A Spooky Story

Sometime during the 1960's a portal was opened. Actually, it could correspond to the arrival of the Beatles to America. But something happened in the fall of 1963. The longer I live and the more I ponder this, I am sure it is true. The molester lures the naive child with a lollypop. We were lured by "She loves you, yay, yay, yay". What happened after that was--yes, a very nasty portal was opened.
The Beatles' open endorsement of drugs and eastern religion--everyone was affected (assaulted) by it. I use the word "assault" because I that's how I experienced it. The philosophical and religious underpinnings of this country were under attack. They are still under attack.
The four mopheads never seemed very....masculine to me. Paul looked like he couldn't grow a beard and Lennon looked postively wimpy in those naked pictures with Ono. So this is the "soft" culture which seduced us. It seems very androgynous to me. But we're still suffering from it.
If I were braver I'd call it witchcraft. But I'm not that brave. Happy Halloween!!

Why I am not a Liberal-- Part One

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

---

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark

Why do we as Americans have such an inferiority complex when it comes to American culture? One of the reasons I associate the Beatles with "the day the music died" is that we lost our vision, our own true American vision regarding music and what that music is supposed to do. And whatever was happening to our American popular music at the time (1964 or thereabouts) was crushed by (and never quite recovered from) the British invasion.
Do I dislike the Beatle's music? Having heard it played to death, I can say I am tired of it. But I was as excited as the next person when I first heard "I love you, yay, yay, yay......" I was a senior in high school and we were all excited about this new sound. So I never disliked it. I was just waiting for an American counterpart--and that counterpart never really came. What was the best we had to offer? The Monkees?
I was never part of the drug culture and later on this whole "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" stuff was too much. Maybe it was the war in Viet Nam that dragged us all down. Thank God for Neil Diamond ("Cherry, Cherry") and a few others. Jimmy Webb offered a promising new vision, but he faded away. So what happened to American optimism? ("Up, Up, and Away?....") The Age of Aquarius had begun, as well as a longing after all things east Indian. Those were depressing times ("One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small...") and I took consolation in syrupy concoctions like "Cherish". An escapist by nature, I suppose.
Am I saying the Beatles killed American popular music? Wellllll..........yes. Maybe the reason Elvis refuses to rest in peace is that he was the last true hero of the American popular music. The poor boy from Memphis with his own sound. What have we had since that was not derivative?
Ever watch that big cartoon foot on Monty Python absolutely crushing and splattering whatever it descended upon? That's what the Beatles did to American music. Why did we let it happen?

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He decended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Beautiful

Liberalism is a failed religion. (There, I've said it. Oooops!)
Islam is a failed religion also, but you should probably keep that to yourself.
Remember the old "My Karma just ran over your Dogma" bumper sticker? Well, liberals have no defense against terrorists. Liberals choose to love them and commiserate with the Islamofascists' hatred of western civilization. After all, liberals hate western civilization too. Look at the misery that's been inflicted on the rest of the world by western culture.
Come to think of it, "culture" and "civilization" are ugly words to libs unless it's someone else's culture. As for "civilization", it's such a presumptuous word. One would have to be civil in order to take part in a civilization. No room for the noble savage.
What ever happened to flower power? Stick your daisy down the barrel of islamoterrorist and see what happens. Nothing very nice.
Why does the rest of the world hate us? To begin with, not everyone does. But if you eliminate ENVY from the equation, what are you left with? Godless countries hate us. And rightfully so. Because we are the manifestation: "America, America, God shed His grace on thee!" Do they hate me because I'm beautiful? Yes, yes, and yes. America the Beautiful.

The Stockholm Syndrome

As I understand it, the Stockholm syndrome has to do with a captive becoming increasingly sympathetic to his captors. The prisoner starts to identify and empathize with his jailor, so to speak. This syndrome was named after an incident in Stockholm in 1973 when some hostages actually started to take up the cause for the bank-robbers who had taken them captive. I think that anyone in fear of his life would try to climb into the captor's mindset to see things from the captor's point of view. But to start empathizing with that point of view??
I think Senator John McCain and Max Cleland must be suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Why else would they hold such a soft view toward our country's enemies? Dear God! I loved what Zell Miller had to say at the Republican convention! (Oh, is it in style again to be proud of America? Really? Ofrabjousday!) To want to kill those who want to kill you and yours is not PC today. I'm surprised someone didn't offer Zell a free anger management course. But that glorious man proved what a real man is--someone who wants to protect and defend what is his--his God, his country, his family.
What's with John McCain? Is he just confused or is he just playing politician? Inquiring minds haven't a clue, apparently. Is he a fencesitter? No, I think he is a bonafide Stockholmer. Someone who had a transformation during captivity in North Viet Nam. (All the fight, the spleen was taken out of these men. Not all the POW's, but some.) There seems to be nothing noble about McCain or Cleland. They seem petty. And what's worse--they seem calculating.

How the Mighty hath Fallen!

First it was Dan Rather, then Mark Halperin, and now Ted Koppel--I can hardly wait to see who's next. (Maybe Bill O'Reilly--but that's for another column.)
Ted Koppel really disappointed me, because I really thought he had some credibility. On his Nightlight program investigating what really happened in Viet Nam in the Kerry incident involving the lone loin-clothed youth , Koppel takes the word of a handlful of communist Vietnamese over 240 swiftvets. Fortunately, John O'Neill was on the program to rebut some of Koppel's assertions, but he had very little time to do so. Koppel's whole story was to reinforce the original Kerry tale of being under attack. But of course, Kerry changed his story later on. Someone should have told Koppel.
These newsgiants aren't just shooting themselves in the foot, but right between the eyes.
Goody!!