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Politics of Trek: “This Side of Paradise”Some claim Star Trek presents a communist utopian view of the world. That is true of the Next Generation, where they pretend to have fundamentally changed human nature to the point of eliminating greed, jealousy, and the other human vices. But it’s certainly not true of the original series. To the contrary, Episode 24: “This Side of Paradise” is a fundamental repudiation of the idea of the communist utopia. The PlotAs our episode begins, the Enterprise makes orbit around Omicron Ceti Three. They are on a grim mission: to collect the remains of a...

Saint Augustine, in his Confessions, Book VIII, Chapter X, describes his torment at being torn between two wills, the carnal and the spiritual, and writes, "..as yet I was bound by the iron chain of my own will. The enemy held fast my will, and had made of it a chain, and had bound me tight with it. For out of the perverse will came lust, and the service of lust ended in habit, and habit, not resisted, became necessity. By these links, as it were, forged together -- which is why I called it 'a chain' - a hard...

On Christmas Day of last year, Muslim terrorists set off bombs in churches across Nigeria. It was one of the worst attacks by Boko Haram which is determined to continue its reign of terror until the country is ruled by Muslim law. Christian pastors have been beheaded by Boko Haram and a spokesman for the group has openly stated that their interim goal is "to eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country." The Boko Haram death toll has surpassed a thousand in only a few years. It has killed 250 people this year alone. It draws inspiration from the...

I was recently awoken from a Zyrtec-induced (allergies are the worst) stupor in my American Revolution seminar class when I heard my professor make an off-handed comment about “magic words.” Having recently spent an undisclosed number of hours watching multiple Harry Potter movies, I assumed that he was referring to words like “Wingardium Leviosa” shouted with a swish and flick of a magic wand. Needless to say, I was a little off. The magic words he meant have probably never echoed through the halls of Hogwarts, yet they have become unbelievably common in our cultural vernacular. What my professor meant...

By Jason Hines Because of situations in my own life I have been repeatedly returning to the concept of loving your enemies. I have wrestled with this issue publicly (I have preached a sermon on this subject twice) and at times in this space, but I have yet to share here my spiritual thoughts on the issue. The best place to begin is with the words of Christ. In Matthew 5:43-48 (NASB) Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray...

Reports from American Intelligence are being leaked to the public to put pressure on Israel to keep them from attacking Iran. Israel and Azerbaijan have struck a 1.6 billion dollar drone and defense deal, supposedly giving Israel access to their bases if they attack Iran. This means the Israelis would not have to refuel if they do attack and that is a game changer. Last Thursday, Ambassador John Bolton, being the straight shooter he is, laid it out succinctly on Fox News. He accused this administration of leaking information deliberately to deter Israel from defending herself. He was responding to...

I guess the weather is finally warm enough on the east coast for King Putt Obama to resume hitting the links. After all, there’s nothing really happening in this country or elsewhere that could affect this country. It’s not like we have skyrocketing gas prices, a lousy economy, Iran getting a nuclear weapon or anything like that. While Michelle Obama took the kids to Las Vegas to party it up on the American tax payer’s dollar (just a week after the oldest daughter went on a secret vacation to Mexico with 25 secret service agents on 12 friends) Hussein Obama...

Heads must be spinning at the Brady Campaign's headquarters with news that the Second Amendment Foundation just won its fourth Second Amendment case this month. The latest case is from Massachusetts where U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodcock found that the commonwealth's ban on handgun possession by permanent resident aliens contravened the Second Amendment. From the Second Amendment Foundation's announcement of their win in Fletcher v. Haas: SAF WINS 2A CASE IN MASS, STRIKING DOWN GUN BAN FOR LEGAL ALIENS For Immediate Release: 3/30/2012 BELLEVUE, WA – A Federal District Court Judge in Massachusetts today granted summary judgment in...

My wife and I went to watch the blockbuster movie “The Hunger Games”. Before going to the movie I already understood that the ruling class, so expertly portrayed in Hunger Games, does in fact exist here in America. Hunger Games is not science fiction; rather it is an eerie reflection of our “new American society”. In Hunger Games the citizens of twelve fictional colonies do not govern themselves but rather are kept in a perpetual state of hunger by a “new upper class” that has arisen from the ashes of a nuclear war. In the book there are rumors of...

