Saturday, December 11, 2010

Slavery: Progressives would like it Dejure but its already Defacto

Source: The View From Blue Eye, MO  (H-T Texas Fred)

MODERN DEFACTO SLAVERY OF AMERICA

By PL Booth: Slavery is properly defined as: The state of one bound in servitude - as the property of a slaveholder or household or a mode of production in which slaves constitute the principal work force. In the simplest terms, slaves have no right whatsoever to claim the fruits of their own labors. Slaves work for someone else who gives them whatever they have, to eat, to wear, to use, to live in, etc. and who keep the profits derived from their labor.

Upon hearing the word slavery, many people, perhaps most, associate it with USA history; the US Civil War and black chattel slavery of those imported into the USA from the 16th through 18th centuries. To many it conjures mental images of black field hands laboring in the South, picking cotton, wearing rags, a bandanna wrapped around their head and white slave owners cracking the whip over the heads and backs of their slaves.

However, ancient history is not the subject of this article. Though illegal in just about every country in the world, chattel slavery most certainly still exists in the world, fortunately no longer here, but there are other forms equally as vile. Making something illegal doesn't make it disappear. Herein I discuss the history and modern meanings of slavery in our time and how it affects us all.

"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." --Thomas Jefferson

If even the source of ones livelihood might be forcibly taken, whether legally or not, is that not a loss of liberty and an enforced form of slavery? Confiscated by due process of law, perhaps, but taken nonetheless. We just don't call it slavery because most everyone has agreed upon this form of governmental subjugation. If you actually think you own your house, etc. then stop paying the taxes assessed upon it and see how long it takes before someone else more willing to pay taxes takes possession of it.

How many farms and homes were lost to governments for non-payment of property taxes? It used to be a common theme for Saturday serial matinees but no more. Now we just get the government (or actual tax payers) to pay for it or lower interest rates through Fannie or Freddie or some other entity.

We invented the use of taxes in various forms for our mutual advantage to fund education and various other governmental services such as law enforcement. Although governments can now forcibly take properties to give to other entities that might pay higher taxes and enhance the revenues available to politicians, true liberty would require each recipient to pay specifically and only for the exact services each entity received or the expenses of their prosecution and incarceration as required.

Our modern "Entitlements" based form of social security and welfare arose because people feared the loss of even their most basic necessities to high taxes, low wages, and the inability of the so-called common man to put aside enough wealth to care for themselves in their old age. Roosevelt called Social Security the Old Folks retirement security fund. Now it is just a part of the vast entitlement and welfare system that affects virtually every facet of life in America. Entitlements exceed 60% of all the monies spent by the Federal Government and our national debt is several times our gross national product every year. Factually, Social Security hasn't taken in as much as it has spent in several years nor has there ever been an actual savings account. The monies derived from SS were simply spent each year by greedy politicians to buy votes from the weak minded and ignorant voters who simply did not know where their monies were going.

There is also the bondage of debt even though much of it is self imposed, for individuals and for nations. Borrowing monies that can never be totally repaid or that must be repaid at usurious interest rates ties individual, even national, effort to the enrichment of others at the expense of relinquishing the fruits of ones' own labors. That is a large reason China is growing precipitously and we are on the decline. They own most of our national debt and we pay them huge sums in the form of interest on that debt.

Of course, our pols cry "We are only indebted to ourselves!" but it isn't true. When the Federal Banking system has to borrow enormous amounts of money each year, they "sell" bonds to back-up that debt and those bonds derive interest. Nor is there the slightest chance we will ever get out of debt so long as we "spend" far more than we take in.

That fact is the principal one the Progressive Socialists who call themselves Democrats want to substantially increase income taxes on everyone in the US. Of course, they say they only want to increase taxes on the "rich" since they have more and should bear a greater amount of the burden imposed on all of us by dishonest socialist politicians. But the top levels of income in the US (those above 1 million annual income - 1 in 6 of our population) already happen to be bearing far more than 1/2 of all the monies taken through income taxes.

What the Austrian school of Economics (and most people not socialist Dems) wants is for the numbers of higher income people to be increased as rapidly as possible so more monies will be generally available. Since lower income people (those who receive the various forms of welfare) pay no income taxes anyway (or vary low percentages), it is easy for the dishonest Dems to say they only want to keep those poor "middleclass" incomes from having to pay higher taxes. The greatest fight is about how to grow those higher income populations.

Today, many people live fragile existences in a struggle for financial survival and their American Dream can be ended by missing just a few paychecks. The carrot at the end of the stick formerly known as "the American dream" has been replaced by a whip best described as our American nightmare. You no longer work just to achieve a better life for yourselves and your children. You work to keep a roof over your head and pray that you don't lose it because of oppressive taxation or bad policies being enforced from Washington. Most Americans are oblivious to the extent of taxation only seeing it happening each April 15. They aren't told by politicians or the media that besides income tax, they are taxed for just about every action they take and item that they buy. Go over a bridge, pay a toll (tax); pay your utility bills, pay surcharges (taxes); buy a product, pay sales tax; buy a vehicle or fuel for a vehicle, pay federal and state taxes. And those taxes are invariably controlled by politicians supporting their favored programs.

