Saturday, May 30, 2009

Pravda: America's Descent Into Marxism

(Hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

The April 27, 2009 article, "American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper," cites three factors for the descent:

1. the dumbing down of the people via the educational system;

2. the destruction of the people's faith in God;

3. the election of BHO to the Oval Office.

Regarding BHO, the article states the following:
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison....
The article concludes as follows:
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Read the entire article HERE.

Once this far descended, how can America be restored?

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/30/2009 07:10:00 AM  

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Meme: The Filthy Blog Cootie Bug

Having been tagged by Hoosier Army Mom and Revere Rides Again, here are my eight random thoughts:

1. I am an only child. My mother was 36 when I was born, my father nearly 41. I was a sickly baby and a bull-headed child. I'm not sickly anymore, but people tell me that I am still bull-headed, a veritable "dog with a bone" once I get an idea.

2. When in school, I had two major fears: writing and public speaking, the latter to the point of having to be given tranquilizers the night before and day of a scheduled speech. I got over my phobia of getting my ideas down onto paper in fifth grade when I wrote my first research paper, "Themes in the Tragedies of Shakespeare"; my fear of public speaking disappeared without explanation around the time I turned 40.

3. I have one significant phobia today: a terror of centipedes. Merely the sight of a centipede is enough to elicit a bloodcurdling scream and flight on my part. Unfortunately, this old house frequently allowed centipedes to enter via the bathtub drain until we had the bathroom remodeled a few years ago.

4. When sightseeing, I always check ahead of time so as to learn if there are any nearby cemeteries. The first time my best friend and I visited California, we spent days on end touring cemeteries on our own. Probably the out-of-town cemetery I have most frequently visited is Oakgrove Cemetery — the burial site of Lizzie Borden and her parents.

5. Through my cousin's Administration of Justice instructor in 2000, I got special permission to visit the local medical examiner's office to view and attend a morning of autopsies. Most visitors that day were squeamish. I wasn't. I didn't balk even at watching the infant's dissection, but I did leave a bit ill following the autopsy on the reeking burn victim, whom I identified as a woman even before the medical examiner did. I based my conclusion on the x-rays, which revealed a woman's jewelry etched into the deceased's bones by the searing fire.

6. Mr. AOW and I started dating in January of 1972 and married in June of 1972. In all fairness, however, I have to admit that we did know each other for one semester in high school. We couldn't stand the sight of each other back then! He was a poor student and Peck's Bad Boy; I was the opposite.

7. Before 9/11, I worked the newpaper's daily crossword puzzle, read epic novels, and had an absolute abhorrence to watching the news. In other words, I didn't pay much attention to politics, especially world affairs. Now that I'm a counterjihadist, I spend most of my spare time reading nonfiction about politics and Islam as well as the news on the web — and blogging.

8. I'm obsessive-compulsive about following the rules of grammar mechanics. On many occasions, I've taken out my red pen to correct errors on menus. I do occasionally break the rules of grammar, but I know full well that I am breaking them.

This meme requires that I tag three more bloggers, but I typically don't tag others. However, I'd love to see Beamish's, Mustang's, and The Merry Widow's responses to this meme!

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/28/2009 07:20:00 AM  

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Music & Video: Two Trillion Tons

Performed by Dick Ford, son of Tennessee Ernie Ford (hat tip to Midnight Rider of Infidel Bloggers Alliance):





A toe tapper and political satire, all rolled into one.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/27/2009 05:00:00 AM  

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Weekly Blog Talk Radio: May 29 — Koran Debate

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870. Callers welcome.

Special show (90 minutes)!

Two experts on the Quran — Sabir and Mohammed Abdul — will debate the meaning of a preselected Surah, referencing the classical Arabic in which it is written.



Please join us for the extended length, May 29, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
June 5: Yoni Tidi
June 12: Alec Rawls
June 19: I.Q. Al Rassooli
June 26: Guest(s) to be announced
July 3: Patriots' Show with Beak, Colonel Gordon Cucullo, and Mustang
July 10: Guest(s) to be announced
July 17: Guest(s) to be announced
July 24: Robert Spencer

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/26/2009 03:00:00 AM  

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Coming Soon: The Filthy Blog Cootie Bug

I've been tagged by Hoosier Army Mom and by Revere Rides Again.

This week, I'm inordinately busy with the end-of-year homeschoolers' pageant, averaging grades, and getting a car window fixed. I hope that I can get the window fixed this week, anyway. I absolutely must get all the school matters done!
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For this particular meme, I am supposed to come up with eight random thoughts or factoids about myself to share with my blog readers. Should be fun! I'm also supposed to pass the bug along to three other bloggers, but I typically no longer tag others.

Until I get around to coming up with my eight random thoughts or factoids (working on a list as I have time to do so), you can check out Hoosier Army Mom's revelations, as well as those of some at Infidel Bloggers Alliance. Pastorius's is a hoot!

I hope to have my posting ready by this coming weekend.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/26/2009 12:01:00 AM  

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Monday, May 25, 2009

UK: Go To Jail, Demand Shari'a (With Addendum)

In the name of human rights, of course. Please note the addendum at the end of this post!

From this source:
Jailed Islamic extremists want women prison officers banned from guarding them during Friday prayers - claiming it's against their human rights. Terrorists at Wakefield jail say having them there while they pray is an "insult to their religion".
They also want an in-the-slammer mosque as the interfaith facility is tainted:
Services are held in the prison's gym after the 60-strong group refused to pray in the jail's multi-faith chapel because it was used by "non-believers".

