Today (Tuesday, July 14) Yahoo! News reported that Liz Cheney doesn't believe that her father, Dick Cheney, did anything wrong in directing the CIA not to disclose to Congress their secret plan to kill al-Qaida figures.
At the same time, Liz Cheney accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats of seeking to politicize lingering arguments over how the Bush administration conducted the war against terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Where was she when all this was going on? How about this piece of news from the BBC?
Top Ranking CIA Operatives Admit Al-qaeda Is a Complete Fabrication
by Mr. Charrington on January 7, 2008
BBC’s killer documentary called “The Power of Nightmares“. Top CIA officials openly admit, Al-qaeda is a total and complete fabrication, never having existed at any time. The Bush administration needed a reason that complied with the Laws so they could go after “the bad guy of their choice” namely laws that had been set in place to protect us from mobs and “criminal organizations” such as the Mafia. They paid Jamal al Fadl, hundreds of thousands of dollars to back the U.S. Government’s story of Al-qaeda, a “group” or criminal organization they could “legally” go after. This video documentary is off the hook…
See,Liz? Right from the horse's mouth. NO AL-QAIDA! Got it? It was an invention by the Neo-Conservatives (Fascists) just like the reasons (lies) behind the war in Iraq. And didn't dear ol' dad make a fortune from Halliburton't no-bid contracts to provide our troops with bad food and impure water? Overall the war has turned out to be a disaster of the first magnitude and Dick Cheney was one of the prime movers who got it underway. YouTube has dozens of videos that show Cheney denying statements he is alleged to have made, and videos showing him actually making the statements.
But, Liz,I do understand your position. You were, after all, a former principal deputy secretary of state for Mideast affairs during George W. Bush's presidency. I'm sure you got that post because of your glowing credentials and not because you father was Vice President. Mideast affairs? Hey, you did a great job! But I would offer one suggestion, though.
Instead of helping with dad's memoirs your time might be better spent working on his defense because, sooner or later, he and the rest of that slimy regime will be called to account. It's only a matter of time.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Silver Lining - An Exquisitely Beautiful Video
Presented here as a reminder that in this world of pain and suffering, war, poverty, and hunger, all brought about by evil men, that people can still create rare beauty that ennobles the spirit of mankind. Enjoy!
Kim Komando’s Video of the Day » Blog Archive » African thunderstorm
Kim Komando’s Video of the Day » Blog Archive » African thunderstorm
Friday, July 10, 2009
Silver Lining - Why Obama will Fail
Well, we've finally done it, elected a black president. This puts him in an unique position in the history of our nation; he has two constituencies, the voters at large who looked to him for change and the blacks who looked to him for identity; and it looks like he is betraying both groups. By continuing the corrupt policies of the criminal Bush regime Obama has reprised the role of Steppen Fetchit, the servile nigger who jumps at his master's every command. But these are different masters as we have been coming to understand. They are not the Kentucky colonel sitting on the colonnaded porch of his ante-bellum mansion sipping mint julep. No, the latest menagerie of masters are not so open. Hatching their plots behind closed doors and maintaining a level of secrecy that any Nazi regime would find it difficult to match, these masters are the central bankers and imperialists we have come to know as Neo-cons, white trash from top to bottom: Bush, Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and all the rest of this stinking collection of human garbage who have committed high treason on several counts. And many of us thinking people wonder why these hooligans aren't doing time in Federal penitentiaries. Why are those who committed such heinous crimes still at liberty?
Certainly the highest of these crimes is being led into two losing wars based on lies, deceptions, contrived "evidence", and the spectre of 9/11 being another Reichstag Fire. Mr. Obama seems to be waffling on his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq that so far has cost the American tax payers over a half-trillion dollars, money that could be much better spent in looking after the needs of our own people. But war is a major part of our history and from which our nation was formed. In the Revolution, the War of 1812, and World War Two, many brave men and woman gave their lives that we might live in freedom. But total freedom wasn't realized until the Civil Rights movement that liberated black America from the rigors of segregation. And this conflict was fought on our own soil, a struggle based on the Constitutional guarantees of equal justice under the law. Mr. Obama has received the fruits of both these conflicts but seems not to acknowledge the gifts he has received by he blood, sweat, and tears of the many brave Americans who stood up for what was right; habeas corpus, the right to a fair trial before a jury of our peers, the Fourth Amendment guarantee of security in our person, houses, papers, and effects against unlawful search and seizure. For so long as Obama tolerates torture, warrantless wiretaps and searches, detentions, and the fictitious "war on terror", so does he deny the double heritage that is his. He forgets these things at his own peril for we, the American people will have the last word as we always have had when the going got tough. There is a revolution sweeping the land; we will take back our nation from the thieves and liars who have steered our ship of state so far off course. And that is because we are a decent people, a generous people, a good people. The permanent changes will not be brought about by stuffed suits in high places, but by decent men and women who comprise our vast body of unsung heroes. Some of these we know, most of those we don't, and some of these were there and we did not notice them at the time. I'll tie this package up by identifying one of the latter, a man well known and loved in his time, and a great American in the bargain.
