Mon, Jun 25th - 2:59PM

Apparently I’m Not The Only One With Bad Grammar & Poor Logic

I came across a blog entry on the Net where I am criticized for criticizing Emergent Church kingpin Brian McLaren.

Foremost among the grievances rank alleged grammar errors and lapses in logic.

As to the grammar errors, perhaps so and frankly I don’t care because in light of the number of illegals that are going to be allowed to stay here in the coming years if so-called immigration reform passes, any English flowing from my pen is by default on par with Shakespeare.

When people start paying me a million dollars for these columns, I’ll waste what few years of eyesight I have left to ferret them out.

But the most comical thing about that criticism is that the allegation has been levied by someone that uses “i” rather than “I” throughout the entire blog entry. Isn’t the capitalization of “I” about one of the first rules of grammar one learns in first or second grade if one’s school has not been given over to wasting the scholastic day brainwashing students with viewings of “Brokeback Mountain” and the like?

Or maybe such a glaring mistake is deliberate and merely a manifestation of the rampant communalism infecting the Emergent Church movement.

For you see, “I” has traditionally been capitalized in the English language to denote the importance of the individual. However, in many of these churches, the congregations have been so beaten over the head about the dangers of individualism that they have begun to think of themselves only as members of the group or COMMUNITY and to forego personal recognition; unless of course you happen to be one of the bigwigs running one of these hovels of heresy. Then of course by all means you get to have your name up in lights and fritter across the countryside telling the troglodytes paying for your airfare why they are so evil for driving SUV’s and living in single family houses.

The second criticism is even more ironic than the first in that they accuse me of faulty logic.

For those not familiar with the tenets of the Emergent Church movement, it is the contention of this particular theological perspective that the genius of Christianity is not to be found in the LOGICAL or FACUTAL accuracy of its truth claims but rather in how warm and fuzzy its NARRRRRATIVE makes you feel.

And if some other system of thought floats you boat such as Hollywood style Buddhism or a particular doctrine of Christianity makes you uncomfortable such as those that reject Christ are sent to Hell, that’s no biggie either since in the end we’re all gonna get to Heaven anyway but that’s not important anymore either as the point of salvation is not to enjoy a splendid afterlife in the presence of the Almighty reunited with dearly departed loved ones but rather to have our income redistributed to a bunch of lazy bums unwilling to get off their rear ends and provide for themselves.

Besides, in this postmodern age, whose to say who’s right and who’s wrong?

Why the Emergent Church crowd of course, especially if you happen to disagree with one of their head honchos who are accorded a disturbing degree of deference for a movement claiming to be about tearing down traditional hierarchies.

If there is nothing more to religious expression than the thrill one gets from tooting one’s on horn, then why are they raising such a fuss if my column does not hold up to a correspondence theory of veracity? Haven’t the postmoderns in Emergent circles been the ones to popularize the notion that the only truth that matters is that which we ourselves hold?

By Frederick Meekins

Mon, Jun 25th - 2:57PM

Nephilim Army This Year’s Smallville Finale McGuffian

Many works of speculative fiction employ a story element known as a MacGuffin device around which the plot develops. Usually this happens to be some kind of weapon of mass destruction.

However, the 2007 season finale of Smallville decided to take the concept in a decidedly different direction with interesting parallels to current biotechnical developments.

In the episode, Lex Luthor is bent on creating an army of enhanced soldiers to combat the growing menace of superpowered humans (as well as to no doubt line his own pockets and enhance his own political status).

Yet what makes this episode stand out is that it is revealed that the success of these experiments is linked to capturing a disembodied entity (a demon if you will) that escaped from the Phantom Zone, the netherworld utilized by the people of Krypton as a workaround of their stance against the death penalty for the planet’s worst criminals. For you see, the entity alters the genetic code of the human host it possesses and Luthor believes the alterations can be mass produced.

However, things do not work out as intended and the entity eventually gets a hold of Clark Kent’s DNA and morphs into what the creature itself describes as a “more bizarre version” of the Man of Steel. As the being flies off, coupled with that comment and the white powdery appearance that comes over its face in mid-flight, it is apparent the character is meant to be Bizarro.

Interestingly, in past incarnations of this warped version of Superman, he comes about as the result of a direct botched cloning. Those following developments in transhumanism where the Doctor Frankensteins of the early 21st century hope to meld all manner of creatures be they animal, human, or nonterrestrial together will no doubt note the parallels of this new interpretation in the episode to the events alluded to in Genesis about the mingling of distinct orders of being in the hopes of bringing about the elusive ubernmensch as the character is the result of the fusion of the biological and the extradimensional.

Fans will also enjoy typical season finale hijinks and as usual will be left wondering all summer whether Lana or Chloe will survive their annual excursions to death’s door and just whose side Lionel Luthor is really on.

By Frederick Meekins

Mon, Jun 4th - 9:46AM

A Review Of Salvaging Civilization By H.G. Wells.

To most Americans with a recollection of the Cold War, it was assumed the global superstate would be brought about through military conquest. However, in Salvaging Civilization, H.G. Wells suggests how this planetary political organization could be brought about through education and the management of public opinion.

According to Wells, the future of mankind is dependent upon the establishment of world unity in order to protect the human race from social disintegration and physical destruction. However, instead of blatantly imposing this new world order from without, Wells suggests conditioning the masses into accepting the world state through targeted forms of intellectual manipulation.

While Wells claims to have the best interests of man at heart, it is clear he does not think all that much of the common individual as in his view it is the place of such people to simply go along with the will of the elite. Wells writes, “It is often forgotten, in America, even more than in Europe, that education exists for the community, and only for the individual only so far that it makes him a sufficient member of the community. The chief end of education is to subjugate and sublimate for the collective purpose of our own kind the savage egoism we inherit (24-25).”

Thus, education in the proposed global society is not so much about empowering the individual to think for himself as it is to condition him to take his place as a docile member of the group. As such, the early stages of establishing a world government will not be as much about changing politics itself as it will be about influencing the minds of the young.

The freedom Wells grants with one hand by liberating the individual from traditional authorities he takes back with the other. Wells writes, “The world state must begin as a propagandist cult, to which men and women must give themselves and their energies regardless of the consequences (35).”

Furthermore, the future world state won’t simply be an institution in the background keeping the peace and making sure the trains run on time. Rather, it is to be in the forefront in molding what the good member of the community is to think and believe.

Foremost among the methods for keeping order in the New World Order will be what Wells calls ‘The Bible of Civilization”. However, this is not to be the famed Good Book that has guided mankind in religious and ethical matters century upon century. Rather, this new Bible is to consist of an anthology of the best in human literature and learning selected and periodically revised by “a few hundred resolute and capable people”.

But as a renowned atheist, what Wells failed to realize is that the thing that has granted the Bible such sway over the minds of men and cherished in their hearts is that it was handed down by the hand of God or at least that is that is believed by those that honor its precepts. All Wells leaves us is a committee working paper with the proviso that the documents findings are subject to change at a later date.

If God says something like thou shalt not murder, like it or not, I don’t have much room to argue about it. If some sanctimonious committee with no other authority than that which it has bestowed upon itself and duped the masses into abiding by for the time being makes grandiose pronouncements it claims we are obligated to obey , why should I have to comply with its dictates and decrees?

Despite claiming to stand for human freedom by abolishing traditional prohibitions on sex outside of marriage (no doubt in part because he was himself a profligate adulterer), Wells’ behavioral codes would be far more extensive and binding than anything elaborated upon in the pages of the Bible. Wells writes, “One of the first duties of a citizen is to keep himself in mental and bodily health in order to be fit for the rest of his duties.”

Thus, to translate Wells’ position into something we can understand, go out and have as many affairs as you want (no doubt to lessen the bonds to a particular spouse or family so that identity comes instead to be derived from the larger group). Just don’t get caught smoking a cigarette or enjoying fast foods since that might hinder the revolution and the glorious expansion of the motherworld.

To some viewing H.G. Wells as a figure prominent at the beginning of the previous century, he has little bearing on the world in which we live today. However, upon contemplating his proposals in The Salvaging Of Civilization such as the rule by elite committees, extensive control of education, and regulations that bear a frightening similarity to provisions against hate speech when he writes “We must put ourselves, and our rulers and our fellow men on trial. We must ask ‘What have you done to...help or hinder the peace of mankind?.’ A time will come when a politician who has...willfully promoted international dissension will be...much surer of the noose than a private homicide (40)” we are already too eerily close to living in a world of this author’s own making.

by Frederick Meekins

Mon, Jun 4th - 9:43AM

Eco-Celebrities Spew Ideological Toxins

One thing about the various threats conspiring to undermine human liberty is that, even if they fall out of public view for a while, it won’t be long until they resurface with a renewed ferocity to bend the people of the United States to the will of the elites. With the threats of immigration and the war on terror (both from foreign heathen fanatics as well as those within our own government out to use these efforts to protect the innocent from such violence as an excuse to implement measures that will do very little to actually protect the nation but only make it less free) it has been a while since most concerned Americans have given much thought to the subversive machinations of those claiming to make ecology their primary focus of ethical concern. However, in light of statements made by those straddling that ghoul-filled spectrum between politician and entertainer regarding their environmental visions, freedom lovers would do well to once again expose the dangers that result from those with a sense of guilt for having acquired exorbitant fortunes in a less-than productive manner wanting to control your life in an attempt to assuage their own consciences.

