It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we’ve done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It’s all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.

America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War Two, where people rationed food, and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a service member, its life as usual…the war doesn’t affect you.

But it affects us. And when it is over, and the troops come home, and they try to piece together what’s left of them after their service…where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can’t touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.

We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life:  safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped, and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause, and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor…we cannot place the burden on our military alone.

We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not.  And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon Stickers on your cars. It’s supporting our President, our troops and our cause.

Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn’t.

Let’s stop all the political nonsense; let’s stop all the bickering; let’s stop all the bad news; and let’s stand and fight!                 

               *****************

See also: When Nations Die and pay attention to the parts about losing the will to fight.

“Carthage was once called “the eternal rival of Rome” but its preeminence and impact waned as it “sank into debauchery and dissipation as a result of great wealth and luxury.” Law and order were destroyed from within. Moreover, the rich young men of Carthage no longer wanted to serve in the military so they hired mercenaries to do their fighting. But when the army came into fierce conflict with Rome and other adversaries, the mercenaries ran and left the nation defenseless. Carthage fell to Rome in 146 B.C., and the first act of the Roman legions was to restore law and order.

In these and many other examples, social decay led to the decline and fall of a great civilization. If we are to prevent a repeat of history, then we must learn from these lessons of history. ”

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From politics, to religion, to food, to ’simple shopping’, guarding one’s interests through reading and reading some more is a necessity is a media-hyped-saturated environment. Prudence rules.

Read down to “Characteristics of Good Propaganda” then read the entire piece—should ‘begin’ to sound familiar.  ~WFI  

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The Doors of Perception:

Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything

By Tim O’Shea

Original: TheDoctorWithin 

Excerpted from: Rense  

[. . .] It is an exhausting and endless task to keep explaining to people how most issues of conventional wisdom are scientifically implanted in the public consciousness by a thousand media clips per day. In an effort to save time, I would like to provide just a little background on the handling of information in this country. Once the basic principles are illustrated about how our current system of media control arose historically, the reader might be more apt to question any given popular opinion. 

If everybody believes something, it’s probably wrong. We call that Conventional Wisdom. 

In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it. 

[. . .] During the next several decades, Bernays and his colleagues evolved the principles by which masses of people could be generally swayed through messages repeated over and over hundreds of times. Once the value of media became apparent, other countries of the world tried to follow our lead. But Bernays really was the gold standard. Josef Goebbels, who was Hitler’s minister of propaganda, studied the principles of Edward Bernays when Goebbels was developing the popular rationale he would use to convince the Germans that they had to purify their race. (Stauber) 

[. . .] LESSON #1 

Bernays learned early on that the most effective way to create credibility for a product or an image was by “independent third-party” endorsement. For example, if General Motors were to come out and say that global warming is a hoax thought up by some liberal tree-huggers, people would suspect GM’s motives, since GM’s fortune is made by selling automobiles. If however some independent research institute with a very credible sounding name like the Global Climate Coalition comes out with a scientific report that says global warming is really a fiction, people begin to get confused and to have doubts about the original issue. 

So that’s exactly what Bernays did. With a policy inspired by genius, he set up “more institutes and foundations than Rockefeller and Carnegie combined.” (Stauber p 45) Quietly financed by the industries whose products were being evaluated, these “independent” research agencies would churn out “scientific” studies and press materials that could create any image their handlers wanted. Such front groups are given high-sounding names like:

Temperature Research Foundation International Food Information Council Consumer Alert The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition Air Hygiene Foundation Industrial Health Federation International Food Information Council Manhattan Institute Center for Produce Quality Tobacco Institute Research Council Cato Institute American Council on Science and Health Global Climate Coalition Alliance for Better Foods 

Sound legit don’t they?

[. . .] They learned quickly that mob psychology must focus on emotion, not facts. Since the mob is incapable of rational thought, motivation must be based not on logic but on presentation. Here are some of the axioms of the new science of PR: 

* technology is a religion unto itself * if people are incapable of rational thought, real democracy is dangerous * important decisions should be left to experts * when reframing issues, stay away from substance; create images * never state a clearly demonstrable lie 

Words are very carefully chosen for their emotional impact. Here’s an example. A front group called the International Food Information Council handles the public’s natural aversion to genetically modified foods. Trigger words are repeated all through the text. Now in the case of GM foods, the public is instinctively afraid of these experimental new creations which have suddenly popped up on our grocery shelves which are said to have DNA alterations. The IFIC wants to reassure the public of the safety of GM foods, so it avoids words like: 

Frankenfoods Hitler biotech chemical DNA experiments manipulate money safety scientists radiation roulette gene-splicing gene gun random  

Instead, good PR for GM foods contains words like: 

hybrids natural order beauty choice bounty cross-breeding diversity earth farmer organic wholesome.  

It’s basic Freudian/Tony Robbins word association. The fact that GM foods are not hybrids that have been subjected to the slow and careful scientific methods of real cross-breeding doesn’t really matter. This is pseudoscience, not science. Form is everything and substance just a passing myth. (Trevanian)

Who do you think funds the International Food Information Council?

