Sunday, May 03, 2009
John Ruskin on Wealth
As you read the following remarks by John Ruskin think about all the cases where excess money or greed for it has ruined lives, destroyed families, friendships, and destroyed nations. Regarding lent money, almost all of the wars fought in world history, the vicious atrocities, the crusades, etc., were financed by borrowed money.
Ruskin: “You will find it quite indisputably true — that whenever money is the principal object of life with either man or nation, it is both got ill, and spent ill; and does harm both in the getting and spending; but when it is not the principal object, it and all other things will be well got, and well spent. And here is the test, with every man, of whether money is the principal object with him, or not. If in mid-life he could pause and say, "Now I have enough to live upon, I'll live upon it; and having well earned it, I will also well spend it, and go out of the world poor, as I came into it," then money is not principal with him; but if, having enough to live upon in the manner befitting his character and rank, he still wants to make more, and to die rich, then money is the principal object with him, and it becomes a curse to himself, and generally to those who spend it after him For you know it must be spent some day; the only question is whether the man who makes it shall spend it, or some one else. And generally it is better for the maker to spend it, for he will know best its value and use. This IS the true law of life. And if a man does not choose thus to spend his money, he must either hoard it or lend it, and the worst thing he can generally do is to lend it; for borrowers are nearly always ill spenders, and it is with lent money that all evil is mainly done, and all unjust war protracted.
For observe what the real fact is, respecting loans to foreign military governments, and how strange it is. If your little boy came to you to ask for money to spend in squibs and crackers, you would think twice before you gave it him; and you would have some idea that it was wasted, when you saw it fly off in fireworks, even though he did no mischief with it. But the Russian children, and Austrian children, come to you, borrowing money, not to spend in innocent squibs, but in cartridges and bayonets to attack you in India with, and to keep down all noble life in Italy with, and to murder Polish women and children with; and that you will give at once because they pay you interest for it. Now, in order to pay you that interest, they must tax every working peasant in their dominions; and on that work you live you therefore at once rob the Austrian peasant, assassinate or banish the Polish peasant, and you live on the produce of the theft, and the bribe for the assassination ~ That is the broad fact — that is the practical meaning of your foreign loans, and of most large interest of money and then you quarrel with Bishop Colenso, forsooth as if he denied the Bible, and you believed it though wretches as you are, every deliberate act of your lives is a new defiance of its primary orders; and as if, for most of the rich men of England at this moment, it were not indeed to be desired, as the best thing at least for [33-34] them, that the Bible should not be true, since against them these words are written in it: " The rust of your gold and silver shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh, as it were fire."
Ruskin: “You will find it quite indisputably true — that whenever money is the principal object of life with either man or nation, it is both got ill, and spent ill; and does harm both in the getting and spending; but when it is not the principal object, it and all other things will be well got, and well spent. And here is the test, with every man, of whether money is the principal object with him, or not. If in mid-life he could pause and say, "Now I have enough to live upon, I'll live upon it; and having well earned it, I will also well spend it, and go out of the world poor, as I came into it," then money is not principal with him; but if, having enough to live upon in the manner befitting his character and rank, he still wants to make more, and to die rich, then money is the principal object with him, and it becomes a curse to himself, and generally to those who spend it after him For you know it must be spent some day; the only question is whether the man who makes it shall spend it, or some one else. And generally it is better for the maker to spend it, for he will know best its value and use. This IS the true law of life. And if a man does not choose thus to spend his money, he must either hoard it or lend it, and the worst thing he can generally do is to lend it; for borrowers are nearly always ill spenders, and it is with lent money that all evil is mainly done, and all unjust war protracted.
For observe what the real fact is, respecting loans to foreign military governments, and how strange it is. If your little boy came to you to ask for money to spend in squibs and crackers, you would think twice before you gave it him; and you would have some idea that it was wasted, when you saw it fly off in fireworks, even though he did no mischief with it. But the Russian children, and Austrian children, come to you, borrowing money, not to spend in innocent squibs, but in cartridges and bayonets to attack you in India with, and to keep down all noble life in Italy with, and to murder Polish women and children with; and that you will give at once because they pay you interest for it. Now, in order to pay you that interest, they must tax every working peasant in their dominions; and on that work you live you therefore at once rob the Austrian peasant, assassinate or banish the Polish peasant, and you live on the produce of the theft, and the bribe for the assassination ~ That is the broad fact — that is the practical meaning of your foreign loans, and of most large interest of money and then you quarrel with Bishop Colenso, forsooth as if he denied the Bible, and you believed it though wretches as you are, every deliberate act of your lives is a new defiance of its primary orders; and as if, for most of the rich men of England at this moment, it were not indeed to be desired, as the best thing at least for [33-34] them, that the Bible should not be true, since against them these words are written in it: " The rust of your gold and silver shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh, as it were fire."
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Mark Twain & Upton Sinclair on Corporate Corruption
Mark Twain, in his autobiography, which he instructed would not be published until after his death, made the following observation written in 1906. This observation is of a report published in the New York Sun and could have appeared in your local newspaper yesterday and you would know exactly what Twain was referring to. All you have to do is substitute the names of a few companies and events and you have the current corrupt “big business" and the lack of concern for America and the rest of society. Things have changed very little in the last 100 years and apparently little in the last 2000.
Twain: “Day before yesterday’s New York Sun has a paragraph or two from its London correspondent which enables me to locate myself. The correspondent mentions a few of our American events of the past twelvemonth, such as the limitless rottenness of our insurance companies, where theft has been carried on by our most distinguished commercial men as a profession; the exposures of conscienceless graft, colossal graft, in great municipalities like Philadelphia, St. Louis and other large cities; the recent exposure of millionfold graft in the great Pennsylvania Railway system – with minor uncoverings of commercial swindles from one end of the United States to the other; and finally today’s lurid exposure, by Upton Sinclair, of the most titanic and death-dealing swindle of them all, the Beef Trust, an exposure which has moved the President to demand of a reluctant Congress a law which shall protect America and Europe from falling, in a mass, into the hands of a doctor and the undertaker.
According to that correspondent, Europe is beginning to wonder if there is really an honest human creature left in the United States. A year ago I was satisfied there was no such person on American soil except myself. That exception has since been rubbed out and now it is my belief there isn’t a single American male human being in America who is honest. I held the belt all along, until last January. Then I went down, with Rockefeller and Carnegie and a group of Goulds and Vanderbilts and other professional grafters, and swore off my taxes like the most conscienceless of the lot. It was a great loss to America because I was irreplaceable. It is my belief that it will take fifty years to produce my successor. I believe the entire population of the United States – exclusive of the women – to be rotten, as far as the dollar is concerned. Understand, I am saying this as a dead person. I should consider it indiscreet in any live one to make these remarks publicly.”
Upton Sinclair’s exposure of the meat packing industry, referred to above by Twain as the Beef Trust, and the “big business” of 1906 can be easily compared to the “big business” of 2009.
In the early 1900's, strikes, riots, labor unions, and new political parties arose across the country. The Government, with its laissez-faire attitude, allowed business to consolidate into trusts, and with lack of competition, into powerful monopolies. These multi-million dollar monopolies were able to exploit every opportunity to make greater fortunes regardless of human consequences.
