The Rain Maker

Abortion, Vaccines, and Autism

2010-04-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the mass media can interrupt its coverage of Kate Gosselin's disappointment at being eliminated from "Dancing With The Stars" and instead address a study released by the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the agency's report there is "a correlation" between the use of aborted fetal cells in vaccines to a rise in autism rates.

The study, which was published in February in Environmental Science & Technology, does not assert that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the aborted cells in vaccines and autism, but it does "confirm 1988 as a 'change point' in the rise of Autism Disorder rate." 1988 is an important year because the "Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices added a second dose of the MMR vaccine, containing fetal cells from aborted babies, to its recommendations."

Don't expect many media outlets to report the results of this study. Abortion is the Sacred Cow of the Left, and the mass media is dominated by the Left. Just as pro-choice supporters have worked overtime to bury or dismiss research suggesting a correlation between abortion and breast cancer, we can expect the same response to this possible abortion-vaccine-autism link.

And forget the pharmaceutical industry. Like all corporations they are concerned only with the bottom-line. If it generates revenue, then it is good.

For years society has justified abortion as a personal choice that affects nobody but the pregnant woman undergoing the procedure. It has allowed us to sleep peacefully at night, resting comfortably in the knowledge that "we are not forcing our beliefs on others". Well, if the EPA's research is accurate we must face the truth that abortion has victimized others besides those involved in the procedure.

Further research is necessary. We owe it to the innocent children who may be suffering from autism because of this suggested abortion-vaccine-autism link.

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Need a PR Specialist? Perhaps my 13 years of PR experience can satisfy those needs. I have publicized world champions such as Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and mega-events like Lewis-Tyson and De la Hoya-Vargas. Contact Donald Tremblay (The Rain Maker) at 718-664-3405 or at dtremblay@earthlink.net. For more info about me visit my LinkedIn Profile.

Surprise! Surprise!

2010-04-15T04:46:00.000-07:00

More than a few Americans were optimistic that "universal" healthcare legislation would tame the skyrocketing costs of healthcare coverage. I am one of them. Surprise! Surprise! According to the Los Angeles Times, "The new law doesn't prevent rate hikes such as Anthem Blue Cross' double-digit increase last year."

That's right.

Government regulators do not have the authority to regulate increases. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) states the obvious when she acknowledges that "it is a very big loophole in health reform." As it stands now Americans can expect to pay higher taxes to finance Pres Obama's healthcare legislation, while simultaneously paying more for their own individual coverage. Ironic? Jerry Flanagan, medical policy director of Consumer Watchdog, thinks so: "The irony here is that it was the Anthem rate increase that breathed new life into the healthcare bill. But there is nothing in this bill to guarantee that it doesn't happen again."

Perhaps that is the goal. If premiums continue to rise drastically, at some point it may become cost-effective for Americans to forgo buying their own healthcare insurance and to instead opt for government coverage. This would be welcome news to those politicians whose goal is to increase the U.S. government's involvement in our lives.

Maybe I am reading too much into it?

But maybe I'm not.

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Need a PR Specialist? Perhaps my 13 years of PR experience can satisfy those needs. I have publicized world champions such as Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and mega-events like Lewis-Tyson and De la Hoya-Vargas. Contact Donald Tremblay (The Rain Maker) at 718-664-3405 or at dtremblay@earthlink.net. For more info about me visit my LinkedIn Profile.

Delusional

2010-04-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Delusions of Grandeur.

The psychiatric condition is defined as a "delusional conviction of one's own importance, power, or knowledge or that one is, or has a special relationship with, a deity or a famous person." I am not a mental health expert, but I would add one other element to the definition: a condition common among New Agers.

New Agers believe that Man is a potential god, and that once we learn the "secret wisdom" of the universe this inner deity will become manifest. In the eyes of New Agers, Jesus was not "The" Christ, but only "a" Christ. He was not special. He simply achieved the level of Christ-consciousness that all enlightened people can reach by tapping into the Creative Energy floating through the universe. Just as you tune-in to the proper wavelength to listen to a radio station, so you would do the same with the universe's energy. Successfully tuning-in to this energy will release powers that can make Man the equal of any deity.

Why am I writing this?

