Vices and Virtues: The Sadness Behind Laughing Irish Eyes

Today, the Catholic Church in Ireland had the wind knocked out of it. Most people, my own husband included, know first hand the severity of child abuse in Irish schools. He suffered at the hands of a young priest in ****** ****, *****, who later went on to be a Bishop of the ****** Diocese. My husband is just one of over 14,500 such cases. And that is just the number who have sought restitution thus far. There are thousands more who have suffered in silence. Some suffered so much, they took their own lives, believing the lies pounded into their heads by abusers who said they were worthless demons, devils, heathens. Content editted due to legal considerations.

The most insulting thing is the way the government executed the report. The report took over ten years, but it fails to name any of the perpetrators. Ironically, it does name the names of some of the victims. This occurs in order to protect the government, who deferred responsibility of schooling to the Church, from costly litigation. Not one criminal case will be produced from the report. It was an attempt to osticize the victims.

After reading portions of the report, I just want to know one thing: Who is Brother X (a Christian Brother) and is he still alive or coherent of his surroundings? Here is an excerpt of his cruelty:

If you turned up late ... he ...(Br X)... used to do an inspection, if there was a speck of dirt, that would trigger it off. He used a leather, hand, cane on the legs, hand, arse or wherever ...(he)... had a temper, you would be black and blue, you would be on the floor. He used to make you take your trousers down and he would give it to you on the behind or wherever, he did it to me a few times. You wouldn’t do anything because he had a whistle and he would call other Brothers and they would weigh in, when these guys got going you would do nothing, if they couldn’t get you one way they would get you the other, kick, hit, you were knackered.
•
He ...(Br X)... flogged me one time, I was working in the piggery. I used to be starving,the pigs used to get the Brothers’ leftovers and one day there was lovely potatoes and I took some and I took a turnip. Br ...X... caught me and he brought me up to the dormitory, he let down my trousers and he lashed me. He always wore a leather, around 18 inches ...(long)... and it was all stitched with wax, his leather was very thin. It was about an inch and a half, others had leathers about 2 inches. He lashed me, he flogged me.

http://www.childabusecommission.com/rpt/pdfs/CICA-VOL3-07.pdf sec 7.28

They say where the greatest good is, there exists the greatest evil. Ireland is known for deep faith, but with that deep faith and devotion is a horrible truth yet to be uncovered. That horrible truth is the evil that exists in the hearts of some who are charged to preach the Good News. Sadly, it only takes one or two to spread the cancer. Brother X terrorized, not just the children placed in his care, but his fellow brothers. In fact, some tried to comfort the children clandestinely, but the rule of obedience always superceded any charity. Brother X was in charge and the only person who could override his authority was the bishop.

God never intended for the Church to use her authority to abuse and inflict horror on a child. Jansenism aside, it was never Jesus' intent to penalize us all for our flaws. Quite the contrary...He took the punishment for us. Here is where poor Brother X shows his very weak faith. He, like Judas, just could not believe that Jesus died for his, or anyone else's sins. He believed himself to be evil, and lived that lie. The sickness in his soul was allowed to perpetuate, which is the sin of his superior.

Every bishop in this country should be on their knees, crying with true remorse, for allowing the least of God's little ones to be lead astray. They were lead astray in thinking they were too sinful to be forgiven for some of the very least of offenses. They were lead astray at the hand of an evil man who hated everyone, most of all, himself. Some were lead astray to the point of despair. They took their own lives. Some simply left the Church.

While my husband has chosen to forget the past, I ache to see the hurt and sadness removed from his Irish eyes. I yearn for him, along with every child who suffered at the hand of the Church, to know they are precious in God's eyes. God knows their sorrow, and their innocence. He knows the sin of a Church that is flawed. Flawed because it is made up of weak men and women, products of the same type of abuse, from the lowliest brother up to the greatest bishop. Only this bishop never apologized.

Had the then, priest really understood his catechism, he would know to be truly sorry for the sin of abusing my husband and so many others in that school. He would have known Jesus was shuddering every time he kicked a student. The, then priest, would feel the horror of shame, knowing he was hammering the nails into the hand of Jesus. He would cry, knowing he did the opposite of that which Christ commissioned him to do...to love one another, even as Christ loves him.

