july 4th, 2006
thanks, lk, for posting the stuff about antonio gramsci. this man is a particular favorite, along with other nihilists like derrida and foucault, of all those po-co-po-co and po-co-po-co-po-mo types in english departments who are out to destroy civilization as we know it. (pocopocopomo = post-colonialists, politically-correct, post-modernist types).
these nihilists are the god-fathers of the maoists too: their tactic is to create a vacuum in civil society and then to fill it with their absurdities.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
this man is no hindu. by definition
july 4th, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/us/04identity.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all
i am using the sunni warrior tactic. whenever a christist is found to be a criminal or a monster, eg. hitler or stalin, the sunni warrior claims said christist is in fact not a christist. so we can all go home happy. others declare that criminals are not 'true' christists, whatever that means. this is uncannily close to the mohammedan tactic that says that all mohammedan terrorists are not 'true' mohammedans.
using the same tactic, since this shiva brent sharma is found to be a criminal, i declare that he is no hindu. if he were a hindu, he would not be a criminal.
QED.
amazing, isn't it? truth by repeated assertion can work both ways. what's good for the goose is good for the gander too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/us/04identity.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all
i am using the sunni warrior tactic. whenever a christist is found to be a criminal or a monster, eg. hitler or stalin, the sunni warrior claims said christist is in fact not a christist. so we can all go home happy. others declare that criminals are not 'true' christists, whatever that means. this is uncannily close to the mohammedan tactic that says that all mohammedan terrorists are not 'true' mohammedans.
using the same tactic, since this shiva brent sharma is found to be a criminal, i declare that he is no hindu. if he were a hindu, he would not be a criminal.
QED.
amazing, isn't it? truth by repeated assertion can work both ways. what's good for the goose is good for the gander too.
nytimes on google
july 3rd 2006
as i have been saying, google is not just a search company, but a software and hardware company. but i didnt know they were into designing chips, nor that they were big in making servers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/03/technology/03google.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
as i have been saying, google is not just a search company, but a software and hardware company. but i didnt know they were into designing chips, nor that they were big in making servers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/03/technology/03google.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Sunday, July 02, 2006
project thessalonica
july 2nd, 2006
this is not in the least bit suprising. long read, but most instructive.
this is the real face of christism. not exactly god's work, is it? the intent is cultural annihilation; if you recognize and resist, you are termed a fundamentalist. yes, just for saying, "do not destroy my faith and my culture".
christism is a monstrous, violent, death-worshipping cult that purveys a massive 4th century hoax about a mythical carpenter.
=======================
Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica?
Alex Pomero
in a Croatian Newspaper (sorry, no url was provided)
Some months back I watched a documentary which aired an interview with a
young Palestinian terrorist. Most people would be appalled simply at the
fact that someone who had killed innocent people is being treated like a
celebrity and given an opportunity to "explain" himself. But what was more
shocking was that he showed absolutely no remorse for having killed innocent
people on the streets of Israel, including women and children. Worse still
was the fact that even the parents of those youngsters supported the violent
activities of their children. *The reason: they were simply doing their
religious duty as true Muslims. For them killing an innocent bystander is
Jihad, the God-ordained religious duty of every Muslim.
*
I was born to Catholic parents and raised by a missionary Catholic mother
and an abusive, born-again Christian, who I will refer to only as "my
mother's husband". I was raised in an "ideal" Christian environment, and
would have followed my parents' footsteps and would have spread hate against
other religions, if it weren't for a fortuitous meeting I had with a Chinese
friend of my dorm roommate. Little did I realize then that the chance
encounter would end up being a turning point in my life.
The Chinese student was Buddhist who talked about meditation and its
advantages. Finding it curious I checked with my University library for some
books on meditation. After some searching, I found a book on Transcendental
Meditation ™, a meditation technique founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. That
book sparked a profound spiritual and emotional transformation in me and I
have never looked back. My thirst for knowledge led me to read more about TM
and its roots in Hinduism. I started reading every book on Hinduism I could
lay my hands on. In the Ramayana, I came across the life of Lord Rama and
his only wife Sita. Hindus consider Rama and Sita to be the ideal couple and
the path shown by them as the perfect man-woman relationship. *It was a
refreshing change from the abusive relationship I had witnessed and
experienced in my own Christian family.*
The wisdom and spirituality that I found in Hinduism has no parallels. There
is practically no aspect of life that is not dealt with in detail by the
innumerable texts that are a part of Hinduism. There are texts which deal
with the mundane aspects of day-to-day living and those which deal with more
profound questions such as those about life and death. To me, the most
fascinating aspect of Hinduism was that it was inclusive, respectful and
tolerant of all people and their various beliefs, in stark contrast to the
exclusivity that pervaded my native religion. Unfortunately the adherents of
the latter seem to be on a mission to destroy Hinduism.
