Truth Habits

Americans are Weak People

2009-03-09T00:55:00.001-07:00

It's been a week since I have posted the need for every American to help in the fight to expose the ineligibility of Obama to sit as President. I have told all my friends, BLOGGERS and non-bloggers alike, to sign the Petition for the release of Obama's birth certificate. I also asked them to tell their families and their friends, both personal friends and their friends Online, to do the same.

Guess what. ONLY AN ADDITIONAL 19,188 have signed the Petition SINCE THEN.

WHETHER YOU ARE PRO-OBAMA OR ANTI-OBAMA, DON'T YOU AT LEAST WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS ISSUE? For the REAL ISSUE HERE is not about which political party has the White House, but whether the CONSTITUTION has been upheld and YOUR RIGHTS protected.

Where have all the ones, who did not vote for Obama, gone? Where have all the undecided gone? As I pointed out in my previous post, they number almost 140 Million combined. Out of these, ONLY a total of 319,188 have actually signed the Petition. That's a shameful 2 tenths of 1 per cent, or .002.

Compare this with the MILLIONS OF AMERICANS who will stay glued to their seats to watch a football or a basketball game. Whenever there is an "important" NFL or NBA game that is scheduled, they ENTHUSIASTICALLY reschedule everything, just to be able to be FREE to watch such games.

THEY ARE JUST GAMES !! The have no impact whatsoever on your freedoms. You won't lose anything if you don't watch those games. Or hasn't anybody realized this?

Americans get emotional when the Star Spangled Banner is being played, before the games begin, and think themselves as being PATRIOTIC!

They shout their lungs out for the American team, in a world competition, like the Olympics, and then think themselves as PATRIOTIC.

But when real Patriotism is demanded of them, suddenly, they are TOO BUSY. Even to sign an ONLINE PETITION WHICH WILL NOT TAKE 20 SECONDS.

While Millions of Americans will cheer on for their favorite teams, WHO IS CHEERING ON AND SUPPORTING THE ONES IN THE FRONTLINE OF THIS FIGHT TO REGAIN AMERICAN FREEDOM?

With the exception of the military, who really go out and face the enemy of the country, and some civilians like the BLOGGERS, and those who have stood in the frontlines in this fight for the REGAINING of American freedom, and the PRO LIFERS, I think Americans are generally too weak.

Americans have been weakened by years of going after their countless PRIVATE SELF-SERVING INTERESTS.

Maybe, due to American self-centeredness, they deserve the kind of government that they got.

SO THIS WILL MOST PROBABLY BE MY LAST POST ON THIS ISSUE. There are many more things to do than to try and help people who don't want to help themselves.

DON'T BOTHER TO COMMENT IF WHAT IT CONTAINS IS JUST YOUR RATIONALIZATION FOR NOT DOING WHAT IS THE MOST MINIMAL EFFORT THAT YOU CAN GIVE. YOU WON'T FOOL YOUR CONSCIENCE, MUCH LESS THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THE HARD WORK FOR YOU.

YOUR UNPRODUCTIVE COMMENTS WILL JUST BE DELETED.

I suggest that you pray, instead, for your country. Pray for the ones fighting for your freedom. And pray for yourselves too, that you will once again be FREE (of selfishness) and be BRAVE enough to do your share.

Is America STILL the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave? That entirely up to you.

God bless us all.

Difference between Natural-Born and Naturalized Citizens

2009-03-04T01:49:00.001-08:00

This post was prompted by the fact that I have seen far too many silly comments on blogs that I have read regarding the eligibility issue. Although they naturally vary in the way they express themselves, I just picked the essense of what they were saying.

1) Some say that if Obama was born in Hawaii, to a mother who was an American, then why are we still making so much noise about the issue?

I wonder who among them has seen the birth certificate that shows that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii. Why is it that there are conflicting stories from the Obama camp as to which hospital in Hawaii he as born. He couldn't have been born in two different hospitals. Otherwise, Oprah's description of Obama as "The One" might have to be "The Two"(?)

2) A few have indirectly said that it doesn't matter whether he was naturalized or natural born. What matters is that Barack won the elections and he will restore America to what it originally was, as intended by the Founders.

Ah.. the most civilized reply I can give is .. Huh?

But for the benefit of those who can't understand the difference between naturalized and natural born, here is something that might help.

This is a naturalized "Apple" Laptop computer

This is a natural-born Apple Laptop computer

Dictatorship: Obama's Attempt

2009-03-03T23:00:00.000-08:00

The American Family Association has issued this following alert.

"According to several news agencies, President Barack Obama will rescind the "conscience rule" that protects health workers who refuse to participate in abortions or other medical procedures that go against their moral and religious beliefs. If the rule is rescinded, doctors, nurses and other health care workers could lose their jobs or be punished professionally for adhering to their sincerely held religious convictions. Obama's proposal would take away their religious freedom.

The current rule empowers federal health officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctor's office or other entity if it does not accommodate employees who exercise their right of conscience. It applies to more than 584,000 health care facilities.

The Obama administration is doing the bidding of pro-abortion advocacy groups who seek to penalize health care providers who refuse to participate in abortions.

According to The Washington Post, Obama administration officials stressed that the proposal will be subject to 30 days of public comment. That is why it is so very important for you to let the White House hear from you today."

To let the White House know your comments go to http://capwiz.com/afanet/issues/alert/?alertid=12821731&type=PR

N.B. I have informed you in my previous post that all my EDITING TOOLS have been gone for several weeks already. SO WHILE I AM HOPEFULLY WAITING FOR BLOGGER.COM TO FIX THE PROBLEM, PLEASE BEAR WITH THE INCONVENIENCE. THANK YOU.

Anyway, isn't Obama clearly testing the waters here? Does he want to know how the public will react to this attempt at becoming a DICTATOR? This "seeming experiment", if we are to believe what the Administration officials said in the above alert, is clearly an attempt to take away the RIGHT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

What other rights, enshrined in our Constitution, does Obama want to take away next?

Remember how Obama has already taken away Press Freedom from the Main Stream Media, or MSM, by bullying tactics (http://truthhabits.blogspot.com/2009/02/conspiracy-unfolding-putting-obama.html ) and by bribing members of MSM (http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=424112

) with juicy government positions?

That is why the MSM has, from the start until the present, remained silent over the most urgent and important Constitutional issue of Obama's eligibility to run for and to sit as President.

Remember to do all or any of the following actions:

1) Sign the Petition for the Release of Obama's Certificate at this website.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81550

2) Write to your representatives and pressure them to oppose this dictatorial attempt, and to have the MOST CONSTITUTIONALLY URGENT AND IMPORTANT Obama-eligibility issue resolved.

3) Tell all your personal and Online Social Networking friends to do the above too.

4) Boycott NBC (too shamelessly pro-Obama), Hewlett-Packard (extremely pro-abortion), Ford (abortion funder), Pepsi and all Pepsico's many food products (pro-gay marriage), and many more that I will list in later posts.

AMERICA NEEDS YOU MORE THAN EVER BEFORE IN ITS HISTORY. IT IS BEING ATTACKED FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

Americans, Let's Hit Obama Where He Will Hurt

2009-03-02T03:23:00.001-08:00

N.B. Ever since I started writing posts against Obama, I have been encountering problems in Posting and Editing. I don't know if BLOGGER.COM is responsible for it. But it does seem so. MY EDITING TOOLS are gone, so I can't make any link, nor resize, nor bolden, nor underline, nor change colors, etc. So please bear with the inconvenience.

So much has already been written about the fact that Obama’s Stimulus plan is not really meant to stimulate the economy. Instead, the money will be used to fund Obama’s agenda, which run the gamut from socialism, fascism, Islamisation of America, the killing of babies, etc., all intended to destroy the free America as we know it.

And I applaud all the bloggers and the (non-mainstream) newspapers that have been doing the gallant effort of opposing Obama’s agenda, as it is arrogantly and deceptively being implemented.

Without trying to diminish the importance of opposing Obama’s highly radical, leftist, and Islamic moves, don’t you thing that we, bloggers, might have been barking, a little too much, at the wrong tree?

We have been barking on the symptoms, but not at the root cause, which is, that America has a Kenyan-British-Indonesian-American “sitting” as President – and he happens to hate America probably as much as Osama Bin Laden does (?).

The eligibility requirement is so easy to comply with. When John McCain ( http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88566 )was asked to prove his natural born citizenship, he showed all the required records without the slightest hesitation. End of allegations.

Obama, on the contrary has resorted to cover ups, court cases, threats aimed at the lawyers who are questioning (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=88746) and heavy-handed tactics to suppress media coverage (

http://truthhabits.blogspot.com/2009/02/conspiracy-unfolding-putting-obama.html ) of the questions regarding his eligibility. OBAMA HAS EVEN ORDERED THAT HIS BIRTH AND SCHOOL RECORDS BE KEPT FROM THE PUBLIC. Such surprisingly illogical and expensive (taxpayer money) moves have already proven beyond doubt that he, in fact, is really not a natural born citizen.

A con-man has only so much time to work with before he is discovered. Aware of this, Obama has been moving as fast as he possibly can to be able to consolidate his power bases, in order to make himself untouchable. He might even be laughing at the fact that we, the bloggers, have our attention in the wrong direction. Don’t feel bad about it for it is part of a Master Con-man’s diversionary tactics.

While the rest of the unconcerned public are busy with their individual pursuits, and while we were busy barking at the wrong tree,

Consider what Obama has already managed to accomplish:

1) With his (unlawful) discretion as to who can get pork funds and how much, Obama has the (greedy) Senators and Congressmen by the neck.

2) He has big business kissing his ass, all begging for bailout money (most of them not really needing a bail-out, but are just trying to enrich themselves even more).

3) He has already succeeded in silencing the money and power hungry members of Mainstream Media, by appointing many of their notables to his government (

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=424112 ). Now we know that MSM’s impartiality is actually a mere illusion.

4) Even when he was still a Presidential candidate, Obama has already arrogantly defied the U.S. Supreme Court by ignoring its order. (

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1262534/berg_v_obama.html?cat=9 )

And the courts have shown complacence by dismissing non-eligibility cases on mere technical grounds, not on the real merits of the case. The Supreme Court’s sitting on this most important Constitutional issue, for almost half a year now, shows that they might have already been bought into silence too. Traitors in robes!!

