, the great religion of Mahomet.

And here is a generous eulogy of Islam:

In the red circle of the desert, in the dark and secret place, the prophet discovers the obvious things. I do not say it merely as a sneer, for obvious things are very easily forgotten; and indeed every high civilisation decays by forgetting obvious things.

But a second later he challenges those whom he has just praised:

But it is true that in such a solitude men tend to take very simple ideas as if they were entirely new ideas. There is a love of concentration which comes from the lack of comparison. The lonely man looking at the lonely palm-tree does see the elementary truths about the palm-tree; and the elementary truths are very essential. Thus he does see that though the palm-tree may be a very simple design, it was not he who designed it. It may look like a tree drawn by a child, but he is not the child who could draw it. He has not command of that magic slate on which the pictures can come to life, or of that magic green chalk of which the green lines can grow. He sees at once that a power is at work in whose presence he and the palm-tree are alike little children. In other words, he is intelligent enough to believe in God; and the Moslem, the man of the desert, is intelligent enough to believe in God. But his belief is lacking in that humane complexity that comes from comparison.
[Italics mine]

And a few lines below he says:

[Islam] was content with the idea that it had a great truth; as indeed it had a colossal truth. It was so huge a truth that it was hard to see it was a half-truth.

What does he mean by that? Let’s follow his reasoning:

Islam was a movement; that is why it has ceased to move. For a movement can only be a mood. It may be a very necessary movement arising from a very noble mood, but sooner or later it must find its level in a larger philosophy, and be balanced against other things. Islam was a reaction towards simplicity; it was a violent simplification, which turned out to be an over-simplification. Stevenson has somewhere one of his perfectly picked phrases for an empty-minded man; that he has not one thought to rub against another while he waits for a train. The Moslem had one thought, and that a most vital one; the greatness of God which levels all men. But the Moslem had not one thought to rub against another, because he really had not another. It is the friction of two spiritual things, of tradition and invention, or of substance and symbol, from which the mind takes fire. The creeds condemned as complex have something like the secret of sex; they can breed thoughts.
[…]
The philosophy of the desert can only begin over again. It cannot grow; it cannot have what Protestants call progress and Catholics call development.
[…]
The highest message of Mahomet is a piece of divine tautology. The very cry that God is God is a repetition of words, like the repetitions of wide sands and rolling skies. The very phrase is like an everlasting echo, that can never cease to say the same sacred word; and when I saw afterwards the mightiest and most magnificent of all the mosques of that land, I found that its inscriptions had the same character of a deliberate and defiant sameness.
The ancient Arabic alphabet and script is itself at once so elegant and so exact that it can be used as a fixed ornament, like the egg and dart pattern or the Greek key. It is as if we could make a heraldry of handwriting, or cover a wall-paper with signatures. But the literary style is as recurrent as the decorative style; perhaps that is why it can be used as a decorative style. Phrases are repeated again and again like ornamental stars or flowers. Many modern people, for example, imagine that the Athanasian Creed is full of vain repetitions; but that is because people are too lazy to listen to it, or not lucid enough to understand it. The same terms are used throughout, as they are in a proposition of Euclid. But the steps are all as differentiated and progressive as in a proposition of Euclid. But in the inscriptions of the Mosque whole sentences seem to occur, not like the steps of an argument, but rather like the chorus of a song. This is the impression everywhere produced by this spirit of the sandy wastes; this is the voice of the desert, though the muezzin cries from the high turrets of the city. Indeed one is driven to repeating oneself about the repetition, so overpowering is the impression of the tall horizons of those tremendous plains, brooding upon the soul with all the solemn weight of the self-evident. [Italics mine]

Isn’t that a wonderful explanation of the (abyssal) difference between them and us, whose minds have been nurtured by Greek rationality and Judaic-Christian values? This difference is also why, compared with its millennial rival, Christendom, the world of Islam had become poor, weak, and ignorant. In his What Went Wrong, Bernard Lewis asks, but does not answer, the following questions: “Why did the discoverers of America sail from Spain and not a Muslim Atlantic port, where such voyages were indeed attempted in earlier times? Why did the great scientific breakthrough occur in Europe and not, as one might reasonably have expected, in the richer, more advanced, and in most respects more enlightened realm of Islam?” One might say, Just read The New Jerusalem to get the right answers to these questions and a few others.

Tribute to George Blanda

George Blanda…I grew up watching this guy. A man’s man, a player’s player. 26 years in pro football, retiring at the age of 48. 

From Blanda’s A.P. obituary:

Blanda began his memorable run in 1970 by throwing three touchdown passes in place of an injured Daryle Lamonica in a 31-14 win over Pittsburgh on Oct. 25. The following week he kicked a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds to give the Raiders a 17-17 tie against Kansas City.

Blanda was just getting started. He threw a tying touchdown pass with 1:34 remaining and then kicked the game-winning 52-yard field goal in the final seconds the following week in a 23-20 win over Cleveland.

