For an exceptional archive of political speeches go to Hillsdale College:
http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive.asp
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
McCain & Obama Capture the Historical Moment with Grace in Defeat, Magnanimity in Victory
John McCain's election capitulation speech deserves to be among the great speeches of the United States.
It should be placed in an anthology of the great world speeches for his gracious words and for his capture of this moment in history.
Both should be remembered for the historical landmarks they will become.
His and Mr. Obama's attitudes were those most becoming of a public servant - grace in defeat and magnanimity in victory.
Watching Reverend Jesse Jackson's tears at this historical juncture brought to all of us the memory of him as a young man on a motel balcony with the gunned-down Dr. Martin Luther King at his feet, bleeding and dying. It was a horrible moment in U.S. history.
And now for Rev. Jackson to be standing at the feet of President-elect Barak Obama, was a moving sight.
For while many do not agree with the Leftist positions of either man, at that moment, after the argument and debate of the past four years, after the belligerance and bickering, Mr Obama became my President!
Yes, young man - Mr. President-elect - you will have to earn my respect.
However, know this, that already in the historical significance of this moment, in the weighted bearing you already had as you walked onstage last night with your beautiful family; that in the noticeable lack of your usual swagger, you showed, to all watching, a humbled, confident bearing of a young man who needed no pretentious gait.
You will now be in all our prayers.
It should be placed in an anthology of the great world speeches for his gracious words and for his capture of this moment in history.
Both should be remembered for the historical landmarks they will become.
His and Mr. Obama's attitudes were those most becoming of a public servant - grace in defeat and magnanimity in victory.
Watching Reverend Jesse Jackson's tears at this historical juncture brought to all of us the memory of him as a young man on a motel balcony with the gunned-down Dr. Martin Luther King at his feet, bleeding and dying. It was a horrible moment in U.S. history.
And now for Rev. Jackson to be standing at the feet of President-elect Barak Obama, was a moving sight.
For while many do not agree with the Leftist positions of either man, at that moment, after the argument and debate of the past four years, after the belligerance and bickering, Mr Obama became my President!
Yes, young man - Mr. President-elect - you will have to earn my respect.
However, know this, that already in the historical significance of this moment, in the weighted bearing you already had as you walked onstage last night with your beautiful family; that in the noticeable lack of your usual swagger, you showed, to all watching, a humbled, confident bearing of a young man who needed no pretentious gait.
You will now be in all our prayers.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Gay Marriage Would Destabilize Institution of Marriage Says Canadian Attorney General
The Canadian Attorney General argued in the Halpern case:
Changing the definition of marriage to incorporate same-sex couples would
profoundly change the very essence of a fundamental societal institution. The
AGC points to no-fault divorce as an example of how changing one of the
essential features of marriage, its permanence, had the unintended result of
destabilizing the instituton with unexpectedly high divorce rates. This, it is
said, has had a destabilizing effect on the family, with adverse effects on men,
women and children. tampering with another of the core features, its opposite-sex
nature, may also have unexpected and unintended results.(see Stewart, Canadian Journal of Family Law, Vol 21, 2004, p. 72 at http://manwomanmarriage.org/ )
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Prop. 8 - Married Mother/father Child Rearing is the Optimal Child-rearing Mode
Voters and politicians can understand that the outcomes and goods that flow from a good setting for child rearing establish the mother/father mode of child rearing as the best and most favorable now known.
For further data, turn to these books:
For further data, turn to these books:
- Amato & Booth, A Generation at Risk (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press 1997)
- Mayer, What Money Can't Buy (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press 1997)
- Poponoe, Life Without Father (New York; The Free Press. 1997)
- Blakenhorn, Fatherless America (New York: Basic Books 1995)
- Gallagher & Waite, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better off Financially (New York: Doubleday 2000).
These favorable outcomes include academic performance and levels of attainment; physical, mental, and emotional health and development; and avoidance of crime and other forms of self- and other-destructive behavior such as drug abuse and high-risk sexual conduct, according to Monte Stewart in the Canadian Journal of Family Law (Vol. 21, 2004)
Do not be deceived about opposition to Proposition 8 in California. This is not about equality, but is about a redefinition of marriage that will have severe long-term affects on how we define this institution. Once this new definition has the sanction of law, the traditional institution will be deconstructed and significantly changed.
Go to http://www.manwomanmarriage.org/ for more information.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
This Credit Crisis Started in 1970s Under Democrat Carter, Barak Obama will Continue Crisis
Go to URL:http://www.IBDeditorials.com for Investor's Business Daily's interview with
Terry Jones discussing the current crisis.
Democrats started this mess in the 70s with a noble social experiment to extend home ownership to people who were not credit worthy. Republicans could have addressed this problem seriously, but failed to do so over the years.
Obama's party is responsible for the mess and his policies - the failed socialist policies of the 60s generation - will only further the crisis and drive this economy into the ground.
Do not be decieved.
This country needs more than someone who learned to turn a literary phrase in college and while sitting in church listening to black liberation theology.
Terry Jones discussing the current crisis.
Democrats started this mess in the 70s with a noble social experiment to extend home ownership to people who were not credit worthy. Republicans could have addressed this problem seriously, but failed to do so over the years.
Obama's party is responsible for the mess and his policies - the failed socialist policies of the 60s generation - will only further the crisis and drive this economy into the ground.
Do not be decieved.
This country needs more than someone who learned to turn a literary phrase in college and while sitting in church listening to black liberation theology.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Does biology influence our political opinions?
When scientists find that our reactions to politics stem from our reactions to loud obnoxious noises and threatening images, that would explain why I'm so annoyed by Dr. Joseph Cramer's Deseret News column on Saturday, 27 September 2008 entitled "Does biology influence our political opinions?" It's just so much loud noise, ill analyzed.
One need only search history to see the ridiculous claim advanced (by Oxley, et al) in the September 19 issue of Science, and the book The Attachment of Politics by Kraemer and Roberts.
Wonderful people on the Left - liberal, accepting people: Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Che Guevarra, all of whom left thousands and millions in mass graves!
Ah, but they make their surviving cohorts feel so safe and nurtured! In this way, such "liberalism" is self perpetuating. The safe surviving liberals will grow up so accepting of others - ask diehard Soviets and readers of Mao's Little Red book.
Ah, breathe the air of safety - amid the underlying stench of massacred millions.
The researchers are too narrow in their analysis - too North American in their myopia. The world-wide view doesn't bear their premise out.
Far from being calm, nurtured, peaceful individuals, many liberals are angry, reactionary radicals, bent on revolution and slaughter of those they find responsible for their plight.
Oxley and his fellow myopes think with full bellies, safe within their upper middleclass wombs, where they've touched no one and anyone liberal, hungry and insecure have never touched them, or pulled a knife on them or pointed a gun at their heads.
That would skew the results of their research!
On a wider scale, fanatics on the Left and the Right are so far left and right that they start to meet each other on the other side of the circle.
Fear of change can be found on both sides of the aisle. Especially frightening are paranoid liberals who distrust anyone over 30 years old, and who are so dogmatic they can't see any value in holding on to practice and policies that have proven track records over centuries.
These are so radical in their world view, that they kill millions who stand in the way of "human progress."
They did get one thing right.
When the leftist liberals riot in the streets, overthrow govenrments, and kill innocents - that kind of politics affects our biology!
One need only search history to see the ridiculous claim advanced (by Oxley, et al) in the September 19 issue of Science, and the book The Attachment of Politics by Kraemer and Roberts.
Wonderful people on the Left - liberal, accepting people: Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Che Guevarra, all of whom left thousands and millions in mass graves!
Ah, but they make their surviving cohorts feel so safe and nurtured! In this way, such "liberalism" is self perpetuating. The safe surviving liberals will grow up so accepting of others - ask diehard Soviets and readers of Mao's Little Red book.
Ah, breathe the air of safety - amid the underlying stench of massacred millions.
The researchers are too narrow in their analysis - too North American in their myopia. The world-wide view doesn't bear their premise out.
Far from being calm, nurtured, peaceful individuals, many liberals are angry, reactionary radicals, bent on revolution and slaughter of those they find responsible for their plight.
Oxley and his fellow myopes think with full bellies, safe within their upper middleclass wombs, where they've touched no one and anyone liberal, hungry and insecure have never touched them, or pulled a knife on them or pointed a gun at their heads.
That would skew the results of their research!
On a wider scale, fanatics on the Left and the Right are so far left and right that they start to meet each other on the other side of the circle.
Fear of change can be found on both sides of the aisle. Especially frightening are paranoid liberals who distrust anyone over 30 years old, and who are so dogmatic they can't see any value in holding on to practice and policies that have proven track records over centuries.
These are so radical in their world view, that they kill millions who stand in the way of "human progress."
They did get one thing right.
When the leftist liberals riot in the streets, overthrow govenrments, and kill innocents - that kind of politics affects our biology!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Barak Obama Advances the Failed Socialist Policies of the Past
Obama's closing statement confirms where he will take us.
He will socialize medical care. Provide medical care for all. Set your calendars for fifteen months ahead to be seen - even for cancer.
In other words, it will be the difference between the Post Office vs. UPS and FEDEX. Which delivery system will be more efficient in saving your life?
He will socialize college educations. Even for those students who have no business attending, but should be in trade courses.
Let's go in a new direction with McCain, not the failed socialist policies of the past!
He will socialize medical care. Provide medical care for all. Set your calendars for fifteen months ahead to be seen - even for cancer.
In other words, it will be the difference between the Post Office vs. UPS and FEDEX. Which delivery system will be more efficient in saving your life?
He will socialize college educations. Even for those students who have no business attending, but should be in trade courses.
Let's go in a new direction with McCain, not the failed socialist policies of the past!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
We Already Know McCain's the Right Stuff
When Ronald Reagan was shot, he said to a distraught Nancy, "Honey, I forgot to duck." And to his doctors: "I hope you're all Republicans." He showed of what stuff he was made.
In the coming days, as we decide the direction of the nation, we know the stuff of which John McCain is made. He has proved himself in days as a POW in Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
We do not know Barak Obama. His past is questionable.
In the coming days, as we decide the direction of the nation, we know the stuff of which John McCain is made. He has proved himself in days as a POW in Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
We do not know Barak Obama. His past is questionable.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Don't Bail Them Out, Mises Institute Article Advises
Don't Bail Them Out
Daily Article by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. Posted on 9/10/2008
It was the singular achievement of Murray Rothbard's America's Great Depression to have demonstrated that the Great Depression was a crisis manufactured and prolonged by the attempts to stop an inevitable downturn. The policy response — creating more money, propping up prices, ginning up employment, and a host of other devices — took a stock-market price collapse and a banking liquidation and spread the mess throughout every sector of the economy. What might have lasted a year to 18 months instead lasted 16 years.
At the time, Ludwig von Mises tried to warn against intervention. See his Causes of the Economic Crisis. So did F.A. Hayek. See his Prices and Production. So did Lord Robbins. See his book The Great Depression.
And yet, that is not the conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom is that the Depression was a natural disaster, a hurricane that swept through society that had to be fixed by the government. Another view, found in the work of the monetarists, is that it was caused by the failure of the government to create oceans of paper. This seems to be the view of Bernanke.
America is now imprisoned by these fallacious views of cause and effect. For this reason, we see virtual unanimity that the bailout (call it want you want: conservatorship, nationalization, socialization, whatever) of Freddie and Fannie must take place.
On the day following the nationalization, a day that will live in infamy, the Wall Street Journal editorialized against the Democrats and their reform efforts, but didn't actually oppose the bailout; instead it observed that we are all somehow "on the hook." The paper also published a piece by McCain/Palin which said that the bailout is "sadly necessary."
The New York Times called it "a reasonable and reassuring move." The Los Angeles Times wrote that the bailout was "inevitable," and complained that Freddie and Fannie should only help 20% and not half of borrowers. Steve Forbes in his magazine wrote that "drastic action" had to be taken because a default would "have triggered the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression."
It's interesting, isn't it, that all these people believe that waving the magic money wand can make reality just go away. That incredible superstition seems to be the official position of the entire US establishment. And we like to flatter ourselves into believing that we live in an age without illusions!
As for those who should know better, Greg Mankiw, author of the leading economics textbook, writes that because "it was likely to happen eventually" it is "better to get on with it." The supposedly free-market economics blog Marginal Revolution warns that without the bailout, "most of the U.S. banking system would be insolvent," failing to point out that a system that needs a bailout with fiat money is already insolvent.
The Cato Institute agrees that the Treasury had to bail out the mortgage industry because it "was forced to do so," and since Fannie and Freddie are indeed "too big to fail." The Heritage Foundation agrees that it was a "necessary step" and a "vital move toward reform."
Sure, these people have plenty of recommendations about what should have been done in the past, and lots of ideas about what should be done in the future. As for the present, they are ready to propagandize for the largest socialist operation in American history. In all of these latter cases, we are looking not at a problem of economic education, but rather the lack of courage to stand up to the state when it is needed most.
Pretty much alone in both predicting the calamity and actually opposing the bailout are those who have learned from the Misesian tradition, people such as Nouriel Roubini of the RGE Monitor, investor Jim Rogers, and of course our own scholars such as Mark Thornton, George Reisman, Robert Blumen, and pretty much all of our adjunct scholars, who have said plainly and clearly that this is a dreadful error, one that will worsen the present meltdown. Of course Ron Paul was right all along, as the evidence proves.
