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Monday, February 4, 2013

Beyonce's performance at the SuperBowl not so "family friendly"


Beyonce's performance at the SuperBowl: Photo provided by apexchange
Some people watched the Super Bowl for the football while others watched for Beyonce. With Beyonce, the impressive light show, and the guest appearance to make Destiny's Child reuniting complete, most of the viewers were in awe over "Beysus". However, parents weren't too thrilled about the performance when their children were watching the supposed-to-be "family friendly" performance.

"I've had it with the half time sluts pumping their crotches, exposing their star studded boobs and selling sex rather than music. Go back to marching bands," Yahoo user Dreamtime commented.

"Well so much for the Super Bowl being a show the whole family can watch. I sent my kids into the next room to play during half time. It was like being in a sleazy strip joint on Bourbon Street. If that was what Beyonce was going for, then she succeeded," William Dorris, father of 2, said.

Even people on Twitter were questioning the appropriateness of the half time show.

Twitter user Quenton Lubeck says: 
"Is it just me or does anybody else think Beyoncé's sexist halftime show sucks?"

Although there were some viewers who were disappointed, there were plenty who defined her performance as 'fierce' and 'the best halftime show ever'.

"The 31-year-old diva’s halftime show, complete with brief Destiny’s Child reunion, probably shuts out Madonna, Prince and the Rolling Stones for most-anticipated intermission in recent memory," Caitlin Dewey, from Washington Post, said.

Personally, I think she nailed this performance and I'm not even a real fan. However, I can see where family sensitive viewers would see this as "too sexy" for their little ones.

Do you think her performance was appropriate for all ages?


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Carrie Diaries gets mixed reviews



I would assume that most of you have watched "Sex and The City" once in your life. If not, you've at least heard of it. In this case, I was the late bloomer who has just recently gotten to know the famous columnist, Carrie Bradshaw. However, I think I am on the lucky end of this because I started to have an interest in the show right around the time the "prequel" 'The Carrie Diaries' came to the table.

This show is all about meeting the young Carrie Bradshaw. Who was she before living in Manhattan with her best girlfriends buying shoes, having sex, and writing a column on relationships? Well, we are sure to find out.
"The series, which aired on the CW last night, revolves around the 16-year-old Carrie Bradshaw, played by AnnaSophia Robb, living in 1984 Connecticut," Chelsea White, reporter of DailyMail, said. "But reviews have so far been mixed, with one critic declaring it 'a couple of boroughs removed from the original."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2262552/Sex-City-prequel-The-Carrie-Diaries-gets-mixed-reviews-TV-critics.html#ixzz2JOCbYnEB

In the interview between White and movie critic, Matt Zoller Seitz from New York magazine, Seitz claims that "The characters are bland. The younger actors are too untrained to invest them with life; the more experienced performers do the best they can with what little they’ve been given."

I completely disagree. As far as I can tell, I like The Carrie Diaries better than I like Sex and The City. Robb takes the innocence of a 16-year-old girl to the next level. Living in a small town in Connecticut, Bradshaw dreams of living a New York City life with fashion, friends, and adventure. What young girl wouldn't want that? Sure the actors are young but what do you expect from a show that is based on a teenage girl's life before New York? I am interested in watching next week's episode to see what else happens with Bradshaw's crazy teenage drama.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Hansel and Gretel Receives Mediocre Review




I'm sure you have all heard the tale of Hansel & Gretel. You know, the two kids who wandered into the woods, found the house made of candy only to find out they were being "prepared" to be eaten by the ugly witch. Have you ever wondered what happened to them once they grew up?
Most people would probably say "Yea, they got away from the witch and lived happily ever after."
Well, maybe it wasn't such a fairy tale ending. Then again, what kind of happy ending is killing witches the rest of your life?
Personally, I was looking forward to seeing this movie last March. At the last minute, they cancelled the release after showing to a select audience and receiving very poor feedback. Almost a year later, they finally released Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters. However, for a movie that has spent years in the making, I could see where some may feel disappointed.

