Greece is the Word

My wife and I have been greatly blessed in so many aspects of our lives.  One of those great blessings has been the opportunities we have had to travel and see other countries, meet fascinating people, and explore their cultures.  One of our amazing trips in recent times was to the Greek Isles.  

 

Greece has always been someplace that I thought would be interesting, but honestly it wasn't as high on my list of places to visit as some others; however, after having visited the beautiful country, exploring the fascinating antiquities and ruins, and meeting some amazing people living there, I am most appreciative of having been afforded such a wonderful experience. 

 

One of the first places we journeyed to was to a small island named Delos.  This island is reachable by a short boat trip from the bigger island of Mykonos.  Delos was considered the birth place of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis by the ancient Greeks, and today is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Delos is an archeological, historical, and mythological gem.  The ancient ruins scattered on this small island are amazing in their breadth and scope, as archeological excavations still occur today to unearth forgotten treasures.

 

This area is the entrance to the courtyard of a home that was likely owned by a wealthy merchant and is named the House of Dionysus.  The ancient Greeks of means would typically have an open courtyard with various living and sleeping quarters built around the perimeter thereof.   

 

 

 

  

 

Here is an intricate picture made entirely of thousands of small little tiles to form this beautiful mosaic that adorned the courtyard of this home.  It depicts the god Dionysus riding a tiger, and hence the naming of this home.  The artistry involved with this mosaic was truly amazing!  The original mosaic (bottom of the two preceding pictures) was carefully removed and displayed in the museum on Delos.  The other picture is a recreation in the courtyard.

 

 

These are the columns in the courtyard of the House of Dionysus that would have supported the roof that covered the rest of the home while being open to the sky in the middle of the courtyard.

 

 

This is a typical example of the walkway between homes that one would see in this ancient town.

 

 

And of course, what Greek town would be complete without a theater?  Considering how many millennia have passed since it's construction, it is still in remarkably good shape.

 

 

This is a picture from the market area of the ancient town.  If you look carefully, you can see the stairs created going up the mountain for the ancient Greeks to climb to worship Zeus.

 

 

These are replicas of what archeologists suspect were nine to twelve lions that guarded the road of the  "Sacred Way" as early as 600 BC.  What remains of the actual lions has been placed in a small museum on the island as pictured below.

 

 

This is a statue of the Greek god Artemis killing a deer.  Artemis, the twin sister of the god Apollo, was the goddess of the hunt. This statue was found in the theater quarter and dates back to the 2nd century B.C.  The Romans referred to Artemis as Diana.  This statue also resides in the museum on Delos along with myriads of other beautiful artifacts discovered there.  

 

 

This is looking from the Sacred Way guarded by the lions looking out towards the bay on Delos.

 

 

Our next stop was at the beautiful town of Mykonos.  This is the view from our boat as we entered the town and tied up to the pier.  All of the buildings are painted white to reflect the heat of the Aegean sun.

 

 

These are some of the windmills that can be seen from the bay on the outskirts of the town.  Mykonos is known as the island of the winds and these windmills were constructed to take advantage of that long ago.  

 

 

The three preceding pictures are of some of the homes and neat little shops along the foot paths of the town of Mykonos.   There are no cars within most of the town and you can only get to where you are going by walking these charming little meandering paths through town.  The bougainvillea was in bloom in brilliant magenta hues, adding to the charm of the town.  Mykonos is well-known for its very vibrant night life and the people there definitely know how to party.

 

 

Next on our adventure was a trip to Santorini.  The towns on this beautiful island are all built around the top of the cliffs of a massive extinct volcanic caldera that then collapsed and was consumed by the azure waters of the sea.  The picture above is one of the bigger churches at the town of Oia.

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One can see the cliffs to the ocean below and other parts of the rim of the caldera in the distance.

 

 

This picture was taken from the balcony of the restaurant where my wife and I ate a delicious lamb lunch.  Any of the buildings you see with blue-painted domes are chapels.

 

 

Our last stop on our Greek adventure was to the capital of Athens.  The city is huge, and unfortunately due to socialist practices for decades, the economy is in horrible shape.  Many countries in the EU have had to bail out Greece, and Athens in particular because of this.  As a result, there is very high crime and much vandalism everywhere of what was once the cradle of Western civilization.  Nowadays, as one drives through the city, the disrepair and graffiti, even on historic beautiful buildings is readily apparent.  This is a town where you must definitely be on alert for trouble.

All of that said, we did see the obligatory site of the Parthenon.  This amphitheater above is on the path up the hill to the Parthenon.  It is still used today for some events.  The Greek-American composer Yanni has done concerts at this location for example.

 

 

And as you enter the temple grounds, this is the first view of the Parthenon that you encounter.

