Archive for October, 2008
I finished a work of fiction last night entitled “The Last Templar”. I had been eyeing this book for a good while. I had seen it at Barnes & Noble when it came out in hardback and was intrigued. I wondered to myself if it was a Dan Brown knock off? Well, while awaiting a Chocolate-Banana Vivanno at a Starbucks inside a Farm Fresh, I saw the paperback version and indulged in the $6.50 book.
I have been reading on it off and on for about a month and a half and finished it last night. The plot was interesting, but predictable. It generally followed the tone of constant urgency to solve the mystery before the protagonists. There is a romance sub-plot, a shocking revelation that could bring down Chrisendom, and a hell-bent Vatican official trying to cover it all up. In the end, the protagonists (and the reader) find out the secret that Templars discovered during their nine years of seclusion under Al-Asqa Mosque in the legendary King Solomon’s Stables, but the evidence of that secret which could destroy the Christian Mythos are destroyed in the end.
It differed from Mr. Brown’s Langdon series by making the female character the brainy protagonist and the male the one dealing with a conflict of faith. It also has two enemies rather than just a Church bashing book. While an agent of the Vatican is dispatched by a Cardinal to suppress the secret, there is also a fallen man from academia who has lost all scruples and is unwavering in his wish to bring down the Church. It was interesting to me that the author chose to also cast an appraising eye over the world of academia. I liked the fact that not only was the concept of faith without questioning explored, but also questioning without faith.
I think we all question, but faith is what can be a rock in our lives. Is the story of Jesus Christ partly historic and partly mythical? As my father would say, “I wasn’t holding the light,” so I couldn’t tell you. I, personally, believe in this myth as history. Do I have proof that everything happened exactly as it is stated in the canonical gospels? No, but faith is the belief in something that you don’t have proof of. I think the strongest thing in the gospels are a small figure in history facing down his contemporaries with a philosophy of brotherly love throughout the human race. A message that the Templars’ last adherants passed to early Scottish Freemasons. I’m proud to continue in that message of mutual respect and love for the different Semitic Cultures and all mankind really.
Read the book. It is pretty fast and it will make you think. I give it a “Decent” in my ledger.
I’ve been thinking lately that it really is my responsibility as an American to give away the fruits of my labor to the government so that they can adequately meet the needs of everyone. Wouldn’t the world be such a flowery and lovely place if our lives main goals were just already decided? All we would have to do is get up each morning, eat State Breakfast, drive State Car, work State Job, eat State Lunch, commute in State Traffic, eat State Supper, kiss State Wife, tuck in State Kids, watch State TV, and go to State Sleep. That really sounds like the life for me. I don’t know why that so many people are complaining. Never having to think about anything in your life, it’s great. Socialism is the keenest thing since sliced bread, but let’s face it, it’s not American.
The Founding Fathers hated centralized governmental control. They revolted against Britain for a tax increase of 3.5% among other reasons. When the USA was set up, it was to perpetuate a society where the indvidual citizen’s rights were what was to be valued at all costs. The “negative rights” as Barry told a Chicago NPR station are what the government can’t do to you, but the Constitution of the United States of America is lacking because it doesn’t say what the government should do for you. John Kennedy would be ashamed. I cannot believe that the media are styling the impending Obama Presidency as the return to a Kennedy-esque Camelot. John Kennedy specifically made the call “Ask not what your Country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your Country”. No idle words by any stretch of the imagination. John Kennedy was asking for more involvement in the American Process while still harkening back to the original American Spirit. Rugged individualism is the backbone of what America was about until “The Great Society”. After Federally Administrated Welfare was added to the list of Government Entitlement Programs, we have quickened our pace on the slippery slope into full, Federally Administrated Socialism.
Socialism is a word that has gotten a good deal of attention lately. As Obama is trying to move to the center and sway center-right voters out of the McCain camp, he consistently states that he’s no Socialist. It’s apparently a rediculous idea to him that someone can take the phrase “I think it’s better when we spread the wealth around” and insinuate that he is a Socialist. An off the cuff remark to be sure, but some of the truest words that will be spoken by Senator Obama. I remember Bush and Cheney laughing with a hot microphone still on “That reporter from the New York times, he’s a big time asshole.” I think they were being truthful and honest. They actually expressed what they meant. I think that the plan of American Socialism of the Left has been years in the making because of the spirit of America is one that does not lend itself naturally to a citizenry of individuals being ruled. It’s been hidden in veiled terms to throw rational Americans off their trail. Socialism is after all what we fought against in the Cold War. Only, the Cold War has never ended with Socialism as a whole, only with the Soviet Union. The last twenty years can be seen as a Sub-Arctic War. It’s been so cold, that America has not even seen it coming. Now, here is the Socialists’ strongest attack since the Tet Offensive. The goal is to cripple the global economy until collectivism takes over and we make the change from a world of individual nations to a world nation.
Many take this as a reactionary stance, that Senator Obama’s plans for Change are for the benefit of mankind. If I were to give up just a little more money a year or a little more personal choice about my own life, we’ll start living in the Poppy Fields of Oz and dance merrily down the Yellobama Brick Road. That is simply not the evidence that history provides with us. Socialist governments begin in the spirit of helping the citizenry but end up being just as oppressive as any other tyranical ruler in history. The only true forms of Socialism/Communism that have ever actually worked are Convents and Monastaries, where all take a vow of poverty and choose to live their lives for a higher purpose. If the proponents of American Socialism want to take that vow, it is fine with me. However, what is mine comes from the sweat of my brow and the strength of my back and I’ll be damned if i let someone take the fruits of my labor from me and give them to someone who contributes nothing to society unless it is by a personal and direct contribution of charity.
