Author: Jeff Fenske Page 601 of 612

Olympian Lloy Ball: Now Disbelieves His “Anger is a Gift” Tattoo — “And to have the Devil on your arm does not bode well”

On August 20, 2008

In Forgiving/Grudgless/No Hate, People, People Cursing People

From: Washington Post, Lloy Ball, Tattoos and Capricious Youth

The U.S. men’s volleyball team has its share of characters, but media folks aren’t going there after this month’s events. I spent a few minutes with longtime setter Lloy Ball last week….

If you’ve followed the team’s history, you remember that Ball was previously depicted as the bad boy of indoor volleyball: the “Satan” nickname, the “Boo-yah!” screams after successful spikes, his fish face that he called “The Grouper,” the “Anger is a Gift” tattoo that came from Rage Against the Machine lyrics. An “in-your-face, tattooed Generation X’er,” one newspaper called him during the ’96 Games, and virtually every story had a similar theme.

[…]

And what about the ‘Anger is a Gift” thing?

Yeah, uh…capricious youth? Back in ’96 for some reason I thought I needed to be somewhat upset to play well. Luckily it only took me 12 years to figure out that that’s not true. And to have the devil on your arm does not bode well when you go to church with your mom on Christmas, I can tell you. But, you know, live and learn.

So you don’t play angry any more?

Not so much. I mean, it takes someone across the net saying REALLY bad things to me in a language I understand to get too upset.

Really? Does that go on?

Oh yeah, yeah. You’ll see it when we play Italy. You know, a lot of us just aren’t real fond of each other. We play against each other on the national teams but also in club ball a lot of times. I’ve had a REAL good couple of years in club ball, so I’m not real popular with some of em, and I’ve on occasion let them know that I’m a little better than they are sometimes, and they take offense at that and start yelling at me through the net. In Italian, most of ’em.

Read Entire Article

Related: Cyclist Mimicks His Devil Tattoo

Study: Does TV Encourage Infidelity?

On August 20, 2008

In America's Getting Jacked!, Media Bias Exposed

From: Ask Mars Venus

Recently, the Parents Television Council (PTC) accused broadcast networks of “cheating” on real relationships. PTC says their study, titled “Happily Never After: How Hollywood Favors Adultery and Promiscuity Over Marital Intimacy on Prime Time Broadcast TV,” found the following:

Sex between married couples is portrayed as “boring, burdensome, or nonexistent.”
Extramarital sex is depicted as positive.
Verbal references to nonmarital sex during prime time outnumber references to marital sex nearly 3 to 1. AND, scenes that implied sex between unmarried partners outnumbered similar scenes between married couples 4 to 1.

OK, yeah, we admit it. Married sex on TV is ho-hum. Two people who love each other having a cozy, adoring lovefest aren’t why most viewers tune into the daytime and nighttime dramas. But why? Would it make us uncomfortable to watch two characters actually celebrate their union? Or are we drawn to the more salacious entertainment because, like the shoot ‘em ups and mythological masterpieces on the big screen, they’re not anything we’ll ever get close to in our real lives?

The PTC is saying that they aren’t suggesting we go back to the Leave It to Beaver days, but they do believe the TV networks have gone overboard in an effort to shock audiences.

Here are some more intriguing stats from the study:

ABC had the most references to marital sex but they were mostly negative. Their references to nonmarital sex were almost universally positive. (Grey’s Anatomy,anyone?)
NBC had as many depictions of adults having sex with minors (good grief) as there were scenes that implied or depicted sex between married couples.
In 24.5 hours of programming, Fox only had one reference to marital sex, but they had 18 references to nonmarital sex and five references to adultery.
Sexual behaviors previously off-limits to broadcast TV now get regular mentions. References to incest, prostitution, partner swapping, pedophilia, threesomes, bestiality, and necrophilia combined outnumbered references to sex in marriage on NBC by a ratio of 27 to 1.

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Give your brain a tea break

On August 20, 2008

From: AsiaOne

Scientists in Singapore have read the tea leaves, and found that a cuppa of the brew is good for the brain.

