On Healing Wings: A person who is a good and a true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities and deploring and avoiding those who, ‘though they knew God did not glorify him as God or give thanks but became enfeebled in their own thoughts and plunged their senseless minds into darkness. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the image of corruptible mortals and animals and reptiles.’
Augustine, On Christian Teaching
Senin, 31 Desember 2012
On Healing Wings
On Healing Wings: A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom; and that it is by God’s power that he is upheld and provided for, and that he needs God’s wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for Him.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Minggu, 30 Desember 2012
Payback! Hundreds of Homeowners Associations Threaten Banks With Foreclosure by Laura Gottesdiener
Florida is one of the states hardest hit by foreclosures, and there are nearly a half-million foreclosed houses now standing vacant and often slowly deteriorating. When a bank forecloses on a house, evicts the family and then repossesses the property, it also assumes responsibility for maintaining the home and yard and paying homeowner or condo association fees. Yet, some of the nation’s largest and richest banks have been unable or unwilling to upkeep their properties – prompting neighbors across Florida to declare enough is enough.
via lewrockwell.com
Happening everywhere in Florida. http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Setting Up Wordpress
Infographic on how to set up a self-hosted Wordpress blog: Like this infographic? Get more WordPress and hosting tips from Synthesis.
Obsessed by Megalomania: Interview with Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Are taxes nothing but protection money? The state a kind of mafia? Democracy a fraud? Philosopher Hans-Hermann Hoppe is not only considered one of the most prominent pioneering intellectuals of the libertarian movement, but also perhaps the sharpest critic of the Western political system.
via lewrockwell.com
And the protection is lame. http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Jumat, 28 Desember 2012
Retiring Rep. Ron Paul Becomes First Republican To Rip NRA’s Plan for Armed Guards at Schools, Saying That It Would Create 'Orwellian Surveillance State'
Outgoing Republican Senator Ron Paul from Texas took on the National Rifle Association this week, arguing that the gun lobby's recent proposal to place armed guards at every U.S. school is 'just another kind of violence.'
via lewrockwell.com
A sane voice. http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Tools of Tyranny: Andrew P. Napolitano
NAPOLITANO: Right. Right. He, of course, jailed newspaper publishers who disagreed with him. But this jailing people who failed to defend him, of course, was absurd. I mean, he was a tyrant and a dictator.
via lewrockwell.com
For Lincoln defenders. http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Sweden’s War on Cash Runs Into a Wall – and a Heroic Bank by Joseph T. Salerno
The war on cash in Sweden may be stalling. The anti-cash movement has been vigorously promoted by major Swedish commercial banks as well as the Riksbank, the Swedish central bank. In fact, for three of the four major Swedish banks combined, 530 of their 780 office no longer accept or pay out cash. In the case of the Nordea Bank, 200 of its 300 branches are now cashless, and three-quarters of Swedbank’s branches no longer handle cash. As Peter Borsos, a spokesman for Swedbank, freely admits, his bank is working “actively to reduce the [amount] of cash in society.” The reasons for this push toward a cashless society, of course, have nothing to do with pumping up earnings from bank card fees or, more important, freeing fractional-reserve banks from the constraints of bank runs. No, according to Borsos, the reasons are the environment, cost, and security: ”We ourselves emit 700 tons of carbon dioxide by cash transport. It costs society 11 billion per year. And cash helps robberies everywhere.” Hans Jacobson, head of Nordea Bank, argues similarly: ”Our mission is to make people understand the point of cards, cards are more secure than cash.”
via lewrockwell.com
Sure it is. http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Kamis, 27 Desember 2012
Ron Paul on NRA Safety Plan: Government Security Just Another Kind of Violence
Only one week after 20-year-old Adam Lanza opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed more than two people, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre called on Friday for the government to pay for armed officers in schools across the country. In response, Rep. Paul said, “Government security is just another kind of violence.
via lewrockwell.com
Rabu, 26 Desember 2012
Random Thoughts | Right Wing News
Random Thoughts | Right Wing News
Thomas Sewell
Random thoughts on the passing scene:
When I was growing up, an older member of the family used to say, “What you don’t know would make a big book.” Now that I am an older member of the family, I would say to anyone, “What you don’t know would fill more books than the Encyclopedia Britannica.” At least half of our society’s troubles come from know-it-alls, in a world where nobody knows even 10 percent of all.
Some people seem to think that, if life is not fair, then the answer is to turn more of the nation’s resources over to politicians — who will, of course, then spend these resources in ways that increase the politicians’ chances of getting reelected.
The annual outbursts of intolerance toward any display of traditional Christmas scenes, or even daring to call a Christmas tree by its name, show that today’s liberals are by no means liberal. Behind the mist of their lofty words, the totalitarian mindset shows through.
If you don’t want to have a gun in your home or in your school, that’s your choice. But don’t be such a damn fool as to advertise to the whole world that you are in “a gun-free environment” where you are a helpless target for any homicidal fiend who is armed. Is it worth a human life to be a politically correct moral exhibitionist?
The more I study the history of intellectuals, the more they seem like a wrecking crew, dismantling civilization bit by bit — replacing what works with what sounds good.
Some people are wondering what takes so long for the negotiations about the “fiscal cliff.” Maybe both sides are waiting for supplies. Democrats may be waiting for more cans to kick down the road. Republicans may be waiting for more white flags to hold up in surrender.
If I were rich, I would have a plaque made up, and sent to every judge in America, bearing a statement made by Adam Smith more than two and a half centuries ago: “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.”
If someone wrote a novel about a man who was raised from childhood to resent the successful and despise the basic values of America — and who then went on to become President of the United States — that novel would be considered too unbelievable, even for a work of fiction. Yet that is what has happened in real life.
Many people say, “War should be a last resort.” Of course it should be a last resort. So should heart surgery, divorce and many other things. But that does not mean that we should just continue to hope against hope indefinitely that things will work out, somehow, until catastrophe suddenly overtakes us.
Everybody is talking about how we are going to pay for the huge national debt, but nobody seems to be talking about the runaway spending which created that record-breaking debt. In other words, the big spenders get political benefits from handing out goodies, while those who resist giving them more money to spend will be blamed for sending the country off the “fiscal cliff.”
When Barack Obama refused to agree to a requested meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the leader of a country publicly and repeatedly threatened with annihilation by Iran’s leaders, as the Iranians move toward creating nuclear bombs — I thought of a line from the old movie classic “Citizen Kane”: “Charlie wasn’t cruel. He just did cruel things.”
There must be something liberating about ignorance. Back when most members of Congress had served in the military, there was a reluctance of politicians to try to tell military leaders how to run the military services. But, now that few members of Congress have ever served in the military, they are ready to impose all sorts of fashionable notions on the military.
After watching a documentary about the tragic story of Jonestown, I was struck by the utterly unthinking way that so many people put themselves completely at the mercy of a glib and warped man, who led them to degradation and destruction. And I could not help thinking of the parallel with the way we put a glib and warped man in the White House.
There are people calling for the banning of assault weapons who could not define an “assault weapon” if their life depended on it. Yet the ignorant expect others to take them seriously.
Thomas Sewell
Random thoughts on the passing scene:
When I was growing up, an older member of the family used to say, “What you don’t know would make a big book.” Now that I am an older member of the family, I would say to anyone, “What you don’t know would fill more books than the Encyclopedia Britannica.” At least half of our society’s troubles come from know-it-alls, in a world where nobody knows even 10 percent of all.
Some people seem to think that, if life is not fair, then the answer is to turn more of the nation’s resources over to politicians — who will, of course, then spend these resources in ways that increase the politicians’ chances of getting reelected.
The annual outbursts of intolerance toward any display of traditional Christmas scenes, or even daring to call a Christmas tree by its name, show that today’s liberals are by no means liberal. Behind the mist of their lofty words, the totalitarian mindset shows through.
If you don’t want to have a gun in your home or in your school, that’s your choice. But don’t be such a damn fool as to advertise to the whole world that you are in “a gun-free environment” where you are a helpless target for any homicidal fiend who is armed. Is it worth a human life to be a politically correct moral exhibitionist?
The more I study the history of intellectuals, the more they seem like a wrecking crew, dismantling civilization bit by bit — replacing what works with what sounds good.
Some people are wondering what takes so long for the negotiations about the “fiscal cliff.” Maybe both sides are waiting for supplies. Democrats may be waiting for more cans to kick down the road. Republicans may be waiting for more white flags to hold up in surrender.