Let us address this claim that not bailing out the system and not nationalizing the mortgage market would lead to a financial meltdown on the level of the Great Depression. It makes no sense to warn that we will repeat the past if we fail to do the things that actually made the past as bad as it was. The truth is exactly the opposite: to avoid another Depression-length downturn, we need to avoid the mistakes of the past, among which were the policies that attempted to keep failing firms and industries afloat in difficult economic times.
What should have happened in 1929 is precisely what should happen now. Let the price system prevail! The government should completely remove itself from the course of action and let the market reevaluate resource values. That means bankruptcies, yes. That means bank closures, yes. But these are part of the capitalistic system. They are part of the free-market economy. What is regrettable is not the readjustment process, but that the process was ever made necessary by the preceding interventions.
Let me state this very plainly: I do not believe for one second that if the government fails to nationalize Freddie and Fannie, the world as we know it will come to an end. Those who are saying so are trying to scare the population, the same as with every other major demand by the regime. It was the same with NAFTA, the WTO, the war on terror, the war on bird flu, the nationalization of airport security, and everything else.
$32 $25
If the government did nothing but sell off the assets of the mortgage giants, we do not know for sure what would happen, but the market has a way of finding value and readjusting. I would expect about 18 months of difficulties. Banks would fail just as many businesses in the free market fail every day. Housing prices would fall more, just as all market prices are subject to change. But the process of readjustment would be smooth and rational. Most importantly, we would all stop living a lie and believing an illusion.
Contrary to what the blogging heads say, there is nothing that makes this nationalization inevitable. We need to let the market handle the entire process, come what may. I guarantee that this solution is a better one than creating another trillion or so to bail out failing enterprises.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. is president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, editor of LewRockwell.com, and author of Speaking of Liberty. See his Mises.org archive. Send him mail. Comment on the blog.
Daily Article by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. Posted on 9/10/2008
It was the singular achievement of Murray Rothbard's America's Great Depression to have demonstrated that the Great Depression was a crisis manufactured and prolonged by the attempts to stop an inevitable downturn. The policy response — creating more money, propping up prices, ginning up employment, and a host of other devices — took a stock-market price collapse and a banking liquidation and spread the mess throughout every sector of the economy. What might have lasted a year to 18 months instead lasted 16 years.
At the time, Ludwig von Mises tried to warn against intervention. See his Causes of the Economic Crisis. So did F.A. Hayek. See his Prices and Production. So did Lord Robbins. See his book The Great Depression.
And yet, that is not the conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom is that the Depression was a natural disaster, a hurricane that swept through society that had to be fixed by the government. Another view, found in the work of the monetarists, is that it was caused by the failure of the government to create oceans of paper. This seems to be the view of Bernanke.
America is now imprisoned by these fallacious views of cause and effect. For this reason, we see virtual unanimity that the bailout (call it want you want: conservatorship, nationalization, socialization, whatever) of Freddie and Fannie must take place.
On the day following the nationalization, a day that will live in infamy, the Wall Street Journal editorialized against the Democrats and their reform efforts, but didn't actually oppose the bailout; instead it observed that we are all somehow "on the hook." The paper also published a piece by McCain/Palin which said that the bailout is "sadly necessary."
The New York Times called it "a reasonable and reassuring move." The Los Angeles Times wrote that the bailout was "inevitable," and complained that Freddie and Fannie should only help 20% and not half of borrowers. Steve Forbes in his magazine wrote that "drastic action" had to be taken because a default would "have triggered the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression."
It's interesting, isn't it, that all these people believe that waving the magic money wand can make reality just go away. That incredible superstition seems to be the official position of the entire US establishment. And we like to flatter ourselves into believing that we live in an age without illusions!
As for those who should know better, Greg Mankiw, author of the leading economics textbook, writes that because "it was likely to happen eventually" it is "better to get on with it." The supposedly free-market economics blog Marginal Revolution warns that without the bailout, "most of the U.S. banking system would be insolvent," failing to point out that a system that needs a bailout with fiat money is already insolvent.
The Cato Institute agrees that the Treasury had to bail out the mortgage industry because it "was forced to do so," and since Fannie and Freddie are indeed "too big to fail." The Heritage Foundation agrees that it was a "necessary step" and a "vital move toward reform."
Sure, these people have plenty of recommendations about what should have been done in the past, and lots of ideas about what should be done in the future. As for the present, they are ready to propagandize for the largest socialist operation in American history. In all of these latter cases, we are looking not at a problem of economic education, but rather the lack of courage to stand up to the state when it is needed most.
Pretty much alone in both predicting the calamity and actually opposing the bailout are those who have learned from the Misesian tradition, people such as Nouriel Roubini of the RGE Monitor, investor Jim Rogers, and of course our own scholars such as Mark Thornton, George Reisman, Robert Blumen, and pretty much all of our adjunct scholars, who have said plainly and clearly that this is a dreadful error, one that will worsen the present meltdown. Of course Ron Paul was right all along, as the evidence proves.
Let us address this claim that not bailing out the system and not nationalizing the mortgage market would lead to a financial meltdown on the level of the Great Depression. It makes no sense to warn that we will repeat the past if we fail to do the things that actually made the past as bad as it was. The truth is exactly the opposite: to avoid another Depression-length downturn, we need to avoid the mistakes of the past, among which were the policies that attempted to keep failing firms and industries afloat in difficult economic times.
What should have happened in 1929 is precisely what should happen now. Let the price system prevail! The government should completely remove itself from the course of action and let the market reevaluate resource values. That means bankruptcies, yes. That means bank closures, yes. But these are part of the capitalistic system. They are part of the free-market economy. What is regrettable is not the readjustment process, but that the process was ever made necessary by the preceding interventions.
Let me state this very plainly: I do not believe for one second that if the government fails to nationalize Freddie and Fannie, the world as we know it will come to an end. Those who are saying so are trying to scare the population, the same as with every other major demand by the regime. It was the same with NAFTA, the WTO, the war on terror, the war on bird flu, the nationalization of airport security, and everything else.
$32 $25
If the government did nothing but sell off the assets of the mortgage giants, we do not know for sure what would happen, but the market has a way of finding value and readjusting. I would expect about 18 months of difficulties. Banks would fail just as many businesses in the free market fail every day. Housing prices would fall more, just as all market prices are subject to change. But the process of readjustment would be smooth and rational. Most importantly, we would all stop living a lie and believing an illusion.
Contrary to what the blogging heads say, there is nothing that makes this nationalization inevitable. We need to let the market handle the entire process, come what may. I guarantee that this solution is a better one than creating another trillion or so to bail out failing enterprises.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. is president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, editor of LewRockwell.com, and author of Speaking of Liberty. See his Mises.org archive. Send him mail. Comment on the blog.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Essentially Dishonest Obama
Barak Hussein Obama, by keeping his platform quiet and hidden, by speaking generalities and not specifics is dishonest.
Were he to tell all of what he truly believes, the man would not be elected. He's a socialist with ties to socialists in Kenya, with bonds to Weathermen Underground - old school terrorists-turned-professors, and as anti-Free Market "spy" he worked among "the enemy" right out of college.
Michelle Obama seethes behind her facade - her damning of America, her only being proud since her husband's entry into national politics.
Disingenuous.
Were he to tell all of what he truly believes, the man would not be elected. He's a socialist with ties to socialists in Kenya, with bonds to Weathermen Underground - old school terrorists-turned-professors, and as anti-Free Market "spy" he worked among "the enemy" right out of college.
Michelle Obama seethes behind her facade - her damning of America, her only being proud since her husband's entry into national politics.
Disingenuous.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sample Headlines, Internat'l Business Daily Shows Obama's Socialism
Here are some headlines and leads from IBD:
Read them here: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/
Have Americans been so lulled by Barack Obama's smooth talk that they don't realize his plans would expand government into a massive socialist behemoth? His is a soft-spoken, hard-left agenda.
Part Eighteen
Obama's McKnight In Shining Armor
Election '08: Obama needed help getting into Harvard Law School. He got it from a disciple of Saul Alinsky who shared the socialist agitator's belief in the radical change the young community organizer could embrace.
Part Seventeen
Chicago Commune
Election '08: Barack Obama summed up well the perversity of Democratic Party thinking when he told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that it is "neighborliness" for Washington to hike taxes on those who are "sitting pretty."
Part Sixteen
How Obama Applies Alinsky's Rules
Election '08: Barack Obama's mocking of John McCain, while urging his followers to "get in their face," are tactics right out of his radical hero Saul Alinsky's playbook: ridicule and agitation.
Part Fifteen
Community Organizer In Chief
Election '08: Barack Obama claims he worked for a "small group of churches" as a community organizer. In fact, he was hired by a radical Alinskyite group, and Saul Alinsky's own son has outed him.
Part Fourteen
Sojourning Socialists
Election '08: Barack Obama has joined forces with a white socialist he calls a "good friend" — the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of "Sojourners." He too believes in "liberation theology," sans the black nationalism. In fact, Wallis is the white version of Jeremiah Wright, sans the black rage.
Part Thirteen
Michelle's Boot Camps For Radicals
Election '08: Democrats' reintroduction of militant Michelle Obama in Denver was supposed to show her softer side. But it only highlighted a radical part of her resume: Public Allies.
Part Twelve
Alice In Obamaland
Election '08: One of the "lies" Barack Obama says are being told about him is quite true. It involves a staunch admirer of the Soviet Union and its communist society who helped launch Obama's political career.
Part Eleven
Finding Friends On Far, Far Left
Election '08: The saying that a man is known by the company he keeps is true of political relationships. In Barack Obama's case, some of the groups that support him are an indictment of his political orientation.
Part Ten
Like Father, Like Son
Election '08: Barack Obama's economic blueprint sounds like one his communist father tried to foist on Kenya 40 years ago, with massive taxes and succor shrouded as "investments."
Part Nine
Obama's Radical Roots And Rules
Election '08: Most Americans revile socialism, yet Barack Obama's poll numbers remain competitive. One explanation: He's a longtime disciple of a man whose mission was to teach radicals to disguise their ideology.
Part Eight
Obama's Little Red Schoolhouse
Schools: While Obama's children enjoy the best education money can buy, he wants to deny inner-city children the education change we can believe in — school choice. He prefers cradle-to-diploma collectivist education.
Part Seven
Reparations By Another Name
Election '08: Barack Obama says Washington shouldn't just offer apologies for slavery, but also "deeds." Don't worry, he says, he's not talking about direct reparations. Relieved? Don't be.
Part Six
Obama Finds An ACORN
Election '08: The man who includes being a community organizer on his short resume has a long association with a far-left group that would organize our communities into socialist gulags.
Part Five
Young Obama's Red Mentor
Election '08: The mainstream media have finally gotten around to revealing Barack Obama's early mentor. But they've downplayed the mystery man's communist background.
Part Four
Obamanomics Flunks The Test
Election '08: Barack Obama the lawyer-organizer could use a crash course in economics. His economic plan's assumptions, based on long-discredited Marxist theories, are wildly wrongheaded.
Part Three
Obama Wants You
Election '08: Barack Obama calls it "Universal Voluntary Public Service." We call it a plan for national involuntary servitude. Kennedy asked us what we could do for our country. Obama has ways to make us volunteer.
Part Two
Obama's Global Tax
Election '08: A plan by Barack Obama to redistribute American wealth on a global level is moving forward in the Senate. It follows Marxist theology — from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
Part One
Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism
Election '08: Before friendly audiences, Barack Obama speaks passionately about something called "economic justice." He uses the term obliquely, though, speaking in code — socialist code.
More editorials on Election 2008 and Politics
Related Topics »Election 2008 »Politics »Media & Culture More Topics
© Copyright 2008 Investor's Business Daily. All Rights Reserved.
Read them here: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/
Have Americans been so lulled by Barack Obama's smooth talk that they don't realize his plans would expand government into a massive socialist behemoth? His is a soft-spoken, hard-left agenda.
Part Eighteen
Obama's McKnight In Shining Armor
Election '08: Obama needed help getting into Harvard Law School. He got it from a disciple of Saul Alinsky who shared the socialist agitator's belief in the radical change the young community organizer could embrace.
Part Seventeen
Chicago Commune
Election '08: Barack Obama summed up well the perversity of Democratic Party thinking when he told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that it is "neighborliness" for Washington to hike taxes on those who are "sitting pretty."
Part Sixteen
How Obama Applies Alinsky's Rules
Election '08: Barack Obama's mocking of John McCain, while urging his followers to "get in their face," are tactics right out of his radical hero Saul Alinsky's playbook: ridicule and agitation.
Part Fifteen
Community Organizer In Chief
Election '08: Barack Obama claims he worked for a "small group of churches" as a community organizer. In fact, he was hired by a radical Alinskyite group, and Saul Alinsky's own son has outed him.
Part Fourteen
Sojourning Socialists
Election '08: Barack Obama has joined forces with a white socialist he calls a "good friend" — the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of "Sojourners." He too believes in "liberation theology," sans the black nationalism. In fact, Wallis is the white version of Jeremiah Wright, sans the black rage.
Part Thirteen
Michelle's Boot Camps For Radicals
Election '08: Democrats' reintroduction of militant Michelle Obama in Denver was supposed to show her softer side. But it only highlighted a radical part of her resume: Public Allies.
Part Twelve
Alice In Obamaland
Election '08: One of the "lies" Barack Obama says are being told about him is quite true. It involves a staunch admirer of the Soviet Union and its communist society who helped launch Obama's political career.
Part Eleven
Finding Friends On Far, Far Left
Election '08: The saying that a man is known by the company he keeps is true of political relationships. In Barack Obama's case, some of the groups that support him are an indictment of his political orientation.
Part Ten
Like Father, Like Son
Election '08: Barack Obama's economic blueprint sounds like one his communist father tried to foist on Kenya 40 years ago, with massive taxes and succor shrouded as "investments."
