The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown out today

Dan Brown’s newest novel, “The Lost Symbol” came out today, six years after he published “The Da Vinci Code”. I have not purchase the book yet but I do know what it is all about: uncovering the secret history and architecture of the nation’s capital – Washington, D.C. and its creators, the Freemasons. The book, once I’ll read it, will certainly bring fond memories for me.

You see, I know much of Washington, D.C. like the back of my hand. I attended Gallaudet University, located in northeast DC, in the early 1990s. During my free times, I took the opportunity to explore the city, knew most of the routes and visited few certain places long overlooked by tourists. I always felt there was something very peculiar and odd about the routes in and around the Capitol Hill, the Mall, and the White House. I didn’t realize the significance of it until I first started reading Dan Brown’s book, “Angels and Demons” in 2003, but it was his second novel, “The Da Vinci Code” that sparked a whole slew of books covering the esoteric history of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and so on. One of these Dan Brown/Da Vinci Code-related subjects covered a secret history of Washington, D.C. and it piqued my interest to return to Washington, D.C. and re-explore these routes and places. One of the places that I never went to before was the other George Washington monument in Alexandria, Virginia, near where I grew up (I lived in a neighborhood very close to the George Washington Mansion in Mount Vernon).

The George Washington Masonic Memorial is a wonder to behold. I visited the site in 2004 and came away very impressed. It’s a must-visit. When you enter it, you will be awestruck by a giant bronze statue of George Washington and the giant mural paintings by Allyn Cox in the memorial hall area. There are so much to explore there, so go visit it in your free time.

Dan Brown’s new novel will certainly spark greater awareness and interests about the nation’s capital and its secret history. Since I have not read the book, I cannot go into details but I can say this book will bring back fond memories for me.

One more thing… see this picture below? I took it in 2004.

This statue is located in Washington, D.C., very near the Capitol Hill. He was a soldier, writer, lawyer, and a very influential Freemason. He was the only Confederate officer to have this statue made in his honor. It was also a very controversial issue for his supporters and critics. Who was he and where is this statue located at? Good luck.

How very influential he was? So influential that he regularly corresponded with Giuseppe Mazzini of Italy, the Viscount Palmerston of England, and Otto von Bismarck of Germany. They were all Freemasons and respective leaders of their nations.

Remembering 9/11/2001 Today

Firefighters raising the American flag on a damaged pole the day after the attacks

Remembering those who has died on 9/11/2001 as results of al Qaeda attacks in the United States.

Never forget, never again and never surrender!

OpenCongress.org: Track new legislations from U.S. Congress

There is a great website that every American of all ages should bookmark it right away and visit it daily (or whenever is convenient), it is called OpenCongres.org.

In that website, you can keep track of any new legislation, even read the whole bill yourself; check out which US Representative (of your district) or Senator (of your state) is sponsoring or voting for or against a Congressional bill. You can even leave a comment supporting or opposing a legislation (required registration and it’s free). You can read a biography and voting history of your Representative or Senator, so that you would find out where he or she stands on these important issues and what he/she voted for/against (or abstained) in the past. You can contact your Representative or Senator from there.

The most popular and highly viewed bill is the HR 3200, the health care reform legislation. Already, over 4700 users opposed it. However, that’s not the only important bill, there are other important bills that could affect you, your family, your home-state and/or the whole country.  In addition, there’s one HR bill that’s pretty familiar to the DeafReaders and important to the deaf community: HR 3101. Look like it’s on the back burner.

You can learn who’s on a House or Senate committee. You can find out the money trail on all the US Representatives and Senators (who get campaign contributions for specific bills they may vote for or against). Senator Hillary Clinton frequently get the most campaign contributions on a great number of issues.

If you really care about the issues and the future of the country, OpenCongress.org is the best place for you to pay special attention to what your local and state politicians are working or voting on in the U.S. Congress. After all, they are elected to serve you, not the other way around.

If you don’t pay attention to what these “Congresscritters” are doing while in office, YOU lose.

This was in my FB status today, regarding Obama’s national televised speech tonight, because he seems to think he could convince the opposition to support the health care legislation (since he has not even invite the Republican minority to the White House for talks since April):

I believe that Obama’s health care reform cannot be passed without full bipartisan support from GOP. It’s a major legislation impacting every American in the future, cost-wise. Obama has to learn that he must reach for the middle ground and to compromise with those who disagree with the sticking points of a major legislation.

Global Currency To Replace US Dollar?