If I were rich, I would have a plaque made up, and sent to every judge in America, bearing a statement made by Adam Smith more than two and a half centuries ago: “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.”
If someone wrote a novel about a man who was raised from childhood to resent the successful and despise the basic values of America — and who then went on to become President of the United States — that novel would be considered too unbelievable, even for a work of fiction. Yet that is what has happened in real life.
Many people say, “War should be a last resort.” Of course it should be a last resort. So should heart surgery, divorce and many other things. But that does not mean that we should just continue to hope against hope indefinitely that things will work out, somehow, until catastrophe suddenly overtakes us.
Everybody is talking about how we are going to pay for the huge national debt, but nobody seems to be talking about the runaway spending which created that record-breaking debt. In other words, the big spenders get political benefits from handing out goodies, while those who resist giving them more money to spend will be blamed for sending the country off the “fiscal cliff.”
When Barack Obama refused to agree to a requested meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the leader of a country publicly and repeatedly threatened with annihilation by Iran’s leaders, as the Iranians move toward creating nuclear bombs — I thought of a line from the old movie classic “Citizen Kane”: “Charlie wasn’t cruel. He just did cruel things.”
There must be something liberating about ignorance. Back when most members of Congress had served in the military, there was a reluctance of politicians to try to tell military leaders how to run the military services. But, now that few members of Congress have ever served in the military, they are ready to impose all sorts of fashionable notions on the military.
After watching a documentary about the tragic story of Jonestown, I was struck by the utterly unthinking way that so many people put themselves completely at the mercy of a glib and warped man, who led them to degradation and destruction. And I could not help thinking of the parallel with the way we put a glib and warped man in the White House.
There are people calling for the banning of assault weapons who could not define an “assault weapon” if their life depended on it. Yet the ignorant expect others to take them seriously.
Barnhardt.biz - Commodity Brokerage
Barnhardt.biz - Commodity Brokerage: Isaiah 3:1-13
For behold the sovereign the Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem, and from Juda the valiant and the strong, the whole strength of bread, and the whole strength of water.
The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the cunning man, and the ancient.
The captain over fifty, and the honourable in countenance, and the counsellor, and the architect, and the skillful in eloquent speech.
AND I WILL GIVE CHILDREN TO BE THEIR PRINCES, AND THE EFFEMINATE SHALL RULE OVER THEM.
For behold the sovereign the Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem, and from Juda the valiant and the strong, the whole strength of bread, and the whole strength of water.
The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the cunning man, and the ancient.
The captain over fifty, and the honourable in countenance, and the counsellor, and the architect, and the skillful in eloquent speech.
AND I WILL GIVE CHILDREN TO BE THEIR PRINCES, AND THE EFFEMINATE SHALL RULE OVER THEM.
Selasa, 25 Desember 2012
How Diet and Supplements Can Help Prevent Migraines by Joseph Mercola
In a 1979 study published in the Lancet,4 60 migraineurs with food antigen immunoreactivity who were put on an elimination diet experienced profound relief. According to the author:
"The commonest foods causing reactions were wheat (78 percent), orange (65 percent), eggs (45 percent), tea and coffee (40 percent each), chocolate and milk (37 percent) each), beef (35 percent), and corn, cane sugar, and yeast (33 percent each).
When an average of 10 common foods were avoided there was a dramatic fall in the number of headaches per month, 85 percent of patients becoming headache-free. The 25 percent of patients with hypertension became normotensive. Chemicals in the home environment can make this testing difficult for outpatients. Both immunological and non-immunological mechanisms may play a part in the pathogenesis of migraine caused by food intolerance."
via lewrockwell.com
I no longer get migraines, but I am not giving up coffee. http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Government Security Is Just Another Kind of Violence by Ron Paul
Our freedoms as Americans preceded gun control laws, the TSA, or the Department of Homeland Security. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference, not by safety. It is easy to clamor for government security when terrible things happen; but liberty is given true meaning when we support it without exception, and we will be safer for it.
via lewrockwell.com
crazy people and serial killers also existed before the security state - http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Government Security Is Just Another Kind of Violence by Ron Paul
While I certainly agree that more guns equals less crime and that private gun ownership prevents many shootings, I don’t agree that conservatives and libertarians should view government legislation, especially at the federal level, as the solution to violence. Real change can happen only when we commit ourselves to rebuilding civil society in America, meaning a society based on family, religion, civic and social institutions, and peaceful cooperation through markets. We cannot reverse decades of moral and intellectual decline by snapping our fingers and passing laws.
via lewrockwell.com
Manners still count. http://burndownthefreakingmission.com
Minggu, 23 Desember 2012
Sabtu, 22 Desember 2012
How do I turn on my Bluetooth? HP Pavilion dv7 - HP Support Forum - 1467363
How do I turn on my Bluetooth? HP Pavilion dv7 - HP Support Forum - 1467363
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Wireless-Internet-Home-Networking-e-g-Windows-8/How-do-I-turn-on-my-Bluetooth-HP-Pavilion-dv7/td-p/1467363
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Wireless-Internet-Home-Networking-e-g-Windows-8/How-do-I-turn-on-my-Bluetooth-HP-Pavilion-dv7/td-p/1467363
Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello
Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello: An elderly Italian man who lived on the outskirts of Rimini, Italy
went to the local church for confession.
When the priest slid open the panel in the confessional, the man said:
"Father, during World War II, a beautiful Jewish woman from our
neighborhood knocked urgently on my door and asked me to hide her
from the Nazis. So I hid her in my attic."
The priest replied: "That was a wonderful thing you did, and you have
no need to confess that."
"There is more to tell, Father. She started to repay me with sexual
favours. This happened several times a week, and sometimes twice on
Sundays."
The priest said, "That was a long time ago and by doing what you did,
you placed the two of you in great danger, but two people under those circumstances can easily succumb to the weakness of the flesh. However,
if you are truly sorry for your actions, you are indeed forgiven."
"Thank you, Father. That's a great load off my mind. I do have one more question."
"And what is that?" asked the priest.
"Should I tell her the war is over?''
went to the local church for confession.
When the priest slid open the panel in the confessional, the man said:
"Father, during World War II, a beautiful Jewish woman from our
neighborhood knocked urgently on my door and asked me to hide her
from the Nazis. So I hid her in my attic."
The priest replied: "That was a wonderful thing you did, and you have
no need to confess that."
"There is more to tell, Father. She started to repay me with sexual
favours. This happened several times a week, and sometimes twice on
Sundays."
The priest said, "That was a long time ago and by doing what you did,
you placed the two of you in great danger, but two people under those circumstances can easily succumb to the weakness of the flesh. However,
if you are truly sorry for your actions, you are indeed forgiven."
"Thank you, Father. That's a great load off my mind. I do have one more question."
"And what is that?" asked the priest.
"Should I tell her the war is over?''
Kamis, 20 Desember 2012
Copyblogger on 2013
Source: copyblogger.com via Charles on Pinterest 2013: The Year of the Online Writer"So, the rest of the business world might start to realize just how much great writers are worth. Well, a lot of writers have already realized it, and have clued in to the fact that they don’t need
The Zen of Why Publishers Hate Writers - http://writer-publisher-curator.com/why-publishers-hate-writers/
Rabu, 19 Desember 2012
Mme Scherzo
Mme Scherzo: Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God’s wisdom, nor our infirmity God’s omnipotence
Saint John of Kronstadt (via phil0kalia)
Saint John of Kronstadt (via phil0kalia)
Sabtu, 15 Desember 2012
Freestyle Streetbike WM 2009 Z�rich, CP Chris Pfeiffer, World Championship - YouTube
Freestyle Streetbike WM 2009 Z�rich, CP Chris Pfeiffer, World Championship - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=No_vqA2A3KY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=No_vqA2A3KY&feature=related
Rabu, 12 Desember 2012
Rabu, 05 Desember 2012
On Healing Wings
On Healing Wings: To find someone who will love you through success and failure is to discover how little life has to do with either.
Robert Brault
Robert Brault
Selasa, 04 Desember 2012
Adamstanley
Adamstanley: Because the earth is round, and I cannot stop time from moving, and the seasons from violently devouring each other over and over again, unable to prevent the sun from rising, or setting, I will never be able see that place where Emma now resides. I will never be able to see as far as I want to see.