Part Nine
Obama's Radical Roots And Rules
Election '08: Most Americans revile socialism, yet Barack Obama's poll numbers remain competitive. One explanation: He's a longtime disciple of a man whose mission was to teach radicals to disguise their ideology.
Part Eight
Obama's Little Red Schoolhouse
Schools: While Obama's children enjoy the best education money can buy, he wants to deny inner-city children the education change we can believe in — school choice. He prefers cradle-to-diploma collectivist education.
Part Seven
Reparations By Another Name
Election '08: Barack Obama says Washington shouldn't just offer apologies for slavery, but also "deeds." Don't worry, he says, he's not talking about direct reparations. Relieved? Don't be.
Part Six
Obama Finds An ACORN
Election '08: The man who includes being a community organizer on his short resume has a long association with a far-left group that would organize our communities into socialist gulags.
Part Five
Young Obama's Red Mentor
Election '08: The mainstream media have finally gotten around to revealing Barack Obama's early mentor. But they've downplayed the mystery man's communist background.
Part Four
Obamanomics Flunks The Test
Election '08: Barack Obama the lawyer-organizer could use a crash course in economics. His economic plan's assumptions, based on long-discredited Marxist theories, are wildly wrongheaded.
Part Three
Obama Wants You
Election '08: Barack Obama calls it "Universal Voluntary Public Service." We call it a plan for national involuntary servitude. Kennedy asked us what we could do for our country. Obama has ways to make us volunteer.
Part Two
Obama's Global Tax
Election '08: A plan by Barack Obama to redistribute American wealth on a global level is moving forward in the Senate. It follows Marxist theology — from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
Part One
Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism
Election '08: Before friendly audiences, Barack Obama speaks passionately about something called "economic justice." He uses the term obliquely, though, speaking in code — socialist code.
More editorials on Election 2008 and Politics
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Friday, September 26, 2008
Sarah Palin's Primer
1. Katie Couric and other women who interview you will place their voices in the lower register - the Lauren Bacall sound. You don't have to be that low, but you do need to keep in control and thoughtful in the close-contact interviews, in order to sound more authoritative.
2. Relax your voice and stretch the inner muscles with yawn-like jaw stretches. Strident high-pitched voices kill women candidates. Yours is a pleasant voice. Keep it relaxed and metered. Tension kills the authoritative sound of the voice.
3. Don't rush your answers. When GW does it, he makes laughable mistakes. A measured response, requires a decent thoughtful pace. When you stumble, you sound unsure.
4. Study, study study! Get those 150 questions most likely to be asked by reporters, and prep very hard. Insist on it.
5. You've had executive experience and that includes command position for your state. That would include all enemies foreign and domestic, as you protect your citizens and your state constitution, as the supreme executive officer of Alaska. Biden as been just a senator
6. You sounded tentative and unsure. Get prepared and get ready.
7. Pray for the right answers to come to mind, for what you are to say in the hour thereof.
8. Sometimes, when they don't ask the right question, you give the right answer. Answer the question they should have asked you.
2. Relax your voice and stretch the inner muscles with yawn-like jaw stretches. Strident high-pitched voices kill women candidates. Yours is a pleasant voice. Keep it relaxed and metered. Tension kills the authoritative sound of the voice.
3. Don't rush your answers. When GW does it, he makes laughable mistakes. A measured response, requires a decent thoughtful pace. When you stumble, you sound unsure.
4. Study, study study! Get those 150 questions most likely to be asked by reporters, and prep very hard. Insist on it.
5. You've had executive experience and that includes command position for your state. That would include all enemies foreign and domestic, as you protect your citizens and your state constitution, as the supreme executive officer of Alaska. Biden as been just a senator
6. You sounded tentative and unsure. Get prepared and get ready.
7. Pray for the right answers to come to mind, for what you are to say in the hour thereof.
8. Sometimes, when they don't ask the right question, you give the right answer. Answer the question they should have asked you.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Laura Linney Speaks Lies Like George Bernard Shaw
Hollywood actress Laura Linney's reference at the Emmy Awards to the American Founders being "community organizers" [read: Just like Barak Obama!] reminds me of what the socialist George Bernard Shaw said of the Bolsheviks.
Stephen Schwartz in The New Criterion September 2008 tells us that Shaw was "one of Stalin's most abject sycophants" who spread lies that the Bolsheviks were correct in their contempt for the West. According to Schwartz, Shaw said that the Moscow dictatorship was established "exactly as Washington and Jefferson and Hamilton and Franklin and Tom Paine had established the United States."
Socialists, communists, dictators are always trying to equate themselves with the American Revolution.
The Founders of This American Revolution risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
Only one candidate in this election comes close to that commitment.
Stephen Schwartz in The New Criterion September 2008 tells us that Shaw was "one of Stalin's most abject sycophants" who spread lies that the Bolsheviks were correct in their contempt for the West. According to Schwartz, Shaw said that the Moscow dictatorship was established "exactly as Washington and Jefferson and Hamilton and Franklin and Tom Paine had established the United States."
Socialists, communists, dictators are always trying to equate themselves with the American Revolution.
The Founders of This American Revolution risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
Only one candidate in this election comes close to that commitment.
The Leftist Laura Linney Needs A History Lesson
The Emmy Award winning actress who thinks that the Founding Fathers were "community organizers" is steeped in revolutionary rhetoric, not historical fact.
If they organized anything it was a constitutional democracy and not a socialist republic which seems to be the goal of Barak Obama.
That's what socialists do to the "truth." They hide their agenda because the majority of Americans would not accept their "change" if they were honest about what they want to accomplish.
Samuel Adams, John Adams, Jefferson, Hancock, Franklin were actors in a conservative revolution against the progressive policies of King George.
The American Revolution was about people who wanted the Colonies to remain free and unfettered from progressives who would tax them into oblivion.
Samuel Adams organized cell groups to keep things as they were, not push toward a worker's/poor man's rebellion, hell-bent on liberation theology that would divide this country, while our brethren are still in foreign battlefields.
But maybe that's what the actress meant when she said the American Founders were like Obama. Barak Obama's community organizing really means code for revolutionary cell!
Look to Obama's ACORN group to stuff the ballot boxes with provisional ballots in key electoral states, in order to bog down the election with legal challenges, while such ballots in key states are counted and verified.
They will then turn Election Day into an election month.
The Left wants to place the presidential elections into the hands of the elitists in the courts and away from the people. You know. Those people holding onto religion and their guns!
If they organized anything it was a constitutional democracy and not a socialist republic which seems to be the goal of Barak Obama.
That's what socialists do to the "truth." They hide their agenda because the majority of Americans would not accept their "change" if they were honest about what they want to accomplish.
Samuel Adams, John Adams, Jefferson, Hancock, Franklin were actors in a conservative revolution against the progressive policies of King George.
The American Revolution was about people who wanted the Colonies to remain free and unfettered from progressives who would tax them into oblivion.
Samuel Adams organized cell groups to keep things as they were, not push toward a worker's/poor man's rebellion, hell-bent on liberation theology that would divide this country, while our brethren are still in foreign battlefields.
But maybe that's what the actress meant when she said the American Founders were like Obama. Barak Obama's community organizing really means code for revolutionary cell!
Look to Obama's ACORN group to stuff the ballot boxes with provisional ballots in key electoral states, in order to bog down the election with legal challenges, while such ballots in key states are counted and verified.
They will then turn Election Day into an election month.
The Left wants to place the presidential elections into the hands of the elitists in the courts and away from the people. You know. Those people holding onto religion and their guns!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Obama's Appeal to Masses Similar to Hitler in 1930s
Barak is wrong for America.
Obama is too radical a Leftist for a centrist country.
As solutions he would introduce Peruvian-style socialism, and Venezuelan/Hugo Chavez-type policies.
An African-American, yes! But not Barak. Colin Powell first, before the junior far-left senator.
His inexperience would be dangerous and send this centrist country reeling for decades. Margaret Thatcher in England turned back the liberal policies that were not working, and saved a country that was waning in power and influence. She rolled-back failed economic policies, and restored her country to former glory and strength. Barak would implement many of the Labour Party's failures which they have had to leave behind and compromise on.
He is too closely aligned with radical Islam and leftist policies, his father being a leftist agitator in Kenya. His too close association with former Weather Underground radical William Ayers, who advocated the radical overthrow of the U.S. Government.
Obama's adherence to black-liberation theology in the raging tradition of Stokly Carmichael and Malcolm X - a theology steeped in minority anger and revolution as preached for 20 years in Obama's Church of Christ thundered at Rev. Jeremiah Wright's pulpit.
Obama's tacit support of radical Islamic violence in his father's homeland of Kenya, where burning of churches and Islamist violence brought the radical socialist candidate to power amid persecution of Christians.
Obama's appeal to Hollywood elites, his cult of personality has not seen since the adoring masses of Germans rallied around Adolf Hitler. Obama's appeal to left-wing masses matches Hitler's appeal to national socialists in Germany, leaving us uneasy with America's worship of demagogues.
Obama is a poser - striking thoughtful hand positions around the face - a finger aside an eyebrow, countenance steep in apparent thought. Artificially straightened torso during the debates, near haughty, almost certainly arrogant at the rostrum, chin tipped just high enough to feign superiority.
Obama is a broken boy, yearning for father, watching his own every move to do things just right so as to appear presidential, while McCain has been presidential since the day he stepped out of that prison camp in Hanoi.
Obama would lead the nation into military weakness and an economic decline, more deeply gashed than we are today. All of us are being asked to tighten our belts, live within our means, willingly sacrifice for a season, in order to emerge from this current difficult time stronger and more faithful.
God is at the helm, not some president of the United States - and certainly not some wannabe president who believes that his central planning will create a poor-people's paradise.
God will sustain His people, not a Barak Hussein Obama with revolution dripping from his lips.
True revolution is in the change of heart - in the hope of a redeeming love that sustains all nations in hard times.
This is the change and hope we Americans want.
Obama is too radical a Leftist for a centrist country.
As solutions he would introduce Peruvian-style socialism, and Venezuelan/Hugo Chavez-type policies.
An African-American, yes! But not Barak. Colin Powell first, before the junior far-left senator.
His inexperience would be dangerous and send this centrist country reeling for decades. Margaret Thatcher in England turned back the liberal policies that were not working, and saved a country that was waning in power and influence. She rolled-back failed economic policies, and restored her country to former glory and strength. Barak would implement many of the Labour Party's failures which they have had to leave behind and compromise on.
He is too closely aligned with radical Islam and leftist policies, his father being a leftist agitator in Kenya. His too close association with former Weather Underground radical William Ayers, who advocated the radical overthrow of the U.S. Government.
Obama's adherence to black-liberation theology in the raging tradition of Stokly Carmichael and Malcolm X - a theology steeped in minority anger and revolution as preached for 20 years in Obama's Church of Christ thundered at Rev. Jeremiah Wright's pulpit.
Obama's tacit support of radical Islamic violence in his father's homeland of Kenya, where burning of churches and Islamist violence brought the radical socialist candidate to power amid persecution of Christians.
Obama's appeal to Hollywood elites, his cult of personality has not seen since the adoring masses of Germans rallied around Adolf Hitler. Obama's appeal to left-wing masses matches Hitler's appeal to national socialists in Germany, leaving us uneasy with America's worship of demagogues.
Obama is a poser - striking thoughtful hand positions around the face - a finger aside an eyebrow, countenance steep in apparent thought. Artificially straightened torso during the debates, near haughty, almost certainly arrogant at the rostrum, chin tipped just high enough to feign superiority.
Obama is a broken boy, yearning for father, watching his own every move to do things just right so as to appear presidential, while McCain has been presidential since the day he stepped out of that prison camp in Hanoi.
Obama would lead the nation into military weakness and an economic decline, more deeply gashed than we are today. All of us are being asked to tighten our belts, live within our means, willingly sacrifice for a season, in order to emerge from this current difficult time stronger and more faithful.
God is at the helm, not some president of the United States - and certainly not some wannabe president who believes that his central planning will create a poor-people's paradise.
God will sustain His people, not a Barak Hussein Obama with revolution dripping from his lips.
True revolution is in the change of heart - in the hope of a redeeming love that sustains all nations in hard times.
This is the change and hope we Americans want.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Wickipedia Cites Serious Ethical Objections, Case Really Closed?
Wickipedia presents these objections to the plastination exhibits.
"Professional ethicists, human rights activists and religious leaders have also objected. "Given the (Chinese) government's track record on the treatment of prisoners, I find this exhibit deeply problematic," said Sharon Hom, the executive director of the advocacy group Human Rights in China.[28]
"Professor Anita Allen, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, argued spending money to "gawk" at human remains should raise serious concerns.[29] Thomas Hibbs, Baylor University ethicist, compares cadaver displays to pornography in that they reduce the subject to “the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance.”[30]
"Even if consent were to be obtained, Rabbi Danny Schiff maintains that we should still question what providing "bodies arranged in showcases for a hungry public" says about a society.[31] Harry Wu, a long-time human rights activist, terms the practice of obtaining exhibit specimens from China "immoral" and describes how the Chinese label of 'unclaimed' on bodies may imply that families were not notified of the death.[28][32]
"Regarding the educational concerns around these exhibits, St. Louis Diocese Archbishop Raymond Burke directs Catholic Schools there to avoid field trips, citing serious questions for Catholics.[33] Prior to the exhibit's opening in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese endorsed the educational content of the exhibition, while noting that it would not be appropriate for everyone and welcoming continued discourse regarding the place of such exhibits in society.[34] Rev. Daniel Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati, issued a statement “I do not believe that this exhibit is an appropriate destination for field trips by our Catholic schools.” .[35]
"In 2006, citing concern over how 'some kids will process these images,' Abbotsford, British Columbia School Superintendent Des McKay barred field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings.[36] In an editorial, Lutheran Reverend Christoph Reiners questioned the effect on the values of children.[37]
"Elaine Catz, who helped coordinate field trips for the Carnegie Science Center prior to resigning in June 2007, maintains 'it teaches that, once he is deceased, there is nothing wrong with taking a person's body without his consent; it teaches that there is nothing wrong with exploiting the dead in order to make a profit, as long as it is in the name of science or education or art. It teaches that it is incredibly easy to dehumanize others.'"[23] [See Wikipedia for footnotes.]
