EMERGING REVELATIONS OF THE RELIGIOUS ZEALOTRY AND TRUE BELIEF OF REPUBLICAN VICE-PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANT SARAH PALIN  perhaps influencing her articles of faith (and campaign message) should be enough to ring alarm bells.

For starters, there's her associations with a heretical apocalypto sect with known connexions to the "Latter Rain" revivalist movement as has itself been declared heretical and anathema by the Assemblies of God since 1949, which was reinforced by Resolution 16 (A Return to Biblical Integrity) of the 48th General Assembly of the Assemblies of God in 2000:

WHEREAS, The first of the 16 Fundamental Truths asserts unequivocally that the Scriptures are the "infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct"; and

WHEREAS, The report of the Spiritual Life Committee in Minutes, Revised Constitution and Bylaws of The General Council of the Assemblies of God 1993 states:

We believe that God's Spirit never goes where His Word does not. . . . We have been lambasted by elements of the electronic church and charismatic renewal as being backslidden and non-Spirit led when we have not jumped on popular bandwagons of the day loaded with the meringue of personality and spiritual excess rather than the plain meat of God's Word. So be it! If criticism is the price we must pay for asking the question: "What saith the Lord in His written Word?"-then let us wear that criticism gladly as a sign of fidelity to Christ. and

WHEREAS, The current "river of God" includes many alleged manifestations of the Spirit which are extra-biblical. These extra-biblical manifestations have become a de facto evidence of a new level of spirituality and/or a new anointing. They are eclipsing in importance the biblical anointing called the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is witnessed by speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance; and

WHEREAS, Latter Rain doctrines such as impartation, birthing, Joel's Army, and the five-fold ministries taught as offices with predictive prophecy are again being heard in the new revival; and

WHEREAS, As a result, ministers and churches are being divided and members are becoming confused about the authority of the Scripture; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this General Council reaffirm the decision of the General Council of 1949, as stated: We recognize a hunger on the part of God's people for a spiritual refreshing and manifestation of His Holy Spirit [and] That we set our hearts to seek for a continued outpouring of the Holy Spirit founded upon the clear teaching of the Word of God. Be it further

RESOLVED, That we disapprove of Latter Rain doctrines and practices such as "impartation," "birthing," "Joel's Army," and the "five-fold ministries" taught as "offices" with "predictive prophecy," and other extraneous teachings "which, being unfounded scripturally, serve only to break fellowship . . . and tend to confusion and division."

Which, in turn, was reinforced by the Position Paper "Endtime Revival--Spirit-Led and Spirit-Controlled," the which may be read in its entire here (and could be worth using for "swift-boating" Ms. Palin with on the theological front, what with her known friends among the Religiopolitical Right).

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AS IF MS. PALIN'S ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE FALSE DOCTRINE OF LATTER RAIN WEREN'T AWFUL ENOUGH, a flyer in the church bulletin of her church in Wasilla, AK is promoting the Focus on the Family-affiliated "Love Won Out" pseudoministry which suggests that homosexuals and homosexuality can be "cured" by the thorough application of Christian Witness.

The which turns out being in the same boat as "aversion" and "reparative" psychotherapies which have been discredited by the American Psychiatric Association as having no credible basis in fact and serves only to further stigmatise homosexuals and homosexuality, as per the following position paper issued in 2000 (by way of Media Matters for America):

1. APA affirms its 1973 position that homosexuality per se is not a diagnosable mental disorder. Recent publicized efforts to repathologize homosexuality by claiming that it can be cured are often guided not by rigorous scientific or psychiatric research, but sometimes by religious and political forces opposed to full civil rights for gay men and lesbians. APA recommends that the APA respond quickly and appropriately as a scientific organization when claims that homosexuality is a curable illness are made by political or religious groups.

2. As a general principle, a therapist should not determine the goal of treatment either coercively or through subtle influence. Psychotherapeutic modalities to convert or "repair" homosexuality are based on developmental theories whose scientific validity is questionable. Furthermore, anecdotal reports of "cures" are counterbalanced by anecdotal claims of psychological harm. In the last four decades, "reparative" therapists have not produced any rigorous scientific research to substantiate their claims of cure. Until there is such research available, APA recommends that ethical practitioners refrain from attempts to change individuals' sexual orientation, keeping in mind the medical dictum to first, do no harm.

3. The "reparative" therapy literature uses theories that make it difficult to formulate scientific selection criteria for their treatment modality. This literature not only ignores the impact of social stigma in motivating efforts to cure homosexuality; it is a literature that actively stigmatizes homosexuality as well. "Reparative" therapy literature also tends to overstate the treatment's accomplishments while neglecting any potential risks to patients. APA encourages and supports research in the NIMH and the academic research community to further determines "reparative" therapy's risks versus its benefits.

