Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Schauungtown Chronicles, Part 4: The Primate’s Pilgrimage
“I want to thank you all for coming to this special Overseer’s Coven. I have some very special news,” the speaker smiled at the announcement.
“What is it, Cecelia?” one of the overseers gathered asked.
“Director Joshua informs me that the Primate will be coming here to Schauungtown as part of his annual pilgrimage this year.
The overseers in the circle all smiled.
“That is good news, Sibling Cecelia."
“Yes, Schauungtown is being honored for its efforts in implementing the Covenant of Universal Community. As part of the celebration, the Primate will be coming before our branch of the Toleration Fellowship.”
“Will Director Joshua be accompanying the Primate?”
“Probably not.” However, Sibling Cecelia assured her fellow Overseers, “Having the Primate visit our branch of the Toleration Fellowship will be quite an occasion to remember and no doubt be an herstoric day for our Community.”
The other Overseers gathered in the coven had to agree. Though they would have been more thrilled to be paid a visit by Director Joshua, each of them was aware of what an honor it would be for the Primate to visit their Residential Association. For as the holder of the holder of the highest office in the Toleration Fellowship, apart from Director Joshua, the Primate was seen as the foremost embodiment of the principles expressed in the Covenant of Universal Community.
Though the Primate symbolized everything the Toleration Fellowship stood for, he was somewhat idiosyncratic and only left his sanctum several times a year to grace with his presence a number of select Residential Associations. The Overseers wanted everything to meet the regulations promulgated for the visit of a dignitary of the Primate’s status.
Sibling Cecelia basked in the power that flowed to her as the one charged with the responsibility of arranging the accommodations of a dignitary more powerful still. “I want things to go smoothly and to impress the Primate that this Community and those in it know their place in the All.”
One of the other Overseers spoke up. “What about the incident a while back when subversive literature was found on one of the pews. A Bible or something the other I think it was called.”
Another Overseer clarified, “The Bible Peddler incident, you mean?”
“Correct.”
The piercing above Cecelia’s eyebrow began to jingle as she recalled her outburst upon finding the text in question defiling the tranquility of her sanctuary. Though her response was understandable in light of what she knew that seemingly innocent publication represented, her little fit betrayed to those gathered how far she really was deep down from achieving the detached neutrality of contemplative nondifferentiation available to those embracing the unity of All. It seemed the Sibling’s appearance blurring the distinctions between male and female was about as far as Cecelia had gotten along the path to cosmic harmony.
Cecelia centered her energies by momentarily mediating on the Paradoxical Nothingness of the All, of how the All was Everything yet how to even classify it as such was to also diminish it since the All was so much more than the term used to describe what feeble minds could comprehend of the concept yet infinitely less tangible and ephemeral.
Cecelia replied, “Despite the divisive incident undermining Community unity, no more subversive literature was been found within the walls of the Toleration Fellowship; and the individual though responsible, though we have not yet identified him, has not returned since his initial visit.”
Catherine interjected, “But I have seen him sauntering about the Community at least twice since then.”
Cecelia bit her tongue. It would not have been in the interest of Community harmony for her to quarrel in the Overseer’s Coven with her own domestic partner.
Sometimes Cecelia wished Catherine was not so involved with the activities of the Toleration Fellowship. For even though she was attracted to Catherine as her life companion, there was just too much competition between them, as use to be said in Before when such connubial arrangements were gender based in their foundation, for any one of them to “wear the pants” in their domestic collective.
Things would be so much more pleasant between them, Cecelia thought, if Catherine just let Cecelia run the Schauungtown branch of the Toleration Fellowship and Catherine confine herself to the affairs of the Community Association as one of its highest ranking officials. But as the highest ranking member of the Social Cohesion Office of the residential board, as stipulated by the Covenant of Universal Community, Catherine was granted a seat on the Overseer’s Coven as the Toleration Fellowship’s liaison with the residential association’s governing committee.
“Where did you see this ’peddler’ character?” asked one of the few males permitted a seat on the coven. Cecilia thought it was wise their number had been limited. She has read that in Before it had been the tendency of many of them to assert leadership and control beyond their number, often with the price being an individuality that undermined the process of consensus so essential to the smooth administration of the Community. Thus the Unity Covenant stipulated that females or others of a nonmasculine biological configuration or perceptual awareness were to constitute the majority of any coven charged with overseeing the affairs of a branch the Toleration Fellowship.
Cecelia didn’t really have anything against men. It was just that the Sibling didn’t really have much use for them either. Sure, they still had a few uses if properly conditioned and kept in line such as providing the genetic material necessary to engineer the next generation of human stock to take its place in the Community in predetermined numbers. But even then men were not as absolutely necessary to the replication of the species as they once were in the Before.
Eventually, Cecelia was sure, the All through the wisdom of the Cosmic Mother would mercifully bring about an end to the male division of the species as life in all its forms drew ever onward to its ultimate unification. At some point along the actualization of the All, those existing in human form would be neither male nor female but rather a glorious blending of each as an expression of universal balance and harmony. Beyond that, only the cognitively limited could see no reason why the human form could not merge with its fellow organisms and sentient intellects in an ontological amalgamation; and at some point there would be no need for the limitations of a material body.
Cecelia longed to be free from the burdens of individuality. That was one of the primary reasons why Cecelia had taken the Androgynyte Vow Of The Order Of The Monistic Sibling within the Toleration Fellowship whereby Cecilia would strive to configure her perceptions as if fundamental gender classifications did not enter into her personal identity. Even if Cecilia’s body was female, such trivialities did not matter. The Toleration Fellowship held that since the All created it’s own reality, the first step in making something so was to visualize it in the mind.
Catherine answered the inquiry, which to Cecilia seemed to have been asked in ages past as the Sibling’s thoughts dwelt in the infinitudes between seconds. “The diverseophobe was spotted perambulating down Paradigm Lane after I completed a domicile inspection for a preliminary parental license renewal. The second time was outside the Food Distribution Center when on routine call to that location.”
“Oh, yes.” a womyn with graying hair (a sign that she would soon have to relinquish her seat on the coven because, despite the fact that she was female, as with males of influence, womyn of advancing chronology had to be guarded against to protect the Community from unprogressive notions carried over from Before) interjected. “Jeremy, my son...”
Cecilia cringed at the word, thinking that someone with the privilege of having a seat on the Overseer’s Coven should not be so possessive of those having emerged from their loins. The young belonged to the entire Community and were only allowed to remain with progenitors of good standing as a matter of efficiency.
“...who works at the Food Distribution Center told me that the Individualist he contacted the Social Cohesion Office ceased cellular respiration right there on the spot.” Cecilia was surprised that someone using a questionable term such as “son” didn’t end up blurting out the word “died”.
One of the few males on the coven questioned, “If this Bible Peddler and the deceased Individualist were seen in the same vicinity, is there the possibility that there was some kind of acquaintanceship between them?”
Catherine tried to assuage any concerns of the Coven about the potential threat of counter-community that might be festering at the heart of the residential association. “There is always a slight possibility, but it is not very likely. So far, little can be confirmed about the ’Peddler’.
Catherine left the name at that, not wanting to utter the vile qualifier any more than was necessary. For some reason, though she just couldn’t put her finger on it, the word she did not want to utter in front of the ’Peddler’ designation caused her energies to feel out of tune with cosmic oneness and affirmation. “As to the senectitudian individualist, since his holdings are in the process of reallocation, further investigation indicates that he and his domestic partner were not noted for a high degree of social interaction or any tendencies of giving back to the Community. They were rated as satisfactorily communicative on their last evaluation by their neighbors but it was also noted they had a marked tendency of staying to themselves.”
A round of gasps cascaded across the Overseer’s Coven. “Congenital recluses?” Scandalous. Those were the worst kind as they not only failed in their most sacred obligation of concealing nothing from the Community but they also seldom exhibited any of the external clues as to what was percolating in their likely subversive minds focused too much on individual concerns rather than meditating on the priorities of the group.
Sibling Cecilia altered the focus of the discussion. “Thank you for that update. However, the focus of this convocation of the Overseer’s Coven is to make preparations for the Primate’s visit.”
“Of course, dear,” Catherine relented to her domestic partner. This branch of the Toleration Fellowship was her’s to administer after all.
“Now,’ Cecilia intoned as she reasserted control over the coven’s agenda. “Let’s return to the arrangements pertaining to the Primate’s visit....”
......The day finally arrived. Cecelia and a number of Schauungtown’s foremost residents gathered in anticipation at the local skyport. The Primate’s craft slowly descended onto the tarmac.
More of a floating airship than one of those jetliners popular in Before when the insufficiently communal went to and fro irrespective as to whether or not such excursions were deemed in accord with social necessity or authorized by those qualified to make such determinations, such vehicles were capable of staying aloft months on end as befitting a dignitary of the Primate’s status. The aerial citadel made its way slowly overhead reminding all catching a glimpse of it of their place as determined by the All (and confirmed of course by one’s residential association in compliance with the Covenant of Universal Community).
