(From Facebook.)
I was just thinking about the piece on the JWs I just shared. As I stated, HWA plagiarized a lot of their crap and pretended it was his own, like the holidays being pagan (they are in origin but so what?), birthdays being evil, Alexander Hislop being a great historian (he aint), etc.
One thing I'm forever grateful for is being brought up in the upper Midwest by parents who instilled in me honor and honesty. By the slim chance they might be conscious in another dimension and able to be aware, Thank you, Dad and Mom.
That basic upbringing made it harder and harder for me to remain dedicated to the cult those last few years and right about the time they forced me out, I would have had to get out for my own peace of mind.
I could have done like a lot of others and like old Herb himself and set off to "restore" or improve on the nonsense I'd been following so I could somehow attract a following and live a life of luxury and ease while pretending to be god's special gift to mankind with some special saving message. Lot's of others were doing it and I could have mined their publications, etc. just like Herb did and dishonestly claim it as my own after a little editing and reshuffling.
I didn't do that. I couldn't do that. So, here I sit, in my late seventies, barely getting by financially but with a clear conscience and I slept peacefully last night.
By contrast, there's a splinter leader who claims to somehow be fulfilling the book of Haggai who's predicted all the splinters will devolve to him in three days and he will go forward as the great apostle of apostles (capo di tuti capi would fit better), or something like that. I don't know how he's going to extricate his pompous ass from that debacle, but I'm sure he'll think of something.
I wonder how he's sleeping?
Here's the piece I referred to above:
"Jehovah's Witness's have been getting a bit of a kick in the teeth recently. The Candice Conti case, Bo Joel Jensen and a few others chipping away at them for their covered crimes of sexual abuse, now the damage is beginning to show. The watchtower bible and Tract society has just sold off its headquarters in New York along with a few others. lets hope this is the beginning of the end, and may others follow."
So it begins! Will it mirror Worldwide? Maybe so. Waiting for The Reformed Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. Same old same old. It just gets crazier!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
THAT VALUABLE SECOND OPINION
I just went over to check on our neighbor. Saturday, I had taken him to emergency with a badly swollen and painful hand. A scorpion had nailed him the day before as he was doing some yard cleanup. After over eight hours of being pre empted by heart attacks, etc., he found he had cellulitis from the sting plus a couple of wrist fractures he wasn't aware of or knew when and how they'd happened.
He's on the mend but is in very bad health and physical condition, though still in his fifties. Makes me feel very lucky, indeed.
Which led to thoughts about cellulitis, which used to be called "blood poisoning," and a little family history my children and granchildren wouldn't know.
Around age 10, my father developed that condition from a foot injury. He was in a bad way and the local docor told grandfather to get him to Bismarck immediately and have that leg amputated. Grandfather was horrified and decided to stop at an old doctor's home just outside town for a second opinion.
That old doctor examined the situation and told grandfather Thomas to take his son home and soak that leg in water as hot as he could stand.
That artificial fever killed the infection and my father had his leg still intact when I viewed him in his casket at age 95!
The original doctor was neither dumb nor incompetent. He just hadn't learned a few things that older doctor knew.
Which proves it's never a waste of time to get a second opinion in critical cases.
He's on the mend but is in very bad health and physical condition, though still in his fifties. Makes me feel very lucky, indeed.
Which led to thoughts about cellulitis, which used to be called "blood poisoning," and a little family history my children and granchildren wouldn't know.
Around age 10, my father developed that condition from a foot injury. He was in a bad way and the local docor told grandfather to get him to Bismarck immediately and have that leg amputated. Grandfather was horrified and decided to stop at an old doctor's home just outside town for a second opinion.
That old doctor examined the situation and told grandfather Thomas to take his son home and soak that leg in water as hot as he could stand.
That artificial fever killed the infection and my father had his leg still intact when I viewed him in his casket at age 95!
The original doctor was neither dumb nor incompetent. He just hadn't learned a few things that older doctor knew.
Which proves it's never a waste of time to get a second opinion in critical cases.
A REAL LIFE IS BETTER
Something on Banned by HWA got me ruminating about the past.
Remember (those who were a part of that travesty) how we used to save up a second tenth of our meager incomes to go have what we considered a blast and vacation (???) at the Feast of Tabernacles in some wonderful place like Squaw Valley or the Wisconsin Dells?
What a joke!
Vacation indeed!
Fighting traffic. Sitting for hours on hard seats trying to keep bored children occupied while listening to some blowhard expound about some inane subject like how soon the promised kingdom would be here (like 1975) and we'd all be kings and priests with Christ ruling over all those rebellious people with our personal rod of iron. OOOH, did that prospect get the old juices flowing!
When 1975 showed up and nothing -- absolutely nothing -- happened as promised, my growing doubts took their toll and I decided to cut my losses. Soon, I was in my own business -- an honest one that didn't have me fighting my conscience twenty-four hours a day.
I learned what real vacations were like although I didn't take many and still don't. I'd rather live comparatively well every day than scrimp and save so I could pig out for a week once a year before returning to the stark realities of a life of privation.
I needed something cheering to get me out of the emotional funk I've been in the last few days. This served the purpose. I really feel sorry for the poor boobs who are still stuck in that rigmarole in one of the petulantly warring little offshoots.
Give it up already!
Get a real life!
Remember (those who were a part of that travesty) how we used to save up a second tenth of our meager incomes to go have what we considered a blast and vacation (???) at the Feast of Tabernacles in some wonderful place like Squaw Valley or the Wisconsin Dells?
What a joke!
Vacation indeed!
Fighting traffic. Sitting for hours on hard seats trying to keep bored children occupied while listening to some blowhard expound about some inane subject like how soon the promised kingdom would be here (like 1975) and we'd all be kings and priests with Christ ruling over all those rebellious people with our personal rod of iron. OOOH, did that prospect get the old juices flowing!
When 1975 showed up and nothing -- absolutely nothing -- happened as promised, my growing doubts took their toll and I decided to cut my losses. Soon, I was in my own business -- an honest one that didn't have me fighting my conscience twenty-four hours a day.
I learned what real vacations were like although I didn't take many and still don't. I'd rather live comparatively well every day than scrimp and save so I could pig out for a week once a year before returning to the stark realities of a life of privation.
I needed something cheering to get me out of the emotional funk I've been in the last few days. This served the purpose. I really feel sorry for the poor boobs who are still stuck in that rigmarole in one of the petulantly warring little offshoots.
Give it up already!
Get a real life!
Sunday, August 25, 2013
MY DESPAIR
(From Facebook.)
What I just shared below (google Atefah Sahaaleh for the details) is one of the main things that make me despair for the future of the human race.
We spent decades cowering before the irrational fear of communism that was mainly perpetuated by the military-industrial complex for their profit. A basically fascist system has to maintain an enemy to keep everybody fearfully in line.
I've read Orwell's 1984. Have you?
They now have the enemy of islam and the muslim dictatorships to keep everybody supporting their military behemoth. All the while, they are letting this virulent enemy invade western countries and become a fucking infestation (I mean that in the literal sense). They're cranking out brainwashed babies like there's no tomorrow! It's an insidious fifth column!
We'll never triumph over those hordes miltarily! We're spending our wealth and stength in vain!
The filthy rich aristocracy is just as blind as the aristocracy of Rome was!
Instead of getting smart and developing the renewable energy that should by now have made us totally independent of foreign oil, we continue to send our wealth to our sworn enemies so a few billionaires can continue to live in hedonistic luxury as our nation's infrastructure deteriorates and our youth can't even get a decent college edducation so our developmental research can continue. And, we can't even fund that research because of stupid things like "sequester!"
Meanwhile, the planet struggles to maintain itself against the ever-growing onslaught of greenhouse gases and is clearly losing the battle.
Everything in the animal kingdom, including you and me, needs oxygen -- not carbon dioxide or methane -- to function!
The way things are going, those who manage to continue to breath will be starving because of crop failures and rampant animal deaths and the unlucky few who manage to survive will be ruled by insane islamists who managed to become an overwhelming majority in the Western World so they can impose the madness of sharia everywhere.
The way I see it, another dark age is almost inevitable and that will doom the human race to extinction because we won't be able to develop the knowledge and technology needed to prevent it. No stupid islamist is going to do anything to prevent it as he flops his ignorant, hate-filled face on the floor five times every day to his imaginary, non-existent sky fairy!
I said it in a Facebook comment recently, and I'll say it here again.
FUCK RELIGION! Especially, FUCK ISLAM!
