Funny Little Story

Alright, so perhaps fun little story is a misnomer....the story's not really that fun...but I thought it was pretty cool. So with my summer job, I get to go to a lot of cool places and see a lot of cool things and hear a lot of cool talks. Today was a talk that I was not especially looking forward to. It was one on the Big Bang given by a recent Nobel Laurette who happens to be the very first NASA civil servant to receive one. Woopty do. For someone with a degree in astrophysics, I really don't like astrophysics talks...they're fundamentally boring....especially ones on things I don't think hold any water...such as the big bang. I disagree with it on both scientific and theological grounds, but that's another topic for another time...would make this short story into a very long winded story. Anyway, so not really lookin forward to this one...and true to form, I struggled to stay away through it. Anywho, so it's over, and it's question and answer time...someone asked a question about the capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope, the telescope that will replace Hubble....After the speaker answered the question, the director of the National Space Science and Technology Center, the place where the talk was being held, told a little story that was clearly anti-Christian...I'd heard it before, was offended before, and was offended again. It goes something like this. The principle investigator for Hubble was trying to convince Congress to fund it and was explaining how far it could see. The head of the committee, who was an ordained minister, asked, "Now hold on just a second. You're saying that Hubble can see creation?" To that, the PI replied, "Oh no no no Senator, you misunderstood. Hubble will be able to see the universe one nanosecond after it left that hand of God." (you see, the person telling the joke put special emphasis on the fact that the man asking this question in committee was a minister in order to show just how incredibly dumb and gullible he thinks Christians are for believing in Creation...hence the reason I'm completely offended....cause it's not a fair joke...and well, I think he's the fool for not believing in Creation). So the director than said that the James Webb Telescope would be able to see the hand of God itself (again, clearly poking fun at the notion of creation...not so much in words, but in the way he said it).

So here's where the cool part comes in. The speaker, a man who won the Nobel prize for his work in studying the Big Bang then replies, and I quote, "Well, anyone who has eyes can see that Hand all over the place."

I don't know if many of the people in the room got it or heard it, but it was awesome. Quite the come back, and not from the source I would have expected. I don't know what the faith or background of the speaker is...but he very clearly believes that the universe was created...he sees it being created through the big bang, but he, a man who has devoted his life to studying the universe says plain as day, "you're clearly a fool if you believe that this all just happened on it's own."

Anyway, that's it. Keep the faith!

~AndyJams~

Encouragement

Those who know me know I'm a runner. Always have been. Well, not always. But in first grade, we had a track meet, and I ran in the 100 meter dash..and won! From that day on I was a runner. Granted, that was the last time I've ever gotten first place...but I still run. Round about 7th grade, my first year of junior high track, I learned sprinting wasn't the sport for me...too slow off the blocks...I'd been running cross country since 6th, so long distance it was. There is a point to all this, I swear. Just giving you a bit of background for kicks and giggles. So basically, I've been a runner in some capacity for most of my life. I really do love it. It's especially great this summer. After a long day I'm able to go back to my room and then go pound out the troubles of the day, both professional and personal. The pain, exhaustion, sweat dripping in my eyes (especially in this climate where it's customarily in the mid to upper 90s every day), and cotton mouth replace any emotional troubles with easily manageable physical troubles, leaving all of my mental, emotional, and spiritual capacities open to focus on God, to pray, and to listen to what He has in store for me (the future is going to be fantastic, I'm sure of it!)

Anyway, so to the point. I was running around the pond this evening when I made a realization. Another runner passed me going the other way, and without thinking we both made eye contact at the same time, I waved, he gave me a thumbs up, and we went on our separate ways. I've never seen him before, and I very well might never meet him again. Complete strangers with completely different backgrounds, histories, beliefs, ideologies, everything, and yet without a second thought or pre-determined notion or bias we each gave each other encouragement. It seems inconsequential I understand. What's a thumbs up? I'm not running a marathon, I'm not lost or stranded. Never once in my run did i stray more than a mile from my room, and never once was I more than a shout away from help if necessary. I wasn't disheartened or thinking about quitting early. So sure, in this particular case, I was in no need of encouragement. But I received it none the less. It made me smile quietly to myself because this isn't a singular occurrence. This happens whenever I pass a runner whilst I'm running. I assume that most every runner everywhere knows this same feeling. It's a brotherhood. We're all in the same boat and we all support each other without a thought. Isn't that great? Shouldn't that be the case everywhere with everything?

It made me think of something else remarkable. I'm a great giant space nerd, and I follow each space shuttle mission closely. This summer I've had the ability to spend an especially large amount of time following the STS-117 mission, spending most of the day with NASA TV on in the background. If you listen in to the communications between Houston and the astronauts on orbit, most especially during space walks. They are always positive, always complimenting each other, even on the minor things. "That was a great job there on tightening that restraint bolt." "That's an excellent camera view you're giving us." "Thanks for the wonderful support today from the ground crews." "Thank you so much for playing that song for our wake up. It's especially meaningful for me." "Excellent job on the thermal protection system inspections today." It's constantly like that. I honestly don't know if they do that because they do that or if they do that because they've been trained and instructed to communicate that way. Does it really matter either way though? When push comes to shove, there is constant support, nary a negative remark, and because of that (or at least largely because of that) the crews come home safely every time with a successful mission every time.

I'm not sure what all that means, or even what the point of me writing about it. It just occurred to me and it made me happy, so I thought I'd share it. Do yourselves a favor. Interact with those around you in a positive manner, no matter what. I can guarantee you'll be happier for it.

~AndyJams~

Leading with Soul

I'm a reader. Didn't used to be, but I love it now. I'm reading a book right now that my father recommended I check out called Leading with Soul by Bolman and Deal. The idea behind it is that in order to be a good leader, you need to explore your own spirit and soul, and include those elements of your being intimately in every facet of your life, be it love, hobbies, and your work. A lot of people make the mistake of taking their work and sealing it off from the rest of their life. They can be open and free enough at home around friends and family, but when they show up for work it's all business. After all, it's inappropriate to talk about such things at work, right? WRONG! If you want to be a good leader, if you want your organization to succeed and grow, you need to include this. You and those who work for you must share yourselves, share stories, share legitimate caring. A lot of evangelicals refer to this as "being real." Show up to work ready to care, not just to yield power.

I'm not doing a very good job of describing it, but trust me, it's fantastic. It's basically a parable that follows the spiritual growth of Steve under the mentorship of Maria. As you follow the events and stories you learn from their example. Every now and then there will be an interlude where the authors delve deeper into the mysteries they writing about. It's not exactly the lightest reading, but it's quick reading, and it is definitely meaningful. There are a lot of great things to quote, but there was one that I just read that I think is particularly worth mentioning here. It's a excerpt that describes what Kierkegaard refers to as a "knight of faith."

This figure is the man who lives in faith, who has given over the meaning of his life to his creator, and who lives centered on the energies of his maker. He accepts whatever happens in this visible dimension without complaint, lives his life as a duty, faces his death without qualms. No pettiness is so petty that it threatens his meaning; no task is too frightening to be beyond his courage. He is fully in the world on its terms and wholly beyond the world in his trust of the invisible dimension. The knight of faith then represents what we call an ordeal of mental health, the continued openness of life out of the death throes of dread.

That is a powerful description of what I feel a Christian should be. I argue that a true follower of Christ is a Knight of Faith in Christ. If you call yourself a Christian, ask yourself, does this excerpt describe you? Probably not. That's a lot to live up to! I'm pretty sure it doesn't fit me. I'd like to think I have a pretty good faith, and I've had a lot of personal experiences and chances to learn and see that have helped me to grow closer to God then I ever dreamed possible, but still...I fear, I complain, and quite frankly death makes me uncomfortable (even though I'm confident I'll be spending eternity in Heaven). I often fall victim to pettiness, and I often find myself not trusting God...I mean, I trust Him, don't get me wrong...but then sometimes, I'll try to take over. "Sorry God...I gave this to you to take care of...but I don't especially like the way that's going for me...so I think I'll take the helm again if you don't mind." I'm not proud of the fact, but it's true. Is that true for you?

