The Myth of the Noble Savage - excerpt

In order for there to be free will in the Garden of Eden, there has to be something that Adam and Eve can choose that's not God. What if every choice Adam and Eve make in the garden gets them back to God; the decision to love each other gets them God, the decision to kill each other gets them God? If that happens, there's no genuine free will.

So it's like it's like saying you have a maze with only one path. It's not a maze, just a corridor.

And so you have one thing that God does. He puts the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden. And Adam and Eve are told, “That way lies death.”

People will come back and argue, “How can you condemn Adam and Eve when they don't know what death is?” I would argue, and I think this is the brilliance of that story; it is so we know that it’s adamant that God walks with Adam and Eve.

We know that God made Adam and Eve in His image. He walks the garden with them. They can converse with God directly. They have absolute knowledge of the good. The only thing they do not know is evil. So when the tree of knowledge of good and evil is put in the garden, the only thing Adam and Eve can gain from it is the knowledge of evil, because they already know the good.

That's brilliant because God has not stacked the deck against them. They know the face of God. They know their Creator. They know his goodness. They just don't know evil, which God characterizes it as death.

So they know that by choosing that tree they will get something that's not God. And so the parameters of freewill are upheld. And God is absolved of being a tyrant because they know him.

What does it say about the god of the ancient Israelites, the god that has carried us through in Western culture for 2,000 years, what does it say about him that he loved his creation so much that their freedom meant more to him than their obedience?

It's one of the things that sets Western culture so far ahead of other cultures is that we choose freedom not obedience; the free market system. The Socialists, the Marxists, the progressives; they want to go back to a world where all human beings deserve the Garden of Eden like Adam and Eve, but they owe God no obedience for it.

The threat of the Old Testament, the First Commandment, is that you'll become God. “If you don't recognize that I am the Lord your God then you will become gods of yourself.”

Not only from the Enlightenment do you get the fallacy of romanticism - the natural goodness of man, and the fallacy of naturalism - morality is irrelevant because we're all animals. You also get Nietzsche. And Nietzsche said at the end of the 19th century, “God is dead. We philosophers have killed him with our knives. But,” he said, “Men must become like God then to be worthy of it.”

The only way modernism exists, the only way all these modern socialist-Marxist-fascist, whatever you want to call it, utopian dreams and schemes exist is if man assumes he's a God, not an animal.

And there's your corruption. There's commandment number one down the drain.

- Dr Duke Pesta

Taken from the YouTube transcript. Edited for readability, not content.

The Myth of the Noble Savage - YouTube - Dr. Duke Pesta and Stefan Molyneux

Wireless Emergency Alerts & Propoganda (WEAP)

Have you ever thought that, for emergency alerts to be distributed as quickly as possible, they should be sent to cell phones? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the wireless industry, is working to make that possible.

yes, i have thought that once... then i immediately dismissed it as over-reaching... the only alert that people should be instantly aware of is in case of natural disaster; i.e. tornado or earthquake... anything else is just going to start a general panic... it's like shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theater.

What alerts will WEA deliver?
Alerts from WEA cover only critical emergency situations. Consumers will receive only three types of alerts:

• Alerts issued by the President
• Alerts involving imminent threats to safety or life
• Amber Alerts

Participating carriers may allow subscribers to block all but Presidential alerts.

well, i guess those are okay-
wait, WHAT?... you are allowed to block all but the President?... what alert of the President is more important than IMMINENT THREATS TO SAFETY OR LIFE?... let me think for a second, what could be more important to the government than my life?... well, to them, everything... but sarcasm aside, there is only one alert that rates that high... and i don't think i'm over-reaching with this... Marshall Law.

Can consumers block WEAs?
Partially. Participating wireless carriers may offer subscribers with WEA-capable handsets the ability to block alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life and/or AMBER Alerts; however, consumers cannot block emergency alerts issued by the President.

yep... you can choose to block threats to life and limb, but not notices from his highness, i mean, the president.

Why can’t consumers block WEAs issued by the President?
In passing the WARN Act, Congress allowed participating carriers to offer subscribers the capability to block all WEAs except those issued by the President.

why?... the sheer audacity of the proletariat asking such a question is tantamount to treasonous... the ruling class know what's better for you than you do... you are given the opportunity to be blind to threats on your health and well-being, nay, even your life... but you don't have the capacity to not be instantly notified by Dear Leader of more important issues.

and tighten up those jack-boots.

