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Thursday May 09, 2008

Is that a mole on your arm, Mr. Bernier?

PM Harper says that the company a politican keeps, on a salary paid by the taxpayer, is nobody's business. Meanwhile his government continues to hand over the taxpayers' private lives to corporations and microchips, and even tries to control our thoughts and speech.

For example: do you want to have a choice over how to stay healthy? Then you'd better holler about Bill C-51 because the government is on the warpath against healthfood stores and home remedies again. I don't buy products from health food stores myself - I keep my life even simpler than that - but Bill C-51 is part of the whole move to have every aspect of our lives controlled by a few corporations - in this case big pharm. Here's more info.

Right now I have a burning trachea and a disgusting cough that will be nicely soothed with no-name honey and no-name apple cider vinegar in hot liquid, while I rest and allow my body to heal itself. But it's hard to know what to do about a mole. Most are benign, but some are not, so says the medical wisdom that makes mistakes all the time (CBC) - but hasn't "wished any harm".

I've probably said this before: if I ever went to a doctor and was diagnosed with cancer, I would need at least 85 second opinions.

Now, as to Maxime Bernier's mole(Star), as I've been saying for quite some time about the Reformists who call themselves Conservatives, you can dress them up, but ...

For starters, it's too bad Mr. Bernier's lady friend has been so influenced by attention-seeking Hollywood celebrities that she thinks dressing up means baring as much of her bazooms as possible. But one has to wonder why the Liberals waited all this time, after Bernier says they've broken up, to create the fuss. More on this here (Cancom).

Still, Harper is wrong to say that it's nobody's business. Couillard married a drug dealer who turned mole and then ended up dead, then another guy who also became a mole. What's to say she's not a mole herself? And considering the losers she's been repeatedly attracted to, don't you think this says something about Bernier himself?

The Star shouldn't consider it sufficient to say it's unclear how the two met; they should darn well find out exactly how they met and whether there were recreational drugs involved.

Other stuff:

Remember this: if you don't have a leg to stand on, your only defence is name calling:

CanadaCom: Harper condemns criticism of Israel as thinly-veiled anti-Semitism "I guess my fear is what I see happening in some circles is (an) anti-Israeli sentiment, really just as a thinly disguised veil for good old-fashioned anti-Semitism, which I think is completely unacceptable," Mr. Harper said in an interview with CJAD/CFRB radio.

Unfortunately, the pejorative Harper chooses has been overused to the point of having lost all meaning - if it ever had any beyond the power of a taboo that creates reverse discrimination in that we can criticize China, for instance, but Israel is sacrosanct.

Harper's blind support of Israeli policies is based partly on religious indoctrination, partly on directives from the US, and perhaps more importantly, his hope of "the Jewish vote" (a prejudicial term if ever there was one, suggesting that all Jews think with the same noodles).

Is Harper anti-Asian when he criticizes China's human rights policies? He would likely be quick to deny it - which shows he's not being logical at all.

Speaking of discrimination:
CP: Provs should consider law to restrict older drivers with health issues: conference

We should all be giving up our drivers licences for several reasons.
1) The fuels used are killing and starving people all over the world and driving up food prices everywhere due to the use of farm lands for alternative fuels instead of food.
2) The scarcity and cost of fuels is going to increase, so you're going to have to take public transportation sooner or later.
3) The fumes from the exhaust of so many vehicles on city streets is causing all sorts of health problems.
4) Your next licence will probably be microchipped. (And that's why I won't be renewing my drivers' licence)

Hey, have you ever seen the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" starring Anthony Hopkins? If you want to know what "old" people are capable of when they're strong enough to resist all the negative "expert" myths about aging, see the film. It's a true story about New Zealand's senior citizen Burt Munro whose ancient speed bike was held together by Burt's home remedies, but it broke a speed record anyway!

yayacanada

Tuesday May 06, 2008

Degree or not degree?
Is Charlie McVety's doctoral degree a cheap, Korean knock-off model? Yes, I think it is.

