Our Dumb Blog

I received an email today which normally I probably would have summarily deleted without giving it much thought, but I was asked to comment on it. Here’s the whole thing in its entirety:

Words of Warning and Hope
by
Lori Kalner

Dear Friends,

It becomes more difficult for me to write to you these days with a difficult time of dialysis as diabetes advances. Now I must write at least this one last time. Bodie and Brock are gracious and let my voice of warning be heard.

I was a young girl in Germany and lived through difficult times. We have since then had a wonderful life. The world, as difficult as it has been, at least for many years remembered what happened politically in Germany with the Depression in the 1930s. You remember how it began and thus progressed with the horrors of war which followed.
The battle was at the beginning a Spiritual battle.
You have read some parts of my story in the Zion Covenant, from growing up in Germany in the days when evil men prevailed and TRUTH was turned upside down. White became black through a barrage of propaganda and constant repetition of lies against those who spoke the truth.

Here is my warning to all: Perhaps it will be my last warning. (I wake up each day surprised that I am still here and not in heaven with those who wait for me!)
America and the whole world hangs in the balance now. I believe that America will stand or fall depending on who is elected President this year.
Good Americans, like the good Germans of my youth, may think that the issues of their nation center around the economy. I tell you now that the fate of the greatest nation on earth does not depend on money.
Every issue must only be judged worthy and true by the Word of God. Prosperity comes to a nation and a people who serves the Lord first. That is a basic spiritual principle which is seen in every book of Holy Scripture.
“If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

This is where the healing of America begins: Friend, you must begin with examination of your own life first and the confession of your sins.
Then pray for your nation. Ask yourself now: who supports the rights of the unborn babies and also of those who are handicapped?
History tells us why this is critical:
In the Germany of my childhood, everyone worried about the economy. Paying bills. Buying bread. Money! And there were 1 million abortions in the year before Hitler came to power. (A drop in the bucket compared to America.) The excuse given for the murder of unborn babies was that economic times were hard. How could a family feed another mouth?
There followed the legalized forced sterilization of parents who had a handicapped child or who were judged “racially impure.”
Next came the legalized euthanasia of those who were handicapped. (An example of who would be killed is the Downs Syndrome child of Sarah Palin. He would have been killed immediately at birth.)
Do we not see such choices carried out with tiny babies being strangled or left to die by abortionists today? Evil advances forward in America by law! This is done with the support of men and women in office who have sold their souls for power.
In those days in Germany all, who were, as I am now, elderly or ill, were gassed. These were all called “useless eaters.”
Christians and Jews who spoke out against this evil were labeled as radical “religious fanatics.” A campaign of false accusation, slander and persecution began, targeting people of faith. It was “unpopular” to speak the TRUTH. (Were these persecuted Christians people like you?) Many were jailed and eventually killed. Some escaped with only their lives.
Finally, by millions, Jews were hunted, imprisoned and killed. You know all this from the Zion Covenant books. I lived it.

