I live in a great neighborhood. Yet, last night, someone fired 15 rounds from an AK-47 up into the air. It could’ve been a warning to the neighborhood watch cos it’s in front of his house that the shells were found. Tijuana and Baghdad is coming to a town near you.
I am grateful to live in the greatest Country in history; that my family is healthy; that most of them are conservative; that we have the best Military in history; that 2012 is in the not too distant future; that I came across this website; that I can celebrate in any way that I wish to. Thank you, America.
French novelist Tristane Banon is set to file attempted rape charges against DSK in France.
The subject incident occurred in 2002, but Banon’s mother, a higher-up in DSK’s Socialist Party, dissuaded her daughter from pressing charges at that time. IMO, this lends further credence to the hotel maid’s case and, hopefully, will embolden other women whom this monster has assaulted to come forward.
I have been considering the meaning of the term secular and whether its definition has changed over time. Have we as a nation become more secular over time or less? And is secularism the rejection of all religion or can it be considered the equal acceptance of all religions?
It seems to me that our founders came together to form our nation despite their religious and non religious differences. In short, they chose to accept one another and build our nation rather than reject one another and not. How?
They appear to have adopted some form of functional agnosticism in which they accepted the non provability of faith and embraced one another on that commonality thus giving each a say and hence allowing their beliefs to be reflected in government, none being chased from the public square.
Least it be forgotten, that would include Atheism. Atheism and religion are at opposite ends of the same continuum of faith. In the case of religion faith in a god is required while in the case of atheism faith in no god is required. Both are faith based and neither is more provable than the other. Atheism is therefore arguably a faith based “religion”.
At any rate, atheist opinion seems to have been as acceptable among the group of founders as any of the other faith based opinions, each having a say in the formation of the Constitution.
What of today?
We see religion being chased from the public square leaving only atheism in place. How is this any different than chasing all religions from the public square except for Catholicism or Judaism or Islam? In each case all religions are rejected except for the one that is accepted, presumably because it has been proven. With our current state of affairs toward religion, it seems that we have slipped toward a form of theocratic state in which the rejection of all religion is proper, an atheocratic state.
We have seen athocratic regimes before in the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, China and so on. By any metric chosen they are arguably worse than theocratic regimes and when they are not they present the distinct possibility of being so.
With our nation’s adoption of atheism in the public square it may seem that we have become more secular but when considering the faith based aspects of atheism and the kinship between theocratic states and atheocratic states, it seems we have actually become less secular.
Alternatively our founders may have set the whole religion thing aside to be worked out later and not have given us an example of secularism via acceptance of all religions.
I think they did give us such an example and it worked quite well until the last century when it was set aside with the growth of governance.
In an effort to remind current and future generations that this holiday celebrates the day the Founders declared American independence from Great Britain, I will try to refrain from ever again referring to the day as “July 4th” or “the 4th of July”.
A guest poster at Zero Hedge linked to this piece at Rush Limbaugh’s site that Rush says formed the basis of an address that Rush’s father delivered several times over the years. It’s a bit long, but worth the time if you can spare it. Fire up the BBQ and celebrate Independence Day!
“Of all the dispostions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity….
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion….Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
George Washington
On this day, I ponder on how a nation, so formed in the blood, and faith, of patriots, can have evolved into a government that would be an antithesis to the very beliefs of those men.
Celebrating the Independence Day of the USA and the 35th anniversary of the Entebbe rescue reminds me of how Jews have been an integral part of the Independence of America. I was an undergraduate history major-it was only 25 years after graduating that I learned the true story of the financier of the American Revolution, Haym Salomon. The Revolutionary leaders’diaries confirm that everytime the war needed money they would go to Haym Salomon, a devout Jew born in 1740 in Poland, immigrant to America. See at http://www.fau.edu/library/brody5.htm
American Trademark Pictures made a 13 episode series on the miracle of the ongoing state of Israel by investigative reporter, Michael Greenspan. http://www.againstalloddstv.com/index2.php
At Aushwitz on the 65th anniversary Prime Minister Netanyahu read the 37 and 38 chapter of Ezekiel saying chapter 37 was fulfilled in this lifetime Can chapter 38 be fulfilled soon after?