The four-year study adds to the literature on tea’s long-touted virtues. Moreover, any type of tea will do just fine.

The main finding is that tea slows down brain-cell degeneration and thus keeps the mind sharp into old age, said Professor Ng Tze Pin from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) psychological medicine department.

It was found that catechins, a natural compound in tea, protect brain cells from damaging protein build-up over the years, maintaining the brain’s cognitive capability.

Moreover, the caffeine in tea, unlike that in coffee, contains the natural protein theanine, which counters the normal side effects of caffeine such as raised blood pressure, headaches and tiredness.

Brain-cell degeneration, caused by a combination of loss of nerve cells, predisposed genes, small strokes and increased levels of harmful protein build-up, often leads to dementia.

Read Entire Article

HeartQuotes: In Your Own Skin

On August 20, 2008

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”

– Judy Garland

Click for Red Rocks Version

HeartQuotes: Love

On August 20, 2008

“In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.”

– Janos Arany

Click for St. Mary Lake Version

Chuck Baldwin: Hooray for Jerry Corsi — “whose commitment to truth outweighs his desire for popularity”

On August 20, 2008

In Barack Obama, Chuck Baldwin

From: News with Views

Dr. Jerome Corsi is probably the most controversial man in America these days. His blockbuster new book, The Obama Nation, is currently the New York Times Number One Bestseller, and media talking heads are having a hissy fit. They are incensed that there is someone of Corsi’s intelligence and credentials who is willing to tell the truth about the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee, Barack Obama.

You see, the national media have elevated Obama to a position beyond sainthood: they view him as the fourth member of the Godhead. He can do no wrong. He is America’s–no, check that, he is the world’s–savior. How dare Dr. Corsi spoil the sacrosanct candidacy–and the media’s universal anointing–of Obama?

The fact is, however, Jerry Corsi is a rare breed these days: he is an honest and objective journalist whose commitment to truth outweighs his desire for popularity. I will go even further: Jerry Corsi is what the rest of the national media should be, but aren’t.

Benjamin Franklin and the other Founding Fathers believed that the First Amendment protection of the freedom of the press was necessary, because they assumed the press would serve as an independent, unbiased, and truthful check and balance to the propensities of government toward subterfuge and duplicity. And for many years, this goal was more or less fulfilled. No more.

For the most part, the national media today are nothing more than lap dogs for both major parties, but especially for the Democratic Party.

[…]

I just wish that Jerry had time to write an exposé on John McCain, because no one else among America’s national journalists has the intention (much less the integrity) of doing it, and McCain is certainly equally deserving.

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China flaying animals alive: Investigation reveals images so graphic, nightmares rampant among probe team

On August 20, 2008

In Animals, China, Torture

From: WorldNetDaily

Editor’s Note: The descriptions and video of China’s fur industry in this story will be disturbing to some readers.

The newest controversy over exports from China has caused nightmares for researchers documenting the abuse inflicted on animals bred and raised in tiny cages and then skinned alive for their fur.

WND has reported multiple times on problems with exports from China, with poison found in pajamas, consumers warned against using ginger, an alert about the dangers from China’s pickled vegetables and even the dangers from honey and fireworks.

Now comes word from an extended investigation into the fur trade that China is estimated to produce approximately 85 percent of the world’s fur products – and it has virtually no regulations or rules for the treatment of the animals.

According to Mark Rissi, a spokesman for Swiss Animal Protection, which has documented abuse of animals raised for their fur as early as 1983, the China project has been going on for several years.

The organization’s report has been made available online, with dramatic images and descriptions that researchers found more than disturbing.

“As animals are considered objects in China, there is little or no awareness for the suffering of these sentient beings,” Rissi told WND from his European base of operations via e-mail. “The cruelty found was beyond our expectations, and it was hard to document without interfering. It caused nightmares to the team, especially in the editing room, because the scenes had to be replayed and replayed to be edited from six hours down to 20 minutes.”

Read Entire Article, Watch Horrific Video

Wishing Others Well: Tony Hawk’s The First 900

On August 18, 2008

In People, Wishing Each Other Well!