"There are some funny lines, and several cool battle scenes between the hunters and their black-magic prey. But even in 3D the effects fall flat as often as they impress with little attention paid to important details" Elizabeth Weitzman, reporter at New York Daily News, said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/movie-review-hansel-gretel-witch-hunters-article-1.1247614#ixzz2JKYEucHv


Even though I was happy with the way the movie turned out, I find myself agreeing with the critics. Several scenes in this movie did fall short of my expectations as well. For a rated R movie, you expect the battle scenes to give you an "I can't watch" reaction instead of a "that's it?".
I would definitely recommend seeing it, however I do not think I will be willing to purchase the movie to own at home.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Writing For The Newspaper

http://www.houstonianonline.com/news/god-s-learning-channel-interviews-former-palestinian-terrorist-and-author-of-unsung-davids-1.2766335#.UFqjo66Af_Y

I got an internship with the local/school newspaper. Check out my article posted above on Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack.

I thought I would freshen up this blog a little. I am pretty sure there are a few cob webs on here being that I have not touched it in MONTHS.

For those of you who did not know about my up-to-date blog, you can head over to myroadtothealtar.blogspot.com

Or you can stay here and stare at a screen that hardly changes. Your choice.


Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Unsung Davids

Looking for a good read?

Author and conservative talk show host of KTEM 1400, Ben Barrack, is releasing his new book, The Unsung Davids. It is available for pre-order on amazon. It will be released September 2012. It will reach book stores nation wide so get your copy now!

http://www.amazon.com/Unsung-Davids-Battled-Goliath-Without/dp/0982567995/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332952527&sr=1-3


Below is a summary from the author


The story of David vs. Goliath is perhaps the best personification of the fight between good and evil. Righteousness was overmatched and evil was overconfident. Each of the ten men featured in this book knows what it's like to be engaged in such a battle. They all share a common bond consisting of common traits that even further reinforce that bond. Amazingly, so do their adversaries. These ten men each perceived things like injustice, persecution, corruption, deceit, and dishonor as personal affronts they simply could not tolerate. Each chose to stand up to evil and didn't back down, even after seeing its face. Armed with little more than the truth, these men fought valiantly and relentlessly, entities and institutions that would do us all harm.
Yet, they remain unsung as of this writing.
Peter Paul vs. HILLARY CLINTON: When one man who the Clintons attempted to double cross, didn't go quietly, the woman who would run for president got far more than she bargained for.
Richard Landes vs. PALLYWOOD: When one man was exposed to the underbelly of manufactured news, he blew the lid off of a strategem of war used against western civilization.
 
Roberto Micheletti vs. THE WORLD: When one man stood up for his country by following its Constitution while international forces pressured him to compromise, he took on the world.
 
Larry Grathwohl vs. WEATHER UNDERGROUND: When one man infiltrated a terrorist organization for the FBI in 1969, he would become an even bigger nemesis for that group's founders years later.
 
David Conn vs. JIM JONES: When one man was ignored by the church, the media, and political leaders, he would become the most dangerous, yet surreptitious threat to an insane preacher.
 
Wayne Perryman vs. DEMOCRATIC PARTY: When one man demanded an apology for how the Democratic Party had treated his race, that Party went to the mat in order to prevent having to do so.
 
O'Neal Dozier vs. REPUBLICAN PARTY: When one man expressed his opinion about Islam, he was blacklisted by an establishment that lacked the political courage to stand with him.
 
J.D. Cash vs. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: When one man decided after the Oklahoma City bombing, that he wanted to be a journalist at the age of 43, he showed the media how to do its job.
 
Anthony Shaffer vs. DIA BRASS: When one man did what he thought was patriotic, a powerful bureaucracy attempted to destroy him as a traitor to that bureaucracy.
 
Walid Shoebat vs. ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM: When one man, armed with the ability to speak Arabic, converted from Islam to Christianity, powerful Islamic propagandists suffered greatly.
 
 
www.benbarrack.com

 

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Response On Kony

Alright guys, I've been doing some research and thinking more into this whole Kony 2012 thing.
Something seems extremely fishy to me that one video gets 70 million views in 5 days. Who is behind this?

I remember mentioning Sam Childers in my last post. He has been over in Sudan trying to fight this for 14+ years and gets no recognition. The movie, Machine Gun Preacher, is based off of Sam Childers and all he has been doing in Sudan. Yet, no one knows who he is or has even heard of the movie. Then all of a sudden, this Invisible Children video comes out and it spreads like wildfire.



I am wondering if the Obama Administration is going to use this as a political chip-- Kony claims to be a Christian, this is a way for Obama to say "there are radical Christians just like their are radical Muslims". Wrong.
Kony is funded by the President of Northern Sudan, who is involved in the Muslim Brotherhood.
In this response, Sam Childers discusses that the bigger problem is the Bashir. This Kony 2012 campaign is taking all of the focus off of Bashir and putting it on Kony. While Kony is a terrible and evil man who needs to be pulled out of Sudan, this approach will do more harm than good.

Conservative Talk Show Host Ben Barrack:
http://barracknow.blogspot.com/2012/03/machine-gun-preacher-on-kony-2012.html

Machine Gun Preacher Movie Trailer
http://www.machinegunpreacher.org/movie/

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Make Kony Famous

Hope you all have seen this already and that it is nothing new.

If you don't know much about Joseph Kony, you can visit www.benbarrack.com or click on the link below. Contact him if you need to, he would be more than happy to inform you. He has been aware of this issue for a while now. Also, if you get the chance to rent and watch Machine Gun Preacher, do so. It will inform you of a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

http://barracknow.blogspot.com/2011/10/lra-leader-joseph-kony-is-not-christian.html

Joseph Kony is the leader of the LRA, otherwise known as the Lord's Resistance Army. For 26 years, Kony has been abducting children, forcing them to kill their family and become his solders. I don't care what you have read, Joseph Kony is NOT Christian. Fact is, he is a radical Muslim and must be stopped.

http://barracknow.blogspot.com/2011/10/lra-leader-joseph-kony-is-not-christian.html

Monday, January 23, 2012

Something New

Now that I have figured out that I can have multiple blogs, I have decided that I need to find one subject and focus on it. I've created a new blog that will explore all of my adventures during my year of wedding planning. I will share ideas, stories, everything I can think of.

I will still be using this blog, just probably not as much as this new one. I have just opened it yesterday! I had a lot of catching up to do so I think I have about 11 posts on it right now. I don't think that's a bad start.

I figured everyone has to deal with a wedding eventually, whether it is your wedding personally, or if you're helping a friend or family member through it. This is an exciting time for me, so why not share my excitement and learnings with you?

www.myroadtothealter.blogspot.com

I really hope you will check it out. If you don't feel the need to know anything about weddings just yet, send it over to someone you think will benefit from it.

Thanks!!

Get Your Name Out There

I know I posted a while back a few ways to help get your blog noticed. Of course, there are those sites where you have to sit at the computer for hours, looking at a bunch of other people's things that don't matter to you. And for what? So they'll come to your site, feeling the same way? Why waste time bringing people to your blog that are just going to spend their required 30 seconds not even reading your page, then move onto something else?

I have recently discovered something that may be more helpful.
I am sure many of you have heard of a website called 'stumbleupon'. Obviously, it is a huge hit for all of us college kids who procrastinate when we have a 10 page paper do in "Conflict Analysis".
Anyway, back to my point. For those of you who do not know about StumbleUpon, it is a website where you can 'stumble upon' things that would be interesting to you over the web. You sign up for a FREE account, click on a list of things that you enjoy or would like to read about, then you get started. It takes you to all sorts of pages around the web that are specifically for your entertainment, based on your 'likes'.

