National Holiday

On this day in 1620 some colonists celebrated the survival of their own stupidity.

The Pilgrims were Christian fanatics.  As a result they believed everything Jesus Christ preached, including the doctrine of Socialism.  As economic equality is actually impossible, the Pilgrims would have died off.  But the Native Americans intervened and fed the Pilgrims then taught them how to grow food.  Only a fool or fanatic could believe in the doctrine of Socialism.

Ayn Rand said that Thanksgiving was a celebration of successful production.  But was it actually necessary?

National Holiday

On this day in 1620 some colonists celebrated the survival of their own stupidity.  The Pilgrims were Christian fanatics.  As a result they believed everything Jesus Christ preached including the doctrine of Socialism.  As economic equality is actually impossible the Pilgrims would've died off.  But the Native Americans intervened and fed the Pilgrims then taught them how to grow food.  Only a fool or fanatic could believe in the doctrine of Socialism.  Ayn Rand said that Thanksgiving was a celebration of successful production but was it actually necessary?

Update: The verdict on the Rittenhouse Case is just a start.

National Holiday

 On this day in 1620 some colonists celebrated the survival of their own stupidity.

The Pilgrims were Christian fanatics.  As a result they believed everything Jesus Christ preached, including the doctrine of Socialism.  As economic equality is actually impossible, the Pilgrims would have died off.  But the Native Americans intervened and fed the Pilgrims then taught them how to grow food.  Only a fool or fanatic could believe in the doctrine of Socialism.

Ayn Rand said that Thanksgiving was a celebration of successful production.  But was it actually necessary?

Thought For The Day

There's more to The Right than that idiot Kenneth Copeland.  But some people refuse to understand this.

Rant

How can Jesus return when he didn't exist?

Anniversary

On this day in 1620 some colonists celebrated the survival of their own stupidity.

Jesus was an idiot, some people now believe that he didn't exist.

Qustions And Answers

Is David Miscavige the functional equivalent of Adolf Hitler?

Yes.

Should he treated as such?

Yes.

Can a nonexistent being command anything?

He can't.

Opinions

I don't believe that Jeffery Epstein committed suicide.

(Image by Mark Urbin.)

Those who don't want you you to exercise judgement may not be evil, but that's the way to to bet.

Dennis Prager speaking on the Ten Commandments clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.  A nonexistent being can't command anything.

Update 1103 CST:

I had to see a podiatrist downstairs.   Adam Shiff is clearly a traitor and an Enemy of Mankind.  He should be treated as such.  The so-called impeachment of President Trump is clearly a farce.

And So On And So Forth

The fact of the matter is that all religions are false. No amount of whining or coercion will change this. In order to ascend to the height of civilization that we've reached we had to culturally compartmentalize our religion to Sunday Morning.  Some people, myself included, are now taking the next logical step and dropping religion altogether. In all aspects of their lives.

But, as some Christians are whining, without obeying God everything will descend into chaos and destruction.

Nonsense.

Because God is a figment of the imagination we've no alternative but to accept responsibility for our own lives and actions. We'll have to see things as they are and live according to the actual requirement of human life.  The fact of the matter is that all religions are false. No amount of whining or coercion will change this. In order to ascend to the height of civilization that we have reached we had to culturally compartmentalize our religion to Sunday Morning. Some people, myself included, are now taking the next logical step and dropping religion altogether. In all aspects of their lives. 


Because God is a figment if the imagination we have no alternative but to accept responsibility for our own lives and actions. We'll have to see things as they are and live according to the actual requirement of human life.  And the clergy will have to find real jobs.

Questions

Why do we hate Hillary Clinton?

Is Christianity a load of nonsense?

Will anyone who values power stop at anything?

If the world is evil why do the faithful insist on living in it?

 Punishing a man for an act he did not commit is unjust. Imprisoning a man for speaking the truth is tyrannical. Disarming the citizens -- who are the sovereign authority of the nation -- is treason.  To say anything more would require the extensive use of barracks language.  There's no such thing as "common sense gun control." those who are in favor of banning firearms are enemies of Humanity and should be treated in the Nuremberg style, from the neck until dead.  And there's no limit to what a Statist can do to a disarmed victim.

