A Righteous Response

It did not take long for the Roman Catholic Church to respond to President Obama’s magnanimous, in his mind, compromise on his health care diktat.  In fact the rebuke was read from many pulpits this past weekend across the land.  And the rebukes keep coming out.  Today Rep. Issa in the US House is asking about it.

There is one grave problem with this compromise.  Yes it sounds like Obama has deftly threaded a needle to satisfy various constituencies.  The brutal truth is he has tried to deflect the gravity of the sin he is trying to force on people of faith. 

In the original version of his diktat, Catholic hospitals would be forced to provide birth control pills, condoms, vasectomies, hysterectomies, and pills like RU-486.  All of these items are anathema to Catholics of faith because they transform the act of bringing life and hope into this world into something purely made of lust and creating sterility in its wake.  Hence for any Catholic institution to comply, they would be committing a sin of commission.

The new version transforms this sin into one of omission.  According to Obama the Catholic hospitals no longer have to knowingly pay for all the above ‘vital’ medical requirements, instead the underwriters of the insurance policies would pay for them at zero cost.  The sin is still happening but now someone else is doing the sinful deed as Catholic institution are supposed to look the other way.

As for Obama’s tissue thin lie that the insurance companies will pay for all these items without charging Catholic institutions.  Does he think we are all morons?  It seems he does and those who have gone back into the Obama fold prove he can sucker some people all the time.  The fact of the matter is the people or institutions will pay premiums on their insurance policies.  It will be from these premiums that all those counter-life items will be paid for since insurance companies are not charities.  So we find ourselves back again committing a sin of omission, we are supposed to just look the other way while evil occurs.

So what Caeser Obama offers is just a difference of poisons.  One is overt and the other more subtle, both are still deadly to the soul.  We need to keep standing up and saying no to this administration.  When Obama is forced to blink and back away from all this, we must not rest.  We must keep up the pressure and roll back in its entirety the abomination Obama and others call ‘affordable’ health care.  This health care program allows four states and many friends of Obama to be exempt from.  While Democrats have been abusing the Commerce Clause, they have also abused the Equal Protection Clause.  These abuses and usurpations of power must be stopped least the tree of Liberty is renewed with the blood of patriots.  Most importantly we must do this before our collective soul is irredeemably blotted by these evil actions.

Post script – Obama pretends he knows Scripture.  So do the ‘religious’ who support him.  But I find it hard to credit their knowledge and faith when they so willingly serve a worldly master called socialism.  They will engage in many amazing feats of verbal gymnastics to dress up their aberrations as most holy writ.  As Obama proved when he replaced individuals performing acts of charity with a secular government acting as the arbitrator of who will get charity.  These are false prophets who shall wear millstones about their necks.

Jealous Tyrants

There has been a lot of religious talk of late and how the secular sphere intersects such.  Of faith held beliefs colliding with secular beliefs.  Of confronting Moloch.

In the Peoples Republic of China; what a contradiction as the people have no say in how they are oppressed, just ask the employees at Foxconn who were awakened at midnight in their barracks, fed a biscuit and a cup of tea, and then churned out iPad2s with a new screen, religious oppression proceeds.  That government has imprisoned nine Roman Catholic priests.  Eight are of the 'underground' church that has the support of the Holy See in Rome but this church is oppressed by Beijing who pushes a state approved catholic church.  The Vatican and Beijing have been at an impasse over this matter for years with Beijing appointing catholic cardinals without Papal approval.  Here is a case of a 'modern' state oppressing and imposing beliefs on the people they are supposed to serve.

The Soviet Union went a step further when the likes of Lenin seized the reigns of power.  All places of worship were forcibly closed.  All monasteries were closed.  The Russian Orthodox faith was suppressed.  And yet it was the Soviet Union who collapsed while the faithful persevered.

In Germany in the 1930s similar things were tried.  The National Socialists ordered the crosses atop churches be replaced by their party symbol.  Youth groups like the 700,000 strong Protestant youth group were shut down.  There could only be one deity in Germany and all were supposed to swear fealty to the Fuhrer.  Thus there was no room for the likes of the Jews or the Catholics or Protestants.  Even pagans were oppressed.  It took six brutal years of war that ravaged a whole continent before this evil was ended.