Senin, 03 Desember 2012
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes: Robinson Jeffers' Time of Disturbance: 1951
robinsonjeffers%20time%20of%20disturbance.jpg
Original at January 1951 : Poetry Magazine
robinsonjeffers%20time%20of%20disturbance.jpg
Original at January 1951 : Poetry Magazine
Minggu, 02 Desember 2012
Jumat, 30 November 2012
On Healing Wings
On Healing Wings: The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Selasa, 27 November 2012
Minggu, 25 November 2012
Kamis, 22 November 2012
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes: As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
Rabu, 21 November 2012
Search for life
Search
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnais
e jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles roll
ed into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..
‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—-your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—-and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else—-the small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.
Take care of the golf balls first—-the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles roll
ed into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..
‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—-your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—-and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else—-the small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.
Take care of the golf balls first—-the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.
Minggu, 18 November 2012
Sabtu, 17 November 2012
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes: The best way to really enter minds that hate complexity and confusion is to oversimplify your message. The lesson here is not to try to tell your entire story. Just focus on one powerful differentiating idea and drive it into the mind. That sudden hunch, that creative leap of the mind that "sees" in a flash how to solve a problem in a simple way, is something quite different from general intelligence. If there's any trick to finding that simple set of words, it's one of being ruthless about how you edit the story you want to tell. Anything that others could claim just as well as you can, eliminate. Anything that requires a complex analysis to prove, forget. Anything that doesn't fit with your customers' perceptions, avoid. - Jack Trout
ADVICE!!!
ADVICE!!!
Minggu, 11 November 2012
Sabtu, 10 November 2012
Jumat, 09 November 2012
Emergency Natural Gas Generator
Emergency Natural Gas Generator
how it works below list if generators http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=747071&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=02796911&rid=40&mr:trackingCode=83A599CB-958E-DF11-A0C8-002219318F67&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=21046041071&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=22549717391#productChart
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Dear Matt Drudge: Stop the race stories - The Hill's Pundits Blog
Dear Matt Drudge: Stop the race stories - The Hill's Pundits Blog
As Edward Gibbons—one of the greatest historians in world history—put it....
In the end more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.
As Edward Gibbons—one of the greatest historians in world history—put it....
In the end more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.
Rabu, 07 November 2012
(1) Facebook
(1) Facebook: Options
Mike Huckabee
There is a lot to be disappointed by in the election results this evening and I am disappointed, but not despondent.
Tonight's results only remind me that our country has slipped into a deeper state of dependence on government than I wanted to believe. Where the Goliath of government has grown so too has our dependency.
It's also increasingly apparent to me that our real problems are not politic
al, but spiritual. Both parties have failed to acknowledge that. Democrats have not wanted to even acknowledge the need for God in our public institutions, but sadly, many of the Republican leadership will acknowledge God, but not because they believe we should be humble before Him, but to use God in our speeches and platforms. We wear our love of Israel like a badge of courage but on the issues of life and marriage too many of our leaders are more like lambs than Lions of Judah.
Well now maybe our Republican Party will look at itself in the mirror. I feel that we shouldn't pack up and quit, but gear up and get ready for the next battle. That's what we do as people of faith and a party of principle. We don't stop believing what we believe. We do a better job of doing what we're supposed to do. That’s how you attract voters and win elections. And that is how you save America from herself.
Mike Huckabee
There is a lot to be disappointed by in the election results this evening and I am disappointed, but not despondent.
Tonight's results only remind me that our country has slipped into a deeper state of dependence on government than I wanted to believe. Where the Goliath of government has grown so too has our dependency.
It's also increasingly apparent to me that our real problems are not politic
al, but spiritual. Both parties have failed to acknowledge that. Democrats have not wanted to even acknowledge the need for God in our public institutions, but sadly, many of the Republican leadership will acknowledge God, but not because they believe we should be humble before Him, but to use God in our speeches and platforms. We wear our love of Israel like a badge of courage but on the issues of life and marriage too many of our leaders are more like lambs than Lions of Judah.
Well now maybe our Republican Party will look at itself in the mirror. I feel that we shouldn't pack up and quit, but gear up and get ready for the next battle. That's what we do as people of faith and a party of principle. We don't stop believing what we believe. We do a better job of doing what we're supposed to do. That’s how you attract voters and win elections. And that is how you save America from herself.
Minggu, 04 November 2012
Jumat, 02 November 2012
Psalm 116 1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. 2 Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God in the universe – the glorification of the grace and power of his Son - the grace and power that bore Him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done.
Rabu, 31 Oktober 2012
Works and Days � Why Liberals Think What They Do
Works and Days � Why Liberals Think What They Do: Finally, we come to a small subset that simply does not like America’s wealth and capitalism, supremacy overseas, and ubiquitous global culture — or at least believes that anything not his own must be far better (an oikophobia or hatred of one’s own household). He bores us with lectures on the wonderful EU, the superior La familia romance of Latin America, the “it takes a village” values of Africa, or the Cairo speech mythologies of the Middle East. Because America is so affluent, it allows so many the luxury to dream of how our wealth is so ill-gotten — as long as quiet others in the shadows ensure that life remains pretty good in San Francisco and Madison. Contrarianism is an innate characteristic, but one indulged without risk, only when the larger tribe is safe and secure.
In short, twenty-first century elite liberalism has become a psychological condition, not a serious blueprint on how to solve real problems. The president knows that — and so without ideas has been reduced to name-calling and sermons on Big Bird.
In short, twenty-first century elite liberalism has become a psychological condition, not a serious blueprint on how to solve real problems. The president knows that — and so without ideas has been reduced to name-calling and sermons on Big Bird.
Works and Days � Why Liberals Think What They Do
Works and Days � Why Liberals Think What They Do: A San Francisco professor, a Monterey lawyer, and a Sacramento bureaucrat do not know how hard it is to raise beef, grow peaches, find and pump oil and gas, and haul logs out of the forest and into Home Depot as smooth lumber, or what it takes to build a small Ace Hardware business. The skills needed to keep a 7-Eleven viable in a rough neighborhood, I confess, dwarf those of the classics professor.
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AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes:
Works and Days � Why Liberals Think What They Do
In the elite liberal mind, there is instead a sort of progressive Big Rock Candy Mountain. Gasoline comes right out of the ground through the nozzle into the car. Redwood 2x4s sprout from the ground like trees. Apples fall like hail from the sky; stainless steel refrigerator doors are mined inches from the surface. Tap water comes from some enormous cistern that traps rain water. Finished granite counter tops materialize on the show room floor. Why, then, would we need Neanderthal things like federal gas and oil leases, icky dams and canals, yucky power plants, and gross chain saws --�� and especially those who would dare make and use them?
Works and Days � Why Liberals Think What They Do
In the elite liberal mind, there is instead a sort of progressive Big Rock Candy Mountain. Gasoline comes right out of the ground through the nozzle into the car. Redwood 2x4s sprout from the ground like trees. Apples fall like hail from the sky; stainless steel refrigerator doors are mined inches from the surface. Tap water comes from some enormous cistern that traps rain water. Finished granite counter tops materialize on the show room floor. Why, then, would we need Neanderthal things like federal gas and oil leases, icky dams and canals, yucky power plants, and gross chain saws --�� and especially those who would dare make and use them?
Selasa, 30 Oktober 2012
Mme Scherzo
Mme Scherzo: Buddha took some Autumn leaves
In his hand and asked
Ananda if these were all
The red leaves there were.
Ananda answered that it
Was Autumn and leaves
Were falling all about them,
More than could ever
Be numbered. So Buddha said,
“I have given you
A handful of truths. Besides
These there are many
Thousands of other truths, more
Than can ever be numbered.
In his hand and asked
Ananda if these were all
The red leaves there were.
Ananda answered that it
Was Autumn and leaves
Were falling all about them,
More than could ever
Be numbered. So Buddha said,
“I have given you
A handful of truths. Besides
These there are many
Thousands of other truths, more
Than can ever be numbered.
Senin, 29 Oktober 2012
Gold, Switzerland and the European Secessionist Movement: Anthony Wile interviews Ron Holland
Gold, Switzerland and the European Secessionist Movement: Anthony Wile interviews Ron Holland: It is no one's business where I might keep my physical gold purchases either in North America or elsewhere should I have any, though I will comment generally. I like Global Gold as well as other secure facilities outside of my home country, although citizens of all nations should keep some gold and silver stored privately close by, in or near their home. The last place I would store anything of value is in a bank safe deposit box in the US. Second, no gold owners should ever publically state where they keep their gold or silver holdings.
