Category Archives: People

New Discovery – Older than the Hills

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Look what the Anchoress unearthed. It’s a fascinating look back into time with the recently (1994) unearthing of Gobekle Tepe in Turkey/Urfa,craddle of Armenian civilization.  Just thinking of people 11,000 years ago expending so much effort in an age without machines to worship or appease their gods, makes me wonder at how dismissive our age has become.

Amid all the archeological information on the Smithsonian site, this comment also caught my attention, reminding me that the societal tensions of yesteryear are deeply ingrained in fallen humankind and with us today, tied closely to our ethnicity and cultural undergirdings:

“It is sad that the article talks about the ‘site in Turkey’. 6000 years ago there was no Turkey. 600 years ago there was no Turkey. This site is ARMENIAN. Just another example of how history is being rewritten! It’s a shame. At least the Western scientific world should be more specific to acknowledge the fact that Urfa was the craddle of the Armenian civilization. Too sad, that’s all.” Posted by Gregov


And this:

Turkey? do you really think that mongols who destroyed some of the worlds oldest heritages have a history as old as this? It’s very sad, this site is Armenian and you must address it properley to people and nation who contributed many many things to humankind’s civilization. if you search in what today call’s it self Turkey, you may find that it has nothing on its own, all of the wonderfull sites belong to Armenians, Greeks, Asurians, Urartu’s and etc. I hope they will correct the title no one can stole other nations heritage and culture this easily as Turks are trying to do . . ” Posted by George

The ecological twists of the story also make me uncomfortable.

“There were herds of game, rivers of fish, and flocks of wildfowl; lush green meadows were ringed by woods and wild orchards. About 10,000 years ago, the Kurdish desert was a ‘paradisiacal place’, as Schmidt puts it. So what destroyed the environment? The answer is Man.

As we began farming, we changed the landscape and the climate. When the trees were chopped down, the soil leached away; all that ploughing and reaping left the land eroded and bare. What was once an agreeable oasis became a land of stress, toil and diminishing returns.

And so, paradise was lost.”

I can see Al Gore hyjacking this as the beginning of global warming.

My Desires Are Infinite – Carmel

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Here is a site with much to offer by secular Carmelites . Their calling: “to listen to hear the whisper of God in the silence of our hearts. We seek Him, who we know loves us, and contemplate His wonders…… The meditations (& podcasts) are taken directly from the writings of the Church Doctors of Prayer, Mysticism, Confidence and Missionaries (Saints Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and Thérèse of Lisieux) as well as many other Carmelites you may not have known before!”

Meditations from Carmel:

Mother Isabel of the Sacred Heart

“My desires are infinite. . . I have often made  them known: firstly, the salvation of souls, of all the souls now on earth and of those which will exist until the end of the world; then that divine love may reign in every soul; that those consecrated to God, especially priests, may reach the height of sanctity to which  their vocation calls them; to obtain baptism for  infants; that Purgatory may free its captives and may be closed for ever by souls being taught how to fly straight to heaven on leaving this world; that physical and bodily pain may be consoled, soothed, and to a great extent abolished. Yet these desires, like Saint Teresa’s become very grievous when I reflect that Jesus Himself could not obtain the salvation of all souls, nor make Himself loved by all, nor save them all from the tortures of Purgatory or from Limbo. I am troubled by the profound mystery of God s will being frustrated in His wishes by the contrary designs of His creatures, and I pray: “Father, since this is so, I entreat Thee to grant as far as possible the longings of the Heart of Jesus, for all His desires are mine,” and this brings me peace.

This was, for a long time, my only way of hearing Mass. When the sacred Host was up raised after the words of Consecration, I used to say: “Father, behold Thy beloved Son in “Whom Thou has set all Thy pleasure; hear Him!” This “Hear Him!” which expressed all my longings, meant: “Grant all He asks; realize all His desires!”

– Mother Isabel of the Sacred Heart

Stacking the Council on Women and Girls

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In March of 2009, President Obama created a White House Council on Women and Girls. With issues of life intrinsically bound to women and girls, the president’s choices are noteworthy, making “All the President’s Women” by Denise Bossert a must read:

“…the President has named women who are seasoned politicians to positions in his Administration. These women, almost without exception, have one thing in common. They are radically pro-abortion, with track records to prove it, and they typically achieved positions of political power through organizations like Emily’s List, Planned Parenthood, the National Organization for Women (NOW) or the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (currently called NARAL Pro-Choice America). The women in this category have accepted the tenets of these pro-abortion organizations. They know that, to accept money from any pro-abortion Political Action Committee (PAC), they must respond by advancing the pro-abortion agenda.”

Obama – What’s His Endgame?

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Charles Krauthammer thinks President Obama’s endgame is “Leveling“:

Obama is a leveler. He has come to narrow the divide between rich and poor. For him the ultimate social value is fairness. Imposing it upon the American social order is his mission.