I've mentioned before that when I was 9 my parents got "saved". It's not an easy life on the road to heaven because you constantly have to adjust your thinking to the whims of the current pastor. One year TV watching is a sin; the next year it's just harmless entertainment. One minute makeup = Jezebel; next minute it makes you more gorgeous in God's eyes - see Tammy Faye Bakker. Movies were bad; now some movies are good, especially if God is mentioned. The jungle beat of Rock 'n' Roll was of the devil, but it's okay now if the lyrics are "Christian". Cussing was verboten, (and still is out loud), but if your pastor muttered, "Gingerale!" when he got mad at a flat tire, that didn't count as cussing, even though it sounds awfully like something else that is very bad cussing. My father used to say, "My eyehole!" to show his incredulity at something in the news, in the same way that I would say, "My great aunt Fanny's fanny", but my mother told him he might as well be saying the word it sounded like, so he stopped.

In those days a common expression among Born Agains was "educated fools" (now it's a rock group). The Bible says it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, but our pastor said that it's much harder for an educated man (or woman). I suppose because the educated - or even just smart people - are notorious for asking questions.

I never heard Billy Graham, for instance, mention that he had an undergraduate degree in anthropology (Wikipedia). It was a waste of time anyway, because soon after he graduated he decided to accept the Bible as literal. Maybe that's because his degree came from an evangelical university and maybe he didn't ask too many questions. He was smart enough, though, to turn down an offer of a bona fide theological education at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Just as a sidenote, Graham got his start as an evangelist by touring with Charles Templeton, who later became an agnostic and wrote a great book called Act of God" (Amazon), a fascinating novel about the discovery of the bones of Jesus, and the mysterious death of the anthropologist who dug them up. Who dunnit? Could it have been his friend the catholic cardinal? I'm no spoiler. You'll have to read it.

But you want to know something odder? Wikipedia tells only of Graham's undergraduate degrees, yet later on in the article it refers to him as "Dr. Graham". There's a whole list of awards and honours, but no mention of an honourary degree. Why? The answer may be here.

The point is, though, that it was important to call him "Dr. Graham"; it was important that he appear to have an advanced education. Obviously, even though an advanced education slams the pearly gates shut, fibbing about having one opens both heavenly and earthly doors (with possibly some help from a Vatican conspiracy).

Graham certainly had phenomenal success, even becoming pastor/confessor to a number of (Freemason?) presidents. This may have everything to do with the whole "Dr." trend in evangelism.

Fibbing may not have come easy to Graham, but he did it when necessary for the greater good. For instance, he denied having an "anti-Semite" conversation with Richard Nixon (Wikipedia), and then when he heard the tapes he said he didn't recall saying what he said.

Now, believe it or not, I really want to talk about Charles McVety, pastor to Prime Ministers - one at least, so it seems (HarperIndex). Would he have got where he is without "Dr." in front of his name? Hard to say. But one thing's for sure - he's going to get into heaven because he doesn't have an advanced education, only a mysterious advanced degree from the illusive California State Christian University (CSCU).

First of all, there is no state accreditation for religious degrees in the United States. There is a theological body, however, which governs accreditation: The Association of Theological Schools. Here is a list of their accredited member schools on which you will not find the institution that granted Charlie his degree.

In fact, I defy you to locate that university at all. Oh, it has a website, allright, which provides a locator map, but the map does not actually show a Devonshire St.

A Google map of the address given - 17145 Devonshire St., Northridge , CA 91325 - looks very different and has differently named cross streets.

A Metrobot map shows that what is located at that address is: KOREAN GOSPEL MISSIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. Sure enough, in the "About" section of CSCU's website its history is given as having originated in Korea under the son (Samuel Saychang Kim) of a hero figure, "Dr." Chi Sun Kim, who studied theology in the United States in the 50s and 50s and returned to Korea to spread the gospel.