Giant metal columns extended upward from underneath the tarmac to greet the floating cathedral, guiding it safely to the ground.
Cecelia, Catherine, and several of Schauungtown’s most equal of residents eagerly waited as the antigravity vessel finished the docking procedure. The hatch on the side opened and a retractable staircase extended to the ground.
The party gathered at the bottom looked on with anticipation as the three dignitaries emerged and proceeded towards them.
“Welcome to Schauungtown. I’m Catherine from the residential oversight committee. This is my domestic partner Cecelia , the Sibling in charge of the local Toleration Fellowship.
Cecelia was mildly irritated at Catherine’s presumption of making the introductions. This visit was, after all, under the auspices and sponsorship of the Toleration Fellowship.
One of the dignitaries caught Cecelia’s eye. “Minister Joshua?”
“No, I am not. I am Seer Jeremiah. But the Minister send his regards,”
Cecelia was taken aback. Both the Seer and the Primate gracing Schauungtown with their presence was quite an honor. Cecelia continued, “We are humbled by your presence, Seer. My apologies for confusing you with Minister Joshua.”
“Think nothing of it, Sibling. When you see me, you see him.”
Catherine interrupted. “The resemblance between the two of you is remarkable. Are you and the Minister related?”
The Seer responded, “We are, yet we are not. It is the desire of Minister Joshua that each of us would move beyond the relational limitations of Before to embrace the commonality of All."
Cecelia was content to bask in the words of the Seer for in them was found what those beneath his status were deemed worthy of knowing. Catherine, on the other hand, wanted to press the issue. "So, are you and the Minister related?"
The Seer responded, "We are, but not as you understand such limitations."
As unease difficult to describe settled over Catherine that for some reason she knew to say no more about the matter.
The Seer turned to the second party of his entourage. "I'd like to introduce Nathaniel Prescott, special assistant to Minister Joshua for Residential Association Affairs."
Both Catherine and Cecelia nodded politely towards Special Assistant Prescott. From what Catherine had read of Prescott, he was one Minister Joshua's closest advisors but one whose role was not quite as public as the Seer's. It was believed Prescott's primary concern was overseeing the overall compliance of the residential associations with the Covenant of Universal Community and persuading, with all that would entail, the remaining unincorporated free areas into ratifying the covenant.
Cecelia gestured toward the lengthy hoverzine. "Shall we head towards the Toleration Hall?"
The dignitaries headed towards the hoverzine, with the Primate following closely behind the Seer. Even Cecelia felt uncomfortable riding in the hoverzine. As with their wheeled counterparts in the Before, these lengthy modes of transport were an energy-intensive mode of conveyance.
Certainly, the Unity Covenant stipulated that those assigned to fulfilling the needs of the Community were entitled to the use of resources and technologies to which average residents were not authorized to utilize. But, in light of the incident in the food distribution center, would those still acculturated to the paradigms of Before and more individiocentric in their orientation put up with having their movements restricted indefinitely?
The hoverzine lifted several feet off the ground and proceeded beyond the outskirts of the airstation. The Seer gazed out the window as the primate sat contentedly.
The Seer observed, “I see the airstation is surrounded by the Laborer Sector.”
“Yes, Seer. The Residential Committee thought it would be best to locate the facility in the Laborer Sector since that would preserve existing green space. The only thing here previously were single family homes, “ the words rolled off Cecelia’s tongue in disgust, “built during Before. Cooperative residents were transferred to barrack units. Those thinking they had a say in the matter beyond agreeing to the propriety of the decision made for their well-being were dealt with appropriately.”
The Seer nodded. “A most efficient operation.”
The hoverzine floated past the barracks where the common laborers of limited community loyalty and social utility were assigned until the Residential Committee was satisfied they had been sufficiently communalized. At least that was the incentive held out to those warehoused there.
Of course, some within that particular patch of human capital would be reallocated to different domiciles as there remained a vested interest in maintaining a veneer of compliance that would earn reward. For despite all the efforts to move beyond the mindsets of Before, it seemed that either not enough time had elapsed or that somethings just couldn’t be engineered out of the human psyche, even despite tampering on the molecular-genetic level.
It had already been predetermined by the foremost community planners that the vast majority of those residing in the barracks would never be granted permission to abide elsewhere. They were exactly where the Community needed them to be and they could at least derive a sense of satisfaction knowing they had fulfilled their role in the all. And if that was not enough, they could keep it to themselves or...Well, there was no need to dwell on that as there were other matters to attend to as the Primate and his entourage proceeded towards the Schauungtown Toleration Fellowship.
The vehicle floated past the laborer barracks into what looked more like what had been a traditional configuration of domiciles in Before known as a “neighborhood”. Utter confusion was what both Cecelia and Catherine thought it was.
Unlike the laborers that could be conditioned by manipulating instinctual appetites and contrived incentives that went largely unfulfilled, those assigned to the Intermediary Sector were overall an unpredictable lot. A number gladly accepted their place in the All as part of the Community and embraced their obligations to comply with the directive promulgated for them by those recognized by the various levels of the system of residential associations established under the provisions of the Unity Covenant for their superior evolutionary attainments in approaching cosmic oneness. Another element residing in the Intermediary Sector were more puzzling,
Unlike those that exhibited a proper sense of gratitude for the place they had been assigned and did not ask for too much, those insisting upon retaining their individuality in the Intermediary Sector possessed the kind of discontent that could disrupt everything the Covenant of Universal Community stood for and could plunge the habitated regimes back into the ways of Before. The oddest thing was, and perhaps what made them most dangerous was that, even though many of the independently inclined residing in the Intermediary Sector did not approve of the power of the residential associations, the Unity Covenant and high level confederation matters, they knew nearly as much about such things (including the most arcane matters regarding Seer Jeremiah and Minister Joshua) as the most advanced level of administrators, most never did all that much with what they did know.
It was this knowledge of power with an aversion to using it that unsettled the Social Cohesion Office the most. For if those with such knowledge had intentions of using it, they could be properly directed like any other group. But the thing was, they did not think of themselves as members of a group first and foremost.
In all likelihood, the old fool that merged with the All right there in the Food Distribution Center and the Bible Peddler could be ranked among such subversives, Catherine thought. The Social Cohesion Office was making headway on the Food Distribution Center incident and it would only be a matter of time before all remnants of the perpetrator could be removed from the Community. Sure, the whiny coot might no longer be a corporeal entity on this plane of reality, but from his own confession, he had a domestic partner and she could not be permitted remain in the Residential Association. Catherine did not care how old the hag might be.
What was it about the chronologically advanced that it was not enough for them to gratefully accept the privilege of continued existence but compeled them to spout all that nonsense about Before, how much better things were back then, and how such reactionary conditions should be allowed to prevail once more. Fortunately for the most part, they could be controlled within reason or removed entirely as a last resort without creating too much of a scene.
The Bible Peddler, on the other hand, was a whole other matter. Thus far, there was very little known about him.
Unlike the expired coot, almost no headway was being made on the Bible Peddler file. Thus far, there had only been a number of sightings and most of those only in passing.
Strangely, no one knew who the Bible Peddler was, and it was the duty of the Social Cohesion Office to know who everyone was on behalf of the Residential Association. Attitudinal Assessment Technicians would need to more thoroughly infiltrate the various spiritual and metaphysical centers located around the periphery of the Community not part of the Toleration Fellowship that had been permitted to remain open slightly after the ending of Before. These experts could determine just how far this contamination might have spread and recommend what steps would be necessary to correct the situation.
The retinue finally arrived at the Schauungtown Toleration Fellowship. Both the Primate and Seer glanced out the window at the structure dedicated to oneness and equality. Throngs of those not deemed essential enough to be allowed inside the hall gathered around the perimeter in hopes of catching a glimpse of the dignitaries.
Cecelia and Catherine were the first to disembark from the vehicle to minor applause. As the Seer and Primate got out, the crowds became more jubilant. Surrounded by the burliest Social Cohesion Officers, they party made their way into the Toleration Hall.....
.....Sibling Cecelia ascended the lectern shaped like a round peace sign. Cecelia began her remarks.
“Assembled sentients.” Cecelia was careful to address all beings (seen and unseen, biological, fabricated, and all combinations thereof) that had gathered for the auspicious occasion. “This is certainly a day of foremost equalitude. For among all the signatory residential associations to the Covenant on Universal Community, it has been decided that the Primate of the Toleration Fellowship would grace Mother World with his presence this year in our gathering of inclusion. I present, to this assembly, the Primate."
Possessed of below average stature, the Primate held the Seer's hand as he ascended the podium. With a contemplative expression, the Primate looked out over the gathered.
Cecelia intoned towards the congregation, "Let us now render homage to the Primate." Cecelia bowed slightly, hands folded. Sometimes even gestures held over from Before were still useful if they elicited the desired cognitive response in a group context.