Take a wild guess. Right - Monsanto, DuPont, Frito-Lay, Coca Cola, Nutrasweet - those in a position to make fortunes from GM foods. (Stauber p 20)

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD PROPAGANDA

As the science of mass control evolved, PR firms developed further guidelines for effective copy. Here are some of the gems:

- dehumanize the attacked party by labeling and name-calling

- speak in glittering generalities using emotionally positive words

- when covering something up, don’t use plain English; stall for time; distract

- get endorsements from celebrities, churches, sports figures, street people…anyone who has no expertise in the subject at hand 

- the ‘plain folks’ ruse: us billionaires are just like you

- when minimizing outrage, don’t say anything memorable

- when minimizing outrage, point out the benefits of what just happened

- when minimizing outrage, avoid moral issues (emphasis WFI) 

Entire Piece

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It doesn’t make sense. Why are children being introduced to matters in the public schools that do not have an impact on education? Whether parents agree that a gay lifestyle is acceptable, these are still topics that should not be “universal learning”. I know homosexuality is a fact of life for some and that many students think ‘Jerry Springer’ promotes glamour, but keeping the focus on sex has proven to be detrimental.

Sheer insanity, but Matt Barber offers suggestions below with links to “Day of Truth” and others in an effort to counter this latest unGodly grab for our children.

Romans 1:24-27 ~ “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”

2Tomothy 3:16~ “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

~WordForIt

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Matt Barber

AmericanDaily

Can you imagine officials at a middle school, junior high or high school setting aside a day to promote “tolerance” for heavy smoking and drinking among children? How about a day where teachers encourage kids to “embrace who they are”, pick up that crack pipe and give it a stiff toke? 

Neither can I. The public would go ballistic, and for good reason. 

But that hasn’t stopped officials in thousands of schools across the country from promoting other politically correct and socially “in-vogue” behaviors that - both statistically and manifestly - are every bit as dangerous as the aforementioned frowned-upon behaviors.

That’s exactly what the homosexual activist “Day of Silence” is all about - advancing, through clever, feel-good propaganda, full acceptance among children of the homosexual lifestyle. 

Just the Facts Ma’am

By recently admitting that “HIV is a gay disease,” Matt Foreman, outgoing Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, acknowledged what the medical community has known for decades: the homosexual lifestyle is extremely high-risk and often leads to disease and even death.

In fact, multiple studies have established that homosexual conduct, especially among males, is considerably more hazardous to one’s health than a lifetime of chain smoking.

To the consternation of “gay” activist flat-earthers and homosexual AIDS holocaust deniers everywhere, one such study - conducted by pro-”gay” researchers in Canada - was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE) in 1997.

While the medical consensus is that smoking knocks from two to 10 years off an individual’s life expectancy, the IJE study found that homosexual conduct shortens the lifespan of “gays” by an astounding “8 to 20 years” - more than twice that of smoking.

“[U]nder even the most liberal assumptions,” concluded the study, “gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871. …. [L]ife expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men.”

This morose reality makes a strong case for a fitting redefinition of so-called “homophobia,” that being “Homophobia:  The rational fear that ‘gay sex’ will kill you!”

The fact that we don’t have mandatory surgeon general warnings on the side of condom wrappers is a testament to the power and influence wielded by the radical homosexual lobby.  (Warning: Male-male anal sodomy has been proven to shorten your lifespan by up to 20 years.)

Not surprisingly, that same homosexual lobby and its codependent enablers in the mainstream media moved quickly to sweep the IJE study under the rug.  Under tremendous pressure, the researchers who conducted the study even jumped into the political damage control fray issuing a statement which read, “[W]e do not condone the use of our research in a manner that restricts the political or human rights of gay and bisexual men or any other group.”

Yeah, so?

Of course, that’s all just worthless fluff.  All the political spin in the world doesn’t change reality, nor does it eliminate the study’s disturbing conclusions or practical implications.  The research left ZERO wiggle room for anyone who would argue that homosexuality is a “perfectly normal and healthy alternative sexual orientation.”

The risks associated with homosexual conduct are so drastic, in fact, that U.S. health regulations prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have had sex with MSM, from even donating blood.

Consider that, according to the Food and Drug Administration, MSM, “have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8,000 times higher than repeat blood donors.”

Adults and children who engage in homosexual conduct, especially males, are also susceptible, at an astronomical rate, to nearly all other forms of sexually transmitted disease (STD).  For example, the Hepatitis B virus is about five to six times more prevalent among “gays,” and Hepatitis C is twice as common.

But perhaps most shocking are today’s syphilis rates among homosexual men and adolescents.  A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that although homosexuals comprise only a fraction of the population (one to two percent), they account for an epidemic 64 percent of all syphilis cases.

The “Day of Silence”

In light of the irrefutable medical facts, it should be considered criminally reckless for educators to teach children that homosexual conduct is a normal, safe and perfectly acceptable alternative form of sexual expression (or “sexual orientation”). 

