I know that may shock a lot of you who have met me, but I am a Deer Hunter. I have never gone hunting in my life. I have neither held nor fired a pistol, rifle, semi-automatic rifle, etc. You may be wondering ‘How are you a Deer Hunter?’ The answer is simple. I hunt deer with my Cavalier.
That is, my Chevrolet Cavalier.
This story starts in May of 2003. It was around the time of Finals, and my family had gone to Becky’s Drive-In to catch their double feature. I don’t recall what the first movie was, I just remember that the second movie was Matrix Reloaded because we spent the drive home talking about the movie. I was driving, my mom had shotgun, and my brother was in the backseat.
As we were driving down 145, (the part of MacArthur Rd north of the Wal-Mart, for those who want to know specifics, and we had just passed the Sheetz heading south toward the Weis) two deer leaped across the road right in front of our car. The first one got across safely. The second did not. The Cavalier smashed into its hindquarters. As we passed the deer took a moment to look directly into my Mom’s eyes. She was terrified. I was a little shocked myself. I pulled into the Weis parking lot, and took a few moments to calm down. A story was started.
Later, in August 2006, I was working at an Arby’s on Schadt Ave in Whitehall, right next to the Wal-Mart and down the street from the Post Office. One of my co-workers, Helen cut herself, and as I was the only spare team member with a car, everyone at the store at that was either a Manager or used public transportation to get to work, I was volunteered to take Helen to the doctor, and drive her to the drug test center. Well, on our way from the doctor to the test center, we found ourselves at the end of Ceder Crest Boulevard where it meets Lehigh St, or is it Emmaus Ave, I don’t recall exactly. As we are turning onto Ceder Crest Boulevard, three deer jump across the street in front of us. Luckily, I did not hit any of them, but it was still a very weird thing to see. Let me put this into perspective for you. The first deer I saw was in the middle of the night, and on a mostly empty stretch of road surrounded by forest, a prime area to meet (and smash into) a deer. This second encounter was in the afternoon, with the sun shining. On a fairly major thoroughfare, with a lot of traffic. And there were no forests anywhere. I had one question: Where the heck did the deer come from?
The third encounter of note took place in May 2007. Lubov, my friend, had just finished her graduation party, and it was about 2 am. I was driving down Interstate 78, and I was merging onto Rte 309. Suddenly, (are you seeing a pattern, yet) a deer appears in my headlights running along the median. Thankfully, the damage was less than my first encounter. The deer and I barely nicked each other, and he was gone. I have no idea what happened to him.
Why does this keep happening to me? I don’t want to be hitting Deer with my car, and I could really do without the constant ribbing I get from my family. If anyone could explain why deer seem to like jumping in front of automobiles that I am driving, I would really like to know.
Regardless, here I am.
Sean Ireland, Deer Hunter. I hunt deer with a Cavalier.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Have you ever heard your mother squeal like a little girl?
Have you ever heard you mother squeal like a little girl? That’s what happened this morning when I brought in the mail. There were five letters from my father, and when I handed them to her, she squealed. It was rather amusing. Needless to say, she was very happy to hear from him.
A little background for those who don't know. My father is in Iraq right now. He is not a soldier, he is a civilian contractor working in Iraq. He has been away from home since mid-January and we are hoping that he will return in July, but we don't know for sure.
My parents have been together for over 25 years. This is the first time in that 25 years that they have been this far apart for this long. Thankfully, my Dad is usually able to get access to a phone for about a half-hour and call my Mom.
My mother has spent the last two months writing and sending cards to my Dad just about every single day because she misses him so much. I don't know how many my Dad has recieved yet. I don't know how many letters or cards he has sent.
Today, we got five of them, hence my mother's squealing. Dad, if you read this, Mom really misses you.
(Oh, and if I hear anyone saying that they do not support our troops, I will delete you comment. It doesn't matter to me how you feel about the war, or the President, or McCain, or Hilary, or Obama. In fact, it doesn't matter to me how you feel on just about anything. I am a really understanding guy. I will not stand and let you say anything bad about the men and women who are over there right now serving our country. I am not saying that this is a just or unjust war. That does not matter for what I am talking about. The men and women in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are risking their lives every day. They have earned your respect. And you will respect them on my Blog, or I will kick you out.)