But, a Google search of "Korean Gospel Missions International, Inc." turns up this history written by a founder named Yoon Kwon Chae:

"My father was the first Christian Church minister in Korea ... I had the privilege of coming to the United States to study. I attended San Jose Bible College for B.A. degree and Lincoln Christian Seminary for M.A. degree. I returned to my country in 1961 with a prayer in my heart: "God, give me Korea.""

The colleges Chae says he attended were real, but in January 2007 someone named Lester LeMay added a comment to update Chae's credentials to a doctorate - obtained at "Immanuel Baptist Seminary of Atlanta, Georgia".

Google has no information for that school, but here's another guy who got a bunch of degrees there between 1996 and 2000, so it's not as if it disappeared or anything - if it ever existed.

It's not included in this long list of Christian Colleges (and neither is Charlie's college).

Google does come up with the name: "Immanuel Baptist Seminary" at
195 Fischer Rd, Sharpsburg, GA 30277, but there's no website. A search of Sharpsburg churches shows a College Heights Baptist Church at that address. No website for the church either, even though it apparently does double duty as a college offering doctorates.

Back to Charlie and his California State Christian University (CSCU). I suggest you don't phone the number given on the Contact Us page. Bill Kinnon (Achievable Ends) tried it a couple of times and never reached anyone but a woman who claimed to be unable to speak English but said to "call back tomorrow".

When did tracking down ministerial credentials become synonymous with "wild goose chase"? When evangelicals decided to become political and rule the world?

Oh, that's another thing. It used to be a sin to be political. It still is if you are the last holdout in a "Third World" country being invaded by multinational corporations and Christian missionaries, not necessarily in that order.*

* Excerpt from synopsis of film "The Tailenders":
How does the evangelical message of personal salvation sound, not in a developed country like the United States, but in a land of mass poverty like Mexico? For one thing, some evangelical missionaries in the developing world teach avoidance of political engagement, at least among the poor. Among the critics in "The Tailenders" are Mexican villagers who find that their evangelical neighbors no longer participate in community politics and organizing, or even in the villages' traditional saints' festivals, which the evangelicals consider idol worship. The money is better spent on things like cars, says one villager.

yayacanada

Monday May 05, 2008

Unnatural disasters
Is there a country left that can still pride itself on having a no-torture policy? Is there a country left whose poor are not either ignored or become deliberate targets in the frantic lunge for the almighty dollar? Is the so-called Food Crisis real or manufactured? Is there a soldier alive who can remain honest and sane after wading in human blood?

Two videos from the Caravan against Torture in Ontario:
RFHall Joins Caravan Against Torture
Caravan Against Torture & Interview with Muayyed Nureddin

Burma cyclone hurts poor the most:
NYT: Myanmar Death Toll Reported at Nearly 4,000

From Mizzima News: pages of details and photos

It stands to reason there will be more deaths as the injured, dehydrated, homeless and hungry succumb.

It sounds like Katrina; the government is slow to respond other than guarding the streets against looting. People are formulating ways on their own to get water to where it is needed, even blowing up the main water supply pipe to get at the contents.

Since there is a high level of unemployed and poverty stricken in this little country, losing some is not likely to perturb the junta. And it won't bother Britain, China or the US-Canada either since destablization benefits their corporations.

Makes you wonder if this was a "natural" disaster. Did you know that in 1997 a manufactured cyclone hit Malaysia just a little lower down on the map from Burma? If the Russians could do that, any country could. After a decade of perfecting the technique, will it be used to reduce and move populations, while blaming it on "climate change"? Looks like it already has.

Is this what all the hype about climate change is for? Getting the world to accept increases in "natural" disasters and making the average person feel responsible for it while corporations continue to pollute?

Did you notice that the reason for the 1997 cyclone was because of smog produced by preparations for factory farming?

