tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34174880742485724272024-02-19T08:29:52.253-08:00The Age of Reason -- 21st CenturyAllen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.comBlogger425125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-21126700133598301322014-10-20T23:01:00.001-07:002014-10-20T23:01:11.517-07:00DEATH COMES TO ALLI just learned that my first wife who divorced me mainly because I would not tow the line to the religion I had fallen for earlier in life is on her death bed. I have neither joy nor deep sorrow over the situation. It was inevitable that this day would come soon, and I know all too well that it isn't that far away where I'm concerned.<br />
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When people die, it leaves a temporary hole in some lives and it's sad that it leaves such a little one in her children's lives. She was not an evil person in basic intent. Nevertheless, the ravages of cultic religion took their toll on her and led to her estrangement from all her children.<br />
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A few years later, after my second wife left me a widower, she made overtures to a renewal of our life together, but I was not interested. I knew it would be disastrous to try anything of the kind.<br />
<br />
I moved on and built a new life and so have the children. I know she could not have been deeply happy, but none of us could do anything about that.<br />
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Time to go to bed and reflect on this and many other things, like her telling me right after she separated from me and filed for divorce that I was going to "lose everything." That's about as good as all other prophetic prognostications that came out of that cultic hodge podge.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-22270528466309869772014-10-15T13:10:00.003-07:002014-10-15T13:10:32.509-07:00CONTROLLERS<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; display: block; font: 14px/19px Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 6px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
Controlling, opinionated and hateful people are a great big pain in the ass!</div>
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We went to WalMart today for some shopping. As usual, we took our Poms with us and sat with them on the bench just inside the entrance and cart area. As soon as we appeared, some hateful woman complained to the greeter that they were allowing dogs in the store and he told me it might be best if I didn't bring them next time.</div>
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I'm not one to bow to that sort of thing and objected to some bitch with a<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>bad attitude destroying all the joy we and so many others get out of those little dogs and certainly the joy they get. People have learned to look for them and fall over them in joyful petting, dog kisses, etc. So, I told him that until the management told me to cease and desist, I intended to keep on bringing them and sitting in that entrance area where they store carts and welcome shoppers. We never take them into the store proper, but many do and claim they are service dogs whether they really are or not.</span></div>
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The manager happened by a few minutes later and the greeter mentioned the situation to him. He said not to worry about it. So, we're home free for now.</div>
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No matter what people do, some scowl-faced busybody is sure to try to take all the joy out of other people's lives based on their personal quirks, beliefs and prejudices. Those dogs live for trips out like this. They've never even growled at a human being in their entire lives. It's two-way love, and the world needs a whole lot more of that!</div>
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Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-17606290142500967142014-10-15T13:00:00.000-07:002014-10-15T13:00:13.477-07:00THAT OLD ANXIETY ATTACKI'm sure everyone has had that constricted feeling in their throat when some anxiety or fear gripped them. It can even get painful and last a while after the episode is over. <br />
<br />
We're not the only creatures in which this phenomenon occurs. I've seen it in our little dogs, especially the oldest and most sensitive Pomeranian, Trouble.<br />
<br />
I wrote about our losing Daisy, our Pomchi, last Friday. Everything that transpired had an obvious effect on her two fellow pack mates. They were obviously upset when she failed to come back home Friday and I'm sure they didn't know she was in that little box. Saturday, Trouble developed a hacking cough that got so bad we were back at the vet's by late morning. It was just a restricted breathing passage, which is common to small breeds like Pomeranians, especially when they are upset. We got an expensive prescription which helped yesterday, but the problem cleared up by today.<br />
<br />
Now that we know why these attacks come on, it will be easier to deal with them. I took extra pains this evening to brush and pet Trouble in my lap and make him feel secure. People make a big mistake when they discount other creatures capacity for emotions and deep feelings. They're not that much different from us.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-74817798356281969682014-10-15T11:52:00.003-07:002014-10-15T11:52:49.165-07:00IN MEMORYThere's sadness at our house today. "Little Girl," our beloved Pomchi didn't survive a medical procedure to realign her right hip joint. I had forebodings last night and was up over two hours, unable to sleep.<br />
Daisy had breathing difficulties that were enhanced by any emotional upset, a sort of asthma. She got very upset when we went yesterday for diagnosis and that was heightened by a nearby electrical storm last evening. She was even more upset when we put her in the car to go for treatment this morning. She's been a bundle of nerves ever since her original owner gave her up to us because she was being bullied by her new husband's chihuahuas. She grieved over that for many moons but had settled down to a seeming acceptance of us.<br />
