My Reflections on 2009 (and preview of 2010)

2009 is at it's end. Another year has passed me by. But this year was different. This year, I started living again.

My friends who have kept in touch over the years, or have gotten back in touch after a long absence, know my story.After high school, I got married, had two sons,and got divorced in 2005. I refer to the years from 1993-2008 as my "coma" years;I wandered through life unconscious of my surroundings. It took a speeding ticket in 2008 to change the path my life was heading down.

Life, in it's very form, is like a flow chart. When you encounter a situation that requires a decision, your choice will alter the possible consequences. Kierkegaard said to choose one thing or another, either way you will have regrets. So true, as I have discovered.

The speeding ticket was quite expensive, so I chose to go to court. This gave me time to save up for the fine. In court, I actually did real well. I ended up with a bunch of unexpected spending money in my pocket, and, as luck would have it, I needed a new cell phone. The phone I purchased literally changed my life going forward.

You see, it was on this phone I started my Facebook account. In short time, I found myself reconnected with some great people from my past. It was this contact that started me thinking about all the bad choices I had made, and my lack of action in improving my life. Basically, it was the kick in the ass I so badly needed.

I started reading again. I started paying attention to current events again. I started wanting to learn again. I started wondering how I could become a better person. I started by changing some lifestyle habits to help improve my health. I enrolled in college online. I started this very blog. I started becoming more socially active. My circle of friends expanded. I started writing music again. I even experimented with a little poetry. For the first time in many years, I was living life, instead of watching it pass me by.

2010 looks like it could be a fantastic year for me. I know there will be some hurdles, but they wouldn't call them hurdles if you couldn't get over them. I am hoping to reconnect to even more friends this coming year. I find great benefits from being in touch with my old friends. I find laughter. I find encouragement. I find different perspectives on things. I find joy. I find comfort. I guess you could say that I have found contentment, and most importantly, I have found love.

I guess, after all is said and done, 2009 will be remembered as the year of my personal renaissance.

I hope your 2009 was as good as mine, and I hope 2010 exceeds your hopes and dreams.

Take care my friends.

Catching up...

I apologize for not writing since before Thanksgiving. It has been a very trying time for me lately, and frankly, I just haven't had the time, motivation, or focus to write about anything since Thanksgiving. So I will use today to catch up on a couple of things that have been on my mind briefly.

I have been ill for five weeks now. I have had numerous tests, and spent an awful lot of money out-of-pocket for co-pays for the medical services I have needed. I could rant about how the government is giving away health care to to certain demographics, while my group, working, white males, foots more than our share of the bill, but it's a useless waste of valuable energy.

I could complain that in five weeks, four different doctors can't tell me what is causing this mind-numbing pain I have, but that would just be construed as whining.

I could talk about the wonderful medications available to me, but all they do is mask my pain while causing me to be drooling imbecile incapable of forming a conscious thought.

I could be thankful that my family has been there to support me in my time of discomfort, but, with the exception of my big brother, the only time I hear from them is when they want money. Hey, sounds like my Doctors. Haha. I made a funny.

I will tell you what I am happy about though. I am grateful for my friends. I never really thought of myself as a friendly kind of guy, but lately, many of my Facebook friends have been showing concern for me. Genuine concern. That surprises me because, well, to be frank, I'm pretty much a jerk. Yet, people are really worried and frustrated right along with me.

I also know how strongly a couple of people in particular feel about me. I know this because they yell at me. And they wouldn't yell if they didn't care. I've known one of these people for many years and consider this person to be my best friend ever. But the second person caught me totally unawares. I never expected that type of reaction from her. It has given me a reason to think about things a little more.

Today is Sunday. Tomorrow,I will call the specialist I saw and see what all these tests show is wrong with me. Maybe I'll get an answer, maybe I won't. But I need to keep trying. I need to keep working. I need to keep struggling through the days.

Apparently, there are people out there who are pulling for me. I'd hate to disappoint them.

Take care friends.

Till next time,

Peter

Thanksgiving Day Thoughts

Here it is, Thanksgiving Day, 2009. On Facebook, all my friends are posting their Happy Thanksgiving wishes and commenting on the things they are thankful for. I tend to be a bit cynical by nature, and, for the last couple of weeks, have been quite ill physically. That is why I haven't been posting as often as usual. So, it's little wonder that my first reaction was that I don't have anything to be thankful for today, as I am still very much in pain from my current ailment. Then it occurred to me just how selfish my attitude today is.

You see, the other day, I saw a neighbor of mine I hadn't seen in a couple of months. He only stopped by his apartment to pick up a couple of things. I'll call him "Papa Jim". I've been a neighbor of his for over thirty years. We have both watched our children grow up and leave, but other than that, we had little in common. Papa Jim is currently in a "rehab" hospital. You see, after years of heavy drinking, his liver finally became diseased and he had most of it removed. The man I saw the other day was a ghost of the man I knew. Thin, pale, crackling frail voice. The hollow look in his eyes was that of a man readying to meet his maker. It was then that I remembered Papa Jim's Thanksgiving Tradition. One that will not be occurring this year.

Every Thanksgiving, at about 1 in the afternoon, I would hear the sounds of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" through the ceiling of my apartment. In a few moments, the unmistakable scent of a joint would drift down the stairwell, and I knew Papa Jim was enjoying his Thanksgiving Day.It was the only day of the year he would smoke in his apartment. It was tradition.

Papa Jim is not here today. Nor may he ever be again, as the "rehab" facility he is in is for terminally ill patients, the ones who never go home. I am waiting to hear Arlo's voice coming from Papa Jim's. I am waiting to smell the weed in the hallway. But it isn't going to be. The tradition has ended.

Today I am in pain. But I am getting into my car, going to my ex-wife's house house for Dinner with her, my two sons, and whoever else drops in while I'm there. Afterwards, I have an invitation for dessert at a Facebook friend's house. As I recently changed jobs, I haven't been into my normal breakfast spot for a few weeks. When I walked in today, a bunch of smiling faces said how glad they were to see me. People commented that they missed me. It is only now that that I am beginning to realize the things I am thankful for. So here is my Thanksgiving list, 2009.

I am thankful that I have the ability to smile, no matter how bad things may seem.

I am thankful that I have two jobs that give me the opportunity to help those less fortunate than myself. Seeing their lives keeps me humble.

I am thankful that my ex and I still care about each other, and still get along.

I am thankful that I found Facebook, for it has reunited me with the people from the best part of my life.

I am thankful I found one very special person, who is a constant inspiration to me, and who motivates me to try to be a better human being.

But mostly, I am thankful that, despite my current discomfort, I know I will get better in a while, with the proper treatment.

Papa Jim has no such thing to be thankful for. So today, in his honor, I will play "Alice's Restaurant", spark one up, and dwell on the good things in my life.

Life is just too short, and too precious, to dwell on the negative.

Thank you for reading, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Goodbye to PetePedia?

I started this blog just over a month ago. I started it for two reasons. First, I found out that I actually enjoy the process of writing. Taking an idea, researching information, and putting down on paper (or a text input box), is quite enjoyable. The second reason is because of the proliferation of mis-information I was seeing all over the web. Posts on Facebook, MySpace and such, blogs galore, all spouting untruths. I thought that I would try to show people the facts of some of these issues, so they could make an informed decision on their own.

