The Rethugs are demanding an apology! An apology from California Democratic chief, John Burton,
You see, John Burton told the truth. Rethugs don't like the truth anymore. Men like Barry Goldwater have no place in their party these days. He tried to tell the truth as he saw it. Outright lies would have been repugnant to a man of his character.
Burton pointed out the fact that modern Rethugs have mastered the Nazi tactic of the "big lie." Tell a lie big enough, often and loudly enough, and a large percentage of the population will believe it.
The Rethug convention was nothing more than a gigantic lie fest. History was revamped. Rethug obstructionism and blatant tactics of doing everything possible to frustrate anything that would solve the nations problems and make Obama look good and succesful -- even things they once championed -- had to be denounced and made to look evil. Joseph Goebels would be proud of their artful adoption of his tactics.
The Rethug party is a gigantic cauldron of theocratic fascism and deception. They are determined to return America to pre-Hoover times and British-style Dickensian class distinctions. They want to demolish the separation of church and state so religious dogma can be inculcated into law and used to control and terrorize the populace. The only way that can be accomplished is through deception -- convincing the average person that black is really white and vice versa.
What a travesty! Demanding that someone apologize for telling the truth!
I don't think so.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
INSENSITIVITY IN HIGH PLACES
I was shocked when I heard and read what Todd Akin so insensitively stated about rape. It drove home to me again the horror of the attitude residing in the minds of people like him.
To Todd Akin, women are lesser creatures who must be forced to accept their less than equal place in life and their subservience to men and stupid religious dogma. It drives home once more the ugliness and crass superior-minded certitude residing in the minds of these adherents to superstition and religious ignorance. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he supports and probably contributed to that travesty, the creation museum.
I could say more, but a lady in the Congo said what needs to be said quite well and quite eloquently. Go here to read her letter: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/todd-akin-rape_b_1812930.html
To Todd Akin, women are lesser creatures who must be forced to accept their less than equal place in life and their subservience to men and stupid religious dogma. It drives home once more the ugliness and crass superior-minded certitude residing in the minds of these adherents to superstition and religious ignorance. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he supports and probably contributed to that travesty, the creation museum.
I could say more, but a lady in the Congo said what needs to be said quite well and quite eloquently. Go here to read her letter: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/todd-akin-rape_b_1812930.html
Sunday, July 29, 2012
FREE AT LAST!
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
― Marcus Aurelius
I couldn't say it any better!
When I look back on my life, that's the way I started out thinking in my childhood and early teens. Then, I got caught by a mesmerizing cultic con man and all around sleaze ball by the name of Herbert W. Armstrong. His deceptive cultic system enslaved me for over twenty long years.
It's been a long journey back to basic sanity and clear thinking unencumbered by fairy tales, burdensome religious rigmarole and gospels. Today, I'm free of gods, free of dogma, free of financial slavery to religious machines -- FREE AT LAST -- TOTALLY!
I base my life on humanist ethics and morals. I find those far more of a reliable moral guide than what any religion offers. No longer are my attitudes guided by feelings of superiority toward any other human being. I recognize that we are all cousins somewhere along the genetic pathway and worthy of equal loving respect and concern.
When I was religious, I felt religiously superior to, and thus allienated from all others who were not "in the truth." The nonsense of British Israelism made me feel racially superior as well.
Humanism unites.
Religion and its dogmas divides.
I see that division everywhere. Even in our national politics.
There is a self-righteous haughtiness in politicians like Mitt Romney and Rick Santorium. It virtually exudes from their pores. It's the basis of a lot of their gaffs that give offense to a wide range of people who are different from them.
Today, I'm convinced there are no gods to be concerned about. I haven't made enough of a splash in the world to be long remembered, but that's OK. It's the fate of all my ancestors I'm aware of and the fate of the majority of human beings.
Marcus Aurelius made it into the history books. I currently have a fair presence on Google, but that likely won't last too long after my demise. I don't expect my name in any history books.
At least, the truth that Marcus Aurelius wrote stands. I can only echo it and see that a few more read and comprehend it.
― Marcus Aurelius
I couldn't say it any better!
When I look back on my life, that's the way I started out thinking in my childhood and early teens. Then, I got caught by a mesmerizing cultic con man and all around sleaze ball by the name of Herbert W. Armstrong. His deceptive cultic system enslaved me for over twenty long years.
