Tertiary Sources

http://www.archive.org/details/TheTestamentOfAdolfHitler

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm#Stalin

http://allafrica.com/stories/200710261368.html

http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/list_2.html

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99690246

Samuel Book 2- Chapter 1-12

"Oh how the mighty have fallen"

When Mr.Tangen told us that most of the modern American cliche's come from the KJV Bible, I believed him because well, he is the teacher. However, up to this point I hadn't recognized any modern cliche's. Samuel 1:25 "How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan thou wast slain in thine high places." Finally a known cliche. It's also weird that all these modern cliches come from the Bible. It's weird because of the different contexts in which they appear, and it's just weird to hear that phrase in the Bible.

Samuel Book 1-Chapter 18-30

Seeing how this is a lot of reading, there are a couple of things I want to say.

First of all, I had always thought that David was the son of Saul. However, according to the bible, he is the son of Jesse, the Beth-lehemite. Not only is he not Saul's son, but it turns out that Saul despises David because of his jealousy. That kind of reminds me of Hera, and her hate for Zeus' lovers.
Secondly, in regards to the size of Goliath, I always thought that he was really about 6'7 or something and only seemed a giant because of the shortness of people in the past. It turns out, when I did the conversion from cubits to feet, that Goliath was at least 9 feet tall according to the bible. Therefore, if this story is true, Goliath was a giant.
Thirdly, I always thought that David became king in a time of crisis when Goliath terrorized the city. In reality, according to the bible, Goliath was nothing but a soldier. He was just part of a war between the Philistines and the Israelites. It reminds me of the movie, TROY, when Agammemnon calls Achilles to fight against the giant from the enemy. Even though it's different because David wasn't the incredible, half-god soldier that Achilles was, it is pretty much the same concept.
Another thought that I had while reading this occurred to me in the part when Saul gives his daughter to David to wed. This is not the first time in literature that this happpens. In a lot of old books, a worthy warrior or noble who has done something incredible gets the King's daughter's hand in marriage. However, supposing these stories were real of course, what if the princess was ugly? What if she was unkind and simply impossible to be around? Could the said person reject the princess? Could he be able to tell the King that he can't marry his daughter?

Barak Obama: A good speaker?

I believe that Obama is a good speaker by the standards we set today. He is clear in his speech, and he uses a lot of hand gestures and facial gestures. He looks at everyone in the crowd and his voice just makes you believe him. On top of that, his dynamism is excellent, and he changes his tone quite often to express different things.

Exodus Books 13-40

These pages are extremely repetitive. I'm sorry to say that I could not enjoy the reading in the least bit. 4 cubits for this and 10 cubits for that. I understand the fact that God was precise in his instruction but, what sort of message is delivered here? What sort of lesson can be drawn from simple instructions and measurements.
The important parts, however, are really interesting. The fact that the Jews are basically given their laws in the middle of the desert is interesting. All the punishments and laws that would later be part of Israel are shown in these chapters. Additionally, it is incredible that a lot of these things have lasted until today. I still do the Passover feast, I know people who do literally NOTHING on Saturdays because of Shabbat, and the 10 commandments are still used today as well.

Exodus Books 1-12

Being Jewish, I have to hear this story once a year during the Passover holliday. However, in the dinner, the "hagaddah", or the story everyone reads, has some differences from what is actually written. All my life I thought that we ate unleavened bread, also known as matzah, because the Jews didn't have time to bake the bread as they were leaving Egypt. While that is true, the reason why we have to eat matzah and nothing with yeast in it, is simply because, well, God said so. Before their actual exodus from Egypt, he told his people of the Passover feast.
Another thing that I found interesting after I read this, is that there is no mention of Moses' sister, Miriam. In the Passover holliday, Miriam is one of the main characters in the story. Why then is she not mentioned in the real text? Why was she used in the hagaddah?

Genesis Books 11-28

In these chapters, we can clearly see the wrath of God. If God was a person that I just met, I wouldn't really like him. The fear of God is what I believe drives religion, and it all started from these moments. I understand God wanting to know if Abraham was truly loyal, but there was no need to put him through the task of almost killing his own son. It is preposterous to test someone's loyalty in that form, even if you are God.
Another thing I found interesting was the incredible contact between God and people back then. If this is real, why did he talk so much to people back then and not today? Do people who claim to talk to God actually do? It's interesting to note that we no longer think it possible for that to happen. I'm not in favor of believing people who say they talk and see God, but that's because I don't believe in God. However, why do God fearing people think it so ridiculous that someone can talk to God? I think that that disbelief is what shows what everyone truly believes. Could someone truly believe in God if they are unwilling to admit the fact that someone could possibly interact with him?

Fallacies in "I Have A Dream"

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only."* We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

Genesis Books 6-11

These chapters are the world reknown story of Noah and his ark. It is important to me because when I had my Bar Mitzvah, I had to read this story from the actual Torah. Many things have changed since then, but the biggest change is that I no longer believe in God as I did when I was thirteen. However, I think that my analysis of the story back then is still the same as it is today, with the exception that I no longer believe in God like I used to. However, after reading it again, I realize that there is no difference in what we can extract from this story, just the simple fact that I am no longer completely convinced that God is real.
Almost exactly two years ago, I was able to learn something from this story, and I realize it even more today. God(if there is a God) is NOT going to destroy the Earth or flood it or however else anyone thinks that we will be punished. However, without realizing it, we, the human race, could easily bring an end to the Earth. Global Warming, war, and poverty are slowly but surely consuming our Earth by the second and only the rich have an ark. What if we were REALLY all the same? What if we all had the same amount of money, education, and all other differences that occur this day in age in society? If that happened then none of us would get saved. I personally don't think that's the end any of us want to go to, but if we don't act fast, it just might happen. We are rotting. Every minute of every day we spend neglecting that fact only makes it worse. There will be no ark this time, there will be no warning. That is why we have to prevent it at all costs and start making the Earth a better place. Even though that sentence is the biggest cliche of our time, I cannot help but realizing that it is true.

Genesis Books 1-5

I found it both interesting and surprising that we are given a pretty precise location of where Eden supposedly was. Why is it that no one has found it yet? I am sure people have gone on expeditions, it is just surprising that nothing has turned up. Additionally, I find it ridiculous that all the men mentioned lived until they were on average 900 years old. Scientifically, and I know we're supposed to analyze and get out of our scientific thoughts, people lived much shorter lives the farther you go back in history. Maybe it is a metaphor to tell us that when humanity was good, and there was peace in the world, people lived longer or something of the sort.
In terms of how it is written, I personally believe that it is too repetitive. I have never read the Bible before, and so far I like it.