Is It 1933 yet?

First Amendment to the United States Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Some of the First Amendment is certainly dated and should be changed.  The laws respecting religion were designed to protect Christian sorts like the Protestants, the Catholics and the Anabaptists.  This country was founded by people who found themselves persecuted by Peoples and Governments that disagreed with their type of Christianity (The Pilgrims and Anabaptists come to mind.)  

But the First Amendment is merely words that instruct Congress what to do, or not do.  The First Amendment does not command people on what is good, correct or appropriate.  The People are free to do and think as they wish.

Recently some of the People have used their free speech rights to denounce the building of a mosque several blocks from "Ground Zero" in New York City.  Now, another group will utilize their free speech rights to burn copies of the Quran on September 11th.  Although that is their right, I suggest we send several hundred thousand more troops to Afghanistan.  That is the only way we can show the Afghan People that we are there to promote their freedoms, including their freedom of religion and the exercise thereof.  I mean, how else can we demonstrate our faith in them and their freedoms while we burn and denigrate their religion here?  Yeah, more troops will be needed to force our freedom on them.

Presently, laws in the United States can't stop the construction of the mosque, but how far from 1933 are we?

Many people refer to Nazis when they talk about the persecution of Jewish people in 1930-40 Germany.  The Nazis didn't invent anti-Semitism.   The People did.  The Nazis took a popular idea from The People, and ran with it.  In 1933, Adolph Hitler was elected, the Nazis came to power, and they implemented their campaign promises.  (That might make Hitler and the Nazis some of the most capable politicians ever.)

As the People today talk against the building of a religious structure, they forget the history of German persecution of the Jewish People.  Today, the question would be, "What will the ramifications of those acts (no mosques, no Qurans, no Muslims in this place or that place) be?"  In 1933, the Germans, the Nazis and Hitler never asked that question; to them The Jewish People were "bad."  Ironically, The Germans, The Nazis and Hitler implemented policies that lost their war six years before invading Poland.

Before the German racial laws were enacted in 1933, most Nobel Prizes in Physics were awarded to Germans.  After 1933, most of the Nobel Prizes in Physics went to Americans.  The following is a list of European-Jewish physicists that emigrated to the United States and the United Kingdom to work directly or indirectly on the Manhattan Project--the United States operation to build atomic weapons.  (Some where not Jewish, but because they had family member that were Jewish, the German racial laws classified them as such.)

Manhattan project participants:

• Niels Bohr.  Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922.  Left Denmark in 1943 before being arrested by German police.
• Enrico Fermi.   Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938.  Moved to New York because of anti-Semitic laws promoted by Mussolini's Italian government.
• Wolfgang Pauli.  Nobel Prize for Physics in 1945.  Although Roman Catholic, his father, grandparents and great-grandparents were Jewish.
• Felix Bloch.  Nobel Prize for Physics in 1954.  Left Germany in 1933.  Worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• Albert Einstein.  Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.  Emigrated to U.S. in 1933.  Co-authored the Einstein-Szilard letter asking Roosevelt to start a project to develop nuclear weapons.
• James Franck.  Nobel Prize in Physics in 1925.  
• Isidor Isaac Rabi.  Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944.  
• Leo Szilard.  Co-author of Einstein-Szilard letter.
• Edward Teller.  "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb."  Moved to Copenhagen in 1933, then to U.S. in 1934.
• Eugene Wigner.  Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963.  Left Germany before the Nazis came to power in 1933.
• Hans Bethe.  Nobel Prize for Physics in 1967.  Left Germany in 1933.  Oppenheimer, leader of the Manhattan Project, make Bethe Director of Theoretical Division.
• Nicholas Kurti.  Left Germany in 1933.

Jewish Physicists that worked in Britain, but their work contributed to a successful Manhattan Project:

• Francis Simon.  Moved to Britain in 1930, before Nazis rose to power.  His work on gaseous diffusion to separate Uranium 235 was used in part of the Manhattan project.
• Otto Robert Frisch.  Moved to Britain in 1933.  Helped design first theoretical mechanism for detonating an atomic bomb.
• Rudolph Peierls.  German who was working in Britain when Hitler came to power and decided to stay.  Co-authored the detonating mechanism with Frisch.

For reference here are a few Jewish folks that worked on the Manhattan Project:  (Although anti-Semitism was high in the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s, The People of the U.S. never pushed for separate policies toward The Jewish here.)

• Robert Oppenheimer.  Born in New York.  Headed the Manhattan Project.
• Richard Feynman.  Born in Queens, New York.  Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965.  Manhattan Project.
• Julian Schwinger.  Born in New York City.  Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.  Los Alamos National Laboratory.

