Mythomania, Pseudologia Fantasia, Pathological Lying and ACORN

  
Somewhere along the line, in our busy lives, we have encountered a person or persons, who suffer from this psychosis. We shall turn to Charles C. Dike, MD, MRCPsych, MPH, et al. for a clear description of the condition:

"Pathological lying is falsification entirely disproportionate to any discernible end in view, may be extensive and very complicated, and may manifest over a period of years or even a lifetime."

I strongly suggest you re-read that sentence carefully; discover for yourself if this possibly describes any prominent or ordinary folks you know or observe even casually. An honest appraisal will reveal that yes, you can easily identify someone who is a victim. It may well be that crazy uncle whom we all tolerate by reason of his familial relationship, the caricature used car dealer we have encountered, or the sportsman we know who constantly misunderstands universal measurements when describing a recent fishing trip. These examples, though they appear harmless, are predictors of more dangerous behavior. As a result we implement the traditional defense: a grain of salt.

A truck load of salt would be insufficient to counter some of the pronouncements which come from the current White House. The most recent claim involves a near total separation from the group, ACORN. Check the link and hear the disassociation with ACORN expressed by then Senator Obama. Continue in the video and hear the honest appraisal of that same relationship. In total, it is a remarkable capture of mythomania in action.

There are long-term ramifications from this behavior. On an international scale, the leaders among our allies and our enemies have come to differentiate between a sincere effort to communicate on our differences to seek solutions and the offering of undependable information. Here at home, the citizenry is gradually learning the perils of having a serial prevaricator in the oval office. Once it achieves the level of common currency in the minds of the electorate—the party’s over. In the past, even presidents for whom I had little respect and often disagreed, offered occasional hard truths which were easily recognized. I truly believed that we held opposing view points but they were neither shy nor dishonest in presenting their positions.

This is the reason we earnestly pray for divine guidance for our president regardless of party. Party loyalty does not insist upon barring the intercession of Almighty God to have successful leadership. Here success is defined by the preservation of the union in liberty for all its people.

It should be unnecessary to pore over the entrails of sheep to determine the veracity of each presidential utterance. His favorite expression in endless speeches is “Let me be clear,” as he proceeds to cloud each subsequent issue in five syllable words and murky logic. The value of and the association with ACORN to this president is inescapable. To deny this relationship is to take the people of this nation as absolute fools. Well, they did elect Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency so maybe that observation isn’t all that far off.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Keith Olberman -- Where Ae the Black Faces?

   
That’s a very good question. With many Tea Parties logged so far, I can assure Keith that many of them are at the Tea Party. They are accompanied by Asians, Hispanics, and every other group, not Caucasian, which he would care to name. I am not preoccupied with counting them because in the Tea Party environment I tend to view every person there as a fellow American. As a geezer, I long ago recognized that Americans are difficult to identify from a distance. Typically, Tea Party attendees are not preoccupied with race and national origin as long as it’s American.

For a clear look at the world which Olberman inhabits, please click this short video and see if it coincides with the blather he is spewing. The piece is lifted in its entirety from a post on Instapundit. Thanks, Glenn.

To claim that people of color are not present is to claim a lie. To assert that they are not proportionally represented would also be true. In tiny Cassville, Missouri, the presence of a person of color would be highly unusual for any event but representative of the local demographics. As the population of the venue increased, so did the numbers of each group. Cassville, out of a dozen Tea Parties, is the only one nearly devoid of any noticed minorities. There were also no Asians, but plenty of Hispanics. For visual evidence of the appeal of the Tea Party movement to persons of all stripes, take a look at this video clip.

At the 9/12 event in Washington, D.C., the presence of the entire panoply of Americana was visible. To claim otherwise simply underscores the absence of on the spot reporting. That is the same reporting ability which placed the crowd size in the “hundreds” and not the nearly 800,000 in attendance. Instead of counting heads, each and every one of us was gathered in opposition to an oppressive government. We were color-blind and totally dedicated to carrying our message. It was one of absolute and unified disapproval.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Crystal Mangum, Yvo de Boer, and Rachael Carson

  
A “hot” entry on this morning’s news reveals that Crystal Gail Mangum, of Duke false accusation fame, has been accused of attempted murder, arson and a full slate of additional charges. I followed that racially charged case with great interest over the last few years. The current charges against Mangum carry a $1,000,000 bond after police went to the home and found her threatening to kill her friend with a knife and burning his clothes in the bath tub, and subsequently arresting her.

Given the circumstances of the Duke false accusations case, the evidence of her behavior then, previously, and after, have revealed a person with some serious personality disorders. Regarding the Duke matter, the state Attorney General personally came to Durham, replaced the now disgraced local prosecutor, Mike Nifong, and found the accused students totally exonerated and innocent.

