GREAT NEW YEAR

OH BOY, IS THIS IS A GREAT NEW YEAR

News
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has been named "Person of the Year for 2005" in an online poll by the Black Entertainment Television network, beating out Oprah Winfrey, Sen. Barack Obama and BET founder Robert L. Johnson.

[‘PERSON’ not ‘MAN’, even though man is a species not a gender. Male of the year would be gender specific. No wonder we are the only country who has to take its own language to get a college degree. Nobody knows how to use it.]

The controversial ‘minister’ touted a theory that the Bush administration had blown up the levees in New Orleans. Farrakhan said he came to that conclusion after a private meeting with Mayor Ray Nagin, who told him there was a 25-foot crater beneath the levees. Farrakhan urged African-Americans to bring a class action suit for "criminal neglect" against the U.S. on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans and demanded that America "acknowledge her wickedness to the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere."


Did the New York Times put America in danger? They released a story about the Government monitoring phone calls coming into the US from suspected terrorists. While no one has mentioned this yet, I bet you this has had an effect on those who were doing the monitoring and their ability to do their job in a negative way. Put it this way... if you know people are listening to you, do you watch what you say? Yes, you do. That is human nature. What if you are talking about an illegal action? If you are smart, and these terrorist groups are – they start using codes. All the sudden our monitoring is less effective, because we don't understand the code words and phrases. This makes everything all the more difficult and time consuming, thus putting America in danger. The people's “Right to Know” doesn't extend into national security issues. And it doesn't extend to alerting the terrorists that they are being monitored and how they are being monitored... thus alerting them that they need to change tactics. Thanks a lot New York Times. Jerks.

Technology
If you have Windows XP SP2. Read this. Now, what do you do about it? This.

My computer crashed, but I’m back on now. I went ahead and used the downtime for a little break. I figured no one would miss the 2 issues as I have only a few readers and it was Christmastime.

Politics
Many Americans are libertarian at heart - they just don't recognize it...yet. These folks believe in fewer restrictions on behaviors (a liberal or Democratic view) and less involvement by the government in economic issues (a conservative or Republican view). Right now, many closet Libertarians are counted among the two major political parties. As Democrats continue to espouse increasingly liberal economic policies - such as universal healthcare - it is becoming more and more difficult for libertarians in their ranks to remain. Likewise, philosophical libertarians in the GOP are getting increasingly uncomfortable with the growing influence of the values-based politics - such as pro-life policies and the Defense of Marriage Act - in their party.

BOOKS
I read a book over the holiday break ‘Joshua’ by Father Joseph Girzone. The book’s main theme, which he believes is at the heart of many struggles in churches. Love, he insists, must never be confused with law. Here is how Girzone puts it, speaking through Joshua in a confrontation with his Vatican inquisitors at the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrines of the Faith.

"Religion is beautiful only when it is free and flows from the heart. That is why you should guide and inspire but not legislate behavior. And to threaten God's displeasure when people do not follow your rules is being a moral bully and does no service to God. You are shepherds and guides, but not the ultimate judges of human behavior. That belongs only to God."

Joseph has written sequel books and after reading Joshua I will get others. I found an excerpt from one of them online and as the police question Joshua here is his reply:

"I am hiding nothing. You are the ones who picked me off the street although I had done nothing wrong and have no intention of doing harm to anyone. Why do you suspect me? Because I am poor? Because I look like someone you prejudge to be evil? If I have done nothing wrong, then why do you interrogate me? You are the ones who are doing what is unjust, profiling people because of the way they look and the clothes they wear. Fear does terrible things to people, pushing ordinarily normal people into doing things that would be unthinkable in ordinary times. I am surprised and saddened that this could happen in this beautiful country."

I can sympathize with that statement. All of us can, as we have all been prejudged at some time or other in our lives. Hairstyle, piercing, weight, color or clothes are not relevant. Inside a man is what he is, not the clothes. A pillar of the community and wealthy man could end up in unknown surroundings in tattered clothes. He is still himself. Worn, tired and hungry, but still the same man.

Logic and clothing rarely go together - if they did, we would all probably be walking around in coveralls most of the time. Take the neck tie for instance - that piece of rag around a man’s neck. It constricts the throat; gets caught in car doors; drops in your coffee; blows over your shoulder in the wind; it hangs there like a phallic symbol, and is constantly having to be stroked and adjusted by the wearer. Yet, for all its non-logic, many "rag-necks" willingly continue to wear ties - if not already being forced to do so by their employer or spouse.

I believe that is the message Fr. Girzone is going for. God knows us as we really are, and doesn’t judge us for our mistakes. Read the book, you will enjoy it.
Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR [although our calendar does not work correctly, i.e. leap years to shuffle it back into place {maybe that’s what we are ‘saving all the daylight time’ for} and the year always starts in the middle of a season.]