Gold, Switzerland and the European Secessionist Movement: Anthony Wile interviews Ron Holland
Gold, Switzerland and the European Secessionist Movement: Anthony Wile interviews Ron Holland: his island of security and safety in a collapsing Europe has approximately 7,000 tons of gold stored both privately and as government reserves. This is approximately 8 percent of the 85,000 tons of gold in the world held as bars and coins; the other 50 percent is mainly jewelry. Add to this the trillions in financial wealth held in and managed from Switzerland and you have a very tempting target for public criminal gangs (governments, central banks and politicians) to want to get their hands on.
Minggu, 28 Oktober 2012
Barnhardt.biz - Commodity Brokerage
Barnhardt.biz - Commodity Brokerage
The Obama regime has been running guns and BIGTIME armaments and munitions, including MANPADS, which are shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles designed to shoot down commercial jetliners, to the Muslim Brotherhood. This is just Fast-and-Furious except that the people being armed are musloids tasked with reforming the Islamic Caliphate instead of the drug cartels. But it is exactly the same thing. Ghadaffi was overthrown because the Obama regime wanted to use a chaotic, destabilized "wild west" Libya as the doorway to the Caliphate to get the arms in for distribution to Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt and eventually Saudi Arabia. Egypt would have been too risky.
Ambassador Chris Stevens and the CIA were somehow, some way running or heavily involved this armament pipeline.
The Obama regime wanted and "needed" Chris Stevens dead, probably to cover the gun and armament running, so they killed him. Word was sent to the Muslim Brotherhood to attack the Benghazi facility. The Obama regime promised that there would be no retaliation and that a cover story about "slandering the prophet" would be provided. The Muslim Brotherhood wins all around. They get to keep all of the arms and MANPADS supplied by Obama with no whistleblowers AND they get their bullshit sharia law agenda advanced and explicitly ratified by the government of the United States.
Get used to this business of the Oligarch class using the Muslim Brotherhood to do their dirty work for them. This has been the plan all along, and it will only escalate from here.
As I have been saying since 2008, Barack Obama is the explicit enemy of what used to be the First American Republic, and of Western Civilization in general. EXPLICIT ENEMY. As in traitor. As in treason. As in murderer. As in should be arrested as a non-state, non-uniformed enemy belligerent, tried in a military tribunal, and upon conviction be put against a wall and shot by a firing squad, and then have his dead body publicly displayed so that there will be no future doubt or bullshit conspiracy theory crap that the son of a bitch wasn't executed. No shit.
And the same goes for dozens of people in his "administration" right along with him, except that the U.S. citizens, like Hillary Clinton, should be tried for treason. But like Obama, upon conviction (which should take all of five minutes to deliberate) these people should be executed by firing squad without delay. They are traitors and they are murderers.
After almost four years of this shit, you people are still trying to parse these events as if these people are just misguided or inept. These people are the declared enemy of what used to be the United States (they put the last nail in the coffin - the Republic is already dead) and of Western civilization. They
The Obama regime has been running guns and BIGTIME armaments and munitions, including MANPADS, which are shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles designed to shoot down commercial jetliners, to the Muslim Brotherhood. This is just Fast-and-Furious except that the people being armed are musloids tasked with reforming the Islamic Caliphate instead of the drug cartels. But it is exactly the same thing. Ghadaffi was overthrown because the Obama regime wanted to use a chaotic, destabilized "wild west" Libya as the doorway to the Caliphate to get the arms in for distribution to Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt and eventually Saudi Arabia. Egypt would have been too risky.
Ambassador Chris Stevens and the CIA were somehow, some way running or heavily involved this armament pipeline.
The Obama regime wanted and "needed" Chris Stevens dead, probably to cover the gun and armament running, so they killed him. Word was sent to the Muslim Brotherhood to attack the Benghazi facility. The Obama regime promised that there would be no retaliation and that a cover story about "slandering the prophet" would be provided. The Muslim Brotherhood wins all around. They get to keep all of the arms and MANPADS supplied by Obama with no whistleblowers AND they get their bullshit sharia law agenda advanced and explicitly ratified by the government of the United States.
Get used to this business of the Oligarch class using the Muslim Brotherhood to do their dirty work for them. This has been the plan all along, and it will only escalate from here.
As I have been saying since 2008, Barack Obama is the explicit enemy of what used to be the First American Republic, and of Western Civilization in general. EXPLICIT ENEMY. As in traitor. As in treason. As in murderer. As in should be arrested as a non-state, non-uniformed enemy belligerent, tried in a military tribunal, and upon conviction be put against a wall and shot by a firing squad, and then have his dead body publicly displayed so that there will be no future doubt or bullshit conspiracy theory crap that the son of a bitch wasn't executed. No shit.
And the same goes for dozens of people in his "administration" right along with him, except that the U.S. citizens, like Hillary Clinton, should be tried for treason. But like Obama, upon conviction (which should take all of five minutes to deliberate) these people should be executed by firing squad without delay. They are traitors and they are murderers.
After almost four years of this shit, you people are still trying to parse these events as if these people are just misguided or inept. These people are the declared enemy of what used to be the United States (they put the last nail in the coffin - the Republic is already dead) and of Western civilization. They
Jumat, 26 Oktober 2012
WHITE HOUSE INSIDER: Mitt Romney’s Quiet Prayer Amidst The Sound Of Thunder - The Ulsterman Report
WHITE HOUSE INSIDER: Mitt Romney’s Quiet Prayer Amidst The Sound Of Thunder - The Ulsterman Report
A remarkable story from a longtime D.C. political operative of just how personally moved Mitt Romney was following a campaign stop in Red Rocks Colorado where over 10,000 enthusiastic supporters greeted the man they hope will be the next President of the United States.
Got this feedback earlier today and thought you’d like to hear it. You know, I’ve gone from just trying to defeat Obama to really trying to help Governor Romney be this country’s next president. I’m really starting to believe there might be something very special about this man. This took place out in Colorado. Just a couple days ago. Probably my favorite campaign trail story that’s come back my way so far this election. Wish I had been there. I’m going to try and get a little poetic on you here. Hope I pull it off OK and do this story justice. Feel free to help me out a bit in the telling. I would be embarrassed for people to know just how bad my spelling really is. And sadly, that’s not a joke. -INSIDER
As the governor was en route to the amphitheatre they were told the crowd was showing “strong numbers”. What greeted him was a lot more than just “strong numbers” though. It was a massive wave of thousands and thousands of supporters. Before going on the governor apparently peeked out a few times and was shaking his head in disbelief at just how many people were there to see him. He was told by organizers up to a thousand more were turned away because there simply wasn’t any room left. People said you could feel the size of the crowd under your feet backstage. Somebody had passed out a ton of “thundersticks” and the people were banging them together and making this amazing rumbling noise. There were some real veteran campaigners backstage and I’m told they were all blown away by this crowd in Colorado. It really was like some big time rock show. Just a huge response for the governor.
So Governor Romney goes onstage and gives his speech. The crowd just totally embraces him. From beginning to end. Every word. They are fired up. Loud. Positive. Cheering. Just an amazing moment for the campaign. Everybody backstage were all smiles and peeking out at all those people and shaking their heads. This is the kind of moment in a campaign you never forget. Ever. Nobody who hasn’t experienced it can really understand this feeling. You’re looking at a candidate being transformed right in front of your eyes into the next Leader of the Free World. They go from being human into something just a bit more. It’s all those people. That energy. It kind of fills the candidate up and makes them bigger than life. And you are watching it happen in real time. Right then.
The governor returns backstage and he is smiling and shaking hands, taking congratulations from everybody around him. He’s saying how great it was. Somebody yells out he’s going to win Colorado and the governor laughs and says he thinks so too. And then something very interesting happens. He moves away from the group of people just a bit. Maybe ten or fifteen feet or so. Just enough to have a little space to himself. And enough people notice that the area gets a lot more quiet, and they are trying to watch the governor without looking like they are watching the governor. They can all kind of tell something is happening right then. It was described as something very peaceful and powerful that came over that backstage area for a moment. And the governor, he lowers his head and his eyes shut tight and you could see him take a slow deep breath and then he lets it out and says quietly, but just loud enough for some to hear, “Lord, if this is your will, please help to make me worthy. Please give me the strength Lord.” And then his eyes open up, and he’s back to smiling and laughing and shaking hands and being the candidate once again.
I’m 100% convinced Mitt Romney was shaken to his soul right then and there. I think at that moment it was sinking in he might really be the next American president, and it humbled him right to his core, in every nerve of his body. And as he was saying that little prayer, you could hear the sound of thunder from all those thundersticks outside. Like this huge low rumble that just surrounded all of them at once. A quiet little prayer, and the sound of thunder.
The sound of God.