Obama's obvious next move will be, by far, the most dangerous (to America), if he succeeds.

Obama is now moving towards buying the military’s loyalty by increasing their salaries and benefits. He has visited the troops and made the same sweet sounding speeches that fooled Americans into voting for him. If he gets the military on his side, it will be the end of civilized opposition. We might just have to resort to another Civil War.

How we SHOULD negate his accomplishments and counter his next move

Don’t you think that we should refocus our efforts at getting more people involved in fighting Obama where he is weakest, the eligibility issue?

I am not suggesting that every blogger should concentrate on the eligibility issue. Obama's moves still have to be exposed to prove that he does not mean well to America. BUT IT WOULD HELP A LOT IF, IN EVERY POST, EVERY BLOGGER INCLUDES A CALL TO RALLY THE PEOPLE TO DEMAND FOR HIS ELIGIBILITY PROOFS.

This way, we can get the doubters to take action, and get the non-doubters to examine why they are convinced that Obama is eligible, inspite of the fact that they have absolutely no basis for such a belief.

To date, it has only been a handful of lawyers (one of whom is even a Russian immigrant), a few bloggers, 2 active military men (who want to make sure that the commands they are getting indirectly or directly from the Oval Office, are constitutionally legitimate), and a little over 300,000 Americans, who are hitting Obama where is he is most vulnerable.

The 300,000 Americans mentioned are the ones who have signed the Petition for Public Release of Barack Hussein Obama’s Birth Certificate.

Only 300,000? That is only ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT, or .001 of the American population. Have the rest of the Americans become so weakened by their mindless pursuits of money and pleasure, that they think that some body else should do their fighting for them? Don’t they have an ounce of self control left to suspend their self-serving activities and help turn the tide against Obama?

There are so many things they can do.

1) They can SIGN THE PETITION that is available on line.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81550

2) They can email the Petition to their friends and family members.

3) They can Bookmark the Petition in all their social networking sites.

4) They can unite and start pressuring their elected representatives and the courts to get off their fat asses and bank accounts, and start upholding the Constitution.

5) They can boycott the Obama-backing companies and the Mainstream Media ( in this struggle, people have to sacrifice their entertainment, like watching their favorite shows), until monetary considerations will make these entities serve the public interests again.

To the ones who are confident, (even without seeing any evidence), that Obama is eligible, what harm will it do, if you just join in asking for pieces of paper that will settle this issue once and for all? This issue has been dividing Americans, unnecessarily, at a time when we should get our acts together.

By joining the petition, you would have exercised your right to know ( which at this point you really don’t know for sure). And as a big bonus, you stand to gain the chance of being able to laugh at the people who have doubted Obama’s eligibility if Obama is able to prove beyond even the slightest doubt, that is natural born.

The words of exhortation from John Quincy Adams, call out to us from the past:

"Posterity -- you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

View this video, look at the images, THINK OF HOW MUCH WE HAVE TAKEN OUR FREEDOMS FOR GRANTED. And then think of how you can contribute to this fight to regain our freedom from this American-hater and deceiver sitting illegitimately in the Oval Office.

Is there a bone of Honesty and Human Compassion in this Twisted-Minded Obama?

2009-02-25T01:11:00.000-08:00

In the light of Obama's myriad of sweet-sounding announcements to the public, I thought that maybe, by reminding people what kind of a deceitful person Obama is, Americans will think twice before they applaud him again.

The material may not be new, but their RELEVANCE has become even more PRONOUNCED and SIGNIFICANT today. So please WATCH AND LISTEN intently.

This was one of the ads that ran during the 2008 Presidential election campaign, in areas where the large majority of voters were PRO LIFE.

In the light of Obama's 100% PRO ABORTION voting record, need I say more?

Now, listen carefully for the deceptions in this video.

Some of Obama's deceptive talk

1) When asked on the topic, Obama said that knowing with specificity as to when a baby gets human rights is "above his paygrade." Meaning, it's beyond his competence and knowledge.

If he was truthful with his answer, that he does not know, then why has he been taking a strong PRO ABORTION stance? Why did he vote against the "Born Alive Infant Protection Act" at the State level? This Act would have protected all aborted babies who survived the attempted abortions. The Act would have entitled the surviving babies all the medical care. It's been found that anywhere from 10 to 20% of babies survive abortion attempts.

Obama's voting against the said legislation was a PURELY VICIOUS, SAVAGE, AND BARBARIC ACT OF INFANTICIDE.

2) When Obama was questioned about his (barbaric) vote, he had the AUDACITY (isn't that the title of his book?) to say that people were lying about his actual stand. He claimed that he completely supports providing "assistance to any infant born, even as a consequence of an abortion." He said that State bill he voted on was entirely a different bill. WHAT A SHAMELESS LIE, IN VIEW OF WHAT'S ON RECORD.

What was really the difference between the State version and the Federal version? ABSOLUTELY NONE.

As a sign of the discomfort he must have felt in answering the question, "when does a baby get human rights", the eloquent Obama went, "but" "but" "but" "but". Can you count how many "buts" he said?

I strongly recommend you also watch this video and the OTHER videos.

IS THERE A BONE OF HONESTY AND HUMAN COMPASSION IN THIS TWISTED-MINDED OBAMA?

IS THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WILLING TO JUST IGNORE WHAT THEY KNOW AND CHOOSE TO REMAIN AT THE SIDELINES ?

Proof that Obama has no respect for ( non-Muslim) Human Life.

2009-02-24T22:47:00.000-08:00

As I outlined in my post, Obama and the Islam Global Domination Part 1, one of Obama's most urgent agenda is to promote abortion and gay marriages in the non-Muslim world. This is in line with the fact that Muslims intend to rule the world by sheer numbers.

Since abortion and gay marriages are not options for Muslims, by promoting these two "rights", Western population will decline even faster, while the Muslim population will be growing geometrically.

After having signed an E.O. to provide taxpayers' money to fund abortion locally as well as in any other country, Obama has taken the next step. He has nominated four people known for their pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, and anti-life stands, for top-level positions in the U.S. Department of Justice.

These nominees, namely : David Ogden, Elena Kagan, Dawn Johnsen, and Thomas Perrelli, hold far-left ideology, as can be seen through their legal careers. Their appointments would seriously jeopardize the proper interpretation and application of the U.S. Constitution.

"All four have each demonstrated, throughout their careers, a flawed understanding of the Constitution," said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. “Their legal philosophies depart from mainstream views, their professional careers reflect a far-left ideology, and their involvement in the DOJ could jeopardize the proper enforcement of federal law and the development of constitutional doctrines.”

CONSIDER EACH NOMINEE'S "QUALIFICATIONS"

David Ogden holds an advocacy of sexually oriented businesses and abortion.

Elena Kagan has been openly hostile towards the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The policy, by the way, is favored by a majority of Americans, including a majority of military servicemen and women.

Dawn Johnsen, was the former legal director for the National Abortion Rights Action League (currently NARAL Pro-Choice America), an organization that has publicly and in no uncertain terms, strongly opposed the federal law banning partial-birth abortions.

Thomas Perrelli was a major opponent to the fight for the sanctity of human life. This can be seen most clearly by his having represented the husband of Terri Schiavo, in alliance with the American Civil Liberties Union to deprive the Florida woman of food and water–and ultimately of her life.

For your and everybody's sake, never forget Terri Schiavo, and what they did to her.

And, for God's sake, do something. Call your representatives and demand from them not to let these pro-killing nominees to pass. They are all violators to our Founding Father's vision to provide everyone the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Fighting many Americans' Indifference

2009-02-22T03:23:00.000-08:00

I asked some of my Twitter friends to read my blog posts, and to do something – anything, however small -- in order to help defend American freedom and way of life. There were many positive responses, and I thank them in behalf of the free world. But there were some who replied via Twitter, who said:

1) Well, I am really not into politics.

2) Or, I am too occupied doing the things that I enjoy.

3) Nice analysis, but I don’t see it the way you see it.

4) I don’t take sides. I am happy with the way things are.

My take on this is, such statements are mere reflections of what I have said in my post, The American Dream. A large number of Americans are still too stuck in their comfort zones and addictions to entertainment and pleasure seeking, that they are unable to get out of their indifference to what is being done to our Constitution, our mainstream media, our economy, our democracy, etc.

They are just too immersed in their own individual little worlds. But what they don’t realize is that their comforts, their recreational worlds, their leisure activities, will not be there if Obama succeeds in implementing his secret agenda and plans.

I wanted to continue writing about my Conspiracy theory, where, by connecting the dots about Obama’s Muslim faith, his upbringing, his connections to leftists, and to conscienceless businessmen, we will hopefully be able to shed just enough light on this big puzzle, and get more people to take the necessary actions.

On this note, I am not making any claim that I know exactly what the conspiracy is. All I can do is to present some verified and not-so-verified facts. For by nature, a conspiracy is filled with a lot of complexities and intended divisionary tactics. And with the magnitude of this kind of conspiracy, where a nobody, who comes with a very questionable background and very thin experience, is suddenly catapulted to the highest position in the world, it will take years and a gigantic and ultra expensive effort to peal away the layers and layers of seemingly unrelated information, to finally unravel the truth.

However, America does not have the luxury of time. The issues surrounding the Obama “Presidency” needs to be resolved and resisted fast before Obama is able to consolidate his power bases.

Considering the indifference of still one too many, I have decided to change tactics. I have decided to make my presentations in a much more vivid, albeit indirect, way.

So indifferent, so absorbed in their myopic world, that they don't see what's coming at them.

Part 2 - Obama and the Islam Global domination

2009-02-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

Obama and the Islam Global domination

Part 2

Alarmist or just telling you a most unpleasant truth?

Now before anyone of you dismiss this article as alarmist, let's look at what Warner Mackenzie wrote in his article, "It's the Ideology, Stupid!!!" Warner Mackenzie is a resident of Sydney with a long standing interest in Islam and its impact on Western society.

Mackenzie wrote,

"Seemingly unwilling to make the effort to research the true causes of modern Islamist violence, many in the West, including the media, are ever ready to proffer an autoethnophobic (cultural self-loathing) root-cause as to how “We Westerners must have, somehow, caused the problem and therefore deserve what we are getting”. The apologists, propagandists and appeasers continue to confidently promote the view that Islamic terrorism is born of, and nurtured by, poverty, social marginalisation, and Islamophobic bigotry."