It's been a long journey back to basic sanity and clear thinking unencumbered by fairy tales, burdensome religious rigmarole and gospels. Today, I'm free of gods, free of dogma, free of financial slavery to religious machines -- FREE AT LAST -- TOTALLY!
I base my life on humanist ethics and morals. I find those far more of a reliable moral guide than what any religion offers. No longer are my attitudes guided by feelings of superiority toward any other human being. I recognize that we are all cousins somewhere along the genetic pathway and worthy of equal loving respect and concern.
When I was religious, I felt religiously superior to, and thus allienated from all others who were not "in the truth." The nonsense of British Israelism made me feel racially superior as well.
Humanism unites.
Religion and its dogmas divides.
I see that division everywhere. Even in our national politics.
There is a self-righteous haughtiness in politicians like Mitt Romney and Rick Santorium. It virtually exudes from their pores. It's the basis of a lot of their gaffs that give offense to a wide range of people who are different from them.
Today, I'm convinced there are no gods to be concerned about. I haven't made enough of a splash in the world to be long remembered, but that's OK. It's the fate of all my ancestors I'm aware of and the fate of the majority of human beings.
Marcus Aurelius made it into the history books. I currently have a fair presence on Google, but that likely won't last too long after my demise. I don't expect my name in any history books.
At least, the truth that Marcus Aurelius wrote stands. I can only echo it and see that a few more read and comprehend it.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
THE BLINDNESS THAT DOOMS NATIONS AND EMPIRES
A friend sent me an email and urged me to view a You-Tube video. I did. Several times. It cut to the depths of my being and said so clearly what I have thought and sensed for so long. I urge all of my readers to view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16K6m3Ua2nw&feature=youtu.be
It took a brave and honest man to state what that man stated. It took real love of country and the truth to brave the chavinistic blindness that filled most of the people in that room and that fills the unaware minds of most of my fellow Americans. He had to not care that he would be hated by many of those who heard him -- and probably by many who see the video. Inconvenient truths are never ovewhelmingly popular.
They weren't popular in Ancient Rome and inumerable other empires and nations that proudly trumpeted their inevitable power, glory and superior majesty while in the midst of interior rot and decay that doomed them to decline and ultimate ruin. The final Roman emperors all bought their thrones. Our presidency is being bought on the open market by the richest among us -- and our judicial system aids and abets the whole process. Can we defy history and hope for our republic to endure?
We decided decades ago that exploring space was too expensive, ignoring the fact that it, above all other factors, guaranteed our technological lead in the world. Away went much of the appeal for young men and women to pursue science and engineering as a lucrative career. Why work your ample behind off and stretch your brain when you could become obscenely rich chasing and carrying balls around courts or manipulating fiat money in ever more intricate financial schemes and scams -- while producing absolutely nothing of intrinsic value to any member of the human race?
In the interests of lower taxes for the bloated richest among us, we have let our vital infrastructure fall into rack and ruin instead of maintaining and expanding it. Why can't we ride bullet trains coast to coast and border to border? Why aren't we driving non-poluting hydrogen powered cars? The seas are full of hydrogen and oxygen -- that's what water is. It's not hard to separate them, and when they are burned, they go back to the water they came from. A polution-less solution to a multitude of growing problems.
The answer is that the greedy among us rule. They are destroying their world and ours -- and the first thing they are destroying is our beloved country. Yes, we have a powerful military. So did Rome. So did a multitude of other nations and empires. That didn't save them in the end.
My parents always told me that pride preceded a fall. All I see around me in most of this nation are the self-satisfied and self-congratulating smirks of national pride. The gentleman in the video laid bare the real facts.
I'm listening. Are you?
It took a brave and honest man to state what that man stated. It took real love of country and the truth to brave the chavinistic blindness that filled most of the people in that room and that fills the unaware minds of most of my fellow Americans. He had to not care that he would be hated by many of those who heard him -- and probably by many who see the video. Inconvenient truths are never ovewhelmingly popular.
They weren't popular in Ancient Rome and inumerable other empires and nations that proudly trumpeted their inevitable power, glory and superior majesty while in the midst of interior rot and decay that doomed them to decline and ultimate ruin. The final Roman emperors all bought their thrones. Our presidency is being bought on the open market by the richest among us -- and our judicial system aids and abets the whole process. Can we defy history and hope for our republic to endure?