WHITE HOUSE INSIDER: Mitt Romney’s Quiet Prayer Amidst The Sound Of Thunder
Got this feedback earlier today and thought you’d like to hear it. You know, I’ve gone from just trying to defeat Obama to really trying to help Governor Romney be this country’s next president. I’m really starting to believe there might be something very special about this man. This took place out in Colorado. Just a couple days ago. Probably my favorite campaign trail story that’s come back my way so far this election. Wish I had been there. I’m going to try and get a little poetic on you here. Hope I pull it off OK and do this story justice. Feel free to help me out a bit in the telling. I would be embarrassed for people to know just how bad my spelling really is. And sadly, that’s not a joke. -INSIDER
As the governor was en route to the amphitheatre they were told the crowd was showing “strong numbers”. What greeted him was a lot more than just “strong numbers” though. It was a massive wave of thousands and thousands of supporters. Before going on the governor apparently peeked out a few times and was shaking his head in disbelief at just how many people were there to see him. He was told by organizers up to a thousand more were turned away because there simply wasn’t any room left. People said you could feel the size of the crowd under your feet backstage. Somebody had passed out a ton of “thundersticks” and the people were banging them together and making this amazing rumbling noise. There were some real veteran campaigners backstage and I’m told they were all blown away by this crowd in Colorado. It really was like some big time rock show. Just a huge response for the governor.
So Governor Romney goes onstage and gives his speech. The crowd just totally embraces him. From beginning to end. Every word. They are fired up. Loud. Positive. Cheering. Just an amazing moment for the campaign. Everybody backstage were all smiles and peeking out at all those people and shaking their heads. This is the kind of moment in a campaign you never forget. Ever. Nobody who hasn’t experienced it can really understand this feeling. You’re looking at a candidate being transformed right in front of your eyes into the next Leader of the Free World. They go from being human into something just a bit more. It’s all those people. That energy. It kind of fills the candidate up and makes them bigger than life. And you are watching it happen in real time. Right then.
The governor returns backstage and he is smiling and shaking hands, taking congratulations from everybody around him. He’s saying how great it was. Somebody yells out he’s going to win Colorado and the governor laughs and says he thinks so too. And then something very interesting happens. He moves away from the group of people just a bit. Maybe ten or fifteen feet or so. Just enough to have a little space to himself. And enough people notice that the area gets a lot more quiet, and they are trying to watch the governor without looking like they are watching the governor. They can all kind of tell something is happening right then. It was described as something very peaceful and powerful that came over that backstage area for a moment. And the governor, he lowers his head and his eyes shut tight and you could see him take a slow deep breath and then he lets it out and says quietly, but just loud enough for some to hear, “Lord, if this is your will, please help to make me worthy. Please give me the strength Lord.” And then his eyes open up, and he’s back to smiling and laughing and shaking hands and being the candidate once again.
I’m 100% convinced Mitt Romney was shaken to his soul right then and there. I think at that moment it was sinking in he might really be the next American president, and it humbled him right to his core, in every nerve of his body. And as he was saying that little prayer, you could hear the sound of thunder from all those thundersticks outside. Like this huge low rumble that just surrounded all of them at once. A quiet little prayer, and the sound of thunder.
The sound of God.
AMERICAN DIGEST: Comment on “Lord, if this is your will, please help to make me worthy. Please give me the strength Lord.”
AMERICAN DIGEST: Comment on “Lord, if this is your will, please help to make me worthy. Please give me the strength Lord.”: Abraham Lincoln.
2nd Annual Message to Congress.
December 1, 1862.
Abraham Lincoln.
2nd Annual Message to Congress.
December 1, 1862.
Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless.
2nd Annual Message to Congress.
December 1, 1862.
Abraham Lincoln.
2nd Annual Message to Congress.
December 1, 1862.
Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless.
AMERICAN DIGEST: Comment on “Lord, if this is your will, please help to make me worthy. Please give me the strength Lord.”
AMERICAN DIGEST: Comment on “Lord, if this is your will, please help to make me worthy. Please give me the strength Lord.”
From out History. The words of Benjamin Franklin offer us hope:
In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. — Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
http://www.constitution.org/dfc/dfc_0628.htm
From out History. The words of Benjamin Franklin offer us hope:
In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. — Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
http://www.constitution.org/dfc/dfc_0628.htm
Rabu, 24 Oktober 2012
Psalm 116:1-2 NLT - Psalm 116 - I love the LORD because he - Bible Gateway
Psalm 116:1-2 NLT - Psalm 116 - I love the LORD because he - Bible Gateway: Psalm 116
1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice
and my prayer for mercy.
2 Because he bends down to listen,
I will pray as long as I have breath!
1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice
and my prayer for mercy.
2 Because he bends down to listen,
I will pray as long as I have breath!
On Healing Wings
On Healing Wings: Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
1 Chronicles 16:34
for his steadfast love endures forever!
1 Chronicles 16:34
On Healing Wings
On Healing Wings: The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God in the universe – the glorification of the grace and power of his Son - the grace and power that bore Him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done.
John Piper
John Piper
Selasa, 23 Oktober 2012
Senin, 22 Oktober 2012
Helpful Phrases to Try at the Airport When Your Flight Has Been Canceled | Real Simple
Helpful Phrases to Try at the Airport When Your Flight Has Been Canceled | Real Simple: Use These Helpful Phrases If Your Flight Gets Canceled
Tara Donne RealSimple.com“Operator, please connect me to customer service.” “The first thing you should do is call the airline, even while you’re waiting in line to be rerouted,” says Brett Snyder of Cranky Concierge, an air-traveler assistance firm. “This way, you’re essentially cutting the line in front of you.” To expedite the rebooking process at the major airlines, keep these numbers in your wallet (click here for a downloadable version):
American Airlines: 800-433-7300
Continental Airlines: 800-525-0280
Delta: 800-221-1212
JetBlue Airways: 800-538-2583
United Airlines: 800-241-6522
US Airways: 800-428-4322
“Can I get you a sandwich?” If the phone lines are jammed and you do have to speak to someone in person, “don’t forget that ticket agents have been doing this all day, and many haven’t had a break,” says Snyder, who says that offering a sandwich or coffee can help differentiate you from other demanding customers.
“What about Rule 240?” No longer an actual rule, this term refers to the airlines’ “contract of carriage.” Terms vary among airlines, but “most major airlines have to take your ticket and endorse it toward the next available flight, even if it’s a competitor’s,” says Peter Greenberg, author of Tough Times, Great Travel ($10, amazon.com). One caveat: You can’t take advantage of this if you checked bags.
Use These Helpful Phrases If Your Flight Gets Canceled
Tara Donne RealSimple.comAmerican Airlines: 800-433-7300
Continental Airlines: 800-525-0280
Delta: 800-221-1212
JetBlue Airways: 800-538-2583
United Airlines: 800-241-6522
US Airways: 800-428-4322
“Can I get you a sandwich?” If the phone lines are jammed and you do have to speak to someone in person, “don’t forget that ticket agents have been doing this all day, and many haven’t had a break,” says Snyder, who says that offering a sandwich or coffee can help differentiate you from other demanding customers.
“What about Rule 240?” No longer an actual rule, this term refers to the airlines’ “contract of carriage.” Terms vary among airlines, but “most major airlines have to take your ticket and endorse it toward the next available flight, even if it’s a competitor’s,” says Peter Greenberg, author of Tough Times, Great Travel ($10, amazon.com). One caveat: You can’t take advantage of this if you checked bags.
Sabtu, 13 Oktober 2012
Adamstanley
Adamstanley: do you believe in love at first sight??
As I stood there, sipping on a glass of lime green punch, I watched as Cameron tapped her on the shoulder. And then she turned. My eyes fixed on her’s, and it was like everyone, and everything had disappeared. In that moment I could see all the years that lay ahead; all the promises, the disappointments and the dreams. Suddenly, my world had been compressed, my focus, narrowed; everything was magnified and so brilliant, that it was almost painful to look at her. Like an overexposed snapshot, whose subject has been washed away by the very light that created it, the longer I stared at her, the more unreal and untouchable she seemed.
5:00pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z62TwxVDtg0A
As I stood there, sipping on a glass of lime green punch, I watched as Cameron tapped her on the shoulder. And then she turned. My eyes fixed on her’s, and it was like everyone, and everything had disappeared. In that moment I could see all the years that lay ahead; all the promises, the disappointments and the dreams. Suddenly, my world had been compressed, my focus, narrowed; everything was magnified and so brilliant, that it was almost painful to look at her. Like an overexposed snapshot, whose subject has been washed away by the very light that created it, the longer I stared at her, the more unreal and untouchable she seemed.