(As a matter of fact, several psychologists and psychiatrists who have identified themselves with "aversion/reparative therapy" programmes have been disciplined for the likes of Unprofessional Conduct, Causing Serious Emotional Harm in Clients, Abusing the Doctor-Client Relationship for Personal Gain and Abusing Client Trust and Confidence to Further Expose Clients to Harm or Dependency, among other charges as can lead to disciplinary action. Not to mention the unwitting likelihood of certain such being, perhaps, Addicted to Liquor.)

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AND TO SUGGEST THAT SARAH PALIN'S PRESENCE AS JOHN McCAIN'S VICE-PRESIDENT MAY ACTUALLY HELP SWAY WORKING-CLASS WOMEN INTO VOTING REPUBLICAN COME NOVEMBER may only be wishful thinking; read what the Los Angeles Times has to say on this Inconvenient Truth.

Not to mention suggesting that a blanket ban on abortion and contraception as is part of the McCain/Palin Presidential agenda would actually have "economic benefits" (cf. Romania under Nicolae Ceauçescu, in case you've forgotten Recent History).  

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AS IF WHAT REMAINED OF TROPICAL STORM HANNA'S SOAKING THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR INTO NEW ENGLAND WASN'T AWFUL ENOUGH before heading off to sea on the overnight, there's a new meteorological time bomb ticking away in the Caribbean by name of Hurricane Ike.

Keep the "I Like Ike" buttons your grandparents wore in the 1950's in the attic for now, folks; Ike is showing its real face as a destructive storm of the highest order, already bringing even further devastation upon Haiti, itself the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and itself already devastated by Gustav and Hanna previously, with nearly 200 dead between them across Haiti and Ike only likely to add to the Haitian death count just as relief supplies were beginning to arrive in Cap-Haitien, one of the worst-hit communities.

And with the Southern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands taking a pounding from Ike, Cuba will no doubt be next.

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WITH PARTS OF NORTHERN CUBA ALREADY HAVING SEEN DEVASTATION FROM GUSTAV PREVIOUSLY, IKE COULD ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE FOR THE CUBAN NATION as much for the people and regime, what with road and transport problems making delivery of relief supplies all the more difficult.

As well as the prospect of Havana having to ask the United States to supply relief to Cuba, trade embargo notwithstanding, in case further damage ensues thanks to Ike as are beyond available resources from the Cuban regime and her other "fraternal sister republics" like Venezuela. (Washington's official line is that they would only supply "humanitarian aid" to Cuba if and when specifically requested. But then again, consider the prospect of the Cuban regime storing in locked and sealed warehouses any relief the "aggressor" United States may supply soon after their receipt.)

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AND WITH THE LIKELIHOOD OF IKE'S STRONG WINDS BRUSHING THE FLORIDA KEYS AS IT MAKES MINCEMEAT OF CUBA, Monroe County, Florida is taking no chances, essentially "locking down" the Keys and Key West starting with a Mandatory Visitor Evacuation yesterday and a Phased Mandatory Resident Evacuation from this morning, starting with the Lower Keys and Key West (i.e., up to the Seven-Mile Bridge on the Overseas Highway), followed by the Middle Keys (including Marathon, Key Colony Beach and Duck Cay) and the Upper Keys (including Tavernier, Islamorada, Key Largo and Mainland Monroe County), with tolls suspended on the Card Sound Drawbridge and the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike.

Seeing as how the Keys are rather small coral islands themselves, the authorities there want to take no chances, especially considering that certain Elmer Gantry types will see in Ike's devastating effects a Wrath of G-d scenario (what with Key West being popular among the GLBTQ element and the Keys themselves being somewhat Bohemian in culture and lifestylee).

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DEPENDING ON PROJECTIONS, IKE COULD WIND UP MAKING A DIRECT HIT ON THE SAME AREAS AFFLICTED PREVIOUSLY BY KATRINA BACK IN 2005 AND GUSTAV just in the last week along the Central Gulf Coast.

Which, it just so happens, has substantial numbers of offshore oil and natural gas rigs temporarily offline in view of the power cuts following Hurricane Gustav ... and considering where Ike is, as I write this, a Category 4 hurricane (sustained winds 125-150 mph) per the Saffir-Simpson Scale, there's the clear and present risk of several rigs being destroyed and, in effect, out of production outright, translating into further overzealous appeals for energy self-sufficency based on wasteful and inefficent wildcat drilling in areas with no likely crude oil resources extant.