Here's where you come in. Create an account and get your blog out there! There isn't any "look at my page for 30 seconds and I'll look at yours" bologna like that idiotic website I recommended to you months ago. People that have an interest in what you are writing about will be directed to your page and it's free. No waste of time, no wasted effort.

Hope this helps you!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Going Green-- Saving the Planet One Tree At A Time

This should be amusing for a lot of you, just a heads up.

John (for all of you newcomers, that's my fiance) and his roommate have been saving paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum for a little over a month, just to recycle it.
There is a local recycling company that will pay you for bringing your recycled goods. John was getting super excited, his main purpose for all of this was money.
He asked me, as a journalist, what is it that makes a story.
First, I told him he needs questions that he not only asks himself, but his viewers. His question was "Is recycling worth it?" I informed him that it is a good question but it needs to be more specific because for his viewers, how are they supposed to know what he means? Does he mean is it worth it when it comes to money or is it worth it in the sense that it is beneficial for the environment?

Well, we all have common sense (for the most part). We know that plastic bottles do not decompose so obviously it's helpful to recycle it. Anyways, that's a different story. Back to my point.
We took an adventure out to Try2Recycle today. John took all of his recyclables to his place and on our adventure, we took a video. He called and found out that he had to sort all of it otherwise they wouldn't accept it.
John had over 11 pounds of recycled goods. Because places like this are a HUGE deal in places like California, I was guessing he was going to get a decent amount. I was guessing $5 maybe, he was aiming more towards $10. He walked up to a lady at the front of the company, turned in his weight-in and guess what he got?
An amazing 63 cents.

Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BvbXYa9fh8

For Fun, Try It :)

Ok, being that my fiance, my mom, my roommate, my grandparents, and basically everyone around me can cook, I'm determined to be awesome at it. I've been watching Iron Chef, Bobby Flay, things like that but they go too fast for me. I decided to go my own way. I absolutely LOVE Macaroni and Cheese so playing with that seemed like a good start. After it was done, I got the approval from John (that means it was awesome)
Check it out :)

First, set your stove to 350
Boil your water and cook the noodles, easy right?
(You're basically done with that, just set them aside when they're finished cooking)

Cheese-
Get a pot, put about a spoon full of butter, chopped up garlic and about 3/4 cup of milk (you may add a little more but the point is to have it creamy, not watery)
Wait until the butter is completely melted, then pour the packet of cheese from the mac and cheese box in.
Add salt, pepper, oregano, basil and parsely.
Then add about 1/2 of alfredo sauce

Hashbrowns-
Fry the hash browns in a skillet (this was slightly difficult for me)

Once all three are finished, pour the noodles, then the cheese sauce, then the hashbrowns into a glass baking dish.
Put in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, you'll see the hashbrowns will be super crispy.

Then, take it out of the oven and take about 1/3 of a white sharp cheddar cheese thing and shred it. Dump it over the dish and get a little shredded cheese from a bag and pour some over the top. Stir and add some bread crumbs
DE-LIC-IOUS!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Trying Out Twitter

So, I have decided that Twitter may be of use to me after all. After one day of Twitter, my blog views have gone up. If you guys are really reading my posts, please either comment with feedback or give me an idea on what you want to read about. Now that I am getting into my specialization area in school, I need all the help I can get. If it is a topic I don't know about, well then I guess it will be a new thing for me to research and learn about.

We'll see how this works?

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Black Swan (NOT RECOMMENDED)

So my last post, I did a review on Soul Surfer. Well, this review is going to be pretty different than my last.

About a week ago, I rented Black Swan. Everyone was telling me how awesome it was so I decided my roomie and I should give it a shot. Needless to say, that was a bad idea because I was not impressed.

Being a dancer myself, I knew the story of the Swan Lake ballet. It is a very depressing ballet but a good one nonetheless. The ballet is about twins, a good one, Odette (the white swan) and an evil one, Odile (the black swan). Long story short, the white swan falls in love with a man only to have her evil twin seduce him then she kills herself. In the ballet, the white and black swan is danced by the same dancer and she takes the role of the Swan Queen.

