11.26.08
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, History, Uncategorized at 11:11 pm by Administrator
While surfing the net, I stumbled across an article on agave nectar. I remember Brian bought a bottle of it once, but aside from a tiny taste, I never made it a habit to eat. None of us have in the household, for that matter. We have mainly stuck to raw honey, maple syrup, or sucanat for sweeteners. One of the reasons Brian bought it was due to some claims that it was a good substitute for sugar for diabetics. Since no one in my immediate family is diabetic at this time, we never paid much attention to it. Although my mom warns me that I should be careful since she is diabetic, and she says it runs in her side of the family. Well, I don’t eat a lot of sweets anyway, so I guess I am being careful, heheh. Anyway, this article I stumbled upon claims that it is a fraud to claim that agave nectar is health promoting. It quotes other articles that make claims like this:
“….What I want people to understand is that mislabeling a sweetener like agave syrup is about money and profit, to the real determent of your health.”
The post is called, Agave Nectar: The High Fructose Health Fraud by Chris Gupta and then another article by the same title by Rami Nagel. Just scroll down lower on the link. The article further explains what agave nectar is and why it’s so detrimental to health.
As I’m sure many other internet users have experienced, it’s easy to spend hours surfing the net because so many articles lead from one source to another. The above article had a link to a new book called, “Cure Tooth Decay,” by Ramiel Nagel. Upon browsing through that site, I was happy to see that someone actually compiled a book dealing specifically with healing teeth “naturally.” Previously I had only read bits and pieces of the possibility of tooth regeneration from sources such as Dr. Weston Price and Melvin Page, DDS. The results of Price’s work can be found in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and through the Weston Price Foundation online. Some of the results of Page’s work can be read at the Price-Pottenger website in an article by Bob Jackson on Melvin Page, DDS. Prior to discovering the studies of Price and Page, there were some brief references I’ve read to tooth regeneration in a couple vegetarian sources as well. This is a subject that has fascinated me because I grew up thinking that teeth did not regenerate. But while I was recovering from AA, I did develop a toothache for which I was afraid to go to the dentist due to my low white count and my reluctance to use conventional antibiotics. What eventually happened was my toothache resolved on it’s own without my going to the dentist. This happened to another tooth as well at a different time, so I felt pretty confident that there was some truth to the idea that teeth actually can re-mineralize naturally. To top it off, when I finally did go to the dentist because I wanted all my amalgams removed, the dentist told me that my teeth were in pretty good shape considering I hadn’t visited the dentist in several years. I had not developed any new cavities and not much plaque, either. I took that as a good sign that my diet was somewhat adequate, although since I’m still not in perfect health, I continue to search for health-promoting sources and substances. Anyway the problem regarding our popular belief and practices regarding tooth decay, aside from bad eating habits, is that once a cavity is discovered, it’s standard procedure for the dentists to just fill up the holes in our teeth, and that in turn prevents proper re-mineralization of the tooth. So I am happy to see that someone actually compiled information specifically regarding curing tooth decay naturally. This is something I think is long overdue and hopefully will be a benefit to many, many people.
Since I found that one post interesting, I had to go to the home page of Chris Gupta’s blog. Oh my, did I say I could get lost for hours surfing the net? Well, Chris’s blog definitely had lots of info that could keep my interest for hours. For instance another bit of info that I learned from his blog is about the Canadian Genocide. Huh? Well, evidently, there is a documentary by Kevin Annett and Louie Lawless called, UNREPENTANT: Kevin Annett and Canadia’s Genocide (January 2007). The Epoch Times expounds a little more of what the documentary is all about in it’s article titled, Documentary Exposes Ugly Secret of Colonialism in Canada, by Joan Delaney. Here’s a short excerpt from the article:
“According to Kevin Annett, co-writer and producer of Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada’s Genocide , the time has come for Canadians to learn the truth about what really happened to the aboriginal people from the start of colonialism until today.”