What I just shared below (google Atefah Sahaaleh for the details) is one of the main things that make me despair for the future of the human race.
We spent decades cowering before the irrational fear of communism that was mainly perpetuated by the military-industrial complex for their profit. A basically fascist system has to maintain an enemy to keep everybody fearfully in line.
I've read Orwell's 1984. Have you?
They now have the enemy of islam and the muslim dictatorships to keep everybody supporting their military behemoth. All the while, they are letting this virulent enemy invade western countries and become a fucking infestation (I mean that in the literal sense). They're cranking out brainwashed babies like there's no tomorrow! It's an insidious fifth column!
We'll never triumph over those hordes miltarily! We're spending our wealth and stength in vain!
The filthy rich aristocracy is just as blind as the aristocracy of Rome was!
Instead of getting smart and developing the renewable energy that should by now have made us totally independent of foreign oil, we continue to send our wealth to our sworn enemies so a few billionaires can continue to live in hedonistic luxury as our nation's infrastructure deteriorates and our youth can't even get a decent college edducation so our developmental research can continue. And, we can't even fund that research because of stupid things like "sequester!"
Meanwhile, the planet struggles to maintain itself against the ever-growing onslaught of greenhouse gases and is clearly losing the battle.
Everything in the animal kingdom, including you and me, needs oxygen -- not carbon dioxide or methane -- to function!
The way things are going, those who manage to continue to breath will be starving because of crop failures and rampant animal deaths and the unlucky few who manage to survive will be ruled by insane islamists who managed to become an overwhelming majority in the Western World so they can impose the madness of sharia everywhere.
The way I see it, another dark age is almost inevitable and that will doom the human race to extinction because we won't be able to develop the knowledge and technology needed to prevent it. No stupid islamist is going to do anything to prevent it as he flops his ignorant, hate-filled face on the floor five times every day to his imaginary, non-existent sky fairy!
I said it in a Facebook comment recently, and I'll say it here again.
FUCK RELIGION! Especially, FUCK ISLAM!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
KEEP IT CREDIBLE, PLEASE
There are alot of dumb theories in the world.
Vampires are one.
Believing that a dead human being from whom the blood has been removed in a funeral chapel and embalming fluid injected in its place, whose nervous system has completely collapsed and whose tissues have turned to something akin to jelly can somehow return to a form of consciousness and get out of a sealed casket covered with hundreds of pounds of earth and walk around to prey on the blood of the living is ludicrous beyond comprehension.
What would be the source of all that energy? Spirit, you say. I don't see that force at work anywhere else.
There have been movies about ancient mummys coming to life to prey on and attack the living. What nonsense! Embalmers removed the brain and organs like the heart, lungs, liver, etc. Then, they treated the remaining tissues with salts that turned them into something approximating leather. A log would have just as much chance of conscious mobility!
As to the idea that an ethereal soul somehow manages to go on consciously without a brain or nervouse system in which to function, no eye with which to process the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum involved in sight, etc., I'm skeptical. Yeah, I'm well aware of the anecdotes, and they can be very persuasive sometimes. But, I'm also very much aware of how credulous we humans can be and how deceptive and mistaken our minds can be, especially in times of great stress and emotional upheaval. Seeing isn't always believing, as far as I can determine.
I started being skeptical a long time ago, and I'm getting even more so every passing day.
Vampires are one.
Believing that a dead human being from whom the blood has been removed in a funeral chapel and embalming fluid injected in its place, whose nervous system has completely collapsed and whose tissues have turned to something akin to jelly can somehow return to a form of consciousness and get out of a sealed casket covered with hundreds of pounds of earth and walk around to prey on the blood of the living is ludicrous beyond comprehension.
What would be the source of all that energy? Spirit, you say. I don't see that force at work anywhere else.
There have been movies about ancient mummys coming to life to prey on and attack the living. What nonsense! Embalmers removed the brain and organs like the heart, lungs, liver, etc. Then, they treated the remaining tissues with salts that turned them into something approximating leather. A log would have just as much chance of conscious mobility!
As to the idea that an ethereal soul somehow manages to go on consciously without a brain or nervouse system in which to function, no eye with which to process the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum involved in sight, etc., I'm skeptical. Yeah, I'm well aware of the anecdotes, and they can be very persuasive sometimes. But, I'm also very much aware of how credulous we humans can be and how deceptive and mistaken our minds can be, especially in times of great stress and emotional upheaval. Seeing isn't always believing, as far as I can determine.
I started being skeptical a long time ago, and I'm getting even more so every passing day.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
DON'T BE A HUMAN POMCHI
Poor little dog!
The storm this evening brought some very loud thunder and Daisy, our little pomchi, got all upset and started the heavy breathing that accompanies her anxiety. It took awhile to get her to eat some braunsweiger into which we had mixed an anti-anxiety pill we got at the pet store.
She's calmed down, but this episode illustrates again how much we and animals like her are alike. She gets as close to us as she possibly can when she's frightened. It's like humans crying out to their sky fairy god as they hide their head under the pillow or covers and pray.
We are her gods. We're the only higher powers her doggy mind can comprehend.
I'm so happy to have progressed beyond a two-legged human pomchi. Science, and being willing to acknowledge that science made it possible. The religious don't know what they are missing as they grovel in their fear.
No one should have to cower like that in the twenty-first century!
The storm this evening brought some very loud thunder and Daisy, our little pomchi, got all upset and started the heavy breathing that accompanies her anxiety. It took awhile to get her to eat some braunsweiger into which we had mixed an anti-anxiety pill we got at the pet store.
She's calmed down, but this episode illustrates again how much we and animals like her are alike. She gets as close to us as she possibly can when she's frightened. It's like humans crying out to their sky fairy god as they hide their head under the pillow or covers and pray.
We are her gods. We're the only higher powers her doggy mind can comprehend.
I'm so happy to have progressed beyond a two-legged human pomchi. Science, and being willing to acknowledge that science made it possible. The religious don't know what they are missing as they grovel in their fear.
No one should have to cower like that in the twenty-first century!
FEELING GOOD TONIGHT
(From Facebook.)
Finally! I think we might get some meaningful rain in the next few days. We had a nice little downpour awhile ago and lightning even knocked out the power for about a minute. The high pressure system is parked just right to bring copious amounts of moisture in from a tropical depression off Baja California over the weekend. By Sunday, we could get up to two inches of rain, according to the forecast.
I hope so.
I'm tired of wimpy monsoons!
I know my friend Dennis Deahl would like to give us some of that sogginess they've had all summer, but, sadly, it doesn't work that way.
So, I'm in a pretty good mood in spite of the pointedness of some of my shares. You really didn't expect anything else, did you? My friends in the old LAD didn't call me "Patton" for no reason. I have that "grab 'em by the nose and kick 'em in the ass" attitude.
Guess it's the McCoy coming out.
Finally! I think we might get some meaningful rain in the next few days. We had a nice little downpour awhile ago and lightning even knocked out the power for about a minute. The high pressure system is parked just right to bring copious amounts of moisture in from a tropical depression off Baja California over the weekend. By Sunday, we could get up to two inches of rain, according to the forecast.
I hope so.
I'm tired of wimpy monsoons!
I know my friend Dennis Deahl would like to give us some of that sogginess they've had all summer, but, sadly, it doesn't work that way.
So, I'm in a pretty good mood in spite of the pointedness of some of my shares. You really didn't expect anything else, did you? My friends in the old LAD didn't call me "Patton" for no reason. I have that "grab 'em by the nose and kick 'em in the ass" attitude.
Guess it's the McCoy coming out.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
MORE "MY QUEST"
To carry on with what I just published yesterday on "My Quest" from September of 1999.
Nobody's life stays static. We at least age, whether we grow in knowledge and understanding or not. The state of our health and energy also changes. Change is inevitable, and we just have to come to terms with it. That change is usually gradual because the human mind and body doesn't flop all over the place willy nilly unless something extraordinary or catastrophic comes along.
We are subject to programing, much like a computer. Before you can install a new computer program, you have to sometimes delete another or sinuster viruses and worms and they often don't go easily.
That was driven home yesterday. The virus program on Phyllis' laptop lapsed some time ago and we neglected to install another. She uses it very little except to pay bills and play games she enjoys. Over time, stuff sneaked in through emails and countless other open doors that totally corrupted her system and neither of us could do anything with it.
We had to have an online service take over her computer and clean all the junk out. We now have a virus program on it. We're also very careful about "free" stuff because they often come with sneaky little addons that completely change things like home pages and the normal search engines you want to use.