The Swan Queen in the movie was played by Natalie Portman. Nina (Portman) is perfect for the part of the White Swan but is told by her director that she is not seductive enough for the part of the Black Swan. She slowly starts losing her mind as she becomes more like the Black Swan. I think it's safe to say she hallucinates (that may even be an understatement). She believes that a new girl at the company named Lily (Mila Kunis) is trying to take her spot as Swan Queen. She basically sees Lily as "The Black Swan". She is getting the attention of the company director and she is a free "seductive" dancer.

Now let me get to why I did not like this movie. First, let me say that I have lost all respect for both Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, but out of the two, Kunis disappointed me the most. After her role in The Book Of Eli, I was impressed with actress but she took a HUGE turn for the worst.

So, let me ask you this: Out of what you read, where is it necessary to have homosexuality, masturbation or drugs? In one scene, Lily (Kunis) took Nina (Portman) to a bar, got her drunk, drugged her up, took her home, and yes, her it comes, performed oral sex. This was not hidden in any way, shape or form and it was an extremely long and unnecessary scene.
Next, there were AT LEAST 2 major masturbation scenes and several scenes of inappropriate touching. Please, tell me why this belonged in the movie because I would love to know. When I am watching a movie, I do NOT, by any means, want to see:
1) Oral Sex (I do NOT want to see this with a man and a woman, let alone 2 women)
2) Masturbation
3) I would really prefer not to see homosexuality in movies, especially to that extent.

I honestly don't even think sex needs to be shown in movies, leave it to the viewers imagination if they really want to go that far. Watching this movie made me sick, uncomfortable, and downright irritated me. People everywhere are rating this movie extremely high. On the Internet Movie Database, Black Swan rates an 8.5 out of 10 (and that's out of thousands of people).
I can admit, the acting was good, the dancing was good, but as for everything else, this movie was not anything to brag about. I do not recommend it.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Soul Surfer Review


I decided that I really like doing movie reviews. The other week, John talked me into doing a "vlog" aka video blog of a movie we saw together called Source Code and a movie I saw with my mom called Soul Surfer. If you want to check out the vlog and the Source Code review, go to Youtube and type in TheJohnVandivier in the search box and it should be the second video.

But I won't be talking about Source Code in this post just because I think we covered most of it in our "vlog".
I would like to talk about Soul Surfer. It is a PG movie that recently came out and let me tell you, I really enjoyed it. Like I said in the video post, most PG rated movies are directly towards children, not necessarily for all ages. This movie, however, was appropriate for all viewers.

If you haven't seen trailers, this movie is about a 13 year-old girl named Bethany Hamilton who grew up in Hawaii and had been out in the water ever since she was little. She started entering championships at a very young age. At 13, she got sponsored and was going to enter the BIG championship. While out on her board with her best friend, she was attacked by a shark and lost her left arm. According to her friends and family, she didn't cry or panic at all (pretty sure I would be doing both, I am terrified of sharks). About a month after the attack, she got back into the water, learned how to surf with a disability and entered nationals.

This movie is based on a true story. Bethany Hamilton was played by actress Anna Sophia Robb. Her parents were played by Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt. I would really like to emphasize how awesome the family in this movie was portrayed. Think back to movies you have seen and answer this:
How many movies have BOTH parents, happily married, never divorced and even after so many years of marriage, they are still in love, happy and able to play?
For me, the movies I see fall under these categories:
1) Parents are divorced and fighting
2) One or both parents have died in some sort of accident
3) They are still married but unhappy

Think even to television shows, for one example: Disney Channel. Out of all the shows they run, 2 at the moment have happily married parents. But that is for a different blog, maybe someday.

My point is this:
The parents in Soul Surfer laughed, played, and went to church together. You just don't see that.