“O Primate. We come before you now. We beseech you as the symbol of the We from which We came that We might look within Ourselves to reembrace the unreflective All of both the Cosmos and the Community. May We look to We so that We might diminish the I. In the name of the Community, Minister Joshua, and Seer Jeremiah, Ahumyn.”
Cecelia gazed up at the primate. As she did, something dark, gooey, and smelly struck the exalted Sibling in her androgynous countenance.
The Primate looked down at her and began to clap his hands, grinned with considerable satisfaction, and started to jump in place. The congregation looked on with considerable curiosity.
Most merely sat there nervously, twiddling their fingers. A number mumbled among themselves. One broke out laughing hysterically.
“THAT PRIMATE OF YOURS IS NOTHING BUT A MONKEY!” One by one, others assembled there in the Schauungtown Toleration Fellowship joined in the laughter as well.
by Frederick Meekins
“What is it, Cecelia?” one of the overseers gathered asked.
“Director Joshua informs me that the Primate will be coming here to Schauungtown as part of his annual pilgrimage this year.
The overseers in the circle all smiled.
“That is good news, Sibling Cecelia."
“Yes, Schauungtown is being honored for its efforts in implementing the Covenant of Universal Community. As part of the celebration, the Primate will be coming before our branch of the Toleration Fellowship.”
“Will Director Joshua be accompanying the Primate?”
“Probably not.” However, Sibling Cecelia assured her fellow Overseers, “Having the Primate visit our branch of the Toleration Fellowship will be quite an occasion to remember and no doubt be an herstoric day for our Community.”
The other Overseers gathered in the coven had to agree. Though they would have been more thrilled to be paid a visit by Director Joshua, each of them was aware of what an honor it would be for the Primate to visit their Residential Association. For as the holder of the holder of the highest office in the Toleration Fellowship, apart from Director Joshua, the Primate was seen as the foremost embodiment of the principles expressed in the Covenant of Universal Community.
Though the Primate symbolized everything the Toleration Fellowship stood for, he was somewhat idiosyncratic and only left his sanctum several times a year to grace with his presence a number of select Residential Associations. The Overseers wanted everything to meet the regulations promulgated for the visit of a dignitary of the Primate’s status.
Sibling Cecelia basked in the power that flowed to her as the one charged with the responsibility of arranging the accommodations of a dignitary more powerful still. “I want things to go smoothly and to impress the Primate that this Community and those in it know their place in the All.”
One of the other Overseers spoke up. “What about the incident a while back when subversive literature was found on one of the pews. A Bible or something the other I think it was called.”
Another Overseer clarified, “The Bible Peddler incident, you mean?”
“Correct.”
The piercing above Cecelia’s eyebrow began to jingle as she recalled her outburst upon finding the text in question defiling the tranquility of her sanctuary. Though her response was understandable in light of what she knew that seemingly innocent publication represented, her little fit betrayed to those gathered how far she really was deep down from achieving the detached neutrality of contemplative nondifferentiation available to those embracing the unity of All. It seemed the Sibling’s appearance blurring the distinctions between male and female was about as far as Cecelia had gotten along the path to cosmic harmony.
Cecelia centered her energies by momentarily mediating on the Paradoxical Nothingness of the All, of how the All was Everything yet how to even classify it as such was to also diminish it since the All was so much more than the term used to describe what feeble minds could comprehend of the concept yet infinitely less tangible and ephemeral.
Cecelia replied, “Despite the divisive incident undermining Community unity, no more subversive literature was been found within the walls of the Toleration Fellowship; and the individual though responsible, though we have not yet identified him, has not returned since his initial visit.”
Catherine interjected, “But I have seen him sauntering about the Community at least twice since then.”
Cecelia bit her tongue. It would not have been in the interest of Community harmony for her to quarrel in the Overseer’s Coven with her own domestic partner.
Sometimes Cecelia wished Catherine was not so involved with the activities of the Toleration Fellowship. For even though she was attracted to Catherine as her life companion, there was just too much competition between them, as use to be said in Before when such connubial arrangements were gender based in their foundation, for any one of them to “wear the pants” in their domestic collective.
Things would be so much more pleasant between them, Cecelia thought, if Catherine just let Cecelia run the Schauungtown branch of the Toleration Fellowship and Catherine confine herself to the affairs of the Community Association as one of its highest ranking officials. But as the highest ranking member of the Social Cohesion Office of the residential board, as stipulated by the Covenant of Universal Community, Catherine was granted a seat on the Overseer’s Coven as the Toleration Fellowship’s liaison with the residential association’s governing committee.
“Where did you see this ’peddler’ character?” asked one of the few males permitted a seat on the coven. Cecilia thought it was wise their number had been limited. She has read that in Before it had been the tendency of many of them to assert leadership and control beyond their number, often with the price being an individuality that undermined the process of consensus so essential to the smooth administration of the Community. Thus the Unity Covenant stipulated that females or others of a nonmasculine biological configuration or perceptual awareness were to constitute the majority of any coven charged with overseeing the affairs of a branch the Toleration Fellowship.
Cecelia didn’t really have anything against men. It was just that the Sibling didn’t really have much use for them either. Sure, they still had a few uses if properly conditioned and kept in line such as providing the genetic material necessary to engineer the next generation of human stock to take its place in the Community in predetermined numbers. But even then men were not as absolutely necessary to the replication of the species as they once were in the Before.
Eventually, Cecelia was sure, the All through the wisdom of the Cosmic Mother would mercifully bring about an end to the male division of the species as life in all its forms drew ever onward to its ultimate unification. At some point along the actualization of the All, those existing in human form would be neither male nor female but rather a glorious blending of each as an expression of universal balance and harmony. Beyond that, only the cognitively limited could see no reason why the human form could not merge with its fellow organisms and sentient intellects in an ontological amalgamation; and at some point there would be no need for the limitations of a material body.
Cecelia longed to be free from the burdens of individuality. That was one of the primary reasons why Cecelia had taken the Androgynyte Vow Of The Order Of The Monistic Sibling within the Toleration Fellowship whereby Cecilia would strive to configure her perceptions as if fundamental gender classifications did not enter into her personal identity. Even if Cecilia’s body was female, such trivialities did not matter. The Toleration Fellowship held that since the All created it’s own reality, the first step in making something so was to visualize it in the mind.
Catherine answered the inquiry, which to Cecilia seemed to have been asked in ages past as the Sibling’s thoughts dwelt in the infinitudes between seconds. “The diverseophobe was spotted perambulating down Paradigm Lane after I completed a domicile inspection for a preliminary parental license renewal. The second time was outside the Food Distribution Center when on routine call to that location.”
“Oh, yes.” a womyn with graying hair (a sign that she would soon have to relinquish her seat on the coven because, despite the fact that she was female, as with males of influence, womyn of advancing chronology had to be guarded against to protect the Community from unprogressive notions carried over from Before) interjected. “Jeremy, my son...”
Cecilia cringed at the word, thinking that someone with the privilege of having a seat on the Overseer’s Coven should not be so possessive of those having emerged from their loins. The young belonged to the entire Community and were only allowed to remain with progenitors of good standing as a matter of efficiency.
“...who works at the Food Distribution Center told me that the Individualist he contacted the Social Cohesion Office ceased cellular respiration right there on the spot.” Cecilia was surprised that someone using a questionable term such as “son” didn’t end up blurting out the word “died”.
One of the few males on the coven questioned, “If this Bible Peddler and the deceased Individualist were seen in the same vicinity, is there the possibility that there was some kind of acquaintanceship between them?”
Catherine tried to assuage any concerns of the Coven about the potential threat of counter-community that might be festering at the heart of the residential association. “There is always a slight possibility, but it is not very likely. So far, little can be confirmed about the ’Peddler’.
Catherine left the name at that, not wanting to utter the vile qualifier any more than was necessary. For some reason, though she just couldn’t put her finger on it, the word she did not want to utter in front of the ’Peddler’ designation caused her energies to feel out of tune with cosmic oneness and affirmation. “As to the senectitudian individualist, since his holdings are in the process of reallocation, further investigation indicates that he and his domestic partner were not noted for a high degree of social interaction or any tendencies of giving back to the Community. They were rated as satisfactorily communicative on their last evaluation by their neighbors but it was also noted they had a marked tendency of staying to themselves.”
A round of gasps cascaded across the Overseer’s Coven. “Congenital recluses?” Scandalous. Those were the worst kind as they not only failed in their most sacred obligation of concealing nothing from the Community but they also seldom exhibited any of the external clues as to what was percolating in their likely subversive minds focused too much on individual concerns rather than meditating on the priorities of the group.
Sibling Cecilia altered the focus of the discussion. “Thank you for that update. However, the focus of this convocation of the Overseer’s Coven is to make preparations for the Primate’s visit.”