What a waste of time.

People do not care about truth anymore. They do not care about documentation, credibility, or facts. They seem to thrive on opinions, the wilder the better. I actually had a comment from another blogger who said "Blogs are supposed to be about what you think, not facts. Facts aren't interesting." The last blog article I wrote, on the Stupak Amendment, proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

You see, I read all these articles that said the amendment was going to do this, or do that, while the text of the amendment clearly stated otherwise. But I was informed that the other articles were talking about speculation of long-term effects of the bill. I found it odd that the group of people who were speculating about the infringement upon women's rights, are the same group of people who will shout you down when you point out the obvious economic failures of the Pelosi bill. Apparently, they are allowed to speculate when it suits their agendas, but you're not allowed to speculate if it goes against them. But I digress.

So now, I sit here at my keyboard wondering what I should do about my blog. Should I join in the speculation game, and terrify people with all the bad things that might happen? Should I just make up stuff for lemmings to follow blindly? Should I maybe write about benign things like scrapbooking?

I doubt it. You see, I was raised to always speak my mind. I was always taught to tell the truth, no matter how painful it might be to hear. Tact was never a strong point of mine. So I think, at least for now, I am going to just call it like I see it. If you can't deal with that, too bad. Read another blog. But if you want an opinion from somebody who shoots from the hip, keep reading PetePedia. I'm throwing away my kid gloves. I may not always be right, but I sure will try like hell to be honest and entertaining. And, if you can prove to me I'm wrong, I'll admit it. After all, it happens every once in a while. A great while.

Welcome to PetePedia 1.1. Update now.

Happy Halloween from PetePedia

I have had a very hard week personally. I wanted to write a blog about the spirit of Halloween, but time just hasn't been available to me to do so. However, I have a friend who wrote a wonderful piece on the historical meaning of Halloween, as well as much information on the many different traditions that have merged to form the current traditions. Please check out my friend's blog at:Virushead.net. If you enjoy PetePedia, please leave a comment on her page thanking her for inspiring me to start my blog, for without her inspiration and encouragement, I would have never started this endeavor. Have a safe and Happy Halloween.

The God Effect

I have a friend on Facebook who is a devout Christian. Most of her posts mention her faith in God in some way, shapes, or form. She will often mention how God "helped" her deal with some problem or situation in her life. One day, as I sat staring blankly at my Facebook, I started contemplating my own thoughts about God.

I was born into a strict Catholic family. Hell, my grandparents’ names Joseph and Maria. I had uncles named Peter and John. As most Catholic children, I went to CCD classes. Then one day, I made a very tragic mistake. I started reading the bible.

At the ripe old age of eight, I one day asked my priest if I could ask him some questions about what I read. He obliged. I asked, "Is it true that as Catholics, we consider ourselves Christians?" He said, "Yes we do, my son". I asked, "Being Christians are we not supposed to follow the teachings of Christ?" Again, he replied, "Yes we do, my son". Then I asked, "Well, in the Gospel according to St. Matthew Jesus said we should not call one another Father or Rabbi, yet we call you Father. Why is that?" I received a cold, blank stare. "What is your mother's phone number?" was his reply.

When the priest told my mother why she was to "...never bring him back here again", she flipped. How could the Church deny a child the right to ask questions? Is not that the way one learns? My mother became the first member of her family to leave the Catholic Church.

That was a long time ago. As I sit here today, writing this story, I find myself thinking about God again. Do I even really believe there is a God? When I look around at the beauty and wonder in nature, I know that the delicate order of nature had to have some kind of energy behind its creation.

Scientists have long said that our Solar System formed when a mass of matter exploded. This explosion then hurtled these orbs of rock into gravitational orbits around each other. That raises two questions for me. First, where did the mass of material come from? More importantly, what was the source of the energy that caused the explosion? Could God be just a mass of energy?


The human mind is a wonderfully mysterious thing. Man's capacity to learn seems boundless. Yet we cannot comprehend the concept of eternity. Our minds work on the finite; everything has to have a beginning and an end. I believe it is because of this limitation that the concept of a "human-like" God came to be. I think that, because of the human mind's incapacity to grasp the concept of eternity, it was necessary to create an all-powerful being that would be the answer to all the unexplainable mysteries of life.

They refer to it as "The God Effect". How did this amazing order in the universe get here? God made it. Why is the human body such a delicately constructed organism? God made it. Why do good people get sick and die? God wants them by his side. Why do bad people get sick and die? God is punishing them. How will I get through my latest crisis? God will help me.

I have dealt with one crisis after another in my life. I always managed to make it through. I used the power of my brain to assess the situation, find out all the options available to me, and select, then enact, a course of action. God did not do any of that. It was my will and my strength of character that got me through. I dealt with my problems on my own.

Let us turn back to my friend. "God helped me to___”. She honestly believes that. They call it faith. Faith is a belief in something that, basically, you have no empirical evidence supporting belief in. If you ask a believer why they believe in God, they will say because the bible says to. However, men wrote the bible. They will argue that the men were divinely inspired. Who said they were? The men who wrote the bible say they were. Common sense would dictate that the bible amounts to little more than good literature. Small-minded men created the concept of a greater god to placate their need to understand the incomprehensible.

When a person is sick, they go to a doctor to get medicine. Sometimes a doctor will give a patient a placebo. It is an inert substance; it does nothing. However, if the patient believes it will work, they often start feeling better. It is the power of their mind over matter that heals them, not the placebo. It is the belief that it will help that causes the healing.

I guess then, God, by practical definition, is just a placebo.

"Rush" to tell a story- media star gets duped.

The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind of emotional activity for me. You see, I wrote an article called "President Obama, the honeymoon is over". In the article I relay some of the recent news stories about the decline in popularity of the President,the failure of his biggest project to date, along with a couple of other things that are worthy of mention. I went out of my way to present documented facts, without expressing my opinions. Apparently, that wasn't good enough for some people. You see, some people just cannot accept the facts if they clash with the harmonious nirvana they want the world to be. A friend of almost 40 years de-friended me on Facebook right after I replied to their comment on my blog.

When I look for things to write about, I use a wide variety of sources, from all political sides of the spectrum (yes, there are more than two).If I notice something that seems unlikely, or biased, or untrue, I check it out. I never take anyone's word for anything without verifying. I guess I am a skeptic. I think that Rush Limbaugh could take a lesson from me on that one.

This headline caught my attention:
"Another Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory About Obama Gets Pushed by Fox and Shredded by Reality"

It did not take long to see the author is clearly far to the left politically, but that should not matter in reporting. Nevertheless, the hyperbole machine was over-heating in this article, but the main subject of the story is quite legitimate; Rush Limbaugh got duped by a blogger.From AlterNet:"If you listened to Rush Limbaugh today or visited Fox Nation, then you might have heard about President Obama's supposed college thesis in which the college-aged commander in chief allegedly wrote: "The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy."(AlterNet)"

Rush Limbaugh ran with the story without checking the accuracy of it. He should have. The story goes like this: a blogger, cited another blogger, who said he heard from a reporter that he was going to write this story. Upon checking things out, we find the story originated on a blog that had been exposed previously by Politifact.org, an independent news group (maybe the last one).