According to AOL News, on April 5 New Age superhero Deepak Chopra allegedly "tweeted" his followers that he "had a powerful meditation just now -- caused an earthquake in Southern California." That's right. It was not a shift in the tectonic plates that cause the 7.2 earthquake along the California-Mexico border. It was Chopra's "meditating on Shiva mantra" that caused the earth to rattle. But lest anyone believe Chopra is insensitive, he immediately apologized for the global upheaval.

Delusions of Grandeur.

My first reaction is to laugh at New Agers like Chopra, but then I remind myself that they actually believe this "Unleash Your Inner God " nonsense. No wonder the world is in the shape that it is in. I look around and see a fallen world filled with fallen creatures longing for God and Eternal Peace. New Agers see a world that longs for them and their enlightened wisdom. They see a world waiting to be perfected by spiritual elites such as themselves.

God help us.

Oh, I do have one question for Chopra. If he is powerful enough to cause an earthquake, why isn't he powerful enough to prevent one? Or has he already taken credit for that?

The World's Bogeymen

2010-04-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

The liberal media salivates at any opportunity to attack Christians and/or Christianity. Case in point: the recent arrests of nine members of a Christian militia group called Hutaree. These were dangerous people, but to say they are anything but an oddity is disingenuous. Yet, considering the amount of media coverage the arrests have received--and the dire warnings about the growing danger of far-right (read: Christian) Americans--you would think this anti-government fringe movement was as widespread as the Bolshevik Revolution. The truth is that in our world Christians are more likely to be IN danger because of their religion than they are of being A danger because of it. Don't believe it?

These are headlines from just the past two weeks:

India Pastor Jailed For Converting Hindus, Corpse Exhumed
Over Dozen Christians Killed In Nigeria
Over 1,000 Anti-Christian Attacks In Indian State, report
Pakistan Burned Christian Dies At 38; Christians Protest
Somalia Militants Kill Church Leader; Crackdown On "Non-Islamic Culture"
China Christian Dissident Gao Zhisheng "Alive"

Keep these headlines in mind the next time the media downplays the threats of Islamic fundamentalism and nuclear-armed rogue governments, and instead tries to portray Christians as the world's bogeymen.

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Need a PR Specialist? Perhaps my 13 years of PR experience can satisfy those needs. I have publicized world champions such as Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and mega-events like Lewis-Tyson and De la Hoya-Vargas. Contact Donald Tremblay (The Rain Maker) at 718-664-3405 or at dtremblay@earthlink.net. For more info about me visit my LinkedIn Profile.

Now What?

2010-03-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

Like most Americans I am completely baffled as to what awaits our nation now that healthcare legislation has been passed. I am not someone who supports bureaucracies, whether they be in the form of governments, corporations, or even religions. Bureaucracies are bloated institutions that inevitably collapse under their own weight. Bureaucrats exist only to obfuscate their group's responsibility to the public. So, not surprisingly, my initial reaction to a universal healthcare bill was one of skepticism, regardless of its contents.

Yet, there is no denying that healthcare needs fixing.

Healthcare costs are outrageous. Providers increasingly demand higher deductibles from their members while simultaneously reducing the number of tests they will approve. Republicans are either clueless or lying when they imply that many Americans who are without health insurance can afford to pay for it, but choose not to. That may hold true for the country club cronies of Republicans, but everyone I know who is without coverage lacks it because of financial shortage. They have had to make the choice between paying their mortgage/rent or paying a monthly premium for health coverage.

For the past 20-30 years Americans have urged that something be done about healthcare costs. Is this healthcare legislation the "something" that is needed? Maybe, but there are some concerns I have about it. Below are a few examples:

House Ways and Means Republicans "estimate the IRS will need nearly 17,000 new employees to meet its new responsibilities under health reform." 17,000? For what? Is this Pres Obama's idea of job creation? What is in this legislation that requires the IRS to become an even greater behemoth? And for those who argue that the 17,000 estimate is an exaggeration, why were the Democrats virtually silent in responding to it?
Democrat Rep John Dingell was quoted during a radio interview yesterday stating, "It takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people." Control the people? What does that mean? For those of us who believe that Democrats like Pres Obama and Nancy Pelosi increase government entitlement programs for the purpose of deepening the American public's dependence on government, this is a Freudian slip.
The nation's economy is already in shambles with unemployment hovering around 10%. (And if you add those who are underemployed, those whose unemployment benefits have expired, and those who have given up looking for work, the number is closer to 22%) If companies are forced to provide health insurance for their workers or pay fines, what are the chances of these companies hiring new employees anytime soon? If anything, these new regulations may cause unemployment to rise. Can our economy continue to withstand high, and maybe even higher, unemployment?