I tell ya, I try to look up something sweet, but so many things lead to something bitter. It’s one thing when bad people knowingly do bad things, but then even more depressing is when people do evil things because they “think” it’s for the good. In particular, I’m thinking of the Canadian genocide story that Annett is trying to reveal through his documentary regarding the church clergy mistreating the aboriginal children in the name of what they thought was “proper” according to their religious standards. That is, the idea that to take these children away from their own parents and home in order to teach these kids how to be civilized people under the name of Christianity is supposed to be “good” is so twisted to me. What makes matters worse is that the clergy, according to survivors, mistreated the children. If the figures are correct, half of the children died under the care of these clergy. According to Delaney,
“Of the 100,000 who went through the schools, it is estimated that at least 50,000 were killed. Many of those who died were buried in unmarked graves on or around the school grounds; most of the bodies were never returned to the families.”
It’s bad enough that so much evil exists in this world, but I am even more appalled when the evil is committed with the guise of goodness, democracy, and the like. I know I should know better, but it’s still disturbing to me. I can just imagine those clergy thinking they were actually doing good things. It reminds me of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin where Mr. Shelby comments to Mrs. Shelby about the sermon one of their ministers gave regarding the necessity or the “rightness” of slavery. There were people who actually felt so superior over other people (their black slaves) that they thought they had to keep them under slavery for their own good. Oye. I’m not sure how these people come to those conclusions, but it’s like saying that we should make poor people slaves because we need to take care of them. Very strange logic, but it just goes to show how people can justify just about anything they want to do. I think that’s why studying the Bible and really trying to understand it is so important because it seems that we can easily stray from what is good if we didn’t have the Bible to remind us what is right and proper. I think too often people today mainly go by what they “feel” is right, including Christians and other religious peoples. Too often the Bible is taken out of context and passages piece mealed to fit any agenda. But feelings can change from day to day and from person to person. Thus I think that living soley by “feelings” can lead to lots of trouble. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 12:15:
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.”
So it seems to me that in everything, we should check with how it lines up with the Bible.
And so ends my web surfing and hodge-podge of blogging material tonight. In case I don’t get a chance tomorrow, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
Marlakins
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11.19.08
Posted in Book Reviews, Movie commentary, Uncategorized at 6:48 pm by Administrator
Last night Brian and I watched the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I know that there have been discussions regarding the new Bond as to whether Daniel Craig makes a good Bond or not. As a long-time 007 fan who has watched every single Bond movie, my personal opinion after I watched his first appearance in Casino Royale was that Craig was the best Bond yet. Sure he was a bit, well a lot, rougher than the other Bonds, but it brought an intensity to the character that none of the others ever brought. This Bond actually had feelings despite all his rough and tumble, fast cars, gadgets, jet setting, weapons, and women. Can you even imagine Bond “thinking” of quitting MI6 and retiring with “one” woman? Well, that happened in Casino Royale. That just was not the Bond I had grown up with! However. . . Casino Royale had all the makings of a Bond movie complete with fabulous scenery and style. I came away completely impressed with Casino Royale and a new fan of Daniel Craig. The other Bonds were handsome and clever, but Craig was intense. So last night I was anxious to see Quantum of Solace, but somehow, I left feeling a bit speechless. I suppose Casino Royale was just a really hard act to follow, but I don’t think that was what made me come away from Quantum of Solace a bit numb. It had all the makings of a Bond movie, but I think the “depth” of the plot was hard to clearly express on the big screen in two hours. Perhaps in trying to be realistic, it made the plot a bit elusive as just in real life, the web of connections runs too deep and too large.