Rita Wilson, who do you think you are and why are you trying to make America a socialist gulag? A network television show called “Who do you think you are?”, which airs on Friday night’s, traces the family trees of celebrities. Many of the shows provide interesting incites into fascinating family history, but some expose the hypocrisy of those whose families are featured. Rita Wilson the actress and current wife of Tom Hanks was exposed this week. While most episodes trace people’s lineage back several generations, Wilson’s went back only to her father’s life in Eastern Europe from his birth...

According to Dictionary.reference.com, “feminism” is defined as: 1. the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. 2. (sometimes initial capital letter) an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women. Reading this, one can almost hear Helen Reddy singing out the strains of “I am woman, hear me roar.” Insofar as the concept of feminism is concerned, I can’t seriously believe that anyone, male or female, living in present-day America can argue with feminism’s goals. Equality and justice (together with life) are the cornerstones of our country’s founding; indeed, all...

A fugitive mobster left a trail on Facebook for authorities to follow. Vito Roberto Palazzolo, convicted in absentia by an Italian court in 2009 for laundering money for "boss of bosses" Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia, has been arrested in Bangkok, Thailand after a long international chase to apprehend him as reported by AGI: he "had been convicted to a nine-year sentence for Mafia-style criminal conspiracy and had traveled from South Africa - a Country that has always denied extradition - to Hong Kong and subsequently to Thailand." Palazzolo was found from clues...

Lunch is a nice meal and a free lunch is even nicer. The problem with free lunches is that someone always has to pay for them. Lunches don't grow on trees, unless they're fresh fruit, the ingredients have to be gathered, processed, shipped, mixed, prepared, packaged, shipped again and put on your plate by a waiter working in an establishment that has to pay rent, heating, electricity and salaries. A free lunch isn't just free food, it's the entire human and mechanical infrastructure needed to get it ready and subsidizing a free lunch means paying for that entire infrastructure. That's...

Best political humor from around the USA this week... Demwits  More at Reaganite Republican... Enjoy your weekend, FReeper patriots

U.S. Bishops, Other Denominations File Amicus Curiae Brief In Supreme Court Case Of Arizona Vs. United States. WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and several other Christian denominations filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Arizona vs. United States, supporting the principle that the federal government controls the enactment and implementation of the nation’s immigration laws. The March 26 brief argued that the federal government is in the best position to protect the well-established goals of family unity and human dignity in the nation’s immigration system. The brief also made the case...

Some people say you can’t prepare for every situation. I say, you can because every situation has one common element that can and will hurt you outside of the event itself: other people. Lets face it, if you die in a storm, a nuclear/biological/chemical event, or terror attack, then you are dead. There is nothing from stopping God’s will. You don’t prepare for those events, you prepare for surviving those events. There are many events, (and not far-fetched crazy extreme events) which people should be prepared to deal with to protect themselves and their families when it’s over and you...

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) said she is weighing “other options” in the event that Florida officials are unsuccessful in punishing George Zimmerman for shooting Trayvon Martin. Martin was killed by neighborhood watch volunteer Zimmerman February 26. Though all the facts are not yet publicly known, demands that Zimmerman be charged with murder have been gaining momentum in certain circles. The New Black Panther Party has posted a $10,000 reward for Zimmerman’s capture and is in the process of organizing a 5,000-man posse to undertake the effort. Celebrities Spike Lee and Roseanne Barr have “tweeted” address information for different...

Success is a journey not a destination. — Anonymous Many of us act as if success is a permanent state that we’re working to reach. We think, “One day, I’m finally going to be ‘successful’ and then I’ll have it made from there on out.� Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. You’re never going to get to the point where you can just kick back, put your life on cruise control, and enjoy “success.� When you get a chance to meet successful people, you find this out. Some of them are falling apart. Some are absolutely miserable. That’s no...

ABC News doctors Zimmerman video to peddle false story in Trayvon Martin case Written By: Bob - Mar• 29•12 he Daily Caller has investigated the ABC News claim that police closed circuit television of George Zimmerman being brought to the Sanford, FL police station shows no sign of injury, in what appears to be an intentional effort by the network to cast doubt on Zimmerman’s accounting of events. Zimmerman claims he was forced to shoot high school football player Trayvon Martin after Martin knocked him down and began slamming his head into the ground. ABC News blatantly lied about what...