Step Back - Part 37

A very rare Sunday meeting was being held at the KGB headquarters off of Lubyanka Square. Colonel Andrei Taganov, who was not related to the head of the Baikonur launch center, would speak to Chairman Yuri Andropov about the information gained on the mission to the Eagle.

“Quite simply Comrade Chairman, we are fucked.” Said Taganov..

“Fucked?” Said Andropov. “What do you mean?”

Taganov replied.

“The Soviet State will ultimately fail–there is simply no alternative.”

It was at that point Andropov could only stare blankly into space.

What would he tell the Politburo? He thought. And how would they respond? And then what will happen next?

Andropov spoke again

“So what would you suggest as a course of action, Colonel?”

“Comrade Chairman, we should lay out a plan for the peaceful transition to a non-communist society.”

Andropov blinked.

“Are you mad?” He said. “The Politburo will reject it!”

Taganov replied.

“It doesn’t matter what the Politburo believes, the Soviet state will eventually come to an end. How it will end is still an open question. We can see to it that the transition to another social order is peaceful. Or we could do nothing and have open chaos as a result.”

On a clear Sunday morning in Washington a mass prayer service was being held on the Mall. On the live television broadcast Katherine Grant first denounced the Uptimers as being the tools of Satan because of their peacefully meeting with the Soviet delegation aboard the Eagle and for continuing to hold her daughter on board their ship. And then she openly denounced the Nixon Administration for their continued contact with and support of them. The simple idea that the Uptimers were acting in accordance with simple courtesy and the actual facts of reality simply did not cross what passed for her mind and didn’t enter into her rant.

Alice and Judith aboard the Eagle silently watched the live broadcast of the prayer service.

President Nixon also watched the broadcast from the White House. On the ground the President had discussed the continuing issue of Grant and her followers with Commander Macdonald.

“Mister President,” said MacDonald, “we simply will not submit to their demands, and should the United States Government do so, we will pull out and go elsewhere.”

“Where would you go?” Nixon asked.

Without missing a beat Macdonald simply replied.

“Israel.”

Of course they would. Nixon thought.

Across the nation the broadcast was also seen by numerous college students, many of whom were suffering from serious hangovers on this morning. In the living room of a three bedroom apartment in the Dinkytown area adjacent to the main campus of the University of Minnesota seven seriously unkempt and hung over students of both genders and a their guest for breakfast were watching the broadcast as well.

“Can you believe this nonsense?” One of them said with a British accent. “The Uptimers are from the future, of course they’re not going to believe in God, or any other nonsense.”

“They don’t believe in Progress either.” Said another student.

Mark Urquhart, the first student who was a British subject studying Engineering, replied to the second.

“Because it’s not actually a doctrine of Progress, it’s simply a body of excuses to use force on other people.”

And then Mark’s guest for breakfast, his oldest brother, spoke up with a clearly polished Oxford accent.

“Your first president, George Washington, once said something on this point: ‘Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.’”

Francis Urquhart was a junior member of the House of Commons for the Conservative Party. He had come to the United States on party business and decided to drop in on his youngest brother during the trip.

Now everyone in the room waited for his next word.

“The fact is that those who want power will stop at nothing to gain it--even to personally commit the act of murder–so lying for power is not a serious obstacle at all.”

The Americans in the room and his youngest brother all nodded in response.

What Francis Urquhart had not mentioned in the conversation, or even to his own brother, was that there were already two dead bodies buried under his own path to power in Cyprus.

Later in the day Francis would drop in on his sister Mary, who was married to a member of a wealthy American family, Richard Charles March II.

At the ground base in Nevada a letter with an information package that included color photographs was downloaded from the Eagle, printed, and sent by air mail to Diana Spencer, a student presently attending a boarding school in the United Kingdom.

For Francis Urquhart the lunch with his sister and her husband did not go well. The fact was that Richard March, in spite of his inherited wealth, was a true believer in the Progressive cause. In fact the way that Richard consistently looked at Francis gave him the clear impression that he was looked upon as a mortal enemy.

Richard was particularly upset at the Uptimers for their clear rejection of the Progressive cause.

Urquhart replied.