“Of course, dear,” Catherine relented to her domestic partner. This branch of the Toleration Fellowship was her’s to administer after all.
“Now,’ Cecilia intoned as she reasserted control over the coven’s agenda. “Let’s return to the arrangements pertaining to the Primate’s visit....”
......The day finally arrived. Cecelia and a number of Schauungtown’s foremost residents gathered in anticipation at the local skyport. The Primate’s craft slowly descended onto the tarmac.
More of a floating airship than one of those jetliners popular in Before when the insufficiently communal went to and fro irrespective as to whether or not such excursions were deemed in accord with social necessity or authorized by those qualified to make such determinations, such vehicles were capable of staying aloft months on end as befitting a dignitary of the Primate’s status. The aerial citadel made its way slowly overhead reminding all catching a glimpse of it of their place as determined by the All (and confirmed of course by one’s residential association in compliance with the Covenant of Universal Community).
Giant metal columns extended upward from underneath the tarmac to greet the floating cathedral, guiding it safely to the ground.
Cecelia, Catherine, and several of Schauungtown’s most equal of residents eagerly waited as the antigravity vessel finished the docking procedure. The hatch on the side opened and a retractable staircase extended to the ground.
The party gathered at the bottom looked on with anticipation as the three dignitaries emerged and proceeded towards them.
“Welcome to Schauungtown. I’m Catherine from the residential oversight committee. This is my domestic partner Cecelia , the Sibling in charge of the local Toleration Fellowship.
Cecelia was mildly irritated at Catherine’s presumption of making the introductions. This visit was, after all, under the auspices and sponsorship of the Toleration Fellowship.
One of the dignitaries caught Cecelia’s eye. “Minister Joshua?”
“No, I am not. I am Seer Jeremiah. But the Minister send his regards,”
Cecelia was taken aback. Both the Seer and the Primate gracing Schauungtown with their presence was quite an honor. Cecelia continued, “We are humbled by your presence, Seer. My apologies for confusing you with Minister Joshua.”
“Think nothing of it, Sibling. When you see me, you see him.”
Catherine interrupted. “The resemblance between the two of you is remarkable. Are you and the Minister related?”
The Seer responded, “We are, yet we are not. It is the desire of Minister Joshua that each of us would move beyond the relational limitations of Before to embrace the commonality of All."
Cecelia was content to bask in the words of the Seer for in them was found what those beneath his status were deemed worthy of knowing. Catherine, on the other hand, wanted to press the issue. "So, are you and the Minister related?"
The Seer responded, "We are, but not as you understand such limitations."
As unease difficult to describe settled over Catherine that for some reason she knew to say no more about the matter.
The Seer turned to the second party of his entourage. "I'd like to introduce Nathaniel Prescott, special assistant to Minister Joshua for Residential Association Affairs."
Both Catherine and Cecelia nodded politely towards Special Assistant Prescott. From what Catherine had read of Prescott, he was one Minister Joshua's closest advisors but one whose role was not quite as public as the Seer's. It was believed Prescott's primary concern was overseeing the overall compliance of the residential associations with the Covenant of Universal Community and persuading, with all that would entail, the remaining unincorporated free areas into ratifying the covenant.
Cecelia gestured toward the lengthy hoverzine. "Shall we head towards the Toleration Hall?"
The dignitaries headed towards the hoverzine, with the Primate following closely behind the Seer. Even Cecelia felt uncomfortable riding in the hoverzine. As with their wheeled counterparts in the Before, these lengthy modes of transport were an energy-intensive mode of conveyance.
Certainly, the Unity Covenant stipulated that those assigned to fulfilling the needs of the Community were entitled to the use of resources and technologies to which average residents were not authorized to utilize. But, in light of the incident in the food distribution center, would those still acculturated to the paradigms of Before and more individiocentric in their orientation put up with having their movements restricted indefinitely?
The hoverzine lifted several feet off the ground and proceeded beyond the outskirts of the airstation. The Seer gazed out the window as the primate sat contentedly.
The Seer observed, “I see the airstation is surrounded by the Laborer Sector.”
“Yes, Seer. The Residential Committee thought it would be best to locate the facility in the Laborer Sector since that would preserve existing green space. The only thing here previously were single family homes, “ the words rolled off Cecelia’s tongue in disgust, “built during Before. Cooperative residents were transferred to barrack units. Those thinking they had a say in the matter beyond agreeing to the propriety of the decision made for their well-being were dealt with appropriately.”
The Seer nodded. “A most efficient operation.”
The hoverzine floated past the barracks where the common laborers of limited community loyalty and social utility were assigned until the Residential Committee was satisfied they had been sufficiently communalized. At least that was the incentive held out to those warehoused there.
Of course, some within that particular patch of human capital would be reallocated to different domiciles as there remained a vested interest in maintaining a veneer of compliance that would earn reward. For despite all the efforts to move beyond the mindsets of Before, it seemed that either not enough time had elapsed or that somethings just couldn’t be engineered out of the human psyche, even despite tampering on the molecular-genetic level.
It had already been predetermined by the foremost community planners that the vast majority of those residing in the barracks would never be granted permission to abide elsewhere. They were exactly where the Community needed them to be and they could at least derive a sense of satisfaction knowing they had fulfilled their role in the all. And if that was not enough, they could keep it to themselves or...Well, there was no need to dwell on that as there were other matters to attend to as the Primate and his entourage proceeded towards the Schauungtown Toleration Fellowship.
The vehicle floated past the laborer barracks into what looked more like what had been a traditional configuration of domiciles in Before known as a “neighborhood”. Utter confusion was what both Cecelia and Catherine thought it was.
Unlike the laborers that could be conditioned by manipulating instinctual appetites and contrived incentives that went largely unfulfilled, those assigned to the Intermediary Sector were overall an unpredictable lot. A number gladly accepted their place in the All as part of the Community and embraced their obligations to comply with the directive promulgated for them by those recognized by the various levels of the system of residential associations established under the provisions of the Unity Covenant for their superior evolutionary attainments in approaching cosmic oneness. Another element residing in the Intermediary Sector were more puzzling,
Unlike those that exhibited a proper sense of gratitude for the place they had been assigned and did not ask for too much, those insisting upon retaining their individuality in the Intermediary Sector possessed the kind of discontent that could disrupt everything the Covenant of Universal Community stood for and could plunge the habitated regimes back into the ways of Before. The oddest thing was, and perhaps what made them most dangerous was that, even though many of the independently inclined residing in the Intermediary Sector did not approve of the power of the residential associations, the Unity Covenant and high level confederation matters, they knew nearly as much about such things (including the most arcane matters regarding Seer Jeremiah and Minister Joshua) as the most advanced level of administrators, most never did all that much with what they did know.
It was this knowledge of power with an aversion to using it that unsettled the Social Cohesion Office the most. For if those with such knowledge had intentions of using it, they could be properly directed like any other group. But the thing was, they did not think of themselves as members of a group first and foremost.
In all likelihood, the old fool that merged with the All right there in the Food Distribution Center and the Bible Peddler could be ranked among such subversives, Catherine thought. The Social Cohesion Office was making headway on the Food Distribution Center incident and it would only be a matter of time before all remnants of the perpetrator could be removed from the Community. Sure, the whiny coot might no longer be a corporeal entity on this plane of reality, but from his own confession, he had a domestic partner and she could not be permitted remain in the Residential Association. Catherine did not care how old the hag might be.
What was it about the chronologically advanced that it was not enough for them to gratefully accept the privilege of continued existence but compeled them to spout all that nonsense about Before, how much better things were back then, and how such reactionary conditions should be allowed to prevail once more. Fortunately for the most part, they could be controlled within reason or removed entirely as a last resort without creating too much of a scene.
The Bible Peddler, on the other hand, was a whole other matter. Thus far, there was very little known about him.
Unlike the expired coot, almost no headway was being made on the Bible Peddler file. Thus far, there had only been a number of sightings and most of those only in passing.
Strangely, no one knew who the Bible Peddler was, and it was the duty of the Social Cohesion Office to know who everyone was on behalf of the Residential Association. Attitudinal Assessment Technicians would need to more thoroughly infiltrate the various spiritual and metaphysical centers located around the periphery of the Community not part of the Toleration Fellowship that had been permitted to remain open slightly after the ending of Before. These experts could determine just how far this contamination might have spread and recommend what steps would be necessary to correct the situation.
The retinue finally arrived at the Schauungtown Toleration Fellowship. Both the Primate and Seer glanced out the window at the structure dedicated to oneness and equality. Throngs of those not deemed essential enough to be allowed inside the hall gathered around the perimeter in hopes of catching a glimpse of the dignitaries.
Cecelia and Catherine were the first to disembark from the vehicle to minor applause. As the Seer and Primate got out, the crowds became more jubilant. Surrounded by the burliest Social Cohesion Officers, they party made their way into the Toleration Hall.....
