Saturday, November 8, 2008

Utah Hate Cultists Should Shut Their Mouths


Protesters gathering in front of the Mormon Church's headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah to rage against the money thrown into the fray in California over gay marriage do so to allow the cult members in the barren wastelands to see what happens when tax exempt religious organizations stick their noses into other people's business.

At a time when the entire world celebrates the election of Barak Obama as President of the United States, elated at the prospect of a non warlike America, here at home our jubilation is blunted by the bigotry and hatred of some who just can not stand the thought of others living their lives as they so choose. The Constitution is supposed to be a pseudo-Christian document in their eyes, tailor made for them and others who think as they do.

Singling out the Mormons may seem unfair as there were donors from many other states and church entities like the Catholic Church. But if one looks over the donor list to Yes On Proposition 8, it becomes immediately apparent that it was the Mormon Church, and more importantly, it's members, who donated the greatest chunks of money in support of legislation that would not have effected them at all. In fact, one donor, an A. Alan of Lindon, Utah, Gave $1 million all by himself. Imagine being so rich that you can afford to throw a million bucks away in support of something that will not affect you at all.

So who are these people who swooped in from out of state to destroy the hopes and dreams of gay men and women in a state that prides itself on it's progressive thinking? Why would they feel the need to foul the air with their hatred of anyone who doesn't think that revering a schizophrenic that claimed to have found golden tablets that no one else (except Brigham Young, a violent rapist of children) has ever seen?

In one word, these people are America's largest cult. A cult that blindly follows the teachings of the elders amongst them who can claim to have a 'revelation' at any time in order to force the sheep in their flocks to obey their every command. The 'revelations' come directly from Jesus you see, only no one else can see Him or hear His voice save the 'chosen' voice of God. Any where else in the country, such as oh, say................Waco, Texas, and they'd have burned the church to the ground with the cultists inside.

Not 'Christian' in any traditional sense, Mormons believe in three divine books that come after the Bible, and if a conflict arises between their new books and the bible, well, they just claim the Bible is wrong and they're right. Testimony from former high ranking Mormons who escaped the grip of the cult have told of the 'secret rituals that are not even allowed to be observed by church members without being of 'saintly' status within the organization. "The ritual began in a small cubicle where we had to strip completely. We then put on 'the shield,' a poncho with a hole for the head, but open on the sides. We went through a series of 'washings and anointings,' as various parts of our bodies were touched by elderly temple workers who mumbled appropriate incantations over them. Our Mormon underwear, 'the garments,' are said to have powers to protect us from 'the evil one.' It had occult markings, which were so 'sacred' that we were instructed to burn them when the garments wore out. The endowment ceremony mocked all doctrines held to by Biblical Christianity, and Christian pastors were portrayed as servants of Satan. We had to swear many blood oaths, promising we would forfeit our lives if we weren't faithful, or if we revealed any of the secrets revealed to us in the temple ceremonies. We were made to pretend by grotesque gestures to cut our throats, chests, and abdomens, indicating how we would lose our lives. We were never told who would kill us! The inference was, and history testifies to, that it would be the Mormon priesthood." Yeah, sounds like a cult to me.

Most of America was content to leave the Mormons alone. After the dearth of killings back in the 1800's and the movement of the cult to Utah and Missouri, the country sort of forgot they existed, especially after they 'officially' (wink, wink) renounced polygamy and agreed to tow the line of the country's official version of Christianity. Some cult members went off in the wilderness to found their own little conclaves where they could practice polygamy, and although not officially (wink, wink) sanctioned by the main Salt Lake City temple, the separate conclaves' elders, saints, and circles of seventy hold and wield great power within the cult hierarchy.

We could go on for hours about the Mormon Church and their cult followers who founded their version of warped thinking on the blood of others, through murder, rape of girls as young as 12, and of intolerance for all who do not believe that they alone hold the keys to the Kingdom, but why waste our breath? What we should be looking at is the hypocrisy of an organization who, having suffered persecution for their beliefs, used church funds to orchestrate the persecution of another group of Americans. Being a tax-exempt entity, the Mormon Church, as well as all churches in this country, are bound by law to stay out of the political arena.