We decided decades ago that exploring space was too expensive, ignoring the fact that it, above all other factors, guaranteed our technological lead in the world. Away went much of the appeal for young men and women to pursue science and engineering as a lucrative career. Why work your ample behind off and stretch your brain when you could become obscenely rich chasing and carrying balls around courts or manipulating fiat money in ever more intricate financial schemes and scams -- while producing absolutely nothing of intrinsic value to any member of the human race?
In the interests of lower taxes for the bloated richest among us, we have let our vital infrastructure fall into rack and ruin instead of maintaining and expanding it. Why can't we ride bullet trains coast to coast and border to border? Why aren't we driving non-poluting hydrogen powered cars? The seas are full of hydrogen and oxygen -- that's what water is. It's not hard to separate them, and when they are burned, they go back to the water they came from. A polution-less solution to a multitude of growing problems.
The answer is that the greedy among us rule. They are destroying their world and ours -- and the first thing they are destroying is our beloved country. Yes, we have a powerful military. So did Rome. So did a multitude of other nations and empires. That didn't save them in the end.
My parents always told me that pride preceded a fall. All I see around me in most of this nation are the self-satisfied and self-congratulating smirks of national pride. The gentleman in the video laid bare the real facts.
I'm listening. Are you?
Sunday, June 17, 2012
THE GOD PICTURE
Where did our concepts of a "god" originate? Could they have arisen from a world and society such as that with which we are familiar today?
This is an advanced, modern and over-populated world. The technology that has developed in my lifetime is astounding.
At my birth in 1934, we weren't very far removed from the horse and buggy world. I have harnessed horses and think I could still manage it with a little thought. Horses were still common on World War II battlefields. The Polish army met panzers with horse mounted cavalry. It's what they had.
When I was in elementary school, the world contained about 2 billion people. The population now is seven billion and growing. If you wanted to make a phone call across country, you had to drive to town which was twelve miles away.
Television was in its infancy and only the wealthiest in big cities were even aware of its existence. By my late teens, it was invading the more prosperous homes in our area on limited black and white channels. Color, high def and 3-d were science fiction. Telephone party lines came in during my late teens. Nobody even thought of a cell phone.
Yet, this world was tremendously advanced from the world of my ancestors just a few generations back, when world population was measured in the mere millions and technological wonders involved things like the besemer process for making steel and steam power.
Even farther back, the human race was struggling just to master basic metalurgy to replace stone and flint and most people subsisted in hard scrabble labor to produce the basic necessities of life from the soil and whatever happened to be at hand and workable. My grandfather was an expert with a drawknife for shaping wood. Most people today don't even know what a drawknife is, but I have one hanging on the wall of my toolshed. I don't use it. It's there for sentimental reasons.
However, even that world was amazingly advanced compared to the world from which our basic theological concepts arose. In that world, tribal chieftans and territorial kings ruled over small (comparatively) populations that barely got by with the barest of necessities.
In that tribal world, which is still seen in parts of the Middle East and Asia, the population's relationship with those in power was very personal. If you had a request to make, you went directly into the presence of the "grand poohba" and petitioned him personally.
How your petition was handled depended entirely on that potentate's attitude and personal opinion of you and your request. The outcome could sometimes be catastrophic, as the accounts of how King David dealt with some of his subjects shows. (I'm not vouching for the accuracy of all those accounts. They just illustrate how things were done in that world.)
Out of that bronze and stone age world came the concepts of "god" that still permeate our societies.
We still have the concept that all of the seven billion homo sapiens on this planet can have a one-on-one relationship with whatever conceptual idol populates our consciousnesses. People are abolutely convinced that great personage knows everything they think and do and is going to take personal umbrage if they mess up. Then, they have to grovel and beg and carefully make whatever amends their particular theology stipulates to get back in the good graces of the heavenly potentate they imagine.
Even the fanciful pictures of "god's throne" contained in the scriptures we've inherited are pictures from that basically tribal time -- pictures of a grand and exalted being sitting on a throne with fauning sycophants flinging their crowns at his feet while vociferously praising and exalting him.
This is all just a carryover from the tribal setting in which these fantasies developed. The god people worship is simply a tribal chieftan or territorial warlord such as we struggle against in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Isn't it time for a more realistic view of the cosmos and our place in it?
