HARRIET MIERS & THE BUSH THEOCRACY

President Bush nominated his White House lawyer for a seat on the Supreme
Court.

The Catholic Democrat turned fundamentalist Protestant Republican shares Bush's views on religion and basically on how the world and nation ought to be.

His message to his fellow conservatives about his nomination was that she is religious, just like we are, and will vote just like we want her to vote.

In a nation that constitutionally mandates the separation of Church and State, emphasizing her religion as a qualifying factor, is down right unconstitutional. But then again Harriet IS expected to rule according to her religious beliefs and not according to the dictates of our Constitution.

Is President Bush insulting the intelligence of every American citizen with his nomination? I think he is but then he CAN get away with it because he controls Congress or does he?

Some conservatives are actually opposing Harriet. They feel she is not a totally verifiable religious nut case - she may have an independent brain cell somewhere in her head and that would be dangerous. When she was a young Catholic, she actually was pro-choice. Could she revert back to her evil past?

The conservatives want someone that will guarantee them a vote to repeal Roe vs Wade and take away that and many more freedoms granted to Americans by previous Supreme Courts - hell even Rush Limbaugh is against her nomination. On the other hand, Pat Robertson threatened to kill / assassinate or is it just pray for their death, anyone that opposes her nomination.

What we have here is a conservative circus. The sad thing is that Democrats and the rest of the country can basically do nothing about this situation - it is out of our hands. Did we ever think we would come to such a sad point in our history?

Bush's nomination demeans the high court, demeans this nation and demeans the image of this country in the eyes of the world. Bush is a dictator, plain and simple and in the span of two terms in office, he will destroy the American aura that the world has held for so many years. We are now just plain stupid, mean and self serving. The more religious we get the more ignorant and superstitious we appear. Hell we are trying to bring Creationism into our science classes - how dark age can you get.

Something needs to happen. If we care anything about this country and our future, we will need to actually pay attention to what is going on in Washington and use the only tool we have - our vote.

I feel strongly that for the next election we will actually have a Republican candidate that will not be from the same school of idiocy as Bush. That man is McCain and he can have my vote anytime. Will he be too late? Bush has a long way to go and can do a hell of a lot of damage. Lets take away Bush's power base. If your Republican Congressman is pro Bush - get him out of there - now!

Janusz

DELPHI BANKRUPTCY AND HISTORY

Delphi, a auto parts supplier that has billions and billions in annual sales has declared bankruptcy and I think it is a pivotal time in the history of the auto industry in the United States as well as in the economy of this country as well as the world - THIS IS BIG!

Delphi was spun off from GM in 1999. Visteon is a similar company spun off from Ford Motor.

Delphi employs thousands of workers here in Michigan, the U.S. and around the world. The bankruptcy affects only the U.S. Delphi units.

Newspaper headlines were huge when Delphi asked its American employees to agree to a 63% pay and benefit cut - $27 per hour to $10 per hour and pay 27% of their health premiums from 7%.

Delphi declared bankruptcy before the new, much more stringent bankruptcy rules came into affect in the middle of October.

I say that this move is HISTORIC because it will change the way American Auto Companies function and the way the UAW union functions.

When I was growing up, some of my high school friends did not want to waste their time on college - they could get a job that paid more than college type jobs, had security, paid a pension, paid all healthcare benefits and you could get in without any experience or education AND you could not get fired because the UNION protected you. You could not lose by working for the BIG THREE or four, at that time.

Things were going well in post WWII America. The middle class was growing, people were buying new cars, the auto workers were buying new cars and the auto companies were just trying to out do each other in style and engine muscle. The workers were buying newer homes and later cottages and the president of the U.S. declared that as goes GM, goes the country (or something like that).

GLOBALIZATION started slowly. The Japanese learned our industrial techniques and then refined them and made them better. We were too full of ourselves to notice.