One must wonder why the Mormons chose homosexuality as the venue for their entrance into the political arena. It's because they truly have a deep and abiding hatred for gay and bisexual people. Why such a serious confrontational stance one would ask? It's because none other than Brigham Young's own son, Brigham Morris Young, was bisexual, and often dressed in 'drag', and that the practice of polygamy was not some sort of divine inspiration, but a result of the wife of church elder Milford Shipp announcing her own homosexuality in 1878, and not wanting to shame her husband publicly, arranged for him to have another wife. Thus, Brigham Young and other church elders also had the 'divine announcement' by angels that polygamy was what God had ordered for His 'true' followers.

Even though Joseph Smith had practiced and encouraged polygamy, it wasn't until the open introduction of homosexuality into the every day lives of Mormons that the practice became part of their religion. So much for divine inspiration.

The trend this year has been to defy the laws of our country by the leaders of churches of all kinds, and with the current administration in power, know that they are not going to be touched. This can not be allowed to stand. The Mormon Church should lose their tax exempt status immediately. The First Presidency of the Mormon Church may claim that they don't have to follow what they consider ungodly laws, but maybe he needs to review the tenets of his own faith. Such as the Book of Mormon's 12th Article of Faith: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."

People who have no tolerance for the beliefs of others should also expect a backlash from the rest of us who are right now working towards a complete boycott of the entire state of Utah, from their ski resorts in St. George and Park City, to the Sundance Film festival and tourism in general. Being lovers of money and followers of complete greed, maybe the cultists will learn to shut their mouths and stay out of the affairs and bedrooms of others. In the words of John Adams: “The desires of the majority of people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the minority.”

Friday, November 7, 2008

Hellfire Missiles, Air Force One, And Other Acts Of Treason


Anyone who thought the historic landslide election of Barak Obama as President of the United States would spell a quick and easy fix to what ails our country are in for a rude awakening.

Those who believe that come January 20th, 2009, peaches and cream will once again rain from America's skies and the world will retilt upon it's proper axis are setting themselves up for the largest of disappointments.

Beyond the quick fix for our nation's economy, one that will hopefully be the spark to set the Market moving in the right direction once more, lies the dirty corporate secrets that need to be addressed, and addressed quickly.

Throughout the Bush years Corporate America has been allowed to run roughshod over not only worker's rights with no penalties whatsoever from Congress or the White House, but the major players have been ripping off taxpayer money to the tune of untold billions. Oversight having been lax at best, it became incumbent upon groups such as the Project For Government Oversight to attempt to keep track of the goings on behind closed doors in the murky world of corporate and government contracting. What they have documented is a stunning portrayal of outright fraud, theft, mismanagement, refusal of government to prosecute or stop the bleeding, or in some cases, actual collusion to cover up wrong doing.

You've probably never even heard of many of the corporations involved, but others are household names. Names such as Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, Blackwater, Boeing, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, FedEx, General Dynamics, IBM, among a host of other companies, including everyone's favorite, Halliburton/KBR. Here's a couple of examples of what's been happening just behind the curtain.

Law enforcement officers across the land can breath a little easier knowing that Armor Holdings Inc. has had to settle a claim brought by the DOJ for the defective Zylon Body Armor vests Armor Holdings was selling the government. The company knowingly put law enforcement officers across the land in danger because Zylon degrades over time to the point that it's ineffective in stopping bullets, but Armor went ahead and wrapped these little death vests around the protectors of the People. Punishment? They were forced to pay back the $30 million their contract paid them.

