Scoop Feedback: Brickbats, Bouquets, Tracts

Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 5:04 pm
Opinion: Scoop Feedback

Ramzy is an idiot. What would be his "opnion" if he was the lucky survivor of a bombing, or had lost a loved one or himself been maimed? Maybe in that type of situation, he and so many other cowardly vipers would begin to see what the terrorist mentality is capable of. I wonder what he'd be screaming, if his head was being sawed off? I doubt it would be anything like his present self-touting, pompus stupidity.

[Probably Re: Ramzy Baroud: Bush's Choice, America or the Empire]

What's happening at Scoop?

Your international news coverage has been extremely thin and almost pitiful in the last few weeks.

At Manukau Tech we are told in 'Media Studies and the News', 'PR', 'Lobbying, Negotiation and Advocacy' etc that you are a great news source unswayed by political agndas. It was so in the past but recently your foreign news coverage has been pretty sad.

I've noticed many so called 'anti American' web sites (those listing US acts of aggression etc) have been taken off the net. Is scoop also coming under similar pressure?

[I think we were just busy with the election, then on holiday - Lyndon]

My thanks to you for your fine reporting on the National Summit to Save Our Elections in Portland, OR, over this weekend. As a participant, I can say that the spirit of the event was captured elegantly by your reporting of the first day's presentations, and I look forward to your further reporting of the remaining sessions.

As an American, I must also express my great disappointment that our own media did not see fit to bring the results of this event to our public with anything like the seriousness you obviously have given to this event. While a few individuals, such as Brad Friedman (Bradblog.com) and Bob Koehler (Tribune Media Services) will try their best to get the word out, our corporate media were otherwise conspicuous by their absence. This is a sad commentary on the role of our fourth estate, who continue to shield our leaders from the serious questions we should be raising about our democracy and what we must do to preserve it.

What this article ( see below ) fails to mention is that New Zealand had one of the highest home ownership rates in the Western world in 1986 at 73%, which at the 2001 Census had slipped to 68% and is heading to around 62% by 2011. With the recent lift in housing prices, this will likely happen sooner ( NZ Housing Research Centre - Signals Paper - Homeownership In NZ ).

It could be described as "reverse welfare", as local authorities have strangled land supply, artificially inflating prices, allowing existing property owners to equity leverage their way in to so called residential investment properties and crowding out first home buyers.

We should not be surprised residential rental rates are dropping. The story however does not end there.

This ideologically driven behaviour by local authorities, strangling the land supply, seriously degrades the quality of the residential stock, by precipitating the over development of what Michael Duffy of the Sydney Morning Herald recently correctly described as "rats nest housing".

The question needs to be asked - why have church and social agencies been negligent to date, in failing to encourage local authorities to release land for housing? Could it be that they simply don't care or are so reliant on government financial support themselves, so that this issue is seen as "politically inconvenient"? The question needs to be asked.

Best regards, Hugh Pavletich

Further information - google - "New Zealand homeownership rates".

[See…http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3424792a10,00.html]

Silly facts?

Silly arithmetic?

Just plain bloody stupidity?

According to a report in the Independent, reprinted NZ Herald 26/ix/05, US forces in Iraq have expended about 6 000 000 000 rounds of small arms ammunition for about possible 20 000 insurgents killed which is conservatively 250 000 rounds per corpse.

Given projectile mass, in grains, of 62g for 5.56mm, 150g for 7.62mm and 750g for 50 cal., tthese are all assumed averages for the vaious types of bullet used, amoure piercing, incendiary, etc. And taking a wild guess that the use ratios are 50% 5.56mm, 30% 7.62mm and 20% 50 cal.then the total mass of small arms projectiles per shredded opponent is 25M g, that is about an unbelievable 1600kg per corpse, roughly 20 times the target's body weight.

I can find no reference on the web to contradict these figures and please not that they are for small arms fire only. Now toss in grenades, mortar rounds, artillary fire, rockets and bombs together with odds and ends such as mines (various) and dem,olition charges and you begin to wonder who is the terrorist. You may also wonder what all this is worth in schools, health services, and all the rest of the litany of socialist evils.

Just in case it had escaped you; not all but the great majority of this material is not embedded in the soil and buildings of Iraq and much of the mass will be either lead or depleted uranium. In England 12 gauge lead shot is no longer allowed because it is poisoning the water fowl but it is a well known fact that the Marsh Arabs are immune to anything but a direct hit.

Andrew Goodfellow

On http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/24/cs t.03.html, you can see a transcript of a CNN interview of Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, of Texas:

BLITZER: In our most recent CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup Poll, 55 percent or so said the government should help pay for all of these disasters by reducing expenditures in Iraq. Would you support that?

HUTCHISON: We must keep our commitment to the war on terror. That war is for the freedom of future generations. And as long as we are fighting to stabilize Iraq, we are try to keep terrorists on their turf and not come to our turf. It would be absolutely the worst thing we could do, to walk away from our commitments in Iraq and the commitment of the United States of America and our word so that in the future, neither our enemies nor our friends would ever trust that we would stay the course. That would be a disaster for sure. So I do not think that's the place to go.

Would you believe that, "And as long as we are fighting to stabilize Iraq, we are try to keep terrorists on their turf and not come to our turf."? So the Iraq war is keeping the Arab terrorists busy bombing Arabs, and that keeps them off our turf! How else could this war be keeping them on their own turf? The war certainly doesn't defend our borders, etc. What a disgusting attitude!