“The thing is Dicky, these people came from the 24th Century. There is no question for them as to what works and what doesn’t. And routinely working in the vacuum of space would very strongly discourage the kind of wishful thinking that you routinely indulge in.”

No one ever addressed march as Dicky, not even his wife. And the truth as stated by Francis was simply too much for him.

For Francis Urquhart the next stop on his visit to America was the Uptimer Base in Nevada on behalf of the Conservative Party.

Step Back - Part 28

October 12, 1969 8 PM Eastern Time

Dan Rather sat back in his New York City residence. He was still quietly fuming. When the proposal was made to send Mike Wallace up to the starship Eagle he objected on the grounds that he was younger and healthier and therefore he should go up.

“No Dan,” said Wallace, “apparently your counterpart on the original timeline had committed a serious breach of ethics and as a result the Uptimers want nothing to do with you here and now.”

From Rather’s perspective Wallace had pitched several softballs to the Uptimers. They were clearly enemies of Progress and fully deserved to have been ripped a new one on the air.

The thought that Rather would have been sent out an airlock did not occur to him.

In Huntsville Werner Von Braun and several members of his NASA team had also watched the broadcast.

He spoke up.

“Boatman never mentioned the fact that the design for the Integral was based on his own Master’s thesis at Cal Tech.”

“Why should he?” Said John Linden. “He actually designed and built all of the other starships. And let’s face it, he was virtually standing on some tall shoulders while doing so.”

“John,” Werner replied, “we’re not in the Reich anymore, there’s no need to kiss anyone’s ass here.”

“But the truth is the truth.” Linden replied.

“Yes, it is.”

Werner Von Braun quietly wondered when his friend Evelyn Boatman would ever get around to writing a doctoral thesis on starship design. He seriously wanted to read it.

In the White House President Nixon had also watched the broadcast with his family.

In his opinion Boatman was clearly a master of political spin. At no point were the natives of Eden mentioned or any word of their fate. And the story of Alice Boatman’s existence aboard the Integral would silence all but the most insane critics of her actions in Dallas. There was no question that the Reverend Grant had asked for it. But sometimes a nose has to be rubbed into a pile of excrement before someone got the point.

The rest of the First Family simply sat back in silence.

Across the nation’s capital Senator Edward Kennedy sat back on the sofa alone with a shot glass and an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

He was fully appalled at the news of a future where people acted without any guidance from their betters, or to act without any other social restraint.

He thought, and then he took another slug from the shot glass.

Something absolutely must be done to stop these monsters.

In the city of Minneapolis former Vice President Humphrey had also watched the broadcast.

How can they live with themselves? He thought. How could they act on their own and abandon the Human Race? How could they show absolutely no remorse for their actions? How could they be so selfish?

In his Minneapolis apartment Thomas Archer, professor of English Literature at the University of Minnesota, switched off his television set.

Those liars! He thought. Those absolute fucking liars!

How can I promote Peace and Social Justice when it was possible to freely contradict me? And how dare that lying fascist bitch say that she was raped as a little girl by a Progressive leader?

It was now clear to him.

The so-called freedom of speech is in fact the freedom to lie, and it has to be stopped once and for all!

In campus dormitories across the nation the empty spaces between the ears of the drones of the student collective were filled with the same set of notions.

Everything about them is wrong! They have technology without restraint. They have power without restraint! They can do anything to anyone they want! They are the enemies of Peace and Progress! They must be stopped! They must be stopped by any means possible! They must be stopped!

Doctor Mark Goldman was doing rounds on his shift in the Emergency Room of Parkland Hospital. A nurse suddenly walked up and spoke to him.

“Doctor, have you seen tonight’s 60 Minutes broadcast?”

“No--why”

“They interviewed Doctor Boatman aboard the Eagle. I understand her now, I understand why she shot Reverend Grant.”

Doctor Goldman nodded.

Katherine Grant had watched the broadcast with several senior staff members of her late husband’s ministry.

She had reached a point of absolute anger beyond anything she had ever experienced. A black rage had taken over her consciousness and it left her fully blocked from any light of truth.

As far as Katherine was concerned there was absolutely no question that the Boatman family and their crew were the creations and the servants of Satan. And there was no absolutely question that they had pulled her daughter into their web of lies and condemned her to eternal damnation.