A little background for those who don't know. My father is in Iraq right now. He is not a soldier, he is a civilian contractor working in Iraq. He has been away from home since mid-January and we are hoping that he will return in July, but we don't know for sure.
My parents have been together for over 25 years. This is the first time in that 25 years that they have been this far apart for this long. Thankfully, my Dad is usually able to get access to a phone for about a half-hour and call my Mom.
My mother has spent the last two months writing and sending cards to my Dad just about every single day because she misses him so much. I don't know how many my Dad has recieved yet. I don't know how many letters or cards he has sent.
Today, we got five of them, hence my mother's squealing. Dad, if you read this, Mom really misses you.
(Oh, and if I hear anyone saying that they do not support our troops, I will delete you comment. It doesn't matter to me how you feel about the war, or the President, or McCain, or Hilary, or Obama. In fact, it doesn't matter to me how you feel on just about anything. I am a really understanding guy. I will not stand and let you say anything bad about the men and women who are over there right now serving our country. I am not saying that this is a just or unjust war. That does not matter for what I am talking about. The men and women in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are risking their lives every day. They have earned your respect. And you will respect them on my Blog, or I will kick you out.)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Response to Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the Magdelene/Merovingian Dynasty
I wrote this at the end of January with the intention of sharing it with people. Then I forgot about it. I found it this morning, and I am sharing it with you.
As I was reading the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, I was impressed by the amount of information and research that had been done by Leigh, Baigent, and Lincoln. However, I did not like their conclusions, and I had already known what their conclusion having heard about the book from my mother, and I had watched the DaVinci Code starring Tom Hanks. I, being a Bible-believing Protestant Christian, did not find their conclusions to be the only conclusion. I fact I believed that another scenario was equally likely. Given the knowledge that Kings in Europe believed in what was called ‘The Divine Right of Kings’, is it not likely that one or more of those monarchs may have chosen to claim the lineage of Jesus as their birthright. According to Baigent (I will refer to the collective trio using Baigent’s name for sake of brevity and because his is the first name on the book) and the source the Dossiers secrets, the Priory of Sion (Prieure de Sion) gave that claim to the Merovingian Kings of France of the 4th through 8th centuries. They claimed that the Merovingian line was still extant through the son of Dagobert II and presently Pierre Plantard. Baigent felt that the claim was genuine given the connections made by the Priory’s documents, and Baigent tied together several threads that got woven into the idea that Jesus, married to Mary Magdalene, had children who intermarried with the Frank Kings and led to the Merovingian bloodline.
I feel that the more likely story is that the Merovingians and the Priory, in order to establish their own means claimed, and created a forgery, that through this spurious bloodline, they could put one of their “Merovingians” on the throne. Baigent even goes so far as to say the Pierre Plantard has a rightful claim to the throne given his Merovingian ancestry; an ancestry that can only be confirmed through the Priory Documents.
Tell me, is it not possible that the Priory of Sion is nothing more than a group of people trying to bring about their own political goals, the establishment of their own King, a head of state that can do their bidding and legitimize their own belief structure. Can you think of a better way to do this than by claiming descent from Christ Jesus, the “King of the Jews”?
I can understand the standpoint of Beigent and the others when they “dissect” the Gospels and point out the “inconsistancies”. I can even buy their argument about Jesus and his marriage to Mary Magdalene, who they equate with the “woman who was a sinner” and Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. Their argument that Jesus would have crucified because of crimes against Rome, and that the Gospels are playing nice for Rome is also plausible. However, consider a few things.
Pontius Pilate is known to have been a cruel man who was also corrupt. Why would he be portrayed in the Gospels as a “nice guy”? The answer is simple, fear. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea from 26-36 AD. In 31 AD, the Commander of the Praetorian Guard, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, tried to depose Tiberius Caesar Augustus. Sejanus and all of his followers, were executed by Tiberius. It is possible that Pilate may have been someone who supported Sejanus. Pilate, if he had been found to be a supporter, would have been killed immediately like all of the others. It is possible that Pilate was not a supporter of Sejanus. However, whether or not he was, Pilate knew that the Emperor Tiberius did not like trouble. It is known that Tiberius had had to intervene in Pilate’s actions before, and if the Jews had been unhappy with Pilate’s decision, they may have taken their claim to the Emperor, and Tiberius would have had no problem removing Pilate and then crucifying Jesus.