And which could wind up tipping Indecision 2008 all the more to Obama/Biden; any suggestions that McCain/Palin saw a spike in Wholehearted Popular Support following the convention should be seen as transient and illusory, what with the "post-convention bounce" likely to last only 1-2 days on the overnight tracking polls.

(Best resource I can recommend to make sense of the daily polling trends among all the leading polls: FiveThirtyEight.com, which offers rational-sounding numbers based on both the popular vote and its knock-on effects in the Electoral College, where it really matters under the Constitution. The site's name, in fact, refers to the current constitution of the Electoral College, based on two Senators per state and Representatives awarded each state proportional to population, plus three electors for the District of Columbia, as authorised in the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution.)

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KUDOS TO OPRAH WINFREY FOR WISELY CHOOSING NOT TO HAVE SARAH PALIN ON HER SYNDICATED CHAT SHOW ANY TIME DURING THE ELECTORAL RUNUP, citing Oprah's belief that her chat show's emphasis on self-improvement and empowerment along these same lines is incompatible with such becoming a partisan campaign forum.

Not to mention the prospect of the McCain/Palin campaign trying to display messages in projectio subliminalis for "winning of hearts and minds" purposes throughout, or otherwise using electronic effects as may tend to the hypnotic on Palin's eyes.

And speaking of The Dark Side of Sarah Palin Such as She Doesn't Want You to Know About, The Political Curmudgeon hath these revealing comments about how Alaskans are, howbeit sub rosa for fear of reprisals as may include perverted use of the mental hygiene laws, really viewing their Governor--as a racist, xenophobic, mentally-unstable type tending to the weird and unwholesome. Comments which need to be shared, for Knowledge is Power; don't be fooled by such who think Knowledge is Power needs to be qualified by Power Tends to Corrupt.

As writer Jack London once wrote, "...the proper function of Man is to live, not just exist."

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AND WE ROUND OUT TODAY'S SELECTION WITH THE SCOOP FROM DAY 6 OF THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR, as per the Minnesota State Fair Daily News:

So much fun to have, so little time.

Em, looking good at the Coliseum!

Who is having fun at the GMGT???

Mike you better watch your driving on the golf cart, you almost took those little kids out!

SG we appreciate all of your hard work and love your upbeat attitude!

BD that was nice of you to teach BES how to make the "fluff."

Brandi tonight woohooo!

Gransportation you rock!

Black white and denim day ... who knows whats in store for tomorrow!

Teflon May 29!!

KF drink lots of folic acid ... good for baby.

Tidy Bowl Tammy would like to thank Cathy the new vendor from (Out Of The Blue) stand in Heritage Square. Thanks so much for the cute sign.

Bob "the woodcarver" says his best friend at the State Fair is a very short man walking with cane.

Jack Deschene hard worker on M.H. setting a good example for all the Old Iron exhibitors.

Kudos to the Sanitation dept. and thanks from the Livestock Depts. for the fabulous cleaning job in the barns on Sunday evening!

Thanks to quick thinking, State Fair employee Joe Stepka from the Stella overflow parking lot, a camper that ran the gate was quickly chased down all the way to Como. Those golf carts can really go when they have to.

What would you do for a Klondike Bar? ... I need to know!--Some boys are cute!

AH you had a bad influence missy!

BD congrats on getting to sing, you will do oh so great

Halfway through The Compleat Scoop already, and we'll continue tomorrow in this space. 

JUST AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO LET YOU KNOW WHERE THE EXAGGERATOR HAS, JUST TODAY, CROSSED THE 10,000-VISITOR MARK since its launch towards the end of last year to supplant the daily phosdex as Your Correspondent's blog of record.

All this over the space of eight months, one week and one day!

And thanks to all of you for actually making this possible--although I do acknowledge that there hasn't been any revenue from the online shopping angle; would that it were otherwise. In fact, I'd greatly appreciate some serious online purchasing among you weblog visitors; after all, disability benefits on my part can only go so far month after month, and what's more, it's unlikely I will be coming into money within measurable distance.

And if you needed another reason to shop online with The Exaggerator, it's that I intend to donate part of the proceeds I generate in commissions as come only from your purchases to Good and Worthwhile Causes. Need I say more?

With that in mind, I'd especially welcome it, for the sake of not so much Your Correspondent as the environment (even if gas prices have been falling in recent weeks), if this blog's visitors, both new and old, took the time to get any online shopping they need completing completed here as a gesture of convenience.