He followed that with a 20-yard TD pass to Fred Biletnikoff in place of Lamonica in a 24-19 victory over Denver the next week, then kicked a 16-yard field goal in the closing seconds to beat San Diego 20-17 on Nov. 22.

Passing TD's in a game: 7 (Tied with 4 others) November 19, 1961 vs. New York Titans[1]

Most seasons played: 26 (1949–58, 1960–75)

Most seasons scoring a point: 26

One of two players to play in 4 different decades: (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s) – Jeff Feagles being the other

Most PATs made (943) and attempted (959)

Most interceptions thrown, single season: 42 (1962)

Held record of most pass attempts in a single game: 68 (37 completions, vs. New York Titans on 11/1/1961) until 1994 when Drew Bledsoe had 70

Oldest person to play in an NFL game: 48 years, 109 days

First player ever to score over 2,000 points

Oldest quarterback to start a title game

3rd Fewest receiving yards in a career: – 16

Most total points accounted for (including TD passes) in a career: 3,418 (not an official stat)

Ten years with the Chicago Bears, seven seasons with the Houston Oilers, and nine-years with the Oakland Raiders. His 340-game career was the longest in league history. 

RIP 

John Schwarzman "I'm an American"

This is just a regular guy, John Schwarzman

Comedy: RIP

I grew up watching great comedy. Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Gregory Peck, Laugh In, It's a Mad Mad Mad World, Blazing Saddles, Monte Python. Great comedians like Mort Saul, George Carlin, Buddy Hackett, Steve Martin, Bob Newhart to name but a few. 

Now we have the hateful Kathy Griffin. Now we have the unfunny, hateful John Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and most especially Bill Maher.

This is from a Friday night Bill Maher episode, from his horrid politically correct show “Politically Incorrect”. It was mocking Delaware Senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell.

Actress impersonating O’Donnell:

"Like, you know, one time, during a game of Truth or Dare, me and my friend Becky killed a Mexican."

“We've all done things we regret. In college, you know, we used to get pregnant all the time on purpose, just so we could sell the stem cells. I'm not proud of that! It's just, it was the 80's, you know?”

“Those girls should know that keeping your virginity is very important. But in the ass is okay. It is, it's true. I've dabbled in the ass a little bit. It's in the Bible, it's okay.”

On several “comedy” shows, there has been an incessant waterfall of jokes about her and masturbation.

I’ve tried to sit through sitcoms. I’ve tried to sit through movies billed as comedies. I’ve tried to sit through movies billed as “romantic comedies”. None are funny. They are long drawn out juvenile sex jokes and personal insults.

If you want to hear funny insults, listen to Don Rickles.

I watch standup comedians and hear personal stories leaden with sex and unfunny insults. No funny political commentary or social commentary. No playing with the language ala George Carlin. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, comedy is dead. RIP 

Now this is funny.

A funny roast

Recent unfunny roast

A Chinese Cardinal and Freedom of Religion in America

Cardinal Kung 1949

He spent more time in prison for political crimes against the State than Nelson Mandela, but you probably never heard of him. The reason for that is because his crime was being a Christian; never popular among the Elites.

His name is Ignatius Cardinal Kung Pin Mei. Born in 1901 and died in 2000. Thirty of those years he spent in prison because he was a Christian, and defied the State, refusing to renounce his faith. The Chinese government showed a little more restraint than barbaric fascist Islamic states that just murder people who refuse to renounce their faith.

Father Kung was consecrated Bishop on October 7, 1949, the year the Communists took power, making him Bishop of Soochow.    In 1950 he became Bishop of Shanghai and apostolic administrator of Soochow and Nanking. By 1955 he became such an enemy of the State, he was arrested.  A few months later he was taken to an arena, a dog racing stadium, and shackled he was led to the microphone.  The purpose was to confess his crime (being a Christian), but instead he said, “Long live Christ the King! Long live the Pope!”, and the audience responded, “Long live Christ the King! Long live Bishop Kung!”

He spent the next 30 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement, and was released in 1985 to house arrest.  That part of the sentence was 10 years, but he was released after two and a half years.

From a sermon he gave in 1991:

“In America, you have freedom of expression and true freedom to worship. You honor justice and human rights. This is a nation of God. Standing with you here today, my heart is with my people in China who still do not have the freedom to worship.

… It is my sincere wish that, through the continuous leadership from the Government of the United States to help and influence the Government of the Peoples Republic of China, my people and my country will one day also enjoy the same true freedom of religion, expression, the human rights and justice in accordance with international standards.”

This is why I bring this brave man of faith and conviction up. The freedom of expression and to worship is being slowly eroded in this country. We Christians are demeaned and insulted in the Jurassic Press and by many current government officials. A blind eye is turned to the suffering, persecution, torture and murder of Christians worldwide. Our secular government is silent when Islamic states violently oppress Christians.

In this country the government uses the ACLU and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State to repress religious freedom, at least Christians'. Our secular government and these two organizations do support the freedom of religious expression of Islamofacists, which, given the Statist predilections of our elites, is no surprise.