I can’t find a video online that fully shows the degree of support Tony had from his fans and competitors during this first ever 900, but this shows us glimpses.

His competitors were slapping their skateboards on the ramp and actually laying their hands on him, hoping and praying that Tony would succeed!!!

When I saw Tony’s unedited attempts on TV, I was stunned, thinking this is how completely we should be supporting each other, wishing each other well in real life. And especially, this is how people who call themselves ‘Christians’ should be rooting each other on! Let’s do it!

No enemies — an example of what is to come!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967fAzRRLnQ]

Related:

Travis Pastrana’s Appretiation of Colin McRae’s Heart to Give [1968-2007]

Nastia Liukin, WINNER, Wishing her fiercest competitor WELL: “I admire her with ALL of My HEART”

Olympics: American Christians protest over confiscated Bibles

On August 18, 2008

From: The Guardian

Four American Christians are staging a sit-in at a Chinese airport, which they refuse to leave until the authorities return 315 Bibles they were trying to bring into the country.

The group – from Vision Beyond Borders – spent the night sleeping on couches at Kunming airport in southern Yunnan Province after customs officials removed the Chinese language bibles from their luggage.

The bibles were printed in Indonesia, transferred to Thailand and transported to Kunming in duffel bags by the Wyoming-based group which distributes bibles around the world.

Pat Klein, one of the members of the group, told reporters that he was bringing the books into China because his contacts in the Chinese Christian community were unable to get hold of sufficient copies.

Read Entire Article

Anchorage, Alaska: The Coldest Summer Ever?

On August 16, 2008

In Alaska, Climate Change

From: Anchorage Daily News, Gloomy summer headed toward infamy — CHILLY: Anchorage could hit 65 degrees for fewest days on record, July 24th, 2008

The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say.

Right now the so-called summer of ’08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.

That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.

This year, however — with the summer more than half over — there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. …

In the Matanuska Valley on Wednesday snow dusted the Chugach. On the Kenai Peninsula, rain was raising Six-Mile River to flood levels and rafting trips had to be canceled. …

Unless we get 10 more days of 60-degree or warmer temperatures, we’re going to break the dismal 1971 record of only 46 such days, a possibility too awful to contemplate. …

• 70-degree days. So far this summer there have been two. Usually there are 15. Last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 49.

• 75-degree days. So far this summer there’ve been zero. Usually there are four. It may be hard to remember, but last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 23.

Read Entire Article with Chart

Related: Global Cooling: Alaskan Glaciers Grow For First Time In 250 Years

Media Deception: Arctic Ice Actually Increased this Summer as Much as 30%

On August 16, 2008

In Alaska, Climate Change, Media Bias Exposed

From: The Register

Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the “North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer”. Others predicted that the entire “polar ice cap would disappear this summer”.

The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass. Yet there is, however, something odd going on with the ice data.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado released an alarming graph on August 11, showing that Arctic ice was rapidly disappearing, back towards last year’s record minimum. Their data shows Arctic sea ice extent only 10 per cent greater than this date in 2007, and the second lowest on record. Here’s a smaller version of the graph:

[…]

The problem is that this graph does not appear to be correct. Other data sources show Arctic ice having made a nice recovery this summer. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center data shows 2008 ice nearly identical to 2002, 2005 and 2006. Maps of Arctic ice extent are readily available from several sources, including the University of Illinois, which keeps a daily archive for the last 30 years. A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. (2008 is a leap year, so the dates are offset by one.)

Read Article with Charts

Related: US: For second straight year, Arctic ice cap sees record increase. Last year’s increase was 150,000 square miles; this year’s is 220,000 square miles. The NSIDC, a government agency, reports the fact but then buries it beneath the usual spin about global warming

Global Cooling Due to Decreased Sunspot Activity?

On August 16, 2008

In Climate Change

From: PrisonPlanet

Following the end of the Sun’s most active period in over 11,000 years, the last 10 years have displayed a clear cooling trend as temperatures post-1998 leveled out and are now plummeting.

China recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels and Britain suffered its coldest April in decades as late-blooming daffodils were pounded with hail and snow on an almost daily basis. The British summer has also left many yearning for global warming, with temperatures in June and July rarely struggling to get over 16 degrees and on one occasion even dropping as low as 9 degrees in the middle of the afternoon.

“Summer heat continues in short supply, continuing a trend that has dominated much of the 21st Century’s opening decade,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “There have been only 162 days 90 degrees or warmer at Midway Airport over the period from 2000 to 2008. That’s by far the fewest 90-degree temperatures in the opening nine years of any decade on record here since 1930.”

The reason? Sunspot activity has dwindled. There have only been a handful of days in the past two months where any sunspot activity has been observed and over 400 spotless days have been recorded in the current solar cycle.

“The sun’s surface has been fairly blank for the last couple of years, and that has some worried that it may be entering another Maunder minimum, the sun’s 50-year abstinence from sunspots, which some scientists have linked to the Little Ice Age of the 17th century,” reports one science blog.

Long-time man-made global warming advocates NASA assure us that significant sunspot activity will return in 2012, but a recent a paper on recent solar trends by William Livingston and Matthew Penn of the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, predicts that sunspots will all but vanish after 2015.

Since the sun, and not carbon dioxide, is the principle driver of climate change, a dearth of sunspot activity would herald a repeat of the Maunder Minimum, the name given to the period roughly from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots became exceedingly rare and contributed to the onset of the Little Ice Age during which Europe and North America were hit by bitterly cold winters and the Thames river in London completely froze.

Forecasts of a sharp cooling trend are backed by the UK’s Armagh Observatory, which has been observing solar activity for over 200 years.

The observatory notes that solar cycles 21 and 22, which were characterized by being short and intense in their activity, led to the natural global warming observed in the 80’s and 90’s.

“Cycle 23, which hasn’t finished yet, looks like it will be long (at least 12 to 13 years) and cycle 24, which has still to start, looks like it will be exceptionally weak,” writes one observatory scientist.

“Based on the past Armagh measurements, this suggests that over the next two decades, global temperatures may fall by about 2 degrees C — that is, to a level lower than any we have seen in the last 100 years….“Temperatures have already fallen by about 0.5 degrees C over the past 12 months and, if this is only the start of it, it would be a serious concern,” concludes David Watt.

Read Entire Article

Related:

Sun’s Power Hits New Low, May Endanger Earth?

Lack of Sunspots Causing a Global Cooling Phase

Anchorage’s ‘Summer’ of 2008 Record: Only 2 Days Above 69 Degrees

New Sunspots Suggest “We are Not Stuck in a Permanent Solar Minimum”

Denver: Mass detention camp discovered to imprison protestors during the DNC

On August 15, 2008

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQEc3ejHIaM]

Denver officials weren’t planning to reveal details about where activists would be detained in the event of mass arrests during the Democratic National Convention until after the event had started, but those plans were quickly dashed this week when CBS 4News reporter Rick Sallinger not only revealed that protesters would be locked up in a city-owned warehouse, but he also obtained clear video footage inside the facility, a building that includes barbed wire-topped cages and signs warning of stun-gun use.

Related: DNC Warehouse “Concentration Camp” Uncovered By Reporters

Paul Craig Roberts: The Neocons Do Georgia

On August 15, 2008

In George Bush Family, Russia

From: InfoWars

The success of the Bush Regime’s propaganda, lies, and deception with gullible and inattentive Americans since 9/11 has made it difficult for intelligent, aware people to be optimistic about the future of the United States. For almost 8 years the US media has served as Ministry of Propaganda for a war criminal regime. Americans incapable of thinking for themselves, reading between the lines, or accessing foreign media on the Internet have been brainwashed.

As the Nazi propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, said, it is easy to deceive a people. You just tell them they have been attacked and wave the flag.

It certainly worked with Americans.

The gullibility and unconcern of the American people has had many victims. There are 1.25 million dead Iraqis. There are 4 million displaced Iraqis. No one knows how many are maimed and orphaned.

Read Entire Article

Nastia Liukin, WINNER, Wishing her fiercest competitor WELL: “I admire her with ALL of My HEART”

On August 15, 2008

In heart, soul, mind, gut?, People, People Cursing People, Wishing Each Other Well!

