Mad Macedonian

It May All have Started With Marx, But Is It Continuing With Obama?

Growing up in Pomona, in the 70's, & 80's, my peculiar Sense of Humor was influenced by many sources, often courtesy of the Dr. Demento Show, but writers also were influential.

One such author was a local legend, in Pomona, and Claremont, Ca.

Prolific, outspoken humorist, poet, author (More than 65 books!), and Porfessor of English, Richard Armour. :-D

I devoured any of his books I could rescue from local Thrift Stores for pennies.

Yesterday, at a local library, I discovered a book I missed. :-D

It was written in 1958, and is described this way:

"A brief and objective history of Russian Communism, the objective being to leave not one stone, but many, unturned, to state the theories of Marx so clearly that they can almost be understood, and to show how these theories and many old friends were carried out by Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Malenkov, Krushchev, and others."

IT ALL STARTED WITH MARX. :-D

The copy I picked up, for a $1, was the British Hardcover, published in 1959.

From the Forward:

"Once upon a time there was no such thing as Communism. People ignorantly toiled and saved, hoping to Get Ahead like the heroes in Horation Alger's books, which they forgot were fiction...

Lacking vision, many were unable to see anything shameful about accepting the rewards of industry and thrift...

There were also those who believed in some sort of Deity, or at least had an uneasy feeling that there was something bigger than the Head Man. They did not know, until it was pointed out by Marx, that religion is the opium of the people and should be sold only on prescription...

Conditions were dreadful, with so much freedom and family life and churchgoing and money in the bank. Something had to be done, and quickly, or the Decline of the West would be followed by the Debacle of the East, and the North, and South would come tumbling after...

This book, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created, tells how a new philosophy arose to fill the void and how it swept men's minds like wildfire, burning them to a crisp..."

Armour went through many original & unoriginal sources, and claimed to have interviewed many people who have never been to Russia. :-D

His scholarship is, as he brags, "not only beyond question, but beyond belief!"

Anyone seeking a trustworthy account of the History of Communism, and Socialism, and some idea of what we quite possibly might be in for in America, and the West, if Barrack Obama is re-elected, and Europe continues its leadlong dash down the Rat Hole of their own Socialist making, need go no farther than this book. :-D

NOTE: The Font used for Obama saying "Yes we Can!" is Vladimir Script...as in Vladimir Lenin. :-D

WARNING: Conservative Carrying Camera! 2 -- Take Back Irvine!

Hello, fellow Patriots!

It's me, The Mad Macedonian, a sort of 1 man Patriotic CCC (Civilian Conservative Corp, um, hee, hee!) for the 21st Century. ;-D (For late comers the series began, and is explained, here)

Take Back Your Republic! Times Up! ;-D

Yesterday, I was out, and about, doing some clothes shopping, when I decided to take a peek at Occupy Irvine.

The City Council, in an effort to make nice, and show their willingness to let people express themselves so long as they don't bring down property values, and cause a rucus, has allowed the Irvine contingent of Occupy Orange County, and Occupy Wall St., camp out on the sidewalk at the Civic Center.

The intersection, at Harvard & Alton, is a wide one, and my bus stop was far enough away that I couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary, and could barely hear the demand of, "No Pictures!", when I set up my camera on my hiking pole, and took the photo. ;-D

Not wanting to cross the street to the bus stop for the bus I next wanted to catch, since it was within smelling, and interaction, distance, of the Useful Idiots, I walked 3 blocks to the next bus stop. ;-D

WARNING: Conservative Carrying Camera!

The last 2 months, or so, have seen the Media & the Far Left, working overtime to embarrass the hell out of themselves, participating in, and supporting, the nationwide Occupy Wall St. Movement (OWS), full of Liberals, Socialists, Commies, Anarchists, and assorted other Radicals, as well as the generally clueless.

From the President himself, to Democrat politicians, to Mayors, City Councils, and Religious leaders, on down, The Useful Idiots are EVERYWHERE!