The UAW wanted more and more, every contract period. Why not, the auto companies could afford it and after all the UAW had a powerful weapon - strike or better known as blackmail. They would target one company to strike, allowing the others to continue to do business and maybe actually steal some business from the struck company which could not provide product - they always caved in.

The unions became so powerful that if a company needed to lay off workers, the workers would go into a idle workers pool and were still paid 90% of their regular wages. The companies could not lower their costs even in a downturn - they were stuck.

As globalization made its presence known, U.S. auto companies tried to deal with the challenge. The UAW started seeing the danger too but could not move or were willing to move fast enough.

Delphi, a huge parts manufacturer was spun off from GM but with "legacy" issues, i.e. their workers were still part of the UAW, made the same wages and benefits and that could not be changed- by contract.

Other competing parts makers were not unionized, had lower costs and could compete very well with companies like Delphi in fact they kicked Delphi's ass.

Now Delphi has hired a turn-around expert and he had the balls to make the only call remaining - bankruptcy.

He will sell most of the U.S. factories and the buyers will not accept existing UAW contracts .He will keep the Mexican and other overseas units that make a profit.

Is this fair to the workers and retirees that may lose their pensions and benefits - absolutely not. They trusted in their union bosses to keep doing what they always did - get better and better contracts. The auto companies make their shareholders happy by maintaining labor peace and profits and dividends rolling in. Both entities were short sited and dumb as shit.

Everyone knew this crisis was going to happen. The signs were unmistakable. Analysts predicted it but no one paid attention - now they have to.

An ironic moment happened when the UAW president said that workers would not be able to afford the cars they make with the new, low wages demanded by Delphi. They should remember that it probably was because of their pay and benefits that autos became unaffordable to the rest of the country and foreign autos became more affordable and better built.

The fact that this crisis was not foreseen and adjustments made to meet it head on - all hell will now break loose. Michigan's economy as well as the economy of the whole country will be affected. The cut in wages and the unemployment will be catastrophic to the service industry and to state and local governments. It will take years to get back to economic health in Michigan.

A recent poll among parents showed that very few considered higher education for their kids as a priority, mainly because they could always go work at the auto company. Those days are GONE parents so you might as well tell your kids to stay in school and learn a skill - unskilled labor will no longer pay as much as it used to.

Janusz

POPE NOW OK WITH GAY PRIESTS

Word is out that the Vatican is now changing its mind on the sweeping ban on homosexuals in the priesthood or more exactly, in the seminaries (schools for priests).

The huge uproar from Catholic Men's Orders, which are probably filled with gays, has softened the Vatican's stance.

The new directive will allow homosexual priests to be ordained IF they were chaste for three (3) years. The old directive was that homosexual men could not be ordained even if they remained celibate.

This is all getting very confusing for me but imagine how confusing it must be for the Vatican and for all the priests and monks out there - one day they are to be burned at the stake and the next they are welcome - wow!

THE BIG QUESTION I HAVE IS ARE GAY PRIESTS PREFERABLE TO MARRIED HETEROSEXUAL PRIESTS?

I have nothing against gay priests but celibacy is abnormal for both gay and heterosexual priests and will eventually compromise the man's essential biological nature making him abnormal and therefore unqualified to guide people in their daily lives.

I will do some research on the Vatican's stand on homosexuality and see where all this is leading to.

Janusz

IS THE WORLD REALLY 6,000 YEARS OLD?

Recently, our local paper carried a story about an individual building a museum in Ohio dedicated to the premise that the earth is really only 6,000 years old as per the Bible. He wants to show the reality of that fact in his museum - he is absolutely serious and will spend millions on the museum. He will also make millions because millions will come to his museum to have their beliefs verified as true - how - don't ask.

The gentleman mentioned above and his supporters belong to a Christian group that takes the Bible literally (every word is true) and therefore believes the Creation story in the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

Many Christians consider these particular Christians as an embarrassment to their religion because they are so obviously wrong as to be objects of ridicule.