Transcribed by Jeff Fenske from CBS’ Today: Today’s Olympic Moment, 8/15/08

“Today’s Olympic Moment is about two young gymnasts who are the best the world has to offer — and not just when they’re performing, either.

Last night, Americans, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson knew their toughest competition for the individual gold in gymnastics was each other. Yet these roomates at the Games didn’t root for the other to fail. They cheered each other on every step of the way. …

Then the moment of truth: Nastia Liukin, Olympic gold medalist; Shawn Johnson, right behind her with the silver — the grace they displayed, making them both champions in the eyes of the world.”

______________

From: WHOtv.com

Shawn Johnson’s teammate, friend, and roommate in Beijing ended the night with the gold medal. Nastia Liukin finished just six-tenths ahead of Shawn in the point standings. Nastia landed her vault, but scored lower than expected. That put her in tenth place after the first round. But after that, Nastia performed one of the most difficult routines on the uneven bars, and nailed it.

Nastia delivers strong performances on both the beam and floor exercise. It wasn’t until Shawn wrapped up her floor routine that Nastia knew the gold medal would be hers. The Soviet-born gymnast says she knows that Shawn is her biggest competitor.

“We’re both incredibly strong athletes and gymnasts and she won Worlds last year, and… She’s a phenomenal athlete and I couldn’t speak any more highly of her. I admire her with all my heart. It’s been amazing and it’s been a great journey, and it’s been a really cool ending,” says Liukin.

Read Entire Article

Related:

Travis Pastrana’s Appretiation of Colin McRae’s Heart to Give [1968-2007]

Wishing Others Well: Tony Hawk’s The First 900

Skousen: Provocation and Aggression in Georgia — Sorting it Out

On August 15, 2008

In Joel Skousen, Russia

Posted with permission from:

World Affairs Brief, August 15, 2008. Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief

PROVOCATION AND AGGRESSION IN GEORGIA–SORTING IT OUT

Every war has its superficial cause that is fed to the public but underlying this is usually a myriad of complex ulterior motives and agendas that are the real cause. This week I’ll help you sort out what has been going on historically in Georgia and what the major powers are up to in the current conflict. There are a variety of rash predictions flooding the internet about this conflict being a trigger for World War III. It is not, but it is part of a long term strategy by the West to slowly expose the public to Russian aggressive intentions–ironically, after spending decades covering for Russia and playing as if she is our ally. This will eventually lead to an all-out war between Russia/China and the West, but it is still a few years away since the enemy’s various forces are not ready yet. The West provoked this Russian attack and temporary occupation of Georgia, but Russia wasn’t innocent either. Putin had put in position large land, air, and naval forces surrounding Georgia just waiting for an excuse to invade. Now that they are in, they’re going to be slow getting out.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Georgia has always been a thorn in the southern side of Russia ever since the Russian empire and especially during the years of Soviet oppression. Thanks to my Balkan correspondent, Ivan Simic, for providing me with some of this essential background material, and also to the historical perspective of A. Heneen on iReport.com.

Integrity in the Games: “Win Fair & Square; Lose Fair & Square” — James Blake

On August 15, 2008

From: Los Angeles Times, Transcript of James Blake’s interview after his three-set loss

Question: Could you describe what the issue was you were discussing with the chair umpire at 9-8?

James Blake: Yeah, hit a shot that hit Fernando’s racket and then went out. The umpire didn’t see that it hit his racket. Playing in the Olympics, in what’s supposed to be considered a gentleman’s sport, that’s a time to call it on yourself. Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn’t call it.

I’ve tried to play this game for as long as I can, you know, I make mistakes, but I try to do it with integrity, so my parents would be proud of the way I played. If that happened the other way, I never would have finished the match because my father would have pulled me off the court if I had acted that way.

I’ve spoken all week about how much I’ve enjoyed the Olympic experience, how much I love the spirit of it, how much I love the other athletes, what they’ve sacrificed, and you appreciate that. And the guys go out and compete their hardest, win fair and square, lose fair and square. That’s a disappointing way to exit the tournament when you not only lose the match, but you lose a little faith in your fellow competitor.

