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The United Nations just passed a measure which, if allowed to creep into the United States and gain legal authority, would severely limit freedom of speech. From Canwest News Service:
Islamic countries Monday won United Nations backing for an anti-blasphemy measure Canada and other Western critics say risks being used to limit freedom of speech.
Combating Defamation of Religions passed 85-50 with 42 abstentions in a key UN General Assembly committee, and will enter into the international record after an expected rubber stamp by the plenary later in the year.
…
Western democracies argue that a religion can’t enjoy protection from criticism because that would require a judicial ruling that its teachings are the “truth.”
“Defamation carries a particular legal meaning and application in domestic systems that makes the term wholly unsuitable in the context of religions,” says the U.S. government in a response on the issue to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“A defamatory statement . . . is more than just an offensive one. It is also a statement that is false.”
The paper also points out the legal difficulty of even defining the term “defamation” since “one individual’s sincere belief that his or her creed alone is the truth conflicts with another’s sincerely held view of the truth.”
…
Canada and other Western countries emphasize the distinction between granting an “idea” rights - and defending the right of people not to be discriminated against.
“Canada rejects the basic premise that religions have rights; human rights belong to human beings,” said Catherine Loubier, spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.
“The focus (here) should not be on protecting religions, but rather on protecting the rights of the adherents of religions, including of people belonging to religious minorities, or people who may choose to change their religion, or not to practice religion at all.”
…
“From the human rights side of things, this is the opposite of what is supposed to be happening,” said [Bennett Graham, international program director with the Becket Fund, a think tank aimed at promoting religious liberty]. “Instead of protecting an individual, this resolution protects an idea, and relies on hurt feelings as a source of judgment. It can only lead to a jurisprudence of hurt feelings.”
Is there any legimitate reason to allow the UN HQ to be on U.S. soil anymore? I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing it go elsewhere. Either the UN is going to render itself completely moot and impotent or else it will be a driving force (if not the driving force) for international law implementations.
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Just a couple of items. First, I was speaking to the physician on call last night on the telephone due to some symptoms I was worried about (he thinks I am fine) and he tells me that growths like the grapefruit-sized one they removed from by my clavicle/collarbone are usually not cancerous. That’s optimistic. He was surprised that I was able to swallow at all before the surgery.
Second, I have my post surgical followup visit tomorrow afternoon to get checked over and have some stitches removed. Supposedly, the results of the biopsies will be known then and I should have the results. I pray and hope it will be good news.
Finally, I’m now gotten off the oxocodone painkillers and am taking just regular Tylenol for the pain. I’m glad because that oxocodon was messing me up. It made my head swim and under bright lights of computer & TV monitors it made my stomach churn. Since my normal job is working on a computer, there would have been no way I could have done my job. I’m still getting physically fatiqued easily but that should ease soon enough.
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I am scheduled to undergo a surgerical procedure called a total thyroidectomy on Friday morning. A surgeon will be removing my entire thyroid due to some cold nodules growing when they aren’t supposed to. I’m already taking thyroid medication and will have to for the rest of my life. The only difference is that my dosage will increase. Also, this surgery has now become so routine that it’s now on an outpatient basis. So if things go smoothly I should be home sometime late in the afternoon or sometime early evening. If my calcium levels don’t balance out right away, they will keep me overnight but that’s about it. My surgeon recommends taking a full week off but that’s mainly because he will prescribe me a narcotic painkiller to use post surgery for the week. But that is dependent on my pain threshold. If I feel like I need it, he wants me to use it, but if I can get by using Tylenol, that’s okay, too. I don’t have to use the narcotic painkiller. And frankly, I plan on using it as little as possible. I’ve always had a fairly high pain tolerance and I think that by the time I am scheduled to go back to work on Monday, I probably will be able to get by on just regular OTC Tylenol. I do have a history of using narcotic pain meds for a much shorter time than expected. For example, when I had all my wisdom teeth out (two simply pulled — two requiring a dental chisel) I took a narcotic painkiller once when I got home and did fine without it afterwards. When I had gastic bypass surgery, I was prescribed a strong narcotic painkiller but by the time I got home after three days recuperating in the hospital, I didn’t use any of it. Even after surgery, I only used the morphine pump once and that was when I rolled over onto an incision while I was asleep. Talk about being awake instantly! However, I have talked it over with my supervisor and he assures me that it will be fine to take off as much time as I need. However the way my brain is programmed, I feel an obligation to be at work whenever possible. Even some of my co-workers think I’m a bit daft for wanting to come into work ASAP. Oh well, that’s just the way I am. My Momma and Daddy didn’t raise no slacker. I figure that maybe, just maybe, I’ll need that Monday off, but since I’l have more than two-and-a-half days to recuperate, I also figure that it’s highly likely that I won’t need the painkillers and can go to work Monday afternoon for my normal shift.