Life tends to do the same thing with our minds, beginning at day one, and I know of no effective virus program to stop it. People just go about living and the crap begins to pile up with little to no chance of intervention.
I absorbed all the societal nonsense surrounding me as a child and young man. Then, a really corrupt mind virus came along through Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God. I was totally messed up and could not even begin to think straight for a very long time. There was no one to call and have all that garbage instantly removed. I had to do it on my own for the most part. It's taken about forty long years to expell the programing of the previous thirty some years.
Many people never realize their mental system has been corrupted and go to their graves in that state. I'm very thankful not to be in that helpless condition.
Nobody's life stays static. We at least age, whether we grow in knowledge and understanding or not. The state of our health and energy also changes. Change is inevitable, and we just have to come to terms with it. That change is usually gradual because the human mind and body doesn't flop all over the place willy nilly unless something extraordinary or catastrophic comes along.
We are subject to programing, much like a computer. Before you can install a new computer program, you have to sometimes delete another or sinuster viruses and worms and they often don't go easily.
That was driven home yesterday. The virus program on Phyllis' laptop lapsed some time ago and we neglected to install another. She uses it very little except to pay bills and play games she enjoys. Over time, stuff sneaked in through emails and countless other open doors that totally corrupted her system and neither of us could do anything with it.
We had to have an online service take over her computer and clean all the junk out. We now have a virus program on it. We're also very careful about "free" stuff because they often come with sneaky little addons that completely change things like home pages and the normal search engines you want to use.
Life tends to do the same thing with our minds, beginning at day one, and I know of no effective virus program to stop it. People just go about living and the crap begins to pile up with little to no chance of intervention.
I absorbed all the societal nonsense surrounding me as a child and young man. Then, a really corrupt mind virus came along through Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God. I was totally messed up and could not even begin to think straight for a very long time. There was no one to call and have all that garbage instantly removed. I had to do it on my own for the most part. It's taken about forty long years to expell the programing of the previous thirty some years.
Many people never realize their mental system has been corrupted and go to their graves in that state. I'm very thankful not to be in that helpless condition.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
OVER A DECADE OF PROGRESS
I came across an old file today. It went back to September of 1999 and I found some interesting things in it.
Chief of those was something I wrote on the 16th of that month when I was pursuing a self-knowledge and self-improvement course by Anthony Robbins. It was entitled, "My Quest."
At that time, I hadn't yet divested myself of things Randi describes as "woo woo." There've been a lot of changes over those almost fourteen years! I'll Quote that writeup here:
"I am writing to my spirit guide, my guardian angels and anyone in the next dimension vitally interested in me, my progress and my fate.
I have stuggled long and learned much but realize I still have much to learn. I intend to continue the quest and ask for all guidance and help available to me. I wish to understand more fully what God really is. He, she or it is not what most people assume and believe for those concepts are ludicrous in some of their assumptions. I cannot believe in the patriarchal Middle Eastern type of God foisted on the Western world by Judaism, Islam and Christianity. As creation had to have a beginning, God had to have some beginning. An always existing God makes no more sense than the big bang out of nothing.
I am seeking answers wherever they may be available and ask for guidance and the ability to recognize and stay away from the "looney tunes" Phyllis mentioned.
I ask for help in getting even farther away from the endless round of trying to keep up financially. It is a negative in my life, keeping me from calm and relaxation, so I can think better. Things are better than they once were, and I appreciate that. Guide me and help me get to the independent state I desire and then help me use it wisely.
I desire to maintain and improve my physical health and well-being. I ask for guidance and strengthening in that area.
I wish to increase my mental capacity and ability to the ultimate possible. I wish to increase in real love and a positive attitude.
I wish to grow in real humility while building ever more self-confidence.
I intend to grow!"
That was me almost a decade and a half ago. I don't think any of the woo woo factors had anything to do with me advancing to where I am today. It's just the natural outcome of honest thought and analysis. I only brought it up to illustrate where honest and determined effort can lead.
Chief of those was something I wrote on the 16th of that month when I was pursuing a self-knowledge and self-improvement course by Anthony Robbins. It was entitled, "My Quest."
At that time, I hadn't yet divested myself of things Randi describes as "woo woo." There've been a lot of changes over those almost fourteen years! I'll Quote that writeup here:
"I am writing to my spirit guide, my guardian angels and anyone in the next dimension vitally interested in me, my progress and my fate.
I have stuggled long and learned much but realize I still have much to learn. I intend to continue the quest and ask for all guidance and help available to me. I wish to understand more fully what God really is. He, she or it is not what most people assume and believe for those concepts are ludicrous in some of their assumptions. I cannot believe in the patriarchal Middle Eastern type of God foisted on the Western world by Judaism, Islam and Christianity. As creation had to have a beginning, God had to have some beginning. An always existing God makes no more sense than the big bang out of nothing.
I am seeking answers wherever they may be available and ask for guidance and the ability to recognize and stay away from the "looney tunes" Phyllis mentioned.
I ask for help in getting even farther away from the endless round of trying to keep up financially. It is a negative in my life, keeping me from calm and relaxation, so I can think better. Things are better than they once were, and I appreciate that. Guide me and help me get to the independent state I desire and then help me use it wisely.
I desire to maintain and improve my physical health and well-being. I ask for guidance and strengthening in that area.
I wish to increase my mental capacity and ability to the ultimate possible. I wish to increase in real love and a positive attitude.
I wish to grow in real humility while building ever more self-confidence.
I intend to grow!"
That was me almost a decade and a half ago. I don't think any of the woo woo factors had anything to do with me advancing to where I am today. It's just the natural outcome of honest thought and analysis. I only brought it up to illustrate where honest and determined effort can lead.
WHAT IS THE ANSWER?
Why do we have to have the encumbrances of creeds, dogma, and all the other aspects of political and religious organization? It only leads to pride, hateful persecution, horrific acts of violence and bone-headed denial of reality.
I have a friend who posts on here some of the milder precepts of islam. Yes, those exist, but they are no more the driving impetus of islam than the sermon on the mount and I Corinthians 13, etc. that my step daughter likes to post are the guiding principles of fundamentalist christianity.
The world has been full of searching people from the time the first hominid stood upright and wondered at the terrifying world that surrounded him or her. Some of them managed to get their musings and pronouncements, in all their complexity, plagiarism and inconsistencies, recorded and passed down. A lot of it was made up out of whole cloth later on. Much perished and has been forgotten along the way.
But, what survived managed to become the basis of fanaticism and dogma people are willing to persecute, kill and die for.
Good philosophy does no harm. Dogma is a killer. It's killing hundreds, maybe thousands, right now in Egypt! Ignorant, fanatic muslims akin to bible belt christians were numerous enough in the hinterland of Egypt to propel the muslim brotherhood into power in Egypt. Educated and reasonable egyptians such as filled the military saw their country being turned backward into a hell hole of muslim fundamentalism and took steps to put an end to it. Result? Civil war!
There was no real democracy in Egypt. There is no real democracy in modern America. Both are cursed with the insidious monster of religious fundamentalism seeking to control the individual lives of the citizenry through whatever underhanded subterfuge that is available.
All religions are a curse! All political parties devolve to eventually become a curse!
What is the answer? I wish I knew.
I have a friend who posts on here some of the milder precepts of islam. Yes, those exist, but they are no more the driving impetus of islam than the sermon on the mount and I Corinthians 13, etc. that my step daughter likes to post are the guiding principles of fundamentalist christianity.
The world has been full of searching people from the time the first hominid stood upright and wondered at the terrifying world that surrounded him or her. Some of them managed to get their musings and pronouncements, in all their complexity, plagiarism and inconsistencies, recorded and passed down. A lot of it was made up out of whole cloth later on. Much perished and has been forgotten along the way.
But, what survived managed to become the basis of fanaticism and dogma people are willing to persecute, kill and die for.
Good philosophy does no harm. Dogma is a killer. It's killing hundreds, maybe thousands, right now in Egypt! Ignorant, fanatic muslims akin to bible belt christians were numerous enough in the hinterland of Egypt to propel the muslim brotherhood into power in Egypt. Educated and reasonable egyptians such as filled the military saw their country being turned backward into a hell hole of muslim fundamentalism and took steps to put an end to it. Result? Civil war!
There was no real democracy in Egypt. There is no real democracy in modern America. Both are cursed with the insidious monster of religious fundamentalism seeking to control the individual lives of the citizenry through whatever underhanded subterfuge that is available.
All religions are a curse! All political parties devolve to eventually become a curse!
What is the answer? I wish I knew.