Read Entire Article

Related: U.S. tennis player James Blake makes a racket over the Olympic spirit

The Totalitarian Olympics: Chinese Athletes Not Allowed to Quit

On August 14, 2008

From: The Daily Page

I would be a lot more excited about the summer Olympics if the host country weren’t fielding teams of athletes who are essentially forced laborers. Talk about taking the fun out of sports.

Yang Wenjun, a gold medalist in flatwater canoeing, told The New York Times recently that he longs to quit, but can’t. The Chinese government refused to let him retire after he won his gold medal in 2004, threatening to cut off the income he and his poor, rice-farming parents live on. Yang’s situation is typical.

The system of government-run Chinese sports schools takes children as young as 6 years old from their parents and trains them in their chosen sports, forgoing regular education. Stars are pushed to compete through injury, denied rest and medical care, and put through a grueling training regimen.

“Every time I think about him training, I feel so sad that my heart hurts,” Yang’s mother told the Times. “For him, and for me, there is so much pain.”

Another gold medalist, 10-meter platform diver Hu Jia, is training for the Beijing Olympics despite a detached retina that threatens to blind him. Hu’s father, like Yang’s mother, hasn’t seen his son more than once or twice a year since he was a little boy. He says if he’d known what his son’s life would be like, he’d have never let him compete.

Parents of Olympic champions filled with anguish and remorse over their children’s lives don’t make for the heartwarming “up close and personal” stories favored by the games’ corporate sponsors. In fact, the whole totalitarian-country-in-the-spotlight theme is a bit of a buzz kill.

Read Entire Article

HeartQuotes: Friendship

On August 14, 2008

“A true friend never gets in your way
unless you happen to be going down.”

– Arnold Glasow

Click for Glacier National Park Version

China: The Gathering Threat (book)

On August 14, 2008

In China, Media Bias Exposed

From: The Shop WND

By Constantine C. Menges Ph.D.

In a book that is certain to be as controversial as it is meticulously researched, a former special assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and senior official of the Central Intelligence Agency shows that the U.S. could be headed toward a nuclear face-off with communist China within four years. And it definitively reveals how China is steadily pursuing a stealthy, systematic strategy to attain geopolitical and economic dominance first in Asia and Eurasia, then possibly globally, within the next twenty. Using recently declassified documents, statements by Russian and Chinese leaders largely overlooked in the Western media, and groundbreaking analysis and investigative work, Menges explains China’s plan thoroughly, exposing:

China’s methods of economic control.

China’s secret alliance with Russia and other anti-America nations, including North Korea.

China’s growing military and nuclear power-over 90 ICBMs, many of them aimed at U.S. cities.

How China and Russia have been responsible for weaponizing terrorists bent on harming the U.S.

Damage caused by China’s trade tactics (since 1990, we’ve lost 8 million jobs thanks to China trade surpluses).

Did you know China…

Can launch nuclear weapons that in thirty minutes could kill one hundred million Americans

Has used espionage to steal the designs of nearly all U.S. nuclear warheads and many other military secrets

Controls more than $200 Billion of U.S. National Debt

Sells more than 40 percent of its exports in the U.S., which provides much of the money used to build up its economy and its advanced weapons systems aimed mostly at the U.S.

Remains, along with Russia, the leading supplier of weapons of mass destruction to North Korea, Iran, Syria, Libya, and Cuba

Read Entire Article, Buy Book

Brandi Chastain: Lying to Win — America’s End-Justifies-the-Means Morality

On August 13, 2008

Transcribed by Jeff Fenske from Olympics women’s soccer, Brazil v. Nigeria, broadcast live on Universal HD, 8/12/08.

Brandi Chastain, commentator: “I always think it’s my ball no matter who it was off of [who touched it last before going out of bounds]. Sometimes you can influence the referee.”

Male co-commentator: “You sell them, right?”

Chastain: “Absolutely. You emphatically raise your hand. You ask for the ball.”

Co-commentator: “You’re giving away a lot of secrets, you know.”