He was a comedian. His name was Jack Benny and his radio and television shows were very popular in the 1930's to the 1950's. There were black entertainers in that day who had made names for themselves; Nat "King" Cole, Lena Horne, Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers, Ruby Dandridge, among them, but they all experienced segregation and the hostility of bigoted whites. And then there was Eddie Anderson.
Eddie was a black man, the ever famous, much beloved "Rochester" on the Jack Benny Show throughout the years. Mr. Anderson wasn't just on the show, he shared top billing with Jack himself, and in that was the latter's greatness. Though he could have taken center stage at any time, he instead stepped aside and and let budding new talent emerge under his wing; Mel Blanc, Sheldon Leonard, Phil Harris, Dennis Day, Frank Nelson, and Eddie Anderson with whom he generously shared the spotlight. Once when the show was on the road the troupe went to the registration desk of swank mid-western hotel to check in. The desk clerk said to Jack, "Why Mr. Benny, we are delighted to have you here - but, of course your friend (Eddie) can't stay here. This great American, Jack Benny replied, "If he doesn't stay here then I'm not staying either." Rochester stayed - and that was more than fifteen years before the Civil Rights movement.
Let's hope Obama sees the light.
Certainly the highest of these crimes is being led into two losing wars based on lies, deceptions, contrived "evidence", and the spectre of 9/11 being another Reichstag Fire. Mr. Obama seems to be waffling on his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq that so far has cost the American tax payers over a half-trillion dollars, money that could be much better spent in looking after the needs of our own people. But war is a major part of our history and from which our nation was formed. In the Revolution, the War of 1812, and World War Two, many brave men and woman gave their lives that we might live in freedom. But total freedom wasn't realized until the Civil Rights movement that liberated black America from the rigors of segregation. And this conflict was fought on our own soil, a struggle based on the Constitutional guarantees of equal justice under the law. Mr. Obama has received the fruits of both these conflicts but seems not to acknowledge the gifts he has received by he blood, sweat, and tears of the many brave Americans who stood up for what was right; habeas corpus, the right to a fair trial before a jury of our peers, the Fourth Amendment guarantee of security in our person, houses, papers, and effects against unlawful search and seizure. For so long as Obama tolerates torture, warrantless wiretaps and searches, detentions, and the fictitious "war on terror", so does he deny the double heritage that is his. He forgets these things at his own peril for we, the American people will have the last word as we always have had when the going got tough. There is a revolution sweeping the land; we will take back our nation from the thieves and liars who have steered our ship of state so far off course. And that is because we are a decent people, a generous people, a good people. The permanent changes will not be brought about by stuffed suits in high places, but by decent men and women who comprise our vast body of unsung heroes. Some of these we know, most of those we don't, and some of these were there and we did not notice them at the time. I'll tie this package up by identifying one of the latter, a man well known and loved in his time, and a great American in the bargain.
He was a comedian. His name was Jack Benny and his radio and television shows were very popular in the 1930's to the 1950's. There were black entertainers in that day who had made names for themselves; Nat "King" Cole, Lena Horne, Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers, Ruby Dandridge, among them, but they all experienced segregation and the hostility of bigoted whites. And then there was Eddie Anderson.
Eddie was a black man, the ever famous, much beloved "Rochester" on the Jack Benny Show throughout the years. Mr. Anderson wasn't just on the show, he shared top billing with Jack himself, and in that was the latter's greatness. Though he could have taken center stage at any time, he instead stepped aside and and let budding new talent emerge under his wing; Mel Blanc, Sheldon Leonard, Phil Harris, Dennis Day, Frank Nelson, and Eddie Anderson with whom he generously shared the spotlight. Once when the show was on the road the troupe went to the registration desk of swank mid-western hotel to check in. The desk clerk said to Jack, "Why Mr. Benny, we are delighted to have you here - but, of course your friend (Eddie) can't stay here. This great American, Jack Benny replied, "If he doesn't stay here then I'm not staying either." Rochester stayed - and that was more than fifteen years before the Civil Rights movement.
Let's hope Obama sees the light.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Silver Lining - The Emerging Truth
The term that is getting the most usage these days is Revolution and this nation is inching closer to that eventuality by the day. People are getting smarter. The tireless efforts of such true patriots as Congressman Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Peter Schiff, and many others are bringing the truth to a wider cross section of the American people. But now we are seeing the government and its media toadies inadvertently aiding in the very process that will bring their criminal cabal crashing to the ground.
We are approaching the anniversary of our independence, the Fourth of July, and the hype is amping up to nauseating proportions. Gala celebrations are planned throughout the nation, but all the fireworks, bands playing patriotic music, and all the related hoopla, only amplify the garish irony surrounding the encroaching Socialism that threatens to steal more of our personal liberties and bankrupt the nation beyond redemption.