I'm not worried though. I may not be the ideal Knight of Faith...but I'm at least a Page Boy of Faith...maybe even a Squire of Faith if I might be so bold. That's what rocks about God...well, one of the many things that rocks about God (a lot of people also make the mistake of focusing only on the salvation of Christ and base their walk with Christ on that, when there's so so much more to our Savior...salvation is just the first baby step...but the love, the friendship, the warmth, the sweetness, in other words, the Spirit, the "Walk with Christ"...that's where it's really at for me, that's what it's really about...salvation was just part of the love Christ has for us, not the only facet of Christ as many people make the mistake of thinking). Anywho, I went off on a tangent again...and I forget where I was going. Um..um...oh yeah. That's one of the things that's awesome about our God. Perfection never was a requirement. I think truly Christ is the only Knight of Faith, the only man who has achieved such faith and trust...granted...He's God, so maybe He cheated...but the fact remains. The greats of our faith, the saints, many of the popes, the apostles, the martyrs...those approach being a Knight of Faith...definitely Squires. The rest of us...those who are trying, who are reading, learning, growing in our faith, we're the page boys. All are essential for the jousts to go forward.

I suppose a better question is this. Are you trying to be a Knight of Faith? Are you at least on the road to becoming a Knight of Faith? Are you doing your best? Then you can safely call yourself a follower of Christ. God never asked that we be perfect. He only asks that we try. Not on the path? On the wrong path? Want to be on the path to becoming a knight? I highly encourage it. It's well worth the effort. Talk to your friends. I'd like to think that you know at least one Christian to talk to. If you don't, fare enough. Find a church. I know you can find a church. Talk to anyone in that church. I assure you that they'll be more than willing to talk to you. If they're not willing, well, God save their soul, because they are in spiritual trouble.

So that's kind of rambling and twisting and turning...but that's the best I can do with the topic...tis how my brain follows ideas. But yeah, Leading with Soul. Read it. It's good.

~AndyJams~

The World's Best and Brightest

Here's a short one.

I have the great privalege of working at Marshall Space Flight Center, one of the NASA centers most inimately involved in the current and future manned space flight programs. One side effect of living and working so closely with so many people who are so invested gives me an interesting vantage point. The Space Shuttle Transportation System is the most complicated machine ever built by man. It takes thousands and thousands of people giving of themsevles to keep these machines working perfectly. The visible point of these people include the corps of Astronauts, made up of our nations best and brightest: scientists, engineers, soldiers, and even high school teachers (keep an eye on STS-118 launching in August!). On Friay, June 22nd, the space shuttle Atlantis touched down safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California, brining an end to the very successful 14 day STS-117 mission. So who cares? Besides me that is.

Every morning of a shuttle mission, a special song is played for one of the members of the crew. The morning of flight day 11 was "Reedemer" by Nicole C. Mullen, selected for Pat Forester by his family. Pat Forester is an astronaut. Pat Forester is a Christian.

The crew took up a new space station expedition member and brought home Suni Williams, who first joined the space station crew in December. She now holds both the female endurance record in space, the first person to run the Boston Marathon from space, and also the female record for most hours in space walk. During her stay on station she wore a necklace which could be seen floating about her. It's medalian? A cross. Suni Williams is an astronaut. Suni Williams is a Christian.


I don't really think this needs any more explination. These are just two stories of many of the members of the Astronaut Corps, made up of the very best and brightest our nation has to offer. The majority of them are active Christians. What does this mean? I think it speaks volumes.


Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning?
and Who told the ocean you can only come this far?
and Who showed the moon where to hide 'til evening?
Whose words alone can catch a falling star?

Well I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
All of creation testifies
This life within me cries
I know my Redeemer lives yeah

The very same God that spins things in orbit
runs to the weary, the worn and the weak
And the same gentle hands that hold me when I'm broken
They conquered death to bring me victory

Now I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
Let this life within me cry

I know my Redeemer, He lives

To take away my shame
And He lives forever, I'll proclaim
That the payment for my sin
Was the precious life He gave
But now He's alive and
There's an empty grave

And I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
Let this life within me cry
I know my Redeemer,

I know my Redeemer
I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
I know that I know that I know that I know that I know my redeemer lives
Because He lives I can face tomorrow
I Know I know
He lives He lives yeah yeah I spoke with him this morning
He lives He lives, the tomb is empty,
He lives I gotta tell everybody

~AndyJams~

Easter Meditation

With so many challenges these days being leveled against the Resurrection of Christ, most recently the resurgence of interest in the finding of "the Jesus family tomb," I think it worthwhile to take some time to outline the reasons why Christians should, and do indeed, believe in this essential miracle. Most non-believers treat the subject as a matter of faith, but in reality, believing in the Norman conquest or the death of Socrates requires no less faith. How do we know about Socrates? We know of him because of his writings, other people's writings about him, and the oral passage of information about him between generations. How do we know the Norman conquest happened, and that it happened like it did? We rely, again, on writings about it and by people who were a part of it, as well as the oral tradition. One hundred percent of scholars believe in Socrates and in the Norman conquest of Great Britain. Why is the Resurrection somehow different?

The key piece of evidence that Christians cite for belief in the Resurrection is the testimony of Scripture. Most non-believers shun such proof, but it remains proof nonetheless. Not only did the disciples see the resurrected Christ, but so did hundreds of others. There's also the small issue of all the dead who were resurrected and entered the city of Jerusalem, and of all the people who saw that take place. Again, the temple curtain was split in two, and people saw that as well. The temple curtain being torn is no little deal. We are talking about a rather large and rather thick piece of cloth. So, in spite of the first hand accounts, the numerous written records, and the oral legacy, some people still refuse to believe, even though it is as historically proven as the Norman conquest!

Conspiracy theorists will argue that Christ's body was stolen from His tomb to merely give the appearance of a Resurrection. I don't know how they could explain the eyewitness accounts and the other events detailed above, but it is very illogical to come to the conclusion that His body was moved. After all, who would benefit from it? The Jews of the time certainly would not have done it, because they wanted to discredit Christ's claim as being the Messiah, remember? Relocating His body would not help to discredit their claims, it would work violently against them. The Romans would not have stolen His body. For a long time the Roman empire viewed Christianity as a dangerous sect that needed to be controlled and squelched. If they had Christ's body, they could have openly destroyed the church's foundations before the early Christians even got started. The only group of people remaining is the apostles themselves. Most of the apostles died very painful and shaming deaths because they would not denounce their faith. If they had known Christ really was not resurrected from the dead, why would they be so bold about their beliefs in the face of an oppressive empire and suffer such painful deaths over a lie?

The only logical conclusion that anyone can draw from all of this is that Christ really did raise from the dead like He said He would. If this is the case, He really is who He said He was, and everything He said is the truth. If everything He said is the truth, then, why do we treat it as something that is not important? C.S. Lewis argued it best. Either He is who He said He is, He is just some mentally crazy man (on the level of a "poached egg" I believe Lewis says), or He is a liar. Many praise Him with, "Well, I believe He was a good moral teacher, but I don't believe He was the Son of God." There can be no middle ground. A man cannot be a liar or a lunatic and be history's greatest moral teacher. He would either be crazy, an absolutely evil person, or God. If He is God, doesn't that mean we should devote one hundred percent of ourselves to Him? I pray that each and every one of you has an amazing Easter, and that we can all reflect on our faith and take it a little more seriously.

~Tribal

Swindle Of A Lifetime

For those of you who have read my article "The Real Inconvenient Truth," here, in its entirety, is the documentary that I referenced. It is entitled The Great Global Warming Swindle and features many prominent scientists who disagree with the "church of global warming" (the co-founder of Green Peace is even interviewed in the film). Only a day or two after I discovered that this documentary was on the web, I came across a NASA article that essentially backs up the main theory proposed by Swindle's director (interestingly enough, this documentary has a very sound scientific basis -- unlike the documentaries that some make about global warming for purely financial and political gain). I have not yet had time to watch the full video, but just by watching the first segment (approximately six minutes long) one's attitude towards the subject certainly is forced to go up against some new perspectives. Lastly, here is the article where I first heard about this documentary. It provides a more compact summary of the new theory as well as snippets of interviews with the director. All of this is well worth your time to check out.

~Tribal

A Take on the Truth of Love

I’m going to talk a little bit about love today…I’ve talked about it before, and I’ll talk about it again, for I am a hopeless romantic and am therefore dominated by love. This was brought on by Sunday’s sermon at church (March 11th). My pastor is doing a Lenten sermon series on loving one another, and in this entry I’m going to talk a little bit about what I got out of it.

Let’s agree on something straight out…our culture hard core overuses the word love. Raise your hand if you’re guilty of saying one of these…”I looove chocolate,” or “I love my job” (equally appropriate for our overuse of hate, but that’s another topic all together…and since I don’t really care for hate, I probably won’t talk about it anytime soon…sorry to all the hatemongers out there). I certainly am…guilty of the first at least….I dunno about the second….but there are people out there who are I’m sure. What’s this got to do with anything? Good question I just asked vicariously for you.

What about this one? “I feel like I love [insert significant person of said feelings here].” Hmm, tricky tricky. Let’s get to that later…I’m not really fully prepared to answer it now, but hopefully by the time I get to the end of the entry I’ll have figured out how to address it.

Let’s first take a look at what love is. Where shall we look? Why, to God for guidance silly billy, that’s where we should always look…although if any of you are like me, that’s easier said than done…why consult God first and then act when you can act first and than maybe when it’s convenient for you ask God, or just…um…well, just keep on acting? Something we all should be working on methinks, me included. (By the way, when I say we, I mean we Christians…if you’re not a follower of Christ, you should be…Jesus loves you and wants to be your friend, so you’d best wise up and make friends with the Creator of the Universe pronto, lest you are caught in a freak gasoline fight accident or something…but I’m way off topic now, and this parenthesis is way to long, so I’m going to stop it). It’s really tough giving stuff to God...and I don’t understand why. We’ll be quite quick to trust our lives to something made by man…I’ve flown on an airplane four times in as many weeks, and I’ll be on an airplane again in two more weeks….trusting my very life to the maintenance workers, the pilots, and the airplane….and I do so without thinking twice….so shouldn’t I trust God all the more, who certainly won’t ever fail me? I think so…but it is tough.

Now you ask a Christian, “What is love?” and the Sunday school answer is “Love is patient, love is kind, etc, etc, etc.” I Cor. 13 would have been my first answer too. And all that is very very true, and quite honestly beautiful…one of the most beautiful versus in all of the Bible, but I’m not entirely sure that that particular chapter addresses the question at hand. Let’s take another angle.

Jesus told his disciples that they must love one another. Can you just up and love someone? I would argue yes, with Christ, you can. Love is not just an emotional response, but something you must want, you must will, and to which you must say yes! Love is not about what you prefer, or what I prefer, but about subordinating yourself to the will of the Savior Christ. Here’s where I think I’m comfortable addressing that ever hairy, “I feel like I love him/her!” I certainly believe, and know from experience (some wonderful, some painful) that love can grow from just plain pure feelings (I don’t want to sound like I’m saying feelings are stupid…feelings are awesome, and I’m very glad that God decided to invent them…what I am saying is that love transcends what feelings are…love is so much higher, so much bigger, so much stronger….it’s like comparing a musical on Broadway to a musical at a local theater…the local theater’s great fun, but can it really touch what’s possible on Broadway?) Romantic love more often than not grows out of attraction or admiration. It doesn’t have to be physical attraction either, though that is a leading starting point of love and indeed is also often a feeling mistaken for love. Let’s look at Robin Hood (I prefer the animated Disney version myself) where the pretender Prince John appears to be the lion in power, but the true king is Richard the Lionhearted. In this analogy, Prince John is physical attraction, and King Richard is love…one is pretending and indeed mistaken for holding the power of the other. Nothing wrong with physical attraction…God made it, and in the words of a pastor at a Christian youth festival I attended many man years ago, “It’s a great ride”…but it’s not love. Physical attraction is not the only culprit. Emotional attraction or even spiritual attraction can grow into love, just as they can be mistaken for love. We must be careful to choose love over lust, to make sure that our feelings of attraction form into love, and not into lust, for the former is the way of God, and the latter is the way of the world.

So I ask you, can you truly actually love without God? I say no. Perhaps I’m wrong, and I welcome discussion…for discussion = fantastic…but in my experience and from what I’ve learned from the Bible and the Holy Spirit, you can really only truly ever love someone, be it parent, child, brother, sister, friend, or significant other, if you love them through Christ. What do you think about it?

~AndyJams~

Heroes, Pirates and Talking Donkeys

The following is an excerpt entitled "Heroes, Pirates, and Talking Donkeys" from a recent Stand True E-News update written by founder Bryan Kemper. It's worth a read in my opinion and addresses some good points. For those of you who do not know about Stand True's Christ-centered pro-life ministry, you can check them out under our links section, but we highly encourage everyone to pay them a visit.

"I usually try and sleep when I fly, but this last week I could not sleep for the life me on the flight to the west coast. I picked up a newspaper and read about three movies coming out this May, all of which are the third movie in their respective series.

The article really intrigued me as it talked about the amount of money each of the movies' preceding installments had made, and how much they expected the new ones to make. All three are to be released over a three week period, and they are expected to make over a billion dollars combined in US box office totals alone.
I guess when you combine the exhilaration of a half-man, half-spider superhero flying around New York with pirates and zombies terrorizing the high seas, and a sarcastic animated talking donkey, it should be quite an exciting month.

So, millions of people will start lining up in May to spend about $20 a person on a night at the movies. They hope to be taken away in the story and thrilled by the action. Two hours later they will probably leave wishing that there really was a great hero that could always be counted on to save the day. Kids will be begging their parents to buy hundreds of dollars of toys, just so they can reenact the story, until their parents have a headache.

Just another average weekend in America. Of course, they could have gotten even more action, adventure, and drama, even a hero that saves the day, for free if they wanted too. They could have gone to church. That's right, church. Where we learn from the ultimate adventure book with the most amazing stories. Where we learn of a hero that truly does save the day, and offers us eternal salvation.

So why do we spend so much money on movies to take us away when we have such an amazing resource at our hands already? Maybe it is because so many churches have replaced the Bible with light, fun, fluffy stories. Maybe it is because, at so many churches, you end up hearing more about the pastor's weekend than the Gospel of Christ.

I have heard reports that teach us if we truly want church growth then we need to follow certain formulas for success. We need to keep the sermons under 30 minutes or we will lose everyone. We need to keep the sermons light and mellow so we don't offend anyone. We need to make church modern and relevant or no one will want to come.

Since when do we need to make the Word of God relevant? Maybe if people were offended by hearing the Gospel, they might see that they need repentance. Maybe we need to think about the things that we are willing to sit for hours to see before we complain about the length of church (football, concerts, movies).