Americans willingly become de facto slaves when fear replaces free incentives such as motivations to work for themselves. Our leftist media regurgitates liberal-left talking points generally disguised as news stories about the wealthy living it up while common men and women struggle to feed themselves and their children. The idea is older than Marxism. Create dissatisfaction to the point that people will seek out populist politicians who promise much whether or not they can deliver anything (a chicken in every pot.) Then the Pols ask for even more power for themselves and their puppet masters to cure the very problems they create.
The latest promise of a heaven on earth is Obama's "Hope and Change" medical care plan. Though it is dressed up with flowery language and high-sounding platitudes, it is nothing more than a grand power grab of life-and-death decision-making. A friend asked me rhetorically: Why would Americans turn over their health and welfare - their very lives - to a bunch of crooked politicians who spend most of their time covering up, lying, cajoling and cheating, all in the name of power? How would you answer that?
Why indeed, are Americans so anxious to turn over life-and-death decisions to governments already proven incapable of managing even the smallest of programs? Could it be they prefer enslavement? Is it so much easier than self determination? Is Socialism really preferable to the free market system that once made us the envy of the world, the richest, freest nation in history? May God forbid it.
Although it was once commonly held that slavery was rare among primitive pastoral peoples and that it appeared in full form only with the development of an agricultural economy, there are numerous historical instances that contradict this belief. Domestic slavery and sometimes concubine slavery appeared among nomadic Arabs (who still practice it), among Native Americans who were primarily devoted to hunting, and among the seafaring Vikings to "serve" their farms in their stead. Some ascribe the beginnings of slavery to war and consequent subjection of one group by another.
Slavery as a result of debt, however, is evidenced in very early times with some peoples having had the custom of putting up wives and children as hostages for an obligation; if the obligation was unfulfilled, the hostages became permanent slaves. The Jewish nation arose from just such a servile existence. But the American experiment was to combat that idea and the ideals of individualism and American exceptionalism arose.
In 1863, the first Republican Party President, Abraham Lincoln, signed the historic Emancipation Proclamation, a document which changed the course of history for an entire group of people, an entire nation and an entire culture. It was intended to end the horrors of slavery by making ownership of human beings by other human beings, illegal. It has become a world famous document widely quoted and studied

Unfortunately, a great many American citizens do not recognize the current revival of slavery as it is a bit more refined and less obvious enslavement. More and more Americans are willing to give up certain freedoms in return for uncertain promises of government largesse not realizing government can only give them what it takes from others. Most of these citizens don't even realize what they're doing or losing because the news and education media refuse to perform their role as purveyors of truth and accuracy. Our schools are culpable by re-educating our youth teaching them Socialistic values are the highest goals instead of the Christian values that grew our country.
Enslavement is not coming with a bang, but expands with a slow, relentless monotony. Each day, each week, each month, each year brings us closer to that state of de facto slavery as a result of our greed thinly disguised as "civil rights" and entitlements. Ask most Americans and they will tell you that food, clothing, shelter and other necessities are "rights," not just necessities but rights to which they are entitled and that must be provided by an omnipotent government.
Even when actually warranted, government charity most often morphs into government nightmares. For example, President Lyndon Baines Johnson's "Great Society" poured billions of taxpayer dollars into programs that have done more damage to the American family than any other public handout. The government pays women who bare children a monthly allowance based on the number of children in the household. The program and its underwriters failed to understand that the way the program's requirements were structured, millions of men no longer required for familial support were freed to leave home and in fact decided that the need for marriage was trumped by their need - or desire - for "free" money

Then, rather than retreat from such obvious government mal-run social programs, succeeding presidential administrations and numerous lawmakers willingly continue to embrace spending programs that at best do not solve the problems they were created to solve. At worst they create additional societal problems. But they do buy votes from their new slaves so those lawmakers can remain in office. The current Free Healthcare Program of Obama and the Democrats is a classic example. Allow the Feds to say who gets what medical attention and how much is to be paid for it and intelligent Doctors will quickly realize they are better off not becoming Doctors or going into other professions.

All socialism is a form of enslavement and its practitioners and advocates need to be removed from positions of power and authority as quickly as possible.

Store Owner's 'Muslim' Safe Message

Source: New York Daily News

Alabama store owner posts sign saying 'BBQ PORK RESTURANT IS SAFEST NO MUSLIMS INSIDE'


The fuss over a sign in Alabama at an electronics store reading "BBQ PORK RESTURANT (sic) IS SAFEST NO MUSLIMS INSIDE" shocked its longtime owner who said he doesn't understand why it's such a big deal.
Electronic Repair Company owner Chuck Biddinger, who put up the sign last week, said he meant the message as a joke. After all, he said, it wasn't even the most offensive one he had ever posted.
That award goes to a sign he posted last May that read "A dog is wiser than a woman - it does not bark at its master," earned heat from domestic violence groups in Alabama.
"The women's groups went ballistic," he told the Daily News when he picked up the phone at his East Lake, Ala., shop.
Biddinger said to pacify them he put a public service announcement urging victims of domestic violence to call a hotline.
But he said this sign, which has garnered national attention, has gotten more positive reaction than negative - and he has no plans to apologize to anyone offended.

"I have gotten a few complaints about it, but for every one complaint about it I've had, 10 people tell me that they like it and support it," he said.
He told local television station ABC 33/40 that while it was meant as a lighthearted joke, it was true.
"Muslims do not eat pork," he told the television station. "It's a known fact that Muslims have tried to commit crimes in this country."
On Friday, Biddinger said he planned to take the sign down sometime soon, but hadn't quite had the time to do it - and was still looking for something equally eye-catching. Signs outside his shop are changed every week, usually with jokes he receives via email chains.
Many of them are not politically correct. But the coverage of this one, he said, has been unbelievable.
"I never thought about that until it got picked up on the Internet and it went totally viral when I put this sign up," he said.
When asked by The News if he understood why this sign might have gotten more attention than other racist or sexist signs he may have posted, he replied, "No, ma'am."
After all, he said, he wasn't worried about people's feelings.
"For the local area, if I offend a few Muslims, there will be a lot of people who support it," he said.
Not to mention, all the coverage of his repair shop from the sign is good for business.
"I believe it's a positive," he said.
People interviewed by ABC 33/40 agreed, laughing at the words on the sign when a reporter showed it to them.
"I think it's hilarious to me that they would feel that way," one man said. "But I'm not offended about it at all."

from the comment section: Sarah001 writes, "...We are in the 21st century where verbal attack on any race religion or sex should be banned. ..."