During the founding of this nation, the Constitution was written in a way that restricted the power of the Federal Government. The Founders had just witnessed first hand what could happen when a tyrant takes total control. They were attempting to prevent a similar usurpation of power. I’m not saying that Sen. Obama is going to usurp the power of his office and send us into a tyrannical state. However, it is on record that the Junior Senator from Illinois does not support the Constitution in its current form. How much do you trust that a man brought into politics by one of the last surviving political machines in the country is going to swear an oath to preserve and protect the document he has already spoken out against? The next four years, in my opinion, will prove to be disastrous for the United States of America. It will fall to the people of my generation who remain faithful to the constitution to restore the role of America in the Post- United Obama Socialist States of America. If I haven’t resigned myself to ranch life by that time, I will be there to take up the banner of the Individual again.
Jim Bowie, James Fannin, and 90 other Texians defeated 450 Mexicans at the Battle of Concepcion. 
Rough, Tough, Real Stuff.
Since when did Government coffers become an option for the bailout of private institutions? The last time I checked, the US Government is practicing the shadowy art, not of ninjutsu, but deficit spending. Now, let’s examine how this deficit was created. If you had listened to liberal talking points six months ago, you would have heard that two unfruitful wars are the main cause of our economic woes. The popular sentiment of today is that we have been borrowing capital from China to pay for oil from O.P.E.C. If you listen to the current presidential candidate from the Grand Old Party you would hear that wasteful spending associated with legislative sponsored pork-barrel projects are the cause of our financial woes. These messages resonate with their particular constituencies. The social utopian hippies that attended Woodstock would always love to make peace and not war. Likewise, the moderate to conservative listeners of the Grand Ole Opry like to hear that “Bridges To Nowhere” will not be how our government operates. However, let’s expose the great mystery that has plagued our government for almost 70 years. The problem with government spending is that the government is spending.
In the most direct way possible, I do not believe that government entitlement programs are what the Founding Fathers envisioned when drafting the US Constitution. Do you think that Thomas Paine would have been a supporter of the Welfare Program? Maybe Thomas Jefferson would have said that the recent Bailout was within the Federal scope of powers. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin would have voiced approval for Social Security. Then, John Wayne would have challenged Erik the Red to a deathmatch at Wrestlemania with King Kamehameha as the special guest referee. Wake up!
The brilliant men that fostered the idea of what would become America would hardly recognize it anymore. Precisely for the reason that the Federal Government is spending. These men envisioned a Federal Government that acted as an overseer of the independent states (defined as a politically unified people occupying a definite territory; nation) comprising the United States of America. My suggestion to you is to read the Decleration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States of America and make your judgement. Interpretation is a great thing, but read the words that are on the paper for what they actually mean and you will probably come to the rational conclusion that the governing bodies that we finance have acquired power in fields beyond their scopes and have a bad tract record when it comes to successful programs.
I think that the “Open Sesame” has occurred as the US has become more “developed” and that through this process we have become less like the Founding Fathers. For the most part, the citizenry of the US does not practice individual responsibility. Let’s face it, the Democratic Platform is to strip down the notion of the individual and replace it with a cradle to grave society where citizens depend on Government rationing of everything. The current debate is over Health Care, Education, and Retirement. These vehicles will be used as a tool for the reallocation of wealth. In other words, the goal of the Democratic Party is a Socialist Society. With socialism comes the end of the notion of Individual Freedom, which is the principle on which this country was founded. Through the years, Socialists have tried to disguise the reason to attain a Utopian Society, the only problem is the theory of “To each according to his needs, from each according to his means” is that it negates true freedom.
I will therefore use this medium to be the Morgiana to a nation of Ali Babas and attempt to give you the constitutional truths that both sides (the forty thieves) will try and muddle. Individual Liberty can only continue to exist if we stop expecting our ends and start earning them. Let’s try and voice the opinion that if any form of Government is going to enact Health Care Reform, Welfare, or any other entitlement program, it should constitutionally fall in the individual States’ spheres of responsibilities. If the electorate for an individual State approves the measure, enact it. Do not let yourselves be fooled into thinking that the Federal system was established to be our end all, be all.
Welcome to the new site. Many thanks to my cousin Brian for setting this up for me. I owe him a few rounds for helping me out with this. This blog is going to be a listing of thoughts and ideas that I find interesting. Posts will run the gambit of politics, religion, science, sports, and entertainment.
An introduction: My name is Robert W. Thornton. I live in Portsmouth, Virginia and work as an Environmental Scientist in Virginia Beach. I am married. My wife Laura is an officer in the United States Navy. No kids as of yet. I was born in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. I was raised in Liberty, Texas. I am a graduate of Texas A&M University at Galveston and specialize in Ocean and Coastal Resources. I was raised by two great parents, Neal & Roberta Thornton. I am an American Anglican that attends liturgy at Norfolk Church of the Ascension. I am a Master Mason Liberty Lodge #48 Texas A.F.&A.M. My older brother is Travis, you may find his blog in my links. His wife is Hannah. My younger brother is Jack and you can find him in Bancroft Hall if you are that industrious.
The primary focus will be politics. I think that being a native of a rural Texas community has shaped my viewpoint of being a Federalist in the strictest sense of the term. I believe that the Government’s role is as stated in the Constitution of the United States which has specific rights it has been engineered to protect for every legal citizen. I am a strict believer in the 10th Amendment. In present times, I think that I would be considered a Libertarian that is strong on defense, but my overall viewpoint can be summed up by this flag.
Other posts will probably consist in topics of topics in Environmental Science that I find interesting, theories in theology, the rise and demise of my favorite sports teams as seasons come and go, and music and movies that I think are exceptional. You will have to forgive the occasionally random post about Star Wars or J.R.R. Tolkien. It is just in my nature to be a nerd, and I really cannot stop that trend now.