Now they want a mosque built there.
So far, the demands have been refused:
Their single-sex guards demand was refused - but it's feared they could now take their complaint to the European Court and use the Human Rights Act to claim they are being victimised....
Last week, the UK did take an anti-dhimmitudinal stand on another issue:
A Muslim chef who accused the Metropolitan Police of religious discrimination when told he must handle pork has lost his tribunal case.

Hasanali Khoja was told he would be expected to handle pork products at his new job at the Empress State Building in Earls Court, west London.

The 60-year-old from Edgware, north-west London, also said racist gestures were made to him when he complained.
However,
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said:..."Mr Khoja remains a valued member of staff."
Why, particularly if he has such a strong commitment to Islam and accused some of the police force of "racist gestures"? Was that accusation a false one?

ADDENDUM (hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance): "Muslims Have Own Human Rights Systems." Excerpt from this article in the Iran Daily:
Head of the Foreign Ministry’s College of International Relations Bahador Aminian on Sunday said western countries have become used to abusing human rights to exert pressure on other countries.

In an interview with Iran Daily he said Iran as an Islamic state continues to promote human rights.

“The definition that Islam renders about human beings and the value system that it offers is what the masses demand from the international community. As such, Iran should not be accused for non-observation of human rights. We believe that the notion of cultural diversity and human rights can open new vistas for human rights-related issues and hence the college has attended to the issue both from academic and diplomatic perspectives,“ he noted.

On the occasion of the World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, a two-day international training workshop themed ’Cultural Diversity and Human Rights’ opened at the college on Sunday.

Aminian went on to emphasize that human rights should not be necessarily in unison with particular western values and standards as Muslim communities have their own reading of human rights.
As I noted in a post in 2005, differing definitions.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/25/2009 08:11:00 AM  

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Saturday, May 23, 2009

Memorial Day



Information about the above video below the fold:

On September 21st, 2007, my grandfather, Ernest Wilson McGeorge, who was a Lieutenant in France during WWII, was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. I edited the video and photographic footage of that service into this memorial for him.

For those curious, the video uses the song Chi Mi Na Mór-Bheanna performed by The Rankin Family. It is a Scottish Gaelic song about returning to an idyllic homeland. (Ernest is of Scottish descent.) Among other connections, it was sung at JFK's memorial service. I sung this at Ernest's graveside during the service.
Remember to observe Memorial Day as more than merely a time of boisterous and joyful gatherings. Suggestions HERE. One of those suggestions:
At 3 p.m....pause and think upon the true meaning of the day...


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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/23/2009 12:01:00 AM  

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Friday, May 22, 2009

An Infidel's Saying "Hello" Offends Moslem

Via this posting at Jihad Watch:
When the landlady of my Toronto apartment building said an outraged neighbour had filed a complaint about me over an apparently inappropriate hallway interaction with his wife, my mind raced through the countless conversations I've had with fellow tenants, none of which seemed a possible source of offence.

It turns out, it wasn't a salacious transaction that had caused the complaint, but rather a neighbourly and -- to me -- entirely forgettable greeting, little more than a brief "good morning" as I passed my neighbours on the way to work.
An infidel's wishing a good day to a Moslem apparently isn't a courtesy. Rather, it is an insult.

The article in the National Post (via Jihad Watch) continues:
Still, it was enough of an affront for the man -- once a doctor somewhere in the Middle East, my landlady clarified -- to feel I had broken a cultural taboo. The incident started an awkward feud which has involved warnings not to repeat my indiscretion and one face-to-face shouting match, which included allusions to my impending death.

I expect the battle will wage on, as we appear to be stuck at an impasse.

His Muslim upbringing has ingrained in him a sense of entitlement to demand I not speak directly to his wife; and my prairie upbringing has ingrained in me a duty to strive for polite cohesion with my neighbours....
Here in Northern Virginia, we have a lot of Moslem bank tellers, many wearing hijabs. You may note the same in your locale. If so, infidel gentlemen, watch your step!

Robert Spencer also notes the following:
The funny thing about this is that if this man did start ignoring his neighbors, never holding the elevator for them, never greeting them, etc., onlookers would think him "xenophobic" and say that his coldness was the kind of thing that made Muslim immigrants feel alienated and lash out in terrorist acts.
To greet or not to greet? That is the question.

(Crossposted to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/22/2009 06:56:00 PM  

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Some R&R Today

One of my homeschool parents has graciously offered to treat me to a much needed break. Grading papers and averaging grades will have to wait until this evening and over the weekend.

I'm going to go to the theater to see Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian:



Having loved the first Night at the Museum, I'm looking forward to today's outing.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/22/2009 09:22:00 AM  

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Weekly Blog Talk Radio: May 22 — John Kenneth Press & Midnight Rider

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870. Callers welcome.

Our guest for the first half hour is John Kenneth Press, author of the book Culturism. Our guest for the second half hour is Midnight Rider, frequent contributor to Infidel Bloggers Alliance.
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Listen to the May 22, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
May 29: Koran debate
June 5: Yoni Tidi
June 12: Alec Rawls

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/21/2009 06:00:00 AM  

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Disappearing Bloggers

Several bloggers with whom I used to visit have either stopped putting up new posts or have deleted their blogs. Four examples:

1. The Sassy Tn't PoLITically InCorrect — No explanation offered.

2. Haid Da Salami — Please take the time read Jewel's tribute and Haid's response HERE.

3. Debonair Dude DD2 — Read his farewell post HERE.

4. The Hill Chronicles, The New Moral Compass, and Zeeva David — all penned by Layla.

Why the vanishing acts?