There are still 130,000 troops in Iraq, four more were killed during the pullout from Baghdad. The news carried the story but it was nothing like the media blitz that followed the death of Michael Jackson. "The whole world mourns the death of Michael Jackson," one headline bleated. Really? The whole world? I seriously doubt that anyone was really thinking about Jackson very much lately. He was famous for his odd tastes and the scandals that dogged him every bit as much as he was regaled for his music. His career was nowhere; a recluse, the London tour was intended as a comeback and he put a lot of work into it, to his credit. As with the untimely passing of any human being, Jackson's death was sad but was it a catastrophe of global proportions? Hardly. It may create jobs, though: Michael impersonators, like Elvis impersonators with fancy footwork.
Cigarette taxes tripled over the past thirty days or so as the government continues its fraudulent anti-smoking campaign. They claim its to pay the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses; but where does the money really go? It gets Pentagoned (a new term I just made up to describe the strange disappearance of tax dollars into thin air; Oops! It was here a minute ago!). It is taxation without representation, the issue that tipped the 13 colonies into revolution.
Then there's Crap and Trade (no typo) an innovative way to fuel inflation. The high costs of the meaningless target reductions in "greenhouse gases" will of course be passed onto the already overburdened taxpayers. Another log on the revolutionary fire, and it's coming! I could go on but it's time to get to the point. What kind of revolution am I talking about?
The revolution I am speaking of will not involve Minutemen, militias, or citizens carrying placards or firearms. But they will be armed - with facts and a huge resentment against the thieves and liars who have sold out to big corporations and big money. It's about the MONEY, stupid!
Write this down so you don't forget it: MONEY IS ANYTHING THAT HAS VALUE! Our economy is a barter economy and has never been anything else, and it will always be! Barter is, after all trading one good for another; we use pieces of paper bearing the portraits of dead presidents on one side of most personal transactions and we will continue to do so. These Federal Reserve Notes are worthless though, aren't they? Yes, and they always have been, but that didn't stop us from using them. The point here is simple: We the people have the sole power to decide the nature and value of money: we decide what money is. Like California. They can't agree on a budget; it's in the neighborhood of 24 billion dollars. Schwarzenegger said if the legislature can't submit a comprehensive budget for his approval, the state will have to issue IOUs to pay expenses. Guess what; these IOUs will be money every bit as much as the phony scrip the Fed has been turning out since 1913. Will they be accepted in trade? No reason why not; these Arnolds (we have to call these IOUs something) would be a supplementary currency, used to stretch the dollars supply and to pay state taxes. Remember Tally Sticks?
Some municipalities are already developing alternative currencies.A popular version of these is the Time Dollar. The way these work: I may offer to landscape a neighbor's yard. We agree on $15.00 an hour. The work takes eight hours and is worth $120.00. The customer may decide to pay with Time Dollars, wholly or in part. The person who did the work has $120.00 in Time Dollars that he can use to buy certain goods. The merchant who accepts these TDs in payment for good can use these to pay for goods and services that he needs. If he takes the whole amount in trade he can use the $120.00 worth of TDs to pay a clerk for twelve hours @ $10.00 an hour. This would be a closed loop economy limited to a community of people who agree to the strategy but it could spread as more people see the usefulness of the plan.
When the people get together behind a plan there's nothing that can stop them.
We are approaching the anniversary of our independence, the Fourth of July, and the hype is amping up to nauseating proportions. Gala celebrations are planned throughout the nation, but all the fireworks, bands playing patriotic music, and all the related hoopla, only amplify the garish irony surrounding the encroaching Socialism that threatens to steal more of our personal liberties and bankrupt the nation beyond redemption.
There are still 130,000 troops in Iraq, four more were killed during the pullout from Baghdad. The news carried the story but it was nothing like the media blitz that followed the death of Michael Jackson. "The whole world mourns the death of Michael Jackson," one headline bleated. Really? The whole world? I seriously doubt that anyone was really thinking about Jackson very much lately. He was famous for his odd tastes and the scandals that dogged him every bit as much as he was regaled for his music. His career was nowhere; a recluse, the London tour was intended as a comeback and he put a lot of work into it, to his credit. As with the untimely passing of any human being, Jackson's death was sad but was it a catastrophe of global proportions? Hardly. It may create jobs, though: Michael impersonators, like Elvis impersonators with fancy footwork.
Cigarette taxes tripled over the past thirty days or so as the government continues its fraudulent anti-smoking campaign. They claim its to pay the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses; but where does the money really go? It gets Pentagoned (a new term I just made up to describe the strange disappearance of tax dollars into thin air; Oops! It was here a minute ago!). It is taxation without representation, the issue that tipped the 13 colonies into revolution.
Then there's Crap and Trade (no typo) an innovative way to fuel inflation. The high costs of the meaningless target reductions in "greenhouse gases" will of course be passed onto the already overburdened taxpayers. Another log on the revolutionary fire, and it's coming! I could go on but it's time to get to the point. What kind of revolution am I talking about?