Now for the issue that does concern me. Actually, more than just a concern but a full-blown, freakout type of phobia. I have always had a phobia of needles (i.e. — belonephobia). The kind they stick you with for bloodwork, vaccinations, IVs, etc. I’ve never been able to get rid of this phobia on my own and I haven’t found anyone who can help me be rid of it. This is why I am actually writing this early Tuesday morning. I probably won’t be able to write anything the night before because I’ll be severely jittery and having all sort of anxiety attacks.
There is a good news aspect to this however. Last summer, I had to have a thyroid biopsy done. I told my doctor about my phobia and after hearing what I would have to endure during this procedure, I told him with absolutely NO uncertainty that I most likely would not be able to hold still and would be freaking out severely. After explaining to him that my phobia was HUGE, he prescribed a medical “cocktail” in pill form to start taking about 2 hours before the procedure. I did and went to the location, taking those pills all the way up to about 15 minutes before they did it. Although it made me a bit lightheaded, I really didn’t feel all that different. I couldn’t walk very straight (glad my wife was driving) but I was still scared. However when it came time to have it done, I still white knuckled the sides of the gurney, but…
The anxiety was gone. No freakin’ freakout. I was just, “Okay, get it over with.” Yeah, it stung a little and was really sore afterwards, but it’s never been a pain thing. Just something psychological that I’ve never been able to shake on my own and probably never will. It ticks me off at myself because I haven’t a clue as to why I am this way about this. My Momma has a similar phobia of needles but I’m willing to bet mine’s worse. So I don’t know if it’s somehow a genetic disposition or it rubbed off on me. Sort of a nature versus nurture thing.
The doctor that prescibed the medical “cocktail” is going to be the surgeon on this and he has prescribed the same stuff again. Now the analytical side of my brain tells me, “It’s going to work swimmingly well again” while the emotional side of my brain is going, “YAAAAH! It ain’t gonna work! It ain’t gonna work!” And I know the closer the time comes for the surgery the louder that emotional side is going to become. All this just to get the stupid IV in. But with God’s help, I’ll get through this as well. I will have to have bloodwork done post-surgery but he indicated that they will be able to give me something through the IV to help me with my phobic feelings when that time arrives. I want him to reassure me of that when I go to the pre-op consult the day before the surgery. There are chances for various complications, some of which are quite frightening, but the odds of them occurring are well less than 1% and the worse the possible complication the lower the odds. Plus, this surgeon has done this operation for 15 years and according to his nurse, he hadn’t had any complications with his patients. I pray to God I ain’t the first.
Therefore, if this blog goes on hiatus for a couple of days, you now know that it will be because I’m too doped up on painkillers to type straight. But hopefully and prayerfully, I will be back on this blog very, very soon. Most likely with an update on my condition and thoughts about the surgery. I just ask you to keep me in your prayers and thoughts.
Wednesday evening addendum: My anxiety attacks are now getting worse already. I fear I’m gonna be a complete nervous wreck come Friday morning.
POST SURGERY UPDATE
I got back home at about 5pm Friday evening and slept quite a bit. Right now I’m up and writing this update but will log back off and take some pain meds and conk back out. This is sort of a good-news, bad-news, good-news situations. The good news, of course, is that I got through the surgery in fine shape and they sent me home. The bad news is that they also found a grapefruit-sized growth they didn’t initially detect hiding behind my collarbone and removed that, too. The good news on that, at least I hope it’s good news, is that the possibility that it is cancerous is very small. It’s being biopsied and the results should be back in 3-5 working days. I am praying for the best and I would appreciate your prayers and thoughts, too.