In my view, the reasons are several. I'll discuss three below.
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First, many conservative bloggers gave up in discouragement after BHO gained the White House and the Democratic Party gained the majority in our Congress. I didn't quit blogging because I was prepared for BHO to win the election. After all, the signs of his impending victory were everywhere, and I could feel the groundswell as I watched normally sane people succumbed to his charisma and utopian message. I was less prepared for the overturn of our Congress and did consider quitting my efforts in the blogosphere; good or bad, such quitting is against my stubborn nature. Apparently, however, the combination of losing both the White House and the Congress was simply too much for some bloggers. I do understand why and will not criticize those who decided to depart the blogosphere. I also note that even my cohost WC has ceased posting every day although he does try to post at least once a week (instead of every day), co-hosts a weekly radio show, and continues to send out his weekly e-newsletter, for which anyone can sign up HERE.

Second, some bloggers had personal reasons for leaving. In some cases, we don't know the personal reason, so we are left to speculate. For example, Beamish disappeared for a short while (seemed like forever), citing vaguely-stated personal reasons. Then (Joyous Day!), Beamish suddenly resurrected his blog The Crank Files, albeit a constantly metamorphosizing site. Ogre, on the other hand, ceased posting but kept his original blog up on the web; he has written once or twice more after posting "The Four Boxes of Freedom and a Goodbye", an important read as it addresses more than blogging itself. Others I know decided that blogging was a waste of time and have chosen to take up other pursuits. Still others are having financial difficulties such that they cannot afford the time or money required to keep a blog going.

Finally, some bloggers have family issues with regard to blogging. Specifically, Layla has had to flee the blogosphere because of the ire of her Muslim son, who feels that her writing violates his and his father's honor. Personal harassment from a family member is a powerful factor behind the scenes for most bloggers, and, many times, bloggers find that blogging is not worth the hassle.

Occasionally, a blogger stops posting for a long while but returns when the real-life workload eases up. Such was the case with Mustang of Social Sense, who stopped posting for several months a while back. Mustang was my first cyber friend, so I grieved when he wasn't posting. I am so grateful that he now posts almost every day as I value his thoughtful essays! Raven of And Rightly So took a similar hiatus for a while. These days, she's posting regularly, but I suspect that, due to a combination of discouragement with the political scenario and a desire to spend more time with her family, she may retire for good in the near future. I hope I'm wrong. I also hope that if she does retire from political blogging she will continue to post at her personal site. Recently, The Merry Widow has ceased posting on a regular basis. As she stops by here regularly, I'll let her state her reasons herself. Warren of Long Range is too busy working multiple jobs to post much, but he still reigns as tech advisor, administrator, and graphics expert for several sites and his blogging friends.

We bloggers often count fellow bloggers as friends to visit with every day. But just as in the non-virtual world, sometimes our friends stop communicating much or they disappear from our blogging lives. The cutting back or departure of these friends, no matter why they made their decision, leaves a hole which can never be filled as each and every blogger offers readers a unique message and an individual voice.

As Haid advised his readers when he began his web site:
...This weblog is a lot like western civilization or modern life as we know it. Just because it’s here today, that’s no guarantee it will be here tomorrow.
Worth keeping in mind.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/19/2009 05:00:00 AM  

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Monday, May 18, 2009

FEATURED QUESTION: The First Amendment and the Internet

Technology brings both blessings and curses. According to this recent article in the Washington Post, a particular web site, which will go unnamed in this posting, is quite active in verbally attacking students in Maryland's Montgomery County high schools:
Before the digital age, there was simply nasty writing on the restroom wall. Now, in the say-it-all era of the Internet, the darker side of teenage expression has found a new place to fester.

It is a hive of anonymous slander where girls are listed by name as promiscuous and teachers are accused of being fat and in some instances of having sex with students. There are racial rants. Barbs about being gay....
At least one potentially violent incident has also been associated with the web site:
[In early May], a teenager posted a rambling threat to kill students and staff members at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, which led to the arrest of a 17-year-old who had recently moved to Tennessee.
In conflict are freedom of expression and curtailing what can be posted on the site:
[T]ension between free expression and mean-spirited assault appears to have hit a new high, especially in Montgomery County schools, which account for a majority of the Web site's postings. The site, which went up in November, is run by a 23-year-old administrator in Maryland and has already expanded into Virginia, the District and other states.

Parents have complained, and police have tried to rein in the site, which has been through several short-term shutdowns, but the material posted is not illegal, they say.

Unlike the world of graffiti in restroom stalls, the site's digital insults and accusations are more lasting, profuse and widely read, with the site claiming more than 3 million page views a day since the Whitman incident. Some students shrug off the crude remarks. But to others -- and their parents -- they can be alarming, humiliating or painful.

"This site takes all the mean-spirited and negative elements of Facebook and other sites that have a lot of positive aspects and puts them in one place," said Kathy Cowan of the National Association of School Psychologists, who has watched the site with concern. "It's like the sludge of Internet activity. There is nothing redeeming."