THERE SEEMS TO BE THIS OVERWHELMINGLY HARD-WIRED BELIEF INHERENT AMONG THE RELIGIOPOLITICAL RIGHT AND THEIR DROOGS as implies that the Lower Classes, especially so the "chronic and habitual welfare basket cases," are somehow "lacking in healthy respect for morals and decency" to the point of having this overzealous fondness for the crudest and most explicit forms of pornography known.

Especially so such as goes beyond "schoolboy" soft porn in the likes of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler to the point of full-on hardcore--the which these same specimens of Zealotry and True Belief would just love to deploy as a means of cheap and cheerful pacification most extreme, espeially where such can be displayed in its most explicit form possible (and especially so where children and animals are involved).

Talk about your doublethink right there....

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MEANWHILE, PERHAPS IT WAS TIME TO SHOW THE REAL, JANUS-FACED, SARAH PALIN FOR WHAT SHE REALLY IS, AND WHAT SHE REALLY REPRESENTS--first, by way of the American News Project, ultimately via Brave New Films, showing just how hard-wired (as it were) the Elmer Gantry element is in parroting out nothing but a carefully-scripted series of hagiographic paeans:

And, for the sake of "fairness and balance," Fox Prolefeed notwithstanding, Comedy Central's Daily Show has the following, starting @ about 3:08 into the following:

And Another Thing:

In reply to Ms. Palin's unflattering attack on those unselfishly giving of their time and talents to the community in the name of a perverted ideal of a Greater Collective Good as is up there with what totalitarian regimes see thereof, may I call your attention to these immortal remarks of Theodore Roosevelt in his speech entitled "Citizenship in a Republic" @ the Sorbonne in Paris on 23 April 1910 (by way of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Society), remarks as relevant today as they were shorly after Teddy picked up his Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the Treaty of Portsmouth as ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1907:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

In a similar vein as above are these much earlier remarks of Theodore Roosevelt before he acceeded to higher things (credit as above):

...the man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic-the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done. (1891)

Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger. (1894)

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MEANWHILE, THE GREATER CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT'S FEAR, LOATHING AND CONTEMPT FOR ELITISM, WHAT WITH ITS SUBTLE TURNS TOWARDS ANTI-SEMITISM and other displays of paranoia, suggests to Your Correspondent what may best be described as Producerism, pure and unadulterated.

Which, simply put, holds as follows:

• The Working Classes, as of unwritten right, custom and tradition, are entitled to special rights, privileges and powers by virtue of their role and place; however,
• Said rights, privileges and powers are under constant threat of being compromised and undermined,
• on the one hand, by banking, financial, media, Hollywood and Wall Street elites, dominated for the most part by Jews working as part of an Evil and Sinister Conspiracy to undermine Christians and Christendom (per that infamous forgery known as the Protocols of Zion), and
• on the other hand, by National Minorities of "inferior races," "chronic and habitual" welfare cases, "freaks and travesties of Nature" (as in homosexuals and transsexuals) and other "troublemakers"generally; hence,
• Using "whatever means necessary," no matter how loathsome, offensive or repugnant--and excusing such as True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command if and when pressed to explain--to protect as much as defend the "antient and pecuilar rights, privileges and powers that the Working Classes are entitled to as of right and custom."

Which, given this same element's fear and loathing of the Establishment Media Elites as being part of a Greater Liberal Media Conspiracy ("Liberal," methinks, being anti-Semitic code), is also enough to wonder if the messengers thereof have this warped nostalgia for the likes of gazettas such as Grit, Comfort, Capper's Weekly and the National Weekly Edition of The Kansas City Star ... or, for that matter, the populist-leaning programming overnights on high-powered Mexican "border-blaster" stations whose calls invariably began with XE. And looking upon them with a maudlin sense of emotional nostalgia rivalled by certain specimens of German Heimatroman such as the Nazi regime was fond of pushing in cheap editions.

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CLOSING OUT THIS EDITION, WE HAVE ANOTHER ROUND OF "THE SCOOP" from the back page of the Minnesota State Fair Daily News for Day 5 (Monday, 25 August):

Rachel head of sellers at gate 5 won silver for marching ask her

Thank you Liz F for the VERY special treat just when I needed it! Mary M.

Thanks to Leia from Sales for helping us out in a last minute bind. Much appreciated. Admin. Dept.

WBIII, like I said they will be lining up!!!

Mary at Gate is old but awesome

KF, you just made a families [sic] day!

BD: are we going to have some kick butt tan lines tomorrow! Wear them with pride!

TD, your announcement skills blow my mind!

BES you are just a ball of fun!

Fairchild and Fairborne you did great work!

WEN sometimes we don't know what to do with you down here ... but I guess you've been here for four years we'll take you for another fair!

Teflon: your left arm is going to be so muscular from lugging that gorgeous piece of jewelry around

RG the handshake is beyond awesome it is beloved by all

AH you are one heck of a gal ... fair secrets and all!

Oh those dogs at the Pet Center were a hoot!

Anyone tired yet??

Man oh man that pie was out of this world

Frisky as a puppy ... yeah I dig it

WE LOVE THE FAIR!!!

Andrea: nothing wrong with multiple fair friends....

FoN stage ... what a hoot

I would love to learn how to carve a beautiful flower out of some fruit or anything really

Who's up for a ride in Adventure Park!?!

Sleep in eight days!

Who thinks it's time to go eat? Andy we know you're in

I'm ready to rumble Peter!

Backstreet is back and ready for action!

AH I heard you tried to rush the stage last night ... how'd that turn out for you?? I always felt that you could be a really good groupie for some lucky band

Teflon: My ovs are burnin!!

Continued tomorrow....

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OPENING THIS TIME AROUND (HOWBEIT A LITTLE LATER THAN USUAL FOR REASONS WHICH WILL BE EXPLAINED SHORTLY) is new video from Brave New Films as could best be entitled "Same Tactic, New Target."

As in Fox Prolefeed's use of "swift-boating" the Democratic Presidential candidate to the point of getting voters to vote not so much for their own best interests as for an idealised Greater Collective Good which may only be selling out Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity to the "Evil Empire" of the "New World Order"--all the while excusing such as "perfectly moral:"

Which raises the question of whether the GOP as much as Fox Prolefeed is receiving "consultations" from the so-called "Church of Scientology" on how best to deploy the "Fair Game" weapon of Scientologists and Scientology for corrupt and depraved political purposes, and excuse all as "winning of hearts and minds."

As if that weren't enough, the Media Matters Action Network has this interesting display on how the conservative propaganda masheen is using all manner of interrelated memes against Barack Obama to advance the One Greater Meme of "Obama is Not One of Us" to whip up support for the McCain/Palin ticket "by whatever means necessary," scruples and decency seen as "unnecessary."

(For the sake of the "One of Us" argument as above, Your Correspondent has to ask if the propagators thereof mean White Male Low Church Christians, especially so those of the Primitive Churches such as Independent Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Cumberland Presbyterians, Plymouth Brethren and other Fundamentalist or Primitive Christian churches without synodical affiliation "to maintain the purity and integrity of Our Faith." The kind that would rewrite the chorus to the hymn "Faith of Our Fathers," a staple of Low Church types, to read "Faith of our Fathers, sacred [holy] faith;/We shall [will] be true to Thee 'till death.")

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AND SPEAKING OF JOHN McCAIN'S APPROACH LAST NIGHT (WHICH I HEARD ABOUT SECONDHAND; I DIDN'T LISTEN TO OR WATCH SAME, KNOW) tending to the soft-spoken, it may be worth reminding us all that there are psychological studies as show where a soft, measured tone and approach may belie unwitting psychopathic tendencies on the messenger's part.

Especially coming from someone who used "change" no less than ten times in the acceptance speech, by one count, as if suggesting where his approach amounts to nothing less than a Government-Protected Monopoly on Conservative Thought reinforced by a sadisto "iron heel" mindset.

As if that weren't enough, might I suggest that McCain and Palin be scheduled for appearences on the Faux "reality" series The Moment of Truth, where the targeted are subjected to a standard polygraph test to "winkle out" any fraud, deceit, lies or tricks.

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TIME NOW FOR THE SCOOP FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR DAILY NEWS from Day 4 (Sunday, 24 August):

Congratulations to Tessa in marketing who got engaged after the Paisley concert on Friday!

Who was that gorgeous State Fair employee on 5 News this morning??

Why would anybody drag a cane and pretend its a baton? You should feel sorry for him!!

Quirk/Birk are back on Machinery Hill. Just don't ask any question on John Deer's [sic].

Thanks to the guys and gals who do such a great job of taking care of our every need at the camgrounds [sic]. Mark and Mike are the best!--#247 and #248

Bizzle Dizzle, I heard KTTC needs a reporter. Thoughts?

Monkeys--the flowers regret to inform you we are out of bananas. You may want to try the farmers market.

Nick K. you have the longest ID # of anyone!

Congrats to Betty and Frank Moon in the Ed Building on their 51st anniversary.

CV thanks for saving me from the Mouth Trap!