Just an editorial comment here-
Look at this piece of "reporting" from AlterNet, a left-wing blog site:

"This story is fake and falls apart under the slightest scrutiny. Corrections and apologies are due from Ledeen, Limbaugh, and Fox Nation, but if you believe you'll get an apology from pathological liars of that sort, then you're more gullible than they are".

Did you see the blatant hypocrisy there? In one sentence, they called Limbaugh et al. "pathological liars", yet, because they were fooled by the blogger, they ere also "gullible". Which is it? Were they fooled or did they lie? You cannot have it both ways. Either they were fooled, or they fabricated a lie. Since we know the source of the story, we know they were in fact duped, so calling them liars is downright libelous. Yet liberal lemmings will not make that discernment; one thing I have learned from my personal experience here on this very blog, is that so-called liberals (Webster defines liberal as:"open to news ideas and concepts) apparently cannot be concerned about real facts, just a perceived idyllic worldview, and if you in anyway dispute their vision, they will banish you to the realm of the unworthy. Does that sound like they are "open to new ideas"?

But I digress. So Limbaugh and company get duped and go with the story and now have egg on their collective faces. If only they had checked the facts. That is what I have been trying to do with this blog. I want people to stop listening faithfully to the pundits who tell them what to say and think. See things, hear things, check things out for yourself. Is it really that hard to do?-Quaero verum

(http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/143495/another_right-wing_conspiracy_theory_about_obama_gets_pushed_by_fox_and_shredded_by_reality/)

MassHoles in the news-Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article for my blog called “The problem of Massholes”. It dealt with four people who have gotten away with serious motor vehicle violations because of who they are, who they know, or incompetence from Judges and other state officials. Welcome to part two, where we will talk about a Senator, a Governor, and an Animal Control Officer, all of whom are raising the eyebrows of those who pay attention.



Let us start with the Animal Control Officer. While visiting her son in Stoughton, Mass., Janet Torren of Rochester, Mass. lost her Silky Yorkshire Terrier, named “Shai”. She searched the woods and immediate area, and posted signs looking for her pet. When she called animal control, she left a message with a description of the dog. A call back stated that the pound had no dogs meeting that description at that time.
The thing is this: that breed of dog is worth up to $2000, so Shai has a locator chip in his ear. Janet called the chip manufacturer and found that the Stoughton Animal Control Officer had in fact scanned the chip into the system. When confronted on the phone with this knowledge Officer Kristen Bosquet said she would have the dog at the Stoughton Police Department in a half-hour.
You see, Kristen had given the dog to a girlfriend of a Stoughton Police Officer the day she found Shai. For this disregard of her duties, and using her post for personal gains, Bosquet is a Masshole.




I could write volumes about everything Deval Patrick has done wrong since he became Governor. I am just going to focus on the very latest thing.
Last week, the Governor said that Massachusetts was broke, and he needed to lay off two-thousand state employees, which, by the way, is how many employees he added to the payroll since he started. Oh yeah, this is his first term. Therefore, he announced the first round of lay-offs. He laid off the 91 people with the least seniority. Ooops. No, that would make sense, but those would all be friends or campaign workers for the Governor, so the Union employees received their layoff notices instead. The workers came from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which oversees the firetowers in all the state forests. Almost a third of those laid off were firefighters. Massachusetts could end up with wildfires like California, but that is okay, because three friends of the Governor all have their high salaried jobs protected, while firefighters get kicked to the street. For this alone, Deval Patrick is a Masshole.

Lastly is Senator John Kerry the former candidate for President. He used his Vietnam career as a ploy to get public sentiment with him. Well, he just got $25 million in donations for the Edward Kennedy School. Guess where he got the money. $5 million came from a labor bill, and the other $20 million came from a defense budget bill. That is right. Senator Kerry, while our soldiers are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, took $20 million that is supposed to be for weapons and equipment and ammunition for the troops, and is going to spend it on a school named after the late Senator Kennedy. For this, Senator Kerry is a Masshole.

It is not easy living in Massachusetts, unless you are living on the public dole. If you have any level of sane consciousness however, Massachusetts, and the people running it, will drive you crazy. Of course, if you are judged crazy, then you too can qualify to live on the public dole. Something to think about.

Terrorism strikes home in Massachusetts

Take a look at this list:

a) The Musical "West Side Story"

b) The play "Peter Pan"

c) The American Flag

d)Guantanimo detainees

Here is the question: Which of these items do the people of Amherst, Ma. approve of?
The answer is D) The Guantanimo detainees. You are probably thinking, that cannot be possibly right. Sadly, it's true.

The Amherst Board of Selectpersons voted 2-1 to request Congress to rescind a ban on Gitmo detainees being allowed to live in the states, and actually requested two specific detainees off of the list. Here is some backgound on Amherst.

The school committee banned both the musical West side story and the play Peter Pan. That's right, banned them. Then, on September 10, 2001, well, just watch this video.


They all but banned public display of the American flag because it is terrifying? So, there is no West side story, no Peter Pan, barely any flags, but they want Gitmo detainees? Two days after the vote, look what happened just 75 miles from Amherst.




That is who the town of Amherst would rather have in the center of town instead of the American flag. I am very worried. My kids live 10 miles from the suspects. They shop at the nearby malls. One, or both of my kids could be a potential victim of the extremists.

Amherst, instead of living in your subjective perception, try looking at objective reality. The world is not a perfect place. Pretending it is just makes you look like a bunch of lobotomized lab rats, scurrying about without rhyme or reason. Get a clue, you sanctimonious idiots.

Now excuse me. I have to call my kids to say good night. One day, they might not be there thanks to the ignorant fools in Amherst.

Opinion-What balloon boy tells us about America

A few days ago, enthralled Americans watched the sight of a shiny, mushroom-shaped balloon flying through the air on national TV. By now, everyone knows the story was that a six-year-old boy was allegedly in the balloon. We all saw the video image of the balloon landing in a wheat field, volunteers frantically struggling through the uncooperative earth, finally reaching the balloon to find it empty. It was empty because the boy was safe at home, right where daddy had hidden him away.

As the facts came out one by one, the portrayal of the dad is somewhat less than flattering. The more we learned about this man (I will not use his name because that is what he wants us to do) the more we realized he is nothing more than a self-centered media whore. The facts speak for themselves.

He met his wife during acting classes. Both were unsuccessful actors, and so he chose to market his other hobby-science. I have found radio shows of his dating back to 2006. He was also a tornado chaser. When I read this quote, I got chills: “The {edit} take their sons on most of their missions. “I think they really are having fun," {edit}{edit}said. "They get so much more that they can't get from any other entertainment."The {edit} had a close call July 12 when they found themselves in the midst of a tornado in Buckeye."I think I have odd kids. They start screaming with excitement," {edit} {edit} said”. Hmm. I took my kids on a whale watch once. I do not think that a whale has ever sucked a car up off the road and hurtled it, and its occupants, to their deaths, as a tornado is more than capable of doing. Yet both of these parents saw nothing wrong with this potentially fatal behavior.