Wake up Sarah!  Want to ban verbal  attacks on any race, religion, or sex?  Very simple...Ban Muslims!  Muslims are the problem and the problem is not going away with political correctness.  See also Muslim Problem...yeah, I think so 

Friday, December 10, 2010

Spc. Bowe Bergdahl Captured By Taliban ...video released by captors

Source: Live Leak

Video Of POW Pfc Bergdahl

Taliban release new video of captured US soldier.
New footage has been released claiming to show Pfc Bowe Bergdahl being held in Afghanistan. Pfc Bowe Bergdahl from the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, the only known captured American serviceman.The US airborne infantryman was taken by the Afghan Taliban in Paktika province on June 30.

A U.S.-based militant media monitor says new video footage has been released showing a man who appears to be Spc. Bowe Bergdahl, the only known American serviceman being held in captivity in Afghanistan.

According to Col. Tim Marsano with the Idaho National Guard, Bergdahl's family has seen the photos released by a video production group called Manba al-Jihad, which has ties to the Taliban. There is no indication when the photos were taken, but the family confirms the man in the pictures is Bowe Bergdahl.

CNN reports that in a nearly 45-minute video that was also released, Bergdahl is wearing an open-necked, tan shirt and has a large abrasion on his left cheek. He appears clean-shaven, although in earlier videos released to the media, Bergdahl had a beard.

A speaker in the video says the Paktia mujahadeen captured the soldier and that he is in the custody of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and has all Islamic rights.

The IntelCenter, which tracks militant messages on the Internet, said in a statement released on Wednesday that another man in the video is believed to be a Taliban commander who had threatened to kill Bergdahl.

Col. Marsano said that the Bergdahl family's spirits are high despite it being a very difficult year and a half since Bowe was captured.

"They're doing about as well as you could expect in extraordinary difficult circumstances," Col. Tim Marsano told KTVB on the phone. "They've really relied on the support they've gotten from their family, friends, and the community. If you go into the Wood River Valley, throughout the town of Hailey and into Ketchum, you're going to see yellow ribbons, bumper stickers saying 'Bring Bowe Home.'

Marsano said even though they do not know when the photos and video were taken, it does give Bergdahl's family hope that he is still alive.

"I do know that the family does take heart in seeing photos of their son alive, whether they're new or old. It does give them hope," said Col. Marsano.

Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, has been held by the Taliban since June 30, 2009, when he disappeared in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.

These pictures are the first that have been seen of him since April, but it's not clear when they were taken.

Close call!

If video is slow to load refresh page...

What would you say if I asked you to change my light bulb?

...well it's not really my light bulb

There are those who refuse to admit it but there is a...

War On Christianity
...and a war on Christianity is a war on America!

War on Christianity ~ Source: Jeremiah Project
Currently, over 200 million Christians worldwide are living under the threat of persecution.

Topping the list of countries which have mounted a campaign against Christians are China and Sudan followed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Burma, Greece, Ethiopia, and Vietnam. (Washington Watch, May 1998). Increasing persecution is also found in Cuba, Laos, and North Korea.

Many Islamic-dominated nations have adopted a fanatical, militant doctrine of persecution against all “infidels.”

The militant Islamic Government of Sudan, for example, is waging a self-described religious war against Christian, non-Muslim, and moderate Muslim persons by using torture, starvation, enslavement, and murder. In Pakistan, the government has declared those that who “insult” Mohammed will be put to death. In Communist Laos more than 250 pastors and Christian workers have been arrested; more than 60 churches and Christian institutions have been shut down; and the government has forced many thousands of believers to sign documents to "renounce" their faith and belief in Christianity.

In Saudi Arabia there is no religious freedom. Apostasy is punishable by death. There are no public worship services for non-Muslims. Anyone who does mission work or converts Muslims faces expulsion, jail, or execution.

In countries near and far, people are being persecuted simply because of their faith. Hundreds of men and women are in prison serving sentences that range from a few months to life. They are not criminals who have robbed or murdered other citizens but Christians who were put on trial for their faith in Christ and found guilty. Christians are beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and murdered by those who are hostile to their faith in Jesus Christ.

Never before in American history have Christians experienced being hated for following Jesus Christ as they are today.

Here in America the persecution of Christians has not yet reached the feverish pitch as in other parts of the world. There is still a Constitution that protects them and allows them to freely practice their faith. But, broiling beneath the surface, the same hatred of God that exists in other parts of the world is festering in all our institutions. Slowly, methodically, and incrementally the anti-God forces are working to remove that Constitutional barrier and replace it with the 10 Planks of Communism.

It is important to recognize that those who are working for the dissolution of our society and breakdown of the family have a spiritual agenda. They are not merely attempting to dismantle the historic cultural values of this nation and move us toward a new world order. They also want to destroy Christianity and Bible-based religion. It is a clear part of their agenda, and they have already moved a long way in that direction.

In America it is called 'secularism' and is becoming visible in all walks of life and in all our institutions. Numerous legislative and legal battles which I'll discuss below attest to the fact that religious warfare is taking place.

The Media
Our entertainment industry and the news media sneer at anyone who defends Jesus Christ in public and have been leading a propaganda war of stereotyping Christians into a subordinate class. Their distortions reflect a genuine misunderstanding of who Christians are and what they believe.

Americas' TV news broadcasts ignore conservative and Christian news events, except when coverage makes religious leaders look "cold, intolerant and oppressive," says Washington, D.C.'s Media Research Center.

Though most Americans believe in God and regularly attend religious services, "religion and religious issues are hardly ever mentioned, much less covered, on network television morning, evening and magazine shows," said the center's chairman Brent Bozell. He said that the center has surveyed more than 18,000 nightly news shows broadcast by ABC, CBS, NBC, the Cable News Network and the Public Broadcasting Service, but found only 212 stories that focused on religion. That amounts to 1 percent of coverage although 52 percent of Americans say they attend church and more than 90 percent say that they pray regularly.