Monday, August 19, 2013
A GREAT INJUSTICE
For about six months now, My wife has been dealing with a heart breaking problem. As a young woman living in Cottonwood, she adopted a newborn Yavapai Apache boy who became her legal son. The bane of his life has been the white man's alchohol since his first contact with it at age 13. He has spent most of his adult life behind bars because of this inborn genetic weakness.
Now, middle aged, he was turning his life around when racist-minded cops singled him out for harassment. Here is Phyllis' mother's plea to the court. I want to publicize it every way I can. This sort of thing just should not be happening!
Re: Michael Paulsell
As Michael Paulsell’s White mother, I am writing to you In what I am afraid will be my last chance to find genuine justice for my Native American (Indian) son, Michael Paulsell.
On March 28 of this year, Michael had worked and sacrificed for many years to make his life productive and get along in the White world as well as with his tribe, which also has tried very hard to help him. He had fulfilled all the requirements (probations, paroles, fines, etc.) He had achieved employment, made a good salary and established a home and a life that he loved.
Also, during that same time period he had completed over two years of Community College education in Veterinary Assistance. As part of that, he donated many hours and days of his time in helping at the Scottsdale Shelter. When he completed that, though they could not pay him, they gifted him with a Min-Pin, primarily because Mike and they knew that type of dog needs to run. Michael had spent many hours on his bike near the shelter with the dog running beside him. Mike (and the rest of his family) absolutely adored this half-blind little dog he named Dancer. Dancer, of course loved his master back. This was the first time the little dog had a loving, full time master.
On March 28, 2013, Mike had a day off so he took Dancer for a run in the morning. Mike knows the dog’s needs and limitations, so he used his bus pass and carried the dog on the bus in a backpack part of the time. Mike and Dancer sat down on a wall to rest, and watched the police who were doing something across the street.
Then the (Phoenix) police approached Mike and provoked a confrontation with my Indian son. Mike was doing nothing wrong or illegal. He knew the police didn’t have any right to hassle him, but hassle him they did.
They seized Dancer, citing both Mike and the dog (?) for “animal cruelty”. That’s what they told me. Of course, Mike resisted verbally. The police became very forceful and angry about it.
The judge in the case, later rightfully found Michael not guilty of the animal cruelty charge.
Nevertheless Dancer was torn from Michael, and forced to spend five weeks in the hell that is the horribly overcrowded animal shelter. When the dog was released to us he was a frightened, trembling shell of his former self. Had it been me, a White woman sitting with Dancer, do you think they would have even approached us? I seriously doubt it.
Mike, however is still in jail since March 28th and I am told he is now subject to years of prison time – for sitting on a wall with his dog. But, I’m told, that’s because Mike has a bad past record. Apparently, rehabilitating himself doesn’t count.
I would reply that he has spent years and years of his life paying for his past. He has satisfied all those probations, paroles fines and limitations, and still managed to get a good job, a good education, a good dog and his family to love him.
My father was the Chief of Police in my hometown. I grew up in a household “crawling with fuzz” as they used to say . It galls me to remember their jokes that, "if all else fails, arrest the Indian. He will plead guilty to any charge.” Now I find that assessment reprehensible.
The police were the initial aggressors. Without their interference with my son, without their preconceived and unfounded notions, Mike would be living his life instead of having it destroyed at the whim of the police.
I called the police right after the incident to try to rescue Dancer. The police were so defensive it made me very suspicious. They tried hard to intimidate me. But I am a cop’s daughter. They told me several outright lies and when I called them on it, hung up on me. I have documented this.
This is just wrong. Mike should not be further punished because he has done nothing to deserve it. He has already been in jail for nearly six months, lost his wonderful job, his home and his dog. Despite the fact that he was acquitted of the initial charge! All that’s left is the saving face for the cops.
Please, I ask that you, as the last resort for him now, give him genuine justice and let him return to his life.
Very Sincerely,
Phyllis Graham Dexter
Now, middle aged, he was turning his life around when racist-minded cops singled him out for harassment. Here is Phyllis' mother's plea to the court. I want to publicize it every way I can. This sort of thing just should not be happening!
Re: Michael Paulsell
As Michael Paulsell’s White mother, I am writing to you In what I am afraid will be my last chance to find genuine justice for my Native American (Indian) son, Michael Paulsell.
On March 28 of this year, Michael had worked and sacrificed for many years to make his life productive and get along in the White world as well as with his tribe, which also has tried very hard to help him. He had fulfilled all the requirements (probations, paroles, fines, etc.) He had achieved employment, made a good salary and established a home and a life that he loved.
Also, during that same time period he had completed over two years of Community College education in Veterinary Assistance. As part of that, he donated many hours and days of his time in helping at the Scottsdale Shelter. When he completed that, though they could not pay him, they gifted him with a Min-Pin, primarily because Mike and they knew that type of dog needs to run. Michael had spent many hours on his bike near the shelter with the dog running beside him. Mike (and the rest of his family) absolutely adored this half-blind little dog he named Dancer. Dancer, of course loved his master back. This was the first time the little dog had a loving, full time master.
On March 28, 2013, Mike had a day off so he took Dancer for a run in the morning. Mike knows the dog’s needs and limitations, so he used his bus pass and carried the dog on the bus in a backpack part of the time. Mike and Dancer sat down on a wall to rest, and watched the police who were doing something across the street.
Then the (Phoenix) police approached Mike and provoked a confrontation with my Indian son. Mike was doing nothing wrong or illegal. He knew the police didn’t have any right to hassle him, but hassle him they did.
They seized Dancer, citing both Mike and the dog (?) for “animal cruelty”. That’s what they told me. Of course, Mike resisted verbally. The police became very forceful and angry about it.
The judge in the case, later rightfully found Michael not guilty of the animal cruelty charge.
Nevertheless Dancer was torn from Michael, and forced to spend five weeks in the hell that is the horribly overcrowded animal shelter. When the dog was released to us he was a frightened, trembling shell of his former self. Had it been me, a White woman sitting with Dancer, do you think they would have even approached us? I seriously doubt it.
Mike, however is still in jail since March 28th and I am told he is now subject to years of prison time – for sitting on a wall with his dog. But, I’m told, that’s because Mike has a bad past record. Apparently, rehabilitating himself doesn’t count.
I would reply that he has spent years and years of his life paying for his past. He has satisfied all those probations, paroles fines and limitations, and still managed to get a good job, a good education, a good dog and his family to love him.
My father was the Chief of Police in my hometown. I grew up in a household “crawling with fuzz” as they used to say . It galls me to remember their jokes that, "if all else fails, arrest the Indian. He will plead guilty to any charge.” Now I find that assessment reprehensible.
The police were the initial aggressors. Without their interference with my son, without their preconceived and unfounded notions, Mike would be living his life instead of having it destroyed at the whim of the police.
I called the police right after the incident to try to rescue Dancer. The police were so defensive it made me very suspicious. They tried hard to intimidate me. But I am a cop’s daughter. They told me several outright lies and when I called them on it, hung up on me. I have documented this.
This is just wrong. Mike should not be further punished because he has done nothing to deserve it. He has already been in jail for nearly six months, lost his wonderful job, his home and his dog. Despite the fact that he was acquitted of the initial charge! All that’s left is the saving face for the cops.
Please, I ask that you, as the last resort for him now, give him genuine justice and let him return to his life.
Very Sincerely,
Phyllis Graham Dexter
MUSING ABOUT LIFE
Another day is done and the evening is here. More wimpy clouds and a few sprinkles that immediately evaporated. I'm still hoping a desert downpour will come along. Just have to see.
Anyway, I'm still kicking and life isn't too bad. It still has its interests and joys after all these years. Overall, I've been blessed over what my parents were able to enjoy and experience. Mom never even got to fly in an airplane because of my father's fears. I've flown to Hawaii twice and those are memories I treasure. I've been to New York city; even lived there over a year. I've seen most of the continental 49 states.
There are things I could still put on a bucket list, but they're not great needs, just things that would be interesting and nice. I'll probably just have to be content to spend the rest of my days here in Arizona, which isn't all that bad a piece of geography.
I do dream of winnng a lot of money, along with every other human, and being able to join in some humanist and atheist conferences and get-togethers and become even more active in ways that count. In the meantime, Facebooking and blogging will just have to do.
I have no idea where many of the people I used to be close to are or even if they're still alive. We're becoming a vanishing, and often debilated, bunch. It seems many of them aren't too engaged in modern communications. I've searched the internet for dozens of them and have found nothing.