Now, today, I hear the words and know the deeds of this Barack Obama and I know that he is a “gifted,” convincing, fellow. He is telling you how bad you have it and saying to Americans he is their messiah and the answer to all problems.
The propaganda machine loves Obama. The power of the media is much greater than in my childhood; a frightening thought.
But here is TRUTH: of all men in the US government this Obama has most strongly encouraged and urged the on-going slaughter of the unborn…”the useless mouths” of America. This slaughter is performed in the name of “A woman’s reproductive rights.”
In the land of my birth, the Holocaust all began with the first step of legalized abortion. Abortion was ENCOURAGED by a downturn in the world economics.
Scripture teaches us the survival of a nation is not about the economy. The only nation which will stand is the nation which follows the Lord and the true teachings of scripture.
I warn you, my dear American friends, with love in my heart and with my last breaths that no man or woman, Protestant or Catholic, can remain in God’s favor or blessing if they vote for this Obama. This is a man who voted four times to leave tiny babies who survived abortions to die!
I know many devout American Catholics in my life and many who have never voted for the Republicans because of tradition. Now I say that you who are Catholic must not follow after this man Obama who is gifted in his words but NOT speaking the TRUE WORDS OF OUR LORD OR THE CHURCH!
You cannot be a true Catholic Christian and vote for Obama. To vote for him is to vote for continued infanticide. To Protestant Christians, I say, you are not a Christian if you support the slaughter of the unborn!
Christianity and abortion are spiritually impossible companions.
Protestants and Catholics MUST UNITE in this battle. The victory must be overwhelming!
Do you feel you cannot vote for Mr. McCain and Mrs. Palin, who are for the LIFE of the unborn and handicapped? If you cannot support these leaders, then for the sake of your soul, I, who have seen the spiritual destruction of many good people, Protestants and Catholics, urge you NOT TO VOTE for Obama or anyone who does not support protection of LIFE!
For all those American politicians who have the chance to change the course toward destruction, I who have been witness to national and worldwide tragedy, urge you protect those in your society who are the most helpless. Publicly deny your support of Obama. According to 2 Chronicles 7:14 you must turn your life around for the sake of your soul and your country!
To those politicians who use “FAITH” to get votes while they follow the path of destruction, I must speak this warning: “God will not be mocked.”
If you, Christian, can vote, and if you can encourage others to vote, then you must VOTE FOR LIFE.
In the judgment of heaven, there is no other choice but LIFE and protection of the innocent for a Christian.

I am thankful to Bodie and Brock for letting me be heard once more. They agree with history and with the Truth of scripture. Most of my generation is gone now. You who are taking control of the world have a fight ahead of you as the memory of our peril dims. I have heard and listened closely to the voices of Sarah Palin and John McCain, and my spirit bears witness that they speak truth and are the true Hope-Bearers of your generation. Sarah is a true Deborah. Pray for her and her family and also for John McCain. You must all remember what happened to us and not repeat the same mistake of apathy.

If I cannot write to you again I pray we will meet in heaven and you will tell me I helped you encourage others to do the right thing for the sake of your soul and for the nation.

God bless you,
Lori Kalner

In addition to being blatantly false, offensive to many Christians I know, and offensive to me as a human being, I think it’s potentially useful for us to understand the warped peculiarities that appear to affect the thinking of some of the voting members of our society.

The tone of the letter is one of abject fear, which warms my heart. It indicates the author has belatedly realized that the American people have (also belatedly) taken note that their continued political apathy has wrought the codification of fringe religious ideals. While the U.S. is (for better, or much likely worse) a nation comprised primarily of Christians, the conservative Christians have made great strides this last decade in curbing the very freedom that makes our nation special. I think that (in spite of my overall poor opinion of the voting public), freedom will prevail over religious oppression, and Kalner is afraid of this as well. She hopes to spread her fear, much as the Republicans have done of late, to motivate easily-frightened people to take her side.

The premise is that as a Christian, one should vote for John McCain because Barack Obama “supports abortion.” This is a patently false statement. Barack Obama is outspoken against abortion and is the first democrat to list as a specific goal his plans to, “reduce the number of abortions in the united states.”

What’s at stake here are two very different approaches to reducing abortion. Kalner presumably hopes that McCain will appoint Supreme Court justices who are likely to overturn Roe v. Wade so that states can make abortion illegal. Obama, on the other hand, is opposed to making abortion illegal and looks to other means for reducing abortion. Sex education as well as better access to contraception appears to be the cornerstone of his plan and this makes sense. People have abortions because they didn’t want to get pregnant in the first place. If you attack the problem (risky sexual behavior), then presumably the symptom (abortions) will go away.

The letter states that Obama voted against the partial-birth abortion ban in Illinois. (In truth, he didn’t vote against it, he simply declined to vote, which is a de facto vote against.) Why did he vote against it? The bill included language that would essentially criminalize all abortions (even those that aren’t partial-birth) and included no concept about the life of the mother. He has stated that he supports state level partial-birth abortion bans, but only when they are are sanely written.

