On July 2, Mexicans will go to the polls to decide who will be the successor to President Vicente Fox. Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party, (PAN), is in a very close race with Andner Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party, (PRD). A third candidate, Robert Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is running a distant third.
The socialist PRI party ruled Mexico for 71 years from 1929 until 2000 when Fox, a member of the PAN party, put an end to the one-party rule with his watershed election. Since that time Mexico has established term limits for president which consist of a single term for six years.
Calderon, who served as Energy Secretary in the Fox Administration, won a tough primary fight to be the ruling party’s heir apparent to Fox. He favors free market reforms, conservative fiscal policies and job creation to help make Mexico more self-sufficient so there will be more incentives to keep Mexicans employed at home rather than having them seek employment across the border. Calderon, who is in a virtual dead heat with Obrardor, (each polling at 35%), is also a very strong social conservative espousing definitive pro-life and Christian sentiments in many of his stump speeches.
The PRD candidate Obrardo is a left-wing socialist who served as Mayor of Mexico City. He favors nationalizing the country’s industries and redistributing wealth to the poor. Obrardo’s support comes from Mexico’s lower class, the Academics and the notorious President of Venezuela- Hugo Chavez.
Chavez, a self-declared enemy of the U.S., recently played a major role in the first South American-Arab Summit in Brazil which attacked both the U.S. and Israel as “chief enemies” of Latin America. Chavez is currently harboring and supporting the FARC guerillas of Columbia- one of the largest and most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world! He frequently refers to the U.S. as “the world’s greatest menace.” He sees himself as fulfilling the mission of Che Guevara and Castro to bring Marxist Revolution to the rest of Latin America. The President of Peru, Alan Garcia, who just recently defeated a Chavez-backed contender in his own election, has warned of Chavez’s meddling in Latin America to unite the continent against the U.S.
Recent defectors from the Presidential Palace in Venezuela accuse Chavez of supporting Hezbollah and al Qaeda activists in their country. Juan Diaz Castillo, a former Venezuelan Air Force Major, has said that Chavez paid $1 Million to al Qaeda after 9/11.
Chavez is also urgently working to find left-wing helpers in America through the National Endowment for Democracy, (NED), and other Liberal networks. He recently paid to have Cindy Sheehan flown toVenezuela to help champion his anti-American cause. Besides his allies in the anti-war movement, he also has many friends involved in the recent Illegal Immigration Rallies which were sponsored by Leslie Cagan. Cagan leads a leftist group in the U.S. known as United For Peace, which has an affiliation with ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). ANSWER is linked to the Iraqi Resistance Movement and interlocks with a myriad of other Marxist organizations like Code Pink, Earth Liberation Front and the Communist World Workers Party. It’s interesting to note that Chavez’s candidacy was originally endorsed by the Carter Center-a nonprofit public policy organization founded in 1982 by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Why is it that Liberals always seem to align themselves with Communists?
Chavez’s rule is thoroughly autocratic, authoritarian, anti-capitalist and militarist. He’s involved in torture, censorship and systematic murder of political opponents. He vows revenge against the Jews and Capitalists who, in his estimation, have taken possession of the wealth of the world!
Sounds like a real sweety doesn’t he?
The private sector in Venezuela is shrinking under Chavez with inflation at 30%, unemployment at 11%, capital investment fleeing the country and the GDP dropping like a rock. No wonder Carter liked him! He’s forming alliances with Cuba, Libya, China and Iran. Bioweapon-manufacturing operations have been moved from Cuba to Venezuela and Cuban officers, as well as Chinese Special Forces, are now in Venezuela to help train Chavez’s military. Also, true to the Totalitarian model, he has used militant gangs to shut down TV and Radio stations that have broadcasted criticism of his policies. Any insult of Chavez is now regarded as a crime against the State. Meeting with Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture, Chavez couldn’t resist embracing
him! I suppose “birds of a feather do flock together.” He has received awards from Muammar Gaddafi and has played host to Iran’s Mohammad Khatami, who besides seeking the development of Nuclear Weapons is requesting permission from the Polish Government to inspect Auschwitz and Birkenau to determine whether or not the Holocaust REALLY happened!
Perhaps the most immediate threat from Chavez has been the indication that he may cut-off the Venezuelan (CITGO) oil supply to the U.S., which is our fourth largest importer at 1.5 million barrels a day. Still, one can’t ignore the disturbing likelihood that Chavez will soon be exporting more “Revolution” than oil since he has purchased over 100,000 AK-47s and various military helicopters from Russia. His actions are worrisome because thery’re beginning to match his rhetorical fervor. Gerver Torres, a former Venezuelan minister, has said, “Chavez’s main motivation now is to do everything he possibly can to negatively affect the U.S.”
