AMAZON HAS has banned books about World War II that question scientific and statistical details of the reported gas chambers and the “Holocaust.” The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum was among the organizations that pressured Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to remove the books. The company is, of course, perfectly free to determine which books it wants to sell. But given the retailer’s reach this is a significant form of censorship.

This censorship is a discredit to Jews who died or otherwise suffered in concentration camps during World War II, whose memory can never be honored by any association with book-banning or intellectual bullying. It is a discredit to Amazon, which has published books in favor of Satanism and a long list of moral crimes. It is a discredit to Jewish leaders who ironically have compounded the impression that they have something to hide and who by advocating this step persecute marginalized historians who have little or nothing to gain personally. It is a discredit to Jews who believe in open debate. Among the books that have suddenly disappeared from the online retailer is Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil by author Gerard Menuhin, Stanford-educated son of the late Jewish violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

Some books that question the events of the “Holocaust” are apparently still available on Amazon, at least for now, probably because they are not books exclusively on that subject. They include the excellent book on Jewish power in America, Synagogue Rising by the Catholic author Hugh Akins, a Vietnam veteran who calls the Holocaust debate “the supreme controversy of modern times.” He writes on p. 490: (more…)

MODERN academia is founded on the belief that there is no objective reality, especially in moral matters. Therefore, sooner or later it was bound to devolve into brawls, even at colleges with smart, generally law-abiding students.

Peter W. Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, writing at The Federalist, examines the recent riot at Middlebury College during a visit by the author Charles Murray. Wood alleges the college president and faculty encouraged the bullying protestors and have fostered an atmosphere of intolerance:

We have a generation of college students who reframe any idea they disagree with as “hate,” and declare that “Your message is hatred. We cannot tol-er-ate it.” (more…)

FROM AN 1855 sermon:

In the first place, then, my brethren, as men, as the offspring of a corrupted stock, self-denial is indispensably necessary for us. No sooner did our first parents transgress the divine command than labours and sufferings were declared to be their inseparable lot. Their descendants, born in pangs and in sorrow, were to eat their bread in the sweat of their brow: the earth was to yield them thorns and briars; and all nature was in some measure to disclaim the sovereignty of its fallen lord. But, if the effects of man’s disobedience were thus widely felt in the objects around him, it was in his own breast, that his transgression occasioned the most baneful revolution. From that moment, a furious and interminable war arose within him. His inferior appetites, rebellious to reason, incessantly demanded gratification at the expence of duty. All the powers of his soul were corrupted and brutalized. (more…)

TO THE VIRGIN --- by Edgar Allen Poe At morn, at noon, at twilight dim, Maria, thou hast heard my hymn! In joy and woe, in good and ill, Mother of God, be with me still! When the hours flew brightly by, And not a cloud obscured the sky, My soul, lest it should truant be, Thy grace did guide to thine and thee. Now when storms of Fate o’ercast Darkly my Present and my Past, Let my Future radiant shine With sweet hopes of thee and thine.

A BRIEF history of Tulip Mania and the subsequent crash in prices in 17th century Holland.

A COMMENT by Wallace Klink at the Clifford Hugh Douglas Institute: Human energy is a diminishing factor of production in the modern economy, where it is being rapidly replaced by technology providing enormously greater efficiency. We must abandon the anachronistic, unrealistic and false moralistic position that access to consumer goods is only or primarily justified by direct participation by individuals in production processes. The logical conclusions to be drawn from this erroneous and dogmatic belief are that the end of man is either endless manufacture of goods and services, regardless of actual need or desire, or that efficiency is to be abjured as something evil or undesirable. Both positions are an obvious fatal impediment to the flowering of anything worthy of being called Civilization.

    See more Karaoke "Catholicism," if you have the stomach for it (barf bag strongly advised), here. And, please, be careful on the roads! You never know what dangerous cornballs might be in the next lane.

HEATHER writes:

My five-year-old son was recently diagnosed with Asperger’s. One of the red flags noted by his speech therapist, and then by the psychologist who diagnosed him, is that he “can’t play pretend.” By this they mean playing with dolls or action figures, coming up with a spontaneous little script. It’s true, he does find this difficult, especially with unfamiliar adults. With me, he can, but it’s never a spontaneous experience. I didn’t notice for years because he can spontaneously play pretend in so many other ways – he can pretend to cook, pretend a stuffed animal is a pet, pretend he’s an explorer, firefighter, or fur trapper, pretend his bed is a ship, etc. He can play with other children in these ways too. I never had to teach him any of this. But in a clinical setting he’s unsure of what to do with dolls, and labeled with “can’t play pretend.”