Cardinal Kung shortly before his death.

There’s a cautionary tale here.  One doesn’t want to accept the fact of the slow taking away of liberty, and especially of the right to practice one’s religion. What Leftists practice is “Fabianism”, which is a slow, premeditated taking over of freedom until everyone is a slave to the State.  As is shown time and again, especially in the 20^th century, to close the deal on tyranny, Jews and Christians must be first marginalized, isolated, and then imprisoned.

Look around and see what the elites in this country, Jurassic Press and Leftists in government, say about Christians (example is what is said about Palin and Christine O’Donnell and their faith) without challenge, and how they ignore the persecution and murder of Christians world wide.

Can’t happen here?

Moved, Touched...by a Statue

Hooded Sorrow,  Verano Cemetery,  Rome.

It's Okay To Talk Politics, Except If You're a Christian, and Especially If You're In Church

About the only time you’ll see Democrat politicians in church is at election time, and usually in Black churches. They’re all for separation of church and state the rest of the time. That’s because more Democrats believe in UFO’s than God (several polls over several years), and are mostly secularists and atheists that believe government should be more powerful than God; that people should bow down and submit to them.

The rest of the time, the rest of us, believe and a lot go to church. We live in an overheated political time, and by law clergy can’t make any political comments from the pulpit. This is an IRS rule made in 1954 because some minister criticized Senator Lyndon Johnson. Really, what was he thinking criticizing one of the most powerful Statists of the time?

Two questions arise from this. Where’s the free speech? Even though the government uses taxes to control behavior, what’s the government (via the IRS) doing in churches monitoring speech?

This Sunday is Pulpit Freedom Sunday. What ministers are doing nationwide (this isn’t the first year) is making political points in their sermons and sending the transcripts to the IRS; then daring them to prosecute.

Personally, I don’t want to hear political stuff from pastors when I’m in church. They do though have a right to say what they want. Something about that pesky Constitution. Going back to the time of the founding of this country, a lot of political observations about candidates and their behavior were made from the pulpit. Were politicians living or at least trying to live according to the word of God? That’s something important to Believers.

We should roll back the IRS rule to before when Lyndon Johnson was offended, kick the IRS out of the business of controlling free speech in churches, and make a new rule that when a secularist Dem goes to speak politics at a church during elections, they have to pay a hypocrisy tax. 

So What? They're Only Christians

While demanding acquiescence and acceptance of their murderous genocidal intolerant religion here in the US and other Western countries (you’re an Islamophobe if you don’t), they continue killing people that don’t agree with or submit to them.

While lying about oppression here in the US (there is none), comes another horrific story of the barbarism of this hateful political ideology masquerading as a religion. This is a real story of Muslim oppression. Dateline Pakistan. 

 International Christian Concern (ICC) has reported the story of a Christian man and his wife; he was burned alive and she was raped because they would not renounce their faith and become Muslims. The man, Masih,  and his wife Martha, worked for a character Sheik Mohammad Sultan, a wealthy businessman. He and some other thug Muslim leaders asked Masih and Martha to convert, and when they said they wouldn’t and were going to quit their jobs, the sheik said he would kill them if they quit.

Here’s the set up. The sheik’s house was robbed and Martha was charged with the theft. What did the police do? They raped Martha and set Masih on fire in front of the police station. He was taken to hospital where he died three days later.  

ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, Jonathan Racho: “We are outraged and deeply saddened by the murder of Masih and the rape of Martha by the police. As this case clearly indicates, Pakistani Christians are treated as less than animals by the Muslims. We urge the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zadari, and other high level government officials to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.”

President of Pakistan Christian Congress, Dr. Nazir S Bhatti: “[The] Rape of Martha Bibi before her children by Muslim police officials and burning of her husband took place just a few miles from building of the Supreme Court of Pakistan where Muslim judges sitting on benches of justice have no sympathy with Christian victims. Perhaps in the eyes of these judges rape of an ‘infidel woman’ is not a crime."

Where’s the outrage of the secular, bigoted, intolerant, atheistic Jurassic Press, Leftist Feminists, Statists, human rights groups, the UN, social justice groups?

This kind of barbaric outrage goes on all the time, but they don’t care…the victims are only Christians after all. 

Fire From The Heartland Trailer

Looking forward to this movie. It's clear that this new, current American Revolution is being lead by women. These are strong, independent women that have achieved success on the own merits. It's in limited release right now.

Tribute to Eddie Fisher

Eddie Fisher was an early 1950's teen idol that was more noted for his women than his music, which is a shame because he was a gifted singer. He’s also more noted for his drug addictions. He was married to Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, Connie Stevens, and had affairs with Marlene Dietrich, Ann-Margret, Kim Novak, Dinah Shore and Angie Dickinson. Quite a roster. Sad he didn’t respect himself, women, or marriage. Many singers have kept their careers going after their peak, and Fisher decided not to as music changed and his audience dwindled. He had a famous daughter, Carrie Fisher with Debbie Reynolds, is survived four children and six grandchildren. RIP

Now: Mourning in America Then: Morning in America

This is now


This was then

Reagan came to power with problems that were more severe than what Obama started with. Without blaming his predecessor, Reagan convinced the public, without insults and name calling, to follow him, that his economic principles of low taxes and limited government work. After a tough start the economy turned about from double digit inflation and unemployment, a demoralized military and citizenry became optimistic, and we had the longest peacetime economic growth in the history of the United States.