So I say again. Now what?

The "Smoke of Satan" Finally Revealed?

2010-03-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Ever since Pope Paul VI uttered his famous words on June 29, 1972 that "the smoke of Satan had entered through a crack in the Church", Catholics worldwide have wondered what part of the Mystical Body of Christ the former pontiff was referring to. Most believe he was criticizing Vatican II, a reasonable deduction considering the problems surrounding the council and its implementation, such as the alleged discovery that Archbishop Annibale Bugnini (Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship) was a closet Freemason; and the allowance of Protestant observers to participate in discussions about the formation of the Novus Ordo Mass. However, in a new translation published in The American Catholic, Father Stephanos Pedrano asserts that the "smoke" Pope Paul VI was referring to was actually scientism. (Scientism is defined as the belief that the assumptions, methods of research, etc., of the physical and biological sciences are equally appropriate and essential to all other disciplines, including the humanities and the social sciences.)

Pope Paul VI was not anti-science, but he was frightened about the insidious influence of science over all aspects of people's lives. As SpiritDaily.com explains it, the pope was worried that " the Church was succumbing to modern notions of 'research' and 'objectivity,' which, instead of accenting the genius of God, sought to cast doubt at every turn and negate the very roots of Christianity: mysticism and supernaturality." According to Father Pedrano's summary, among the branches of science that Pope Paul VI most distrusted is modern psychology. He believed that psychology sought to discard spirituality. "There is no longer trust in the Church. They trust the first profane prophet who speaks in some journal or some social movement, and they run after him and ask him if he has a formula for true life."

Pope Paul VI also added, "Science exists to give us truths that do not separate us from God, but make us seek Him all the more and celebrate Him with greater intensity. Instead, science gives us criticism and doubt. Scientists are those who more thoughtfully and painfully exert their minds. But they end up teaching us: 'I don't know; we don't know; we cannot know.' The school becomes the gymnasium of confusion and sometimes absurd contradictions."

It is difficult to argue with Pope Paul VI about the dangers of scientism. Many great things have been accomplished through science, such as vaccines and the cures of many diseases, but like anything else scientific knowledge can be abused, or even worse, worshiped as a god unto itself. Science for science sake and its resulting disregard for human life can be found in abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and the secret testing of human subjects. And let's not forget the damage being caused to ourselves and the environment through pesticides, additives, and preservatives.

The former pontiff's words are growing more relevant with each passing day.

Salt

2010-03-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

If you want to see the future of our country should Congress pass universal healthcare legislation, look no further than the bill introduced by Brooklyn, NY state assemblyman Felix Ortiz. According to the NY Daily News, Ortiz has proposed legislation "that would ban the use of salt in New York restaurants - and violators would be smacked with a $1,000 fine for every salty dish." It would be easy to dismiss Mr. Ortiz as an idiot since at face value this proposal is even dumber than Mayor Bloomberg's trans-fat ban, but the Brooklyn Democrat is not stupid. In fact, his proposal is part of an overall strategy designed to increasingly encroach on the personal lives of Americans.

Politicians crave power and believe they are entitled to it. (Money is a corollary of this power) They view the masses with disdain, as little more than automatons that must be properly programmed. The greatest weapon government possesses to force this programming is money. Make Americans more dependent on government money and the more you will be able to bend their wills and their actions. This is the true motivation of universal "anything" proposed by the government.

There is no doubt that our healthcare system needs fixing. It is inexcusable that many American adults cannot afford basic healthcare. The problem is that should Congress pass a universal healthcare plan, the government will have even greater say over how we live our lives. Think I am being paranoid? Here is Rep Ortiz's justification for his salt bill: "It's time for us to take a giant step. We need to talk about two ingredients of salt: health care costs and deaths."

Bingo. Healthcare costs. In other words, if "we" foot the bill, "we" decide what you can and cannot do.

How long will it be before government bans sugar because of its role in obesity, heart disease, and diabetes? And alcohol? Get rid of it. It damages the liver and can be addicting. The actions Big Brother can prohibit under the guise of safety are endless. And as long as "he" is paying, what recourse will we have?