Judith was gone.

It was not the fact that she was aboard the starship whose reality she fully denied. It was the fact that she had fully renounced faith in God and path of eternal salvation. Judith had fully renounced the Lord Jesus Christ.

And there was no going back.

And it all began with Ayn Rand.

That godless Russian Jewish whore Ayn Rand!

Something had to be done. Something had to be done before more helpless souls would be lost to that whore and her lies.

With that thought her ministry formally began.

In their own home in California Robert and Virginia Heinlein had also watched the broadcast.

What could be said about what he saw tonight?

“Well done, Son.”

Step Back - Part 26

On Sunday afternoon after the worship service at his church John Huhn sat in prayer within the tiny office within his home. In this he asked God for guidance about the people who claimed to have come from the future,

From his own view as a True Christian their claim had to be a lie, and this was the first of their lies. They openly declared that there was no God nor had his son Jesus Christ ever lived. They also claimed that the child who led them was an ancient man reborn.

There was no question these were lies. Clearly these people were the servants of Satan, the first liar himself. And Huhn had also watched the Saturday broadcast of The First Line. The host Bill Burke and his guest Katherine Grant were clearly good and True Christians. Their account of the murder of the Reverend William Grant and kidnapping of his daughter Judith struck him to the depths of his very soul.

How could a True Christian respond to these lies? And what was to be done in the long run?

Huhn continued to sit in prayer.

Obviously the lies and their true source had to be exposed. Although there was a drafting board in his office he decided to use a sketchbook to do the initial draft of the next small comic book in the series for distribution to other True Christians.

In the Oval Office President Richard Nixon was seriously wishing that he could take the day off, or better yet, most of the year off. But he couldn’t. Many of the Sunday editorials in newspapers from the New York Times on down were calling for the destruction of the Uptimer ship, the seizure of their ground base in Nevada, and the prosecution of their leaders for various crimes.

Were they serious? And how were these miracles to be performed? The various editorial writers clearly didn’t say.

Morons, he thought.

That afternoon Doctor Boatman did rounds in the sick bay aboard the Eagle. In particular she wanted to check up on Miss Grant. Shortly into their conversation Judith touched on a topic that was uncomfortable.

“Alice?”

“Yes?”

“I just read about what happened to you on the Integral.”

Alice nodded with a slight frown.

“And now Burke and my mother are claiming that I’m being used the same way aboard the Eagle, that’s wrong!”

“Yes, it is.” Said Alice.

“So what can be done about it?”

To Alice Boatman the answer was obvious.

“The answer to a lie is to shine the light of truth upon it.”

“Yes.” Said Judith.

The process required to reveal the relevant facts suddenly became clear to her.

“Judith,” said Alice, “I know someone who’s a friend of Mike Wallace at CBS News, would you be willing to speak to him about what happened to you?”

“Yes?”

“Okay,” said Alice, “I’ll arrange it right away. Now try to get some rest, okay?”

“Okay.”

With that Alice went straight to the command deck. Captain Sterling was on watch when she arrived.

“Denny,” she said, “I need a favor, I need to make a phone call to New York.”

It was clear to him that Doctor Boatman had stated this as a fact and not as a request.

“Who to?” He asked.

“Ayn Rand.”

It was clear that the doctor was dead serious.

“Yes, go ahead.” He replied.

Alice walked over to the communications station on the command deck, spoke to the petty officer on duty and made the necessary connections. The first was a digital microwave link to the ground station at Arlington. The next was the analog telephone link to New York. As the line rang Alice picked up the connected receiver.

A woman with a clear Russian accent answered.

“Miss Rand? This is Doctor Boatman aboard the Eagle, we met at the meeting in New York.”

“Yes, Evelyn’s daughter. How are you?”

“Good.” Alice replied. “Miss Rand, have you seen this week’s broadcast of The First Line?”

“I normally avoid that trash, but someone gave me a tip on it.” Rand replied. “It was appalling.”

“Well yes, it was,” said Alice, “Miss Grant and I were discussing the contents of that program and we want to respond to it.”

“We?” Said Rand.

