Wish I'd said that!

In recent decades, the ACLU has used its so-called "wall" to fight tooth and nail to prevent government sponsorship of the Pledge of Allegiance, memorial crosses, Ten Commandments displays, nativity scenes, Bible displays, and virtually every other acknowdgement of America's religious heritage.

At the same time, it is worthwhile to note that there have been some instances in which the ACLU has endorsed public displays of religion. For example, When New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani threatened to cut taxpayer funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art for displaying a painting of the Virgin Mary with cow dung and pictures of female sexual organs pasted all over her body, the ACLU was first in line to defend the display. U.S. District Court Judge Nina Gershon ruled that New York City's elected officials were not allowed to place conditions on the museum's funding.

In another instance, the ACLU offered its support to the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts, after the agency sponsored an art show featuring "Piss Christ" - an exhibit consisting of a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine.

In the ACLU's myopic world, it appears that the only permissible publicly-funded displays of religion are those which blatantly mock or disparage the Christian faith.

-- Indefensible: 10 Ways the ACLU is Destroying America, Sam Kastensmidt, 2006

Friday, February 11, 2011

Now what?

The carefully staged revolution in Egypt is a success story (in the eyes of the Egyptians, the marxists and the Muslim Brotherhood), with the abdication of Hosni Mubarak.  Control rests temporarily (just as it did when General Mubarak came to power) with the Army, a situation that offers a measure of stability for the moment.  It is just the latest - and undoubtedly not the last - such social upheaval to occur in the Middle East (and Europe, if you count GreeceFrance,  and other countries) in the past few months. The people are celebrating euphorically in the same streets where they faced off with bricks and firebombs only days ago. The two questions that come to my mind are: which country falls next, and what happens after the victory party in those countries basking in the light of 'freedom'?

For me, the second question is the more intriguing, and worrisome.  What happens when a marxist/radical Muslim coalition in which neither side expects to share power indefinitely takes over a nation of people who are accustomed to violent government repression and living in fear of sharia law? But I've got a few speculations as to what would happen in this country if and when 'the struggle' makes its big push within our own borders (or, what's left of our borders).

We now have here in America a malAdministration which, from the top on down, is either filled with dangerously incompetent people, or people committed to the dismantling of America's freedom experiment, or a combination of both. Unfortunately, our clever (as in, "legends in their own minds") and unprincipled foes have made good use of our own laws and traditions. In fact, they have succeeded so well that laws no longer seem to matter to them; they simply ignore the law or write a regulation to circumnavigate it, which is how tyrants usually operate: "Do as I say, not as I do." And while the American version of this grand conspiracy may showcase itself as secular, don't be deceived; there are radical Muslim or pro-Muslim elements working in the background throughout the country...hiding in the woods in the neighborhoods, in the prisons, and in Washington DC.

(This seems like a good spot for the inevitable disclaimer. I have no animosity against anyone who wants to live their lives peaceably and participate in the uniquely American experience. That is, to share the historic values of American liberty, respect for others, personal responsibility, respect for God, and love of this country. My beef is with anyone who is belligerent, hostile, devious, and violent. I don't like people who plot or take part in the death of innocents and the destruction of the greatest, most generous and forgiving nation in history. I don't care if you call yourself a Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, atheist or Martian. As told in my Bible; a tree is known by its fruits. Be careful judging a faith by those who claim it; it is more accurate to judge a religion or worldview by its teachings.)

When a tyrannical government ascends to power, it's first order of business is invariably to silence and crush any opposition. In the Technological Age we currently live in, this will mean they can selectively shut down certain previously-catalogued websites and email addresses, and set automatic monitoring of messages containing certain words, phrases or names. Black-garbed storm-troopers may quietly approach and quickly take down pre-registered physical addresses and round up individuals (perhaps with the cooperation of a populace conditioned to aid police with "Perp Patrol" segments on the nightly news, warning citizens to be on the lookout for "persons of interest").  Neighbors who were outspoken patriots and critics of government will suddenly disappear in the night, and people might barely notice a large number of dark-colored busses with blacked-out and grilled windows and no advertising banner heading down the highway in the middle of the night. Or perhaps it will be an unusual number of large tractor-trailers with vents, or railroad 'cattle cars' that never seem to make any public stops, and they're always accompanied by armed guards.

But of course, that sort of thing can't happen here...until it does. But don't worry, my fellow Americans; enjoy your slumber a little bit longer. They won't try anything like that until all the necessary steps are in place, because this is one revolution they've carefully considered. 

Of course, the flip side of this wave of successes for the Muslim and secular Left is that it spells disaster for the United States, and even more ominous for Israel.  Lets just say that every Jew and devout Christian who has ever supported the Left over the years is eventually going to reap a bitter harvest, since neither of the apparent victors has been particularly endeared by anything related to Judaism or Christianity. 

Perhaps we owe an apology to Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini. After all, they were ahead of the curve when it comes to forcing a "New World Order" on unsuspecting people. Yeah; now we have to learn all those nasty lessons all over again; and this time, without the interference of the 'cavalry' coming over the hill to the rescue.

It will be terrifying but perhaps bizarrely satisfying to those who will mourn the surrender of our liberties, when the secular marxists and the Muslims eventually decide that, since they defeated their common enemy (us), they need not coexist any longer. Who, I wonder, will win out; the secularists with no regard for innocent life, or the Muslims, with no regard for anyone who isn't in absolute lockstep with their particularly irrational form of suihomicidal worldview.  Both systems are parasitic in nature, and when parasites are done with the host, there ususally isn't a lot left to work with.