There is only one thing that any good, practicing Catholic can do in the face of such a report with this type of abuse. We must first, recognize with genuine sorrow, the injury inflicted on the innocent, under the banner of the Catholic Church. Second, we must resolve to guarantee this is stopped, every place, every time, from now until eternity. WE are the Church, not the bishops, priests and nuns. WE must take the Church that Christ founded back from the hands of Evil. Evil thrives when the good do nothing. WE must refuse to allow evil to thrive.

Otherwise, we might as well hammer the nail into the hand of Christ ourselves.

Finding the Real Middle Ground of the Abortion Debate

This weekend, President Obama called for tolerance to find the "middle ground" in the abortion debate. Here is where my husband, an Irish Democrat, went crazy. "How do you halfway kill a baby?" It left me scratching my head. It was a little like saying I was a little pregnant when I had our eighth child. It is a yes or no proposition and I believed that there was no middle ground.

At this point in the conversation, my husband gave me a pearl. Pearls are what I call the wisdom that comes from a hidden truth, as in the Pearl of Great Price,(the parable Jesus once told.) My husband does high level negotiations with the CEO's of million dollar corporations. He quoted his number one rule in negotiations. Make the middle ground as far on your side as possible.

When my husband enters a room to negotiate a contract, he asks for more than he wants. He never asks for less. This instantly forces the opposition to negotiate away from their position. In addition, the stronger of the two entities pulls naturally towards the middle, forcing the other side to acquiesce. My husband is a very strong personality, so he is usually successful, while at the same time, the other side feels they have walked away with more for their side. My husband, though, knows who had the real advantage.

Pro-life Catholics are that strong personality in the negotiation. They see no compromise in the issue of abortion. The subject is the life of a human being. Science has already settled this question, so the only option is to make a new middle ground, closer to their position, while suggesting it is close to what pro-choicers want. This is where the listening becomes vital to the posturing in the negotiation.

In listening to the other side, a pro-lifer will discover a wealth of information that can be learned. For example, I learned how to zero in on the real issue that worried most teens and young women when they had abortions. Truth be told, it made me a more effective hot line counselor. Their biggest fear was the immediate response, and how it will impact their lives. I would remind them their parents love them, and, once they scrape them off the ceiling, their parents will be there to support their decision.

Crisis motivates people to make rash and often regrettable decisions. The TARP funds and the Stimulus Bill are evidence of this. The same is true in a crisis pregnancy. One addage that always seems to hold true: Any decision made in a rush and without careful consideration of all the facts, leads to regret at some level. If we want to build a new middle ground, why not remind everyone about this reality? Will abortion really open a door? Or does it actually close one? Is the decision really another crisis diversion where the cure is worse than the condition? How will it feel in 7 (or 7 1/2, or 6 1/2) months when the mother would have delivered? Will she really feel relief then? Or regret?

If regret doesn't come, what is she really denying? Yes, the 'problem' will have been easily avoided, but there is no free lunch. Anyone who says you can have your cake and eat it too is lying to you and themself. Truth is, the middle ground exists here. It exists in the hearts of those who have made a decision on either side, and those who will make the decision. Those who have had abortions will (if they are honest) admit a sense of loss in the process. If they don't admit some sorrow or regret, they are likely to be suppressing a LOT of anger, (my suspicions regarding J. Garofalo.) Those who have given birth have a very different point of view.

I fit into this category. It was tough, but enduring built character in me. I now have a beautiful daughter, one of many, who is quite successful, even at the tender age of 25. (Two books coming out next year to prove it.) President Obama's mother could also say this. He was an unplanned pregnancy, but his mother chose to see beyond the immediate crisis and focused, instead, on what the future could hold.

One is a position of negative justification,(will I abort my fetus to get where I want to be in life?) The other is a positive one (by giving birth, I will able to take pride in her accomplishments, and I can still accomplish my goal, although with a little more difficulty.) Most women fail to consider the latter. I was just fortunate to be raised by parents and grandparents that knew to consider it. They passed this pearl of wisdom on to me.