One of the principal features of the now years-long matter at Duke was the posture of a segment of the Duke faculty in automatic condemnation, without evidence, of the students charged in the now famous case. They stubbornly cling to their position, have not apologized, nor suffered any pain for their harsh actions as the Group of 88.

In a separate news item, we find the head of the United Nations climate change operations, Yvo de Boer, has decided to step down from his position in the face of failure to unify the 193 nation panel in Copenhagen on climate change to undertake regulation of the highly questionable affect of carbon dioxide on the earth. The panel was challenged by the revelation that most of the data submitted was either falsely aligned to achieve purposes other than climate change, intentionally skewed, or generally subject to false information. All of this was revealed through documentation obtained from a British university’s scientist’s emails and other material.

De Boer’s resignation is simply the top person’s response to a continuing exposure of personal interest on the part of those who have been relied upon for accurate data and scientific interest. In the wake of the information coming from East Anglia, we find climate “experts” falling like dominos in every academic center. Much of the data has been proven to be bogus, tainted, falsely obtained, or otherwise corrupt.

The driving factor in the climate change alarm has been shown to be motivated by the old “49er” adage that “thar’s gold in them thar hills.” The implementation of a carbon credit scheme—although understanding it will put you to sleep—linked with the “greening” of the world then becomes a source of incredible wealth to those who proffer it as a solution to imagined problems. If you believe Al Gore depends on his retirement pay from the government for his morning grits you need to look a little deeper. He has, through his activity, amassed a personal fortune upon the backs of skewed information.

To fulfill this post’s title, let us return to a time which many of our readers will not remember—the release of the infamous book, “The Silent Spring” by Rachael Carson. While the author did not specifically call for a universal ban on DDT, the publication of the book resulted in the final absolute banning of the pesticide. Ms. Carson found a publisher who offered the book in 1962 and it became widely read, discussed, and unfortunately accepted by the public as gospel on the effects of DDT. For anyone old enough to remember the hysteria of the Rachael Carson era in the early sixties we strongly recommend visiting Junk Science.com for verification of the suspected fallacies published in the book.

Her fear of cancer was certainly valid since she died herself of complications of the disease in 1964 at the age of 56. She did not live to see the result of the banning of DDT which produced in excess of 60,000,000 deaths from malaria to persons in Africa alone. Deprived of the most effective answer to the spread of contagion by mosquitoes, (DDT) these innocents might have lived. Her complicity in enabling those deaths would then place her in the big leagues of persons in the twentieth century who were instrumental in massive numbers of deaths. She would lead a parade followed by Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin and other mass-murderers who could only in their wildest dreams hope to amass the numbers of fatalities which are attributable to Rachael Carson.

One would hope that there is a moral to these stories. There can be no “moral” here since the word implies a spiritual component, strength of character, and thoughts for the future results of immediate action. All of the above, for their own individual purposes, strove to advance their personal agenda with careless disregard for the long range consequences. Each spread lies to a gullible audience to achieve their own ends.

Mangum gained the support of professors at a prestigious university and gamed portions of the legal establishment. De Boer used his official credentials to attempt to bulldoze world-wide acceptance of now debunked science. Carson parlayed her reputation in marine biology to cripple the use of a valid substance with credible value.

We as a people have gained a much richer understanding of the world we live in over time. We have yet to perfect the ability to recognize con artists when we see them. The mere presence of academic credentials, high positions, and degreed support are not sufficient to mask a nefarious effort. It is not sufficient to attach a criminal label to their activities after the fact. We should require of ourselves the necessity to question motives and weigh them in our judgment before their actions.

Although desirable, advanced education does not necessarily bring truth into the arena of public discourse. However, a healthy dose of cynicism on occasion would certainly enhance our opinion forming and our subsequent response. It may be our last bastion of defense against those who would deceive.


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Monday Morning Rant 132

  
While he gave abundant scriptural support, Bob Clark urged the men in the congregation to not forget the significance of Valentine’s Day. He reminded them they still had time to slip into town on the way home and pick up a little something for the missus. He stressed that the remembrance, no matter how small would eliminate the terrors of forgetfulness. Thanks Bob! Somehow, a 99 cent card from Wal-Mart has the capacity to defray all-out war on the home front. Perhaps the State Department might explore this as an option in confrontations with the Iranians, North Koreans, Cubans, and other would-be world conquerors to deflect hostilities. After all: all we need is love..

With snow ground cover reported in parts of all fifty states we extend our condolences and watch as the last of the little left-over piles melt. With daytime highs in the forties, it’s not so bad here. This winter has been a toughie so far for most of you and you have our sympathy. Cheer up, spring is only 5 weeks away.

David Broder on Sarah Palin

In a piece posted in Commentary Magazine we find these remarks from David Broder. I categorize this as something I would only have believed after I saw pigs fly.