“Yes,” said Alice, “I want to specifically respond to the charge that children are subjected to sexual abuse by Uptimers. And I believe I must clearly state how we deal with those who do engage in such conduct.”

“Something happened?” Rand asked.

“Yes,” said Alice, “Did Harry Barnes say anything about what happened to me aboard the starship Integral?’

“Doctor Barnes did say that something horrible had occurred,” Rand replied, “but he didn’t go into detail on it.”

“I don’t blame him,” said Alice, “It was Communist leadership behavior, just like Mao.”

Although Alice couldn’t see it over a phone line Ayn Rand had raised both eyebrows upon hearing this. She had read the Uptimer’s history report on Mao’s personal conduct and was not at all surprised at his depravity.

Ayn Rand asked the next question.

“So how can I help?”

“Miss Rand, I believe that you know Mike Wallace at CBS News, if you could forward him our contact number we should be able to arrange an interview and sort this mess out.”

Rand nodded.

“Yes, I can do that.”

Thank you.”

Several phone calls later the interview was arranged. A lander would be sent to Kennedy Airport to pick up Wallace and his crew and bring them to the Eagle.

Step Back - Part 25

The broadcast of The First Line on that week would be digitally recorded aboard the Eagle and played for the mission commander and his staff. Judith Grant would also be present for the staff meeting.

Doctor Alice Boatman was the first to speak after the end of the program.

“‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?’”

“I’m sorry,” said Judith, “I don’t understand.”

“The quote was a reference to a historic conflict between secular and church authority,” said Doctor Boatman, “specifically between King Henry the Second and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. It was alleged that the King had ordered the murder of Becket to resolve the conflict.”

Judith was speechless.

“Don’t worry,” said Evelyn, “the incident wasn’t covered in secular schools in the United States at this time either.”

“But why did it happen?” Said Judith.

“That is a good question,” said Evelyn, “King Henry saw the English branch of the Church as an asset of the state and had appointed Becket, who up to that point was his friend, to run it as such. But Becket subsequently saw himself as an actual servant of God, and saw himself and the church as being above the state, including King Henry. Thus the conflict and the subsequent outcome. So what happened in Dallas? Here we have William Grant, the Servant of God who was apparently untouchable by the law. He chose to physically block a medical evacuation to this ship and prevent us from saving a life. The act was simply intolerable and the response to it was simply obvious.”

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

A thought came to Judith’s mind. Her Uptimer hosts were consistently thinking and speaking in principles. That some of these people were personally involved in the incident simply did not matter to them.

These were clearly the children of Reason, she thought.

Boatman continued.

“Now Burke does declare that a homicide had occurred but presents it as an absolutely depraved act of murder. That he lied about this should not be a surprise. When Atlas Shrugged was published he printed a review in his own Conservative magazine, which was written by a former Communist, had denounced it as a work of propaganda that called for the extermination of Christians.”

“That’s wrong,” said Judith, “I just read Atlas Shrugged and Rand said no such thing!”

“Correct,” said Evelyn, “ the truth is completely irrelevant to them, what does matter is belief in and submission to the witch doctor, thus their twisting of the facts or outright lying. To those who value power above all else nothing matters, not the truth or the life of another person, not even of their own child. And had you died as a result of his actions without an adverse legal consequence it would have demonstrated his power over the secular authorities. ”

Judith nodded.

Boatman continued.

“And now Burke is openly calling for the legal suppression of Atlas Shrugged and other works of Objectivist literature regardless of the truth. And for the seizure of our assets both in space and on the ground.”

“And what happens if they get their wish?” Said Judith.

“We will respond with deadly force.” Said Boatman. “And with nuclear force.”

Everyone else at the table nodded.

It was after the local sunset when the chartered Aeroflot flight landed at Baikonur. A very tired and unshaven Mikhail Gorbachev stepped off the airplane and was met by two men on the ground. The first was clearly a civilian and the second was a senior Air Force officer.

The civilian spoke.

“Comrade Gorbachev, welcome to Baikonur! I’m Administrator Ivan Taganov and this is General Alexi Leonov.”

Gorbachev’s eye widened as he reached out his hand.

“I’m honored.” He said as he shook hands. And then he spoke again.

“So what do I have to do to prepare?”