I will say that there were a couple things that struck me in the movie as it just happens to coincide with the book I’m currently reading called Waltzing with a Dictator, the Marcoses and the Making of American Policy. For instance, there is reference in Quantum of Solace that the government, be it British or American, will wheel and deal with dictators so long as they get what they want out of the deal. Ordinarily little people like me were taught that the western world promoted democracy and would not support Communists or Dictators. In Waltzing with a Dictator Raymond Bonner explained how I’ve been mistaken and that the U.S. fully knew that Marcos was going to declare martial law using trumped up charges of Communist threat in order to hold on to his power rather than for the good of the Filipino citizens. The U.S. knew that Marcos was plundering the wealth of the Philippines, and the U.S. ignored human rights violations of the Marcos regime because Marcos allowed the U.S. to do what they wanted in the Philippines such as allowing the U.S. military bases, Subic and Clark, to continue operating and harboring nuclear-powered warships at Subic and planes with nuclear weapons at Clark. There were also economic reasons that aligned with U.S. businesses in the Philippines. The largest 200 corporations in the Philippines were at least 40 percent U.S.-owned. The Philippine high court restricted the right of foreigners to manufacture raw materials, including oil, but Marcos (though clearly at this point showing obvious signs of a dictator) overturned that, which made the U.S. businesses very happy and thus ignoring any civil rights violations (this is similar to some of the claims I’ve read about our current war in Iraq). What Bonner alludes to is that spreading Democracy in the world is not the primary concern of the U.S., but rather the primary concern is that U.S. remain the top dog in whatever its interest may be, be it militarily or economically. Bonner quotes a memorandum written by George Kennan who was the U.S. Secretary of State in 1947. This is what he wrote:
“. . . we have about 50% of the world’s wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the people of Asia. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming. . .
“. . . We should dispense with the aspiration to ‘be liked’ or to be regarded as the repository of a high-minded international altruism. We should stop putting ourselves in the position of being our brothers’ keeper and refrain from offering moral and ideological advice. We should cease to talk about vague and–for the Far East–unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.”
Bonner continued to write:
“Kennan concluded that in the Pacific U.S. policy should concentrate on ensuring that two countries ‘remain in hands we can control or rely on.’The countries were Japan and the Philippines. American policy , Kennan urged, should be shaped to allow for Philippine independence ‘in all internal affairs but to preserve the archipelago as a bulwark of U.S. security in that area.’
“That policy was, in effect, put into practice a few years later when the U.S. waged a secret counterinsurgency war and thoroughly meddled in Philippine domestic politics. . . ”
The Philippines wasn’t the only country where the U.S. subverted democracy in the name of democracy. This goes beyond whether the current President was a Democrat or Republican. It made not difference as the policy was the same. The CIA also bribed members of the National Assembly in Vietnam to ensure the passage of favorable legislation. Consider also Nicaragua with the Sandanistas and the Shah of Iran just to name a couple more. So yes, Quantum of Solace touched on that aspect that even our governments are corrupt, but fortunately there are still good guys (or maybe the holy spirit, heheh) that manages to keep all hell from breaking loose. Maybe one day, but not quite just yet.
The second comment that struck me in Quantum of Solace was that the bad guy today is the good guy tomorrow or vice versa. I’m paraphrasing there, but that’s the idea and I think there’s a measure of truth to that in the way our governments run today as in the past. The U.S. helps to promote leaders and deals with leaders regardless if they are dictators, when it benefits us, but then vilifies them later when they no longer fit our purposes. Apparently that’s not a new trick, but only another aspect of human nature and those who seek power and prestige.
So bottom line, the web of connections in Quantum of Solace didn’t seem fully exposed, but I suppose because it was just too big? And so I was left feeling that the movie wasn’t quite complete. But it seems that’s how real life is and why often times we don’t see the whole picture. We get bits and pieces, and mingled in there are things that appear to be conspiracy theories, or perhaps even tidbits of truths. Even when I read The Bounty, the True Story of the Mutuny on the Bounty, the web of connections to the mutineers was so extensive that it almost seemed never ending. But anyway, for the action and adventure, I give Quantum of Solace two thumbs up.
