BUSH IN MICHIGAN: ain't he gone yet?

I wasn’t going to comment on George Bush anymore but I can’t help myself. He was in town last week at a Michigan fundraiser. He stopped traffic, talked for 20 minutes, posed for pictures (for $5,000) and left stopping traffic again.

The next day the paper reported on his visit and published interviews with the people (Republicans) that paid $1,000 a plate and $5,000 a plate plus photo op. To a person, they all praised Bush for the fine job he is doing and has done. Some added the proviso that “he is after all human”.

The next day’s letters to the editor section contained comments like “what planet are those people from?”

Yes, it is sad watching Bush go through the motions of the last few months of his deranged presidency. It is even sadder to watch supposedly lucid people still supporting him and thinking that somehow history will be kind to him – NOT!

Iraq is still a mess no matter the Pentagon’s spin. There is no government there and everyone is just waiting for our elections to conclude, our troops to leave and the blood bath to begin.

Afghanistan is heating up as never before because Bush went to Iraq instead of taking care of Afghanistan.

The economy is on a precipice, ready to dive even further – you haven’t seen nothing yet.

Yes, he did some things correctly, but they will grossly overshadowed by his monumental screw-up’s; mainly Iraq which impacted basically everything else he did including managing the economy.

This would be a good time for people, the media, pundits and all, to examine exactly how we allowed Bush to happen. Don’t spare anyone; let the people know how they were duped and how stupid they were to get duped.

And then let everyone know how not to allow something like that to happen ever again.

CULTURE AND THE MARRIAGE BED...

OK, here is one topic way out there. It is from France where many Muslims are re-locating. The French are adamant about forcing the Muslims to take up French ways – I know you have heard how they have banned the “Muslim scarf” in schools and all.

The Wall Street Journal article “Secular, Muslim Culture Clash Ensnares French Doctors”, June 10, 2008 talks about French doctors performing HYMENOPLASTY on Muslim women before they get married – puzzled?

In the Muslim culture, a bride MUST be a virgin unless the groom agrees to it being otherwise – never! This means that the bride must have an in tact “hymen”. During the initial intercourse with the new husband, the hymen is broken by the husband’s penis which results in blood on the sheets.

If the husband feels no hymen and there is no blood, his bride lied to him that she is a virgin and the marriage is annulled.

In France, the courts have been upholding annulments under these circumstances because they see it as a “false” contract; not about virginity but about prenuptial lying. I can see the legal side of it quite clearly and logically.

BUT French women are up in arms over the court’s decision saying it is un-French – huh?

Anyway, the story is about French doctors that “mend” hymens for women before marriage and they are busy as hell. They can stitch something together AND provide a vial of blood to spill on the sheets so the husband feels something and sees something.

Now I ask you, does this seem fair to you? I am talking to the men here.

I realize a hymen can be broken by many means other than intercourse. Girls are very active these days and vigorous sports can cause the hymen to tear so I do understand that side of the woman’s plight.

BUT if she is not a true virgin and she indicates to her fiancé that she is – something is not kosher here!

The work needs to be done on the males and the culture. I feel none of the males are virgins yet they expect their bride to be one – something ALL males in the world wish for BUT in reality, that is hard to find.

This is a tough one because in my generation or maybe I should say in the previous generation that influenced my some of my generation (me), virginity was expected. Free love in the 1960s changed all that but not for everyone.

I would think that TODAY virginity is rare and since people are getting married later, virginity is probably non-existent.

So here is the dilemma, should the woman lie and trick her husband or should the culture modernize? Well the culture will not modernize its ways for some time even though reality will be quite different. The women will continue to play their games and the men will pretend they have a virgin and all will be well.

O LITTLE TOWN OF FRANKENMUTH

Here is a cute little story from the front page of the Detroit News about a little town in Michigan called Frankenmuth that was founded in 1845 by a bunch of newly arrived German Lutherans. Today it is known for its Bavarian architecture, famous all year Christmas store (Bronners) and famous chicken dinners served by people dressed in traditional German attire.

The gist of the current story is that an atheist that lives in Frankenmuth objected to the town’s use of the Luther Rose in its city seal and the positioning of crosses at covered bridge sites and in town parks. The town removed the crosses from bridges when asked by the atheist (Lloyd Clarke) but balked at changing the seal and the crosses in the park – battle alert; man your stations!