Network coverage of abortion and homosexuality "are never done from the religious viewpoint," Bozell said. Instead, "religious figures are regularly portrayed as reactionary roadblocks while their positive influences are rarely covered." Except at Christmastime, when the networks traditionally broadcast "heartwarming" segments in their broadcasts, the news shows usually portray religious groups and their leaders "as cold, intolerant and oppressive," Bozell said. ["TV news broadcasters unfair to Christians, says research center," Christian Crusade, April 1994]

Government
The federal government abridges the free exercise of religion in America by:

Regulating churches and other religious organizations through its tax laws.

Limiting religious liberty in the area of public and private education.

Forbidding non-denominational prayer in public schools and at educational ceremonies.

Excluding the Bible from school classrooms and from other school property.

Refusing to permit the religious displays on public property, such as Christmas and Chanukah.

Schools
Possibly the most sinister battlefield in the war on Christianity takes place in the classroom. The Ten Commandments have been prohibited on school bulletin boards and most forms of prayer have been declared unconstitutional in the nation's schools, even that which is student initiated.

Atheists and others who hate God despises Christians who help others come to a saving knowledge of Christ. They are determined to battle those who would help immature Christians -- particularly Christian children -- grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.

Increasingly, our children are discriminated against for trying to present their Christian convictions in school.

In 1997 U.S. District Court Judge Ira DeMent struck down a law that required schools to allow voluntary student-initiated prayers at school events, saying it created excessive state entanglement in religion. He ordered the end to school-sponsored religious activities, such as prayers during morning announcements and at school events even though it isn't forced on students.

A high school student in Florida was suspended for handing out religious literature before and after - but not during - school hours. Two high school students in Texas were told by their principal they could not wear rosaries. The Principal claimed that they were symbols of gang activity, even though the boys were not involved in any gang.

In 2002, music teachers in Michigan, Maryland, and Virginia didn't allow students to perform traditional carols like "Silent Night" and "The First Noel" during Chrismas. A New Jersey public school banned the Charles Dickens play, "A Christmas Carol" because of its spiritual overtones and message of redemption.

The Courts
Jjudge Roy Moore in Gadsden, Alabama, was ordered to stop conducting prayers in his courtroom and displaying the Ten Commandments. That led Alabama Gov. Fob James, a supporter of prayer in public schools, to vow to use state troopers, if necessary, to allow Moore to continue the prayers.

Confessed child rapist James Arnett's sentence was overturned by an Ohio appeals court. The reason: the judge in his case quoted from Matthew 18:5-6 during sentencing.

The Public Square
The trend in the public forum is to replace the word "Christmas" with "Season's Gretings" or "Happy Holidays."

In March 1998, The ACLU put pressure on the small town of Republic, Missouri to remove a fish symbol from its official logo, calling it a "secret sign of Christianity."

In April 1998, Rev. Patrick Mahoney was arrested for praying on the steps of the Supreme Court.

Tourists visiting Washington D.C. in 1997 were ordered by the police to stop praying in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

In 2003, the National Park Service removed 30 year-old plaques inscribed with Bible verses at Grand Canyon following complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Workplace
The anti-Christian bias is a reality in many companies today -- as you will discover if you refuse to work on Sundays, if you question "shading the truth" in presentations, or if you stubbornly hold to your Christian standards.

A Christian employee of Hewlet Packard was fired for posting Bible verses condemning homosexual behavior on his desk in response to posters displayed during a company campaign to promote a diverse work force. (WorldNetDaily)

Businesses
Even though Krispy Kreme promises to give students a free doughnut for each "A" on their report cards, a store in Schereville, Indiana refused to reward the Kamp children for A's received in Bible classes. ["Chain Won't Give a Doughnut for an 'A' in Bible", Wendy Cloyd, Assistant Editor, CitizenLink]

See also: America's Godly Heritage

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Attack By Russia No Concern For Obama

Source: WorldNet Daily
FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
Confession links Russia to U.S. embassy attack
Suspect tells authorities Russian army major ordered bomb placement

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

A new storm cloud may be on the horizon for President Obama over evidence that Moscow may have coaxed Georgian nationals into planting a bomb outside the U.S. embassy in Georgia's capital of Tbilisi, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
The bomb detonated but caused no damage near the embassy in the attack in September.
Georgia's Interior Ministry apprehended six Georgians who are internally displaced persons from the Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia. Two other perpetrators remain at large, believed to have escaped to Gali in Abkhazia following the bombing.
The majority of the population in the Abkhazian region of Gali are Georgian. Due to ethnic cleansing that has taken place over the years in Abkhazia, the once majority of Georgians in that breakaway province have been relegated primarily to Abkhazia's southwestern region of Gali. 
Russia gained effective control over Abkhazia following its invasion of Georgia in August 2008 and the defeat of the U.S. trained and equipped Georgian armed forces.
The U.S. State Department has sent investigators to Georgia where a meeting is scheduled with Georgian investigators.
Georgian Interior Ministry officials say that the alleged bombers have made videotaped confessions and claim that Russian Maj. Yevgeniy Borisov was behind the bombing of the U.S. embassy and a series of other bombings in Tbilisi that followed in the ensuing months.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.
For the complete report and full immediate access to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, subscribe now.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Muslim Problem...yeah, I think so - [ update... yeah, I know so ! ]

Click on each link to read story.