Despite University Health Care's assurances that this exhibit meets their criteria for ethical science education, you leave less than convinced that this is little more than a prurient secular celebration of hedonist interest made "scientific' - resembling more Frankenstein than Lazarus.
"Professional ethicists, human rights activists and religious leaders have also objected. "Given the (Chinese) government's track record on the treatment of prisoners, I find this exhibit deeply problematic," said Sharon Hom, the executive director of the advocacy group Human Rights in China.[28]
"Professor Anita Allen, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, argued spending money to "gawk" at human remains should raise serious concerns.[29] Thomas Hibbs, Baylor University ethicist, compares cadaver displays to pornography in that they reduce the subject to “the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance.”[30]
"Even if consent were to be obtained, Rabbi Danny Schiff maintains that we should still question what providing "bodies arranged in showcases for a hungry public" says about a society.[31] Harry Wu, a long-time human rights activist, terms the practice of obtaining exhibit specimens from China "immoral" and describes how the Chinese label of 'unclaimed' on bodies may imply that families were not notified of the death.[28][32]
"Regarding the educational concerns around these exhibits, St. Louis Diocese Archbishop Raymond Burke directs Catholic Schools there to avoid field trips, citing serious questions for Catholics.[33] Prior to the exhibit's opening in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese endorsed the educational content of the exhibition, while noting that it would not be appropriate for everyone and welcoming continued discourse regarding the place of such exhibits in society.[34] Rev. Daniel Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati, issued a statement “I do not believe that this exhibit is an appropriate destination for field trips by our Catholic schools.” .[35]
"In 2006, citing concern over how 'some kids will process these images,' Abbotsford, British Columbia School Superintendent Des McKay barred field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings.[36] In an editorial, Lutheran Reverend Christoph Reiners questioned the effect on the values of children.[37]
"Elaine Catz, who helped coordinate field trips for the Carnegie Science Center prior to resigning in June 2007, maintains 'it teaches that, once he is deceased, there is nothing wrong with taking a person's body without his consent; it teaches that there is nothing wrong with exploiting the dead in order to make a profit, as long as it is in the name of science or education or art. It teaches that it is incredibly easy to dehumanize others.'"[23] [See Wikipedia for footnotes.]
Despite University Health Care's assurances that this exhibit meets their criteria for ethical science education, you leave less than convinced that this is little more than a prurient secular celebration of hedonist interest made "scientific' - resembling more Frankenstein than Lazarus.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Charlie Gibson: Ask Eisenhower Why He Mentioned God on Eve of D-Day
Charlie Gibson's line of questioning was the work of an insipid sychophant following the dictates of his political agenda.
Sarah withstood his insouciant disregard for relevence, as he attempted to trip her up and change the course of the election.
Dwight Eisenhower sent a missive to all his soldiers the night before the D-Day invasion, to help steel their minds for the daunting task ahead. In it he used the G-word. "And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."
Gibson's agenda driven grilling of Gov. Palin revealed his left-wing, secularist leanings. Only to uncloak his aching for Obama's reign.
Sarah withstood his insouciant disregard for relevence, as he attempted to trip her up and change the course of the election.
Dwight Eisenhower sent a missive to all his soldiers the night before the D-Day invasion, to help steel their minds for the daunting task ahead. In it he used the G-word. "And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."
Gibson's agenda driven grilling of Gov. Palin revealed his left-wing, secularist leanings. Only to uncloak his aching for Obama's reign.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Does Salt Lake Really Want Body Worlds in Our Backyard?
Gunter Von Hagen's Body Worlds exhibition of real cadavers continues to reveal itself as questionable science. Do we really want this in our backyard?
Don't get me wrong; I'm not queasy about dissections or cadavers. My father (who died when I was nine) and grandfather were Harvard Medical graduates - lots of anatomy books and slides in their libraries. My mother, a nurse, said my father could eat a sandwich while dissecting a cadaver. A strong stomach and a healthy respect for science is in the genes.
Dispassionate medical practice was standard fare at home. No tittering giggles, no prudish restrictions. So some of this exhibit is very familiar to me. But there's another part of Body Works that is just plain odd. And it revolves around Von Hagen himself, and those he hangs around with (and I don't mean the cadavers).
Here's what Mom de Guerre wrote today:
Mom de Guerre said...
"Happy to share, Lend Me Your Ears. Its more than just you and me, thank goodness. No Bodies 4 Profit has close to 500 members. And there is more good news. California was recently the FIRST STATE to pass legislation to regulate these morbid displays. Its currently on Gov. Schwartznegger's desk.
"Also working toward legislation: PA, NY, HI I know of. NJ Congressman Chris Smith has proposed Federal legislation.
"Did you see Gunther von Hagen in David Barboza's NYTimes video tour of VH's laBORatoree (sic) in Dalian China?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqKvYUO7C7w
"The originating article:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/business/worldbusiness/08bodies.html?pagewanted=print
"Herr Dokter's mention of Mercedes was especially offensive to some Jews, because of Mercedes' role in the Holocaust. Dalian is the same place that got Premier (a competing company to Von Hagen's Institute of Plastination) into trouble with the NY Attorney General.
"And his crocodile tears in the Feb 15 ABC expose were really exceptional and so very unconvincing. It gets better (or worse as you may agree) Regarding von Hagen's past
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071226/94178628.html
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/07/45426
"His father was a Nazi SS agent who turned in a couple dozen of his neighbors and was decorated for it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article416989.ece
"And what the future holds in VH's creative vision...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,532934,00.html (international/zeitgeist/0,1518,532934,00.html)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv-reviews/gunthers-er/2008/05/30/1211654292604.html
"Nice guy, huh? Really encourages you to trust him at his word, doesn't it? Would be a lovely neighbor I'm sure. And with those extra plastinated pieces around, I bet his house is the most popular place for parties. To die for, one might say.
September 11, 2008 2:41 PM"
One ethicist from the University of Michigan said recently commentingI have more information about Gunter Von Hagen you will want to read, which follows.
on Body Worlds that we all have highly sensitive Geiger counters that
register ethical violations; if the hair on the back of our necks stands up, or
we get an uneasy feeling about seeing these bodies so exhibited, we should
pay attention to that reaction.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not queasy about dissections or cadavers. My father (who died when I was nine) and grandfather were Harvard Medical graduates - lots of anatomy books and slides in their libraries. My mother, a nurse, said my father could eat a sandwich while dissecting a cadaver. A strong stomach and a healthy respect for science is in the genes.
Dispassionate medical practice was standard fare at home. No tittering giggles, no prudish restrictions. So some of this exhibit is very familiar to me. But there's another part of Body Works that is just plain odd. And it revolves around Von Hagen himself, and those he hangs around with (and I don't mean the cadavers).
Here's what Mom de Guerre wrote today:
Mom de Guerre said...
"Happy to share, Lend Me Your Ears. Its more than just you and me, thank goodness. No Bodies 4 Profit has close to 500 members. And there is more good news. California was recently the FIRST STATE to pass legislation to regulate these morbid displays. Its currently on Gov. Schwartznegger's desk.
"Also working toward legislation: PA, NY, HI I know of. NJ Congressman Chris Smith has proposed Federal legislation.
"Did you see Gunther von Hagen in David Barboza's NYTimes video tour of VH's laBORatoree (sic) in Dalian China?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqKvYUO7C7w
"The originating article:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/business/worldbusiness/08bodies.html?pagewanted=print
"Herr Dokter's mention of Mercedes was especially offensive to some Jews, because of Mercedes' role in the Holocaust. Dalian is the same place that got Premier (a competing company to Von Hagen's Institute of Plastination) into trouble with the NY Attorney General.
"And his crocodile tears in the Feb 15 ABC expose were really exceptional and so very unconvincing. It gets better (or worse as you may agree) Regarding von Hagen's past
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071226/94178628.html
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/07/45426
"His father was a Nazi SS agent who turned in a couple dozen of his neighbors and was decorated for it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article416989.ece
"And what the future holds in VH's creative vision...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,532934,00.html (international/zeitgeist/0,1518,532934,00.html)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv-reviews/gunthers-er/2008/05/30/1211654292604.html
"Nice guy, huh? Really encourages you to trust him at his word, doesn't it? Would be a lovely neighbor I'm sure. And with those extra plastinated pieces around, I bet his house is the most popular place for parties. To die for, one might say.
September 11, 2008 2:41 PM"
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Continued Controversy About Gunter von Hagen's Body Worlds at the Leonardo
Mom de Guerre posted the following response to the Institute of Plastination's oversensitivity to any criticism.
It does a body good (pun intended) to read that there is at least one parent out there, armed for battle (again, intended) against such questionable practices. Indeed some of the bodies are positioned in some questionable poses. Others have criticized him for his sexuality, as well.
Mom de Guerre said...
"Boy, they ARE worried about the criticism aren't they? Its much more complex than the Institute would like you to understand. For instance, unclaimed bodies most often are NOT used for plastination OR for medical study.
"This is because most states are civilized enough to have a waiting period for unclaimed bodies so that families can be found. In this time they deteriorate and become unusable specimens for study. Especially true with plastination. Bodies need to be really freshly dead for this process. [LMYEars adds: Which is why some people are reluctant to be organ donors - that rush to freshness, and the cold clinical mindset that informs their education and practice. For a great piece on this mindset, read Annihilating Terry Sciavo, Commentary, June 2006.]
"There IS a big difference between legitimate medical study and these grotesque displays, however. Ethical oversight. See also Lucia Tanassi's (Vanderbilt Univ) professional investigation as an ethicist. You hit the nail right on the head, Lend Me Your Ears, and the post by the Institute referenced the problem as well. They admit openly that there are no regulations, so why should they be concerned - ?
"They don't need to comply with the kinds of standards for, say, an anatomy lab. They don't care and they don't have to. They found a VERY lucrative loophole. [That struck me, too. If this is all about education and informing the public, why charge so much? We can go to the U. of Utah's Museum of Art and see some 70 paintings from Van Gogh to Matisse for FREE.]
"And Von Hagens is NOT off the hook from an 'unclaimed' bodies perspective. He used 'unclaimed' Chinese bodies to open this whole market and realize his grotesque vision. He's a vampire and a ghoul." [Today, I thought he was very much like a Doctor Frankenstein, only new and revised, more urbane - we can't give you eternal life, but by placing you on display in this lulling macabre way, you can achieve a reasonable likeness of immortality - all in the name of science! Why am I not surprised that China is so involved in this!]
Thank you, Mom de Guerre!
September 9, 2008 10:08 AM
It does a body good (pun intended) to read that there is at least one parent out there, armed for battle (again, intended) against such questionable practices. Indeed some of the bodies are positioned in some questionable poses. Others have criticized him for his sexuality, as well.
Mom de Guerre said...
"Boy, they ARE worried about the criticism aren't they? Its much more complex than the Institute would like you to understand. For instance, unclaimed bodies most often are NOT used for plastination OR for medical study.
"This is because most states are civilized enough to have a waiting period for unclaimed bodies so that families can be found. In this time they deteriorate and become unusable specimens for study. Especially true with plastination. Bodies need to be really freshly dead for this process. [LMYEars adds: Which is why some people are reluctant to be organ donors - that rush to freshness, and the cold clinical mindset that informs their education and practice. For a great piece on this mindset, read Annihilating Terry Sciavo, Commentary, June 2006.]
"There IS a big difference between legitimate medical study and these grotesque displays, however. Ethical oversight. See also Lucia Tanassi's (Vanderbilt Univ) professional investigation as an ethicist. You hit the nail right on the head, Lend Me Your Ears, and the post by the Institute referenced the problem as well. They admit openly that there are no regulations, so why should they be concerned - ?
"They don't need to comply with the kinds of standards for, say, an anatomy lab. They don't care and they don't have to. They found a VERY lucrative loophole. [That struck me, too. If this is all about education and informing the public, why charge so much? We can go to the U. of Utah's Museum of Art and see some 70 paintings from Van Gogh to Matisse for FREE.]
"And Von Hagens is NOT off the hook from an 'unclaimed' bodies perspective. He used 'unclaimed' Chinese bodies to open this whole market and realize his grotesque vision. He's a vampire and a ghoul." [Today, I thought he was very much like a Doctor Frankenstein, only new and revised, more urbane - we can't give you eternal life, but by placing you on display in this lulling macabre way, you can achieve a reasonable likeness of immortality - all in the name of science! Why am I not surprised that China is so involved in this!]
Thank you, Mom de Guerre!
September 9, 2008 10:08 AM
Monday, September 8, 2008
So This Leonardo Center Body Worlds Ethics Debate Cranks Up - 'Bout Time!
Here's some of the discussion that the public should be having about Dr. Gunter von Hagen's Body Worlds coming soon to The Leonardo Arts and Science Center.