Marlakins
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11.09.08
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 12:00 pm by Administrator
One of the yarn projects I want to get started on is the Babette Blanket. But before I do that, there are some knit requests my boys have for me that I need to complete first, so I’m holding off on the Babette for now and just daydreaming about the colors I want to use for it. However, last Thursday I happened to be in the area of one of the yarn shops that I heard was having a sale. Oh, oh. Danger, Wil Robinson. Danger. I had to remind myself that I’m already swimming in yarn at home, but I couldn’t convince myself, I had to stop. Just to take a peek. I am proud to say that I was good. I did not go overboard, and only purchased one crochet hook and two balls of sock yarn for one pair of socks.
The crochet hook was for a rug I had been wanting to make for my boys’ bathroom. I’ve had the wool for over a year now. I had actually knit up two rugs with some of the wool for my bathroom, but they were my first attempts at rug making, and the results were only so-so. That didn’t stop me from using them, tho, and they are still in my bathroom today. I much prefer them in there than with no rug at all, brrrr. And most of all, Brian appreciates them, so that’s a plus. I will say that a problem I had with knitting those two rugs is I didn’t have the proper size needles. I needed larger needles and longer needles than I had, and when I went to the shop for the proper size, they only had a needle that was even larger than I needed. So because I wanted to get started, I had to make due. The result was the fabric came out a little looser than I would have liked.
This time, however, I am much more satisfied with the needle size for this yarn. I picked up a “P,” but could have used an “O,.” which I don’t have. I will say that it does feel funny to work with such thick yarn and such big hooks after working with much smaller needles for socks. Above is a picture of some hooks for comparison size. The sock yarns use needles the size of the one on the far right with the white and blue handle, size 2. The next hook is a size F, which I like to use for things like my little amigurumi animals. The brown wooden one is the new one I got, which is a size P, and the big blue plastic one is a size Q, which I got because a rug making book I got recommended this size. So far, I haven’t used it, but plan to eventually.
So here’s why I mentioned the Babette Blanket. In order to get a little “fix,” I decided to use the Babette idea to make a small bathroom rug. Here’s a pic of the squares in progress.
Here’s a little closeup of a square in progress using the size P crochet hook. The great thing about using such thick yarn and large hooks is that the project works up pretty fast. It only took me a couple of days to complete, and I only worked leisurely on it.
And here’s the finished project.
The dimensions turned out to be 48″x71″. My boys are okay with it, so it’s now in their bathroom. A little funky, I know, but not too girlie looking, so they’re good with it, heheh. And the other plus is the weather is starting to cool down, so this should help to keep their toes a little toasty while in the bathroom.
Oh, before I end this post, I wanted to share a pic of the “best” pork rinds that I know of. My sisters just got back from the Philippines a couple weeks ago, and one of my sisters was kind enough to remember that I really like pork rinds, aka chicharon in Tagalog aka pork cracklins. And just to get the record straight because I was recently attacked by the food police, my diet is okay with pork rinds because I do maintain a relatively high fat diet ala Weston Price style. The person who attacked me apparently thought I’m on a low-fat diet, which is not the case. This is not a contradiction to my organic, whole foods diet. As a result of Weston Price’s studies on the health of 14 different racial groups, he was lead to believe that eating foods that your ancestors ate traditionally is beneficial. Since the common foods in my heritage were seafoods and pork, among other things, chicharon is good to go. So long as the pork rinds are free of other artificial flavorings, preservatives, and other additives, I’m good with them. These are just pork rinds and salt. Not to mention that fat is essential in the normal functioning of our bodies such as our nerves, brain, and bone marrow as well as necessary to properly utilize fat soluble vitamins the skin in pork rinds are also a source of collagen. If anyone is interested in learning more about the benefits of fat and cholesterol in our diets, I suggest checking out the Weston Price Foundation along with Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the Price-Pottenger Foundation, the writings of Mary Enig such as Know Your Fats, and Uffe Ravnskov’s Cholesterol Myths. Between the boys and me, these were gone in less than two days, sigh.
