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Let’s take John Lennon up on his offer. Let’s imagine what the world would be like with no countries, religions or a heaven or hell. Let’s imagine a world with no possessions and nothing important enough to be willing to kill to protect it or die to ensure its continuing. Let’s imagine Lennon’s world where all the people are living for nothing other than today. In this world, people will have saved no money for their retirement. After all, retirement is somewhere down the line. All the people would have massive debts – borrowed every penny from everywhere they could,...

Something big, round and heavy fell with a clang in Times Square on New Year's Eve, and it wasn't the ball on the flagpole. Cee Lo Green sang a version of Imagine in which he changed John Lennon's lyric "and no religion, too" to "and all religion is true". Outraged Lennon fans didn't need to use 132 of their Twitter characters to tell Cee Lo what they thought of him. On the other hand, perhaps they were just reminding him of his most infamous song title. Among the New Year's Day tweets, I imagine there were one or two that...

Who knew...??

A survivor of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China appealed to President Barack Obama during a press conference on Tuesday to push Chinese President Hu Jintao to end the practice of forcing women to have an abortion as part of China's one-child-per-couple policy. “President Obama, we’re speaking to you as the president of this great nation, we also speak to you as a great father for your two beautiful children,” said Chai Ling, who came to the United States in 1990 and founded All Girls Allowed, a Christian organization that helps Chinese victims of forced abortions and sterilization in...

It's a landmark event for Beatledom. John Lennon, dead these thirty years, would have turned seventy years old today.For many '60s survivors who grew up in thrall of the Fab Four, the idea that such an important symbol of the youth culture has arrived at the threshold of old age (if such a category still exists in our teen-obsessed culture) must be profoundly unsettling.It is as if that entire generation had finally found itself washed up on the very doorstep of senility.There can be no doubt that Lennon, in his partnership with the brilliant tunesmith Paul McCartney, did craft some of...

John Lennon's killer will continue watching the wheels go round from behind bars after being denied parole Tuesday for a sixth time. Mark David Chapman met with a three-member Parole Board panel at the Attica Correctional Facility via video conference. Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after he was convicted of shooting the ex-Beatle four times outside his apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. He has served nearly 30 years of his sentence. Chapman is next eligible to try for parole in two years. He was first eligible for parole in 2000. Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, had...

For the i-Pod-less, there are many playlists that are created by users, but the "Essentials" lists are made by Apple. It says it was posted April 28, but sounds like it was posted January 20. See the goopy Obama-loving text that came with the songs: Welcome to the beginning of a new era in the U.S. – Barack Obama's history-making win is really a victory for all those who keep the faith and firmly believe that people have the power to make a change. John Lennon was one of rock ‘n' roll's most determined dreamers, and the better world he...

Imagine there’s no religion, it’s easy for The New York Times to do — even in a Christmas Day editorial that somehow forgets that Christmas is about Christ’s birth. In fact, the NYT decided that this Christmas was its opportunity to wallow in worse-than-ever sentiments and to bemoan that this year’s Christmas isn’t as good as it used to be. Oh, they tried to dress it up a bit by saying it is great to have a Christmas that gets us back to basics and also by slipping in some global warming clap trap, but it is still a...

December 8th was the anniversary of the death of Beatle John Lenon. Most of the world mourned the death of this man for his music but most of all for his views or I should say imagination. Well if we understood more about who he was and what he imagined, we would be celebrating rather mourning. Why? John's views were hostile towards the American ideals of individualism freedom and liberty and supportive of worldwide despotic communism at the hands of the New World order. His song Imagine was nothing more than a call for the destruction of America and religion...

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John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and EMI Records, the world's fourth largest music company, dropped copyright infringement lawsuits against the makers of a documentary that used the portion of the song "Imagine" without permission. The news was made public on Tuesday by a Stanford Law School's Fair Use Projects release. The dismissal follows unsuccessful attempts by Yoko Ono in federal court and EMI Records in state court to enjoin Premise Media Corp's documentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," because it uses a 15-second clip of the song. "We think it was clear from the beginning that our clients had every right...