So what has all this history to do with confronting Moloch?  Its very simple, in all three cases presented above an oppressive secular government has attempted or is attempting to wipe out any other locus of power.  These other sources of normative mores, I think that is the term, rebuke what the secular mandarins want to impose.  They deny the validity of this secular dogma.

Now we are seeing this secular dogma being attempted here in the United States.  Health and Human Services has issued a draconian ruling that will have drastic impact upon religious non-profits of all beliefs.  These non-profits have one year to comply with the demands of Moloch ... errr...  the Obama administration's diktats.  What are these demands?  These religious non-profits MUST offer as part of health insurance things they find morally offensive and evil.  A good example is RU-486 which is also called the Morning After Pill.  A woman will be prescribed these pills in order to kill off a possible fertilized zygote.

After the trials of Nuremberg and what happened at My Lai, soldiers are now expected to refuse unlawful orders.  What the Obama administration is demanding of religious non-profits is an unlawful order.  It is an attempt to impose secular state beliefs upon individuals.  What next, will Cesar Obama demand all offer burnt sacrifices at the altar of Obama as divine being?  That did not work well for Imperial Rome nor France after their revolution.

That the Obama administration is going ahead with this is the height of hubris and folly since the US Supreme Court just struck down 9-0 another attempt to subjugate the religious.  In that case, the Obama administration tried to tell religious ministries they could not discriminate in any form on whom is hired.  The Supreme Court firmly rejected this concept.  If this ruling had been allowed to stand then we could have seen a Buddhist temple compelled to hire a follower of Santaria.

So where do we go from here to stop this latest ploy?  Sen. Rubio(R-FL) has already introduced legislation that attempts to neuter this nefarious ploy.  Much must still be done.  A strong message has to be sent to Washington DC on how wrong this ruling from HHS is.  If we do not stand together for religious freedom as outlined in the US Constitution now, then we risk far more than all these non-profit hospitals shutting down.  We risk the total loss of liberty.  Either we hang together or we hang separately as Benjamin Franklin once said.

Another Red Tails Goof

Yes I went and watched another trailer of Red Tails on YouTube.  The one I have been bombarded with on TV no less.  And I found an even more interesting goof, this time on the Allied side - one of the 332nd FG's proudest moments gets changed in the film.

On 25 June 1944 on a mission into Yugoslavia men of the 332nd entered the history books.  One four ship flight was reduced to a two-ship of Pruitt and Peirson.  Strong winds caused them to get lost and they started to return to their airfield.  Their course carried them over the Italian port of Trieste which was still held by Germans and Italian fascists loyal to Mussolini.  In the harbor they spied a warship with a German cross on its funnel.  Exhibiting the initiative fighter pilots are supposed to have, they dove on the warship and while wingtip to wingtip opened fire.  On the second strafing pass Peirson's bullets seemed to find a mine aboard the warship that detonated.  So ended the military service of TA-27, an Italian torpedo boat, that was being used by the Germans as a mine-layer.  The 332nd became the only USAAF unit to be officially credited with sinking a ship.

So what is the goof in the above screenshot?  Lt. Pruitt and Lt. Peirson on 25 June 1944 were not flying P-40 Warhawks.  Instead the three squadrons of the 332d FG on that mission were flying Republic P-47D Thunderbolts which were more often known as Jugs.  The P-47 is equipped with eight .50-caliber machine guns and the P&W R-2800 air-cooled radial engine.  The P-40K Warhawk is equipped with six .50-caliber machine guns and the Allison V-1710 water-cooled inline engine.

Chalk this up as yet another reason to skip this movie.  Would modeling the famous Jug in computers have broken their budget?  I guess so or they thought 'no one will notice so make it more P-40s.'This sloppiness begs the question - in what other areas did the film makers play fast and loose with history?

Reference - 332nd Fighter Group.  Chris Bucholtz. Osprey Aircraft series.  Pg 46.