Bechtel Corporation paid the U.S. government and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a total of $407 million dollars to settle all criminal and negligence charges leveled against them for their role in the Boston 'Big Dig' debacle. Massive cost over runs, shoddy work that was known to be a danger to the public left in place, and a general carnival of theft of taxpayer dollars caused the settlement to come about. Jail time? Not for these fat cats, even though a woman was killed when the roof of a portion of the massive tunnel project fell and crushed her to death while she was driving through.

In violation of U.S. law, the Boeing Corporation imported the parts used to build the C-17 transport plane, the Apache attack and Chinook transport helicopters and the F/A-18 fighter plane. According to the law, Boeing was required to buy the materials from U.S. companies, but since they found the parts cheaper overseas, they went ahead and purchased them there. They of course then charged the taxpayers for the costs as though they had followed the law and when caught, were fined a 'whopping' $3 million. That amount is akin to thirty cents to an ordinary person. You don't even notice it's gone.

North of the city of Clarksburg, West Virginia, the U.S. government used almost $18 million of taxpayer money to clean up toxic waste that was allowed to seep into the ground beneath a salvage site owned by ExxonMobil. The chemicals that were being buried in the earth or allowed to fester in rusty metal barrels included coal tar, pyrene, phenanthrene, arsenic, aluminum, lead, iron, copper, naphthalene, and phenol. Knowing full well that the seepage was causing elevated cancer rates sickness, birth deformities, and possibly death, ExxonMobil continued to operate the plant as though nothing was wrong. This, despite inspectors from the EPA ordering them to clean up the toxic materials. ExxonMobil, knowing full well that the EPA under the Bush Administration wouldn't enforce more than token penalties, kept on going as is until the government stepped in and did the clean up themselves. To save lives. One would think that after the Valdez, Alaska debacle and final settlement, ExxonMobil would have been slapped with a massive fine, but they ended up paying only $3 million for a $18 million dollar cleanup. Lesson learned by ExxonMobil? There's a government bailout around every corner.

Major modifications were needed to allow the President of the United States to fly safely and undetected on Air Force One when Northrup Grumman sold Russia the source code for the LTN-92 aircraft navigation systems. In complete violation of the Arms Export Control Act, Grumman sold not only that system to Russia, but others like the LTN-72 military version schematics that included plans for aircraft motion alignment, stored heading, steering capability, computer aided release point, tanker orbit, and maximum bank angle. Altogether the U.S. government says that Grumman committed 110 violations of the A.E.C.A., and their fine would be appropriately massive at $15 million. That's right. $15 million. Oh, and they're still making secret military systems, despite the selling of those secrets to not only Russia, but China, Israel, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China, etc. Guess it's not so secret anymore.

The Hellfire Missile is perhaps the deadliest anti-tank, anti-slow moving aircraft weapon in the world today. The pride and main armament of the Army's Apache AH-64 and the Marine's AH-1W Super Cobra's, these are the first line of defense in a shooting war and are depended on for their battleground superiority. Not anymore thanks to Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the Hellfire's two variants, the 'BlastFrag' and the 'Heat'. Lockheed Martin, intent on more profits, gave the classified plans, including capability, functionality, performance parameters, etc. to none other than Halliburton safe haven, the United Arab Emirites. Warming to the idea of buying U.S. Hellfire missiles, the U.A.E. Air Force asked for and received the classified plans for the Joint Air To Surface Standoff Missile. Now, remember the A.E.C.A.? Bah? We don't need no stinkin' laws right? The State Department caught wind of this plan to sell the U.A.E., a clearing house for terrorist money, these missiles and pounced to stop it. Completely frazzled over the obvious attempted treason by Lockheed Martin, they did the only patriotic thing available. They settled with Lockheed Martin for the grand sum of $4 million, with $1 million suspended if Lockheed Martin uses the million to institute a remedial compliance program.

These are but the tip of the iceberg of corporate malfeasance complaints, pending actions, court cases, and appeals of rulings flowing through our government, clogging up the system, and grinding forward progress to a halt. The time has come for America to demand real accountability for where our tax dollars our going. Corporations that decide their loyalties lie with their bottom line, and not with their country should be shown no quarter, and be automatically disqualified from ever doing the People's business again.

Because in the end, that's what this past election was really all about. Real change. Change that stops the nonchalant attitude towards Big Business that sells us out to potential enemies, terrorist organizations, and countries we know wish us harm. Treason is an easy word to bandy about, but when one peruses the above examples, what other word could one conjure up?

Stop this massive giveaway to Corporate America and you solve a nice little chunk of our economic crisis. Let the corporate world figure out how to build a product on their own, without taxpayer subsidies, and maybe we can rebuild our infrastructure. And for the love of God, cut the companies that openly laugh at our laws, knowing that a slap on the wrist is their only punishment, off from the People's trust and the People's business. We the People made our voices heard loud and clear on November 4th. Make them heard again and demand an end to these corporate abuses or nothing will have really changed after all.




Friday, October 31, 2008

An Open Letter To America's Anti-Christ


(Warning: Although written as a Halloween rebuke to the action's of fear by a top figure in today's America, this article may offend some sensitive sensibilities. )

Hello again Anti-Christ and false prophet. I see you've been up your old tricks again. What a wonderful letter you released to millions of Americans just a day before Halloween! It's full of all of the ingredients needed for the scariest of horror movies.

Death and destruction, terrorist attacks, gay pedophiles in charge of everything and a populace that is forced to hand their children over to them. Oh, one could faint from the horrors of it all! But wait! There's more! On top of all of these future events, you have looked into the future and seen the destruction of our Constitution, the taking away of the Second Amendment, the nuking of Israel by fanatical mullahs, a Supreme Court allowing for the arrest of Christians, (forcing all American Christians to emigrate to Australia), the shutting down and banning of all conservative talk shows, radio and television, euthanasia of undesirables, children forced to watch pornography in school, and any other form of death, destruction, and mayhem that could come pouring out of your lunatic mind.

How will all of these end of the world scenarios come forth, and why will the world as we know it end by 2012? Because Barak Obama is elected president of the United States. So claims James Dobson, the son of goats and pigs, who sent out millions and millions of copies of a letter entitled " Letter From America In 2012 In Obama's America" to Christians around the country in an attempt to blunt the effects being made on Christians who see John McCain as the worst possible choice and are voting their consciences come Tuesday.

Mr. Dobson, when DID you sell your soul to the devil and why would you wait until the day that the veil between the living and the dead is said to be at it's slimmest to release a document of such vile evil? Did your true master force your hand, seeing as how your kind are about to lose your grip on power and your sway over the populace? Could it be the writing on the wall that causes the terror to strike in your own heart and forces you to strike it into the hearts of real Christian men and women?

You disgust me Mr. Dobson. You stand for all that is wrong with our country right now. It has been putrid heaps of dung such as yourself who have stood on the pulpits of churches and proclaimed and furthered the lie that only you know the heart of God. Your pitiful bleatings were believed by those who desired to follow the Path and you led them straight down the road to hell. Such a good little Anti-Christ. What better way to deceive and to turn the Word into a mockery than to claim to be a teacher of the words of Jesus? To then twist those words into something foul tasting and morally repugnant, falsely claiming that this is the new direction God wants for his people. Your chameleon like ability to slip yourself into any national public discourse and throw a 'God Hates Fags' bomb into the middle of it must make you the hero of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Your claims that New Christians who are going to the polls and voting for Obama will cause them eternal damnation are as hollow as your entire basis for continuing to vomit in America's face. We have caught onto your lies and falsehoods Pharisee, and we call you what you truly are. A demon, a monster, a phony, an anti-Christ, a fraud, and a liar. You are one of those we are warned about. One of those who will come in sheep's clothing only to devour God's people. How dare you mock those who disagree with you, claiming them to be other than God's children, and them stand on the pulpit and demand complete loyalty from those you have hoodwinked?