"The inescapable historical truth is that influential thinkers such as Hassan al Banna, Sayeed Qutb and Mualana Sayeed Abul Ala Maududi were the modern revivalists of an ideology as old as Islam itself ; an ideology founded on the belief of Islamic superiority with its dream of world domination."

Maududi wrote: “Islam is not a normal religion like the other religions in the world and Muslim nations are not like normal nations. Muslim nations are very special because they have a command from Allah to rule the entire world and to be over every nation in the world.”

The following comments, by other prominent Muslims, are a few examples showing how widely these views are held.

“One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory.”
---Former Algerian President Houari Boumedienne’s prophetic warning to Europe in a speech at the U.N. In 1974.

“The Quran should be America's highest authority”. “Islam is not in America to be equal to any other religion but to be dominant.”

--- Omar Ahmad, CAIR's (Council on American-Islamic Relations) chairman of the board.

"I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world,”

--- Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, (former leader of the extremist Al-Muhajiroun movement in Britain) in an interview with Reuters.

"Jihad and the rifle alone. NO negotiations, NO conferences and NO dialogue."

---Sheikh Abdullah Azzam--- (Osama bin Laden’s late mentor.)

“Allah revealed Islam in order that humanity could be governed according to it. Unbelief is darkness and disorder. So the unbelievers, if they are not suppressed, create disorder. That is why the Muslims are responsible for the implementation of Allah's Law on the planet, that humanity may be governed by it, as opposed to corrupt man-made laws. The Muslims must make all efforts to establish the religion of Allah on the earth”

---Muhammad 'Abdus Salam Faraj, “Jihad: The Absent Obligation”, p43

Still wondering why Obama is hiding his being a Muslim?

Is Obama a masterful Taqiyya tactician?

Warner Mackenzie writes, "The word "Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing, precaution, guarding.” It is employed in disguising one's beliefs, intentions, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions or strategies.

In practical terms it is manifested as dissimulation, lying, deceiving, vexing and confounding with the intention of deflecting attention, foiling or pre-emptive blocking. It is currently employed in fending off and neutralising any criticism of Islam or Muslims.

Falsehoods told to prevent the denigration of Islam, to protect oneself, or to promote the cause of Islam are sanctioned in the Qur'an and Sunna, including lying under oath in testimony before a court, deceiving by making distorted statements to the media such as the claim that Islam is a “religion of peace”.

A Muslim is even permitted to deny or denounce his faith if, in so doing, he protects or furthers the interests of Islam, so long as he remains faithful to Islam in his heart.

Some notable taqiyya tactics:

a) Role playing as the victim:

When placed under scrutiny or criminal investigation, (even when there is overwhelming, irrefutable evidence of guilt or complicity), the taqiyya-tactician will quickly attempt to counter the allegation by resorting to the claim that it is, in fact, the accused who are the 'the victims'. Victims of Islamophobia, racism, religious discrimination and intolerance. Currently, this is the most commonly encountered form of distraction and 'outwitting'….. Defence by offence.

b) Manipulative ambiguity and Semantics:

Islamic spokesmen will rarely unequivocally condemn a specific act of terrorism and direct questions will be skillfully evaded.

(NB: because Muslims regard Islamic attacks as “jihad”, and not terrorism, their spokesmen can truthfully deny any support for terrorism.)

Interviewers would be better advised to ask the more precise question “do you believe in jihad against the unbelievers?

However, a direct question requiring a simple "YES" or "NO" reply is rarely forthcoming and is usually deflected by responding with a tangentially irrelevant rejoinder or, in an attempt to neutralise the original question, counter-challenging with another question such as “are you in favour of killing children in Iraq?”…..Touché and Checkmate!

c) Diversion, deflection and "tu quoque”:

Questions relating to the 9/11 terrorist attacks will usually be diverted by either making outrageously wild conspiracy claims “the CIA did it to give the U.S. an excuse to attack Muslims,… Mossad was the perpetrator… No Jews came to work at the World Trade Centre on September 11” etc. or by making an irrelevant counter reference to “the plight of the Palestinians”,.. Iraqis,.. colonialism,.. the crusades, or US foreign policy’s support for Israel” as the 'root causes' of terrorism.

d) Demanding 'evidence':

Islamic spokesmen practice a form of taqiyya defined in psychology as 'cognitive denial' by repetitive and persistent demands of 'where is the evidence!' and 'prove it!' whenever there is Muslim complicity in terrorist acts, evidence, which they know very well, for security or legal sub-judice restraints, can not be disclosed. If indeed the “evidence” were to be publicly presented, they would then move on to the familiar “prejudicial to the defendant receiving a fair trial--grounds for a mistrial” default position.

e) The Islamic 'defence' script:

Islamic spokesmen appear to follow a well prepared script as they repeat "Islam is tolerant and peace loving”. In instances where they find themselves presented with, and cornered by, undeniable evidence that murderous radicals are indeed guilty as charged the spokesman will then fall back on the old chestnut that the culprits are only a “small minority” and not “true Muslims” anyway.

There’s a common and oft repeated lie that “Islam” means peace”, it doesn’t, it translates as “submission” (to Allah).

Islamic falsehoods are echoed uncritically by Western politicians and other apologist dupes, for example, "A small group of fundamentalists have hijacked a great and noble religion”. This timely, skilful, misleading and diversionary theme of the 'hijacking' of Islam ... has become an “accepted fact” repeated, ad nauseum, ever since.

The "Islam has been hijacked” myth is now a clichéd media and political reference which serves to deflect attention from the empirical proof of a fourteen hundred year continuity of the doctrinal, political and religious nature of Islamic jihad.

A related theme that “a small minority of Muslims are engaged in terrorism” is utterly irrelevant as terrorism is always perpetrated by 'small minorities' or more accurately small groups or cells. Surveys consistently reveal that between 10-15% of all Muslims sympathise with the aims and methodology of this radical strain of Islam which has been “hijacked”. This means, that within an estimated world population of 1.2 billion Muslims, there are 120-180 million people prepared to fund, facilitate and in general, give moral and financial assistance to the jihadists….. “a small minority”?

f) Taqiyya and the Deceptive definition of Jihad:

After yet another violent incident in Sydney, involving “Males of Middle-Easter Appearance”, a spokesman for the Muslim community appeared on a Sydney television evening newscast. In the brief soundbight he defensively declared “our religion teaches us that we must be kind to one another” ….and indeed it does, it simply depends on how we are to interpret the words “one another”, as these verses from the Quran demonstrate:

Muslims are harsh against the unbelievers (all non-Muslims) , merciful to one another. – (Q 48:25)

Muhammad is Allah's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another.

Through them, Allah seeks to enrage the unbelievers. – (Q48:29)

So, was this spokesman lying?

Or was he telling the truth?

The answer is both, YES,… and NO! – Or, perhaps neither. And if you are confused by this apparent contradiction, you were meant to be, because he was practising taqiyya.

How many times have you read, heard and viewed Obama use these and other deceptive tactics?

The Conspiracy unfolding: Obama, taqiyya tactics, and Muslim global domination

2009-02-15T22:27:00.000-08:00

Obama and the Islam Global domination

Part 1

Inspite of Obama's claims that he is a Christian, he is clearly a Muslim by faith and by conviction.

There are numerous evidences that show that Obama is actually a Muslim. The following are just some of such evidences.

In an ABS interview, Obama blundered by saying “My Muslim faith”, and tried to correct himself. But it was too late by then.

After 35 years since he left Indonesia, Obama was able to recite the Shahada, in an interview with The New York Times, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent”. He said that the Muslim call to prayer, the Adhan, is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth", and it runs through his head often.

He showed absolutely no qualms in mocking the Holy Bible, in one of his speaking engagements in June 2006. In fact he was clearly enjoying himself.

He does not give his children Christmas presents, due to a lame alibi of "setting some limits". Truth is, Muslims do not to celebrate Christmas, for it runs contrary to their faith.

QUESTION: Why is Barack Obama hiding his true religion? Is there anything wrong about being a Muslim, and therefore a follower of Islam?

Obama is doing his best to hide the fact that he is actually a Muslim due to:

1) The fact that, according to a 2008 study by American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), America is still 70% Christian, and only 0.5% Muslim.

2) Americans are generally wary of Muslims due to the 9/11 and other terrorist attacks.

3) Obama doesn’t want to draw attention to his real and hidden agenda.

What is Obama's secret Muslim agenda?

Have you ever wondered why Obama's first two acts as President had nothing to do with addressing the many urgent problems in America? One of the very first Executive Orders he signed was to grant U.S. government funding for abortions anywhere in the world.

As a Muslim, Obama knows that high Muslim population growth is, in fact, a part of a greater global plan to make Islam the dominant religion in the world by sheer demographics. It is estimated that, at present, there are 1.2 Billion Muslims all over the world.

In India alone, between 1961 and 1991, Muslim population had grown by 133.7% as compared to Hindu growth of 89.24% -- the Muslim population growth being 150% of the Hindu population growth.

Abortion is not an option for Muslims. They even allow men to have many wives. So, while the Western countries are having zero or even negative birth rates and aging populations, the Muslim population is increasing almost geometrically.

For Obama to borrow money to fund abortions worldwide, which is not one of the problems that need urgent attention, and at a time that the U.S. economy is shaky, really shows that there is something more to Obama’s rabid pro-abortion stand than the defense of women’s rights.

Pro Life groups should therefore take cognizance of this, and start deploying different strategies to fight this policy. Like exerting efforts to expose Obama's real agenda as illustrated in this article.

The other thing that Obama has long been supporting is the legalization of gay marriages. Gay couples cannot possibly have biological children. Again, this is part of the grand plan to conquer the world through sheer numbers alone.

The only other Executive Order that he signed as his first act as President was the closure of hidden CIA prisons and the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in Cuba. The order was essentially intended to eventually transfer all the captured terrorists, held in such facilities, to mainland U.S.A.

Will they be distributed in prison facilities that are strategically located in key areas of the mainland? Looks like a sinister plan is about to be implemented.

One week after his inauguration, President Obama designated $20.3 million to aid the Palestinian refugees in Gaza to immigrate to the U.S.