The United Nations and pretty much half of the world, most especially China, wanted a global currency to replace the US dollar in the future as the US dollar cannot sustain itself before the global economy for long, as this Telegraph.co.uk article implied.

However, a new global currency to replace the dollar (and other currencies) will bring more harms than good, for both the US and the global economies. It is a major disaster waiting to happen and you read it from me in this blog today.

Because the world’s central banks (as well as the biggest central bank of all, the Bank of International Settlements), could only fathom what this new global currency would do for the rest of the countries, especially when it comes to future exchange rates and it would subject to the fickleness of the world’s markets, the laws of supply and demand, and the availability of valuable, profitable resources. Secondly, there are other variable factors involving the use of the global currency: it would be opened to corruption, counterfeiting, bribery, fraud and other illegal means and no country is willing to enforce and protect a currency that is not their own (the US dollar is the perfect example of criminal overuses by others for decades). And, third, most importantly, a global currency would hasten the end of a country’s sovereignty, reducing each country’s measurable economic values to its own citizens (for example, your income is decided at an international consensus, not by your country’s legal and monetary consensus) and subject them to the whims of a global central bank.

They may talk up an international oversight body to ensure the lawful uses and fairness of a global currency for all peoples, but it really means nothing but an excuse to falsely allay genuine concerns from many countries. That being said, China wanted this badly, since it would give them the excuse to assert Chinese dominance over the world, relying on its historic experience of a 5000 years old civilization and its growing economic-political prowess. You can fully expect the biggest pusher of the global currency will be China, with Russia, its Shanghai Cooperation Organization partners and South American allies supporting along. To them, the dollar is the symbol of the American supremacy. Ironically, it’s the dollar that actually improved several countries’ economies, including China, in the last 3-4 decades. It’s the bad players and bad decisions who screwed up the dollar economy badly.

The future global currency will bring more risks and problems than the US dollar. Who really get the big say over it? The United Nations? Honestly, no. The BIS? The World Bank or IMF? Maybe. Maybe not.

You see, a global currency requires a huge and powerful backer. So what country will be huge and powerful enough to back it up? A coalition of countries with ambiguous interests or an international body just won’t do, not even a post-Bretton Woods framework or international laws can guarantee it. You has to have a huge and powerful country to back it up.

So you wanted China, an authoritarian, anti-liberty country, to lead the world in the 21st century on the account of this global currency?

I think not.

Hitler and Lenin played a game of chess in 1909?

Did Adolf Hitler, then 20 years old unemployed artist, met Vladimir Lenin, only 39 and in exile, and played a game of chess with him in Vienna, Austria in 1909?

An artwork depicting both men playing a game of chess in 1909 is genuine, according to the owner(s) who claimed that it did happened between the two men 100 years ago, in this Daily Mail UK article.

However, historians doubted their meeting and playing chess. Lenin was mostly bald before 1900 but the artwork depicted him as having a full head of hair. Furthermore, he was indeed living in Germany during his exile from Russia and traveled all over Europe, attending political rallies and supporting causes. The question whether he went to Vienna, Austria at the time is debatable, but it may be likely he went to Vienna in secrecy or unrecorded, looking for money and support from sympathetic well-to-do families and local groups supporting his cause to overthrow the Russian monarchy.

It should be noted that Hitler participated in the socialist cause before World War I, in spite of being an avowed nationalist. He had encountered several Marxists and socialists while living a bohemian life in Vienna. It was where he developed strong anti-Semite sentiments toward the Jews, which there was a large Orthodox Jewish community in Vienna. It is also noted that there were many Jews who supported Marxism and socialism, and Lenin himself was a Russian Jew (so was Karl Marx, a German Jew).

On the other hand, Hitler was partially Jewish and he knew it.

The artwork was supposedly done by Hitler’s art teacher, Emma Lowenstramm, and both men signed their names on the back (curiously, there is no picture showing their signatures in the Daily Mail article, perhaps to avoid scrutiny of their handwritings?).

The owner(s) will have the artwork (and the chess set along with it) be sold in an auction starting at 65,500 in US dollars on October 1st. It could goes as high as $1 million if the authenticity of the artwork and the men’s signatures can be independently verified and confirmed.

In life, there is always a possibility that one could meet the other in an undocumented or unrecorded situation, not ever knowing that they would end up doing something great or tragic later on in their lives. Such is likely this supposed meeting between Hitler and Lenin for a game of chess in Vienna 100 years ago.