This is an advanced, modern and over-populated world. The technology that has developed in my lifetime is astounding.
At my birth in 1934, we weren't very far removed from the horse and buggy world. I have harnessed horses and think I could still manage it with a little thought. Horses were still common on World War II battlefields. The Polish army met panzers with horse mounted cavalry. It's what they had.
When I was in elementary school, the world contained about 2 billion people. The population now is seven billion and growing. If you wanted to make a phone call across country, you had to drive to town which was twelve miles away.
Television was in its infancy and only the wealthiest in big cities were even aware of its existence. By my late teens, it was invading the more prosperous homes in our area on limited black and white channels. Color, high def and 3-d were science fiction. Telephone party lines came in during my late teens. Nobody even thought of a cell phone.
Yet, this world was tremendously advanced from the world of my ancestors just a few generations back, when world population was measured in the mere millions and technological wonders involved things like the besemer process for making steel and steam power.
Even farther back, the human race was struggling just to master basic metalurgy to replace stone and flint and most people subsisted in hard scrabble labor to produce the basic necessities of life from the soil and whatever happened to be at hand and workable. My grandfather was an expert with a drawknife for shaping wood. Most people today don't even know what a drawknife is, but I have one hanging on the wall of my toolshed. I don't use it. It's there for sentimental reasons.
However, even that world was amazingly advanced compared to the world from which our basic theological concepts arose. In that world, tribal chieftans and territorial kings ruled over small (comparatively) populations that barely got by with the barest of necessities.
In that tribal world, which is still seen in parts of the Middle East and Asia, the population's relationship with those in power was very personal. If you had a request to make, you went directly into the presence of the "grand poohba" and petitioned him personally.
How your petition was handled depended entirely on that potentate's attitude and personal opinion of you and your request. The outcome could sometimes be catastrophic, as the accounts of how King David dealt with some of his subjects shows. (I'm not vouching for the accuracy of all those accounts. They just illustrate how things were done in that world.)
Out of that bronze and stone age world came the concepts of "god" that still permeate our societies.
We still have the concept that all of the seven billion homo sapiens on this planet can have a one-on-one relationship with whatever conceptual idol populates our consciousnesses. People are abolutely convinced that great personage knows everything they think and do and is going to take personal umbrage if they mess up. Then, they have to grovel and beg and carefully make whatever amends their particular theology stipulates to get back in the good graces of the heavenly potentate they imagine.
Even the fanciful pictures of "god's throne" contained in the scriptures we've inherited are pictures from that basically tribal time -- pictures of a grand and exalted being sitting on a throne with fauning sycophants flinging their crowns at his feet while vociferously praising and exalting him.
This is all just a carryover from the tribal setting in which these fantasies developed. The god people worship is simply a tribal chieftan or territorial warlord such as we struggle against in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Isn't it time for a more realistic view of the cosmos and our place in it?
Friday, June 15, 2012
IT'S FRUSTRATING
I haven't posted any blogs for a while, but I have been active commenting on other blogs. On one of those blogs, quite a discussion erupted about the "mark of the Beast." A lot of people are very concerned about this "mark" and are absolutely convinced that it is real and they will live to see it.
I commented to show how stupid the whole thing was, only to have some "faith addicts" continue on with speculation about it. Hence the comment which follows copied from that site:
"I never cease to be amazed at how people cling to these ridiculous myths and fairy tales no matter how much that biblical nonsense is shown up and disproven and the whole book itself is shown to be a total travesty.
The machinations of the human mind are beyond fathoming. When people desperately want to believe, they will believe, no matter how many facts are laid out or how plainly. Sometimes I wonder why I bother commenting on these sites.
It's just like a comment a lady made at a yard sale this morning after my wife detailed how her daughter was saved from a serious heart condition due to doctors happening on the right tests to show up her heart valve problem. She now has two metal valves in her heart put there by one of the two surgeons in Arizona qualified to perform that operation, and she is feeling and doing great.
She commented that "the lord" put our daughter in the right circumstances. I had to walk away to keep from exploding about "the lord" and the holocaust, Bosnia, rampant sex traficking slavery of innocent young girls, deformed and retarded babies, inherited genetic weaknesses and deformities, natural disasters "the lord" is supposedly in control of, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Where is "the lord" in those situations and circumstances?