I am not saying that we should not go to movies, although I will probably get a dozen e-mails telling me that there is nothing wrong with movies and I need to chill out. What I am trying to say is that maybe if we brought the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ back to church then we would not need gimmicks or special books and reports on how to keep churches relevant. The fact is the Word of God is just as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago.

So have fun this summer and go see a movie, I know I will. But, when you are calling all of your friends to ask them if they want to see a guy in tights fly around the city and save the day, ask yourself if you have invited them all to church to learn about a man who died to save us for eternity."

~Tribal

1 Kings 3

This has been featured in my aim profile for a while now....and I decided it was Insense worthy, so here it is.

I learned an interesting truth recently as I was reading in I Kings 3. In vs 5, God says to Solomon, "Ask! What shall I give you?" Solomon asks not for riches or fame, but for wisdom to judge as God is just. In vs 12, the LORD says, "behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you." Why is this special? God gave Solomon a wise and understanding heart, not a wise an understanding brain...true wisdom, Godly wisdom, comes from the heart, the source of Love. In that way, I propose that Love is true widsom, and all else is folly.

"Love is a many splendid thing! Love lifts us up where we belong! All you need is Love!"

A high five goes to the first person who can tell me where I got that from.

~AndyJams~

The Real Inconvenient Truth...

I was recently confronted by former Insense writer ice-t (who also happens to be the "Opinions" editor of our school newspaper, The Beacon) about doing an article to be published in The Beacon over the heated issue of global warming. It is slated to be featured side by side with an article of a more liberal persuasion in the forthcoming issue, but I find it worthwhile to post the piece here in the meantime. I will be sure to pass along my opposing colleague's work as well when the issue is actually released. Until then, enjoy my half of the special:

By now I’m sure that anybody who even remotely pays attention to the media is aware of Al Gore’s Oscar success with his recent documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Global warming seems to saturate political and scientific discussions everywhere, but is the theory that man is responsible for such climate changes scientifically sound? Is the earth really undergoing “global warming” as a result of human civilization’s increased industrialization?

While Al Gore and the environmentalist crowd in America are busy counting their political and monetary gains, a group of eminent scientists and climatologists are set to air a television special in the UK entitled The Great Global Warming Swindle. Proponents of global warming claim that increased atmospheric CO2 levels are responsible for the temperature increase, but Swindle’s director Martin Durkin argues, among other things, that temperature increase is actually responsible for increased CO2 levels. Studies of ice age temperatures show that increases in CO2 levels come, on average, 800 years after major increases in earth’s temperature.

No students here at Dallastown High School would remember this, but ask any teacher: the big scare of the sixties and seventies was global cooling. Between the 1940’s and the 1970’s, the average temperature of the earth actually decreased. Ironically enough, CO2 levels were consistently increasing. In 2003, NASA’s Global Hydrology and Climate Center released a graphic which shows the changes in the earth’s climates spanning back to 1979. While some areas are observed to have grown progressively warmer, other areas of the earth have actually grown cooler since 1979. Once again, however, CO2 levels were and are continuing to rise everywhere, meaning that temperature change should have uniformly risen all over the globe as well if that is the true cause for global warming.

So since some serious holes have now been punched in the classical interpretation of global warming as a result of man, what other theories exist to account for these undeniable changes in earth’s temperature? Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark claims in his book The Chilling Stars that cosmic rays cause clouds to form and thus block the sun’s most violent rays, reducing global temperature. Former New Scientist magazine editor Nigel Calder has recently released a book in which he argues that this theory is at the true core of the global warming controversy. He argues that since solar winds bat away many of the cosmic rays responsible for cloud cover, and since our sun is currently in the most active phase it has been in for a thousand years, this is the real reason behind the earth’s temperature increase. The change in climate is a direct result of a double knockout delivered by the natural life cycle of our sun: increased amounts of solar winds result in less cloud cover on earth, while at the same time the sun’s increased intensity means even more harmful rays penetrating the atmosphere. The undeniable result is an increase in global temperature.

What goes up must come down. The earth has undergone many temperature changes in its long history, and it is sure to undergo many more. It is the natural cycle of things. Leave it to man to think that he is powerful enough to be the cause of every single change in creation. While some may spend all of their time and effort trying to stop the earth’s temperature from rising another degree in the next one-hundred years, I think my focus is better placed elsewhere in a country where 1.6 million babies are annually slaughtered by abortion and where terrorist organizations can freely and illegally cross our borders.

Check back later to read the other side of this debate as carried out courtesy of The Beacon...

~Tribal

High Calling

Tis spring break, and for the first time in a very very long time I have some free time to rub together. I've got time to read again, and time to write somethin...which I haven't gotten to do for months. On the flight home from Florida I began reading a book I got for Christmas, High Calling, The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband, written by his widow, Evelyn Husband. I'm halfway through, and I gotta say it's faaantastic. For those not in the know, Rick Husband was the commander of STS-107, the fateful space shuttle mission ended in flames and debris as the orbiter Columbia broke apart and burned up over Texas skies on the morning of February 1st, 2003 during re-entry.

Perhaps you don't, but I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing, and how I found out of the tragedy, and it effected me deeply. I'm a certified space nerd with aspirations of one day being an astronaut myself. For those of you who are not quite so interested in the manned space program as I am, I'll give you a little refresher on what went down that terrible winter day. During launch in late January, the extreme forces involved ripped off a small piece of TPS (thermal protection system) foam from the external fuel tank. This was a regular occurrence and even occasionally ripped off tiles from the shuttle, but it had been happening for over one hundred launches without any problem. This time however, the chunk of foam smashed a large hole in the leading edge of the left wing. During re-entry, the hot ionized plasma that surrounds the speeding orbiter flowed into the wing, vaporizing the superstructure and breaking the wing off. Columbia was reduced to a fireball breaking into pieces within the blink of an eye just minutes before it's scheduled touch-down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Anywho, so why am I talking about all this space mumbo jumbo? Well, the book is the biography of the commander of that incredibly successful mission that ended in such tragedy. But more than facts of his life, the biography is about the spiritual walk of Rick Husband. It is a wonderful book. I've been reading it for two and a half days and I'm half way through it...which for me, a slow reader, is pretty good, and shows how good a book it really is....I can't put it down.

I'm rambling, and I'm not really coming across as eloquently as I would like, so I'll get right down to it...read this book. If you are a Christian, read this book. If you love space flight, read this book. If you are a Christian who loves space flight, then you absolutely must read this book. If you are struggling in your faith, read the book. If you're struggling with love, read this book. It's amazing. One of the things that's so appealing to me is that Rick Husband was not a perfect Christian. I read the biography of Rich Mullins a few years back, and it was inspiring, but Rich Mullins was always a fantastically strong Christian, which for those of us who struggle and stumble, that's actually pretty discouraging. Rick Husband came through struggles and a weak relationship with God and through the prayer and help of friends and a great deal of study of the Word, he began to walk closer and closer until he started to really have a fantastic relationship with Christ. It's really inspiring and quite frankly, helpful. It's encouraging. It gives me hope in a good many areas. Again, I digress. The point of all this is to say that YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!! Every now and then, when I read something especially cool, especially meaningful, or something that strikes me, I'll write it in. I'll start it off here with something on page 97, a transcript of an interview he gave shortly after his first flight to space in 1998 on STS-96.

Many people, reporters especially, have questioned Rick concerning the argument of science versus religion. When he came back from the Discovery [STS-96] mission, he was more than ready to answer their questions. In a taped interview Rick said,

"Even if you look at the universe and all the stars, our solar system--all the order that there is there, and the fact that the planets orbit around the sun, and the way that the different galaxies behave, all the different interactions that are there....I don't believe that's something that just happened by chance.

"Nobody can explain where everything came from and how it all got here. You just take a look around and you see the complexity in so many things and the detail in so many small things; how the simplest cell works, up to a tree, the human being; just the miracle of seeing our children born; and you say, 'This just didn't happen by chance.' If you even take a look at a system like the space shuttle--that is the most complicated and complex flying machine in the world and it didn't happen by chance and it doesn't approach the complexity of a human being. It took a lot of people a lot of time to sit down and think and put together that space shuttle and the entire system. Then to sit and think that the entire universe could have happened just by accident, it doesn't make sense to me.

"It'd almost seem you have to have more faith to accept that it happened by chance than to accept that God created the universe."

[page 97-98 of High Calling by Evelyn Husband, published by Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2003]

This is for you naysayers out there, those who say that only fools and the simple believe that God created the universe, that no thinking man can honestly believe in anything other than the Big Bang, that no person with an IQ greater than that of a pea could think that our world came about by anything but chance...well, Rick Husband did, and he was an astronaut. Perhaps it sounds trite, but he is among the best of the best that our great nation, the best of the best, has to offer. To become the commander of a space shuttle, Rick Husband must be among the very best humanity can offer. And if Rick Husband's strong faith in the Lord makes you think anything less of him and his memory, than you are the fool, and I pity you, and I pray that God have mercy on you.

Anywho, I say read the book, it's fantastic, but I'll put the cool stuff I see in every now and then.

~AndyJams~

100th Post

In honor of our 100th post, I would like to pass along to you this hilarious bit of political comedy that my AP Government teacher shared with us in class today. It is good to see that our president can laugh at himself, even in spite of the viciousness with which he is often attacked on a daily basis by the news media. We thank all of our readers out there and all of those who help support and promote us. God bless.

~Tribal

Oh, Brave New World...

My sociology teacher daily cuts out magazine and newspaper articles to display on the front whiteboard for a variety of her classroom discussions. Usually they are about local issues such as the Harley Davidson strike or political issues such as elections. Last week, however, my senses were affronted with a glossy magazine article topped with a full color photo of a girl in her pajamas lying on a bed with a guy in a t-shirt and jeans sitting next to the bed on the floor. "What could this article be about?" I pondered to myself, but upon looking down at the title of the article itself, I was shocked to find it read something along the lines of: "College Freshmen Get Ready...For Coed Dorm Rooms."

You read that correctly -- not coed dorms, coed dorm rooms.

Our teacher did not read the entire article to us, but she ran through some of its main points. "Many" colleges and universities allegedly now offer these coed dorm rooms to students (the only one I can recall her mentioning by name was the University of Southern Maine). When completing housing registration for these universities, all one needs to do is check a box if he or she feels comfortable rooming with a member of the opposite sex. The students who were interviewed for the article were really thrilled with the "opportunity" provided to them, and the article painted the whole situation in a generally positive light.

My teacher's next step was to ask if anybody in the class would be okay with living in a coed dorm room. The classroom turned into a forest of raised hands. She then asked who would absolutely, one hundred percent not live in a coed dorm room. Only two hands went up other than my own. I was in a state of complete and total awe. There are probably somewhere around twenty six or twenty seven students in my sociology class, and only three took a stand against the article's content. Several other students who I have known to be Christians said that they would be absolutely okay with living in a coed dorm room. I was nearly experiencing trauma -- I had no clue that so many people had become so blinded and fooled by "progressive" thinking. I was called on to explain exactly why I felt the way I did on the issue, and all I could manage to blurt out was, "It's just wrong, it just is not right," before I reduced myself to fumbling around like an idiot.

Have we really allowed ourselves to be so poisoned by "free thinking" and liberalized ideas that we no longer even recognize some of the most basic wrongs in our world? Have we finally been conditioned into accepting such things that we now fail to recognize sin in our sexually charged environment? One Christian girl in my class argued against me, "It's not like it promotes having sex. If people want to do it, they'll find some way to do it anyway." That is such pathetic rationalization that it makes my stomach turn. It is brainwashing on behalf of the society in which we live. How can any intelligent, heterosexual person past puberty possibly argue that a college guy and a college girl living together does not help lead to sexual activity? Even if the two do not end up physically engaging in such activity, the mental aspect will most definitely still be there. The temptation will still be there as well (provided one's roommate is not highly unattractive). Why even put oneself in the position to be tempted in such a way?

All physical and sexual aspects of this debate aside, there is still something fundamentally wrong with a guy and a non-related girl living together outside of marriage. Even if the two students never remotely let their minds wander into sinful areas (which is impossible) and always refrain from such practices (which is highly unlikely), it still is not "okay." It just is not the way things are. Part of the joy and pleasure of marriage is being able to finally get to live with your spouse/a member of the opposite sex. That feeling -- that happiness -- would be much less fulfilling once one finally would get married. Think about it. Even if you raised your kids with the utmost moral decency, and you were absolutely sure they would never have sex before marriage, would you still allow your kid to live with a member of the opposite sex through college? I asked one girl who said she'd be okay with coed dorm rooms this very question, and her reply was basically, "It's not the same thing." She said her parents would not approve of her living with a guy in college, and she would not let her kids live in a coed dorm room, but for her it's just "different." Please...

If I only had my copy of Brave New World with me that day in class, I would have probably stood up and threw it at some body's head. Then I would have gone and picked it up and repeated the process until I threw it at every one's head. We are constantly being conditioned by society into thinking of women like "meat" (as Huxley frankly puts it). Women themselves are being conditioned into accepting it and thinking that if they do not succumb to acting like a piece of spare rib, they will not be accepted. Look around at all the people who get plastic surgery and breast implants. Look at all the girls who wear shirts and jeans so tight that no anatomical feature is left to mystery. Look at the skirts so short that -- well, we won't even go there. We are also conditioned to perceive sex as no big deal. It's all over TV. Not only in programs, but in advertisements. The Internet is just absolutely filled with it. Even if you don't go out searching for it, it often times comes looking for you in the way of spam. Sex saturates everything around us. They tell us we are just animals with "primal urges" that we cannot control. They say we can't help ourselves. That really is all that many people think we are: a line on a graph -- something you can measure and predict.

That is simply not the case, however. You can control your impulses and urges. Unfortunately, we believe them when they tell us that we cannot. I know I have gotten somewhat off topic here from my original subject, but the point is that some things are just fundamentally wrong. We do not realize they are sinful, though, because we have been conditioned into accepting them. In the world we live in, Christians do not only need to be careful about what they accept and what they don't accept -- Christians need to be actively fighting against what they know is wrong. I believe that God would agree -- the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

~Tribal

Against The Flow

My youth pastor recently started a blog for our youth group, Against The Flow. You can check it out here.

~Tribal

God - 1, Random Chance - 0

Sitting in physics class today, I was reminded of a concept learned in philosophy last year and on which a large part of the cosmological argument rests. Our physics teacher had us working on the infamous "interactive physics" packets, and we were running a computer program that simulated the orbits of three planets around a star. Our current unit of study deals with the theory of gravitation. In this computer simulation, it was necessary to adjust the distance of each planet from the sun and each planet's velocity (these being the two factors which affect gravity and the way a body orbits another). The usual result of our attempts to make the planets perfectly orbit the star was that they would either collide with the star and burn up or fly off into the vastness of space. No matter how many combinations we tried, we could not find the perfect one that would make all three planets perfectly orbit the star. Eventually the bell rang, and we needed to close the program and continue on with our school day.

