…and you may quote me

References:

1. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=intertubes
2. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=iz
3. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lol

“God called the stars by name in their courses
and they answered him from eternity to eternity.”

–  Moses Maimonides

Thanks to my new friend, Mary M—-, for this quote.  It made my day.  It’s possible that the quote is not Maimonides’, but the Book of Enoch.  See below.

FYI, Biblical references to calling the stars by name –

Psalms 147:4 and Here :   He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.

Isaiah 40:26 : Lift up your eyes on high, and see: who hath created these? He that bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one faileth.

Also see the Book of Enoch 69:21 –

And through that oath the stars complete their course,
And He calls them by their names,
And they answer Him from eternity to eternity.

The New Yorker has published a thorough piece about Michele Bachmann, a MUST READ:

Leap Of Faith
The making of a Republican front-runner.
by Ryan Lizza
August 15, 2011

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_lizza

Bachmann belongs to a generation of Christian conservatives whose views have been shaped by institutions, tracts, and leaders not commonly known to secular Americans, or even to most Christians. Her campaign is going to be a conversation about a set of beliefs more extreme than those of any American politician of her stature, including Sarah Palin, to whom she is inevitably compared. Bachmann said in 2004 that being gay is “personal enslavement,” and that, if same-sex marriage were legalized, “little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal and natural and that perhaps they should try it.” Speaking about gay-rights activists, that same year, she said, “It is our children that is the prize for this community.” She believes that evolution is a theory that has “never been proven,” and that intelligent design should be taught in schools.

Or these gems, with my emphasis:

While looking over Bachmann’s State Senate campaign Web site, I stumbled upon a list of book recommendations. The third book on the list [...] is a 1997 biography of Robert E. Lee by J. Steven Wilkins.

Wilkins is the leading proponent of the theory that the South was an orthodox Christian nation unjustly attacked by the godless North. This revisionist take on the Civil War, known as the “theological war” thesis, had little resonance outside a small group of Southern historians until the mid-twentieth century, when [Rousas John] Rushdoony and others began to popularize it in evangelical circles. In the book, Wilkins condemns “the radical abolitionists of New England” and writes that “most southerners strove to treat their slaves with respect and provide them with a sufficiency of goods for a comfortable, though—by modern standards—spare existence.”

African slaves brought to America, he argues, were essentially lucky: “Africa, like any other pagan country, was permeated by the cruelty and barbarism typical of unbelieving cultures.” Echoing Eidsmoe, Wilkins also approvingly cites Lee’s insistence that abolition could not come until “the sanctifying effects of Christianity” had time “to work in the black race and fit its people for freedom.”

In his chapter on race relations in the antebellum South, Wilkins writes:

Slavery, as it operated in the pervasively Christian society which was the old South, was not an adversarial relationship founded upon racial animosity. In fact, it bred on the whole, not contempt, but, over time, mutual respect. This produced a mutual esteem of the sort that always results when men give themselves to a common cause. The credit for this startling reality must go to the Christian faith. . . . The unity and companionship that existed between the races in the South prior to the war was the fruit of a common faith.

Riiiiight.  Slaves were lucky to be enslaved by such good and righteous people who helped them (the slaves) break out of the cruel and barbaric non-enslaved lives they were leading in Africa.

BTW, many Africans who were enslaved practiced Islam as their primary religion.  I guess these authors — and the candidates who love them — consider Islam to be cruel and barbaric.

The recall efforts in Wisconsin are over — http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/127435173.html — but the spin is not:

“I think it’s a huge victory for us,” said John Hogan, director of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate. “Voters gave us a mandate last fall. . . . They backed us up again (Tuesday). Voters told us loud and clear, ‘Stay the course. Things are working.’”

But Democrats claimed victory for the two seats they captured from Republicans.

“We went on their turf and we won on Republican turf,” said Mike Tate, chairman of the state Democratic Party. “We will not stop, we will not rest . . . until we recall (Gov.) Scott Walker.”

I think both are right on this.  The Dems failed to do what they set out to, so the results should be seen as a loss.  However, Tate’s point is exactly correct too.  The Republicans lost two Senate seats yesterday, and made a 3rd true-blue-GOP seat-holder very, very nervous.

Gov. Scott Walker should see the results as a denouncement of his leadership, and should be worried by how well the Dems did in districts he won last year, and how close the Dems came to taking the Wisconsin Senate majority.