.....Sibling Cecelia ascended the lectern shaped like a round peace sign. Cecelia began her remarks.
“Assembled sentients.” Cecelia was careful to address all beings (seen and unseen, biological, fabricated, and all combinations thereof) that had gathered for the auspicious occasion. “This is certainly a day of foremost equalitude. For among all the signatory residential associations to the Covenant on Universal Community, it has been decided that the Primate of the Toleration Fellowship would grace Mother World with his presence this year in our gathering of inclusion. I present, to this assembly, the Primate."
Possessed of below average stature, the Primate held the Seer's hand as he ascended the podium. With a contemplative expression, the Primate looked out over the gathered.
Cecelia intoned towards the congregation, "Let us now render homage to the Primate." Cecelia bowed slightly, hands folded. Sometimes even gestures held over from Before were still useful if they elicited the desired cognitive response in a group context.
“O Primate. We come before you now. We beseech you as the symbol of the We from which We came that We might look within Ourselves to reembrace the unreflective All of both the Cosmos and the Community. May We look to We so that We might diminish the I. In the name of the Community, Minister Joshua, and Seer Jeremiah, Ahumyn.”
Cecelia gazed up at the primate. As she did, something dark, gooey, and smelly struck the exalted Sibling in her androgynous countenance.
The Primate looked down at her and began to clap his hands, grinned with considerable satisfaction, and started to jump in place. The congregation looked on with considerable curiosity.
Most merely sat there nervously, twiddling their fingers. A number mumbled among themselves. One broke out laughing hysterically.
“THAT PRIMATE OF YOURS IS NOTHING BUT A MONKEY!” One by one, others assembled there in the Schauungtown Toleration Fellowship joined in the laughter as well.
by Frederick Meekins
Granny Bagged & Tagged For Selling Goldfish To A Minor
I hope they realize the fish is going to be dead within two weeks anyway irrespective of how well it's cared for.
In the version of the account posted at the Independent, particularly unnerving is the ruling that the shopkeeper must remain confined indoors between the hours of 6 pm and 7 am because she is "unfit for community work".
Couldn't devise a more Owellian sounding crime if I had to.
What in the name of Hades does that merit a curfew for; hardly anyone works at those times.
In the version of the account posted at the Independent, particularly unnerving is the ruling that the shopkeeper must remain confined indoors between the hours of 6 pm and 7 am because she is "unfit for community work".
Couldn't devise a more Owellian sounding crime if I had to.
What in the name of Hades does that merit a curfew for; hardly anyone works at those times.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Muslim Brutalize Swedish Jews
Yet draw a cartoon these heathens don't like or ask one of them to take the bag off their heads and you never hear the end of it.
Still Lessons To Be Learned From The Obama School Address Controversy
Lincoln is credited with saying that the philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. Likewise, totalitarian movements such as Nazism and Communism expended considerable resources on efforts designed to sway the youth of their respective countries into embracing ideologies inimical to the self interest of the student.
Viewing himself in the pantheon of historical figures by which entire eras are remembered, Barack Obama also realizes the necessity of claiming the hearts and minds of the young if he is to transcend the chasm between that of mere government administrator or even head of state to that of an adored icon an entire culture or way of life is built upon.
Though the administration distanced itself from the original lesson plan and disavowed any purpose for the President's broadcast address other than to tell students to stay in school, the fact that such a document was even formulated provides a glimpse into the worldviews of the influential at the highest levels of the bureaucracy and administration. Therefore, even if the misbegotten memorandum is scrubbed from the Internet and its existence denied to the same extent as the Star Wars Christmas special, it must still be scrutinized as part of the documentary history of the United States.
Despite however White House operatives might spin it now, the President and his handlers intended this speech to be more than a simple welcoming of the school year. Each section of the lesson plan revealed even more about the intent of the section that preceded it.
According to the section titled “Before The Speech”, teachers were instructed to have students read books about Barack Obama. For high schoolers, would the President’s operatives in the Department of Education endorse and applaud works of a contrarian perspective such as “Obamanation” by Jerome Corsi and “The Culture Of Corruption” by Michelle Malkin, or is the suggestion merely euphemism for laudatory tomes of a worshipful nature?
Another study question read, “Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials?...Why is what they say important?” Just let the tone of that one mull around in your brain for a moment.
From the way that is formulated, what the question is calling for is unquestioning obedience. For if it didn’t, it would also be accompanied with a question sparking the realization that it is also important for elected officials to also listen to citizens.
In the section “During The Speech”, it is suggested in a roundabout way that, instead of looking critically in terms of what the President as a politician is trying to get over on or swindle from the American people, students should readily embrace whatever it is that the President is asking them to do. No where were students asked to question whether or not it is proper for the President to ask anything of them beyond the purview of his delineated constitutional authority.
It is bad enough for agents of the state to guide the student through a mental exercise with the largely predetermined goal of increasing the student’s fidelity to a particular presidential administration. It is even worse when plans are made to determine and catalogue the degree of compliance on the part of students.
In the lesson plan, teachers were instructed to have students record their thoughts on sticky notes and to write down their goals on index cards. Big deal, some might say, as such a format is quite transient and easily discardable.
Don’t be so sure. Often in the workplace, when management wants to gather intelligence on the mere laborers, workers are compelled to scribble our thoughts on post-its that are then collected after a staff meeting.
These are then either tacked on a flipchart for everyone to see or transcribed for later distribution as the minutes of the meeting. Had the original lesson plan been adhered to, what the students jotted down wouldn’t have been something simply graded in terms of how well it was thought out in terms of content or mechanics but something ultimately forgotten about as the educational process moved on, but these might have come back to haunt the students at a later date.
For example, in the section of the lesson plan titled "The Extension Of The Speech" teachers are instructed to collect what the students have written and to post these around the classroom where all can see them. Students are to interview (or in other words interogate) each other in order to create a supportive COMMUNITY.
In other words, educators are to establish subdued reeducation camps where students either denounce their classmates failing to live up to the expectations of the Obama regime or out of fear of peer pressure enunciate aspirations that are in compliance with the prerogatives of the group rather than their own or those of their respective families. In a system of secularized government education, even if I have no goal other than sitting on my rear-end after I come home from work and stuff my face with bonbons hour after hour, who is anyone to criticize me whatsoever?
Two of the greatest threats to the sanctity and authority of the family is a peer group and a government that do not uphold the corpus of Biblical values. As destructive as questionable companions can be as a bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, at least these won’t usually keep extensive files for decades to come used to determine future educational and occupational opportunities.
Had these assorted sticky notes, index cards, and related scribblings been collected as suggested in the original lesson plan they would have likely been forwarded surreptitiously to the Departments of Education and Homeland Security. For starters, they were already to be kept until a later date and redistributed so that teachers might be able to hold students accountable to these so-called “goals”.
But beyond academic criteria such as grammar and the application of facts to a formulated question, should public educators be given the authority to evaluate aspects of the life of the student beyond the classroom? Some might respond that concerns of the ruminations of students being turned over to be catalogued by the government is paranoid. But is it really?
One provision in the lesson plan suggested that students should be encouraged to submit two minute videos to the Department of Education's "I Am What I Learn" contest "explaining why education is important and how their education will help them achieve their dreams." And what if the student responds that education --- provided one is able to rise above the swill urging intellectual conformity --- will assist them in realizing that the vast majority of politicians are frauds and full of it?
Despite the fact that the government acting through educational institutions exercises a degree of power to the extent of altering the course of students' lives, some are disturbingly blasé about Obama’s desire to wrap his tentacles even tighter around the minds of as many students as possible. This attitude can shockingly be found even among those claiming to be Conservative that really ought to know better.
In his 9/7/09 column titled "The Obama Controversy --- What To Think", Albert Mohler proved just how quickly some Christian leaders are willing to turn on their more discerning brethren in order to appease the sophisticated and curry favor with elites. In his opening paragraph, Mohler questions, "Why would a speech calling for students to remain in school and set personal goals for themselves incite any controversy at all? Is this just another eruption of the culture war?"
For a theological historian or historical theologian, Mohler exhibits a disturbing misunderstanding regarding the past, the so-called "orders of creation", and the public role of believers in society.
Though an understanding of the Culture War has had to advance beyond belief in the infallibility of the Republican Party, shouldn't Mohler realize that there are things worth fighting for and that much of the acrimony characterizing American culture today is not the fault of believers or other kinds of conservatives and libertarians wanting to mind their own business and to raise their children in a spirit of individuality and a religious adoration of the family's own choosing.
The fundamental issue at hand here is just whom has God entrusted children to regarding those matters beyond mere survival. Ought a child's worldview to be molded primarily by largely law-abiding parents or by a federal government that ultimately does not know the child and can only care about the child in the most detached and abstract manners?