Alfredo Castillo, the site's administrator, said that he sees it as an important outlet for teenagers and that he and a fellow creator had asked, "Would it make sense, and is it right, is it wrong, morally?" They concluded that there was a need because "there is no avenue for people to express their feelings, their emotions and their secrets . . . anonymously."

As for teenagers hurt by malicious lies, he said: "We understand that a lot of it might be false. . . . We have to allow people who know these individuals to judge what is right [and] what is not."

[...]

The Web site...was shut down voluntarily just before Christmas because a topless photo of a minor was posted. It was shut down again in March after parents troubled by posted allegations questioned the legality of the site. Montgomery Police Detective John Reinikka investigated for illegal activity and found none.
Read the entire article HERE.


Should censorship of the Internet be applied to web sites such as the one described above? If so, by whom?

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/18/2009 07:00:00 AM  

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Musical Interlude

I heard this oldie on the radio last week and just had to post this toe tapper:


Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones


Lyrics:
Hot August night and the leaves hangin' down
And the grass on the ground smellin' - sweet
Move up the road to the outside o' town
And the sound o' that good gospel beat
Sits a ragged tent, where there ain't no trees
And that gospel group, tellin' you and me

It's Love, Brother Love
Say Brother Love's Travellin' Salvation Show-ow (halle-halle)
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
And everyone goes, 'cause everyone knows, brother Love's show

Room gets suddenly still and when you'd almost bet
You could hear yourself sweat - he walks in
Eyes black as coal and when he lifts his face
Every ear in the place is on him
Startin' soft and slow-ow, like a small earthquake
And when he lets go-o, half the valley shakes

It's Love, Brother Love
Say Brother Love's Travellin' Salvation Show (halle-halle)
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
And everyone goes, 'cause everyone knows
'Bout Brother Love's show (hallelujah)

Brothers (halle-hallelujah), I said Brothers (hallelujah)
Now you got yourself two good hands (halle-hallelujah)
And when your brother is troubled
You got to reach out your one hand for him (hallelujah)
'Cause that's what it's there for (halle, hallelujah)
And when your heart is troubled
You got to reach out your other hand (hallelujah)
Reach it out to the man up there
'Cause that's what he's there for (halle-hallelujah)

Take my hand in yours, walk with me this day
In my heart I know, I will never stray
Halle-halle-halle-halle-halle-halle-halle-halle

Love, Brother Love, say Brother Love Travellin' Salvation Show
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies...


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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/17/2009 04:00:00 AM  

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Saturday, May 16, 2009

The Attack On Free Speech

I'm not particularly a fan of Michael Savage, though I have read one of his books and occasionally stop by his web site.

The above said, please listen to the following, in which Michael Savage interviews Robert Spencer:



The article referenced is HERE.


Robert Spencer is exactly correct. We're witnessing the constant erosion of freedom of speech. Is the world paying attention? Is there any stopping this steamroller crushing the most important liberty, from which all other liberties spring?

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/16/2009 12:00:00 PM  

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Friday, May 15, 2009

The Automotive Industry Slows Down Even More

On top of the millions of jobs already lost in America since the beginning of this recession, another 190,000 jobs are now in jeopardy.

Yesterday, Chrysler announced the termination of nearly twenty-five percent of the company's dealer-franchises. Today comes the news that GM will drop many dealers as well:
...The ailing GM and Chrysler say they have far too many dealers. Chrysler announced on Thursday that it is cutting 789 of its 3,181 dealers, but Friday may be far worse: GM is scheduled to begin notifying more than 1,000 dealers that they are being dropped.

As sensible as the cuts might seem, most of the dealers are small businesses, and many...have deep roots in the community. They typically employ about 50 people, and some are substantial donors to local causes. Their potential loss is sending ripples of concern through many towns....

[...]

The National Automobile Dealers Association has argued that the automakers should not simply cut stores. Instead, they argue that the companies should allow market forces to cull their ranks.

Instead, the automakers are reviewing each of the dealerships, examining their market, sales and financial wherewithal, and deciding which should stay or go.
This article in the Washington Post relates some of the impact on family-owned car dealerships in the Washington, D.C., area:
In 1915, at the dawn of the automobile era, Lewis Reed opened a Dodge dealership on Rockville Pike.

Yesterday his grandsons gathered startled employees together to tell them that the firm's 94-year run as a Chrysler-Dodge franchise was coming to an end. Chrysler was dumping them.

"It's not a good feeling," said Richard L. Gartner, one of Reed's grandsons, and the president of Reed Brothers Dodge.

Just after meeting to inform employees about 3 p.m. yesterday, he looked fazed, his face flushed.

"We have been with Chrysler for a very long time," he said, pausing. "We were kind of looking forward to a 100-year anniversary."
Similar stories played out all over America yesterday and will be repeated today. On a personal level, the Chrysler dealership where my parents bought each car they owned from 1966 through 1998 announced that the hammer had fallen there as well. One more landmark in Northern Virginia soon to be gone.

Not unexpectedly, the Obama administration is denying any role in the termination of the franchises:
In anticipation of the hard feelings that are erupting with the dealership closures, the Obama administration issued a statement yesterday emphasizing that the list of targeted dealers was drawn up by Chrysler, not the U.S. government.