I think it’s hard to read the top of the bag, but it reads, “The ‘Rolls Royce’ of Chicharon.” And they ain’t lying. . .
Marlakins
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11.07.08
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Uncategorized at 11:45 am by Administrator
It was never my intent to focus on political issues on this blog. It’s actually ironic that I’ve posted any political views given that generally I’m apolitical. However, while I don’t get much involved with politics, I will admit that at times, I do pay attention or somewhat keep up with current events. And with the particularly turbulent election, it was hard not to get swept up with the latest news. I thought that since the elections are now over that my blogging would get back to my usual topics, however, apparently, things have not quite settled here in Los Angeles. Yesterday, there was a big traffic jam in front of one of the large Mormon Temples in West Los Angeles due to political protests. What? Protest? Just two days after the election? Why yes, the passing of Proposition 8 has the gay community up in arms. According to the Associated Press in an article titled, “Thousands in Los Angeles Protest Gay-Marriage Ban”,
“The ballot measure passed Tuesday, which was sponsored by a coalition of religious and social conservative groups, amends the California Constitution to define marriage as a heterosexual act. It overrides a state Supreme Court ruling that briefly gave same-sex couples the right to wed.”
In a nutshell, gay marriages are now banned here in California, oye! Did I see that coming? Honestly, there are so many open gays here that I thought that Prop 8 would be resoundingly crushed. We are even close (in proximity) to neighbors with “vote No for Prop 8″ signs planted on their front lawns “still.” But the day after elections, I was surprised to find that I was wrong. My oldest son, Andrew, popped his head into my room and claimed, “Mom, Prop 8 passed!” There is still a glimmer of Biblical values here after all. It was like a breath of fresh air. Granted Prop 8 only passed by about 1 million votes, so that’s kind of unsettling considering there were about 10 million votes entered. That would mean that votes were almost 50/50, and that’s a bit scary or too close for comfort for a Christain, anyway. I had suspected that if for any reason Prop 8 did pass, that the gay community would eventually move to reverse it. However, I did not expect that they would move so soon, i.e. two days! And apparently, according to The Salt Lake Tribune this morning, there is a protest scheduled for 6PM tonight at the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) because evidently, large funds (to the tune of $22 million by some accounts) were generated by the LDS to get the word out to vote Yes to Prop 8.
Wow, so this will be interesting to see if they will be able to reverse the ban on gay marriages here in California. I’m curious with how they would go about that since evidently, the majority has spoken, and it is now considered part of the Constitution, so they can’t claim that Prop 8 is against the Constitution. So with a little reading I find that the grounds that they intend to use to overturn Prop 8 is that Prop 8 is a “revision” of the Consitution, not an amendment. The claim is that a revision of the Constitution must “first” go through the Legislature “before” going to the voters. A technicality, yes, but effective? We’ll see.
Stepping back for a moment, I wonder if Christians should be fighting for this. And I wonder, “What would Jesus have done?” And when I think of the Bible and the New Testament, there is no reference that Jesus spent any effort to legally overturn any current laws of the existing government. Does that mean that the government during his time was perfect? I venture to say, “hardly.” But apparently, changing government laws was not Jesus’s priority. As a matter of fact, in Romans 1, Paul discusses how people have forsaken God and turned to all sorts of evil (in this chapter it also “specifically” describes homosexuality where, “women exchange the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another.”) The result? Does God force them to change their ways? Does Jesus or Paul go running around with signs in protest? Apparently, not. Instead Paul tells us that as a result, “God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. . . Romans 1:28 What? He “let’s” them continue being immoral? Evidently so, and I “think” the purpose is for their judgment. Jesus will return, and all sorts of prophesies will come to pass, which we can not stop. So what do we do? Revelation 22:11 tells us, “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” It is my belief that our job as Christians is to follow God’s word, not force others to follow God’s word. We will all be judged according to our deeds, so it is my job to make sure “my family and I” are living our lives pleasing to God, and not meddling in other people’s lives forcing them to do what we think they should do. With that in mind, I sit back and watch the world.