What would have happened if the Nazis hadn't taken a popular idea and made it policy?  Possibly a mushroom cloud over New York City and Los Angeles instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and this would be written in German.

At the very least the German People and the Nazis weren't hypocrites (to a certain extent).  They threw out their brain trust with the average People.  Those People speaking against the mosque in New York City and burning the Quran in the South of the United States can't sidestep the hypocrisy label.  They believe that since Muslims brought down the Twin Towers, then Muslims shouldn't be able to build a mosque close to Ground Zero, even while Catholics were able to put up a statue of Jesus Christ across from where the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City was blown up by terrorist Timothy McVeigh.  While McVeigh wasn't a practicing Catholic, he was raised as one and attended Mass regularly.

The hypocrisy continues.  All the 9/11 hijackers where Muslims, but 15 were from Saudi Arabia and two were from the United Arab Emirates.  Both countries are major exporters of oil.  NO ONE SEEMS TO BE BOYCOTTING ARAB OIL.  Oddly, there is nothing in the First Amendment, or the entire Constitution that prohibits Congress, or The People, individually or collectively from boycotting Arab oil.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution set out those rules of conduct that the Forefathers deemed essential to a free, fair and successful new country.  It seems those rules of conduct are out of fashion for Muslims in this country at this time.

Maybe we should repeal it.  Then it will be 1933.

Racism in Big Sky Country Part 2

This is the rebuttal I returned to my co-workers who had sent me "Bubba on Obama:"

Dennis on "Bubba on Obama"

During this lengthy presidential election season I have received many emails detailing candidates shortcomings.  They all lacked facts.  Most are actually thinly velied hate mail disguised as informative journalism.  I normally overlook them since they are sent by well-intentioned friends and relatives.  However, a free society cannot function on lies, half-truth and innuendo.

The lastest, and one fothe most hateful, biased and false items is "Bubba on Obama."  (It can be found at the end of my email)  I have adddressed most of Bubba's shortcomings.

Two hundred and thirty one years after our Declaration of Independence stated the ". . . all men are created equal," and 143 years after the American Civil War, and its subsequent results--the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Bubba makes some great distinction between white and black, and white and African.  Our great "melting pot" really is racially biased.  Bubba demonstrates it in his writing.  This point is mentioned only because it it the only real fact in Bubba's piece.

Bubba sems to think that Obama has some character flaw because his black father got his white mother pregnant.  Biologically, most people have very little control over who their parents are, and in the United States it is very common vfor white men to father children of white women (or even black women) long  before "I do " is thought of.  On the other hand, if interracial sex is sickening to Bubba, then that horrible man Thomas Jefferson must have been one nasty scum bag!

Bubba goes on to implythat an upside-down, ripped-up dysfunctional family is grounds for banishment.  It seems to me that step-parents, half-brothers and sisters, and people moving about the country while engaged in extramarital sex, are quite common in the United States.

Bubba makes a further point of questioning how Obama got to where he is today.  Instead of making accusations, Bubba should "read a few books."  Obama is living the American Dream, where anyone can dream, work and become President of the United States.  Obama's college career isn't much different from anyone else's.  He started at Occidental College in Los Angeles and then transferred to Columbia University.  Seven years later he attended Harvard Law School.  A combination of good grades and winning a writing competition got him a spot as editor of the Harvard Law Review.  He was later elected president of the Harvard Law Review.  (Why does Bubba ask, "Have you looked at tuition expenses to attend undergraduate Yale lately?"  Obama never attended Yale.)

Since Bubba is an "old farm boy," he must be familiar with a few people of modest means who became president.  What about that old farm boy from Missouri who had no college degree, was partner in a haberdashery, went bankrupt in 1921, became President in 1945, and ordered the only use of atomic weapons in war.  Yeah, god 'ole Harry Truman.  (How much foreign relations experience does a haberdasher have?)  Or, what about that other farm boy--born in a log cabin, worked splitting rails and manuevering flat boats, read by candle light and kept the country together through our only civil war.  Yeah, good 'ole "Honest Abe."

Bubba also questioned where Obama got the backing for a $1.4 million dollar house, etc.  Obama isn't splitting fence rails or navigating a flatboat on the Ohio River.  Obama's work on the Harvard Law Review and his graduating magna cum laude got him a publishing contract and an advance on that book, as well as, an offer of a fellowship at the University of Chicago Law School.  The book is, "Dreams of My Father."  Most of his $4.2 million income in 2007 came from the sale of his book.  Seems that Obama deserves to spend his money as he likes.   A rational person could only applaud Obama for reaching for the stars and achieving what many others could only dream of.  It is possible that that is one reason for racism against Obama.