Reader poll/web vote with barf-worthy opinion piece.Opinion: Welcome to Florida. Beware of gunmen standing their ground

Al Sharpton once said of Rush Limbaugh: “He doesn’t have the right to lie and accuse people of crimes” But apparently Sharpton does have that right. The professional race baiting hate monger Sharpton is once again running his mouth at full throttle. He has promised civil disobedience if he doesn't get what he wants and what he really wants is to lynch George Zimmerman. If George Zimmerman is not arrested in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin soon, theRev. Al Sharpton will call for an escalation in peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions. Sharpton would not say the efforts would...

We LOVE because he first LOVED us. 1 John 4:19 How genius were our Founding Fathers that they would reach up from their graves once again and find Obozocare fell far short of the basic freedoms they had ensured and our Supreme Court was not going along with it. The incredible document they wrote 250 years ago was far more impressive than the 2500 piece of health slavery which was written by the party of tyranny and only the most radical minority was denying that truth. If we dodge this nationalized dictate we can thank a few legal stalwarts and...

“In the same time period as the Trayvon Martin incident,” documents VDARE’s Peter Bradley, “a multitude of anti-white attacks by blacks occurred that remained strictly local news.” •In Kansas City, a 13-year-old white boy named Allen Coon was doused with gasoline and set on fire by two older blacks saying, “This is what you deserve. You get what you deserve, white boy.” •Haley Pettersen, a 15-year-old white girl in a leg cast in O’Fallon, Ill., was out walking her dog when she was attacked by two black girls who said, “This is our territory white girl.” One girl grabbed Haley...

On the evening of Feb. 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, 28. At the time of the shooting, an unarmed Martin was walking to the home of his father’s girlfriend in a Sanford gated community. Zimmerman was armed with a handgun and working as a community crime watch captain. Martin was African-American, and Zimmerman was Hispanic. Shortly before the shooting, Zimmerman was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, who admonished him not to follow Martin. In the following days, an eyewitness came forward to report that Martin was the aggressor, while Zimmerman cried...

RESISTANCE The media is angry. It gets angry whenever it encounters resistance to its narrative. That's what happened with the Trayvon Martin case and Obamacare. When the media encounters resistance, it runs through its stages 1. Denial - No one but a few loons reject the narrative 2. Anger - How dare they reject the narrative 3. Bargaining - The media starts looking for moderates who will accept some element of the narrative 4. Depression - The media glumly pontificates on a broken America where racism and poor health care will always be issues. Where their narrative remains marginalized among...

The Vatican has announced a harder line against the Mafia whose sociopathic members often wrongly assume their nominal Catholicism will save them from eternal damnation. This week during a 2-day conference in Palermo, Sicily -- the belly of the beast for Cosa Nostra -- church officials met with Italian authorities and Mafia experts in order to coordinate a stronger role for the Vatican in taking on organized crime as reported byAlessandro Speciale for Religion News Service: Bishop Antonino Raspanti admitted that the church "has not condemned strongly enough" the mafia in the past. But "things have changed," he said, and...

...HRN: Is there anything that policymakers can do to bring companies back to the U.S.? Martin Armstrong: One of the primary things is that the tax rate should be cast in stone and it should not change for every election. That is why corporate cash is at record highs. Why should a company start to hire people when all you hear is "we're going to get the rich", "we're going to get the corporations" and they're going to have to pay more. This is why corporate cash is at an all time high. Why should you start hiring people now...

Sherman Oaks, California I was detained last night by federal authorities at San Francisco International Airport for refusing to answer questions about why I had travelled outside the United States. The end result is that, after waiting for about half an hour and refusing to answer further questions, I was released – because U.S. citizens who have produced proof of citizenship and a written customs declaration are not obligated to answer questions. * * * “Why were you in China?” asked the passport control officer, a woman with the appearance and disposition of a prison matron. “None of your business,”...

Weeks of one-sided stories pushed by professional agitators like Al Sharpton have had an effect on public opinion. Last weekend, (3/25-3/26) CNN conducted a poll which showed 73% of adults believed Trayvon Martin's shooter George Zimmerman should be arrested. Now a new poll by WPA opinion dynamics finds that number has dropped sharply in just the last few days: Our poll conducted Tuesday and Wednesday revealed that just 48% of Americans believe he should be arrested. Our poll matched the partisan distribution of the CNN poll, so this is a real and significant change in opinion as more key details...