My main point: Amid all this controversial art and science, in 50 to 100 years, we might have cheapened life to such a degree that such a lack of reverence could make wars and destruction of human life less abhorrant and more clinical as in Nazi Germany, but with much greater consequence.
Again, Russia and China already have a long record of abuses in this arena. And they seem heavily intoxicated by this plastics fervor.
So, I'm a little reluctant to subsidized these callous secularist attitudes with my $20 educator's discount. And so should be a large part of Utah!
[Have we calculated a carbon footprint for plastinating all these thousands of bodies?]
Responding to my blog...Body Donation for Plastination said... Budding reporters wishing to learn the anatomy of media bias need look no further than Neda Ulaby’s series on public anatomical exhibitions or “cadaver shows,” as she insists on calling them. In her broadcasts and Reporter’s Notebook (NPR, All Things Considered, Aug 11-12) she plays fast and loose with principles of journalism [So I said: I'm not so sure it's "fast & loose." Advocacy journalism raises quick questions that deserve answers.], such as the discipline of verification and the identification of sources [Something the cadaver papers lack, too, and also need to shore up.].
In “Origins of Exhibited Cadavers Questioned,” where the lone voice questioning the origins of the specimens in Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS is Ulaby herself [Wait a minute, I'm here wondering about it too. And I know how quickly so-called experts can sign-on when it's something they really want.], she states that though the donor death certificates have been matched with donor forms by renowned ethicist, Dr. Hans Martin Sass, “there’s no clear paper trail from willing donors to exhibited bodies.” On the contrary, there is a very clear paper trail between deceased donors and plastinated specimens that falls within the bounds of medical confidentiality. [Understood, but she's saying those "bounds" have been muddied and made murky.]
The Institute for Plastination has made as much donor information as possible available to museum lawyers and bio-ethicists, without violating the code of medical confidentiality. We will reveal the same information willingly to any legitimate government authority with jurisdiction in Germany that also honors medical confidentiality. “[Dr. von Hagens] says each body he displays can be accounted for, but he is unwilling to make public a complete paper trail,” Ulaby reports. Her objection appears to be that the Institute for Plastination does not release confidential medical information to the media. [A well-founded distrust.]
We have learned from the past about reporters’ lack of discernment about matters of privacy. Before Dr. von Hagens conducted a public autopsy in London, the relatives of the deceased man, whose body was to be autopsied, reassured journalists that their father had agreed to the procedure but asked that his name be withheld. Several of the reporters broke their agreement and revealed the man’s identity. We learned too from the case of Paul Jernigan, the death penalty inmate who was executed in Texas, and his body used for the "Visible Human Project." Many journalists stalked Jernigan’s family to get their stories, without any regard for the family’s grief. We are acutely sensitive to the fact that the donors willed only their post mortal bodies for the education of many—not their personal lives, case histories, or any other aspect of their earthly lives—and will not violate the code of medical confidentiality to satisfy reporters’ curiosity. [You miss her point that they should be verified by an independent agency, not just ethicists who got discounts on their tickets.] Ulaby, as prosecutor [This weakens your argument. She has legitimate concerns where the paper trails break down.], decides that Dr. von Hagens -- an anatomist who invented Plastination in 1977 at the University of Heidelberg to improve medical education for his students -- is guilty of using executed Chinese prisoners in the BODY WORLDS exhibitions until he proves himself innocent.[I think a prima facie burden has been met, throwing doubt on the process - his turn to respond.] “He says that he obtains them all only through trusted sources, but no outsider has verified that they might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public,” she reports. The onus apparently is on Dr. von Hagens -- the only anatomist presenting an anatomical exhibition, the only presenter of anatomical exhibitions with a body donation program of more than 8,500 donors, nearly all of them European -- to prove that the specimens in his exhibitions “might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public.”[Oh, stop with the self-righteous "such a man as this" argument. He's the only one because for many professionals, there remain serious ethical-religious reservations about such exhibition practices.] Ulaby has no problem, however, with copycat exhibits
[But I do. And here's why: Amid all this controversial art and science, in 50 to 100 years, we might have cheapened life to such a degree that such a lack of reverence could make wars and destruction of human life less abhorrant and more clinical as in Nazi Germany, but with much greater consequence. Again, Russia and China already have a long record of abuses in this arena. So, I'm a little reluctant to subsidized these attitudes with my $20 educator's discount. And so should be a large part of Utah.]
that use only unclaimed and found bodies from China, have no donor programs, and do not have a paper trail, let alone documents. “Critics say that at best those bodies probably belonged to people too poor to have been buried properly.” In other words, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a 33 year career anatomist with an established donor program of mostly German donors, must prove that he does not use executed Chinese prisoners in his exhibit, while publicly traded exhibition companies that use only unclaimed and found Chinese bodies are exempt from Ulaby’s suspicions. This is not simply journalistic bias, it smacks of bigotry.Currently, there is no national or international law or ethical imperative of informed consent for anatomical specimens. In fact, the majority of anatomical specimens in the world originate from unclaimed bodies. In Maryland, for example, any unclaimed body is by law handed over to the State Anatomical Board, embalmed and distributed for a fee to anatomical institutes around the country. Even in Great Britain under the supervision of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy (presently Dr. Jeremy Metters), human plastinates are not tracked. Skeletons are sold freely in all countries and are even available via the Internet. Compared to plastinates, these skeletons consist of 100 percent human tissue (plastinates are around 30 percent) and there is no international standard of informed consent. Dr. Gunther von Hagens conceived the world’s first and only body donation program for Plastination to uphold no one else’s standards but his own.For more information:www.bodyworlds.comFor ethics report:http://www.koerperwelten.de/Downloads/ethics_summary.pdf-Institute for Plastination and BODY WORLDS, Office for Body Donation September 8, 2008 9:42 AM
My main point: Amid all this controversial art and science, in 50 to 100 years, we might have cheapened life to such a degree that such a lack of reverence could make wars and destruction of human life less abhorrant and more clinical as in Nazi Germany, but with much greater consequence.
Again, Russia and China already have a long record of abuses in this arena. And they seem heavily intoxicated by this plastics fervor.
So, I'm a little reluctant to subsidized these callous secularist attitudes with my $20 educator's discount. And so should be a large part of Utah!
[Have we calculated a carbon footprint for plastinating all these thousands of bodies?]
Responding to my blog...Body Donation for Plastination said... Budding reporters wishing to learn the anatomy of media bias need look no further than Neda Ulaby’s series on public anatomical exhibitions or “cadaver shows,” as she insists on calling them. In her broadcasts and Reporter’s Notebook (NPR, All Things Considered, Aug 11-12) she plays fast and loose with principles of journalism [So I said: I'm not so sure it's "fast & loose." Advocacy journalism raises quick questions that deserve answers.], such as the discipline of verification and the identification of sources [Something the cadaver papers lack, too, and also need to shore up.].
In “Origins of Exhibited Cadavers Questioned,” where the lone voice questioning the origins of the specimens in Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS is Ulaby herself [Wait a minute, I'm here wondering about it too. And I know how quickly so-called experts can sign-on when it's something they really want.], she states that though the donor death certificates have been matched with donor forms by renowned ethicist, Dr. Hans Martin Sass, “there’s no clear paper trail from willing donors to exhibited bodies.” On the contrary, there is a very clear paper trail between deceased donors and plastinated specimens that falls within the bounds of medical confidentiality. [Understood, but she's saying those "bounds" have been muddied and made murky.]
The Institute for Plastination has made as much donor information as possible available to museum lawyers and bio-ethicists, without violating the code of medical confidentiality. We will reveal the same information willingly to any legitimate government authority with jurisdiction in Germany that also honors medical confidentiality. “[Dr. von Hagens] says each body he displays can be accounted for, but he is unwilling to make public a complete paper trail,” Ulaby reports. Her objection appears to be that the Institute for Plastination does not release confidential medical information to the media. [A well-founded distrust.]
We have learned from the past about reporters’ lack of discernment about matters of privacy. Before Dr. von Hagens conducted a public autopsy in London, the relatives of the deceased man, whose body was to be autopsied, reassured journalists that their father had agreed to the procedure but asked that his name be withheld. Several of the reporters broke their agreement and revealed the man’s identity. We learned too from the case of Paul Jernigan, the death penalty inmate who was executed in Texas, and his body used for the "Visible Human Project." Many journalists stalked Jernigan’s family to get their stories, without any regard for the family’s grief. We are acutely sensitive to the fact that the donors willed only their post mortal bodies for the education of many—not their personal lives, case histories, or any other aspect of their earthly lives—and will not violate the code of medical confidentiality to satisfy reporters’ curiosity. [You miss her point that they should be verified by an independent agency, not just ethicists who got discounts on their tickets.] Ulaby, as prosecutor [This weakens your argument. She has legitimate concerns where the paper trails break down.], decides that Dr. von Hagens -- an anatomist who invented Plastination in 1977 at the University of Heidelberg to improve medical education for his students -- is guilty of using executed Chinese prisoners in the BODY WORLDS exhibitions until he proves himself innocent.[I think a prima facie burden has been met, throwing doubt on the process - his turn to respond.] “He says that he obtains them all only through trusted sources, but no outsider has verified that they might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public,” she reports. The onus apparently is on Dr. von Hagens -- the only anatomist presenting an anatomical exhibition, the only presenter of anatomical exhibitions with a body donation program of more than 8,500 donors, nearly all of them European -- to prove that the specimens in his exhibitions “might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public.”[Oh, stop with the self-righteous "such a man as this" argument. He's the only one because for many professionals, there remain serious ethical-religious reservations about such exhibition practices.] Ulaby has no problem, however, with copycat exhibits
[But I do. And here's why: Amid all this controversial art and science, in 50 to 100 years, we might have cheapened life to such a degree that such a lack of reverence could make wars and destruction of human life less abhorrant and more clinical as in Nazi Germany, but with much greater consequence. Again, Russia and China already have a long record of abuses in this arena. So, I'm a little reluctant to subsidized these attitudes with my $20 educator's discount. And so should be a large part of Utah.]
that use only unclaimed and found bodies from China, have no donor programs, and do not have a paper trail, let alone documents. “Critics say that at best those bodies probably belonged to people too poor to have been buried properly.” In other words, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a 33 year career anatomist with an established donor program of mostly German donors, must prove that he does not use executed Chinese prisoners in his exhibit, while publicly traded exhibition companies that use only unclaimed and found Chinese bodies are exempt from Ulaby’s suspicions. This is not simply journalistic bias, it smacks of bigotry.Currently, there is no national or international law or ethical imperative of informed consent for anatomical specimens. In fact, the majority of anatomical specimens in the world originate from unclaimed bodies. In Maryland, for example, any unclaimed body is by law handed over to the State Anatomical Board, embalmed and distributed for a fee to anatomical institutes around the country. Even in Great Britain under the supervision of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy (presently Dr. Jeremy Metters), human plastinates are not tracked. Skeletons are sold freely in all countries and are even available via the Internet. Compared to plastinates, these skeletons consist of 100 percent human tissue (plastinates are around 30 percent) and there is no international standard of informed consent. Dr. Gunther von Hagens conceived the world’s first and only body donation program for Plastination to uphold no one else’s standards but his own.For more information:www.bodyworlds.comFor ethics report:http://www.koerperwelten.de/Downloads/ethics_summary.pdf-Institute for Plastination and BODY WORLDS, Office for Body Donation September 8, 2008 9:42 AM
Body Worlds Responds Swiftly to Criticisms of Leonardo Center Exhibit
I criticized the Leonardo's exhibit of Body Worlds and stirred a hornet's nest with a post made early this morning.
It must have touched some nerve - some corporate nerve sensitive to public criticism.
However, it is no accident that this type of enterprise thrives in communist countries where the worth of the individual is subordinate to the collective lust for knowledge, and where reverence for human life and sexuality is reduced, not to a chunk of earth or to a quintessence of dust, but, sex, to a mere drink of water (Stalin) and human life to a preserved body in a glass case on Red Square (Lenin) - worshipped, revered, and preserved for future generations of uber-scientists and social engineers.
Again, it's no accident that in the three countries that have sponsored mass executions in the last century - Germany, Russia and China - traffic and commerce of these bodies is the most fierce; and that such coinage of flesh is so indifferent, save for the art of achieving some secularist immortality.
Likewise, it is no accident that such an exhibit should stir up such controversy than here in the United States - one of the most religious countries in the world. I'm a tad concerned this exhibit Body Worlds originates in Europe, where religious faith and practice has waned in the past several scores of years.
In a PBS special on medical school at Harvard, a young med student said that in her gross anatomy class she got a little teary-eyed for the old woman who lay on the table. She said she wept openly for the woman in that first anatomy session, such was the reverence we should all have for human life. However, this exhibition, with its "noisy crowds" precludes the studied awe von Hagen's work could inspire.
But I sense that medical secularists in Utah make shrewd decisions to teach those hocus-pocus Mormons a thing or two about their bodies, and also shed some light on their supposed focus on the heart as the locus of spirit.
They need to spend a night reading Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring, Henry J. Eyring, 2007 ISBN-13:978-1-59038-854-9.
And then spend a weekend gappling with Evolution and Mormonism: A Quest for Understanding, Stephens, Meldrum, Peterson, 2001. ISBN 1-56085-142-2 (pbk.)
[If this is a personal response, thank you to "Body Donation for Plastination".]
Here's the response that my blog this morning generated:
Body Donation for Plastination said...