We all know that the couple appeared twice on the show “Wife swap”. We all know the couple both feel they are descended from aliens. Now we find the that the dad has been shopping a reality show based on his “The science detectives” radio show, featuring footage of him and his wife endangering their children by chasing tornadoes with them in the car. The first network, TLC, turned them down. What was the dad’s reaction? He planned the stunt that captured the nation’s attention. That will surely land them a reality show, right?

I fear it just may. I was listening to a radio show today. They had a guest from Ireland. He is a radio talk show host over there. When asked about balloon boy he stated that they do not have kooks like that in Europe, because the press humiliates them rather than publicizes them. You see, in America, we reward incompetence. It starts in tee-ball. They call them participation trophies. You get one just for taking part, even if you do not hit the ball all year. Incompetence rewarded. Our government gave billions of dollars in bailout money to banks that had screwed things up in the first place. Incompetence rewarded. Automakers too stubborn to notice market trends and found themselves in bankruptcy received bailout help. Incompetence rewarded. A man who figuratively bombed the moon and sent 14,000 troops to Afghanistan gets a peace prize. I do not know if that is incompetence, but it is definitely a participation trophy.

The family of balloon boy will undoubtedly end up with a TV show. Regrettably, America will watch. You see, that is what America does best; it rewards incompetence. What a shame.

Two wrongs don't make a right, Glenn Beck

The purpose of this blog is to encourage people to think for themselves, and not to accept as fact everything they see and hear. I use the word lemmings to describe these people; they follow blindly without questioning. I see articles, videos, and news items daily that spout alleged facts. I hear, or participate in, conversations where I hear unfounded assertions. This blog’s purpose is not to persuade you one way or another; it is to encourage you to research things for yourself. I sincerely hope you enjoy my blog.-Pete


Earlier this month, I wrote a blog called "Glenn Beck and the big, bad, blog. It dealt with the White House blog telling lies and misinterpretations about things Glenn Beck had said on his show. A friend of mine, who is a self-proclaimed liberal, asked me if I intentionally looked for things to write about just to anger them. Those of you who have read my blog for a while know I see or hear things that do not ring true, and so I check them out and then write about them. I try to be objective, and if I want to interject my opinion, I will label it as such. As for my friend, well, I do not need my blog to upset them. I can do that without any help.

Today's blog actually deals with Mr. Beck again. It is research into a comment he made on his show. The comment Mr. Beck made was on his October 12, 2009 show where he stated that if the Obama reform was passed as written, 45% of current doctors told a poll they would quit their practices. That just sounded way too high for me. Here is what I found.

First off, I don't put a lot of faith into polls in general. The questions can be vague, the pollster may have an agenda, the responses are questionable, and the target demographic of the poll can be picked to skew results. That being said, I looked at the poll that Mr. Beck used for his information. It came from a paper called "Investor's Business Daily". It is a financial paper, with a rather conservative editorial slant. The methodology of the actual poll was also very casual at best. Basically, I wouldn't quote this poll as a source on an academic paper.

Mr. Beck took the figure of 45% from the poll result, and said that is how many doctors would quit if the reform passed. I found that to be a gross exaggeration for two reasons. 1)Glen says the doctors WOULD quit. The question asked was if the doctor would CONSIDER quitting their practice. The capitalized words are key here. 45% of doctors said they would CONSIDER quitting, not actually quit. So Mr. Beck is drawing a wrong conclusion here. 2)Also, note the word THEIR. That means an individual doctor might quit HIS private practice to join a group practice instead. That doesn't mean they will quit; they would just move to a different location with partners. Basically, Mr. Beck used data from a questionable poll and then misrepresented the conclusion.

Earlier I wrote about a blog who misrepresented statements by Mr. Beck. Now I am writing about misrepresentations Mr. Beck has made about a poll. Am I for or against Mr. Beck? I will not say what I believe. My belief is irrelevant. I am just trying to encourage you to question and research things for yourself. That is the purpose of my blog. Remember, the truth is out there…you just have to look for it.-Quaero verum

Goodbye Sally. You will be missed. RIP.

If you look up at the banner above, you see a set of eyes peering at you. The eyes are mine. I've been told, usually by mothers of prospective girlfriends, that my eyes have an "evil" quality about them. I do not know if that is true. I do know this; Friday, October 16, 2009, those "evil" eyes were filled with tears over the loss of a very nice lady, Sally.

Sally was what can only be called a fixture at our office. Hers was the voice you most likely heard if you called. She was the one you went to if you needed a little help with an issue. She always could make you laugh, or at least smile. Sally could say more with a glance of her eyes than some people can say in a speech. Sally was the one constant we could all count on. Now she's gone.

I was on the road when Kelly called me from the office. She was obviously upset, more than I have ever seen or heard her before. She choked out the words "Sally passed away" and lost her composure. I was stunned. Not Sally. That is when the tears came. I was shocked.

I cried when my mother died. I cried when my favorite aunt died. I cried when my best friend took his own life. Even when the man who gave me life died, I did not cry until the casket was lowered into the earth. Yet, here I was with tears streaming down my cheeks at the loss of a co-worker. Not a wife. Not a relative. A co-worker. I did not even know how old she was, yet I was crying at her loss. That, my friends, is a testament to just how special Sally was.

Monday, I will go to the office, and I will walk past Sally's desk. Except this time, she won't look up from her paperwork to ask how I'm doing. She won't be doodling on a scratch pad when things calm down for a couple of moments. She won't be joking with the other folks in the office. She won't be asking for a favor because someone else goofed something up and she's trying to fix it. I will walk by her desk, and she will not be there. Ever again. And I will miss her.

Work will go on. The phones will ring. The clients will get their service. The checks will still come out on Thursday. I suppose, in a while, we will all go about our business as usual. It is the circle of life. When I am hurt, I turn to music to soothe me. I found this song, that I think is rather appropriate. It deals with the cycle of life. Tonight, I will listen to this song and think about my friend Sally.

These "evil" eyes...well...there's going to be alot of tears in these eyes tonight.
Sally, rest peacefully my friend. I miss you already.

Lessons I learned today

I have often said that a day is a waste of time if you do not learn something new. Today, I think I earned a college degree. Today, I learned a few things. I learned a little about history. I learned about the definition of a true friend. Most importantly, today, I learned a lot about me.

My job sometimes involves waiting around for people. I have dead time that needs killing. Redundant, don’t you think? Today was such a day. I spent a couple of hours in Plymouth, Mass. Some of you folks may remember, Plymouth is where history tells us the Pilgrims landed. Just as I did in grade school, I went to see the Plymouth Rock Memorial (a memorial for an inanimate object?). I strolled through the Pilgrim Memorial Park. I saw the Mayflower II, supposedly an exact replica of the original Mayflower that sailed for 66 days across the Atlantic Ocean some 389 years ago (That was some of the history I learned).

A nearby sign says that 33 men sailed the Mayflower. It does not mention how many women and children were on the ship. While I was there, about 40 tourists got on the ship. They could barely move. I started thinking about the lack of space that ship had. I figured that there had to have been at least 60 people on the ship, plus crates of supplies and water. Talk about panic/anxiety attacks! If I get a little antsy, I can get in my car and take a ride. When you are in the middle of an ocean, you have no such luxury.

