Most men indeed, as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. — Ben Franklin, Autobiographical Writings (last speech)

It is a complicated world in which we live. We require conviction about certain things in order to center ourselves and make our way. Yet those same convictions sometimes blind us to a greater truth or understanding about life, love, and God.

Most of us do not understand the history of our religions, the social contexts in which our religions were developed, and the ways in which all of the sacred texts have been manipulated by various kings, religious leaders, emperors, and tribal chieftans to support their personal political agendas. We understand the religious history that was taught to us by our parents, their parents, and their parents’ parents, and we accept this verbal history as the truth.

It’s no small surprise that true biblical scholars — not divinity students, but scholars of the bible and its history — go through a crisis of faith at some point in their studies. They learn how fallible the socially accepted religious texts are. Those who continue to have faith do so because they choose to believe, in spite of all the human error and meddling. What a powerful faith theirs is, to choose not from denial, but from a place of light (truth) and spiritual hope.

We hide behind our beliefs, afraid to challenge or question them. Psychologically that makes sense. If we suspect our spouse is cheating on us sexually, we go through a phase of not wanting to know. The truth can be difficult and painful because it may cause change. Some people choose to never confront the truth of their spouse’s infidelity, and live instead in a state of denial and suppressed pain.

If we have chosen not to confront the infidelity, then woe to the well-meaning (or not-so-well-meaning) friend who points it out to us. Their recognition of the truth means that we must deal with it, and if we have used denial to create a false reality, we don’t appreciate someone else shining a light on it.

All of us hide behind denial to some extent. It’s a complicated world that presents us with too many contradictions. One person’s acceptance of nudity is another person’s violation of modesty. One family’s arranged marriage for the strengthening of family ties and responsibilities is another person’s violation of marriage as an institution dependent on love. One person’s pacifism is another person’s weakness. One person’s polygamy is another person’s violation of the sanctity of marriage. One person’s martyrdom is a violation of another’s sense of God’s peace.

Cultural norms and mores simplify life. Merely 200 years ago nearly every human being lived within a community which enjoyed the simplicity of entirely shared values. Well, that’s not quite true. For instance, in most western cultures 200 years ago, if a married woman was miserable — whether she was beaten , taken for granted, or anywhere in between — she could not leave her marriage. She couldn’t own land, hold a job, or vote. So whether she shared the norms and mores or not was irrelevant — she had to pretend to in order to maintain what little place she had in society. Slavery has been part of the world since time immemorial, continuing today. Still, most communities 200 years ago benefited from general sharing of cultural values.

As the world has become more integrated, we experience challenges to our beliefs and values. The Archbishop of Canterbury recently advanced an argument that England should consider Sharia law for the purposes of negotiating marital and civilian disputes. The world immediately split over his statement — some suggesting that social cohesion is not possible when multiple legal systems are contending for primacy, and others arguing that it’s about time western culture recognized that the Muslims within their cultures require Sharia law to function. Who is right? As the Archbishop of Canterbury has learned, even raising the question of how to accommodate religious views and rights within a secular society can have grave implications for one’s career.

State by painful State the US has been debating whether or not gay couples should have the same rights under the law as married couples. Proponents of the bills argue that gay couples should not have to worry about whether or not they will be able to visit their loved one in a hospital, make medical decisions when necessary, or maintain their joint property after a loved one’s death. Opponents of the bills argue that gay marriage mocks the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and that the fabric of society will be permanently torn if gay unions are legally recognized. Who is right?

In 1955 Robert Green Ingersoll said:

“Whenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there is in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty born of the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. Believing himself to be the slave of god, he imitates his master, and of all tyrants, the worst is a slave in power.”

There is room for all of us, whether believers or non-believers, to recognize a certain personal responsibility in Ingersoll’s challenge. The challenge is this:

We cannot simultaneously uphold our own fundamental rightness and offer genuine respect to human beings who believe differently than us. The two positions are mutually exclusive. We can condescendingly agree to accept that the other person has a different opinion, but that is not the same as valuing that person equally to ourselves.

If we wish to take no risks with our salvation, our only hope is to choose to see the Godliness in every other human being, and to strive to understand how their Godliness leads them to believe differently than we do. We cannot condemn another person without condemning ourselves. We cannot judge another person without likewise turning our judgment on ourselves. If we are among those who believe in God, how egotistical it is to believe that God requires our judgment of His other children to make His world whole? Don’t we think He can handle that aspect Himself?

If we are not worried about salvation because we don’t believe in God or a hereafter, our only hope in life is to learn as much as we can from every other human being we encounter, because this one life is the only one we’ve got and the only way to live it to the fullest would be to allow its fullness to live in us.

One sure path to the truth is to be willing to view our own beliefs with as much skepticism as we view the beliefs of others. An even surer path to the truth is to challenge all of our systems, our laws, and our social structures to uplift and uphold the dignity and supreme worth of every human being. In every choice we make, if we would stop to consider the worth and dignity of those involved — and not just our own views of how the world should work — I believe that we would consistently make better choices.