But instead, the “gay” lifestyle is vigorously promoted in our public schools.  Sexually confused children who suffer from gender identity disorder and same-sex attractions are told to “embrace who they are,” and are encouraged to entertain deviant and dangerous sexual temptations.  “But always use a condom!” liberal educators bellow.  (Forget that condoms have a perilously high failure rate and are incapable of preventing numerous STDs such as the HPV virus.)

On April 25, 2008, the pro-homosexual indoctrination of your children comes to a boil.  Homosexual activists and like-minded liberal educators will be pushing the so-called “Day of Silence” on kids in thousands of schools across the country.

The “Day of Silence” (DOS) is organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), one of the most militant and well-funded of the powerful homosexual pressure groups.  DOS purports to confront the alleged systematic harassment and bullying of children who self-identify as homosexual, bisexual or “transgender.” (For a sampling of the kinds of things GLSEN teaches children, click here.  Be warned, though.  It’s pretty graphic.)

To be sure, bullying and harassment should not be tolerated against anyone, anywhere for any reason, and those who engage in such activities should be firmly disciplined.  However, DOS has very little to do with “bullying” and has everything to do with propaganda. 

During DOS, children and teachers are encouraged to disrupt the school day by refusing to speak, in a show of support to self-described “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” students.  Kids are additionally taught that Biblical truth, which holds that human sexuality is a gift from God shared between husband and wife within the bonds of marriage, is “homophobic,” “hateful” and “discriminatory.”

Our schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places of political indoctrination.  It’s the height of impropriety and cynicism for “gay” activists and school officials to use good-hearted but misguided children as pawns in their attempt to further a deceptive, highly controversial and polarizing political agenda.

DOS is pure, unadulterated propaganda and, based on the medical science, amounts to nothing short of educational malpractice.  With liberal school officials in tow, these militant homosexual activists are brazenly circumventing and abusing parental authority to further this dangerous political agenda.  DOS is also a slap in the face to the many students with traditional moral values.

So, it’s time for the “Day of Silence” to finally live up to its name.  It’s time for these radical adult activists to be silent in our children’s schools.

And you can to do something to help.

At DOS-participating schools all over the country, parents are joining with dozens of pro-family organizations, such as Concerned Women for America (CWA), in a “Day of Silence Walkout.” They’re keeping their kids home from school on DOS as a show of protest.  (For more information visit http://www.missionamerica.com). 

Parents and children are also strongly encouraged to participate in the Alliance Defense Fund’s non-disruptive “Day of Truth,” which will follow DOS on Monday, April 28, 2008.  (For more information visit http://www.dayoftruth.org).

Children are impressionable.  Their young minds are fresh clay ready for molding, and these adult homosexual activists know it.  Your child’s spiritual, emotional and physical well-being belongs in your hands, not in the hands of liberal activists and elitist educators with a deceptive and destructive political agenda.

It’s time to shatter the silence with truth.

Matt Barber (e-mail)

Matt Barber is one of the “like-minded men” with Concerned Women for America. He is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law and serves as CWA’s policy director for cultural issues.

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Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC News

Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth. Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers. The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice. One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca’s was in perfect alignment to magnetic north. He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed. A prominent cleric, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy, said modern science had at last provided evidence that Mecca was the true centre of the Earth; proof, he said, of the greatness of the Muslim “qibla” - the Arabic word for the direction Muslims turn to when they pray. The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim. The watch is said to rotate anti-clockwise and is supposed to help Muslims determine the direction of Mecca from any point on Earth. The meeting in Qatar is part of a popular trend in some Muslim societies of seeking to find Koranic precedents for modern science. It is called “Ijaz al-Koran”, which roughly translates as the “miraculous nature of the holy text”. The underlying belief is that scientific truths were also revealed in the Muslim holy book, and it is the work of scholars to unearth and publicize the textual evidence.

Source:NewMediaJournal Editor’s Note: It’s 11:59:59…do you know where your freedom is?

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As much effort as it was to get the GMT set correctly for this blog? No way! Let’s see what comes of this one. Are we berated as racists or are we going to be bullied with suicide bombers? Better get the clocks properly set so the world knows what time to bow. Or, do we just buy the Mecca watch?

I’m being facetious, of course, but the concessions and accommodations for Islam are wearing thin, especially when it’s being taught in US public schools and expected to be revered over all else.

Will some decide that Islam ‘ain’t so bad’ or will they miss the good ol’ days when Christians begged for them to receive salvation? The days are dwindling fast and I catch myself automatically watching the heavens these days. 

Please, for your sake, not mine or anyone else’s, spend some time seeking Jesus. Not the Jesus that elevates self to a god and not the Jesus who only counts if the words are in red ink (who do you think made the ink red?).  Do you understand the concept of ‘eternity’? Here’s a good place to start: ChristNotes.