The Last Best Hope

If you believe in low taxes, limited government and liberty, this'll make you stand and cheer.

Islamic and Other Politically Correct Indoctrination vs Education in Texas

Best gird your loins if you’re going to try and get some truth to students. The pro-Islamofacist intolerant bigoted narrow minded secularists that run education programs want to keep that view so they can continue to indoctrinate students to think (?) just like them.

There’s a battle going on in Texas regarding a resolution that the praising of Islam and the bashing of Christianity, the dismissive approach to Judaism and Buddhism in text books, be stopped.

A textbook, "World Civilizations” has in its table of contents several mentions of Islam and none of Judaism or Christianity. Another text book, used from 1999 to 2003 had 120 lines about Christianity compared to 248 lines regarding Islam. A resolution has been submitted to the Texas Board of Education saying the text books are "politically-correct whitewashes of Islamic culture and stigmas on Christian civilization," and "sanitized definitions of 'jihad' that exclude religious intolerance or military aggression against non-Muslims."

Opponents of the resolution say it’s just politically motivated, which is rich since the politically correct entries in the indoctrination texts are politically motivated. The opposition claims to have about 100 religious leaders from Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths. I’ve got to wonder, why are Christian and Jewish leaders supporting the bashing of their faiths in indoctrination text books, and supporting the praising of a faith that calls for the extermination of Jews and the murder of Christians?

The group supporting Islamofacist indoctrination is called the Texas Faith Network, which on its web site infers that supporting a balanced, historically accurate account of all faiths is anti-Islamic bigotry. Say what?

I expect the Imam, Islam Mossaad of the North Austin Muslim Community Center, to advocate lies about the peace loving greatness of his religion of genocide, murder and intolerance, and to lie and be dismissive of Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. What I’m disconcerted about is a Baptist pastor, Rev. Larry Bethune of University Baptist Church in Austin, supports indoctrinating students to oppose Christianity and embrace Islam.  

The Imam: “Our children's textbooks must treat all religions accurately and fairly, neither denigrating any faith, nor promoting one religion over theirs.” “This commitment to religious freedom is a true American value we all share.” Truly? Like religious freedom like that practiced in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and Indonesia? Want to take a guess what’s in their textbooks about other religions?  

UN, Islamists Have Own Street Sign: "One Way"

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu

Islamofacist supporters in the UN are continuing their program to force Sharia Law on Western nations. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the organization working to take away the freedoms of the West, especially America, is back trying to get the UN to set up an “international monitoring mechanism” to monitor events of Islamophobia.

Could you imagine Christians demanding a UN an “international monitoring mechanism” to monitor events of Christophobia in Arab and Indonesian countries? I’m still waiting for a go on building a Christian Church and a Synagogue in Mecca.  

The OIC has in place an “Islamophobia Observatory” to monitor perceived transgressions against the religion of anti-peace. They’re calling on the UN human rights division or department to set up a monitoring office for Islamophobia in Geneva. They should, no the US should, request the whole anti-freedom, Christophobic organization move there, and the US should quit. Better yet, they should set up in the Sudan, or Iran or some such hellhole that has the same anti-liberty, Christophobic, anti-human rights beliefs as the UN. See if they can get away with breaking those laws and not paying their parking tickets.

OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu wants to adopt measures to “criminalize the incitement to imminent violence based on religion”. Of course, only slights, like cartoons about Mohammed and such, would be considered. Murdering Christians and burning down their churches would of course be given a pass.

The OIC, along with bashing the West, is an anti-Semitic organization, wanting to destroy Israel and continue the holocaust.

We’re not hearing so much from the UN or the international Jurassic Press about the violence against Christians worldwide, especially in Indonesia this past week. With the Mosque of Triumph at Ground Zero in New York City came charges of Islamophobia for those opposed to it, so let’s be fair and put the charge of Christophobia on Islamists protesting church building in Indonesia.

A tiny group of Christians in Bekasi, West Java, want to build a small church, nothing like the huge multi-storied NYC Mosque of Triumph. All the legal necessities were taken care of, the group was ready to build, and they were attacked by the Islamic Defenders’ Front. A female priest was bludgeoned over the head, and an Elder was stabbed in the stomach.

Many government officials and police turn a blind eye to events like this, though we are glad that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has taken action against the IDS. Look for assassination attempts on him from members of the “religion of peace”.

Don’t see the OIC saying or doing anything about this. Don’t see the UN saying or doing anything about this. Don’t see any Human Rights organizations dusting up a big fuss about this. Don’t see the Islamofacist supporting secular atheistic Jurassic Press covering this. But what does one expect from Christophobes?   

Cardinal John Henry Newman, Jurassic Press, The Catholic Church, The Pope

On the last day of his recent trip to the UK, Pope Benedict beatified Cardinal Newman. If you’re not Catholic, this is a step toward sainthood. The Pope has strong theological and intellectual ties to Newman; both are profound intellects. The Pope’s trip and the event regarding Newman were of course dismissed by the atheistic secular Jurassic Press, but was hugely important. Because this post isn’t so much about Newman, you can learn a bit about him here at the Windrose Hotel Blog.

The inanity of even religion reporters in the media never ceases to amaze. National Public Radio (NPR) is tax payer funded Leftist radio, but even for them this was a bit over the top. Their religion reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty, with absolutely no evidence, speculated that Newman was gay. This was because he was a close friend of Ambrose St. John. The actual headline to the story is “Was Cardinal John Henry Newman Gay?” Truly? This is what's most important?

A historic trip by the Pope, the Beatification of Newman, the conjunction of two of the most important theologians ever, and that’s what Hagerty comes up with? Good grief.

Their friendship lasted 32 years, and Newman wanted to be buried in the same grave as Ambrose St. John, which wasn’t an uncommon practice at the time. From that and lots of letters (people actually wrote extensively to one another at the time, Hagerty), she feels compelled to make sex her focus? She’s a religion writer why?

History should be viewed through the eyes of the time, not redefining it through the uber sexualized, bigoted, intolerant, uninformed, perverted ignorance of most of the current pseudo intelligencia and self appointed elites. 

Orwell Gone Wild

The Left went over the top nuts with the Patriot Act. The government might look at your library check outs! Like these knuckleheads use the library. That was tossed out pretty quickly anyway. Then they objected to overseas calls by suspected terrorists being monitored. Then they objected to suspected terrorists' bank accounts being monitored. Of course being pro-Islamofacist they don't want the government tracking the activities going on inside of mosques either. 

Don’t hear any caterwauling by the Left with the Obama administration’s latest attempt to violate the rights of Americans. There’s a case being appealed by the Obama Justice (?) Department regarding a GPS device that was put on a drug dealer’s car. It was done without a warrant. The  Justice (?) Department is saying that there is no expectation of privacy in public. There may be a small problem with that. I’m no lawyer, though I’m sure I have more sense that most do; if the car goes on private property, then it’s no longer in a public place. Tracking without a warrant? Truly?

The Left apparently has no problem with any citizen being tracked by the government. They only object when suspected terrorists and their Islamofacists supporters are tracked. I'm sure too that if a Republican were president, they would object just because of that, but a fellow Statist and his Party are in power, so it’s okay.   

I just read a trilogy (highly recommend), The Fourth Realm Trilogy, an uber updated Orwellian view of society. It mixes in mysticism and sword fighting, gun fights and martial art heroics to make it fun, but the theme of the book is how we are all monitored by being on the “grid” and how hard it is to stay outside the “Vast Machine”.

From a speech given by our hero:

“Some of you have already become aware of this new system. One morning, you wake up, look around, and realize that surveillance cameras are everywhere. It feels like you’ve stepped into a massive electronic prison. 

“But the cameras are only a small part of the Vast Machine. Every major government in the world is reading your e-mail messages and listening to your phone calls with scanning programs that react to certain words and phrases. Security agencies and corporations monitor your bank and credit card activity. Your cell phones and your car generate data about your location and activities.

“We can usually see the cameras, but the rest of our prison is invisible. Sophisticated software programs acquire information from your purchases, your work activity, and your medical files to create a shadow image of your life. Separate databases are being combined into a total information system, and this data will be saved forever.

“Many people will gladly trade their personal privacy for small improvements in their lives. ‘I’ve done nothing wrong,’ proclaims the honest citizen. ‘So why should I be worried?’”

Why indeed. Given governments penchant for tyranny, well…. ObamaCare centralizes every citizen’s health information into one federal  database. In the UK it’s been suggested that employers send employees paychecks directly to the government, and they in turn deposit into the employee’s bank account what’s left after all the deductions.

This current administration, Democrats, Leftists, Statists, aren’t objecting to this; they’re in power. Obama and his Statist enforcers are working hard to get as much freedom crushing legislation passed as quickly as they can because they know this may be their last chance for a while before they get another shot to turn us into the tyranny they envision.

After the election this November when they are tossed out of power, you’ll again hear screams about their  rights to privacy being taken away. Of course, what they’re really objecting to is their perceived right to tyranny taken away.

By the way, the trilogy referred to above was written by John Twelve Hawks.  

We'll Put a Spell on You

We've seen the Dems and Obama and their lap dinosaurs in the Jurassic Press display their bigotry and misogyny with their personal insults of Sharron Angle, Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin, and now Christine O'Donnell. They are sluts, crazy, extremists, nutty, stupid, whores...all these words and worse have been spewed at them. Not a peep about their policies, other than to lie about them.

The big kerfuffle the past few days has been about O'Donnell stating that she was involved in witch stuff in high school. This is a big deal? Even the establishment RINO's have jumped on this and are trying to discredit her in good Leftist fashion.

You want witchcraft? How about Obama's campaign? This is a guy with no executive experience, a false academic record (seen his grades? seen any articles in the law review he was editor of? he was never a professor, just a lecturer), that was raised by Marxists and Racists, that spent his adult years working to undermine this republic, says the Constitution is flawed...then became president. Beguiling. Must be witchcraft.


Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield: Season of the Witch (Live)

The Money You Earn Belongs to the Government?

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government." Thomas Jefferson

The Democrats and their Statist leader Obama believe the money you earn belongs to the government. They cut deductions for charity giving, justifying it saying that exemptions are tax subsidies, and subsidies are public money, i.e., the government’s money.

The government is trying to get into people’s retirement accounts and say they’ll give it back when you retire. Truly? I can’t find the quote, but I remember ex-president Clinton actually saying that people’s earnings belong to the government and it decides how much people get to keep. I’ve heard some Republicans say the same.

In the UK there’s a proposal to actually legislate this. A proposal by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has actually proposed that employers send their employees paychecks directly to the government, and the government takes out what they want, and send the balance back to the earner.

The government would have access to every individual’s bank account since they would need to deposit back what they think the employee should get after they skim off their take. If they take too much, and it’s challenged, does anyone really think the difference will be refunded? See any opening for corruption and criminal behavior by hackers into the central banking system that would be the bureaucracy for this?  

Back to the US. You have to believe the Dems and Obama would be on board with this; everyone in America sending their paychecks to the government. 

Dems Always Able to Find New Lows

The Florida Democrat Party sent a mailer out attacking Republican Candidate Allen West. It was to attack and embarrass West because at one time he had an $11,000 tax lien. He paid it, but the Dems keep at it anyway. The address of West is blacked out, but his social security number was left on the mailer. 

His Social Security number was published, made public! by the Democrat Party for the express reason of destroying the man's life along with that of his family.

West: “I understand politics is a tough business. I expect to be challenged about my ideas, my beliefs." "But Ron Klein has clearly crossed a line. I'm not yet sure the potential damage that might come to my wife and me, and it makes me sick to think of what could happen to my daughters. My entire family is at risk of identity theft."  

Democrat Party communications director Eric Jotkoff said publishing West’s SS # was “an inadvertent mistake”. Right.

Back in 1997 a couple by the names of John and Alice Martin of Florida claimed they heard phone conversation on their police scanner between Newt Gingrich and some other Republicans. They turned it over Rep. Jim McDermott who leaked it to the press. Anyone see anything illegal going on here like eavesdropping, wiretapping maybe, and the low skullduggery of the reprehensible McDermott? What’s the possibility of picking up a cell phone conversation on a police scanner, and why would they record it? Do you have a recorder in your car?

Of course the Dems sided with the Federal criminality of the couple and used it to attack Gingrich who was under investigation for some esoteric charges that cost him huge legal bills and a small fine. By the way, it turned out the couple were Democrat Party activists.

This is the kind of things Dems do on a regular basis and is not reported in the Jurassic Press.

Just wanting to give another example of the kind of people Dems are; and spare me the ‘but not all Democrats’ jive. Stinky red herring. Don’t want to hear either, ‘well the Republicans do it too’. No they don’t. It would be all over the press and they would be thrown out of office and in prison if they did. Only Dems get a pass on this stuff.

With West, this is a new low that I didn’t think even the Democrats would sink to. Especially with such a brave and honorable man as Lt Col West.   

Full article here.

Peacherine Rag

St. Luke's Bottle Band. St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Park Ridge, Illinois, May 6, 2007.

And Yet I'm Still Saved- LaShun Pace & Tri City Singers

Praise Is What I Do - William Murphy

Is Shariah the Same as Jewish Law?

The Racist Bill Maher

Alleged Comedian and Racist Bill Maher 

Alleged comedian Bill Maher has topped his own hatred and racism for everything not Statist and atheist.

Maher: "Isn't Obama's big problem is that he does everything half-assed? Maybe it's because he's only half black. You know? It's that, if he was a, if this, if he was fully black, I'm telling you, he would be a better president. There's a white man in him holding him back because everything is half-assed. The stimulus was half-assed, healthcare is half-assed, let's talk about Afghanistan."

This was from his HBO show "Real Time" yesterday, which maybe a hand full of committed communists and some bored people watch.

His racism has leaked through before. This past May: "I thought when we elected a black president, we were going to get a black president. You know, this [BP oil spill] is where I want a real black president. I want him in a meeting with the BP CEOs, you know, where he lifts up his shirt where you can see the gun in his pants. That's - (in black man voice) we've got a ‘motherfu**ing problem here?' Shoot somebody in the foot." 

