… they won’t be paying attention to other things ..
Fear mongering is the deliberate use of fear based tactics including exaggeration and continual repetition to alter the perception of the public in order to achieve a desired outcome.
Probably the best-known example in American politics, pre-9/11, is the Daisy television commercial, a famous campaign television advertisement beginning with a little girl standing in a meadow with chirping birds, picking the petals of a daisy while counting each petal slowly. When she reaches “9”, an ominous-sounding male voice is then heard counting down a missile launch, and as the girl’s eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms in until her pupil fills the screen, blacking it out.
When the countdown reaches zero, the blackness is replaced by the flash and mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion.
It is the mission of the Free Thought Project to foster the creation and expansion of liberty minded solutions to modern day tyrannical oppression. We feel that the internet has given way to a revolution of consciousness by providing for the massive and instantaneous exchange of information across the globe.
The Free Thought Project feels that the internet is a place that can either ruin or expand the mind’s of individuals and that choice is up to you. Hateful and obstinate ideologies cloud the web and often the minds of those who can’t see through them. We want to change this paradigm by providing a beacon of truth amongst all the lies.
The Free Thought Project is a place for people to come together, who don’t necessarily agree on all topics, but who want to see a brighter, freer, and more sustainable future for humanity.
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War — its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis.
In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.
An exceptionally astute politician deeply involved with power issues in each state, Lincoln reached out to the War Democrats and managed his own re-election campaign in the 1864 presidential election. Anticipating the war’s conclusion, Lincoln pushed a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to reunite the nation speedily through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness. On April 15, 1865, six days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer.
Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents.
These words, spoken by Mr. Lincoln, are as true today as they were when he first said them
At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?
Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?
Never!
All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?
I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad.
If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.
As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
~~Candidates emerging for spring elections in Central Florida cities~~
January 7, 2014|By Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel
Apopka is among Central Florida cities with key races in upcoming spring elections.
Ballots were set this week for the March 11th elections in Apopka, where longtime Mayor John Land is seeking a 20th term, and in Winter Park, where voters will decide City Commission Seat 2.
The City Commission Seat 2 is what has prompted this post.
My partner reads the newspaper avidly and she pointed me in this direction.
~~Apopka commissioner’s Facebook: ‘My opponent is not a Christian’~~
~~Marilyn Ustler McQueen~~
~~Here is her tirade on Facebook, using capital letters~~
Though she has removed the post from her public Facebook page, McQueen, a member of Apopka City Council since 1996, reaffirmed in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel the accusations that she leveled at Velazquez on the social-media site, where she said Velazquez needs someone to “bring her to Christ.”
~~Diane Velazquez~~
On March 11 the city will hold elections in which Diane Velázquez, 56, is seeking to be the first Hispanic on the Apopka City Council.
“I’m running because Apopka has gotten a little stale,” Velázquez said. “It’s lagging behind in moving forward.”
The 10-year Apopka resident, a retired New York City police detective, has spent years attending City Council meetings to learn what’s going on. She says she has seen very few residents in attendance but lots of developers.
McQueen’s opponent in the upcoming race for Apopka City Council Seat 2, Diane Velazquez, a first-time candidate for elected office, said she was surprised and sickened by the social-media blast, which she assailed as an inaccurate summary of her personal religious views.
“I have a lots of faith. That’s what got me through my husband’s lymphoma; my son’s two deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and my dad’s death,” Velazquez said. “But everyone has different views in how they believe in God or don’t. For me, it’s OK to wonder and question.”
Though she has removed the post from her public Facebook page, McQueen, reaffirmed in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel the accusations that she leveled at Velazquez on the social-media site, where she said Velazquez needs someone to “bring her to Christ.”
“As a Christian and knowing that our community is a faith-based community, it’s a concern to me,” McQueen said of Velazquez’s views on God, the Bible and life after death. “I personally would have a difficult time supporting someone who does not have a strong foundation in God’s word.”
The exchange of religious views between McQueen, who describes herself as a contemporary Baptist, and Velazquez, who identifies herself as a Catholic, occurred Monday, February 24, while they were sequestered in an office at Victory Church in Apopka, host of a candidates’ forum.
McQueen called the pre-forum chat “very bizarre.” Velazquez called it “a mistake.”
Religious faith is not formally or legally a prerequisite for public office in the United States, but culturally it is, said Paul Croce, a professor of American studies at Stetson University and an expert on the history of American politics and the role of science and religion in politics.
“Pity the candidate who comes out and says, ‘I’m not religious’ or even, ‘I don’t go to church,'” he said. He noted that presidential candidates are quizzed about their faith, photographed attending services or quoted invoking God’s name on the campaign trail.
The late John F. Kennedy, the nation’s first Roman Catholic president, rebuked suggestions that he would answer ultimately to the Vatican, not the American people. He once said, “I do not speak for my church on public matters — and the church does not speak for me.”
On Facebook, McQueen’s post mostly won praise from followers — including a woman who wrote, “I love our faith-based community, especially that we are led by Godly men and women.”
Other supporters promised to keep praying for McQueen — and to pray for Velazquez, too.
Velazquez, who is not Facebook friends with McQueen, said she learned of her opponent’s opinion from a campaign backer.
“Religion doesn’t belong in here,” said Velazquez, a retired New York police detective. “I couldn’t believe that what I thought was a private, personal conversation has been turned into political grandstanding.”
She did not deny having doubts about her faith and life after death.
“Yes, sometimes I look up in the sky and the stars and wonder, ‘Is there something there, something after this?'” Velazquez said. But she also said she prayed every day when her son, Daniel, was in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army.
“Some days, after watching the news, I would pray harder,” she said. “I realized young military men like my son were dying. I was always afraid of getting that phone call.”
McQueen, 60, said she had no political motive.
~~McQueen~~
“As a Christian, I wanted my Christian brothers and sisters to be aware,” she said. “It just upset me so much.”
McQueen said she does not know whether the Facebook post will help or hurt her candidacy, and she doesn’t care. “I leave that in God’s hands,” she said. “If I’m supposed to be there on Apopka City Council, I’ll be there. If not, he has something else for me, bigger and better.”
In a nonpartisan local race such as Apopka’s, where voters don’t have marked party lines to help them choose between candidates, McQueen’s Facebook post could sway the undecided voters, said Kenneth D. Wald, a political-science professor at the University of Florida.
It is my strong, personal belief that there should be no place for religion in politics. What happened to “separation of church and state”? The Facebook tirade was out of order. There are “adults” in the house. No need to act that juveline.
It Is What It Is 