So, no matter how many times we tried, we could not find the perfect combination of a.) distance from the star and b.) initial velocity of the planets to get them into orbit. We had problems getting three planets to rotate around one star without them either suffering a fiery death in the sun's flaming brilliance or freezing in the cold grandeur of space. There are nine planets in our solar system alone (ehh, well, give or take a few depending on which position you defend). I can tell you with much certainty, it would have taken us a very long time to figure out how to get nine of those things to orbit. There is certainly more than a single star that has planets rotating around it in our universe. Stars and planets removed, even stars and some galaxies orbit other celestial bodies. So pretty much there are probably billions and billions and billions of perfectly orbiting bodies in existence.

Now the question posed by all of this is that am I supposed to believe that all of these rotating bodies just happened to be the right distance away from the source of gravity pulling on them? They just all happened to be traveling at the exact speed needed so that they neither get sucked in by gravity or fly off again randomly into space? I think that takes a little more faith than I am willing to provide. If that is the result of random chance, I would sure hate to play poker with the universe.

There is a set of approximately 21 different numbers that govern the laws of the universe and that are so finely tuned that if they had been any different, either the universe would not exist or life in our universe would not exist (the anthropic principle). The atomic weight of the proton and the gravitational constant are just a couple examples of these highly important but often overlooked features of existence. The above example also illustrates this well. If earth were moving any slower than it is now, it would fall into the sun. If earth were moving any faster, it would fly off into space. Of course earth's distance from the sun plays a crucial role in this as well. Any closer to the sun and we would likely all burn up from heat (man, that would be what I call global warming). Any farther away and we would all likely freeze. Everything so perfectly exists as it does for no other reason than because it was made that way. The chance of the universe existing randomly and so it could be capable of supporting life at the same time is somewhere around the ballpark of one in ten billion...to the twenty-fourth power (now I really don't want to play the universe in poker). How anyone can claim to be a sound scientist and yet claim that existence exists by random chance is beyond my understanding. It takes more faith than I am capable of possessing.

The more rational and more factual understanding of the order of things must include some sort of intelligent designer. It is much more reasonable to believe in an omnipotent God whose ways and thinking are beyond our own than to claim that everything is an accident of near infinitely impossible proportions. So when it comes down to teaching faith versus science in school classrooms, I am pretty sure I know which side is which now. They need to stop teaching faith and start teaching some real science.

~Tribal

Searching For Charity

My girlfriend recently passed this site along to me, and I feel it worthwhile to share it with all of you as well. It is a search engine just like Google or Yahoo, only for each search you make on it, the website donates one cent to the charity of your designation. While that may not sound like too much of a deal at first, imagine all of the times you have used a search engine to find something -- in your entire life. Now imagine you telling all of your friends about it, and they all use it as well. What if they tell all of their friends about it? You get the picture. You can eventually raise some serious money for the charity of your choice just by using this website to make your internet searches. I personally recommend donating to the American Life League if you would like a suggestion, but the decision is yours. Please pass this along to as many people as you can.

www.goodsearch.com

~Tribal

Racial Profiling Quiz

A fellow groupmember on Facebook posted this website in our racial profiling forums. As funny as it is, it is the truth whether people like to hear it or not.

http://www.mideasttruth.com/profiling.html

~Tribal

Existential Angst

I have recently read The Stranger by Albert Camus, and in fact have even done an oral presentation about it for AP English. To aid in the presentation, I rummaged through my notes from last year's philosophy class to find everything I could about Existentialism. Most of you reading this are probably very aware of the main tenants of the worldview, so I won't really go into detail.

Up until tonight, I have never fully experienced the "absurdity of life" that so permeates the existential view. I now know what the absurdity of life is. The absurdity of life is the fact that everyday you wake up, you go to work or school, and you go to sleep. The absurdity of life is the fact that, at least for me personally, I strive to create meaningful relationships with other people, specifically members of the opposing gender, but cannot find them. They fail -- almost all the time. Absurdity in life is standing on the sidewalk in front of your house while one of your best friends walks down the hill out of view with a plastic bag of clothes as he runs away from an overbearingly sadistic home. The absurdity of life, for me at least today, is a depressingly sharp reality.

Why go on? Seriously, why should I go on? That is the question posed by Existentialism. The only reason I can see to go on is that life was created to be absurd. We are born, we live, we die. We follow the same daily routine for ninety percent of our lives. We get turned down again and again when seeking a relationship. The most absurd things happen to us and our few friends throughout the course of the grind of life. Why does all this happen?

This happens because our focus is not meant to be on this absurd life. Why are we born, we live a short life, and then we die? Because we are meant to be motivated by this fact into searching for some other life. Why do our, especially my, relationships fail? Because we are meant to search for some higher relationship. To be quite honest, that knowledge is the only thing that is keeping me going.

Perhaps Plato's World of Ideas aptly fits this situation. Everything in this life is just a shadow of something else in some other plain of existence.

I now realize, to a very large degree, that Plato is more of a genius than I ever imagined, and that Existentialism hits the nail on the head much more squarely than I thought. The only road that I take that both of the aforementioned schools do not is that I believe in God. God is the only thing keeping me going right now. This life is absurd. Things in this life are just a shadow of some other plain of existence -- but I know that plain of existence is paradise. The one who made life absurd is God -- He did it so that we would search for Him. Why would a happy, content man ever want to seek God? All it would do is add suffering and responsibility to his life. We must be made not content, so that eventually we can become happier than we could ever imagine. I've seen that more clearly this weekend than ever before in my life, and I'm hoping and praying that I indeed can get back on track and be content in God.

~Tribal

But...I AM right

"You think you're right and everybody else is wrong. You're so arrogant." -- these are the words that are spoken to me on an almost daily basis by a good classmate of mine. We often end up in lunch table discussions over political or philosophical issues (rarely started by me, might I add). It seems like the two of us have entirely different views on absolutely everything ranging from belief in God, to whether or not the school's hotdogs really are made out of green fungus. It also seems, however, that everytime I try to defend my views against his, the above quote gets thrown at me out of anger, often accompanied by some mild profanity or obscene gesture.

So, I think that I'm right and that everybody else is wrong? Well, quite frankly, "duh." I mean, if one did not believe that one's opinions were correct on an issue, why hold any opinion at all on an issue? My response to my friend's often angry semi-relativism often runs something along the lines of, "Well, you think that you're right too and that I'm wrong, otherwise we would not be here discussing this." It is true. If a person did not believe himself to be correct, why would he have a firm opinion on anything?

There are some things that I know to be absolutely, one-hundred percent correct. For instance, I know that there is a God who created the world and created me, and has an ultimate plan for my life. I also know, though, that I have free will -- I have the ability to chose between right and wrong, following God's path or not following. I know that abortion destroys an innocent life, and is very comparable to the Jewish Holocaust. In addition to this, I also know that homosexuality is wrong -- it is not an "alternate lifestyle" and it is not how people are born. I know many more things that are absolutely correct as well, but this is just a small sampling of them.

So what's the point of all this? I think that the world is trying to tear down our beliefs and our moral foundations by throwing out labels like "arrogant" or "intolerant." They try to make us feel bad. If you say that it is wrong for gay people to be involved in a homosexual relationship, you are labeled a "hatemonger" -- "hate is NOT a family value" as one bumper sticker reads. In response to this, Christians tend to back away from such "controversial" issues because they want to be loved by everybody. Might I remind you that God's word tells us we will be hated for His namesake. It's not being "arrogant," it's merely recognizing the sin that is present in the world.

I do not exempt myself from any of this, however. I admit, at times I can come across as very overbearing. It is something I am trying to work on. However, we should not back away from what we know is right and wrong merely because some other human tells us he or she is offended at what we are saying. GOD says that homosexuality is wrong, not me -- I didn't make that rule, go read the Bible. If people are offended by the very things that God Himself says, why should we in any way attempt to appease their "hurt feelings" -- who are we to go out and apologize to them?

The band Demon Hunter has an amazing song off of their album The Triptych about this very subject. The title is "Relentless Intolerance." The name pretty much says it all. The song calls for Christians to stand firm for the things they believe in and not give in when "the foundations that we used to uphold" are "regarded as the madness of old." Right is still right and wrong is still wrong. Who are we to change that?

~Tribal

The Moron Files

Once there was a conservative (me) who got into an argument with a bunch of very liberal people who joined my facebook group "Non-racist Americans FOR racial profiling of Arabs" for no other reason than to harrass me. This is the bulk of that little back-and-forth. I post it here in it's entirety -- exactly the words that were said with the exception of editing out the obscenities. This is definentaly worth a read, as it illustrates the lunacy that has taken hold of some in America...an excellent example of liberal fallacy.



Pouria Almassi: oh yes, of course, this makes perfect sense, screen all the Arabs, because Arabs are always the ones who commit acts of terrorism, Oklahoma city? Thed Kaczynskiwait aka the "Unabomber" , wait a second, those were Americans!

Daniel Marchant (me): Absolutely correct, those were Americans! However, those were 2 isolated incidents. The attacks on September 11, the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, and the numerous thwarted attempts by other Muslim Arab terrorists (shoe bomber, liquid bombs) were committed, as I said, by Muslim Arabs. Oh, that's not to mention all the groups fighting us in the Middle East in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oh, and even that's not to mention all the extremist Islamic groups that hate us and want to see us dead...

Shawn Singh Tucker: racial profiling arabs will make the situation even worse. so many people already hate muslims because of us media, and making it ok to profile gives people more of an excuse and an incentive to commit hate crimes. also, muslims come in so different races-black, white, brown, yellow,red purple everything u can think of, so to racially profile people who "look" muslim makes no sense. to a majority of americans even i look muslim, even though i am not. we need to unite and be together rather than profile and segregate. last thing-if you support racial profiling, you ARE RACIST whether u realize it or not. sorry

and daniel...i think white people kill more people in the US than arabs do, don't you? why doesnt the police racially profile you on the streets if it's just?

Daniel Marchant: We're still dancing around the issue here. Sure, more murders probably result from white people than they do from Arabs, but that is not taking into account the fact that there are more white people in America than Arabs. However, the number of murders and attempted murders commited on airplanes by Muslim Arabs far outweighs the number that have been committed by white people. Turn on the TV lately and hear about the latest KKK airplane rampage? No. Turn on the TV lately and hear about another threat by Muslim extremists? Yes. The issue is merely that you do not hear about five year old kids hijacking jetliners, and you don't hear about 90 year old grandmas flying planes into buildings, so why waste time and resources screening such people? It is absolutely rediculous to overlook the fact that the one thing that connects every major terrorist threat against our country is religion and ethnicity.

...as far as being racist? If there comes a day when white male Christians start blowing up airliners and flying them into buildings, I would hope that I would be stopped at an airport and examined with extra security measures...

AB Omar: "religion and ethnicity" so now it's not just muslims, but also ethnicity meaning. . . . . all arab looking people? Daniel, since you're so blindly ignorant, let's go with your line of reasoning and see if you can justify the means. when you see on fox news that 'a muslim bombed .....' do you ever stop to ask yourself, i wonder what made him/her strap on a bomb and die? just for kicks? don't think so. so there had to be a catalyst? . . . . . ok you know what, i'll make it simple for you since you seem to be too logically challenged to follow any thoughtful argument:say someone, a complete stranger, came into your house and took everything you had and insulted your very existence upon robbing you and then slapped your little sister around for no reason, would you sit there with your hands and head stuck up your fat racist a** or would you actually try to resist? all this fighting and 'bombing' and blood shed is a resistnce mechanism. people are resisting being occupied.

all they want is what was theirs back. all they want is a normal life that was taken away from them. and then stupid, unaware and ignorant people like YOU are made to believe that phalestinians and muslims are the problem. SINCE WHEN DID THE OPPRESSOR BECOME THE VICTIM????

Daniel Marchant: I actually have stopped and asked myself why these people do what they do, and interestingly enough, the conflict runs far deeper than you think it does. Do you honestly believe that they strap bombs to themselves and blow up innocent men, women, and children because they are being "occupied?" If by occupation you mean a free, Democratic Iraq replacing a murderous, dictatorship, then of course they are being "occupied." But these extremists hate us because they believe GOD tells them to hate us. Why would you try making up your own little excuse and defense for their actions when they themselves are very forthright about it? "Great Satan," "Little Satan," "Infidel" -- ring any bells? They attack us because they believe their religion tells them to attack us, and that they will be rewarded in the afterlife for it. Bush propoganda? -- no, the truth -- listen to any terrorist speak about why he does what he does.

Jessica Warner: So this "normal life" you're referring to....Your're criticizing Americans, claiming that we CAUSED the terrorism on our nation by going into other nations.Might I point out that we went into their nations in order to help them dispose of a tyrannical dictator who was killing, torturing, and mutilating their people?And, by the way, if you disagree with the group, DON'T JOIN IT! Joining a group for the sole purpose of dissing it is childish at best and (since you brought up this word) ignorant in all actuality. So either leave the blasted group or stop insulting those who are willing to diplomatically and legitimately stand up for their views.

AB Omar: Jessica, let me remind you because you seem to have conveniently forgotten the facts, WE the United States of America MADE Osama who he is now. US made Saddam Hussein who he turned into. So before you point the blame finger, stop and recount the facts. That's the least you can do. And Daniel, you speak of "Democracy". If you knew anything about history, you'd realize that the same form of government does NOT work all over the world. We tried it in Vietnam. Secondly, what's the difference between Saddam's regime and FORCING democracy on Iraq? They share a common denominator. They're both forced and unwanted. Let the people of Iraq decide what kind of government they want instead of shoving your politics down their throat. For both of you, if you honestly believe that the US's presence in the middle east is solely to 'liberate an oppressed people', look at the projected map of the gas pipleline and the current position of US troops in the middle east. too good to be true?

Daniel Marchant: Vietnam? Please...Democracy failed in Vietnam because the NORTH VIETNAMESE wanted it to fail, and the United States did not have the stomach for a fight. They "cut and run" as the saying goes, and left a fledgling government to fend off a much more powerful Communist force. Democracy will work in Iraq as well as long as we do not cut and run and leave them to face the terrorists alone just yet. It worked fine in Israel. In addition, what about all the elections Iraq has had since the removal of Saddam? Have you seen their voter turn out? It puts the United States to shame, so it looks like they love their democracy over there even more than some Americans do over here. Maybe I'm not the one who must examine the facts.

Hmm, U.S. troop deployments around gas pipelines in Iraq...go figure. I seem to remember that in the Gulf War, Saddam tried to burn the oil fields...American troops are there to guard the pipelines against such another action by the terrorists. Oil is the biggest player in the Iraqi economy -- if the oil and gas burns, so does Iraq's economy and democracy. Drive a car? Buy any gas lately? Realize that gas prices are higher than they were before the war? If we went into Iraq for oil and if we really wanted to take their oil, why is there still a shortage and why are we still paying insane amounts?

AB Omar: hahahaha. Daniel, please tell me you didn't just make those arguments? especially the one about oil? Please tell me you aren't THAT dumb?

Daniel Marchant: Well I'm glad no one here has resorted to the elementary school "I've run out of things to say therefore I am only going to hurl insults" -- I was worried there for a second that I was actually debating against somebody with nothing factual to say...

Jessica Warner: Okay, may I suggest that the fact that you are no longer reporting FACTS (as Dan happens to be.....) probably means that you're out of legitimate arguments? Sorry, AB, I think you're done on this one. Better luck next time!