And this is where I’m dumb-founded. Obama is against life? In the case where a mother is forced to chose between her own life or the potential life of her fetus, Obama thinks the mother should be allowed to make that choice. McCain would like to criminalize the actions of a woman who makes the choice to save her own life.

I’d counter that the criminalization of abortion is an anti-life viewpoint. Criminalizing abortion will in no way cause people to stop having abortions. If it’s illegal in some states, people will simply travel to other states. If it’s illegal in all states, people will either leave the country, self-abort, or resort to extremely risky back-alley abortions. This is not mere conjecture on my part. Abortion used to be illegal in this country, and it’s pretty easy to see what happened back then.

The more frustrating aspect of the letter is that it implies that her reader (presumably a Christian) should vote for McCain simply because Obama does not support efforts to criminalize abortion. Seriously? This issue should be at the forefront of the Christian voter’s mind?

I have a special distaste for single-issue voters. This country is a republic. As a republic, the idea is that we are governed by elected representatives. The proper decision-making process as a responsible republican citizen is to vote for that representative who, in your opinion, will make the best choices for the country at large. In actuality, people tend to vote a bit more egocentrically and pick that representative whom they think will make choices that most benefit the voter himself. Assuming a reasonably large percentage of the population votes, the end result should, hopefully, be similar. (They’re not, but that’s a topic for a different time.)

The bottom line is that if you, as a United States citizen are voting for or against any particular candidate on the basis of abortion as Kalner has urged that you do, I think you’re being irresponsible, short-sighted and particularly dim-witted.

Now I’d like to just briefly address the offensive nature of the letter. I’m no Christian, but I’ve got a pretty good grasp of both Protestant and Catholic theology. The letter is, at it’s heart, terribly un-Christian. It states that, “no man or woman, Protestant or Catholic, can remain in God’s favor or blessing if they vote for this Obama.” This statement is not only absurd, it’s blasphemous! I suspect this woman meets multiple criteria for being a false prophet.

Obama has made a great effort to show he’s a Christian. McCain, unlike Obama, has made no real effort to endorse Christian values, and does not even publicly claim to be a Christian! If you look at the important Christian issues, I think you might find that anti-abortion viewpoints are perhaps not the most important.

Let’s talk about issues that a president can directly affect. Let’s talk about the pro-Life Obama. Let’s talk about the lives Obama has proposed to save from the pointless, expensive and deadly war that war-mongering John McCain would like prolong. Let’s talk about the lives Obama will save with a health care plan that might (though very well might not) work. Let’s talk about the lives that Obama proposes we save from poverty through education. That is, if you must talk about lives. Personally, I’d rather talk about freedom, because without freedom, what is a life worth living? “Give me liberty, or give me death,” sound familiar? Obama promises to protect the freedom my country was founded upon where McCain promises to steadily erode that freedom and plunge this country further into the mess created by Dubya and his army of freedom-haters.

I do agree with this statement: “If you, Christian, can vote, and if you can encourage others to vote, then you must VOTE FOR LIFE.” If you must vote for Life, please do so: Vote Obama!

I’ve long-held that the only bias in commercial news media is toward money. Money comes from viewers, listeners, readers… brainwashed entertainment consumers. As Stephenson says, you can sell two things: Products and Entertainment. It’s pretty obvious which things are products, and everything else is entertainment.

This includes all TV news and newspapers. The media conglomerates are not interested in any sort of theoretical duty to the public, and all of them, with the obvious exception of Murdoch’s holdings, don’t have any biased agenda. All they want to do is make money, and they primarily do that by selling fear, but there are plenty of other methods.

The most amusing example to me right now of the total lack of bias, as well as a total lack of honesty is in the electoral projections of commercial media. In short, all the electoral projection sites that aren’t run by the media conglomerates are predicting Obama, while all the big media sites are calling it a much tighter race. Why? A tight race means more viewers.