Rapture you are my one B only HBC+TPB

Mike G., Algene L., Peg J., and Terri B. you guys rock!

Bill--are those complaints gettingto you??

Have you seen the Bazaar? WOW! Welcome back to all of our old neighbors and welcome to the new ones. George, it's going to be tough to enlarge by Hawaiian vocabulary with you so far away. Happy Birthday Nancy!

Yum ... pronto

Thanks to everyone who helped with the motorcycle parade. It went off without a hitch!--KF

BD those arms of yours are crazy

More where these came from tomorrow, folks....

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TELL ME THIS ISN'T AN INDIRECT BYPRODUCT OF THE IRAQI THEATER OF THE UR-RAHOWA AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: UNESCO has announced that the southern Iraqi marshlands along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have been suggested as being the site of the Biblical-era Garden of Eden, have been designated as a World Heritage Site.

Which is no doubt appealing to the Iraqi Ministry of the Environment, which has done considerably to reverse attempts by the former Ba'athist regime to drain substantial amounts of wetland acreage in question to create new agricultural lands (cf. the Fascist regime under Mussolini draining the Pontine Marshes in the 1920's for these same ends).

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THE RELIGIOPOLITICAL ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS MUST BE PRAYING ALL THE MORE FERVENTLY FOR HURRICANE IKE WREAKING WRATH-OF-G-D-STYLEE DEVASTATION wholesale upon Cuba in the hope of generating enough devastation as would be beyond the efforts of the Communist regime to attempt any manner of reconstruction.

The which would, hopefully, be enough to spark Spontaneous Popular Uprisings against the regime's delays in providing anything remotely resembling relief as the Great Within can exploit for "October Surprise" purposes to sway the vote for the McCain/Palin ticket--as in whipping up a Popular Rebellion (coverage provided exclusively by Fox Prolefeed) that would bring about not so much democracy as a Corporatist-Scientologist regime with "reality show"-stylee coverage serving nothing but "winning of hearts and minds" purposes in expecting the Lower Classes to see free-market capitalism in a "pure" (self-regulated) form as their Great White Father, their Hope and Salvation towards Complete and Final Empowerment after years and even generations of "habitual enslavement bordering on dependency" via State welfare.

(Or so those involved in the farce think.)

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna's rains could be what the Carolinas have been hoping and praying for after nearly two years or so of considerable drought and water-use restrictions. (I should know; I have a brother--retired military, know--living in Fayetteville, NC who has had to cope with the whole while keeping a modest backyard garden.)

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MEMO TO DUCK HUNTERS WHO ARE TRYING TO PURCHASE THEIR DUCK STAMPS FOR THIS YEAR TELEPHONICALLY: The brochure for same quoted the wrong freecall number to that effect by way of typographical erratum.

It's actually 1-800-STAMP-24, not the 1-800-TRAMP-24 you've been quoted: The latter turns out to be a phone-sex service. (This information being presented as a public service, inasmuch as the Fish and Wildlife Service, as is behind the Duck Stamp scheme, has announced that, because of costs, such will not be reprinted with corrected information.)

Please pass this message along to your duck-hunting friends, who will need to buy a Duck Stamp along with their licence.

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NOW, AS PROMISED, I WILL EXPLAIN THE DELAY IN POSTING MY ENTRY FOR TODAY into this blog: Following my morning's work @ the motel here in Winona, Your Correspondent decided to take his bicycle to a bike shop downtown to get some broken or snapped spokes replaced, via a Kwik Trip store to treat myself to a mid-morning snack.

Once the velocipede was left with the repair department, and advice received that the repair would be somewhat delayed, he walked down to the Walgreen's here in Winona (on the east side, know, by the hospital) to stock up on some blue pain-relief gel, some body wash, some cookies and cough drops.

And walked back. And, after leaving his shopping with the bike shop's repair section, took lunch @ a Chinese restaurant in the downtown: Cashew chicken with fried rice, preceded by won ton soup and egg roll with sweet-and-sour sauce, with oolong tea to accompany the whole.

Following lunch, picked up some ink cartridges for the computer printer "just in case."

And spent some time @ the biblio to check on my e-mail.

In the end, three spokes were found to be broken and required replacement, not to mention a fourth as broke when the repair man tried to tighten said spoke. As well, while the opportunity presented itself, a new bicycle seat was purchased and installed.

Now you know. And I apologise for the delay.

(Come to think of it, in case any of you readers are wondering about gift ideas for my birthday on Wednesday, 2 October, I could welcome a heavy-frame bicycle; Mein Innkeeper Friend is of the opine that my girth would require something along those lines for a replacement bike.)     