 

 "The Parthenon, dedicated by the Athenians to Athena Parthenos, the patron of their city, is the most magnificent creation of Athenian democracy at the height of its power. It is also the finest monument on the Acropolis in terms of both conception and execution. Built between 447 and 438 BC, as part of the greater Periklean building project, this so-called Periklean Parthenon (Parthenon III) replaced an earlier marble temple (Parthenon II), begun after the victory at the battle of Marathon at approximately 490 BC and destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. This temple had replaced the very first Parthenon (Parthenon I) of c. 570 BC. The Periklean Parthenon was designed by architects Iktinos and Kallikrates, while the sculptor Pheidias supervised the entire building program and conceived the temple's sculptural decoration and chryselephantine statue of Athena." ~ http://odysseus.culture.gr

 

 

This is the view of the Parthenon from the other end of it that was not under renovation.

 

 

 

 

This second temple on the Acropolis is called the Erechteion and was a multipurpose temple with a variety of sacred places and cults, including sanctuaries to Poseidon, Erechtheus, and Athena Polias. It was built in 405 BC.

This is a close up of the statues that serve as columns on the Erechteion.

 

 The entrance to the Erechteion was impressive in its scale.

Our trip to Greece proved to be a a wonderful adventure and far exceeded my initial expectations.  Other than in Athens, the people were friendly, the food was delicious, and the thought of enjoying a cold adult beverage in the shade of a restaurant balcony overlooking the beautiful Aegean Sea has me thinking that perhaps I may indeed wish to return to Greece yet again in my future travels, God willing!

It is definitely worth seeing, if you are ever afforded the opportunity to travel there!  Safe voyage to you!
 

The Militant Left's Embrace of Fascism

In our politically divided America, many folks on the left have accused Trump, Republicans, and conservatives of supporting fascism in recent years.  Indeed, the militant left has even embraced a domestic terrorist group to ostensibly fight such fascism under the name of Antifa, who ironically use very fascistic methods in an attempt to accomplish such designs.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, fascism is defined as, “A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government. Oppressive, dictatorial control.”

While I can understand why militant leftists hated the egomaniacal Trump for his mean tweets and putting America first again, there seemed to be very little that Trump, the GOP, or conservatives in general did that would rise to the level of fascism according to that definition.

The militant left, as ensconced by Big Tech, Public Schools, “woke” corporations, and of course our “benevolent” government sure seem to hit a lot closer to the mark of that definition these days, especially when it comes to their oppressive actions.  From Covid mandates, to criminalizing parents, to on-demand abortion, to spying on our bank transactions, it is the left in general and the Biden administration specifically that sure seems to be embracing fascistic tactics in their governing of our nation despite Biden having insisted he would be the president to unify all Americans.

First, during his campaign, Biden stated that he would not mandate Covid vaccinations.  More recently he stated that he intends to roll out a directive that any company that employees 100 or more people will need to enforce vaccinations and/or testing of all of those employees.  Further, Biden has directed that many federal government employees must also be vaccinated.  This includes every member of the armed forces being mandatorily vaccinated or be subject to discharge from the service, possibly under other than honorable conditions.

These nation-wide mandates have even manifested themselves for our previously celebrated heroes of first responders of police, fire fighters, and nurses and doctors.  The foreseeable result has been the quitting of many of these heroes from these thankless jobs as some have refused to comply. 

This leftist vaccination mindset has already gotten so bad that even the University of Colorado Hospital has recently rejected a life-saving kidney transplant from a private donor to her friend because neither one was willing to be jabbed with the Covid19 vaccine.

“Here I am, willing to be a direct donor to her. It does not affect any other patient on the transplant list,” Ms. Fougner said. “How can I sit here and allow them to murder my friend when I’ve got a perfectly good kidney and can save her life?”

Ms. Lutali, the would-be donor recipient, shared with KDVR-TV the letter she received from UCHealth regarding the rejection of her transplant procedure, “The transplant team at University of Colorado Hospital has determined that it is necessary to place you inactive on the waiting list. You will be inactivated on the list for non-compliance by not receiving the COVID vaccine,” the letter said.

“You will have 30 days to begin the vaccination series. If your decision is to refuse COVID vaccination you will be removed from the kidney transplant list.”

Both the donor and the would-be recipient stated that they would sign a waiver to remove all liability from the hospital due to anything Covid related, but the hospital still refuses to perform this life-saving procedure because of a virus that has a 99.8% survivability rating.  Does this smack of Fascism anyone?

Next, as most kids have returned to schools this year after remotely learning last year ostensibly due to Covid fears, many more parents have stepped up and started taking note of what many public-school districts are “teaching” our children.  This has often resulted in some woke leftist public-school administrations pushing back hard against parents.

As an example, one Rhode Island mom by the name of Nicole Solas drew national attention earlier this year when her local school board in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, threatened to sue her over public record requests she made to learn what her local school district was teaching students. The school board ultimately opted against taking legal action against her. 

