ACORN workers in 2008 presidential election had voter registration quotas

This tragedy took place in Pittsburgh, but it is far from an isolated incident involving the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by its acronym ACORN.

Two former employees of ACORN today said they and other workers were pressed to gather voter registrations and threatened with firing if they failed to meet a quota of 20 to 25 each day.

"We definitely had to reach a quota. If we didn't reach a quota we'd lose our jobs," said Mario Grisom, a Wilkinsburg man who was among seven people charged with a variety of counts, including forgery, last week.

A preliminary hearing into the ACORN charges began this morning in Municipal Court. Mr. Grisom, 28, and five others charged along with him asked for and received postponements because they didn't have lawyers.

In a hallway outside the courtroom, Mr. Grisom and Ashley Clarke blamed ACORN supervisors who they said sometimes completed partially filled applications that they turned in.

"The bosses -- if the date of birth wasn't filled out -- they would find it and fill it out for us," said Ms. Clarke, 21.

That's not reform. That's criminal activity.

Illuminating the Rot

The American Thinker published a startling article today that lists a detailed comparison between Democrat Party goals in Washington, DC these days to the goals of the Manifesto of the Communist Party USA.

As the article's author, Randall Hoven, says regarding the comparison:

Just seeing this list should open your eyes. It is exactly what is happening. Much of it is like reading a description of Obama's stimulus package. Name three things on that list that any Democratic Senator would not applaud. But let's go through the list anyway, and see how we're doing.

Silly me. I thought the West had defeated communism in 1989.

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A Scorned Wife

My first opera posting features the gifted Italian soprano Cecilia Bartoli singing a beautiful rendition of the Antonio Vivaldi aria 'Sposa Son Disprezzata'. A timeless plea. A breathtakingly beautiful performance.

Sposa son disprezzata.
Fida, son oltraggiata.
Cieli, che feci mai?
E pur egliè il mio cor,
il mio sposo, il mio amor, la mia speranza.

I am a scorned wife.
Faithful, yet insulted.
Heavens, what did I do?
Yet he is my love,
my husband, my beloved, my hope.

The seven administrations in the Bible

Andy McCarthy at The Corner wrote a cheeky post following the passage of that awful "bailout" bill in Congress today.  His post made me laugh, and it jogged my memory a bit.  It reminded me that I've been wanting to write about my understanding of the seven ages, or seven administrations, which God has established in his Word.  Knowing these seven administrations is so very important to gain an accurate understanding the Bible; without knowing these administrations, great balls of confusion ensue when trying to understand what the Word is saying and to whom it is saying it.

The seven administrations (ages) of God's dealings with mankind:

1.  The Original Paradise, or the Edenic state of innocence.  Ended very suddenly with the expulsion from Eden.  It is described from Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 3:23, and ended in Genesis 3:24.  When God drove Adam and Eve out of Eden, the original paradise where God dwelt with mankind came to an abrupt end.

2.  The Patriarchal administration, which included Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the patriarchs until the law of Moses.  During this time, the law was an unwritten law.

3.  The Law administration, initiated under Moses and terminated when Jesus Christ came.

4.  The Christ administration.  The difference between the Law administration and the Christ administration is the presence of Jesus Christ upon earth.  Jesus Christ kept and fulfilled the law.  The four Gospels describe and speak to this administration.

5.  The Church of Grace administration, which began on the day of Pentecost.  We today live in this administration.  In the Word, this administration is addressed beginning with the book of Acts.  It will end with the "day of the Lord", the return of Christ Jesus upon the earth.

6.  The Appearing administration.  Will begin with the gathering together of the believers who were born again during the administration of the church of grace.

7.  The Paradise administration, which will complement the original paradise (Eden) age.  Paradise will once again be on earth, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more death.

The Companion Bible, an invaluable Biblical research work compiled by the 19th century English theologian E. W. Bullinger, contains some of this information.  Various writings and teachings of the 20th century American Biblical researcher V. P. Wierwille expound upon this subject in greater detail.  These two believers and many other great teachers have made the words contained in II Timothy 2:15 a living reality in my life:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Iraq to renovate synagogue containing tomb of the prophet Nahum

The government of Iraq is planning to renovate an ancient synagogue that contains the tomb of the prophet Nahum.

The Old Testament book of Nahum, written around the year 603 B.C., opens with these words of prophecy:

The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

The Old Testament town of Nineveh is where Mosul stands today. The synagogue and the tomb are in the town of al-Qoush, just a few miles north of Mosul. More information on the tomb and synagogue can be found here.

The government of Iraq is to be congratulated, and thanked, for this effort and for similar renovation efforts in their wonderful country. Someday, I hope to visit Iraq and see this synagogue and tomb with my own eyes and meet some of the people of Iraq.

Photograph of the tomb of the prophet Nahum:



(h/t: Gateway Pundit here and here.)

Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Broadcasts

Tonight is the opening night gala of the Met's 2008-2009 opera season.  The gala will be broadcast as part of the Met's live, high-definition transmissions to movie theaters around the world.  The "Live in HD" broadcast schedule, along with a list of participating movie theaters, is here.

The star of tonight's gala will be the American soprano Renee Fleming.

I hope it doesn't suck, because I'm planning to attend.

To the White House! (2008 edition)

Someone buy Melanie Phillips a drink.  She has written and posted a fascinating, well-researched article entitled "The Long March To The White House" describing and documenting some of the background history of Barack Obama.  His history ain't pretty, unless you like communists.  I do not like communists.

The US presidential campaign for the 2008 election has been the longest-running campaign season yet.  Thank heaven for that because, apparently, the gray heads of the Democrat Party didn't vet Obama.  At least that gives people like Melanie Phillips and the others cited in her article the time to do it.  Or maybe the Democrat Party gray heads did vet him, and were fine with what was discovered.  *shudders*

7th Anniversary of 9/11

Seven years ago today, the American homeland was attacked and thousands of innocent people were murdered.  It needs to be pointed out that the attackers have established a pattern in the timing of their attacks.  They attacked the American homeland the first time when they bombed the World Trade Center during the early months of the Clinton administration.  Then the 9/11 attacks, coming during the first months of the George W. Bush administration.

Regardless who wins our upcoming presidential election, we need to remember the risk of further, more destructive attacks during the new administration's first months.

Apparently the terrorists figured the opening months of a new presidential administration would be an opportune time to attack.

What is an opera?

I do love opera so!  Most Americans today have only a passing knowledge (an an even shallower interest) in opera.  I'll be posting video excerpts from some of my favorite operas.  Perhaps before hearing and seeing those, the brief description below may help you understand what opera is all about.

The description comes from one of my favorite reference books:  The Victrola Book of the Opera, eighth edition, published in 1929, and it is as true today as it was when it was written.

What is an opera?  That question may very well be uppermost in everyone's mind the first time they attend the opera.  And even the seasoned opera-goer may have difficulty in trying to give a sentence definition in reply to that very simple-seeming question.  An easy answer is the mere statement, "An opera is a play set to music."  But that is only part of the truth, for an opera requires a special kind of plot -- one that is adaptable to musical accompaniment.  Music being, as it is often called, the language of the emotions, then it is to a drama which permits or requires an added emotional appeal that music can be of value.  But like every good thing won in life, this gain involves a sacrifice.

For instance, it no doubt seems strange, or even unnatural, the first time we go to the opera, to find all the characters singing their parts instead of speaking them as in a play -- or real life.  But that is just one of the necessary customs or conventions of opera.  At a play we see people living in rooms that have only three walls, the fourth being open so that we can look in and see what is going on.  Yet we accept this revelatory architecture as quite natural because it represents a convention to which we are accustomed.  And at the movies we are transported instantly from place to place in a most miraculous manner, still we believe the movies realistic.  There again a convention has become such a habit that we forget that it is untrue to life.  In the same way then, if we are to add the emotional and aesthetic appeal of music to drama, we have to accept the convention of people singing their thoughts instead of speaking them.  And it doesn't take long to become accustomed to it!

Don't be scared.

Boo media

...and it's not even Halloween.

CEDARBURG, Wisc. -- Hundreds of angry people in this small town outside Milwaukee taunted reporters and TV crews traveling with Sen. John McCain on Friday, chanting "Be fair!" and pointing fingers at a pack of journalists as they booed loudly.

On the first leg of the "McCain Street USA" tour -- which will take the Republican presidential nominee and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, to small towns across the heartland -- the 30 or so reporters and crew were walking back to their buses to join the McCain motorcade when hundreds of townspeople started yelling.

"Stop lying! You are all liars! Tell the truth!" one woman yelled from the front of the pack.

The crowd was not menacing or threatening, but was clearly angry.

"You're telling lies! Stop the lies!" one man yelled. Asked why the crowd was so angry, Linda J. Green of Mequon, Wisc., said: "I'm thinking the press is very biased."

Your thinking is correct, madam. All of these people in Cedarburg, Wisconsin are to be congratulated and thanked for speaking out like this.

Bible Study: Where do the Gospels belong?

Was listening to an old teaching tape this morning, and was reminded again of why the four gospels in the Bible - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John - should rightly be printed as part of the Old Testament and not as part of the New Testament.

The Word says Jesus Christ fulfilled the law, that Jesus Christ was a minister to the circumcision and that Jesus Christ was the end of the law.  The end.  The end of the law should be with the books of the law, not cut and pasted to the beginning of the books written to the church of grace.

The US Olympians Speak

The US Olympic athletes have chosen a Georgian-American to carry our flag in the closing ceremonies tonight in Beijing.

Bravo!

Wonderful and remarkable, is it not, that there is an athlete on our team who was born in Georgia.

Oshibka bol'shaya *

Thousands of Georgians angry at the presence of Russian troops on the outskirts of the strategic Black Sea port of Poti took to the streets Saturday, waving Georgian flags and urging the Russians to leave.

"Russian military: You are not a liberating military, you are an occupying force," one man was heard shouting.

You tell 'em! Say it again! Put it out there, good and loud! The Russian government bit off more than it can chew, so shove some more in its mouth!

 * BIG mistake

It was 27 years ago today

August 20, 1981. That's the day I entered the US Navy to become a Russian linguist. On that day, I flew to Orlando, FL to begin basic training along with dozens of other young, scared, excited (did I mention scared?) kids. After basic training, it was on to Monterey, CA to study the Russian language at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.

Hard to believe it has been 27 years! What a time that was. Russian language training was 47 weeks of constant, daily work that was mentally very demanding but also very rewarding and satisfying. All of our instructors at the school were native Russian speakers and almost all of them were defectors from the former USSR. Only a few were teachers by vocation when they were hired by the school; most were from other walks of life (housewives, scientists, grandmothers, children of defectors). I graduated with honors in October 1982.

The work that came after that was difficult, utterly fascinating, exciting, and very important. The people I served with in my Navy were, quite simply, the most amazing characters I've ever known. So many great people, and so many wonderful memories. I'll lift a glass in their honor later today. So many memories.