I comfort myself by realizing that what I'm experiencing is nothing new. Every generation before me has traveled a similar path for tens of thousands of years. It's the only game in town, so I try to play and enjoy it while I can.
To those who are younger, I say, grab all you can out of life every day. Make the time count and do your best to make the regrets as few as possible. Be sensible and prudent, but don't let unreasonable fear hold you back. Nothing is predestined. You determine what your life story will be, but there will still be happenstances and forks in the road you didn't and can't plan for.
It's an adventure. Make the most of it. Then, bow out as gracefully as possible.
Anyway, I'm still kicking and life isn't too bad. It still has its interests and joys after all these years. Overall, I've been blessed over what my parents were able to enjoy and experience. Mom never even got to fly in an airplane because of my father's fears. I've flown to Hawaii twice and those are memories I treasure. I've been to New York city; even lived there over a year. I've seen most of the continental 49 states.
There are things I could still put on a bucket list, but they're not great needs, just things that would be interesting and nice. I'll probably just have to be content to spend the rest of my days here in Arizona, which isn't all that bad a piece of geography.
I do dream of winnng a lot of money, along with every other human, and being able to join in some humanist and atheist conferences and get-togethers and become even more active in ways that count. In the meantime, Facebooking and blogging will just have to do.
I have no idea where many of the people I used to be close to are or even if they're still alive. We're becoming a vanishing, and often debilated, bunch. It seems many of them aren't too engaged in modern communications. I've searched the internet for dozens of them and have found nothing.
I comfort myself by realizing that what I'm experiencing is nothing new. Every generation before me has traveled a similar path for tens of thousands of years. It's the only game in town, so I try to play and enjoy it while I can.
To those who are younger, I say, grab all you can out of life every day. Make the time count and do your best to make the regrets as few as possible. Be sensible and prudent, but don't let unreasonable fear hold you back. Nothing is predestined. You determine what your life story will be, but there will still be happenstances and forks in the road you didn't and can't plan for.
It's an adventure. Make the most of it. Then, bow out as gracefully as possible.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
LIFE IS NOT SACRED
Nature does not consider life sacred!
Does that statement shock you? It shouldn't, if you've been observant.
I guess I have a curious mind -- interpret that however you wish! I tend to think about stuff like this when I wake in the middle of the night for a bathroom trip or to let our spoiled little pomchi out as she sits by the doggy door and barks for doorman, or woman, assistance. It's stupid, but somehow endearing. What won't we put up with out of that feeling of love for a fellow creature?
I'm a normal human male. During my lifetime, I've produced and expelled trillions of sperm, hopeful little wee beasties destined to produce copies of me in combination with their female couterpart. Only four of those made it to birth and successful adulthood. The women in my life produced, during their lifetime, thousands of eggs. Most of those were summarily expelled from their wombs about once every month, some after being fertilized but not successfully implanted!
After the monsoon rains, seeds sprouted with abandon around here. Our driveway sported dozens of new desert bushes from the plethora of seeds that blew in months ago. If they all survived, that driveway would eventually become impassable from desert brush. Sprouts from our mimosa tree likewise erupted all over our back yard. I contemplated hours of hoeing and tedious removal.
No need to worry. Most of them shriveled and died when a break in the monsoon brought life-killing dought back. They've shriveled and disappeared wholesale! Only a few remain here and there in some especially sheltered location.
The cute little lizards around here have suddenly been joined by a host of miniature copies of themselves that are busily eating ants and whatever other hapless insect happens by and growing at a phenomenal rate. They have to. There are a multitude of hawks and other predators around anxious to dispatch them into their hungry insides. A few of the lucky ones will soon be sporting shortened tails that are evidence of some predators disappointment.
So, don't give me that nonsense about how sacred every sperm and egg is, every seed is, etc. Nature doesn't bear that out, sentimental platitudes to the contrary notwithanding.
Does that statement shock you? It shouldn't, if you've been observant.
I guess I have a curious mind -- interpret that however you wish! I tend to think about stuff like this when I wake in the middle of the night for a bathroom trip or to let our spoiled little pomchi out as she sits by the doggy door and barks for doorman, or woman, assistance. It's stupid, but somehow endearing. What won't we put up with out of that feeling of love for a fellow creature?
I'm a normal human male. During my lifetime, I've produced and expelled trillions of sperm, hopeful little wee beasties destined to produce copies of me in combination with their female couterpart. Only four of those made it to birth and successful adulthood. The women in my life produced, during their lifetime, thousands of eggs. Most of those were summarily expelled from their wombs about once every month, some after being fertilized but not successfully implanted!
After the monsoon rains, seeds sprouted with abandon around here. Our driveway sported dozens of new desert bushes from the plethora of seeds that blew in months ago. If they all survived, that driveway would eventually become impassable from desert brush. Sprouts from our mimosa tree likewise erupted all over our back yard. I contemplated hours of hoeing and tedious removal.
No need to worry. Most of them shriveled and died when a break in the monsoon brought life-killing dought back. They've shriveled and disappeared wholesale! Only a few remain here and there in some especially sheltered location.
The cute little lizards around here have suddenly been joined by a host of miniature copies of themselves that are busily eating ants and whatever other hapless insect happens by and growing at a phenomenal rate. They have to. There are a multitude of hawks and other predators around anxious to dispatch them into their hungry insides. A few of the lucky ones will soon be sporting shortened tails that are evidence of some predators disappointment.
So, don't give me that nonsense about how sacred every sperm and egg is, every seed is, etc. Nature doesn't bear that out, sentimental platitudes to the contrary notwithanding.
Friday, August 16, 2013
THE DREADED LAWYER LETTER
"I'm going to have my lawyer write you a letter!"
Have you ever heard that threat? I have. Doesn't scare me one bit.
Want to know why?
Most lawyers hold an MBS (master of bullshit) and their stock in trade is bluster, intimidation and, yes, bullshit!
I did carpets for a lady who owns property in Cornville last week. She's not giving back a good percentage of the deposit to the former renter due to the state in which it was left and is sick of being a landlady, so she's going to sell the place. The renter is raising hell and part of that is the dreaded letter she promises from her lawyer.
She doesn't accept my receipt because I'm not a "licensed contractor." I don't know of anyone who cleans carpets who is because it's not required for cleaning carpets. We're skilled technicians, not contractors.
A while back, we had our porch remodeled, relocated the door and had new stairs put in. The Property owners association demanded we pay for a permit from them. We basically told them what piece of fictional real estate they could migrate to.
We don't think they are even operating legally as very few bother to pay the voluntary dues making paid members way below any legal quorum requirement and the meetings aren't even advertised. A small clique of totalitarian-minded would be hitlers and hitleresses are just determined to throw whatever weight they imagine themselves having around, supposedly to protect us from county interference as we are in county area, not subject to Cottonwood ordinances and control.
Oh, horrors! County control! How terrible!
If we do anything major, we have to have a county permit whether they exist or not. Why pay extra for approval from them?
Anyway, they followed through and had their lawyer send two letters at the cost of $150 a pop. We responded with a photocopy of the flyer we orginally responded to in buying this place which clearly showed the porch was always there. A few days later, I noticed a pickup driving slowly by with the driver holding a piece of paper and looking at our porch. We never heard anything more.
Fearful people tend to quail at the mention of a letter from a lawyer. The reality is that a lawyer has no enforcement power at all. He can sling the crap around to try to intimidate, but he is not a judge or a jury and outside of bluster, can't really do much of anything to force anyone to comply with his demands.
So, if you're threatened with that horror of horrors, the best response is usually a yawn. Or, maybe a one finger salute. Guess which finger?
Have you ever heard that threat? I have. Doesn't scare me one bit.
Want to know why?
Most lawyers hold an MBS (master of bullshit) and their stock in trade is bluster, intimidation and, yes, bullshit!
I did carpets for a lady who owns property in Cornville last week. She's not giving back a good percentage of the deposit to the former renter due to the state in which it was left and is sick of being a landlady, so she's going to sell the place. The renter is raising hell and part of that is the dreaded letter she promises from her lawyer.
She doesn't accept my receipt because I'm not a "licensed contractor." I don't know of anyone who cleans carpets who is because it's not required for cleaning carpets. We're skilled technicians, not contractors.
A while back, we had our porch remodeled, relocated the door and had new stairs put in. The Property owners association demanded we pay for a permit from them. We basically told them what piece of fictional real estate they could migrate to.