AS a black man who has been mugged at gunpoint by a black teenager late at night, I am not naive: I know firsthand the awkward conundrums surrounding race, fear and crime. Trayvon Martin's killing at the hands of George Zimmerman baffles this nation. While the youth's supporters declare in solidarity "We are all Trayvon," the question is raised, to what extent is the United States also all George Zimmerman? Under assault, I didn't dream of harming my teenage assailant, let alone taking his life. Zimmerman reacted very differently, taking out his handgun and shooting the youth in cold blood....

A recent study revealed more evidence that a Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) abstinence program is effective in delaying sexual onset. Four major conclusions are drawn from the article, entitled, Impact of the Choosing the Best Program in Communities Committed to Abstinence Education. 1. Students in an SRA class were more likely to delay the onset of sexual activity from pre to posttest than their peers. 2. The findings of this study are more realistic and relevant than the Jemmott study on abstinence, as well as most “comprehensive” sex ed. research since the study occurred in schools. 3. The study was...

The death of Trayvon Martin has become the latest controversy to engulf the national media, civil rights leaders and mindless celebrities. The killing of an unarmed Martin by night watchman George Zimmerman created a frenzy of media coverage and has led to a string of inappropriate comments and behavior by public figures. The militant New Black Panther Party issued a $10,000 bounty on the head of George Zimmerman. They have called for his capture “dead or alive.” A “Kill Zimmerman” Twitter account has been created that is filled with hate and calls for violence.

Thinking about the brouhaha surrounding the Trayvon Martin story, I am reminded of the Clint Eastwood movie “Heartbreak Ridge.� At one point in the movie, as he tries to make Marines out of a group of misfits, Eastwood’s character, Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway, tells his men in a most eloquent fashion, “When you start looking like Marines you’ll start feeling like Marines and then, Goddamn it, you’ll start acting like Marines.�The lessons instilled in, and adopted by, Trayvon Martin were a slightly altered version of Gunney Highway’s lesson: “When you start looking like a lowlife scumbag you’ll start feeling like...

In my last post, I noted how Cardinal Carlo Martini says [in his new book], "I disagree with the position of those in the Church, that take issue with civil unions..It is not bad, instead of casual sex between men, that two people have a certain stability..." Besides demonstrating his personal loss of faith, the retired Cardinal provides us with further evidence that the homosexual agenda has made significant inroads within the Church. But that hardly comes as news. Back in 1995, reporter Edwin Thomas of Micromega magazine carried out an unusual survey. Every evening for several weeks, Mr. Thomas...

Yes, Dino "Big Dino" Calabro was a bad boy, a very bad boy, during his years with the Colombo family. The mob-killer-turned-government-witness was on the stand for a fourth day at the racketeering trial against reputed street boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli and reputed soldier Dino "Little Dino" Saracino, and under cross-examination he readily admitted with full candor to a role in eight murders as reported by the New York Post, and sleeping with the girlfriends of two mob associates he had killed as reported by the Daily News. If defense lawyers want to paint Big Dino as a bad...

Recently, our Failed Messiah, Barack Hussein Obama had this to say about the Trayvon Martin fiasco: (Don't worry. This column is NOT about the Creepy Left's new Horst Wessel. Enough electrons have died needless deaths on him.) *********************************** "All of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen. And that means that we examine the laws and the context for what happened as well as the specifics of the incident." *********************************** Really, Barry ? I mean, really ? I need to do some soul searching ? In my entire life, I've never (in...

According to Section 455(b)(3) of Title 28 of the U.S. Code, justices must disqualify themselves in cases where they have “served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, adviser, or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case or controversy.” As solicitor general of the United States, Justice Elena Kagan served as the head of an office responsible for formulating the Obama administration’s legal defense of its domestic agenda priority — Obamacare.

When the feminist poet Adrienne Rich died this week, the obituary of one of the most influential female writers of the last half-century described the goal of her life and her work as “the creation of a society without domination.” The rest of the week’s news illustrated how far we have to go in achieving such a dream. In Florida, when newly-released video showed that George Zimmerman was apparently unscathed after shooting Trayvon Martin despite his claim of being injured while defending himself against attack, the message was clear: whether their authority derives from a gun or the color of...