  1.  Muslims Blow Up Buddha Statue
  2.  Muslims Desecrates Hundreds of Bibles Annually
  3.  Muslim Urinate, Spit On Then Burn Bible
  4. Muslims Burn Bibles and Destroy Crosses
  5. Muslims Attack Catholic Church
  6. Muslim Attempts to Blow up a Military Recruitment Center
  7. Muslim Rips Off Taxpayers
  8. Muslims Attack Hindus in India
  9. Muslims attack Christian community in Punjab
10. Muslim Attacks Fort Hood Soldiers
11. Muslim Schools Teach Six-Year Olds How To Hack Off Thieves Hands
12. Muslims Attempt To Kill The Pope
13. Muslims Plot To Poison American Food

...and the list could continue until its TNTC (Too Numerous To Count).  If you're reading this and you are an American do you think we have a Muslim problem in America?  Well whatever your answer is it doesn't matter for whether you think so or not we have a very serious Muslim problem in America starting with the Muslim sympathizer in the White House...  Remember, Muslims want to take over the world and with their friend running the show in Washington they may succeed sooner than you think. Alah Akubar! Wake the hell up!

ps: And don't forget that its Muslims that want to blow-up your Coke and Big Mac (Click here)

Update To Previous Post: Raw Faith Sinks


She Sinks!
Update from Cape Cod On Line

Maine-built sailing vessel sinks off Nantucket
By
PORTLAND, Maine - The Coast Guard says a three-masted sailing vessel built in Maine to accommodate people with disabilities has sunk off Nantucket.
Coast Guard Petty Officer James Rhodes says RawFaith went down at 7:30 a.m. today, a day after two people aboard the ship were pulled from the ocean into a rescue helicopter.
The 88-foot ship built in the style of a 16th-century galleon started taking on water off Nantucket in rough seas, and the two occupants reported they were in trouble on Monday.
RawFaith has seen its share of problems.
The Coast Guard ordered improvements after it became disabled in a gale in 2004 and it had to be towed to Rockland, Maine.
Two years later, it lost its masts in another storm off Maine's Mount Desert Rock

There Are No Other Ships Of This Type...Raw Faith is uniquely ugly

CAPE COD -- U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod crews rescue two stranded mariners 100 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass., after their boat became disabled. U.S. Coast Guard Video by Air Station Cape Cod

Full Story at Cape Cod Today ...however the comments are more interesting ↓.
4 comments
Blog posts and comments are entirely the thoughts and ideas of the people who write them and in no way represent the views of CapeCodToday.com, eCape, Inc., or its employees or owners.


Jonathan [Member] writes:
My brother often works on ships of this type.
This is no ordinary vessel.
"RawFaith is a 118 foot long, three masted, three hundred ton (without cannons) tall ship. Her design is based on the 16th century English race built galleons which are more stable and faster than their counterparts, the Spanish galleons (which are the stereotypical tall ships with high castles/decks). Although she was christened and launched in 2003, the structure and materials used to build RawFaith allow her to maintain the magic and charm of the bygone era of the pirates.
RawFaith was designed and built by Captain George McKay to be wheelchair accessible, setting RawFaith apart from other tall ships today. Her broad flat decks and wide open interior make it easy for a full participation sailing adventure. Through free sailing adventures, the Captain hopes to bring the rustic and romantic life at sea within the reach of those in wheelchairs.
The inspiration for RawFaith is found in the Captain's oldest child, Elizabeth, who has spent most of her life in a wheelchair due to Marfan Syndrome...."
bzingram [Member] writes:
Well you are right about one thing, it's no ordinary vessel.

What you posted was McKay's description. The reality of the situation is that this is a cobbled together "ship" that was built without regard to any established building method. It has no steerage. In it's first year or so it was dismasted in benign conditions. It's no better built than the pirate ship at your local mini-golf.

McKay set of with just one other crew for Bermuda in winter in the North Atlantic in a ship that cannot make 5 knots on a broad reach.

This has been a disaster in the making since her launch years ago
brian arvin tyler [Member] writes:
>> My brother often works on ships of this type.

There are no other "ships of this type." Raw Faith is a uniquely ugly, crude and historically inaccurate caricature of a galleon, pieced together from pallet wood and barrels of tar. Several times, now, the ungainly thing has had to be rescued in relatively benign conditions,usually because of mechanical failures & structural inadequacy. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

bzingram [Member] writes:
This makes me really mad. Coast Guard puts equipment and life at risk to save this clown in what was totally foreseeable and utterly avoidable. When RawFaith was "just" an eyesore up in Maine and most recently in Salem, that's one thing. But McKay's behavior in the name of his self-serving "charity" is reckless.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Governments cannot decide for us what is right and wrong.

Source: Gerry Charlotte Phelps

Needed Most - An Explosion of Christianity

Europe and the U.S. are literally on the brink of bankruptcy.  They are being crushed by debts too big to repay.  It will only get worse, for a long time.  No one can foresee how this will end.   And I am writing about the need for Christianity to grow explosively?  At a time like this? Why? Is there some connection? Some good reason to turn at least some of our time and energy from this unprecedented crisis to another front?
There is. In fact, it is more urgent than our present danger.  In fact, we cannot solve this problem without it.  So it is of the greatest urgency.
First, Governments caused this problem.  They are the ones doing the most borrowing, spending money they do not have, mortgaging the future incomes of their citizens.  These governments have long been slipping out of control of their populations.  In Europe, the votes of ordinary citizens no long matter.  The EU rules without them.  In the U.S., government spending has long been out of control.
Second, these weakened democracies will not change for the better until their peoples change.  We were warned long ago about this.  Ben Franklin warned that the new American republic could not "be kept" without "a religious and moral people."  Why not?  Because democracies cannot work without morality.  Even democracies with a constitution.  They become more and more corrupt.  And morality comes almost entirely from religion.
Why?  Morals must be absolute in order to work.  If not, then everyone can decide for themselves what is right and wrong, good and bad.  That is chaos.
Governments cannot decide for us what is right and wrong.  Unless that conviction comes from inside people, there can never be enough policemen to make us do what is right in the government's eyes.   "Law and Order" stops working.  For "law and order" to work, morals must come from inside people.
Only religion has the authority to say "this is right and that is wrong."  We grant such authority only to ourselves and to God.  And only religion is able to plant standards of right and wrong within people so strongly that they will obey those standards even when no one is looking.  (After all, God sees and knows everything we do.  Religious people believe that, and are more likely to behave accordingly.)
Dictatorships can exist without religion.  But in dictatorships, while the ruling class prospers, most of the people are poor.  Only in democracies can most of the people prosper, or even be free.  And democracies cannot survive without religion.  So without religion, the world would be poor and enslaved - a condition that suddenly is a possibility for the West.
If we are to have any hope of survival as a free people, or even as countries where most people are prosperous then, we must become again a "religious and moral people."
It is not too late to become Christian countries again.  But it is getting harder every year.  If it is ever going to happen, we have to get started.   Now.  It is even more urgent than fixing the economy.  More urgent than the people taking back their governments.  We can't wait any longer to build up "a religious and moral people."