The revolution I am speaking of will not involve Minutemen, militias, or citizens carrying placards or firearms. But they will be armed - with facts and a huge resentment against the thieves and liars who have sold out to big corporations and big money. It's about the MONEY, stupid!
Write this down so you don't forget it: MONEY IS ANYTHING THAT HAS VALUE! Our economy is a barter economy and has never been anything else, and it will always be! Barter is, after all trading one good for another; we use pieces of paper bearing the portraits of dead presidents on one side of most personal transactions and we will continue to do so. These Federal Reserve Notes are worthless though, aren't they? Yes, and they always have been, but that didn't stop us from using them. The point here is simple: We the people have the sole power to decide the nature and value of money: we decide what money is. Like California. They can't agree on a budget; it's in the neighborhood of 24 billion dollars. Schwarzenegger said if the legislature can't submit a comprehensive budget for his approval, the state will have to issue IOUs to pay expenses. Guess what; these IOUs will be money every bit as much as the phony scrip the Fed has been turning out since 1913. Will they be accepted in trade? No reason why not; these Arnolds (we have to call these IOUs something) would be a supplementary currency, used to stretch the dollars supply and to pay state taxes. Remember Tally Sticks?
Some municipalities are already developing alternative currencies.A popular version of these is the Time Dollar. The way these work: I may offer to landscape a neighbor's yard. We agree on $15.00 an hour. The work takes eight hours and is worth $120.00. The customer may decide to pay with Time Dollars, wholly or in part. The person who did the work has $120.00 in Time Dollars that he can use to buy certain goods. The merchant who accepts these TDs in payment for good can use these to pay for goods and services that he needs. If he takes the whole amount in trade he can use the $120.00 worth of TDs to pay a clerk for twelve hours @ $10.00 an hour. This would be a closed loop economy limited to a community of people who agree to the strategy but it could spread as more people see the usefulness of the plan.
When the people get together behind a plan there's nothing that can stop them.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Silver Lining - Ones and Zeroes
The much talked about financial problems out government faces are largely imaginary. What that means is that money created out of thin air can just as easily vanish into thin air once we come to our senses. Where once a hundred-million dollars was considered a lot of money, now we are talking in the tens of trillions, 94% of this just digits stored in computers. Only three percent of the money supply is in the form of bills and coin, and these are in the hands of the people. And it will stay there as a guard against all the gloom and doom predictions of hyperinflation and economic meltdown. As long as we have a currency that represents value, the market forces (laissez faire) that operate on Main Street will see us through. People will sell for less and work for less until they come to their senses and start turning things around. And we will. We can begin by just saying, No.
The depth of the current financial crisis involves derivative financial instruments known as Debt for Credit Swaps. These CDS's are a form of insurance taken out by investors whose holdings appear in danger of losing value. Foremost among these were holders of Collateralized Debt Obligations, another derivative instrument cooked up by Wall Street when the Mortgage Backed Securities that started the whole mess started coming apart.
Banks had been solicited for mortgages by Lehman Brothers that the Wall Street firm packaged into huge concentrations. These enormous inventories and the checks pouring in each month were to be the basis for the Mortgage Backed Securities that Lehman sold to the world's central banks, insurance and retirement funds. The banks wrote mortgages on an ever descending scale of qualification, toward the end lending money to people with no income or assets. The banks did this because they could turn around and sell these mortgages to Lehman and get paid right away. No waiting twenty or thirty years. The further rationalized that the people who bought these mortgages without assets or income could resell their houses in another year, pay of their mortgages, and walk away with a few thousand in profits, as the housing bubble had not yet burst and home prices were rising.
The Mortgage Backed Securities started coming apart, so Wall Street dreamed up the Collateralized Debt Obligation. This piece of poor judgment was an investment on an investment that offered higher interest rates on mortgage packages that involved higher risk. The sole intent here was to raise money to plug the holes in the MBS program, sort of like digging a second hole to fill the first one, then a third to fill the second, and so on. Think musical chairs. Now to the point.
The holders of the Collateralized Debt Obligations began to worry that they would lose their investments when the music stopped, thus the purchases of the Debt for Credit Swaps. It's a sensible move and the cautious investors had been paying premiums to the houses issuing these instruments, most notably AIG. The problem mushroomed to astronomical proportions because the SEC had failed to specify ownership of the securities as a condition of purchase,thus anyone could purchase a DCS whether they owned the securities or not. It's like taking out collision insurance on an automobile; if taken out by the owner then in the event of an accident in which the car is totaled, the insurance company covers the loss; if a thousand people bought the same policy the insurance company would have to pay one-thousand claims on the same car. So the tax payers of this country should not have to be stuck with the bill for this fiasco: AIG should have known better, and the SEC should have plugged the loophole that made this disaster possible. So to the question; should we bail these bums out?
Just say,No.