Free Love Not So Free

2010-03-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

Since our pre-teen years we have been taught that it is wrong to "sleep around". We are admonished about the immorality of treating another human being purely as a sexual object. We are confronted with dire warnings of unwanted pregnancies and sexual diseases, some of which are potentially fatal. Yet, most people ignore these "free love" criticisms. The ethical prohibitions are brushed aside as arbitrary and subjective. The threats of pregnancy and disease are circumvented through birth control devices, such as condoms.

But what if free love wasn't so free? What if science was to discover that sexual "freedom" is capable of altering our brain's hardware with respect to emotions?

In his recently released book Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting Our Children, Dr. Joe McIlhaney of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin, TX, argues that recent studies suggest sleeping around when you are younger can ruin the happiness of your marriage years later.

"'When women are skin-to-skin with a man, their brain secretes oxytocin that causes them to bond emotionally to that man. Men secrete a hormone called vasopressin when they're having that kind of intimate behavior. And that hormone has even been called 'monogamy hormone' for men. And it bonds them to the woman,' McIlhaney explained."

So powerful is this oxytocin says McIlhaney that just a "20-second hug can cause a female to become bonded to a male."

Sexual promiscuity is a problem because it rips away at that bonding until eventually the oxytocin and vasopressin are ineffective at forming the bond. McIlhaney compares it to the constant tearing apart of velcro. Constantly pull apart velcro and eventually it will cease to adhere. "The brain actually gets molded to not accept that deep emotional level that's so important for marriage."

Fascinating . . . and disturbing.

Celebrity Boxing: Naomi, Bunning, and Rangel

2010-03-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

I have never been a fan of celebrity boxing, but I would like to make an exception in this one case. I suggest a 10 round bout with no head gear or extra-padded gloves between runway lunatic Naomi Campbell and Kentucky Senator Jim “Let Them Eat Cake” Bunning. The winner of the bout would face Congress’ latest political leper, House Representative Charles “What, Me Worry?” Rangel. And since the champion should win some sort of award, I recommend a trophy--one in the shape of a burro’s back-end.

Campbell, who obviously fancies herself the reincarnation of Cleopatra, believes it is her divine right to haul-off and belt her minions at the slightest provocation. Her alleged attack against her limo driver a few days ago is hardly her only brush with the law. In 1998 Campbell plead guilty to assaulting a personal assistant with a telephone and of threatening to throw the woman out of a moving car. (Campbell was later sued by another personal assistant who accepted an out-of-court settlement) Evidently unhappy with the limited damage caused by the phone, Campbell upgraded to a BlackBerry and beat her housekeeper with it in 2006. Photos were shown of the blood-drenched shirt collar the victim wore during the attack. Campbell plead guilty to the charge. And perhaps her finest assault happened at Heathrow Airport in 2008 when she was arrested for accosting two police officers. She plead guilty to that charge as well. I have a feeling that when Sean Connery made his ill-advised comment that “I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong in hitting a woman,” he had Naomi Campbell in mind.

It’s unfortunate for Republican Senator Jim Bunning that he is a former baseball player and not a former boxer. At least if he was a fighter he could blame some of his more bone-headed comments and decisions on having received too many punches to the head. In 2004 during the gubernatorial campaign he made the brilliant observation that his Democratic opponent, Daniel Mongiardo, “looked like one of Saddam Hussein’s sons”. Callous? Sure. But not as callous as when he predicted that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a pancreatic cancer victim, would be dead by the end of the year. Well, the blowhard Kentucky senator outdid himself this time, graduating from making asinine comments to making asinine decisions. On Friday, Feb 26 Bunning refused to sign-off on a $10 billion extension of emergency federal programs, including unemployment insurance benefits, citing the extension as an example of poor fiscal discipline. It did not matter to Bunning that unemployment benefits are the only safety net protecting many Americans from declaring personal bankruptcy. When confronted about the damage he would cause to Americans by objecting to the benefit’s extension, Bunning reportedly replied, “tough shit”. Although Bunning relented yesterday, clearing the path for unemployment to be extended for another 30 days, he should be verbally tarred and feathered for his stupidity.