Comment:


Thanks Gerry...you are sooo right!
As I've said in a commentary to another, "This country was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles and there should be nothing stopping us from practicing those principles."
As Cicero is often quoted, we are truly threatened by the enemy within...,""A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies in the heart of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear. The traitor is the plague......" Marcus Tullius Cicero, speech to the Roman Senate"

Recommended Reading...highly recommended! "Out Of The Iron Furnace" ...it's a true story!

Breaking News: Barack Obama 'MUST' be removed from the White House ~ L.F. de-Rothschild

Source: InfoWars Ireland

Rothschild Dynasty Slams Obama; Calls for Centrist Movement in U.S. December 6, 2010

By Michael Collins PiperAmerican Free Press
Issue # 49 & 50, December 6 & 13, 2010

An influential member of the international Rothschild banking dynasty—often called “the family that rules the world”—has lent her support to the theme that Barack Obama must be removed from the White House and that America needs a grand “centrist” coalition to save the nation.
That a key Rothschild network figure endorsed this concept—which is being relentlessly promoted in the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post—underscores recent exclusive reports appearing in AMERICAN FREE PRESS detailing a high-level scheme to foist a phony new “centrist” third party on Americans.
In 2008, lifelong Democrat Lynn Forester de Rothschild endorsed GOP presidential candidate John McCain after the Democratic Party rejected de Rothschild’s first choice, Hillary Clinton.
The American-born Lady Rothschild— chief executive of E.L. Rothschild, a key Rothschild holding company—is the wife of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. She was first introduced to her husband in Scotland in 1998 by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during a meeting of Bilderberg—the global planning group dominated by the Rothschilds, assisted by their American lieutenants, the Rockefellers.
Endorsing McCain, Mrs. Rothschild proclaimed Obama too “ideological”—that is, too “liberal”—an interesting assertion coming from a stalwart Democrat. Now Mrs. Rothschild is once again aiming her guns at Obama, echoing the very rhetoric about the need to adopt “centrist” policies prevalent in all of the recent propaganda in the elite press that AFP—alone among the independent media—has been scrutinizing.
She expressed her “centrist” concerns on the Internet’s Daily Beast on Feb. 28, 2010, but few noticed it at the time. It’s no coincidence this was the forum she used to vent her attack: the Daily Beast is merging with the Rothschild-connected Washington Post Company’s Newsweek magazine, recently transferred to the control of Zionist billionaire Sidney Harman, who—like the Rothschild dynasty—is a major patron of Israel.
In her commentary, Mrs. Rothschild declared: “After watching President Obama in office for more than a year, it is clear to me that . . . we already knew what kind of president he would become. . . . Perhaps the biggest fabrication of the Obama candidacy was his claim of being a centrist.”
Mrs. Rothschild wrote: Sure, [Obama] made promises during the campaign that pleased moderates. . . . They were specific, sensible promises—ones that enabled him to mislead the electorate about his real plans for America. . . .At the time, it was obvious that a candidate who won the primary because of the left would be beholden to the left, no matter what promises he made to get elected. . . . In The Audacity of Hope, he criticized Bill Clinton for giving too much respect to Ronald Reagan. He asked the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist Democratic group, to remove his name from their lists. So if he wasn’t going to be a centrist Democrat in the tradition of Bill Clinton, what did Barack Obama want from his presidency, should he be elected? He told us from the beginning. It was a stunning agenda, but it seemed innocuous, even inspiring, during the campaign . . . . Obama declared he was running “not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.” Suddenly now everyone is worried he is trying to transform America. . . . His is an effort to make a bigger, more intrusive and more costly government. His hope is, and has always been, to turn the country into a nation that looks more like a European social democracy. He ignores that the roots of our strength have always been small government and a dynamic private sector, fostered by both Democrats and Republicans. His  cynical use of centrist language as a tool to get elected does not change the fact of his true objectives. Our central problem is that the combination of his grandiloquence and the September 2008 financial crisis led to his election. Now, the only way to stop him in the next three years is through voter pressure on Congress. One course is to follow Massachusetts and just elect any Republican. But both parties lack courageous leaders who will fight for the values and policies of the middle.
While it certainly confuses many people (particularly self-styled “patriots” and “conservatives”) that Mrs. Rothschild (and like-minded associates in the mass media) call the Clintons “moderates,” that has, in fact, been a continuing premise in the media, especially of recent date, as if the stage is being set for a return of “Bill and Hill” in the form of a “centrist” challenge to Obama.
However, note that Mrs. Rothschild denounced not just Obama but “both parties.” Her rhetoric precisely reflects ongoing high-level calls in the media monopoly for a “centrist” rebellion against both “the left” and “the right”:
We need a movement of the militant middle; millions of voters who support the sensible policies from both parties. This would give Democrats political cover to stand up to Obama, Pelosi and Reid; and Republicans the backbone to acknowledge that the country must progress in order to be strong.
Here is what’s happening: Recognizing growing widespread disgust with both major parties, the elite big money forces seem to be laying the groundwork to usher in a new “centrist” party—a “controlled opposition” under their domination—to block the rise of any genuine populist third party challenging their power. The war-profiteering plutocratic elites want to be assured that—in the face of growing opposition from Americans on both the “left” and the “right”—budgetbusting internationalist policies promoting U.S. military adventurism in the Middle East and across the globe—in the name of what is now being touted as American “national greatness”—will be preserved.
In fact, the “national greatness” concept is just a patriotic-sounding cover name for what many call the New World Order.
Note, too, that although both “liberal Democrats” and “conservative Republicans” have done big money’s bidding for a century, a new “centrist” force—orchestrated by the major media (owned by the financial aristocracy)—would shatter the existing traditional local, state and federal political machines of the major parties which are closely tied to their own respective constituencies (small business, farmers, public employees, minorities, factory workers, etc). Divorced from grassroots demands, the new “centrist” mechanism would answer only to the major media controllers who conjured up the “centrist” party in the first place.
____________________