During the 1990’s, Al Gore carved out a niche for himself in the American political landscape as a proponent of a revolutionary environmentalism that went beyond being a good steward of the earth by taking your trash with you after a picnic at the beach so that a sea turtles don’t end up ingesting plastic bags thinking they are jelly fish but rather to embrace the notion that the entire basis of our civilization had to be reconstructed from the ground up including religious, political, and family structures as detailed in “Earth In The Balance”. Distracted by more important things such as having to invent the Internet, rehashing the 2000 election ad nauseam, and deciding whether or not to grow a beard, Gore seemed to stray from his original focus for a while.

However, this errant apostle of Mother Earth has come back to his true faith with the release of his documentary about global warming titled “An Inconvenient Truth”. In it, Gore once again ascends the pulpit warning us ignorant slobs how we must repent of our industrialized ways or face ecological judgment.

But while the rest of us are suppose to adopt entire new modes of existence simply because someone of Al Gore’s charisma and dynamism tells us to, Gore himself does not abide by the environmentally conscientious strictures he wishes to impose upon the rest of us.

For example, throughout much environmentalist propaganda it is suggested that government should place limitations on the number of children a person should be allowed to have through a number of coercive measures ranging from fines to outright forced abortions or sterilizations for those refusing to abide by the guidelines to prevent overpopulation. However, Gore has reproduced on three separate occasions.

Does the former Vice President care to admit to being a closet eugenicist as well? For to go around saying that people should only be allowed to have one or at most two children irrespective of whether or not they can provide for them and then himself sire three children basically says, “Since I am superior to you, I don’t have to abide by the same standards to be imposed upon the classes of humanity inferior to my semi-divine self.” Though the Eastern spirituality espoused by Gore is notorious for promulgating the notion of the divine spark within, it seems some of it supposedly have a bit more of it than others if some are going to be allowed to do as they please while the rest of us will be compelled to toe the line in the name of Mother Earth.

For example, while the rest of us are supposed to pearback our lifestyle by turning down the heat, eating lower on the food chain by eating less meat and more locally grown produce (how you are to avoid winter starvation by following that guidelines is conviently overlooked), and be content with smaller vehicles and living spaces, according to an August 10, 2006 USA Today titled “Gore Isn’t Quite As Green As He’s Led The World To Believe” the former Vice President has a 10,000 square-foot, 20 room, 8 bathroom (I wonder how many of them have those irritating low-flush toilets where the water level is so low in the bowl that one has to reach in with a wad of tissue and manually wipe the smears off once one has completed their business yet since Gore acts constipated half the time anyway I guess it’s not much of an issue) as well as an additional 4,000 square-foot home in the Washington Metropolitan Area where empty nesters such as Al and Tipper could easily live comfortably in a home a third of that size if they were really dedicated to conservation and the preservation of resources). It was also later revealed that Gore spends $3000 a month on electricity while the rest of us are suppose to turn the thermostat back and Congress is mulling over a proposal that will force a switch to fluorescent bulbs and then probably sit back and wonder why cataract rates will skyrocket.

It would be one thing if this eccentric behavior confined itself to a single kook such as the former Vice President as Al Gore isn’t exactly known for possessing the kind of charisma necessary to inspire revolution alone, or in other words, to get the lemmings off the cliff all by himself. Unfortunately, as an inherently egomaniacal lot, numerous entertainers have bought into a similar mindset that it is their destiny to live as lords of the dawning cosmic era by shaming the rest of us into adopting a mandatory neo-primitivism.

One of the most irritating harpies deluding the ignorant with the banshee’s wail of pending ecological catastrophe is Barbara Streisand Several years ago, to get Californians to do their part to alleviate that state’s energy shortage, Streisand suggested residents hang their wash on a clothesline while she continued to illuminate the exterior of her mansion with bright lights.

However, the environmental hypocrisy does not end there for the megastar, of whom it was pointed out on Hannity and Colmes that she forbids the staffs of the hotels where she stays from gazing upon her visage as if she was some pre-WWII Japanese monarch (but maybe then again she is so ugly maybe she’s afraid they will turn to stone if they look upon her like those looking upon Medusa in Greek mythology.