“I gave her high marks for her vice presidential acceptance speech in St. Paul. But then, and always throughout that campaign, she was laboring to do more than establish her own place. She was selling a ticket headed by John McCain against formidable Democratic opposition and burdened by the legacy of the Bush administration.

Blessed with an enthusiastic audience of conservative activists, Palin used the Tea Party gathering and coverage on the cable networks to display the full repertoire she possesses, touching on national security, economics, fiscal and social policy, and every other area where she could draw a contrast with Barack Obama and point up what Republicans see as vulnerabilities in Washington.”

  To verify his well established credentials he could not help but refer to the “legacy of the Bush administration” as a negative to be overcome. I guess keeping the nation safe after 9/11 doesn’t count for much to Broder. Sorry about that, I should be grateful that he sees her as a competent factor in upcoming politics.

On Leftist Prejudice

This comment was posted to “big government” website and puts the lie to the “big tent” concept promoted by the Democrat Party. This guy puts a really negative shine on the attitudes of the progressive left. This anonymous poster, like many others, has some pretty firm views of the laundry list of sins of his right-wing counterparts.

“Man, those leftists are a really prejudiced group; let’s see: they don’t like old people, they don’t like conservative people, they don’t like religious people, they don’t like people who are pro-choice, if they are pro-life also, they don’t like people who enjoy gun ownership, they don’t like people who eat meat, they don’t like people who drive SUV’s (unless it’s them), they don’t like people who don’t like ACORN, they don’t like people who don’t like progressives, they don’t like people who respect the constitution, they don’t like people who criticize Obama, they don’t like people who think a marriage should be between a man and a women, they don’t like people who got their money the old fashion way…by earning it, they don’t like small business people, they don’t like people who went to community college…..wow….they don’t like A LOT OF PEOPLE….no wonder they are having problems selling their ideas!!! Ya wonder!!! (I could go on but I’m tired, I actually worked today!) “

This all comes under the general heading of “you can’t please all of the people, all of the time.”
More on Rasmussen

You well know that I place the utmost of confidence in Rasmussen polls on the basis of their proven performance in the past. It is methodology and not magic which has earned my trust. By polling only “likely voters” they reflect the opinion of those who actually have “hire-fire” jurisdiction over the selection of our leadership. Your well-reasoned opinion, although valuable, is meaningless if you are not prepared to exercise your franchise.

Earlier this month, Obama experienced a reduction in the strongly approve/disapprove difference to the minus low single digits. No doubt, it was in response to the State of the Union address that he had a positive result. As the time gap widens we find him back to the former range of -14 to -17 percentage points and a renewal of his plunging popularity. I think of it as the “slow thinker’s” bounce. After the gloss of the teleprompter enhanced oratory wore off, some renewed their efforts to actually digest what was said and came up empty. As this process proceeds, there is a steady trend back to the normal decline.

I am now experiencing a gathering interest in the more general category of plain approve/disapprove figures without the modifying adverb “strongly.” You may find the history table interesting as the two categories are shown side-by-side. In the more general version we find that the speech resulted in his first logging of a positive (plus 1%) since mid-November. The highest negative (-10%) was noted five days later on the 7th of February. This is viewed as yet more validation of the “slow thinker’s bounce.”

In the final analysis, I am grateful to Rasmussen for keeping their finger on the public pulse and sharing the information. Of the two dozen regular sources I check daily, they are number three and I find my spirits either elevated or depressed according to the outcome.

And finally

In a daily inventory of things for which I am grateful to God for delivering, I find often that the highest on the list is the Constitution of the United States. More specifically, we applaud the men who were responsible for its assembly. It took over a decade and countless meetings fraught with contention and heated debate but they extracted a true miracle as the final result. It currently serves as a bulwark against the usurpation of the government by a cabal of self-serving anarchists intent on its destruction. To not see this clearly is an indication of inattention.

Typical of those who live in a rural setting in the heartland, Granny and I share a different set of priorities in concert with our neighbors and contrary to the ruling elites on the coasts. We only become equal when we go to the ballot box. The richest, most powerful folks in the country have no entitlement to more say there than we do. Unfortunately, they do not see it that way and choose to exert their control by devious means to hold sway over the simple people which comprise the bulk of the nation. Our only defense is to assert our mandate and remove those who would do otherwise.

As the president repeats ad nauseam, “let me be clear.” This generation of citizens holds the fate of the republic in its hands as surely as the men at Lexington and Concord. If the republic is to continue to exist, we must be the ones to assure that outcome. To rise in resistance after the fact is an ineffective device to preserve the union and the noble goals which inhabited the minds of the founders. As a people, we must act, to the best of our ability and resources, to battle the forces which are aligned against those great principles. Get involved! Get active! Do your best! Your country needs you to speak out against the impending tyranny which we face.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon