Jan's Stinkin Blog

U.S. BISHOPS: A diversionary tactic?

2012-02-13T14:18:00.001-05:00

Many Catholics are still perplexed that the U.S. Conferenceof Catholic Bishops has rejected President Obama’s compromise on providinginsurance for contraceptive use when most other Catholic institutions affectedby the ruling, gladly accepted the compromise.

The more one thinks about what the Catholic Bishops are upto, the clearer it becomes that the bishops are playing what is commonlycalled, a diversionary tactic.

The bishops have been roundly criticized for doing nothingto stem the potential for priestly abuse of children. By that I mean that theyhave refused to put into place regulations that would prevent future priestlyabuse; even the regulations recommended by the Vatican and others. In fact, thesexual abuse cover up is doing just fine in the United States all thanks to thebishops.

The wily bishops are aware that when the Catholic religionis attacked, Catholics unite to fight the attack so what better way to uniteCatholics and divert attention from the bishop’s despicable behavior than tomanufacture an attack on Catholicism by the Democratic president of the U.S.who already has many political enemies in this country.

On the surface the diversionary move is a slick move by abunch of slicksters but I think their move may backfire big time WHEN Obamadecides not to take any more shit from the bishops knowing full well that thebishop’s flock is NOT supporting their shit either.

Thank heavens for social media which has changeddramatically what the bishops are allowed to get away with; Catholics do nothave to behave like blind sheep anymore. The revolution that is going on in theVaticanis also a good indicator just how screwed up and corrupt, the Catholicleadership is.

Let’s keep hammering away at the smugness of the fat boys…

PALIN still has a chance?

2012-02-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

How about that GOP race for president; what a joke. I feelbad for Romney who is trying so hard to convince the Right Wing that he isreally one of them but not doing such a good job, I guess since he keeps losingto wackos like Santorum.

He won Maine(wow, what a big state) but barely; Ron Paul came in a close second (39%vs.36%) and the votes are straw votes and don’t count in the primaries. I votedfor Jon Huntsman in the Michigan GOP primary…

Listening to Romney grovel before the audience at CPAC (CONSERVATIVEPOLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE) was hard to take. He reaffirmed that he will fightObama’s war on religion and repeal gay marriage laws and make abortion illegalin the U.S.,all cultural issues which have nothing to do with jobs and our economy but hey,that is what they want to hear.

Sarah Palin talked to the group and said, in not so manywords, that Romney is faking his conservatism and would change his views oncein office and I believe her. I am not counting PALIN out of this race YET. Ithink she hopes that the GOP Convention will be so divided that they will callfor a compromise candidate like HER…it CAN happen…

It is still very ironic and mind boggling that to win theGOP nomination for president, the candidates must kiss conservative ass BUT towin the national election, they have to distance themselves from conservativehicks who do not represent the majority of American voters…interesting.

Around the water cooler at work, I still hear support forRON PAUL or at least his ideas…but is he electable?

CATHOLIC WOMEN HAVE MORE VOTES THAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

2012-02-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

It was great to see all the letters to the editor thismorning by women praising Obama’s free contraceptives initiative and denouncingCatholic bishops for their misguided and ignorant stance against women’s healthchoices. The bishops recently even rejected Obama’s compromise on the issuemaking them bigger idiots than they already seem.

There were letters supporting the bishops and they were allby MEN which makes my TALIBAN analogy so much more valid but I have to quicklyadd that there are many men (me included) that absolutely support women’shealth initiatives.

Many Catholic organizations including CATHOLICS FOR CHOICEare taking out ads informing Obama that the votes of the bishops are minisculecompared to the votes of Catholic women in America and it is the women whoObama needs to listen to and not some old, sterile fuddy-duddy bishops thatknow what they talk about.

Let the battle rage…

PAULA DEEN: Unethical behavior?

2012-02-11T17:08:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to say something about PAULA DEEN, afamous and much followed chef on the food channel for some time now.

My business is laboratory tests and one of my best sellersis a test for Type 2 Diabetes, the A1c test. It is a best seller because inthis country and around the world, Type 2 Diabetes is running rampant. Evenyoungsters are getting it and some of my friends found out they had it recently.

This type of diabetes is caused by overloading one’s systemwith sugars and carbs until it rebels. The disease can shorten life and itdefinitely reduces the quality of one’s life and it can be prevented bywatching one’s diet.

Paula Deen has been cooking and promoting the calorie-rich,fatty as hell Southern Style of cooking for years; always with a healthy smileimplying it’s good for you.