Solas made the requests to determine whether her child would be taught about gender identity and critical race theory ideology, two controversial issues that have led to an increase in parental attendance at school board meetings across the country this year. 

Parents “simply want to know what their kids are learning, and they want to have a say if what their kids are learning is not appropriate,” she says. 

Because of upset parents that are unhappy with the leftist indoctrination being taught at many public schools and vociferously articulating their displeasure with school boards accordingly, the National Association of School Boards asked President Joe Biden for assistance looking into whether threats against school board members and other school leaders could be classified as “domestic terrorism.”  The result of that request has been a directive  from Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, to the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with federal, state, and local leaders to look into a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” allegedly being made against “school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”

Now don’t get me wrong; I do not condone any violence, threats of violence or other unlawful acts committed by upset parents or anyone else.  That said, those issues can and should be dealt with swiftly by what is left of our defunded police forces on a local or perhaps state level.  There is absolutely no need, nor likely jurisdiction for the feds to become involved in such issues.  This, rather is just one more example of federal suppression and oppression towards parents that disagree with what the government thinks your children should be indoctrinated… uhmm… taught.

Next, the Biden administration has also stated that they would like for the government to be provided data from your bank any time you make a transaction of $600 or more.  In this way they can ascertain if your transactions are deemed appropriate, acceptable, and in line with leftist values.  Oh, and so they can make sure they receive any appropriate taxes they are due for certain monetary transactions.  No fascism here folks.

Last on the list of the left’s foray into fascist tactics is the ultra-radical attempt by Nancy Pelosi to pass the ironically and erroneously named Women’s Health Protection Act.  This leftist dream bill, if passed, would endanger essentially all state-level abortion restrictions, existing state and federal conscience protection laws, and various provisions limiting taxpayer funding for abortions.  Indeed, the bill expressly prohibits existing laws that regulate abortion and the abortion industry. The bill bans informed consent requirements, reflection periods, and provisions that give women the opportunity to view an image of their unborn child or listen to the child’s heartbeat.

The proposed federal policy would also preempt policies like the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which currently protects women and their unborn children in more than a dozen states from inhumane late-term abortions performed after 20 weeks. The scientific evidence suggests that a baby can feel excruciating pain during an abortion procedure performed after 20 weeks.  Further, the Women’s Health Protection Act would imperil policies like the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer dollars from paying for elective abortion in federal programs like Medicaid. Over the past four decades, the Hyde Amendment has saved more than 2.4 million lives.  It would also jeopardize longstanding policies that protect conscience and religious freedom, ignoring America’s proud tradition of respecting individuals and entities’ right to not participate in abortion.

These pro-life policies enjoy broad support across the political spectrum. A majority of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund elective abortions, including 65% of independents and 31% of Democrats, according to a January Marist poll commissioned by the Catholic organization Knights of Columbus. Likewise, a majority of Americans support conscience rights for individuals and entities that object to abortion.  But the leftist government knows better when it comes to terminating innocent unborn life.  Nancy Pelosi’s own Archbishop Cordileone, condemned this act stating that “This proposed legislation is nothing short of child sacrifice,” he continued. “[It] is surely the type of legislation one would expect from a devout Satanist, not a devout Catholic.”

This is just a sampling of the over-the-top, morally corrupt, extra-constitutional, and unconstitutional policies that the left has or is hoping to enact to better control every aspect of your life.  They want to ensure that you are mandatorily vaccinated, masked, compliant with leftist school agendas for your children, supportive of unrestricted and publicly-supported abortion on demand, and transparent in all of your financial dealings greater than $600 dollars.

But it is Trump, the Republicans, and conservatives that are the authoritarians and fascists that are denying Americans their rights and freedoms, all according to the left.  This nonsense must be lawfully fought in all ways possible.  We must not acquiesce to these leftist demands, dictates, and unlawful acts.  It is the Left that are acting as the enemies of liberty and with their tactics, they seemingly have far more in common with fascism than the right in America ever has.

UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that the meme I had used previously for this post was erroneously attributed to Winston Churchill.  As I strive to always be as accurate as possible, I have chosen to remove that meme accordingly and simply put the quote up as something I believe to be true based on strong evidence supporting this statement.  (See the many accounts of Antifa riots.)  Our resident leftist who is no longer welcome at this site, jubilantly suggested that I "was caught in a lie" regarding the Churchill meme.  The hate-America Leftists these days evidently live constantly with their own lies all the time so that they assume everyone else does too.  I was not aware when I put up the original quote that it was not a Churchill quotation.  When I did become aware of it, I corrected it.  That is called a mistake.  When you say or do something you KNOW not to be true, THAT is a lie.  I give you Biden's promise to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan as an example of a real lie.  It is just one of many reasons, including the fascist issues listed in the posting above as to why Biden should be removed from office.  Cheers!