In 1902 William James lamented that out of fanaticism “crusades have been preached and massacres instigated for no other reason than to remove a fancied slight upon the God.” History does not provide an example of it, but can’t you imagine a world where all people are seekers of truth and clear thinking? It would be impossible to wage a war, starve a child, beat a woman, or cheat a friend if the only enculturation we knew was to shine the light of equality and love on every person we met.

No one of us is more special than any other. But we could be incredibly special together if we put our minds — and not our blindered beliefs — to the task.

(c) 2008. Andrea M. Hill

Andrea Hill owns Public Rhetoric, a freelance writer boutique offering a full range of writing services. In addition to her extensive business resume, Ms. Hill has 26 years of professional writing experience. She has direct knowledge of the entertainment, magazine, apparel, home electronics, jewelry, craft, and fine art industries, is a highly-respected direct marketing expert, and her team of freelance writers expands that knowledge base to dozens of other fields. Andrea and her team bring to every assignment a combination of finely tuned business acumen and highly skilled writing craft.

In addition to writing for business interests, Ms. Hill is an accomplished writer on topics related to ethics and moral choices in modern life, and she is a popular public speaker on ethics, motivation, and business. Click on the link below to find out how Ms. Hill and Public Rhetoric can improve your company’s marketing and communications efforts.

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There are a few things to consider when considering the validity of the Bible. It is my contention that the Bible is not the word of God but any opinion is worthless without evidence.

Let’s say you had no understanding of anything spiritual. Someone comes to you one day saying he found an old book in the woods. He is all excited and tells you that it is the word of God. Do you quickly say “Okay, then let us follow it to the letter” or do you say something else like “How do you know it is the word of God?” Think long and hard about it. He tells you that the book has many good things about basic morality in it and the book itself hints at being the word of God. Do you then conclude that it really is the word of God or do you ask for real evidence that it is Heavenly inspired?

After all, the Koran claims to be the word of God as does the book of Mormon. Are they the word of God because they claim to be? Of course not. Why is the Bible considered by so many to be the word of God without putting it to the test? The Bible does not anywhere claim that its 66 books are the “word of God.” It simply matches up with itself in many places and some writers in the book quote other writers.

However, nothing in it has a divine stamp that says specifically what is to be followed. Instead of saying the Bible is or the Bible is not the word of God, it needs to be tested. How would you test a book that made such a claim anyway, one should ask? Simple. You put it under the microscope of critical analysis. You study it under the assumption that maybe it is or maybe it is not but you do not ever arrive at a conclusion first before beginning the study. You arrive at one last. Christians already have been told the Bible is God’s word without putting it up to a challenge. Instead of simply believing that it is because one always has and was taught this since childhood, one has a duty to oneself to find proof or at least a reasonable amount of evidence that it is. The problem is that Christians make the fatal mistake of starting first with the conclusion that the Bible just is the word of God. Some will tell you to prove it is not. If you go to court to accuse someone of committing a crime against you, they do not have to prove they did not. You have to prove they did. For Christians, it is just the opposite.

It needs to be pointed out that if God Himself did not tell anyone that the Bible was His book, then why believe that it is without a test? Christians are quick to condemn the Muslims for believing in a book (the Koran) that contradicts theirs but what right does a Christian have to claims that theirs is the truth? What about the content of the book? If it is good and decent and makes sense for peaceful living, should we consider it to be the word of God? No. Anyone can write up a peaceful standard of living but it should not be considered “scripture.” However, the Bible has many dark things that no one would consider peaceful. Yet, regardless of those things, how does anyone consider the possibility that any book is inspired by God without proof or even some evidence of inspiration regardless of the content? Our cultures and our upbringing almost always influence what we choose to believe first, especially when it comes to spirituality.

Brett Winstead is the author of the book, How to Answer a Christian

I think all of us have asked the same questions. How do all these inventions work? Microwave over; refrigerator; television; radio; clocks; toaster; vehicles; and the list goes on and on. What would you do without your Blackberry, your cell phone or your computer? Have any idea how the “panic button”works?

For over ten years, I worked for a large world-wide engineering company, which employed over 30,000 employees. We did work for all the big boys and girls all over the world including; Los Alamos Scientific Labs; Sandia National Labs; large aircraft builders; universities; government agencies such as Interior and NASA; National Lightning Center; all the military services and governments around the world, etc. Additionally, EG&G manufactured parts and equipment for National Hurricane Center; Geological Survey and our technicians worked on the communications systems on Air Force One.

I don’t consider myself a technical-minded person, but as a technician for over ten years, I worked on some really interesting projects while with the company until I was laid off. Steel, epoxy, foam, washers, nuts and bolts don’t to much by themselves…but, when you put them all together, you have a piece of equipment that can do great things.

During the many years I worked there, it was amazing to me, how many important things the company did for mankind and for the nation. We designed and manufactured proto-type things…things that had never been done before. That’s why anyone dealing with EG&G, would have to have deep pockets and/or a blank checkbook!

* Flood control: You may remember the severe and destructive floods that happened all along the Mississippi River valley a few years ago. I liked working on this project, because it was for ordinary people, and something everyone can understand. EG&G manufactured about 130 rain gages, to help control flooding in the Mississippi river and elsewhere.

