this makes me want to puke...

so. did you guys hear about the Wal-Mart worker that got killed during Black Friday? apparently, there was about 2000 people gathered outside Long Island Wal-Mart early morning friday. the store didn't open til 5, so they were all waiting for "amazing deals and price drops!". well, the crowd got antsy. yeah, standing in a parking lot at 4 in the morning in the middle of November can do that to ya. but they decided to do something about it. the crowd got into a frenzy, chanting "Push the doors in" and beating on the doors. the workers inside made a human barricade to try and deter the soon-to-be-shoppers from acting upon such impulses, but it didn't work. they broke right through those doors, and trampled their way in. they broke the door off of its hinges. in the chaos, one worker got pushed down, and was trampled underfoot. he DIED. and why? because some antsy pantsy people couldn't wait another 10 minutes to save $20 bucks on their new Plasma TV. good trade, yeah? some random dude's life for a NEW FRICKIN TV.

sad, isn't it? other workers were reduced to climbing up on top of vending machines in order to avoid being trampled underneath the feet of this very very animalistic mob of people.

you wanna know the worst part? they announced over the loudspeakers that the store was closing because a dude DIED. okay, the people all have to leave, right? don't make me laugh. they all said various things, comprising of various forms of "screw you people, i've been waiting outside all night. there ain't no way i'm leaving now". and they KEPT ON SHOPPING.

so now the question stands: do you think you would trample someone to buy $8 Men's Wrangler's Jeans? would you kill a man in order to save a whole $20 on a tv?

yeah, didn't think so. so what the heck happened here?

you wanna know what happened? they became like animals. these people let their animal instincts take over, and they stampeded like the animals they became.

stories like this make me so sick to my stomach. it almost makes me ashamed to be a human. this is where the church's teachings about the Natural Man come in. the Natural Man is basically caveman-like. that's the best way to put it. it's kill or be killed. let your emotions take over. survive. get what you want. kill. eat. drink. now, in this time when the world is becoming more and more wicked. Now, when the world is accepting things that would have made our Forefathers puke. Now, when our very humanity is at risk, and everything that we value is threatened, we NEED to stay strong in the church. we NEED to put off the Natural Man. we absolutely NEED to have the Holy Ghost at all times. and we also need to pray. i pray for the family of that poor worker who was killed. i pray for those people who cared more about how much $$ they were saving than about someone's life. and i pray for all of you, that you will not fall victim to the desensitizing and demoralizing that is happening in our society.

for all of this, i pray, and hope you do as well.

thanks for reading.

Love,
Cody


ps: if you want the full story on what happened, here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html?page=0

How much do YOU know?

so. i felt like posting a few links in here to some very interesting websites. the first, i found on my sister's blog. the second my mom got in an email.

this first one tells all about things that are NOT in the Constitution. I just thought it was really interesting to see, and thought you might be interested in it.

http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html


this second one is a quiz to test how much you know about the country, history, economy, etc. it is very interesting to hear that most of America gets less than 59% on it!

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx


just a few rather appalling facts that i thought i might identify that came from that quiz...(on the side, click on Major Findings)

1. less than half of the people who have taken the quiz can identify the three branches of government (legislative, executive, judicial)

2. almost 40% believe the president has the power to declare war. He doesn't. that's Congress.

3. almost 25% believe that Congress shares U.S. foreign policy authority with the UN!!

so, when i took this test, i naturally didn't do the best. but i did do better than a good majority of officeholders out there. for example...27% of officeholders cannot identify one single right guaranteed in the First Amendment. 39% believe that the power to declare war belongs to the president. my biggest downfall was not knowing in depth how taxes and such work.

so test how well you are informed. you may learn a thing or two!




until next time, God be with you til we meet again!

Cody

my reason for not saying the Pledge.

EDIT: i'm sorry. i wrongly stated in this blog that the Pledge of Allegiance was created in the 1940's. I must correct myself. it was actually written by a Socialist, but it was in 1892, and it originally said:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

it was edited in 1923 to say:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

and then in 1954, Eisenhower responded to Communist threats by adding "Under God" into it, and it then and now read:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."


you can read more about the history of the Pledge here at this website:
http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm

Well, in response to recent events with people...i decided you all might want a bit of explaining. to those of you who don't know, i do not say the pledge of allegiance. i was recently called on this, and i think i may have gotten some people really mad at me for it. so i decided that you deserve to know why. i'm not atheist by any means. you know that. but there is more than one reason for not saying the pledge. i do believe in God, and i do support our country. remember that when you read this. i am not against America. but this is why i do not say the pledge.

first off, the pledge of allegiance was written when? in the 1800's? when the country was founded? no. it was written in 1892 by a Socialist. a Socialist. right there is warning bell #1. if a Socialist wrote it, he wasn't really thinking about the free republic of America, was he?

secondly. here is the main reason:

why pledge your allegiance to a piece of cloth that is a symbol of whatever the gov't decides to do? think about it: the flag is merely as symbol. if your allegiance is to the flag, whatever the government decides to make it stand for is what you're pledging your allegiance to. if America becomes a socialist nation(as it basically already is), the flag will still stand for America. it will just stand for Socialist America. Symbols change meaning. i refuse to pledge my allegiance to the symbol of a country that is very, very quickly becoming Socialist. i personally would much rather pledge allegiance to something solid. my mom and i decided that the Constitution would do very well. It spells out very clearly everything that this country was built for and everything that it was intended to be. it is set in stone. it won't be changed. symbols change. words don't. I personally would much rather pledge my allegiance to what our Founding Fathers built this great nation up to be as opposed to a symbol of what our nation is currently. that's my personal choice. that's my reason.