AB Omar: try this one for facts
http://www.rense.com/general70/deathmde.htm

by the way Daniel and Jessica, i would like to see some of your FACTS? something credible. meaning FOX News doesn't count. i'm honestly interested in finding out what your source of information is.

here is an independent research for you. see for yourself. http://www.umrc.net/pdf/quantitative_analysis_afghanistan.pdfgoogle the paper if the full text doesn't pop up. that is you're interested in FACTS.

Shawn Singh Tucker: seriously...this group is just here to make people mad. why are people terrorists in the 1st place? bc they are upset abt something. by creating this group ur not helping anybody, just making things worse.seriously, think abt things before u do them. and if u think ur right in this group, express your views face to face to a muslim, arab, even another minority and then ull get a real responsealso, this group means jack s***. just cuz u made a group that has 20 members--half of which are here to help you realize how ignorant u are--doesnt mean that ur stupidity will become a reality. racial profiling goes against everything this country was founded for. i bet yall dont even give a d****cuz u think im an arab or a muslim. sayin that "oh i believe they are equal, but they should be searched" is b*******. dont force people to be treated as second rate citizens and separated and then say, "yea, they are equal." f***** nazis. im outta this lame a** group

Sunny Mummaneni: i joined this group not to criticize it in any way but to inform a few uninformed people, i am not a muslim but to say that Islam is telling these people to act out these horrible terroristic acts is completely ludacris, if you would just take a couple of weeks and read the Koran you would learn that Islam is probably one of the most peaceful religions in its true PURE form, these people that yell out Jihad and enact these terrible deeds are misinterpreting the religion completely and in all reality thats not their fault, a lot of them aren't educated enough to comprehend or they were forced to believe that is the true Islam since the day they can comprehend anything. We as Americans shouldn't put these people down, moreover we should embrace them and if we really wanted to help then help them learn the true meaning of their own religion, not convert them to the majorities belief. We as American are very lucky to have a good education system (no matter how awful some people think...

... it is) we are definately luckier than they are over there and for that we should be thankful and not full of hate for another religon, what ever happened to freedom of religion? seriously people i can't walk down the street without someone talking about "those damned muslims", alright there is a few groups of misinformed extremists, but in reality every religion has those groups of people. Hinduism is supposed to be peaceful but in India there are mosques getting burned down by Hindu extremist, during slavery Christians used to hold slaves and beat them (sometimes to death) in the name of their god, all these people were misinformed, and there are still some that are...now we shouldn't be arguing here or hating on all muslim arabs but we should be trying to figure out a DIPLOMATIC way to help these people because they are suffering from the worst disease that man knows of and thats HATE because of IGNORANCE..don't join them by saying arabs should be the only ones looked out for..

Daniel Marchant: Hmm, try this one for facts? Ironic that a few babies are born horribly deformed, and the blame automaticaly falls on the United States. Of course the small amount of uranium that is contained within these weapons so horribly used by U.S. troops would be enough to deform entire bodies such as those shown in the pictures *sarcasm*. As far as your other source, I think you conviently overlooked the last sentance of the paper..."The cause of our findings is currently being evaluated as part of our ongoing research." Sounds awfully conclusive to me.

...and actually, umm, if FOX News is the only one who reported the attacks of September 11, the bombings of the U.S.S. Cole, as well as the endless wave of terrorist violence committed by extremists in the Middle East, then sure FOX News is my source...but it's kind of shocking to me that you actually NEED to see some sort of proof for all of this. Have you been living completely out of touch with the world for the past, oh, 30 years? I don't care if you think this group is "jack s***" or not, I honestly do not care what anyone thinks about my group or my opinions. It's called having a backbone and not giving a crap what other people think of you. If all you are going to do is criticize the group, why join?

Sunny, I agree completely with your view on Islam. It is a peaceful religion, and Muslims are generaly peace loving people. However, those who have commited and want to commit terrorist attacks against the United States are very bold in their wrongful proclomation that God wants them to do this. Don't believe me? Turn on any TV channel or read any newspaper the next time a terrorist releases a propoganda tape. They are doing it in the name of their religion, even though their religion does not teach that. I do not hate muslims, I do not hate Arabs, but I do hate acts of terrorism committed in the name of God. Those are the people I do not like. Oh, and P.S., yes, since Christians are still beating slaves to death I think we should change this group's name to "Non-racist Americans FOR racial profiling of Arabs and Christians."

AB Omar: Sunny, i appreciate your point of view. however, i think you have been misinformed. you said that 'muslims are suffering from the worst disease ...." i don't think you're seeing the whole picture. if you look at one of my earlier posts, i posed the following scenario to Daniel and got no response. so here it is again:say a complete stranger came into your house, uninvited, and took everything you had. he/she insulted your very existence upon robbing you IN YOUR OWN HOUSE and slapped around your little sister for no reason, would you sit there and watch them absue everything you have and you are or would you at least try to resist? for one minute, let's forget about our biases as westerners and look at it from a humanistic point of view. Look at the progression of the map of Israel from 1946 to now. What was almost entirely Palestine once has now been reduced to little dots on the map. and none of this land was voluntarily given to Israel by the Palestinian people.

Israel has taken the palestinians homes away from them. when everything one has has been stolen from him/her, he/she has nothing more to lose, so death by means of straping ona bomb is a natural progression in order to retaliate. so you see, while killing other people can never be justified no matter what the reason, scrutinizing the facts can help better explain these actions.

Daniel Marchant: Interestingly enough I've directly responded to your post all along, apparently you just never were able to figure it out. If you think that is the reason why the extremists are doing what they are doing, then you really are out of touch with reality. The extremists themselves do not say "well I'm doing this because people came into my land" they say "Allah be praised, kill the infidel, kill the great satan." Excluding Western bias as you said, that land does rightfully belong to Israel. The Kingdom of Israel once ruled an area of land much larger than what is there for them now...look on any ancient history maps.

AB Omar: Daniel, how many ways do I need to say it so it'll ring a bell in that empty head of yours. Read my post again about your sources of information. The government IS the media. So they give you what's on their agenda, not what's actually happening. Think about this, all the reporters that went to Iraq to cover the war, they stayed with US military, they wore US military apparel, they ate with US troops, they were protected by the US troops and they were transported in US humvies and they reported mostly from US bases. Have you heard ANYTHING from a reporter that stayed with the Iraqi troops, ate with Iraqi troops, was transporterd around by Iraqi military, and reported from Iraqi bases? didn't think so. come back when you have something worthwile to say.

Jessica Warner: C'mon, Dan.....Every time a civilized person is wronged, the immediate, natural reaction is to blow oneself up. Everyone knows this, Dan.What's your problem?

AB Omar: oh and your reply to Sunny's comment, saying that you don't hate arabs or muslims..... if that's so then why did you create this group? i mean look at the first sentence in the intro to this group, "This group is for every American who supports racial profiling against Muslim Arabs. "you really have no clue what you're talking about do you?

Daniel Marchant: LOL, this is really rather comical. Obviously the Republican controlled government (soley controlled by Bush of course, that ultra evil conservative) is secretly behind the incredibly liberal news media controlled almost exclusively by very vocal Democrats. How can you not acknowledge that? Turn on any news channel and you hear "Bush is a failure, Bush got us into a quagmire, impeach Bush." Yeah, government propoganda...o-kay. I like how news reporters being protected by troops and staying with troops is conclusive proof of your position lol. Of course, if the troops would not have protected them, you'd be outraged over that and condemn the military for not regarding innocent life. I can't believe you are still here arguing. Everything that you are saying is making you look worse and worse in the eyes of the intelligent people of this group.

Umm, Omar, look at the very FIRST part of the TITLE of this group...



I will continue to post this all as it unfolds further.

~Tribal~