The critical component in this is to remove judgement at the moment of crisis. If one removes judgement, the woman can remove her emotions (fretfulness) long enough to consider the future positive possibilities, rather than the negative. When judgement exists, defensiveness ensues, and the person is unable to be objective.

Women who have struggled with depression after abortion understand this. Judgement of herself is the biggest issue, and it can be debilitating. It is so, because the human soul knows intuitively right from wrong. The more we try to deny the truth, the more sick our soul becomes. Depression is a sickness of the soul, eminating from the constant need to turn off the voice in our head that tells us we did something wrong or bad. Sometimes that voice is created by others, and sometimes it is made by the things we do. Sometimes there is an organic component (like the sudden shift of hormones) but it is usually given greater power with guilt.

Guilt becomes a polarizing element in the debate. But like Pain, Guilt is a gift to help us know how to behave within society. For those who believe in God, it is what tells us we have stepped away from God. The sadness this brings is a natural consequence. If we step away from Our Creator, by going against His Creation process, we distance ourselves from the One who created us. It's like a child never speaking to a parent again. There is a sadness that comes with it that can't be explained until the two begin to converse again.

Pro-lifers should play this hand, now that the President has suggested it. Don't compromise on the principle, but open the discussion for the sake of those who are facing crisis pregnancies. Take anyone who has had an abortion, and anyone who has opted to give birth, then compare their lives and attitudes. Who would you want to be like? Who would you want to trust? Which one is truly happy? I guarantee you, there is not one woman who is genuinely elated with abortion, in the same way one is elated after giving birth.

Even though BOTH have negative and positive aspects to their decision, only one is content with life. The other is constantly driven to justify what they did, in order to prove it was the right decision. The other simply continues on with their plan for life, despite the bump in the road (or belly.) By default, it proves which decision is the better choice.

The key to the whole middle ground issue is focusing on the person in the crisis WHEN they are in the crisis, and trusting they can make a good decision when presented with all the facts. By removing the element of 'crisis,' they will see the possiblities. The world won't end if things don't go exactly as originally planned. But if we adapt to new circumstances, the rewards have the potential for greatness.

I'm sure President Obama's mother would agree with me.

Vices and Virtues: The Art of Suffering

A few days ago, I took a good hard fall on the playground equipment while playing with my kids. This is typical for me. I always thought it was due to just being clumsy or ungraceful. I later discovered there was actually a name for it. It's called Multiple Sclerosis. I fall about once a week, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't convince my feet and legs to work the way everyone elses feet and legs work. Simple reality. And when I do fall, I am reminded how pain is a gift. Allow me to explain.

Pain serves an important purpose. It helps us know when we are in danger of potentially life threatening situations. When my MS takes over my arms and hands, it makes my limbs numb to touch. This is mainly a problem when I take objects out of the microwave. Note to self: Objects with high sugar content should only be removed from a microwave with potholders. I usually only know a day or two later when the inevitable return of sensation comes back in full force, and hypersensitivity makes me realize I was stupid for not paying attention to what I was doing. Pain warns us, and those who are not gifted with it, discover only too late they should have stopped while they were ahead.

Pain also builds character. Case in point: Keith Zeier. This guy suffered HUGE pain when he took a hit while serving in our country in the Marines. Now he raises money for our fallen heroes by turning the pain he endures every day into a commodity. He runs despite agonizing pain to secure financial contributions for his charity, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. So far he has raised over $41,000 and is pushing hard to demonstrate that pain doesn't need to be feared, but rather, conquered. (If you want to learn more about Keith's charity, go to http://www.firstgiving.com/keys100 )

Most of all, pain highlights the ultimate battle we all face: Fear of death. But suffering and pain can be used as a catalyst to show others how a small, weak or delicate individual, such as Farrah Fawcett, can be strong, determined and great. Although criticized for the reality TV approach to her own struggle with cancer, Farrah does us all a huge favor. She shows her great faith in every step of her agony. In her story, she shows us that which is greatly feared, namely pain, is something we can all overcome and endure. How does she do this? By looking for the reason for her mission. She sees her cancer as a mission to accomplish, and death is NOT the end. Faith helps Farrah to see beyond death and, thus, gives her pain a purpose: She shows us how to be brave.

Both Keith and Farrah have learned the secret to overcoming pain. By giving pain a purpose, and suffering for the sake of others, they take the power from the pain as a victim and twist it. They take control and cease to be victims of the pain inflicted by others, or by an unknown entity. They become survivors, even in death, to show us that WE are the architects of our own destiny. Ultimately, they embrace the very pain that causes other to recoil. In doing so, they lift themselves, and others, up.

When I was 18, my grandfather, Alfonso Merino, died from cancer. He decided he would not look at the pain, but at its purpose. He offered his suffering up for those in his family who had left the Catholic Church. Some may question the effectiveness of this, but noone can argue the impact. His suffering went on for ten months, and when it was over, most of us were sadly relieved. But we all knew his determination to offer his suffering for the sake of our souls. Even if you were an aetheist, you couldn't help but admire his determination to give his pain a purpose. As a result, those who knew him, always thought fondly of him and his courage, not his suffering. While we have to wait to our own deaths to know if his suffering worked to save the souls of others, there is no denying his sacrifice was noble.

When you take control of the pain and embrace it, you discover the real power you have. You discover the value of pain, and the art of suffering nobly for others, just like Keith, Farrah and my grandpa. Ultimately, you discover your foe, is your friend. Pain and suffering become the vehicle to strength and courage.

So the next time I fall, I will simply laugh and say, "Oh, I meant to do that." In doing so, I will have done so.

Full Circle Time: The Little Boy President Who Cried "Crisis!"

Okay kids...let's all get on the mat for full circle time. It's time to tell you a story about the Little Boy President Who Cried "Crisis." Do you remember the original story, where the little shepherd boy cried wolf, and all the townspeople came running. He did it to MANIPULATE the townsfolk to his own perverse sense of pleasure. But when the time came that a REAL wolf appeared, the townspeople thought his cries were another b.s. alarm and they wouldn't come to save him. What happened to the little boy? He was torn to tiny pieces by the wolf...and rightfully so. Do you think ANY of the townspeople shed a tear? Well, I'm sure some saw the boy was still a youth and too narcissistic to realize the impact his decisions were having on the townspeople, but most of them probably said, "He had it coming! Serve the little jerk right!"

Does anyone remember where we were, boys and girls, about two weeks ago? That's right! We were at the Tea Parties on Tax Day. And what was our purpose there? Right again! To remind people that our government should be OF the PEOPLE, BY the PEOPLE and FOR the PEOPLE. Now in our story of the Little Boy President Who Cried "Crisis", the Little Boy President saw all of us standing around, protesting the bad decisions made by our so-called 'representatives' in Congress. He began to throw a temper tantrum because the people did not want to play the game his way after he changed all the rules to make himself the winner. So the little boy devised a nice little idea that would make people stop gathering.

First, the Little Boy President Who Cried "Crisis" thought, "I'll show those American Townspeople!" So he took his favorite airplane and fighter jets and had them fly low over Manhattan, just to make the American Townspeople run away scared to think there was another terrorist attack coming. The American Townspeople in Manhattan began to cry because they were AFRAID that their city was going to be dessimated again by men that hate Americans. But just when they thought the plane was going to crash into a building, it tilted and someone said, "Hey, isn't that the Little Boy President's plane? Why is he trying to scare us? They got angry that the Little Boy President was so stupid as to think he could scare us away with his planes. So the American Townspeople stopped being afraid.

Next, the Little Boy President told some of his little boyfriends in the White House to take a little bottle of un-medicine that the world hasn't seen since 1977 and, before that, 1950, (http://www.virology.ws/2009/03/02/origin-of-current-influenza-h1n1-virus/) and release it in rural Mexico where the silly little peasants would never know what hit them. Then, it would spread and they could tell everyone what a deadly disease it was and how everyone should stay inside because it normally KILLS PIGS but now it is KILLING HUMANS. The Little Boy President had his best little boy friend, the Little Boy Vice President, even say on national television that he wouldn't have his own family ride the trains, even though the Little Boy Vice President LOVES trains. The American Townspeople heard this and began to worry. They stopped gathering, because they were AFRAID of this sickness. You see, boys and girls, noone really remembered having it before, and fewer understood how it managed to jump from just making pigs sick to making humans puke their guts out, so the American Townspeople were very scared of getting sick. Really, they were just afraid of throwing up so hard that vomit would come out their noses, but they were more afraid of that which they didn't understand.

