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Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category

Thank you to my brother Benjamin Rees for providing the search words that dug up the following information.  I had looked online but am one of the world’s worst googlers ever, can’t seem to put the search words together in the right way to find the info sought sometimes.  Anyway, below is a follow up to yesterday’s article, starting with the reply by brother Rees. Read the rest of this entry »

On the news recently is a church in Gainesville, Florida that is preparing to burn copies of the Koran (Quran) on September 11, 2010.  9 years after the horrific acts of violence against peaceful civilians perpetrated by fanatical believers in Islam, the world continues to wonder, “Where is the outrage by the members of this “peaceful” religion?” Many of us remember the dancing in the streets in muslim countries around the world.  We remember the words of hate against our nation by members of muslim communities living within our borders.  What we did not see was outrage at the acts of violence nor did we hear muslim leaders denouncing the senseless, barbaric murder of thousands of non-combatants and the destruction of private, non-military property. Read the rest of this entry »

In today’s world the personal computer has become almost indispensable for day to day life. It is used for everything from writing articles and home work assignments to chatting with friends and family around the world on various social networks. But there are some aspects of computer usage that are often overlooked in our society. One is the legal aspect of respecting and paying for the intellectual property of the companies who provide the operating system and programs we use to accomplish the various tasks for which we obtained a computer in the first place. And another is the security aspect since today’s computers all to often come under attack by viruses and malware. Read the rest of this entry »

There are some racial groups around the United States that are promoting racial hatred and bigotry.  During the last elections several polling places were haunted by persons of a certain race who carried impact weapons, dressed an in intimidating way and basically did their best to keep people of other races from voting.  Racial epithets were used and on occasion even violence was implemented against those with whom they did not agree, either on the basis of opinion or simply because of the color of skin.  The new news media, YouTube, has plenty of videos on the subject for those curious enough to take a look.  Interestingly enough, the current Attorney General has seen to it that charges against such perpetrators were dropped.  Of course, surely it isn’t because they share the same race, is it?  Isn’t it time justice were really blind, not hampered by the color of anyone’s skin?  A white attorney general dropping similar charges against a white perpetrator of racial hate actions would have been called on the carpet, at best.  In fact, we’ve seen this government even go after their own Navy Seals for doing their job and bringing in a terrorist, why do they cut a racist slack when he was doing his best to disrupt the electoral process? Read the rest of this entry »

Recently some friends of mine were discussing the origins of an old saying, “The Good Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise”. The question was asked, “Does anyone know if the reference is to a creek (little river, stream, bayou-ette) overflowing its banks, or to the Creek tribe going off the reservation?” It turns out that some folks claim that this goes back to the Creek War of 1813-1814. But those speculating on such origins probably never lived in the backwoods.  Unless someone makes the effort to look through historical documents until they come across some ancient writing in which the words are written (I suspect that some variation of this theme may be found on Cuneiform tablets in some ancient city) Read the rest of this entry »

“People of Faith” – a term that many in today’s culture bandy about with derision and scorn. They look down on folks who are “people of faith” and turn up their nose at the ideas such folks espouse. And yet, what does the term mean? What are “people of faith”? Are they people who have faith in faith? Are they folks who trust in trust? As far as that goes, who ISN’T a “person of faith”. Even the atheist is a “person of faith” – they have faith that their ideas are right. They have faith in the non-existence of a divine being who will one day ask for an accounting. Each one of us had faith in something or someone. Each one of us expects life to be a certain way and to run by certain rules.

So, what is this with “people of faith’? When it is used in today’s culture, most often it refers to people who believe in God, the Creator. The people who are immersed in our post modern culture looks down on such people because supposedly they are so much more “enlightened” and have a better perspective on life. It is high time we started to use words correctly and to hold others responsible for doing so too. The next time someone looks down their nose at you and says, “You say that because you are a person of faith” – or some such silly “put ‘em in their place” argument – simply smile and respond, “You, too, are a person of faith.” It’s time to reclaim our language – and our culture.