Other reasons exist to remove Obama from office...here's one: Obama Using White House for Unlawful Propaganda Campaign

Sunday, December 5, 2010

The number of people who have fallen to the dangers of climate change. Would you believe zero? ...and yet the lefties are still trying to ram it down our throats

“Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was flat,” and now the same people (like Obama’s Science czar John Holdren) who warned us forty years ago about “global cooling” are now the biggest global warming alarmists. (Note from Norm: And I've been warning you for years that the politics of climate change is an invention of the United Nations and has nothing to do with the weather but rather the coffers at the UN.  Why do people forget this when they go to the voting booth?  You should not care whether the candidate has a D or an R after their name...if they support any faction of the UN they should not hold elective office. Period!)
Source: Human Events
Jerome Hudson
Eco-Fascists Gone Wild
Americans for Prosperity is here in Cancun as leaders from 192 countries and some 400 environmental organizations have found time in their busy schedules to board their private jets, and have flown thousands of miles to attend the 16th United Nations Climate Change Conference to discuss global warming.
Now in case you haven’t heard, the Earth’s temperature is rising and is getting hotter (faster than Barney Frank getting a full body cavity search) and only these leaders, most of them governing countries with failing economies myriad in mind boggling debt, can save it.
Sadly it seems, the election of the first black president indeed did not bring forth “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal” —Barack Obama June 2008.
But I digress.
The future of the planet is in peril and only the U.N. can save us from this clear and present danger.
To be clear, Muslim Jihadists have killed about 60,000 innocent men women and children since September 11th and over 28,000 people have been murdered by Mexican drug gangs since 2006.
And zero, the number of people who have fallen to the ever looming dangers of climate change. That number is low ( more like nonexistent) but according to Al Bore, an obsequious International media and the environmental Left, there is a huge “global debt,” “environmental justice” must be served and the planet is in danger (and they have the made up fact to prove it.)
“Climategate” divulged global warming for the wealth redistributing scandal that it is, and Ottmar Edenhofer just put the final nail in the echo fascists’ climate coffin.
In a recent interview with Germany's NZZ Online, Ottmar Edenhofer, a dedicated global warmist and a United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) official tells the truth about climate change:
“But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy. Obviously, the owners of coal and oil will not be enthusiastic about this. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy.”

There are few things more shameful then International elitists putting American tax money where their bureaucratic mouths are.
And that is exactly what is happening here in Cancun Mexico.
Climate change is a hoax, and I would not have an opinion on the matter if America was not footing the United Nations’ bills at about 25 percent.
America, literally, cannot afford to pay credence to these spread the wealth around, smart-car-socialist, who if they had their way, would enact policies that would ultimately result in higher taxes, lost jobs and less freedom.
To quote Agent K: “Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was flat,” and now the same people (like Obama’s Science czar John Holdren) who warned us forty years ago about “global cooling” are now the biggest global warming alarmists.

NEWS FLASH: The debate is over and America is BROKE. There is nothing left to redistribute.

With debt past our eyeballs, a still sagging economy and unemployment at a daunting 9.8 percent, our tax dollars can no longer be used to subsidize the "moral" crusades of these hot air heroes.
It is beyond sad to hear and see some of the world’s most affluent and influential scientists and leaders lamenting about “wealthy nation sacrificing so that poorer nations can prosper” (at the American taxpayers’ expense). The level of hot air hypocrisy is inconceivable.
Jerome Hudson is a member of Project 21 a sponsorship of the National Center for Public Policy Research. He is the editor of OurLastStand.com and can be reached at Jeromehudsonspeaks.com. 

resiliency ...Golf balls have it. Oh yeah!

Definition of RESILIENCE
The capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress.

East Is East And West Is West...and I'm damn sure they'll never meet!

The following from: Take Our Country Back by Ben
 
Lessons From the Mayor and the Imam
Gde Dwitya Arief
The article in the Jakarta Globe triggered one of my Google Alerts. Like many articles that involve Islam, it contains some outrageous statements which must be refuted. The author is off to a great start with two big lies in the last sentence of the first paragraph

[...] "together remind us that Muslims are part of America and that Islam is not attacking the West."

Muslims are part of America

    Muslims who live here are not part of America, they are part of the Ummah al-Islamiyya: "nation of Islam".  Their nationality is Muslim, not American.  America and Islam are irreconcilable polar opposites.
    America cherishes equality; Islam exemplifies Arab supremacism. The second caliph made it clear: "But the Arabs concede supremacy only to us of the Quraysh, who are the centre of the Arab world by heredity and position."
    Equality includes gender; women are not enslaved in our culture, whereas in Islam, 2:223. Your wives are a tilth for you, [...]; 4:34. Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allâh has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means.[...]  Women are chattle: fields to be plowed & planted.
    Women are deficient in intelligence; the testimony of two women is required to equal that of one man. 2:282. [...] And if there are not two men (available), then a man and two women, such as you agree for witnesses, so that if one of them (two women) errs, the other can remind her.[...] But Christians are not qualified to testify: Reliance of the Traveller o24.2[...]" (e) is religious (O: meaning upright (o24.4) (A: and Muslim), for Allah Most High says, "Let those of rectitude among you testify" (Koran 65:2),  and unbelief is the vilest form of corruption, as goes without saying);"[...]
    America cherishes our republican form of government in which the people are sovereign. Islam is theocratic and holds that only Allah has the right to rule; it rejects man made laws.
Islam is not attacking the West
    Has Islam ever attacked anyone?  How did India, Yemen, Egypt & Spain become Islamic?  They were conquered.  Those conquests were performed by Muslims who were motivated by the doctrines of Islam: imperatives recorded in the Qur'an and exemplified by the hadith.  Those curseworthy doctrines are reflected in Islamic law.  Al-Shafi'i gave it the utmost clarity. "The least that the imam must do is that he allow no year to pass without having organised a military expedition by himself, or by his raiding parties, according to the Muslims' interest, so that the jihad will only be stopped in a year for a (reasonable) excuse."
    America fist experienced Islamic aggression when she gained independence from England: the Barbary Pirates sacked our shipping.  Tripoli's Ambassador explained why.