After a few days, when people who got sick from it started to feel better, the American Townspeople began to realize that, just like every other illness humans get, our immune system fights it pretty well, and we get better, although some of us had the added advantage of having such violent vomitting and diahrrea that we finally dropped those pesky few pounds that wouldn't come off after having the last baby .

Well boys and girls, in the original story, it only took the townspeople two times to realize the Little Boy was full of crud and they began to ignore his cries of the wolf coming. But the American Townspeople haven't stopped being afraid when the Little Boy President cries Crisis. Although he has cried Crisis with the Economy, with the Auto Industry Collapse, the Banks, and now, with the Pig Flu, the American Townspeople still respond out of fear. But the American Townspeople are starting to be brave and not be so afraid. Pretty soon, they will begin to ignore the Little Boy President altogether when he shouts about the new Crisis of something or other.

And although the American Townspeople want to make sure their town is safe from all the silly Crisis, they now understand that things like a bad economy, having to find a new job and paying cash for everything sometimes has a good side. They understand that we all get sick, and some sicknesses, like viruses, actually PROTECT us from some forms of cancer and worse illnesses: chicken pox versus Shingles...Cow pox versus Small Pox...common cold versus brain cancer http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/article/S0306-9877(06)00610-4/abstract .

The American Townspeople began to be BRAVE just like their forefathers. They began to remember, they live in the 'Land of the Free, Home of the Brave' and that the two can't be seperated. They realized that being Free, meant being Brave. They started coming back together in town to protest, to let their voice be heard. Most of all, they began to ignore the Little Boy President every time he cried Crisis and started to live life again, without fear.

After they did that, they all lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

Connecting the Dots: Deja Vu...Have We Been Here Before?

I received an email from my all-time favorite hippie type the other day. All those scratching their heads (either at the confusion that I would have a favorite hippie emailing me or at the idea of the lice that is associated with such) rest your weary minds. I'm not jumping sides. The sides, however, are not what you thought they were.

This favored hippie was John Michael Talbot. He was the former (brilliant) guitarist for Mason Proffit, opening for bands like Pink Floyd, The Byrds and The Grateful Dead. Now, remember the name of his band. It all ties in beautifully. John Michael (JM to those who love him) heard a unique call and answered it. He abandoned the rock star future and did a 180. He left the lifestyle that promised money and fame, and turned to contemplation and the peace that only the Master can offer. In his abandonment to himself, he found his real purpose and his talents weren't laid aside either. Here is a snippet of his work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aYecuDlDYM

Now, while some would say it is airy fairy, there is a much bigger message for you all. He sent me an email, calling us all to rethink where we've been and where we're going as a nation.

Plato and even St. Thomas Aquinas said that the majority of the population should be those who produce the basic food we need to live. They are rural farmers. The reason is simple: If we do not eat, we die. The city should have most of its needs produced locally from the farms in its immediate vicinity. Trade with other cities and towns is necessary, but should be kept to a minimum. Cities should be largely self-sufficient from the land around it. The result was to be a healthy and colorfully rich environment for everyone on the city and on the farm. Today cities are a polluted grey sprawl of factories, warehouses, urban and suburban houses, and cookie cutter strip malls. Most of us produce a specialized service that we really don't need. Then we have to convince everyone else that we all NEED this specialized product. A friend of mine said that his city was a population of restaurant owners where everyone goes to another restaurant for dinner every night. Somehow this seems rather inane.

In other words, we've been redirected out of providing food and sustenance for our families by leaving the family farm and gone into the cities in the hope of finding wealth by working for a bunch of elitists who promise us riches if we just work indefinitely for the corporation.