The rain gages were aluminum tubes, which stood about 8 feet tall. About 5 feet of the tube would be buried in the ground at its location. At the top of the rain gage, was a little bucket to collect rain. When the bucket was full of rain, it was emptied by remote-control by some computer, probably hundreds of miles away, and the process of collecting rain would begin again. Engineers and scientists could find out where there was the most rainfall, and build dams and diversion channels to control the flooding. Isn’t this neat?

* Classified parts: Many of the things we worked on were classified, and so was this piece for Los Alamos Scientific Labs, which I remember was my favorite job to work on. I saw the piece of copper when it came in to make this piece, and it looked like copper…all corroded, rough edges and dirty. But, when this piece of copper was machined and polished, it looked like a brand new, shiny, penny…and it measured about 3 feet in diameter; by 4 inches thick; and weighed about 225 pounds!
It was tapered along the edges, and it looked like a shiny, copper UFO!

The only thing we knew about this piece, was it would have a short shelf-life at Los Alamos, as engineers were to blow this piece up, and take photographs and the data from its demise, etc.

* Antenna: One of the biggest projects I worked on, was a 40 million dollar contract for the U.S. Navy. The research and development on this project took over five years. When assembled, this monster antenna would stand about 25 stories tall, and resembled an upside down ice cream cone…with the narrow end at the bottom and the wide end at the top. It contained over 2,000 housings of resistors and over 60,000 potted resistors.

Hurricane Katrina taught us all, just how important communications is during a national tragedy, and crucial especially during wartime. This antenna was built to simulate nuclear explosions and the effect they would have on communications systems on ships at sea! (EMP-Electro-magnectic pulse)

* * *

EG&G ceased to exist in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I live, and it was a victim of the big fish eating the little fish…in this case Honeywell eating the little fish, etc. After EG&G, I got a job at a plastics manufacturing company, that made parts for everything from sewing machines to computers, etc. I was always wondering how all these parts were made, and now I got my chance. I think the reader can relate to this story, because I think this industry in the back-bone of our society.

The process of making plastic parts, is called the injection-molding process, and for those of you who have never seen this process in action, I’ll try to briefly describe it for you. So, how can an alarm clock or calculator be sold for only five dollars and a profit be made? Answer: Because this process is FAST…very FAST…and that keeps the costs down!

Almost all of the parts made with this process are made in about 20 seconds! The mouse you’re probably holding in your hand right now, was probably made someplace in only 20 seconds. Many of these parts are assembled out of the country, which makes them affordable to the average consumer.

Engineers have developed these enormous machines, which handle enormous pressures to move the melted plastic and cooling systems throughout the machine. After a part is made in only 20 seconds, most are cool to the touch and can be packaged, if nothing else has to be done to the part, etc. Even if the part is a small as a dime, or as large as a television back…it is still made on only 20 seconds.

Many molds have multiple cavities, so that many parts are the made at the same time. Example; Smoke alarms are made six at a time, and every 20 seconds makes 18 a minute; and about 1,000 an hour and 24,000 for a 24 hour period…and that’s gitty-up for a machine! During the three years I worked in this industry, I saw everything made from a 24″ television back and front…to dentures!
This is a very fast process, and this is one way the cost of products are kept low. Amazing!

Excuse me, Jer…but shouldn’t the title of this article be, “Four out of five people have trouble with fractions?”

Now, the reader can see why I’m not an engineer or an accountant…and I’m not good with numbers at all. Almost everything we use today, has the finger prints of an engineer on it, and I don’t think engineers get the credit or recognition they deserve!

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There seems to still be lingering 911 Conspiracy Theorists out there and so our Online Think Tank has reviewed all the material from the 911 Conspiracy Theorists. And yes we are aware and have heard the recent Rosie O’Donnell comments. Indeed we have listened to George Noory and the interviews of the Colorado Professors (at length) and in all this it is quite clear that all the conspiracy theorists out there have an axe to grind, big time.

We do not believe that it is healthy for the United States of America to go any further on the questioning of these events unless absolute proof is available. I have watched specials on the Discovery Channel and all the towers looked like demolish to me, but that is merely an observer of third hand video, I was not there.

Since, I have no information and I refuse to speculate, so too should the conspiracy theorists. In fact, I went thru all the data from a gentleman I met in Flagstaff, AZ who wrote an eBook on this, I went thru every single chapter and came up with plausible deniability on every single point of contention, yes, every single topic, without exception.

The selective use of news, false reports, non-mainstream media, etc. is alarming, the folks purporting these conspiracy theories have financial gains, ambition and books to sell or websites to promote; they are not with us.

In fact, one cannot tell us that the “news media” was in on it and then use the news media reports during all the chaos and selective quotes to prove their points of contention. Indeed, on the Think Tank our bulletin board went thru each point by point and found errors in each item of the conspiracy crowd. These comments are against our nation are very detrimental and damaging, they serve no purpose whatsoever and only weaken us. Thus I will defend against the conspiracy theorists.

L. Winslow is a Economic Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entrepreneur. Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.

I was in a mental ward when the Australian Port Arthur massacre happened. On the first night of my stay I could not get to sleep due to sleep deprivation. I could not get to sleep and in the three hours that I tried to get to sleep I had twice gone out and told staff that I needed help. On both occasions they told me to go back to my room and they would be in shortly. The third time I went out my head was in much agony and it felt like it was being pulled in a thousand different ways by individual unseen wires.