As I left the ship site, I saw two young men, maybe early 20’s, plugging in their cell phones to an outside electrical outlet at one of the businesses. As I walked by, I chuckled. The two looked at me with puzzled expressions (I get that a lot). I remarked that the people who sailed on that ship would not even hear about electricity for at least two hundred more years, yet we worry about being able to charge up our cell phones. The more I thought about how tough those early settlers had it, the angrier I got at myself for all the times I felt self-pity when things did not go exactly my way. For the first time in a very long time, I was ashamed of myself. How humbling.

Now, with all this newfound perspective on my life, I took a walk. There are two problems with walking when you have something on your mind; first, you do not realize where you are going, and second, you do not know if you have the stamina to get back to where you started. Somehow, I ended up on the breakwater the goes out into Plymouth Harbor a considerable distance. Constructed out of boulders, you need to pay attention to every step or you will break an ankle quickly. Before I knew it, I was at the end. As I stared out over the calm waters, I felt all the little cares, the aggravations, the self-pity, just drift away like a piece of driftwood. I had found contentment.

As I walked back to my car, I learned another thing about myself; apparently, I can perform strenuous exercise without dying, despite feelings to the contrary. Maybe I will start a more vigorous exercise regimen. Make that, maybe I will start an exercise regimen. On the way back, I saw some things I missed on the way out.

I saw this little skiff tied up to a dock. It is about 12-14 feet, and quite old. The owner however, displayed quite a sense of humor in the way he decorated it: he made it into a miniature pirate ship. Pretty cool, huh? Another realization struck me: with all the violence and hate in the world today, humor is alive and well. I think we all need to keep that in mind, because, when we lose our ability to laugh, we lose our ability to enjoy the best things in life. Things like friends. I lost sight of that briefly, and I did something that irked a very dear friend.

As usual, in my haste, I did something that I should not have. Now, I could have talked the issue over first, but chose to act first and that was just stupid on my part. Against any type of logical thinking, my friend forgave me without an apology. An amazing person indeed. The experience taught me something about real friends; no matter how bad, or how stupid, or how selfish you may act, a real friend will always be there with open arms to forgive you, even if you do not deserve it.

I did come across one thing though that has had me perplexed beyond belief. At one point, I sat on a bench and found myself watching the seagulls. I admired their freedom. If they don't like where they are, a few wing flaps and they're gone. No driver's license, car registration or insurance, plane or train tickets, reservations, nothing. They just up and go. Wow. Then a question popped into my head, and I can't get it out. Maybe you can help me. My question is: How do seagulls walk? Their bodies are just way too disproportionate to their legs. How the hell do they keep their balance? If anyone knows, please tell me. I just can't make it work in my mind. It's something I want to learn.

A day is a waste if you do not learn something new. I received one hell of an education today. Today was a very good day. I hope for many more good days in the future, not just for me, but for all of us. Take care friends.

The problem of Massholes

I live in Massachusetts. I am a native of this Commonwealth. Yes, I said commonwealth. Massachusetts, along with Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky, are technically not states; they call themselves commonwealths. What, you may ask, is a commonwealth? Merriam-Webster defines it as: “a nation, state, or other political unit: as a : one founded on law and united by compact or tacit agreement of the people for the common good b : one in which supreme authority is vested in the people”. I find this quite fascinating, because in no other state do the people actually have less control of the goings on around them. Here are some examples.

In Quincy, Mass., a 79-year-old man drives his car into a loaded school bus and drives away without stopping. The driver of the bus reports the incident and provides the Quincy police with a license plate number. Upon finding the culprit, and seeing the damage on his vehicle, do you think he was arrested for hit-and-run? No. Did he receive a citation for leaving the scene of an accident? No. Because of his advanced age and his claim, he did not know he hit the bus, was the RMV notified he was a hazard, which would result in a suspension of his license? No. So why a hazard to society would be allowed to literally get away with a dangerous crime without so much as a traffic ticket confounds me. Maybe it is because he is related to members of the Quincy police department , and, by the way, used to be the mayor of Quincy. Did I tell you this old-timer is still working? Yes he is; as the Clerk Magistrate in Quincy Court. Is that enforcing the laws for the common good? I think not.

In Gloucester, Mass., an 18-year-old goes before the judge for the second time on the same charge; DUI. If you do not know already, the legal drinking age in our commonwealth is 21. The first time around, the court suspended his license. Apparently, though, that did not prevent him from getting behind the wheel while drunk and driving on a suspended license. Therefore, when he went to court to face charges, the 18-year-old pleaded guilty to OUI (2nd offense), Driving with suspended license, and leaving the scene of an accident. Looks like this person will do a little jail time, right? At the very least, spend some time in an orange vest picking up trash on the roadside. Nope. The judge gives him a $350 fine and sends him out to wreak more havoc on Massachusetts roads.

Do you want to hear about the 39-year-old Rockport man charged with driving an unregistered car with a suspended license; for the ninth time? If you think that seems like too many offenses, you have not seen anything yet. His RMV driving record is twelve pages long. A guilty finding would have suspended his license automatically for four years. Again, a dim-witted judge let him off with a continuance without finding; as long as he does not do anything wrong for six months the charge will be dismissed. Are you kidding me?

One would think our legislators would enact some type of measure to protect the citizens of the commonwealth from these moving road hazards. That should happen. That could happen. The next item on the list is a State Senator who admitted to a hit-and-run accident on Monday. He claimed he panicked because of his driving record. Of course the only reason he claimed anything at all was because he hit the other vehicle so hard, it left an imprint of his license plate on the other vehicle. A look at his driving record shows two DUI convictions, and a third where he received a gubernatorial pardon. The accident occurred as he was driving home from watching a N.E. Patriots game. Do you think he was aware of how much trouble he would have been in had he stayed at the scene of the accident, where one occupant in the other car was injured? Do you think he knew the penalty for hit-and-run was less than the penalty for a third DUI? I think that his job as an attorney probably made him aware of those facts.


Massachusetts has some of the highest insurance rates in the country. Now we see why. The roads are full of Massholes. Does the Commonwealth of Massachusetts really represent government for the greater good? I don’t think so.

Opinion: Faith, Fate and Evil-Terror in New Hampshire

Kimberly Cates was a 42-year-old nurse with a husband and a precious 11-year-old daughter. They lived in a quaint New England hamlet called Mt. Vernon. On October 3, 2009, with her husband out of town on business, she and her daughter went to bed as they had done every night previously. Tonight, however, would not end up like any other night.

Four teenaged boys are under arrest for one of the most terrifying crimes I have seen in my lifetime. Steven Spader, 17, Christopher Gribble, 19, William Marks, 18, and Quinn Glover, 17 , are accused of breaking into the Cates' home, mutilating Kimberly Cates to death with knives and a machete, and then, in an act that defies any type of human thought or emotion, slashing the throat of a sweet, innocent 11 year-old girl. What makes this horror story so terrifying is this: the four allegedly planned to pick a house at random, and kill whoever was home. They planned to end a life, or lives, at random, for no other reason than, well, because they wanted to.