Budding reporters wishing to learn the anatomy of media bias need look no further than Neda Ulaby’s series on public anatomical exhibitions or “cadaver shows,” as she insists on calling them. In her broadcasts and Reporter’s Notebook (NPR, All Things Considered, Aug 11-12) she plays fast and loose with principles of journalism [So I said: I'm not so sure it's "fast & loose." Advocacy journalism raises quick questions that deserve answers.], such as the discipline of verification and the identification of sources [Something the cadaver papers lack, too, and need shoring up.].
In “Origins of Exhibited Cadavers Questioned,” where the lone voice questioning the origins of the specimens in Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS is Ulaby herself [Wait a minute, I'm here wondering about it too. And I know how quickly so-called experts can sign-on when it's something they really want.], she states that though the donor death certificates have been matched with donor forms by renowned ethicist, Dr. Hans Martin Sass, “there’s no clear paper trail from willing donors to exhibited bodies.” On the contrary, there is a very clear paper trail between deceased donors and plastinated specimens that falls within the bounds of medical confidentiality. [Understood, but she's saying those "bounds" have been muddied and made murky.]
The Institute for Plastination has made as much donor information as possible available to museum lawyers and bio-ethicists, without violating the code of medical confidentiality. We will reveal the same information willingly to any legitimate government authority with jurisdiction in Germany that also honors medical confidentiality. “[Dr. von Hagens] says each body he displays can be accounted for, but he is unwilling to make public a complete paper trail,” Ulaby reports. Her objection appears to be that the Institute for Plastination does not release confidential medical information to the media. [A well-founded distrust.] We have learned from the past about reporters’ lack of discernment about matters of privacy. Before Dr. von Hagens conducted a public autopsy in London, the relatives of the deceased man, whose body was to be autopsied, reassured journalists that their father had agreed to the procedure but asked that his name be withheld. Several of the reporters broke their agreement and revealed the man’s identity. We learned too from the case of Paul Jernigan, the death penalty inmate who was executed in Texas, and his body used for the "Visible Human Project." Many journalists stalked Jernigan’s family to get their stories, without any regard for the family’s grief. We are acutely sensitive to the fact that the donors willed only their post mortal bodies for the education of many—not their personal lives, case histories, or any other aspect of their earthly lives—and will not violate the code of medical confidentiality to satisfy reporters’ curiosity. [You miss her point that they should be verified by an independent agency, not just ethicists who got discounts on their tickets.] Ulaby, as prosecutor [This weakens your argument. She has legitimate concerns where the paper trails break down.], decides that Dr. von Hagens -- an anatomist who invented Plastination in 1977 at the University of Heidelberg to improve medical education for his students -- is guilty of using executed Chinese prisoners in the BODY WORLDS exhibitions until he proves himself innocent.[I think a prima facie burden has been met, throwing doubt on the process - his turn to respond.] “He says that he obtains them all only through trusted sources, but no outsider has verified that they might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public,” she reports. The onus apparently is on Dr. von Hagens -- the only anatomist presenting an anatomical exhibition, the only presenter of anatomical exhibitions with a body donation program of more than 8,500 donors, nearly all of them European -- to prove that the specimens in his exhibitions “might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public.”[Oh, stop with the self-righteous "such a man as this" argument. He's the only one because for many professionals, there remain serious ethical-religious reservations about such exhibition practices.] Ulaby has no problem, however, with copycat exhibits
[But I do. And here's why: Amid all this controversial art and science, in 50 to 100 years, we might have cheapened life to such a degree that such a lack of reverence could make wars and destruction of human life less abhorrant and more clinical as in Nazi Germany, but with much greater consequence. Again, Russia and China already have a long record of abuses in this arena. So, I'm a little reluctant to subsidized these attitudes with my $20 educator's discount. And so should be a large part of Utah.]
that use only unclaimed and found bodies from China, have no donor programs, and do not have a paper trail, let alone documents. “Critics say that at best those bodies probably belonged to people too poor to have been buried properly.” In other words, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a 33 year career anatomist with an established donor program of mostly German donors, must prove that he does not use executed Chinese prisoners in his exhibit, while publicly traded exhibition companies that use only unclaimed and found Chinese bodies are exempt from Ulaby’s suspicions. This is not simply journalistic bias, it smacks of bigotry.Currently, there is no national or international law or ethical imperative of informed consent for anatomical specimens. In fact, the majority of anatomical specimens in the world originate from unclaimed bodies. In Maryland, for example, any unclaimed body is by law handed over to the State Anatomical Board, embalmed and distributed for a fee to anatomical institutes around the country. Even in Great Britain under the supervision of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy (presently Dr. Jeremy Metters), human plastinates are not tracked. Skeletons are sold freely in all countries and are even available via the Internet. Compared to plastinates, these skeletons consist of 100 percent human tissue (plastinates are around 30 percent) and there is no international standard of informed consent. Dr. Gunther von Hagens conceived the world’s first and only body donation program for Plastination to uphold no one else’s standards but his own.For more information:www.bodyworlds.comFor ethics report:http://www.koerperwelten.de/Downloads/ethics_summary.pdf-Institute for Plastination and BODY WORLDS, Office for Body Donation
September 8, 2008 9:42 AM
It must have touched some nerve - some corporate nerve sensitive to public criticism.
However, it is no accident that this type of enterprise thrives in communist countries where the worth of the individual is subordinate to the collective lust for knowledge, and where reverence for human life and sexuality is reduced, not to a chunk of earth or to a quintessence of dust, but, sex, to a mere drink of water (Stalin) and human life to a preserved body in a glass case on Red Square (Lenin) - worshipped, revered, and preserved for future generations of uber-scientists and social engineers.
Again, it's no accident that in the three countries that have sponsored mass executions in the last century - Germany, Russia and China - traffic and commerce of these bodies is the most fierce; and that such coinage of flesh is so indifferent, save for the art of achieving some secularist immortality.
Likewise, it is no accident that such an exhibit should stir up such controversy than here in the United States - one of the most religious countries in the world. I'm a tad concerned this exhibit Body Worlds originates in Europe, where religious faith and practice has waned in the past several scores of years.
In a PBS special on medical school at Harvard, a young med student said that in her gross anatomy class she got a little teary-eyed for the old woman who lay on the table. She said she wept openly for the woman in that first anatomy session, such was the reverence we should all have for human life. However, this exhibition, with its "noisy crowds" precludes the studied awe von Hagen's work could inspire.
But I sense that medical secularists in Utah make shrewd decisions to teach those hocus-pocus Mormons a thing or two about their bodies, and also shed some light on their supposed focus on the heart as the locus of spirit.
They need to spend a night reading Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring, Henry J. Eyring, 2007 ISBN-13:978-1-59038-854-9.
And then spend a weekend gappling with Evolution and Mormonism: A Quest for Understanding, Stephens, Meldrum, Peterson, 2001. ISBN 1-56085-142-2 (pbk.)
[If this is a personal response, thank you to "Body Donation for Plastination".]
Here's the response that my blog this morning generated:
Body Donation for Plastination said...
Budding reporters wishing to learn the anatomy of media bias need look no further than Neda Ulaby’s series on public anatomical exhibitions or “cadaver shows,” as she insists on calling them. In her broadcasts and Reporter’s Notebook (NPR, All Things Considered, Aug 11-12) she plays fast and loose with principles of journalism [So I said: I'm not so sure it's "fast & loose." Advocacy journalism raises quick questions that deserve answers.], such as the discipline of verification and the identification of sources [Something the cadaver papers lack, too, and need shoring up.].
In “Origins of Exhibited Cadavers Questioned,” where the lone voice questioning the origins of the specimens in Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS is Ulaby herself [Wait a minute, I'm here wondering about it too. And I know how quickly so-called experts can sign-on when it's something they really want.], she states that though the donor death certificates have been matched with donor forms by renowned ethicist, Dr. Hans Martin Sass, “there’s no clear paper trail from willing donors to exhibited bodies.” On the contrary, there is a very clear paper trail between deceased donors and plastinated specimens that falls within the bounds of medical confidentiality. [Understood, but she's saying those "bounds" have been muddied and made murky.]
The Institute for Plastination has made as much donor information as possible available to museum lawyers and bio-ethicists, without violating the code of medical confidentiality. We will reveal the same information willingly to any legitimate government authority with jurisdiction in Germany that also honors medical confidentiality. “[Dr. von Hagens] says each body he displays can be accounted for, but he is unwilling to make public a complete paper trail,” Ulaby reports. Her objection appears to be that the Institute for Plastination does not release confidential medical information to the media. [A well-founded distrust.] We have learned from the past about reporters’ lack of discernment about matters of privacy. Before Dr. von Hagens conducted a public autopsy in London, the relatives of the deceased man, whose body was to be autopsied, reassured journalists that their father had agreed to the procedure but asked that his name be withheld. Several of the reporters broke their agreement and revealed the man’s identity. We learned too from the case of Paul Jernigan, the death penalty inmate who was executed in Texas, and his body used for the "Visible Human Project." Many journalists stalked Jernigan’s family to get their stories, without any regard for the family’s grief. We are acutely sensitive to the fact that the donors willed only their post mortal bodies for the education of many—not their personal lives, case histories, or any other aspect of their earthly lives—and will not violate the code of medical confidentiality to satisfy reporters’ curiosity. [You miss her point that they should be verified by an independent agency, not just ethicists who got discounts on their tickets.] Ulaby, as prosecutor [This weakens your argument. She has legitimate concerns where the paper trails break down.], decides that Dr. von Hagens -- an anatomist who invented Plastination in 1977 at the University of Heidelberg to improve medical education for his students -- is guilty of using executed Chinese prisoners in the BODY WORLDS exhibitions until he proves himself innocent.[I think a prima facie burden has been met, throwing doubt on the process - his turn to respond.] “He says that he obtains them all only through trusted sources, but no outsider has verified that they might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public,” she reports. The onus apparently is on Dr. von Hagens -- the only anatomist presenting an anatomical exhibition, the only presenter of anatomical exhibitions with a body donation program of more than 8,500 donors, nearly all of them European -- to prove that the specimens in his exhibitions “might not be, in a worst case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public.”[Oh, stop with the self-righteous "such a man as this" argument. He's the only one because for many professionals, there remain serious ethical-religious reservations about such exhibition practices.] Ulaby has no problem, however, with copycat exhibits
[But I do. And here's why: Amid all this controversial art and science, in 50 to 100 years, we might have cheapened life to such a degree that such a lack of reverence could make wars and destruction of human life less abhorrant and more clinical as in Nazi Germany, but with much greater consequence. Again, Russia and China already have a long record of abuses in this arena. So, I'm a little reluctant to subsidized these attitudes with my $20 educator's discount. And so should be a large part of Utah.]
that use only unclaimed and found bodies from China, have no donor programs, and do not have a paper trail, let alone documents. “Critics say that at best those bodies probably belonged to people too poor to have been buried properly.” In other words, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a 33 year career anatomist with an established donor program of mostly German donors, must prove that he does not use executed Chinese prisoners in his exhibit, while publicly traded exhibition companies that use only unclaimed and found Chinese bodies are exempt from Ulaby’s suspicions. This is not simply journalistic bias, it smacks of bigotry.Currently, there is no national or international law or ethical imperative of informed consent for anatomical specimens. In fact, the majority of anatomical specimens in the world originate from unclaimed bodies. In Maryland, for example, any unclaimed body is by law handed over to the State Anatomical Board, embalmed and distributed for a fee to anatomical institutes around the country. Even in Great Britain under the supervision of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy (presently Dr. Jeremy Metters), human plastinates are not tracked. Skeletons are sold freely in all countries and are even available via the Internet. Compared to plastinates, these skeletons consist of 100 percent human tissue (plastinates are around 30 percent) and there is no international standard of informed consent. Dr. Gunther von Hagens conceived the world’s first and only body donation program for Plastination to uphold no one else’s standards but his own.For more information:www.bodyworlds.comFor ethics report:http://www.koerperwelten.de/Downloads/ethics_summary.pdf-Institute for Plastination and BODY WORLDS, Office for Body Donation
September 8, 2008 9:42 AM
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Serious Ethical Questions Remain on Leonardo Center's Cadaver Exhibit
Despite assurances from Utah ethics boards, endorsements from the Utah Office of Education and other glowing letters, there are serious lingering questions surrounding the Leonardo Center's Body Worlds exhibit.
NPR reporter Neda Ulaby filed this report August 10, 2006 on All Things Considered. Her title: Cadaver Exhibits Are Part Science, Part Sideshow indicates some of the problem with the exhibit.
"...The shows, featuring corpses that have been preserved and solidified through a process called plastination, have been wildly successful. But they also have been dogged by criticism.
"One delicate ethical concern stands out above all the others: whether the bodies were legitimately obtained. Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the inventor of plastination and the impresario behind the Body Worlds exhibitions, says that every whole body exhibited in North America comes from fully informed European and American donors, who gave permission, in writing, for their bodies to be displayed. The science museums that have hosted Body Worlds also make this assurance.
"'What I certainly never use for public exhibitions are unclaimed bodies, prisoners, bodies from mental institutions and executed prisoners,' von Hagens says."
"Von Hagens was not charged with any wrongdoing, and says his cadavers are obtained only through proper legal and ethical channels.
"Dr. von Hagens also plastinates and sells many hundreds of unclaimed bodies obtained from Chinese medical schools for educational purposes. He says that he obtains them all only through trusted sources, but no outsider has verified that they might not be, in a worst-case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public.
"Still, NPR has learned there's no clear paper trail from willing donors to exhibited bodies. People donating their bodies to von Hagens send consent forms to his Institute for Plastination. They pay to have their bodies transported to a plastination facility. There, their donor forms and death certificates are checked.