The Thomas Moore Law Center (founded by Tom Monahan / Domino’s Pizza fame) and Catholic as hell, has taken up the challenge and the Americans United for the Separation of Church & State organization (which I support generously) has been asked to take the opposite side.

Now my usual position on religious symbols on public property is either have them all or none, otherwise it comes across like the town government is sponsoring a specific religion and that is unconstitutional BUT…

The town seal with the Luther Rose (which has a cross inside it) symbolizes the religion of the founders of the town (1845) and is now considered a “historic symbol” and not a religious symbol so I do not see any problem there.

The huge (70 foot) crosses in the public parks I see as problematic because they do not contribute to the uniquely German flavor of the historic town; there just big ass crosses proclaiming Christianity as the favored religion of the town government.

I waited for the response in the “Letters to the Editor” section the next day and they came…

As you usual, you got letters from the extremes to the moderates. I am happy to see that there were some letters defending the Constitution and the rights of the minority. Then there is always the guy that says there is “No freedom from religion” in the Constitution – a product of our great educational system.

All in all I was pleased to read a variety of views and not a preponderance of just from the Christian side.

But I am also for history and tradition and if the town is 99.9% Lutheran and German then it needs to be left alone and appreciated as a historical place that entertains and amazes us by continuing a tradition from long, long ago.

I think the “atheist” was a wee bit too sensitive but after all, it is his right. Let us see what happens…

Child Rape & the Death Penalty Opinion

The second biggie Supreme Court decision concerned the death penalty for child rape; the court said that child rapists could not be put to death because that constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” and was therefore unconstitutional.

The court maintained that if a crime did not result in death of the victim, the perpetrator could not be put to death; kind of an eye for an eye type ruling.

The reaction to the ruling was immediate and visceral. Hurt a child and we will rip you apart – I think we all, especially parents, will agree to that and I think the judges knew what was coming.

Death penalty note: I have been a life-long supporter of the death penalty based mainly on my perceived view that the thirst for revenge by the victim’s family must be satisfied. I held no delusions that the death penalty somehow was a deterrent to murder.

My views started changing when I discovered that many men on death row were actually innocent (DNA as proof of innocence). And the reason they were innocent but condemned was because prosecutors had no and, I maintain, still do not have any sense of justice; they just want a conviction and a closed case so they can run for governor of the state.

I started backing away from the death penalty because I perceived that there was no way of being absolutely sure of guilt or innocence in our current judicial system but if there was a way of insuring absolute guilt – back to the death penalty.

I have not considered before today, the issue of what crime(s) should result in the death penalty. Every state has its own laws about that but I guess I just assumed that murder deserved capital punishment. I have not thought about capital punishment for crimes that did not result in the death of the victim, until today…

At the water cooler at work the unanimous view was that child rapists should actually be tortured before being put to a horrible death and I can absolutely understand those sentiments.

The court was divided along the usual lines with Kennedy as the swing vote but in this case, not with the four conservatives but with the liberals – what power!

I am well aware that Europe and other parts of the world consider the death penalty a part of the past and in today’s world, uncivilized. I have not taken that side but was aware (my wife) of that position.

I was also aware that more and more challenges were being made in the name of the Constitutional prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment” which our Founding Fathers meant what the British did to the rebellious American patriots. The last was an objection to “lethal injection” as a cruel and unusual punishment for putting people to death; the court rejected that argument.

Both presidential candidates objected to the Court’s ruling as they should – politically expedient – but I will have to stand with the Court’s decision as a brave decision in the face of public scorn and a right decision based on the Constitution because a line has to be drawn somewhere.

As abhorrent as child rape is, the death penalty is an ultimate penalty, reserved for taking the life of an innocent human being even though there are circumstances where, in our eyes, the death penalty is called for even though the victim did not die, we are asking for the Wisdom of Solomon which our judicial system is incapable of.

I may have second thoughts on this issue especially when extra heinous crimes occur against children but I think the liberal / moderate part of the court gave this matter serious consideration, looking at all factors and not just allowing their emotions to rule the day.

On the other hand, the four conservative Supremes have shown me that they do not sit above the influence of the masses and dispense unprejudiced justice based on learned wisdom but are base humans driven by political prejudice and ideology and rooted in their controlled and deliberate upbringing that has not been tempered by age and experience – some old ones remain stupid till they die.