While reading, of all things, an art history book, I stumbled upon this gem. (Proof that not all university institutions are full of lies.) Regarding the post Napoleonic era, it outlines the societal situation that lead to the Great Depression:

Drawn from pre-industrial home industries and farms, the new machine worker class lived and worked in often deplorable conditions. No longer their own masters, they became virtual slaves. Unable to help themselves, they remained subject to severe organizing restrictions, hampered by a lack of education, and threatened constantly by the prospect of unemployment. The middle classes, caught up in their own aspirations to wealth and political power, largely ignored their plight. Into this mix came the philosophy of Karl Marx.

Reality Through The Arts Dennis J. Sporre Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

We have, once again, become the unwitting pawns of the upper classes in their addiction to more wealth and power. John Michael is right. We need to get back to the basics. The Depression was the direct result of this kind of industrialization, and we're headed in that same direction, unless we stop and turn things around.

John Michael speaks to the idea of answering a call from God that seems so fantastic, so unbelievable for us, that our defeated egos believe it impossible. I'm sure if someone told him where he would be at the age of retirement back when he was with Mason Proffit, he would have laughed. But the truth is, sometimes we sell ourselves short.

Now, the big tie together. John Micheal, my favorite hippie, runs a hermitage called the Little Portion, where they farm, raise their own livestock and barter for services. He has inspired many to do the same. He is married, and answered the call to live a holy family life (not equal to giving up sex,) in answer to what his heart told him was right.

If you watch the video, you can't help notice the peaceful place some of the notes in his musicplaces the soul, through the crescendoes. Remember this place. It is where you usually get when you meditate, or pray, or look at a little baby's sleeping face. It hits you in your heart, right in the center of your chest, and fills you with a feeling you can't explain. That is what talking to God is.

JM turned away from the pursuit of wealth and focused on what God was calling him to do. The ills of our society are caused when we pursue wealth and ignore what God is calling us to do. Once the "Great Generation" started to come out of the Depression, after finally getting the message that they needed to turn away from the misdirected path the elites had veered them towards, they responded to God's call and had the courage to fight a maniacal ruler named Hitler. They defended the gift of liberty God willed for all humanity. They overcame the evil, and were horrified when they realized how evil he was. Will we do the same?

Remember JM's original band name? Mason Proffit? Supposedly, the Masons were a group that met secretly to gain political control and domination of Europe in response to the control of the Medieval Catholic Church, although this is speculative. The open Masons started in England in 1717 and were predominantly aristocracy who never dirtied their lily white hands. (Interesting.) Proffit..well, that goes without saying. Together, JM turned away from an oppressive group that was drawing him towards virtual slavery.

We can do the same, but we all have to start at the same origin. Where did we come from, and where are we going? As a nation, as a people, as a parent, as a person? It all comes back to the One.

Show Me The Money

My next series will focus on "Connecting the Dots" and demonstrating who is REALLY running the country. You will notice a large proportion of money going to B.O., but a much smaller amount going to J.M. This is due to the standard (campaign funds from the government versus private companies.) This is just the Presidential Campaign. I will also go after the Speaker, the Senators (Majority vs Minority) and the individuals known for pushing the key pieces of legislature through that has gotten us in the Depression thus far. Note the names seem to keep reappearing. This is no accident.

Barack Obama's top contributers

University of California $1,385,675
Goldman Sachs $980,945
Microsoft Corp $806,299
Harvard University $793,460
Google Inc $790,564
Citigroup Inc $657,268
JPMorgan Chase & Co $650,758
Stanford University $580,904
Sidley Austin LLP $574,938
Time Warner $547,951
National Amusements Inc $541,251
WilmerHale $524,292
UBS AG $522,019
IBM Corp $518,557
Skadden, Arps et al $510,274
Columbia University $503,566
Morgan Stanley $490,873
US Government $479,956
General Electric $479,454
Latham & Watkins $467,311