Josh, my childhood friend with whom I communicate frequently was trained in
a seminary is currently a Baptist missionary. I met Josh during my recent
trip to USA. *He had just returned from India and was going back again in
November. Much of our conversation centered on his current assignment as
part of something called Project Thessalonica*. Josh was very passionate
when he spoke of Project Thessalonica - passionate in a scary kind of way.
In his eyes I could see the same resolve that was visible in the Palestinian
terrorist in the interview.
*Project Thessalonica is a sub-project of Joshua Project II. Joshua Project
II set the scope and strategy for converting the "heathen" of the world in
10-40 window (regions that lie between the latitudes of 10 and 40 degrees
north) whereas project Thessalonica (called PT) prioritizes the tasks to be
taken. Joshua Project II strategized the methodology called
'Adopt-a-peoples' wherein every mission agency or church adopted a 'people
group'.*
Tribals were the first and easy missionary targets. Unfortunately the
missionary activity didn't weaken Hinduism as the church strategists had
anticipated - many of the converts still celebrated and attended Hindu
festivals and continued to follow Hindu traditions. As a counter measure
Project Thessalonica was started in 2004. Before getting into the details of
Project Thessalonica it will be useful to look at the origins of the name of
the project.
Thessalonica was a major port city strategically located at the junction of
the main land route from Italy to the east and the main route from the
Danube down to the Aegean Sea. It was the capital of the Roman province of
Macedonia, a free city ruled by a popular assembly and magistrates. The
people of this city were rich, technologically advanced and culturally
distinct. Paul and Silas, during the Apostle's second missionary journey,
visited Thessalonica to preach the Gospel and propagate Christianity.
However, Paul's teachings received a lukewarm response from the people. Some
locals irritated by Paul's teachings got a hold of Jason and his brothers,
who were hosting Paul, and took them to city officials. They were charged
with harboring traitors, but faced no physical harm. They were eventually
made to post a bond and set free. In 390 AD, the Christian ruler Theodosius
the Great, punished a revolt by the inhabitants of the city by massacring
more than 7000 people. Much of the city was eventually converted to
Christianity.
A few observations about the city of Thessalonica at the time of Paul will
make its relevance to today's world clear. First the city was strategically
located in terms of access to other cities by both land and sea. Before
their forced conversion to Christianity, its inhabitants were economically
and culturally prosperous. Perhaps more importantly they were tolerant,
which explains why, inspire of provocation, the lives of Paul, Jason and his
brothers were spared. The government was also indifferent to the
missionaries and the adverse impact of their activities on the people.
*Hindus in India today are in the same situation as the people of
Thessalonica found themselves in at the time of Paul.* They are prosperous
economically and culturally and extremely tolerant of other people and
faiths. The government is completely indifferent to the activities of the
missionaries in India, in spite of the tremendous damage that missionary
activity has wrought on the local population all over India. *Seen in this
context, the choice of "Thessalonica" as a name for a project focused on
converting Hindus of India to Christianity seems particularly apt.*
*Project Thessalonica aims to stop or limit Hindu activity by converting
people who form the pillars of Hindu culture, festivals, traditions and
activity.* Traditionally missionaries hate any public expression or display
of heathen religions in the form of festivals and temples. *Missions want to
ensure that no new temple construction activity starts*. With this objective
they are converting masons, craftsmen and others involved in temple
construction activity. The First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee
adopted towns where the annual Kumbh Mela takes place and has been actively
converting the locals so that visitors face extreme hardship during their
next visit trying to find services and supplies. Another mission group is
adopting boatmen of Kasi where Hindus drop rice balls in river Ganges as an
offering to their forefathers. The boatsmen are being trained in other
fields so that they abandon this profession. They are making environmental
groups raise the voice so that Ganesh processions, Kumbh Melas and Jagannath
Rath Yatras are limited. One big worry seems to the extremely popular Hindu
television programs. Christian agencies have decided on buying these prime
slots at a premium and are actively working with programming sources. *Over
the past 20 years, missionaries also appear to have invested a lot in
handling the political leadership, so much so that their activities appear
to be almost immune to the ruling political party*. It seems that a good
section of media is also on their side to such an extent that any group
opposing their activity finds itself identified as a militant or extremist
group in the news media.
*My friend Josh doesn't have any sense of remorse, guilt or reasoning when
he speaks about converting the "heathens" of India through any
means.*Instead he shows a sense of pride and achievement as he
believes that he is
simply implementing God's word as written in the Bible. Just like the
Islamic terrorist in the interview.