The idea that Mary Magdalene can be identified with the other two women comes from a Catholic Pope who decided to equate these women himself. In Protestant belief, the three women are separate. This is a possibility, but it is based on highly questionable evidence. The idea that Jesus was married to Magdalene is one of great mystery and the debate will probably never be resolved adequately.
On January 31, 2008, I also found an article on Wikipedia stating that the Priory of Sion was a hoax perpetuated by Pierre Plantard in order to legitimize his own claim to the throne, and that all of the documents in the Dossiers Secrets were in fact a fraud and a hoax. Needless to say, I am not surprised.
As I was reading the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, I was impressed by the amount of information and research that had been done by Leigh, Baigent, and Lincoln. However, I did not like their conclusions, and I had already known what their conclusion having heard about the book from my mother, and I had watched the DaVinci Code starring Tom Hanks. I, being a Bible-believing Protestant Christian, did not find their conclusions to be the only conclusion. I fact I believed that another scenario was equally likely. Given the knowledge that Kings in Europe believed in what was called ‘The Divine Right of Kings’, is it not likely that one or more of those monarchs may have chosen to claim the lineage of Jesus as their birthright. According to Baigent (I will refer to the collective trio using Baigent’s name for sake of brevity and because his is the first name on the book) and the source the Dossiers secrets, the Priory of Sion (Prieure de Sion) gave that claim to the Merovingian Kings of France of the 4th through 8th centuries. They claimed that the Merovingian line was still extant through the son of Dagobert II and presently Pierre Plantard. Baigent felt that the claim was genuine given the connections made by the Priory’s documents, and Baigent tied together several threads that got woven into the idea that Jesus, married to Mary Magdalene, had children who intermarried with the Frank Kings and led to the Merovingian bloodline.
I feel that the more likely story is that the Merovingians and the Priory, in order to establish their own means claimed, and created a forgery, that through this spurious bloodline, they could put one of their “Merovingians” on the throne. Baigent even goes so far as to say the Pierre Plantard has a rightful claim to the throne given his Merovingian ancestry; an ancestry that can only be confirmed through the Priory Documents.
Tell me, is it not possible that the Priory of Sion is nothing more than a group of people trying to bring about their own political goals, the establishment of their own King, a head of state that can do their bidding and legitimize their own belief structure. Can you think of a better way to do this than by claiming descent from Christ Jesus, the “King of the Jews”?
I can understand the standpoint of Beigent and the others when they “dissect” the Gospels and point out the “inconsistancies”. I can even buy their argument about Jesus and his marriage to Mary Magdalene, who they equate with the “woman who was a sinner” and Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. Their argument that Jesus would have crucified because of crimes against Rome, and that the Gospels are playing nice for Rome is also plausible. However, consider a few things.
Pontius Pilate is known to have been a cruel man who was also corrupt. Why would he be portrayed in the Gospels as a “nice guy”? The answer is simple, fear. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea from 26-36 AD. In 31 AD, the Commander of the Praetorian Guard, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, tried to depose Tiberius Caesar Augustus. Sejanus and all of his followers, were executed by Tiberius. It is possible that Pilate may have been someone who supported Sejanus. Pilate, if he had been found to be a supporter, would have been killed immediately like all of the others. It is possible that Pilate was not a supporter of Sejanus. However, whether or not he was, Pilate knew that the Emperor Tiberius did not like trouble. It is known that Tiberius had had to intervene in Pilate’s actions before, and if the Jews had been unhappy with Pilate’s decision, they may have taken their claim to the Emperor, and Tiberius would have had no problem removing Pilate and then crucifying Jesus.
The idea that Mary Magdalene can be identified with the other two women comes from a Catholic Pope who decided to equate these women himself. In Protestant belief, the three women are separate. This is a possibility, but it is based on highly questionable evidence. The idea that Jesus was married to Magdalene is one of great mystery and the debate will probably never be resolved adequately.
On January 31, 2008, I also found an article on Wikipedia stating that the Priory of Sion was a hoax perpetuated by Pierre Plantard in order to legitimize his own claim to the throne, and that all of the documents in the Dossiers Secrets were in fact a fraud and a hoax. Needless to say, I am not surprised.
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