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Honoring Cyrus the Great and his Charter

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great

by Amil Imani

Once again October 29th is rolling around. And once again, free people all over the world celebrate the memory of Cyrus the Great, the author of mankind’s arguably greatest document, the first Charter of Human Rights. This benevolent king, ruling over a vast empire of diverse people, enshrined in the Cyrus Cylinder, nearly three millennia ago, the principles that define and protect human dignity.

Cyrus Cylinder

Cyrus Cylinder

It has been well over four years since the International Committee to Save the Archeological Sites of Pasargad initiated a massive celebration for the International Day of Cyrus the Great all over the world. For the past four years, especially, the courageous Iranian people have gathered by the tomb of Cyrus the Great, to commemorate this momentous international event, despite numerous intimidations and harassments by the agents of the Islamic Republic.

Cyrus the Great’s recognition of human rights, irrespective of any and all considerations, was instrumental in advancing the social and cultural precepts of the diverse people throughout the vast expanse of his empire. Although ethnically Persian, the benevolent king considered himself a trustee of the diverse nationalities of his kingdom. Parochialism and ethnocentrism were alien to this visionary monarch. 

In the same way that Cyrus the Great considered all people members of the same human family, the human family of today holds the great trailblazer of human rights as one of its own. The vast plateau that is the presently encompasses Iran has been inhabited by the most diverse people of any region of the planet. Yet, in adherence to the lofty principles of Cyrus, these people found unity in diversity. They remained loyal to their own unique heritage and successfully linked it to a larger loyalty. The present Iran is a living testimony to this remarkable togetherness where ethnic Persians, Turkic, Kurds, Lurs, Turkmen, Baluchis, Arabs, and others live as one people.

Cyrus’ Charter of Human Rights is the first written document which stipulates that all humans have universal inalienable rights, without regard to any and all demographic considerations such as ethnicity, nationality and religion.

 

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Gay Bishop claims to have hosted secret “gay retreat” for Catholic priests.


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gay bishop

I guess there are times when doing the Lord’s work must be done behind closed doors. There was a time when they used to call it confession. I don’t know what you call this, or how the Bible says they can do what they are doing, which is destroying their church.

Today’s Laconia Daily Sun has the story, reporting on Saturday’s appearance (as noted in this prior post, and discussed on MTNP radio) here in Gilford of NH’s gay Bishop Eugene Robinson to promote the movie, "For the Bible Tells Me So" shown at a local "church." Read the whole thing, as what the bish has to say might leave you somewhat dumbfounded, as it did me. "Hatred" for women by Catholics, and in both Testaments of the Bible? I had no idea…

 

 

by Ray Carbone

GILFORD- In a revealing moment during the discussion time following the showing of the documentary movie at the First United Methodist Church of Gilford Saturday night, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, told a group of about 100 people that he led a secret retreat for gay Catholic priests two years ago.

"About half were diocesan priests and half were in various (religious) orders where you have a little more flexibility," Robinson said during the question and answer period after the movie, The Bible Tells Me So," the story of about how Christian families deal with learning that one of the family members is homosexual.

The true purpose of the retreat was kept secret from Catholic Church leaders or it never would have been allowed, the bishop said.

Robinson, who is the first openly gay leader in a large American Protestant church, said he told the Catholic clergy members that there’s such a strong link between the fear of homosexuals and the hatred of woman and that he did not think the Catholic church would ever accept gay clergy members until it first accepted women clergy members.

"I told them, go home and work for women’s ordination and you’re going to be 75-percent of the way there, he said.

 

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More proof the libs can’t take the heat… and have a REAL discussion about the issues they so greatly care about.

Bishop & Nate… Afraid to debate? As noted in this previous post, I linked to Dartmouth senior Nathan’s piece at the Wayward Episcopalian blog where he’s put forth the call for suggestions of what he should ask NH’s openly gay Episcopal bishop Eugene Robinson in an interview he’s conducting with him later this week. Earlier this morning, I … Read more

Will this guy burn in Hell?