SUPREME COURT: Right to bear arms ruling

Well, the Supreme Court has been having a field day popping out decisions practically every day; they probably really want to get started on their vacations.

The big decision had to do with the Second Amendment dealing with the right to bear arms. The case was about Washington, DC’s 32 year old law banning hand gun possession in the city. It was challenged by someone that really needed a hand gun.

I have written before that the 2nd Amendment ONLY states that the citizens in a “well regulated” civilian militia (citizen militia) have the right to bear arms. We no longer have a civilian militia but a State Guard and to me, the Amendment’s point is a moot point (not applicable to today).

The 2nd Amendment does NOT prohibit individuals from owning “arms” but it also DOES NOT guarantee each citizen the right to bear arms. So the 2nd Amendment and with it the US Constitution, does NOT impact the issue of individual gun ownership.

If the conservative Supremes who pride themselves on interpreting the Constitution as it was written, really believed in their own bullshit, they would just send the case back to the states saying it is a “state issue” and not a Supreme Court issue and let the citizens of each state decide how to or even if to, control gun ownership within their borders.

BUT the conservative Supremes (Scalia, Roberts, Alito and Thomas) joined by moderate Anthony Kennedy could not resist in twisting the Constitution to fit their needs (just like interpreting the Bible) and for that I think much less of them but they are not unique in the conduct of Supreme Court justices throughout our history.

On a realistic level, Washington’s ban of hand guns did nothing to stem the rate of homicides there and in actuality, deprived it’s citizens from a means to protect themselves, their homes and their families.

These same people that were deprived of owning hand guns could use rifles, shotguns and all sorts of other weapons to protect themselves but I guess they only knew how to pull the trigger of a hand gun (pistol).

Scalia knew he was opening a Pandora’s Box and stated that “long standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or those mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places like schools and government buildings” should stand BUT people are already preparing legal attacks on laws prohibiting machine guns, high powered sniper rifles and other “arms” that they feel they deserve the right to have – thanks Scalia!

More on other decisions reached by the Supremes on the flip side…

Religious survey of US shows hope for humanity!

The PEW poll on religion in the United States (PEW FORUM ON RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE) was just released. It was taken in the summer of 2007 and included 36,000 people from across the country. Researchers found a few things interesting.

Quite obvious and predictable is the fact that Americans are religious as hell.

One point that I did find interesting was that a majority (70%) of Americans believed that “other” faiths can lead to “salvation” and not just the Christian faith. The people that disagreed with that statement included 84% of Jehovah’s Witnesses and 61% of Mormons with a minority (43%) of Christian evangelicals joining the group.

This broke down into 79% of Catholics and 57% of evangelical Christians, believing that all good people belong in heaven – you go guys!

Statistically, 78% of Americans consider themselves Christians.

One of my most bitter disagreements with some of my most religious friends is about just that; a really good person that has lead an exemplary life is damned to hell if he does not follow a specific Christian faith or denomination. To me, their god has to be a total asshole if he can condemn a good man to burn for eternity just because he was born into a faith that does not qualify for salvation – absurd!

I find this logic unacceptable even though I do not believe in heaven or hell and think those are human inventions just like their god is and since no one knows for sure what the hell is out there; I find their convictions even more irritating.

These friends of mine are not stupid; they are actually very intelligent and well educated. They preach the loving grace of Jesus who would allow all the dregs of humanity into heaven but not rich people – huh?

Anyway, I find solace in the fact that these friends of mine are in a minority; a most definite minority since they do not regard Witnesses and Mormons as Christians anyway.

True, most American Christians know little about “theology” per se but the fact that they believe that all good people deserve heaven bolsters my faith in the basic humanity of man towards fellow man IF left alone and not corrupted by religion as proven by our history.

So my point, religion is a trouble maker and one cause of misery and inhumanity to man in our world. Let our natural goodness shine through which according to the survey may actually be happening.

George Carlin is Dead - great loss.

George Carlin is dead.

To my generation, he was the man. He said things that needed to be said about our culture, our society. He was a comedian philosopher, someone I started listening to during the 1960s & 70s when certain performers like the Smothers Brothers incorporated biting social criticism in their routines; they entertained but they also kicked ass – I loved it.