John McCain's Supporters

Merrill Lynch $371,295
Citigroup Inc $320,251
Morgan Stanley $271,152
Goldman Sachs $230,095
JPMorgan Chase & Co $225,557
US Government $207,829
AT&T Inc $194,913
UBS AG $182,079
Credit Suisse Group $179,053
Wachovia Corp $169,057
PricewaterhouseCoopers $167,900
US Army $162,870
Bank of America $155,251
Blank Rome LLP $154,426
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher $150,396
Greenberg Traurig LLP $146,437
FedEx Corp $132,974
US Dept of Defense $131,675
Lehman Brothers $125,357
Bear Stearns $117,498

Now, you will first notice the names all sound like investment firms and banks. This is no accident either. Next, look at the so called TARP fund payments and then look at the stimulus plan. Notice the similarities? The U.S. Government gave our money to these folks like candy, then committed us, our children and our children's children to pay back the stimulus funds at exhorbitant interest rates that will send future generations into poverty.

Consider the president's budget. Carbon taxes, aka cap and switch, aka bait and switch, and the other members of the green movement and low and behold...who do you see on the big contributors list? None other than The University of California (i.e. the grant money for research on green tech) and General Electric. They have another back door perk. Remember the idea of doing universal healthcare? Along with doing energy and financing, GE also does healthcare equipment. A coincidence? Probably not. Broadband and internet access in the stimulus assists the Silicon Valley crowd, and all the banks that swallowed up the smaller fish exist on BO's list. Finally, I find it curious that so many uni's contributed to BO, and Pell Grant increases were also part of the 'stimulus' (ironically sounding more and more like 'stimulate us') and you'll finally understand what has been happening. We, as a country, have been duped, shanghai'd, bamboozled and taken for a ride. In other words, we fell for it.

In Karl Marx' Communist Manifesto, Marx declares that religion is the opiate of the people. Like so many parts of this piece of literature, he was ALMOST right. Religion isn't the opiate, OPIATE is the opiate of the people, heretofore known as television. Anything that renders its minions catatonic must be an opiate. But it isn't so much what the opiate is, it is what it does to them that is so dangerous. It renders the victim complacent and impressionable. That makes them very easy to manipulate. Watch BO's manner when he speaks...he either talks side to side, even when the teleprompter is in front of him, or he says Uh...Um...Uh..a lot. This has a hypnotyzing effect on people as well. Add to it all the subliminal and overt messages in television ads and programming, and you have the perfect storm. How do you think the members of Congress and the Senate were convinced people would be okay with $700 billion in spending? Because the 'crisis' mantra was plastered all over the boob tube.

Notice, they use 'crisis' whenever it means pushing important legislation through, and it was both parties. It worked for the Patriot Act. It worked for pushing through the TARP and making the Sec of Treasury the Money King. Finally, it is now being used to manipulate a new bill, Senate bills 773 and 778 to limit the internet access in the time of a 'crisis'. Now, which crisis could they be referring to? The real kind, or the last three that have been presented by Bush and Obama?

Now, this is a lot to absorb, and you may say, "But Mama, this is how politics work." Maybe so, but let's consider the gajillion small businesses that were conveniently left out of TARP and the stimulus. Notice also that this keeps going back to the bankers. So, just for the fun of it, let's follow the money.

The banks on the list for BO include JP Morgan Chase. Chase was also known as the Rockefeller Bank. Who is now introducing the bill giving the President the authority to limit the internet? David Rockefeller. This appears to be a bit of a power grab to control the information resources. If the President throws around the word 'crisis' at the drop of a hat. I doubt they would require much criteria to use it to stop information that is damaging from getting out.

Also, you might take note the direction all this is taking. Look at the key players here. Rockefellers, Gates (Microsoft), Harvard...who exactly is calling the shots? Us, or them?

They are taking over the control of the banks, with the intention of putting it all under one umbrella...the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. They have proposed a bailout for the nation's newspapers. If they do that, do you realize what it means? It means all the safeguards for our country are in peril. I know, I know...just TRUST me. What makes us different from Communist China? Not much, outside of religion. But if we defer our laws to an international body, such as the UN, we're totally screwed on that because their Rights of Children specifically states a parent should NOT choose religion for their children.

Now, with all this in mind...a banking system owned by the government, a car industry owned by the government, the newspapers and the internet potentially owned by the government, a system of law authorized by the UN and a government that flips the voters the bird when they say DON'T GIVE THEM OUR MONEY and you have one thing....China, North Korea, Vietnam, Venezuela, Cuba...all communist or socialist governments that claim to have elections that are 'democratic.'