"That paperwork is then separated from the bodies, which can be used for displays or sold in pieces to medical schools. No one will know for sure, because each plastinated corpse is made anonymous to protect its privacy.
"Hans Martin Sass, a philosophy professor with a speciality in ethics, was hired by the California Science Center to investigate Body Worlds before the show's U.S. debut in 2004. He matched over 200 donation forms to death certificates, but he did not match the paperwork to specific bodies von Hagens has on display.
"Body Worlds should not be confused with its competitor, BODIES... The Exhibition. Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds is now in St. Paul, Minn., Houston and Boston. BODIES... The Exhibition is in Tampa, Fla., Atlanta, Las Vegas and New York City.
"Roy Glover, spokesman for BODIES... The Exhibition, says its cadavers -- all from China -- did not come from willing donors.
"'They're unclaimed,' Glover says. 'We don't hide from it, we address it right up front.'
For that reason, many venues will not display BODIES... The Exhibition. Groups such as the Laogai Research Foundation, which documents human rights abuse in China, have charged that the category of unclaimed bodies in China includes executed political prisoners.
"When BODIES... The Exhibition opened first in Tampa, Fla., last summer, the state anatomical board requested documentation proving the corpses were ethically obtained. Dr. Lynn Romrell, who chairs the board, says it got only a letter from the show's Chinese plastinator asserting that they were.
"He stated that none of the material came from criminal institutions or homes from the mentally insane. But just his word on that, no documents," Romrell says.
"Romrell wanted to close the exhibition down, but says the state anatomical board lacked the authority.
"The owner of Body Worlds says each body he displays can be accounted for, but he is unwilling to make public a complete paper trail. His competition, BODIES... The Exhibition, relies on documentation from a country with a problematic human rights record. Even at best, its exhibitors say the bodies were not formally donated by people who agreed to be displayed.
Despite questions about the two exhibitions, both continue to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors around the country, and some museums are even thinking about adding plastinates to their permanent collections.
"Signs at the exhibition's entrance stated that the bodies had been voluntarily donated under the auspices of the Institute for Plastination. Well, what was that? Looking into the shows, I learned the IFP was another arm of Dr. von Hagens' buisness empire. In other words, Dr. von Hagens was basically tasked with ensuring that Dr. von Hagens' exhibition was ethical and legitimate.
"NPR learned that the Franklin Institute and similar science centers around North America that have hosted Body Worlds relied on research commissioned by the California Science Center when it first brought the show to the United States in 2004. (This was done by Hans-Martin Sass, who appears in my story.) That research verified that there is a pool of some two hundred death certificates that matched donor forms. But as I looked into the story, I found that no independent observer has matched those documents to the bodies on display. That means there is no clear paper trail from a deceased donor to a finished plastinate.
"Nor has an independent observer ensured that the unclaimed Chinese bodies von Hagens uses in his medical-school-supply business are not turning up on display in the Body Worlds shows. Again, von Hagens categorically declares that he obtains his cadavers ethically; the point here is that the U.S. science centers who have put the bodies on display have conveyed the impression that an independent verification of this has been made.
"Besides the original ethical review, the science centers involved have also reassured patrons that they've turned to "ethics panels" or "advisory boards" of local clerics and academics to ensure that the bodies displayed have spotless ethical pedigrees. But after I interviewed scores of people at various science musuems, it became clear those boards hadn't been asked to seriously engage with the shows' ethical pitfalls. Instead, the board members were more or less charged with marketing the shows to their respective communities."
"For example, he'd been a political prisoner himself in the former East Germany. Or that there's a German horror movie, Anatomie, inspired by his plastinates. Or that von Hagens once danced while costumed as a plastinate in Berlin's famous Love Parade. In Europe some of von Hagens' publicity stunts reveled in sexuality, but his strategy in the United States. has been considerably more subdued. "
NPR reporter Neda Ulaby filed this report August 10, 2006 on All Things Considered. Her title: Cadaver Exhibits Are Part Science, Part Sideshow indicates some of the problem with the exhibit.
"...The shows, featuring corpses that have been preserved and solidified through a process called plastination, have been wildly successful. But they also have been dogged by criticism.
"One delicate ethical concern stands out above all the others: whether the bodies were legitimately obtained. Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the inventor of plastination and the impresario behind the Body Worlds exhibitions, says that every whole body exhibited in North America comes from fully informed European and American donors, who gave permission, in writing, for their bodies to be displayed. The science museums that have hosted Body Worlds also make this assurance.
"'What I certainly never use for public exhibitions are unclaimed bodies, prisoners, bodies from mental institutions and executed prisoners,' von Hagens says."
According to reporter Ulaby, "Chinese medical schools supply von Hagens with unclaimed bodies, which he plastinates and sells to universities. Von Hagens used to take cadavers from the former Soviet Union, but he stopped after body-trafficking scandals in Russia and the Kyrgyz Republic."
Given the recent Olympic Chinese gymnast scandal, China cannot be trusted with their paper trails. AP reporter Nancy Armour stated that previous lists on the website of the General Administration of Sport of China in 2004, 2005 and 2006 poated both athletes in question - He and Yang - with birth dates that made them ineligible. According to those lists, He was born January 1, 1994. Yang was born August 26, 1993. In 2007, Yang's birthdate changed to August 26, 1992. But back to this cadaver controversy and NPR reporter Ulaby.
"Five years ago, customs officers intercepted 56 bodies and hundreds of brain samples sent from the Novosibirsk Medical Academy to von Hagens' lab in Heidelberg, Germany. The cadavers were traced to a Russian medical examiner who was convicted last year of illegally selling the bodies of homeless people, prisoners and indigent hospital patients."Von Hagens was not charged with any wrongdoing, and says his cadavers are obtained only through proper legal and ethical channels.
"Dr. von Hagens also plastinates and sells many hundreds of unclaimed bodies obtained from Chinese medical schools for educational purposes. He says that he obtains them all only through trusted sources, but no outsider has verified that they might not be, in a worst-case scenario, dissidents killed in a Chinese prison, then sold through a body broker to a medical school, and then displayed to the public.
"Still, NPR has learned there's no clear paper trail from willing donors to exhibited bodies. People donating their bodies to von Hagens send consent forms to his Institute for Plastination. They pay to have their bodies transported to a plastination facility. There, their donor forms and death certificates are checked.
"That paperwork is then separated from the bodies, which can be used for displays or sold in pieces to medical schools. No one will know for sure, because each plastinated corpse is made anonymous to protect its privacy.
"Hans Martin Sass, a philosophy professor with a speciality in ethics, was hired by the California Science Center to investigate Body Worlds before the show's U.S. debut in 2004. He matched over 200 donation forms to death certificates, but he did not match the paperwork to specific bodies von Hagens has on display.
"Body Worlds should not be confused with its competitor, BODIES... The Exhibition. Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds is now in St. Paul, Minn., Houston and Boston. BODIES... The Exhibition is in Tampa, Fla., Atlanta, Las Vegas and New York City.
"Roy Glover, spokesman for BODIES... The Exhibition, says its cadavers -- all from China -- did not come from willing donors.
"'They're unclaimed,' Glover says. 'We don't hide from it, we address it right up front.'
For that reason, many venues will not display BODIES... The Exhibition. Groups such as the Laogai Research Foundation, which documents human rights abuse in China, have charged that the category of unclaimed bodies in China includes executed political prisoners.
"When BODIES... The Exhibition opened first in Tampa, Fla., last summer, the state anatomical board requested documentation proving the corpses were ethically obtained. Dr. Lynn Romrell, who chairs the board, says it got only a letter from the show's Chinese plastinator asserting that they were.
"He stated that none of the material came from criminal institutions or homes from the mentally insane. But just his word on that, no documents," Romrell says.
"Romrell wanted to close the exhibition down, but says the state anatomical board lacked the authority.
"The owner of Body Worlds says each body he displays can be accounted for, but he is unwilling to make public a complete paper trail. His competition, BODIES... The Exhibition, relies on documentation from a country with a problematic human rights record. Even at best, its exhibitors say the bodies were not formally donated by people who agreed to be displayed.
Despite questions about the two exhibitions, both continue to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors around the country, and some museums are even thinking about adding plastinates to their permanent collections.
"Signs at the exhibition's entrance stated that the bodies had been voluntarily donated under the auspices of the Institute for Plastination. Well, what was that? Looking into the shows, I learned the IFP was another arm of Dr. von Hagens' buisness empire. In other words, Dr. von Hagens was basically tasked with ensuring that Dr. von Hagens' exhibition was ethical and legitimate.
"NPR learned that the Franklin Institute and similar science centers around North America that have hosted Body Worlds relied on research commissioned by the California Science Center when it first brought the show to the United States in 2004. (This was done by Hans-Martin Sass, who appears in my story.) That research verified that there is a pool of some two hundred death certificates that matched donor forms. But as I looked into the story, I found that no independent observer has matched those documents to the bodies on display. That means there is no clear paper trail from a deceased donor to a finished plastinate.
"Nor has an independent observer ensured that the unclaimed Chinese bodies von Hagens uses in his medical-school-supply business are not turning up on display in the Body Worlds shows. Again, von Hagens categorically declares that he obtains his cadavers ethically; the point here is that the U.S. science centers who have put the bodies on display have conveyed the impression that an independent verification of this has been made.
"Besides the original ethical review, the science centers involved have also reassured patrons that they've turned to "ethics panels" or "advisory boards" of local clerics and academics to ensure that the bodies displayed have spotless ethical pedigrees. But after I interviewed scores of people at various science musuems, it became clear those boards hadn't been asked to seriously engage with the shows' ethical pitfalls. Instead, the board members were more or less charged with marketing the shows to their respective communities."
"For example, he'd been a political prisoner himself in the former East Germany. Or that there's a German horror movie, Anatomie, inspired by his plastinates. Or that von Hagens once danced while costumed as a plastinate in Berlin's famous Love Parade. In Europe some of von Hagens' publicity stunts reveled in sexuality, but his strategy in the United States. has been considerably more subdued. "
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sarah Palin versus Political Punditry
Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin's entry into this election reminds all that it is not the elites who rule this country, but regular folk with problems.
Her speech this week was brilliant, making it clear that it's now time to slap on the McCain/Palin bumper stickers. We can be proud of a monumental decison, however, this election goes.
Despite all the partisan media bulldog attacks from CNN and all their pundits who wear "reporter" pins, truth will out. Solid citizenry proves the day.
Keith Oberman was a disgrace; and the rape-comm, bulldog brunette, attacking the McCain chairman, needed her slanted diatribes muzzled like a mouthy Indiana Jones heroine.
Yes! When they "take down the styrofoam Greek columns and take them back to some studio prop lot" we are left with empty rhetoric.
Barak Obama has "promoted change to further his career," while John McCain has used his "career to promote change."
In the difficult years ahead, I for one want a man that has been tried and tested to lead this country, not a confirmed but cloaked socialist cell organizer, who deliberately keeps his radical left-wing agenda hidden.
Her speech this week was brilliant, making it clear that it's now time to slap on the McCain/Palin bumper stickers. We can be proud of a monumental decison, however, this election goes.
Despite all the partisan media bulldog attacks from CNN and all their pundits who wear "reporter" pins, truth will out. Solid citizenry proves the day.
Keith Oberman was a disgrace; and the rape-comm, bulldog brunette, attacking the McCain chairman, needed her slanted diatribes muzzled like a mouthy Indiana Jones heroine.
Yes! When they "take down the styrofoam Greek columns and take them back to some studio prop lot" we are left with empty rhetoric.
Barak Obama has "promoted change to further his career," while John McCain has used his "career to promote change."
In the difficult years ahead, I for one want a man that has been tried and tested to lead this country, not a confirmed but cloaked socialist cell organizer, who deliberately keeps his radical left-wing agenda hidden.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Read About the Unknown Senator Obama
I'll be going to the New York Times Best Sellers list to read the recent book about some of the hidden Leftist actions that have defined this young man who would occupy the Oval Office.
He does not want us to learn of his Leftist leanings, because Americans would not elect him if we knew how radical he has been over the years, and how much he has been a "Good Ole Boys" politician.
He doesn't deserve the office of the President; he lacks the experience. Kennedy has served more than a decade in Congress before he ran for office.
I am struck at the upper-chin arrogance he exhibits in public forums.
When I grew up amid the turbulent 60's, Kerry's lies about Vietnam meant extreme pain at the level where my friends and I debated, yelled and eventually broke up over our disagreements.
John Kerry's, Tom Hayden's and Jane Fonda's betrayal of America created an ugly underbelly of an era that is looked on with nostalgia.
I am ashamed of you college students. Without question you swallow whole chunks of what you are fed. Everyone wants to be thought of as smart, wants to be accepted by their peers and professors.
But you should not unquestioningly reject the wisdom of your fathers.
Obama's discontent adopted a Marxist answer to the world's problems. Have we not been warned of the danger of such ideas?
Have we not lived long enough to see its failure?
The middle class is not benefitted by socialist ideas. England answered that during the Thatcher years. Even the Labour Party has had to come to terms with the same failures that Obama is foisting onto us.
He does not want us to learn of his Leftist leanings, because Americans would not elect him if we knew how radical he has been over the years, and how much he has been a "Good Ole Boys" politician.
He doesn't deserve the office of the President; he lacks the experience. Kennedy has served more than a decade in Congress before he ran for office.
I am struck at the upper-chin arrogance he exhibits in public forums.
When I grew up amid the turbulent 60's, Kerry's lies about Vietnam meant extreme pain at the level where my friends and I debated, yelled and eventually broke up over our disagreements.