If something good comes along, "the lord" gets the credit, not advanced medical science dedicated humans brought about, the well-trained and analytical doctors, etc.
The bad? I guess "the lord" was busy with situations like our daughter's and didn't have time, or something. She must be one of his favorites, but she's an unbeliever like us. Go figure.
The goddist will have some explanation to hide his or her eyes from the stark reality that we exist in an uncaring universe and have ourselves to rely on -- totally! As long as we have dedicated scientists and medical experts, the progress and the medical and scientific and technological "miracles" are amazing.
If enough people come to that realization, maybe the human race can begin to reason and cooperate enough to save us from the tragedy of the extermination that seems so likely under present circumstances and attitudes -- attitudes mainly shaped by religions.
The religions of our hand-crafted gods are destoying us! Why is that so hard to see and understand? Why must we still cling to idiocies Constantine and those dumbass "church fathers" at Nicacea saddled us with? They invented that Bible and all the nonsense, like beasts and marks of beasts, it contains."
I commented to show how stupid the whole thing was, only to have some "faith addicts" continue on with speculation about it. Hence the comment which follows copied from that site:
"I never cease to be amazed at how people cling to these ridiculous myths and fairy tales no matter how much that biblical nonsense is shown up and disproven and the whole book itself is shown to be a total travesty.
The machinations of the human mind are beyond fathoming. When people desperately want to believe, they will believe, no matter how many facts are laid out or how plainly. Sometimes I wonder why I bother commenting on these sites.
It's just like a comment a lady made at a yard sale this morning after my wife detailed how her daughter was saved from a serious heart condition due to doctors happening on the right tests to show up her heart valve problem. She now has two metal valves in her heart put there by one of the two surgeons in Arizona qualified to perform that operation, and she is feeling and doing great.
She commented that "the lord" put our daughter in the right circumstances. I had to walk away to keep from exploding about "the lord" and the holocaust, Bosnia, rampant sex traficking slavery of innocent young girls, deformed and retarded babies, inherited genetic weaknesses and deformities, natural disasters "the lord" is supposedly in control of, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Where is "the lord" in those situations and circumstances?
If something good comes along, "the lord" gets the credit, not advanced medical science dedicated humans brought about, the well-trained and analytical doctors, etc.
The bad? I guess "the lord" was busy with situations like our daughter's and didn't have time, or something. She must be one of his favorites, but she's an unbeliever like us. Go figure.
The goddist will have some explanation to hide his or her eyes from the stark reality that we exist in an uncaring universe and have ourselves to rely on -- totally! As long as we have dedicated scientists and medical experts, the progress and the medical and scientific and technological "miracles" are amazing.
If enough people come to that realization, maybe the human race can begin to reason and cooperate enough to save us from the tragedy of the extermination that seems so likely under present circumstances and attitudes -- attitudes mainly shaped by religions.
The religions of our hand-crafted gods are destoying us! Why is that so hard to see and understand? Why must we still cling to idiocies Constantine and those dumbass "church fathers" at Nicacea saddled us with? They invented that Bible and all the nonsense, like beasts and marks of beasts, it contains."
Monday, May 21, 2012
BUSIER THAN EVER
I haven't been blogging lately, but I manage to keep up with and comment on some other blogs. The reason. My new career just takes up too much time.
It's showing results though. Some presentations are already set up which will be conducted in conjunction with my district manager. I'm in intensive learning and training and had to take a little breather a week or so ago because I had been trying to imitate that middle-aged guy I used to be and plumb wore myself out.
I'm now on a more measured course and determined to learn what I have to learn to be a success. Those trips over the mountains to Prescott for Monday morning meetings are a particular killer. After a while, I'll be making fewer of them and staying in contact by phone and online.
Challenging as it is, I still find it exhilarating. Sure beats boredom.
It's showing results though. Some presentations are already set up which will be conducted in conjunction with my district manager. I'm in intensive learning and training and had to take a little breather a week or so ago because I had been trying to imitate that middle-aged guy I used to be and plumb wore myself out.
I'm now on a more measured course and determined to learn what I have to learn to be a success. Those trips over the mountains to Prescott for Monday morning meetings are a particular killer. After a while, I'll be making fewer of them and staying in contact by phone and online.
Challenging as it is, I still find it exhilarating. Sure beats boredom.
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