“Not much,” said General Leonov, “as a passenger you will need to be fitted for a pressure suit and go up in an airplane for simulated zero gravity training, but that’s it.”

“Nothing else?” Said Gorbachev.

“You should have your personal will updated,” said Taganov, “the Proton launcher is not currently man-rated.”

“Oh...”

Neither Taganov or Leonov would at this point mention the failure of the first attempted launch of the extremely complex N-1 rocket that was designed by Sergei Korolev for lunar missions.

It was Sunday afternoon in the Bronx when two gentlemen of Sicilian descent would meet with an older gentleman in a bar.

The first of the pair spoke.

“So what do you want, Boss?”

The Mob Captain opened a folder and took out a newspaper photograph.

“Those people from the future are somehow blocking our every effort to get in on their thing. This is clearly unacceptable and we are sending them a message. We got orders from upstairs to take out this bitch, she’s running their office in Washington and it should be a simple job.”

The Mob Captain handed the folder to the two gentlemen

“Okay, Boss.” the first replied and the second nodded.

Evelyn Boatman wasn’t able to sleep, he went outside his cabin for a walk and the think.

It was obvious that things on the ground were getting out of hand. Even though there was no ethical issue with the summary execution of the Teamsters goon, a virtual nest of shrieks had been stirred out.

We went up the Command Deck and spoke to the officer of the watch, Lieutenant Krier.

“Jeff, I’ve decided to recall Commander Keller back to the Eagle for the time being. And want Commander MacDonald to down to take her place.”

Lieutenant Commander Alan MacDonald was the chief engineer. This was to be a temporary assignment until the entire mess was properly cleaned up.

“Yes, sir.” Krier replied.

Step Back, Part 11

While on course back to the overwatch position the Eagle had gone into spin mode for internal gravity and dinner was being served in the officers mess.

Robert Heinlein had a question.

“So how did this all start?”

“That’s a good question,” Boatman replied, “the beginning goes a long ways back.”

“The beginning is usually the good place to begin.” Said Virginia Heinlein.

“Well yes, it is.” Boatman replied.

He leaned back in his chair for a moment before starting.

“It began early in my first incarnation on Earth. Even though at the time I normally lived and worked aboard the habitats orbiting Jupiter I occasionally had to physically visit the Earth. For me the Earth was a strange, wondrous and occasionally dangerous place. I was born and raised on Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter. I grew up in the domes and tunnels of Ganymede and worked aboard the orbital stations owned by the family firm, the Boatman Corporation.”

“The open skies and natural atmosphere of the Earth had been a new experience for me when came here to attend college. So was effort of living in the naturally higher gravity. Another surprise was the very annoying tendency of the Earthborn to not pay conscious attention to how they moved about. That is to actually look where they were going.”

“I had come to Earth to meet with two clients at Cal Tech. The first meeting was about my Dad’s last big project when he was alive. This was the Niven Deep Space Observatory. It had been placed in a solar orbit that took it well outside the plane of the ecliptic in the Solar System. The primary mission of the NDSO was to detect and observe neutron stars.”

“The Astronomy Department at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California was the primary operator of the NDSO. Our firm, having built the NDSO, now had the contract to maintain and upgrade it. For this I made a rare visit to Earth to speak with the program director, Dr. Bob Petrov, about the next series of upgrades.”

Everyone at the table was looking at Boatman with full attention.

“I asked Doctor Petrov what he wanted to talk about.”

“There was a very odd series of readings they got on an object with the platform. And they wanted to eliminate the possibility of a fault with the platform before publishing a paper on it. The object, which was designated it Niven-69, was at that time very close to the Solar System, well within a light year. The disturbing thing was that they could not detect a lateral movement.”

Heinlein spoke.

“Which was interpreted as meaning that it was headed our way?”

“Yes.” Boatman replied. “My next meeting was at the JPL next door, I brought Dr. Petrov with me.”

JPL was the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Cal Tech. At the present time it was the primary center for the unmanned probe programs of NASA.

On the ground the Sun was rising over the city of Dallas. The Reverend William Grant sat in the study of his home and read the local morning papers.

How could he explain the events of the previous night? The rescue of American servicemen held captive in North Vietnam and the demolition of the Communist military. There was no question that these were virtuous acts.

