The Freethinker

New York City - 12/28/08-12/30/08

We walked all over the place. We were considering driving but you can't really experience the way New York City is if you drive... It saves some wear and tear on your feet, but that's about it. Give some credit to that old saying... No pain no gain, correct?

We spent a lot of time in midtown Manhattan. That is a really lovely part of New York. I enjoyed myself the most in midtown. Downtown was less enjoyable, but I think I was too tired to keep up with the pace in downtown! Oh well, next time...

We also rode on the subway. That was an interesting experience... Pretty confusing. You really have to think logically and plan out your route. It was confusing at first, but a neat experience overall. That's how we got from midtown to downtown.

A good way to make your trip to New York a lot easier is to get a hotel in the midtown area. Getting a hotel outside of the city just won't do! Listen, the extra money is worth it, stay in the city. It won't keep you up at night, trust me, I'm a night owl and an insomnia sufferer. I slept fine! And when you're walking nearly 9 miles in New York in a day trying to see everything you want to see, you'll pass out at the end of the day, too. No problem.

Thanks to all you New Yorkers who made our trip a memorable one! We can't wait to visit again. Well, I can't wait. :) The only complaint we had was traffic! But we only had to deal with that for a limited amount of time. Next time we plan on visiting Little Italy, and maybe do some more shopping. And of course, I'm taking a lot more photos than I did! I took a ton but I need more nighttime skyline shots. That would be fabulous.

Well, I'll report more about New York soon but I did want to add a quick entry to update you all on what I've been doing.

Photos by Me.

Coffee and Communism

A brief book review...

This book really answered my questions and gave me a start at understanding Communism and it's ideals. It's a great introduction and gives a perfect overview of this flawed ideology.

It begins with the basics of Communism, such as private land, personal freedom and the differences between Socialism and Communism. It also covers Marx and Engels influences, and how the Communist Manifesto came to be (More so in an abbreviated form, if you wish to know more about the Communist Manifesto, read it yourself).

This is a wonderful book to recommend to any fairly intelligent individual considering the notion that Communism is a beneficial social, political and even religious policy. This book isn't a piece of literature only for the philosopher or genius, but the averagely intelligent fellow can read through this book in a week and get a basic knowledge of Communism.

Viva La Capitalism, my friends.

Memorable quotations from "Communism" by Richard Pipes:

Karl Marx
"It was French radical thinkers of the eighteenth century who first advanced communism programs, calling for the abolition of all private wealth on the grounds that it was the cause of every misery known to mankind. In the words of Morelly, the author of the influential treatise "Le cofe de la Nature", published in 1755:
'The only vice which I know in the universe is avarice; all the others, whatever name one gives them, are merely forms, degrees of it... Analyze vanity, conceit, pride, ambition, deceitfulness, hypocrisy, villainy; break down the majority of our sophisticated virtues themselves, they all dissolve in this subtle and pernicious element, the desire to possess.'
Such economically determined psychology lies at the root of every socialist and communist doctrine."
-Communism by Richard Pipes, Page 9, emphasis added

I find this quote particularly interesting, because the analysts of the eighteenth century (The age of enlightenment) were seemingly trying to find a way to explain what makes mankind "tick". Although, conventional knowledge can never seem to supercede the Lord, it is explained in the Bible, within the first book, why we have the desire to possess and why we wish to be prideful, be deceitful, and partake in other unruly sinful qualities.

Friedrich Engels
"The Marxist concept of social evolution arose under the influence of the Darwinian theory formulated in 1859 in 'On The Origin Of The Species'. Darwin's book depicted the emergence of biological species as due to a process of natural selection that enabled the better to survive in a hostile environment... ...So great was Darwin's influence on Marx that Engels, speaking at his friends' funeral, said, 'Just as Darwin had discovered the law of development of organic nature, so did Marx discover the law of human history.' "
-Communism by Richard Pipes, Page 9, emphasis added

This is an interesting fact to observe that Marx helped to base his concept of the Communist Manifesto from Darwinism. The Nazis also based their racial doctrines from Darwinism.

The book also expands upon the different forms of Communism that have risen from Marx's original Communist theory. He explains Leninism in detail, and how the Communist regime in Russia took different turns while Stalin lead the country, and communism in other countries such as: Cambodia, China, Cuba and Chile. The book also explains the effects of Communism on economies, and how Communism ultimately leads to totalitarianism and fascism.

Obama Is Not Qualified To Be President

Whos wedding is it anyway...

Now I'm beginning to understand why they called that one show on Style "Whos wedding is it anyway?" It seems as if the entire family here has jumped into "MASSIVE WEDDING PLANNING" mode, especially the mothers around here! Theres still a huge laundry list of things that need to be done...