The cyclone is said to have hit Burma's "rice bowl" which raises more rice supply fears (Reuters) Since, more and more, it seems there is a concerted plan to make it impossible for the poor to obtain food, again this callous method of population reduction can be blamed on "natural" causes

Manufactured food crisis
Read The Bullet's take on the growing food crisis and see how "free market" capitalism has failed (or is it succeeding in wiping out unwanted populations?) : We are in the midst of an unprecedented worldwide food price inflation that has driven prices to their highest levels in decades. The increases affect most kinds of food, but in particular the most important staples – wheat, corn, and rice.

Food crisis leaves many Afghans desperate (WireDispatch)
Afghans pay for leftovers as global crisis sends bread price skyrocketing - "Karzai is the king and this is my life," wailed the Pashtun woman, who declined to give her name because of her conservative social code. "Since the Americans came here, nothing is cheap."

Bush scours his weak brain for a scapegoat:
Bush blames India’s middle class for food price hike (Dawn)

Like the old song says: "there ain't no Ten Commandments" when it comes to New World Order ways and means, in Burma or elsewhere. There's murder, lying, stealing and coveting going on bigtime. And the Golden Rule is altogether forgotten - even, and maybe especially, by many calling themselves Christian, who rather than crying out against inhumanity, welcome it as a sign of the "last days" and a harbinger of the return of Jesus. And of course, they have been encouraged by government driven media to demonize Iran, believing that it will bring about the required Armageddon, which fits nicely into US plans for remaking the Middle East in America's image.

Missionary work does not consist of helping peasants overcome the difficulties created for them. Not at all. It's about handing out New Testaments and telling them to prepare themselves for a better life in heaven.

Would you believe that Tel Meggido in Israel is a thriving vacation spot (Time) for Christians who groove on seeing first hand where the final battle will take place?

I have a guarantee for those people - Jesus will not come in clouds of glory to take them to heaven. If the Jesus of the Bible really exists, he will be scooping up the poor in his arms and taking them to someplace safe from the corporate vultures.

In the end it will count for little that Ehud Olmert, for instance, claims innocence of any and all crimes for which he is currently being investigated. This may just be a roundabout way of scuttling proper negotiations for peace with the Palestinians, but you know, I think it's impossible to wade knee deep in human blood and not become corrupted in many other ways - and that goes for the loss of innocence of our soldiers in Afghanistan, and the methods they will use to help themselves forget.

Effects of Iraq on economy and communities whose young are fighting disastrous wars
Here's an interesting article (VueWeekly) that describes the "trickle down effect of Iraq" on the City of Edmonton - both in Oil Sands activity and human cost.

"One can only imagine what will happen as more soldiers get a chance to take a breath and reflect on what has happened. Unlike the tar sands, the trickle-down effects of Iraq on our soldiers have yet to make themselves obvious: when they do finally rear their head, though, we’re not going to like what we see."

Afghanistan, of course, was just a sop to the masses who believed that Bin Laden was hiding there, and is now a quagmire of death and destruction. Iraq was the prize after 9/11 and the reason our soldiers were volunteered to take up the slack in Afghanistan.

The article says that our soldiers wanted to go; wanted to have some purpose; wanted to see combat. But army training is a system of deliberate brainwashing, an erosion of personality and identity called "resocialization", and was very likely the source of that desire.

Many of our soldiers will come home as shadows of their former selves, literally walking disasters.

I have no doubt that similar methods are being used to train police officers. This is how they become robots for the state, no matter whether the state is democratic or corrupt and criminal. This is how they develop contempt for the very citizens they were originally intended to "protect and serve".

yayacanada

Credo:

"When I am dead, let it be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any regime except the regime of liberty.'" Gustave Courbet

"Whenever we bow the knee to any other human, or to any human-made institution, we forge the chains of our own oppression." YayaCanada

"Every reasonably sane person knows what's right, and if one has to go to great lengths to justify something, it's probably wrong." YayaCanada

“You don’t need a debate. You don’t need a filabuster. You need some action!” Malcolm X

yyc - at - yayacanada - dot - com