I had watched on shows on TV when patients had become violent that doctors and nurses would pin them down and give them a needle and in desperation and anger for the staffs blatant disregard of me and my situation I went out to see them the third time. This time I said, “If you are not in my room with enough medication to get me to sleep in the next half an hour I am going to come back and get very violent with as many of you that I have to until you knock me out.”

I was rocking back in forth in agony looking for a way to find a weapon and trying not to go stark raving mad with the pressure in my head when a nurse took about six times calling my name to get my attention. She told me she had two pills for me and they would allow me to get to sleep and I took them and she was right, they knocked me out.

While I stayed at the hospital the TV played the Port Arthur massacre and they could not get enough of it. The coverage went on day after day and every time they aired it they said the most dangerous words any hurting twisted guy could hear. “This is a world record.”

Can I tell you from the perspective of a guy who suffers a mental illness and has been though a lot of personal emotional pain in his life, that one of the most dangerous things you can put in the mind of a person that is angry with the world is “world record.”

I cannot fathom why the media are allowed to use those words and set every potential killers minds on the thought of training up and beating the world record before shooting themselves. I might have a mental illness but I am not stupid and the press coverage of this latest incident saying this is the worst university massacre that the United States has seen and the worst single massacre the United States has seen has simply been stupidity and asking for a bigger and better massacre, one that would now beat the current record.

Already there are hundred of people in the world chewing over how they would do a bigger job then this one and it is plainly obvious to me that this current killer had knocked so many people to the ground with his bullets that he clearly thought he had set the new world record before shooting himself.

With all of what is within me, I know for a fact, that this man would not have shot himself until he thought he had beaten Port Arthur and if hell gets any reports from this side of the grave he will be a little upset down there that his mission had failed in this one vital respect.

The death of innocent people does effect me, don’t get me wrong, but I find that the people with the power and the authority in this world have got all those 33 peoples innocent blood on their hands.

The media should never say world record and the good people of the world should revolt and say this kind of reporting in not accepted.The current massacre is not the biggest massacre your country will witness nor is it the last one that will happen. The media of the world and the governments of the world that allow them to broadcast such stupid comments as United states biggest massacre are going to be held in account by God himself for the future carnage.

Over 700,000 innocent Iraq citizens have died in this stupid war on terror that Bush has started with the descendants of Abrahams first born son, and God is quite happy that 33 peoples deaths has struck fear into the American people. My God is both a God of justice and a God of mercy and the American government is still one that practices the death sentence and the God of Abraham is still a God that will in many ways judge the innocent in the United States of America for their ungodly war with Iraq and occupation.

I have to laugh at the President of the United States, with all his wisdom and advisers and as big as his army is, he is still out of control.

God rules this earth, and it is appointed once for every man to die and after death come their judgement. Yesterday 33 people had an appointment with God and went on to either heaven or hell to spend eternity. We can cry over this or we can make a loud noise to governments to put a ban on the media using such provoking words in their news broadcasts.

If you want to read about a real horror and two big killers that are going to strike the earth with killer plagues like Moses did in Egypt to set the Jews free, make sure you read my article “The most comprehensive look at the last day’s church you will ever see.” At http://www.ezinearticles.com

God looks at the hearts of every man and ways up the motives behind every good and bad thing he does and for the people that are evil yet thinking they are good their will come a day of reckoning. George W Bush is going to have his time before the courts of heaven and God is his judge, and on that day I am afraid he will have great fear as he is led off to a place where suffering cannot be a strong enough word.

Make a protest, This foolish reporting must stop.

Matthew is one of two people that operate a site at http://www.escapeministries.net Escape ministries is a place where people can be ministered to over the internet, by reading articles, watching videos and receiving personal prophetic words. James and Matthew invite you to visit today to look at some of the articles they have collected and watch some of the video teachings they are setting about to produce for you. You are encouraged to sign up for our monthly newsletter or simply email James or Matthew with any of your comments. We hope that you might bookmark it and come back to visit often as we pursue our mission statement that is found on our home page.

You can visit and view their video’s live at youtube by going direct to http://www.youtube.com/EscapeMinistries

Don Imus is out of a job for making an unwise joke about the Rutgers lady basketball team. MSNBC and CBS have completely cancelled his program. Leaving aside the fact that these two corporations canned his program despite the fact that Imus was joking and apologized ad nauseam, far bigger issues remain. One primary issue concerns whether this kind of censorship (particularly after profuse apologies) is wise and justifiable. Another issue is the level of hypocrisy surrounding this censorship issue.

Here we have a man who has told questionable jokes for decades. He has either fired staff members when they crossed the line or apologized as in this latest case. In other cases, he has not done so because he apparently felt there was no need to apologize for an obvious joke. Now, after all these years, they bring down the entire hammer all at once after giving Imus virtually full reign to showcase his brand of humor for years. At any rate, he is gone now, so there’s no point in belaboring this particular firing. On the other hand, what happens next may shape the future of free speech in this country that supposedly values open dialogue and expression and second chances.

