James Cameron, the Titanic ego driven producer who obviously needs a hit and the adulation of the unwashed masses of liberals and the MSM is attempting a gigantic hit against the basic tenants of Christianity.

 

The thing I like about this one is the science is so impossibly bad, so preposterous, I don’t even need to quote scripture or even delve into religion.  If anyone else were doing this, besides James Cameron, it would be laughed off the air.  But, because he is so ‘rich & famous’ he gets a pass.  Frankly, if I were putting this sort of cr…pola out about Wyatt Earp I would be laughed out of Tombstone.  This is so bad it is embarrassing.  We can completely debunk it on one thing alone – linguistics and syntax, something I know nothing about but  have information on below.  Second, I have real problems with the dating.  Thirdly, where did they come up with the DNA.  What is the forensic chain of evidence for it.  Fourth, Cameron and Pelligrino completely ignore the historical evidence (Josephus, who is accepted as authentic by most historians) and they completely ignore legend.  As a fan of archaeology, but not an archaeologist, I can indulge myself in the role of myth and legend in archaeology.  Every early Christian legend debunks their entire premise.   See, no need to get all religious!  It isn’t necessary.  This is just plain bad stuff.

  

THE GREAT CAT SOAP OPERA

I made the mistake of giving the kitties some recreational drugs while I was trying to take a much deserved afternoon nap.  The cats were fine.  Rumsfeld acted like a sugared up kid with ADD!  He jumped up on the bed and pummeled my head with his teddy bear.  I threw it.  He is one of those idiot poodles who would jump off the top floor of the Empire State Building chasing a ball.  He went after the bear.  Then he decided to unroll the TP.  Miss Piggy thought it was fun.  He would shred and she would pounce.  They played tag everywhere, on top of everything, and climbing anything a little squirt like Piggy can reach.  Doc is being obnoxious this evening, intent upon helping me work on the blog.  I really don’t need her help.  She is making me crazy.  The one thing I have noticed these past few days is the fact that the cats are getting back to normal.  Evidently the recently departed birth father kept everyone a wreck.  Doc has started to purr again.  She is also back to her annoying self in the mornings when I am trying to do make-up, and I’m back to my regular routine of locking her out of the bedroom.  We haven’t done that since October. 

 

 MY RANT FOR THE DAY

The Grinch Who Stole Easter:  James Cameron (I’ve never been a fan of his films and in full disclosure am the only person in the world who has never seen Titanic) says he has discovered the crypt of Christ.  The thing about all of this that reeks of fiction is the fact that I recently read a mediocre archaeological thriller with the same theme, almost precisely.  I am trying to think of the title of the book.  I swear the TIME   piece that has Cameron finding this crypt is absolutely exactly like this novel, save for the fact that novel places the crypt farther out in the country.  We’re talking DNA, etc.  I am wondering if this isn’t a big scam to promote a movie.  I read the book last summer.   My next question:  How the H E Double toothpick did they come up with the DNA of the Holy Family?  Answer that one!  I WANT A RECOUNT.  I also want someone to do the DNA on Tutankhamen and come up with his relationship to Moses!  Let’s face it, if Cameron can get the DNA of Christ he sure as heck can get the DNA of Moses.  What did they use for the DNA, the Shroud of Turin?

  

There is a  book  called The Bone Box by Itamar Bernstein. 

The book I was trying to find is Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs.  It came out in 2005.

  

Then the MSM follows blindly, reprinting almost verbatim the “Time Blog”.  

 But for a more in-depth article: 

 

“…Feuerverger calculates for Jacobovici that if James is added to the equation, there is a 30,000 to one chance that the Talpiot Tomb belonged to the holiest families in Christendom. The documentary speculates that the James ossuary was stolen shortly after the tomb was found. The archaeologists examining the tomb 26 years ago found 10 ossuaries, but only nine are in storage at the IAA. In The Lost Tomb, it is alleged that the James ossuary is that missing box. But there is one wrinkle that is not examined in the documentary, one that emerged in a Jerusalem courtroom just weeks ago at the fraud trial of James ossuary owner Oded Golan, charged with forging part of the inscription on the box. Former FBI agent Gerald Richard testified that a photo of the James ossuary, showing it in Golan's home, was taken in the 1970s, based on tests done by the FBI photo lab.  Jacobovici concedes in an interview that if the ossuary was photographed in the 1970s, it could not then have been found in a tomb in 1980. But while he does not address the conundrum in the documentary, he said in an interview that it's possible Golan's photo was printed on old paper in the1980s….”

 

Most of you know, by now, I am an archaeology fiend.  I love the stuff.  There are several things that trouble me here, and I’m not even touching the religious end of it.

 

1.  Read this -commentary from the Jerusalem Perspective.  

 

2.  Archaeological evidence.   Additional commentary. 

 

3.  They are utilizing the premise of the “James Ossuary”.  The problem is the James Ossuary is a forgery. 

 

4.  Cameron’s hit piece is based on a book called The Jesus Dynasty, a highly flawed and speculative flight of fancy by James Tabor.  This excellent review lays out the considerable flaws in Tabor’s work

 

5.  Dating.  The carbon dating of the tomb is around 40-41AD.  I think this is a decently accurate timeline.     Timeline of the Jewish Wars. 

 

6.  DNA problems and fakery. 

 “…There has been some backtracking by scientists involved with the IAA testing, while the ROM and other specialists have continued to stand by their original pronouncements of its authenticity, Tabor points out.