Hometown zeroes.  There has been some curiosity and speculation about a number of entire cities that have been constructed in China over the past few years...complete, virtually empty cities, except for a hundred or two vehicles that show up on satellite photos. Approximately twenty cities are reportedly being built each year in its largely undeveloped regions, providing the country with a glut of 64 million unoccupied homes.

I have a two-part theory for the mystery cities. Construction of the cities is providing work for perhaps several hundred to several million workers, which would help to offset rising unemployment in the world's most populous nation. The other part of my theory is that some sophisticated social engineering is going on. I think the Chinese are using their gargantuan export profits to build the cities to accommodate a rapidly rising population. It just makes sense to create new cities with brand-new infrastructure, instead of overstressing existing population centers even more. Also, more than a million people were displaced during the construction of the monstrous Three Gorges dam project, and these new cities would be able to absorb a lot of those folks, relieving some of the strain on the towns that have been supporting them.

Meanwhile, closer to home, President Obama has a plan of his own (?) for infrastructure improvement. He wants to spend $53 billion on high-speed rail projects. There are just a couple of little details to keep in mind that sets his plan apart from the far-thinking Chinese: we don't have the money (because he and others have spent us into oblivion for no apparent gain), and US passenger rail transit has been in decline since the 1950s, when most railroads began slowly eliminating non-profitable passenger runs and cities began paving over tracks. But of course, that's where the 'social engineering' aspect comes in...Obama and his ilk are determined to change America's most pervasive social habits. Pushing us into an increased dependency on rail transit - which even if successful will serve to limit our mobility to rail-served areas - is one method to wean us off  "gas-guzzling" personal vehicles (and, incidentally, to limit our freedom of movement).

Movin' on out.  Meanwhile, closer to home, one of our own "mystery" cities is struggling to repopulate its urban center and save it from a massive dose of social disintegration and atrophy. Detroit, our 5th largest city is trying to revitalize it after being virtually abandoned by America's auto industry and immersing (some might say, drowning) itself in a social welfare swamp that has sapped initiative, encouraged corruption, and has bred an entire caste system of welfare dependents who are politically clueless but totally dedicated to the hand that feeds them and their artificially-induced anger. Among their latest desperate moves is to entice Detroit's police officers and firefighters to relocate from the suburbs to the "urb".

According to Mayor Dave Bing, 53% of the cops live outside the city, a phenomenon that occurs at similar levels in virtually every city where it is allowed. An even higher percentage of firefighters live outside the war zone. Take it as a given that many of the folks who deal with the worst of the urban environment day after day don't want to live in the middle of it as well. As soon as our protectors feel secure enough financially, they look to get their families the hell out of Dodge - or in this case, Detroit.
Coincidentally, as business and culture has retreated from the city, Detroit has become this nation's largest bastion of Islam and has been an incubation center for the religion since at least 1930. The influence of the religion has become so pronounced that when the New York-based group Stop the Islamization of America tried to put placards on city busses, the bus company refused - and filed a lawsuit to also stop the placards from showing up on NYC busses. Even the Detroit schools are willing to accommodate Islam in the cultural vacuum.

Not the language of love.  But Detroit isn't an island of Islam in an American 'sea'; it's more of just one part of an expanding archipelego. Earlier this week, a flap unfurled when it was discovered that the Mansfield, Texas Independent School District was attempting to introduce mandatory Arabic language classes, touting it as a "language of the future." After the story emerged and quickly went viral, concerned parents in the district (properly) raised a stink about the mandatory nature of the class, the fact that it would have been extended from kindergarten through high school, and that the parents weren't informed beforehand. The school district suddenly changed the plan after feeling the heat not only locally but nationally. They now explain that the language course would only be elective, and only in grades 7-12. They note that the program is federally-funded for $1.3 million over 5 years. Which brings up another point: if they are so intent on grabbing what they can from the government tax-teat, how do they get away with defining themselves as an "independent" school district?

While the plan's defenders claim that the move had nothing to do with religion, that smokescreen has proven to be very transparent in other cases where, for example, the class is about Arab "culture," and soon devolves into encouraging or requiring students to dress in Arabic traditional garb and recite verses from the Koran. I have nothing against learning it as an elective, but for all students to be forcibly immersed in Arabic without parental consent would leave undeveloped minds very vulnerable to Islamic influences. It isn't about the language, the problem is the cultural baggage that is almost impossible to disassociate from it.

Does anyone seriously believe that religous aspects or even subtle indoctrination would not enter into such classes, "openly camouflaged," with non-Arabic-speaking school officials and parents unaware of what is happening in those classes? With children from a weak family structure, whose parents are not politically or religiously aware, that vacuum of parental guidance would naturally lead the children to read or listen to other venues of the language they've been immersed in, such as pro-jihadi and/or anti-Jewish fliers, broadcasts, and local Muslim activists.

Kids who learn a foreign language early are often tempted to associate with others who share that language; and many kids will begin to speak in that language as a "code" to circumvent their parents, who probably won't understand what they are talking about. When some of those indoctrinated children reach their own psychological point of 'critical mass' and go commit their own murderous acts of jihad, the parents will be left standing there with their mouths agape, sobbing they "never knew" that their child was thinking such things.

It goes without saying (but I will) that these same school districts so willing to push anti-American culture and history on young minds are often inordinately hostile to anything that approaches a Christian cultural perspective which, incidentally, was the foundation of American culture, language and law.  Such topics, if broached at all anymore, are too often deliberately weakened or presented in a negative context.

(Second and closing disclaimer: While I recognize the abundant evidence that the United States was founded by Christians upon biblical concepts, I do not believe that any religious faith should be forced on anyone [this is different than teaching one's children about the precepts of faith], because a forced "faith" is a prison rather than a path to heaven. However, this nation was founded on principles that, when applied uniformly and in context, benefits and protects everyone equally.)

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