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My wife gave me an absolutely wonderful early Christmas gift: “The Vicar Of Dibley” in a DVD boxed set entitled “The Immaculate Collection.” This was a comedy from the BBC that ran from 1994 to 2000 with specials running up to 2007. It stars actress Dawn French in the title role of the vicar of a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley. The supporting cast are a collection of unique characters that would take far to long to try to explain here. Suffice to say that if you’ve seen the series you will know what I mean and if you have not seen the series, you’ll need to watch some episodes to truly understand and appreciate those supporting characters. I first saw this comedy via Georgia Public Television’s Sunday night “Britcoms.” I manage to catch and episode periodically but never was able to watch the entire series. Fortunately this boxed set was released in 2007 and my wife surprised me with it as an early Christmas gift. I enjoy the gentle humor of the series and was initially and pleasantly surprised with the fair amount of respect it gives to Christianity. Unlike American television and movies which in modern times tends to ridicule Christianity, this British series is much kinder and gentler in its approach although it can and does poke fun from time to time at Christianity but never in an overt disrespectul fashion. The writing on the series is outstanding and the characters fleshed out and so wonderfully performed by talented actors and actresses that I was drawn into the fictional Dibley and felt a caring attitude towards all the characters. All of this made this series all the more enjoyable. And many of the plotlines have enough believability to them that you could imagine similar situations occurring in real life (although in some instances, it does get quite silly, almost slapstick). I’ve been watching the series off and on for the past couple of days and while watching the episode entitled “Dibley Live” I noticed something really out of the ordinary. Check out the following two screencaps.
Notice anything unusual? Look closely. You’ll notice that one of the supporting characters is wearing a Florida State University Seminoles ball cap. That caught my eye immediately. FSU, one the local college football teams (Florida A&M Rattlers being the other), being represented on a British sitcom?!? I looked around the internet and couldn’t find anyone mentioning this elsewhere much less offering an explanation of how an American university football program cap came to be on a British actor’s head in a British comedy. I would love to know the story behind this and if anyone reading this happens to know, please leave a comment and I will update this entry. My curiosity has been piqued and I will continue to try to find an explanation.
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The FAO Schwartz online store is currently offering custom muppets which you can design online for only $90. Or you can order the Muppet Whatnot design kit for only $130. Here’s a couple I designed online just for fun (no, I didn’t order any).
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To all the naysayers and “doom & gloomers” who predicted utter failure and disaster regarding the troop surge in Iraq: you were WRONG! Totally and utterlyWRONG!
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“Ich bin ein Berliner” — Kennedy
“Ich bin ein Beginner” — Obama
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Like any entity that abandons basic quality control, political parties rot from within. It happened to the Democrats long ago, and now has become the case with the Republican Party, which has strayed from its conservative underpinnings.
There are really only four things I have a strong aversion to: unloaded guns, dull knives, banjos, and Republicans in Name Only (RINOs).
The Nugent family simply doesn’t allow any of those things in our lives.
RINOs are Fedzilla punks who feign support for conservative principles only when it serves their political interest. RINOs are also known for their moderate positions such as supporting tax increases, federal “bailouts”, “comprehensive immigration reform”, advocating more counterproductive gun control that guarantee more innocent victims, opposing the death penalty, and growing and sustaining Fedzilla and all its toxic mongrels by going along with the liberals. RINOs have forgotten President Ronald Maximus Regan’s admonition that government is the problem, not the solution.
RINOs reach across Fedzilla’s aisle to cut deals and build consensus with the liberals. Consensus building means compromising values and cutting deals with the socialist prankster punksters whose goal it is to turn America into EuroAmerica.
Consensus building is for wimps and soulless people who stand for nothing. Compromise is not about being tolerant: these days, it’s about giving up conservative principles.
As the Republican Party begins to retool, rebuild and return to the “less government is best government” conservatism that makes America work, the first thing the GOP needs to do is to lock the RINOs out of the discussion. Heavily armed with an abundance of conservative attitude, my hunting buddies and I will provide security to ensure RINOs are kept downwind from the discussion. If allowed to participate, RINOs will continue to rot the Republican Party from within and diminish it in the eyes of the public. Enough is enough.