With Christian Jihadis like Josh at the forefront of missionary activities
in India, one can only hope that Hindus don't face the same fate as the
people of Thessalonica.
*Additional reading*
1. http://www.neglectedfields.net/
2. http://in.christiantoday.com/news/mis_166.htm
A sample of the missionary mischief " A year back, when First Baptist
volunteers first set foot in India, the nation appeared overrun with
idolatry and spiritual darkness. However, the mission team sees signs of
hope".
To learn more about Project Thessalonica, e-mail
project.thessalonica@neglectedfields.net or call the International Mission
Board at 1-800-999-3113.
3. http://www.scbaptist.org/-1999999487/-1999941961.htm
this is not in the least bit suprising. long read, but most instructive.
this is the real face of christism. not exactly god's work, is it? the intent is cultural annihilation; if you recognize and resist, you are termed a fundamentalist. yes, just for saying, "do not destroy my faith and my culture".
christism is a monstrous, violent, death-worshipping cult that purveys a massive 4th century hoax about a mythical carpenter.
=======================
Can Hinduism face the onslaught of Project Thessalonica?
Alex Pomero
in a Croatian Newspaper (sorry, no url was provided)
Some months back I watched a documentary which aired an interview with a
young Palestinian terrorist. Most people would be appalled simply at the
fact that someone who had killed innocent people is being treated like a
celebrity and given an opportunity to "explain" himself. But what was more
shocking was that he showed absolutely no remorse for having killed innocent
people on the streets of Israel, including women and children. Worse still
was the fact that even the parents of those youngsters supported the violent
activities of their children. *The reason: they were simply doing their
religious duty as true Muslims. For them killing an innocent bystander is
Jihad, the God-ordained religious duty of every Muslim.
*
I was born to Catholic parents and raised by a missionary Catholic mother
and an abusive, born-again Christian, who I will refer to only as "my
mother's husband". I was raised in an "ideal" Christian environment, and
would have followed my parents' footsteps and would have spread hate against
other religions, if it weren't for a fortuitous meeting I had with a Chinese
friend of my dorm roommate. Little did I realize then that the chance
encounter would end up being a turning point in my life.
The Chinese student was Buddhist who talked about meditation and its
advantages. Finding it curious I checked with my University library for some
books on meditation. After some searching, I found a book on Transcendental
Meditation ™, a meditation technique founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. That
book sparked a profound spiritual and emotional transformation in me and I
have never looked back. My thirst for knowledge led me to read more about TM
and its roots in Hinduism. I started reading every book on Hinduism I could
lay my hands on. In the Ramayana, I came across the life of Lord Rama and
his only wife Sita. Hindus consider Rama and Sita to be the ideal couple and
the path shown by them as the perfect man-woman relationship. *It was a
refreshing change from the abusive relationship I had witnessed and
experienced in my own Christian family.*
The wisdom and spirituality that I found in Hinduism has no parallels. There
is practically no aspect of life that is not dealt with in detail by the
innumerable texts that are a part of Hinduism. There are texts which deal
with the mundane aspects of day-to-day living and those which deal with more
profound questions such as those about life and death. To me, the most
fascinating aspect of Hinduism was that it was inclusive, respectful and
tolerant of all people and their various beliefs, in stark contrast to the
exclusivity that pervaded my native religion. Unfortunately the adherents of
the latter seem to be on a mission to destroy Hinduism.
Josh, my childhood friend with whom I communicate frequently was trained in
a seminary is currently a Baptist missionary. I met Josh during my recent
trip to USA. *He had just returned from India and was going back again in
November. Much of our conversation centered on his current assignment as
part of something called Project Thessalonica*. Josh was very passionate
when he spoke of Project Thessalonica - passionate in a scary kind of way.
In his eyes I could see the same resolve that was visible in the Palestinian
terrorist in the interview.
*Project Thessalonica is a sub-project of Joshua Project II. Joshua Project
II set the scope and strategy for converting the "heathen" of the world in
10-40 window (regions that lie between the latitudes of 10 and 40 degrees
north) whereas project Thessalonica (called PT) prioritizes the tasks to be
taken. Joshua Project II strategized the methodology called
'Adopt-a-peoples' wherein every mission agency or church adopted a 'people
group'.*
Tribals were the first and easy missionary targets. Unfortunately the
missionary activity didn't weaken Hinduism as the church strategists had
anticipated - many of the converts still celebrated and attended Hindu
festivals and continued to follow Hindu traditions. As a counter measure
Project Thessalonica was started in 2004. Before getting into the details of
Project Thessalonica it will be useful to look at the origins of the name of
the project.