Upton Sinclair, via his novel “The Jungle”, exposed to the public what was known as the “Beef Trust” scandal and is a good example of "big business" corruption and the lack of concern for workers and the rest of society. "The Jungle," was filled with page after page of nauseating detail Sinclair had researched about the meat-packing industry, and dropped it on an astonished nation in 1906.
An instant best-seller, Sinclair's book reeked with the stink of the Chicago stockyards. He told how dead rats were shoveled into sausage-grinding machines; how bribed inspectors looked the other way when diseased cows were slaughtered for beef, and how filth and guts were swept off the floor and packaged as "potted ham."
In short, "The Jungle" did as much as any animal-rights activist of today to turn Americans into vegetarians. But it did more than that. Within months, the aroused -- and gagging -- public demanded sweeping reforms in the meat industry.
President Theodore Roosevelt was sickened after reading an advance copy. He called upon Congress to pass a law establishing the Food and Drug Administration and, for the first time, setting up federal inspection standards for meat.
Although the main thrust of Sinclair’s book was to draw attention to the horrible treatment of American workers by the corrupt Beef Trust, it was more effective at greatly improving food safety and production. Sinclair considered his triumph empty. He complained that the tragedy of industrial life and his socialist preaching were being lost in the meat controversy. He famously stated, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach,"
"The Jungle", was a factual account of the beef and slaughterhouse industry and gives a heart-breaking portrayal of the hardships faced by the countless poverty stricken laborers in the slaughterhouses of Chicago but it could have been applied at the time to those in East St Louis, Illinois and elsewhere. In Sinclair’s portrayal a struggling family would undergo months of back- breaking labor only to lose their house at the drop of a hat. It was a desperate and unmerciful time when an accidentally fractured ankle cost a man his job and his family food and shelter.
One quote from the book that describes the power that "big business" had during this time period is, "In the national capital it had the power to falsify government reports; it violated the rebate laws, and when an investigation was threatened it burned its books and sent its criminal agents across the country."
During this time period there was not a great deal of government regulation on businesses, and "big business" was able to take advantage of not only the workers, but also the American public.
Deja vu all over again.
Gary
Twain: “Day before yesterday’s New York Sun has a paragraph or two from its London correspondent which enables me to locate myself. The correspondent mentions a few of our American events of the past twelvemonth, such as the limitless rottenness of our insurance companies, where theft has been carried on by our most distinguished commercial men as a profession; the exposures of conscienceless graft, colossal graft, in great municipalities like Philadelphia, St. Louis and other large cities; the recent exposure of millionfold graft in the great Pennsylvania Railway system – with minor uncoverings of commercial swindles from one end of the United States to the other; and finally today’s lurid exposure, by Upton Sinclair, of the most titanic and death-dealing swindle of them all, the Beef Trust, an exposure which has moved the President to demand of a reluctant Congress a law which shall protect America and Europe from falling, in a mass, into the hands of a doctor and the undertaker.
According to that correspondent, Europe is beginning to wonder if there is really an honest human creature left in the United States. A year ago I was satisfied there was no such person on American soil except myself. That exception has since been rubbed out and now it is my belief there isn’t a single American male human being in America who is honest. I held the belt all along, until last January. Then I went down, with Rockefeller and Carnegie and a group of Goulds and Vanderbilts and other professional grafters, and swore off my taxes like the most conscienceless of the lot. It was a great loss to America because I was irreplaceable. It is my belief that it will take fifty years to produce my successor. I believe the entire population of the United States – exclusive of the women – to be rotten, as far as the dollar is concerned. Understand, I am saying this as a dead person. I should consider it indiscreet in any live one to make these remarks publicly.”
Upton Sinclair’s exposure of the meat packing industry, referred to above by Twain as the Beef Trust, and the “big business” of 1906 can be easily compared to the “big business” of 2009.
In the early 1900's, strikes, riots, labor unions, and new political parties arose across the country. The Government, with its laissez-faire attitude, allowed business to consolidate into trusts, and with lack of competition, into powerful monopolies. These multi-million dollar monopolies were able to exploit every opportunity to make greater fortunes regardless of human consequences.Upton Sinclair, via his novel “The Jungle”, exposed to the public what was known as the “Beef Trust” scandal and is a good example of "big business" corruption and the lack of concern for workers and the rest of society. "The Jungle," was filled with page after page of nauseating detail Sinclair had researched about the meat-packing industry, and dropped it on an astonished nation in 1906.
An instant best-seller, Sinclair's book reeked with the stink of the Chicago stockyards. He told how dead rats were shoveled into sausage-grinding machines; how bribed inspectors looked the other way when diseased cows were slaughtered for beef, and how filth and guts were swept off the floor and packaged as "potted ham."
In short, "The Jungle" did as much as any animal-rights activist of today to turn Americans into vegetarians. But it did more than that. Within months, the aroused -- and gagging -- public demanded sweeping reforms in the meat industry.
President Theodore Roosevelt was sickened after reading an advance copy. He called upon Congress to pass a law establishing the Food and Drug Administration and, for the first time, setting up federal inspection standards for meat.
Although the main thrust of Sinclair’s book was to draw attention to the horrible treatment of American workers by the corrupt Beef Trust, it was more effective at greatly improving food safety and production. Sinclair considered his triumph empty. He complained that the tragedy of industrial life and his socialist preaching were being lost in the meat controversy. He famously stated, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach,"
"The Jungle", was a factual account of the beef and slaughterhouse industry and gives a heart-breaking portrayal of the hardships faced by the countless poverty stricken laborers in the slaughterhouses of Chicago but it could have been applied at the time to those in East St Louis, Illinois and elsewhere. In Sinclair’s portrayal a struggling family would undergo months of back- breaking labor only to lose their house at the drop of a hat. It was a desperate and unmerciful time when an accidentally fractured ankle cost a man his job and his family food and shelter.
One quote from the book that describes the power that "big business" had during this time period is, "In the national capital it had the power to falsify government reports; it violated the rebate laws, and when an investigation was threatened it burned its books and sent its criminal agents across the country."
During this time period there was not a great deal of government regulation on businesses, and "big business" was able to take advantage of not only the workers, but also the American public.
Deja vu all over again.
Gary
Monday, November 03, 2008
Gary’s Now and Zen
I always meant to do a daily or weekly message with a little Zen and a little observation or commentary. I started it once before but let it fall by the wayside. Here’s another attempt.
Have you ever considered that life is a paradox? Existence is bi-polar in that it has opposites that allow for each to exist. Life itself is the opposite of? – death of course. Without death there could be no life. Darkness – Light. Extreme darkness, extreme light and degrees between. Sweet – sour, love –hate, they all exist in tandem – together. You can’t have one without the other. It is the completeness we call existence.
Shree Rajneesh, more recently known as Osho, points out that language is linear, that rules of language put things in a line, one following the other. Consequently language as an expression of thought makes thought linear, therefore logic becomes linear, but existence is not linear, existence is simultaneous. Love and hate, light and dark, exist together, at the same time in the same space. They are two sides of the same coin, not much separates one from the other. But using language you can’t say the room was full of light and the room was dark as well. Language fails us.