5:00pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z62TwxVDtg0A
Kamis, 11 Oktober 2012
Courageous Compassion | Preston Gillham
Courageous Compassion | Preston Gillham: Courageous Compassion
I recently met a lady who was married to a big, burly sort with a black mustache. He had a raven mane to his shoulders, rode an old Harley, and drove nails for a living. By her testimony, she loved him—first of all—for the tremendous compassion he exhibited.
Compassion is strong medicine.
Have you ever tried to surmise what Christ’s most compassionate act was, apart from the cross?
Maybe it was talking with the woman at the well? Defending the woman caught in adultery? Choosing Peter; hard-headed, impetuous, slow-to-get-the message Peter? Or Saul, the chief of sinners? Or perhaps you; lost in your sins, born in the lineage of Adam, arrogantly independent, the bent-on-self-sufficiency you?
See?
Compassion is courageous, and it’s rooted in a cause: passionate caring.
I recently met a lady who was married to a big, burly sort with a black mustache. He had a raven mane to his shoulders, rode an old Harley, and drove nails for a living. By her testimony, she loved him—first of all—for the tremendous compassion he exhibited.
Compassion is strong medicine.
Have you ever tried to surmise what Christ’s most compassionate act was, apart from the cross?
Maybe it was talking with the woman at the well? Defending the woman caught in adultery? Choosing Peter; hard-headed, impetuous, slow-to-get-the message Peter? Or Saul, the chief of sinners? Or perhaps you; lost in your sins, born in the lineage of Adam, arrogantly independent, the bent-on-self-sufficiency you?
See?
Compassion is courageous, and it’s rooted in a cause: passionate caring.
Rabu, 10 Oktober 2012
Selasa, 09 Oktober 2012
Kamis, 04 Oktober 2012
Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello HUMOR
Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello: Our teacher asked what my favorite animal was, and I said, "Fried chicken."
She said I wasn't funny, but she couldn't have been right, because everyone else laughed.
My parents told me to always tell the truth. I did. Fried chicken is my favorite animal. I told my dad what happened, and he said my teacher was probably a member of PETA. He said they love animals very much. I do, too. Especially chicken, pork and beef. Anyway, my teacher sent me to the principal's office.
I told him what happened, and he laughed, too. Then he told me not to do it again.
The next day in class my teacher asked me what my favorite live animal was.
I told her it was chicken. She asked me why, so I told her it was because you could make them into fried chicken.
She sent me back to the principal's office. He laughed, and told me not to do it again.
I don't understand. My parents taught me to be honest, but my teacher doesn't like it when I am.
Today, my teacher asked me to tell her what famous person I admired most. I told her, "Colonel Sanders."
Guess where I am now...
She said I wasn't funny, but she couldn't have been right, because everyone else laughed.
My parents told me to always tell the truth. I did. Fried chicken is my favorite animal. I told my dad what happened, and he said my teacher was probably a member of PETA. He said they love animals very much. I do, too. Especially chicken, pork and beef. Anyway, my teacher sent me to the principal's office.
I told him what happened, and he laughed, too. Then he told me not to do it again.
The next day in class my teacher asked me what my favorite live animal was.
I told her it was chicken. She asked me why, so I told her it was because you could make them into fried chicken.
She sent me back to the principal's office. He laughed, and told me not to do it again.
I don't understand. My parents taught me to be honest, but my teacher doesn't like it when I am.
Today, my teacher asked me to tell her what famous person I admired most. I told her, "Colonel Sanders."
Guess where I am now...
Selasa, 02 Oktober 2012
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes: "The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment." -- Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God -- Jonathan Edwards
How a Root Canal Affects Your Overall Health
How a Root Canal Affects Your Overall Health: How a Root Canal Can Affect Your Health
Senin, 01 Oktober 2012
The Oil Drum | Drumbeat: October 1, 2012
The Oil Drum | Drumbeat: October 1, 2012: "Gentlemen, you are now about to embark on a course of studies which will occupy you for two years. Together, they form a noble adventure. But I would like to remind you of an important point. Nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you in after life, save only this, that if you work hard and intelligently you should be able to detect when a man is talking rot, and that, in my view, is the main, if not the sole, purpose of education."
-John Alexander Smith (Speech to Oxford University students, 1914)
-John Alexander Smith (Speech to Oxford University students, 1914)
Minggu, 30 September 2012
Koan : Inch Time Foot Gem
Koan : Inch Time Foot Gem: A lord asked Takuan, a Zen Teacher, to suggest how he might pass the time. He felt his days very long attending his office and sitting stiffly to receive the homage of others.
Takuan wrote eight Chinese characters and gave them to the man:
Not twice this day
Inch time foot gem.
This day will not come again.
Each minute is worth a priceless gem.
Takuan wrote eight Chinese characters and gave them to the man:
Not twice this day
Inch time foot gem.
This day will not come again.
Each minute is worth a priceless gem.
Sabtu, 29 September 2012
Rabu, 26 September 2012
Fw: Amazing - jdr1228@gmail.com - Gmail
Fw: Amazing - jdr1228@gmail.com - Gmail
Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation
THIS MAN SURE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY!
'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable... We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from sin and Set us free. Amen!'
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we once again can be called 'One nation under God!'
Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation
THIS MAN SURE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY!
'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable... We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from sin and Set us free. Amen!'
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we once again can be called 'One nation under God!'
Senin, 24 September 2012
Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello
Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello:
HUMOR
A muslim arrives at the Pearly Gates of Heaven. St. Peter looks him up and down and says "What do YOU want?"
With a glowing smile the man says, "I'm here for Jesus..."
St. Peter pokes his head around the gates and shouts "JESUS, YOUR CAB'S HERE!"
HUMOR
A muslim arrives at the Pearly Gates of Heaven. St. Peter looks him up and down and says "What do YOU want?"
With a glowing smile the man says, "I'm here for Jesus..."
St. Peter pokes his head around the gates and shouts "JESUS, YOUR CAB'S HERE!"
FW: New idea - jdr1228@gmail.com - Gmail
FW: New idea - jdr1228@gmail.com - Gmail
This was written by a 21 yr old female who gets it. It's her future she's worried about and this is how she feels about the social welfare big government state that she's being forced to live in! These solutions are just common sense in her opinion.
This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco , TX , Nov 18, 2011
PUT ME IN CHARGE . . .
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, or smoke, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good.."
Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
AND While you are on Gov't subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov't welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.
This was written by a 21 yr old female who gets it. It's her future she's worried about and this is how she feels about the social welfare big government state that she's being forced to live in! These solutions are just common sense in her opinion.
This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco , TX , Nov 18, 2011
PUT ME IN CHARGE . . .
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, or smoke, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good.."
Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
AND While you are on Gov't subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov't welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.
Sabtu, 22 September 2012
Jumat, 21 September 2012
Barnhardt.biz - Commodity Brokerage
Barnhardt.biz - Commodity Brokerage
In 1811 tensions were building between the U.S. and British. We were on the run‐up to the War of 1812. While this was going on, the First Bank of the United States, founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1791, was liquidated because its original 20‐year charter expired. Many of the bondholders of this bank were . . . British. There was enormous political pressure, given the hostility and tensions with the British, to give the British bondholders the shaft and pocket that money to help finance the coming war. The leaders of First Bank refused to go along with the desires of the politicians and repaid every penny of their debt, including their British creditors.
Why did they do this? Because it was the LAW. The Rule of Law came first to these men.
This one act of integrity had a cascading effect that essentially set the course of this nation and its economy for the next 198 years. Word quickly spread throughout the business districts of Europe that the words "Backed By The Full Faith And Credit Of The United States Government" meant something, and meant something real.
European investment dollars came pouring in to the "fledgling former colony", the industrial revolution was born, and The United States of America that we all know and love was born. We are indeed the children of integrity, the children of "full faith".
That era ended earlier this week.
Without the rule of law, the words "full faith and credit of the government of the United States" are meaningless words. And, just as money came flowing in 198 years ago, money will now go flowing out. Our government is now fascist and is run by gangsters who would not know integrity if they were being beaten over the head with it.
God help us.