John Kerry's, Tom Hayden's and Jane Fonda's betrayal of America created an ugly underbelly of an era that is looked on with nostalgia.
I am ashamed of you college students. Without question you swallow whole chunks of what you are fed. Everyone wants to be thought of as smart, wants to be accepted by their peers and professors.
But you should not unquestioningly reject the wisdom of your fathers.
Obama's discontent adopted a Marxist answer to the world's problems. Have we not been warned of the danger of such ideas?
Have we not lived long enough to see its failure?
The middle class is not benefitted by socialist ideas. England answered that during the Thatcher years. Even the Labour Party has had to come to terms with the same failures that Obama is foisting onto us.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Obama's Choice: 3 Cell Phones versus 3 Rice Cookers
Obama loves to use 3 cell phones at once, when in Cuba he'd only have 3 rice cookers - provided by the hero of the workers' revolution, El Comandante - Fidel Castro.
Mr. Obama grew to maturity in the 70's and 80's with a youthful angst against capitalist ideas, conservativism, and Ronald Reagan.
He needs to realize the source of the technology he loves to use! And it ain't an economy controlled by a central committee! No group of men and women can figure out all the market forces that are constantly adjusting to the rigors of everyone's life.
But he wants to become the head of that central committee.
Mr. Obama grew to maturity in the 70's and 80's with a youthful angst against capitalist ideas, conservativism, and Ronald Reagan.
He needs to realize the source of the technology he loves to use! And it ain't an economy controlled by a central committee! No group of men and women can figure out all the market forces that are constantly adjusting to the rigors of everyone's life.
But he wants to become the head of that central committee.
Reader Asks: At What Cost is a Beijing Breath of Fresh Air?
One reader made the following comments on China's Olympics:
"No one puts on a party like a totalitarian regime!
"Where is the international outrage that factories were closed down weeks ahead of the Olympics in order to clean up the air?
"What happens to all those factory workers? Will they eat in the coming weeks? How will they support themselves?
"How will China pay for the EXTRAVAGANT opening ceremonies? My guess, is on the backs of the people. Where are all the bleeding hearts who constantly beat the human rights drum.
"Oh, I forgot, they only beat it when it suits their political purposes.
"I'm talking about our illustrious mass media - can anyone say 'CNN the most mistrusted name in news'?"
Read blog that elicited this good reader's pointed pithy retort:
http://ofgoodreportpraiseworthy.blogspot.com/
"No one puts on a party like a totalitarian regime!
"Where is the international outrage that factories were closed down weeks ahead of the Olympics in order to clean up the air?
"What happens to all those factory workers? Will they eat in the coming weeks? How will they support themselves?
"How will China pay for the EXTRAVAGANT opening ceremonies? My guess, is on the backs of the people. Where are all the bleeding hearts who constantly beat the human rights drum.
"Oh, I forgot, they only beat it when it suits their political purposes.
"I'm talking about our illustrious mass media - can anyone say 'CNN the most mistrusted name in news'?"
Read blog that elicited this good reader's pointed pithy retort:
http://ofgoodreportpraiseworthy.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 8, 2008
No U.S. Flag on Coat Lapel nor on the Jet Tail
The website Snopes reports Obama's campaign jet dropped the American flag logo on the tail and replaced it with his own logo.
Go see for yourself; http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/airplane.asp
I guess this campaign is about change!
Go see for yourself; http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/airplane.asp
I guess this campaign is about change!
Monday, August 4, 2008
More Socialism? More Shortages in More Than Oil!
KSL Radio calls the election: "America at the Crossroads."
A crossroads of decision. Are you people nuts?
Let's move America toward a more socialist vision of the world? Scandanavia can afford to recline in socialism, primarily because the United States stands guard while they laz in their leisure.
Also, the market responds quickly to providing you the goods and services you need.
This oil crisis is a product of socialist policy aimed at regulating the oil companies. It is those regulations and policies that have kept the oil companies lethargic on this issue of dependency on foreign oil, and on not moving us toward self-sufficiency.
Give me more personal freedoms to help my fellow man! Give me freedom to ease their suffering! Not more policies, not more government! Not more bureaucrats to administrate my means!
Government protection of oil lulled the industry to a stupor.
If you want more such crisis to occur, vote for the radical leftwing candidate Obama.
A crossroads of decision. Are you people nuts?
Let's move America toward a more socialist vision of the world? Scandanavia can afford to recline in socialism, primarily because the United States stands guard while they laz in their leisure.
Also, the market responds quickly to providing you the goods and services you need.
This oil crisis is a product of socialist policy aimed at regulating the oil companies. It is those regulations and policies that have kept the oil companies lethargic on this issue of dependency on foreign oil, and on not moving us toward self-sufficiency.
Give me more personal freedoms to help my fellow man! Give me freedom to ease their suffering! Not more policies, not more government! Not more bureaucrats to administrate my means!
Government protection of oil lulled the industry to a stupor.
If you want more such crisis to occur, vote for the radical leftwing candidate Obama.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
For Cooler Info on Global Warming
Cooler Heads is a consortium of organizations on this vital issue of global warming. Their research page is invaluable as a source of information.
Go there! http://www.globalwarming.org/research
Go there! http://www.globalwarming.org/research
Crazy For You - Obama's Supporters Overboard
Barak Obama's supporters are absolutely crazy.
To see just how crazy, go to this blog: http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/
To see just how crazy, go to this blog: http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/
Saturday, July 26, 2008
RFK's Words and Some Thoughts of One's Own
The 60s were disturbing, turbulent years.
One solace we have in the world are words given to comfort, or to move us uncomfortably ahead, words spoken simply and eloquently, given in heartfelt depths of sincerity, to bind up our brokenness, and to give us courage.
To you who speak from a lectern, a pulpit or a dais - speak comfort to us, give harsh admonishment, but give us hope.
Tell us the hard things. That this battle is not yet won. That as we would look homeward for the angel of our own well-being, remember too that the Iraqi looks homeward for his peace.
And we are there for that peace, not for conquest do we stay, not for gold, riches, or oil .
But for Freedom! For all Peoples, do we stay!
For the countless number of unclaimed dead in Saddam's mass graves, do we stay! For them to be uncovered and revealed in a Day of Peace that was not theirs - but shall be for their children's children - do we stay!
We stay to complete Our Mission, and the Mission of Our Brethren and Sisters in the Field!
For when we stand where they have fallen, we stand on hallowed ground.
And we will not early abandon the hope that is theirs that they shall not have died in vain.
For this cause have they gone into the World.
Not to conquer.
But to lift the hands that hang,
to bind up the wounded heart,
to care for the widowed and their child
for those who have born the burden of this conflict,
both here at home
and there among those
Our
Iraqi brothers.
We have a hard work ahead.
God give us Grace
And Strength to not Shrink
In these days to come!
College Students Should Tap Into the Young America's Foundation
During my undergraduate work at the University of Utah, I could not wait to get out into the real world where very successful, credentialed men and women freely spoke of God, and their belief in His Son.
My professors were unrelenting in their attacks on religion. Which, as I look back on it, wasn't an attack on my deeply held conviction that God would somehow manifest Himself to me, reach out to me, and send messengers of His love for me.
That He did.
I've never needed "religion." But the fellowship of the Saints, who are no more strangers, who are members of the Body of Christ - that is a different matter.
Truly, though, those professors could never touch my core of spirituality - my sense of a larger reality than even they were aware of.
For a metaphor of what I mean, turn to the film Contact. The film stars Jody Foster as the hard-core scientist butting up against, and loving the Matthew Macoughany (sp?) character who believes in God and understands faith as having evidence - evidence of things not seen, but experienced at a very profound personal level - very real.
At the end of the Congressional inquisition, and not being able to communicate what she knows to others, she finds herself utterly alone, except for him.
And after a moving scene in which she attempts to tell the world what she knows and cannot utter well, she, as the embodiment of science, and he, the embodiment of faith, embrace.
And so should we all! Knowing that without love of our neighbor as we love ourselves, this world is a sterile promontory!
Without this love, even for the generations gone on, the Earth would be utterly wasted.
So, why the YAF? An oasis in a large unending desert.
Drink deeply!
Get involved today, call 1-800-USA-1776 or go to http://www.yaf.org/
My professors were unrelenting in their attacks on religion. Which, as I look back on it, wasn't an attack on my deeply held conviction that God would somehow manifest Himself to me, reach out to me, and send messengers of His love for me.
That He did.
I've never needed "religion." But the fellowship of the Saints, who are no more strangers, who are members of the Body of Christ - that is a different matter.
Truly, though, those professors could never touch my core of spirituality - my sense of a larger reality than even they were aware of.
For a metaphor of what I mean, turn to the film Contact. The film stars Jody Foster as the hard-core scientist butting up against, and loving the Matthew Macoughany (sp?) character who believes in God and understands faith as having evidence - evidence of things not seen, but experienced at a very profound personal level - very real.
At the end of the Congressional inquisition, and not being able to communicate what she knows to others, she finds herself utterly alone, except for him.
And after a moving scene in which she attempts to tell the world what she knows and cannot utter well, she, as the embodiment of science, and he, the embodiment of faith, embrace.
And so should we all! Knowing that without love of our neighbor as we love ourselves, this world is a sterile promontory!
Without this love, even for the generations gone on, the Earth would be utterly wasted.
So, why the YAF? An oasis in a large unending desert.
Drink deeply!
Get involved today, call 1-800-USA-1776 or go to http://www.yaf.org/
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Lessons From Kennedy
Already people want to draw parallels between Obama and Robert F. Kennedy.
Such similarities can prove either grand stature or mere mimicry.
You judge.
Such similarities can prove either grand stature or mere mimicry.
You judge.
People Want Poetry in Their Politics
Nixon said it best: People want poetry in their politics.
That is why we so admire Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King.
That is why there is a ground swell of support for Barak Obama. His New Hampshire speech evoked our desire for someone to tell us who we are.
And to do it with poetic eloquence.
For McCain to score essential points, he must, in his no nonsense way, create an eloquence like unto Churchill, or Shakepeare's King Henry V, or Lincoln.
People voted for Lincoln and FDR in times of war, and will vote for McCain at this time, if the case for our continued action is well-stated.
We must begin to see the war from the soldier's point of view, state that view forcefully and eloquently, then enlist the continued sacrifice of the People.
That is why we so admire Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King.
That is why there is a ground swell of support for Barak Obama. His New Hampshire speech evoked our desire for someone to tell us who we are.
And to do it with poetic eloquence.
For McCain to score essential points, he must, in his no nonsense way, create an eloquence like unto Churchill, or Shakepeare's King Henry V, or Lincoln.
People voted for Lincoln and FDR in times of war, and will vote for McCain at this time, if the case for our continued action is well-stated.
We must begin to see the war from the soldier's point of view, state that view forcefully and eloquently, then enlist the continued sacrifice of the People.
Speech Elements to Help John McCain
The Poet once wrote "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..." Now is not a time to retreat or shrink from our duty to the brave soldiers serving in Iraq.
We cannot abandon our posts. We must summon the spirit of our better angels. For the ship is not yet safely into harbor! Iraq is yet in peril.
We remember that peril ourselves.
We have experienced it many times in our history, when in the cold of winter, leading a tattered army, a tall silver-haired general knelt in the snow and petitioned the God of Nations for the survival of this American revolution.
We remember the peril, when after four years of the bloodiest war in our history, just as the ship of our state was nearing safe harbor, fanatics of an insurgency gunned down our Captain - lying cold upon the deck, in Ford's Theater.
We remember the peril on a bleak day in Dallas.
Will the work of uncovering the mass graves continue after we have fled our duty?
Shall the murderous work of kill and conceal continue in Iraq? If we leave too soon will we then return to uncover newly dug mass graves?
Now is the time to "stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood," and complete the mission.
In peace nothing so becomes a man and woman as modest stillness and humility.
But when the bell tolls for an assertive defence, let us take to the field and stand between our homes and the war's desolation!
We, at home, cannot abandon our soldiers in the field and stand idly by. Ladies and gentlemen may cry Peace, Peace! But there is no peace with the fanatic terrorist.
For when we lower our guard, as we did in the years prior to the attack on our Twin Towers, the forces of evil gather strength, and pour war upon all nations. Save only for good men and women to stand and do something, dictators will continue their works of death.
[Still a work in progress.]
We cannot abandon our posts. We must summon the spirit of our better angels. For the ship is not yet safely into harbor! Iraq is yet in peril.
We remember that peril ourselves.
We have experienced it many times in our history, when in the cold of winter, leading a tattered army, a tall silver-haired general knelt in the snow and petitioned the God of Nations for the survival of this American revolution.
We remember the peril, when after four years of the bloodiest war in our history, just as the ship of our state was nearing safe harbor, fanatics of an insurgency gunned down our Captain - lying cold upon the deck, in Ford's Theater.
We remember the peril on a bleak day in Dallas.
Will the work of uncovering the mass graves continue after we have fled our duty?
Shall the murderous work of kill and conceal continue in Iraq? If we leave too soon will we then return to uncover newly dug mass graves?
Now is the time to "stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood," and complete the mission.
In peace nothing so becomes a man and woman as modest stillness and humility.
But when the bell tolls for an assertive defence, let us take to the field and stand between our homes and the war's desolation!
We, at home, cannot abandon our soldiers in the field and stand idly by. Ladies and gentlemen may cry Peace, Peace! But there is no peace with the fanatic terrorist.
For when we lower our guard, as we did in the years prior to the attack on our Twin Towers, the forces of evil gather strength, and pour war upon all nations. Save only for good men and women to stand and do something, dictators will continue their works of death.
[Still a work in progress.]
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