---

source:
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) | FCC.gov
'via Blog this'

who believes this?

1) The Federal Government can force you to purchase whatever the hell they want.
2) Tax dollars should be given to unions.
3) Republicans just "kinda sorta do what they're told."
4) The cops acted "stupidly" for detaining a belligerent man.
5) Illegal immigrants didn't commit any crime.
6) "Defense cuts" mean we have to open the border
7) "Leading from behind" is the wave of the future.
8) Israel should go back to indefensible borders.
9) The American people can be deceived with temporary tax cuts while permanent tax hikes are out in place.
10) War is bad, but "kinetic action" is good.
11) Reading a teleprompter brings change to the world.
12) The Government is in charge of your diet.
13) The internet should be regulated.
14) Self-reliance is bad.
15) America's place in the world is deferring to everyone else.
16) Raising taxes on medical equipment lowers healthcare costs.
17) Cutting money from Medicare Advantage somehow means those people can keep their coverage.
18) Local news stations are out to get him, because they're not MSNBC.
19) "God damn America."

And last, but not least...
20) You're a racist.

now, some of this is hyperbole... much of it isn't.

this list is from the AttackWatch facebook page, which is a spoof of the real Attack Watch website set up by the Obama Administration... Attack Watch is made by Obama For America which is Obama's main fundraising group... they also run BarackObama.com... the express purpose of the real Attack Watch site is to encourage citizens to "report" other citizens who make claims (with or without merit) which are against the Obama adminstration... i seem to recall something like this happened once before... in Germany.

regards to Ernst Röhm.

retraction

i once thought i was wrong, but i was mistaken.

i have to retract my previous post regarding President Obama's Thanksgiving Day proclamation... apparently, i did something i often criticize others for doing; getting my facts wrong... in my self-righteous zeal at calling out a hypocrite, i became one, myself... i compared apples to oranges... both are tasty fruits, but they are not equal in all ways (otherwise, we'd call them both by the same name).

here's what i did... i read the transcript of Obama's weekly address, entitled "On Thanksgiving, Grateful for the Men and Women Who Defend Our Country" which was issued on November 24, 2011... i leaped to the conclusion that this was the same as the annual Presidential Proclamation for Thanksgiving Day.

turns out; not so much... apparently, he had previously issued the proclamation a week earlier on November 16, 2011.

egg; meet face.

plus, my over zealousness knew no bounds, so i looked up previous proclamations going back eight years, into the G.W. Bush era... i gleefully pointed out the quantitative differences between Bush and Obama.

oy vey.

after all of that, you would have thought it would have occurred to me that a weekly address is not equal to an official proclamation... but, zeal often knows no bounds... i was so pleased to see the mote in another's eye, i could not see the log within my own.

well, all i can do is apologize... i will try to do better research.

two words - Chris Lee

Anthony Weiner Admits Sending Racy Pictures, Refuses To Resign

i hear "libs" say Weiner shouldn't resign... that's BS... if it had been a conservative, the same people would lust for his blood!... several have resigned in shame over the years... but, somehow, if you're a liberal, you are not held to the same standard.

one of the arguments is, "conservatives are hypocrites, claiming they run on platforms of family values; while liberals don't claim this, so aren't held to that standard"... so, if i run on a platform of anti-baby-rape, and you don't, then it's by default okay for you to rape babies... that's not just illogical, it's plain stupid.

let's accept the "hypocrisy" argument... does it really make this right?... of course not... one thing that makes this so wrong is it calls to question the man's judgement... can we expect this person to make the right decisions in the legislature when he makes poor decisions in his personal life?

but, this isn't the worst of it... what are the implications of a Congressman making these poor decisions and a foreign entity finds out about it?... and what happens when that entity then blackmails the Congressman for certain favors or access?... for example, if John Edwards had won the Presidency a few years ago, only to have his extra-marital affair to be disovered by a Mexican drug cartel?... would a bill which increased Border Patrol funding ever get past his desk?... can you think of worse scenarios?... i know i can.

the point is simple... it doesn't matter what your political affiliation, your philosophy, or your platform... when you are given power as a representative of the people, what you do in your private life matters.