I saw Carlin “live” on a number of occasions throughout the years and also on TV “specials”; he performed to the very end dieing at 71 of a heart attack.

What drew me to him originally was how he talked about the absurdity of religion in our daily lives and how religion made some of our societal laws and rules downright stupid. He challenged everything, he stepped over the line, he pushed the envelope a lot – he was a prophet!

To me, the man was a genius even though he never finished high school. He was born on May 12 – my birth day and he joined the Air Force as I did.

I hope his body of work will be publicized a little bit more after his death so younger generations can experience his genius for themselves.

FREE TRADE: Best for USA

Back To the FREE TRADE topic because it IS becoming a BIG issue.

McCain went to Canada and is going to Mexico and Columbia to deliver free trade speeches so obviously he wants to portray himself as a champion of free trade and therefore someone that wants to enrich all of America.

On the other hand, Obama coming out against free trade or at least against NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) portrays himself as someone that is a champion of special interests (unions) and not of the country at large.

Colombia has its own free trade agreement pending in Congress and it appears that the Democrats are blocking it because of reports of violence in Columbia against organized labor – unions? You see the trend don’t you?

Now I did read this morning that Obama backtracked a little on his anti-free trade stance by acknowledging in an interview that he was not intending just to scrap all free trade agreements – so here we may be just hearing political bullshit on his part to win union votes – but is that good for the Obama image?

Well, I guess it is because the American people, especially in labor states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are hopelessly ignorant of the facts behind free trade. All they can think of is the loss of jobs to “outsourcing” that they blame on free trade agreements. They are never told or refuse to hear about all the benefits these agreements have brought to Michigan as well as the other states.

That is by design because to unions, jobs are all they have. Without unionized jobs they would go out of business which they absolutely need to do! So I hope you see that unions are not fighting for America, they are fighting to stay alive and the hell with the rest of the country.

In Michigan, our exports have increased dramatically since the free trade agreements, up to $45 Billion in 2007. We have turned, in Michigan, trade deficits to trade surpluses because of the free trade agreements. The companies that export have workers and are adding workers, but they are not union workers in most cases, do not belong to the UAW.

Here in Michigan the unions were king and our governor is an union ass kissing Democrat that cannot face reality – unions are the problem in Michigan not outsourcing. Where do foreign companies build their factories – NOT IN MICHIGAN and there are very obvious reasons why – unionism and restrictive labor laws!

I hope Obama and the Democratic Party realizes that being in bed with the unions is not good for the country’s economy and I hope the American people wake up to that fact – soon!

FREE TRADE IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD!

Let me talk about more Democratic populist drivel that really ticks me off even though I may eventually vote Democratic in this coming election.

Let’s talk FREE TRADE - TARIFFS – NAFTA – The Great Sucking Sound and related ignorant nonsense promulgated by the Democrats.

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was pushed into law by Bill Clinton (Democrat). The Agreement is between us and Mexico and Canada. Obama wants to make the unions happy and so he is proposing to revisit it or renegotiate it while the unions want to repeal it altogether.

All this aversion to trade treaties is based on misinformation (lies) that people want to believe and the Democrats are willing to inflame those false beliefs just to get elected even though they know better – that’s populism for you – tell them what they want to hear and not what is good for them and the country.

Globalization is a fact of life. Trade between countries is also a fact of life. Trade creates prosperity especially in countries that have something others really want, even if it’s cheap labor which seems to be the crux of what the Democrats and unions object to.

The unions and their political lackeys, the Democrats, want to keep good paying jobs in this country and prevent manufacturing jobs from going to other countries; they are against free trade which they feel causes American job loss. They also feel that Trade Agreements are not always fair and that we are getting out-negotiated.

The opposite of free trade is protectionism where we levy high tariffs on imports and thus protect our manufacturers / jobs. If we levy high tariffs on imports, so will all the rest of the countries and in so doing, halt trade between countries. Protectionism was one of the factors that kept the Great Depression going on for so long.

Yes, protectionism still goes on and we also practice it selectively like protecting cotton farmers or farmers in general by giving them generous subsidies. We also levy a 25% tariff on pickup trucks. Its all about who has the influence in Washington.