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Democrats Pennsylvania Brawl Intensifies

David Wright

ABCNews 

[. . .] “This has gotten so bad this year, I’m not sure people can forget about it and put it behind themselves after Tuesday,” said Joe Morgan, a Democratic committeeman for Berks County.

He said the supporters are worse than the candidates when it comes to vindictive attacks.

“The bitterness and anger they have toward people who are not supporting their candidate is something I have never seen before,” he said.

Morgan has been writing his own blog on the race, so at first he decided to remain neutral. He said Obama fans in particular were incensed with him for doing so. His tires were slashed and a complaint was lodged with the Internet service provider for his blog. Morgan is now supporting Clinton. (Emphasis WFI)

Entire Piece

Any who have had the displeasure of being deluged with Obama commenters will know exactly the kind of nastiness they are capable of exhibiting. Disgusting as the low standards set by the Obama campaign are, these ‘disciples’ thrive on wallowing! It’s actually pitiful to watch them be so blindly led to the cliff, clamoring to be the first to jump. ~ WFI

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What’s the Matter With Obama?

Robert Novak

RealClearPolitics 

[. . . } Now, they wonder whether the appealing unifier is really a divider.

Obama is trying to change the subject, but he lost his cool demeanor when ABC News questioners Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos returned to his San Francisco statement (among other difficult issues) in Wednesday's debate. In watching campaign debates dating back to Kennedy-Nixon in 1960, I never before had seen a candidate criticize the moderator or challenge his premises so often (on at least eight occasions). "Look, let me finish my point here, Charlie," said Obama, after Gibson had interrupted him following a 126-word answer.

The other unprecedented element was the deluge of abuse heaped on the two ABC moderators by reporters on the media, television critics and political writers. They object to prolonging what amounts to a debate on "What's wrong with Obama?" Exploring whether Barack Obama is a modified Thomas Frank does not depend on television talking heads or Hillary Clinton. Supporters of John McCain, seeking to reel back the Obama Republicans, will press the issue from now to November.

Entire Piece 

He's so full of himself and sure that everyone is interested in the roar in his head, he wants to tell his lies before he forgets. As far as I'm concerned, Charlie and George asked the questions most of us have been waiting to hear brought to a large audience. The Obamites are not going to want to hear, "I told you so" and we don't want to hear ourselves say it, so, please listen to the warnings! ~WFI 

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About Obama's Terrorist Acquaintance

Steve Chapman

 ChicagoTribune

[. . .] It’s not as though Ayers and Dohrn have denied or repudiated their crimes. After emerging from years in hiding, they escaped federal prosecution because of government misconduct in gathering evidence, but they don’t pretend they were innocent. In 2001, Ayers said, “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”

Dohrn has likewise rationalized the explosions, claiming that “our acts of resistance were tiny and symbolic.” She even went to prison for refusing to testify about an armored-car robbery involving her confederates. That crime was not tiny or symbolic to the two police officers or the security guard who were shot to death in the process.

All this is public record, and Barack Obama would have to be in a coma not to know it. Yet he showed no qualms about consorting with Ayers and Dohrn.

It’s hard to imagine he would be so indulgent if we learned that John McCain had a long association with a former Klansman who used to terrorize African-Americans. Obama’s conduct exposes a moral blind spot about these onetime terrorists, who get a pass because they a) fall on the left end of the spectrum and b) haven’t planted any bombs lately.

You can tell a lot about someone from his choice of friends. What this friendship reveals is that when it comes to practicing sound moral hygiene, Obama has work to do and no interest in doing it.

Steve Chapman is a member of the Tribune’s editorial board. E-mail: schapman@tribune.com

Entire Piece

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There are so many bits of information about Obama that string together to present an ugly and terrifying mosaic, I wonder how this man is still a candidate. From his revealed childhood with antiAmerican influences to aligning himself with questionable individuals as an adult, he is none-the less confident in being able to sell himself to “stupid Americans”. He’ll even use an embellished food stamp story to sound like he accomplished something!

He’s too inconsiderate and self-absorbed to realize his ‘bird-flipping’ is an insult to the integrity and intellect of the entire United States population. It’s even a low blow to everyone who is blind-drunk on his kool aid.  All that adulation has convinced him he’s so cool and so suave that protocol doesn’t apply. His low standards are not what we need more of and his opinion of Americans is obviously one of someone who does not care what happens to us as a country. As I’ve stated before, no one is more divisive in the presidential campaign than Obama. ~WFI

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CL-Please read all of the information provided and continue to educate yourself. This is a serious matter and another reason to vote against Obama the non-unifier. ~WordForIt

Cliff Kincaid AIM

AmericanDaily

[. . .] One of Barack Obama’s mentors, Frank Marshall Davis, was a member of the Communist Party USA and filled a young Obama, before he went off to college, with anti-American thoughts and ideas.

[. . .] Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has endorsed Obama for president.

Conyers’ bill to create a “Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans” was first introduced in 1989. He praised N’COBRA in a statement he issued in 1999 and sponsored a subsequent event, “Capitalizing on Our Strength Empowering the Reparations Movement,” featuring a representative of N’COBRA.

