Today, December 10, is World Human Rights Day. Since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, this day has been set aside to honor and respect the dignity of all people on Earth. Even though this is just one day, human rights is a year-round, every day affair.
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Survivalist Tip: Whether or not you live near a coastline, river, large lake or a sewage plant, you must have some heavy-duty rain wear. You need sturdy attire made of firm yet malleable rubber. Heavy precipitation is expected when the apocalypse hits next week, and since it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere, that means snow and ice for most of the region. Heavy rain gear includes hip waders, boots, ponchos, jackets and backpacks; all will help to keep out water and snow. There’s no worse feeling than trying to save your kids, pets, or bags of chocolate while soaked to the skin. Believe me – I’ve been there.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio must have thought he either got ptomaine poisoning and was seeing things, or had ended up at a family reunion. Last Thursday, the 7th, Arpaio – renowned as “America’s Toughest Sheriff” – dined at John’s Grill in San Francisco’s Union Square, where he encountered members of “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.” Established in 1979, the SPI gang promotes human rights and community service, while adorned as fallen nuns. It was only by chance Arpaio was at John’s Grill at the same time as the SPI crew. The latter were on their way to the annual “Drag Queens on Ice Show.” I used to be an Arpaio fan, until he started his anti-illegal immigrant tirade by profiling dark-skinned Hispanics in Phoenix. And, I’ve never cared much for drag queens. But, I have to commend SPI for creating that special Maalox moment for Arpaio. From Mexicans to drag queens – some guys just can’t get a break!
Filed under Curiosities
Right-wing blogger Pamela Geller, Executive Director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, has purchased advertising space in several New York City subway stations to display her anti-Islam message. The graphic ads feature the former New York skyline with World Trade Center Towers I and II ablaze, as they were on September 11, 2001, when terrorists struck. Accompanying the pictures is a quote from the Quran that reads: “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers.”
Geller – whose multiple web sites include “Atlas Shrugs,” Rick Santorum’s substitute for the Catholic Church – has long railed against the Muslim faith; warning about the ongoing “Islamization of America.” Geller worked with New York’s Metro Transit Authority, which manages the subway space, to post the ads. MTA denies any subliminal endorsement. “This is a paid advertisement sponsored by American Freedom Defense Initiative,” an official MTA disclaimer reads. “The display of this advertisement does not imply MTA’s endorsement of any views expressed.”
Geller and AFDI went crazy with anti-Islamic ads last year; the 10th anniversary of the 09/11 attacks. Another round of them this past September prompted an Egyptian-American journalist, Mona Eltahawy, to deface one particular ad, which equated Muslims with savages. It had stated: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.” It added, “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad,” in between two Stars of David. Eltahawy, 45, was videotaped spray-painting the advertisement and subsequently arrested. Every other ad in that series also ended up defaced.
The MTA had addressed salacious advertising at its monthly board meeting; trying to amend its guidelines to refuse “demeaning” ads and rules that would prohibit “images or information that demean an individual or group of individuals on account of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation.” Their regulations collided with the constitutional protections of free speech; thus, the new disclaimers.
Geller is unrepentant. “I refuse to abridge my free speech so as to appease savages,” she told The New York Observer. “Thousands of anti-Israel ads have run across the city and not one has been defaced. My ads, 10 went up in New York City, and they were destroyed in hours. You don’t agree with me, fine; run an ad. I have no problem with other people’s ideas.”
There you go! That’s the Hanukkah / Christmas spirit!
Survivalist Tip: As I’ve stated constantly throughout these posts, there’s a strong likelihood the Earth’s magnetic fields will reverse on or immediately after December 21st. This will be a good thing in some ways; mainly that utility companies will go off-line and anyone stalking you will become confused and lost. You won’t, though, if you get a compass. This will be especially helpful if you decide to head out on foot, or even if you have to evacuate your home. Either way it’s an essential tool – particularly for finding water and chocolate amidst the chaos.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
Since Christians, like Jews, have suffered from centuries of oppression in the United States, a group of determined evangelicals have decided to stand up for their rights. Members of the Christian Defense Coalition (CDC) gathered with live manger-like animals in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building last Wednesday, the 5th, to stage their annual ‘Nativity Project.’ They want to share the message of Christmas, while confronting the relentlessly hostile environment in which they’ve had to live for so long.
“Sadly, we are seeing an erosion and hostility toward public expressions of faith in the public square,” said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the CDC. “This is especially true during the Christmas season.”
“‘The Nativity Project’ is a reminder that our Constitution provides freedom of religion not freedom from religion,” Mahoney clarified. “By encouraging people of good will to publicly display nativity scenes all across America, we are not only supporting religious liberty andFirst Amendment freedoms but we are loudly proclaiming the powerful message of Christmas.”
Ignoring the possibility that cavorting with farm animals in public could get them arrested, the CDC group (not to be confused with the Center for Disease Control) remains steadfast in its holy mission. I’m so glad to see Christians storming out of their ecumenical closets to combat the evil bestowed by Wiccans, Muslims, feminists and, of course, those ubiquitous homosexuals! I mean, someone has to do it.
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I know this will send the folks at FOX News and in the Republican Party into epileptic fits, but research published last month in Genetics, the journal of the Genetics Society of America, shows that people of Northern European and Native American ancestry are closely related. In fact, very closely related.
Using genetic analyses, scientists have discovered that Northern Europeans descend from a mixture of two different ancestral populations, and one of these populations is related to Native Americans. The revelation helps to provide some explanation for genetic similarities between what would otherwise be divergent groups.
“There is a genetic link between the paleolithic population of Europe and modern Native Americans,” says Nick Patterson, co-author of the report. “The evidence is that the population that crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia into the Americas more than 15,000 years ago was likely related to the ancient population of Europe.”
Patterson worked with David Reich, Harvard Medical School Professor of Genetics, and other colleagues to study DNA diversity and found that one of these ancestral groups was the first farming population of Europe. Their DNA survives in Sardinians, people of the Basque Country and perhaps the Druze population of the Middle East. The other ancestral population probably comprised the initial hunter-gatherers of Europe. These two populations were considerably different when they met, but today the hunter-gathering ancestral populations of Europe appear to have its closest affinity to people in far Northeastern Siberia and Native Americans.
Scientists have long since theorized that people traversed eastward out of Siberia into North America during the Great Ice Age. Initially, some placed the migration between 15,000 and 11,000 B.C., while others push it back to 25,000 B.C. Oddly, though, Dr. Ron Janke, a professor of geography at Valparaiso University in Indiana, presented a theory in 2008 that the first peoples in the Americas actually came from Europe. Considering that the Human Genome Project pretty much proves that we’re all related as a people, no one should be too surprised by these revelations. Regardless, as someone of mixed European and Indian ancestry, I feel I’ve been vindicated!
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Or, should that be lore? The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the official news source for North Korea, announced recently that archaeologists in the capital of Pyongyang have discovered the lair of a unicorn once ridden by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom, which ruled the Korean Peninsula and parts of China from 277 B.C. to A.D. 668. The KCNA states that the “lair” is some 200 meters from a temple in Pyongyang; adding that: “A rectangular rock carved with words “Unicorn Lair” stands in front of the lair.” Well, what the hell else would it say?! No word yet on whether the unicorn is part of the same genus as the legendary European uni-horned stallion, or a completely different species. Hopefully, they’ll be able to extract some DNA from the animal’s remains and put to rest rumors that this story is a massive hoax concocted by some mad scientist with bad hair.
Filed under Curiosities
Chief Writing Wolf 