<br />
Even when she would stand at the bedroom door and yip to be let in or out when she was perfectly capable of going through it on her own if we weren't around, we couldn't be cross with her. You see, she was a princess, and by cricketty a princess should get better service than that.<br />
<br />
So, a little bit of the consciousness that has evolved out of the atomic mixtures of the galaxy is now returning those wonderfully organized atoms back into the intricate mixture that makes up everything and they'll go on in myriad new forms and mixtures, including other animals and vegetation.<br />
It's been a privilege to have her in our lives, to see her joy and a multitude of delightful little idiosyncrasies. She'll be remembered as long as our breath continues. Inevitably, we will join her.<br />
Not the best birthday present.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-28010585528251660032014-09-05T12:12:00.000-07:002014-09-05T12:12:48.876-07:00HUMAN COMPUTERSHuman beings are so much like computers! Computers don't think or reason and neither do most human beings about the programming they receive right after manufacture. Both come into existence totally blank. Programming is the key to everything, and you'd better have good virus and malware protection or some bastard is going to corrupt everything for a multitude of nefarious objectives. <br />
<br />
I have Avast free antivirus because of budgetary concerns, but I noticed that a whole lot of annoying popups were still plaguing me. Then, thanks to a tip I got on Facebook, I downloaded Malwarebytes and a whole host of things got expunged from my computer. No more problem with those annoying popups but I can't get into a game program that was apparently the source of some of my problems. Good riddance, as far as I'm concerned. I really don't need to be wasting my time being frustrated by that stupid butterflies game. It gets to be a time-wasting habit.<br />
<br />
I came into this world like a pristine computer. Immediately, through my family, community, schooling, social contacts, etc., my programming began and a lot of it was corrupted, Along about eighteen, a virulently malicious malware invaded through radio, print and publications and I embarked on twenty-two years of viral madness. It's taken decades to slowly and painfully erase one junk item after another, sometimes wandering into other malware territory. <br />
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Just thought I'd toss that out for you all to ruminate over.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-14166238754378373632014-09-02T13:19:00.001-07:002014-09-02T13:19:13.481-07:00THE MILITANT ME ANALYZEDSome facts about myself have forced me to carefully analyze some of my attitudes and motivations, mainly what makes me so hostile to religion and faith and so dedicated to fighting both. As in most negative scenarios, such emotions usually hark back to some psychological trauma.<br />
<br />
In my case, it goes back to squandering about two decades of my life through falling for the machinations of a cultmeister who artfully employed all the conman and mafia don devices of an Adolf Hitler or a Carmine Gallanti. In fact, he had studied Hitler's Mein Kampf I have since found out. He was absolutely determined to make himself a god on earth, and like Hitler, he succeeded, in this case, until the end of a life of 92 years. <br />
<br />
I have to admit that falling for this gigantic scam did serve to get me out of the nowhere situation I was trapped in. In spite of all the trauma in my life, I did escape from the humdrum existence I would have naturally hated if I'd been stuck on a farm or ranch for the rest of my life. I am thankful for that, but it doesn't change the fact that, like a goosestepping SS fanatic, I did lasting damage to many I love the most, as well as many other innocent victims I wrote to and counseled, in addition to having to spend decades straightening out my own mind.<br />
<br />
If I could have had the prescience to know that my natural place in life was in the journalism and teaching field and had I had some way to get myself there, I'm sure I'd still be an outspoken liberal activist, but I might not be so heavily dedicated to debunking things of faith and religion. I'm sort of a Simon Wiesenthal. Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-80311828118763180402014-08-28T15:52:00.000-07:002014-08-28T15:53:41.505-07:00A QUESTION FOR YOUI have a question for just about everybody on this earth -- why the hell are you so dedicated to and fanatical about the gods and religions that have been, throughout history, forced upon you all through brutality and violence? In short, it's the old mafia game of making an offer that cannot be refused, and you go along with it out of fear toward doing anything else and actually thinking.<br />
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Rev. Al Sharpton is on MSNBC right now and I can hear it clearly from the kitchen TV. He's a black man and an ordained Christian minister of some denomination that is absolutely convinced they're representatives of the only legitimate god. How come? His ancestors were brutally kidnapped and brought by the millions to this and other areas of the world. Preachers took advantage of their subservient and desperate conditions to systematically fill their minds with the garbage that constitutes Christianity. I'm aware that a few negroid people have tried to keep alive some of the original African beliefs through Santoria, but the majority just "Amen" themselves hoarse shouting out their grafted on beliefs in multitudes of churches.<br />