The depth of the current financial crisis involves derivative financial instruments known as Debt for Credit Swaps. These CDS's are a form of insurance taken out by investors whose holdings appear in danger of losing value. Foremost among these were holders of Collateralized Debt Obligations, another derivative instrument cooked up by Wall Street when the Mortgage Backed Securities that started the whole mess started coming apart.
Banks had been solicited for mortgages by Lehman Brothers that the Wall Street firm packaged into huge concentrations. These enormous inventories and the checks pouring in each month were to be the basis for the Mortgage Backed Securities that Lehman sold to the world's central banks, insurance and retirement funds. The banks wrote mortgages on an ever descending scale of qualification, toward the end lending money to people with no income or assets. The banks did this because they could turn around and sell these mortgages to Lehman and get paid right away. No waiting twenty or thirty years. The further rationalized that the people who bought these mortgages without assets or income could resell their houses in another year, pay of their mortgages, and walk away with a few thousand in profits, as the housing bubble had not yet burst and home prices were rising.
The Mortgage Backed Securities started coming apart, so Wall Street dreamed up the Collateralized Debt Obligation. This piece of poor judgment was an investment on an investment that offered higher interest rates on mortgage packages that involved higher risk. The sole intent here was to raise money to plug the holes in the MBS program, sort of like digging a second hole to fill the first one, then a third to fill the second, and so on. Think musical chairs. Now to the point.
The holders of the Collateralized Debt Obligations began to worry that they would lose their investments when the music stopped, thus the purchases of the Debt for Credit Swaps. It's a sensible move and the cautious investors had been paying premiums to the houses issuing these instruments, most notably AIG. The problem mushroomed to astronomical proportions because the SEC had failed to specify ownership of the securities as a condition of purchase,thus anyone could purchase a DCS whether they owned the securities or not. It's like taking out collision insurance on an automobile; if taken out by the owner then in the event of an accident in which the car is totaled, the insurance company covers the loss; if a thousand people bought the same policy the insurance company would have to pay one-thousand claims on the same car. So the tax payers of this country should not have to be stuck with the bill for this fiasco: AIG should have known better, and the SEC should have plugged the loophole that made this disaster possible. So to the question; should we bail these bums out?
Just say,No.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Zua Buna!
The title of this post is "Good day" in Romanian. I have used this greeting often in the past as I am of Romanian extraction. My family emigrated to this country in 1912 to escape the political upheavals of the time. The nation has never been very stable; it was a kingdom under King Carol, a dictatorship under Chaucescu, and was on the wrong side in World War, Part Two, and took part in Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union at a heavy cost in lives and resources. In 1989 Romania revolted and broke away from the Soviet bloc. Some improvements have been realized in that troubled land but in some respects it still lives in the Dark Ages. This headline appeared on BBC just today;
A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said.
Members of the convent in north-east Romania claim Maricica Irina Cornici was possessed and that the crucifixion had been part of an exorcism ritual.
Cornici was found dead on the cross on Wednesday after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police.
A priest and four nuns were charged with imprisonment leading to death.
Orphan
Police say the 23-year-old nun, who was denied food and drink throughout her ordeal, had been tied and chained to the cross and a towel pushed into her mouth to smother any sounds.
A post-mortem is to be carried out, although initial reports say that Cornici died from asphyxiation.
"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this," said
Father Daniel
Local media reports that the young woman had arrived at the remote convent three months before, having initially gone there to visit a friend and opted to stay.
She grew up in an orphanage in Arad, in the west of Romania.
Mediafax news agency said Cornici suffered from schizophrenia and the symptoms of her condition caused the priest at the convent and other nuns to believe she was possessed by the devil.
"They all said she was possessed and they were trying to cast out the evil spirits," police spokeswoman Michaela Straub said.
Father Daniel who is accused of orchestrating the crime is said to be unrepentant.
"God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil," AFP quoted the priest as saying.
"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practice in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," Father Daniel added.
If found guilty of killing Cornici, Father Daniel and the accused nuns could face 20 years in jail.
Another disgusting example of the evil of organized religion.
A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said.
Members of the convent in north-east Romania claim Maricica Irina Cornici was possessed and that the crucifixion had been part of an exorcism ritual.
Cornici was found dead on the cross on Wednesday after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police.
A priest and four nuns were charged with imprisonment leading to death.
Orphan
Police say the 23-year-old nun, who was denied food and drink throughout her ordeal, had been tied and chained to the cross and a towel pushed into her mouth to smother any sounds.
A post-mortem is to be carried out, although initial reports say that Cornici died from asphyxiation.
"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this," said
Father Daniel
Local media reports that the young woman had arrived at the remote convent three months before, having initially gone there to visit a friend and opted to stay.
She grew up in an orphanage in Arad, in the west of Romania.
Mediafax news agency said Cornici suffered from schizophrenia and the symptoms of her condition caused the priest at the convent and other nuns to believe she was possessed by the devil.
"They all said she was possessed and they were trying to cast out the evil spirits," police spokeswoman Michaela Straub said.
Father Daniel who is accused of orchestrating the crime is said to be unrepentant.
