A few thoughts for the day

The past few days have been interesting. The atheist antagonist that I wrote about earlier has decided that he doesn't want to continue his attacks. He actually has attempted to put me on ignore. He can't, since I am a moderator on that message board and users can not put moderators on ignore, or so I am told. He threatened to report me if I give him any more private messages. Oddly enough, the PM is his favorite harassment tool and he started with the PM conversation. I have posted a few things in answer to his posts on the same message board just to see if he would answer and he has not. Ah, sweet victory.

We went to the Railroad Days festival in "uptown" Selma yesterday morning. We watched the parade, watched the opening ceremony, looked at all the vendors, and got some breakfast at one of the vendors. A gyro and Pepsi was $9. A bit high, but I enjoyed it anyway.

There was a decent crowd there, despite the looming threat of rain. There were a decent amount of parade entries this year. It seems that every local pageant winner was in this parade. There were even a few made up pageants, like one for a local real estate company. There are Tiny Miss this and Junior Miss that. What about extending the whole pageant thing to a Miss Toddler or even a Miss Fetus winner? It is indeed getting a bit ridiculous.

Two things that got me rather emotional during the parade would probably not do so to most. I was thinking about the Shriners that were in the parade. They do a great work in helping crippled and burned victim children. I would love to participate in that work. However, I can not in all good conscience participate in an occultic secret society such as the Freemasons, of which the Shriners are a part. If people knew the history behind the meaning of the Red Fez and the sword and crescent logo, they would think twice before being a part of the group. It breaks my heart to see the great work they do, have the desire to be a part of a work of such benevolence, but also not want to risk my own soul.

Despite the description on Wikipedia that "It [Shriners]is a men's fraternity rather than a religion or religious group," former high level Masons and cult experts highly disagree. Because of the religious symbology, the use of "temples", "mosques", and the relationship to Freemasonry, the Shriners have an occultic origin and undertone.

It is for the same reason that I do not join any group like the Elks Club. I have seen what good an active Elks chapter can do in the community. However, they too, are a secret society with religious overtones to their membership. I can not participate in that. I love the civic duties they perform, but can't partake.

Another thing that made me tear up was watching the fire trucks go by. I know that there should be nothing really emotional about watching a string of fire trucks, but quite honestly, I miss the fire service and have for years. At one time, I was the youngest certified firefighter in the state of New Hampshire. The certifications at that time were for life, without renewal. I still have the certificate. My degree is in fire protection. I have not really used my education and experience in this field since 1990. I have often thought about becoming active in the fire service once again. There are a few reasons as to why I am not able to do so at the moment, however.

While at Railroad Days, I had a few comments by people who recognized me from the newspaper. One lady stopped me and said that the only reason she even buys "The Selma News" now is to read my column. I would hope that she finds more things of substance to read than just my little opinion column, but I am humbled by the comment. Another man commented favorably, as he often does when I see him.

I had one detractor that I met. It had nothing to do with the column, though. She basically ambushed my wife and me. She walked up to me and said, "Excuse me, but are you aware of what is going on at Johnston County Airport?" I resisted the smart-ass route of saying that planes take off and land there, and I knew exactly to what she was referring. She is one of the liberal whackos who has bought into the concept that the CIA is consistently torturing prisoners of war and shuttling them in and out of the Johnston County International Airport. I have seen her group out protesting in the past.

I was quick enough to think about what how I should answer her and said, "Yes, I am, and I support them 100%!" I knew that it would tweek her. She went on to accuse me of supporting torture and murder, even criticizing my belief in Christ. She all but called me the Anti-Christ for not denouncing the flights for the CIA in our local airport.

Wikipedia has this entry about the company that contracts with the CIA: "Aero Contractors Ltd., a private charter company based in North Carolina, is said to provide discreet air transport services for the CIA.

The company was founded in 1979 by the late Jim Rhyne, a former pilot with Air America. The company has 26 planes and 79 employees and operates from the tiny Johnston County Airport.

On May 31, 2005, the New York Times reported that the company was heavily involved in extraordinary rendition, the transport of terrorism suspects to countries where they can be tortured to extract information. An Aero Contractors plane was used in the transport of Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen who was pulled from a bus on the Serbia-Macedonia border and held for three weeks. He was drugged and beaten before being flown to Afghanistan on a Boeing Business Jet operated by Aero Contractors. El-Masri was released after five months.

A book published in September 2006, Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA Rendition Flights includes many details about Aero Contractors' involvement in extraordinary rendition."

A New York Times article on the airport activity can be found HERE.

First, any prisoners who are flown in and out of JNX are not being tortured there. It is an airport. What do I care what airport is used for prisoner transport? Furthermore, though we have secret prisons across the globe, that does not mean that people are being tortured in them. When you have an enemy whose influence and adherents are spread across the planet, then you must keep your prison locations secret. I have no problem with that concept.

I doubt seriously that my idea of what constitutes torture is the same as what this group believes to be torture. I have listened a lot to the various voices on the radio, TV, and online about the whole debate about torturing prisoners. Quite honestly, if we are at war, I have no problem with leaning hard on a prisoner that may have information we need.

The men who are supposedly being tortured have vowed to kill us and our troops. Make no mistake, they are not just combatants, they are radical Muslims who are sworn enemies, have been taken on the battlefield, and would kill any of us in a minute. Their fellow combatants (I refuse to call them soldiers) have tortured and beheaded innocent men and women. Look here for some footage of how they treat their prisoners.

One B.S. statement that was on the flyer this woman was distributing is "Torture is a method of punishment, and of generating fear. Subjecting a population to the real threat of torture, especially with no possibility of legal recourse, amounts to terrorism." This is, of course, liberal double speak. It attempts to equate our treatment of captured enemies (who are engaged in combat illegally under international law) with the actions of their ilk who seek to kill INNOCENT civilians.

This woman, who invokes the name of Jesus to denounce unproven torture (it is left wing propaganda that has little proof thus far) saying that Jesus would never approve of torture or killing people fails to account for several things. First, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and it is Christian doctrine that Jesus is and was the second person of the Godhead, and that He created the earth. (I am not going to go and copy and past the citations here. It is up to you to disprove me if I am wrong, which I am not.) If capital punishment was instituted in Genesis 9, guess who was in favor of it then? If there were capital crimes under the Mosaic Law, who instituted them and was in favor of them? If the nation of Israel was instructed to wage war in a brutal fashion, who instructed them to do so?

I have a newsflash for everyone. Jesus is coming back again. And when he comes, he is not coming as a baby in a manger. He is coming as a warrior with tens of thousands of troops...and he is coming in vengeance. You don't want to be on the receiving end of the wrath to come. I have heard it put this way many times, "Jesus is coming back...and this time he's pissed."

One other point is that hypocritical or unlearned people throw out that a government should not perform things that Jesus would not do. Sorry, but that doesn't cut it. A civil government that is part of the world's system is not and can not of itself be "Christian". PEOPLE can be, but a civil government is not. It is a creation of the world. I can not and do not expect them to adhere to anything inherently Christian. I do, however, expect Christian people to be salt and light within that structure. There is a huge difference.

This woman accosted me, got personal and insulting with me, and started with falacious theological points that go nowhere. I made sure that she had my business card and knew who I am.

For the record, her group's web site is here, according to the flyer she gave me. Trust me when I tell you that you will find absolutely nothing worth your time there, but just to prove me correct, please click on that link anyway. Especially click if you want to a laugh.

Rack 'em.