This was originally penned and posted over three years ago on May 28, AD 2009. "Prescient" doesn't quite do it justice - but then, anyone who hasn't seen all of this coming since 2008 will be recorded by history and God's Justice as criminally negligent and/or stupid. The specific context was Obama's raping of the Chrysler bondholders and the selective forced closings of Chrysler dealerships based purely off of political campaign contributions and race. Remember all of that back in 2009? This post explains why the First American Republic is dead by drawing the comparison the the nascent American government and economy of the early 19th century.I came across a FASCINATING historical tidbit today on the internet. Historians regard the year 1811 as the year that the United States matured from fledgling former colony into global industrial and moral power. Do you know why?
In 1811 tensions were building between the U.S. and British. We were on the run‐up to the War of 1812. While this was going on, the First Bank of the United States, founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1791, was liquidated because its original 20‐year charter expired. Many of the bondholders of this bank were . . . British. There was enormous political pressure, given the hostility and tensions with the British, to give the British bondholders the shaft and pocket that money to help finance the coming war. The leaders of First Bank refused to go along with the desires of the politicians and repaid every penny of their debt, including their British creditors.
Why did they do this? Because it was the LAW. The Rule of Law came first to these men.
This one act of integrity had a cascading effect that essentially set the course of this nation and its economy for the next 198 years. Word quickly spread throughout the business districts of Europe that the words "Backed By The Full Faith And Credit Of The United States Government" meant something, and meant something real.
European investment dollars came pouring in to the "fledgling former colony", the industrial revolution was born, and The United States of America that we all know and love was born. We are indeed the children of integrity, the children of "full faith".
That era ended earlier this week.
Without the rule of law, the words "full faith and credit of the government of the United States" are meaningless words. And, just as money came flowing in 198 years ago, money will now go flowing out. Our government is now fascist and is run by gangsters who would not know integrity if they were being beaten over the head with it.
God help us.
Rabu, 19 September 2012
On the Return of History @ AMERICAN DIGEST
On the Return of History @ AMERICAN DIGEST
In the darkness with a great bundle of grief the people march.
In the night, and overhead a shovel of stars for keeps, the people march:
"Where to? what next?"
-- Carl Sandburg: The People Yes
IN THE DAYS AFTER THE TOWERS FELL, in the ash that covered the Brooklyn street where I lived at that time, in the smoke that rose for months from that spot across the river, when rising up in the skyscraper I worked in, or riding deep beneath the river in the subway, or passing the thousand small shrines of puddled candle wax below the walls with the hundreds of photographs of "The Missing," it was not too much to say that you could feel the doors of history open all about you.
Before those days, history happened elsewhere, elsewhen, to others. History did not happen to you. In your world, until that day, you lived in the time after history. There were no more doors in front of you, all history lay behind you. It was a given.
You would have, of course, your own personal history. You would live your life, no bigger or smaller than most others. You would meet people, have children, go to the job, enjoy what material things came your way, have your celebrations, your vacations, your possessions, and your dinner parties. You would hate and you would love. You would be loved and betrayed. You would have your little soap opera and the snapshots and emails to prove it. At some point or another you would die and be remembered by some for some time. Then it would all fade and the great ocean would just roll on. And that would be fine.
History was behind us. It was something our parents entered for a while during the war but they emerged into what was, essentially, the long peace. They'd had enough history, didn't want any more, and did what they could to keep history from happening. In general, the history of the Cold War is the history of what didn't happen punctuated by a few things every now and then such as Korea and Vietnam. But all in all, for over 50 years, history didn't happen.
With the end of the Soviet Union in a whimper and not a bang brighter than the sun on earth, history was officially over. The moment even got its own book, "The End of History," which stimulated an argument that even more than the book emphasized that history was over.
Most sensible people liked it that way. In fact, a lot of people really liked it that way. Because if history for the world was over, these people could get on making the history that really mattered to them: The History of Me.
More and more throughout the 90s "History" was "out," and "Me" was in. "Me," "Having My Space," "How to Be Your Own Best Friend," "Me, Myself, I," were hallmarks of that self-besotted age. The History of Me was huge in the 90s and rolled right through the millennium. It even had a Customized President to preside over those years; the Most Me President ever. A perfect man for the time and one who, in the end, did not disappoint in choosing "Me" over "Country." How could he do otherwise? It was the option his constituency of Many-Million-Mes elected him to select. I know because I was into Me then and I voted for him because, well, because he seemed to be "just like me." It was a sad day when "Me" couldn't run for a third term, but The Party of Me offered up "Mini-Me" and a lot of Mes turned out for him too.
Many millions of Mini-Mes were very upset when there weren't quite enough Mes in one state to put Mini-Me in office to continue with the wonderful Me-ness of it all. I voted for "Mini-Me" in 2000, but not because he really seemed like Me, but because he was the only thing out there that said he was Me.
Unlike millions of miffed Mini-Mes, I wasn't too upset when he didn't get in after stamping his feet and holding his breath. I suppose I should have. It was what all the really intense Mini-Mes were doing. But I'd already started to become disgusted with all the Me-ness that had been going around so long and this tantrum of the Mini-Mes just made me not want to hang around them. After all, we were well beyond the End of History by this point, so what did it matter?
Then on one bright and unusually fine New York September morning History came back with a vengeance we'd never seen before in the history of America. It came back and it stayed and stayed and stayed. The doors of history swung open again and we were all propelled through them into... what?
Nobody knows. Not the President, not his opponents, not the right, left, center, or just plain unhinged and now in low-earth orbit. We know how it began, but we don't know how it will end. We don't really know what's next. Indeed, we never know.
It was better when we lived in The History of Me. We knew how Me would end -- birth, fun, school, fun, job, fun, family, fun, age, fun, death and then ... probably fun, who knew, who cared? The meaning of this history was not deep but was to be found in the world "fun." Mini-Mes love fun. You could almost say it is their religion, a religion of fun. A funny concept, fun. Fills the space between birth and death. "He was a fun guy" could be a generic epitaph for the era.
Now we find ourselves back in history as it has always been and it is not fun. Not fun at all. The history of history has little to do with fun, almost nothing at all.
Most of the Mini-Mes don't know what to do in a history that isn't fun. All their lives have been about shaping history towards fun and they've been having a good run at it. They like it so much, they are now willing to do anything to bring it back -- the Kennedy Era, such elegant fun; the Clinton Years, "Hey, we partied like it was 1999." In the run-up to the last election and now for the next, there's been and there will be a lot of code swapped about getting the fun back in the game. "Remember the fun of the 90s? You can have it all back. Peace. Love. Understanding. Stock-market Boom. Money. Any number of genders can play." Indeed, these Merry Pranksters of our politics are setting up to run "The Bride of Fun" for President in 2008, even though it is clear she is the least fun of any of them.
Unlike "The Bride of Fun," Fun is very attractive. It is an illusion to Us now, but the Mini-Mes need Fun and want it back more than, well, life itself. The Mini-Mes talk a great game about groups, entitlement, empowerment, but their program really is, like fun, "all about Me."
This is not to say that the incumbent administration is the Second Coming in any way, shape or form. Nor is it to say that Me-ness doesn't dominate that bumbling faction as well. Washington is always about Me-Magnified. In a way, it is true to say that a lot of what is going on is a fight over which set of Mes shall be master. But that is always the case.
Still there are always "differences of degree," and it is on those differences that one must judge. Weighing the two, it seems to me clear that there is, within the core of the current party in power, at least the recognition that "fun" is no longer what we need to be about at this time. Indeed, there is an understanding there, backed with deeds and policies, however flawed in conception and execution, that our holiday from history is over and we need to get back to business if we'd like to be around in any kind of recognizable form by mid-century. There is even, if you look at it closely, a distinct lessening of "Me" and the beginnings of an "Us" on the peripheries of the Party. Not a lot, but when you look at the other, there is none. Only a yearning for the warm mud of Me.
History as it will now unfold will require little from Me but much from Us. I'd like to say that this country's going one way or another tomorrow will be the ruin of the nation. If I could I would be able to get my Me into the Punditocracy. But that is false. One result or another will not be the ruin of the nation for there is, as one of the founding fathers once remarked, "A lot of ruin in a nation."
Should the nation choose to continue in the elections of this year to move forward, to stay the course and continue the offensive, our encounter with history will move forward at much the same pace as it has these past four years, perhaps a bit accelerated. Should the nation choose to step back, to retreat, it will simply retard the process that grips it a bit more than otherwise might be the case. Neither result wil place us back in the History of Me no matter how many yearn for it.
History, having returned, will continue to happen, not to Me, but to Us.