But now to my biggest point.
How many movies have Christian families? And before you answer that, I'm not talking about "hinting" christians. No, I'm not talking about Christian "references" where the movie could go either way. I am talking about church, bible verses, prayer, mission trips, and faith. All of those were in this movie and more. To me, this made the movie (Not because I'm Christian and biased, that's not my point even if it may be true) because the family gave all their struggles to God and gave Him the credit for their strength.
One scene in the movie, Bethany is crying to her youth director and asking why God would do this to her. The youth director did not give a direct answer but she told her that maybe God wanted her to see life from a different view. After this talk, she went on a mission trip and saw all the people suffering because of a natural disaster. She saw people without food and water and ones hurting from loss of a loved one. Long story short, she realized that surfing wasn't everything, it was not the meaning of life. Even through her pain and suffering, she realized she was still blessed.

I can honestly say I don't think I have ever seen a movie that was really this open with Christianity. People are standing up for what they believe in now and I like it. I know they are just actors and they may or may not believe in their character, but the fact that Hollywood would come out with a movie like this, tells me our world is turning back around.

On the other hand, Soul Surfer received bad reviews from the critics. One critic gave the movie a C rating because (and I quote) "For a movie about surfing, the focus needs to be a little less on her Christian walk"
I read that and was shocked. It is a true story, yes it has surfing, but I think that all the things she overcame was way more of a story than her surfing. The fact that she had enough determination to get back in the water and re-learn how to surf is awesome, but because she was able to grow in her walk with Christ is what really captured me.

Update

Hey guys, all 5 of you. I know I haven't written in a while. School has been getting the best of my attention, along with 20-30 hours a week at my new(ish) job at Rue! Oh yea, and I'm now engaged!! I know, finally right? I am so excited to start planning the wedding with my best friend/fiance.
So, maybe if you're lucky, I will start writing blogs on wedding planning/budgeting. It should be an interesting journey. So far what we've figured out is:
1) Weddings are EXPENSIVE, yes, even the small ones cost at LEAST $5,000
2) Agreements are possible, shocking isn't it?
3) You do NOT have to spend thousands of dollars to get the dress of your dreams. I have been eying the same dress for 6 months and it is under $500 and GORGEOUS.
4) Being engaged to your best friend is by far the most amazing thing <3
5) When you post that you are engaged on facebook, expect at LEAST 80 notifications the following day.
6) EVERYONE asks about the proposal story and wants to look at your ring.

So as you can see, I am super excited over what the coming years will bring. I can't wait to get started so that I can share my life with the amazing guy that God brought me to.

Don't think I forgot to post pictures.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Ex Terrorist Speaks Out Against Islam

A man raised in the violence of Palestinian terrorism is now speaking out against the life he used to live.

Walid Shoebat is a former Palestinian terrorist who believes that the truth about Islam is widely misunderstood and misleadingly presented throughout the world.

In his youth, Shoebat joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). As a member he was involved in attacks against Israel and was later imprisoned in the Russian Compound.

“I planted a bomb in a bank in Bethlehem called Bank Leumi, I got involved in many of the riots in the Palestinian areas, in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, I nearly beat an Israeli soldier to death, and stonings. So from bombing to stoning and fundraising for terrorism, I did it all,” said Shoebat.

Shoebat was trained by Jamal Said, who is a colleague of Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, the Godfather of Al’Quida. After his training Shoebat was involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in Chicago, Illinois.

“The main goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to destroy the West from within, take over the American government, and replace it with Shariah Law, otherwise known as Islamic Law,” said Shoebat.

After coming to the United States Shoebat became a counselor for the Arab Student Organization in Chicago and continued his anti-Israel activities.
While in the U.S Shoebat met a Christian woman named Maria and they fell in love. He attempted to convert her to Islam and she attempted to convert him to Christianity. They compromised by exchanging challenges. She would read the entire Quran and he would read the whole Bible. After studying the Bible for six months Shoebat converted from extremist Islam to Christianity in 1993.