If you go into a dark room at night and turn the light on where does the dark go? It’s still there. The only thing that’s changed is your ability to see. If you close your eyes during the daytime, where does the light go? It’s still there. Light and absence of light, day and night exist simultaneously.
Zen is paradoxical. Zen thought allows things to exist simultaneously and allows opposites to trade places. Doing by not doing is a Zen concept.
To Be or Not To Be?
Osho goes on to discuss having versus being. That man is constantly trying to enrich his life by accumulating more, by getting more property, more wealth, more power, more knowledge. The mind, the head, thinks by having more it will become more, but having can never be transformed into being. Being is accomplished by dropping all desire, just being in the moment, the here and now. In that moment of isness, of just being, says Osho, all is available, all benediction, all blessings, all wonder, all beauty, all bliss. Like light and dark, all exist in the same moment. You just have to realize it.
Do you recall the tribulation of Mel Gibson, his arrest for drunk driving and his remarks regarding Jews? Mel is an example of attempting to have more as a means to contentment and bliss and believing himself and his philosophy to be "right" and others "wrong". Mel’s life apparently became anything but bliss as a result of his quest for more wealth, more power, more things. What has wealth and power wrought Mel Gibson? A poisoned mind? It’s not his drinking, it’s not the alcohol that’s to blame, it’s what his mind has done to his life. One can drink alcohol and be blissful. If the 0.12 blood alcohol content was accurate, Mel may have been too drunk to legally drive but not excessively drunk, not on alcohol - but maybe drunk with power, drunk on supremist Christianity or stressed out from his obsession to have more in an effort to “be” more.
Mel can be faulted for riding the wave of Christian evangelical fanaticism that has swept our nation by introducing the movie “Passion of the Christ” as a crass opportunity to accumulate more wealth, but the result is not harmonious with Jesus’ message of love and just being in the here and now. Yes, Jesus was an advocate of eastern philosophy.
Jesus lived in the here and now and the here and now is the kingdom Jesus spoke of. Consider the lilies of the field, and the birds, and the flowers, God provides and has not forsaken them he reminds us. Why be anxious about tomorrow? Live in the present. Be here now.
Jesus was a product of Eastern thought and philosophy. Even the word Eastern and the Christian holiday we call Easter comes from an ancient European goddess of the dawn called Eostre by the Anglo-Saxons and Ostara by the Germanic peoples. Her name means "movement towards the rising sun" and is related to the Indo-European root word Aus which means "to shine". Hence the word east as a compass direction - towards the rising sun - and the word eastern to describe the area "east" of Europe and "western" to describe the area west of Europe towards the setting sun.
The majority of the Christian leadership has twisted and contorted Jesus’ message to mean the prosperity of having more things, of getting more wealth and power as a reward and blessing for following Jesus. That God wants you to have much more than he provides for the lilies of the field or the birds and wants you to build up treasures while you are here is not what Jesus taught. We know what he thought about the chances of a wealthy person to find paradise and we know what he thought of the despotic powerful. How can a bird have more or be more than a bird is? How can a human have more than God gave us from our birth? Impossible! Birds and all of the "lower" animals are complete just as humans are complete.
Jesus taught about “being” not “having”. When will Christians wake up and “see” what Jesus meant when he warned of those who come in his name? When will they quit warping and reinventing what Jesus taught?
Have you ever seen the video clips of Israeli school children writing messages of hate on the warheads and bombs to be dropped on the Lebanese and Palestinian people? And then have you seen video of the dead Lebanese and Palestine children? Do the Israelis show their children the videos of those dead children and do the Israeli children cheer and clap? That’s how sick western civilization has become. When adult leaders of a nation teach their children to hate and make war how can they call themselves civilized? How can they call themselves God’s people or God’s chosen?
At least President Harry Truman was sad and remorseful when he ordered the atomic bombs to be dropped on Japan. At least President Dwight Eisenhower was sickened by war. How can our current president, George W Bush, laugh and joke, act smug and make arrogant remarks as he orders invasions and missles launched? What abhorrent mutation of thought and reasoning allows him to call himself Christian? What has happened to Christianity and to our nation? Making war is not Christian. What this nation has become is not what Jesus taught and it is not the result of true Christianity. It is instead the result of insanity.
Have you ever considered that life is a paradox? Existence is bi-polar in that it has opposites that allow for each to exist. Life itself is the opposite of? – death of course. Without death there could be no life. Darkness – Light. Extreme darkness, extreme light and degrees between. Sweet – sour, love –hate, they all exist in tandem – together. You can’t have one without the other. It is the completeness we call existence.
Shree Rajneesh, more recently known as Osho, points out that language is linear, that rules of language put things in a line, one following the other. Consequently language as an expression of thought makes thought linear, therefore logic becomes linear, but existence is not linear, existence is simultaneous. Love and hate, light and dark, exist together, at the same time in the same space. They are two sides of the same coin, not much separates one from the other. But using language you can’t say the room was full of light and the room was dark as well. Language fails us.
If you go into a dark room at night and turn the light on where does the dark go? It’s still there. The only thing that’s changed is your ability to see. If you close your eyes during the daytime, where does the light go? It’s still there. Light and absence of light, day and night exist simultaneously.
Zen is paradoxical. Zen thought allows things to exist simultaneously and allows opposites to trade places. Doing by not doing is a Zen concept.
To Be or Not To Be?
Osho goes on to discuss having versus being. That man is constantly trying to enrich his life by accumulating more, by getting more property, more wealth, more power, more knowledge. The mind, the head, thinks by having more it will become more, but having can never be transformed into being. Being is accomplished by dropping all desire, just being in the moment, the here and now. In that moment of isness, of just being, says Osho, all is available, all benediction, all blessings, all wonder, all beauty, all bliss. Like light and dark, all exist in the same moment. You just have to realize it.
Do you recall the tribulation of Mel Gibson, his arrest for drunk driving and his remarks regarding Jews? Mel is an example of attempting to have more as a means to contentment and bliss and believing himself and his philosophy to be "right" and others "wrong". Mel’s life apparently became anything but bliss as a result of his quest for more wealth, more power, more things. What has wealth and power wrought Mel Gibson? A poisoned mind? It’s not his drinking, it’s not the alcohol that’s to blame, it’s what his mind has done to his life. One can drink alcohol and be blissful. If the 0.12 blood alcohol content was accurate, Mel may have been too drunk to legally drive but not excessively drunk, not on alcohol - but maybe drunk with power, drunk on supremist Christianity or stressed out from his obsession to have more in an effort to “be” more.
Mel can be faulted for riding the wave of Christian evangelical fanaticism that has swept our nation by introducing the movie “Passion of the Christ” as a crass opportunity to accumulate more wealth, but the result is not harmonious with Jesus’ message of love and just being in the here and now. Yes, Jesus was an advocate of eastern philosophy.
Jesus lived in the here and now and the here and now is the kingdom Jesus spoke of. Consider the lilies of the field, and the birds, and the flowers, God provides and has not forsaken them he reminds us. Why be anxious about tomorrow? Live in the present. Be here now.