I actually know a few of THEM and like them very much. The one person I am thinking of was a college graduate and a devoted Baptist. In conversations with her (she liked to talk about her religion) she maintained that the earth is indeed only 6,000 years old and that archeological/ scientific evidence that places the earth into the millions of years is plain false, a plant, a conspiracy and the work of the devil. Obviously we could not discuss the subject because there was no room for discussion.

The Book of Genesis actually has two (2) creation stories. It is not the earliest creation story. Civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia had earlier ones. Scholars actually can show where the Jewish Creation story came from, usually mentioning the Epic Of Gilgamesh among others.

Most civilizations had creation stories so they could answer questions from the people as to where did we come from and how did all this come to be. Interestingly, most creation stories have a "flood" story too indicating that a huge flood probably did happen.

Scholars call these creation stories "myths" and most cultures have them. Modern people recognize why the stories were written and consider the stories as "wisdom literature" because they usually had a moral or lessons for life tucked into it.

Creationists or Fundamentalists believe that God actually wrote the book or at least inspired someone directly to write it.

Scholars note that the evidence is overwhelming that the stories were written many, many years later. Some of the evidence includes mentioning "things" that did not exist until many years later and could not be known to people of that time.

A whole course on the Bible would explain how, when and by whom the Bible was written. It is a must for people trying to understand all this.

My National Geographic just sent me a book describing the wall paintings in a French cave that are 17,000 years old. Dinosaur bones have been found and dated to millions of years ago and I can keep talking about the evidence for a good long time.

The question is basically who is right. I don't think you can ignore scientific evidence as somehow phony or a conspiracy - believe me.

So where does it leave the 6,000 year group.

I call them that to differentiate them from Creationists who believe that God created the world and everything in it but not necessarily according to the Book of Genesis.

I really don't know what to think about so called educated people believing something so obviously false. I guess I have to research this a little bit more.

Janusz

POPE WANTS GAYS OUT OF PRIESTHOOD

Pope Benedict / Vatican has issued an order for inspectors to look for "evidence of homosexuality" in seminary students and then ask them to leave.

This appears to be a direct response to the clergy sex abuse scandal in the U.S. The scandal is basically priests molesting young boys which usually indicates a form of pedophilia and not homosexuality. Is the Vatican confused?

Anyway, there are a number of factors here to talk about.

The Vatican order has stipulated that even if the seminarian / priest is celibate but homosexual; he must go. I can actually see their point here in light of the Vatican's condemnation of gays in general and their immoral and sinful lifestyle - can't have a gay priest preaching an anti-gay message?

A response from "Catholic Men's Orders" against the edict is very interesting. Are they scared of losing most of their members? Does that mean many ARE gay and the leaders of the Orders know that? How long has this been going on - years - decades -more?

The priesthood is a dying profession for one reason: celibacy. What normal man would want to devote his life to the Church as a celibate (forever)? The answer is NO NORMAL man would and therefore you get ABNORMAL men as priests. They don't have to all be pedophiles but there HAS to be something wrong with them or if they were normal entering the priesthood, they surely became abnormal as the years have gone by.

The Church can end this crisis by dropping the celibacy requirement. Many Popes defended the requirement saying Christ was celibate - WRONG - scholars agree that no one knows or can know that and if you rely on historical precedent - most Jewish men at 30 were married and going to a prostitute was not a bad thing in those days.

Popes also cited tradition. Well priests were allowed to get married in the beginning but were barred from marriage in the Middle Ages when many priests / clergy would leave their material possessions to their sons instead of the Church. That could have been easily fixed by banning the practice but NO - the Church banned marriage and included celibacy just in case of illegitimate offspring that could get the Church's money.

Another argument is that the priest needs ALL his time devoted to the flock - BULLSHIT - what about all the other religions (even Orthodox Catholic) where the clergy is allowed to marry (everybody BUT the Roman Catholics). Do they not do a good job? Do they neglect their flock?
Are they normal?