The USA has had a unique place in history because of the G-d of Israel. America must stand by this ally.
While your watching the fireworks consider that during the Revolutionary War when a colonialist heard a bang and saw a flash it was likely a ball of lead was ripping into their flesh. Their healthplan was an untrained medic amputating their arm with a rusty saw. Their food stamps were some scraps they had hidden in their pocket, and their subsidized housing was a woolen blanket. They didn’t have much, just faith, integrity, and love of their country. That’s what makes this country great, not hopenchange. That’s sounds like a hashish shop in Denmark.
dannynasco.blogspot.com
Here’s something we will probably be talking about in a week or two, the need to re-instate the Glass-Steagall Act. It is being reported that investment banks (as if that’s all they are these days) are about to announce massive layoffs due to plummeting earnings.
If we hadn’t removed the wise barriers between investment banks, commercial banks and insurance companies in 1999, our current banking problems would have been avoided because they would have been smaller and contained mostly within the investment banking industry. Now, our savings deposits and checking accounts which Glass Steagall guaranteed would be managed conservatively, are lumped in with high-risk capital managers who can never be satisfied with less-than-triple-digit returns on capital.
Break up the banks and let the hedge funds fend for themselves. As bad as that is, the alternative is much worse.
Let me add one more thing. I get no interest on my savings and checking accounts. Now I have to worry about whether my money is safe in the custody of these multi-national money laundering houses. Why shouldn’t I take my money out and keep it at home in my safe? I am THIS CLOSE to doing that.
I am grateful for my father, a Midwestern boy who grew up on the Great Plains of this great country; who loved fishing, building ham radios and his beloved Army; who served his country as a battalion commander in Vietnam; who spent too many nights in his later years drinking Scotch, listening to Waylon Jennings and thinking about that war; but who never lost his love for hot summer nights filled with lightning bugs and the smell of the Missouri River.
I am grateful that I grew up on Army posts, that my memories include stopping my car and stepping out on the road to stand at attention at the sound of retreat, and hearing the lonely, comforting sound of taps late at night.
I am grateful I live in a nation of immigrants, that each new wave helps keep us alive and vibrant, and that we are still a beacon of light shining in the world.
I am grateful that I am a lifelong Democrat, that my mind never closed with anger or bitterness, that somewhere along the way I learned the habit of hope and that it is still strong in me.
I am grateful for the compassion that keeps me connected to this amazing country, this wonderful world.
Happy 4th of July, everybody. It’s time to put the RIOT back into PATRIOT!
I just watched the Capitol Fourth Concert. Steve Martin and his band, the Steep Canyon Rangers played a blue grass ballad he wrote called “Me and Paul Revere” – the story of Paul Revere’s ride from the perspective of the horse he rode that night. Martin’s version of the story is similar to one that Governor Palin shared on her One Nation Tour. Hmmmm….
Yesterday I was honored to serve in the color guard, and later as a color bearer, during ceremonial presentation of colors to a church member who recently was granted American citizenship. He pursed the General Path to citizenship, living as a permanent resident for five years and completing other requirements of Just stepped back inside after listening to the sounds of widespread civil disobedience and watching four nearby community fireworks barrages from my roof.
Comments
Something to ponder on this Independence Day:
http://www.garynorth.com/public/8215.cfm
Happy Independence Day!
I live in a great neighborhood. Yet, last night, someone fired 15 rounds from an AK-47 up into the air. It could’ve been a warning to the neighborhood watch cos it’s in front of his house that the shells were found. Tijuana and Baghdad is coming to a town near you.
Thinking about our nation, past and present.
That is enough for today! Praying while I cook. 😀
I am grateful to live in the greatest Country in history; that my family is healthy; that most of them are conservative; that we have the best Military in history; that 2012 is in the not too distant future; that I came across this website; that I can celebrate in any way that I wish to. Thank you, America.
To save your world you asked this man to die:
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?