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Same with Native Americans. Do any of them still worship "The Great Spirit?" Maybe a few have spurned the nonsense missionaries tried to palm off on the few desperate survivors. (I'm not saying that they had any deep truth before, but it wasn't the crap of a malevolent deity condemning the whole human race to death over eating some fictional fruit, then raping a Jewish girl to impregnate himself into human form so he could sacrifice himself to himself to supposedly set everything right -- if you manage to get the formula right and accidentally end up in the "right" group.)<br />
<br />
Throughout the Middle East and Africa, people fanatically worship a religion that was forced upon their ancestors on the pain of being summarily and brutally dispatched if they didn't acquiesce and start flopping on their brainwashed faces five times a day to pray to Allah.<br />
<br />
How about you? Where is the Thor, the Odin, etc. our ancestors (if you're white European in ancestry) worshiped and abandoned to keep a sword (or worse) from dispatching them to whatever afterlife they previously looked forward to.<br />
<br />
It's about time people started thinking about all those certainties they're so fanatically dedicated to believing out of plain old fear of condemnation. <br />
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Talk about Terrorism! The "Stockholm syndrome" controls the world and dictates what most people say they believe, but in the back of many, many minds there have to be deep questions. At least, there should beAllen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-34420825791483627152014-08-27T11:03:00.004-07:002014-08-27T11:03:57.501-07:00CURVE BALLS OF LIFEA good friend of mine and former Worldwide minister tells us this morning that there is a spot on one of his lungs that has to be tested for cancer. Of course, that will take a few days. He had a cancer removed from his shoulder a few months back and has pretty well recovered from that. This is way more serious. Hopefully, it's only a fungus infection. That would still be serious but much easier overall to deal with.<br />
<br />
It all seems so unfair, and it is. Here I am, nearly 80 and healthy as an old nearly worn out horse. Of course, there could be some serious condition creeping up on me while I'm blissfully unaware just like they crept up on him. I've noticed how slowly wounds heal now because my body just doesn't repair itself as fast as it used to. I tire out and want to sit down much sooner than I did last year and shockingly sooner than I did a decade ago.<br />
<br />
We like to say of cars that it's probably time to jack them up and drive a new one under it, and that's kind of the way with our physical bodies. We are a physical machine after all. Some last longer than others with fewer problems but all eventually break down. <br />
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I try not to dwell on these facts, but they're real and can't be totally ignored. That makes each day that comes along more and more precious.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-14076410909456434892014-08-25T14:50:00.001-07:002014-08-25T14:50:10.800-07:00COMPLEMENTARY SEX DIFFERENCESI love our dogs, and I like to pet them, but if they have a choice, they will go to Phyllis every time. I think I know why.<br />
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There's something special about the soft touch of a female. I noticed that early on in life. I know my dad loved me just as much as my mother in many ways, but I always sought out her comfort first. I didn't wear ties much as a kid, but I soon learned how to tie them myself so I didn't have to endure my dad doing it. I characterize it as "whoop, whoop, whoop, whap!" It ended up so tight on my neck that I had to loosen it. So, I learned how to do dad's half Windsor really quick and stepped up to the square knot of a full Windsor when I started college and learned the difference.<br />
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We males have a hard time equaling a woman's gentle touch. I guess it's a hormone thing, and there's probably an equal desire on the part of women to feel the strength in a man at appropriate times and circumstances. We complement each other.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-23453770866213061352014-08-25T10:12:00.000-07:002014-08-25T10:12:09.880-07:00THE AMERICAN HOLOCAUSTCondemnation of the Holocaust is pretty much universal, but the spirit of the holocaust lives on, here in America and elsewhere in the world.<br />
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There's a clandestine holocaust going on today against people who are viewed as different -- immigrants, homosexuals, poor and downtrodden (especially if you're black or latino), anyone with a drug or alcohol problem. In short anyone who isn't rabidly christian and monetarily prosperous. <br />
<br />
Our prison system has become a bloated source of wealth for private capital while we lock away a greater percentage of our population than any other developed nation in our growing system of concentration camps, knowing full well that when the inmates are released, they will almost certainly have to resort to some sort of crime just to survive and end up right back where they were so the bloated millionaires can continue to rape the economy and ride around in luxury.<br />
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Think I'm kidding? Think again! You have to be blind if you don't see what's going on, or just too damn mentally lazy to think about it. <br />
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Police are becoming more and more thuggish and militarized. People as a whole are being deadened to the suffering and inequality all around them. It's Nazi Germany all over again. Time to wake up and quit being placid because they haven't come for you yet.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-20751222054953579052014-08-21T21:37:00.001-07:002014-08-21T21:37:09.005-07:00THE ILLUSION OF PERMANENCEWhat is a human life, after all? We all stumble through it with our triumphs and our disappointments. <br />
