Former CBS News president Richard Salant (1961 - 64 and 1966 - 79) explained the major media's role: "Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have." ...and to this very day most Americans haven't noticed they're being brained washed! ~ N. Hooben
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
H.R. 197 - Contact your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121, and urge him or her to cosponsor and support H.R. 197!
Courtesy of Cap'n Bob
The National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Bill
The National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Bill
Please be sure to contact your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121, and urge him or her to cosponsor and support H.R. 197!
• Today, 48 states have laws permitting concealed carry, in some circumstances. Forty states, accounting for two-thirds of the U.S. population, have RTC laws. Thirty-six have “shall issue” permit laws (including Alaska, which also allows carrying without a permit), three have fairly administered “discretionary issue” permit laws, and Vermont (and Alaska) allow carrying without a permit. (Eight states have restrictive discretionary issue laws.) Most RTC states have adopted their laws in the last decade.
• Citizens with carry permits are more law-abiding than the general public. Only 0.01% of nearly 1.2 million permits issued by Florida have been revoked because of firearm crimes by permit holders. Similarly low percentages of permits have been revoked in Texas, Virginia, and other RTC states that keep such statistics. RTC is widely supported by law enforcement officials and groups.
• States with RTC laws have lower violent crime rates. On average, 22% lower total violent crime, 30% lower murder, 46% lower robbery, and 12% lower aggravated assault, compared to the rest of the country. The seven states with the lowest violent crime rates are RTC states. (Data: FBI.)
• Crime declines in states with RTC laws. Since adopting RTC in 1987, Florida’s total violent crime and murder rates have dropped 32% and 58%, respectively. Texas’ violent crime and murder rates have dropped 20% and 31%, respectively, since its 1996 RTC law. (Data: FBI.)
• The right of self-defense is fundamental, and has been recognized in law for centuries. The Declaration of Independence asserts that “life” is among the unalienable rights of all people. The Second Amendment guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms for “security.”
• The laws of all states and constitutions of most states recognize the right to use force in self-defense. The Supreme Court has stated that a person “may repel force by force” in self-defense, and is “entitled to stand his ground and meet any attack made upon him with a deadly weapon, in such a way and with such force” as needed to prevent “great bodily injury or death.” (Beard v. U.S., 1895)
• Congress affirmed the right to guns for “protective purposes” in the Gun Control Act (1968) and Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (1986). In 1982, the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution described the right to arms as “a right of the individual citizen to privately possess and carry in a peaceful manner firearms and similar arms.”
Reprinted from the NRA-ILA.
Bailout For Dummies - Primer 1 thru 3
Bailout Primer #1
Bailout Primer #2
Bailout Primer #3
To view the entire series from the beginning to end click here
The Power Of Prayer Amplified
While the BBC is not particularly known to support any form of religious expression I find this article somewhat hopeful for I strongly believe in the power of prayer. Prayer, of course, has to be sincere and not simply wishful thinking. You'll never win the lottery by praying unless of course you plan on spending every penny on those less fortunate than you. You cannot make any deals with God. Your prayers will be heard either directed to God or through some intermediary such as your favorite saint (whether canonized or not) and now with the help of technology your prayers can be amplified... "For wherever two or more are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20)." And you can be assured that over the Internet you will have more than two... Now whether or not your prayers are answered that's a whole new story; but you will never know if you don't ask through prayer - Norman E. Hooben
The online way to pray for others (from the BBC)
By Jane Lyons
New York
The online way to pray for others (from the BBC)
By Jane Lyons
New York
You can do lots of things online these days: socialising, networking, shopping. But praying? Yes, that too.
On a rainy morning in New York City, volunteers get together to work on PrayAbout.com. The website is based on a simple premise: people submit their requests for prayers, and others pray for them - an act known as intercessory prayer.
The postings run the gamut of human suffering. Some are concerned for sick relatives.
"Please pray for Jeff. He is in an intensive care unit with serious problems with his liver, pancreas, kidneys and bowels. Please pray that his body will pull through," reads one.
Others need help with a faltering relationship: "Please pray for the healing and mending of my love relationship. We are meant to be together and right now we need strength, positive energy, and love."
 |   You can fit it into your own time and schedule, it makes prayer much more a part of your daily life.  Rebecca Phillips Beliefnet.com |
The co-founder of PrayAbout.com, Rodger Desai, says the internet is a useful medium for his group.
While he does not believe it will replace personal interaction, he thinks it could bolster and support it.
He says the internet has distinct advantages for people who may have problems they are reluctant to share face-to-face, offering them the chance to think them through with other people's help online first.
Rebecca Phillips looks after the social networking aspect of Beliefnet.com. She says her site is similar to that of Facebook, only with a religious theme.
It has around 100,000 active members and its prayer requests page receives as many as 20 new requests each day.
She thinks that in addition to the internet's anonymity, its flexibility is a big advantage.
"You can fit it into your own time and schedule, you're not limited to weekly scheduled meetings - it makes prayer much more a part of your daily life," she says.
Traditional prayer
One such weekly meeting is held at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
 St Patrick's cathedral is a haven of tranquility in midtown Manhattan |
Each Wednesday lunchtime, a group of women meets to pray in the traditional way: in person, at church. They have been doing so for more than 30 years.
People who want to submit a prayer request with them have to come to St Patrick's and personally write it in the request book.
Some group members are enthusiastic about the online prayer sites. Barbara Howard believes it is the way of the future. "Everything will be online, so I think it's a good thing - and also inevitable," she says.
Others, like Midori Shimamoto, are not so sure. She says that being there in person is more touching: "The spirit is more intense and immediate. The internet just seems so cold."
Carol Vanadio believes in keeping the old traditions intact. She thinks that the online sites should be supplementary. "There really is nothing like being here in person," she says.
Scientific studies into intercessory prayer have not been able to prove its effectiveness.
Dr Mitchel Krucoff is Professor of Medicine and Cardiology at Duke University in North Carolina. He carried out one such study in 2003. The results showed that patients who had been prayed for fared no better than those who had not.
He questions the degree to which intercessory prayer benefits people, but says that there are plenty of testimonials around for those who choose to believe in them.
"Frankly, you don't need data to tell you that if your mother is in the operating theatre, it's ok to pray for her. You don't need a doctor's prescription," he says.
'Cosmic vending machine'
Dr Richard Sloan is Professor of Behavioural Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and author of the book "Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine."
He thinks comfort may be the only thing the sites provide and challenges those who run them to show him evidence to the contrary.
He also objects to the way he says the sites treat religious devotion: "It's like some kind of cosmic vending machine. You put the prayers in, and out comes some outcome that you want. It's nonsense."
However, people like Paige Wheeler, who started her site iPrayToday.com "as a vehicle to help others," will not be deterred.
What both she and the traditionalists at St Patrick's Cathedral share is a strong belief that what they do makes a very real difference to people's lives.
"If I didn't feel that it had an effect, then I wouldn't have done this. I truly believe in the power of prayer," she says.
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