— W. H. Auden
Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier
Here’s my musical tribute to this great nation that I love so very much:
http://teresainfortworth.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/happy-birthday-america/
Happy Independence Day America! All day, in my heart, I will be singing the lyrics of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”!
Note new development in the DSK situation:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/04/french-novelist-accuses-ex-imf-chief-dominique-strauss-kahn-attempted-rape/
French novelist Tristane Banon is set to file attempted rape charges against DSK in France.
The subject incident occurred in 2002, but Banon’s mother, a higher-up in DSK’s Socialist Party, dissuaded her daughter from pressing charges at that time. IMO, this lends further credence to the hotel maid’s case and, hopefully, will embolden other women whom this monster has assaulted to come forward.
I have been considering the meaning of the term secular and whether its definition has changed over time. Have we as a nation become more secular over time or less? And is secularism the rejection of all religion or can it be considered the equal acceptance of all religions?
It seems to me that our founders came together to form our nation despite their religious and non religious differences. In short, they chose to accept one another and build our nation rather than reject one another and not. How?
They appear to have adopted some form of functional agnosticism in which they accepted the non provability of faith and embraced one another on that commonality thus giving each a say and hence allowing their beliefs to be reflected in government, none being chased from the public square.
Least it be forgotten, that would include Atheism. Atheism and religion are at opposite ends of the same continuum of faith. In the case of religion faith in a god is required while in the case of atheism faith in no god is required. Both are faith based and neither is more provable than the other. Atheism is therefore arguably a faith based “religion”.
At any rate, atheist opinion seems to have been as acceptable among the group of founders as any of the other faith based opinions, each having a say in the formation of the Constitution.
What of today?
We see religion being chased from the public square leaving only atheism in place. How is this any different than chasing all religions from the public square except for Catholicism or Judaism or Islam? In each case all religions are rejected except for the one that is accepted, presumably because it has been proven. With our current state of affairs toward religion, it seems that we have slipped toward a form of theocratic state in which the rejection of all religion is proper, an atheocratic state.
We have seen athocratic regimes before in the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, China and so on. By any metric chosen they are arguably worse than theocratic regimes and when they are not they present the distinct possibility of being so.
With our nation’s adoption of atheism in the public square it may seem that we have become more secular but when considering the faith based aspects of atheism and the kinship between theocratic states and atheocratic states, it seems we have actually become less secular.
Alternatively our founders may have set the whole religion thing aside to be worked out later and not have given us an example of secularism via acceptance of all religions.
I think they did give us such an example and it worked quite well until the last century when it was set aside with the growth of governance.
In an effort to remind current and future generations that this holiday celebrates the day the Founders declared American independence from Great Britain, I will try to refrain from ever again referring to the day as “July 4th” or “the 4th of July”.
A guest poster at Zero Hedge linked to this piece at Rush Limbaugh’s site that Rush says formed the basis of an address that Rush’s father delivered several times over the years. It’s a bit long, but worth the time if you can spare it. Fire up the BBQ and celebrate Independence Day!
The Americans Who Risked Everything:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.guest.html
Missing one of the bigger eaters at the family barbecue… http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tLSw1oxkGf4
Just thought I’d spend the day pondering about why people were put on this planet. So far I have to agree with George Carling: “Plastic… a-hole!”
http://www.icomedytv.com/Comedy-Videos/ID/335/George-Carlin–The-Planet-Is-Fine-Transcript-0739.aspx
Just thought I’d spend the day pondering about why people were put on this planet. So far I have to agree with George Carlin: “Plastic… a-hole!”
http://www.icomedytv.com/Comedy-Videos/ID/335/George-Carlin–The-Planet-Is-Fine-Transcript-0739.aspx
“Of all the dispostions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity….
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion….Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
George Washington
On this day, I ponder on how a nation, so formed in the blood, and faith, of patriots, can have evolved into a government that would be an antithesis to the very beliefs of those men.