What Education?

I thought on the Documentary Channel they finally had something to interest me.  A show called War Is Not A Game about the Geneva Conventions on warfare.  Well I thought so until two minutes in.

The documentary is showing overhead footage of Napoleon invading Russia as the snow swirls.  Of the 700,000 troops 80% would never return the female narrator says.  Then she continues with about the victor would tend to his own wounded after a battle.  That the wounded of the defeated would be left where they are unless they were officers.  Then we get to the instant where I changed the channel.

The narrator called taking care of wounded enemy officers 'noblesse oblige.'  Excuse me? 

The reason why the militaries of that time would care about captured officers and not the conscripted cannon-fodder is easy to understand, officers are nobility and could be ransomed.  Nobles would consider conscripts as beneath their notice so why bother with saving them?

Also in common American parlance, at least where I grew up, the term ' noblesse oblige' means those of higher economic standing have an obligation to look after or help those of less privileged economic standing.  It was one of those ways to try and sell FDR had good intentions for everyone in the United States - he was raised to believe it was his obligation to help the rest of us.

Being the dutiful sort I decided to do further research on this term.  According to Dictionary, the term is French in origin from the 1830s to 1840s.  Several decades after that Corsican corporal invaded Russia.  Wow, another whoops for the documentary crew.  Makes one wonder if they really know anything and taints the quality of the research for the rest of the show.  But I did not stick around to watch the rest of the show.

War Horse

This is one movie where I want a horse to win the Oscar for Best Actor.  I caught a matinee showing on Christmas Day and did not expect to see anyone else in the cinema.  I was very wrong.  The theater was at least 85% full and since I arrived at the start time, I ended up in the front rows.  I rapidly forgot about my seat location as this movie pulled me in from the first unsteady steps of Joey as a foal.  I had to see this movie all the way through, calls of nature bedamned.  This movie is this well crafted, even the quiet times when you learn a bit more about Albert, his father, and his father’s past; I was enthralled.  I was also shocked and amazed and sad in this movie.

One sequence of scenes I think can be used to show the craftsmanship of this movie and it’s story.  Albert’s father is in a terrible bind, rain has destroyed the turnip crop and the rent is due.  Even though it was Joey and Albert who made that planting possible, Joey has to be sold to cover the rent.  As Joey is being led away, a tearful Albert affixes to Joey’s bridle the pennant of his father’s unit in the Boer War.  Capt. Nichols solemnly promises Albert he will bring Joey back. 

Scene then shifts to the cavalry unit Nichols belongs to.  Here we are treated in full glorious color how war was viewed as 300 men, in full service dress, atop horses charge to see who can snag the ring with their sword first.  Next we see them in France and being briefed for an attack against a German field encampment. 

We see this vast field of golden wheat that is ready to be harvested as the next scene.  And then we see these green hats bob amidst the wheat and the flick of horse ears also.  And as one man all the soldiers mount the horses and the order to attack is given.  With swords drawn they charge out of the wheat field, across open ground, and then they are amidst the Germans just waking up and rushing to meet the attack.  Swords flash, striking men down.  Men atop horses charge through tents.  And then we see Germans fleeing to the tree line with British cavalry close behind.  Then we see the emplaced machine guns and as the Germans take cover the guns open fire.  Machine gun bullets spit with lethality and rider-less horses plunge through the German lines.  One of the horses is Joey with pennant still affixed to his tack, but no one in the saddle.

One of the survivors of the charge is Nichols’ commanding officer.  He is still astride his horse and is encircled by Germans armed with rifles but he has his sword drawn.  One of the Germans screams at him asking did he really think the Germans would not defend their camp.  The officer looks around and we are treated to a scene of horror.  Strewn throughout the open field where the camp was lie the bodies of many dead British officers and their horses, cut down by a scythe of lead.  The man then throws his sword into the ground and surrenders.  The imagery of a wheat field ready to be harvested now makes sick sense, it is foreshadowing the fate of these brave men in a new kind of war.