The United States is sick Mr. Dobson. It needs a healer right now, a person who will not kiss the ass of a lunatic whose views are so the opposite of what America stands for such as yourself. You, who claims to know what is good for all of us are the real menace, the real danger of implementation of theocratic rule and intolerance. It is you who wishes to take away the rights of your fellow citizens and drunk with power, use it to enslave an entire nation. It is you who would take the reigns of power and use them to launch nuclear weapons at your perceived enemies. And it is you who stands naked before all of Christendom as a divider of people, a snake, and a deceiver. It was you who slithered in the Garden, stood laughing at the foot of the Cross, and are known the world over as the great deceiver.

Go away Dobson. We don't need your kind fouling up our national discourse anymore. Take off your costume today, the day set aside for demons and goblins, and show the world who you really are. Because even as you post your letters to America's faithful, millions of them don't believe you any more. And even more look upon you as a creature of darkness, a greedy, power hungry whore whose only true beliefs lie in the bottomless pits of despair. You are rebuked sir.

Take that rebuke and take the dismissal of America's faithful, and go crawl back under your rock. If you'd like to read Dobson's disgusting letter, go here: http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Entire Town Outsourced To China


You know the product by sight. You know it's name, it's feel, what it's many uses are, and it's probably in almost every U.S household. It stands for Made In America, a good product, a working man's best friend since it's invention in 1918 by William Peterson. Produced in a small Nebraska town where the entire population works hard making them, the Irwin Tools company, a subsidiary of Rubbermaid, announced last month that the Vise-Grips plant is moving to China because the labor costs are so much cheaper there.

DeWitt, Nebraska lies about 35 miles southwest of the state capital of Lincoln, but couldn't be farther apart in lifestyles. With a population of 600, Dewitt epitomizes the small town values espoused by the candidates for President. Crossing the set of railroad tracks to gain entry to the town proper, it's main street consists of one small tavern, a small grocery store, a little clothing thrift operation, and the huge Vise-Grips plant.

Trees line every street here in DeWitt, a place where homes aren't packed together like sardines, and everyone knows your name. You can't pass through the little slice of apple pie without waving to virtually every person you pass, whether they're walking down the street, or sitting on their porch watching the gorgeous fall foliage. This every man and woman town is about to be completely uprooted though, due to the greed of a corporation, and the tax incentives that companies are still receiving to ship our jobs overseas.

The trade agreements with China actually provide for extra money for corporations to set up shop in China, rather than keep the plants here in America. Vise-Grips. Good Lord, one must think when they go to grab a pair of the ever handy tool from now on. Used as a portable vise, or a wrench in a pinch, Vise-Grips are in every garage, every mechanics shop, every kitchen drawer, and well, they're just everywhere. And it has been the good people of DeWitt, Nebraska that has been making them for us.

Worried now about what they're to do, the town's residents fear their home is about to go the way of many a small town in the Mid-West over the past eight arduous years. They cite the examples of towns and cities across the Heartland that depended upon Agri-Businesses for their survival and whose homes were turned into ghost towns when the business was bought up by a corporate entity and moved or it's workforce laid off to make way for immigrant labor who would do the job for pennies on the dollar.

And it always seems that they pull this crap just before or during the holiday season. It's not bad enough that the corporation could care less that they're destroying people's lives, but they rub salt in the wound by doing it in October, or November, or December. Is Vise-Grips going to send each of their ex-employees a Christmas card wishing them a jolly holiday season? Probably so, such is the heartless nature of these corporate beasts.

In times past, a plant closing wouldn't be this big of a deal. The townspeople could have probably commuted up to Lincoln and found other work. But with high fuel costs and the fact that there are not any jobs open in the tight market, that option isn't even viable. So, DeWitt will most likely go the way of other small communities. Neighbors that have known each other all of their lives will most likely move away, losing contact with their friends as usually happens despite promises to keep in touch. Houses will be foreclosed or sold, the few stores in town will shutter their doors and windows due to a lack of business, and the townspeople will move away. DeWitt will become just another victim of the Bush policies, lying silent and dusty in the vast Nebraska Plains.