The issue became so big that the CBS Evening News, then hosted by Dan Rather, did a story about the controversy, highlighting the fact that the Chicago City Council had become the fourth major city to pass a resolution calling for reparations. 

Randall Robinson, the director of the group known as Trans Africa, wrote a book, The Debt, on the subject, and hosted a conference on reparations featuring such luminaries as actor Danny Glover.

One thing is certain: Carruthers is hoping for an Obama win. Federal Election Commission records show that she gave his Illinois Senate campaign $500 and his presidential campaign $2,300. 

Another thing is certain: The Hill newspaper reports that Conyers hopes to move his reparations commission bill when Obama is in the White House. The paper said, however, that Conyers “has not called on the senator to endorse his measure because ‘I don’t want to put him on the spot.’” The Hill said that Obama’s campaign “did not respond to requests for information about the senator’s position on the bill.”

Read Entire Piece here or here

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Further Study:

Library of Congress~ H.R. 40

H.R. 40: Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act **Links to above Library of Congress page. “Citizen Joe” site—Recommended!

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Slavery Reparations - The Ultimate Prize 

 Elizabeth Wright Issues & Views

Global Politician

What are black youth to make of the adults around them who insist that their life chances are “limited” due to the enslavement of their ancestors, the segregation of their ancestors, and the mistreatment of their ancestors? Should they assume that all the black men and women who have lived since those troublesome times were powerless to construct productive lives beyond those past ordeals? Should they assume that they too are just as powerless to move beyond this past adversity, unless and until bundles of money, this time in the form of official “reparations” for the labor of those ancestors, are delivered to them?

As readers have learned from the pages of Issues & Views, in the years much closer to slavery than we now live, blacks founded and ran their own towns, owned and prospered on millions of dollars worth of land, formed so many successful businesses that it necessitated formation of the National Negro Business League, directed their own schools and colleges–all of this long before the 1950s. [. . .] 

Read Entire Piece

Elizabeth Wright is an African-American writer and editor of the Issues & Views Magazine and blog. Her articles were also published in Issues & Views.

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Black Slaveowners  

Robert M. Grooms

AmericanCivilWar

[. . .] In the rare instances when the ownership of slaves by free Negroes is acknowledged in the history books, justification centers on the claim that black slave masters were simply individuals who purchased the freedom of a spouse or child from a white slaveholder and had been unable to legally manumit them. Although this did indeed happen at times, it is a misrepresentation of the majority of instances, one which is debunked by records of the period on blacks who owned slaves. These include individuals such as Justus Angel and Mistress L. Horry, of Colleton District, South Carolina, who each owned 84 slaves in 1830. In fact, in 1830 a fourth of the free Negro slave masters in South Carolina owned 10 or more slaves; eight owning 30 or more (2).

[. . .] In 1860 William Ellison was South Carolina’s largest Negro slaveowner. In Black Masters. A Free Family of Color in the Old South, authors Michael P. Johnson and James L. Roak write a sympathetic account of Ellison’s life. From Ellison’s birth as a slave to his death at 71, the authors attempt to provide justification, based on their own speculation, as to why a former slave would become a magnate slave master

 [. . .] Although lawmakers of the time could not envision the incredibly vast public welfare structures of a later age, these stipulations became law in order to prevent slaveholders from freeing individuals who would become a burden on the general public.

Interestingly, considering today’s accounts of life under slavery, authors Johnson and Roak report instances where free Negroes petitioned to be allowed to become slaves; this because they were unable to support themselves.

[. . .] Ellison was so successful, due to his utilization of cheap slave labor, that many white competitors went out of business. Such situations discredit impressions that whites dealt only with other whites. Where money was involved, it was apparent that neither Ellison’s race or former status were considerations.

Read Entire Piece

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“Slavery reparations” brings to mind the bitter ex-spouse who typically cannot stop hating and continues to cling to all the wrongs committed in a relationship turned sour. They are the ones who will attempt to project hatred of the other parent to their children, too self-absorbed to recognize the poison of self-loathing being instilled. I have seen circumstances in which they continue to harass and sue until a wise judge puts a stop to the insanity and tells them to take responsibility for themselves and move forward.  

The ones pushing the reparations agenda are now claiming “Post-Traumatic Slavery Syndrome”. We do not have to look any further than places like Obama’s church to find the origins of this so-called trauma—it’s called perpetuating hate! ~WordForIt

                 ***************

By Harry Stein

FrontPageMagazine 

With race looming as a key issue in the fall elections-perhaps a pivotal one, assuming that Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee-diehard defenders of the racial status quo are going to unprecedented lengths to prevent voters from having their say on government-sponsored racial preferences. Leftist activists are lining up to fight four state ballot initiatives that, if passed on November 4, will outlaw preferential treatment based on race, gender, and national origin in public university admissions as well as government hiring and contracting. Knowing that such anti-preference initiatives enjoy strong public support-in fact, they have already passed overwhelmingly in three of the nation’s bluest states-the activists have zero interest in waging these fights on the merits. Rather, their goal is to keep the initiatives off the ballot by any means necessary, up to and including political chicanery and outright physical intimidation.