And while the origins of the James Ossuary have never been verified, Tabor is intrigued by the idea that it came from the Talpiot Tomb just outside the Old City of Jerusalem, where several other ossuaries were also discovered in 1980. When news of the tomb broke in 1996, it was hailed as the "Jesus family tomb" thanks to the collection of names inside: two Marys, a Joseph, a Jude, a Matthew and a "Jesus son of Joseph." Tabor would like to have DNA tests done both on these ossuaries and the James Ossuary to see if the bodies placed inside them were related. Requests to Israeli authorities for such testing have been turned down, however.
But that has not stopped Tabor from imagining the possibilities. DNA tests would show who among those buried were the parents and who were the children, he says, and whether the James and the Jesus listed in ossuary inscriptions were brothers."It would give you some real strong circumstantial evidence that it is real," Tabor says of the James Ossuary. From there, the unique combination of names would be enough to convince Tabor that the Talpiot Tomb was the Jesus family burial ground, complete with Jesus' own remains — something he admits would be difficult to accept for those who believe Jesus was resurrected three days after his crucifixion. "It would be earthshaking," he says. "I hope I live to see it."Well, I'm skeptical. All of those names were extremely common at that time and place. Still, it would be interesting to see the DNA tests done, if there's any DNA left in the skeletons after this many centuries. Can any paleo-osteologists out there tell me if that's likely?”

7.  Real science v. bad science. 

“Apparently the ossuary was "discovered" in the museum basement by E.L. Sukenik in 1926. It has long been known to archaeologists and has been  anthologized several times, most recently in Fitzmyer & Harrington's _Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts_.  Sukenik himself was the first to assert that any connection to the family of Jesus of Nazareth was misconceived in view of the commonness of the names involved. I don't think Sukenik can be accused of having been a Christian apologist. Further to the question of the chances of a random co-occurrence of these names: I'm not aware of any other "Yeshua bar Yehosef"'s among the Aramaic ossuaries, but there  are at least 2 separate "Yehuda bar Yehohanan"'s  among the small (30-40) corpus of Aramaic ossuaries. I imagine that the more famous name would not be any less common. Finally: It does not appear that the "Jesus ossuary" was found with any other inscribed material.  Early reports of other ossuaries bearing the names of Mary, etc., were apparently mistaken.”

 

8.  Frequency of names.  Contrary to the claims of Cameron and Tabor, the combination of names found in the Ossuary were rather common. (re:  the James ossuary)

“…My main claim in this report is that, even if the ossuary is authentic, there is no reason to assume that the deceased is actually the brother of Jesus (the first Christian). From an onomastic point of view, the three names were very common in the Second Temple period. In the catalogue of names I recently published (Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity Part I: Palestine 330 BCE – 200CE; Tübingen, 2002) listing names of 3193 men, the name Joseph is the second most popular name, Jesus is the sixth and James, the eleventh. In all, 379 men bearing these names have been documented, comprising 12% of the male population.    In my lexicon of names there are two “Jesus son of Joseph” (Rahmani’s catalogue, no. 6 and no. 51) and another “James son of Joseph” (Murba`at Papyrus no. 42). Moreover, the lexicon lists men named “Joseph son of James” ( Rahmani catalogue, no. 290); “Jesus son of James” (Greek, Tze’elim Papyrus – Discoveries in the Jusaean Desert 38, 222) and “James son of Jesus” (Babatha Archive, Yadin Papyrus 17). The reason I cite these additional artifacts is not only to show similar combinations, but also to indicate the number of families in which these names are found together….”

 

9.  Not a special tomb but a cemetery?    Evidently the area where the ‘special ossuarys were discovered was something of a cemetery with at least a hundred of such caskets being found nearby.  I am more inclined to believe the tomb belonged to the family of Caiaphas, the high priest at that time.   

 

Hot Air

Texas Rainmaker

Little Green Footballs

ISLAM, IRAN, TERROR

Read the Captain on the alleged plans to attack Iran.    Something here is not making sense.  There are reports that senior US military officers will quit if we decide to take out Iran.  The Bush Administration says there are no plans to do so.  A few weeks ago all we heard of the Dems denouncing any plans to do so.  I don’t know about you, but when you put this with that – 1 & 1 = 2.  What’s up?  Read Jules Crittenden. I think this is a Dem/MSM pre-emptive strike on an alleged pre-emptive strike in Iran.   Along the same line 3 Gulf states have agreed to Israeli fly-over’s if necessary on the way to Iran.

  

LIBERALS & DEMS UNHINGED

An Opinion Journal Op-Ed about the role of leftists in the UK  and how they are abetting terror.

 The new anti-Semitism 

Please pardon me while I snicker over Al Sharpton and Strom Thurmond.  

 

PRIMARIES 2008

 There are times in life when people get just what they deserve.  There are times in life when we live long enough to see it.  I think we just need to sit back and enjoy what is going down with Bill & Hill. 

Oh, advise from my ‘adopted’ brother:  He sent Barack Obama (the messiah) an email encouraging his continued attack on Hillary, telling him how impressive it was.  He then sent one to Hillary telling her to continue to hit Obama (the messiah) the way she has this week.  He received a thank you note from her campaign!

 Oh Lord, Tom Daschal wants to be Barack Obama’s (the messiah) VP. 

 Flap says Rudy can take CA.   

Romney is in a good position to win? 

Giuliani will endorse CPAC.