I just found a really good cartoon on Saber Point that illustrates the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. It’s really true for all wars the US has been in since Vietnam. The Somalis, Iraqis, (the formal army under Saddam) and terrorists in general have all used the same tactic. They have such a lack of civilization that they have to prey on our decent behavior.
Stogie posted it on his blog, but the original source was View from the Right.
An integral part of Karl Marx’s theory of communism is that the supposedly poor workers (proletariat) are being oppressed by the supposedly rich capitalist employers. Collectivists say that the proletariat is in a very bad condition. They insist that they are much worse off than the capitalists. However, these are comparative terms that communists are using.
The question is: “What are they comparing present conditions with?” It is certainly not the past. The working population is better off and richer than ever before. Capitalism got the proletariat out of serfdom to feudal lords in the Middle Ages. As far as I can see that’s a change for the better, not worse.
So if they’re not comparing it with the past, they must be comparing it with the future. This is obviously the case. Utopians have given us a picture of a glorious, peaceful world that can be brought about by instituting socialistic programs. Novels like Looking Backward, by Edward Bellamy gave this impression, and urged us to move civilization forward by their ideas.
Now, I’ll admit, the present can look very gloomy compared with an imaginary paradise. However, that hardly means that the imaginary future will come about by the programs that socialists propose. It hardly proves their theory. Nor does it prove that things are horribly bad now.
Besides, those utopias have not come about. Looking Backward was supposed to be fulfilled in 2000. It’s 2006, and we still don’t have a paradise, even though many of Marx’s ideas have been put into law. There have even been some groups that have followed Marx’s instructions to the letter, but all attempts have failed.
Socialists need to get into reality, and look at where we are compared to where we have been, not what someone wishes we were.
The first clause of article 1, section 3, of the Constitution states:
“The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.”
This very important aspect of the office of the Senator has been revoked today. It was changed by the 17th amendment, ratified on April 8, 1913. This amendment has weakened the integrity of the Constitution.
The Founding Fathers originally designed the Constitution as a delicate system of checks and balances. They assigned the different responsibilities to different branches and subsections, elected by different means. The Senate was designed to be the realm of the states. The state legislatures would elect the Senators, and thereby have this check on federal government. All bills, treaties, and appointments would have to be ratified by the Senate in order for them to become valid. The states could then make sure that the feds didn’t encroach on their rights and privileges.
This is as opposed to the House of Representatives, which is elected by the people directly. This house of Congress originates all the tax laws and other things. The normal citizens of the U.S. would naturally be concerned about that, so they have power over that side of law making.
However, in the early 1900s, the Progressives were pushing for more of their programs. They were in favor of a democracy, as opposed to the originally designed republic. They wanted the people to control all aspects of government more directly. This was a façade, behind which they could institute greater governmental controls over people’s lives. In fact, on February 13 of the same year, the 16th amendment was ratified by Progressives, giving government the power to levy an income tax.
However, this change to the Constitution has resulted in less representation of the states in federal government. They have lost their voice. The two houses of Congress are now basically the same, except for their duties. This decreased responsibility has resulted in various usurpations by Washington, leading to decreased freedoms.
We need to restore the Senate to its original position as the representative of the states in federal government. We need to repeal the 17th amendment to take back the strength of the Constitution.
Many people believe or are coming to believe certain parts of Dan Brown’s book, The Da Vinci Code. This book contains many lies about divinity of Christ. The recently translated Judas Gospel is also urging people in the same direction.
One of the primary lies that The Da Vinci Code perpetrates that people believe is that Jesus was made God by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. They say that before 325, practically no Christian believed that Jesus was divine. Some of them also believe that it was a very narrow vote that made Jesus God.
People who say this reveal a blatant ignorance of history as well as Christianity and the Bible. The Gospels, all of which being written before 70 AD, testify that Jesus is divine. The whole New Testament, for that matter, which was written in the 1st century, assumes and/or says plainly that Jesus is divine. After the writing of the Bible, and before the Council of Nicea, you have theologian after theologian, preacher after preacher who is documented as saying that Jesus was divine.
The whole point of Christianity, as opposed to Judaism, is that Jesus is divine, not just a good man. People in the early Church were converted from Judaism to Christianity. If the divinity of Christ were not widely accepted, they would have stayed in the synagogue. The unbelieving Jews persecuted the Church because they viewed the doctrine of the divinity of Christ as blasphemy. They murdered Christ because He declared himself to be God. (By the way, if Christ said it, wouldn’t that kind of dictate it for Christianity?) It is a central doctrine of Christianity.