I am personally a PC hater. It is a kind of censorship that will creep up out of the dark and bite you the moment you have a slip of the tongue or be so human as to occasionally speak without thinking. But it is not so much PC that is the problem. It is the actions of PC thugs like Al Sharpton that create the problem. Sharpton has made mistakes and is still alive and well on the radio. Jesse Jackson is still alive and well despite making some of these same mistakes. Yet they are front and center calling for people like Imus to be fired for an unfortunate joke without so much as a line of dialogue with Imus to try and fix the problem.

Even after Imus offered to go on Sharpton’s show (which he did) and apologized for hours, Sharpton and his PC thug wannabees never let up the pressure until Imus got the boot. And this is the behavior of a reverend? Shocking but true.

Now, let’s get to the good part. We all know of the foul language in rap music these days. Sharpton and his two faces have been asked time and again about rap music. He conveniently concedes it’s an issue to discuss while refusing to call out a single rapper by name.

Let’s look at this more closely. Imus makes a three-second joke that was clearly unwise and, taken out of the context of his brand of humor, can certainly be seen as racist and sexist. Although that was most likely not his intent (he apparently spoke without even thinking about it), the response is understandable. Like I said, though, it is not so much the outrage after the comment. It is the herd mentality that takes over to shut people down and the hypocrisy. Calls for Imus’ firing came immediately without serious discussion. Here we have a white guy who tells a three-second joke and should be fired immediately according to the PC thugs. Yet the same PC thugs give feeble lip service to rap lyrics with a highly generic statement and a refusal to call out a single rapper.

If someone doesn’t see the double standard here, it’s really scary. Why does Sharpton merely have a conference on rap lyrics to see if there is a problem but immediately call for the firing of someone like Imus? Well, let’s speculate a little since I can’t read his mind. Let’s posit that Sharpton and goons like him are afraid that the black community will not agree with him. This in turn threatens to destroy his little empire. With no black community to follow him, Sharpton is pretty much out of business. As always, it appears that Sharpton will give a little lip service to things like rap music so as not to seem too biased and hypocritical but won’t cross the line to where he thinks he might alienate his target audience. In other words, he simply can’t be trusted to push the issue against black offenders. Only the whites are called out by name and led to slaughter. Again, I can only speculate here because I can’t read his mind, but the hypocrisy is clear. The fact that he won’t call out a single rapper or label speaks volumes.

This brings us to the other dirty political players in this game - the corporations. Why they would bow this far to legal blackmail artists like Sharpton and Jackson is beyond me. They didn’t let the market decide. Instead, they pulled the plug on Imus before he even had a chance to change his format. The ultimate aim of PC thugs like this is to control the media. If they don’t like it, they will go after you. It is oddly much like the Religious Right. While the Religious Right seeks to force non-believers into faith-driven situations like school prayer or forced births, these lefties seek to control speech. It is quite ironic if you think about it. Both sides are attacking different parts of the First Amendment, but both are destructive in their own right.

Personally, my opinion is that the shock jocks and the rappers and everyone else should say what they want to say. If the market supports it, let them say it. My vision of America is a country where both intelligent and stupid people say what they want to say while others respond to either support or oppose those comments. But what we see here is not mere opposition. We see a kind of legal blackmail. Get rid of the people we don’t like or we will boycott and harm your company. But the problem is the corporations are not on the same page. Imus goes, and the rappers thrive. And Rosie stays for jokes about Asians. For that, she saw fit to apologize for the insensitivity, and that dealt with the problem. Don’t get me started on Rosie’s other comments. That would take volumes.

Therefore, there is no need to have these silly arguments that you hear about rap. Rappers claim they are different because they portray real life. But Imus told a joke. In actuality, neither appears to be malicious. There is no real distinction here. We can argue over semantics or forget it and let the market make these decisions. Further, we can leave the hypocrisy and scattershot firings behind. Bring the era of open discussion back if the corporations can’t police uniformly and fairly. This uneven and unpredictable treatment most likely breeds more resentment than could ever be caused by crude rap lyrics and badly worded jokes.

So here is the bottom line - most of these media corporations are only interested in money. They will not respond to any pressure unless they fear financial harm. And since people like Sharpton have shown a complete inability to treat all “offenders” the same, the best solution would seem to be to let the market decide.

If rap music like this sells, let people buy it. If Imus continues to have good ratings, let people watch or listen. If the sales or ratings go down, then the corporations can replace them. Besides, I thought that was what America was about, anyway. Please give us our freedom back, Big Business. As it stands now, two groups are being created. The ones who say what they want with virtual impunity and the ones who get accused of racism and sexism and get fired. This is certainly not the America that our forefathers envisioned.

Jimmy Boyd

Jimmy Boyd provides unique analysis of daily news items at http://wackyanalyst.blogspot.com. Come and share your views.

I haven’t really watched a lot of TV since the 80’s. When I say TV, I mean live, free to air channels. Around that time I began to get fed up with the increasing suggestiveness, violence and just mind numbing dumbness of many of the shows, particularly the “sitcoms”, not to mention the ever-increasing bundles of advertisements shown. Those ads also were becoming offensive. It got to the point where I was usually only watching sports shows. I could mostly enjoy these without fear of involuntarily being witness to a sexual encounter between two burly, ugly, hairy chested football players. I still watch sports on TV, but now I record it first, then play it back. This way I get to gleefully fast forward the advertisements telling me I may be important, unimportant, incompetent, impotent or incontinent.