Mohler writes, "At this level, the controversy is a national embarrassment. Conservatives must avoid jumping on every conspiracy theory and labeling every action by the Obama administration as sinister or socialist. Our civic culture is debased when opposing parties and political alignments read every proposal by the other side as suspect on its face.”
Is Mohler’s enthusiasm for gentility and manners going to do him any good when his children are forcibly hauled off for mandatory national service? Mohler might be willing to swallow the party line that the President intended nothing more for the day than to encourage students to strive for their best (efforts for which these youngsters will actually be penalized for as adults by Obama’s own policies), however, there is indeed evidence that the Obama regime did indeed have other intentions for the occasion.
The day President Obama enunciated his scholastic oration, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would be infiltrating the Girl Scouts. As part of the President’s “My Education, My Future” initiative, Secretary Janet Napolitano and the Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of America unveiled a new emergency preparedness merit patch.
To earn this honor, scouts must identify and prepare for potential emergencies, learn about local alerts and warning systems, and engage in community service. By themselves, these things are neutral.
However, what should concern the astute American is that the involvement of the Department of Homeland Security goes beyond the publication of a few pamphlets and workbooks. The initiative is to be administered by Citizen Corps, a division of FEMA.
Does anyone honestly believe the program is going to remain limited to memorizing public safety platitudes that are the contemporary equivalent of either "stop, drop, and roll" or "duck and cover"? Eventually, in the name of defending the Motherland and public health, at first girl scouts and eventually all children irrespective of whether or not they belong to these organized youth movements will be compelled to reveal to authorities what their parents prepared for supper, how far they drove the car on the weekend, and even if they have enunciated any reactionary perspectives such as salvation being found only through belief in Christ and marriage only being between a monogamous man and a monogamous woman.
Unsettling as Obama's power grabs are, even more disturbing is the ease with which some grant Obama a free pass for the most ludicrous of reasons.
Contemporary mainstream Evangelicalism holds that since all people are equal ontologically irrespective of race, all people should be held to the same standard. From that flows the corollary that individuals should be held to the very same criticism.
However, according to Albert Mohler, our response should not so much be based on the objectivity of a specific truth but rather tailored to pander to the preferences of a particular group. Of the President’s remarks on education, Mohler said, "Let's be honest here. Most middle-class white kids get plenty of these messages, starting at home. But might this message be particularly helpful for a child struggling for a role model or looking for justifications for his studiousness?"
In other words, middle class White parents should be made to feel guilty for actually taking care of their progeny instead of pawning them off on the social welfare system while they go off clubbing in pursuit of the parent of their next bastard child. If minority parents deliberately neglect their children, that is their own fault and White people are not obligated to take this unfortunate reality into account when formulating their own parental decisions. It is just as immoral for church officials to play on racial guilt as those in government.
It has been said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Provided a certain level of physical care is maintained, parents (not government officials, credentialed educators, or even eminent theologians) should be the ones to determine through what form in what manner values and the precious heritage of this great nation should be passed on to their respective offspring.
by Frederick Meekins
Viewing himself in the pantheon of historical figures by which entire eras are remembered, Barack Obama also realizes the necessity of claiming the hearts and minds of the young if he is to transcend the chasm between that of mere government administrator or even head of state to that of an adored icon an entire culture or way of life is built upon.
Though the administration distanced itself from the original lesson plan and disavowed any purpose for the President's broadcast address other than to tell students to stay in school, the fact that such a document was even formulated provides a glimpse into the worldviews of the influential at the highest levels of the bureaucracy and administration. Therefore, even if the misbegotten memorandum is scrubbed from the Internet and its existence denied to the same extent as the Star Wars Christmas special, it must still be scrutinized as part of the documentary history of the United States.
Despite however White House operatives might spin it now, the President and his handlers intended this speech to be more than a simple welcoming of the school year. Each section of the lesson plan revealed even more about the intent of the section that preceded it.
According to the section titled “Before The Speech”, teachers were instructed to have students read books about Barack Obama. For high schoolers, would the President’s operatives in the Department of Education endorse and applaud works of a contrarian perspective such as “Obamanation” by Jerome Corsi and “The Culture Of Corruption” by Michelle Malkin, or is the suggestion merely euphemism for laudatory tomes of a worshipful nature?
Another study question read, “Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials?...Why is what they say important?” Just let the tone of that one mull around in your brain for a moment.
From the way that is formulated, what the question is calling for is unquestioning obedience. For if it didn’t, it would also be accompanied with a question sparking the realization that it is also important for elected officials to also listen to citizens.
In the section “During The Speech”, it is suggested in a roundabout way that, instead of looking critically in terms of what the President as a politician is trying to get over on or swindle from the American people, students should readily embrace whatever it is that the President is asking them to do. No where were students asked to question whether or not it is proper for the President to ask anything of them beyond the purview of his delineated constitutional authority.
It is bad enough for agents of the state to guide the student through a mental exercise with the largely predetermined goal of increasing the student’s fidelity to a particular presidential administration. It is even worse when plans are made to determine and catalogue the degree of compliance on the part of students.
In the lesson plan, teachers were instructed to have students record their thoughts on sticky notes and to write down their goals on index cards. Big deal, some might say, as such a format is quite transient and easily discardable.
Don’t be so sure. Often in the workplace, when management wants to gather intelligence on the mere laborers, workers are compelled to scribble our thoughts on post-its that are then collected after a staff meeting.
These are then either tacked on a flipchart for everyone to see or transcribed for later distribution as the minutes of the meeting. Had the original lesson plan been adhered to, what the students jotted down wouldn’t have been something simply graded in terms of how well it was thought out in terms of content or mechanics but something ultimately forgotten about as the educational process moved on, but these might have come back to haunt the students at a later date.
For example, in the section of the lesson plan titled "The Extension Of The Speech" teachers are instructed to collect what the students have written and to post these around the classroom where all can see them. Students are to interview (or in other words interogate) each other in order to create a supportive COMMUNITY.
In other words, educators are to establish subdued reeducation camps where students either denounce their classmates failing to live up to the expectations of the Obama regime or out of fear of peer pressure enunciate aspirations that are in compliance with the prerogatives of the group rather than their own or those of their respective families. In a system of secularized government education, even if I have no goal other than sitting on my rear-end after I come home from work and stuff my face with bonbons hour after hour, who is anyone to criticize me whatsoever?
Two of the greatest threats to the sanctity and authority of the family is a peer group and a government that do not uphold the corpus of Biblical values. As destructive as questionable companions can be as a bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, at least these won’t usually keep extensive files for decades to come used to determine future educational and occupational opportunities.
Had these assorted sticky notes, index cards, and related scribblings been collected as suggested in the original lesson plan they would have likely been forwarded surreptitiously to the Departments of Education and Homeland Security. For starters, they were already to be kept until a later date and redistributed so that teachers might be able to hold students accountable to these so-called “goals”.
But beyond academic criteria such as grammar and the application of facts to a formulated question, should public educators be given the authority to evaluate aspects of the life of the student beyond the classroom? Some might respond that concerns of the ruminations of students being turned over to be catalogued by the government is paranoid. But is it really?
One provision in the lesson plan suggested that students should be encouraged to submit two minute videos to the Department of Education's "I Am What I Learn" contest "explaining why education is important and how their education will help them achieve their dreams." And what if the student responds that education --- provided one is able to rise above the swill urging intellectual conformity --- will assist them in realizing that the vast majority of politicians are frauds and full of it?
Despite the fact that the government acting through educational institutions exercises a degree of power to the extent of altering the course of students' lives, some are disturbingly blasé about Obama’s desire to wrap his tentacles even tighter around the minds of as many students as possible. This attitude can shockingly be found even among those claiming to be Conservative that really ought to know better.
In his 9/7/09 column titled "The Obama Controversy --- What To Think", Albert Mohler proved just how quickly some Christian leaders are willing to turn on their more discerning brethren in order to appease the sophisticated and curry favor with elites. In his opening paragraph, Mohler questions, "Why would a speech calling for students to remain in school and set personal goals for themselves incite any controversy at all? Is this just another eruption of the culture war?"
For a theological historian or historical theologian, Mohler exhibits a disturbing misunderstanding regarding the past, the so-called "orders of creation", and the public role of believers in society.
Though an understanding of the Culture War has had to advance beyond belief in the infallibility of the Republican Party, shouldn't Mohler realize that there are things worth fighting for and that much of the acrimony characterizing American culture today is not the fault of believers or other kinds of conservatives and libertarians wanting to mind their own business and to raise their children in a spirit of individuality and a religious adoration of the family's own choosing.
The fundamental issue at hand here is just whom has God entrusted children to regarding those matters beyond mere survival. Ought a child's worldview to be molded primarily by largely law-abiding parents or by a federal government that ultimately does not know the child and can only care about the child in the most detached and abstract manners?
Mohler writes, "At this level, the controversy is a national embarrassment. Conservatives must avoid jumping on every conspiracy theory and labeling every action by the Obama administration as sinister or socialist. Our civic culture is debased when opposing parties and political alignments read every proposal by the other side as suspect on its face.”