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I drive across the desert or through the plains of the Midwest and Canada and see all the tumble down places and shelter belts that no longer shelter any buildings at all and wonder who once lived there and what they dreamed would become of what they so laboriously built. I wonder how much would still be recognizable on my parent's ranch today. <br />
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Even in my younger life, the original 160 acre plots people had homesteaded in the early 1900s had been absorbed in much larger holdings of several quarters or sections, and there were a few traces here and there of buildings and fences that had long since disappeared. Since then, the trend has increased exponentially. <br />
<br />
We bought the property we now own (in partnership with Nationstar) in Cottonwood a little over six years ago, and we've made a few improvements and planted some trees and shrubs. Mr. Guhl, the former owner had died, and it was too much for his wife to keep up. She moved into some kind of retirement community, and the place became ours, but that is only interim also. The day will inevitably come when we will either die or have to give it up for someone else to take over.<br />
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The last time I was in Pasadena, the downtown was totally different. That great mall on Colorado Boulevard had gone belly up. Ambassador College was still recognizable, but it wouldn't be today. Many of those magnificent old buildings we took such pride in have been razed to the ground and replaced with something more in keeping with what the population of today needs. That, too, will likely only be temporary. <br />
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Nothing is so permanent as change. Nothing more temporary than our personal accomplishments.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-83905395398670888242014-08-21T12:14:00.002-07:002014-08-21T12:14:15.680-07:00SURVIVAL AFTER DEATHI was ruminating over the common belief that we go on living in something that's often referred to as a spiritual or astral existence after we die. Those who believe such things assume we're just a physical mirror of something more permanent and invisible that goes on after we die. <br />
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Comforting beliefs, but why doesn't that separate existence come into play when our brains are deadened by anesthetic? How can that entity speak without a mouth, hear without an ear, feel without a body, see without an eye, etc., all of which function through a brain that is physical and ceases to operate once its supply of oxygenated blood is cut off? <br />
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Resusitation of a dead person doesn't lead to anything except a vegetative existence if the physical brain is deprived of oxygen for any significant period of time and even that has a definite time period attached to it. It looks to me like anything "spiritual" is inexorably dependent on that fatty mass of tissue that resides inside our skulls.<br />
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I've not experienced anesthesia more than a couple times, but I can't tell you a solitary thing about what went on while I was "out." Why didn't I astral travel like some people claim they can? All we have as evidence for their doing so is the anecdotal claims they make for what could be nothing more than a vivid imagination and a daydream. I've had some pretty vivid daydreams in my time, and you probably have also. I can dredge up pictures from my boyhood on that North Dakota ranch anytime and about several other places I've lived. I can make them pretty vivid and if I let myself or was impressionable enough, I might even be sure I went back there in spirit.<br />
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I know this proves nothing, but neither do extraordinary claims which require extraordinary evidence and proofs before they can be established as facts. Courts don't accept "hearsay," and neither am I prepared to do so.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-48304412060169604292014-08-14T13:32:00.001-07:002014-08-14T13:32:15.893-07:00THINK, DAMMIT!Religion and politics are both a money and power game. That's why our founders tried so hard to keep them separate and why we had to have a Bill of Rights before the former colonists would ratify the Constitution. It's been under assault continuously ever since. <br />
<br />
The problem with religion is not the average "believer" who carelessly goes along with whatever his forbears and the culture saddles him with, and the same is true with the average political loyalty of the average person who just buys in emotionally to some groups propaganda for innumerable psychological reasons.<br />
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The problem is the "leaders" whose power and affluence depend on selling a bill of goods which furthers their nefarious objectives of control, and enrichment, I saw it in action when I was ensnared in Herbert Armstrong's cult. He was ruthless once he had a power base and reacted in fury to any challenge of his position while he lived the luxurious life of an oriental potentate.<br />
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I've learned to ask, "What's the real agenda here?" <br />
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Think, people! I know it takes effort, and it's not fashionable. But -- just think!Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-70219990992717884672014-08-12T20:27:00.000-07:002014-08-12T20:27:00.189-07:00FACING REALITYAnother famous dead person from show business, Lauren Bacall. At least she died of a massive stroke at the age of 89. That's a good long life! <br />
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Soon all those of my generation are going to be among the fondly remembered and in a few decades, they'll slowly slip from people's minds just like the silent film era stars did. It's the inevitable fate we all face.<br />