Ten years or so ago, I thought I’d found the answer, PAY TV. I did my sums and happily concluded that we could afford it. When the technician waved goodbye after installing the “black magic” box on top of the TV, I couldn’t wait to get to my new gleaming silver remote control. At last ad free quality programmes. WRONG! Soon I was on the phone again. A surprisingly offended operator took my request to disconnect the pay TV. There were more ads on the pay channels than free to air channels, mostly promoting themselves, and the quality documentaries were about 10 years old and repeated almost on a daily basis. I decided to now spend the money I was saving, on not watching “The mating techniques of the Siberian Ground Rat” (every day, with close ups), between ads promoting such movies as “The unusually brutal murder of a dysfunctional family with an axe dipped in anthrax”,…. on purchasing my own video tapes and dvd’s. Although some of the titles I bought were a bit dated, at least I could now watch entertaining, clever, ad free movies and shows, and watch them when I wanted to, not at 2 a.m. in the morning, which is when most of the normal TV channels show anything decent, well some of them anyway. Hence my current proud collection of films and series from “Star Trek” to “Abbott and Costello”, carefully indexed and housed in our ever shrinking linen cupboard, much to the chagrin of my wife.

Is it just me or what? When I was a kid, I’d come home from school to watch some innocent, clean, entertaining fun shows like “Get Smart”, “Gilligan’s Island”, or “F Troop”. They made me laugh and relax and feel good about life. You didn’t feel embarrassed watching them in front of other people or mum and dad. Kids now get dropped in front of soap operas after school, those shows being full of sexual innuendo, unreal situations, sad and pathetic people and general social misfits. Talk about feeding kids junk mind food. And what about the never-ending video music shows. These mainly feature semi-naked bimbos, cavorting around overtly and deliberately suggestively, singing unimaginative brain numbing repetitive songs, for want of a better word, with voices no better that those that can be heard at the annual business karaoke party. These soft porn, cheap to produce, junk programmes are slapped in the face of kids and adults alike by TV station bosses who treat the public with UTTER contempt and see them only as sucker consumers of a cheap product to whom they can off load the latest “MOST POPULAR TV SERIES IN THE HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH ABOUT A GAY DWARF WHO FALLS IN LOVE WITH AN EXTRA TERRESTIAL DESPERATE INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED HOUSEHUSBAND”, or similar such thought provoking and edifying contributions to human kind.

Live free to air TV news programmes are a humorous disgrace. Thirty minutes minus ten for commercials leaves just twenty minutes to fill with twaddle. The first five minutes are rehashed stories of events that occurred a week ago, but with a slant designed to reflect the station manager’s bias, in an attempt to swing public opinion their way. Then ten minutes reporting the awe inspiring activities of those self absorbed, dysfunctional, immoral, grossly over paid attention seeking dopes TV stations tell us are “celebrities”, followed by a five minute worship service of the nation’s god, SPORT.

Perhaps the bosses who run these stations will receive a special punishment from God on Judgement day, which is coming just as surely as the next ad break. Not only will these monuments to poor taste and greed in human form spend eternity in hell, but they may also be forced forever to watch their own TV programmes, with ads.

So here’s one of probably a whole army of people who have abandoned live TV, and embraced community radio stations, dvd’s, pvr’s and recorders with timeshift facilities (for the technically minded). If the question is, TV or not TV, guess my answer. To all you TV show sponsors and company advertising executives out there, my popcorn smells lovely.
I’m off to watch a couple of “MASH” episodes on my dvd player. BYE!

http://www.rapturenotes.com/tvornottv.html

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In this corner, we have a 60-year-old graduate student who graduated high school in the 50’s and received her Bachelor of Science degree in the 60’s. She is the mother of four, grandmother of eight and is a retired teacher from the Greenville County School District. Upon retiring, she enrolled in Duke University’s weekend MBA program because she wants to start a new career.

In this corner, we have a 20-year-old high school dropout who has had six different employers in only three years. The South Carolina State Lottery offers scholarships at all state colleges and universities for those requiring financial assistance. Greenville Tech and a Consortium of State Colleges and Universities have a campus located in Greenville for higher education, including classes in preparation for a General Education Diploma.

LET’S GET READY TO RUMMMMMMBLE!!! Our 60-year-old graduate student has excellent credit and enjoys a comfortable lifestyle. Although divorced, she is able to take care of herself and provide the necessities in life, including extras. Summer vacations are routine as well as the annual trips to Sarasota, Florida for her family reunion. She has a sizeable nest egg and works full-time in her home based business, which tutors high school students in Mathematics and Sciences and helps high school dropouts, get a GED.

The high school dropout has recently been evicted from his boarding room and spends most of his days skateboarding and scrounging around for whatever he can to keep his ribs from suing his back for nonsupport. He has gone to Manpower for an odd day’s work but just can’t seem to get his priorities in order. His parents have given him an ultimatum. He’ll receive financial support from them if he gets back in school and earn his GED.