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YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO WANT TO SHARE THIS PARTICULAR ITEM WITH THOSE AMONG YOUR FRIENDS AND E-MAIL CIRCLES who are still hard-wired in their Zealotry and True Belief in the John McCain/Sarah Palin Presidential ticket, seeing in the same the Complete and Final Triumph of the American Will over the forces of the New World Order's Evil Empire.

Especially considering these rather interesting revelations, originally by way of the forums @ Democrats.com:

As of this writing we have: (thanks to Chip for his valuable input!)

Palin's membership in an apocalyptic, militant, neopentecostal dominionist movement called Joel's Army  (unless she repudiates the group, which is unlikely, this could be an extremely serious liability!)

Palin's membership in a radical right stealth group called "Feminists For Life"

Palin's apparent sympathies for and possible connections to the Alaska Independence Party, a secessionist group

A brewing scandal involving her firing of a police chief

The revelation that Palin's 17-year old unwed daughter is 5-months pregnant (not likely to appeal to evangelicals who prefer abstinence to unprotected teen sex)

Brewing mini-scandals like "Broken Water-gate"

A news interview in which Palin asks, What is it that the VP does anyway?

Troopergate

Reports that she has made many enemies of both parties in the Alaskan state legislature

Reports that she is a poor administrator

The news (from Stephanopoulous) that she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

Her assertion that "the founding fathers" put "Under God" in The Pledge of Allegiance

Her implication that energy independence can be achieved solely through domestic drilling.

Her questionable involvement with a 527 group for Sen Stevens

Palin's earmark requests: more per person than any other state

Clearly, this is not a candidate who was well-vetted, let alone qualified for the job of VP.

If this doesn't reflect on McCain's poor judgment, and his sense of desperation, then I don't know what does.

Come to think of it:

Speaking of Joel's Army and suchlike threats to liberty and democracy based on warped and perverted interpretations of Holy Scripture, some interesting insights about the movement come from the Southern Poverty Law Centre's Intelligence Report, whose fall number features an item on the movement:

Those sounding the alarm about Joel's Army are not secular foes of the Christian Right, few of whom are even aware of the movement or how widespread it's become in the past decade. Instead, Joel's Army critics are mostly conservative Christians, either neo-Pentecostals who left the movement in disgust or evangelical Christians who fear that Joel's Army preachers are stealing their flocks, even sending spies to infiltrate their own congregations and sway their young people to heresy. And they say the movement is becoming frightening.

"The pitch and intensity of the military rhetoric of this branch of the global Dominionist movement has substantially increased since the beginning of 2008," writes The Discernment Research Group, a Christian watchdog group that tracks what they call heresies or cults within Christianity. "One can only wonder how long before this transforms into real warfare with actual warriors."

[***]

[Todd] Bentley is considered a prophet both by his followers and by other leaders of the Joel's Army movement, whose adherents claim to be reviving a "five-fold ministry" of prophets, apostles, elders, pastors and teachers, as outlined in the Book of Ephesians. Not every five-fold ministry is connected to the Joel's Army movement, but the movement has spurred an interest in modern-day apostles and prophets that's troubling to the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal church, which has officially disavowed the Joel's Army movement.

In a 2001 position paper, Assemblies of God leaders wrote that they do not recognize modern-day apostles or prophets and worried that "such leaders prefer more authoritarian structures where their own word or decrees are unchallenged." They are right to worry. Joel's Army followers believe that once democratic institutions are overthrown, their hierarchy of apostles and prophets will rule over the earth, with one church per city.

[***]

The story of how an ancient insect invasion came to be a rallying flag for 21st-century dominonists begins just after World War II in Canada. Out of a small town in Saskatchewan, a Pentecostal preacher named William Branham spearheaded a 1948 revival in which he claimed that his followers lived in a new biblical time of "Latter Rain."

The most sinless and ardent of his flock would be called "Manifest Sons of God." By the next year, the movement was so strong — and seemed so subversive to some — that the Assemblies of God banned it as a heretic cult. But Branham remained a controversial figure with a loyal following; many of his followers believed him to be the end-times prophet Elijah.

Michael Barkun, a leading scholar of radical religion, notes that in 1958, Branham began teaching "Serpent Seed" doctrine, the belief that Satan had sex with Eve, resulting in Cain and his descendants. "Through Cain came all the smart, educated people down to the antediluvian flood — the intellectuals, bible colleges," Branham wrote in the kind of anti-mainstream religion, anti-intellectual spirit that pervades the Joel's Army movement to this day. "They know all their creeds but know nothing about God."

