Must Read This Book

DAVID KUPELIAN'S THE MARKETING OF EVIL:How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom it gets great reviews!

"The Marketing of Evil" reveals how much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped and sold to them as though it had great value. Highly skilled marketers, playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity and tolerance, have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive – in a word, evil. David Kupelian

"It's often said that marketing is warfare, and in 'The Marketing of Evil,' David Kupelian clearly reveals the stunning strategies and tactics of persuasion employed by those engaged in an all-out war against America's Judeo-Christian culture. If you really want to understand the adversary's thinking and help turn the tide of battle, read this book!"
– DAVID LIMBAUGH, syndicated columnist and author

"Every parent in America needs to read this book. David Kupelian skillfully exposes the secular left's rotten apple peddlers in devastating detail. From pitching promiscuity as 'freedom' to promoting abortion as 'choice,' the marketers of evil are always selling you something destructive – with catastrophic results. Kupelian shines a light on them all. Now watch the cockroaches run for cover."
– MICHELLE MALKIN, Fox News Channel

Excellent! Simply excellent. If you want to solidify your Christian worldview – or just understand what the culture war is all about – you owe it yourself to read David Kupelian's 'The Marketing of Evil.'"
– DONALD E. WILDMON, American Family Association

David Kupelian is the managing editor of Whistleblower magazine and Pat Buchanan’s WorldNetDaily. Of course you can buy the book at ShopNetDaily. This guy's major premise is that Corporation 'market' evil thereby destroying our spiritual lives. Extreme body modification is destroying our world. I for one agree. You can't walk down the street these days without seeing a half dozen people with genital beading (I assume), stretching and cutting, transdermal implants, scrotal implants, tooth art and facial sculpture. It's Sodom and Gomorrah all over again. Did you know that eyebrow rings eventually lead to suicide? You see, for the first time in the history of mankind our children are rebelling against parents and adults. Of course Kupelian knows how to fix this - homeschooling.

But seriously, I will read this book. I really want to see how the Harvard trained 'marketers' of these big leftist corporations are responsible for all this evil. I'll get back to you on this.

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John Sweeney, ORDA, NYSPA and Your Tax Dollars

I was listening to Brian Mann on NCPR this morning as I drove to Plattsburgh. I have been sort of ignoring the story about Rep. John Sweeney and his little weekend getaway in Lake Placid last January. But the report on NCPR brings it all together and does make you question the ethics of the whole affair. My main question is why the hell would the New York State Power Authority give Sweeney $25,000 for what amounts to a tax payer funded vacation? Oh yeah, this whole deal seemed to be ok with the Congressional ethics committee. And yes, a few Democrats were there also.

Definitely listen to the story here at NCPR and make up your own mind whether it was ethical or not.

War On Easter

I guess I can't deny that there is a War On Easter. This is a media stunt by 'Beyond Belief Media'. They don't believe Jesus ever existed and have released a documentary called 'The God Who Wasn't There'. Godless Hollywood people! People at FreeRepublic.com are freaking out.

You can also download flyers like this one:


A media stunt to sell a movie I know. But holy people take this stuff seriously and it hurts THE CAUSE.

Tree House Living

I would like to retire in one of these. Prices start at $150,000.

Another Example of Religious Intolerance

A government funded church program refuses to take care of a transexual here.

I guess the members of that particular church forgot: "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matt 25:40

Maybe I am becoming the Church Lady.

Making It Difficult to Be Intolerant

Remember when Maude Flanders, Ned Flanders late wife on the Simpsons, used to go away to a camp every summer to learn to be more judgmental? Well, Ruth Malhotra has gone to court and sued for the right to be intolerant. You see, her Christian faith requires her to be intolerant. She is a 22 year old student at Georgia Tech and she is upset about the university tolerance policies. You can read about it here.

More Christian love in action.

UPDATE: Excellent sermon on the topic by Rev. Dr. Gregory D. Seckman here.

Crossing the Border Illegally? Just Shoot Em.