“All strangest things, The multitudinous years bring forth and shadow from us all we know. Falter alike great oath and steeled resolve. And none shall say of aught, This cannot be.” Sophocles 496 B.C. to 406 B.C.

Contemporary Orthodox Christian singer/songwriter, Jim Giatas, has written and recorded “If You Imagine” as an answer to former Beatle, John Lennon’s song “Imagine.” “If You Imagine” has generated significant criticism. One writer called it blasphemy. On MySpace, Vangellis responded that it was: “A terrible denigration of Lennon's ode to reason. And the fireworks are just beginning. “John’s song has gone virtually unchallenged for all these years and I felt compelled to write an answer to it from my own conservative Orthodox Christian faith.” It can be heard for free on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMM3WZ7AErA “I ‘ve always been a Beatles and...

The Village of Imagine has fallen victim to the local and nationwide housing slump. The project's developer is reconsidering plans to build the mixed-use complex of shops, restaurants and residential units across from the Orange County Convention Center. The project -- originally hailed as Orlando's version of the famed San Antonio River Walk -- is spearheaded by Intrawest Corp., a Canadian developer known mostly for its ski resorts. The planned village, across Universal Boulevard from the county's giant convention center, was to include more than 40 boutiques and restaurants along waterfront walkways. But all that has materialized is a 315-room...

EVAN SAYET I call myself a 9/13 Republican. I grew up a liberal New York Jew; you don't get much more liberal than that--although it was lower-case "l," not what's considered Liberal today. I graduated from high school knowing only one thing about politics: that Democrats are good and Republicans are evil. I tell a story. It's not a true story, but it helps crys­tallize my thinking that brought me to become a conservative. I say: Imagine being in a restaurant with an old friend, and you're catching up, and suddenly he blurts out, "I hate my wife." You chuckle...

Didn't see this posted anywhere but apologies if it has been. Both amusing, disturbing and cringe-making...

Climate Change: Some in Congress think global warming is so important it should be an issue of national defense, not science. It's a wrongheaded and dangerous idea, one that shows how crazy the debate has become. Unfortunately, the proposal to make global warming a matter of national security is bipartisan, with Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, joining Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, as co-sponsors. If nothing else, this proves neither party has a monopoly on wisdom. According to the Boston Globe, their plan calls for the U.S. intelligence chief to produce a "national intelligence estimate" on global warming....

NEW YORK - John Lennon's widow is calling for the anniversary of his death to become a day of worldwide healing. In a full-page advertisement appearing Sunday in The New York Times, Yoko Ono urges readers to mark the anniversary by apologizing to those who have suffered because of violence and war. "Every year, let's make December 8th the day to ask for forgiveness from those who suffered the insufferable," writes the musician's widow, who signs the letter with the name Yoko Ono Lennon. In the open letter, Ono urges readers to take responsibility for failing to intervene on behalf...

Elton John - make that Sir Elton John - recently declared in a magazine interview that "religion should be banned completely." At least he didn't say it should be banned selectively; that might smack of favoritism and discrimination. It seems his animus toward religion is driven largely by his status as a homosexual. He resents religiously based disapproval of his lifestyle and says that religion directs "hatred towards gay people." His ironic remedy is that religious intolerance, as he sees it, shouldn't be tolerated. He's also critical of religious leaders for not coming together to end war. Now, Elton John...

"Globalisation" has become one of the great buzzwords of modern times. Microsoft's Bill Gates is amongst those who say the world is 'flatter' It came to the fore during the 1990s, and the impact of globalisation looks set to play a prominent part in shaping our world during the first decades of this new century.  To see the advocates of globalisation at work and play there is no better vantage point than the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  Its members have probably all read columnist Tom Friedman's best-seller, The World Is Flat: A Brief...