John McCain has been a RINO on campaign finance, immigration, global warming and other issues and look what happened to him. He had reached across the aisle so many times to cut deals with the liberals that he had to pick Governor Palin, a true conservative, to try and lure disenfranchised and disgusted conservatives back into the fold. Didn’t work. Senator McCain was the wrong candidate at the right time. RINOs lose elections;
conservatives win them.
Should President-elect Obama implement his wrong-headed economic policies, our economy will continue to slide into the abyss and America’s debt will continue to soar to unsustainable levels. Conservatives must hold the line at all costs and call out all RINOs who support President-elect Obama’s economic kamikaze plan.
Make no mistake, conservative values and ideologies are embraced by Americans. The polls all indicate Americans are fed up with the Pelosi-led, do nothing congress, and do not support more government programs and control. Sounds to me like we have a conservative revolution brewing.
Conservative leaders and thinkers such as Newt Gingrich, Jed Babbin, Governor Jindal of Louisiana, Thomas Sowell, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Governor Sarah Palin and others need to turn up the heat and bring this less government, more individual freedom and strong national defense revolution to a boil. It is time.
My specialty is making Fedzilla punks squirm and turn into a puddle of sweat and drool. Therefore, in the spirit of famous butt kickers Generals Chesty Puller and George Patton, I say we launch an attack on all fronts. Uncle Ted hereby declares it is open season on RINOs. No bag limits or permits required. Conservative ideas, arguments and votes are the weapons we will use. Hunt them down and shine a blazing light on these RINO turncoat cockroaches. Zero in the “we the people” crosshairs of your voting assault weapon and aim for the RINO pumpstation. Double tap center mass. Whack em and stack em, track em and hack em, pack em and give em no slack. Let’s do to the RINO beasts what we did to the passenger pigeon. Force out of the Republican Party out the subspecies known as RINOs.
We must not make the mistake of keeping the GOP tent so big that there’s room for RINOs. They are in the business of producing conservative defeats. Instead, join me in the new Conservative Revolution. Let’s go out and win another one for the Gipper.
[Editor’s Note: Ted Nugent is H.E.’s first licensed RINO hunter.]
Rock legend Ted Nugent is noted for his conservative political views and his vocal pro-hunting and Second Amendment activism. His smash bestseller Ted, White & Blue: The Nugent Manifesto, is now available at www.amazon.com. Nugent also maintains the Official Ted Nugent Site at www.TedNugent.com.
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“The World According To Carl” wishes to thank all United States veterans for doing what it takes to protect the freedoms we U.S. citizens enjoy. I salute all of you and greatly appreciate what you are doing and have done in service to our great nation. Major kudos to all of you!
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A collection of John Williams movie themes done a capella with a “Star Wars” twist.
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Uncle Jay’s news word for this week is “wreckage.”
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Some more lighthearted videos to enjoy and entertain.
“How To Behave On An Internet Forum”
“The Proper Method Of Making A Tinfoil Hat”
“How To Make Sure Your Analog Television Is Properly Converted To Digital By February, 2009″
“A Very Special Post-Election Message Of Optimism”
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Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo
I originally posted this 4 months ago, but felt the urge to repost it as a nice feelgood mental pick-me-up.
The above video is the end result of a project by Matthew Harding who spent 14 months visiting 42 countries in order to produce “Where The Hell Is Matt?”, in which Harding performed an incredibly silly dance in various places around the world. He even managed to convince others to join in. It’s a fun little video that should give pause to a smile or two. And as far as I know, Matt’s out there somewhere…dancing.
As a bonus, here is an earlier version of “Where The Hell Is Matt?” produced by Matthew Harding.
Where the Hell is Matt? from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
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Today, in order to escape from the overabundance of political garbage on television & radio this weekend, I decided on some mind candy from “Weird Al” Yankovic. Enjoy.
Incidentally, the song “Weird Al” is spoofing on for “Gump” is the Presidents Of The United States Of America’s “Lump.” Here’s their video for comparison’s sake. I find it fascinating how Yankovic effectively captured the essence of various elements of the original video and incorporated them into his.