"The Task Force played no role in deciding which dealers, or how many dealers, were part of Chrysler's announcement today," the administration said in a statement. "The sacrifices by the dealer community . . . are necessary for this company and the industry to succeed."
Actually, not only "the dealer community" is making sacrifices. The effects of closing dealerships ripple a lot further as many dealership-sponsored activities and charities will grind to a halt. That ripple effect will not become apparent immediately, but it will happen. No longer will former employees of any particular dealership have as many options for employment in the field for which they were trained, often at significant expense and ongoing expense, the latter particularly for automotive mechanics who must usually buy their own tools throughout their careers. In addition, terminated employees and their families will lose their benefits packages, including health insurance.

Many dealerships are blaming the Obama administration for accelerating yet another hit to the automotive industry:
The dealers generally agree that there are too many outlets. But they say that instead of being summarily cast off, the automakers should allow market forces and attrition to shrink their numbers. That, they acknowledge, is a slower process.

[...]

Because the Obama administration is involved in the restructuring of GM and Chrysler, many among the dealers blamed the government for the dealer eliminations...

At a meeting at Darcars Chrysler of Fairfax, owner [Iranian immigrant] John Darvish, 72, gathered about 40 employees in the company's service area. He assured them that they would all still have jobs -- the company owns dealerships that offer other brands. But that did little to mitigate the sense of frustration.

"I don't think the government is qualified to run the car business -- what do they know about the car business?" said Ron Frye, 57, a parts manager at Darcars for 29 years....
I'm sure that Mr. Darvish of Darcars Chrysler of Fairfax means well when he offers the hope that all his employees will still have jobs. However, is it likely that all his employess will still have jobs? The entire automotive industry at all its various levels is on the skids and has been for some time now. Furthermore, even if Mr. Darvish is able to salvage the jobs of his employees, how many of those employees will have a much further commute and have to lay out added capital so as to buy different tools for working on different makes and models of vehicles?

Did those who voted for BHO expect this much sacrifice with this much impact on local communities, or were the utopia seekers foolish enough to believe that all the sacrifices would occur at the rich-guy level?

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/15/2009 07:59:00 AM  

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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Weekly Blog Talk Radio: May 15 — Frank Salvato

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870. Callers welcome.

Special Show!

Our guest for the full hour is Frank Salvato. Excerpt from his bio: Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us and serves as the vice president and executive director of Basics Project. He is a contributing writer for GOPUSA, CNS News, ChronWatch, Opinion Editorials, Men's News Daily, Canada Free Press, American Daily, The American Chronicle and The North Carolina Conservative.... Read the rest of the bio HERE. CLICK HERE to read some of Mr. Salvato's articles.

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We will discuss with Mr. Salvato why the Obama administration has appointed scores of unqualified individuals to important posts in the government.

Listen to the May 15, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
May 15: Frank Salvato
May 22: John Kenneth Press and Midnight Rider
May 29: Koran debate
June 5: Yoni Tidi
June 12: Alec Rawls

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/14/2009 11:00:00 PM  

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Next On BHO's Agenda: Health Care Reform?

Quickie link to this posting at Bob McCarty Writes: "President Sets Deadline for Health Care Reform."

BHO has predicted passage of the proposal by the House of Representatives by July 31.

Will we have "health care reform" in place by January 1, 2010? BHO and this Congress are moving at a rapid pace.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/14/2009 08:22:00 AM  

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Videos: How To Brainwash A Nation

(hat tip: The Astute Bloggers)



YouTube blurb:

Yuri Bezmenov is a former KGB agent and an expert on ideological subversion. He discusses the slow process of demoralization that transformed America from a conservative and mostly homogeneous country into a socially-marxist and egalitarian one.

Interview conducted by Edward Griffin in 1984.
Part Two:



YouTube blurb:
Former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov explains how Jewish Marxist ideology is destabilizing the economy and purposefully pushing the US into numerous crises so that a Big Brother tyranny can be put into place in Washington, how most Americans dont even realize that they are under attack, and that normal parliamentary procedures will not alter the federal governments direction.


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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/13/2009 02:00:00 PM  

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Monday, May 11, 2009

Elitist, Arrogant BHO Demands Commoners Be Banned At Normandy Commemoration (UPDATED AND CORRECTED)

(Two postings today. Please scroll down)


On the 65th Anniversary of D-Day!

From this posting at Weasel Zippers:
The few remaining survivors of D-Day will not be allowed to tour the grounds where their fellow soldiers died in defense of the free world...
A few details:
Barack Obama will attend the events on June 6th as George Bush did in 2004 for the sixtieth memorial service. Here is the rub, as of now Obama’s State Department has asked (read demanded) the French government not allow tour guide services to operate that day. It is a big day for Normandy tourism. Yet, the king will not allow those not connected with government to enjoy the day. Obama is very important you know. This is an unprecedented request. I hope the French come to their senses and deny it.

Compare that with 2004. Security was tight as President Bush and other world leaders were in attendance, but the event was still open to all. A friend relayed the story of waiting in line to use a port-a-potty (a French port-a-potty no doubt, yuck, believe me.) She looks to her left and who he is in the next line waiting patiently? President Bush. Sure he had Secret Service nearby, but he waited like everyone else.

Contrast that with Team Obama not even allowing regular people near Colleville-Sur-Mer that day. A shame indeed. Especially as the last of our WW II vets are expiring.

[...]

It’s as if Obama has to let it be known that he is more important than honoring the events and the 9,387 mostly young Americans who died invading Normandy 65 years ago. Will Obama apologize for American actions during WW II at the event?
Read more details HERE.