Is Mohler’s enthusiasm for gentility and manners going to do him any good when his children are forcibly hauled off for mandatory national service? Mohler might be willing to swallow the party line that the President intended nothing more for the day than to encourage students to strive for their best (efforts for which these youngsters will actually be penalized for as adults by Obama’s own policies), however, there is indeed evidence that the Obama regime did indeed have other intentions for the occasion.
The day President Obama enunciated his scholastic oration, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would be infiltrating the Girl Scouts. As part of the President’s “My Education, My Future” initiative, Secretary Janet Napolitano and the Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of America unveiled a new emergency preparedness merit patch.
To earn this honor, scouts must identify and prepare for potential emergencies, learn about local alerts and warning systems, and engage in community service. By themselves, these things are neutral.
However, what should concern the astute American is that the involvement of the Department of Homeland Security goes beyond the publication of a few pamphlets and workbooks. The initiative is to be administered by Citizen Corps, a division of FEMA.
Does anyone honestly believe the program is going to remain limited to memorizing public safety platitudes that are the contemporary equivalent of either "stop, drop, and roll" or "duck and cover"? Eventually, in the name of defending the Motherland and public health, at first girl scouts and eventually all children irrespective of whether or not they belong to these organized youth movements will be compelled to reveal to authorities what their parents prepared for supper, how far they drove the car on the weekend, and even if they have enunciated any reactionary perspectives such as salvation being found only through belief in Christ and marriage only being between a monogamous man and a monogamous woman.
Unsettling as Obama's power grabs are, even more disturbing is the ease with which some grant Obama a free pass for the most ludicrous of reasons.
Contemporary mainstream Evangelicalism holds that since all people are equal ontologically irrespective of race, all people should be held to the same standard. From that flows the corollary that individuals should be held to the very same criticism.
However, according to Albert Mohler, our response should not so much be based on the objectivity of a specific truth but rather tailored to pander to the preferences of a particular group. Of the President’s remarks on education, Mohler said, "Let's be honest here. Most middle-class white kids get plenty of these messages, starting at home. But might this message be particularly helpful for a child struggling for a role model or looking for justifications for his studiousness?"
In other words, middle class White parents should be made to feel guilty for actually taking care of their progeny instead of pawning them off on the social welfare system while they go off clubbing in pursuit of the parent of their next bastard child. If minority parents deliberately neglect their children, that is their own fault and White people are not obligated to take this unfortunate reality into account when formulating their own parental decisions. It is just as immoral for church officials to play on racial guilt as those in government.
It has been said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Provided a certain level of physical care is maintained, parents (not government officials, credentialed educators, or even eminent theologians) should be the ones to determine through what form in what manner values and the precious heritage of this great nation should be passed on to their respective offspring.
by Frederick Meekins
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary To Focus On Bobba Fett
What someone needs to do is make a fanvideo with Bobba Fett playing a "Dog The Bounty Hunter" role similar to the way a fanvideo was produced several years ago depicting Stormtroopers in a COPS like environment.
Doubts Congress is being threatened anymore now than any other time.
Rather, having taken, to borrow a Maoist phrase, a "great leap forward" towards socialism/communism with the healthcare legislation, Leftists in government are now laying the foundation to curb free thought and expression as the next plank of that ideology to be implemented.
Proposal being considered to restore voting rights to convicted felons.
Are they going to be saddled with the punishment of jury duty also.
More proof that citizenship is degenerating into next to nothing.
Representative Steny Hoyer says he was in the Young Democrats 50 years ago.
Does this mean he should be denied healthcare since he is by definition beyond the optimal lifes scale advocated by Obama healthcare advisor Ezekiel Emanuel?
Or as in all other Communist societies, are our leaders too important to be bothered... by the enslaving yoke placed around the necks of the masses?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Calgary White Pride marchers likely no more racist than the average Obama voter.
Especially that one on Youtube claiming Obama was going to take care of her mortgage now on.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
The 3/15/10 issue of America: The National Catholic Weekly criticizes America's use of aerial drones.
If they prefer, perhaps we should go back to indiscriminante carpetbombing to handle the terrorist enemy.
If America did not care about our enemies, then why are we holding back our nuclear arsenal?
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
"15 Kings To Shape The Past..."
Sounds like a line from Lord of The Rings, but is acutally how Texas ends up deciding the nature of textbooks for the entire nation.
If nothing else, at least the homoerotic escapades of Rep. Massa & his staff reveal to the public that a bunch of horny drunkards work on Capitol Hill.
Wonder how many others are engaging in similar behavior but have it swept the rug since they vote in compliance with the dictates of their respective party caucuses.
Obama Manipulates States Into Adopting Standardized Academic Curriculum
Article makes it sound like these standards will apply only to English and Math.
The problem arises in that English encompasses literature which can play a major role in shaping the worldviews of students.
This is especially true since many leftwing academics think students should feast their minds on a steady diet of works that undermine the values preferred by parents.
For example, will students be required to read Harry Potter, which some parents might object to while others might not have so much of a problem with. Even worse is what will happen in regards to works that advocate fornication and other assundry matters?
And though these standards are supposedly for public schools, what will happen to students in private schools that wish to maintain their academic independence?
by Frederick Meekins
Obama Advocates Domestic Violence
Speaking to the perceived inequalities between the sexes in regards to domestic labor, President Obama said in an NBC interview that he thought men "need to be knocked across the head every once in a while."
Many would brush the comments aside as the Chief Executive's attempt at humor. However, as the nation has learned as of result of Rush Limbaugh's failure to acquire a stake in the ownership of the Rams, some thought are so vile that they cannot be enunciated according to the NFL officials that denied the famed broadcaster this economic opportunity.
What if Obama had said every once in a while women need to be knocked across the head to be reminded of just how good they have it in this county? Given that Michelle had never felt pride in America until this past election cycle, it seems this is a lesson he has failed to get across to his little woman.
Radical feminists will respond that domestic violence against women is something its victims are so ashamed of that it can never be mentioned in a jocular manner.
Than isn’t it even more so when the victims are men? For the last time I checked, there were not entire cable networks and television programming blocks dedicated to stories of the struggles of battered men or entire charities established supposedly to address the needs of battered men which quietly toss their daughters into the streets for having reached an arbitrary age still well below the age of majority and irrespective of whether or not these youngsters are capable of providing for themselves.
It’s doubtful that Michelle Obama has done much housework her entire married life. For even though the First Lady has feigned an interest in puttering around in the dirt with vegetables, she probably didn’t do much with the bounty beyond the initial photo-op. For you see, the Obama’s brought their private chef with them to the White House, indicating Michelle has been neglecting this wifely and motherly obligation for quite some time.
From the way Barack framed the issue, Michelle does not really enjoy being a mother all that much. The Benevolent Father (a title applied to Ming the Merciless on the SciFi channel’s adaptation of Flash Gordon and now just as applicable to the President of the United States since he thinks he is qualified to speak on how to run our families when he can’t even keep the country on track) said in the interview, “Michelle was trying to figure out, OK, if the kids get sick why is it that she’s the one who has to take time off of her job to pick them up from school as opposed to me? If...the girls need to shop for clothes...why is it her burden and not mine?”
Well because, as to the clothes bit, if Barack (or any other man for that matter) brought the wrong thing home, it is going to be his rear that is going to get chewed out. As to the more serious matter of a sick child, even though it is an individual family matter to work out, if Michelle Obama is going to cop such an attitude about the matter, perhaps she should have not gotten married or had children.
If this is how the First Lady feels about things, perhaps the Obama's are not the ideal parents the media makes them out to be to which the rest of us fail to measure up to. For parents (especially mothers) that really do put their children above everything else don't go around complaining about it when called upon to perform the most basic parental functions. So instead of lecturing the rest of us about the glories of mandatory voluntarism, perhaps someone ought to giver her an earful about how parents truly dedicated to their children don't go around complaining about those times when their children really do need them.
Often when certain people feel guilty about something from their past or that of their family, they become fanatic to the other extreme and make it their mission to ferret out less significant shortcomings in those around them. The world is going to Hades in a handbasket, yet Obama thinks one of the pressing concerns needing to be addressed is the occasional absentmindedness of fathers who otherwise provide and care for their families.
Obama told NBC, "There's no doubt that our family, like a lot of families out there, were ones in which the men are still a little obtuse about this stuff." That is putting it mildly and frankly an insult to American fathers if they are to be judged by what passed as male parenting in the Obama family. And frankly, the way Barack's mother went pining after Third World deadbeats and abandoned her son to pursue anthropological studies in the area of Indonesian blacksmithing, according to Jerome Corsi, she's hardly a role model worthy of praise or emulation either.
Obama praised his father up one end and down the other in his Inaugural address. In his memoir “Dreams Of My Father”, Obama attempts to excuse his father’s behavior.