Or were they?

Satan was an angel of The Lord and had presented himself to men as such. And he was also known as the Bringer of Light. By such deception was he able to corrupt otherwise good men into serving him.

A new question now came to the Reverend Grant’s mind.

Was the child Boatman in fact the incarnation of Satan himself?

Has Satan come to Earth himself in order to deceive Mankind?

Is this The End?

He sat back in his chair to think.

Back on the Eagle Virginia Heinlein had a question.

“So what happened at JPL?”

Boatman answered her.

“My visit to JPL was to report on The Daedalus Project. The Daedalus was a sublight probe constructed to do a flyby of the stars Sirius A and B. During the meeting Bob Petrov and I talked the mission board into changing the destination to Alpha Centauri to search for a habitable planet.”

“And an Earth-like planet was found.” Virginia said.

“Actually two,” Boatman replied, “one each around A and B.”

Robert now had a question.

“Can you describe the Daedalus?”

“Yes, it was a two stage probe. As originally proposed in 1975 she was intended to go 12.5 percent of lightspeed. When we actually built and launched her we got the operating velocity up to twenty percent of C.”

“1975?” Said Robert.

“Yes the British Interstellar Society proposed the mission when it was believed at the time that there was a possible gas giant planet orbiting Barnard’s Star. We actually took the Eagle there on a test mission before coming to Earth and only found a Neptune-Uranus class gas giant and some airless rocks.”

“So you found two good worlds at Alpha Centauri.” Said Virginia.

“Yes, but one of them was already inhabited. Eden, orbiting A, had stone age natives, and very hostile natives at that. The first colonists on the planet were overrun and eaten.”

For everyone at the table that was the end of dinner.

On the ground in his classroom Professor Thomas Archer was in a very foul mood.

How can real progress be made when progressives can be murdered at will from space?

He looked around the classroom. The generally shorter haired boys and neatest and cleanest girls were obviously smiling at the horrible news of what happened to Vietnam.

Well he would teach them a real lesson.

STEP BACK, Part 5

It was at this time that the Defense Minister, Marshall of the Soviet Union Andrei Grechko, spoke up.

“Comrades, seven years ago the Americans conducted a nuclear weapon test in outer space over the Pacific Ocean. The electromagnetic pulse given off by the weapon killed roughly one third of the satellites in orbit at the time. I now believe that we can do the same to the starship.”

“You can hit it and destroy it?” Asked the Industry Minister.

“No.” Grechko replied. “We only need to place a nuclear weapon in close proximity to the vessel. The electromagnetic pulse will render its command and control systems inert.”

“How do you plan to do this?” Brezhnev said.

“The Proton rocket can launch a six ton payload to that altitude. And we should be able to assemble a weapon within that mass using existing components.”

Brezhnev looked around the room before speaking again.

“Are there any objections?”

Gorbachev did think of an objection. What if the Star People had intercepted the weapon or it otherwise failed? What would stop them from retaliating in kind?

But given his present situation he decided to remain silent.

Seeing that there were no objections Brezhnev spoke again.

“Comrade Grechko, you will proceed with this operation.”

He then looked down to Gorbachev.

“Comrade Gorbachev, you will go directly to the United States and directly speak to the leader of the Star People. Make him an offer that he will accept to come over to the Soviet side.”

“Yes, Comrade General Secretary.” Gorbachev replied.

How the Hell was he supposed to do that? He thought.

On Saturday evening in a mass meeting was being held, William Grant stood before the multitude assembled within the Minneapolis Auditorium. Deliberated seated in the front rows of the audience were the widows and orphaned children of the Minneapolis police officers killed by the Uptimers.

He looked upon the assembled multitude and spoke.

“My friends, I normally come to you to bring the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, but that is not my mission for this evening. On the Thursday of this week a great crime was committed. Police officers of this great city were brutally and systemically hunted down and murdered. Why?”

Grant paused and looked out again at the assembled audience.

“These men were murdered for simply doing their duty to this great community. Those who committed these murders claimed to have traveled backwards in time, an act that is a simply violation of God's law. They also claim that there is no God and that he did not send his son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to teach us the truth and to ultimately die for our sins. In speaking these falsehoods they deceived themselves and now are attempting to deceive us. But we will not be deceived, we will hold to God's truth, and we will ultimately prevail.”