Chastain: “Yeah, that’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Deception at the Games: ‘Cute’ girl chosen to lip-synch 7-year-old whose teeth deemed too crooked for Olympic ceremony

On August 13, 2008

From: Prison Planet

China picked a ‘cute’ nine-year-old girl to mime at its Olympic opening ceremony after deciding a seven-year-old with a ‘flawless’ voice was not pretty enough to perform.

Lin Miaoke, in her angelic red dress and pigtails, captivated the world last Friday as she ’sang’ the national anthem during its £20million opening for the Games.

But it has now been revealed the voice heard by billions both in Beijing and around the globe was in fact seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was banned for her crooked teeth.

In yet another example of fakery at the Games, China pre-recorded Yang singing Paean to the Motherland but chose her rival to lip-synch before the public.

Read Entire Article, Watch Clip

HeartQuotes: Success

On August 13, 2008

In HeartQuotes, Lying

“Success is liking yourself,
liking what you do,
and liking how you do it.”

– Maya Angelou

Click for Glacier National Park Version

Our $100 Trillion National Debt

On August 9, 2008

In $Money$ ToBeFree

From: LewRockwell.com

The “official” debt of the United States is only around $10 trillion dollars as of August 6, 2008. This is a manageable number; we could pay it off in a few decades if we quit buying luxuries like food and clothing, and take a few other minor economy measures. Unfortunately, the “$10 trillion” number was produced by government accounting, which among other things allows one to ignore Social Security, Medicare, and the new prescription drug benefit. This is like ignoring rent, food, and utilities in your household budget… it will lead to a few bounced checks. Our real debt is about ten times higher.

Who says so? The President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, Richard W. Fisher. In a May speech at the Commonwealth Club of California, he states that the US national debt is close to $100 trillion. You can read his whole speech at the Federal Reserve web site.

The Real Debt

Here is what he said regarding the actual US debt:

“Add together the unfunded liabilities from Medicare and Social Security, and it comes to $99.2 trillion over the infinite horizon. Traditional Medicare composes about 69 percent, the new drug benefit roughly 17 percent and Social Security the remaining 14 percent.”

Read Entire Article

Why Does The Illuminati Eye Infest Christian Churches?

On August 7, 2008

In Secret Societies

From: InfoWars

During a visit to a breathtaking, beautiful and ornate Christian cathedral in Lucerne, Switzerland last week, I was taken aback by the sight of something that seemed completely out of context and out of place – a baleful and evil-looking Illuminati eye staring out over a representation of the crucified Jesus. Why do similar depictions infest Christian churches the world over?

The Church of St. Leodegar, popularly called the Hofkirche, in the bustling town of Lucerne in northern Switzerland, was originally built in 735 and the present structure was erected in 1633 in the late Renaissance style. The cathedral’s distinctive twin needles were part of the original structure.

The church is opulently decorated with awe-inspiring golden statues and vibrant paintings depicting stories from the bible.

But when one reaches the front of the church and looks up at a statue of the crucified Jesus, looming over it in a window near the roof is a depiction of a single eye inside a pyramid with yellow and orange sun rays emanating from behind.

This occult symbol is completely not in keeping with the rest of the style of the church and the cathedral’s literature makes no mention of why it was placed there or what its significance is supposed to be. …

The video below showcases the Illuminati eye as seen in dozens of churches and cathedrals around the world.

Click for Article with Visuals

HeartQuotes: Friendship

On August 6, 2008

The greatest good you can do for another
is not just share your riches,
but reveal to them their own.

-Benjamin Disraeli

Click for the Illuminated Version

Contrails & Chemtrails? Reflect Sunlight by Day & Retain Heat by Night

On August 6, 2008

In Climate Change

From: PBS.org—Dimming the Sun

CONTRAIL HIATUS

At least that was the case until September 11, 2001. For the first time since the jet age began, virtually all aircraft were grounded over the United States for three days. Even as they tried like the rest of us to absorb the enormity of the terrorist attacks, climatologists realized they had an unprecedented opportunity to scrutinize individual contrails, and several studies were quickly launched. …

Another study that took advantage of the grounding gave striking evidence of what contrails can do. David Travis of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and two colleagues measured the difference, over those three contrail-free days, between the highest daytime temperature and the lowest nighttime temperature across the continental U.S. They compared those data with the average range in day-night temperatures for the period 1971-2000, again across the contiguous 48 states. Travis’s team discovered that from roughly midday September 11 to midday September 14, the days had become warmer and the nights cooler, with the overall range greater by about two degrees Fahrenheit.