Brian James, a conservative talk radio show host, believes that shooting an illegal immigrant every every so often might cut down on illegal border crossings in the USA.

"What we'll do is randomly pick one night every week where we will kill whoever crosses the border,'' James said in the March 8 broadcast. ‘‘Step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it's your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun."

The Arizona Attorney General and the US Attorney are not pleased.

The program manager of the radio station said she did not receive a single complaint about the comment.

Unbelievable. Read about it here.

Progressive Christians

I attended St. Bernards elementary and St. Pius X high school during the 50's and 60's. Christianity in the USA has changed since then. It's been highjacked by right wing conservatives and transformed into something I no longer recognize. So called 'Right Wing Christians' use religion as a means condemning their fellow man. Some of the things the 'Christian Right' support include: (1) prohibition of abortion and contraception; (2) prohibition of euthanasia; (3) prohibition of same-sex marriage; (4) restriction of biotechnology; (5) teaching of creationism; (6) increased presence of religion in government; (7) funding of religious charities; (8) promotion of their interpretation of so called 'moral values'; (9) opposition to sex education in public schools; (10) support for war in Iraq; (11) crusade against muslims; and of course (12) strong support of GW Bush, the man G_d chose to govern the USA and the rest of the world.

What ever happen to 'The Golden Rule' or 'Love Thy Neighbor'? The bible calls for 'caring of the least of these'; welcoming all to the table; peace not war; care for the poor and sick; compassion, justice, equality and faithful stewardship of the earth. Religion should be inclusive and not exclusive.

I've located a few good progressive Christian websites. CrossLeft, Christian Alliance for Progress, Progressive Christians Uniting and Cristo Lumen blog.

There is also a good article here called 'How Would Jesus Tax and Spend?
Christian perspectives on taxes and wealth' By Lisa Kaiser (scroll down a bit to find it). Remember a couple years back when the Governor of Alabama attempted, unsuccessfuly, to raise taxes as a matter of Christian duty? In case you don't, the story is here and here.

WHO:

1) Believes he was chosen by god to rule.
2) Claims to get instructions directly from god.
3) Never admits to having made a single mistake.
4) Displays no apparent remorse for actions. Never apologizes for anything.
5) Used an act of terror as a basis for establishing and expanding power.
6) His political base is an alliance of religion and industry.
7) Claims absolute power as supreme commander.
8) Premptively invades other nations branded as potential threats.
9) Creates a powerful domestic spy agency to monitor citizens.
10) Establishes Secret courts, secret trials, secret jails.
11) Establishes the practice of interrogation by torture.
12) Claims the power to kill anyone he deems a threat to the security of the state.

The Gang

Jesus Told Judas To Betray Him

From the newly released 1700 year old 'gospel of Judas' here. National Geographic site. Explore the document here. You can even see Coptic to English translation.

UPDATE:
More info in April 7th NYT here and here.

More about Gnostics, Gnostic Gospels and Gnosticism here.

Evolution and Art!

Do yourself a huge favor and visit this website! It's Ray Troll's art and he sells some really cool stuff. Be sure and click on the evolution button on the left hand side. Then in the next screen click on the tv and watch a single cell evolve into a human right before your eyes.

While on this topic:

Here: "There is no evidence in the fossil record of one kind of creature becoming another kind. No transitional links or intermediate forms between various kinds of creatures have ever been found." For example, "the evolutionist claims that it took perhaps fifty million years for a fish to evolve into an amphibian. But, again, there are no transitional forms. For example, not a single fossil with part fins...part feet has been found. And this is true between every major plant and animal kind." ([22], p.19)

Wrong even before the latest discovery.


From the NYT.

They still don't buy it.

From Discovery Institute blog:

Even though this find does not challenge intelligent design, there may be good reasons to be skeptical about it.