Not content with the debauched lifestyle he has chosen, this "man" seeks to spread what he does through the "churches", and invokes the Bible as justification. Why can’t he just shut up and go about his "business" quietly? What kind of  a "leader" is willing to destroy the very enterprise he heads? And worse, what … Read more

“Little Murders”

This speech given by Archbishop Charles Chaput Friday evening at a dinner sponsored by ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) contains some of the best words I’ve heard uttered by an American Catholic leader in a long time. It’s fitting it makes the news cycle rounds today, as I walked out of my … Read more

Guest Post: “Take Care Down There…” Guess what? You and I are the enablers when we dutifully pay our taxes.

 

money.condom.partial birth abortion

 

“Child Abuse by Misinformation”

By Donna Garner

Between us, my husband and I have spent over 69 years as classroom teachers. We have two children and five grandchildren. Our lives have been centered around loving and caring for children, and we have dedicated ourselves to do what we can to guide them to make good choices.  Sometimes this involves exposing those adults and their organizations that practice “child abuse by misinformation.” 

My husband and I just got back from attending a protest rally against Planned Parenthood’s Nobody’s Fool conference in Waco, Texas, where children (Grades 5-9) have their ears filled with Planned Parenthood’s “child abuse by misinformation.”

For some years, Planned Parenthood (PP) has spread its misinformation through www.teenwire.com.  Now PP has set up an even worse site called www.takecaredownthere.org that blatantly encourages promiscuous and deviant heterosexual and/or homosexual sex.  If you think I am exaggerating, please view the sites for yourself. Anyone can access them – even very young children. 

Planned Parenthood half-heartedly recommends abstinence, but PP never mentions the word “marriage.” These Grades 5-9 attendees at Nobody’s Fool are assured that if they want to have heterosexual and/or homosexual sex, all they have to do is to wear a condom.

Participants will not be told that condoms slip or break 1.6% to 3.6% of the time under the best of conditions and that even when used correctly and consistently, those involved in sexual activities can contract the deadly diseases of HIV/AIDS at least 15% of the time.

These students will also not be told that condoms offer little-to-no protection against the discharge diseases of HPV, genital herpes, syphilis, and chancroid.  These STD’s (STI’s) can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact on the parts of the body not covered by the condom.

Again practicing “child abuse by misinformation,” Planned Parenthood does not tell these vulnerable young people that HIV/AIDS is still largely transmitted through the CHOSEN behaviors of male-to-male sex, bisexual sex, and/or drug use. 

 

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Guest Post: Only one question need be asked of homosexual behavior…

gay men

Warning: Some of the supportive material in the following post is somewhat graphic, and definitely not for small children. Let this be a note of caution as to what medical conditions we’ll be enabling subsidizing paying for should we adopt universal healthcare as a nation… (although we probably already pay for much of it, now that I think about it Frown)

“A Logical Medical Choice”

by Donna Garner

Should our country be moving as fast as we can to encourage homosexual behavior?  Why or why not? Some states seem to want same-sex marriage and are passing all kinds of laws that will encourage even more people to participate in homosexual activities. The debate rages on.

However, there is one way to settle the whole issue by answering a single question.

What are the medical consequences of homosexual behavior? 

Our society uses that same standard to make decisions about whether it is healthy to smoke, use drugs, take steroids, eat high-cholesterol foods, or saturate meals with sugars and fats. Why not use that same medical standard as a tool by which to decide whether our nation should encourage or discourage homosexual behavior?   

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released its latest data last week:  HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, Volume 18: Cases of HIV Infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2006.

Only one logical conclusion could possibly be drawn from CDC’s report: 

HIV/AIDS is still largely transmitted through the CHOSEN behaviors of male-to-male sex and/or drug use.  These diseases are not caught from casual contact but are primarily spread by people who are making very bad choices that are sure to produce negative consequences not only for them but for  society as a whole.

Hey, don’t shoot the messenger! Here are the facts:

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“Safe” risky behavior? What’s maddening is that I’m among the enablers. So are you.

More thoughts on the “Teen Family Planning” poster found pinned to the bulletin board in the Gilford, NH Post Office. That would be the one enticing teens to seek various “services” that cater to continued sexual carelessness and promiscuity:

Teen Family Planning

For those that missed my point, let me just say that while I feel that there are alternatives that caring adults should employ to dissuade kids from engaging in such behavior, in the end, I would not dare to step into a family’s private, personal business, other than to put forth my opinion as to what I believe to be right. If some misguided parent or grandparent wishes to encourage their own flesh and blood to participate in risky activities, so be it. It is NOT their right, however, to encourage others to do so. It may be their belief that society must enable the “safe” practice of bad behavior, but I disagree.