The next example of a total lack of liberal bias is the fact that they still aren’t giving McCain any flack over his poor military record. They’re quick to talk about crazy preachers, because those are exciting video clips. They’re not so interested in talking about the fact that McCain graduated at the bottom of his class, was a very bad pilot, and didn’t take his job seriously. On the other hand, Rolling Stone has a done great job pointing out that if you’re going to run for president on your military record that maybe you should have a good one.

It’s the sort of thing that will sell for Rolling Stone, but won’t keep folks watching TV. Liberal bias my ass–if there were actually some liberal bias don’t you think they’d be all over this?

The important thing to remember is that they’ve only furloughed a portion of those they intend to furlough. If I get furloughed, I’ll be one of the last ones to go because I’m at the top of the portion they may or may not furlough.

The good news is that I’m not furloughed yet. The displacement award is now anticipated for early next week, and I fully expect that I’ll get the Dash in Denver, simply because it’s a very junior aircraft and base. Whether that award makes me more or less likely to be furloughed in the future, I don’t know. If I don’t get the Dash in Denver, I’m going to be flabbergasted, annoyed and frustrated. Anything’s possible. I could, theoretically, be assigned to the ERJ in CVG, but that seems unlikely.

With the award should come some kind of class date, so maybe I’ll have vague idea about the near future.

I haven’t flown in a very long time. I spend $15/day getting to and from the airport, every day. I ride the AirTrain to the LIRR and then walk a mile. I haven’t driven a car in so long, I wonder if mine is rotted in Denver, or if I’ll even remember how.

I still don’t have a working MacBook, which is a constant source of frustration for me. I’m hoping that the parts sitting at home will allow me to fix it soon.

Rough schedule update until I get around to updating google calendar and facebook: I’ve got a 5-day trip starting on the 17th. I’ll stay on reserve until the 25th, when I go home. I have that Saturday and Sunday and Monday off. I’m then on Reserve again until Nov 2nd, and in training the morning of the 3rd. The plan is to be in Dallas for a Magnetic Fields concert on this Monday night. It doesn’t look like I’m going to get home until October 25th, which means I’ll have been away from home for an entire Month.

I found a great little book store a few blocks from Syd’s new apartment. It’s now called “Unnameable Books.” As far as I can tell, it’s the store that’s unnameable, not the books. The place used to be called Adam’s Books, but apparently someone threatened legal action, and so they gave up.

They sell both new and used books, and have a nice varied collection. They don’t have so much of the pop crap that you’re likely to find in places like an airport bookstore, and have a fairly high quality selection. Like every store in New York, it’s small. When I walked in at about 8:30pm, the door was wide open and there was no one in sight. I winced as I walked in, expecting some sort of annoying laser-tripped alarm that would alert the owner to my presence and cause him to pounce on me. No such thing happened. There is a sign in the front of the store that says, “Please don’t steal the books.” I browsed around the front of the book store for a good 20 minutes before I ever caught sight of the owner in the back, tinkering with his computer, behind a veritable fortress of used books. I eventually bought a copy of Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age and Richard Power’s Three Farmers. Both used, a grand total of about $13. A bit pricey for used books, but I didn’t have to pay shipping, and this is New York, after all.

The only other thing of note is that I somehow lost my Mesa ID badge. It was hanging off my shirt Tuesday morning when I went through security. It was not hanging off my shirt on Wednesday morning. I have no idea what happened to it. So I spent yesterday in Sydney’s apartment, doing exactly the same thing I do at work: reading and surfing the internet. FedEx brought me a new badge this morning just before Noon. It looks like I owe Mesa $25, now. Which I suppose is fair, but I really don’t know what I could have done to prevent this, short of tying the badge around my neck, which I simply refuse to do.

At least not yet. Everyone who was being furloughed in the first round was notified on Friday, like they said they would be. Berck wasn’t, which means he’s safe for now. They’re leaving open the option of furloughing more people later but won’t do it until the displacement (big shuffle) is over. That’s where Berck hopes to get reassigned to Denver. So we’re good for a few more weeks at least!

I’m back from New York. Had a really good time. Berck still hasn’t heard any news about his job.

I’m very tired, just drove back from Denver, and am going to bed.