Thessalonica was a major port city strategically located at the junction of
the main land route from Italy to the east and the main route from the
Danube down to the Aegean Sea. It was the capital of the Roman province of
Macedonia, a free city ruled by a popular assembly and magistrates. The
people of this city were rich, technologically advanced and culturally
distinct. Paul and Silas, during the Apostle's second missionary journey,
visited Thessalonica to preach the Gospel and propagate Christianity.
However, Paul's teachings received a lukewarm response from the people. Some
locals irritated by Paul's teachings got a hold of Jason and his brothers,
who were hosting Paul, and took them to city officials. They were charged
with harboring traitors, but faced no physical harm. They were eventually
made to post a bond and set free. In 390 AD, the Christian ruler Theodosius
the Great, punished a revolt by the inhabitants of the city by massacring
more than 7000 people. Much of the city was eventually converted to
Christianity.
A few observations about the city of Thessalonica at the time of Paul will
make its relevance to today's world clear. First the city was strategically
located in terms of access to other cities by both land and sea. Before
their forced conversion to Christianity, its inhabitants were economically
and culturally prosperous. Perhaps more importantly they were tolerant,
which explains why, inspire of provocation, the lives of Paul, Jason and his
brothers were spared. The government was also indifferent to the
missionaries and the adverse impact of their activities on the people.
*Hindus in India today are in the same situation as the people of
Thessalonica found themselves in at the time of Paul.* They are prosperous
economically and culturally and extremely tolerant of other people and
faiths. The government is completely indifferent to the activities of the
missionaries in India, in spite of the tremendous damage that missionary
activity has wrought on the local population all over India. *Seen in this
context, the choice of "Thessalonica" as a name for a project focused on
converting Hindus of India to Christianity seems particularly apt.*
*Project Thessalonica aims to stop or limit Hindu activity by converting
people who form the pillars of Hindu culture, festivals, traditions and
activity.* Traditionally missionaries hate any public expression or display
of heathen religions in the form of festivals and temples. *Missions want to
ensure that no new temple construction activity starts*. With this objective
they are converting masons, craftsmen and others involved in temple
construction activity. The First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee
adopted towns where the annual Kumbh Mela takes place and has been actively
converting the locals so that visitors face extreme hardship during their
next visit trying to find services and supplies. Another mission group is
adopting boatmen of Kasi where Hindus drop rice balls in river Ganges as an
offering to their forefathers. The boatsmen are being trained in other
fields so that they abandon this profession. They are making environmental
groups raise the voice so that Ganesh processions, Kumbh Melas and Jagannath
Rath Yatras are limited. One big worry seems to the extremely popular Hindu
television programs. Christian agencies have decided on buying these prime
slots at a premium and are actively working with programming sources. *Over
the past 20 years, missionaries also appear to have invested a lot in
handling the political leadership, so much so that their activities appear
to be almost immune to the ruling political party*. It seems that a good
section of media is also on their side to such an extent that any group
opposing their activity finds itself identified as a militant or extremist
group in the news media.
*My friend Josh doesn't have any sense of remorse, guilt or reasoning when
he speaks about converting the "heathens" of India through any
means.*Instead he shows a sense of pride and achievement as he
believes that he is
simply implementing God's word as written in the Bible. Just like the
Islamic terrorist in the interview.
With Christian Jihadis like Josh at the forefront of missionary activities
in India, one can only hope that Hindus don't face the same fate as the
people of Thessalonica.
*Additional reading*
1. http://www.neglectedfields.net/
2. http://in.christiantoday.com/news/mis_166.htm
A sample of the missionary mischief " A year back, when First Baptist
volunteers first set foot in India, the nation appeared overrun with
idolatry and spiritual darkness. However, the mission team sees signs of
hope".
To learn more about Project Thessalonica, e-mail
project.thessalonica@neglectedfields.net or call the International Mission
Board at 1-800-999-3113.