With supporters like Chavez, I’m sure hoping that the good people of Mexico will reject Obrardor and cast their vote for the only true Conservative, Pro-American choice: Calderon. Suddenly I’m hungry for El Pueblito’s. Mexican anyone?
(send comments to WFC83197@aol.com)
Monday, June 19, 2006
Monday, June 5, 2006
Decoding the Da Vinci Deception
The Da Vinci Code has been a best-selling book, a top box-office movie, and now, even a video game! So what’s all the fuss?
Dan Brown, the author of “The Da Vinci Code,” is attempting to recast the image of Jesus as a totally different figure from the one we’ve come to know through the pages of the Bible. Brown’s book is listed as a work of fiction, but the movie and the media are promoting these ideas as serious questions regarding the “truth” of Christianity and
the Church.
Basing his claims on the heretical Gnostic gospels and a theory first proposed in the 1982 book, “Holy Blood, Holy Grail,” this new Christ is the subject of an elaborate scheme that defies logical explanation. If Brown is to be believed, the real gospel of Jesus Christ involves the supposed marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene and their secret offspring in France who would later become the Royal Blood lines of many Kings and Queens of Europe. This, according to the story, is the true meaning behind the worship of the Holy Grail. The “Grail” then, is not a cup at all, but a vessel named Mary Magdalene!
Brown, citing the Gospel of Philip, (a text not accepted as part of the canon of Holy Scripture), says Mary was a “companion” of Jesus. The Aramaic word for companion, we’re led to believe, means wife! But, this ancient text was not written in Aramaic. It was written in Coptic, a language where the word “companion” means “companion!” This is just one of many instances where expediency overcomes accuracy in Brown’s attempt to rush to “prove” these contentions.
In the famous Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper there is the depiction of the young apostle John who, according to Brown, looks too suspiciously like a woman. This is characterized as Da Vinci’s secret way of informing the world that the figure in the painting is not John, but actually Mary Magdalene- Jesus’ wife! There’s only one problem. During the time of Leonardo, the artistic trend was to portray young men as angelic and androgynous. Leonardo was especially praised for his skill in this area, and so no one, aware of this fact, should really be surprised by John’s effeminate appearance.
So what are the Gnostic gospels anyway? These were texts written around the time of the original canon, or in some cases, many years after, that were dismissed by the early church fathers for their obvious errors and attempted forgeries. They do, however, contain certain consistent themes, but none of them have anything to do, whatsoever, with what was, and is, orthodox, Christian belief.
According to the Gnostics- Jesus never claimed to be God, there was no Atonement made for sin, and Jesus didn’t die upon the cross. Everyone is saved in the Gnostic gospel because there is no original sin, and we’re all intrinsically Divine! Furthermore, central to the Gnostic philosophy is the belief that all physical matter is evil. God is something we attain mystically through a system of works: ie. personal, subjective experience involving secret knowledge ,or “gnosis.” They also assert that there was no Resurrection and that no Redeemer is even needed. This truly is- “another gospel.”
Basically, the Da Vinci Code puts forth the conceited idea that we save ourselves through the New Age dogma of progressive enlightenment where everyone has their own “truth” and their own pathway to God. This ultra-tolerant, free-form, no con- demnation religion fits right in with the Secularist agenda of modern liberalism with their Left-wing, Politically-Correct, One-World view. If all truth is subjective and relative, as the theory goes, then there really are no moral absolutes to get in the way for creating a One-World, Socialist Paradise. Apparently, all that’s restraining us from achieving this idealistic goal is the traditional beliefs of a few “backward-thinking” Christians and Jews.
Brown would lead us to believe that for the past 2,000 years the Catholic Church has hidden all of this information from us in a monumental effort to solely perpetuate their power. I guess he’s never heard of the Protestant Reformation!
Ironically, it has been just the opposite. It was the imposed rule of the Divine Right of Kings, which over the succeeding centuries has served to inflict the most egregious tyranny upon the world- not the Church. Our own American Revolution was fought to displace this type of autocratic government. In other words, if Brown is right, then whoever is the legitimate offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene would necessarily be someone in a different “class” of eugenics who would likely garner a unique position as absolute ruler of us all. Isn’t this exactly what the former Kings and Queens of Europe claimed to be?