I watched the interview with Steven Spielberg about this movie.  He said he was not looking for a project when he stumbled across this play called War Horse.  That it just grabbed his attention.  I am glad this story did.  For fans of Tolkien and the Shire, you might want to watch this movie to get a better appreciation of what shaped Tolkien and his stories.

You guys were really the glimmer of hope

Today, accounting for the International Date Line, is the 70th Anniversary of the Christmas Battle over Rangoon. Here a few P-40B fighters of the 3rd Pursuit Sqn, Hell's Angels, of the American Volunteer Group along with RAF Buffalo fighters repeatedly tangled with waves of Japanese fighters and bombers bent on smashing Rangoon and its docks.

If the Japanese seized Rangoon, the Burma Road would be closed. With the Burma Road closed, the prospects of continued Allied resistance in China would be grim. The Burma Road was the lifeline for China's military and for the AVG. So Rangoon had to be held.

While the 1st Pursuit, Adam&Eve, and 2d Pursuit, Pandas, flew north to Kunming, Hell's Angels left Toungoo for Rangoon and fame. Their first skirmish with the Japanese happened on 23 Dec 1941. The tally for the Americans and British was six bombers and four fighters. They lost in return nine planes and seven pilots.

Then came Christmas Day over Rangoon. The Japanese threw two separate attacks. One against Rangoon and the other against Mingaladon airfield where British and American fighters were based. Rangoon received a three wave attack of Ki-21 Sally bombers and Ki-43 Oscar fighters. Mingaladon would be attacked by two waves of Ki-21 Sallys, Ki-27 Nate fighters, and Ki-30 Ann bombers.

When the skies had cleared of enemy planes and the total was tallied, the results were spectacular. The Hell's Angels had managed to shoot down 23 enemy aircraft without a single loss of their own.  The defense of Rangoon would rage for ten grueling weeks.  Men and planes of the 1st and 2d from Kunming would join the battle to defend Rangoon.  The British would rush in Hurricane fighters to bolster the defenses.  The British managed to shoot down 74 planes with a further 33 probables while losing 22 Buffaloes and Hurricanes.  The Americans would down 217 planes with another 43 probables while losing only 16 P-40s.  In that time over Rangoon, the world came to know and admire the AVG.

"The six or eight months you fellas operated in the beginning of the war, there wasn't much good news for us. We, nor the British or anyone else were able to beat the Japanese in those early months of the war. You guys were really the glimmer of hope because you were the only ones getting results. That meant an awful lot back here." - General Hap Arnold to Kenneth Jernstedt, 3rd Squadron Hell's Angels in 1944.

Siege of Wukan Pt 2

Hat-tip to Karagush for this. And thanks again to the UK Telegraph for carrying this story.

The spin of the Chinese Communist Party is coming into play on how they will supress the discontent that is happening in the town of Wukan. The spin totally ignores the corruption of the local party officials who sold land to developers and skimmed some of the proceeds.

Instead the PRC is portraying their actions at battling the lies of troublemakers. They specifically name two individuals - a Mr. Lin and a Mr. Yang as the sources of trouble. Meanwhile Mr. Xue is still dead after being taken into custody.

If that farrago of untruth does not work, well the PRC has another excuse to allow them respond viciously to this peaceful protest. They say they are concerned for the safety of 60 hotel guests in Wukan. They obviously were not so concerned about the safety and well-being of Mr. Xue whom they snatched off the streets.

The cordon seems to be not as tight as the PRC wants as food is being smuggled in. Along with journalists. That might be the only ray of hope for the people of Wukan. The cameras and computers of those journalists keeping an eye on government forces so they do not misbehave. But with Tianamen all the PRC did was wait for night to fall and sweep up the protestors in the dark so they will probably follow the same tactic when they move on Wukan.

So citizens of the world, especially those who were proud of the Western powers saving the people of Libya, it is truly time to contact our governments and demand the same protection or threat of the same protection be extended to the people of Wukan. To do otherwise after Libya would be to show the true hollowness of that commitment. And reinforce in the minds of all who intend harm against the West how weak we are.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8957681/Chinese-government-vows-to-hunt-down-rebel-village-leaders.html