I don’t dispute his diagnosis, and I acknowledge that playing pretend with dolls can really help his speech and social skills (although drawing cartoon situations seems to work better for him). (more…)

  HOLOCAUSTIANITY is the de facto state religion of Western society, says Michael Hoffman, who is not a "Holocaust denier" in the sense commonly used, i.e. someone who denies that many thousands of Jews suffered and died in labor camps in Germany.

  FROM a collection of prayers, for children (and adults): Angel of God, My Guardian Dear to whom God's love commits me here. Ever this day (night) be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen. Indulgence of 300 days. Raccolta. 452

WATCH John F. Kennedy's speech at American University in 1963, in which he said: “I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war–and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task. Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament–and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitude–as individuals and as a Nation–for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward–by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home.”

YEAH, that’s right all you hawks. Justice for Libya is long overdue. John Wight writes:

Though it may have slipped off the radar of global consciousness, Libya’s central importance when it comes a region that has been mired in conflict and chaos over the past few years cannot be overstated. The country’s destruction and societal collapse will forever stand as a withering indictment of Western foreign policy towards the region and NATO’s role, not as a defender of democracy, peace, and stability, but as an instrument of Western imperial power. The savage murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of a NATO-supported mob in October 2011 was a ghastly and despicable crime, one that stands comparison with the legal lynching of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2006. (more…)

GERMAN philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer was not right about everything, but he was right about truth when he said: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."

COLLEGES once created an environment in which women could learn and preserve themselves for marriage or another serious vocation. That environment depended on strict rules and recognized that 18-year-olds do not always possess good judgment. This author believes these rules were "absurd." I guess she prefers drunken hook-ups and campus rape. She writes: Though these rules existed at both men's and women's schools (see Spelman below), the concept of in loco parentis became almost ubiquitous between the 1940s and 1960s, when formerly all-male schools slowly opened their doors to women and the need to keep a strict eye on the sexes and maintain women's propriety became the primary focus of school administrators. Thus, while male students were allowed to dress as they pleased, study where they pleased, move off campus, drink, smoke, and throw parties, female students were subjected to strict curfews and dress codes, constant monitoring and supervision, and harsh punishment for even the most minor violations of these endless rules. Anyone with common sense and a few archival photos can see that college women have undergone a dramatic loss in dignity.

  BLESSED are you, O Virgin Mary, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth.     Image courtesy of It's About Time blog.

  THE CASE OF BARRONELLE STULTZMAN, the Christian florist who was sued by two “marrying” homosexual men and the Washington State Attorney General because she would not create a floral arrangement for their “wedding,” is going to the U.S. Supreme Court. This video tells her story.

JORGE BERGOGLIO, the Man Who Would Be Pope, loves to be interviewed. On his latest interview, Novus Ordo Watch wrote recently: [S]ome time ago, German journalist Alexander Kissler referred to Francis as a “U.N. Secretary General with a pectoral cross.” That is a pretty apt description of Mr. Bergoglio, except that even his pectoral cross leaves a lot to be desired, as it looks more like a bottle opener than anything else — although it is a fitting reflection of the man’s shoddy theology. In essence, there is nothing that Francis says that couldn’t just as well be affirmed by a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Zoroastrian, a Jain, a Wiccan, an agnostic, or an atheist. One day people will figure out that if that is the case, nobody needs a “Pope”, a “Catholic Church”, or even a great variety of religions — they could all just come together under one false “Messiah” who preaches fraternity, dignity, and solidarity.

  BOND AND FREE --- Robert Frost Love has earth to which she clings With hills and circling arms about— Wall within wall to shut fear out. But Thought has need of no such things, For Thought has a pair of dauntless wings. On snow and sand and turf, I see Where Love has left a printed trace With straining in the world’s embrace. And such is Love and glad to be. But Thought has shaken his ankles free. Thought cleaves the interstellar gloom And sits in Sirius’ disc all night, Till day makes him retrace his flight, With smell of burning on every plume, Back past the sun to an earthly room. His gains in heaven are what they are. Yet some say Love by being thrall And simply staying possesses all In several beauty that Thought fares far To find fused in another star.