Culture Determines the Success of a Society

Sunny - Hi 70 Lo 50 for Baghdad, Iraq
Partly Cloudy - Hi 62 Lo 37 for Qandahar, Afghanistan
Partly Cloudy - Hi 22 Lo 15 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: The Beautiful Sea, Hem



Here is a better version from Grooveshark.

Ramble:

Happy New Year! Yes, it has been a while since my last post. Time flies and I was determined to have a nice Christmas, not to mention I haven't felt much like writing and I have been spending quite a bit of time on Facebook--- truly addictive... If you are on Facebook and know my real identity-- look for me or drop me a note.... email is located on my profile.

2009 is now behind us- it has been a very sad year... on many fronts... the most cruel has been to watch someone I love dearly self destruct---- Prayers for him and his family and his extended family are requested---- the wake of destruction is felt by everyone in his path... His cruel and selfish behavior is beyond any kind of sickness of the mind... The cruelty he has exhibited is self serving and self indulgent and his lack of concern for his own children and family is beyond my comprehension.

Politically we are in the crapper... Have Americans had enough yet? Is it too late? Are grass roots efforts going to be enough? Or are we at a crossroads as a nation? So much to absorb--- so much to watch--- Do you see what has been happening internationally? The trajectory is frightening...

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself."

This morning I was flipping through Youtube... I watched many viral videos from 2009.... I hope you see the same thing I see when reviewed collectively... Let me know your thoughts... Here are a few:



It can be argued that this sort of exhibit in church is not appropriate... however, Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 reminds us that, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..."



And of course this.... Les Miserables.... Susan Boyle... so fitting and so wonderful on so many levels...

I Dreamed a Dream

Have a great week everyone!

We Are Citizens...

Earlier this week, President Obama spoke about his ongoing plans for the economy at Georgetown University. Since I am a Right Wing Extremist, please rest assured, I find his plan to be a pile of dung...

What I found disturbing was the request made by the White House to cover the monogram of Jesus Christ in Gaston Hall where President Obama spoke.

Georgetown University hid a religious inscription representing the name of Jesus during President Obama's address there Tuesday, FOXNews.com has confirmed, because White House staff asked the school to cover up all religious symbols and signs while the president was on stage.

The monogram IHS, whose letters spell out the name of Jesus, and which normally perches above the stage in Gaston Hall where the president spoke, was covered over with what appeared to be black wood during the address. Read the rest here.

Now, Gaston Hall is an auditorium. When looking for photos, I found some pictures of one of my favorite bands, XTC performing in Gaston Hall back in 1980. But in all the images of the stage area I could find the monogram was not blocked out by plywood.

The reason the White House provided this request to Georgetown was "The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they've done for other policy speeches," she wrote. "Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn't high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context." More here.

It was said on a local talk radio program that we should not worry about such petty matters such as this... this is the "small stuff" and there are many bigger issues that the Obama Administration should be held accountable.

I disagree emphatically with this. We must look at the cumulative effect of comments made, actions taken and see the pattern for what it is.

We know President Obama's history. He said this in 2007. We know his spiritual leader was Jeremiah Wright. We know that on his first international apology tour as President he told folks in Turkey,

"Although ... we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation, or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."Read the article here.

My question to President Obama--- On what foundation or rock are those ideals and values set upon?

This country was founded based on Judeo-Christian values... to deny this is to not be intellectually honest. So again, I ask... what ideals and what values if not Judeo-Christian?