The Gates of Hell
Branham was killed in a car accident in 1965, but his Manifest Sons of God movement, the direct predecessor of Joel's Army, lived on within a cluster of hyper-charismatic churches. In the 1980s, Branham's teachings took on new life at the Kansas City Fellowship (KCF), a group of popular self-styled apostles and prophets who used the Missouri church as a launching pad for national careers promoting outright Joel's Army theology.

Ernie Gruen, a local pastor who initially promoted and gave citywide credibility to KCF pastors in the early 1980s, cut his connections in 1990. Concerned about KCF's plans to push its teachings worldwide, Gruen published a 132-page insider's account, based on taped sermons and conversations and interviews with parents who had enrolled their kids in KCF's Dominion school.

According to Gruen's report, students at the school were taught that they were a "super-race" of the "elected seed" of all the best bloodlines of all generations — foreknown, predestined, and hand-selected from billions of others to be part of the "end-time Omega generation."

Though he'd once promoted these doctrines himself, Gruen became convinced that the movement was turning into an end-times cult, marked by what he summarized as "spiritual threats, fears, and warnings of death," "warning followers to beware of other Christians" and exhibiting "a 'super-race' mentality toward the training of their children."

Those not convinced of the depravities and perversions of Christian doctrine @ the heart of Joel's Army teachings may want to watch this actual YouTube video from a detractor, as appears in the online version of this particular article:

Not to mention the likelihood that the more fanatical specimens of religiopolitical zealotry generally are probably (and @ once unwittingly) close to the Dregs of Society, if not already there, using religion to hide their alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual mania (especially where perverted fetishes, homosexuality, pedophilia and animals come into the equation), propensities for violence against spouse and/or children (and prepared to excuse such as Christian Love Manifest), gaming or other "asocial tendencies."

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AS FOR MS. PALIN'S ABSURD NOTIONS ABOUT HOW THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CAME ABOUT BY WAY OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS, especially so the line "under G-d," it may be worth recalling that it was the 1892 creation of Francis J. Bellamy, editor of The Youth's Companion magazine, as part of a suggested school programme to commemorate Columbus Day; its original form was:

I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the republic for which it stands: One nation, indivisable, with liberty and justice for all.

By 1923, "my flag" was changed to "the flag of the United States of America," with "under G-d" added in 1954 as part of the enforced adventures in jingoistic patriotism brought about by the Red Scare of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy and subsequent exercises in anti-Communist Zealotry and True Belief pro Deo et patria.

No wonder suchlike among her ilk have such warped visions of history as they do.

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ONE THING MORE: People For the American Way (PFAW) would like you to sign this Open Letter to Ms. Palin, to tell her that her real views do not represent those of the American Mainstream, but rather an idealised Bransoner Muzikschaukultur vision therefor.   

more animals

WITH YOUR CORRESPONDENT WRAPPED UP AS HE WAS IN OTHER PRESSING TOPICS OF IMPORTANCE in the previous posting today, he forgot to include the daily dose of The Scoop from the Minnesota State Fair Daily News--today, coming from Day 3 (Saturday, 23 August):

Happy anniversary to Marek and Peggy Kopec of the Flavored Cotton Candy Booth--33 years of marriage and 23 at the fair!

Go ahead, Amy in competition get that foreign language henna tattoo and see what happens ...

Smalls--I'll put five bucks on it that you barely TOWER over five feet, 5' 1 no chance!--TJ

Brigid--Have you checked the gas lately--Anonymous

A great big State Fair thank you to everyone in Creative Activities for the Spam-tastic Buffet! From the Payroll Lady and Spam lover. You guys are the best!

How about posting "Recommended by Fairchild and Fairborne" signage in such venues so preferred?--L.E.R., Winona (Fairchild and Fairborne's fan)

The Education Superintendent is a "happy" man once again now that Patty is leading the daily parade!!

When Lyle Puppe vs. Karen Frost, Karen Frost wins

Steve Roland--you are my hero, a knight in shining armor. Thank you for rescuing me! Signed ... Damsel in a golf cart mess.

BD you get the good person of the day award!

Happy belated birthday Teflon from the silly girls in marketing who forgot to put this in yesterday's news!

BES your rain boots are sharp!

Jack Pixley missed the first day of the fair this year! For 30 years his chimney sweep booth has been in the Home Improvement building and rarely misses a day, especially the opener!

Go Bob Go! You rock!

(Hopefully, such will be back in the regular posting tomorrow. My apologies for having to make The Compleat Scoop a separate posting today because of oversight.)