Two of my cousins, both in their late teens in 1944, served in that battle. Both came home, but neither was right, physically or mentally, from that time on. One died of a massive coronary at age 39, the other at age 44. They left behind their widows and their young children.

In a few weeks, BHO will go to the place where these two young men from my family, both commoners from a dirt-poor family, were changed for the worse forever. They never complained, not even once. They volunteered before the draft notice arrived. They wanted to serve. They wanted to beat back the Nazis.

If my cousins were still living and commoners, BHO wouldn't want them present for the commemoration of D-Day? Unconscionable.

BHO will likely speak at that site with his chin tipped up in the air like Mussolini. A tin god. A messiah wannabe. An arrogant elitist, who once promised that he would be the President of all the people. He clearly is NOT!

I'm sick of his arrogance and elitism. Sick of , sick of it, sick of it! Sick and tired of it!

UPDATE:
Barack Obama deciding to come to Normandy at the last minute, after his return from Egypt, has forced public tour companies to cancel their bookings for June 6th without warning. My original source blamed this on the US State Department when in fact it was the French government itself that made this decision.

I have learned from a follow-up source, that while it is unprecedented for the late notice, this would have most likely been the protocol in any case.

A bit less scandalous than first reported.
I still maintain that BHO is elitist and arrogant. Why the decision to come to Normandy at the last minute, particularly on the 65th anniversary of D-Day? Is not the 65th anniversary a milestone? And was BHO's visiting Normandy an afterthought?


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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/11/2009 02:00:00 AM  

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UK: Jihad Summer School

Via Creeping Sharia, who points out that these UK teenagers will be able to travel all over the world if they have passports:
RANT PREACHER OPENS JIHAD SUMMER SCHOOL

RANTING preacher Anjem Choudary is planning to peddle his hate to teenagers at a “jihad” summer school.

The vile extremist has appointed himself principal lecturer of a 20-week course in his twisted version of Islam.

Now fears are being raised Choudary and his followers will indoctrinate a new generation of Muslim fanatics.

The minimum age advertised is 15, but his School of Shari’ah has promised to consider even younger students.

They will learn about the Islamic “struggle” and how to enter the “Gardens of Paradise”.


Last night disgusted Tory MP Philip Davies, 37, said: “This is appalling. We know what this character is like and the kinds of things he will be saying. We need summer schools to encourage people to integrate into British society.

"The last thing we need is individuals like this spreading their poison and indoctrinating more people into their cause.”

Choudary, 41, has joined fellow fanatics to set up the School of Shari’ah, based in east London.

A police source said: “Choudary is well on the radar and is considered safe because he is so high profile.”

English Democrats chairman Robin Tilbrook criticised Choudary’s right to preach hate while also raking in handouts.

He said: “Not only is he spreading his warped view of Islam, but he’s flaunting it in our face by doing it with our cash.”

Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said: “Anjem Choudary is not regarded as a qualified Islamic scholar by mainstream UK Muslims.

“That said, however, he is free to promote his own views and teachings in the UK as long as he acts within the law.

“We live in a country that is proud of its tradition of free speech after all.”
At this rate, not for long.

Interview of Anjem Choudary:



(crossposted to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/11/2009 01:00:00 AM  

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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother's Day Without Mom

My mother died unexpectedly in 1987, so I wasn't going to post anything today for Mother's Day. Mother's Day without Mom is difficult for me, never mind that Mom has been gone for over two decades. Then, I found the following in today's Washington Post. The essay expresses my thoughts better than anything I could write:
Grieving for My Mother -- and Me

By Jim Sollisch
Sunday, May 10, 2009

If you ran into me on the street, you'd see a gray-haired, middle-aged man in jeans and tennis shoes. You might guess that I was a father or a husband. You might think I was a Democrat or the owner of a foreign car. You probably wouldn't think of me as a son.

Yet, in many ways, that was my defining role for 49 years, until my mother died last April.

I mention this because I have learned in this year of grieving that most people calibrate their sympathy to your age. People seem to assume that the further you get from looking like a son, the less painful it must be for you to lose a parent. I suppose there's some truth to that, but no matter how old you are there's a powerful sadness to being no one's child. It took me by surprise.

I miss my mom every day. She visits my dreams, nagging me. I ache to tell her what each of my five kids is doing. To show her the house my wife and I just bought. To let her know whom I ran into at the store. My longing surprises me because I, too, feel like I'm old enough to be immune from needing my mother. But I have learned that we are still children, walking around inside these aging bodies.

Some days I feel like everyone is wearing costumes. I'm dressed up as a 50-year-old advertising creative director. The guy down the street, as a 65-year-old physician. Another friend is masquerading as a grandmother. Yet none of us is how we appear to the outside world. We carry our childish vulnerabilities, our secrets and hopes hidden like wallets: precious and necessary baggage for our travels.

Only our mothers, who know us better than we know ourselves, can see through our disguises. My mother never saw the middle-aged man I have become. I existed to her in a permanent state of youth and promise. And now, with her gone, the costume I'm wearing feels more real.

My mother's parenting was a bare-knuckled kind of partisanship. Her kids could do no wrong. When my wife and I were involved in an ugly lawsuit several years ago, my mother never wavered in her support of us, even when it was inconvenient for her. She was willing to risk several long-standing relationships. I will never forget that feeling of having my mom on my side. It was as powerful a sense of safety as when, decades earlier, she chased monsters from my dreams.