This is the knucklehead that CNN hired as a political analyst. Here he makes racist statements, advocates violence, spews hatred, and all that's okay. Conservatives do none of that, have polite protests with no violence, nothing racist has been said or done except by leftist plants that get interviewed by the Jurassic Press, yet they are the horrible ones. Plus, if you ever look at the after pictures of Leftist and TEA Party rallies/protests, the TEA partiers leave their trash in and around the trash cans, and the Leftists leave a hot filthy mess behind. Plus, you don't hear this kind of trash talk from real political commentators that are on the Right.  

I would say double standard here, but I no longer think it is. The Left advocates racism, intolerance, fascism and hatred, and the Jurassic Press are the willing purveyors. Can you imagine if Maher had reversed his stupid statement?  

Have we reached such a sorry point in our culture that this passes for humor and insight; that this guy has a platform at all? In other times he would be dismissed because of what he is and stands for, and perhaps even shunned. 

You Don't Need No Stinkin' Free Speech

This Kagan character with no judicial or practical legal experience gets appointed to the Supreme Court, thinks the 1st Amendment allows the government to limit free speech, so she doesn't know what's in the Constitution either. Kagan: “Whether a given category of speech enjoys First Amendment protection depends upon a categorical balancing of the value of the speech against its societal costs.”

That’s pretty much in line with what Leftists think, and a great example of that are the trustees of Andover Township.

Some TEA Party movement members applied for a permit to read the Constitution on Constitution Day in the town square. The Statist trustees responded: “Due to your group’s political affiliation, in our opinion as a case by case option we are denying your request to use Andover Township Park.”

Let’s see. Reading the Constitution in public is not to be allowed because of political beliefs that differ from those that think they have power, and the people don’t.

And some of us are silly enough to think that the part of the Constitution that covers free speech means that people can exercise free speech. Silly us.

Fortunately these knuckleheads were overturned. Then again, if this had gone to the Supreme Court, Kagan would have sided with the trustees. I’ve got to wonder, after this, why were these trustees trusted with anything in the first place?

Sometimes Words Are Meaningless

The clichéd phrase is "words mean something". I'm beginning to think that sometimes words don't mean anything.  Sometimes people losing an argument, or trying to bend you to seeing their exclusive reality as the true reality, just put words together that are meaningless.

I saw two such events these past few days. John Holdren, Obama's science adviser, said a couple days ago during a speech in Oslo that the term "global warming" has lost its shine, and we're now supposed to use the term "climate disruption". What could that possibly mean? This is 'newspeak' gone mad, as mad as Obama's language police replacing the word “terrorism" with "man caused disasters".  Orwell was too brilliant to come up with something so stupid.

The other venture into post Orwellian newspeak evolves out of the current debate among Democrats about the "Bush tax cuts"; whether to extend them or not. If the tax cuts are extended, then they become "Obama's tax cuts". Say what? Here's the quote from Pelosi: "What I believe the American people deserve is a tax cut for the middle class." "And without getting into procedure and timing and process, what we're going to do is to say at the end of the day, the extension of the Obama middle-income tax cuts will take place, and that's what I have to say on the subject."

Let’s see, extend someone else’s legislation so things remain the same, the stick your name to it and call it a change, and take credit for the change that isn’t a change.

Orwell and I say, “What?”

The Pope and the Queen

The Pope goes to Britain, and not too many have much to say about it, missing what is noteworthy. The Jurassic Press has the predictable response; more about that later.

What’s noteworthy is the Queen of England, who came of age during the WWII era, and Pope Benedict XVI, rooted in that time, meet in Scotland. The last Papal visit, not an official one, happened thirty years ago. The last official visit was about 500 years ago. There’s been a bit of dissention between the Catholic and Anglican churches, and it’s lasted a while. Things are on the mend now.

Both of these extraordinary people come from an age with values and beliefs that have been turned upside down. When Joseph Ratzinger was a teenager, the Nazi’s took his disabled cousin and killed him as part of their eugenics campaign. Ratzinger was conscripted by the Nazi’s to serve in the Hitler Youth. When it disbanded he fled and was captured by Americans and put in prison.

Queen Elizabeth served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service as a driver and mechanic in WWII. The real deal, on the front.

These two bring together a wisdom brought on by the horrible experience of war and its aftermath. They know first hand the face of evil, the terrible things that war brings on, especially one founded in race hatred and religious hatred. They come together with this great knowledge and wisdom; a return and coming together after 500 years. We see the reaching out to each other of the Church of England and the Catholic Church at this time in history. Queen Elizabeth II is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and is meeting the Vicar of Christ, the descendant of Peter. To me, the historical and religious import of this visit is profound.

What the Jurassic Press sees is a chance to attack the Catholic Church with its usual dribble of pedophilia and the rest of that mess, as if Pope Benedict was there and egged the perverts on, and more dribble about how out of touch the Pope and Catholic Church is with modernity, and of course saying Ratzinger was a Nazi without telling the true story. As if heterosexual marriage, the sanctity of life, loving one another, charity and the accomplishments of Christianity and the Church is of no merit.