What security measures are in place to keep the HAMAS terrorists from gaining free access into the U.S.? Is President Obama, in the guise of having "compassion" for the oppressed Palestinians, opening the floodgates and inviting HAMAS terrorists to “migrate” to the U.S.A.?

Click here to read Part 2 of this post

The Conspiracy unfolding: Obama a Usurper in the White House?

2009-02-11T23:01:00.000-08:00

The Eligibility Issue

“If Mr. Obama fails to prove his citizenship but the voters, the electors, or the members of the House purport to "elect" him, he will be nothing but a usurper, because the Constitution defines him as such…a usurper cannot gain legitimacy if even all of the country aid, abets, accedes to, or acquiesces in his usurpation… Obama will not constitutionally be the commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States ... therefore, he will be entitled to no obedience whatsoever from anyone in those forces.”
Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr.

The truth about his eligibility until now is still so cloudy, due largely to Obama himself. If he was truly born in Hawaii, then, isn’t it logical that all he needed to do, was to present to the public and to his critics, a $10 worth of paper known as a birth certificate? If he had done that immediately after the issue came out, he would have shamed his political opponents, and he would have gained more credibility.

Instead he opted to spend millions of taxpayers' money to engage in deceptive tactics, pay off his allies, and pay his expensive lawyers to fight the 20 (at that time) lawsuits against him. By doing this, he made many voters doubt his eligibility.

Why did he unnecessarily risk his chances of getting the nomination and then getting elected? Well, since he obviously is not stupid, the only plausible explanation is that he can’t produce an authentic birth certificate showing that Hawaii, not Kenya, was his real birthplace.

Obama’s control over the Media and his show of unprecedented arrogance towards the Supreme Court

One of the most surprising thing about this eligibility issue was the “absence of interest” by media, including the staunchly dependable conservative James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal, Rush Limbaugh, and Hugh Hewitt , to name a few. Or why conservative radio icons Al Rantel and Tammy Bruce have so quickly done an about-face, even reprimanding and threatening their call-in audience never to mention the birth-certificate issue.

Now, why would professional and well-respected radio announcers scream at and threaten their precious and loyal followers for an issue that can be discussed in a more civilized manner?

The most probable explanation came from an anonymous lady who wrote, to Joan Swirsk of The (Philadelphia) Bulletin, the following. "I suspect," she wrote, “that a memo went out en masse to the media from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to mention the birth certificate subject under penalty of losing their licenses to broadcast. Now we have practically a national shutdown of the media, and the only entity that would have had the power to bring this about is the FCC. For the entire airwaves, in unison, to suddenly take the position that Mr. Obama's birth certificate is out of bounds means that they've been ordered not to discuss it.”

The lady continued, "Think about it ... every single one of the major radio hosts rebuked callers at the same time - and on the same day in most cases! My guess is that big guns from ACORN and also from the Nation of Islam have gotten to the F.C.C. and have told them in no uncertain terms that if Mr. Obama is blocked from becoming POTUS, there will be hell to pay all over America. And obviously these threats were deemed credible enough by those making the decisions at the FCC that they have succeeded.”

Also, several blogsites, that questioned the eligibility issue, have been tampered with or even made inaccessible to the owners of the blogs, including, for example Dr. Orly Taitz' Blogger blog.

Dr. Taitz is a Russian lady immigrant who has has been working tirelessly to help save America. It is reported that she gets by with only 3 to 4 hours of sleep, and has been spending her personal money to finance her lawsuits.

Barack Obama relied on his powerful leftist allies and black activist supporters to suppress press freedom and control Mainstream Media, or MSM, even until the present. This topic will be discussed in the subsequent posts.

Without any pressure from the media, the 20 cases (at that time) filed by Democrats and Independents did not grab urgent action by the courts.

By the time Donofrio’s case was scheduled, in December, for hearing in the Supreme Court, Obama was already elected as President. The Justices, afraid, in all probability, to face the ire of the millions of Americans, particularly the blacks, who voted for Obama, dismissed the case on December 2008, without any explanation whatsoever.

Also, it is noteworthy to mention that the Philip Berg’s case was dismissed by the Philadelphia federal court for Berg’s “lack of standing” . In the ensuing press conference, Berg asks, "This is a question of who has standing to stand up for our Constitution," Berg said. "If I don't have standing, if you don't have standing, if your neighbor doesn't have standing to ask whether or not the likely next president of the United States--the most powerful man in the entire world--is eligible to be in that office in the first place, then who does?" Remember Philip Berg is a Philadelphia attorney and the former Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

And when the December 1 deadline, for the Obama legal team to file their response to the Berg Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, arrived, Obama did something unthinkable. He ignored the Supreme Court’s deadline! He effectively showed total disrespect for the highest court of the United States of America.

Obama’s alleged “Certificate of Live Birth”

Ron Polarik, who holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Media and specializes in computer graphics, with over 20 years experience with computers, printers and typewriters, has come forth with more definitive evidence than the word processor that tried to simulate a 1970s Selectric typewriter.

Polarik has submitted a signed affidavit and has now released his findings on video at www.ObamaForgery.com with his identity masked and voice altered to guard against the carrying out of threats, which he has already received.

The Summary: The Certificate of Live Birth documents posted on Mr. Obama's website, www.FightTheSmears.com, Daily Kos (a pro-Obama blog) and factcheck.org, (a pro-Obama political research group), were found to be altered and forged.

Obama’s website, FightTheSmears.com shows us this on the front page (scroll down to FactCheck.org):

“Smears claiming Obama doesn’t have a birth certificate aren’t actually about that piece of paper, they’re about manipulating people into thinking Obama is not an American citizen. The truth is Obama was born in the State of Hawaii in 1961 a native citizen of the United States of America".

Notice the word “Native”, not “Natural born”.

And it goes on to state: “When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children. ”

Idiots! It can not be any more clear than this. They have unwittingly admitted that Obama is not a natural born citizen.

Obama, an Indonesian?

But beyond the birth certificate issue, there's the matter that Obama traveled to Indonesia to see his mother. This seemed plausible, except for the fact that his mother returned to Hawaii in August of 1980 to file for a divorce from her second husband, Lolo Soetoro. Unless she went back to pal around with the man she divorced, she wasn't there at the time of Obama's visit.

There's another problem. No record of Obama holding an American passport prior to the one he received once becoming a U.S. senator has been found. If he traveled to Pakistan with an American passport, he wouldn't have been allowed in – since Pakistan was in turmoil in 1981 and under martial law. It was also on the State Department's travel ban list for U.S. citizens.

If he couldn't get into Pakistan with a U.S. passport, perhaps he went there with an Indonesian passport. But the only way you can get one of those is if you are an Indonesian citizen.

That's quite possible since under Indonesian law, when a male (Obama’s stepfather, Lolo Soetoro), acknowledges a child as his son, it deems the son – in this case Obama – to be an Indonesian state citizen, which was also recorded by Obama's school record.

So, if he didn't go to Indonesia in 1981 to visit mom (who had returned to Hawaii by then), might it have something to do with the fact that Indonesian passports expire every five years and it was time for renewal?

Since Indonesia did not allow for dual citizenship, if Obama had an Indonesian passport in 1981, when he was 20 years old, he effectively lost his U.S. citizenship as provided for by 8 USC §1481(a)(2).

Constitutional Implications

Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. has described the eligibility issue as “America's gravest constitutional crisis in her history.” Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., has four degrees from Harvard University and is a consummate constitutional authority.

Dr. Vieira said, “If Mr. Obama fails to prove his citizenship but the voters, the electors, or the members of the House purport to "elect" him, he will be nothing but a usurper, because the Constitution defines him as such…a usurper cannot gain legitimacy if even all of the country aid, abets, accedes to, or acquiesces in his usurpation.”

”If Mr. Obama takes the presidential oath, .. he will commit the crime of perjury or false swearing. So, even if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court himself looks the other way and administers the oath, Obama will derive no authority whatsoever from it.”

“Obama's every subsequent act in the usurped Office of President will be a criminal offense ..."

”Obama will not constitutionally be the commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States ... therefore, he will be entitled to no obedience whatsoever from anyone in those forces.”

”Obama will have no conceivable authority to make Treaties, or to nominate, and appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States ...”

”Congress can pass no law while a usurper pretends to occupy the Office of President. Thus, if Mr. Obama deceitfully enters office as a usurper, Congress will be rendered effectively impotent for as long as it acquiesces in his pretenses as 'president.'”

”If Obama does become a usurper posturing as the president, Congress cannot even impeach him because not being the actual President he cannot be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors ... In that case, some other public officials would have to arrest him - with physical force, if he would not go along quietly - in order to prevent him from continuing his imposture."

”If the Establishment allowed Obama to pretend to be the president and the people acquiesced in that charade, just about everything that was done during his faux tenure in office by anyone connected with the Executive Branch of the general government, and quite a bit done by the Legislative Branch and perhaps the Judicial Branch as well, would be arguably illegitimate and subject to being overturned when a constitutional president was finally installed in office.”

"If he continues to dodge the issue, Obama will be dogged with this question every day of his purported 'presidency.' And inevitably the truth will out...for the issue is too simple, the evidence (or lack of it) too accessible...If Obama knows that he is not a natural- born citizen ... then he also knows that he and his henchmen have perpetrated numerous election-related frauds throughout the country - the latest, still-ongoing one, a colossal swindle targeting the American people as a whole."

Mr. Vieira is not alone in his thinking. Gary Kreep, chief counsel for two California Electors and for Alan Keyes in a lawsuit that challenges Mr. Obama's eligibility, and chief of the United States Justice Foundation, has said that he intends to challenge Mr. Obama continuously on the citizenship issue well past inauguration on "every order, every proposal, every piece of paperwork" that Obama produces.

On February 12, 2009, Gary Kreep and Dr. Orly Taitz have submitted a Writ of Mandate for the Obama Eligibility, at the Superior Court of California, Sacramento County.

Summary: Ten reasons why Obama is not qualified

1. He may not be a native born citizen qualified to serve as President under Article II of the Constitution.

He admits he was born to an American mother and a British subject, suggesting dual citizenship at best. If he was not born on U.S. soil, and his mother was a minor, she was ineligible to convey US citizenship. Under the British Nationality Act of 1948, he was born a British Citizen. His paternal grandmother claims to have attended his birth in Kenya. Kenya memorializes his place of birth.

2. He is a suspected illegal alien for two possible reasons

At age 3, his mother and father divorced. His mother remarried and his step-father enrolled him in school in Indonesia as “Barry Soetoro.”

At age 10, after his mother’s second divorce, he reentered the US by casually and illegally assuming his birth name. Later still, he ran for and won elected office under his birth name without disclosing his legal name or his prior use of alternative names.

3. He took elected office and was admitted to the Illinois Bar under an alias

No record of any legal name change from ‘Barry Soetoro’ to ‘Barack Obama’ has ever been found.

4. He probably lost his citizenship.

An Indonesian citizen at age 6 , having been adopted by a national, he may be in the US illegally. USC §1481(a)(2) provides loss of nationality by native born citizens upon “taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state … after having attained the age of eighteen years,” in violation of 8 U.S.C. §1401(a)(1). Indonesia did not allow for dual citizenship. If Obama got an Indonesian passport in 1981, when he was 20 years old, he effectively renounced any U.S. citizenship he may have had.

5. He is suspected of secretly holding a foreign passport.

When he traveled to Pakistan ‘in college’, Americans were not allowed into that country. If he traveled on an Indonesian passport in 1981 at age 20, he was and remains an Indonesian citizen.

6. He posted an illegitimate birth record to deflect questions and allegations.

The “Certification of Live Birth” shown on FightTheSmears.com is not a birth certificate, but an image of an abstract that was invalidated by alteration. As indicated on that same image, the blacked out certification number invalidates the document. Document analysis shows it to be a suspected forgery.

7. The Certification of Live Birth is a suspected forgery.

The border is one that is used in 2007 COLBs. As a security measure, Hawaii changes their borders every year. This is when the Obama campaign claims the certificate was obtained. However, the seal and signature stamp are from a 2008 COLB. As revealed by a process called edging, the Hawaiian seal and signature stamp on the back of the document are revealed to be from the wrong year. Document experts have analyzed other aspects and find forgery.

8. He refuses to release relevant records.

Since matters available in the public domain raise these issues, the burden rests on Obama/Soetoro to explain. He declines to release college applications, transcripts, his birth record, or addresses of where he has lived.

9. His selective service registration may be falsified.

A FOIA document shows a 2008 sequence number for a supposed 1980 registration, an incorrect date of signature, an obsolete postal stamp and other discrepancies. Did he register at age 18 like everyone else?

10. Not a single cause of action has been won by Obama on the merits.

All pending suits attempting to get Obama/Soetoro to produce simple documents have been dismissed on technical grounds such as the standing of the plaintiff. Therefore, the courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States have never ruled on the merits of his citizenship.

Important Statistics to note:

Out of a total of 206 Million registered voters, only 63% actually voted.

Obama got almost 70 Million

McCain got almost 60 Million

The number of registered voters who didn’t voted therefore is 76 Million.

So if we just take action, and are successful in getting the 76 Million who did not vote, and get a few Obama voters to change their minds, we will have at the very least, 140 Million voters on the side of the truth. That’s almost 70% of the entire voting population.

The people are the power in a free country. The politicians, the media, and even big business, are all servants of the people. If we boycott any one of them, they will collapse.

Remember, we are all in this fight for our freedom together. This is a fight for the preservation of the integrity of our Constitution, which is the basis for our freedom as Americans. Not a single American can just sit on the sides and let the others to do the work for them. History and your children will judge your patriotism, or lack of it, depending on what you will do, now that your country needs you.

So write to your state and federal elected representatives and your governor, and express your concern.

Fax, call or write the authorities:

FBI Chicago Division: (312) 421-6700

U.S. Secret Service: 202-406-8000 or 312-353-5431

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): 1-866-347-2423

Honolulu Special Agent Wayne Wills: 808-532-3746

to be continued on the next post

The American Dream: How the wrong notion of it has turned America into a mess

2009-02-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

Foreword

This post is not intended in any way to criticize. Rather it is an attempt to share my observations, in the hope of being able to help make people more aware.

A true friend is one who can you tell you the truth, even if it is unpleasant. For what kind of a friend will hesitate to tell you, for example, that you need a deodorant? While you may have been spared from a little embarrassment between the two of you, your friend has actually allowed you to be humiliated in public by your "friend's" unwillingness to tell you an unpleasant truth. It is my hope that this post will be read in the light of helping.

We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.
Martin Buber

Part 1. What happened to the concept of the American Dream?

Consider the following:

In his essay "The American Dream", John E. Nestler reflects:

"Whereas the American Dream was once equated with certain principles of freedom, it is now equated with things. The American Dream has undergone a metamorphosis from principles to materialism. ... When people are concerned more with the attainment of things than with the maintenance of principles, it is a sign of moral decay. And it is through such decay that loss of freedom occurs."

Chuck Baldwin, in his article, “Can You Imagine This Country?", writes:

" By "the American dream," most people mean buying a big house, driving an expensive automobile, and making a lot of money. However, this was not the dream envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

Remember that, for the most part, America's founders gave up their material wealth and substance for something they considered of far greater worth. Unfortunately, this hedonistic generation knows little of the kind of sacrificial spirit personified in the lives of America's patriarchs.

In the minds of the founders, liberty--with all of its intrinsic risks--was more desirable than material prosperity, if that prosperity was accompanied with despotism or collectivism. So strong was their desire that they were willing to give up the latter in order to procure the former for themselves and their posterity.

How dare Americans today refer to material gain as "the American dream." It is not! It is the freedom to honestly pursue one's goals that should be celebrated. Material gain is only a fruit of freedom, not its root."

Part 2. Let’s define exactly how Americans of today believe what the American Dream means.

Note that the list does not apply to everyone. Also, the items that apply to some may not apply to everybody.

Most Americans have reduced the American Dream,

1) to merely mean making a lot of money, buying a big house, or several houses,

2) driving expensive cars and SUVs,

3) going on frequent and expensive vacations,

4) buying all sorts of technological gadgets and appliances,

5) surrounding oneself with gorgeous women (or men),

6) owning a yacht,

7) frequently dining in expensive restaurants,

8) having fat bank accounts,

9) becoming popular, famous and sought after, etc.

So on and so forth.

Part 3. The problems associated with the above definitions of the American Dream.

The inordinate pursuit of materialism, and hedonistic pleasure seeking comes at an extremely high price. Consider:

1) Such pursuits usually demand endless hours of work, and long and burdensome hours of commuting to and from the workplace.

These result in constant stress, constant rushing, unhealthy eating habits, which, in turn, all result in unnecessary health problems, like obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart problems, depression, pulmonary disease, etc.

2) They deprive people of the time for meaningful and frequent quality contact with their respective families.

These result in many marriages ending in divorce. So much for the universal dream of couples living happily ever after.

Children are generally neglected due to unavailability of time. At best, parenting is delegated to others. All these result in their children’s getting addicted to TV, the internet, junk foods, video games, pornography (90% of 8-16 yr olds, while doing homework) to, or even drugs, alcohol, etc.

These addictions have made American children consistently rate, near or at the bottom in International Science, Mathematics, and Physics Tests, compared to the children of European and Asian countries.

The addiction to junk food due to exposure to TV food ads, and the inactivity due to too much TV watching and video game playing, are the biggest reasons why over 25% of American children have become obese. Children who are obese are likely to suffer from adult obesity, than children who have a healthy body weight. Over 85% of children diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes are obese. Aside from causing early childhood diabetes, obesity can be damaging to these children’s self esteem. Children need not suffer from these if only parents take more active roles.

3) People are compromising or are even giving up their virtues and principles that are necessary to build a strong character.

As a result, the average American has become too weak in character to resist the temptations of consumerism, pleasure seeking, and over-spending.

4) People have become addicted to entertainment, from sports to video and other electronic games.

They have gone so far as to even worship or, at least, go “gaga” over sports superstars and TV and movie celebrities. A great part of their disposable incomes are going into too much entertainment. This is tens of billions of dollars per year that can be saved for more productive use. A total of $13.8 Billion was wasted in spending on pornography alone.

5) People have developed the destructive habit of identifying their self esteem to how much money and material things they have.

Any financial set backs can get many of them into taking their frustrations out on their families. Many even go into depression. A New York Times article even reported that some former Wall Street hotshots are leaving their wives (not good) and mistresses (excellent) due the fact that they don’t have fat wallets anymore.

6) Many become lazy and start relying too much, and at an increasing rate, on electronic gadgets to do the usual daily human tasks.

This is one of the biggest factor why almost 70% of Americans are obese. Technology was meant to make free time more available for more productive use. It was not intended to make people lazy and fat.

7) Many become envious of others who are better off than themselves, resulting in a resolve to “keep up with the Joneses”.

In the Catholic faith, envy is one of the Capital sins. Also, even if you are able to surpass the Joneses, they will never get impressed by your success. They will just become the envious ones.

8) Most have become addicted to mindless buying and shopping.

This addiction has resulted in the accumulation of so much personal debt. Total household debt as of 2008 has reached $13.91 Trillion. That is 97% of the total U.S. economy of $14.3 Trillion. With total employment at 147 million (World Fact Book), the average American employee has $94,627 of debt, with hardly any savings at all.

9) A large number of Americans are indifferent to what is politically happening to their country.

On the average, only slightly over half of eligible voters have voted in the elections since 1932. Last year’s voter turn-out of 63% was the highest in almost 5 decades. Even this is still low. This gives the signal to the political leaders of the citizens’ tolerance of government's inefficiency, mismanagement, and even corruption and deception.

This has allowed government to manipulate information like the inflation rate, for example. The hiding of the real inflation rate figures has resulted in people not knowing how much the buying power of their earned dollars is being eroded each year.

In simple terms, if the government says inflation is at 3%, but in reality, inflation is 10%, then your $100 dollar will only be worth $90 after one year, not $97 as government would have you believe. Put in another way, to equal the value of today's $100, you will need $110 next year. That means to have the same buying power, your income will have to increase at least 10% per year. Since wages don’t increase that much, the government manipulates the figures to show lower inflation rate through complex calculations and hedonics, that are very questionable.

10) The illusion of self-sufficiency and the addiction to endless entertainment has made many to depart from the worship and dependence on God.

As a result, this has made them gullible to anything new and popular ideas, like New Age Spirituality, “The Secret”, the “power” of the universe, etc. The universe is inanimate, and can’t think for itself, and much less does it have the power to provide abundant prosperity, as many Americans now believe. The universe is only part of the creation of a Supreme Being, who is God Himself.

But the more distressing aspect of this departure from God, is the reduction by some people of their respect for human life and the family. This reduction has allowed the proponents of abortion and gay marriages to gain more power and influence in the governments’ policy making directions.

Consider:

In the Declaration of Independence, America's Founding Fathers laid out very clearly for us the true meaning of the American Dream ...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"...

America's Founding Fathers clearly understood that faith in the Creator and true Freedom are inseparable. We believe their worldview was a Christian one, based upon the Great Commission of the Gospel and biblically enlightened self-government. As inscribed on the Liberty Bell, they would "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." (Leviticus 25:10)

At the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Samuel Adams, Father of the American Revolution, declared:

"We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come".

The words of exhortation from America's sixth president, John Quincy Adams, call out to us from the past:

"Posterity -- you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

Without their knowing it, by not sticking to the American Dream as defined by our Founding Fathers, Americans have lost their freedom. And their pursuit of the wrong dream has only brought them and their loved ones unhappiness. Instead of freedom, what they have is a license, an anarchy of self-centeredness, and individualism which, if not halted will destroy America itself.

Part 4. Solutions

1) The most important solution is for Americans to go back to God.

God alone deserves your worship and adoration. Not money, not pleasure, not rock stars, not sports stars, not celebrities. God is your Creator, not the inanimate universe. He does not hide any “Secret” from you, but in fact has made the awesome sacrifice of becoming Man, just to reveal the Truth about Himself, and the unimaginably magnificent rewards that await all who persevere in believing, obeying, and worshiping Him as the one and only true Power and God.

To the ones who do not believe in this truth, I can only say, the truth does not need you to believe in it. Your disbelief will not affect truth in even the slightest manner. You can refuse to believe that the sun will come up each morning. Even if clouds will sometimes prevent you from seeing it. But, visibly, or invisibly (during cloudy days) the sun will rise. That is the power of only one truth.

2) Simplify your life.

Step back from the fast-paced lifestyle, and bring back sanity and more balance to your lives. Allot more time for your families and engage in more activities with all your loved ones. And pursue your passions and the things you always enjoyed doing. Who knows you just might find a much more enjoyable way of making money.

Settle for just enough money, for how much money do you really need to make yourself and your loved ones happy? If you just give it a try, you might be surprised how relatively little you really need, compared to what you thought before. Go for rewards that are lasting and even everlasting, by going after what are really important.

In order for you to better appreciate this step, I strongly suggest you read the following:

a) Simplify -- Simplifying one's lifestyle while remaining financially secure

b) Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life

c) The Power of Less by Leo Babauta.

3) Oppose government policies that are encroaching on your freedom and liberty. Defend life.

Always remember that the real power in any country belong to the people. The politicians and the media and even big business are all mere servants of the people. For if the people withdraw their support from any of the politicians, the media, or big business, they will collapse.

So, exercise the power that you have not used for so long. Let your collective voices be heard. If you will only just exert pressure on your servants, they will have no other option but to obey your collective will. Writing, or if necessary, protesting to your politicians, boycotting biased media and abusive businesses, are only but a few ways that you can exercise your God given power.

4) Detach from the wrong notions of the American Dream.

The American Dream is really another term for Happiness. People were designed by God our Creator, to long for happiness. That is why there is no person on earth who doesn’t want to be happy. But people look for happiness in the wrong places. So when people chase after money, pleasure, and materialism, they are actually doing it for they all want to be happy.

The problem, however, is that those things cannot provide authentic happiness. They may provide comfort and excitement, but they can not provide authentic happiness. On the contrary, they actually provide unhappiness and emptiness as was so clearly illustrated in Part 3 above, regarding the high price of monetary and materialistic pursuits. They also make people slaves of mere external things.

When America’s Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, they had this in mind. They knew that anything outside of having virtues and admirable principles will only lead to the loss of the freedom that is so crucial to finding happiness. That is why, by detaching yourself from all the unproductive pursuits of money, pleasures and material things, you will cease to be their slaves. And you would have regained your freedom. And happiness, or the authentic American Dream, will then be within your grasp.

Only Real Meaning of Christmas

2008-12-23T03:30:00.000-08:00

We humans are perfectly capable of knowing how to indulge ourselves, in so many ways. No one has to teach us how to think only of how to adorn ourselves and our loved ones, and how to eat the best food possible, and how to seek after pleasures of all kinds.

However, since God wants to show us how He truly wants us to live, then He made the mind-blowing sacrifice of leaving the perfect comforts in His Heavenly Kingdom. He became a human being, experiencing all the imperfections of the human condition, just so that He can reveal to us truths that we can never discover by our own efforts.

We are about to celebrate His coming as a poor baby, who had to sleep in a manger, or a feeding container of farm animals. He taught us that, although it is our life, our lives should not only be about us. He revealed to us that the highest form of living, is a life of giving and loving. That’s why He commanded us to love our fellow human beings, AS MUCH AS, we love ourselves.

So since we don’t like to be lonely, we must also give time and attention to the ones who are lonely and even alone.

Since we want to be wearing nice looking clothes, at least, we should give some to those who have only rags to wear.

Since we don’t like being hungry, then let’s give food to those have barely anything to eat.

The list can go on, but the idea is, since we don’t like to be needy in any way, then let’s share our blessings with the ones who are actually needy, whether physically, emotionally, or psychologically.

Self giving love is the only real message and meaning of Christmas.

Why is Barack Obama a very dangerous man?

2008-12-10T05:27:00.000-08:00

A man who does something wrong, but does not know that it's wrong, is still a dangerous man. But infinitely more dangerous is the man who knows fully what is right, and yet still chooses to do what is wrong.

So why is Barack Obama a very dangerous man?

1) He does not have any second thoughts about deliberately deceiving people.

In and interview with Newsweek, on his election campaign plane, Obama said, " Arriving at the foot of the cross" .... he "felt God's spirit beckoning me". "I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."

If he has dedicated himself to truth, why did the Obama campaign and its allies have adopt an extensive "messaging strategy" that seeked to persuade religiously committed Americans that Obama has a middle-of- the-road position on abortion policy, and will promote "abortion reduction." The "messaging strategy" was intended to deflect attention away from Obama's 100% pro-abortion voting record, and from his extensive commitments to pro-abortion interest groups.

Did he really believe that American voters were that naive and ignorant about what he really stood for? What a shamelessly deceptive way to try to get votes. So much for Obama's claim to his total adherence to truth.

2) Obama says something, and does exactly the opposite of what he said, if it is to his advantage.

a) Obama claims that one of his Biblical guidelines when making important decisions is Matthew 25: "Whatever you do unto the least of My brethren, you do unto Me." He claims to also abide by the Golden Rule: "Do not do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you."

b) In the same pre-election campaign interview, Obama says, "It's hard for me to imagine being true to my faith—and not thinking beyond myself, and not thinking about what's good for other people, and not acting in a moral and ethical way,".

If Obama really lives according to the above guidelines, why is he so pro-abortion? Abortion is intrinsically immoral. It is not good for the babies being aborted (to say the least). Nor is it good for the mothers who have abortions. There are literally millions of testimonies, in the Internet, of women who have suffered emotionally, psychologically, and even physically, for years after they had their babies aborted. Nightmares, low self-esteem, suicidal tendencies, inability to bear children, and even breast cancer are some of the after effects of getting an abortion. Many recounted damaged relationships with spouses, parents, and even their children. Too many felt alone, ashamed, and unable to forgive themselves.

One might argue that Obama is not fully convinced that the fetus in the womb is already a human being.

Well, Obama claims that after having become a Christian, for almost 20 years now, he tries to find time to reading his Bible in the evenings. He must have, by now, read Chapter 1 of Luke , where it is implied that the Son of God, became a human being at Mary's "Yes". That's why a few days after, Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, addressed Mary as Mother of our Lord. How can Mary, or any other pregnant woman, be called "mother", if they don't have a human being in their womb?

If the Divinely inspired Holy Scriptures is not good enough proof for him, he can always read the thousands of scientific testimonies of renowned doctors and scientists who unanimously agree that human life begins at conception. Or he can view any of the videos of 8-week old babies in the womb, fending off the invasive abortion instruments that are killing them. These are all readily available in the Internet. Even pro-abortionists concede that 8-week old fetuses (babies) can already feel pain.

But I am convinced Obama has already looked all of these materials. For if he has not done any research on an issue that is so important, then that makes him a fool, and a dangerous fool at that. If he has the habit of taking stands on issues without studying them first, then he will be a dangerous President to have.

If all evidences, from the Holy Bible, and from the scientific and medical communities, point to the fact that the human life really begins at conception, why is Obama still pro-abortion? My educated guess is, pro-abortion proponents give huge amounts in campaign donations, while anti-abortion proponents rely on moral persuasion and refrain from giving bribe money. So Obama silenced his conscience and went where the big money is.

c) If he truly lives by his faith's teachings on the need to do good for others, acting in a moral and ethical way, and abides by the Golden Rule, why has he, as a Senator, co-sponsored FOCA? And why was he so clear in his declaring that one of the first things he would do as President, is to sign FOCA or the Freedom of Choice Act? FOCA is a bill in Congress which, if enacted, would abolish all existing laws, whether at the State or Federal level, that restrict and limit the “right” of American women to have an abortion. FOCA is intended to do the following:

Render useless all existing bans on partial birth abortions (where the baby is removed all the way to the head, and the head is stabbed and the brain sucked out). Sorry if that was too offensive for you.

Remove the requirements that women be informed about the personal risks they are taking in getting an abortion.

Disallow the giving of information regarding possible alternatives to abortion.

Remove the rights of the parents to be informed about and give consent or disapproval to a minor daughter’s abortion.

Abolish the law which prohibits government funding for abortion on demand. In other words, Obama will be using baby-loving taxpayers' money to fund his baby-killing agenda.

For me, FOCA is the one bill that has finally shown that “Pro-choice” is really just a grandiose euphemism. It shows that the "pro-choice" proponents are not really interested in giving the women a choice. With the above mentioned FOCA provisions, how can a woman, contemplating an abortion, possibly make an intelligent and well informed choice?

The bill shows very clearly that the abortion proponents urgently want the contemplated abortion to proceed without any kind of hindrance, whatsoever.

While he repeatedly branded McCain as a war monger, Obama is bent on declaring a total, no-holds-barred war on the most innocent and most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child. Since 1973, the year of the infamous SC decision on Roe vs. Wade, the National Right to Life Committee and Human Life International has placed the total performed abortions at over 1.44 Billion, as of this writing! That is more than the total of all the people killed in all the wars mankind has ever known. And Obama and company are intending to increase it by even a faster rate.

It is so illogical for Obama to promise to continue to fight and put and end to terrorism, for it harms and even kills innocent civilians, while deciding to become the leader of the worst kind of terrorism, which has the most innocent and defenseless babies as the primary target.

3) Obama is all about selfish personal gain.

In the same Newsweek interview, Obama described his long and arduous journey to find God.

He claimed to have lived an ascetic existence, did a lot of fasting, did a lot of spiritual exploration, and withdrew from the world in a fairly deliberate way. He read a lot of books by notable authors of different beliefs. He was exposed to all of the major religions, physically (that is, he attended their worship services) and mentally (through readings of other very notable writers, and having spiritual mentors and directors).

Finally, after more than 10 years of searching, he discovered Jesus Christ and became Christian in the early 1990's. That was almost 20 years ago. So, while speaking "often and eloquently about the importance of religion in public life," why did he deliberately refrain from revealing his religion during the campaign?

Obama was obviously more worried about offending potential campaign supporters, than offending God who has made the Love of God as His greatest commandment. How can you now trust a guy who will put the love of political success above anything else? Doesn't he sound like just another run-of-the mill politician to you? And to think that his main campaign slogan and promise was "Change". HA!

I’m a big fan of G.K.Chesterton. And it’s not hard to admire his best friend, Hilaire Belloc, who decided to run for the British Parliament in the early 1900’s. Inspite of the fact that Britain was a predominantly Anglican nation, Belloc declared, “Gentlemen, I am a Catholic. As far as possible, I go to Mass every day. This is a rosary. As far as possible, I kneel down and pray these beads every day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that he has spared me the indignity of being your representative.” Now, that’s what I call a real man!

4) As early as now, Obama has shown that his promise, and therefore, mandate of bringing meaningful "Change" to government, was just a mere slogan to get himself elected as President.

Allow me to quote Mary Anne Berkery of Brooklyn, in her letter to the New York Times' editors, dated Nov. 23.

"The reason why most Americans supported an unknown, untested, thinly experienced Barack Obama as president was that they were desperate for real change. His unequivocal mandate was to bring real change. Instead we watch as he appoints person after person from the Clinton political machine, creating a virtual third Clinton presidency -- the very re-creations many of us had worked hard to prevent."

"Instead of taking the mantle of Franklin D. Roosevelt, he has taken the mantle of Bill Clinton. It's more than disappointing. It's dishonest."

Couldn't have said it better.

Now that we have seen how Obama

will deliberately resort to grossly deceptive tactics just to get what he wants,

how he will publicly say things that he has no intention of doing,

how quickly he will use his eloquence to portray himself as a principled man, even if he is not,

how unashamedly he will hide and even forego his faith for political expediency,

how he will use slogans that appeal to people, without any intention to live up to them,

how he easily he can disregard his conscience and do what he knows in his heart, is immoral and wrong,

how easily he will dismiss overwhelming Biblical and scientific evidences, and stubbornly stick to what side will benefit him the most,

and how he has shown that he has absolutely no regard for human life, in the case of the abortion issue, and will even render the safeguards useless,

Don't you think that we are looking at an incoming President of the world's most powerful country, who is absolutely untrustworthy, unprincipled, a hypocrite of the highest caliber, and without a conscience? With such negative characteristics, while holding the most powerful position, don't you think Obama is indeed a very dangerous man?

Really Valuable and Useful Gifts for Any Occassions, Especially During Recession.

2008-12-05T05:49:00.000-08:00

In today’s world racked by wars, climate change, financial market turmoil, gross misdistribution of the world’s resources, and the murder of unborn babies, for the sake of maintaining careless and care-free lifestyles, it is mandatory that we all should start re-examining our current values and our priorities as a people and as individuals. For it is clear, that greed and indifference, which are vices, have taken root in so many individual’s and collective peoples’ characters.

We have come to a point where if we don’t get rid of our vices, and work to regain our virtues fast, we might witness the end of civilization as we know it. While virtues build up and continually enrich people, and move humanity forward, vices are always destructive.

One of the many ways we can do this re-learning is simply by reading or, even by just watching movies, whose main characters embody the virtues that we need to rediscover.

The following is a non-comprehensive list of some of the books and movies that should help us move towards positive transformation. But the value of the stories in these books and movies is dependent upon whether or not we act upon the lessons we rediscover in these stories. For one does not get better by knowing more, but by applying the higher knowledge that one has discovered.

The following is a list of some of my favorites

1) The Magic of Ordinary Days

Definitely one of the most powerful love stories that I have ever seen. The story is set in 1944. Ray Singleton (Skeet Ulrich), a shy farmer in a remote farm in Colorado, agrees to marry Livy Dune (Keri Russell), an unwed pregnant daughter of a wealthy Denver Minister, who made the marriage arrangements to prevent further scandal. Ray agrees to the marriage in spite of the fact that he has not yet met, much less known Livy. Furthermore, he knows about the pregnancy, and about the fact that the father was one of those departing soldiers, whom Livy had a casual encounter with. Ray was fully aware that he was really just being used, that Livy had no interest in him whatsoever. This seemingly simple story gets more profound in that it illustrates the power of unconditional love and forgiveness.

It was so good that I actually went to buy the book, or rather two copies of the book, so that I can read it twice! The film version of The Magic of Ordinary Days is a must see film, at least ten times. And have a box of Kleenex tissues, just in case you are a cry-baby like me.

2) Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story

A miniseries about one of the most admirable and most accomplished politicians that Canada, or the world for that matter, has ever had. It was so good that I can’t remember whether it was 3 or 4 hours long. But that was not even long enough, at least for me. I come from a country which, in its more than 100 years of independence, has never witnessed a politician who had a slightest semblance or dose of the patriotism that Tommy Douglas (Michael Therriault) had.

His accomplishments as the father of the first Medicare program in the Americas, his enacting into law collective bargaining for most, if not all sectors, his insistence on government transparency and accountability, and his fierce criticisms against the greed of big business, are all individually huge accomplishments on their own individual merits. But the little guy managed to do all of the four! What a giant of a little guy! I especially liked his eloquence, his wit and his magnificent repartees.

Canadians, you ought to be thankful to God for giving you a truly rare breed of a man, a Christian, a husband, and a politician.

How many citizens can claim that they come from countries that had or have political leaders with the likes of Tommy Douglas? Speak up, or forever keep the rest of the world ignorant of your King Arthur.

3) Homeless to Harvard

Based on the true life story of Liz Murray, this movie tells the moving story of a young woman raised in severe poverty by drug-addicted parents. By the age of 15, Liz (Thora Birch) was alone and living on the streets. After her mother's AIDS-related death, Liz had only two options. She can either spend the rest of her life complaining about the lousy deal she was getting from life, or to turn her life around by getting off the streets and going back to high school. She decides to do the harder, but more sensible thing. She goes back to school and did nothing else but work part-time to support herself, while studying like nobody else has studied before. After finishing high school in record time, that is within two years, with excellent grades to boot, she managed to win a New York Times scholarship for needy students, enabling her to attend Harvard University.

It’s hard not to get highly inspired by Liz' story. And more importantly, one can see that no matter how down the chips are, there is always a way to overcome tremendous obstacles. And that way is to figure out the best possible solutions, and to take whatever actions are necessary to achieve one’s dream of a better life.

4) Silent Night

Silent Night is based on a true story during the final months of WW 2. It is a story of one courageous woman, Frau Vincken (Linda Hamilton), who actually played hostess to both American and German soldiers, who were seeking shelter in her home, from a night of bitter winter cold. Before allowing any of the opposing soldiers to enter, she set the terms of a truce for just one evening, primarily by insisting that the only way they can seek comfort in her home was to put aside their weapons before they enter.

The initial animosity and suspicion between the German and American soldiers was evident. But gradually, things simmered down, especially when the opposing soldiers discovered the human side of their opponents. Hatred, anger, duty and personal honour eventually succumbed to the higher values of respect for life and the instinct for friendship. It is a story about the true essence of Christmas which is “Peace on earth and to people of goodwill.” The story provides insight to the fact that Jesus’ command to “love one’s enemies”, is not really impossible after all.

5) Gandhi

"Gandhi" is the tale of a small-time lawyer who took on the British Empire with nothing but truth, non-violence, and unconquerable will as weapons...and won.

In 1983, Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) is thrown off a South African train for being an Indian and traveling in a first class compartment. He realized that the laws were biased against Indians and starts a non-violent protest campaign for the rights of all Indians in South Africa. After numerous arrests which resulted in the embarrassing attention for the Empire, the government finally relents by recognizing rights for Indians.

With this victory, Gandhi is urged to take up the fight for India's independence from the British Empire. Gandhi agrees, and mounts a non-violent, civil disobedience campaign, coordinating millions of Indians nationwide. Britain responded with violence and the occasional imprisonment of Gandhi. But this worked against them, since this led to losing moral superiority over India and attracting the world's disfavor. Britain finally relents and grants India's independence.

However, India’s victory was quickly followed by nation-wide religious fighting between Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi goes on a hunger strike, and declared that he will not eat until the fighting stops. The fighting does stop eventually, but the country became divided. It is decided that the northwest area of India, and the eastern part of India (current day Bangladesh), both places where Muslims are in the majority, will become a new country called Pakistan. The leaders thought that violence will finally end decidedly if the Muslims lived in a separate country. Even with Gandhi’s opposition to the plan, the partition of India is carried out nevertheless. Gandhi spends his last days trying to bring about peace between both nations. He thereby angers many dissidents on both sides, one of whom finally gets close enough to assassinate him.