X-All of the bridesmaid dresses need to be sewed properly and hemmed and so on and so forth. (Overall, four dresses!)

X-The brides' dress needs minor adjustments made to it

X-The cake needs decorated and assembled.

X-The programs need printed.

X-Camera cards need cleaned off and batteries charged.

X-My hair and my mothers' hair needs a test run.

X-My mom and my sister need their hair fixed up

X-I need to iron out the piano peice for the wedding (Argh!)

X-Limo contract needs to be signed.

X-Over 20 Songs need downloaded for the reception.

And most of these things need to be done by THURSDAY! And let me tell you, people, Cassandra and Chris's cake is no rinky dinky little cake! It's a massive four tier cake and two sattelite cakes! Oh boy... The drama ensues! Not to mention, the bridesmaids and I are still trying to plan a little get together for my sister (The bride). Sheesh! Lord willing, everything will go according to plan...

Updating

So I'll make this quick... We've been preparing for my sisters' wedding the past few weeks... From August 3rd-9th I was in Charlotte, NC, for National Fine Arts... Sonshinefest was July 20th, we ahd a fun time, until it downpoured, ha! My mom made a cake for someones wedding... I had to help serve spaghetti at the Fine Arts auction... And of course, there was my sisters' bridal shower. My friend of many years graduated in June (Yeah I'm going kind of backwards here...), we enjoyed yucky weather for the fourth, we had our patriotic festival, and there was also the Fine Arts coffeehouse... and of course our very first homeschool co-op social. So, yep, inbetween were sleepovers with my gal friends, swimming and lots of tanning. :)

Full summer! I wish I had time to post photos and even videos of all the madness, but I'll get to it when I have more time for the computer.

Umm... Tomorrow is my birthdayyy. :)

Freedom Of Inquiry

Just saw Ben Stein's new documentary/movie today, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"... It's about the suppression of free speech in science. You should definitely see it!

Margaret Mary... Loving Memories

Margaret Mary Ostheimer LaMark

My maternal grandmother... 

December 20^th, 1921 – April 14^th, 2008 

Margaret Mary Ostheimer LaMark while peaceful in her home has gone to be with the Lord at 7:40 AM, Monday, April 14^th, 2008.  

Margaret was one of three daughters to Frank Xavier Ostheimer and Catheryn (Graber). She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 20^th, 1921. Her sisters Frances and Dorothy preceded her in death. 

Sears Roebuck Co. and Atlanta Southern Railroad employed her while she lived in Georgia during WW II, where she met her husband Charles Michael LaMark, while he was preparing for departure to the war in Europe. They were married September 29^th, 1943, at Ft. McPherson, GA, just before he left for Europe.  

She is survived by her children’s father, Charles Michael LaMark, her son Charles Joseph LaMark, her daughter Catherine Cecelia and her husband David Clair Nagle. Margaret has four grandchildren, Robert Francis LaMark, Dawn Renee Bettwy, Cassandra Cecelia Nagle and Annette Margaret Nagle; She also has four great grandchildren, Tristan, Nathan, Sierra and Mikayla. 

She was a member of Pleasant Valley Assembly of God. She was retired from the Altoona Hospital. 

She will be laid to rest at Prince of Peace Cemetery in Allport, near Barnesboro, PA.

In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order my prayer to You

and eagerly watch.

Psalm 5:3

I'll Be Seeing You...

I'll be seeing you;
In all the old, familiar places;
That this heart of mine embraces;
All day through.

In that small cafe;
The park across the way;
The childrens carousel;
The chestnut tree;
The wishing well.

I'll be seeing you;
In every lovely, summers day;
And everything thats bright and gay;
I'll always think of you that way;
I'll find you in the morning sun;
And when the night is new;
I'll be looking at the moon;
But I'll be seeing you.

- - - - -

Dream A Little Dream of Me...

Stars shining bright above you;
Night breezes seem to whisper I love you
Birds singing in the sycamore tree.
Dream a little dream of me.

Say nighty-night and kiss me;
Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me.
While I'm alone, blue as can be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading but I linger on, dear---
Still craving your kiss.
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear,
Just saying this...

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you---
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading but I linger on, dear---
Still craving your kiss.
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear,
Just saying this...

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you---
Sweet dreams that leave all worries far behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Beautiful Ohio

Lyrics by Ballard McDonald...

I sailed away;
Wandered afar;
Crossed the mighty restless sea;
Looked for where I ought to be.
Cities so grand, mountains above,
Led to this land I love.

Beautiful Ohio, where the golden grain
Dwarf the lovely flowers in the summer rain.
Cities rising high, silhouette the sky.
Freedom is supreme in this majestic land;
Mighty factories seem to hum in tune, so grand.
Beautiful Ohio, thy wonders are in view,
Land where my dreams all come true!