Of course, coming from a mindset that there are many truths or no truth, there is no God, morality is situational and selective, this is expected. Being rude and boorish is expected also. The Pope is a great man deserving of respect, and these sad sacs are incapable of honoring these extraordinary people and their history of truth and honor.

Novelist Günter Grass (at the time proud Nazi and later a Communist) met Ratzinger in a prison camp in WWII. In his memoirs, Grass wrote of a conversation with Ratzinger: “I said, there are many truths.” “He said, there is only one.”

This visit, to one of the most secular of nations, brings that one truth. Let’s pray that some hear it.

      

The Bellamy Brothers - Jalapenos

funny, political, satirical,

A Tale of Two Leaders

Their Fearless Leader of Non Free World

Our Fearless Leader Of Free World

Hat tip to The Patriot Post

Geert Wilders Speech at New York's Ground Zero Mosque (11-09-2010)

This should be required viewing for every Elitist, Democrat, Statist, Liberal that just doesn't get why the people know this mosque isn't the right thing to do.

Libera - Tallis's Canon 2009

Do You Know Your Doctor's Religious Beliefs?

It may be, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, that if you are terminally ill, the religious beliefs of your doctor influences whether your care may cause your life to be shortened or prolonged.

According to the study, doctors without religious convictions, or are atheists, are twice as likely as religious doctors to make decisions that will shorten the life of their patient. 

Barts and the London school of medicine and dentistry, Professor Clive Seale: "If I were a patient facing end of life care, I would want to know what my doctor's views were on religious matters – whether they are non-religious or religious and whether the doctor felt that would influence them in the kinds of decisions they were looking at." 

Science isn't so neutral, and neither are doctors when making decisions. 

Full article here. 

Star Spangled Prince Poppycock

OH MY! Prince Poppycock rocks! God Bless America Indeed! He sings opera, rock and now this.
Prince Poppycock sings Queen here.

Okay to be Anti Christian, Anti Semite; Islam Wants International Law to Make Criticism of Islam a Criminal Act

There has been a campaign, at least for the past ten years, to have the UN vote to make any offense against religion an international criminal act. The campaign, reigniting itself with the behavior of the anti-pastor knucklehead that wants to burn the Koran, is lead by a intolerant jihadist hate organization, the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). 

Apparently they don't see the irony (at least) of their desire to make the whole world submit to Islam and Sharia Law, beheading Christians and Jews and really any infidel, burning down synagogues and churches, stoning to death anyone that violates their violent oppressive religious\State laws even if they aren't a member of that violent State religion. Not to mention the call for the complete genocide of all Jews on the planet. 

These ISESCO characters are only one organization of intolerant bigots of the umbrella group, Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Their jihadist tentacles reach into fifty six nations. 

ISESCO press release:  “It is a blot on humanity that such discriminatory attacks against Islam and Islamic holy sites is continuing in the absence of deterrent legal measures, local and international.” They are demanding the UN “to issue an international law criminalizing all forms of offense against religions under any circumstances.”

Just wondering if they got this law passed, if persecution of all “infidels” in Islamic countries would be tried in international criminal courts. How about some churches and synagogues in Mecca? Protest against those and you get tried, convicted and imprisoned.   

Of course the OIC is using the “Islamophobia” charge against America, which is another not so subtle ploy to turn the US into an Islamic State. We aren’t’ surprised that Liberals, Statists, most Democrats and neo-atheists agree with this Islamophobia charge.

Columnist Diana West: “With this in mind, it should become clear that the extraordinary global campaign against this stunt [Koran burning] is yet another concerted effort, aided by an army’s worth of useful fools, to bring our constitutional republic into conformance with Islamic law.” 

Koran Burning Not Okay, Bible Burning Okay

All the Jurassic Media and Leftists and Islamists are just outraged about some knucklehead anti-pastor with a tiny bigoted church will burn the Koran.

Bibles get burned all the time by lots of folks, and nary a word is said. It's the national policy of Saudi Arabia, the number one financier of terrorism, to burn Bibles, and it's done on a regular basis. They also destroy all symbols of Christianity on a regular basis. Not to mention all the murders, stonings, beheadings, and beatings visited upon Christians and Jews worldwide.

Christians in Gaza live in fear for their lives and their thug government burns their Bibles at every opportunity. Not a word from the Jurassic Press, Leftists, or the Islamists that are so outraged that the Koran may be set on fire. It's only Christians and maybe some Jews that may get ticked off, so no big deal.

Churches in Pakistan constantly get raided, desecrated and Bibles burned.

There's been many Bible burnings here in the US too, but you don't see the Jurassic Media flocking to cover them.

Anti Christian bigotry is not only alive and well worldwide, but even embraced and endorsed by the Jurassic Press, Leftists, neo-atheists, and Islamists.

Budweiser 9/11 Tribute Commercial

This was shown one time.

Remembrance 9/11