The states where anti-preferences forces are aiming to be on the ballot are Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska. Leading the campaign, dubbed “Super Tuesday for Equal Rights,” is California businessman Ward Connerly, long the nation’s leading advocate for colorblind government policies. In 1996, Connerly launched the first such measure, the California Civil Rights Initiative, or Proposition 209; he was drawn to the issue by his realization, as a trustee of the state’s university system, that race was routinely the key determinant in whether a student was accepted or rejected at California’s public colleges. Following a bruising campaign, marked by Prop. 209 opponents’ relentlessly attacking supporters as racist, the initiative passed by 8 points. Two years later, a near-identical measure won by 16 points in Washington State. And in 2006, despite a powerful Democratic tide, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative likewise passed by a decisive 58 to 42 percent.

In fact, so powerfully does the issue resonate with voters as a matter of elementary fairness that its support everywhere cuts across traditional party lines. In liberal Washington State, for example, the anti-preferences initiative was backed not only by 80 percent of Republicans and 62 percent of independents, but by 41 percent of Democrats; this in the face of liberal opposition that-abetted by such local corporate behemoths as Eddie Bauer, Microsoft, and Starbucks-massively outspent supporters of the measure. The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative similarly passed despite the fierce opposition of a liberal-left coalition of 180 groups, ranging from the League of Women Voters and the United Auto Workers to the Arab-American Institute. After the Michigan initiative’s passage, the leader of the most radical of the opposition groups, By Any Means Necessary, declared that the only way to stop anti-preference measures was to ensure that they never reached the voters.

While Connerly’s troops have gone about the difficult and costly process of placing the state initiatives on the ballot this November, preference defenders have seized on unprincipled strategies to block them, focusing in particular on two swing states with large minority populations: Colorado and Missouri. In Colorado, the pro-preference side first mounted a series of challenges to the legal basis of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), alleging that it deceptively misappropriated the term “civil rights” and also claiming that “preferences” did not in and of themselves equal “discrimination”-so that in seeking to outlaw both, the measure supposedly violated the state’s “single-subject” rule governing ballot initiatives.

When these arguments failed to pass muster with the electoral commission and state courts, preference defenders tried an even more novel approach, deceptive in intent yet heavy-handed in execution: a ballot initiative of their own, a shadow version of the anti-preference measure clearly intended to confuse voters. Indeed, its first sentence is identical to that of the anti-preference measure: “Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution concerning a prohibition against discrimination by the state, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, and public contracting?” But as Connerly notes, “it proceeds in the second sentence to say that, notwithstanding the first sentence, any public agency in Colorado would be free to leave preferences intact.”

After considerable back-and-forth, the state’s title board disallowed the language in the shadow amendment, and preference supporters are currently trying to come up with alternative wording. But given the need to submit upward of 76,000 valid signatures to place an initiative on the state ballot, the clock is running out. Meanwhile, CCRI supporters have already submitted 50,000 more signatures than required, so the genuine anti-preferences initiative will definitely be on the ballot.

So, almost certainly, will the measures in Nebraska and in John McCain’s home state of Arizona. Connerly remains confident about Missouri as well, though the opposition there has been even more aggressive in its tactics. Democratic secretary of state Robin Carnahan, charged with what is normally the routine certification of ballot measures, instead went to work on this one, eliminating its straightforward language, derived from that of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and substituting wording that pleads the other side’s case. The question, as she wanted to pose it to voters, was whether to amend the state’s constitution to “ban affirmative action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contracting, employment and education.” So egregious was this subterfuge that a liberal county circuit judge took the unprecedented step of throwing out Carnahan’s rewrite and reinstating the original language almost intact.

Still, as Connerly observes, “all the forces of the Left are converging in Missouri-Acorn and the rest of the race industry, the feminists, the unions, the contractors who feed off this stuff-and George Soros is providing a lot of the funding. They’re enlisting the whole vast left-wing conspiracy-and, believe me, it’s a lot vaster than the supposed right-wing one.” The ugliness is most evident on the streets, where supporters of the ballot initiative are busy gathering signatures. Opponents’ chief tactic is to use “blockers”-often burly union men-to shadow signature gatherers and scare off potential signers by charging not only that the initiative is racist and has the support of the Ku Klux Klan, but also that the signers risk identity theft. In addition, the pro-preferences sources have dispatched their people to sign petitions with false names and addresses, so that they will be invalidated later.

Earlier this year, such methods took their toll in Oklahoma, which was to be the fifth state holding such an initiative and where, with the measure polling at close to 90 percent, it would surely have won. In the end, though, the number of signatures gathered exceeded the required number by only a few thousand. Since typically only 72 percent of any petition’s signatures are valid, and since the ACLU and NAACP were importing teams to challenge every one, Connerly chose not to proceed. “We had a choice of spending a quarter of a million dollars to defend the signatures we had, with the likelihood of not succeeding,” he says, “or fight another day. Eventually we’ll have to sue to change that process.” But Oklahoma is a special case, with the toughest ballot requirements anywhere: all signature gatherers must be state residents, and they have a mere 90 days to get an unusually high number of signatures.