This must stop. It doesn't matter who wins this election, this outsourcing and the incentives to do so must end. These are real people whose lives are being destroyed and who are going to lose everything they have worked and sweated and bled for all of their lives, going back two generations. Wiped out by the Corporate greed machine, and aided and abetted by our own government. This monstrous loss of good paying American jobs in favor of low paying ones is an insidious destruction of the American way of life, and the incoming President must end all tax breaks for those who would uproot entire towns and cities. Tax breaks must be given instead to those who would build new plants here in the United States. Make noise about this issue, because a complacent populace may just find that the next set of jobs shipped to China, or India, or Pakistan is yours.
Contact Irwin Industrial Tools, the parent company of Vise-Grips, and tell them we are no longer going to be silent about the grip that Corporate America has on the throat of the nation.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Christian Voters Going Back To Roots And Voting Obama

Why Christians Are Turning Away From The Far Right And Leaning All The Way To The Left.

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Christian Voters Going Back To Roots And Voting Obama


In November of 2004, George W. Bush ended up with the good fortune of being the recipient of one of the largest turnouts of Christian voters ever. Almost in lockstep, they followed the orders handed down to them by the likes of fanatics such as James Dobson, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell. It has been discussed much by political pundits on the internet and on television, with many wondering several things, such as why they did so, and what would have happened had they voted for Kerry.

Here we find ourselves once again facing the prospect of a huge turnout by Christian voters. In one of the most important elections of our lifetimes, this particular bloc of voters is going to play a major role in the selection of our next President. But this time around, the Republican Party is about to find a shock awaiting them at the polls. Because more and more Christian voters are openly and actively promoting Barak Obama and shunning John McCain.

We're not talking about your far right wing evangelicals. Those who follow the leaders like those named above, those 'churches' that have absolutely nothing to do with the words of Our Lord, but seek political power and monetary gain at all costs. In fact, we're talking about a huge contingent of New Christians who quite possibly have grown as large as 50% or more of the Christian voting bloc according to Pegasus News and GodPoll.

These are the New Christians and they have a great message of hope and of love and of peace on the world. If that sounds like the hippies of the 1960's and 1970's, well, you wouldn't be too far off from the philosophy. Sick and tired of being lied to by the Republican Party who tells them one thing to garner their votes, but then completely ignores them once in office, millions of Christians have decided that they will no longer base their votes on issues like abortion or gay marriage. Groups such as Republican Christians for Obama say that as far as they're concerned, gay marriage is not a political issue, but a human rights one. As far as abortion, they claim that every Republican vows to end the practice, but once in office, are afraid to touch the hot button issue.

Desire for change is strong among the Christian communities. From Southern Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Methodists, and non denominational churches, the cry is now returning to the words of Jesus, and the works that He commanded we do. Issues such as feeding the poor in these hard economic times, sheltering the homeless, the sick and the infirm. Tackling the issue of genocide and AIDS in Africa. And in the case of a group called the Christian Alliance For Progress, calling for the reversal of decades of right wing ideology being pounded into worshipers heads.

Speaking about instituting nationwide initiatives based on the premise of the movie Pay It Forward, they want to help their fellow Americans understand that the 'Me First' teachings of the past three decades are the teachings of evil, and that it's alright to love your neighbor, it's ok to help someone in need, and that taking the time to stop and help a stranger can be a catalyst for others to do the same. They reject the anti-Christian policies of Dobson, Hagee, and Robertson that cry out for war against Iran. They reject war in all it's forms.

Even the environment has been placed on the table by these true Christians. Saying that we are all supposed to be the stewards of the planet, they want real solutions to the climate crisis and global warming. An idea being floated by some of the groups is to lobby for laws that make the biggest polluters such as the oil companies and coal fired electric plants kick in more tax dollars to pay for programs that will slow or reverse the effects that the emissions that their products cause to the atmosphere.