“I have challenged everything in the bible, I have hated God’s people, I have persecuted the Jewish people, and by reading the bible, I have found that it is an amazing manuscript,” said Shoebat.

In the middle east, questioning Islam can be punishable by death. Because Shoebat has chosen to speak out against terrorism, his family is constantly faced with security issues.

“The question I always ask myself is why are the Muslim Movement and the terrorists able to give their names and the Islamist movement in the West has no problem giving their addresses, but I have to be in hiding? It is because Christians don’t kill the Muslims, it is the Islamists who kill the Christians,” said Shoebat.

Since his conversion Shoebat has spoken at universities across the country. He has appeared on FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and has been interviewed on countless radio stations. Many of his views are controversial. He even claims that deception is a regular tool of Muslims.

“When I was disseminating Islamic dogma and revolutionary causes for the PLO in Chicago, I would invite Americans to come to a ‘cultural party’ when indeed it had nothing to do with a cultural party, it had something to do with collecting donations for the PLO for the cause of Islam,” said Shoebat.

Shoebat warns westerners to observe things said in Arabic rather than English. For example, the invitations to the ‘cultural party’ were pamphlets which stated in Arabic, “We are conducting a Jihad expedition against Israel in the west. Bring your friends so we can raise the funds.” In English it was an invitation to attend a cultural party.

Shoebat surmised, “During my terror days, I lied to the westerners and they believed me. Now that I am telling the truth, I am called a liar.”

Shoebat believes part of the reason for America’s denial is the news they are fed.

“The reason you are denying this is because the media that you have. It is not building the American’s confidence, it is building the enemies confidence,” said Shoebat, “We have a War on Terrorism, but terrorism is working.”

While Shoebat speaks to a majority of the media, there is a minority that agrees with him. A member of this minority, conservative talk show host Ben Barrack, has done extensive research on Walid’s story. Barrack opposes accusations of fraud made by Christopher Hedges of the New York Times and Jorg Luyken of the Jerusalem Post.

Through his research Barrack has corroborated the identity of Shoebat’s mentor, Shoebat’s bombing of Bank Leumi, and the fact that Shoebat beat an Israeli soldier.

Barrack says“He knows what he is talking about, so maybe people should start listening.”

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Evolution

Ever since my first year of biology back in the 10th grade, the idea of evolution was nothing but a joke to me. Looking at a picture showing the development of man starting out from monkeys did nothing but make me shake my head and say "no". Aside from the fact that it has no correlation with the bible, the whole science of it to me just did not make any sense.
During my year at Tarleton, one of my biology professors would go on and on about how evolution was everything scientists ever needed to know about life.

Well recently, archaeologists have found a 4,000 year old tooth that resembles that of today's man, otherwise known as a Homo sapien. Some people would read that sentence and say "big deal" and shrug it off, but this ancient tooth rules out the whole theory of evolution.


Evolution only dates back about 2,000 years before humans were considered to be "monkeys".









Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Continuous Development

It is now 10:24 pm and Okaloosa Island Beach is being closed off. It is now considered hazardous to your health due to the aroma of the oil. Tar balls are continuing to wash up onto the beach, just like I predicted that would be during high tide. If you look out onto the ocean, you can see the oil coagulating on the top. Hopefully, tomorrow morning I can get one last look at how the oil spill is developing.
(Marine animals are suffering in the picture below)
(The picture below is from nwfdailynews.com)
53% of Americans disagree with the way Obama is handling this and I do not doubt that that number will continue to rise if no actions are taken. Cleaning up the shore to make it look more appealing does not mean that it is not there, it doesn't make it just go away. It has gotten to the point where announcements are being made about calling 311 if you see any animals in danger. By tomorrow morning, I would not be surprised if the beach is covered.
The news team stopped by around 5:30 pm, which made sense as to why the beach was cleaned by the time my mom and I dropped by after dinner. Once again, this proves that Americans are being uninformed about what is really going on. The only thing that news video showed was dime sized tar balls with a clear ocean in the background. Does something seem wrong with the fact that they are so willing to clean the beach up before a news team comes by for a story but they are not willing to clean this up to save the living conditions of the fish, animals, fishermen, and homeowners?
About 2 hours before the beach was closed due to its condition. The link is attached, pictures are provided from 5 miles out.