Bubba slams Obama for being a Civil Rights Activist.  Probably like that nasty John F. Kennedy, or his brother, Robert, or maybe like that dirt bag who issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

It also seems that Bubba should return to Sunday School.  He answers his own question, 

"How long is the beast to have authority in Revelations?"  In some Bibles his answer of 42 months is correct.  But that can only be found by doing some wild arithmetic.  (Maybe Bubba is mathematically challenged)  In the oldest extent Greek Bibles Revelations says, "three and a half days."  Only by going to Numbers 14:34, and then extrapolating, can one change it to 42 months.  Numbers 14:34 says, ". . . After the number of days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise."  I could be wrong, but I think the U.S. presidency lasts longer than three and a half days.

Bubba also says that The Book of Revelations says the antichrist is "a man, in his 40s, of Muslim descent who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a massive Christ-like appeal . . ."

Bubba contradicts himself here.  Earlier he asked about the beast in Revelations.  Now he asks about the antichrist.  There is no antichrist in Revelations.  There is a beast in Revelations, but the antichrist is found in John 1 and John 2.

More importantly it is hard to believe that the author(s) of Revelations living in the first century (some schlars believe Revelations was written in 68-69 AD or 95-96 AD) would have a way of referring to a religion that had not been founded yet.  Muhammad wasn't born until 570 and he didn't have his revalations until 610.  There doesn't appear to be any mention of a Muslim being the antichrist in Daniel, John or Revelations.  It would be interesting to wonder how someone would actually name an unnamed people five centuries five centuries before they were born.

Footnote 1:  There are groups of Lutherns in the world that believe the antichrist to be that little old man who wears a funny white hat on the back of his head and drives around in the "Pope Mobile."  Yeah Bubba, the Pope.  Some believe it today.

Footnote 2:  Even if the only research a person does in on the Discovery Channel you will know that some scholars believe Revelations was written about events that happened in the 1st century AD.

Footnote 3:  Bubba contradicts himself again.  All this stuff about the beast being a Muslim is rather pointless.  Obama is a Christian.  Bubba stated that Obama belongs to "an 'afrocentric' church in Chicago that hates white, hates jews, and blames America for all the world's faults."  Sound like a hate sermon to me.

A free society needs facts.  It needs to be open.  If a person--say, Bubba--doesn't like another person--say, Obama--then Bubba should say so.  If he wants people to listen, he should gibe reasons.  It is too bad that a lot of people have read "Bubba on Obama" and have made judgements based on it.  If a person hated John McCain, he/she could write a similar piece with the theme of John McCain being a real-life Manchurian Candidate since he had been a prisoner of war in a communist controlled country.  (Funny that people may laugh at that suggestion, but believe what Bubba had to say.)

Too much emphasis is placed on the presidency and not enough on the true power of the United States--The House of Representatives.  As we focus on silly name calling at the presidential level, representatives are quietly remaining incumbent with no effort and little expense.  Want to keep your guns?  Want local control of your schools?  Want the United States to remain strong and financially solvent?  It's the representatives in Congress that could do that.  If we don't make them, they won't do what is philosophically good for mankind--only what is good for their pocketbooks.

This was written and edited by Dennis A. Carroll, and I approve this message.

That was my email.  Any well thought out comments would be appreciated. 

Racism in Big Sky Country Part 1

I got the following email just before our presidential election.  It was one that was circulated around work.  I didn't think much of it.  The next post will have my rebuttal.

Here is the email:

I GOT THIS THE TODAY.  WHO KNOWS IF IT IS TRUE.  BUT IT DOES MAKE YOU THINK AND MAKES FOR GOOD READING.  I THINK I AM GOING TO DO A LITTLE RESEARCH.

Bubba on Obama...

Please read all the way to the bottom.

MAYBE I'VE GOTT'N THIS ALL WRONG-ME BE'N AN OLD FARM BOY WITHOUT MUCH EDUCATION...BUT NOW, Y'ALL CHECK THIS OUT:

HIS FATHER WAS A KENYAN, A MUSLIM, AND A BLACK.  WE SAW ALL THOSE PICTURES OF HIS NICE AFRICAN FAMILY.

HIS MOTHER IS KANSAN, ATHEIST, AND WHITE.  SO - WHERE ARE ALL THOSE PICTURES OF HIS NICE WHITE MOTHER AND HIS NICE WHITE GRANDPARENTS'-THE ONES WHO RAISED HIM ALL THOSE EARLY YEARS?

HIS FATHER DESERTED HIS MOTHER AND HIM WHEN HE WAS VERY YOJNG AND MOVED BACK TO LIVE WITH HIS FAMILY IN KENYA (THAT'S THE ONES IN THE PICTURES).