The Council of Nicea was held in 325 to oppose an error introduced by Arius, a heretic from North Africa. He said (as the Jehovah’s Witnesses say today) that Jesus was not eternal or divine, but subordinate to God. This crafty, handsome, and superficially intelligent man started to hold sway with some pastors. The Council of Nicea was called to unify the Church on that issue. Athanasius, a bishop from Alexandria, led the way in opposing Arius’ theology. The vote was 250+ to 2. That’s closer than the chances a Republican has for getting elected in Boston.
If you characterize the whole of early Christianity by one heretic in the 4th century, you’re getting an extremely skewed view. You can’t describe the whole by an exception.
Russia has this thing with dictatorships. They can’t get rid of them. They come, one after another, and the Russians do nothing about it.
Russians have this fatalist attitude toward hardship in their lives. They just accept it, and don’t do anything about it (besides maybe drowning it in vodka). They allow strongman after strongman to dominate their lives. The Russian Orthodox Church also has much to do with this mentality. Its form of church government is largely a dictatorship. That system is impressed upon the people’s minds day after day. The Russian Orthodox Church is very influential in government as well. Have you ever noticed that the Kremlin is filled with Russian Orthodox cathedrals?
So let’s look at the history. Russia was a group of freezing, pagan Slavs all through history until 988; when their ruler, Vladimir I, adopted Eastern Orthodoxy as the official religion. There’s nothing like getting off to a bad start.
In 1237, Mongolian raiders invaded and destroyed Kiev, the capital of Russia at that time. The Russians continued under that occupation for a long time until some forward-thinking man decided that it was possible to overthrow an oppressive government. So they rebelled, succeeded in recapturing Kiev, and established a monarchy with the capital at Moscow.
The Czars (the Russian word for Caesar) ruled the land until 1917. They were extremely oppressive. They ruled the people (who were reduced to serfs) as feudal lords for about 450 years. They kept power by stifling all opposition, and periodically using pogroms (massacres and deportations) to keep the population free of radicals and ethnic minorities.
In 1917, Vladimir Lenin, influenced by Marx’s communism, organized a revolt that ousted the czars and set up a communist state in Russia. He used the same tactics as the czars to stifle opposition. The USSR continued for 80 years, exporting its communism to Eastern Europe and Asia, killing off or sending to the gulag all dissenters, and doing all the things that a proper tyrannical state should.
Then, in 1989, the Poles stood firm against their Communist oppressors, starting a chain of events that lead to the liberation of Eastern Europe, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Now, we have Vladimir (a very popular name among Russians) Putin, who is systematically wiping out all antagonism to his “administration.” The government now owns all of the TV stations, and is forcing the radio stations to not broadcast The Voice of America, The Voice of Free Europe, or other free media outlets. They control the newspapers, and are advancing their agenda in a way that we have seen is very popular among Russian rulers.
Get ready for Russia to become totalitarian again.
A conservative website, ProtestWarrior, has some pointed posters that get right to the center of the issues at hand. The site, which was hacked by leftists, has an amazing video series that reveals the extreme amount of tolerance and patience that liberals have toward anyone who disagrees with them. It also shows the Pillsbury doughboy peacefulness of the anti-war protesters. Some of it is just laughable as to the hypocrisy.
While I don’t necessarily recommend their tactics, they have some very good points. In never realized the extent of the lunacy of some of these fanatics.
Hezbollah, the terrorist organization that practically owns southern Lebanon, has kidnapped three Israeli soldiers in the past two days, and is now launching rockets into Israeli cities near the border of Lebanon and Israel. In retaliation, Israel has started an offensive (or rather defensive) that has penetrated the Gaza strip, enforced a naval, land, and air blockade on Lebanon; and sent troops into the southern part of that country.
If Iran does something stupid, then we’re in for it. (The following is a not so likely, but possible scenario)
Iran will launch missiles at Israel, causing havoc. Other Middle-Eastern nations may follow suit. The United States will act in retaliation, and bomb Iran. North Korea will take advantage of the situation and launch missiles against Japan, while invading South Korea. The United States troops there will react and drive the North Koreans back. Kim Jong Il will appeal to China for help, and China will nuke the USA, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan; while sending its army into the Korean peninsula. Russia will now be furious and invade China, which will have all of its military branches strained from the nuking of its cities and military institutions, and the several fronts that have opened up. The oppressed Chinese will rise up against the weakened Communists, and take back the country. Meanwhile, the United States and the European nations will be invading Iran, and assisting Israel, who is fighting desperately against Syria and Lebanon.
Iran will be subjected, and a new free republic set up there, only to fall again before an Islamic revolution. North Korea and China will be reformed, and the Korean peninsula will be united. Israel will have all the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. The United States and other Western nations will be rebuilding after nuclear bombs have devastated several cities.
Now wait a second, that is way to optimistic. You have almost all the world’s diplomatic problems solved right there.
Okay, tomorrow we’ll get back to something serious and more on the topic of this blog.
NOTE: Complements to the BBC for the map.
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