Given this information about our 60-year-old woman and 20-year-old man, it is quite easy to say she is the old one and he is the young one; based on their chronological ages. I’ve heard men say, “You’re as young as the one your arms are wrapped around for the night.” (I cleaned that up a tad.) I’ve also heard, “You’re as young as you feel.” A friend’s father will jokingly say, he’s so old, he remembers when the Dead Sea was just sick. That always gives me a laugh.

I have felt old for the past week because I fell as I was leaving my home-office and going into the kitchen. I have no earthly idea why/how I fell but I did. I have suffered from aches and soreness but thankfully nothing worse. Reaching 40 is a milestone. I have two sisters and brothers who reach milestones before me. I have received very up-to-date information on what to expect at each milestone, whether I wanted to get these updates or not.

I will now make an announcement that even my family has not been privy to hear. I’m in love! The man is wonderful and a genius. I fell in love with him just today when I read: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” -Henry Ford: Founder, Ford Motor Co., prolific inventor

Our 20-year-old has stopped learning and applying himself. He is not taking advantage of the resources available to him to improve his lot in life. Our 60-years young grandmother is feeding her mind and thus, keeping herself young, in spite of any physical aches and pains she may experience.

As for me, I’m buying that Epsom Salts my older but young sister, Tildy as been telling me about and booking a massage for later this week. Agreeing with Mr. Ford is a no-brainer for this writer. Having awareness is important when having knowledge isn’t always necessary. Here’s an example, if you question that statement. Just yesterday, I saved $149.99+ because I was aware of something about which the salesman had knowledge. When he tried to sell me what I needed, I recalled having read (awareness) something about it and his company provided a service that took care of my need for $10/month instead of the $99.00 purchase and $49.99/month fee associated with what he’d initially offered. I’m approaching adolescence again!

In spite of my soreness and aches, I’m young! I can do a happy dance, thanks to Mr. Ford and after the Epsom Salts soak. It is my life-long goal to be a voracious reader. While appearance is important to me, being mentally alert and of a sharp sound mind is more important. I, therefore submit to you, whether you think you are young or old, you are correct. It’s all in the mind. That pun was intentional.

Ladies and gentleman:

And the winner, declared by TKO, based on Mr. Henry Ford’s words of wisdom… Our 60 years young grandma!

Copyright © 2007 - Avis Ward of AWard Consulting, LLC

Avis Ward is an aspiring writer who enjoys writing about her spirituality, self-improvement, relationships, and women’s issues. She is a Dental Marketing Consulting specializing in Orthodontics. http://aviswardconsulting.com/ or Avis Ward Avis invites you to view her blog.

We’ve learned that the FBI and DHS have been handing out bulletins to law enforcement across the country warning that jihadists may be targeting US schools. Terrorism analyst Lt Col Steve Grossman recently warned that the US is vulnerable to a Beslan-style attack. Beslan, you will recall, is the southern Russian city where in 2004 Muslim jihadists took over a school and killed 332 people, 178 of them children. “The enemy is infiltrating us at all levels, and certainly school bus drivers are one area to look at,” Col Grossman warns. “And how about high school, middle school and elementary school cafeteria workers? Janitors? Delivery people?” Not a comforting thought.

Vice-president Dick Cheney, echoing the sentiments of many of our public officials, sometime ago pronounced that, “Another attack is a matter not of if, but when.” This coming from the second elected representative of the executive branch, whose very reason for existence is to protect us from such attacks. This is a little like your doctor telling you that malpractice is a not a matter of if, but when.

Should something like Beslan occur in this country with hundreds of American schoolchildren dead, those in government will be guilty of nothing short of criminal negligence. A terrorist conspiracy on the order of Beslan or 9/11 only becomes inevitable when the powers that be willfully choose not to take the necessary steps for its prevention. Those necessary steps today would entail common-sense ideological profiling: pay special attention to those adherents of ideologies bent on our destruction. The most powerful such ideology in the world today is Islam. Thus, putting two and two together, place restrictions on Muslims that would forestall the development of a major terrorist conspiracy.

But instead of taking the necessary, modest, and overt measures that would protect the US from Muslim terrorism, Washington has chosen to aggrandize its power at home and abroad while leaving us open to attack. It is almost unbelievable to reflect on the fact that, five and a half years after the most spectacular terrorist attack in world history, US borders and ports remain effectively unguarded. We should bear in mind that 9/11 would never have come off had we simply enforced the laws that were already on the books - several of the hijackers would have been picked up on visa violations. Perhaps instead of spending half a trillion dollars trying to bring “democracy” to Muslim Mesopotamia, we could spend a tenth or a hundredth of that keeping jihadists off US soil.

The vague, ill-named “war on terror” amounts to a titanic power grab by the national security establishment in the service of its own - rather than the nation’s - interests. After another attack, can we expect an even more sweeping “war on evil?” But we are not at war with some shadowy “terror” lurking in every closet, we are war with Islamic jihad. The natural course is to name the enemy, fight jihad, and prevent the seeds of jihad - namely, Islam - from taking root in this country. But such an approach would deprive the national security establishment of the justification for its worldwide cloak-and-dagger game as well as the military expansionism we have been practicing since the collapse of the Soviet Union - to the tune now of 700 overseas US military bases.