We don't think they are even operating legally as very few bother to pay the voluntary dues making paid members way below any legal quorum requirement and the meetings aren't even advertised. A small clique of totalitarian-minded would be hitlers and hitleresses are just determined to throw whatever weight they imagine themselves having around, supposedly to protect us from county interference as we are in county area, not subject to Cottonwood ordinances and control.
Oh, horrors! County control! How terrible!
If we do anything major, we have to have a county permit whether they exist or not. Why pay extra for approval from them?
Anyway, they followed through and had their lawyer send two letters at the cost of $150 a pop. We responded with a photocopy of the flyer we orginally responded to in buying this place which clearly showed the porch was always there. A few days later, I noticed a pickup driving slowly by with the driver holding a piece of paper and looking at our porch. We never heard anything more.
Fearful people tend to quail at the mention of a letter from a lawyer. The reality is that a lawyer has no enforcement power at all. He can sling the crap around to try to intimidate, but he is not a judge or a jury and outside of bluster, can't really do much of anything to force anyone to comply with his demands.
So, if you're threatened with that horror of horrors, the best response is usually a yawn. Or, maybe a one finger salute. Guess which finger?
Thursday, August 15, 2013
ANOTHER DAY IN MY LIFE
(From Facebook.)
Another great day in a life that is very enjoyable but flying by much too fast. We were up early for that sale and I found my new rain barrel for just one dollar! Only spent $2 total. The leisurely trip on a cloudy, cool morning was delightful. Even a few sprinkles of rain!
I've become an habitual recycler. I tear apart anything that's recyclable and save the components. I even pick up things I find thrown away. After we got back, I gathered up what had been accumulating for months and went down to the recycling company. Got $26.75 for everything that included things like old aluminum discards, aluminum cans, tin cans and other steel and a whole box full of discarded electrical cords, circuit boards, etc.
Not much money, but the stuff can be reused and isn't taking up space in the landfill. Why not use some of my spare time to take apart old appliances, etc. and recycle the usable parts? I can't think of a better use of free time that would otherwise be just frittered away. Plus, I find it interesting just seeing how things are put together and out of what.
I know. I have my unique drives and quirks. That's what makes the variety in the human race so interesting. One of the joys of getting to know people is finding out what is unique about them and I haven't found a clone of me yet but I've met a lot of interesting characters.
Time for a weed tour outside.
Another great day in a life that is very enjoyable but flying by much too fast. We were up early for that sale and I found my new rain barrel for just one dollar! Only spent $2 total. The leisurely trip on a cloudy, cool morning was delightful. Even a few sprinkles of rain!
I've become an habitual recycler. I tear apart anything that's recyclable and save the components. I even pick up things I find thrown away. After we got back, I gathered up what had been accumulating for months and went down to the recycling company. Got $26.75 for everything that included things like old aluminum discards, aluminum cans, tin cans and other steel and a whole box full of discarded electrical cords, circuit boards, etc.
Not much money, but the stuff can be reused and isn't taking up space in the landfill. Why not use some of my spare time to take apart old appliances, etc. and recycle the usable parts? I can't think of a better use of free time that would otherwise be just frittered away. Plus, I find it interesting just seeing how things are put together and out of what.
I know. I have my unique drives and quirks. That's what makes the variety in the human race so interesting. One of the joys of getting to know people is finding out what is unique about them and I haven't found a clone of me yet but I've met a lot of interesting characters.
Time for a weed tour outside.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
THE INTERNET IS GREAT!
I love the internet. It's the bane of liars and tyrants.
Here's a succinct little article pointing out how it has contributed to the decline and destruction of the cult (and it splinters) I was once ensnared by and a multitude of other evil things and organizations:
http://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/2013/08/secretary-of-state-john-kerry-and.html
Here's a succinct little article pointing out how it has contributed to the decline and destruction of the cult (and it splinters) I was once ensnared by and a multitude of other evil things and organizations:
http://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/2013/08/secretary-of-state-john-kerry-and.html
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
THE GRAND OUTRAGE
Conservative right wingers virtually spit out terms like "progressive" and "liberal." All while they can't wait to get their hands on the latest "progressive" advance in electronics, communication, automobile engineering, etc.
I find the disonance in their approach absolutely mind boggling. It's totally irrational, but religious and cultural bone headedness is the basis and that is totally irrational, based on myths, superstition and a desire to forever stay stuck in the illusions of the past -- like that "old time religion."
So, we find ourselves on a greased slide into the horrors of the past with destitute multitudes huddled in slums and wasting their lives away in sweatshops and ending those short miserable existences in filthy poor houses while the privileged few bask in luxury and hedonism. I'm glad FDR, Kennedy, etc. are long dead so they don't have to see this reprehensible farce coming about.
To those who feverishly go about engineering it every day -- FUCK YOU! I wish there were some divine entity that could give you your just deserts, but there isn't!
I find the disonance in their approach absolutely mind boggling. It's totally irrational, but religious and cultural bone headedness is the basis and that is totally irrational, based on myths, superstition and a desire to forever stay stuck in the illusions of the past -- like that "old time religion."
So, we find ourselves on a greased slide into the horrors of the past with destitute multitudes huddled in slums and wasting their lives away in sweatshops and ending those short miserable existences in filthy poor houses while the privileged few bask in luxury and hedonism. I'm glad FDR, Kennedy, etc. are long dead so they don't have to see this reprehensible farce coming about.
To those who feverishly go about engineering it every day -- FUCK YOU! I wish there were some divine entity that could give you your just deserts, but there isn't!
FASCISM IS CREEPING IN
Ancient Rome was the originator of fascism. The Catholic Church was patterned after the roman fascist system. Protestantism, to varying degrees, carried on aspects of fascism in their organizational setups. The Worldwide Church of God was as fascist as it's possible to get. As the christian right gains more and more power, we find ourselves in very real danger of scumbing to fascism and all its horrors.
Read this very good summary of the dangerous position the USA is in:
http://atheism.about.com/od/religiousright/ig/Christian-Propaganda-Posters/Christian-Fascism-Fascist.htm?nl=1
Read this very good summary of the dangerous position the USA is in:
http://atheism.about.com/od/religiousright/ig/Christian-Propaganda-Posters/Christian-Fascism-Fascist.htm?nl=1
Monday, August 12, 2013
THE ENEMY WITHIN (AND WITHOUT)
I want to be upbeat and positive. It's my natural inclination.
Trouble is, I have eyes to see with, ears to hear with and a brain to think with. I do my best to use them all and what I see, hear and perceive is not all that conducive to optimism.
I want the human race to move forward, grow in knowledge and understanding and reach for the stars -- literally. When my own nation is stymied in doing any of that by the lies, hate and stultified thinking of ages past, it's hard to be upbeat.
Religion and politics have always been our main problem and enemies. For generations now, we have pretty well succeeded in keeping the two somewhat separate, but that separation has been pretty much nullified. Once the two madnesses get combined they become a runaway train on an ever-increasing downhill slope.
We used to have only the insanity of christianity to fight against, and that's still mostly the case here in the USA. Not so in Britain and Europe. They've been dumb enough to let the insidious fifth column of islam gain an ever increasing foothold.
Just like with christianity, islam tries to get you to focus on the "good" platitudes in their holy book and hope you won't read it any farther. Only the leaders spend any time on the extreme bloodthirsty stipulations which make any unbeliever instant sword and rock fodder, but those leaders have ultimate control over the brainwashed masses under them. Cross them in any small way, and here comes the vitriol to inflame the dumb masses into "jihad."
Even when we were concentrating on the communist menace, I realized in full measure that our greatest enemy was going to come out of the Middle East and the arab world. All religion breeds insanity of one degree or another, but the insanity engendered by islam is more potent than any other.
Most other religions center their devotion around a casual acqaintance with sacred texts and a round of enjoyable holidays. Islam saturates the adherents life with a constant round of praying, fasting and memorizing that totally takes over every waking and dreaming moment of their lives. It's brainwashing to the ultimate level. No other thinking has a chance to gain a foothold in all but a few cases.
We made a big mistake in invading Iraq and carrying on a protracted war in Afghanistan, but I think I know what lay behind it. Those in control recognized the threat coming from that part of the world and thought defeating them militarily would allow us to convert them to a democratic and reason based way of life.
Total pipe dream!
You can't democratize a people who have been flopping on their faces five times a day since infancy and getting their education from religious madrassas by militarily destroying their country and killing thousands of their loved ones in military ventures. They will only hate us more, and that is what has been happening.