Jesus was a product of Eastern thought and philosophy. Even the word Eastern and the Christian holiday we call Easter comes from an ancient European goddess of the dawn called Eostre by the Anglo-Saxons and Ostara by the Germanic peoples. Her name means "movement towards the rising sun" and is related to the Indo-European root word Aus which means "to shine". Hence the word east as a compass direction - towards the rising sun - and the word eastern to describe the area "east" of Europe and "western" to describe the area west of Europe towards the setting sun.
The majority of the Christian leadership has twisted and contorted Jesus’ message to mean the prosperity of having more things, of getting more wealth and power as a reward and blessing for following Jesus. That God wants you to have much more than he provides for the lilies of the field or the birds and wants you to build up treasures while you are here is not what Jesus taught. We know what he thought about the chances of a wealthy person to find paradise and we know what he thought of the despotic powerful. How can a bird have more or be more than a bird is? How can a human have more than God gave us from our birth? Impossible! Birds and all of the "lower" animals are complete just as humans are complete.
Jesus taught about “being” not “having”. When will Christians wake up and “see” what Jesus meant when he warned of those who come in his name? When will they quit warping and reinventing what Jesus taught?
Have you ever seen the video clips of Israeli school children writing messages of hate on the warheads and bombs to be dropped on the Lebanese and Palestinian people? And then have you seen video of the dead Lebanese and Palestine children? Do the Israelis show their children the videos of those dead children and do the Israeli children cheer and clap? That’s how sick western civilization has become. When adult leaders of a nation teach their children to hate and make war how can they call themselves civilized? How can they call themselves God’s people or God’s chosen?
At least President Harry Truman was sad and remorseful when he ordered the atomic bombs to be dropped on Japan. At least President Dwight Eisenhower was sickened by war. How can our current president, George W Bush, laugh and joke, act smug and make arrogant remarks as he orders invasions and missles launched? What abhorrent mutation of thought and reasoning allows him to call himself Christian? What has happened to Christianity and to our nation? Making war is not Christian. What this nation has become is not what Jesus taught and it is not the result of true Christianity. It is instead the result of insanity.
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Curse of The Urban Legend
For all the valuable information available on the internet and the opportunities for learning and spreading knowledge there are also equal opportunities for those who are sick and mean-spirited to cause pain and spread lies. Many of the things that circulate on the internet are absolutely false and many are obscene, viciously mean, character assassinations with no basis in reality. You can check out most (but not all) on several websites dedicated to debunking these lies which are commonly termed “Urban Legends”. Snopes.com is one of the most reputable sites used for that purpose. You simply enter the person’s name and to narrow the search, include one key word regarding the claim.
For example, one popular urban legend involves Lee Marvin, Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan), and Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers fame. This story makes several false claims about each but most glaring are the claims about Mr. Rogers who, in addition to this false claim, is the victim of several sick rumors.
Mr. Rogers was not a Navy Seal with 25 “kills” to his record and he didn’t wear a long sleeve sweater to cover up tattoos. And the reason he did not have a live audience of children was not because he was a convicted pedophile, etc., etc.
Why would anyone tell these lies about someone so revered by the American public? How sick are these people who delight in attempting to destroy a person’s character and reputation? And why does the PBS attract the ire of the most ignorant of conservatives?
Mr.’ Rogers was apparently one of the most gentle, compassionate and highly respected people to ever grace this planet. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he lived his life Buddha-like and, although he was human and may have had some secrets, they most likely were not anything as bad as most of us are guilty of.
Shortly before his death caused by stomach cancer Mr. Rogers, Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby all served as co-marshals of the 2003 Rose Bowl Parade. Bill Cosby tells this great story of the parade. Despite Cosby's star power he said he was humbled that day. He, Art Linkletter and Mr. Rogers were all riding in back of a convertible waving to the huge crowds that lined either side of the parade route. As they approached and passed by, the crowds would begin applauding and cheering - not for him or for Linkletter - but for Mr. Rogers. The crowds would call out “Welcome to our neighborhood, Mr. Rogers”. Some would sing,” It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood”.
Cosby recently said, “I just want you to know that Art Linkletter and I and Fred were riding in a '38 Packard in the Tournament of Roses parade, millions of people on both sides of the street for five and a half miles, and the one thing that I still remember is people waving and saying, 'Mister Rogers, welcome to the Neighborhood!'"
As for Bob Keeshan, most of us may remember he was also Clarabelle the Clown on the Howdy Doody Show before he played Captain Kangaroo on his own show. Keeshan spent a lot of time in Nashville years ago. I can’t recall why, probably music and book publishing, I’m not sure, but I think he had a residence here. Anyway, I met him once and would see him from time to time at music industry related events. His demeanor was the same as his TV character, Captain Kangaroo. A gentle spirit who owned any room the moment he walked in and immediately instilled a feeling of grace, gentleness and peace.
I’m sure it was even more pronounced when Fred Rogers entered a room.
For example, one popular urban legend involves Lee Marvin, Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan), and Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers fame. This story makes several false claims about each but most glaring are the claims about Mr. Rogers who, in addition to this false claim, is the victim of several sick rumors.
Mr. Rogers was not a Navy Seal with 25 “kills” to his record and he didn’t wear a long sleeve sweater to cover up tattoos. And the reason he did not have a live audience of children was not because he was a convicted pedophile, etc., etc.
Why would anyone tell these lies about someone so revered by the American public? How sick are these people who delight in attempting to destroy a person’s character and reputation? And why does the PBS attract the ire of the most ignorant of conservatives?
Mr.’ Rogers was apparently one of the most gentle, compassionate and highly respected people to ever grace this planet. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he lived his life Buddha-like and, although he was human and may have had some secrets, they most likely were not anything as bad as most of us are guilty of.
Shortly before his death caused by stomach cancer Mr. Rogers, Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby all served as co-marshals of the 2003 Rose Bowl Parade. Bill Cosby tells this great story of the parade. Despite Cosby's star power he said he was humbled that day. He, Art Linkletter and Mr. Rogers were all riding in back of a convertible waving to the huge crowds that lined either side of the parade route. As they approached and passed by, the crowds would begin applauding and cheering - not for him or for Linkletter - but for Mr. Rogers. The crowds would call out “Welcome to our neighborhood, Mr. Rogers”. Some would sing,” It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood”. Cosby recently said, “I just want you to know that Art Linkletter and I and Fred were riding in a '38 Packard in the Tournament of Roses parade, millions of people on both sides of the street for five and a half miles, and the one thing that I still remember is people waving and saying, 'Mister Rogers, welcome to the Neighborhood!'"
As for Bob Keeshan, most of us may remember he was also Clarabelle the Clown on the Howdy Doody Show before he played Captain Kangaroo on his own show. Keeshan spent a lot of time in Nashville years ago. I can’t recall why, probably music and book publishing, I’m not sure, but I think he had a residence here. Anyway, I met him once and would see him from time to time at music industry related events. His demeanor was the same as his TV character, Captain Kangaroo. A gentle spirit who owned any room the moment he walked in and immediately instilled a feeling of grace, gentleness and peace. I’m sure it was even more pronounced when Fred Rogers entered a room.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Mystery on ebay
Why is one copy of a book published in 2006 bringing such a high price on ebay? It’s up to $127 and still has eight days left on the auction. What would make this recently published book so valuable? And who might eventually buy it no matter what price it bids up to? Who might be interested in making sure the content of this book and about 200 plus copies that were pre-released is never disclosed to the American people?
Are you curious about the book on ebay? Here’s the link to the ebay auction.
Do you ever wonder what nefarious undercurrents are in play that form and shape our society and our world? Could corruption and evil be entrenched at the highest level of world power, the office of the US president?
Have you ever heard of the ties between the Bush Family and the Saudis? Surely you heard that for two days after the 9/11 attacks all airliners were grounded and that only government and military aircraft were allowed to fly? Oh, that is except for a few private aircraft including the one that allowed the Saudi royals and eleven bin Ladin family members who were visiting or living in the US to escape to their homelands. Those were the only aircraft allowed to fly, the ones that collected the Saudis and hustled them out of the country. This was authorized by George W Bush.But why?
Why were the Saudi Royal and bin Ladin family members allowed to leave the country when no one else could? Did George W and his father Herbert W fear for the Saudi’s safety? What control over the Bush family do the Saudis have? Again, why were just the Saudis allowed to leave and no high ranking people from other countries?
After all, at that time we had no idea of who flew those planes into the twin towers and the Pentagon - did we? Why was only this select group of Saudis allowed to leave and not other Saudis and citizens of other Arabic nations that were living, visiting and studying here?
This quick exit of the Saudis became a known fact as a result of the 9/11 Commission Report. Why did the FBI and Bush Administration officials for more than three years deny it ever took place? The Bush Administration, the FBI, the FAA, and even defense contractor Raytheon knowingly lied in repeated denials regarding newspaper and magazine accounts of the “phantom flight." Why would Bush not want it known? What and who was he protecting?
This is a picture of the Lear jet that was used to fly the Saudis home. Why did George W authorize this quick escape of the Saudis? What did the Saudis fear? Why did the Saudis think it was imperative that they leave immediately? I mean, at the time no one including George W knew that 17 of the 19 hijackers trained and financed by Osama bin Ladin and his Al Qaeda organization were Saudis – or did they? Think about it. How could anyone have known in advance who it was that attacked us and what nationality they were? These guys were supposed to be just dust among the rubble of their targets. Sure, it could easily be assumed that bin Ladin and Al Queda was likely responsible - but how would anyone, George W or the Saudis here in the US, know the identities of these super-secret terrorists were Saudis?
The Saudis must have known or why would they immediately rush out of the country? George W must have known or why would he have immediately authorized the Saudis to leave when all other flights were grounded? And if he knew the hijackers were Saudis then he must have also known in advance that this attack was going to happen. It follows.
If you want the full details you can Google it or go to this link It may shock you to learn that, according to the FBI, Osama bin Ladin himself was likely the one who paid for the chartered flight.
As for the mysterious book on ebay, here is why it’s bringing such a high price.
New York Post
By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld
August 8, 2007 -- THE Saudis' efforts to keep a veil of secrecy over their support for al Qaeda and Hamas got a shot in the arm last week, as a British publisher opted to suppress a controversial book on the financing of terror.
Facing the mere threat of a lawsuit from Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz, Cambridge University Press agreed to pulp all the unsold copies of "Alms of Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World," issue a public apology to Mahfouz and pay his legal expenses and substantial undisclosed damages.
The prestigious publisher - the world's oldest publishing house - had carefully vetted the book before publishing it last year. Yet now it has asked more than 200 libraries worldwide to pull the work off their shelves.
Bin Mahfouz never sued the authors, J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins, both U.S. citizens, who had provided their publisher with all the sources to back their allegations that bin Mahfouz, his family and his former bank, the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, funded Hamas and al Qaeda. Yet Cambridge University Press still caved - and even asked the authors to join its apology to bin Mahfouz. (They rightly refused.)
Since March 2002, bin Mahfouz has sued or threatened suit in England at least 36 times against those who've linked him to terrorism, including many American authors and publications. Everyone settled with bin Mahfouz - except me.
He sued me in London in January 2004, shortly after my book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It" was published in the United States. I refused to acknowledge a British court's jurisdiction over a book published here; the court then ruled in bin Mahfouz's favor by default. It enjoined British publication of "Funding Evil," awarded bin Mahfouz $225,900 in damages and expenses and ordered that I publicly apologize and destroy the book. I still refuse to acknowledge the British Court and its ruling.
Are you curious about the book on ebay? Here’s the link to the ebay auction.
Do you ever wonder what nefarious undercurrents are in play that form and shape our society and our world? Could corruption and evil be entrenched at the highest level of world power, the office of the US president?
Have you ever heard of the ties between the Bush Family and the Saudis? Surely you heard that for two days after the 9/11 attacks all airliners were grounded and that only government and military aircraft were allowed to fly? Oh, that is except for a few private aircraft including the one that allowed the Saudi royals and eleven bin Ladin family members who were visiting or living in the US to escape to their homelands. Those were the only aircraft allowed to fly, the ones that collected the Saudis and hustled them out of the country. This was authorized by George W Bush.But why?
Why were the Saudi Royal and bin Ladin family members allowed to leave the country when no one else could? Did George W and his father Herbert W fear for the Saudi’s safety? What control over the Bush family do the Saudis have? Again, why were just the Saudis allowed to leave and no high ranking people from other countries?
After all, at that time we had no idea of who flew those planes into the twin towers and the Pentagon - did we? Why was only this select group of Saudis allowed to leave and not other Saudis and citizens of other Arabic nations that were living, visiting and studying here?
This quick exit of the Saudis became a known fact as a result of the 9/11 Commission Report. Why did the FBI and Bush Administration officials for more than three years deny it ever took place? The Bush Administration, the FBI, the FAA, and even defense contractor Raytheon knowingly lied in repeated denials regarding newspaper and magazine accounts of the “phantom flight." Why would Bush not want it known? What and who was he protecting?
This is a picture of the Lear jet that was used to fly the Saudis home. Why did George W authorize this quick escape of the Saudis? What did the Saudis fear? Why did the Saudis think it was imperative that they leave immediately? I mean, at the time no one including George W knew that 17 of the 19 hijackers trained and financed by Osama bin Ladin and his Al Qaeda organization were Saudis – or did they? Think about it. How could anyone have known in advance who it was that attacked us and what nationality they were? These guys were supposed to be just dust among the rubble of their targets. Sure, it could easily be assumed that bin Ladin and Al Queda was likely responsible - but how would anyone, George W or the Saudis here in the US, know the identities of these super-secret terrorists were Saudis? The Saudis must have known or why would they immediately rush out of the country? George W must have known or why would he have immediately authorized the Saudis to leave when all other flights were grounded? And if he knew the hijackers were Saudis then he must have also known in advance that this attack was going to happen. It follows.
If you want the full details you can Google it or go to this link It may shock you to learn that, according to the FBI, Osama bin Ladin himself was likely the one who paid for the chartered flight.
As for the mysterious book on ebay, here is why it’s bringing such a high price.