So you see that is NO valid argument for celibacy.

Is the Vatican prepared to save the Priesthood? Are they capable of saving the priesthood at least in the U.S.?

They can always import priests from other countries that have become priests to escape their miserable living conditions and lack of economic growth potential. We have some here in Michigan from Africa and Eastern Europe. The problem is that these priests are normal and they usually grab/befriend/molest females as soon as they get over here and have to be sent back.

The Catholic Church, at least in the United States, is at a crossroad. Lets see what happens.

Janusz

DEATH WITH DIGNITY IN OREGON

The people of Oregon have passed a "Death with Dignity Act" that allows terminal patients to ask their physicians to hasten their death with medication - also known as "Assisted Suicide".

The people of Oregon voted on this measure a number of times and passed the measure each time. The measure has even withstood challenges from a number of places but mostly from our own government or should I just say BUSH.

Republicans usually respect the will of the people or "State's Rights" but Bush is not really a Republican - he follows the commands of his god and if his god says "the will of the people be dammed" - so be it.

The people of Oregon have had basically one argument -IT IS NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS HOW I CHOOSE TO DIE - but that is not really a legal argument.

The Oregon program, predicted to become a slaughter of the elderly, has proven to be quite the opposite. Actually very few people have made the choice for early death but the ones that did used their free will and obeyed all the restrictions placed on the program.

Bush now has John Roberts on the Supreme Court and he will follow Bush's commands. he has already shown that he will deny the people of Oregon their will. He will tell them to GET FUCKED - the Bush government will dictate the rules by which they can or cannot die.

If Harriet Miers gets on the Supreme Court - BUSH is our god and there is nothing you're gonna do about it.

Even the Republicans are getting scared. Bush seems like a lunatic in control of our country - it's a miracle he did not name his mother to the court.

Wake up America - your freedom is in danger!!!

Janusz

INTELLIGENT DESIGN IN DOVER, PA.

We actually have a Michigan connection with the trial in Dover, PA between the Dover School Board wanting to include Intelligent Design (ID) as part of their science curriculum and student's parents that oppose that move.

The school board is represented by Richard Thompson, Oakland County, Michigan, who was voted out as County Prosecutor for going after Dr. Death (Dr. Kevorkian) a little too diligently. He now works for another Michigan guy, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and rabid Catholic. Monaghan also founded the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, MI where Thompson works.

The Law Center reflects the far right, Catholic fundamentalist thinking of Tom Monaghan. He has the money to push his thinking onto our society and culture. The ACLU is trying to prevent him from doing too much damage.

Anyway, I have talked about Intelligent Design (ID) before but in this case we can narrow the discussion to a few basic points.

We are not talking "evolution" here. Evolution is a fact that can be demonstrated and proven through scientific method.

The "theory" part of Darwinism is "natural selection" or "survival of the fittest". The theory is very plausible and applies to many cases but not in all cases - sometimes evolution occurs by chance / chaos theory.

The BIG point in the trial is "ORIGIN OF LIFE / MATTER". Evolution / science cannot answer how life began, how the universe began, how matter was created, etc. right now and may never be able to answer those questions but scientists will keep trying / searching (through scientific means).

The Intelligent Design people want the science teachers to state that an intelligent designer / planner / God may have been responsible for the beginning of all things. This statement would be totally based on FAITH and have NO scientific or factual basis. It is also a belief that cannot be proven by science unless GOD comes down and shows himself and explains how he did it all.

Intelligent Design advocates tell us that simple logic would lead us to a need for an intelligent designer (life is too complex to have just evolved). That is not true; science has already made some strides into explaining just how our complex systems have evolved through the ages.

Religious people can believe that God created life / universe and not be told they are wrong because nobody really knows BUT they should not promote their beliefs as if they were true and factual either because they cannot prove them.

In this way scientists can still be religious and religious people still can be scientists without conflict. They can use their faith where science cannot go - for now.

Janusz