Fairness through leveling is the essence of Obamaism. (Asked by Charlie Gibson during a campaign debate about his support for raising capital gains taxes — even if they caused a net revenue loss to the government — Obama stuck to the tax hike “for purposes of fairness.”) The elements are highly progressive taxation, federalized health care and higher education, and revenue-producing energy controls. But first he must deal with the sideshows. They could sink the economy and poison his public support before he gets to enact his real agenda.

The “side shows” are the credit crisis, which , and the collapse of the U.S. automakers. Tim Geithner now wears the credit crisis as an albatross around his neck while Obama may come to rue his despotic intervention into the car business. Krauthammer doubts that this intrusion will leave lasting effects on our nation saying only, “Some find in this “descent into large-scale industrial policy a whiff of 1930s-style fascist corporatism.”

Obama’s real agenda is another matter in Krauthammers view:

Bizarre and constitutionally suspect as these interventions may be, the transformation of the American system will come from elsewhere. The credit crisis will pass and the auto overcapacity will sort itself out one way or the other. The reordering of the American system will come not from these temporary interventions, into which Obama has reluctantly waded. It will come from Obama’s real agenda: his holy trinity of health care, education and energy. Out of these will come a radical extension of the welfare state; social and economic leveling in the name of fairness; and a massive increase in the size, scope and reach of government.

I mention Charles Krauthammer’s observation because I find it very troubling that as busy as constitutional scholars were during the Bill Clinton impeachment days, we hear little from them now.  History should have taught us what times of national crisis especially collapse have wrought in a nation which has been otherwise civilized. For example, Richard J Evans who wrote of Hitler’s endgame in his just released The Third Reich at War states that in of a previous book of his trilogy, The Coming of the Third Reich :

“I’m trying to be comprehensive, to show Nazi Germany and Nazi society at war in every aspect. In addition to the much better known military aspects, I try to deal with culture, literature, the arts. And I have human experiences — diaries, letters, personal testimonies.

In “The Coming of the Third Reich,” I try to say that it was not inevitable while pointing out that the Weimar Republic did, in fact, bring Nazism. The crucial point to remember is that in the 1928 elections, Nazis scored less than 3% of the national vote. By 1932 they were by far the largest party, with one third of the vote. So it’s the Depression. More than one third of the work force is unemployed by the middle of 1932. Businesses have crashed; banks have bankruptcies; people are disoriented by terrible inflation. It’s a desperate situation. And in that situation, the sense of activism, dynamism, youth, vigor, and radicalism that Hitler and the Nazis conveyed, tapping into nationalist resentment about the Treaty of Versailles with vague but vehement promises to restore Germany to its greatness…. All that had an irresistible appeal.

In “Can it happen here” (read the comments too!) Bookworm writes:

“…it’s worth noting that, when Hitler came to power in 1933, he did so with just barely more than 50% of the popular vote.  There was never a time when the majority of Germans were members of the Nazi party.  For most Germans, right through the end of the War, their crime wasn’t active complicity with Nazi atrocities, it was passive complicity.  From a mixture of fear and brain washing, they just went along.

The Anchoress writing of lost freedom and persecution, wonders how much American will tolerate before realizing that freedom “is lost in increments and inches.”

As the magic that unleashed a relatively unknown Barack Hussein Obama onto the political scene and now world scene, do we really know what we have unleashed.  Changes has come so quickly and gone unchallenged by any in a position to slow them down or investigate them such as our Congress who should be the voice of balance for the Nation.  As I asked before where are the voices of our constitutional gurus? For that matter, where is our Congress and its role of checks and balances. What will the out to lunch Congress cost us?

Tax Day Tea Party Doings

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InstaPundit directs tax day party-goers to google maps via FreedomWorks and more

Tea Party Protests gives you the video low down on the doings.

The Question That Won’t Go Away

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Where was Obama born?

Barack Hussein Obama was elected President of the United States of America, but was he legally eligible.  In other words, is Obama really our President or are we in a period of Interregnum?  By requirement of the United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, no one can be sworn into office as president of the United States without being a natural born citizen.

Why has Congress and the Electoral College been so sloppy with procedure.  Is obtaining the complete birth certificate of the man in the White House somehow Classified or a Top Secret issue? The question is a serious one.

Hawaii at the time of Obama’s birth allowed births that took place in foreign countries to be registered in Hawaii.  There is no reference to a hospital associated with Obama’s birth.  African relatives claim that they were present at the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya for his arrival? No answers here;  only questions as to the sealing of his birth certificate records by Govenor Linda Lingle of Hawaii.  Her stated reason; fear of Identity theft.  Give me a break!

Obama’s autobiography states that his mother was a minor and his father a citizen of Kenya. The actual hospital records on a long-form birth certificate can establish Constitutional legitimacy and certainty that Obama Hussein Obama is indeed our President. Is it too much for a citizen to ask?