3. http://www.scbaptist.org/-1999999487/-1999941961.htm
Saturday, July 01, 2006
'praying mantis': more from the sordid annals of the saint business
jul 1, 2006
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1691838.cms
see, now they are manufacturing brown saints as well. equal opportunity guys, these!
miracle, schmiracle. this stuff is absolutely laughable, and it's unbelievable grown men and women believe in it. actually, it is more likely that they are looking to make money out of it, like in the case of the eponymous 'beatified kochappi' so well lampooned by ponkunnam varki. that is such a classic story that i should really translate it from malayalam and put it on the net. such an expose, instantly recognizable as absolute truth.
do read my tirade about the saint business: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/17rajeev.htm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1691838.cms
see, now they are manufacturing brown saints as well. equal opportunity guys, these!
miracle, schmiracle. this stuff is absolutely laughable, and it's unbelievable grown men and women believe in it. actually, it is more likely that they are looking to make money out of it, like in the case of the eponymous 'beatified kochappi' so well lampooned by ponkunnam varki. that is such a classic story that i should really translate it from malayalam and put it on the net. such an expose, instantly recognizable as absolute truth.
do read my tirade about the saint business: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/17rajeev.htm
a few comments on posters' comments
virat0, i appreciate your energy and enthusiasm in responding to various items, but i must say you sometimes lose me when you get very abstract :-)
kapidhwaja or kaunteya, one of you had asked who i supported for the world cup. i am not very much into 'soccer', i prefer 'american football'. but i prefer brazil. also, a very interesting thing i have observed: it's always roughly the same countries that make it to the quarterfinals. which means that this is an instance of market failure: the free-market is not able to break down monopolies and create a level playing field. thus in a way it is an instance of excessive capitalism. now consider the national football league in the us, far and away the most successful of the professional sports bodies in the country. there is a very real chance that your local team will eventually do well because of the system: the worst teams get the highest draft picks the next year, there are salary caps, and the TV revenues are equally shared among the teams. this means it's not going to be NY, LA, SF and chicago dominating all the time (although i would rather like it if my beloved 49ers always dominated the league!). in other words, a level playing field. which means that even if you are from a smallish city like green bay or something, *you* as a fan has some hope that eventually team will win. a rather unusual situation where regulation is actually helping matters along. in other other words, "reservation" is helping! so what do you guys think about that? hey, that's a totally original insight into this problem, woudln't you agree? so i better TM it right here, right now :-)
i am glad to see that more and more, the TM 'aryan' 'tourist' theory is getting support from everyone. i might yet win my nobel prize for this, you mark my words :-) after all, if henry kissinger and amartya sen and yasser arafat can win, why not yours truly?
another question: i was thinking of the shashi tharoor controversy, and it occurred to me that there are very few indians who are visible on the global stage. i can only think of: jagdish bhagwati, lakshmi mittal, maybe somebody like vinod khosla. who else is a visible global indian?
finally, a word to vamanan: yo, i'm afraid you're confusing me with somebody who gives a damn for your problems. also, i missed the part where i signed up to educate ill-read pygmies.
kapidhwaja or kaunteya, one of you had asked who i supported for the world cup. i am not very much into 'soccer', i prefer 'american football'. but i prefer brazil. also, a very interesting thing i have observed: it's always roughly the same countries that make it to the quarterfinals. which means that this is an instance of market failure: the free-market is not able to break down monopolies and create a level playing field. thus in a way it is an instance of excessive capitalism. now consider the national football league in the us, far and away the most successful of the professional sports bodies in the country. there is a very real chance that your local team will eventually do well because of the system: the worst teams get the highest draft picks the next year, there are salary caps, and the TV revenues are equally shared among the teams. this means it's not going to be NY, LA, SF and chicago dominating all the time (although i would rather like it if my beloved 49ers always dominated the league!). in other words, a level playing field. which means that even if you are from a smallish city like green bay or something, *you* as a fan has some hope that eventually team will win. a rather unusual situation where regulation is actually helping matters along. in other other words, "reservation" is helping! so what do you guys think about that? hey, that's a totally original insight into this problem, woudln't you agree? so i better TM it right here, right now :-)
i am glad to see that more and more, the TM 'aryan' 'tourist' theory is getting support from everyone. i might yet win my nobel prize for this, you mark my words :-) after all, if henry kissinger and amartya sen and yasser arafat can win, why not yours truly?
another question: i was thinking of the shashi tharoor controversy, and it occurred to me that there are very few indians who are visible on the global stage. i can only think of: jagdish bhagwati, lakshmi mittal, maybe somebody like vinod khosla. who else is a visible global indian?
finally, a word to vamanan: yo, i'm afraid you're confusing me with somebody who gives a damn for your problems. also, i missed the part where i signed up to educate ill-read pygmies.
happy long fourth of july weekend to all in the us!
jul 1, 2006
may you have a good summer bash with barbecues and ballgames.
just don't do anything that would make your parents ashamed of you :-) or your kids ashamed of you :-) (an equal opportunity nod to the oldies lurking here, which is very few including yours truly)
may you have a good summer bash with barbecues and ballgames.
just don't do anything that would make your parents ashamed of you :-) or your kids ashamed of you :-) (an equal opportunity nod to the oldies lurking here, which is very few including yours truly)
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