The Da Vinci Code doesn’t pass the scholarly test, offers no authenticity in regard to orthodox Christianity, and, in the final analysis, doesn’t even make good sense!
Still, for a fanciful tale in the Imaginary World of Hollywood, it does make for an interesting movie. Just don’t get suckered in by all the snap, crackle and popcorn.
(send comments to: WFC83197@aol.com)
Dan Brown, the author of “The Da Vinci Code,” is attempting to recast the image of Jesus as a totally different figure from the one we’ve come to know through the pages of the Bible. Brown’s book is listed as a work of fiction, but the movie and the media are promoting these ideas as serious questions regarding the “truth” of Christianity and
the Church.
Basing his claims on the heretical Gnostic gospels and a theory first proposed in the 1982 book, “Holy Blood, Holy Grail,” this new Christ is the subject of an elaborate scheme that defies logical explanation. If Brown is to be believed, the real gospel of Jesus Christ involves the supposed marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene and their secret offspring in France who would later become the Royal Blood lines of many Kings and Queens of Europe. This, according to the story, is the true meaning behind the worship of the Holy Grail. The “Grail” then, is not a cup at all, but a vessel named Mary Magdalene!
Brown, citing the Gospel of Philip, (a text not accepted as part of the canon of Holy Scripture), says Mary was a “companion” of Jesus. The Aramaic word for companion, we’re led to believe, means wife! But, this ancient text was not written in Aramaic. It was written in Coptic, a language where the word “companion” means “companion!” This is just one of many instances where expediency overcomes accuracy in Brown’s attempt to rush to “prove” these contentions.
In the famous Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper there is the depiction of the young apostle John who, according to Brown, looks too suspiciously like a woman. This is characterized as Da Vinci’s secret way of informing the world that the figure in the painting is not John, but actually Mary Magdalene- Jesus’ wife! There’s only one problem. During the time of Leonardo, the artistic trend was to portray young men as angelic and androgynous. Leonardo was especially praised for his skill in this area, and so no one, aware of this fact, should really be surprised by John’s effeminate appearance.
So what are the Gnostic gospels anyway? These were texts written around the time of the original canon, or in some cases, many years after, that were dismissed by the early church fathers for their obvious errors and attempted forgeries. They do, however, contain certain consistent themes, but none of them have anything to do, whatsoever, with what was, and is, orthodox, Christian belief.
According to the Gnostics- Jesus never claimed to be God, there was no Atonement made for sin, and Jesus didn’t die upon the cross. Everyone is saved in the Gnostic gospel because there is no original sin, and we’re all intrinsically Divine! Furthermore, central to the Gnostic philosophy is the belief that all physical matter is evil. God is something we attain mystically through a system of works: ie. personal, subjective experience involving secret knowledge ,or “gnosis.” They also assert that there was no Resurrection and that no Redeemer is even needed. This truly is- “another gospel.”
Basically, the Da Vinci Code puts forth the conceited idea that we save ourselves through the New Age dogma of progressive enlightenment where everyone has their own “truth” and their own pathway to God. This ultra-tolerant, free-form, no con- demnation religion fits right in with the Secularist agenda of modern liberalism with their Left-wing, Politically-Correct, One-World view. If all truth is subjective and relative, as the theory goes, then there really are no moral absolutes to get in the way for creating a One-World, Socialist Paradise. Apparently, all that’s restraining us from achieving this idealistic goal is the traditional beliefs of a few “backward-thinking” Christians and Jews.
Brown would lead us to believe that for the past 2,000 years the Catholic Church has hidden all of this information from us in a monumental effort to solely perpetuate their power. I guess he’s never heard of the Protestant Reformation!
Ironically, it has been just the opposite. It was the imposed rule of the Divine Right of Kings, which over the succeeding centuries has served to inflict the most egregious tyranny upon the world- not the Church. Our own American Revolution was fought to displace this type of autocratic government. In other words, if Brown is right, then whoever is the legitimate offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene would necessarily be someone in a different “class” of eugenics who would likely garner a unique position as absolute ruler of us all. Isn’t this exactly what the former Kings and Queens of Europe claimed to be?
The Da Vinci Code doesn’t pass the scholarly test, offers no authenticity in regard to orthodox Christianity, and, in the final analysis, doesn’t even make good sense!
Still, for a fanciful tale in the Imaginary World of Hollywood, it does make for an interesting movie. Just don’t get suckered in by all the snap, crackle and popcorn.
(send comments to: WFC83197@aol.com)
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