In a three story building on the corner of Ninth Street and LaSalle Avenue in downtown Minneapolis a meeting was being held in the news department of WCCO Television. The station was an affiliate of the CBS Television Network but on this evening they were, even on a very short notice, broadcasting the William Grant Crusade. And as with the normal broadcasts of the Crusade program the station was videotaping the normal network programming for broadcast at a later time.

“Can you believe this shit?” Someone said in the back of the room.

The CBS Network in New York had originally declined to broadcast the Uptimer version of the events, including the video of the initial encounter between Boatman and the local cops. But when WTCN, an independent station, had broadcast the encounter on their news program and WCCO had to quickly follow suit.

As a result it was also a damned good thing that the 101 st Airborne Division was now policing the city instead of the MPD.

On the monitor of the broadcast Grant continued to speak.

“So who are these depraved beings who murder good men at will and with apparent impunity? These beings are clearly the servants of Satan...”

Roger Allen, the head of the News department switched off the monitor.

“This has to be a breach of our contract with the network.” He said.

Dave Moore, who normally read the local evening news during the week spoke up.

“So what do we do?”

“Damned if I know, Dave.” Roger replied. “I will be damned if I know. What the Hell was Boatman doing here in the first place?”

A reporter spoke up.

“Apparently he was here to speak with several technology firms about adopting their technology.”

“So what was he doing at the White Castle?” Dave asked.

“According to one manager for a local firm I spoke to Boatman apparently fell in love with the sliders when he went to college in California.”

“They have White Castles in California?” Dave asked again.

“Apparently in Twenty-one-twenty Anno Domini they will.”

Dave nodded.

Roger spoke again.

“Apparently the network dropped the ball on this one, and we should have done a better job covering this story ourselves. From now on we will report the facts on this story regardless of whose toes we end up stepping on. Is that clear?”

Everyone in the room spoke or nodded in agreement.

“Now let’s get to work.”

In the family home outside of Dallas, Texas, Judith Grant sat in the living room with her family and watched her father on his broadcast from Minneapolis.

“So who are these depraved beings who murder good men at will and with apparent impunity? These beings are clearly the servants of Satan, sent here to deceive us and turn us from the path of righteousness.”

Without permission Judith had seen the independent television news coverage of the initial incident between the leader of the Uptimers and the Minneapolis Police. And the police in this incident were clearly not acting in the proper manner.

Why would her father lie about this? She privately thought to herself.

She continued to sit and watch the broadcast.

At the Uptimer base in Nevada Evelyn Boatman sat up in his hospital bed and also watched the broadcast. Normally he would have preferred to read a transcript. Those who claimed to have knowledge were very annoying to those in actual possession of same. And man on the screen strongly reminded Boatman of an evangelist on the original timeline who claimed that passage of destructive effects of Niven 69 were God’s punishment of humanity for their collective sins.

What a moron. He had thought at the time.

He had another thought. If Grant continued to be a problem he would have to dealt with. Just as the aboriginal natives of the planet Eden were.

Peacemaker Idiots

The Christian Peacemaker Teams, to whom rational thought is an alien concept, has released a new symbol on their site:

[LINK HERE]

Did anyone responsible for the design of this logo notice the resemblance to a certain notorious political symbol?

Of course not.  That would require responsibility, perception, knowledge and thought.  And those personal attributes would make the CPT members feel bad.

BLEH!

Thought For Sunday

If I stood for election to a public office, even something as insignificant as the post of dogcatcher, The Star-Tribune -- the Communist rag of the Twin Cities -- would have a front page story on the Sunday edition detailing every mistake I made in my life.  And the Born Again Christians would denounce me as the Antichrist.

Sunday Morning Thought

Acceptance of the fact that Reality is real is the foundation of knowledge.

To some people, particularly Christians, this is ignorance.

Thought For The Day

I read a few online articles on the Fundamentalist Christian claim that Objectivism was connected to the Church Of Satan.

I had not been so thoroughly disgusted since I read The Turner Diaries.