Happy Memorial Day ... ALL gave Some & SOME gave All

Memorial Day, an American holiday observed on the last Monday of May, honors men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, at least, it marks the beginning of summer.  

The practice of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers was being done in the U.S. before and during the Civil War. Women from Savannah, Georgia were documented as decorating graves in 1862. By 1863, the cemetery dedication at Gettysburg, PA was a ceremony of commemoration at the graves of dead soldiers. However, Boalsburg, PA claims and promotes itself as the birthplace of Memorial Day.        

Gen. John A. Logan was instrumental in bringing attention to the event nationwide. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" should be observed. By 1890, all northern states had made "Decoration Day" an annual observance.

 Flags flying at gravesites at Fort Logan National Cemetery during Memorial Day, 2006 

A separate tradition of Memorial Day observance emerged earlier in the South and linked to the Lost Cause and served as the national day of memory. The Ladies Memorial Association played a major role in that development. Starting in 1866, the Southern states established Confederate Memorial Day. The early Confederate Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the day and attend to local cemeteries. By 1913, the theme of American nationalism shared equal time with the Lost Cause. In 1916, the birthday of Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, was observed as a state holiday in 10 southern states.

George Washington Custis Lee (1832–1913) on horseback, with staff reviewing Confederate
Reunion Parade in Richmond, Virginia, June 3, 1907, in front of monument to Jefferson Davis.

 The preferred name for the holiday gradually changed from "Decoration Day" to "Memorial Day", which was first used in 1882. However, the name did not become more common until after World War II. "Memorial Day" was declared the official name by Federal law in 1967 and in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the Federal level in 1971.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL!

Ancient Book of Psalms Found in Irish Bog

Back in July, 2006 a 1,200 year old Book of Psalms was unearthed by a construction worker in a peat bog known as Faddan More, in central Ireland. One of the most significant discoveries since the Dead Sea Scrolls, the remarkably well preserved ancient tome may date back to the country's early Christian monasteries. The book, which was written around 800 A.D. according to the National Museum of Ireland, was dated back to the time of the Viking raids in Ireland.

http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/westeurope/VikingRaids.html

Many stories and theories are revolving around the Christian Psalter and how it ended up in an Irish bog. Some believe it was lost in transit or dumped after a raid, while others attest that monks hid the book in a secret ceremony to preserve its contents from non-Christians. Whatever the story, the book remains a great and rare find. 

       

The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1947, are considered to be of enormous religious and historical significance since they included some of the earliest known surviving Biblical documents. The Irish book of Psalms, written on vellum (a fine animal skin parchment) is considered an unveiling of "staggering" importance according to the museum's director, Pat Wallace.

"It testifies to the incredible richness of the Early Christian civilization of this island and to the greatness of ancient Ireland." Wallace said.

When the book was found a part of Psalm 83 (a lament to God over other nations' attempts to wipe out Israel) was visible and still legible. The museum said the extent to which other Psalms or additional texts are preserved would only be determined by a lengthy study by a team of experts, including Bernard Meehan, Head of Manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin.

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/chronicle/v6/ja29/meehan.html

The ancient tome rescued from the Fadden More bog after 1,200 years is thus far the greatest discovery of the 21st century.

For more information, please visit the following links:

http://www.freerepublic.com/f.../1672039/posts

http://www.sciencespin.com/magazine/archive/2007/01/irish-bogs-reveal-bodies-and-books-/

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

All major religions acknowledge the commandments given by the Creator to Moses on Mt. Sinai c/1466 B.C, toward the end of the Bronze Age. According to the Hebrew, Christian and Muslim Bibles, Moses was a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet to whom the authorship of the Torah (Judaism)-Pentateuch (Christianity)-Tawrat (Islam) is traditionally attributed. He is the most important prophet in Judaism, and is also considered an important prophet in Christianity and Islam, as well as a number of other faiths. One of the most important commandments, was:

The 5th Commandment:

And he [Moses] wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing [of God], the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." - Exodus 20:12

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Proverbs 31:28-31 says about the godly woman:

28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

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In Christianity, Jesus said unto his disciples:

"For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.:" - Matthew 15:4

"For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:" - Mark 7:10

"Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother." - Luke 18:20 

26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." - John 19:26-28

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The Islamic Quran states the following about Mothers:  

"And revere the wombs that bore you, for God is ever watchful over you." (4:1)

The Prophet Mohammed once stated:

"Stay with her [mother], for Paradise is at her feet." 

 

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The Buddhist's Perspective of Motherhood:

Motherhood is viewed in Buddhism as a position of high responsibility as well as of respectability. If a woman goes through her household life honouring the responsibilities cast on her as a mother, she can lay claim to honour and respectability in commensurate with the degree of sincerity she has displayed in discharging those responsibilities. It was by highlighting this responsible and respectable position as the mother of man that the Buddha raised the status of women in society.