Most economists continue to maintain that free trade is the best policy for all concerned, even if some industries suffer because of it; they are looking at the big picture and not just auto makers in Michigan.

The facts are that current union wages, at least here in Michigan, are unsupportable. Companies cannot compete in the global marketplace with unrealistic costs dragging them down – wages and benefits need to come down.

It was interesting to read that in Mexico wages went from $4/hour to $2.50/hour just to compete with the Chinese; Mexican workers actually voted for the decrease, just to keep their jobs.

My point is that unions represent an ever shrinking part of our working population and should not carry all the political weight that the media gives them.

American industry CAN compete with the world through our ingenuity and creativity. My company does very well overseas because American medical science is prized over any other country’s medical science. If we listen to the unions and start a policy of protectionist trade, many companies like mine will be wiped out.

Americans can compete on the world market but companies that are heavily unionized like the auto companies cannot and here is the rub. Those companies need to change and I feel they are doing just that BUT the Democrats have to be prevented from keeping those terminally sick unions artificially alive through protectionist trade policies and allowing the unions to unionize companies through heavy handed intimidation of workers.

I feel Democrats like Obama do not need union endorsements to gain the White House since most union members do not listen to their leaders when they cast their vote BUT do we take a chance? Will Obama give the unions what they want in spite of what the country needs? That is the $64,000 question!

Making Out in Public Places - NO to all.

I was recently caught in a quandary about my own views on homosexuality when I read an article about a woman at a ball park with her kids that asked a security guard to tell two ladies to stop kissing. The lady later said her reason was that she did not want to explain to her children why these two women were kissing. I would quickly add that this was probably not a quick kiss but a “make-out” session.

The ladies complained that a heterosexual couple a few rows down were “making-out” also but the security guard did not tell them to cease and desist.

I personally do have a problem with showing too much affection in public – period. Anything more than a greeting kiss and hug and I yell – get a room already! And this applies to any two people; straight or gay.

But even though I believe homosexuality is an inherited trait and not a choice and therefore should be accepted in our society, I found myself empathizing with the mother that did not want to explain homosexuality to her kids – right then and there!

Should ALL overtly sexual displays of passion be banned in public places – I think so.

BUT if I am willing to say that homosexuality should be acceptable in our society, why am I not willing to discuss the issue with my children?

I had trouble talking about regular sex with my children let alone homosexual sex.

Am I a person that accepts homosexuality in theory but is having problems with it in actuality as in seeing it in public? I think my generation of males was somehow programmed to react viscerally to any displays of male homosexuality. I believe my father’s generation was even worst where hugging by men, even friends was verboten so as not to give even a hint of lesser manliness.

Well, I guess we are evolving socially as time marches on or is it just me!

THE IGNORANCE BEHIND RISING OIL PRICES!

Sometime ago I wrote to explain the whole business of rising crude oil prices and rising gasoline prices in the United States but it appears that the many Americans are refusing to listen to the facts and insist on blaming the wrong people. It now appears the Democrats have picked up on this lunacy and are using it to their own advantage.

Just this week, Democrats in Congress tried to pass a bill taxing oil company profits because they are just too high. They know that oil companies are not causing the price of crude to go through the roof, that is our market system that is based on supply and demand. Oil traders bid up the price of a barrel of crude based on what they can sell it for and since there is a huge demand but not enough supply, the prices keep going up – get it?

The Saudis are not setting the price of a barrel of crude; the market is! In fact, just recently, the Saudis called the price of oil ridiculous, unrealistic and dangerous. They are going so far as to try to increase production so that oil prices can come down.

Let’s see if you get it – the Saudis who pump the oil and make the money on each barrel sold want to lower the prices – they want to make LESS money. You would never here of an American ever suggest that someone make less if they can make more.

Saudi Arabia knows the dangers of worldwide economic turmoil; it leads to bad things. Some economies can go into a depression and then no one will need oil because business would be at a standstill – read about the Great Depression why don’t you!

They also know that great economic instability can lead to conflict; even armed conflict and some may decide to take the oil instead of paying for it.

My friends and relatives chose to believe that the Arabs are just greedy and are jacking the price of oil up to make the most they can before the oil runs out – wrong in fact even though not in theory.

These same people have chosen to blame the oil companies for jacking up the price of gasoline which only reflect the price of crude oil from which gasoline is made - bozos!