"God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil," AFP quoted the priest as saying.
"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practice in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," Father Daniel added.
If found guilty of killing Cornici, Father Daniel and the accused nuns could face 20 years in jail.
Another disgusting example of the evil of organized religion.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
A Smoker's Rebuttal
It's happened again. The nation's smokers have been subject to more tax increases, causing already high prices to triple in some instances. A pound of tobacco that used to sell for $10.81 is now $36.95 and that should be enough to stir up the one-third of the people who enjoy smoking to taking action. It would be one thing if there were any evidence that smoking is harmful in any demonstrable way. There isn't. The Surgeon General's report that started this witch hunt is inconclusive on that score, based as it was on eleven equally inconclusive reports.
The first Surgeon General's report was published in 1964 and it was subsequently required that all cigarette packages carry a warning about the health hazards of smoking. That should have been enough, but then the lunatic fringe of the American population took over and escalated the hysteria to stratospheric heights. It proved to be another way for intrinsically unpleasant people to demonstrate their unpleasant natures. Well, I for one have had enough of this nonsense. Here are the facts about smoking for anyone not too stupid or bigoted to understand.
The United States leads the world in obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes; we are the world's sickest people. Our food is laced with chemicals too numerous to mention here, some guesses number into the thousands; our water is chemically treated with fluoride, a waste product from the manufacture of fertilizer; the air we breathe is polluted by automobile exhaust, coal fired power plants, and sulpherous smoke from various manufacturing plants. In view of all this, how can any data with respect to cigarette smoking be separated out from these other causes? The short answer is; they can't. The anti-smoking campaign is rife with unproven, general statements on the dangers of smoking when a rational assessment of the facts tells a different story.
Reader's Digest is one of the print media's most incessant and hypocritical advocates in the effort to get people to stop smoking. A few years ago they printed an article purportedly by a young woman whose father had died a smoking-related death. On the title page of the article was a photo of the complaining party, a pretty blond who appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties. This innocent-looking girl's story was designed to elicit sympathy and outrage against the filthy habit that took this girl's father out of her life. Boo hoo. But wait! Further along in the body of the story was the information that the girl's father had quit smoking eighteen years before his death! Smell something? I do. It's the rank odor hypocrisy; a publication that has probably contributed to more health problems by marketing prescription drugs to their readers than any other source - they've been doing this for decades, no doubt being generously compensated by Big Pharma - bleating their crippled agenda in the name of "public service" when the only ones they truly serve are themselves. The outrage over marketing prescription drugs to the general public only took form when pharmaceutical companies started sponsoring television commercials, a relatively recent development compared to Reader's Digest's long standing practice.
Another result of the hysteria over smoking and the misleading propaganda against it is that many people believe that cigarette smoking causes heart disease, emphysema, and lung cancer. The fact is that cigarette smoking causes none of these afflictions or any other, for that matter. That is not to say that smoking cannot aggravate an existing condition: it most certainly can, and people with respiratory or cardio-vascular problems should definitely not smoke. Alcoholics should not drink alcoholic beverages but I don't see anyone militating against drinking. Yet drunk drivers are a much greater threat to public health than smoking could ever be. Here there is no doubt about the causal relationship to highway deaths and serious injury. Why aren't heavier taxes imposed on alcohol to the extent that they have been for cigarette smoking. Don't medical costs of alcohol consumption for both drinkers and victims of drunk driving incidents rival those falsely alleged for smokers?
Then there's the matter of "second hand smoke". I had close friend who quit smoking some twenty-five years ago. I haven't seen the man in almost eight years, and that was when I visited him in East Texas after a lengthy hiatus: before that it had been ten years since our last personal contact though we did speak on the telephone occasionally. During one of the conversation he got on a rant about smoking and at one point he shouted, "You're killing me with your second hand smoke!" Over the telephone? At that time I hadn't seen the man in three years.
The man is two years younger than I but on my last visit I didn't recognize him when he came to pick me up at the bus terminal. He looked ninety! Over the past twenty years he has had brain surgery, diabetes, suffers from manic depression, and a few months ago, the last time I spoke to him on the telephone it was clear that his mind was going. I smoke, he hasn't for twenty-five years; I am in peak health, often taken for fifteen or twenty years younger, have never been physically stronger (I work out at a gym) and still ride a bicycle 15 or 20 miles an outing.
I spend a lot of time outdoors even during the many "air pollution" days when people with respiratory problems are encouraged to remain indoors and people are urged to car pool. That leads to another argument that the anti-smoking fanatics don't like to think about. It's all in the numbers.