The ignorant, irrational mania being stoked by the black race hustlers in the wake of the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is disgusting. Of course the nation is sad that a boy was killed! But, we are also sickened by the malevolent, mob-inciting “leaders” of the black community like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Those men, and others like them in positions of “authority,” like Barack Obama (or whatever his name is), are the most despicable abusers of their prominent positions for using this case to gin up misplaced outrage among people who are not even looking rationally at what...

Do we really want to see how much money other people think removing someone from society is worth? President Obama and his fellow racist at the Dept. of Justice, Eric Holder, have nothing to say about the hate group the “New Black Panther Party,” (or any group), putting a $10,000 “Dead Or Alive” bounty on any American citizen? The Panthers claim they only want to “capture” him, but in the same breath, say the violence their actions may cause is justified because their “Muslim beliefs” demand an “eye for an eye”. Obviously, the Panthers motive is entirely racist, because you...

Orange's Undocumented (Illegal!) Immigrants (Aliens!) Stay a Step Ahead to Steal Work From Americans Based on his youthful looks alone, Luis Martinez Hernandez stood out Wednesday morning among a dozen or so day laborers that stood along Taft Avenue just west of Tustin Street in Orange. The 23-year-old Mexican shot a quick smile. "I just looking for work," he said. He stood next to Hernando Cortez, who said he is "40 maybe", and is looking for anything -- painting, construction work, whatever -- to earn some money. And so continues the saga of Orange's day laborers. Here's hoping they're not...

Why can’t the phony media find any self righteous outrage in this story? Almost seventy years ago 90 year old Bob Strait went off to war as a young man who wanted to protect his country. When he was sworn into the Army he understood he was being asked to risk his life for all Americans, not just those who looked like him. Although he wouldn’t be comfortable being called one, Bob was a war hero. He was a member of the fearsome Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne – the tough guys – the real tough guys. On Thanksgiving...

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More at Reaganite Republican... ___________________________________________________________ iowntheworld   PatriotUpdate   FreakingNews   RegretCard.com   FireflyFans   Houston Chronicle   cofcc   Pat Dollard

The ignorant, irrational mania being stoked by the black race hustlers in the wake of the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is disgusting. Of course the nation is sad that a boy was killed! But, we are also sickened by the malevolent, mob-inciting “leaders” of the black community like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Those men, and others like them in positions of “authority,” like Barack Obama (or whatever his name is), are the most despicable abusers of their prominent positions for using this case to gin up misplaced outrage among people who are not even looking rationally at what...

The Trayvon Martin case is a wholly familiar one to residents of any major urban city. If you live in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles, then it's only a matter of time until an incident between a law enforcement officer, or more rarely a civilian defending himself, and a member of a minority group flares up into a citywide grievance theater complete with angry reverends on the steps of City Hall, women with stony faces holding up banners calling for justice and a media driven debate about police tactics and racism. This sort of thing happens with depressing regularity...

Everybody knows we like to laugh it up here on SoaresSpot on any number of different topics. But this is not one of those times. What I'm about to write below compels nothing other than sober awareness for Albany County voters. That's because there is no funny or jovial element to this story, no appropriately humorous images or photoshopping--absolutely nothing about this incident can be processed and construed that way. Notwithstanding our comprehensive absence of faith in everything about David Soares, this is truly stunning--even for him. In my lap I've this package somebody sent my way the other day....

In Tuesday’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court, Solicitor General and chief ObamaCare advocate Donald Verrilli was presented with a substantial portion of his own posterior by Justice Antonin Scalia. The summary execution began when Verrilli made the extraordinary mistake of schooling the Court on the proper meaning of its own decisions. “No it didn’t,” said Scalia to the stunned Solicitor General in reference to his errant references to the significance of previous cases. And what followed was a merciless barrage of facts exposing the overreach of the individual mandate, ObamaCare’s method of creating “fairness in healthcare” by making those...

(nothing to do with Doritos, mind you!) This ranch sign was spotted recently near Porterville CA, 70 mi South of Fresno- ought to provide some degree of deterrent h/t Speedunque

Wednesday, March 28, 2012Terence Weldon has lost his faith in Christ, His Church and her doctrines Terence Weldon wants to introduce us to James Nickoloff, a confused and lost soul whom he refers to as a "gay Catholic theologian." Weldon writes, "Dr James B Nickoloff is an openly gay, Catholic theologian, who unlike many others to whom that description applies, is working in an eminently respectable corner of the Catholic academy. He is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and also an adjunct professor at the Jesuit University of Santa Clara,...