New York Post
By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld
August 8, 2007 -- THE Saudis' efforts to keep a veil of secrecy over their support for al Qaeda and Hamas got a shot in the arm last week, as a British publisher opted to suppress a controversial book on the financing of terror.
Facing the mere threat of a lawsuit from Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz, Cambridge University Press agreed to pulp all the unsold copies of "Alms of Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World," issue a public apology to Mahfouz and pay his legal expenses and substantial undisclosed damages.
The prestigious publisher - the world's oldest publishing house - had carefully vetted the book before publishing it last year. Yet now it has asked more than 200 libraries worldwide to pull the work off their shelves.
Bin Mahfouz never sued the authors, J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins, both U.S. citizens, who had provided their publisher with all the sources to back their allegations that bin Mahfouz, his family and his former bank, the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, funded Hamas and al Qaeda. Yet Cambridge University Press still caved - and even asked the authors to join its apology to bin Mahfouz. (They rightly refused.)
Since March 2002, bin Mahfouz has sued or threatened suit in England at least 36 times against those who've linked him to terrorism, including many American authors and publications. Everyone settled with bin Mahfouz - except me.
He sued me in London in January 2004, shortly after my book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It" was published in the United States. I refused to acknowledge a British court's jurisdiction over a book published here; the court then ruled in bin Mahfouz's favor by default. It enjoined British publication of "Funding Evil," awarded bin Mahfouz $225,900 in damages and expenses and ordered that I publicly apologize and destroy the book. I still refuse to acknowledge the British Court and its ruling.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Will Jesus Be Allowed In Heaven?
No one should be surprised that not all people who believe in God are Christians but some Christians believe only they will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Christians have no monopoly on God – or religion. Even Jesus himself was not a “Christian”. He was a member of the Jewish faith who disagreed with some of the teachings and doctrine of his religion but he was still a practicing member of the Jewish religion. He wanted to reform the religion he was raised in, the faith of his father and mother; he didn’t set out to create a new organized religion or sect. Others decided to do that after his death.
So does that mean Jesus will not be allowed in heaven? He wasn’t a Christian.
Despite what they taught, not those back then who broke from the Jewish religion and became Christians, nor any religious leaders since, have been ordained by God to tell the rest of us what to do or how to think when it comes to our belief in a supreme being. We are, at least for the time being, free to choose our faith and our religious beliefs of our own free will. I have to believe that was God’s plan. Free people should not be shamed, cowed, pressured, frightened, threatened or forced into accepting any particular religious doctrine against their will. And for those who profess a certain belief, just the fact you have made a decision to follow a particular religious doctrine does not make you anymore right than anyone else nor does it give you authority or power over them. God has not granted you that right. That is the definition of fascism. The right-wing, fundamentalist Christian movement has embraced fascism in their overzealous attempt to take over the reins of our government and convert everyone to their belief. Jesus, who was a liberal, and was anything but a fascist, would reject most aspects of what the Christian religion has become.
Concerning matters of faith, a man-of-the-cloth once told me that having doubts regarding the stories told in the Bible is healthy. He opined that Christianity was alive and evolving and that doubt and ongoing debate was natural and necessary to keep it alive. How can criticism, doubt, debating factual evidence, and reasoning all be wonderful tools for intellectual pursuits but sinful when applied to the Bible? Did Jesus condemn Thomas for doubting? Did he strike him down or condemn him to hell?
Fundamentalist Christians tend to be ignorant concerning the teachings of Jesus and twist the words of the Bible to suit their needs. They foolishly belief that God has blessed them and them alone and that people of other faiths are damned to hell. They think only they and those of their particular denomination will walk the golden streets of heaven and the rest of the world’s people will spend an eternity writhing in the flames of hell. In short, they aren’t much different than their radical counterparts, the fundamentalist Muslims.
Although I don’t suspect it would make any difference to the closed minds of your average born-again Christian, here are a few things that any professing Christian should consider –
1. Evolution is a scientific fact and religion should stay out of teaching religion/creationism in Public Schools. Religion/creationism is not even good theory and is about things that cannot be proven and must be accepted on faith. Creationism is not knowledge or science. State ordered religious dogma is fascist. Also, praying should not be scheduled and orchestrated by a public institution. Prayer can be practiced by anyone almost anywhere at any time. It doesn’t have to be an overt display. You can set quietly at your desk and pray. Who can deprive you? Churches are allowed to have their own schools as long as they meet state and federal standards but they should stay out of the affairs of public schools.
2. Speaking of prayer, it only works when and if it changes us, when it moves our hearts and minds - it doesn’t work to change the world we live in. Show me one proof of prayer changing an event or physical property. Prayers do not produce material or physical miracles. Prayers don’t protect us, produce money, and keep bridges from collapsing or debt from consuming us – but hard work, right living, right thinking and being responsible does. Prayer should not be used to ask for things beyond our control but instead to ask for personal forgiveness, understanding, acceptance and compassion. If you truly accept God then you’ll let God take care of the rest.
3. The Bible should not be read literally because those who composed the writings that were assembled into the Bible were just men and they sometimes got it wrong. Some writings were considered for inclusion and rejected – not by God, but by the self proclaimed leaders of the church. The decision of which writings to include was mostly political and not decided by God. In many cases the books of the Bible were written by people who believed in religious myths and they used allegories to make simple points. We are more knowledgeable now. We now know the earth is round and it circles the sun. We know that thunder, lighting, floods, tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes are not God venting his anger, these are naturally occurring events caused by climatic and geological interactions sometimes triggered by environmental disturbance caused by man. It’s ludicrous to think a book as superstition-ridden, prurient, disjointed, rambling and full of mistakes and contradictions as is the Bible is one that God personally supervised and intended.
4. The miracles in the Bible are not to be taken literally as many can be explained as natural phenomena or just myths appropriated from earlier pagan religions. All cultures have created fictional stories to teach and support traditional and cultural views. Even Jesus openly used parables, which are made up stories, to make his points.
5. Biblical and religious salvation is different depending on the person and that person’s circumstances. Why would a person have to be a Christian to enter heaven? Jesus didn’t say that. Jesus wasn’t a Christian.
6. Religion has traditionally held women down, especially fundamentalist sects, and it's time for that to end. Men should not have any more rights than a woman. A woman’s right to choose is sovereign to her freedom. And all children should be our priority, not just unborn American children.
7. Homosexuality has been present throughout history. Most likely all homosexuals are born with easily triggered genetic propensities. Old Testament references to homosexuality are to be discounted. Why not? We discount other outdated, superstitious and ignorant Old Testament instructions. New Testament references are all about pedophilia, not adult homosexuality. The fact is Jesus never talked about homosexuality. Besides, why is it acceptable for men and women to use various means to satisfy sexual urges but not two people of the same gender? It’s not my cup of tea but it’s no skin off my ass if two women or two men want to get each other off. Is it un-natural? One could argue that any form of sex other than procreative sex is un-natural. If I remember correctly, only our near relatives the chimpanzees and perhaps some other species of monkey engage in sex for enjoyment.