Celebrating the Independence Day of the USA and the 35th anniversary of the Entebbe rescue reminds me of how Jews have been an integral part of the Independence of America. I was an undergraduate history major-it was only 25 years after graduating that I learned the true story of the financier of the American Revolution, Haym Salomon. The Revolutionary leaders’diaries confirm that everytime the war needed money they would go to Haym Salomon, a devout Jew born in 1740 in Poland, immigrant to America. See at
http://www.fau.edu/library/brody5.htm
American Trademark Pictures made a 13 episode series on the miracle of the ongoing state of Israel by investigative reporter, Michael Greenspan. http://www.againstalloddstv.com/index2.php
At Aushwitz on the 65th anniversary Prime Minister Netanyahu read the 37 and 38 chapter of Ezekiel saying chapter 37 was fulfilled in this lifetime Can chapter 38 be fulfilled soon after?
The USA has had a unique place in history because of the G-d of Israel. America must stand by this ally.
While your watching the fireworks consider that during the Revolutionary War when a colonialist heard a bang and saw a flash it was likely a ball of lead was ripping into their flesh. Their healthplan was an untrained medic amputating their arm with a rusty saw. Their food stamps were some scraps they had hidden in their pocket, and their subsidized housing was a woolen blanket. They didn’t have much, just faith, integrity, and love of their country. That’s what makes this country great, not hopenchange. That’s sounds like a hashish shop in Denmark.
dannynasco.blogspot.com
Here’s something we will probably be talking about in a week or two, the need to re-instate the Glass-Steagall Act. It is being reported that investment banks (as if that’s all they are these days) are about to announce massive layoffs due to plummeting earnings.
If we hadn’t removed the wise barriers between investment banks, commercial banks and insurance companies in 1999, our current banking problems would have been avoided because they would have been smaller and contained mostly within the investment banking industry. Now, our savings deposits and checking accounts which Glass Steagall guaranteed would be managed conservatively, are lumped in with high-risk capital managers who can never be satisfied with less-than-triple-digit returns on capital.
Break up the banks and let the hedge funds fend for themselves. As bad as that is, the alternative is much worse.
Let me add one more thing. I get no interest on my savings and checking accounts. Now I have to worry about whether my money is safe in the custody of these multi-national money laundering houses. Why shouldn’t I take my money out and keep it at home in my safe? I am THIS CLOSE to doing that.
I am grateful for my father, a Midwestern boy who grew up on the Great Plains of this great country; who loved fishing, building ham radios and his beloved Army; who served his country as a battalion commander in Vietnam; who spent too many nights in his later years drinking Scotch, listening to Waylon Jennings and thinking about that war; but who never lost his love for hot summer nights filled with lightning bugs and the smell of the Missouri River.
I am grateful that I grew up on Army posts, that my memories include stopping my car and stepping out on the road to stand at attention at the sound of retreat, and hearing the lonely, comforting sound of taps late at night.
I am grateful I live in a nation of immigrants, that each new wave helps keep us alive and vibrant, and that we are still a beacon of light shining in the world.
I am grateful that I am a lifelong Democrat, that my mind never closed with anger or bitterness, that somewhere along the way I learned the habit of hope and that it is still strong in me.
I am grateful for the compassion that keeps me connected to this amazing country, this wonderful world.
Happy 4th of July, everybody. It’s time to put the RIOT back into PATRIOT!
😀
If we continue on our recent path, someday July 4th may be a day of grieving for lost liberty.
I just watched the Capitol Fourth Concert. Steve Martin and his band, the Steep Canyon Rangers played a blue grass ballad he wrote called “Me and Paul Revere” – the story of Paul Revere’s ride from the perspective of the horse he rode that night. Martin’s version of the story is similar to one that Governor Palin shared on her One Nation Tour. Hmmmm….
To hear the song, go to http://www.2HelenaHandbaskets.com.
Yesterday I was honored to serve in the color guard, and later as a color bearer, during ceremonial presentation of colors to a church member who recently was granted American citizenship. He pursed the General Path to citizenship, living as a permanent resident for five years and completing other requirements of Just stepped back inside after listening to the sounds of widespread civil disobedience and watching four nearby community fireworks barrages from my roof.