Callers into talk radio all had ideas about how this was preventable. One caller said if they had only been involved with some other types of activities. Two of the four were members of their schools drama clubs. Another caller chimed in with it would not have happened if the boys were involved with the boy scouts. At least one was an eagle scout, another, a boy scout. Another caller states the fact that a church upbringing would have prevented this. One of the teens was preparing to do his Mormon missionary service. Well, maybe, said yet another caller, if there was more discipline in their lives. One was a military cadet. Another caller blamed the parents. One of the boys was undergoing counseling and on anti-depressants.

The fact of the matter is this; there is no way of telling for sure who is a vicious killer and who is just going through a phase of teen-aged awkwardness. The one thing that is for sure is this simple fact; the people who committed this crime are simply evil. That is the undisputable truth. Evil exists in our world. It always has, and, odds are, always will. Even in the Christian bible, evil existed in the most perfect place on earth. It is inescapable. Humanity has two belief mechanisms to help explain, or maybe just deal, with the existence of evil; fate and faith.

Fate is the belief that all of life’s events are somehow pre-determined. While an individual can make choices, in the end, what was meant to be will be. Nothing is capable of changing fate. That is why, the argument goes, someone can fall out of a 10-story building and not get hurt, yet someone else will die from a paper cut.

Faith is the belief that a god, or whatever the person, place or thing that you have faith in, will help you prevail through all. Faith is the reason why people will do things that even they know are foolish, futile, or downright dangerous; logic ceases to exist, faith will get them through.

Kimberly Cates had faith in her security system. Now she is a victim of murder. Her daughter, as of earlier today, is out of intensive care, but will carry the physical scars around her neck for years to come. She will suffer the emotional scars forever, but I think this little girl will somehow make it. After all, at 4:20 a.m., with her throat slashed and a broken leg, she had the wherewithal to call 911 for help. I hope that if I am ever in a crisis that severe, I will be as brave and mature as that little girl. Now excuse me. I have to go lock my windows and doors.

Assorted thoughts and stuff...

I have to admit that for the last few weeks I just haven't felt good physically. No one problem, just nagging little things that flare up and disappear. As a result, my mood has not been as cheerful as I would like. Lately, the news has not done anything to help my situation any.

I live in Massachusetts.Thanks for your sympathy. Politics in Mass., well, they're tragically laughable at best. This week alone, three fascinating little tidbits that hit the papers.

A State Senator was cited for leaving the scene of an accident on Sunday afternoon. Kinda silly, I thought. Then it's revealed that he has two prior DUI's, and received a Gubernatorial pardon for a third. Might I note, this DUI machine was returning home from the N.E. Patriots game. Is it at all possible that he may have had one too many?

Of course, our RMV (Registry of motor vehicles)won't do anything about it because they are scrambling to find excuses for closing over a dozen offices. They claim it's because of budget cuts, but a little research shows the RMV operating expenses at $40 million a year. Their revenue was $130 million, up $82 million under Govenor "Coupe" Deval Patrick's administration.

Then there is the election to replace Senator Ted Kennedy, who passed away after a fight with brain cancer ended his life-long service to the people of the Commonwealth. Two of the candidates are literally arguing over will be the kindest to the state's criminals. Yes, you read that right. I just can't make crap like that up.

A few miles to the north, 4 teenagers allegedly murdered a 42 year old mom and slashed the throat of her 11 year old daughter during a home invasion. Only thing is, they didn't steal anything. The story is they picked a house out at random and decided anyone home would be murdered.The 4 are between 19-17 years of age.

Lastly, I see the battle in Washington over health care. Latest news: even the Democrats are trying to turn the President into a liar. He promised health care reform with no new taxes, yet the Finance committee is all excited about a bill that would require $224 Billion in new taxes to work. With friends like that, the President doesn't need enemies.

So I'm going to go to bed now. I'll turn on some soothing music. Burn a little incense, and hope that when I wake up, I'm somewhere else.

Unfortunately, I doubt I will be.

Sigh.

Opinion: A tale of two videos

Thus far on this blog, I have posted a few articles encouraging you to research things you see and hear, and not to to just accept things as fact because a friend, employer, reporter, or political party told you to. It's called free thinking. You gather data and form an opinion. Further research will either reinforce the opinion or shed a new light on things. But sometimes, a person just needs to react to the emotion of something that happens. This week, such a story has got me outraged, and so this blog article is going to present more of my opinion than I have expressed yet on this blog.

This is the story of two videos. One features a class of second-graders who sing two songs, although one is done more like a chant, both in praise of, not God, not country, not Mom and Dad, but Barack Hussein Obama. One song that the children sing contains quotes almost directly from the spiritual "Jesus Loves the Little Children,":"He said red, yellow, black or white/All are equal in his sight. Barack Hussein Obama.". 7,8 year old children are chanting political slogans in praise of a man using the lyrics of a Christian spiritual song as its basis? But if the chant is disturbing, the song is downright terrifying. Sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", the first line is changed from " Thine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord" to "Hello Mr. President, we honor you today". Watch the video. Here are the complete lyrics for both songs:

Song 1:Altered lyrics of "Jesus loves the little children"-The actual lyrics are parenthesized)

Mm, mmm, mm! (For I love)
Barack Hussein Obama (the little children of the world)

He said that all must lend a hand (I will take you by the hand)
To make this country strong again (Lead you to the better land)
Mmm, mmm, mm! (For I love)
Barack Hussein Obama (the little children of the world)

He said we must be fair today [See the list of actual lyrics below]
Equal work means equal pay [See the list of actual lyrics below]
Mmm, mmm, mm! (For I love)
Barack Hussein Obama (the little children of the world)


He said that we must take a stand [See the list of actual lyrics below]
To make sure everyone gets a chance [See the list of actual lyrics below]
Mmm, mmm, mm! (For I love)
Barack Hussein Obama (the little children of the world)


He said red, yellow, black or white(Red and yellow, black and white)
All are equal in his sight (All are precious in His sight)
Mmm, mmm, mm! (For I love)
Barack Hussein Obama (the little children of the world)


Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm (For I love)
Barack Hussein Obama (the little children of the world)

Here are some of the other lyrics to "Jesus loves the little children"

Jesus calls the children dear,
Come to Me and never fear,

Jesus is the Shepherd true,
And He’ll always stand by you,

He’s a Savior great and strong,
And He’ll shield you from the wrong,

I am coming, Lord, to Thee,
And Your soldier I will be,

And Your cross I’ll always bear,
And for You I’ll do and dare,

Song 2:Sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"

Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----

Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!

I'm sure a large number of service people past and present are thrilled with this.


Charisse Carney-Nunes has been credited as the author of the songs. She is Senior Vice President for Programs at The Jamestown Project. More on them below. Among her many duties, she sets direction for issues and ideas. She is the author of the children's book, "I Am Barack Obama"(2009). She attended, but lists no degrees, from Harvard University. She has spent the last few months visiting schools on the East coast to promote her book. A poster of the book is seen to the side of the children in the video.

According to the author's website, ""I Am Barack Obama" is not a book about Barack Obama. Rather, it allows children to see themselves through the inspirational story of President Obama growing up as an ordinary child asking, “Who will change the world?” Ultimately, he realizes that he will". Did I just read that right? The book is not about Barack Obama, yet in it "he realizes that he will" change the world. Are you as confused by that contradiction as I am?