My mother was a remarkable woman by any measure. Accomplished in business. Admired by a huge circle of friends. Recognized for her charitable work. Adored by her children and grandchildren. Oh, the stories I could tell. But this story is about me, about a middle-aged child, motherless and slightly off-balance.

These days, I am haunted by the feeling that I forgot something. I find myself touching my wallet or checking for my phone. On my way home from work, I turn around and drive back to retrieve my power cord, only to find I took it with me in the first place. I wake up in the middle of the night certain that I have lost all my tax documents, but there they are in the file cabinet where I left them.

You don't need a psychology degree to figure out that I have in fact lost something -- my mother. But on this Mother's Day, I realize that I am also grieving for the loss of my mother's son, that golden boy so full of youth and promise.

Jim Sollisch is a writer in Cleveland.
If you are blessed enough to have your mother still with you on this Mother's Day, cherish her — not only today but every day of the year. According to the natural cycle of life, the day will come when you won't be able to celebrate this holiday without longing for Mom.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/10/2009 07:50:00 AM  

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FEATURED QUESTION: Education

From time to time, the issue of corporal punishment in schools, a disciplinary measure still legal in various school districts in twenty-one states, makes the news. This recent article in Newsweek relates the story of David Nixon, principal of John C. Calhoun Elementary School in South Carolina. Excerpt:

...Before Nixon took over "John C," student behavior had gotten so bad that one teacher described it as "chaos." She eventually quit in disgust, pulled her own child from the school, and moved to a different one 45 minutes away. ...When Nixon went to his first PTO meeting, only about a dozen parents showed up at a school with 226 students. He still has trouble reaching many families by phone because they can't afford to put down a deposit on a landline. And yet Nixon has managed to turn John C around. It recently earned three statewide Palmetto awards, one for academic performance and two for overall improvement—the school's first such honors in its 35-year history. Not everyone agrees with his methods, but most parents and teachers will tell you he couldn't have pulled off such a turnaround without his wooden paddle....
Please read the entire article, as well as the opposing view. The concluding portion from the latter:
...The use of physical violence against children in school may or may not create order and improve test scores, but it certainly teaches kids about humiliation and fear. And what fifth grader needs to learn about things like that?
Read the entire essay HERE.


What is your view on the use of corporal punishment in schools?

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/10/2009 06:00:00 AM  

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Saturday, May 09, 2009

Bill O'Reilly On Obama, Churchill, And Torture

Hat tip to Gateway Pundit:



Check out Gateway Pundit's posting on the above. Worth your time.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/09/2009 11:39:00 AM  

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Book Review: Liberty and Tyranny

Guest post by MJB

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin presents the two forms of world polity—liberty and tyranny—and the views shared by those who believe in them. In the first chapter, Mark Levin divides people into two categories: he who supports liberty—the Conservative—and he who supports tyranny or the all-powerful, authoritarian state—the Statist. The author asserts that these two groups, although claiming to share the same goal, diametrically oppose each other and thus are incompatible. As summed up by the following quote of President Abraham Lincoln found on the back cover of the book:
We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name—liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names—liberty and tyranny.

Liberty and Tyranny does not bull-headedly focus on a certain facet of conservative thinking such as paleoconservatism, conserving the culture, or social conservatism, or focusing on faith and values. Rather, the author looks at all areas of political controversy through a conservative’s eyes. Indeed, he states that conservatism isn’t meant to be cherry-picked to suit one’s political motives. One believes in either individual liberty or communal slavery. All aspects of politics lead to one of these situations.
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Mark Levin repeatedly writes of the different methods the Statist uses to reach his goal of an omnipotent state. The crisis method has proved most popular. Utilizing this method, the Statist must create a sense of urgency, danger, and a need to act immediately so as to remediate the supposed poor judgment of a previous political leader or from the supposed lack of compassion, responsibility, and sacrifice on the part of the people. Examples of such artificial crises becoming tools of the Statist include “The War on Poverty,” “The War for Children,” and “The Fight against Global Warming.”

What solution does the Statist always propose? Change. Change wipes out everything that was before and replaces it with something new, fresh, and good. Or so people believe. Edmund Burke, the English Parliamentarian and thinker, explains elegantly the fallacy of such thought:
There is a manifest, marked distinction, which ill men with ill designs, or weak men incapable of any design, will constantly be confounding,—that is, a marked distinction between change and reformation. The former alters the substance of the objects themselves, and gets rid of all their essential good as well as of all the accidental evil annexed to them. Change is novelty; and whether it is to operate any one of the effects of reformation at all, or whether it may not contradict the very principle upon which reformation is desired, cannot be known beforehand. Reform is not change in the substance or in the primary modification of the object, but a direct application of a remedy to the grievance complained of. So far as that is removed, all is sure. It stops there; and if it fails, the substance which underwent the operation, at the very worst, is but where it was.
Many of the American electorate today express surprise at President Barack Obama’s Statist view of economics, social issues, and foreign policy. But one has only to look at his campaign speeches in which he constantly emphasized that he was “fundamentally opposed” to the ways and institutions of the United States government. His campaign slogan: "Change!"