The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman (or Muslim) who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War


"But this is only true if we accept the charge that 9/11 was an attack on America by Islam."

attack on America

    Where did it happen?  New York City & Washington D.C. were in America when I last examined a globe; did they flee to Canada?

by Islam

    What were the 'Magnificent 19'?    Were they Catholics or Baptists?  How many of them were Buddhists?  And what was it they said while slitting throats?  "Allahu Akhbar!"    If they were not Muslims obeying Allah and emulating Moe, why did they act in his name??

"Here lies the core of the problem: the notion that Islam itself is the attacker. "

Islam itself is the attacker

    What a silly notion. Islam is a set of doctrines which dictate a predatory way of life, it is nothing without Muslims.  Believers perpetrated that attack because of what they believe: Islam.  Allah said "fight them". Moe said that he was "ordered to fight". Moe waged 86 raids & ghazwats.  Why did the Barbary Pirates attack us?  Get a clue.   

"In fact, this is what the terrorists who claim they represent Islam want us to think."

they represent Islam

    Islam is represented by its founder, who said "I have been made victorious with terror." Salafists emulate Moe. Al-Qaeda is salafist. Allah said that he would "cast terror" [8:12].  Allah said that he "cast terror" [33:26] so that the Muslims killed the men of a Jewish settlement and enslaved their widowss & orphans.  Terrorism: its what Islam is; what Muslims do.

"Islam is part of America and is entitled to the same freedom as any other religious group."

entitled to the same freedom

    Freedom of religion is for legitimate religions, not plunder cults.  Jihad is foundational & intrinsic to Islam, it can not be separated or isolated. Islam is all or nothing. 

13:36. Those to whom We have given the Book (such as 'Abdullâh bin Salâm and other Jews who embraced Islâm), rejoice at what has been revealed unto you (i.e. the Qur'ân) , but there are among the Confederates (from the Jews and pagans) those who reject a part thereof. Say (O Muhammad ): "I am commanded only to worship Allâh (Alone) and not to join partners with Him. To Him (Alone) I call and to Him is my return."  [Emphasis added.]

Offensive, aggressive warfare against disbelievers is an intrinsic part of Islam; participation in it is a religious obligation9:123. "O you who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are close to you, and let them find harshness in you,[...] "  It is not possible that the Establishment Clause should permit that!
Do we or do we not have a right to be secure in our persons & property?  Do we or do we not have a right to life?  If we do, then there is no right to practice or propagate Islam.  If there is a right to practice or propagate Islam, then all our rights are abrogated.  Get a clue!

Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 8, Number 387:
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Allah's Apostle said, "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah." Narrated Maimun ibn Siyah that he asked Anas bin Malik, "O Abu Hamza! What makes the life and property of a person sacred?" He replied, "Whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah', faces our Qibla during the prayers, prays like us and eats our slaughtered animal, then he is a Muslim, and has got the same rights and obligations as other Muslims have."

The sanctity of our blood and property and our rights are conditional on embracing Islam.  That says it all, exposing the liars.

"The imam has been working with the US State Department in promoting pluralistic and democratic Islam across the world." 

pluralistic

    3:85. And whoever seeks a religion other than Islâm, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers. 
"The Messenger of Allah stated that no two religions should remain in the Arabian Peninsula, and the Jews and Christians should be expelled from it, all praise is due to Allah. " [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Emphasis added.]

democratic

    33:36. It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allâh and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allâh and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in a plain error.[Emphasis added.]
    The fatal facts bear repetition and Imam Rauf provides the opportunity.

“Let there be no mistake, Islam categorically rejects the killing of innocent people. Terrorists violate the sanctity of human life and corrupt the meaning of our faith. In no way they represent our religion. And we must not let them define us.”

rejects the killing of innocent people

    Define innocent!  Were the passengers on those airliners and the office workers in the towers innocent or not?

5:32. Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind. And indeed, there came to them Our Messengers with clear proofs, evidences, and signs, even then after that many of them continued to exceed the limits (e.g. by doing oppression unjustly and exceeding beyond the limits set by Allâh by committing the major sins) in the land!.

What is the meaning of that second exception? Muslims won't quote the next verse; I will.

5:33. The recompense of those who wage war against Allâh and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off on the opposite sides, or be exiled from the land. That is their disgrace in this world, and a great torment is theirs in the Hereafter.

What is the meaning of "wage war against Allah"?  Tafsir Ibn Kathir has the answer for us. [...]`Wage war' mentioned here means, oppose and contradict, and it includes disbelief, blocking roads and spreading fear in the fairways. [...]  [Emphasis added] If you contradict Moe or do not believe in Allah, you are waging war against them and may be killed.   Only Muslims can be innocent!

sanctity of human life

    Moe said something, which I already quoted: "then their blood and property will be sacred to us ".  Only Muslim life has sanctity! He was  commanded to fight us until we become Muslim.

represent our religion

    One man, dead and damned, represented Islam, defining & exemplifying it.  What part of this do you not comprehend?