While certain individuals would, given their way, seek to deny myself and others the chance to speak our minds, I have no plans of stopping. The busybodies and purveyors of “services” for wayward teens do so in the name of “society.” Guess what? I’m a member of society too, and have a different point of view. Last time I checked, this is America and that is something to which I am entitled, should I choose.

Just because a segment of today’s youth might come from broken homes or other severe familial situations, it does not mean that society cannot try to steer them onto the right path in life. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the cycle of abuse, poverty, and other types of “normal” life-destroying actions is extremely difficult to break away from. When a child (in many instances of yet another child) grows up knowing little to nothing else other than what he or she has been witnessing, the chances are good that they will seek to emulate what to them is “normal.” It is precisely because of that type of situation that society must not waver in promoting what is good in an open and never ending fashion. Such children must get positive messages and influences from someplace, if not from the home. And yes, they must understand that, rather than getting a pass for making bad choices, there are instead consequences.

“Oh but Doug, that’s so mean! The scarlet letter went away a long time ago!”

Please don’t misunderstand– I’m not lacking in compassion, but I think that we have a growing problem precisely because of what we are doing as a society. Look at what’s happening in Gloucester, MA. There are a large number of that town’s high school students that have become pregnant.

 

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Pro Life, Pro Death Penalty

“They really, really tortured them beyond a normal killing." This story, as reported by Michelle Malkin is why, despite being pro-life, I am pro-death penalty. I was nearly ill when I read it. I pray for the families and take solace in the hope they are now living at peace with the Lord… There is … Read more

Forget about parents. Teens need “someone with reason in a public health environment.”

The following letter appeared in several local newspapers responding to my weekly Laconia Daily Sun column (page 4) where I ran the story about the teen clinic poster I found hanging in the local post office.

teen family planning

I was going to "fisk" the letter, but then decided that the informed GraniteGrok reader needs no such "help" with understanding the content of the writer’s tome, which is nothing more than the classic liberal-view of the world. You know, the one where ALL children are having sex anyway, and ALL parents refrain from teaching their children about such things until it is too late and they become pregnant and the parent throws the child out, or worse… Yeah, that describes my childhood and my children’s alright…

You’ll note the classic liberal mantra that if we don’t pay to prevent and abort before babies are born, we’ll just have to pay more after, assuming that the child will automatically need "services" that, again thanks to the writer and his comrades, we’ll have to provide. Like some good Nazi from a supposedly bygone era, he advocates killing those he deems undesirable in order to save money (many elderly in German nursing homes were euthanized for "the good of the Fatherland"). To the letter writer, teaching morality and fostering the difference between right and wrong, and applying consequences for actions doesn’t enter into his worldview. Rather than seeking to change risky behavior, he simply enables it…

Lambert doesn’t know difference between contraception & abortion
To the editor,

Once again, Doug Lambert should stick to fabricating metal and not anatomy and physiology. His opine on Teen Family Planning is fraught with errors from a reproductive biology point of view.

While perusing the FBI’s Most Wanted List for Terrorists in the post office he was drawn to a poster — R.E.S.P.E.C.T., a positive teen program of the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) — that he takes issue with.

The valuable program, which is educational for teens (in four regions of N.H.) regarding their bodies and sexual health, is chided as being a program where “Lambert’s taxes” are funding abortion. Nowhere on the poster that Lambert lifted from the post office to scan for his Sun article, does it refer to “abortion.”

As I am a reproductive biologist (MS and Ph.D. in that fi eld and worked for J&J Ortho), Lambert should be re-educated as to what “emergency contraception” is all about. It is not abortion as he suggests. The “emergency contraception pill” is a pill that has nothing to do with a fetus, conceptus or implanted embryo. It prevents ovulation after “unprotected sex” and is administered the day or so after intercourse up to 72 hours. Since ovulation has not occurred, there should be no conceptus and the emergency pill prevents the egg from being released if a woman is mid-cycle. It is basically “a large dose of the daily oral contraceptive.” Does Lambert not like the birth control pill either?