A Real Freethinker

In honor of the late Charlton Heston, I've decided to repost something he said in a speech, which I identified with, and I think it fit my blog pretty well.

"Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism. That's what it is: New McCarthyism. But, what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation?

Well, the answer's been here all along. I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people.

You simply disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey the social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom." - Charlton Heston, 1999

In memory of Charlton Heston... 1923-2008.

And special thanks to mom for directing me to the full speech where I found this... :)

Photo for the 5th

I'm not sure what to say at the moment... But I felt like posting something, I just don't know what. I don't really have anything to say.

To be honest, I do have something on my mind, actually, but I want to find a scripture to back it up before I post whats on my mind right now. Art usually speaks more than a multitude of words, so I will just post a photo since I'm generally absent minded this evening.

"You're wasting electricity... But it's okay tonight!!"

Anyone else annoyed by "EARTH HOUR", which is taking place tonight?

You know what, if I were planning on staying home tonight, I would turn on every light in my HOUSE just to show that I don't support the politically motivated lie of global warming. But, sadly, I have a life that will be using energy this evening (Oh my gosh, that means I exist), and I'm not thinking about making the world a better place for the dirt, plants and the animals thrive, supposedly, while asthma sufferers suffocate because of 'eco-friendly inhalers'. (Great humanitarian stuff right there.)

Global warming is politically and economically motivated... Someone has money to make, someone has an ideology to push on the people. But guess what, we're not going to get any electric cars any time soon, my friends... Not until the oil industry converts to the religion of electric, and soon they'll be gouging us for our money there. Be honest with yourself, the oil companies do not care about global warming, or climate change.

Instead of picking on the millions of people who want to succeed and have a life and be as successful as the celebrities on TV that have always been pushed on us for decades (And even people who want to simply breath, ahem, like asthma sufferers), why don't the alarmists pick on the greedy oil companies who have pushed all the CO2 you could ever imagine, and have made billions of dollars off of 'contributing to global warming'? I'm surprised the activists haven't tried the oil companies for crimes against humanity! Ah well...

1Timothy 6:10  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

I know, I have to put in a little disclaimer... For some reason, people think if you don't support global warming, you don't support recycling and everything good of that nature. Don't pull a strawman! That is simply ignorant. Go check my Flickr, I am always taking photos of nature. Do you think I want those beautiful paintings arranged by God to fade? No. I want it to be preserved. But do I want people to preserve nature from the urging of a phony doomsday theory? No.

If celebrities weren't supporting this climate change garbage, you wouldn't be supporting it either, would you? If a celebrity jumped up on the podium and said, "I have asthma, they're taking away my inhaler because they think global warming is true, you need to help me!", you'd be jumping up and down saying it's not true, wouldn't you? But I will most likely bet you're smarter than that and know how to think for yourself, and will not give credibility to global warming just because of celebrities, right?

Do you want to know something else that deeply disturbs me? When people bring up, "You're right, it's not CO2, it's overpopulation!"

Well number one, if you're worried about overpopulation, China is way ahead of you, people. Thanks to communist rule, chinese couples are only allowed to have one child, and it's usually the male that is kept, and baby girls are actually aborted often. So first off, theres a huge male/female population deficit, and the population of China won't be rising at this rate, I can guarantee you that.

And how do you suggest we fix overpopulation if thats not enough for you? There's sterilization and birth control.

And when that's not enough, there's only one inevitable option left.

Genocide.

Gotta love the Green movement.

Well, sorry for the rant... It happens sometimes when you're Italian. Check out this video though, it's very informative. If you don't believe it, you'll at least know another side to the story. 

So, if you're going to be at home tonight and can afford to turn all your lights on for an hour at 8 PM (Without murdering your circuit breaker), try it, and if the neighbors ask what your problem is, tell them you don't believe in the propaganda of global warming. :D

I'm done now... And a stupid question. Can you really waste electricity? (All the dads say yes! Haha.)

So, whatever, draw your own conclusions about global warming. Those are simply mine. And always remember kids, "Al Gore didn't invent the internet, but he did make up global warming!" (Sigh, most of you aren't going to remember  when Al Gore claimed he invented the internet...) Did you also notice he came out of hibernation to promote global warming again after winter is over?

I Can't Sleep.. So lets talk about Fine Arts!

Hello... I'm supposed to be resting, but simply, I can't. I feel sickly, which, I have been anticipating this for a few weeks, I seem to get under the weather a lot easier the past two or three years in February and March. Oh well. The most annoying thing for me in resting is, I sit there and think too much! I owe you all an update anyway since I've been MIA far too much.