What is it exactly that Barack’s pappy is suppose to have done? For starters, when he married Obama’s mother, he had another wife in Kenya he conveniently failed to mention.
As shameful as that is, I Timothy 5:18 teaches that the person that doesn’t take care of their family is worse than an infidel. And it seems Pappy Obama refused to take advantage of the fresh starts America is renowned for and that draw people here from around the world. Obama’s father eventually essentially abandoned young Barack as well.
Pappy Obama just wasn’t a sappy provider and nurturer. Barack’s half-brother Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo in the book "Nairobi To Shenzen" contends that their father was actually a wife beater.
No family is perfect. Both parents (that includes mothers as well fathers) often fail to live up to the perfect ideal. However, short of profound negligence, it is not really the place of the federal government in the personage of its highest official to comment in an almost ex-cathedra fashion as to what goes on in our homes as to household banalities such as the division of domestic labor.
by Frederick Meekins
Many would brush the comments aside as the Chief Executive's attempt at humor. However, as the nation has learned as of result of Rush Limbaugh's failure to acquire a stake in the ownership of the Rams, some thought are so vile that they cannot be enunciated according to the NFL officials that denied the famed broadcaster this economic opportunity.
What if Obama had said every once in a while women need to be knocked across the head to be reminded of just how good they have it in this county? Given that Michelle had never felt pride in America until this past election cycle, it seems this is a lesson he has failed to get across to his little woman.
Radical feminists will respond that domestic violence against women is something its victims are so ashamed of that it can never be mentioned in a jocular manner.
Than isn’t it even more so when the victims are men? For the last time I checked, there were not entire cable networks and television programming blocks dedicated to stories of the struggles of battered men or entire charities established supposedly to address the needs of battered men which quietly toss their daughters into the streets for having reached an arbitrary age still well below the age of majority and irrespective of whether or not these youngsters are capable of providing for themselves.
It’s doubtful that Michelle Obama has done much housework her entire married life. For even though the First Lady has feigned an interest in puttering around in the dirt with vegetables, she probably didn’t do much with the bounty beyond the initial photo-op. For you see, the Obama’s brought their private chef with them to the White House, indicating Michelle has been neglecting this wifely and motherly obligation for quite some time.
From the way Barack framed the issue, Michelle does not really enjoy being a mother all that much. The Benevolent Father (a title applied to Ming the Merciless on the SciFi channel’s adaptation of Flash Gordon and now just as applicable to the President of the United States since he thinks he is qualified to speak on how to run our families when he can’t even keep the country on track) said in the interview, “Michelle was trying to figure out, OK, if the kids get sick why is it that she’s the one who has to take time off of her job to pick them up from school as opposed to me? If...the girls need to shop for clothes...why is it her burden and not mine?”
Well because, as to the clothes bit, if Barack (or any other man for that matter) brought the wrong thing home, it is going to be his rear that is going to get chewed out. As to the more serious matter of a sick child, even though it is an individual family matter to work out, if Michelle Obama is going to cop such an attitude about the matter, perhaps she should have not gotten married or had children.
If this is how the First Lady feels about things, perhaps the Obama's are not the ideal parents the media makes them out to be to which the rest of us fail to measure up to. For parents (especially mothers) that really do put their children above everything else don't go around complaining about it when called upon to perform the most basic parental functions. So instead of lecturing the rest of us about the glories of mandatory voluntarism, perhaps someone ought to giver her an earful about how parents truly dedicated to their children don't go around complaining about those times when their children really do need them.
Often when certain people feel guilty about something from their past or that of their family, they become fanatic to the other extreme and make it their mission to ferret out less significant shortcomings in those around them. The world is going to Hades in a handbasket, yet Obama thinks one of the pressing concerns needing to be addressed is the occasional absentmindedness of fathers who otherwise provide and care for their families.
Obama told NBC, "There's no doubt that our family, like a lot of families out there, were ones in which the men are still a little obtuse about this stuff." That is putting it mildly and frankly an insult to American fathers if they are to be judged by what passed as male parenting in the Obama family. And frankly, the way Barack's mother went pining after Third World deadbeats and abandoned her son to pursue anthropological studies in the area of Indonesian blacksmithing, according to Jerome Corsi, she's hardly a role model worthy of praise or emulation either.
Obama praised his father up one end and down the other in his Inaugural address. In his memoir “Dreams Of My Father”, Obama attempts to excuse his father’s behavior.
What is it exactly that Barack’s pappy is suppose to have done? For starters, when he married Obama’s mother, he had another wife in Kenya he conveniently failed to mention.
As shameful as that is, I Timothy 5:18 teaches that the person that doesn’t take care of their family is worse than an infidel. And it seems Pappy Obama refused to take advantage of the fresh starts America is renowned for and that draw people here from around the world. Obama’s father eventually essentially abandoned young Barack as well.
Pappy Obama just wasn’t a sappy provider and nurturer. Barack’s half-brother Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo in the book "Nairobi To Shenzen" contends that their father was actually a wife beater.
No family is perfect. Both parents (that includes mothers as well fathers) often fail to live up to the perfect ideal. However, short of profound negligence, it is not really the place of the federal government in the personage of its highest official to comment in an almost ex-cathedra fashion as to what goes on in our homes as to household banalities such as the division of domestic labor.
by Frederick Meekins
Finch Fighting Amuses Uncivilized Immigrants
Would really be entertaining to take this scum and lock them in a cage with a ticked off ostritch.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Walmart Condemned For Devaluing Black Barbie
Shouldn't those making the argument that the prices of the dolls should remain the same also have to oppose Affirmative Action.
Shouldn't Walmart be commended for taking measures to make the Black doll more appealing from a free market standpoint.
Detroit To Abolish Entire Neighborhoods
And if what if people don't want to go.
This could lead to a justifiable revolt.
Dimwits commenting on the story at Yahoo remark how wonderful the proposal is.
Little do they realize the platitutdes regarding "stronger neighborhoods" are merely euphemism for increased governmental control over their daily lives.
Wonder how many of those lacking this foresight to realize this will still have those stupid Communitarian grins on their faces when the knock is at their door telling them they have to vacate their homes for the good of the COMMUNITY.
Why Are Women Without Children Any More Valuable Than Men Without Children?
Can understand the moral reasoning behind saving children and their mothers to care for them, but why is a single woman that is trampy of anymore value than a single man that is virtuous. Unless I am married to or emotionally attached to a particular woman, I am not obligated to go out of my way to the extent of physical harm to protect them.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The California legislature has more serious things to do than pass anti-cussing legislation.
Shouldn't the state run the queers from San Francisco first?
As bad off as the state is financial, you ought to be fined if a few choice words don't slip from your lips over what's happened there.
Both Geraldo and Obama are supposed to be featured on the 1000th episode of "America's Most Wanted".
In technical journalistic language, that is called being a "media whore". I guess it will soon be illegal to say such things in California.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
When he stood at the forefront of human accomplishment, wonder if Buzz Aldrin ever realized he'd spend his old age jitterbugging on national TV.
As a foremost icon of the 20th century, isn't his joinging the cast of "Dancing with the Stars" the equivalent of Gandi or Pope John Paull II doing so?
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Obama Administraton Attempts To Block Asylum For German Homeschool Fugitives
Says right there in the article that asylum is seldomed granted to those from Western countries.
In other words, Whites need not apply as those running this country are only interested in granting protection to the likes of Iranian sodomites and others that can't speak a lick of English other than "Foodstamp".
Mechanic Suspended For Knotted Rope
If Blacks are going to be this uppity, how long until we are forbidden from having knotted shoelaces as well?
As part of his "reeducation", the offender will be required to attend an "ethnic sensitivies" class.
How about sending some of these activists to a course warning how regular Americans are about fed up with this BLACKMAIL.
As Mark Levin says, "THERE I SAID IT".
British Government To Destroy Reports Of UFO's
But I bet they'll keep on file for decades reports of anyone letting an uncouth thing slip from their lips about in a heated moment about an ethnic or, even more importantly, a sexual minority.
China Plots Artic Takeover
A children's ditty of dubious political correctness intones, "Ching Chong Chinamen, sittin on a fense, tries to make a dollar out of fifteen cents".
So while beatnik North Americans and Europeans sit around handwringing as to whether or not the Artic is melting and how a penance of self-deprivation (at least for the masses and not for the elites such as Al Gore) must be inflicted upon Western civilization for having advanced to a level beyond mud huts, the industrious of China are developing ways to take advantage of the situation.
Gas is expected to reach $3.00 per gallon by summer.
Don't blame the oil company neccesarily.
Place it on the government for required specialized varities of petrol supposedly as a pollution control measure.
According to his medical report, the President is a gluttonous, chain-smoking, borderline alcoholic.
Frau Obama ought to straighten out her own household before telling the rest of us how to run ours.
Monday, March 01, 2010
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