The normal breathing rate is fourteen breaths a minute, in an hour that's 840 breaths and the air in the lungs is complete;y changed every seven breaths. I smoke an average of thirty cigarettes a day; they are filterless, regular size cigarettes that I make myself using organically grown, additive-free tobacco. I average about two cigarettes an hour, sometimes more and sometimes I don't smoke for three hours at a stretch. At the rate of two cigarettes an hour, ten puffs each, that's twenty out of 840 respirations an hour; one out of 42 breaths. The rest of that hour I am taking in 820 breaths of something else, on "air pollution" days, especially during an inversion, I am breathing bad air. If I happen to be on foot with heavy traffic all around (seldom) I am breathing heavy doses of carbon monoxide with every breath, not just 1 in 42 but every breath - all 840 for every hour I am out there.
There was a time, fifty or sixty years ago, when folks were healthier. The air was cleaner, tap water fit to drink, and food was purer. Men worked in factories, machine shops, and construction, and were able to earn enough money that wives could stay at home, take care of the home, and raise the children. Oh, there were problems alright; alcoholism, some drug use, and crime, but not to the degree we experience today. And people smoked cigarettes without the social stigma that prevails today. There were people who didn't smoke and some of these had unpleasant effects, but they didn't organize into militant factions reminiscent of Medieval mobs; smokers then as now, if asked not to smoke, didn't smoke if it would cause potential harm to anyone. But in the main people just didn't mind much. In 1950 the chances of contracting cancer were 1 in 27; today they are 1 in 4. We are a sicker society today; did cigarette smoking contribute to this in any way?
Yes. But it wasn't the cigarettes themselves. In the early 1950's cigarette companies started producing filtered cigarettes and as these became more widespread public health started its long, gradual decline. The first popular cigarette brand to come out with filters was Kent; the filters were so dense that it was hard to draw on them and to make matters worse, asbestos was the filtering medium. Even without asbestos filters are harmful to smokers. When a smoker inhales smoke through a filter some tiny bits of the filter material also enters the lungs. Filters are made of silicates and this fine residue settles on the lungs - and stays there: the body cannot metabolize it, just as coal miners' lungs couldn't, and over time both groups developed silicosis, also known as "coal miners disease" or ""black lung". Filters, not tobacco or nicotine, are the problem with cigarettes.
I'll close with another example of the ignorance of the FDA when it pronounced nicotine as an addictive substance. There is no such thing; there are addictive personalities but not substances. People satisfy their cravings with many substances, including food. I am a recovering alcoholic with over 28 years of freedom from alcohol. Drugs didn't appeal to me; I took amphetamines to get through college while working full time and carrying a full load at school. When I started hallucinating I stopped taking them. I didn't have a drinking problem; I had a living problem and drinking was my solution to life's problems - until the problems mounted to near fatal proportions. Today I wouldn't trade my worst day sober for my best day drinking; my life works, I have many good, true friends, I am physically fit and mentally acute - and I smoke non-filtered cigarettes. So do me a favor.
Leave me the hell alone! Deal with your own personality problems and stop playing the Blame Game. I don't need you to tell me how to live when you obviously don't know how to live yourself: if you did then you wouldn't find it necessary to meddle in other peoples' business.
The first Surgeon General's report was published in 1964 and it was subsequently required that all cigarette packages carry a warning about the health hazards of smoking. That should have been enough, but then the lunatic fringe of the American population took over and escalated the hysteria to stratospheric heights. It proved to be another way for intrinsically unpleasant people to demonstrate their unpleasant natures. Well, I for one have had enough of this nonsense. Here are the facts about smoking for anyone not too stupid or bigoted to understand.
The United States leads the world in obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes; we are the world's sickest people. Our food is laced with chemicals too numerous to mention here, some guesses number into the thousands; our water is chemically treated with fluoride, a waste product from the manufacture of fertilizer; the air we breathe is polluted by automobile exhaust, coal fired power plants, and sulpherous smoke from various manufacturing plants. In view of all this, how can any data with respect to cigarette smoking be separated out from these other causes? The short answer is; they can't. The anti-smoking campaign is rife with unproven, general statements on the dangers of smoking when a rational assessment of the facts tells a different story.
Reader's Digest is one of the print media's most incessant and hypocritical advocates in the effort to get people to stop smoking. A few years ago they printed an article purportedly by a young woman whose father had died a smoking-related death. On the title page of the article was a photo of the complaining party, a pretty blond who appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties. This innocent-looking girl's story was designed to elicit sympathy and outrage against the filthy habit that took this girl's father out of her life. Boo hoo. But wait! Further along in the body of the story was the information that the girl's father had quit smoking eighteen years before his death! Smell something? I do. It's the rank odor hypocrisy; a publication that has probably contributed to more health problems by marketing prescription drugs to their readers than any other source - they've been doing this for decades, no doubt being generously compensated by Big Pharma - bleating their crippled agenda in the name of "public service" when the only ones they truly serve are themselves. The outrage over marketing prescription drugs to the general public only took form when pharmaceutical companies started sponsoring television commercials, a relatively recent development compared to Reader's Digest's long standing practice.