We will have war whether we wish it or not. It will continue to be brought to us as it was brought for many years before we could see it in a pillar of flame by day and a pillar of smoke by night. We will be long in this wilderness, perhaps as long as forty years, and it will take a terrible toll from us, soldier and civilian alike; a toll we have not yet begun to see. Like all global wars in the past century, the war upon us will rise in violence until such time as we either capitulate, or find the will to kill our enemies wholesale. This is not what we would choose, but it is what we shall have.
We could, if we wished, withdraw every soldier from every inch of soil that is not American territory and leave them here inside our borders rusting for a decade. War will still come because war is already upon us, and wars do not end in staged withdrawals, but in either defeat or victory. The lessons of Vietnam and the Cold War teach this to us if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
In this First Terrorist War, the character of our leadership will make a difference to some degree, but it will not decide. It is who we are and who we shall become as a people that will decide. How that will be in the end, I do not know. What I do know is that history, no matter what they tell you, never comes to an end. And because of that, the one small thing that I have the power to do is to decide that I shall no longer vote for Me. I shall vote for Us.
In the darkness with a great bundle of grief the people march.In the night, and overhead a shovel of stars for keeps, the people march:
"Where to? what next?"
-- Carl Sandburg: The People Yes
IN THE DAYS AFTER THE TOWERS FELL, in the ash that covered the Brooklyn street where I lived at that time, in the smoke that rose for months from that spot across the river, when rising up in the skyscraper I worked in, or riding deep beneath the river in the subway, or passing the thousand small shrines of puddled candle wax below the walls with the hundreds of photographs of "The Missing," it was not too much to say that you could feel the doors of history open all about you.
Before those days, history happened elsewhere, elsewhen, to others. History did not happen to you. In your world, until that day, you lived in the time after history. There were no more doors in front of you, all history lay behind you. It was a given.
You would have, of course, your own personal history. You would live your life, no bigger or smaller than most others. You would meet people, have children, go to the job, enjoy what material things came your way, have your celebrations, your vacations, your possessions, and your dinner parties. You would hate and you would love. You would be loved and betrayed. You would have your little soap opera and the snapshots and emails to prove it. At some point or another you would die and be remembered by some for some time. Then it would all fade and the great ocean would just roll on. And that would be fine.
History was behind us. It was something our parents entered for a while during the war but they emerged into what was, essentially, the long peace. They'd had enough history, didn't want any more, and did what they could to keep history from happening. In general, the history of the Cold War is the history of what didn't happen punctuated by a few things every now and then such as Korea and Vietnam. But all in all, for over 50 years, history didn't happen.
With the end of the Soviet Union in a whimper and not a bang brighter than the sun on earth, history was officially over. The moment even got its own book, "The End of History," which stimulated an argument that even more than the book emphasized that history was over.
Most sensible people liked it that way. In fact, a lot of people really liked it that way. Because if history for the world was over, these people could get on making the history that really mattered to them: The History of Me.
More and more throughout the 90s "History" was "out," and "Me" was in. "Me," "Having My Space," "How to Be Your Own Best Friend," "Me, Myself, I," were hallmarks of that self-besotted age. The History of Me was huge in the 90s and rolled right through the millennium. It even had a Customized President to preside over those years; the Most Me President ever. A perfect man for the time and one who, in the end, did not disappoint in choosing "Me" over "Country." How could he do otherwise? It was the option his constituency of Many-Million-Mes elected him to select. I know because I was into Me then and I voted for him because, well, because he seemed to be "just like me." It was a sad day when "Me" couldn't run for a third term, but The Party of Me offered up "Mini-Me" and a lot of Mes turned out for him too.
Many millions of Mini-Mes were very upset when there weren't quite enough Mes in one state to put Mini-Me in office to continue with the wonderful Me-ness of it all. I voted for "Mini-Me" in 2000, but not because he really seemed like Me, but because he was the only thing out there that said he was Me.
Unlike millions of miffed Mini-Mes, I wasn't too upset when he didn't get in after stamping his feet and holding his breath. I suppose I should have. It was what all the really intense Mini-Mes were doing. But I'd already started to become disgusted with all the Me-ness that had been going around so long and this tantrum of the Mini-Mes just made me not want to hang around them. After all, we were well beyond the End of History by this point, so what did it matter?
Then on one bright and unusually fine New York September morning History came back with a vengeance we'd never seen before in the history of America. It came back and it stayed and stayed and stayed. The doors of history swung open again and we were all propelled through them into... what?
Nobody knows. Not the President, not his opponents, not the right, left, center, or just plain unhinged and now in low-earth orbit. We know how it began, but we don't know how it will end. We don't really know what's next. Indeed, we never know.
It was better when we lived in The History of Me. We knew how Me would end -- birth, fun, school, fun, job, fun, family, fun, age, fun, death and then ... probably fun, who knew, who cared? The meaning of this history was not deep but was to be found in the world "fun." Mini-Mes love fun. You could almost say it is their religion, a religion of fun. A funny concept, fun. Fills the space between birth and death. "He was a fun guy" could be a generic epitaph for the era.
Now we find ourselves back in history as it has always been and it is not fun. Not fun at all. The history of history has little to do with fun, almost nothing at all.
Most of the Mini-Mes don't know what to do in a history that isn't fun. All their lives have been about shaping history towards fun and they've been having a good run at it. They like it so much, they are now willing to do anything to bring it back -- the Kennedy Era, such elegant fun; the Clinton Years, "Hey, we partied like it was 1999." In the run-up to the last election and now for the next, there's been and there will be a lot of code swapped about getting the fun back in the game. "Remember the fun of the 90s? You can have it all back. Peace. Love. Understanding. Stock-market Boom. Money. Any number of genders can play." Indeed, these Merry Pranksters of our politics are setting up to run "The Bride of Fun" for President in 2008, even though it is clear she is the least fun of any of them.
Unlike "The Bride of Fun," Fun is very attractive. It is an illusion to Us now, but the Mini-Mes need Fun and want it back more than, well, life itself. The Mini-Mes talk a great game about groups, entitlement, empowerment, but their program really is, like fun, "all about Me."
This is not to say that the incumbent administration is the Second Coming in any way, shape or form. Nor is it to say that Me-ness doesn't dominate that bumbling faction as well. Washington is always about Me-Magnified. In a way, it is true to say that a lot of what is going on is a fight over which set of Mes shall be master. But that is always the case.
Still there are always "differences of degree," and it is on those differences that one must judge. Weighing the two, it seems to me clear that there is, within the core of the current party in power, at least the recognition that "fun" is no longer what we need to be about at this time. Indeed, there is an understanding there, backed with deeds and policies, however flawed in conception and execution, that our holiday from history is over and we need to get back to business if we'd like to be around in any kind of recognizable form by mid-century. There is even, if you look at it closely, a distinct lessening of "Me" and the beginnings of an "Us" on the peripheries of the Party. Not a lot, but when you look at the other, there is none. Only a yearning for the warm mud of Me.
History as it will now unfold will require little from Me but much from Us. I'd like to say that this country's going one way or another tomorrow will be the ruin of the nation. If I could I would be able to get my Me into the Punditocracy. But that is false. One result or another will not be the ruin of the nation for there is, as one of the founding fathers once remarked, "A lot of ruin in a nation."
Should the nation choose to continue in the elections of this year to move forward, to stay the course and continue the offensive, our encounter with history will move forward at much the same pace as it has these past four years, perhaps a bit accelerated. Should the nation choose to step back, to retreat, it will simply retard the process that grips it a bit more than otherwise might be the case. Neither result wil place us back in the History of Me no matter how many yearn for it.
History, having returned, will continue to happen, not to Me, but to Us.
We will have war whether we wish it or not. It will continue to be brought to us as it was brought for many years before we could see it in a pillar of flame by day and a pillar of smoke by night. We will be long in this wilderness, perhaps as long as forty years, and it will take a terrible toll from us, soldier and civilian alike; a toll we have not yet begun to see. Like all global wars in the past century, the war upon us will rise in violence until such time as we either capitulate, or find the will to kill our enemies wholesale. This is not what we would choose, but it is what we shall have.
We could, if we wished, withdraw every soldier from every inch of soil that is not American territory and leave them here inside our borders rusting for a decade. War will still come because war is already upon us, and wars do not end in staged withdrawals, but in either defeat or victory. The lessons of Vietnam and the Cold War teach this to us if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
In this First Terrorist War, the character of our leadership will make a difference to some degree, but it will not decide. It is who we are and who we shall become as a people that will decide. How that will be in the end, I do not know. What I do know is that history, no matter what they tell you, never comes to an end. And because of that, the one small thing that I have the power to do is to decide that I shall no longer vote for Me. I shall vote for Us.
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