So slick is Democrat Charlie Rangel that it must be difficult to stand next to him without falling down. He’s the kind of guy who can convince you that the sun is shining brightly even as you stand under an umbrella in the middle of a thunderstorm. Today Rangel announced that he will temporarily step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, citing the ethics investigation into his actions as a distraction for fellow-Democrats who are up for re-election. Republicans have been after Rangel since last year “when the House ethics panel expanded its investigation into his trips, assets and income, use of rent-controlled apartments in New York and his solicitation of contributions for university center to be named after him.” Even Democrats began calling for the 20-term Harlem representative with the Cheshire Cat smile to step down following the ethics committee’s ruling on Friday that “Rangel violated standards of conduct by accepting 2007 and 2008 trips to Caribbean conferences that were financed by corporations.” Although the committee could not prove that Rangel knew of the corporate payments, it was satisfied that his staffers knew about it. And to put it simply: You are responsible for those who work for you.

So now we have our three participants for the Celebrity Boxing event. If we need more than three competitors, there are plenty of others to be found among our news and gossip pages.

I hope I receive some royalty checks if this event ever happens.

I better talk to Charlie.
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Need a PR Specialist? Perhaps my 13 years of PR experience can satisfy those needs. I have publicized world champions such as Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and mega-events like Lewis-Tyson and De la Hoya-Vargas. Contact Donald Tremblay (The Rain Maker) at 718-664-3405 or at dtremblay@earthlink.net. For more info about me visit my LinkedIn Profile.

Slapping You Back Into Reality

2010-02-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Life has a way of slapping you back into reality.

Less than 24 hours ago I cursed Mother Nature for the second snowstorm in a month she dumped on the NYC area. I sneeringly mocked consumers who flooded supermarkets as if they were preparing for a nuclear fallout. I bitched and moaned about how my waist size would continue to expand as my daily jogging regiment was indefinitely postponed yet again by the weather. I even ranted and raved about the inevitable lack of parking spaces available because of the mountains of snow piled along the street curbs. All these complaints dominated my thoughts . . . that is until this morning when I scanned the news wires.

Early Saturday morning Chile was rocked by an incredible 8.8 earthquake. The quake, which according to the AP was one of the strongest ever recorded, was responsible for “toppling homes, collapsing bridges and plunging trucks into the fractured earth.” At least 147 people are dead and the quake’s one-minute long shake could be felt 1,800 miles away in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As I write this 1/3 of the globe is under a tsunami watch, including Hawaii and even California. 53 nations and territories are facing tsunami warnings (We have all seen enough video footage to know the devastation a tsunami is capable of inflicting)

And here I am complaining about some snow.

Don't I feel like a fool.

The New York Times - Voodoo Apologist

2010-02-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

Leave it to the New York Times.

The newspaper that has never encountered a Catholic-bashing story that it did not like is now serving as a voodoo apologist.

"Myths Obscure Voodoo, Source of Comfort in Haiti" attempts to convince readers that voodoo's poor reputation is simply bad PR--bad PR resulting from myth-spreading. Writer Samuel Freedman blames these myths on the Catholic Church's "antisuperstition campaigns in the 1860s" and on films from the 1930s and 1940s, such as "White Zombie". He also includes a quote from a USC professor who suggests that racism may be the source guiding this negative portrayal of voodoo. (No surprise there. The Times seems incapable of printing a column without referencing racism, homophobia, or--to a lesser extent--sexism)

The myth-spreading argument is specious, as evidenced by Freedman's failure to provide concrete examples. He belittles portrayals of voodoo as "cartoonish" and as nothing more than "intolerant cliches", but other than mentioning Pat Robertson's accusation that Haiti signed a pact with the devil, he fails to provide a single example of alleged voodoo beliefs and practices that worshipers argue is a myth.

Not one.

And a review of voodoo's beliefs and practices reveals why.

Voodoo was brought to Haiti by slaves from Africa and is "is believed to have started in Haiti in 1724 as a snake cult that worshiped many spirits pertaining to daily life experiences".
Bondye is the Creator of the universe, but he does not interact with Creation, so voodoo adherents direct their worship to lesser spirits called loa. The most influential of the loa are "Papa Legba (guardian of the crossroads), Erzulie Freda (the spirit of love), Simbi (the spirit of rain and magicians), Kouzin Zaka (the spirit of agriculture), and The Marasa, divine twins considered to be the first children of Bondye."
"Talismans are bought and sold as fetishes. These could be statues representing voodoo gods, dried animal heads, or other body parts. They are sold for medicine and for the spiritual powers that these fetishes are believed to hold. The dark side of voodoo is used by participants to summon evil spirits and cast hexing spells upon adversaries."
"The priesthood of voodoo is held by both men and women. There are stages of initiation into its priestly duties. Their functions are primarily: healing, rituals, religious ceremonies to call or pacify the spirits, holding initiations for new priests or priestesses, telling fortunes, reading dreams, casting spells, invoking protections, and creating potions for various purposes. These potions are for anything from love spells to death spells"
Rituals include "spirit possessed dancing". Anthropologist Alan Tippett says: "Probably there is no better extant example of [demonic] possession phenomena in the whole world than the form known as voodoo, especially the variety in Haiti."