Marlakins
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11.06.08
Posted in Uncategorized, gardening at 7:37 pm by Administrator
Because I like the idea of self-sufficiency and fresh organic produce, Brian and I have had a interest in planting. We are by no means the greatest gardeners, but we are trying and have at least dabbled in a good variety of roots, veggies, and herbs. There’s no better way to know that your fruits and veggies are organic and fresh, than just growing them yourself. However, I do tend to peter out and get distracted with other things, which results in the garden getting neglected, sigh. But I find that when I see other people’s gardens and hear about their wonderful harvests, it encourages me to work on our own garden.
The fall has rolled around here and our growing season has slowed dramatically. However, in Australia my friend, Helen, has started up her garden and sent me a couple pics of it just the other day. I’ve attached them below. Generally when it gets cold here in Calif, it gets nice and warm there in Australia, so she only recently started her garden for the year. I recall a couple years ago she had a nice row of cabbages, and I think, a bumper crop of zucchini that she shared with her neighbor. I believe her garden consisted of a lot more items, but I can’t recall them at this time. This year she’s got these going. . .
I hope I’m attaching the right comments for the right picture, but this is what Helen sent to itemize her plants starting with the top picture and continuing with the bottom picture for the root veggies. “Clockwise from left: parsley, snow peas, sliver beet (at the back), beetroot, red mustard, onions. They only look small but we’ve already used onions, sliver beet, snow peas, and little beetroots!!”
Yes, I think I recognize the beetroot on the far right with the red stalks as well as the onions. I’ve never tried growing my own beets, yet, but I have grown some onions. I love baked beets, so I think I’d like to try growing some of those.
Thanks again, Helen! Your garden looks lovely! I want to keep the fire going for planting. Maybe if I do it long enough it’ll eventually become second nature to me. Your gardening will help to keep me dreaming of gardening, heheh. We’re trying to clear more room in our backyard for more veggie gardening space when the spring season gets closer. And we already have seeds ready for planting. Hopefully, I’ll have some nice produce pics to put up then.
Marlakins 
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11.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:01 am by Administrator
So I just finished reading and watching a bunch of the Presidential election aftermath news on the net. The Obama victory was evidently a landslide, so I don’t expect to see any surprises on Dec 15 when the electoral college makes the official vote to put Obama in the White House. If there was, then it would be too obvious that something was amiss.
This election was definitely historic for various reasons, and the crowds that it drew not only just here in the U.S., but all around the world was incredible. I watched people celebrating Obama’s victory in Japan, China, Kenya, and various states in the U.S. “Peace” noodles were being sold in Japan. I know that a lot of bets were won in the U.K. totaling millions of pounds. I admit that I felt a bit misty-eyed myself watching all this because I know that personally I have hoped that there would be more peace in the world, something that I did not feel confident McCain was even interested in bringing, but only continuing the old torch of brandishing the power of the U.S. Seeing so many people express the seemingly same sentiment as I has made me realize that I was not alone, and it actually did surprise me a bit. I realize that the U.S. certainly doesn’t control all the evil in the world, but at times I have felt that it had brought or allowed more evil, either by meddling or turning a blind eye. Now we can only watch and wait to see if President Obama will make good on his promises to restore alliances with foreign nations and rebuild the U.S.’s reputation for being a land of freedom, hope, and opportunity.
There are so many issues to deal with as Obama enters his first term, that I’m sure it will take time to see any significant change. One commentator who supported McCain on the news felt that Obama’s victory would end in depression in four years. However, I think that in fairness, as Peter DeFazio, Ron Paul, and others have already claimed, this recent massive bailout that was already enacted recently will only delay the inevitable depression. So I personally don’t think Obama would be the one to blame for an impending depression. But let’s see what he does with world trade agreements and how that might additionally impact our economy.
