Jan's Stinkin Blog: November 2012

Sunday, November 25, 2012

MICHIGAN NEEDS TO BECOME A RIGHT-TO-WORK STATE!

I have written in the past that the RIGHT-TO-WORK issue would be unnecessarily divisive at this time and should not be pursued.

The fact that in the last elections, UNIONS tried to usurp our state constitution by inserting UNIONISM as a constitutional RIGHT in Michigan has changed my mind.

The UNION POWER GRAB, even though defeated handily, means that they cannot be trusted to do the right thing and will stoop to any level to get their union way.

The fact that our state legislature is still controlled by Republicans means that a Right-to-Work law could actually be passed and signed by our Republican governor who also like me, did not see the issue as important until the unions attacked him at the last election.

Make MICHIGAN a RIGHT-TO-WORK state like many states already are and start enjoying the job creation power that a right-to-work law provides.

EGYPT'S PRESIDENT: A benevolent dictator?

In my last blog on Egypt and the power grab by its president Morsi, I left room for “doubt” as to his intentions when I said that “benevolent” dictators have existed in history for a reason and the main reason was when political progress could not be made because parties were just too far apart to ever resolve their issues and a stalemate was the only result possible.

Morsi said that his dictatorial powers would only last until a constitution was written but he needed the powers to actually get the constitution written because the judiciary keeps dissolving the group writing the constitution.

Why do they keep doing that? Because they do not like the fact that the group writing the constitution has an Islamic majority which will obviously influence the tone of the constitution and may even make the constitution an Islamic Law constitution.

The problem is that the Islamists were democratically elected to the constitution writing body.

History shows us that once an Islamic majority is elected to power, they democratically toss democracy out and establish an Islamic state and ban elections or at least control the electoral process.

President Morsi, who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, can see that a constitution will never be written if the minority keeps dragging their feet until what?

I suppose if the deadlock continues, the army will have cause to step in and establish order as has happened in Turkey in years past. I don’t think Morsi wants that and is just trying to get a constitution written and approved.

We can also see the other side and their fear of a constitution that basically establishes an Islamic state. I will have to point out that the Islamists have rejected the way more conservative Muslim Sufis who would just kill all non-Muslims especially the Coptic Christians so on the surface the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to stay “moderate” BUT can you trust them to stay moderate and all inclusive?

Why does this fascinate me? Well this is a birthing of democracy in a Muslim country and I think the whole world is watching the outcome here.

I have a gut feeling that Morsi is legitimately concerned about his country and ALL Egyptians and wants to do what is best for all but that is only my gut feeling…

Saturday, November 24, 2012

EGYPT: Don't need no stinkin' Pharaoh...

I was a little disappointed that Mohamed Morsi, the American educated, president of Egypt would assume dictatorial powers so soon after election and right after handling the Gaza issue so well.

Not every country can become a great democracy overnight. Our history is replete with dictators that unified peoples into unified and peaceful countries only to have those countries dissolve into unbelievable bloodletting upon the dictator’s death. I am talking about Yugoslavia and the dictator Tito.

Some dictators are what we call “benevolent” dictators that become dictators for the good of the country such as General Pilsudski of Poland. Italians say that Mussolini may have been a dictator but at least he made the trains run on time.

But no matter how you slice it a dictator is a dictator and that is one man rule and is not always for the good of all.

Morsi stresses that he is president of all Egyptians and he needs the dictatorial powers just for a little while to make sure a constitution is written…then he will give up his dictatorial powers…famous last words?

Egyptians do not want to exchange a secular dictator for a religious dictator which may actually prove worst as he turns the country into an Iranian type theocracy (religious dictatorship). After all he belongs to the Muslin Brotherhood who not so long ago, wanted to turn the country into an Islamic state.

It is hard to trust someone, anyone actually that demands dictatorial powers even if you feel he is doing it for legitimate reasons; once he gains those powers he may not want to give them back, such is the intoxication of absolute power.