Start praying.



Okaloosa Island Pier

One of the things you must do when visit the beach is visit the pier. All the different types of fish you see are just amazing. On our visit, we were able to see large sting rays eating fisher's bait, barracudas lurking in the water waiting for fish to be thrown back in, dolphins jumping in the sunset, and little sharks. Or should I say, things we thought were sharks, we were in for an awakening.
My family and I overheard a woman telling her children that there were sharks. So of course, we hurried over to where the woman was and looked over the edge. Sure enough, there were 'little sharks'. In my opinion, I would not have said they were little. Anything over 4 feet is considered a big fish to me. As time went by, we stayed there watching the 'sharks' and people came by to see what we were looking at.
One of the fisherman, who spends most of his days on the pier fishing, came over to ask what we were looking at.
I pointed down near the pillars and said that we were looking at the group of 5 or 6 little sharks. He looked over the edge and laughed. I looked at him a little confused at what he thought was funny. I looked at me and said "honey, those aren't little sharks, those are the little fish that STICK to the sharks". If you look closely to the pictures below, you can see them.
That thought scared me. I looked back over the edge at the 4 foot long strange fish and remembered the old days of watching Discovery Channel. I pictured the sharks with those so-called 'little fish' attached to the bellyside of the shark. They did not look quite that big when I saw it on television. I looked back over the edge, and come to my surprise, a huge shark was next to all those fish. I called the guy back over and he looked down. While pulling his hat back, he assured me that those were the sharks he was talking about, the Tiger Shark, which can grow up to 16 feet in length. That thought made me shiver and I decided to go to a different side of the pier. Come to my attention, they were not that easy to get away from. The further down the pier I went, the more I saw them. I was also informed by an air traffic control man that sharks swim closer to the shore than people think.

I found a group of fishermen and decided watching them would take my mind off of the sharks.

I wound up next to a young man and things seemed pretty calm. I was looking over the edge and found myself looking at long, slick fish. I asked the man next to me what they were and he told me that I was looking at a group of Barracudas and that they like to wait for people to unhook a fish and throw it back in.

Moments later, the guy that I originally came to watch was surronded by a crowd of people and reeling in with all his strength. About 15 minutes later, he finally reeled in a fish called the Cobia.


All in all, I must say that it was an interesting visit and you never know what you'll learn or the things you'll find on your visit.

Clean Up Clean Up Everybody Everywhere

So, in response to my earlier post, I must say that I am impressed. The beach was covered in tar balls when we walked back up to our condo around 2:30 and by the time we were dressed and ready for dinner on the local beach hotspot, the oil on the shore was cleaned up and people were back to swimming. If you looked out onto the ocean, you saw 3 or 4 boats sucking up the oil from the water, and some even pulled out the dolphins from earlier and cleaned them up.

We ate dinner at Floyd's Shrimp House right on the beach. The food was delicious! I had shrimp alfredo and you could tell that the shrimp was fresh. And of course, my family had to order a dish of their fresh sushi, which was also to die for. If you ever visit Okaloosa Island, stop by for a wonderful dinner.

My brother and father went back to the pier to fish while my mom and I walked along the beach. There were still quite a few tar balls but not near as much as there were earlier in the day. I have to admit, I am afraid to walk down to the beach after high tide tonight.

Luckily, the shores were clean enough to take family pictures, and since I love photography, I also went to the liberty of taking a few pictures of the beach. I am just happy that things cleared up for out last night. I went ahead and posted my favorite pictures. Hopefully, I will have some more photos in the morning.