Next time...Nancy Pelosi and Howard Reid.
/?

When Size Really DOES Matter

Last night, I watched a program which constitutes pornography here on Irish television. It was a documentary investigating sperm dysfunction, testicular cancer and reproductive abnormalities in men (commonly referred to as 'small penis size'.) I'm not kidding. This was prime time television in rural Ireland and they were discussing...small penises...as if it were the end of the world. After about ten minutes, I was able to see the television through the blur of tears caused by the laughter. It was then I began to understand how serious the whole thing is (the subject, not the penises!)It may really BE the end of the world if the average penis size becomes small. And not just for the pleasure of women!

The Canadian Medical Association Journal January 1999 edition hthttp://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/160/2/213.pdf cites a number of possible causes, but penis size was an indicator in a number of problems that all combine to paint a very disturbing picture. Small penises, hypospadius and non decendant testicles were all associated with slow sperm swimming. It was also linked to a higher frequency of testicular cancer. Testicular cancer, on the rise in Canada by 2% annually (a 60% increase in ages 15 - 29 over the last 30 years) was the most alarming.

Interestingly, they managed to blame the mom, citing influences caused in the fetal period that contributed to the increase in cancer. You read that right. Now, some people are being exposed to things that will cause their death BEFORE they are even born! While a curious argument for the pro-life debate crowd, a 60% increase is crazy scary! And the fact that it has been increasing steadily every year is also alarming. OK, so it IS Canada, and there are some who would argue whether this was really a bad thing, but it is also happening in Danish populations too. (Again, there are some...) But the journal makes this incredible statement:

• 
  Which environmental agents are the likely culprits? A
  number of microcontaminants have hormone-disrupting
  properties, either with estrogenic or antiandrogenic activity.
  The list includes DDT, PCBs, nonylphenol, bisphenola
  and vinclozolin

• Epidemiologic trends support the concept that testicular
  cancer, undescended testis, hypospadius and impaired
  spermatogenesis are related biologically. A substantial
  amount of evidence indicates that environmental pollutants
  with estrogenic or antiandrogenic activity result in
  hormonal disruption and are responsible for the steadily
  increasing incidence of testicular cancer.

• This hypothesisis also supported by wildlife studies. For example, small
  genitalia and decreased semen quality have beeen reported
  in Florida alligators and American panthers.

Guillette LJ Jr, Gross TS, Masson GR, Matter JM, Percival HF, Woodward
AR. Developmental abnormalities of the gonad and abnormal sex hormone
concentrations in juvenile alligators from contaminated and control lakes in
Florida. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102:680-8.

Facemire CF, Gross TS, Guillette LJ Jr. Reproductive impairment in the
Florida panther: nature or nurture? Environ Health Perspect 1995;103(Suppl
4):79-86

The point here is the fact that we have bigger problems than the economic crisis on the horizon. If toxins (which are currently approved by the FDA) are actually reducing the population of many species, including man, we won't have to worry about money. There won't be enough people to do the jobs. We'll be looking at number reductions that border on that of the Black Plague during Medieval Europe! Carbon footprints won't be an issue. Hell, any footprint will be acceptable if this happens.

Why, you ask? Aren't there too many people on the earth as it is? Well, aside from the reality that the population explosion is just another manufactured crisis to distract us from the real problems, it means few species in certain locations, across the board. Fewer species mean less food. And if humans are also going to see fewer numbers, or face greater cancers (remember, this could also have an influence on breast and uterine cancers) we, as a nation, will be facing a healthcare crisis, and possibly other man made catastrophes (thought I'd throw that in, just for fun, Ms. Napolitano!)

This IS the real problem. We need to pay attention to what is happening around us ALREADY...not some fairytale story about global warming that has no basis in fact and was contrived by a bunch of dreadlock hippie throwbacks who smoked a lid of bad pot and got paranoid. Oh, but they better check the pesticides on that pot. Drug use has also been indicated in sexual dysfunction. Coincidence? I think not!