University of Wisconsin Professor Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, a voodoo expert and voodoo priest, suggests that just as the Japanese often adhere to both Shinto and Buddhism, many Haitians practice both Catholicism and voodoo. The New York Times column failed to cite a Catholic expert on the issue, probably recognizing that even a nominal Catholic would know that syncretizing voodoo beliefs and practices with Catholic worship is a blasphemous perversion of Catholicism.

Demonic possession. Worshiping spirits. Talisman.

No, it is not myth-spreading that is responsible for voodoo's poor reputation; it is voodoo's occultic beliefs and practices which can take credit for that.

Sorry, Folks

2010-02-16T10:37:00.000-08:00

My computer's hard-drive has gone to the Great Server in the sky. I am in the process of purchasing a new computer and plan to have my next blog entry posted on Mon, Feb 22.

Sorry for the delay. I look forward to writing again.

Donald "The Rain Maker" Tremblay

It's Only Make Believe

2010-02-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

“It’s only make believe. Nobody really believes it”

Those of us concerned about the growing influence of the occult on American society have heard this refrain regurgitated ad nauseum. But so overt is that influence becoming, especially among our children, that it will soon be difficult for anyone to deny.

The amount of occult fiction polluting our cultural landscape is truly staggering:

Harry Potter series: Extraordinarily popular series of novels about a teen wizard who uses white magic to defeat evil. The series of seven books has sold over 400 million copies. The movies have generated approximately $7 billion dollars worldwide.
Twilight Saga: A series of “vampire-based fantasy romance novels” (Wikipedia.com) catering to adolescent girls. It has sold approximately 50 million copies. Twilight, the first book in the series, was made into a film and earned $385 million domestically in gross revenues.
True Blood: An HBO vampire series based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries. Among the concepts featured in the series is the American Vampire League, which seeks to earn equal rights for vampires.
The Vampire Diaries: CW Television program that the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) defines as a series about a “high school girl torn between two vampire brothers.” The program is also based on a book series.
The Wizards of Waverly Place: One of Disney’s most-popular children’s programs. In a recent set of episodes the eldest son dated a vampire. He was also bitten by a werewolf . . . In one Halloween episode spirits were conjured to create a scary haunted house.
The Wolfman: The film debuts in theaters on Friday.

Even television programs that have nothing to do with the occult have employed the genre in their story lines, such as the Disney Channel's show “The Suite Life on Deck”. In this week’s episode Cody’s girlfriend, Bailey, becomes possessed by a spirit.

Occult fans will argue that the supernatural has been a cultural presence for centuries . . . and they are correct. However, the difference between our generation and past generations is in how the supernatural is portrayed.

In Shelley’s Frankenstein, Stoker’s Dracula, and Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the creatures are portrayed as perversions of Creation. Readers are to view them with horror. Even the creatures themselves are consumed with self-loathing:

“I abhorred myself. . . . When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am not the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” (Frankenstein, p 194-195)

“It was no longer the fear of the gallows, it was the horror of being Hyde that racked me.”(The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, p 92)

Today’s representations are different. Vampires, for ex., are heroic, sensitive, and superhuman . . . and they can even serve as lovers. They are creatures to be admired. “Defining Deviancy Down” was the title of a 1993 essay former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote for the American Spectator. The essay’s subtitle read, “How We’ve Become Accustomed to Alarming Levels of Crime and Destructive Behavior.” We’ll we Americans have now embraced the ultimate deviancy—Evil—through our continued fascination with the occult. But it should not come as a surprise to anyone since the fastest growing “religion” in the United States, and the biggest proponent of the occult, is the New Age Movement.