The Jamestown Project is a group based in Cambridge, Mass. Among the strategies The Jamestown Project uses to achieve their goals are formulating political strategy and public policy, and cultivating new leaders. Could they possibly mean cultivating these very second graders? As much as I hate to do this, I am going to make a reference to Barney the Dinosaur. A large part of Barney's success and effectiveness is the fact that he teaches children via songs. Barney's greatest hits are all familiar tunes with the lyrics changed to teach the lesson du jour, if you will. Is this not the exact same thing we are seeing here?

In the last couple of weeks, I have talked with a 21 year old and two high school seniors who all had one thing in common; none of them knew what happened in 1776. It got me wondering just what the hell are they teaching in schools today. I certainly hope that this is not the curriculum of the future. I mean, if a group of students at a college were to post a video like this on Youtube, it would amount to much ado about nothing. But these are second grade children. They trust adults to teach them right from wrong. They accept what they are taught. They will not be able to intellectually reason for themselves for almost ten years yet. By then, it may be too late.

Yes, I was a vessel of mixed emotions when I saw this video. Anger, bewilderment, outrage, sorrow. I began to think that the future was growing dimmer for the future of our country. Then I saw this video; two of these girls are 6, two are seven, and one is eight. I think that just maybe, America will get through these times. At least I certainly hope so.

While researching this article, I came across two more videos of school children singing praises to President Obama. I did not post them for two reasons. First, because they were in a foreign language and were subtitled. Secondly, because the content was just too upsetting to put on my blog. You see, in both videos, Kenyan Muslim school children were singing about how President Obama would be responsible for the defeat of America. I will not provide the link here; you can search Youtube if you must see it for yourself. Thanks for reading. Take care.-PetePedia

The media and credibility

The purpose of this blog is to encourage people to think for themselves, and not to accept as fact everything they see and hear. I use the word lemmings to describe these people; they follow blindly without questioning. I see articles, videos, and news items daily that spout alleged facts. I hear, or participate in, conversations where I hear unfounded assertions. This blog’s purpose is not to persuade you one way or another; it is to encourage you to research things for yourself. I sincerely hope you enjoy my blog.-Pete

My Facebook friends run the gamut from right-wing conservatives to left-wing liberals with a few fundamentalist Christians thrown in for good measure. As a result, my news feed page can sometimes look like a battlefield. Of course, this is a treasure trove of inspiration for my blog. Here is the latest subject- Credibility in the media.

One Facebook friend posted this headline with a link to the article: “ Iran: More accomplished in one day of negotiations than in 8 years of threats”. I clicked on the link and I find myself at a blog. The blog then directs me to the
actual website from which the story originated. I started reading with great interest about all the concessions Iran made to the western diplomats, including President Obama, in this seven and a half hour meeting. Then I noticed something. I noticed that there were not many quotes in the story. There were certainly many statements, but few quotes. As I looked for the quoted parts, I found that one quote came from “… a senior U.S. official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity”. While the meeting took place in Geneva, the article used a quote from President Obama in Washington. The skeptic in me started wondering about how accurate the story was.

It took me all of thirty seconds to find another article with this headline:
"Iran's leader: Obama wrong to say nuke site hidden". I started reading this article, looking for corroboration of the first article. Here is what I found. There were many points in both stories that were very similar. However, I found one glaring difference; cited quotes. The second story had quotes from people actually at the meeting, and named them. One such statement went like this: “But Mehdi Saffare, Iran's ambassador to Britain and a member of the Iranian delegation at the talks, said Iran had not yet agreed to such a plan”. Now there is a problem. We have two articles on the exact same meeting, both talking about an agreement where “Western officials” claim that Iran had made concessions on the matter. However, one article names an Iranian official who was at the meeting that says no such agreement took place. This claim seems to get reinforcement from the quotes from Iran’s President himself blasting President Obama’s mistakes on the matter. Which story should you believe?

Pardon me while I express an opinion here. As I was growing up, I learned that the news was where we were supposed to discover about world events. Journalists were “reporters”; they saw things and reported them. That was all. In today’s world, true journalism no longer exists, at least not in the main stream. How many times have you heard a comment from someone you know who said something like this: I do not watch/listen to that station because it leans to the right/left? I hear it daily. I have had friendly discussions with intelligent people who flat out said that a news channel’s coverage was invalid because of their political leanings. It appears as though there is no such thing as unbiased reporting; news outlets have become marketing tools to promote agendas. That is my opinion. Now back to the blog.

This is a perfect example of my blog’s purpose. This is a tale of two stories. Both are very similar, until you get to the headlines. One story lacks properly cited quotes or references, and the few quotes in the story are unnamed or outdated. The other story names of the sources of the quotes from participants in the event. News reporting is supposed to be about gathering facts. Use the links to read both stories and then decide which you think is more credible. I will not say what I believe. My belief is irrelevant. I am just trying to encourage you to question and research things for yourself. That is the purpose of my blog. Remember, the truth is out there…you just have to look for it.

References

Akbar Dareini, A. (2009, October 2). Iran's leader- Obama wrong. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from Yahoo.com: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091004/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_nuclear;_ylt=Aq_4yz3T9AU37o8SIbQCirys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0amtpZjdlBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDA0L21sX2lyYW5fbnVjbGVhcgRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzMEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Z1bGxuYnNwc3Rvcg--

Greenwald, G. (2009, October 1). Iran:More accomplished. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from salon.com: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/02/iran/index.html?source=newsletter>

Strobel, W., & Talev, M. (2009, October 2). Iran agrees . Retrieved October 3, 2009, from mcclatchydc.com: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/76369.html

Is President Obama the Antichrist?

The purpose of this blog is to encourage people to think for themselves, and not to accept as fact everything they see and hear. I use the word lemmings to describe these people; they follow blindly without questioning. I see articles, videos, and news items daily that spout alleged facts. I hear, or participate in, conversations where I hear unfounded assertions. This blog’s purpose is not to persuade you one way or another; it is to encourage you to research things for yourself. I sincerely hope you enjoy my blog.-Pete.

I was having breakfast at my local diner this morning. The hostess, who, by the way is as close to the perfect woman as I have ever met, remarked that she had a conversation with someone who claimed President Obama was the antichrist. I chuckled at first, but then realized I have heard this statement many times before. It then dawned on me that lemmings may just accept this as fact. I now needed to research the question: Is President Obama the antichrist.

To determine whether President Obama is in fact the antichrist, one has to have a definition. I Googled it and here is what I found: the vast majority of websites, dictionaries and references all define antichrist as the enemy of Christ. That is basic stuff, so I searched for specific qualities the antichrist would possess. Here is what I found.

Bible scholars claim one thing that identifies the antichrist is his ability to bring peace to the Middle East. Their basis for this is a scripture in the book of Daniel 9:27. Has President Obama done this? No. However, his next task is to talk Iran into disarming its nuclear weapons. On it’s website, BBC news reports “The US fears Iran's uranium enrichment programme is a cover to build atomic weapons, a charge Iranian officials deny. Mr Obama, like his predecessor, wants Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment programme, but is trying to build up diplomatic capital before confronting the issue,” (Marcus, 2009).