 

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Guest Blog Post: NOW WHAT??? Beauty and the Beast

 

McCain..Obama

By Karen Testerman

With the apparent nominations for the President of the United States final, the question in the minds of many is “Now what?”  We watched as the candidate of our choosing moved out of the final picture.  So, as some have said, “here we are again having to choose between the lesser of two evils.”  However, let’s really look at the candidates from the two major parties.

On one hand, we have Senator Barak Obama from Illinois, a good looking, young black man of mixed ethnic background.  A junior senator, he’s articulate, energetic with a winning smile.  He’s befriending the “right” people and building his coalition. 

From the other side we have Senator John McCain from Arizona, a former prisoner of war with obvious battle injuries, an “old white guy” with a long service record not only in the military, but in the U.S. Senate.  On first glance he doesn’t “wow” the crowds.

However, as Nicole C. Mullins relates in her song, “Color is skin deep, true beauty lives on and on.”  So does it really?  Let’s look beyond the surface of these two men and the picture that the media paints.

The inner qualities of the person who fills the position of President of the United States matter.  That person will set policies that affect you and me through the quality of the persons they present for approval to fill various positions of national leadership.   One of those primary vacancies that likely will be afforded the next President is in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Strict constructionist judges will fulfill the duty of interpreting the Constitution of the United States, not to impose legislation from the bench.  Do you realize how the decisions of these justices affect your daily life?

Three decisions in particular should be considered.  The recent 5-4 decision granting foreign nationals access to the habeas corpus privilege guaranteed citizens of this country, the 5-4 decision that returned the NH Parental Notification law to the lower courts for process, and the decision removing abortion from state jurisdiction throughout the United States. 

Life is a fundamental right upon which this country was founded, identified in the Declaration of Independence.  If you have children, you have basic implied constitutional rights as a parent, and if you are a citizen of this country, you also have certain rights that come with that citizenship as long as this nation remains sovereign. 

As noted by Michael Gerson in the Washington Post

“Obama’s record on abortion is extreme. He opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion — a practice a fellow Democrat, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once called ‘too close to infanticide.’ Obama strongly criticized the Supreme Court decision upholding the partial-birth ban. In the Illinois State Senate, he opposed a bill similar to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which prevents the killing of infants mistakenly left alive by abortion. And now Obama has oddly claimed that he would not want his daughters to be ‘punished with a baby’ because of a crisis pregnancy — hardly a welcoming attitude toward new life.”

 

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Helping to make certain things in “life” more affordable for the children. How sweet!

When I visited the Post Office today here in beautiful bucolic Gilford, NH, this is what greeted me, tacked to the bulletin board near the wanted posters:

Killing Babies with tax $$

Note the handy "tear sheets" a girl could conveniently keep in her purse, you know, "in case":

number for murder

Notice this:

teen services

Of course, "emergency contraception" is another term for the abortion pill. Yep– the teen "family planning" includes abortions. Surely they would arrange for a more "tradional" type if "needed"…
And of course, it’s really good because the "services" are made to be affordable for those trying to live on a teenager’s salary:
teen bargains!

 

Especially when they want to keep Mom & Dad out of the loop…
Family Values? Not!
And guess who’s paying for this, or at least making it affordable? Sadly, I was not surprised:

 

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And you thought childhood was for having fun and stuff…

MassResistance photo of youths marching in Boston parade As reported by MassResistance, last Saturday was homosexual "Youth Pride Day" in Boston, run by the tax-funded Massachusetts Commission on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth. It included a "celebration" on the Boston Common followed by a parade past the State House and a "transgender prom" that … Read more

Are our tax dollars subsidizing bad behavior and helping to facilitate the breakdown of the family?