Like most Americans, especially of a certain political persuasion, I'm more than a little annoyed with these people, and more than a little concerned about the future of the Republic.

In case you haven't noticed things have sort of gone to Hell in a Handbasket, under President Obama, since he bamboozled the American Electorate into voting him into office in November 2008.

R U better off than you were 3 years ago? Me neither.

I could tell, even then, even reading the sorry excuse for a newspaper that is The Los Angeles Times, that we were in serious trouble.

This was even before I put on my Pajamas, and went online to check out the news from dedicated, reliable, mostly Conservative in nature, sources. ;-D

*******

Pulitzer Winning Journalist Al Martinez, & Me --

Is the world obsessed with Nudity?

Is it true that anyone looking at this picture will be at first curious about a certain aspect of it, then intensly interested in whether their suspicions about it are true, or not, lusting after that which this suspicion makes them imagine is hidden in plain sight?

According to Mr. Martinez the Puritans would not be pleased with this simple, ambiguous, bit of whimsy. ;-D )

*******

I have used my camera to express myself politically since my misbegotten days as a Liberal, attending a Clinton Campaign Rally at a park in Ontario, Ca., in the early 90's, and I've been doing so, even more, once I became a registered Republican, my politics having gradually become more Conservative, right around the time I was a couple years into my life as a blogger around 2002-04.

As we head into 2012, the campaign for President heats up, and OWS, and Socialists, Commies, and Anarchists, continue to act up, I'll be wielding my camera once again. ;-D

Beginning with this post....

 

How Is It Possible to Believe in God?

In looking over old posts, from my original blog, which ran from 2002 to Oct. 2007, I came across 13 "Draft" posts that for whatever reason, from incompleteness, to senility, & forgetfulness, on my part, had never made it onto the blog. ;-D

Only one of them was worth saving, and here it is, a post intended to appear on Nov. 30, 2006, after Thanksgiving, and as the Christmas Season was beginning (Only the Links have been updated since the originals no longer work.). ;-D

In my life I've read more than a few books of a religious natutre, from Oral Roberts, to a History of Christianity by an author I don't remember, though I do remember the book was quite lengthy.

I even took a Bible as Literature course in College, in the late 70's.

I also read the Bible, & watched Jerry Falwell on Sundays way back when. ;-D

This year I've bought 2 new Bibles, and begun to read again, after years of  not having done so.

NIV Study Bible

The American Patriot's Bible

I've also read, this year...

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

What's So Great About Christianity? by Dinesh D'Souza

I've also bought, and plan to read the following...

CHRISTIANITY: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch (1161 pages!)

The Reformation: A History by Diarmaid MacCulloch (831 pages)

Here is the post I wrote, but never posted.

Your thoughts are welcome in the comments....

Does God Exist, and whose God is She anyway?

Those 2 questions have been at the center of so much in human history, from the 1st moment some Homo Sapien chap started worshiping that odd shaped rock at the top of a hill near his tribal cave, to our current concerns centering around the major religions of the Modern Age. 

This I Believe
How Is It Possible to Believe in God?

William F. Buckley, Jr.

National Public Radio's Morning Edition, May 23, 2005

I've always liked the exchange featuring the excited young Darwinian at the end of the 19th century. He said grandly to the elderly scholar, "How is it possible to believe in God?" The imperishable answer was, "I find it easier to believe in God than to believe that Hamlet was deduced from the molecular structure of a mutton chop."

That rhetorical bullet has everything -- wit and profundity. It has more than once reminded me that skepticism about life and nature is most often expressed by those who take it for granted that belief is an indulgence of the superstitious -- indeed their opiate, to quote a historical cosmologist most profoundly dead. Granted, that to look up at the stars comes close to compelling disbelief -- how can such a chance arrangement be other than an elaboration -- near infinite -- of natural impulses? Yet, on the other hand, who is to say that the arrangement of the stars is more easily traceable to nature, than to nature's molder? What is the greater miracle: the raising of the dead man in Lazarus, or the mere existence of the man who died and of the witnesses who swore to his revival?