HIS WHITE MOTHER THEN MARRIED AN INDONESIAN MUSLIM AND TOOK HIM TO THE CITY OF JAKARTA WHERE HE WAS FIRST SCHOOLED IN A MUSLIM SHCOOL

HIS MOTHER THEN MOVED TO HAWAII AND HE WAS RAISED BY HIS WHITE MIDDLE-AMERICAN GRANDPARENTS THERE.

UMMM...NOW HERE'S THE HARD PART FOR ME (HELP ME OUT HERE, IF YOU CAN):

SOMEHOW, SUDDENLY -  HE WENT TO THE BEST HIGH DOLLAR PREP SCHOOLS IN AMERICA, AND LATER, HE OT INTO A TOP IVY LEAGUE COLLEGE AND LATER, INTO HARVARD LAW SCHOOL - HOW? WHO SPONSORED HIM?  WHO PAID FOR ALL THAT SCHOOLING?  (HAVE YOU LOOKED AT TUITION EXPENSES TO ATTEND UNDERGRADUATE YALE LATELY? HOW ABOUT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL?  SOMEBODY PAID A LOT OF BUCKS FOR THIS KID'S IVY LEAGUE EDUCATION.....) WHO?

A SENATOR'S SALARY IS NOT THAT GREAT, BUT THIS YOUNG MAN AND HIS YOUNG WIFE PRESENTLY LIVE IN A $1.4 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE THAT HE ACQUIRED THROUGH A 'DEAL' WITH A WEALTHY FUND RAISER.

WHAT SORT OF 'DEAL'?  RIGHT OUT OF HARVARD LAW, HE 'WORKED' AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN CHICAGO.

HE THEN ENTERED POLLITICS AT THE STATE LEVEL AND THEN MOVED TO THE NATIONAL LEVEL - WHERE HE SCRAMBLES TODAY WITH VERY MINIMAL EXPERIENCE IN ANYTHING-WHILE OTHER PEOPLE WRITE HIS SPEECHES FOR HIM.

IN ALL HIS TIME IN THE STATE AND NATIONAL LEGISLATURES - HE'S NEVER LAUNCHED ANY IMPORTANT LEGISLATION WHATSOEVER MOSTLY, HE'S OUT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.

HE CLAIMS TO BE 'PROUD OF HIS AFRICAN HERITAGE' BUT IT SEEMS THAT HIS ONLY CONNECTION WITH AFRICA WAS THAT HIS AFRICAN FATHER GOT A WHITE GIRL PREGNANT AND THEN DESERTED HER.

UMMM... WHERE IS THE PRIDE IN HIS WHITE HERITAGE?  AFTER ALL - IT WAS WHITE GRANDPARENTS THAT RAISED HIM!

HE IS PRESENTLY A MEMBER (FOR OVER 20 YEARS!) OF AN 'AFROCENTRIC' CHURCH IN CHICAGO THAT HATES WHITES, HATES JEWS, AND BLAMES AMERICA FOR LL THE WORLD'S FAULTS.

HE REPEATEDLY COVERED UP FOR THAT PASTOR AND THAT CHURCH - SAYING THAT HE CAN SSEPARATE THE RELIGION FROM THE POLLITICS, WHEN HE HEARS A HATE-WHITEY SERMON.

HE CLAIMED THAT HE WAS SIMPLY UNABLE TO CONFRONT HIS PASTOR OF 20+ YEARS ABOUT THE PASTOR'S DEMONSTRATED UN-AMERICAN BIAS, BUT HE WANTS US TO BELIEVE THAT HE CAN CONFRONT NORTH KOREA AND IRAN, WHEN THE TIME ARISES TO TAKE AMERICA'S SIDE.

YEAH -  WITH THIS BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE, HE 'HOPES' THAT HE COULD BE A UNITER AND BRING US ALL TOGETHER.

BUT - WE THINK THAT THE REAL 'HOPE' IS, THAT HE REALLY HOPES, THAT NO ONE WILL PUT ALL THESE PIECES TOGETHER, UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION.....!and he wants to be our commander and chief of our armed forces and he was never served in the service.  Hmmm.....we cant' let this happen.

What do you think of this?

The Book of Revelations

This will make you re-think"

A Trivia question in Sunday School"

How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?

Guess the Answer?

Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.  Almost a four-year term to a Presidency.  All I can say is Lord Have Mercy on us.!

According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is:

The anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything ...

Is it OBAMA??  I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to repost this as many times as you can!

Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet...do it!  I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.

So, there it is the grandest email I have ever received.  My next post will be the rebuttal that I emailed back to my broad-minded co-workers.