I could go into many more aspects, but the facts are that we are in much the same position as ancient Rome. They tried to stem the tide of the barbarian hordes through military action and letting them come into the empire to be romanized. It didn't work! It won't work for us either, and I see the terrifying prospect of a muslim generated new dark age descending on the world as we squander our wealth and power on military adventurism and misplaced tolerance toward an implacable enemy that's now inside our borders.
Trouble is, I have eyes to see with, ears to hear with and a brain to think with. I do my best to use them all and what I see, hear and perceive is not all that conducive to optimism.
I want the human race to move forward, grow in knowledge and understanding and reach for the stars -- literally. When my own nation is stymied in doing any of that by the lies, hate and stultified thinking of ages past, it's hard to be upbeat.
Religion and politics have always been our main problem and enemies. For generations now, we have pretty well succeeded in keeping the two somewhat separate, but that separation has been pretty much nullified. Once the two madnesses get combined they become a runaway train on an ever-increasing downhill slope.
We used to have only the insanity of christianity to fight against, and that's still mostly the case here in the USA. Not so in Britain and Europe. They've been dumb enough to let the insidious fifth column of islam gain an ever increasing foothold.
Just like with christianity, islam tries to get you to focus on the "good" platitudes in their holy book and hope you won't read it any farther. Only the leaders spend any time on the extreme bloodthirsty stipulations which make any unbeliever instant sword and rock fodder, but those leaders have ultimate control over the brainwashed masses under them. Cross them in any small way, and here comes the vitriol to inflame the dumb masses into "jihad."
Even when we were concentrating on the communist menace, I realized in full measure that our greatest enemy was going to come out of the Middle East and the arab world. All religion breeds insanity of one degree or another, but the insanity engendered by islam is more potent than any other.
Most other religions center their devotion around a casual acqaintance with sacred texts and a round of enjoyable holidays. Islam saturates the adherents life with a constant round of praying, fasting and memorizing that totally takes over every waking and dreaming moment of their lives. It's brainwashing to the ultimate level. No other thinking has a chance to gain a foothold in all but a few cases.
We made a big mistake in invading Iraq and carrying on a protracted war in Afghanistan, but I think I know what lay behind it. Those in control recognized the threat coming from that part of the world and thought defeating them militarily would allow us to convert them to a democratic and reason based way of life.
Total pipe dream!
You can't democratize a people who have been flopping on their faces five times a day since infancy and getting their education from religious madrassas by militarily destroying their country and killing thousands of their loved ones in military ventures. They will only hate us more, and that is what has been happening.
I could go into many more aspects, but the facts are that we are in much the same position as ancient Rome. They tried to stem the tide of the barbarian hordes through military action and letting them come into the empire to be romanized. It didn't work! It won't work for us either, and I see the terrifying prospect of a muslim generated new dark age descending on the world as we squander our wealth and power on military adventurism and misplaced tolerance toward an implacable enemy that's now inside our borders.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
ENOUGH GURUS ALREADY!
(From Facebook.)
I warned you!
Thoughts came.
I started reflecting on how we humans seem hardwired to seek out someone to do our thinking for us and then to idolize whomever we choose as our guru and proclaim anything that doesn't mesh with it as blasphemy and that blasphemer as an heretic.
I have a lot of respect for buddhism. Not enough to become a fawning sycophant like I once was at Armstrong and company's feet, but I do respect wise observations when I encounter them. There are many of those in buddhism. Some of them even migrated almost word for word into other religions, including christianity.
Why are we so prone to fawn over people who clearly had a psychotic crisis of some sort while observing and doing some profound thinking? I've had a few of those in my own life when the you-know-what hit the fan and I was completely at sea as to which way to turn or what to do. If you are a normal human, you know exactly what I'm writing about.
Sidhartha was a very conflicted and troubled guy. Being in the royal class, he had plenty of time to let those conflicts and troubled thoughts sink in deeply. It got to the point that he took off and sought enlightenment through an aesthetic lifestyle. It almost killed him, but a thoughtful and charitable intervention by another human being came along at just the right time, and he began coming to his senses.
I don't deny the fact that he came up with some mighty good sayings and approaches, but we sheep-minded humans have to construct some great religion or movement around just about anything to somehow give us a feeling of belonging, superiority or something.
The same thing happened in Arabia with a guy named Mohammad. It's abundantly clear he had mental problems that led him into a cave and a multitude of hallucinations he and some fanatic followers with nothing better to do proclaimed as a great revelation from an ancient diety called Allah. Being from a basically violent and hardassed patriarchal society, that religion became a basically violent, hardassed, do it our way or here come the stones, swords and the human bombs religion.
So, I'll keep on posting wise sayings from whatever source, but I certainly am not going to set their authors up on some pedestle and lobby for people to start following them as some anointed spokesman from some ethereal place. We've had enough of that crap, and look where it has gotten us!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME
(From Facebook.)
Just to make it clear, yeah, I do care if people like me. I prefer that they do. (This is in further response to a comment below.) I think any normal human prefers to be liked or, at least, respected. At the same time, I'm not in desperate need of anyone's approval. I've proven for decades now that I can stand alone and that business proverb my son and I had -- eat no shit and kiss no ass -- is still my guiding principle of life.
I get very outspoken here and on my blog. That's me. If anyone is looking for namby pamby wishy washy, they're out of luck as far as I'm concerned. I says it the way I sees it, nice or not, and it's often not nice. The time for being nice is long past as far as I'm concerned. The enemy is not nice, never was nice and never will be nice.
So, take me as I am or leave me. A few (very few) have unfriended me and that's a freedom we all enjoy here on Facebook.
I'm not changing.
Just to make it clear, yeah, I do care if people like me. I prefer that they do. (This is in further response to a comment below.) I think any normal human prefers to be liked or, at least, respected. At the same time, I'm not in desperate need of anyone's approval. I've proven for decades now that I can stand alone and that business proverb my son and I had -- eat no shit and kiss no ass -- is still my guiding principle of life.
I get very outspoken here and on my blog. That's me. If anyone is looking for namby pamby wishy washy, they're out of luck as far as I'm concerned. I says it the way I sees it, nice or not, and it's often not nice. The time for being nice is long past as far as I'm concerned. The enemy is not nice, never was nice and never will be nice.
So, take me as I am or leave me. A few (very few) have unfriended me and that's a freedom we all enjoy here on Facebook.
I'm not changing.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
PISSED OFF!
I'm pissed!
About what?
All the damn lies and snide remarks directed toward Barach Obama. He can't do anything without somebody twisting it into something evil. He's never once championed anything that threatened to take the right to own a gun from any responsible, law-abiding individual, but "he's coming for your guns" is being mindlessly spit out every damn day.
If he goes back home to Hawaii for the holidays, it's oh so wasteful. He can't take a working vacation anywhere without it being painted as plunging us into irretrievable debt. He has a responsibility to represent us in foreign meetings and good will trips, just like all presidents have had to do, but he apparently shouldn't because it costs too much.
The truth is, you probably hate his black ass because he has a black ass and you're a damn racist. You don't want him doing anything because he, as a black man, isn't good enough. Or, you can't stand the fact that he beat out your beloved gang of rethug fascists -- TWICE! That thwarts your dreams of furthur plunging our nation into a haven for the super rich and a Dickensian hell hole for everyone else! While hypocritically maintaining "this is the greatest nation on earth."
NO IT ISN'T! NOT SINCE AROUND 1980!
There, I said it! If you don't like it, take a good long smell of my rear end!
About what?
All the damn lies and snide remarks directed toward Barach Obama. He can't do anything without somebody twisting it into something evil. He's never once championed anything that threatened to take the right to own a gun from any responsible, law-abiding individual, but "he's coming for your guns" is being mindlessly spit out every damn day.
If he goes back home to Hawaii for the holidays, it's oh so wasteful. He can't take a working vacation anywhere without it being painted as plunging us into irretrievable debt. He has a responsibility to represent us in foreign meetings and good will trips, just like all presidents have had to do, but he apparently shouldn't because it costs too much.
The truth is, you probably hate his black ass because he has a black ass and you're a damn racist. You don't want him doing anything because he, as a black man, isn't good enough. Or, you can't stand the fact that he beat out your beloved gang of rethug fascists -- TWICE! That thwarts your dreams of furthur plunging our nation into a haven for the super rich and a Dickensian hell hole for everyone else! While hypocritically maintaining "this is the greatest nation on earth."
NO IT ISN'T! NOT SINCE AROUND 1980!
There, I said it! If you don't like it, take a good long smell of my rear end!