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I guess that's why the fiction of continuing existence in heaven, reincarnation on earth and numerous other fanciful notions are so compelling. We don't like the thought of just disappearing from reality in a blast of finality. We're too unique, too special. We just can't fathom not being anymore, not seeing, not hearing, not doing loving things for people dear to us, etc.<br />
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I've had to struggle against the reality that cold reason and plain old facts forces upon us. That's another reason I don't seek after funerals and memorials anymore. I know what people expect, and I just can't conscientiously deliver it. I'm not a liar. I don't believe in furthering fantasy and false hopes. For a while I could skirt the edges because I wasn't totally convinced myself. That has all changed now. I'm absolutely convinced that this temporal existence is the real "it." I'll be just as gone as those moths being fried in my bug light.<br />
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It would be comforting to still believe in a resurrection or wafting off to heaven and some waiting 'pearly gates.' Waiting for Santa every Christmas used to be comforting too to my naive little mind. Then, I got smart and pretended to be asleep and knew all about my parents pulling stuff out of the attic and putting those things under the tree and pouring all those goodies into the stockings. <br />
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It happens to stars. It happens to everything else in the universe. Birth, existence in more or less a blaze of glory for a definite period of time and then it's all over. Even the earth on which we depend won't last forever.<br />
<br />
I had my birth. Much of my life was a blaze of glory now that I look back on it. Now, it's beginning to fade at an increasingly rapid rate. One day, it will be over, just like Lauren's and Robin's lives and just like all those others I've known, interacted with and who are now gone.<br />
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Do I like it? Can't say I do. I just have to face it and make the most of it.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-33779778330731289902014-08-11T21:03:00.000-07:002014-08-11T21:03:46.754-07:00COULD I BE SUICIDAL?There has to be a lot of pain and/or despair in someone's life for them to commit suicide. On the surface, one would think Robin Williams had it made. He was famous. He was loved and respected, praised as a talented comedian and actor. I doubt that he had deep financial worries and he was married to a woman I assume he loved deeply and had children he loved very much.<br />
<br />
His wife's parents used to live in unit 5 of the condo complex Phyllis bought into in Phoenix and which I moved into when we got married. However, they were no longer there at that time. He used to come by to see them.<br />
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I saw on TV how he felt that the most wonderful things that had happened to him in life was welcoming his children into the world. I can identify with that. Yet, something was just too overwhelming for him to face any longer.<br />
<br />
Would I ever come to the place where I'd rather die than go on? I have to honestly say, yes. Right now, no. Life is just too good and too interesting. But, that could easily change. There could come a time when the pain of going on is just too much, the struggle more than one can bear.<br />
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And, don't give me any high falutin' "spiritual" garbage about it. If a revered Israelite king could fall on his sword to prevent capture by and humiliation from the enemy, I can decide life has become intolerable and end it all. That would be my business and nobody else's.<br />
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So, thanks for all the laughs and for all the good you tried to do, Robin. You'll be remembered longer than most people are, so that's a little bit of immortality -- the only kind any of us can count on achieving.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-5781324910979739852014-08-08T20:09:00.000-07:002014-08-08T20:09:01.045-07:00LIFE'S REALITIESI drug the steam machine out of my van and hauled it into the house so I could clean our carpets. They really needed it. I ended up totally exhausted and torn over whether to put the machine back in my van or figure a way to store it at home. I knew this day was coming, but I didn't realize how devastating it would be emotionally. <br />
<br />
You know life forces changes on you, but until they actually come about, it's somewhat hazy and ethereal and the actual reality eludes one for a long time. At eighteen, sticking a pitchfork into the corner of a stack of hay and glorying in rolling it into a hay wagon like it was nothing became a way of life for me until way past middle age. Young men really do glory in their strength and it's hard to really grasp what it's going to be like when it begins, with ever growing rapidity, to decline. <br />
<br />
I sat for a while on the patio and mulled the situation over, only to have a former neighbor stop by and ask if I'd be willing to do their living room and kitchen carpets for them and what I'd charge. I guess I can handle that yet, but it was only a short while ago that I would have greedily sought after such a job. Now, I don't even advertise for them.<br />
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If you're young, treasure that strength and agility and employ it judiciously so you don't end up with a bad back or some other problem. Enjoy all you can while you have the ability and you'll be able to look back with satisfaction when you get where i am at things you've done and accomplished. It's still going to hurt though when it all goes bye bye.<br />
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It will go bye bye!Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-18678016246695805032014-08-02T13:14:00.000-07:002014-08-02T13:14:45.735-07:00GOD IS A "FUCK UP!"(fROM fACEBOOK.)<br />