Instead of the politics of exclusion practiced by the Pharisees, these New Christians call for the inclusion of all to the table of God. Bigotry of all types must be done away with they say, and no one should ever have to feel awkward because of the color of their skin.

Interestingly, it's the far right churches who have preached the politics of hatred and greed, that have led the flock astray and down the path of wars and lies who are screaming out the loudest against the true Christian movement. Almost Biblical in it's implications, as in the Jews following Jesus in the first place to the chagrin of the original Pharisees, the New Christian movement gains followers by the day. Just as in the time that Our Lord walked the earth and left us His message of peace and love, today's followers of The Path have awakened to the fact that they have been hoodwinked by a group of political operatives posing as men of God.

Says a member of the Republican Christians for Obama "God is not Republican and he doesn't expect all of his children to vote Republican as some requirement of salvation." But you wouldn't know that if you listen to the Christian Coalition. In their 'non partisan' voter guide, they make no bones about whom they believe Christians must vote for without endangering their immortal soul. Listing falsely Obama's stance on issues, on the flip side, they paint the Keating 5 candidate as a holy man of God who is the candidate who most shares Christian family values. Really? Which values are those? The ones that claim only the rich should receive tax breaks. Only corporations should have laws protecting them from the American people, and not vice-versa?

The stance that our very Constitution, that guarantees freedom and liberty for all, should be ignored when convenient, and the laws of our land don't apply to the Executive Branch of government. These are the very stances that are driving church members away in droves, and opening their eyes to just who it is they have been listening to. And it wasn't the Word of God, that's for sure.

And so, as the Christian far right loses their grip on the throats of those who desire love and peace, hey do what the Republican Party itself is doing in the last days of the campaign. They belittle those who desire to help others. They call them false Christians when it is they themselves who were spawned by Satan. They are on the attack, making up lies, and doing all that they can to stop the growth of a movement that just wishes to leave lives of peace and of service to others. It's the reason they are voting for Barak Obama, and the reason they are actively spreading the word to other Christians that it's ok to leave the fold and vote your conscience. That you don't have to vote what a pastor or a priest tells you to, but that you should vote for whom you think would lead to the healing of our people and not further the divide that being shoved down our throats these last days of the campaign by John McCain and Sarah Palin.

There's one message they do want to get across though, and it's an important one. They want you to know that as Christians, it's time to go back to the beginning and start over. That somewhere along the way, the wrong road was followed and it's time to back track and find the way back to the one true Path. Come and join us...................................

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

You Might Be A Terrorist.....................


If you can not walk up to the counter at the airport in order to pick up your ticket due to the fact that you still ride in a stroller, you might be a terrorist. It happened to a two year old boy at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Not once, but twice did he learn what terrorism is all about when airport security stopped his family for further 'security' checks because someone put the kid's name on the FBI's terrorist watch list.

Rising at the rate of about 20,000 names per month, the ACLU estimates that there are more than 1.4 million names on the 'list' as of today. Although Homeland Security denies that there are more than a handful of Americans who are accidentally on the list, the truth is just the opposite. If your last name, for instance, has a couple of letters that match a couple of letters in a known terrorist's last name, be prepared to be delayed when trying to board a flight.

If you are a retired Air Force National Guard Brigadier General, who flies commercial jets and is authorized to carry a gun into the cockpit in case someone tries to hijack your plane, you might be a terrorist. So goes the game for James Robinson, a commercial airline pilot, who can no longer use any of the usual fast lane amenities to get aboard the plane he is about to fly because some idiot put his name on the terror watch list.

If you are a Democratic U.S. Senator who has disagreed with the Bush Administration at every turn, you might be a terrorist. Just ask Senator Edward Kennedy. Likewise, you might talk to 11 term Democratic U.S. Representative John Lewis of Atlanta.