The Founding Fathers warned against precisely the sort of thing that has transpired since 9/11: handing over the keys of the kingdom to a national security apparatus that operates outside effective constitutional controls. We should not be surprised that the Pentagon, CIA, NSA, FBI, etc., etc. are hungry for greater powers, but we should be outraged that our elected representatives have so cravenly give it to them. Handing our welfare over to largely secret and gigantically complex institutions while trusting them to act in our best interests is naïve at best and, for a free society, potentially suicidal.

Instead of aggrandizing the national security establishment that so failed us on 9/11, we should have culled the herd. Who in our defense and intelligence agencies was fired for failing to stop 9/11? Not the heads of the CIA, NSA, FBI, or DOD. Was anyone?

Washington today is seriously off the rails. That in and of itself is not too surprising. But instead of mishandling the environment, transportation, or health care, Washington is now recasting the very foundations of our civil society and leaving us exposed to the jihadist enemy. It is a crisis of the republic.

Gregory Davis received his PhD in political science from Stanford University. He is the author of Religion of Peace? Islam’s War Against the World from World Ahead Publishing. He is managing director of Quixotic Media and producer and director of the feature documentary Islam: What the West Needs to Know available this summer on DVD.

In 55 BC, Julius Caesar beheld the cliffs of Dover from the deck of a Roman ship in the English Channel. In 1982, I beheld the same sight from the deck of a ferry that held my car within its bowels.

I had problems with the subject of history all through school. It was so dry, so boring, so lifeless. It wasn’t until I “grew up” and got to go wandering around the world that I began to see history in an entirely different light.

To me, “history” is not just treaties, or battles, or the names of famous men. For me, understanding, or at least feeling a kinship with history, means standing on the spot where those men have stood, seeing the sights that they saw, looking at the instruments they touched, the cup they drank from, the clothes they wore.

In the 1960’s I was stationed at a U. S. military base in Bavaria at Bad Aibling, Germany. Almost every day, I walked over several insignificant flagstones set in the ground in a pathway beside one of the barracks. One day, one of my friends showed me some photos he had just printed at the post photography shop.

The post had been a Luftwaffe air base during World War II. When the allies had taken over the post in the 1940’s at the end of the war, they had found several hundred negatives. Many of the negatives were still there, and the gentleman who ran the photo shop would help people print up photos. Several of the photos my friend showed me depicted Hitler reviewing the troops at the air base…standing on those insignificant flagstones in the dirt pathway!

To me, that was history.

Years later, a friend took me to the place in Nuremberg where Hitler held his huge rallies. I stood at the exact spot where he had stood, and took photos of my children playing there.

Whether it is Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the White House, the White Cliffs of Dover, the labyrinth of corridors within the bowels of the aircraft carrier Lexington, or driving over Boulder Dam, history comes alive for me when I see what others have seen or the marks they left of their lives.

My love of history taken in this way does not end with the famous and the grandiose, however. In fact, when I recently went to see an exhibition on Queen Hatshepsut, I spent more time gazing at a wooden chair and wondering about the workman who had made it, than I spent on the wonders of the Queen. I spend several minutes looking at simple pots and tools while others ooh and aah over jewels and statues. Lost in reverie, I wonder more about the craftsmen who carved the statue than I do about the ruler it portrays. That’s the man I would want to talk to!

Maybe I will get to touch history even a little more intimately. I just bought a little over seven acres of land in central Texas, near where the Comanche used to roam. It is undeveloped and includes a small hill with a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. I hope to learn a little more about rocks and artifacts, and scout through some of the overgrown cliff face that forms a portion of the land.

I’m still clearing trails through the brush on my land at the moment, but the other day, I picked up a rock of interesting appearance and stuck it in my pocket. That evening, safe and warm in my easy chair as a small storm blustered outside, I picked up the rock and began to examine it. As I turned it in my hand, it suddenly slipped into a comfortable position. There was a smooth spot for my thumb and each of my fingers found a perfect place to rest. As I looked at it in my hand, it reminded me of crude stone knives I had seen on the Discovery and History channels and in innumerable museums.

As I looked carefully at it, I realized that it more closely resembled stone scrapers that had been used to work the hides of animals. It looks as if spots have been chipped away, by man or by nature, to make the comfortable grooves that fit my fingers so well and to form the sharp edge that could have scraped a deer hide many years ago.

It is worn with time…perhaps with use as well?

I will probably never know, but I will have to learn a little more about rocks and artifacts, and roam around my little hill on the edge of Comanche country some more. In the meantime, my link to history…my rock of ages…sits on my desk beside my computer reminding me not only of the passage of history, but of the fact that I am only here within a pool of that huge river and that someday perhaps someone will wonder about something that I have touched or seen.

I am sure that my little rock of ages past is just an accident of nature, but wouldn’t it be nice if…

Donovan Baldwin is a freelance writer living in Copperas Cove, Texas. He is a University of West Florida alumnus, a member of Mensa and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, health, and fitness. In the last few years, he has been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as health, fitness, yoga, weight loss, the environment, global warming, happiness, self improvement, and life. He has a collection of articles on health, fitness, diet, and weight loss at http://nodiet4me.com/articledirectory/ .