As noted in this prior posting, NH’s Cornerstone Policy Research joined other national policy and research groups across the nation Tuesday to release a first-time ever research report that quantifies the annual taxpayer cost from high rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing. The report tells us that here in the Granite State A large percentage of … Read more

Apologies to Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro

Yep. I’m man enough to admit when I made a boo-boo. Last Monday, in a post entitled "Rogues Gallery" I put forth 3 examples of the types of words and rhetoric being expressed by prominent Democrats associated with the presidential campaigns of Hillary and Obama. In the post, I showed former campaign associates Billy Shaheen, Geraldine Ferraro, and the now infamous Pastor Wright and printed some of the words that got them in trouble. I included a pic of a box of popcorn indicating my delight in watching the ongoing Democratic Party infighting. In the case of Geraldine Ferraro, perhaps I could have picked someone more deserving of the title of "rogue". Let me explain…

Recall the offending words used by Ms. Ferraro about Senator Obama that got her jettisoned from the Clinton campaign:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

At the time the story broke, I said to a friend, "Heh. That’s the same thing Rush Limbaugh said about that black quarterback that got him fired from his stint as an ESPN football commentator." Of course, looking back, most agree Rush was right– and, once you think about it, Ms. Ferraro is right here, too. Stripped away of the platitudes of hope, change,inclusiveness, and the celebrity of his black skin color, Barack Obama is a whole lot of nothing, which is ALL he’d be if he had been born white.

The headline in the DailyBreeze.com newspaper (CA) says it all:

Geraldine Ferraro resents being lumped in with the Reverend Wright in Obama speech

I can say I honestly don’t blame her. As reported in the story,

 

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Charles Barkley Unloads on Christians. Wow!

You’d think this guy would be on his knees every day thanking God for the many blessings he has been given. Man– kill the babies and marry the gays. Who knew? (The download buffer is a little slow- hit the “pause” icon after you start & wait a minute or so before restarting) fake christiansby … Read more

Barbarians IN the gate?

barbarians at the gate.baby
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Edward Gibbon wrote in his classic “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” of the repeated eventual dominance of barbarians over a given epoch’s leading society.
“Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue fortify the strength and courage of barbarians. In every age they have oppressed the polite and peaceful nations of China, India, and Persia, who neglected, and still neglect, to counterbalance these natural powers by the resources of military art. The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race of soldiers: exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and serviceable weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and manners;”
Does this not sound familiar?  While written back in 1788, the points Gibbon made in his famous work about what happened to Rome provide a timeless warning. “In every age” the barbarians did what barbarians do: attack and destroy civilized peoples. You cannot change this reality- unless the “barbarians” become civilized- at which point they are no longer “barbarians.”
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It is only logical that there are two required actions that civil societies must take in light of this: maintain a strong defense against attack, while at the same time try to make the wild enemies civil. There is no doubt that, given today’s war with the Islamists, many people actually understand this concept. These would be the people that support, more or less, the current battles in the war.
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But what if other, perhaps unrelated barbarians present a wholly separate, and as yet undetected threat? What if, in addition to the Islamo-fascists hoards seemingly at the proverbial gate, we discovered, once too late, that, like some Trojan Horse, ‘they" are among us? What if we woke up one day and realized, to our complete horror, that the barbarians within are indeed our very own children?
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bad kid spanked
Spare the rod, spoil civilization?
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Don’t lose sight of the fact that Gibbon notes a decline in "manners". What does he mean by that, exactly? Could it be something like this from yesterday’ Citizen (Laconia, NH) newspaper?
BELMONT — A resident petition seeking to address recurring problems involving juveniles roaming the streets after dark, has members of the Board of Selectmen considering a curfew/loitering ordinance for the downtown area.

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Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself!

Ever since politico.com did a profile on me, I started checking out their blog…albeit, somewhat infrequently. As a blogger, we love to read what other bloggers have to say since bloggers have a tendancy to tell it like it is. The old media is way too left-wing, looney toon most of the time. At any rate, here’s … Read more

Moral/Immoral: Who Decides?

I admire Gen. Pace for refusing to apologize for his own personal opinions, and here, regarding what he considers immoral behavior. The top dems try to please all of the people all of the time and apparently have no morals, adultery’s okay, civil unions are okay, etc., etc. and basically think just about everything and anything is okay. When … Read more

Is Anything Off Limits?

I doubt that it’s just Catholics who are outraged by this story! Those of you who still think the civil union/gay marriage agenda is not a slippery slope issue may need to re-think what’s going on in our culture! Is America better today or was it better before when public schools still taught Godly principals and the Ten Commandments … Read more

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