i hope that now you understand a bit better. i am not against America. i am certainly not Atheist. i simply believe in America, and everything that it was intended to, and can still be.

i thank you for reading and understanding.

peace and love to everyone,
Cody

courage

is an interesting thing. i've been thinking about it recently quite heavily. mostly because of a very close friend who displayed an incredible amount of courage today. it got me to thinking. what do the movies portray courage as? they portray it as "oh, i'm so tough. i'm never afraid of anything. i'm BRAVE!!!!" but is it really? no. courage is doing something even though it scares the crap out of you. it's doing it in spite of that natural fear. i see people doing this all the time.
I want to commend all of the people i know, and one person in particular (though i don't think they'll be reading this anytime soon), for when they display this kind of courage. i hope that i can someday have the same courage as you. kudos.

and to everyone: courage. it is not being unafraid. it's doing what needs to be done in spite of fear. i heard a good song by The Fray, in which he sings: "Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." this is so true. often, the hardest things in life are what absolutely needs to be done. we can look at this from a gospel standpoint. think about it: how easy would it be to simply give in to sin and let it take over our lives? much, much easier than you think. believe me, it's easy to just give in and accept sin in our lives. it takes so much more strength and determination to fight against the never ending waves of sin that Satan throws upon us and not give in to them. I pray that we all, when the time comes and our faith and courage are tested, will have the strength to stand up against the world and shine.


Peace and Love to you all, and may you all shine bright!!

Cody

yes!!!

i did it! here's the link to our new and improved Myspace page!!! http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=405340104

even if you don't like myspace and stuff...please still check it out. you'd like it =)

a cool banner i made for our band.

look at the bottom of my page. it has a cool banner i made for my band, and it links to our website. check it out if you get a chance.

Thanks!

Cody

so...here it is Sirtalksalot. i recorded a very VERY rough idea for My Arm + Your Shoulder. here it is. keep in mind the following...
I don't have a click track. so i didn't keep time very well.
I don't have any song to listen to as i play it, because, well, duh.
I changed the chorus riff about 5 minutes before recording this so the transitions between chorus and verses and bridge are...less than desirable.

yet, despite all that, my brother thought I was playing some instrumental song by Still Remains. and as we all know (or should know), anything by Still Remains is amazing. to be compared...that was cool.

*a tip. don't watch the video as you listen. just listen. DON'T WATCH IT. it sounds good, but it just looks weird to see me playing it. maybe it's just me and it wouldn't be weird for you...i don't know. let me know what you think.

the Youth Theme this year

reminded me a lot of a song i heard. i'll just post the lyrics here, cause if i posted the song...well...you wouldn't be able to understand it. =)

the youth theme, for those of you who don't know, is "Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works"

the song: When Everything Falls by Haste the Day.

I can see it comin' on the horizon
Sky turning black, it's raining down
Can't move my feet, cannot be shaken
Not movin', I'm standing so firm
I can't be moved
I will stand
I will stand
When everything falls away
I will fight this war forever or until I die
I will stand
I will stand
When everyone falls away
I will fight this war forever or until I die
All these things coming against me
I have the choice to fall or fight
I cannot be moved
You give me the strength
Help me fight, help me fight
I'm standing so firm
I can't be moved
I'm standing so firm
I can't be moved
I will stand
I will stand
When everything falls away
I will fight this war forever
Or until I die
I will stand
I will stand
When everyone falls away
I will fight this war forever
Or until I die
And I'm standing so firm
On this ground you've sat before me
I'll fight for this with my last breath
I'll fight for this till I die
I can't be moved

just listening to the song for me empowers me with a desire to stand against everything the world can throw at me.  
it makes me want to stand up and sing along(yes, there is singing in the song).  the only thing i would change about the lyrics,
is how it says "or until i die".  i would just leave it at "forever", because we can do good things to combat Satan even after we die.  
like the people still going in heaven, preaching the gospel to everyone that hasn't heard it.  death is not the end.  
other than that, i think that this song really reminds me of what the youth theme was saying this year.  
be steadfast.  be immovable.  don't let anything the world can throw at you bring you down.  and never, ever, never give up hope.  


a forewarning to you all: i am probably going to, for most of my blogs, be posting lyrics and making statements/observations about them.  as well as the occasional typical rant/rave/observation/etc. now and then. 

farewell for now, and may the Light illumine you(a saying from a book.  i'm a nerd.  i know.  =)

yay!!! i'm on youtube!!!

so...i finally was able to put up some guitar covers on youtube. now that i now how, i'll be doing it a lot more often. i'll keep you all posted. here's a link to my page so you can check them out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/christianrockr08

like i said, i'll put up more later tomorrow and next week and so on and so forth...i'll post on here to let people know when!

until then, peace be with you,

Me.

I'm standing, how bout you?

so, i got really cool video from a friend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piuoGb-Nhfw&feature=email[url]%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%20Stop%20looking%20at%20me%20swan!%3Cbr%3E[url]myspace.com/xandyrockette
what do you think?

comment away!