A major element of New Age belief is that Satan (Lucifer) is the hero of Genesis, not the seducer as portrayed in Christianity. By convincing Man to eat the forbidden fruit Satan releases Man from the shackles of God. Man is freed to become the god he is meant to be.

Think I am exaggerating the link between the occult and Evil, between the occult and Luciferian worship? A group called “Living His Life Abundantly International, Inc” has listed some of the video games available in the market today for teens. 30 or 40 years ago, had video games existed, it would have been unthinkable that these would exist.

Tecmo’s Deception: Invitation To Darkness (Playstation) – Players “make an unholy pact and sell their soul to Satan in exchange for power”
Nocturne (Playstation 2) - A game in which the hero (a demon) destroys the three archangels St. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, then goes on to destroy God.
Devil Summoner (Playstation 2) – Involves communicating with and recruiting demons. One demon tells the player, “That Catholic Church is such an eyesore” and in the end of the game, blows up the Church.
Shadow Hearts (Playstation 2) - The hero uses his power to intercept and destroy God and “save the world.” Some games in this series are rated “T”.

And let us not forget Dante’s Inferno, which advertised on CBS during the Super Bowl. The game’s official site says that “the hero of the game (Dante) is a soldier who defies death and fights for love against impossible odds.” It adds that the goal of the game is to retrieve the soul of Dante’s love from Hell. Sounds pretty good, right? What the ad fails to mention is that the game contains a level where the hero kills “knife-wielding unbaptized babies”.

Oh, and for girls who are less interested in video games, there is the pink Ouija Board sold by Hasbro and Toys R’ US. Milton Bradley’s advertising for its Ouija Board says the following: ““Evil spirits! Wake the dead! Consult the board of omens!”

These are dark times. And they are growing darker because of society’s rejection of the Light.

I am reminded of Christ’s words in Luke 18:8: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
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Need a PR Specialist? Perhaps my 13 years of PR experience can satisfy those needs. I have publicized world champions such as Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and mega-events like Lewis-Tyson and De la Hoya-Vargas. Contact Donald Tremblay (The Rain Maker) at 718-664-3405 or at dtremblay@earthlink.net. For more info about me visit my LinkedIn Profile.

Fudging

2010-02-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

Numbers don’t lie, but they don’t always tell the truth either. Statistics can be fudged, twisted, manipulated . . . choose whatever verb you like. Our economic depression exposed how widespread this practice is among the banking community. But as effective as bankers are at this sleight of hand, there is one group whose skill at this surpasses all: the government. The latest example of this can be found in the Labor Department’s January Unemployment Report, which alleges that the country’s jobless rate fell from 10.0% to 9.7%.

On Thursday, Feb 4 the Associated Press reported, "The number of newly laid-off workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, evidence that layoffs are continuing and jobs remain scarce." The AP also pointed out that it was the fourth rise in the pas t five weeks. Yet, miraculously, just one day later (Feb 5) the Labor Department announced that the national unemployment rate in January dipped 3/10 of a percentage point from 10% to 9.7%.

Huh?

Don’t believe the Labor Board’s figures? You are not alone. Investors didn’t buy it either, which is part of the reason why even after yesterday’s positive labor news the Dow Jones still needed to scratch and claw its way at day’s end to return to the 10,000 mark.

The moral of the story?

1 + 1 always equals 2, except when the person doing the adding is a government bean counter . . . or a banker.

Distorted Priorities

2010-02-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

I don’t like NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Period. I object to the way he manipulated his City Council stooges to circumvent the term limits law. And I also object to many of the issues he has wasted his energies on the past eight years, such as eliminating trans-fats from restaurants, posting calories in fast-food restaurants, and creating a pedestrian walkway in Times Square. He should instead be focusing on issues like the one addressed in yesterday’s New York Daily News.

Tanesha Jones is a single mother of two daughters—a nine-year-old and a one-year-old. Jones was recently relocated into a Bushwick apartment as part of “Work Advantage”—a NYC Department of Homeless Services program that moves families out of homeless shelters. The Bushwick apartment contained a broken kitchen window, a missing front door knob, and a disconnected kitchen sink. It also contained lead paint and provided no heat. Just several days after Jones and her two daughters moved in, a rat ran out of the bathroom. One month later the building’s owner was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing Jones’ nine-year-old daughter. (The city did pay for the lead removal and for a new bathroom window. They also pay all of Ms. Jones’ monthly rent).