Sunday, August 4, 2013
PUBLISHING IS A PIECE OF CAKE TODAY
I so enjoy videos by George Carlin and wondered if he was still around.
Nope. He died in 2008. Another great voice stilled but his videos live on.
That's one of the great bonuses of modern Technology. We've had lots of books for centuries now and that has been important, but they don't hold a candle to the impact of what is readily available online. It takes time to pull down a book and read it, even more time to find it and often lots of money to buy it. Then, I have to make the time to sit down and read it. I'm still plugging along on Herb Silverman's autobiography.
That fact can be viewed as either good or bad, depending on how one thinks about it. I personally consider it very good. I still encounter bookcases full of books at estate sales and have to wonder how many of those books were really read by the person who owned them.
Give me websites and blogs. I whiz around them constantly and don't have to spend hours to find the gems I'm looking for. If I want something, Google will usually have it in front of my eyes in a few seconds just by typing in the proper keywords.
I typed in George Carlin a few minutes ago and "Bingo." Up came the info I wanted. Two minutes tops!
It must be a breeze to do term papers these days. One can zero in on specific facets of a subject so easily and then put it all in their own words, again on a computer. No need for a clunky old typewriter, lots of paper, ribbons, carbon paper, correction tape or fluid, retyping several times, etc. No lead type, galleys and page proofs. What a simple operation writing has become!
What would an ancient scribe pressing wedges into soft clay tablets or dabbing ink on parchment think if they could see this? It would have boggled my mind back there in the fifties when it took us a week to put out the little college paper and The Plain Truth I helped edit.
Desk top publishing. It's great!
Nope. He died in 2008. Another great voice stilled but his videos live on.
That's one of the great bonuses of modern Technology. We've had lots of books for centuries now and that has been important, but they don't hold a candle to the impact of what is readily available online. It takes time to pull down a book and read it, even more time to find it and often lots of money to buy it. Then, I have to make the time to sit down and read it. I'm still plugging along on Herb Silverman's autobiography.
That fact can be viewed as either good or bad, depending on how one thinks about it. I personally consider it very good. I still encounter bookcases full of books at estate sales and have to wonder how many of those books were really read by the person who owned them.
Give me websites and blogs. I whiz around them constantly and don't have to spend hours to find the gems I'm looking for. If I want something, Google will usually have it in front of my eyes in a few seconds just by typing in the proper keywords.
I typed in George Carlin a few minutes ago and "Bingo." Up came the info I wanted. Two minutes tops!
It must be a breeze to do term papers these days. One can zero in on specific facets of a subject so easily and then put it all in their own words, again on a computer. No need for a clunky old typewriter, lots of paper, ribbons, carbon paper, correction tape or fluid, retyping several times, etc. No lead type, galleys and page proofs. What a simple operation writing has become!
What would an ancient scribe pressing wedges into soft clay tablets or dabbing ink on parchment think if they could see this? It would have boggled my mind back there in the fifties when it took us a week to put out the little college paper and The Plain Truth I helped edit.
Desk top publishing. It's great!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
PAX USA
Still thinking.
Today about the similarities between Rome and the USA. Rome was the wonder of the world two thousand years ago. It ruthlessly enforced pax romana (I think that's right) just like we enforce pax USA, also with varying degrees of success and squandering resources at staggering rates.
The rich and privileged ruled Rome and bought their way everywhere, just like the banking and corporate tycoons of today. The details are different. The system hasn't changed much at all. Lesser people were pawns and sword fodder, necessry to keep everything functioning but of no real account to those at the top.
I keep hoping reason and principle will triumph in the end, but I'm also a realist, and what I see and hear everyday doesn't enourage deep optimism.
Guess I'll check up on some more stuff about Rome. That's what history is written for.
Today about the similarities between Rome and the USA. Rome was the wonder of the world two thousand years ago. It ruthlessly enforced pax romana (I think that's right) just like we enforce pax USA, also with varying degrees of success and squandering resources at staggering rates.
The rich and privileged ruled Rome and bought their way everywhere, just like the banking and corporate tycoons of today. The details are different. The system hasn't changed much at all. Lesser people were pawns and sword fodder, necessry to keep everything functioning but of no real account to those at the top.
I keep hoping reason and principle will triumph in the end, but I'm also a realist, and what I see and hear everyday doesn't enourage deep optimism.
Guess I'll check up on some more stuff about Rome. That's what history is written for.
Friday, August 2, 2013
DON GOD
While we were driving to sales this morning, our conversation was on the stupidity of religion, as it often is. We both settled on how much like a mafia don, or Middle Eastern warlord the common conception of god and the practice of religion is.
From now on, I think I'll start referring to the commonly worshiped western deity as "don God." I mean, the similarities are glaring. That's because of the society out of which those concepts arose. They were all patriarchal, tribal and authoritarian. The guy at the top lived in pampered luxury and demanded cowering subservience from all those under him. It only took a word from him for someone's life to be summarily snuffed out. Read the story of David if you have any doubts about that. Ancient Israel was just like modern day Afghanistan.
It started out small, with little clans and tribes, then city states, finally nations and empires. It's been a story of political evolution, and democratic ideas have never been all that popular in most of the world until fairly recent times, and they're under siege every day.
Clan law was the beginning and still exists in things like the mafia. You even find it enshrined in Bible statutes such as the haven cities of refuge people who killed someone accidentally could flee to for safety from the avenger of the family. My McCoy ancestors considered it their duty to champion it against the Hatfields in not too distant times right here in the USA.
So, today, we have the "soldiers" of one religion arrayed against the "soldiers" of another religion in what can be likened to gang warfare. It's don God against don Allah and each faction jealously guards its territory and plots to wipe the rival out. Inside those broad factions are separate "families" competing and waring with each other. It's quite a spectacle!
The more things change, the more they stay pretty much the same
From now on, I think I'll start referring to the commonly worshiped western deity as "don God." I mean, the similarities are glaring. That's because of the society out of which those concepts arose. They were all patriarchal, tribal and authoritarian. The guy at the top lived in pampered luxury and demanded cowering subservience from all those under him. It only took a word from him for someone's life to be summarily snuffed out. Read the story of David if you have any doubts about that. Ancient Israel was just like modern day Afghanistan.
It started out small, with little clans and tribes, then city states, finally nations and empires. It's been a story of political evolution, and democratic ideas have never been all that popular in most of the world until fairly recent times, and they're under siege every day.
Clan law was the beginning and still exists in things like the mafia. You even find it enshrined in Bible statutes such as the haven cities of refuge people who killed someone accidentally could flee to for safety from the avenger of the family. My McCoy ancestors considered it their duty to champion it against the Hatfields in not too distant times right here in the USA.
So, today, we have the "soldiers" of one religion arrayed against the "soldiers" of another religion in what can be likened to gang warfare. It's don God against don Allah and each faction jealously guards its territory and plots to wipe the rival out. Inside those broad factions are separate "families" competing and waring with each other. It's quite a spectacle!
The more things change, the more they stay pretty much the same
MAKING PROGRESS
(Originally published on Facebook.)
I guess I'll have to stop reposting so much stuff. It's hard though. So many people come up with the perfect way to put things and it'd be a shame not to share it, but I do resist the urge once in awhile.
Even then, I feel so weak and powerless against the avalanche of deceitful propaganda to which the world is subjected. Yes, I know not all of them are being deliberately deceitful. They really believe the crap they're spouting. More and more of us are determined to keep up the pressure and fill the web with the facts. No one of us can accomplish great things on our own, but together, we're becoming a thunderous voice that grows daily.
Two years ago, our free thought group didn't exist here in Sedona and the Verde Valley. We already number in the dozens and are growing at a steady rate. We're finding ways to get our message out. I find that fact encouraging. All good movements start out small and grow. It's happening all over the country.
That's the cheering thought I'll take to bed.
I guess I'll have to stop reposting so much stuff. It's hard though. So many people come up with the perfect way to put things and it'd be a shame not to share it, but I do resist the urge once in awhile.
Even then, I feel so weak and powerless against the avalanche of deceitful propaganda to which the world is subjected. Yes, I know not all of them are being deliberately deceitful. They really believe the crap they're spouting. More and more of us are determined to keep up the pressure and fill the web with the facts. No one of us can accomplish great things on our own, but together, we're becoming a thunderous voice that grows daily.
Two years ago, our free thought group didn't exist here in Sedona and the Verde Valley. We already number in the dozens and are growing at a steady rate. We're finding ways to get our message out. I find that fact encouraging. All good movements start out small and grow. It's happening all over the country.
That's the cheering thought I'll take to bed.
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