The skeptics get away with fixing the odds against the believer, mostly by pointing to phenomena which are only explainable -- you see? -- by the belief that there was a cause for them, always deducible. But how can one deduce the cause of Hamlet? Or of St. Matthew's Passion? What is the cause of inspiration?

This I believe: that it is intellectually easier to credit a divine intelligence than to submit dumbly to felicitous congeries about nature. As a child, I was struck by the short story. It told of a man at a bar who boasted of his rootlessness, derisively dismissing the jingoistic patrons to his left and to his right. But later in the evening, one man speaks an animadversion on a little principality in the Balkans and is met with the clenched fist of the man without a country, who would not endure this insult to the place where he was born.

So I believe that it is as likely that there should be a man without a country as a world without a creator.

I swear... Every damn time one turns around there is Buckley saying, or writing, something profound, and thought provoking.

When I 1st watched him on TV, decades ago, his distinctive voice annoyed the hell out of me!

I'm used to it now. ;-D

So is there a God?

Was the story of The Last Supper the fevered scribbling of some 1st century hack suffering from a bad case of the Munchies?

I See and Hear...People 6: Your Cell Phone and You

Has it really been 4 years since the last entry in this series?

My Bad!

I really must remember to make note of the more, um, interesting things I see, and hear, on my travels. ;-D

As regular readers know, up thru last August, I had spent 6 years as a Directory Assistance Operator handling calls from Cell Phone users.

I often wondered, on some of the more strange calls, if the person on the other end was in a public place, with people within easy hearing? ;-D

For instance, take this example from 2005:

In this job you get up close and personal with man's, and woman's, penchant for the odd, and humorous in the naming of their business establishments, and even in the naming of their children.

One day I had an interesting example of this.

ME: City, and State, please...

SHE: Burien, Washington... Love Package.

ME: ( VERY PREGNANT PAUSE ), yeesss...

SHE: I'm looking for Love Package.

ME: ( a huge smile in my voice ) So, you are looking for a Love Package in Burien?

SHE: ( Laughing ) Yes, it's a business.

ME: Okaaay...  ( In my most deeply disappointed sounding voice ) I'm sorry, there are no Love Packages in Burien, or the surrounding area...

SHE: ( more laughter ) Oh, okay, thanks for looking.

I never did learn just WHAT the Love Package was, or if it even involved a WHO.

Was she single, and really looking for a MR. Love Package, or was she looking for something to recharge her hubbys batteries?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Well, an Operator with an over active imagination does anyway! :-D

 In 2006, John Dvorak wrote an interesting, and amusing, essay that is called:

Why I hate the mobile-phone business Commentary: People act crazy and the phones are junk

I love the American Republic, I Love Freedom, I Love Capitalism, and I'm with Hank!

 

 

Occupy THIS!!! 

All you Commies, Socialists, and your delusional, gullable, Useful Idiots?

KEEP THE CHANGE!!!

THE JABBERLIBERAL (Updated from 2006, this is a Fall 2011 Edition.)

'Twas brobby, and the flizzy wotes
Did ziffle and wapple in the yillie;
All ninsle were the jorigives,
And the rume taths ingrobie.

'Beware the Jabberliberal, my friend!
The pen that writes, the mouth that talks!
Beware the Jubleftie Snake, and the wind
Out the rear of the Occupy Wall St. Squawks!'

He took his verpil Microphone in hand:
So long the tinzeme enemy he hunted--
Finally rested he by the BumBum stand,
Then stood awhile and grunted.

And, as in deep contemplation he stood,
The Jabberliberal, with nostrils flaring,
Came shuffling  through the neighborhood,
And screeched loudly without caring!

"I am Occupy America!!" And, calmly and truly
The microphone spoke Conservative!
He left it hoarse, its voice gone Blooey
He then let loose with a happy expletive!

'And, Glenn Beck, did you silence the Jabberliberal?
Come out of my radio, my voice of reason!
O dribjous day! Yeehaw! Yaziberal!'
I chortled and tried to keep from sneezin'.

'Twas brobby, and the flizzy wotes
Did ziffle and wapple in the yillie;
All ninsle were the jorigives,
And the rume taths ingrobie.

Has it been 10 years since that awful day?

10 years ago, today, Extremest Muslim hatred for all things American, and all things Western Civilization, was brought to our shores.

We all remember where we were that day, that week.

Some think about where they might have been...

From Friday morning, Sept. 7, to Monday Night, Sept. 10, I was, um, hanging out, in Chicago, with some friends, all of whom I had got to know in the 3 years since I got a computer, and went online, joining a long forgotten Community on the old Time Magazine Online website, some of whom I'd met, face to face, the previous year at a wedding in Phoenix, others I was meeting for the first time.

Monday night I was on a plane back to Los Angeles and, early in the morning of Sept. 11th, I was on busses back to Pomona, and then to bed....

 

I spent my first morning in Chcago being given a tour of the city by the amazing Carolyn Daily O'Connor, may she rest in peace, a wonderful, opinionated, woman who I knew as 1 of 5 remarkable people I first got to know in 2000, all of whom have played a part in encouraging my personal, and creative, growth, over the last Decade Plus, and 3 of whom are still very much a part of my life (Another of the group, dear Susan, also passed  away the same year as Carolyn.).

 

Friday afternoon, and night, and Saturday, and Sunday, were days to explore the city with friends, go to a Cubs game, and dinner, take silly, and serious, and sillier (Not shown because I couldn't decide among them, and they were related to "The Great Hooters Escapade" that the gentleman above, and I, went on, um, hee, hee!) photos, and set the cares of the world aside for a few days.

 

Some apPEALEing Thoughts to Ponder

As in Norman Vincent Peale, the great Christian Preacher, Author, and Inspirational Thinker, and speaker, behind the concept of The Power of Positive Thinking, and founder of Guideposts Magazine....

I have been doing a lot of reading, this year, of books to pick up my spirits, inspire me, and encourage me to build a better future, and life, for myself, in these dificult economic times.

2 of those books, read this summer, were by Norman Vincent Peale, and a 3rd was edited by him, with 10 inspiring chapter introductions.

The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)

Unlock Your Faith-Power Anthology (1957)

You Can If You Think You Can (1974)

These books, being from the 50's to the 70's, one wonders, after reading them, how he, and his ideas, not to mention the 75 stories by mostly famous people, in the Anthology, if encountered for the first time today, would be responded to, in an age when Christians, especially Evangelicals, and Conservative Christians, Tea Partiers, and Conservatives in general, are under frequent attack, and ridicule.

He was controversial in his lifetime, but with modern media outlets, such as Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, & Facebook, one can just imagine the field day some would have. ;-D

Reading Power of Positive Thinking I came away with these things worth pondering, & taking to heart, some even if, like me,  you are not Church Going Religious.:

  
Believe in myself...Believe that things are not going to fall apart.
 
If I expect the best, I will get the best.
 
Believe in myself, and have faith in my abilities.
 
Let nothing disturb me. Let nothing frighten me.
 
Don't believe in defeat. There is no difficulty that I can't overcome.
 
The rough is only mental. Think victory, get victory.
 
Be bold, & mighty forces will come to my aid.
 
Take a deep breath, & bite off more than I can chew.
 
It doesn't matter what I did in the past, it only matters what I do in the future.

This is the day which the Lord has made. I will rejoice, and be glad in it!

God is here, & He is with me, & He will see me through.

I thank God for every good thing.

If God is before me, who can be against me?

Faith Power works wonders.

I believe God gives me power to attain what I really want.

I expect the best &, with God's help, will attain the best!

The Lord is the Strength of my life...In this I will be confident!

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me!

God is with me! God is helping me! God is guiding me!

I am in God's hands. With God all things are possible.

Nothing can defeat me!

I believe God will always make a way where there is no way.

Whatever I believe I can do, I can do with God's help.

 

Support Restoring The Great American Republic: Eat a Corn Dog!

 The last few weeks have seen the Media, and many on the Far Left, working overtime to embarrass the hell out of themselves, calling Tea Partiers, & Conservatives, everything from Hostage Takers to Terrorists, and more and, now, in the wake of the recent Republican Debate, Iowa Straw Poll results, and the entrance of Govenor Rick Perry into the race, they have fallen all over themselves to take Michele Bachmann, & Perry, to task for eating Corn Dogs in public!

I know, I know, what the ???

From the Telegraph of London, to The Daily Kos, & Dallas Voice, here in the States, and contributors to their comments, and beyond, Liberals are having a field day, often in the crudest way imaginable.

The so-called "Corn Dog Conspiracy" has even drawn the attention of CNN's Inside Edition.

Learn more, see the photos, and see the video, at The Blaze.

Also, my old friend, at Emigre With a Digital Cluebat, Delftsman, has some thoughts, and, um, gets his licks in, with 2 telling photos, one of President Obama, and the other of Hillary Clinton. :-D

Well, I say, this is an insult to patriotic Corn Dog Lovers, all across America, especially Conservative ones like myself, not to mention all those restaurants, and other purveyors, of this tasty culinary delight!

They don't call me The Mad Macedonian for nothing!

My Father fought to try to stop the Commie Tito from taking over his homeland of Macedonia, and didn't come to America, to start a new life, and raise a family, only to see his adopted homeland become as bad, or worse, as what he left, a Socialist nightmare, in the lifetime of his children.

This afternoon I took some of my books, and headed off to one of my favorite places to eat out, with the purpose of making a statement.

 

Corn Dog Eaters United to Preserve the American Republic!

I propose that, male, or female, if you like Corn Dogs, and love your country, and think the current administration is leading the greatest nation on earth for 235 years, the bastion of freedom, and capitalism, and creativity in the world, to hell in a handbasket, that you join me in expressing your feelings in a photo on your blog, &/or Facebook, or other website.  :-D

Show your love for the Republic, Freedom, the Constitution, Conservatism...and CORN DOGS! ;-D

Then encourage your family, friends, neighbors, and readers, to do the same!

****The Books in the Photo****

1. American Patriot's  Bible

2. Glenn Beck's Common Sense

3. The Original Arguement by Glenn Beck & Joshua Charles

4. Madison and Jefferson by Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg

5. & 6. Washington: A Life, and Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

7. George Washington's Sacred Fire by Peter A. Lillback and Jerry Newcombe

8. RATIFICATION: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 by Pauline Maier

9. John Adams by David McCullough

10. The COMPLEATED Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin...Compiled & edited by Mark Skousen (A Franklin Descendant)

Plus, also on my shelves, a collection of Library of America edtions of the writings of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Lincoln, Sherman, Paine, Franklin, and DeTocqueville, plus the Federalist & Anti-Federalist.

 

 

Flag Flap 2011: Part 4 - My Name is Flag, American Flag!

Considering how the new American Flag, and Pledge of Allegiance, flaps are erupting this summer, I figured it would be interesting to share old essays of mine, on previous such flaps, and see what readers, today, might have to say. ;-D ( Part 1 is here )

A comment left to the original version of my last entry in this series, by a person calling themself "Wake-Up", questioned the citizenship of the flag I had bought to stick on my bicycle.

This was my response... ;-D

May 5th, 2004 - Citizenship of Flag Questioned

Dear WAKE-UP,

My name is Flag, American Flag, and I will be 227 years old next month.

That is NOT too old that my faculties are such that I can't defend myself, and give a piece of my mind to nimrods such as yourself who have the audacity to question my citizenship.

In a comment to my new friend, and fellow Patriot's, essay of May 1st, 2004, Pedaling Patriotism, you asked the following impertinent question:

"And where was that $1.49 flag manufactured, Mr Patriot?"

As the Flag in question I feel it my duty, and obligation, to answer you in full, and set all doubts to rest about my citizenship.

I am taking time out from writing my memoirs to do this, mind you, so pay the hell attention! ( Damn it! I hadn't planned on speaking out in public so soon, but THIS is important! )

I am a 12in. X 18in. flag mounted on an approximately 2ft. long, thin, round, wooden stick.

What I'm made of isn't important other than to say it's of much sterner stuff than you, WAKE-UP.

I cost $1.39, plus 10cents tax, and am worth every penny of it!

The Company who manufactured me is a U.S. based company whose flags have been representing the symbol of this nations values, honor, and glory for 4 generations.

With the help of this company I have flown proudly, and I DO mean PROUDLY, on every battlefront, and from the mast of every ship during WW2.

I was at Pearl Harbor, and at Iwo ( perhaps you've seen the photo? ).

From Korea, to Vietnam, and the Gulf War to the present engagement, I have represented this company, and served our nation with dedication and pride.

All over America you will find me outside Govt. Buildings, and homes, on cars, and trucks, and in America's classrooms.

I take great pride in being there for our Govt., military vets, and ordinary citizens.

Since 1777 I have been our nations banner of Liberty, undivided allegiance, valor, and pride for the American way of life.

I am made of AMERICAN materials, in AMERICAN factories, and by AMERICAN workers ( 500 of my best friends ), and damn well PROUD to say so!

The ancestors of Valley Forge immigrated to America in 1882, and until the depression were burlap bag manufacturers who also dabbled in WW1 surplus, including flags.

VF ( I can call him that, if I want! Age has its priviledges! ) moved to Spring City, Pa. in 1932 and began to make Flags, and the rest is history.

Marrying another U.S. Flag maker named Betsy, in the late 90's, and after the happy couple recently gave birth to a child named Elizabeth Ross, the Family run business is as strong as ever.

They now make their home in Womelsdorf, Pa., and are a respected pillar of the community.

While there ARE some Flags sporting the colors of this great land, that are made outside the nation they defend, it is not for me to question the Patriotism of those who make them, or fly them.

It is enough for me to believe that those who fly us, and respect us, are PROUD of the country they live in, and its heritage, and are NOT ashamed to let the whole damn world, including our enemies, know it.

I hope this answers your question, and puts to rest any attempt by you to discredit a Patriot such as my friend.

Sincerely yours,

American Flag

AKA "Old Glory"

PS:

What MADE IN AMERICA MEANS to Valley Forge & its fellow U.S. Manufacturers:

It is both Valley Forge Flag's philosophy and practice that U.S. flags be sourced, woven, dyed, finished, sewn, and distributed in the U.S.A. in domestically owned facilities with American labor.

The beliefs, values, and dreams that the U.S. flag represents are an inalienable part of the American character and psyche. It is for this reason that we believe that Americans, regardless of their national origin, race, color, creed, or religion, should be the producers of the various materials and processes that go into making an American flag.

Valley Forge is proud to join other American manufacturers as founding members of the Flag Manufacturers' Association of America (FMAA). This association is committed to a daily, nationwide effort to educate the press, the public, and the various selling outlets of American flags about the importance of domestic manufacturing of U.S. flags. Educating the country and helping to enforce the legal requirements for the clear labeling of imported products is an important role that Valley Forge Flag takes very seriously.

To that end, member manufacturers have established the FMAA Certification. This seal is the public's assurance that the flag being purchased and displayed is, in fact, Made in the U.S.A. Although several countries export flags to the U.S., the vast majority of the American public prefers U.S. flags be made in the U.S.A. Valley Forge and the FMAA encourage customers to look for and ask for FMAA certified products and for retailers everywhere to support these efforts by only offering flags Certified Made in the U.S.A. for sale.

 

Valley Forge Flag Co.: The greatest name in Flags!

About Valley Forge Flags