They want the oil companies punished for outrageous profits not realizing how much it costs to find oil and pump it from out of the ground. Just one of those Gulf of Mexico oil platforms (city) costs billions.

We still don’t want to know that we could be finding and pumping more oil in the United States IF Congress would allow more exploration. It is the damn Democrats that are responsible for that and look how fast they want to blame the greedy capitalists for our woes – twits!

Americans need to learn some basic economic facts especially supply and demand; the more supply, the lower the prices. It is also high time we started learning to live with less oil use before it is too late. We have reached the “peak” of oil production which means that oil production is on the way down because we are depleting the resource – fact!

James Hoffa, the president of the Teamsters had a big opinion page in the newspaper yesterday denouncing the greedy oil companies, etc, in pure Communist fashion – flaming the ignorant passion of many Americans because they can – people like that just piss me off to no end!

This leads me to again examine how much damage Democrats can do to this country and weigh it against the damage Republicans already have done to this country. More to follow…

Suffering is just part of natural life - so get over it!

Let’s finish the why good people suffer under a loving god theme…

John the Baptist, Jesus and St. Paul were all apocalyptic prophets in that they preached an imminent coming of a new kingdom of god where the wicked will be punished and the good rewarded. The message morphed into a communist like manifesto where the rich and powerful were lumped into the group that will be punished in the new kingdom of god.

Obviously, the kingdom did not come but only Paul was alive long enough to realize that fact and as a result, he started changing the message.

The early Christians made Jesus into a god that loved his people and cared deeply for them and if you prayed to him, he would answer your prayers. This transformation of a mean Old Testament god into this gentle, caring god ensconced into the mind boggling absurdity that is the Holy Trinity, that is giving Christians such a hard time with the reality of suffering in our time under the watchful eye of this loving, caring god.

Yes, some Christians still anticipate the end times (Book of Revelation) and some blame suffering in today’s world on some demon / Satan influence, and still others just don’t allow their thoughts to see a conflict.

For the few Christian people that search for an answer, an explanation may I propose that there is no answer or explanation. Since religions and their gods are a creation of human minds, they are bound to have errors of logic and reason especially the old religions that have gone through numerous transformations as times changed.

Some suffering (war) can be controlled, others (natural disasters) cannot; we should just accept that as part of our life on earth and not look to the supernatural for answers.

I am most comfortable with viewing life as precious and fleeting and therefore to be lived to the fullest. Much can be accomplished in one’s lifetime and I tend to dwell on that more and more as I get older.

We will leave upon our deaths only memories and the continuation of things we started while here on earth and we will be judged as to the success or failure of our lives by those remaining after us, here on earth.

Why we suffer, part 2.

Let us continue our talk about human suffering in the presence of an all loving and caring God. Actually the issue is not only why suffering occurs but why good people suffer and bad people sometimes don’t?

At the very beginning, when bad things happened (volcano, starvation, drought, disease, etc.) people INSTINCTIVELY knew that they had pissed off a god(s). They needed to appease this supernatural being by offering it what they thought this being wanted or liked. In many cases it was what the people also liked: food, animals, gold, virgins, etc.

If the “evil” did not cease, it was easy to think that maybe the god did not get enough or that it was the wrong sacrifice. The priests (shamans) of those days always had these ready-made answers why their offerings did not satisfy the god and end the misery. When the suffering did end, these Shamans took all the credit for knowing how to appease the god.

This actually still goes on but now we pray to the supernatural being instead of sacrificing virgins to him.

The inventors of the Old Testament god gave him a lot of power and he in turn gave them (Jews) a lot of laws / rules to follow. It was easy then to explain the reasons for the various suffering visited on the people of Israel – they were being punished for breaking the rules.

This tradition of blaming woes on punishment for human transgressions against their god went on for a long time and in some cases, goes on today. There are some in the Jewish community that blame the Holocaust on something they did. Remember that right after the 9/11 tragedy some U.S. Protestant leaders saw the attack on the NYC Trade Center as punishment for Americans allowing abortions and gay marriages – see, nothing changes!

The Old Testament god was quite literally, a bastard. In the Book of Job he takes a perfectly law abiding man and screws the hell out of him for no apparent reason. This reminds me of the cartoon where a hermit is carrying a sign which read “Repent – the end is near” and then a big thumb comes out of the sky and squishes him flat. The caption read “Something about him just pissed me off”. I think you get the picture.