So how does the Conservative battle against the schemes of the Statist? For one, the Conservative must act as an educator to those who follow the Statist. For example, many Americans today believe that universal health care should be a right. They ask, “How can we rest when 47 million people lack health insurance? How can we be so heartless and uncaring?” In this instance, the Conservative could respond, as Mark R. Levin does, with the following information from the U.S. Census Bureau report in 2006: 9.5 million people of the purported 47 million uninsured were not U.S. citizens but can be treated anyway, if they so desire to be treated, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. Seventeen million of the uninsured lived in households having incomes of more than $50,000. Eighteen million were between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four, viewing themselves healthy enough to survive without paying for health insurance. Fifty percent of the 47 million regained their health insurance in four months. In the end and no matter the argument, the Conservative must present facts to educate those who have been chicaned by the Statist.

Another way the Conservative can battle the schemes of the Statist is by the usage of reasoning to combat the attractiveness of Statism in its various do-good manifestations. The Statist promotes solutions for all the problems that face us, or so he says. But how does the Statist reach his goals, which today includes emotionally charged issues such as fighting, fighting global warming, and fighting poverty? How can we fight the collapse of the auto industry? As his name indicates, the Statist believes in totalitarian government as the panacea to the ills of society. But the Statist does not believe in nor act for the benefit for the individuals who build the society. Rather, the Statist believes that government should act as the clean-up crew which alone knows how to give meaning to the lives of people, and afterwards the Statist will invariably control and dictate the people's lives and actions. British writer C. S. Lewis noted the following on the subject of the government acting for the good of the people:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their conscience.

What lies before today's Conservative? Even though the United States is inching slowly towards Statism, the belief in authoritarianism proves more popular than ever in American history. What can the Conservative do? He can educate. He can reason. He can warn those who are tempted by the siren’s call of Statism of the consequences of bequeathing power to a cold oligarchy. He can explicate the many pervasive historical examples of the horrors of such governmental systems.

Above all, the Conservative must show ideological determination in this battle and recognize that our nation wasn’t founded on tyrannical ideology, no matter how seductive that ideology is under certain circumstances. Over the last century, the Statist has manipulated the American people into a centralized-government way of thinking. The Conservative must remember the deceptive determination of his opposition if he desires to reclaim his country.

Over two decades ago, President Ronald Reagan recognized the fragility of our way of life:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
Those words call out to us today. The Conservative must choose to act if the Statist is not to claim tyrannical victory. By reading Liberty and Tyranny, the Conservative can fortify himself in this ongoing battle for freedom.

Note from AOW: MJB, the author of the above book review, is a student in my American Government class.

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/07/2009 05:00:00 AM  

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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

The Food Police?



According to this article:
There has never been a complaint filed against Manna Storehouse or the Stowers related to the quality or healthfulness of the food distributed through the co-op.
(crossposted to The Astute Bloggers)

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/05/2009 05:00:00 AM  

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Weekly Blog Talk Radio: May 8 — Tracy of No Compromise When You're Right!

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Our guest today at the bottom of the hour is Tracy of No Compromise When You're Right! Tracy also has a cutting-edge radio show on Blog Talk Radio and is the head of the Seattle chapter of Act! For America.

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Listen to the May 8, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
May 15: Frank Salvato
May 22: John Kenneth Press and Midnight Rider
May 29: Koran debate

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/05/2009 04:00:00 AM  

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Monday, May 04, 2009

FEATURED QUESTION: Health

Only if you have been living under a rock could you not know about the impact of the flu strain H1N1. The story of the "pandemic" has been the lead news story in many media outlets for several days now, although I note that in today's Washington Post (May 4, 2009), the flu stories have been relegated to page 4, with the first paragraph stating that "the new virus is not as lethal as initially feared."

All sorts of precautions have been taken. For example, to date some 400 schools throughout the United States have been closed for two weeks on the advice of the CDC. I have not found any information as to the financial impact such shuttering causes (What are substitute teachers doing for income when schools close?), although this Washington Post article discusses educational options for students unable to attend class while the schools are closed and cleaned — and, I might add, students on hiatus are likely turning into mall rats. At the same time, Mexico has announced an easing of imposed measures as the flu cases there seem to have tapered off. And on today's edition of the CBS Morning News, the lead story read "Flu Spreads. But Glimmer of Hope?"

This source reminds us of the actual definition of the scary word "pandemic":
A pandemic does not necessarily mean what you think it does, it is NOT black-plague carts being hauled through the streets piled high with dead bodies. Nor does it mean flesh eating zombies wandering the streets feeding on the living. All a pandemic means is that a new infectious disease is spreading throughout the world.

By definition, a "pandemic" is an epidemic that is geographically widespread. Fear-mongers are always careful to add the innuendo that millions of people could and probably will die, as in the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 that killed about 20 million people worldwide.
The same source goes on to state that fear mongering is afoot and that Tamiflu isn't necessarily a benign remedy. Read the entire essay HERE.



Is there truly a perilous pandemic of a dangerous strain of flu, or is fear mongering the greater danger?

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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/04/2009 08:07:00 AM  

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Saturday, May 02, 2009

Reality Check: Demographics





I realize that not all my readers are Christians and that some will disagree with the evangelical message at the end of the above video.

But if not Christian evangelizing, what are the acceptable and practical alternatives leading to the preservation of Western culture?

Remember, we have Western leaders such as Mayor of London Ken Livingstone apologizing for the likes of Al Qaradawi:



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posted by Always On Watch @ 5/02/2009 07:33:00 AM  

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