The past three months I've been bombarded with preparing for National Youth Ministries Assembly of God Fine Arts. (Yes, it's a really long title.) I entered with PVAG, and I participated in Large Vocal Ensemble, Digital Photography, Graphic Design, Female Vocal Solo and Piano Solo. :) In Large Vocal Ensemble we sang "In And Not Of" by Avalon, for FVS I sang "Closer To The Hear Of God" by Nicol Smith-Sponberg (She was in Selah), and I played Come and Sing Praises on the piano (Arr. by Bill Wolaver.)

I was quite nervous for sectionals, but I passed on to districts, and districts was easier. I'm going to Nationals in Charlotte with everything except for FVS! :( But just for the record, I was .77 away from going to Nationals with FVS, I was very close! (Yes, that was LESS than a point away!) Oh well, can't win everything, I guess.

I'm a picture-y type person, so I'll post a slideshow from sectionals and what I entered for graphic design and digital photography. There are videos on the way, too. I just have to get my converter box from Pinnacle to work!

 The slide show was really bogging down my page, so click here to check out the slideshow!

You can check my Flickr account if you want to see the images in a not-so-fast-as-in-not-moving mode. If the slideshow just gets stuck on a white screen, try restarting the page.

Okay, I'm done... For now.

Safford... March 2006 - March 2008

Sad to say, the Nagle household has suffered a tremendous loss. Safford the Beta fish has passed on to the great aquarium in heaven!

Our corpulent little friend will be missed... But he lived a good life! Although, will fighting Beta fish be truly happy in heaven if they are forbidden to fight? Hmmm....

The Colorful Margaret H.

Here is the progress of Margaret Herschel. I'm not completely happy with it yet. I'll try to finish this within the week or so.

Piano Performance Tips

I'm not an expert, but I've learned some things along the way these past few months that other aspiring pianists may benefit from. I've had a crazy few months that have really pushed me in piano performance, and I want to share what I have learned with others that may be struggling.

1. You will hear this alot. Know your music! Learn it well enough to even play a portion of it with your eyes closed, or be ambitious and play the entire peice in practice with your eyes closed (Ray Charles style).

2. Perform, perform, perform. Don't shrink away from the spotlight if you can somehow weasle your way out of a performance. Learn how to deal with the 'pressure' of having all eyes on you. It will be hard at first; the first six or seven performances where you must push yourself WILL be the hardest, if you are shy or nervous. Granted, you will feel like disgorging every once in a while and you will be so nervous  your fingers will tremble when applying pressure to those ivories, but it will pass, if you get over this early stage. You'll learn theres nothing to be afraid of, there is no danger upon that piano bench! You'll be increasingly comfortable the more times you are confronted with the stage.

3. Learn to concentrate. Have a family member or a friend make alot of noise and be distracting while you practice your peice, and you will learn how to concentrate. The main reason aspiring pianists blank out while they're in a middle of a performance is because their mind starts to wander. "I wonder what we'll be eating afterwards. I could go for some pizza. We should eat at iHop when we're done... Uh oh! What's next?!" And bam, before you know it, you're completely lost. Learn how to concentrate correctly. Do not overly concentrate. I know this is confusing, I am telling you to concentrate and then I am telling you not to concentrate, but when you overconcentrate, aiming for total perfection, mistakes abound. (I've learned from experience!) Music must be focused, but never forced. It has to come from your heart! Forcing a performance by concentrating TOO hard never produces the right results. If you don't understand what I'm saying, you will have to wait, someday you will understand this concept after performing enough.

4. Don't let bad performaces discourage you. We've all had it happen. You totally screwed up the climax... And guess what? You're not the first pianist to ever do this. If the piano is really your instrument, you'll pick up the peices, perhaps even cry a little, move on to preparing for the next performance and vow to do better. Don't let a sour recital have an effect on you for eternity in negative ways. Learn from your mistakes, identify why you performed badly (Bad pedal? Out of tune piano? Low lighting? Not knowing your music?), and try to keep that in mind for the next performance. If it was nerves that got you down, you will just have to keep playing and get over this. Failure does not lie in the fact that you did not play perfectly, failure would lie in the fact that you never even tried or shrinked away from the challenge.

The BIGGEST tip that I could ever give for those aspiring to play for God is, pray, pray, pray and praise, praise, praise! Let your performance be an offering to God every time to sit at that bench. Be it practice, performance or just plain playing around. If you're nervous about a recital or concert, pray! Yes, it's as simple as that.

Another thing that may really help some, know your limits. You don't need to play Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 to have people appreciate your performance. Understand your own ability. It is okay to aspire and set goals, but be realistic. If you've only been taking piano lessons for less than a year, a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is not for you yet! Aspire, but know only your worst limitations.

I hope this helps someone! It's not scientific but it's something I wish some people would have told me when I was anxious about performing in front of people.