there is nothing more to say

Obama secretly accepts transparency award - The Hill

i dare you to find something more revealing, more ironic, more humorous, more sarcastic, or more accurate than this... go on... i dare you!

now that's false advertising

i just saw a commercial for Ed Schultz's show on MSNBC... i don't watch much MSNBC, but on occasion i'll admit they have actual news... (not this time; i'm watching some celeb-gossip about Charlie Sheen)... it's a simple ad, showing Ed walking to the studio... a voice-over of Ed talking... he says:

Why can't America seem to find solutions to its problems? Why are we letting the top 2 percent of the population win over the other 98? What happened to common sense? What happened to reason? Is it dead? Hell, no. It's alive, and more than kicking.

despite my seething dislike for the sentiment expressed, i'd rather address the hilarity of the message... an appeal for "common sense" and "reason"?... from Ed "Im-going-to-torch-this-f#$king-place" Schultz?... this is Mr. Yell-At-Callers on his radio show... this is the guy who curses and screams and shouts about crushing anyone who disagrees with him:

We do a TV and we do a radio show. I'M TRYING TO TELL YOU WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON! But you sit back, and Harry [Reid], you are ball-less! You won't do the nuke option for the American people and shove the Republicans into the ditch! SHOVE THOSE BASTARDS RIGHT INTO THE DIRTHOLE! This is about power! It’s about winning! It's about saving American lives! *That's* what this is about! And if I'm too excited or too passionate for you, I'm giving you the finger right now! Because I don't give a damn!

and THIS is the guy calling for "common sense" and "reason?... it is to laugh.
or cry.
but i have come to expect nothing less.

i don't believe in atheists, Pt 3

annoying reason #3:

"That doesn't make sense to me."

well, too bad for you... i don't have a fine understanding of string theory, but i assume that those who believe in it have done their research... i assume it makes sense to them... as far as i'm concerned, they can be completely wrong... but i'm not qualified to make that judgement.

for an atheist to say, "That doesn't make sense," is the same... i'm sure most atheists will tell you that they've read the Bible from cover to cover... and i'm just as sure that 99% of them are lying... religious texts are difficult to read, even after it's been dumbed-down into modern lingo, usually translated by some well-meaning idiot who doesn't have the greatest grasp of the English language, and almost no grasp of the original Hebrew and Greek... but let us assume that we're talking about a well-educated atheist who has actually read the bible and cross referenced the important passages with a Hebrew and Greek concordance (i prefer James Strong's)... this educated atheist often makes the common mistake of reading the text through the filter of their own prejudices... the Bible is filled with war, murder, and destruction... a pacifist would say it doesn't make sense to kill and murder with such wanton cruelty... but consider the time and context.

Numbers 31, the massacre of the Midianites, is often used by atheists who abhor violence... the Bible says God commanded them to kill all males and all females who were not virgins... horrible, right?... not in context... the Midianite women were known to have spread a "plague" to the Israelites (at Peor)... apparently, it was known to be an sexually transmitted disease... all virgin girls were spared (and could be verified, physically)... they didn't have a Center for Disease Control, so all other women were suspect... to allow them to live would be to allow the disease to spread, thus endangering all people... as for the men, how exactly would they determine who has the disease?... a laboratory blood test?... also, in that time, males were the ones who fought and waged war... to allow the young men to live would be to harbor the vehicle for war within your own fortifications... and to top it off (if the educated atheist were to truly read the passage) the Israelites forced their own soldiers to quarantine themselves and the virgin female captives... and on the third and seventh day, all clothes and anything made of leather and goat-hair should be purified (unclear on whether this is washing or burning)... the Israelites were terrified of this plague which the Midianites carried.

just because something doesn't make sense to you, does not mean there is no sense to it... the failure is not in the Bible, but in the reader.

and the sheer hubris of the individual to pass judgement over something which he knows little to nothing about... it astounds me... somehow, this person (no matter how educated) declares something to be untrue, and because this person says so, anyone who disagrees with him is also wrong... the amount of ego which that takes can only be topped by a seventeen year-old child who declares his parents to be ignoramuses... to say "I know better than thousands of generations; people beyond number; I am the ultimate authority on Truth!"... it sickens me beyond words.

there are reasons and rationales in all religious texts... but it isn't laid out bare to the world... you have to look... you have to think... and you have to humble yourself, and allow your preconceived notions to be wrong.

scio me nihil scire