Connerly is taking no chances in Missouri. The fight against Carnahan’s rewrite of the initiative ate up considerable time, and with a May 4 deadline looming, he has put out a call for opponents of racial preferences to come to the state over the next few weeks and lend a hand. “I don’t blame the Democrats for being scared of these initiatives,” he says with understatement, “especially on the heels of Jeremiah Wright.”

Though the racial-preference ballot measures are officially nonpartisan, they stand to make a dramatic impact on the fall campaign. With the question of racial preferences effectively nationalized by its presence on multiple state ballots, neither party’s presidential candidate will be able to evade the issue. While this might pose a dilemma for McCain-who, like most Republicans, has long shied away from the topic and might worry about jeopardizing Hispanic support-it could be catastrophic for Obama. As Connerly says, “This is a guy who’s tried awfully hard for a long time not to appear what he is-just another left-winger who supports preferences.”

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This is one of the topics of which we cannot seem to get straight answers! Why do we have to ’shy away’ from something that has been misinterpreted, misused, abused and created the very type of discrimination it was intended to eliminate? Anyone who wants to can understand the racism of affirmative action as it is today! 

With the Obamas as examples of the arrogance and ingratitude it foments, all the more reason to remove preferences. If you do something to elevate me and all I glean is that you consider me incapable on my own, what good has been done for either (except for my large paycheck)? 

It’s bad enough that schools are attempting to indoctrinate students with racial dicta;, we don’t have to give validation.

As for jobs or any other arenas where unqualified individuals benefit, what happened to earning a ticket? No excuse for expecting or accepting less.  

Thank you, Mr. Connerly! ~WFI

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Condescending Remarks Reveal Obama’s True Feelings About Faith, Firearms and Working-Class Voters

Source: Center for Individual Freedom 

Remember Herman’s Head, the Fox sitcom that ran from 1991 to 1994?

That unusual but short-lived show centered upon an everyman named Herman, whose unremarkable life provided little novelty. Its premise, however, was unique because most scenes actually occurred inside his brain, with four distinct characters representing different psychological elements vying to control his behavior. Each personified psychological trait battled ruthlessly each episode and jockeyed for dominance, nakedly revealing Herman’s inner thoughts and feelings in the process.

Like Herman, Senator Barack Obama nakedly revealed his inner beliefs regarding faith, firearms and working-class voters this month while speaking before a Chardonnay audience in San Francisco.

At that April 6 event, Senator Obama was lamenting to the limousine liberal audience his inconvenience in having to court rural, poorer Pennsylvania voters. In doing so, he condescendingly observed, “it’s not surprising, then, that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

As an initial observation, it is rich of Obama to impugn “anti-trade sentiment,” when he has gladly played the role of Grand Marshal in the parade denouncing free trade during this campaign.

More fundamentally, however, Obama’s comments expose his elitist, condescending beliefs regarding the right to keep and bear arms, religion’s role in our lives and his esteem of middle-class voters generally.

By initially characterizing such voters as “bitter,” Senator Obama disdainfully ascribes sinister motives to them, establishing a premise that their primitive beliefs derive more from visceral anger than from any sincere, logical principle. He also mocks the issues of religion and guns, suggesting that people would abandon them like useless clutter as soon as their income levels improved.

To suggest this, or to imply that there are no respectable reasons to “cling” to religious beliefs or the right to keep and bear arms apart from mindless bitterness, Obama degrades principles that the Founding Fathers considered so important that they were enshrined in the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution.

Even worse, Senator Obama implicitly associates faith and gun rights with rank bigotry and irrationality. After all, are we to believe that it was mere coincidence that he listed “guns” and “religion” alongside “antipathy to people who aren’t like them” and “anti-immigrant sentiment” as beliefs to which less-enlightened people “cling?”

Obama now claims that his comments were taken out of context, but his initial reaction to the controversy suggests otherwise. When first confronted with his own remarks, he confided to aides that he couldn’t understand why anyone took offense to his remarks, and dismissed it as a “little typical sort of political flare-up because I said something that everybody knows is true.”

With specific regard to guns, Senator Obama deceptively claims to support an individual right to keep and bear arms, but his actual record clearly demonstrates the contrary.

Back in 1996, before liberals realized that advocating gun control constituted political suicide, Senator Obama endorsed a complete ban on handguns in a campaign questionnaire. Although Obama suspiciously protests that he “never saw or approved the questionnaire,” it turned out to contain his own handwritten notes. In 1999, he advocated a nationwide prohibition against gun stores within five miles of any school or park, a devious plan that would effectively expel firearms retailers from every city across the United States. After all, can one imagine a five-mile radius in any metropolitan area that doesn’t contain at least one school or park? And as recently as 2004, Obama voted against legislation providing legal immunity against prosecution for residents who used a handgun for self-defense on one’s own property.