8. If you believe in God then you should accept that God knows who needs Christianity or who will find God utilizing a different path. Jesus didn't claim to be the only way to God and the apostle Paul agreed with this. It was later Christians who decided otherwise. Jesus reputedly said “the kingdom of God/Heaven is within”. You don’t need a church, or a mediator, or someone’s permission to go within. Believing the only path to go within and the only way to find God is through Christianity or the church doesn’t make sense. Jesus would not approve.
9. There is no hell except in your mind. You create hell for yourself and for other people. Stop now! God is Love – Love is God. Jesus called himself the son of man and he talked about returning to whence he came and being with God as he was before the world was made – and Jesus claimed we are all sons of man. Why wouldn’t it be the same for us? In essence, weren’t we all with God before we came into the world and won’t we return there when we leave this world?
10. Jesus was born a man, and as a man he was fallible. He admitted his temptations. He obviously didn't know everything or he would not have cried, “Father, if it is your will let this cup pass from me’, and, at the last “Father, why hast thou forsaken me?”
The books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John of the New Testament even vary their accounts of Jesus. As example, for Jesus’ last words on the cross, Luke makes no mention that Jesus’ said anything other than, “Father, into my hands I commend my spirit.” John says that Jesus said simply, “It is finished.” Yet Matthew and Mark both say he cried out loudly something akin to, “Father, why hast thou forsaken me.”
Three different accounts. Wouldn’t God in his infinite wisdom, when he allegedly inspired those to write the books of the Bible, have made sure that there was only one factual account or that all agreed with each other? Why would God allow confusion - because he works in mysterious ways? Why would God insist on being mysterious? Why would God allow the Koran, the Vedas, and the Book of Mormon, etc. to complicate things if only the Bible was his true word? And if God really had a hand in the Bible why didn’t God just cut through the crap and be clear, accurate, articulate, concise and straightforward so we would know without a doubt that this is the true word of God?
If you look at the heavens and the world of nature, not the world of man, you’ll see a synchronicity beyond understanding, a wondrous complexity, a harmony and balance of amazing proportions and beauty. Accepting that God, whoever and whatever God is, created all this it’s not hard to conceive that God really is omnipotent and perfect. But when I look at man and see the destruction and chaos caused by man’s disregard for and destruction of God’s creation; and when I look at the world religions and see all the conflict, confusion, ambiguities, flaws, contradictions and disharmony they cause; and when I see all the divisiveness and hatred imbued in them; and when I see all the wars and violence, corruption and evil that have been committed in the name of God, I can only believe that man, not God, is behind this madness.
Christians have no monopoly on God – or religion. Even Jesus himself was not a “Christian”. He was a member of the Jewish faith who disagreed with some of the teachings and doctrine of his religion but he was still a practicing member of the Jewish religion. He wanted to reform the religion he was raised in, the faith of his father and mother; he didn’t set out to create a new organized religion or sect. Others decided to do that after his death.
So does that mean Jesus will not be allowed in heaven? He wasn’t a Christian.
Despite what they taught, not those back then who broke from the Jewish religion and became Christians, nor any religious leaders since, have been ordained by God to tell the rest of us what to do or how to think when it comes to our belief in a supreme being. We are, at least for the time being, free to choose our faith and our religious beliefs of our own free will. I have to believe that was God’s plan. Free people should not be shamed, cowed, pressured, frightened, threatened or forced into accepting any particular religious doctrine against their will. And for those who profess a certain belief, just the fact you have made a decision to follow a particular religious doctrine does not make you anymore right than anyone else nor does it give you authority or power over them. God has not granted you that right. That is the definition of fascism. The right-wing, fundamentalist Christian movement has embraced fascism in their overzealous attempt to take over the reins of our government and convert everyone to their belief. Jesus, who was a liberal, and was anything but a fascist, would reject most aspects of what the Christian religion has become.
Concerning matters of faith, a man-of-the-cloth once told me that having doubts regarding the stories told in the Bible is healthy. He opined that Christianity was alive and evolving and that doubt and ongoing debate was natural and necessary to keep it alive. How can criticism, doubt, debating factual evidence, and reasoning all be wonderful tools for intellectual pursuits but sinful when applied to the Bible? Did Jesus condemn Thomas for doubting? Did he strike him down or condemn him to hell?
Fundamentalist Christians tend to be ignorant concerning the teachings of Jesus and twist the words of the Bible to suit their needs. They foolishly belief that God has blessed them and them alone and that people of other faiths are damned to hell. They think only they and those of their particular denomination will walk the golden streets of heaven and the rest of the world’s people will spend an eternity writhing in the flames of hell. In short, they aren’t much different than their radical counterparts, the fundamentalist Muslims.
Although I don’t suspect it would make any difference to the closed minds of your average born-again Christian, here are a few things that any professing Christian should consider –
1. Evolution is a scientific fact and religion should stay out of teaching religion/creationism in Public Schools. Religion/creationism is not even good theory and is about things that cannot be proven and must be accepted on faith. Creationism is not knowledge or science. State ordered religious dogma is fascist. Also, praying should not be scheduled and orchestrated by a public institution. Prayer can be practiced by anyone almost anywhere at any time. It doesn’t have to be an overt display. You can set quietly at your desk and pray. Who can deprive you? Churches are allowed to have their own schools as long as they meet state and federal standards but they should stay out of the affairs of public schools.
2. Speaking of prayer, it only works when and if it changes us, when it moves our hearts and minds - it doesn’t work to change the world we live in. Show me one proof of prayer changing an event or physical property. Prayers do not produce material or physical miracles. Prayers don’t protect us, produce money, and keep bridges from collapsing or debt from consuming us – but hard work, right living, right thinking and being responsible does. Prayer should not be used to ask for things beyond our control but instead to ask for personal forgiveness, understanding, acceptance and compassion. If you truly accept God then you’ll let God take care of the rest.
3. The Bible should not be read literally because those who composed the writings that were assembled into the Bible were just men and they sometimes got it wrong. Some writings were considered for inclusion and rejected – not by God, but by the self proclaimed leaders of the church. The decision of which writings to include was mostly political and not decided by God. In many cases the books of the Bible were written by people who believed in religious myths and they used allegories to make simple points. We are more knowledgeable now. We now know the earth is round and it circles the sun. We know that thunder, lighting, floods, tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes are not God venting his anger, these are naturally occurring events caused by climatic and geological interactions sometimes triggered by environmental disturbance caused by man. It’s ludicrous to think a book as superstition-ridden, prurient, disjointed, rambling and full of mistakes and contradictions as is the Bible is one that God personally supervised and intended.
4. The miracles in the Bible are not to be taken literally as many can be explained as natural phenomena or just myths appropriated from earlier pagan religions. All cultures have created fictional stories to teach and support traditional and cultural views. Even Jesus openly used parables, which are made up stories, to make his points.
5. Biblical and religious salvation is different depending on the person and that person’s circumstances. Why would a person have to be a Christian to enter heaven? Jesus didn’t say that. Jesus wasn’t a Christian.
6. Religion has traditionally held women down, especially fundamentalist sects, and it's time for that to end. Men should not have any more rights than a woman. A woman’s right to choose is sovereign to her freedom. And all children should be our priority, not just unborn American children.