One cannot help but get awed by how the seemingly lame tactics of non-violence, persistence, self-sacrifice, and truth can triumph over the mighty weapons of an Empire. Except for few fanatics, people, and even countries respond well before such morally superior weapons.

Do you think that if Obama went on a hunger strike, the terrorists will finally lay down their arms? Joking aside, I will write a post on my blog http://truthhabits.blogspot.com, on why Pro-Obama Americans and other nationals should end their honeymoon with him and ask for a divorce.

6) Varian’s War

Varian Fry (William Hurt) is an American journalist who goes to France, in the days when the U.S. was still a neutral power, with one mission. And that was, to assist prominent Jewish intellectuals, artists, musicians, and others escape to the U.S. They were primarily Jews who, through their work, have made enormous contributions to moving our cultures and civilization forward. Creating a group of volunteers and using his own money, in addition to proceeds from raising funds from generous souls, he managed to help 2,000 of such people to escape the Nazi madness.

Varian's War is the true story of this forgotten hero, who at great risk to his own life, managed to preserve European heritage and culture. It makes you question your own character and priorities, and gives you much to think about, and much to strive for.

7) Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story

It tells the real-life story of Dorothy Day (Moira Kelly), who founded the "Catholic Worker" newspaper and relief agency for the poor in New York City during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The story follows her quest to find some meaning in her life. This leads her to become Catholic and, ultimately makes her work tirelessly to helping and feeding thousands of people and providing a role model for activists.

The Catholic Worker Movement, which Day founded, still exists, with over 185 communities worldwide. Few Americans know anything about her and her excellent writings. But this movie should not only move you to tears, but, hopefully should also lead you to read Day's own autobiography, The Long Loneliness. She is now included in the ranks of Servant of God, in the company of the likes of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Who knows, you might see her finally canonized as a saint in your lifetime.

Although it is not in the movie, one of Dorothy Day’s most famous quotes was, "Don't call me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed so easily." But my favorite is, "If I have achieved anything in my life," she once remarked, "it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God."

How many of us are not uncomfortable in talking about God in our many conversations with many people?

8) Gracie’s Choice

This movie is based on the true story of a 17 year-old Gracie Thompson (Kristen Bell), whose mother (Anne Heche) continues to live in a sexually promiscuous, drug-filled, and grossly irresponsible manner. Due to such almost incomprehensible indiscretions, Gracie and her siblings had to fend for themselves. Gracie decides to do whatever it takes to give her brothers and sisters, all younger than her, the motherly love, concern and devotion that she knew they needed. Determined to finish her education, while working part-time, in order to offer her family the stability that they've never known, Gracie embarks on a tireless uphill battle. However, as the mother keeps on coming back from her frequent honeymoons with her different boyfriends, Gracie finally decides to adopt her siblings in order to keep their mother away from them for good.

Is there anybody out there who knows where Gracie Thompson Weatherly is nowadays? If so, please tell us.

9) Bruce Almighty

Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television reporter, who is always complaining that he only gets un-glamorous assignments. He finally gets a chance at getting what he always wanted, that is, the position of anchorman. But when he didn’t get it, he freaks out on live TV. And when he got fired, he blamed God for doing a lousy job, at lest for him. God then decides to give Bruce His powers, to allow Bruce to prove that he can really do better.

Bruce thoroughly enjoys his unlimited power at first. But he realizes later on that God has a very tough task of listening to, and answering all the prayers of everybody in the world. When he conveniently decided to grant everybody what they wanted, havoc ensues. He discovers that people basically pray for the same thing. Also, he discovered that the one thing he can't do, is alter a person's free will. This realization dawned on him after his girlfriend, Grace Connelly (Jennifer Aniston) finally ends their relationship, after being fed up with Bruce’s neglect for her. He finds out that if he wants her back, he has to do it the hard way.

As hilariously funny as this movie is, it provides insights into the characters of human beings and even of God Himself. The one that stands out most is that, despite His infinite power, it is still not easy to be God.

10) The Nativity Story

With today’s emphasis on Santa Claus, and mindless consumerism, this movie attempts to bring back the true message of Christmas. After being told by the Archangel Gabriel (Alexander Siddig) that she is to be the mother of the King of Kings, Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes) embarks on a journey of several days through rugged terrain to assist her cousin, Elizabeth (Shohreh Aghdasholoo). There were no angels who carried her like the queen that she truly was.

Likewise, when Joseph (Oscar Isaac) and Mary made the 80 mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, they had to struggle against the realistic physical hardships of making the journey on foot, camping out in the open along the way, even as Mary's pregnancy becomes more advanced. Again, no angels, nor air-conditioning facilities to cool them from the heat of the sun during the day, nor heaters to keep them warm at night. When they reached Bethlehem, they had to settle for a stable. And when Jesus was born, He slept in a manger, or a feeding container from which farm animals feed.

Humility, simplicity, hardships, and self sacrifice are the predominant messages of Jesus’ birth. If you really ponder on these messages, they will most likely make you cry, that is, for happiness and gratitude that we have a God who loves us so intensely and infinitely, that He came as the humblest servant of all, and not as the Almighty King that He is.

Gain more wealth than your mind can comprehend

2008-12-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

Supposing that as a result of the market mess, you ended up flat broke, with literally not a single cent in your pocket. Then somehow, you discovered that you have the opportunity of working again. And for the same amount of work, you will be paid with either 7 cents or with $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion. Question: which pay will you take?

But before you answer, allow me to give you a clearer idea of how much money we are talking about here. 7 cents is written as $0.07, which can get you several pieces of candy. On the other hand, 7 Septillion is written as $7 followed by 24 zeros after it. That is, $7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. If you think you can comprehend how much money $7 Septillion (the multiplier and the smaller figure in the equation) is, allow me to draw some comparisons.

1) The total world economy (yes, that includes the United States, European Union, etc.), is only less than US$55 trillion. You therefore need more than 127 Billion worlds, with the same economy size, to equal $7 Septillion.

2) According to its latest report, dated March 8, 2007, Forbes Magazine listed Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest man, followed by Warren Buffett. The two have a combined net worth of $100 Billion. Assuming that their wealth remained the same, in spite of the market turmoil, 7 Septillion is therefore equivalent to 70 Trillion or 70,000,000,000,000 Bill Gates and Warren Buffetts.

3) The world’s population is reaching almost 7 Billion people. If we gave out $7 Septillion equally, every single citizen would have US$1 Quadrillion each! That’s enough to make the word “poverty” jump out of the dictionary and dissolve itself voluntarily, in a quadrillionth of a second.

Now that you have a dizzying and mind blowing idea of how much money $7 Septillion is, remember that you are yet to multiply it with the multiplicand of $70 Septillion. Recall that the equation was $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion. Now after coming up with the arithmetical answer, tell me if you can actually grasp the kind of money we are talking about now, before you swallow a 7 caplets of Extra Strength Tylenol, or Advil, or Bufferin, or Vanquish, to relieve your now aching head. If, after the first attempt, you are unable to, skip any further attempts at envisaging for a while. It’s not time yet. Relax and give me your answer to my original question.

You might ask “What was the question again?” Mathematics has that kind of effect on almost everyone in the planet.

Okay, the question was, which of the two pays will you take?

I am willing to bet all my US$1 Quadrillion (see number 3 above if you are still dazed by all these enormous numbers) that you will exclaim something like, “Are you nuts? What a silly question!”

If indeed that was a silly question, (meaning, who in his right mind will ever take 7 cents for an answer?), my next question is why then do most of us prefer to be silly?

Huh? Say that again?

Naah, you heard me. But for the sake of those who are still dizzy with the numbers, the question again is, “why then do most of us prefer to be silly?” Why do we content ourselves with 7 cents, when we can opt for $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion?

By the way, in the Jewish culture and tradition, the number seven symbolizes perfection. And when you multiply 70 times 7, it means without limit, and even denotes infinity.

You see most of us work our butts off, chasing after all sorts of unnecessary material goods. We chase after them, all in the conscious, or subconscious, hope that these goods will bring us happiness, which is the deepest of all our human desires. But in spite of the fact that experience has consistently shown us that no amount and type of material goods can bring us that happiness, we still keep on piling up with these worldly goods. What do they call people who keep on doing exactly the same thing over and over again, and actually expecting different results?

Remember how you felt when you finally bought your much dreamed about state-of-the-art cellphone, or your BMW 7 Series , or your mansion, or your luxury yacht? Yes, you might have felt happy (although “heightened excitement” or “exhilaration” may be the more appropriate term). But have you noticed how fleeting that “happiness” was? And worse, aren’t you again working even harder to get something “better”, in the vain hope of finally finding those worldly goods that can give you lasting happiness?

That’s why Jesus advised us to refrain from chasing after worldly goods. Being our God and our Creator, He only knows too well what exactly can really make us truly happy. And yet we stubbornly turn a deaf ear and chase after the kind of “happiness” that, in Heavenly terms, amount only to even less than 7 cents.

On the other hand, St. Paul has said “Eyes have not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered our hearts, the kind of happiness that God has prepared for those who love Him.” Translation: our limited senses, minds, and even our hearts, can never grasp the kind of happiness that God so intensely desires to give to us. If only we spend our time on earth doing the work that pleases God.

Can you imagine eternity? Okay, historians and other scholars all agree that recorded human history began in Sumer, a place in ancient southern Mesopotamia (i.e., modern Iraq) just north of what is now called the Persian Gulf. The dates given for Sumer's origin, however, vary widely among scholars, typically ranging from about 3500 B.C. to about 2900 B.C. That makes recorded human history as old as 5,508 years old (3,500 plus 2008). If you think that the time of Columbus was already such a long ago, remember that Columbus lived only about 500 years ago. Think of all the people who died about 5,500 years ago. The ones who made it to Heaven have been perfectly happy ever since. And they will continue to experience uninterrupted perfect happiness for all eternity, or without end. No more problems of even the smallest kind whatsoever, no more need for anything whatsoever, no more worries of any kind, no more feelings of hunger, no more need for sleep. Just perfect and constant happiness.

By the way, remember that you only have one shot at this most important of all decisions. For, like everybody else, you only have one life to live.

So what’s it gonna be for you, the 7 cents worth of "perfect" happiness that this world can ever hope to offer , or the $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion worth of infinite and perfect happiness that our Almighty God is begging us to take?