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Hindu Woman's role as a Mother:

The Hindu mother is an object of reverence. The saying 'Matri devo bhava' ('mother is divine') is apt. According to Hinduism, God creates, maintains and destroys the universe but the power with which he performs these functions is called Shakti (universal energy) and this takes a female form. This Shakti or power is worshipped alongside God as the Divine Mother. This is the origin of mother worship and thus the idea that the human mother is worthy of reverence and worship just as the Divine Mother or Shakti.

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"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”     - Washington Irving

NASA Denies the Theory of Nibiru

The theory started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. Zecharia Sitchin, a fictional author who wrote about the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer, claimed in several books (ie:“The Twelfth Planet” published in 1976) that he had found and translated Sumerian documents that identify the planet Nibiru, also known as Planet X, orbiting the Sun every 3,600 years. These Sumerian fables include stories of “ancient astronauts” visiting Earth from a civilization of aliens called the Anunnaki. Sitchin suggested a return of Nibiru and the Anunnaki sometime this century.

Then Nancy Lieder, a self-declared psychic who claims she channels aliens, wrote on her website Zetatalk that the inhabitants of a fictional planet around the star Zeta Reticuli warned her that the Earth was in danger from Planet X or Nibiru http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planetx/.

This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. These two fables were linked to the end of the Mayan calendar long-count at the winter solstice in 2012 – hence the predicted doomsday date on December 21, 2012.

IRAS (the NASA Infrared Astronomy Satellite, which carried out a sky survey for 10 months in 1983) discovered many infrared sources, but none of them was Nibiru or Planet X or any other objects in the outer solar system spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/tchester/iras/no_tenth_planet_yet.html.

Briefly, IRAS cataloged 350,000 infrared sources, and initially many of these sources were unidentified (which was the point, of course, of making such a survey). All of these observations have been followed up by subsequent studies with more powerful instruments both on the ground and in space.

The rumor about a “tenth planet” erupted in 1984 after a scientific paper was published in Astrophysical Journal Letters titled “Unidentified point sources in the IRAS minisurvey”, which discussed several infrared sources with “no counterparts”. But these “mystery objects” were subsequently found to be distant galaxies, as published in 1987. No IRAS source has ever turned out to be a planet. A good discussion of this whole issue is to be found on Phil Plait’s website www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planetx/science.html#iras. The bottom line is that NASA astronomers never discovered or announced a planet. To an astronomer, persistent claims about a planet that is “nearby” but “invisible” are just plain silly.

Regardless, many on planet Earth do believe Nibiru is indeed real and headed our way as suggested in the video below.

The Concept of Evolution

In this modern age of increased knowledge there are two main-streamed theories concerning the origins of mankind – creation and evolution. The former is a widely assumed interpretation, which is embraced through religious faith. The latter is a comprehensive study, embraced through scientific supposition.

According to the “evolution theory” of the modern A. D. era, mankind has evolved through a slow, gradual process from earlier forms of life per Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. The “evolution theory” was suggested as early as the ancient era by Greek philosophers, such as Anaximander of Melitus (c/611-546 B.C.), who assumed the development of life from non-life and the evolutionary descent of man from fish. This philosopher of antiquity, who wrote his theories in a poem [On Nature] is evidently credited with paving the way for such a scientific debate that would intensify into a worldwide controversy by the late 19th century (A.D.).

Evolutionary ideas during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment developed as natural history became more sophisticated during the 17th and 18th centuries, and as the scientific revolution and the rise of mechanical philosophy encouraged viewing the natural world as a machine whose workings were subject to analysis. Despite this, the evolutionary ideas of the early 18th century were of a religious and spiritural nature. In the 2nd half of the 18th century more materialistic and explicit ideas about biological evolution began to emerge making this an important era in the history of evolutionary thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_ideas_of_the_Renaissance_and_Enlightenment

However, by the end of the 19th century, the theory of evolution escalated into a major controversy among mankind. With the thought of the human being descended from the ape, many creationists did not approve the theory as it undermined the divine creation of mankind. 

In 1937, Theodosius Dobzhansky published Genetics and the Origins of Species. This book explained that neutral mutation (the source of the variation upon which evolution acts) led to a combination that brought together different fields of biology and other sources into a logical explanation of evolution. Not long after Dobzhansky’s publication, a crusade ensued to urge schools to teach the “fact” of evolution.

In the 1960’s, the Biological Sciences Curriculum's Study (BSCS) textbooks were introduced into the nation’s school systems. It was not long afterward that anti-evolutionary forces stepped in and successfully condensed the number of school districts using the BSCS biology textbooks. It is interesting to note that while the biology books were encased in a prohibition, the court system of our country continued to prevent religious instruction in public schools. (Engel v. Vitale, 1962; Murray v. Curlette, 1963)

The “creation verses evolution controversy” continues to this day with the scientific consensus on the origins of life being actively criticised by creationist organizations and religious groups who uphold the theory of creation and stands fast on their views. While the “evolution theory” suffers from stark drawbacks, it is not much different than other philosophical or religious opinions about the origins of mankind. It is supported by some facts and refuted by others.