7. Homosexuality has been present throughout history. Most likely all homosexuals are born with easily triggered genetic propensities. Old Testament references to homosexuality are to be discounted. Why not? We discount other outdated, superstitious and ignorant Old Testament instructions. New Testament references are all about pedophilia, not adult homosexuality. The fact is Jesus never talked about homosexuality. Besides, why is it acceptable for men and women to use various means to satisfy sexual urges but not two people of the same gender? It’s not my cup of tea but it’s no skin off my ass if two women or two men want to get each other off. Is it un-natural? One could argue that any form of sex other than procreative sex is un-natural. If I remember correctly, only our near relatives the chimpanzees and perhaps some other species of monkey engage in sex for enjoyment.
8. If you believe in God then you should accept that God knows who needs Christianity or who will find God utilizing a different path. Jesus didn't claim to be the only way to God and the apostle Paul agreed with this. It was later Christians who decided otherwise. Jesus reputedly said “the kingdom of God/Heaven is within”. You don’t need a church, or a mediator, or someone’s permission to go within. Believing the only path to go within and the only way to find God is through Christianity or the church doesn’t make sense. Jesus would not approve.
9. There is no hell except in your mind. You create hell for yourself and for other people. Stop now! God is Love – Love is God. Jesus called himself the son of man and he talked about returning to whence he came and being with God as he was before the world was made – and Jesus claimed we are all sons of man. Why wouldn’t it be the same for us? In essence, weren’t we all with God before we came into the world and won’t we return there when we leave this world?
10. Jesus was born a man, and as a man he was fallible. He admitted his temptations. He obviously didn't know everything or he would not have cried, “Father, if it is your will let this cup pass from me’, and, at the last “Father, why hast thou forsaken me?”
The books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John of the New Testament even vary their accounts of Jesus. As example, for Jesus’ last words on the cross, Luke makes no mention that Jesus’ said anything other than, “Father, into my hands I commend my spirit.” John says that Jesus said simply, “It is finished.” Yet Matthew and Mark both say he cried out loudly something akin to, “Father, why hast thou forsaken me.”
Three different accounts. Wouldn’t God in his infinite wisdom, when he allegedly inspired those to write the books of the Bible, have made sure that there was only one factual account or that all agreed with each other? Why would God allow confusion - because he works in mysterious ways? Why would God insist on being mysterious? Why would God allow the Koran, the Vedas, and the Book of Mormon, etc. to complicate things if only the Bible was his true word? And if God really had a hand in the Bible why didn’t God just cut through the crap and be clear, accurate, articulate, concise and straightforward so we would know without a doubt that this is the true word of God?
If you look at the heavens and the world of nature, not the world of man, you’ll see a synchronicity beyond understanding, a wondrous complexity, a harmony and balance of amazing proportions and beauty. Accepting that God, whoever and whatever God is, created all this it’s not hard to conceive that God really is omnipotent and perfect. But when I look at man and see the destruction and chaos caused by man’s disregard for and destruction of God’s creation; and when I look at the world religions and see all the conflict, confusion, ambiguities, flaws, contradictions and disharmony they cause; and when I see all the divisiveness and hatred imbued in them; and when I see all the wars and violence, corruption and evil that have been committed in the name of God, I can only believe that man, not God, is behind this madness.
Monday, August 06, 2007
TMA or Text Messaging Abbreviations
CMIIW (correct me if I’m wrong) but FWIW (for what it’s worth) it seems us SC (senior citizens) sometimes referred to as OF (old fogies) or in the case of old women, BH (blue hairs), who are approaching are or well into our GY (golden years), in order to SIT (stay in touch) with the youth of today who delight in KPC (keeping parents clueless), we need to BUOOTMS (brush up on our text messaging skills) if we want to KWTFTKAM (know what the fuck these kids are messaging) to one another.
Below is a link to TMA (text message abbreviations) to HYD (help you decipher) the CAC (concise abbreviated communications) that are TOC (turning our children) into EDI (electronically dependent idiots) who SMOTT (spend most of their time) with TEGTACS (their eyes glued to a computer screen) RT (rather than) LISE (looking into someone’s eyes) and SDTS (speaking directly to someone), SWTV (speaking with their voice) and IWARLP (interacting with a real living person); PETE (physically expressing their emotions) and SWTF (smiling with their face) rather than a CGI (computer generated icon), TWTH (touching with their hands) and IP (interacting physically) rather than IAK (inserting a keyboard) in between them and the RW (real world).
WIMBC (while it may be convenient) IDTIH (I don’t think it’s healthy) and IFO (I for one) TIEI (think it’s extremely important) that WPTOFW (we preserve the old fashion ways of communicating) with one another BWE (before we evolve) ILMT (into little more than) EROBRC (emotionless robots operated by remote control) from some ACTS (advanced communications technology satellite) controlled by someone like a DMCAC (delusional, manic, cold and crazed) DUBYA (dumb-ass, underachieving, Bi-polar, Yalie Asshole) WTTAOBG (who thinks they are ordained by God) to RTE (rule the earth) and AIBOTFCDW (assist in bringing on the fanatical Christian death wish) of the IDOTWASOR (imminent destruction of the world and the salvation of the righteous) Rapture as outlined in TBOR (the book of Revelations).
TAYITE (to assist you in the endeavor) of DTM (deciphering text messaging) IHPTL ( I have provided this link ) to AGTUOCA&SF (a guide to understanding online chat acronyms and smiley faces).
B4N, RTB,
LY,
G
Below is a link to TMA (text message abbreviations) to HYD (help you decipher) the CAC (concise abbreviated communications) that are TOC (turning our children) into EDI (electronically dependent idiots) who SMOTT (spend most of their time) with TEGTACS (their eyes glued to a computer screen) RT (rather than) LISE (looking into someone’s eyes) and SDTS (speaking directly to someone), SWTV (speaking with their voice) and IWARLP (interacting with a real living person); PETE (physically expressing their emotions) and SWTF (smiling with their face) rather than a CGI (computer generated icon), TWTH (touching with their hands) and IP (interacting physically) rather than IAK (inserting a keyboard) in between them and the RW (real world).
WIMBC (while it may be convenient) IDTIH (I don’t think it’s healthy) and IFO (I for one) TIEI (think it’s extremely important) that WPTOFW (we preserve the old fashion ways of communicating) with one another BWE (before we evolve) ILMT (into little more than) EROBRC (emotionless robots operated by remote control) from some ACTS (advanced communications technology satellite) controlled by someone like a DMCAC (delusional, manic, cold and crazed) DUBYA (dumb-ass, underachieving, Bi-polar, Yalie Asshole) WTTAOBG (who thinks they are ordained by God) to RTE (rule the earth) and AIBOTFCDW (assist in bringing on the fanatical Christian death wish) of the IDOTWASOR (imminent destruction of the world and the salvation of the righteous) Rapture as outlined in TBOR (the book of Revelations).
TAYITE (to assist you in the endeavor) of DTM (deciphering text messaging) IHPTL ( I have provided this link ) to AGTUOCA&SF (a guide to understanding online chat acronyms and smiley faces).
B4N, RTB,
LY,
G