Explanations by bureaucrats that Ms. Jones’ problems are the exception and not the rule have been proven wrong by a New York Daily News investigation, which exposed the following:

“The city has paid for families to live in foreclosed homes, illegally converted apartments and dangerous flats. In some cases, landlords have shaken down tenants for extra rent.”

It is a disgrace that there are families who fear putting their children to bed at night because of rats. It is unacceptable that people must beg and plead to receive heat during sub-freezing temperatures. Why isn’t Mayor Bloomberg attacking this problem with the vehemence that he went after public smoking?

Where are you, Mike?

A Pact With Satan

2010-01-24T20:19:00.000-08:00

For the past few generations we Christians have, metaphorically speaking, made a “pact with Satan”. In order to indulge in the pleasures of the secular world, we have agreed to compartmentalize our religious beliefs and responsibilities, restricting the time and manner of their expression so as not to conflict with the world-at-large. Expressions such as the following are used to illustrate our appeasement:

“Don’t talk about religion in the workplace.”

“Sure I’m a Christian, but business is business.”

“I don’t want to force my views onto others.”

Some of these self-restrictions are useful. For example, standing on a street corner dressed like Robinson Crusoe and screaming that people should repent is a turnoff and should be frowned upon. However, in our efforts to “get along” and to avoid forcing our beliefs on others—or is it really to avoid forcing our beliefs on ourselves—we have virtually compartmentalized Christ out of our lives, making him welcome only in our homes and our churches. Little did we realize that by voluntarily restricting Christ’s presence in our own lives that we have provided anti-Christian forces with the ammunition needed to purge Christianity from our society. An example of how well these forces have succeeded can be found in the recent Supreme Court decision to reject hearing a case involving “a school district's censorship of a kindergartener's choice of literature for a class reading.”

In 2004, during an “All About Me” activity at Culbertson Elementary School in Pennsylvania, parents were allowed to read a passage from their child’s favorite book. Parent Donna Busch wanted to read Psalm 118 because her son, Wesley, chose the Bible as his favorite book. According to Busch’s legal representative, the Rutherford Institute, the principal said “she could not read from the Bible in the classroom because it was against the law and that the reading would violate the separation of church and state." The institute also reported that not only did the teacher offer Ms. Busch a book about witchcraft, witches, and Halloween to read instead, but she also allowed another parent to read a book about Judaism and to teach the children a dreidel game.

The school district supported the decision made Culbertson’s principal, as did a U.S. District Court and a Third Court of Appeals.

Expect this discriminatory judicial ruling to be only the beginning. There are those who seek to bury Christianity alongside Greek and Roman Mythology as relics of ancient history. This legal decision will empower them to push our society further down the slippery slope leading to the outright banning of Christian practices. Think I am being ridiculous or paranoid? A generation ago it would have been unthinkable that a Christian could be prohibited from displaying a nativity on public property. Try doing that today. Do not underestimate the danger of this slippery slope.

Funny thing about pacts with the Devil: they seldom resemble what was agreed to.

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Fat Chance

2010-01-19T12:30:00.000-08:00

Fat chance. That is effectively what a Weight Watchers lawsuit asserts about Jenny Craig’s recent advertising claims. In its latest commercials Jenny Craig makes reference to “a study comparing Weight Watchers current weight-loss program and Jenny Craig's pre-packaged meals system.” Weight Watchers argues that no study exists.

What’s that? A company is stretching the truth in its advertising? I am shocked, shocked to find that corporations deceive consumers in their marketing campaigns.

"’It is outrageous that Jenny Craig is trying to trick and fool consumers through this blatantly misleading advertising campaign, which makes clearly false and unsupported claims,” said David Kirchhoff, President and CEO of Weight Watchers.

If Jenny Craig’s commercials are fictitious you cannot blame Weight Watchers for objecting to them; yet, I don’t think it is wise to waste much time and energy on the issue. After all, do any consumers still believe the information peddled by advertisers? I assume there is a tacit “Buyer Beware” agreement between merchants and consumers, so I believe virtually nothing I see on commercials. However, I guess there are others who are more gullible.

Perhaps the two weight-loss system heavyweights can settle this out of court. Otherwise, a judge will decide who is the “Biggest Loser”.

Yeah, that was awful. I know.

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