Another result of the hysteria over smoking and the misleading propaganda against it is that many people believe that cigarette smoking causes heart disease, emphysema, and lung cancer. The fact is that cigarette smoking causes none of these afflictions or any other, for that matter. That is not to say that smoking cannot aggravate an existing condition: it most certainly can, and people with respiratory or cardio-vascular problems should definitely not smoke. Alcoholics should not drink alcoholic beverages but I don't see anyone militating against drinking. Yet drunk drivers are a much greater threat to public health than smoking could ever be. Here there is no doubt about the causal relationship to highway deaths and serious injury. Why aren't heavier taxes imposed on alcohol to the extent that they have been for cigarette smoking. Don't medical costs of alcohol consumption for both drinkers and victims of drunk driving incidents rival those falsely alleged for smokers?
Then there's the matter of "second hand smoke". I had close friend who quit smoking some twenty-five years ago. I haven't seen the man in almost eight years, and that was when I visited him in East Texas after a lengthy hiatus: before that it had been ten years since our last personal contact though we did speak on the telephone occasionally. During one of the conversation he got on a rant about smoking and at one point he shouted, "You're killing me with your second hand smoke!" Over the telephone? At that time I hadn't seen the man in three years.
The man is two years younger than I but on my last visit I didn't recognize him when he came to pick me up at the bus terminal. He looked ninety! Over the past twenty years he has had brain surgery, diabetes, suffers from manic depression, and a few months ago, the last time I spoke to him on the telephone it was clear that his mind was going. I smoke, he hasn't for twenty-five years; I am in peak health, often taken for fifteen or twenty years younger, have never been physically stronger (I work out at a gym) and still ride a bicycle 15 or 20 miles an outing.
I spend a lot of time outdoors even during the many "air pollution" days when people with respiratory problems are encouraged to remain indoors and people are urged to car pool. That leads to another argument that the anti-smoking fanatics don't like to think about. It's all in the numbers.
The normal breathing rate is fourteen breaths a minute, in an hour that's 840 breaths and the air in the lungs is complete;y changed every seven breaths. I smoke an average of thirty cigarettes a day; they are filterless, regular size cigarettes that I make myself using organically grown, additive-free tobacco. I average about two cigarettes an hour, sometimes more and sometimes I don't smoke for three hours at a stretch. At the rate of two cigarettes an hour, ten puffs each, that's twenty out of 840 respirations an hour; one out of 42 breaths. The rest of that hour I am taking in 820 breaths of something else, on "air pollution" days, especially during an inversion, I am breathing bad air. If I happen to be on foot with heavy traffic all around (seldom) I am breathing heavy doses of carbon monoxide with every breath, not just 1 in 42 but every breath - all 840 for every hour I am out there.
There was a time, fifty or sixty years ago, when folks were healthier. The air was cleaner, tap water fit to drink, and food was purer. Men worked in factories, machine shops, and construction, and were able to earn enough money that wives could stay at home, take care of the home, and raise the children. Oh, there were problems alright; alcoholism, some drug use, and crime, but not to the degree we experience today. And people smoked cigarettes without the social stigma that prevails today. There were people who didn't smoke and some of these had unpleasant effects, but they didn't organize into militant factions reminiscent of Medieval mobs; smokers then as now, if asked not to smoke, didn't smoke if it would cause potential harm to anyone. But in the main people just didn't mind much. In 1950 the chances of contracting cancer were 1 in 27; today they are 1 in 4. We are a sicker society today; did cigarette smoking contribute to this in any way?
Yes. But it wasn't the cigarettes themselves. In the early 1950's cigarette companies started producing filtered cigarettes and as these became more widespread public health started its long, gradual decline. The first popular cigarette brand to come out with filters was Kent; the filters were so dense that it was hard to draw on them and to make matters worse, asbestos was the filtering medium. Even without asbestos filters are harmful to smokers. When a smoker inhales smoke through a filter some tiny bits of the filter material also enters the lungs. Filters are made of silicates and this fine residue settles on the lungs - and stays there: the body cannot metabolize it, just as coal miners' lungs couldn't, and over time both groups developed silicosis, also known as "coal miners disease" or ""black lung". Filters, not tobacco or nicotine, are the problem with cigarettes.
I'll close with another example of the ignorance of the FDA when it pronounced nicotine as an addictive substance. There is no such thing; there are addictive personalities but not substances. People satisfy their cravings with many substances, including food. I am a recovering alcoholic with over 28 years of freedom from alcohol. Drugs didn't appeal to me; I took amphetamines to get through college while working full time and carrying a full load at school. When I started hallucinating I stopped taking them. I didn't have a drinking problem; I had a living problem and drinking was my solution to life's problems - until the problems mounted to near fatal proportions. Today I wouldn't trade my worst day sober for my best day drinking; my life works, I have many good, true friends, I am physically fit and mentally acute - and I smoke non-filtered cigarettes. So do me a favor.
Leave me the hell alone! Deal with your own personality problems and stop playing the Blame Game. I don't need you to tell me how to live when you obviously don't know how to live yourself: if you did then you wouldn't find it necessary to meddle in other peoples' business.
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