The problem in Egypt is that you have a diverse population with Coptic Christians as well as radical Muslims together with a very secular young generation; it will be hard to build a democratic type country but try they must without favoring one side against another.

Here in the United States people fought like cats and dogs in our formative stage and we still fight like elephants and donkeys, liberals and conservatives, religious right against religious left but we all live in peace as Americans.

Egypt has a hard road ahead and I hope cooler heads prevail…they don’t need another pharaoh or another Mubarak or another Ayatollah Khomeini…they need a George Washington.

NATIVITY SCENES ON PUBLIC PROPERTY: Not so fast...

Glad to see that the War on Christmas has begun in earnest; seems to be getting bigger and better every year.

In the past, there was really no war on Christmas and many people of all religions celebrated this time of year as they saw fit after all the Winter Solstice is a “natural” and “earthly” occurrence to be celebrated by all of mankind.

But Christians have always tried to claim the “holiday” for themselves as they have tried to claim the whole country for themselves and felt a right or even an obligation to cram their version of the December celebration down our throats.

I am referring to the issue of placing Nativity Scenes on public property. Let me make this point clear; there are absolutely no restrictions on exhibiting Nativity Scenes on your own property or property held by individuals that give permission for the Nativity Scene to be displayed on their property.

What our Constitution says about the separation of Church and State is that our government cannot endorse one religion over another and if Nativity Scenes are permitted on government (taxpayer’s) property, it is tantamount to promoting a specific religion; Christianity.

But many small towns have had a Christmas tradition where they would allow Christian Christmas displays on public land such as city halls, town libraries, court houses and other tax payer supported governmental institutions…why not be satisfied displaying religious symbols on church property?

Anyway, this year AMERICAN AETHEISTS are using a different tactic than just objecting to the unconstitutionality of such displays; they have mounted their own displays, in some cases, right next to the Christian displays…why not!

This all started in Santa Monica, CA where an atheist group put up a simple sign right next to a Nativity display that quoted Thomas Jefferson saying “Religions are all alike – founded on fables and mythologies” so much for the Christianity of our Founding Fathers and on the other side “Happy Solstice”.

The principle here is simple, practice your religion on private land do not use public land that belongs to all, even non-religious folks and if you persist, they will too.

I love some of the “imaginative” anti-religion displays being erected.

As for our family, we will have a Nativity Scene under our Christmas tree as always…its tradition.

THE POPE DEBUNKS CHRISTMAS MYTHS...

Usually at this time of year FOX NEWS launches its WAR ON CHRISTMAS campaign decrying all that would take Jesus (Christ) out of Christmas. At the same time, I always repeat my historical arguments why Jesus is really not a part of December 25^th but was thrust in there by Christians trying to spoil pagan celebrations.

This year, none other than the pope himself has joined me in debunking some of the myths that have grown around the birth of Jesus…will FOX call him an enemy of Christmas?

It appears that this pope actually has done some research and does not fear challenging some of the myths that have been part of the Christmas Story like forever…

He tells us that the actual year of Jesus’ birth (0 AD) is wrong; scholars have always questioned that date as Herod died in 4 BC.

He tells us that there were no animals near the manger and angels did not sing at Jesus’ birth but hey, traditions are good so don’t change them but know that they are just based on myths. The Three Kings story is also a myth but not the star which astronomers have confirmed was shinning on that date whatever that date may be?

And as I was saying for years, Jesus was not born on December 25 but the date was picked to counter wild celebrations of the Winter Solstice (in 2012 it will be on December 21) which marks the New Year when the days start getting longer once again.

Well we still have wild celebrations ringing in the New Year so Christians were not able to impact what has been celebrated from the beginning of time.

I am glad to see a pope with balls...at least on some issues!

As to FOX and their campaign to put Christ back into Christmas; good luck in that when even the pope himself is saying not so fast dudes!