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Travis Pastrana’s Appretiation of Colin McRae’s Heart to Give [1968-2007]

On August 5, 2008

In People, Wishing Each Other Well!

[youtube=http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=yjelJeCjHKU]

Transcribed by Jeff Fenske

Dear Colin,

I’m not really sure how to begin a letter to my hero, but I’m going to start with ‘thank you.’

You had no reason to treat some kid from Annapolis, Maryland as well as you did. You treated everyone you encountered with a humble respect, and I admired you so much more for that.

Your talent as a driver was equaled only by your ability as a teacher. I’ve never had a competitor so willing to encourage me and help with care set-up and give advice that could only be gained otherwise through years of trial and error.

Even in defeat, you delivered two performances here at X Games that will never be forgotten.

It’s been a year since you last raced—eleven months since the helicopter crash took you away. The lessons you taught on the track were inspiring, but after getting to know you, I was even more inspired by the example that you set away from the car.

That’s why your spirit will be out there again this year on every car and every driver. And know that as long as I can strap on a helmet and give everything I’ve got to the sport you loved, your legacy lives on. We see you more than you’ll ever know.

Thanks for everything, buddy.

Your friend,

Travis Pastrana
[Winner, Rally Car Racing, X Games Fourteen]

Related:

Wishing Others Well: Tony Hawk’s The First 900

Nastia Liukin, WINNER! — Wishing her fiercest competitor WELL! — “I admire her with ALL of my HEART”

Chuck Baldwin: Bush Trip To Beijing Olympics Shameful

On August 5, 2008

In China, Chuck Baldwin, George Bush Family, Torture

From: News with Views

According to numerous press reports, President George W. Bush plans to attend the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China later this month. Bush said that it “would be an affront to the Chinese people” if he stayed away. Other world leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, are choosing to not attend the opening ceremonies in the communist country.

It is hard for this writer to laud President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but in this case, even the socialist Roosevelt showed more integrity than our so-called “conservative” President, George W. Bush. When the 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany, President Roosevelt refused to attend those ceremonies for fear that his presence would give honor and prestige to the notorious Adolf Hitler. And so it would have. And, by the same token, when President Bush attends the opening ceremonies in China, he is giving honor and prestige to the bloody butchers of Beijing who have persecuted, tortured, and murdered multiplied thousands of the Chinese people since the communist regime took power in 1949.

President Bush said it would be an affront to the Chinese people if he did not attend the Olympics. Wrong. It would be an affront to the Red Chinese tyrants. And they deserve to be affronted! Instead, by attending the Olympic ceremonies, Bush is choosing to affront the hundreds of thousands of Chinese victims who have suffered brutality and barbarism at the hands of the very people Bush will be wining and dining with. Actually, by participating in the Beijing Olympics, President Bush is an affront to freedom-loving people everywhere.

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Companies Tap Pension Plans To Fund Executive Benefits

On August 5, 2008

From: The Wall Street Journal

At a time when scores of companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some are quietly converting their pension plans into resources to finance their executives’ retirement benefits and pay.

In recent years, companies from Intel Corp. to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans. This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for executives’ supplemental benefits and compensation.

The practice has drawn scant notice. A close examination by The Wall Street Journal shows how it works and reveals that the maneuver, besides being a dubious use of tax law, risks harming regular workers. It can drain assets from pension plans and make them more likely to fail. Now, with the current bear market in stocks weakening many pension plans, this practice could put more in jeopardy.

How many is impossible to tell. Neither the Internal Revenue Service nor other agencies track this maneuver. Employers generally reveal little about it. Some benefits consultants have warned them not to, in order to forestall a backlash by regulators and lower-level workers.

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