In the Book of ECCLESIASTES (Old Testament), the author basically states that life is often meaningless and in the end, all of us – wise and foolish, righteous and wicked, rich and poor – all of us just die and that is the end of the story. His point is that the only good thing we have on this earth is life so live it to the fullest and don’t worry about no stinkin’ god.

Towards the end of the Old Testament period, the people were no longer buying the punishment for transgressions explanation for their suffering and misfortune. They finally realized that it did not matter how carefully and diligently they kept the Law; they still got screwed.

The religious leaders needed a new approach at explaining suffering and woe when they were the chosen people that their god promised to protect, lead to victory and make prosperous.

They came upon the APOCALYPTIC view. Here god is no longer in control. A bunch of really bad elements were in control and wreaking havoc among the good Jewish people. God had a plan to eliminate this bad element from the earth and make everything RIGHT. The plan involved the coming of god’s kingdom on earth where everything would be hunky dory and everyone would live happily ever after.

Everyone just had to sit and wait for the kingdom to come…

Sure is taking me a long time to get to the point – next!

BAD THINGS HAPPENING TO GOOD PEOPLE -WHY?

I just spent a Saturday participating in a “Relay for Life” event which is a fund raiser for cancer research. A most touching ceremony in this event, has hundreds if not thousands, of paper bags filled with sand and a candle and decorated with pictures of individual cancer victims and cancer survivors, my sister being one of them, lined up along the relay track.

As the candles are lit in the growing darkness, the rows of lit bags creates an incredible image and as people walk along the way reading each bag, it dawns on you just how many people have fallen victim to the ravages of cancer, some mere babies.

Inevitably, you hear among the many conversations going on, someone ask, why do such bad things happen to such good people. Actually, there is a book with that title written by a Jewish Rabbi trying to answer how can a good and caring God, allow such things, such suffering and sadness, to occur.

It just so happens that I have finished reading the book “God’s Problem” by my man, Bart Ehrman. The sub-title is “How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question- Why We Suffer”.

This is not a new question but a question that people have wrestled with for many years if not centuries. The usual answer I get is that because we have FREE WILL, shit happens. Well, tsunamis have nothing to do with free will, neither do tornadoes, earthquakes nor hurricanes; they are NATURAL occurrences.

The problem lies in the belief by Christians that their God is all powerful and all good and is also a “personal” God looking out for THEIR personal welfare; why does he allow all this terrible suffering to occur? Please don’t use the old “God works in mysterious ways” on me; that only worked in kindergarten.

I raise this question because I think people really want to know what is going on and how they can rationalize all this with their Christian faith. On the other hand, some people just wonder how this can be possible without ever giving it a serious thought and keep on praying blindly to THEIR all powerful, all holy and good God.

We all know how comforting it is at a funeral when the priest assures us that our loved one that just died is waiting for us in heaven. Or that the child that died a terrible death was somehow called by God for service in heaven and had to leave us – what nonsense BUT very comforting. Is this all an invention designed to make us humans feel better?

I get a kick out of the people that survived the tsunami or any other disaster, thanking God for saving them BUT never thinking to curse God for killing the thousands of innocent people that did not survive – what gives?

It is easy for us AGNOSTICS that look at natural disasters as acts of NATURE; actions reacting uncontrollably to natural forces but in a scientifically predictable and explainable way.

I realize most religious people do not give a thought about why suffering in such great abundance, occurs in OUR world and how it is connected with their God but recently, at this cancer find raiser I was at, I heard one attendee say that she has a problem with her God about what is going on in her world or in our world. I think it would be interesting to examine how suffering was justified in our world, throughout our history, in the face of an all loving and caring God.

See you on the flip side…

Walk - save fuel!

Sunday, June 01, 2008

To: The Canton Observer
Re: “Four-day work week would help ozone, fuel economy”, June 1.


I would like to add my voice, to your voice “Four-day work week would help ozone, fuel economy”, June 1, in suggesting ways to deal with the problem of rising fuel costs.

I, for one, would like to see Canton more sidewalk friendly, allowing those who wish and are able, to safely walk or bicycle to their various Canton destinations. We would not only save on fuel but get some of that exercise we all know we need.