Streisand announced that she is embarking on a twenty concert tour in part to combat “dangerous climate change”. So while you as a grubby commoner are suppose to dry your clothes on a line, Streisand plans on expending fossil fuels and expelling toxins into the atmosphere to go around telling the nation why we should be shamed if we exhibit the audacity to do the same.

This is about as dimwitted as Arianna Huffington response to an inquiry by Sean Hannity when he exposed that, while she was heading a campaign against SUV’s, she was hopping rides on private jets. She responded that “The planes were going there anyway.”

At least Huffington is easier on the eyes than Streisand’s gnarled countenance. Americans should do their part for the environment by boycotting the Streisand concerts.

Hypocritical travel is not the only environmental double standard wallowed in by the entertainment elite. For while you as a harbinger of bourgeoisie middle class values and expectations which by definition makes you a despoiler of the earth who must eventually be confined to specific zones of habitation which will ultimately mean the forfeiture of privately owned automobiles in favor of more closely monitored public transportation, the confiscation of individual single family homes in exchange for communal-style barracks, those in the overclass will be allowed to despoil Mother Nature all they want in pursuit of gratifying their own egos in ways mankind could really do without if these self-anointed crusaders actually did care about the environment.

In the future, many structures that facilitate access to public parks for the average citizen will be removed to prevent enjoyment by all with the exception of the best equipped and dedicated of hikers, usually rich people with too much time on their hands that spend all kinds of money to look like as if they hadn’t seen a comb or taken a bath in months. Usually for men, this manifests itself in men in the form of a lice-infested ponytail and in women an appearance so malnourished as to lack any of the physical characteristics making a woman pleasurable to look at.

In the ecologically-minded world of tomorrow, most will be expected to bow to the alleged needs of Mother Earth. However, if one happens to be an internationally renowned celebrity, then nature must by all means take a back seat.

In a move that even upset a number of environmental groups, to show just how much he values the environment, famed rocker Sting planned to headline a concert in a park in Spain titled “Musicians For Nature.” Sounds a bit like the old military tactic of destroying a village in order to save it.

One does not have to be a prophet or a clairvoyant or a prophet to foresee that rockfans (not exactly known for being a tidy bunch to begin with) would no doubt trash the park as they went about letting everyone know just how much they support it. One time a friend was dragged to an Earth Day Celebration on the Mall in Washington where he saw more than one participant toss their rubbish onto this semi-hallowed piece of American ground rather than into its proper receptacle.

If this lunacy confined itself merely to entertainers and deluded also-rans at the edges of the American political landscape, things might not be so bad as the average citizen might be able to weather such mental irritation as something mildly amusing, even deriving a small laugh from these hypocritical inconsistencies. However, these faulty assumptions are no longer a source of comic relief when elected officials begin to take them seriously as the basis of future policy decisions.

At one time, much of this nonsense could be dismissed as fringe hooey. It now infects holders of respectable public office.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, for whom Humvees were first made available in part to the general public to assuage his neurosis to have the biggest toy on the block, is now on the bandwagon to reduce emissions as part of an initiative spearheaded by the Western Governors. And while the governors expended fossil fuels to travel to Sedona (a New Age resort town where those gathered for this coven no doubt reveled in the luxury found there while you are suppose to feel guilty for turning on the air conditioner), a number of them handed down an expansive definition of what it means to be an environmental criminal.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is recorded by the Associated Press as saying, “Unless you’re living naked in a tree eating nuts, you’re part of the problem, and I’d like to hear your solution.”

What such a statement essentially means is, that since you do not live in a mythological state comparable to Rousseau's “noble savage”, you have no right whatsoever to complain about what plans the global elite have in store for you. Even if that includes starvation as the minimalist diet mentioned above was no doubt an assumption held by many environmentalists such as himself that the masses dare to eat foods other than those native to their respective regions even though the elites have the finest delicacies airlifted to these neo-pagan confabs such as at an Earth summit convened in South Africa where delegates dined on steak and caviar while denouncing the evils of the indoor flush toilet.

Nothing like a crocodile taking a bite out of those taking a dump along the river side as a way to cut down on the excess population. But then again, you wouldn’t actually want to improve conditions in these backwards lands as that would do away with the excuse allowing these foreigners to swarm into the United States.

Like the forces of nature they so highly venerate to the extent where things that should be appreciated end up being worshipped, the environmentalist threat cycles in and out of the view of the public already overwhelmed by the buzzards of tyranny incessantly picking at freedom’s dieing corpse. But as with all opportunistic scavengers, just because this parasitic ideology does not always attack out in the open that does not mean it is not always stalking its prey and eager to send the accomplishments of the West into a death roll from which this civilization might never recover.

by Frederick Meekins