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I was finishing up a late breakfast and Phyllis was showing me some things she was thinking of ordering, including a non-sticky fly catcher. It got me ruminating about things that pissed me off at "god" even when I was dumb enough to wholeheartedly believe in that nonsense.<br />
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I couldn't begin to list all the travesties of the natural world that inspire loathing and revulsion at the very concept of a "loving" creator but mosquitoes have to be near the top of the list. Any supreme being who could think up those insidious little blood sucking, disease carrying monsters has to be a sadist on galactic proportions. The disgusting litany of horrible parasites that infest us and the rest of the natural world have to be right up there with them.<br />
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Then, what about all the genetic horrors that seem to come out of nowhere to afflict just about every species inhabiting this planet. I mean, we can, when we're careful about it, mass produce perfect products in an endless stream, but "god" can't stop a mongoloid child from coming down the pike. <br />
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Supposedly, he's all knowing, all powerful, all wise, ad infinitum and ad nauseum. In fact, that fictional construct is a "fuck up" of cosmic proportions that only infantile and deluded minds could have dreamed up. <br />
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I used to love Superman comics when I was a kid and all the other super hero constructs as well, but then, I grew up and became a bit more rational. However, it was a process that took many decades because, at age 18, I substituted something just as ludicrous as Superman, etc. and dutifully served and preached that nonsense for a mighty long time.<br />
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Come on, now. There's one statement Paul made that I agree with, but even he wasn't following it. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (KJV)." <br />
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God concepts originated when the human race had hardly reached the toddler stage yet we hang onto them like a scared little kid who won't go to sleep without his or her "teddy."Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-1670806416398311662014-07-14T16:17:00.004-07:002014-07-14T16:17:50.786-07:00DUMB ASS RELIGIOUS PRACTICESI was just out on the patio enjoying a brief and far too light rain shower when I got to thinking about some of my past religious experiences. In the cult I was part of, we tried to out-jew most Jews in observing everything from the food laws to the weekly Sabbath and the Bible holy days. We were quite a bunch of nuts, as I look back on it now.<br />
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I reflected on a particular Day of Atonement I endured (can't recall the year). That holy day is known as Yom Kippur to Jewish people. They are to afflict their souls for the whole damn day without eating or drinking anything and we dutifully did so, only to find since then that old Herb had a habit of fudging, but we never guessed that then.<br />
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Anyway, a real heat wave hit that day and we were sitting through the obligatory morning and afternoon services in the old not-air-conditioned Shakespeare Club in Pasadena. It's a wonder there weren't some medical emergencies, but I know of none. We got through and back home where we had a fan and a shower. My wife and I stripped bare naked and alternated between jumping in the shower and lying down in front of the fan to air dry. It cooled a bit about sunset and we went to a restaurant to break our obligatory fast and I think we must have consumed over a gallon of water each during that meal.<br />
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I look back on that now and wonder at what a dumb ass religion makes out of us. Whoever dreamed this crap up had to be a master of manipulation to realize how righteous such stuff makes people feel. Muslims are even worse about it. They're going through their Ramadan right now, fasting all day, feasting at night. What a dumb ass thing to do! But, it makes them feel special, holy and blessed.<br />
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How well I remember.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-42300577295726873972014-07-13T12:25:00.000-07:002014-07-13T12:27:10.879-07:00SAME OLD SAME OLD(From Facebook.)<br />
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Things just keep popping into my mind and this morning it's about how similar things stay in religious huckstering through the ages. As other posters have pointed out, most of religious stereotypes past and present, exhibit the clear signs of mental psychosis which gets credited to inspiration and spirituality.<br />
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I'll contrast Paul and my old nemesis, Herbert Armstrong. Both claimed special inspiration and leadership from "god." Herb claimed he was specially led in an Oregon public library. The truth is that he mined the psychotic madness of several other far out denizens of spiritual stupidity and plagiarized chosen bits of their nonsense to concoct a hodgepodge of pseudo spiritual nonsense that appealed to people who yearned to be specially chosen "god's pets." Most of us were misfits in the societies we were running from.<br />
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Once Herb had his millions of dollars secured from all us fanatics, he set out to palm himself off as some great teacher taking the end time warning message to the world. He got himself a luxurious private jet and flew around the world, hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, shopping at Harrods of London for steuben crystal gifts to present to people he called world leaders, but they were usually washed up former royalty and third world despots, bloviating about "a strong hand from somewhere" while pretending that was preaching the gospel.<br />