That same year, he also advocated a nationwide prohibition against concealed-carry permits, which have done so much to reduce crime and enable citizens to exercise their natural right of self-defense in the 39 states that have passed them.

Although Senator Obama’s website alleges that he supports the Second Amendment’s individual right to keep and bear arms, he also admitted to the Chicago Tribune that he considers the infamous Washington, D.C. gun ban constitutional because “local communities should be able to enact common-sense laws.” But if the D.C. gun ban, which almost completely prohibits possession of an effective firearm, is “common-sense” in his mind, what possible gun restriction would not fit his definition?

Senator Obama apparently believes that voters aren’t intelligent enough to catch the inconsistency of his positions, reinforcing his condescending persona.

Indeed, Obama’s April 6 comments in San Francisco probe new depths in condescension. Time will tell whether he pays the same price that such Democratic candidates as Adlai Stevenson, Michael Dukakis and John Kerry paid for similar condescension.

Source: Center for Individual Freedom 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.- Josh Gerstein - Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.

“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.”

The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.

“You can’t eat this every day. It’s too heavy,” a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. “We only need one bag but I’m getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it,” the elder man said.

The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.

“Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said.

Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.

An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled.

The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious trouble to come.

“It’s sporadic. It’s not every store, but it’s becoming more commonplace,” the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, James Rawles, said. “The number of reports I’ve been getting from readers who have seen signs posted with limits has increased almost exponentially, I’d say in the last three to five weeks.”

Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of a new contract for foreign rice sales.

“I’m surprised the Bush administration hasn’t slapped export controls on wheat,” Mr. Rawles said. “The Asian countries are here buying every kind of wheat.” Mr. Rawles said it is hard to know how much of the shortages are due to lagging supply and how much is caused by consumers hedging against future price hikes or a total lack of product.

“There have been so many stories about worldwide shortages that it encourages people to stock up. What most people don’t realize is that supply chains have changed, so inventories are very short,” Mr. Rawles, a former Army intelligence officer, said. “Even if people increased their purchasing by 20%, all the store shelves would be wiped out.”

At the moment, large chain retailers seem more prone to shortages and limits than do smaller chains and mom-and-pop stores, perhaps because store managers at the larger companies have less discretion to increase prices locally. Mr. Rawles said the spot shortages seemed to be most frequent in the Northeast and all the way along the West Coast. He said he had heard reports of buying limits at Sam’s Club warehouses, which are owned by Wal-Mart Stores, but a spokesman for the company, Kory Lundberg, said he was not aware of any shortages or limits.

An anonymous high-tech professional writing on an investment Web site, Seeking Alpha, said he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of rice at Costco. “I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption,” he wrote.

For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. “At our neighborhood store, it’s very expensive, more than $30″ for a 25-pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, said. “I’m not going to pay $30. Maybe we’ll just eat bread.”

Source:  NYSun

BY JOSH GERSTEIN (author archives) - Staff Reporter of the Sun

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When I worked in the food industry, vast amounts of food was thrown out consistently, by customers and businesses. At the end of the day, excess prepared food would have fed several who may not have had a meal that day but, due to risks of lawsuits (e.g.,food poisoning, allergies), we were forced to discard an unGodly amount.

Wastefulness and gluttony are behaviors I strive to be conscious of not practicing, so you can  imagine how much it bothered me to watch the food waste. I honestly don’t see how any other attitude is acceptable.

Believers of God’s promises and Jesus’ return are prepared and know there is nothing to be alarmed about; mass hysteria will come from the scoffers who continue to reject the idea of God’s plan. This is an alert of the times in which we are living. Bless God.

We continue to pray for all. ~WordForIt

“The Last Trance” « Grace County

Never has it been more imperative for the saints to have discernment that can only come from a close relationship with the Lord Jesus and having his word hidden in our hearts.

II Corinthians 11:13-14 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

As if the images from television aren’t deceptive enough, the internet takes things to a whole new level. Here, instead of passive observance, people are prompted to interract via electronic means which brings up another thing that I’ve been pondering lately. The interraction between man and machine is reaching incredible levels; even to the point that, in many instances, voice commands are all that’s required. It’s as though the defining line between man and machine is also becoming obscured. As I watch those around me; even Christians, it becomes astonishing that very few ( I mean VERY few) realize what’s taking place. The world is being conditioned to believe a lie and receive a mark. The strong delusions mentioned in II Thessalonians 2:11are underway as the wheat and chaff are soon to part company.

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Please visit Grace County from the link above for the rest of this current and timely post, along with many others. Timbob walks close to Jesus and offers teachings straight from Scripture to help us stay alert and aware of the times in which we are living. We are inundated with news and distractions from every direction; Timbob reminds to be about our Father’s business, allowing Him to control our thoughts and activities, rather than worldly matters. A true blessing and reinforcement in faith. Again, very current and timely messages to truly bless and sustain. ~WordforIt