Another scripture used to warn of the antichrist is in Revelation 13. It talks of the death, and then resurrection, to even greater power than was previously held. Obviously, President Obama is still alive, so we cannot use this as evidence one way or the other.

I now find a litany of scriptural citations that claim the antichrist will declare himself God, but only after achieving quite a list of areas where he has global control. Specifically, they are: politically, religiously, militarily, and economically. Does President Obama meet the necessary requirements to qualify as the antichrist? Let us examine them one by one.

To be in global control politically, one would have to be in a powerful standing globally. As the recent failure of President Obama’s attempt at bringing the Olympics to Chicago points out, he has little power on the global front. As far as being a religious leader, it is true that there are groups of people who literally pray to President Obama, but, at this time, they are not given much credibility. Militarily, President Obama has not exactly put his job as Commander-in-Chief at the forefront. The Kansas City Star reported “It was Obama and McChrystal’s first meeting in person since the general took over all American and NATO forces on the ground in June… The fact that Obama had not talked with McChrystal since his report was submitted at the end of August generated criticism.” (Baker, 2009). Does this sound like someone who is currently attempting to gain military control of the world? Economically, I do not think I really need to prove the state the USA is in at this time. The Wall Street Journal reported “Job losses moderated in August, but the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 9.8%, the highest level since June 1983”. Suffice to say, there is no global control there either.

I do think it is necessary to divulge a piece of information here. In the entire sixty-six books that are accepted as the Christian bible, the word antichrist only appears five times; four in singular form and once as a plural. This introduces the possibility that the antichrist may be a group of people, not a single person. All cited references to the actual antichrist come from biblical scripture, yet, outside of Christianity, the bible is merely literature; academically it is not an authoritative source. That is a whole other topic for discussion. One could therefore argue that the antichrist, to quote the bard, is “Much ado about nothing”.

I heard an assertion; President Obama is the antichrist. I found the definition. I examined some of the requirements of being such. I will not say what I believe. My belief is irrelevant. I am just trying to encourage you to question and research things for yourself. That is the purpose of my blog. Remember, the truth is out there…you just have to look for it.

References

Baker, P. (2009, October 2). Obama and general discuss Afghanastan. Kansas City Star(reprinted from N.Y. Times) .

Izzo, P. (2009, October 2). Broader Unemployment Rate Hits 17% in September. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from WSJ.com: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/10/02/broader-unemployment-rate-hits-17-in-september/?mod=wsj_share_facebook

Marcus, J. (2009, October 2). Obama offers Iran 'new beginning'. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from BBC.com: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7954211.stm

Capitalism: A true story?

The purpose of this blog is to encourage people to think for themselves, and not to accept as fact everything they see and hear. I use the word lemmings to describe these people; they follow blindly without questioning. I see articles, videos, and news items daily that spout alleged facts. I hear, or participate in, conversations where I hear unfounded assertions. This blog’s purpose is not to persuade you one way or another; it is to encourage you to research things for yourself. I sincerely hope you enjoy my blog.-Pete

Like most people on Friday after work, I went to the gas station to top off for the weekend ahead. The station I use has installed televisions on top of the pumps, presumably to keep you from watching your hard-earned money spin away on the dial. Lo and behold, I see a commercial for Michael Moore’s new movie, Capitalism. The voiceover primarily states that Michael Moore tells the truth about important topics in his movies. I decided to check out some facts about Mr. Moore’s accuracy of statements in his newest movie, “Capitalism: A love story”.

Regarding his movie “Fahrenheit 9/11”, Mr. Moore claims that his movie irreparably harmed President Bush’s popularity: " From Fahrenheit on, Bush's approval rating never was better, it only got worse" (Moore, 2009). Fahrenheit 9/11 came out at the end of June 2004, when Bush's approval rating was at 48 percent. However, his approval rating climbed through the rest of the summer and hit 53 percent around Election Day in early November. After the election, Bush's approval peaked at 57 percent during the first week of February 2005. Here we see that the next eight months after the movie’s release, the president’s approval rating increased, not decreased. Mr. Moore’s claims are just flat out wrong on this one.

The next statement Mr. Moore makes is that the majority of Americans want a single-payer health care system. Put simply, the government would be responsible for paying all of your health care. Mr. Moore cites the Kaiser Foundation’s July 2009 poll on this matter. Let us look, shall we? The poll asks each participant to what degree he or she favored or disfavored eight different types of plans. Each plan received a favor/do not favor rating. In July, single-payer was favored by a narrow margin; 50% to 46%, compared to itself. This was the first time in six months that this was true. Among all eight plans, however, single payer rated the lowest score. This clearly shows that Mr. Moore’s claims of a majority were gratuitous at best, and that Americans were clearly thinking anything is better than single payer health care. Here is more evidence of another inaccurate claim by Mr. Moore.

In the fifties, “ A lot of people got rich -- and they had to pay a top tax rate of 90 percent” Mr. Moore says in the film (Moore, 2009). That sounds like an awful lot, does it not? Look what I found out though; the top marginal tax rates were over 90 percent in the fifties. Therefore, it appears this might be true. Look closer though. Mr. Moore says “ …top tax rate” while, in the fifties, it was the top marginal tax rates that were over 90 percent. What is the difference? Exactly this; under Mr. Moore’s formula, a person making $500,000 would have to pay $450,000 in taxes. The 90 percent marginal tax rates, however, apply only to money earned in excess of $300,000 in the fifties. Anything below that and the taxes started at only 20 percent on the first $2,000 of income and graduated on up to the highest rate after $300,000. The result is that a person would have had to make in excess of $2.3 million dollars a year to pay an actual 90% in taxes. This shows Mr. Moore’s statement is misleading at best. By the way, in case you wanted to know, in 2009, the top marginal rate was 35 percent on income above $372,958. Would you say that is quite a difference from 90 percent?

At this point, you might start thinking that Michael Moore’s films lack a certain familiarity with the actual truth. Let me point out this piece of information where the facts back up Mr. Moore. He cites a statistic that the top 1% of the wealthy has more financial wealth than the bottom 95%. This gets into semantics; it depends on whose definition of financial wealth you use. Two of the three most accepted definitions support Mr. Moore’s statement, while one definition disagrees, but minimally. Even if the exact numbers are not very correct, the truth is the top 1% has a hugely disproportionate share of the financial wealth. This is a true statement.

What of the claim that President Obama’s top campaign contributor was Goldman Sachs? That is partially true. Goldman Sachs was in fact the top private contributor to the President’s campaign-University of California employees were first, but they are public contributors. Mr. Moore is right about that assertion.

I heard a commercial stating Mr. Moore's movie tell the truth. I checked some facts. I will not say what I believe. My belief is irrelevant. I am just trying to encourage you to question and research things for yourself. That is the purpose of my blog. Remember, the truth is out there…you just have to look for it.

References

Adair, B. (2009, October 1). Politifact-Michael Moore movie gets a fact-check. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from politifact.com: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/oct/01/michael-moore-movie-factcheck/

Moore, M. (2009, September 29). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from Michael Moore.com.

Moore, M. (Director). (2009). Capitalism: A love story [Motion Picture].