If you are just walking by the airport on any given day, like today for example, and as a plane comes in for a landing, you take out your trusty cam/phone and snap a picture of it to send to your kid at home, you might be a terrorist. Such is the example given by security heads at Las Vegas McCarran International where Air Marshall's are required to turn in at least one SDR ( Surveillance Detection Report) per month. Your photo has just been taken while you were snapping your own, and matched against driver's licence data bases, the State Department's passport office, police and FBI files, and when they figure out who you are, you are a newly minted member of the terrorist club. The Air Marshalls also get bonuses for all the 'extra' SDR's they turn in.

If you like to sew, as millions of Americans of both genders do, you might be a terrorist. Just ask seamstress Lana Gremerson of Portland, Oregon. Stopped while attempting to board a flight at PDX (Portland international Airport), Gremerson was pulled out of line, and told secondary security screening was needed before she could go aboard the plane. Figuring that she had no choice, (she was right about that), she went into a room, where a female guard told her to strip. Shocked, Gremerson refused and was told she would be arrested if she didn't co-operate. With a male security guard present, the woman was forced to strip down to her underwear, and then questioned about all manner of evil doings. Her crime? She forgot that she was carrying one of those travel sewing kits that contain.............well..............sewing needles! Allowed to leave after three hours, Gremerson not only missed her flight, but the next time she went to fly, she found her name had been added to the watch list.

If you are a reporter for a major television news network, you might be a terrorist. CNN reporter Drew Griffin found that out the hard way. The Transportation Safety Administration denies that Griffin's negative reporting on the terror watch list was cause for the reporter's name being placed on it. Yeah right.

If you are a middle school student, and attend classes in Georgia, you might be a terrorist. No less than the sheriff of a county went to a school in Oglethorpe County and told the students there that they would be placed on the terrorist watch list and remain there forever should they not stop leaving threatening notes to each other in the hallways of the school. An FBI spokesman said that hopefully, if a child's name was nominated for the list, cooler heads would prevail and not destroy the kid's life with list placement, but as we have already seen, that quota will take precedence all the time.

No longer constrained to just the travel sector of our society, Americans are now facing problems in other areas. Such as the 18 year old student who was starting a technology consulting business, but was denied the ability to process credit card payments due to his placement on the terror list. It turns out that his last name was similar to a Libyan government official's. I thought we were best friends with the Lockerbie murderers again?

Another man went into a Maryland Toyota dealership to buy a car, only to be told he had to be checked for tattoos that would determine if he was the person that was on the Treasury Department's list of terrorists and drug dealers.

A man who served honorably in the U.S. Navy, and whose father was killed during the Korean War, was denied access to his online PayPal account, because his name was on the list.

All of the cases above illustrate that those who were queasy at the thought of these lists being started in the first place were right all along. They may have begun with the intent of stopping terrorists, but somewhere along the way, as with everything else done by the Bush administration, has turned into a program designed to intimidate and control the American people. The old adage that some use that goes "If you've got nothing to hide, why do you care", no longer applies due to the repressive use of phony 'laws' to oppress the people. When the terrorist watch list begins to be used as a club to force people to do as they're told by their government, it's no longer a tool designed to catch anyone but those who would dissent. Because that's who is ending up on the 'list'. Those who openly disagree with a Bush policy are ten times more likely to find their names on the terror list than those who lovingly kiss up to the Glorious Leader.

After the nightmare of the last eight years, the incoming President should review Homeland Security's usefulness, and make changes accordingly. American citizens have a right to voice opposition to their government without fear of retribution. But because of the policies of Bush, and signed off on by John McCain, Americans must now fear their government, when it should be the other way around. Think about that come election day. The past eight years have happened. They don't just fade away because an election is upcoming and we've got two new candidates. John McCain will go further than Bush when it comes to this list instead of doing the right thing and tearing it up and starting over. And of course, he'll never put the name on the list that deserves to be at the very top, namely one George W. Bush.................................