These fish are not neccesarily intermediates, explain Discovery Institute scientists I queried about the find. Tiktaalik roseae is one of a set of lobe-finned fishes that include very curious mosaics--these fishes have advanced fully formed characteristics of several different groups. They are not intermediates in the sense that have half-fish/half-tetrapod characteristics. Rather, they have a combination of tetrapod-like features and fish-like features. Paleontologists refer to such organisms as mosaics rather than intermediates.

Play the 'Hammer' Game!

HERE

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy - Mad Cow Disease

BSE is a slow, degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system of cattle. Most scientist think it is caused by an infectious protein - a prion. BSE is similar Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease which infects humans. 155 persons worldwide have gotten a variant form of Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease after consuming BSE infected meat. BSE was first found in cattle in 1986 in the UK. How the disease came to be in cattle is a mystery, but it most likely happened when the cattle were fed food contaminated with scrapie infected sheep meat and bone meal. Scrapie is a disease in sheep caused by infection with a prion similar to BSE.

Much more information on BSE can be found here and here. More information on prions can be found here and here. Technical information on the structure of the prion protein can be found here.

So how does this topic fit in with my usual anti-Bush administration rant? Well, in the USA the only cattle that are tested for BSE are those that die on the farm, can't walk or are obviously sick. This amounts to 1% of the 35 million cows slaughtered in the USA every year. Creekstone Farms, a small slaughterhouse in Kansas, spent $500,000 to build its own BSE testing lab so it could test every cow that it slaughters for BSE. The problem lies with the USDA. They control the sale of BSE testing kits and they won't provide enough kits so that Creekstone can test every cow. USDA claims that testing 1% of the slaughtered cattle is statistically sufficient to detect BSE. Japan, where Creekstone sold much of its high quality, antibiotic-free, angus beef, requires that all cattle be tested before beef can be imported.

So the question is - why is the USDA opposed to testing all cattle slaughtered in the USA for BSE? Of course the answer is the rest of the meat-packing industry opposes it so of course our government has to oppose it.

From todays NYT:

The fear is that broad testing may reveal a higher rate of infection and destroy consumer confidence, with a devastating impact on the cattle market. Which leaves us where we are now: relying on what we don't know to make us feel safe.

So Are We Going to Attack Iran?

From the Telegraph. It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.

The United States government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defence chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. British military chiefs believe an attack would be limited to a series of air strikes against nuclear plants - a land assault is not being considered at the moment.

This is just perfect. Anyone want to bet that the strikes on Iran, if they take place, will be scheduled for next November?

UPDATE:
Key players in the Bush administration think a military confrontation with Iran is unavoidable, leading to stepped up military planning for such a prospect, according to several experts and recently departed senior government officials.
More here.

Yesterday Snow Gone.....Today....

Sunday I could have raked my lawn. Today 5-6 inches of heavy slushy snow at my house with more to come tonight.

The Bugkiller Announces Retirement

We won't have Tom Delay to kick around anymore. He's finally hanging it up.

Why?

March 31, 2006: Tony Rudy, a one-time aide to DeLay, pleads guilty in Washington to conspiracy and promises to cooperate with a federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud.

W Hearts Canada!

Nobel Laureate Criticizes Gov't Science Policy

Dr. Eric Kandel won the 2000 Nobel Prize for his work on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons. He is comparing effects of todays government science policy to the Eisenhower-McCarthy era when scientists were denied funding for their political views. Except today is worse than the McCarthy era. Dr. Kandel was joined by 62 top US scientists in denouncing the Bush administrations suppression of scientific knowledge.

Noting that it's "a terrible time for science" in the U.S., Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel has compared the effects of government science policy to the Eisenhower-McCarthy era, when scientists were persecuted for their political beliefs.

He goes on to say:

"There's very little funding, there's political censorship about what one does and how one speaks about it," he said. "I think the scientific community is extremely concerned about the future of this country given the restrictions on science at the moment."

The Bush administration has been known to manipulate science to fit its policies.

Go here to see a 'jibjab' like cartoon critique of Exxon Mobil, global warming, and the Bush Admin.