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So-called "apostle Paul" (he made the claim -- nobody in Jerusalem considered him such), also claimed special revelation through a seizure of some sort on the road to Damascus and an undocumented jaunt to arabia where Jesus, he assures us, personally communicated with him, much like a later guy by the name of Muhammad. He too, liked to travel around and build up admiring followings from the misfits and unstable of the world, but that often lasted for a short period and he did complain that everybody in Asia had forsaken him. He eventually ended up under arrest and unable to move around anymore and, I guess, executed.<br />
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At least Herb got to pass quietly sitting in a chair in his sumptuous mansion, but what he built has degenerated into the same kind of confusing plethora of warring sects as the original Catholicism Paul helped give rise to. <br />
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There's really nothing truly new under the sun when it comes to the circus that is religion.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-47552016961042311322014-07-12T21:30:00.000-07:002014-07-12T21:30:22.070-07:00SKEPTIC ALMy second grandson, Connor Mounts, has just turned 21. I remember how I waited for that fateful day that would confer on me the magic of being an adult. In my case, it meant that I could go with the fanaticism that had seized control of my mind and I was soon off to do my part to change the world with the enthusiasm of a Hitler youth.<br />
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That was so long ago. So much has happened since then and here I am, almost 80, bruised and battered by many things that have transpired but infinitely wiser than I was way back then. <br />
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There was a time when I believed in reincarnation and thought I had already lived many lives and probably would live many more. That would be fine if we could remember all those lessons and not keep going through the same old crap over and over. It's supposed to be for soul progress and learning, but where is the learning if you have no memories on which to base conclusions and change outcomes?<br />
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I no longer accept such fantasies. I don't even think there is such a thing as an immortal soul that operates independently of a physical brain. Our human intelligence, as limited and faulty as it is, resides right there in that marvelous cerebral cortex no other creature has to the same extent. When it ceases to operate, it's curtain down and show over.<br />
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Yeah, I know, people have out of body experiences that convince them that they have eyes that see apart from their physical being and brain. But, you know, I've had similar things in dreams where I seemed to be looking at myself. That shows me that it's probably just a dreamlike mental fluke and similar things have been experienced by astronauts in high speed centrifuges.<br />
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If I happen to be wrong again, I'll deal with that when I get there. I'm just trying to do the best I can and I'm really totally fed up with the gullibility I once was prone to. <br />
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It's "skeptic Al" from here on out!Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-76421678126813005092014-07-10T20:34:00.000-07:002014-07-10T20:37:38.026-07:00JUST WHAT IS "SPIRITUALITY?"We had our monthly planning meeting for our freethinkers group today. We discussed, among other things, the need some people have for "spirituality," whatever that means. Ask for a definition of that term and you are likely to get as many variations as you have respondents. <br />
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It's a very ethereal subject, much like trying to nail a blob of jello to the wall. People like to claim it for themselves as a substitute for being religious. "Oh, I'm not religious -- I'm spiritual" is a common way of saying it. I just don't like the term because it's become an undefinable cop out. Theologically, spirit is often likened to wind or breath. It might make you feel good on a hot afternoon, but it lacks a bit in tangibility.<br />
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I try to avoid the term entirely. I'm a humanist atheist who relies on compassionate empathy and common sense ethics as my guide in life. That's basically a live and let live way of viewing the world and human relationships. I frankly don't care if you want to believe in a non-existent god or in the flying spaghetti monster. Knock yourself out and squander your resources supporting organizations and pompous blowhards if that's your fulfillment in life. It's when you contrive to force me to go along that the brawl is going to start!<br />
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So, I'm really not interested in sponsoring speakers on this subject because I view it as kind of "fluff fluff" philosophizing. Anyone who wants to devote time to such discussions are welcome to the activity as far as I'm concerned. For the most part, I'll just opt out. Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-18948896904169814822014-07-10T20:25:00.001-07:002014-07-10T20:25:13.148-07:00MY GOOD LIFE(From Facebook.)<br />
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OK. Another day to live and do. Like I just said, my life has gotten steadily better overall ever since I had the presence of mind to walk away from that miserable cult and do my own thinking, earn and spend my own money as I saw fit -- not as some avaricious asshole told me I had to spend it while he lived in more luxury than many kings and pretended to be god's gift to mankind. <br />