I do want to comment on McCains concession speech. I thought he was very gracious, and I was actually very surprised. His campaign had so much smearing going on, that this felt like a complete about face. During so much of his campaign I felt antagonized by his claims, and while it’s true that both parties stretch and bent the truths a bit, I just felt McCain’s party was way overboard. I don’t even want to talk about Palin, but my feelings about her got worse as time went on. But watching McCain’s concession speech, I finally felt kindness and unity and really, really appreciated how he encouraged his supporters that we have to be united and continue to strive for what is good. After his speech one woman commented in the spirit of supporting our new President that she will keep in mind that, “In God We Trust.” That sentiment resonated well with me. That was more the American spirit that I had thought was such a great thing about America. Growing up as a child, I had thought America was this wonderful place that espoused Christian values. My parents loved America, and any car my parents bought were American built. I remember one letter my dad wrote to his brother was to encourage him to come here to America. “The oranges,” my dad wrote, “are just rolling on the ground here.” Oranges were special in the Philippines at the time, and to say food was just rolling on the floor was a sign of abundance. But as I grew older and read and learned about U.S. history and the continuing corruption in our government, I had become severely cynical. And while watching McCain’s campaign, that cynicism was only magnified by the twisting of truth. What I saw of Palin was even worse, because some claims she made was not even just twisting of truth, but either she wasn’t paying attention, not understanding what was being said, or just outright lying. To add insult to injury she campaigned wearing her Christianity on her sleeve, while at the same time lying to millions of people. She kept misquoting and misrepresenting Obama’s previous votes on taxes, and Obama’s proposed tax plan to the point of unrecognition. Whether his tax proposal was good or not was not even the question for me, but that she was misrepresenting them so that the claims were not understood properly. It had become not just twisting, but just plain false. This had to be corrected several times on fact checks. During one interview she claimed that she didn’t pay any attention to polls, but when that prank call she got caught on from Canada was aired, she told the radio commentator that she had a lot of confidence that they could win because, “the POLLS” were showing the numbers tightening. So on public T.V. she claimed that she didn’t pay attention to polls, but on what she thought was a private phone conversation she claims she “did” pay attention to polls. How does that behavior favorably support how people view Christians? As far as I can see it only magnifies hypocracy and fuels the growing resentment towards Christians. How could I trust someone like that? I can’t. From the beginning of her campaign she championed transparency, but shortly after the beginning I felt that she was not as transparent as she claimed.
But now that the voting has passed, the next thing in store is to see how all this pans out. As Obama said on his acceptance speech, “We should proceed with humility and/or humbleness.” I think that was a paraphrase, but that was the idea. So far, I think that’s a good start because God has warned us in the Bible that, “Pride comes before a fall.” If we are to respect God and His teachings, we should put aside our pride and proceed with humbleness and humility. I pray that God will turn Obama’s heart to uphold goodness, and fairness, and freedom for us and all Christians and other faiths so that we can live our lives peacefully.
Marlakins
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11.04.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:53 am by Administrator
Well it’s finally here. The final popular votes should be cast today. I think a lot of people think that the tally tonight will be the final deciding factor regarding who our President will be for the next 4 years. For example I’ve heard of people already preparing to party tonight. However, in actuality, the voting will not be complete tonight. The electoral votes are still ahead on December 15, 2008, and those are what will ultimately decide who our next President will be in 2009.
Very briefly, the millions of votes cast today by all the participating U.S. citizens are considered the popular vote. But these votes are technically only helping to instruct our electoral representatives how to vote, but doesn’t guarantee that the electoral representatives will follow the popular vote. The votes our electoral representatives cast are the electoral votes and consist of only a total of 538 votes. The number of electoral votes required to win the Presidential election is 270 votes from the electoral college–i.e. the votes of only 270 U.S. citizens will determine who our next President will be. An article titled, The Electoral College System on About.com explains this a bit more and states,
“While the state electors are ‘pledged’ to vote for the candidate of the party that chose them, nothing in the Constitution requires them to do so.”