The Sign of the Cross +

One God Almighty is found in the Holy Sign of the Cross for the skeptical and the Faithful. As we bring to God our needs, wants, desires and thanks giving we are awakened to the critical path lifelong process of becoming Holy.

The great Sign of the Cross is blessed, sacred, consecrated by the hands and bodies of those who suffered and died as did Jesus the Christ the Risen Savior as well as the suffering and deaths of the five (5) Apostles, Peter, Andrew, Philip, Luke, James (the less) and Holy ones who prepared the way. The sacred symbol expressed by the hands or any parts of the body or in written symbolism has been cherished by those before us and is the Sign of Life. It is also the Cross of Fire recognized by few on a good Friday as well as the process of becoming justified and sanctified in and through the righteous act of making the Holy Sign of the Cross. It is a prayer and a Divine praise to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost and God the Holy Spirit and it is bringing Glory and Honor to the universal Creator. The living being is found in the Breathe of Life and the wooden cross which maybe symbolized by making the Sign of the Cross is found in the Tree of Life.

One the most ancient roots of the Holy Sign of the Cross is found in the Book of Genesis in the 2nd temple with Enoch. The statement made then was one of a Faith which leads to Grace and the yesh with God the Father. It was and is a devotional prayer and this activity brings to a being the Sanctifying Grace of Forgiveness and Purification as well as the Actual Grace to avoid bad seeds and seek good seeds in Life. It may have been in the Old Testament were the Divine Burning of the Love of God was kindled and His Power and Beauty of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit was released in the Bond of Unity with God the Father. It may be that the Holy Sign of the Cross is for all people in all nations in the universe be it expressed in the dynamic fashion of people or the formal acts of the masses. The Hand of God ICXC comes to mind and the image of the early Fathers making the Holy Sign of the Cross before entering the synagogue, temple, house of assembly, house of worship, house of prayer, church or place of prayer called Beit or Beth Knessett. The early Christians were all Jewish and they did abandon Judaism and forget tradition. Jesus the Christ adhered to Jewish custom on the gathering of the Faithful in the cenacle which is the upper room were the Last Supper and the breaking of the Holy Bread (Fermentum-Leaven) and the drinking and remembering of the Cup of the Fruit of the Wine. It was in conformance with Jewish law and Passover and the Holy Spirit of the First Fruits for the resurrection to take place on third day.

It is in the Holy Sign of the Cross that shall prepare and lead the way in each one of us and is found in the Shield of the Cross of those before us. It is the Holy Symbol of Salvation and the early Sign of Signs with which the Great Ones and the Holy Ones took into battle as they came to a deeper love and understanding of God found in being Washed by the Blood and the Baptism of Blood of the Holy Sign of the Cross. In the signing and crossing of oneself our very beings are sealed by the making of the Sign of the Life- giving Cross. The seal of God found in the forehead is sealed by touching of the forehead "In the Name of The Father" and the breastbone "In the Name of the Son" ( of the Son) and the shoulders "In the Name of the Holy Ghost" and the "Name of The Holy Spirit." Amen and Amen (Aman and Aman ). The eastern and western world and the church established some guidelines on worship and praise. The number of fingers and right hand or left hand or both hands if we are so blessed is a personnel choice and is a rewarding discovery. It is a custom of some to give their whole body as a form of worship and use two hands in making the Holy Sign of the Cross. The mini-cross is a most beautiful way to express ones devotion to God and is seldom used as a regular form of worship to God and they should be given time and consideration in that the love of God in and through the Holy Ghost and God the Holy Spirit. It is permissible and is beneficial and productive by God to give this way in private. The formal uniformity is a royal act and is beautiful and should always be respected in each house of worship, synagogue or church. Gods program allows for private prayer as well as public with the formal and dynamic aspects of each according to the Word of God which is the Will of God.

As we begin our day and choose to make the Holy Sign of the Cross in various languages, signs and symbols we awaken, renew and regenerate the Love of God within us and before we bath as well as making the Sign the Grace before meals and the Signing of Grace after meals and before retiring for it is for all seasons of Life. The coming and going is addressed by some which is the entering of a household and the leaving of a household. It is the custom of some to make the Holy Sign of the Cross before giving a cup of water or before a lovely gesture. It is helpful to some to make the Sign of the Cross after drinking or receiving a gift from another. It comes to mind the Signing of the Cross before the personnel struggles and battles of life of an individual in the moments between Hope and Faith and action speaks silently.

The Sign of the Cross is blessing oneself and testing the spirits and also helps to break the habit of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, language, lying, food, thought life, self control, anger, humor, pride and the sexual needs, wants and desires of the mind and the body. The second degree sin of being associated with the wrong doing of another be it by command, by council, by discussion, by advice, by consent or by pushing another by praise or flattery, by silence and or by defending a wrong doing can be improved upon by the signing of oneself with Sign of the Cross.

The Blessing received and given with the Sign of the Cross can be enhanced with time and consideration given to God the Holy Ghost and or the Holy Spirit. The different degree of perfection is a life long journey as we reflect upon the degree of sin and degree of Grace in our lives and the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against God the Holy Ghost we shed light upon darkness. It is the understanding of some that mistakes and sins against God the Father and God the Son is forgivable with Baptism, Confession and Communion but to sin against the Holy Ghost and or the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin of blasphemy. Perhaps in the infinite Wisdom of God there are degrees of mercy which bring us to His justified and righteous judgment.

As we add the flavor of salt and basil to our lives we season it for the journey of a sanctified righteousness overtime in the Holy Sign of the Cross.

Stephen Thomas Michael Brexel

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