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I finally found what I could call my soul mate, and that alone makes my life splendid. Phyllis is everything a man like me could ask for, and I'm not referring to sex either as that is a very limited part of life that's pretty much a pleasant memory now. She's simply my perfect partner, and we are partners in every way. We have each other's backs all the time.<br />
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How I was so lucky to find her is something I wonder at. I just set out with determination when Joyce died of cancer, and in less than six months, it all happened. Of course, I didn't set out to find a "christian" woman. That would have been a disaster! I went into square dancing again, and she just happened to do the same at about the same time and for the same reason -- she wanted a partner to share her life with.<br />
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One tip I can give to any free thinking person is to seek a mate through secular, non-religious outlets. I'd run from any woman who was spouting so-called spiritual crap or going to church all the time. In fact, I dumped one woman back in the seventies when I took her out to dinner and she made a show of bowing her head to say grace. I still hadn't totally departed from religion, but I knew that here was someone totally incompatible with me.<br />
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That's it for this morning. Our free thinkers planning group meets here in Cottonwood at noon and I have to get ready.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-57813967958002767312014-07-06T19:40:00.003-07:002014-07-06T19:40:42.150-07:00THE BLAME GAME(From Facebook.)<br />
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We humans seem to be addicted to what I call "the blame game." While I was getting dressed for this day, my mind somehow took me back to an incident that happened years ago.<br />
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My son, Gene, and I were changing out a water pump on his truck. We were at the stage of bolting it on and Gene was tightening up the bolts. I was about to say, "I think that's tight enough" when I heard the dreaded pop of an overtorqued bolt. Gene was left holding the remains and turned to me and indignantly said, "Why didn't you stop me?"<br />
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My first instinct was anger at being blamed for his ignorant mistake, but then, the irony hit and I burst out laughing. After taking the pump back off, I noticed a little piece of the bolt protruding, got my needlenose pliers and carefully backed it out to where I could get my fingers on it and spin it out. There was a perfect substitute in my extensive bolt collection, so the problem was soon solved.<br />
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So it is with most human problems. Instead of calmly and cooperatively going about seeking a solution, people want to play the blame game and often, nothing gets done. I'll let you run with that. I have more important things to get on with.Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-51757166264085742852014-07-06T19:34:00.000-07:002014-07-06T19:34:19.087-07:00REALLY, NOW?Let's see now. Radical theists claim the human race has existed somewhere around six to ten thousand years. Of course, science knocks that bullshit into the proverbial cocked hat.<br />
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But, let's just go with that 6,000 years nonsense for a moment. Even if that were true, for Christianity to be true, we have to assume "god" didn't give a damn about all those humans who existed for about 4000 years before he got his lazy, indifferent ass around to arranging for that marvelous human sacrifice that finally brought salvation to lost humanity. According to the myth, he even got so mad at them along in the middle that he drowned all but eight of them and sent them to hell in one fell swoop. <br />
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I guess he finally got tired of sending everybody to hell and decided to finally offer a way out to a pitiful portion of all those millions who have perished in most of the world since about 33 AD. <br />
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What a miserable excuse of a god we unthinking hairless apes manage to conjure up in our pitiful imaginations. Terms like omnipotent and omniscient become laughably ludicrous when you take time to rationally think about it. <br />
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C'mon now, do you still seriously believe all that bullshit?Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417488074248572427.post-36141038771312300732014-07-04T13:09:00.003-07:002014-07-04T13:09:40.952-07:00UNHAPPY FOURTHIt's the Fourth of July and I guess that should excite me, but it doesn't, really. I do get to officiate that wedding in a couple of hours, and that's a nice highlite for the day. <br />
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I'm trying to shake the depression and anger that has afflicted me all week. It's not easy to see your country being surrepticiously plunged into a dark age of religious and economic oppression. Don't kid yourselves. That's exactly what's in the cards. The Vatican now rules the USA through 5 fanatical Supreme Court appointees that were craftily wormed into office by fanatical religious plutocrats.<br />
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I'm thankful our founders are stone cold dead and can't know what has transpired. They would be horrified and apalled.<br />
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Benjamin Franklin, when asked what kind of government they had given America replied, "A republic, ma'am -- if you can keep it." We're not keeping it. <br />
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Step by step, it's being demolished!Allen C. Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06615706118359802452noreply@blogger.com0