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As a youth, I was a voracious reader. My parents and grandparents all encouraged me to read at an early age and I obliged. I was reading well ahead of my age level as a kid all the way to early adulthood. While growing up, it would not be at all surprising for me to spend an entire weekend reading books. My great-aunt was the head librarian in Wayne County and I spent many days there. I even did Boy Scout projects centered on the local Public Library (the only one in our rural county). I saved my allowance to buy books at used bookstores, garage sales, flea markets and anyplace else they were sold cheaply so I could get the most from my money. Once, when I was in elementary school, my teacher encouraged reading by making a bookworm made from oval cut from colored construction paper. For each book, we got to pick an oval, have our name put on it and it was added to the bookworm lining the wall. At the end of the semester, if we read a predetermined amount of books we got a party. If we had the most books read of all the classes in our grade level, our party got bigger. And the person who read the most books got a special prize. My class’ bookworm went around the room multiple times and my name was on their the most of any student in any class in any grade level. It wasn’t that I wanted the party or the special prize, this was the way I read normally.
Anyway, I read many books by many authors in many different genres. I read books by Ray Bradbury, James Michener, Kenneth Robeson, Isaac Asimov, and countless others. However my favorite author was, and still is, Louis L’Amour. His speciality was westerns and historical fiction. For some reason, his writing hooked me and I tried to get any and all books he wrote. Over time I amassed quite a collection and wouldn’t throw out or get rid of any of his books after reading them. I re-read many of them over the years. Needless to say, he was my favorite author back then.
Unfortunately, after I graduated from college, got married (to a woman who is also a voracious reader) and entered the real world (getting jobs, paying bills, and all the mess that goes with it), I lost the spare time I had to read. Over the subsequent years, my reading for pleasure decreased to almost a standstill. Sad, yet true.
In the fall of 2007, I got a new job with regular hours on normal workdays so I started having more free time. For quite a while, my wife and I spent our weekends going places locally we couldn’t do because for the prior ten years I worked weekends. And my reading increased. At first it was my Bible and Christian publications by authors such as Charles Swindoll, J. Vernon McGee and others. But a month ago, as I was going through some boxes, I came across one of my old Louis L’Amour westerns. My great-aunt and my grandmothers instilled in me a propensity to keep books in as good of a condition that I could. I followed their advice and even stored my preferred books in non-acidic book bags/sleeves. Most of the hundreds and hundreds of books I kept after college still remain, but have been in boxes for many years. Fortunately my habit of keeping them in those non-acidic book bags/sleeves paid off because that Louis L’Amour western was in great shape even though the paperback is over 35 years old. That particular Louis L’Amour western, “The Iron Marshal”, reminded me of how much I enjoyed his work. That led me to read another of his books. Then another. And another. It’s been a month and I’ve reread at least a half dozen of those old books that I originally purchased when I was a kid. My love of his westerns has been reignited. One thing that is a bit strange is that I’ve tried reading westerns by other authors such as Zane Grey but never could get drawn into the stories like I could with Louis L’Amour’s writing. Don’t know why nor do I care to try to analyze it. I just enjoy them and that’s fine with me.
I’m catching up in reading my Louis L’Amour collection and have since picked up more of his books I didn’t have before. I recommend his books for all ages and encourage reading as well. Why not try a Louis L’Amour western?
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Trackposted to The Pink Flamingo, Leaning Straight Up, Rosemary’s Thoughts, The Amboy Times, third world county, nn&v, and Democrat=Socialist, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I’m witnessing many liberals showing their cluelessness and classlessness in victory. This sort of behavior as well as over-analyzing of just about every minute detail in the 2008 Presidential campaigns and subsequent election is causing me too much aggravation.
Therefore for at least a couple of days, I’m making this blog a political-free zone and will post only non-political materials. I reserve the right to resume political posts if I feel the need, but I’m going to try to avoid doing so. I’ll probably post materials concerning Christianity, sports, music, videos and even professional wrestling. Just trying to get back to some sense of normalcy and calm. Sometimes I need a little forced break from time to time and this seemed to be a good time to shift the focus of the blog to less stressful topics of interest to me. Although if my favorite football teams lose again this week…
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