The full article can be read here.
One can quickly see that with this voting system, it is entirely possible for a candidate to win without the popular vote. The above article goes on to address whether this has ever happened. Apparently it has. Three times. Below is a clip from page 2 of The Electoral College System:
Has it Ever Happened?
Has a presidential candidate ever lost the nationwide popular vote but been elected president in the Electoral College? Yes, three times:
- In 1876 there were a total of 369 electoral votes available with 185 needed to win. Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, with 4,036,298 popular votes won 185 electoral votes. His main opponent, Democrat Samuel J.Tilden, won the popular vote with 4,300,590 votes, but won only 184 electoral votes. Hayes was elected president.
- In 1888 there were a total of 401 electoral votes available with 201 needed to win. Republican Benjamin Harrison, with 5,439,853 popular votes won 233 electoral votes. His main opponent, Democrat Grover Cleveland,won the popular vote with 5,540,309 votes, but won only 168 electoral votes. Harrison was elected president.
- In 2000 there were a total of 538 electoral votes available with 270 needed to win. Republican George W. Bush, with 50,456,002 popular votes won 271 electoral votes. His Democratic opponent, Al Gore, won the popular vote with 50,999,897 votes, but won only 266 electoral votes. Bush was elected president.
So while tonight will be very interesting, I’m still going to hold on to my hat in case there are any more surprises come December 15. It’s not over until the fat lady sings.
Marlakins
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11.03.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:00 am by Administrator
The Daylight Savings time change always messes up my schedule. I know it’s only one hour difference, but somehow I always feel it. And this morning I got up extra early and had a chance to read and watch the news while everyone is still sleeping, ha! What has amazed me is how our current election is being watched by so many people outside of the U.S. even to the point that some claim that they wish they could vote, but alas must only sit on the sidelines and watch. As I read about history (I’m currently reading a book called Waltzing with a Dictator), it becomes apparent that the U.S. has been involved with so many foreign countries, so that now all eyes are on the U.S. as to who will be our next President “because” who becomes the next President affects not only us here, but so many abroad.
So far I’ve read or heard of comments from people from Australia, the UK, the Philippines, Cambodia, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, Mexico, and Kenya all eying our election with seemingly much anticipation. The common “feeling” I get is the reason they are so concerned about this election is that they hope among other things that we will have a kinder president. And that’s a really sad thought, in my opinion, because while the U.S. is (as far as I know) the largest contributor to foreign countries as far as humanitarian relief, we have also been the largest “meddler” in the government of foreign countries. Often times, I think for the most part the U.S. has good intentions, but because of it’s meddling, many people have suffered. The result has been anti-American sentiments.
One example I’m seeing is from the book, Waltzing With a Dictator, the Macoses and the Making of American Policy by Raymond Bonner. The Philippines had been occupied by the Spanish for many years, then later occupied by the Americans. Throughout both occupations, many Filipinos wanted their independence, with many fighting and dying for it. However, the Americans later graciously gave the Philippines independence, or so it seemed. According to Bonner, the U.S. was very instrumental in the drafting of the Filipino Constitution and the subsequent elections. However, the desire to avert Communism lead to allowing the Philippines to be ruled by a dictator for about 20 years. The bottom line was that the Filipino people were very oppressed, the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. But that didn’t matter to the U.S. so long as it had their man, Ferdinand Marcos, in Asia as their ally. The Philippines was the U.S. foothold in east Asia. Meanwhile, due to the people’s discontent of the dictator, Communist forces grew stronger in the Philippines. The Marcoses thrived during three Republican U.S. Presidents, and two Democratic U.S. Presidents. It made no difference whether our leaders were Republican or Democrat.
This reminds me of how the U.S. was involved with getting the Shah in Iran, the early financial support given to Nazi Germany before WWII, the U.S. involvement in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Korea to name a few. It’s no wonder that the world is watching.
One more day until the final election. . . Will it make a difference in the world?
Marlakins
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