Now we find out that she has had Type 2 Diabetes for yearswhich is mainly caused by eating calorie-rich, fatty foods. Why is sherevealing her disease now? Well she is now the spokesperson for Novo Nordisk,the maker of medications for treating Type 2 Diabetes.

Now Deen does not see any problem in the way she kept herdisease secret while encouraging her viewers to eat her cooking which has beenshown to contribute to the development of Type 2 Diabetes…but I do. I think itis definitely a breach of some kind of dietary ethics (do no harm to the personeating your recopies). Or at least your conscience should give you troubleknowing your helping your viewers get a disease that they don’t want.

Deen has said she has no regrets with her decisions and isat peace with herself and of course likes the money she is making promoting thediabetes medication.

She has been criticized by one chef that had the balls tocall her out about her charade and the damage she may have done to her audiencebut I doubt any other chefs will come out against her and that is why I thinkthe whole Food network is going to take a hit and hopefully adjust theircooking styles to help obese America get back into shape.

As for Deen - never liked her style and her personality andI hope she does not make a killing from doing something I consider unethicaland unconscionable.

U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS = U.S. TALIBAN

2012-02-11T16:01:00.000-05:00

Obama’s ruling that private health plans must providepreventive services like breast exams, HIV screening and contraception for freewas hailed as a policy that would help millions of women get the affordablehealth care that they need has been turned into an attack on religious freedomwhen in reality, it is an attack on women’s personal health care decisions andshould be compared to an attack by the forces of a U.S. Taliban.

The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 8) had a great article titledWHY THE BIRTH-CONTROL MANDATE MAKES SENSE written by three

U.S.

Democratic senators: JeanneShaheen, Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray.

In the article, they state that the Institute of medicine aswell as other medical experts back the mandate as essential to the health of womenand families. Access to birth control is directly linked to declines inmaternal and infant mortality. It reduces the risk of ovarian cancer andgenerally contributes to overall health of women.

1.5 million women use contraceptives only as treatment forserious medical conditions and not to prevent pregnancy. I have seen this inyoung women that had such painful periods they had to go on birth control pillsthat eliminated the unbearable pain.

Also, reducing unintended pregnancies leads to fewer abortionswhich we all should want as a goal.

99% of sexually active women have used birth control at somepoint in their lives including 98% of Catholic women.

How is this an attack on religious freedom when banning themandate FORCES women to follow religious doctrine they do not believe in orpractice (catholic or not). What about their freedom?

Institutions that serve the public, receive government fundsand get special tax benefits MUST play by the rules other institutions playby…period!

The senators end their article by stating that improvedaccess to birth control is a good health policy and a good economic policy. Itmeans healthier women, healthier children and healthier families and why isthat a bad thing…

The bulk of this attack against American women’s health isspearheaded by American Catholic bishops (the U.S. Taliban) who obviously donot give a shit about the health of their female parishioners and theirfamilies.

Obama is already caving in for political reasons but a loudand powerful shout-out by Catholic women against this deplorable attack ontheir health by their own church leaders that have no clue as to what a familyis and how it functions, would at least tell them how insignificant andinconsequential their pronouncements really are!

BABY BOOMERS: There is still time to make a difference...

2012-02-10T20:01:00.000-05:00

My wife asks why I get so emotional about certain issues,shouldn’t I be calming down a little in my old age and reflecting on issues ina more calm and composed way, worthy of a grandfather in his 60s?

Well I have tried but I guess it just isn’t in me to justsit back and just watch world events just pass me by.

I guess I feel a responsibility to make some form of effortin reacting to certain issues in a loud as I can manner because I am after all,a BABYBOOMER.

We were and are the largest generation in our history. Wewere born after WWII from 1946 to 1964 but really 1946-1955 was enough time forthose returning from the war to create the post-war generation.

I was always proud to be part of the baby-boomer generation.We represented the NEW and MODERN generation; we were the rock & rollgeneration, we were going to change the world.

It did not help that right after high school we faced thedraft for the Vietnam War. We lost over 58,000 of our generation when we wereonly in our teens and early 20s. BUT we rebelled, ended the war, became hippieswith long hair and threw out the window all of our parent’s silly ideas andrules but did we…

Did we change the world; did we make the world a betterplace?

Looking around me today, I don’t think we lived up to thehype and the promise. Yes, we did well and raised great kids and now arehelping raise our grandkids but did we make a difference?

Can we still make a difference? Do we have time to make adifference? That is only if we care about our legacy; our generations legacy.Leaving good, smart kids behind is definitely an achievement but is thatenough?

The reason I get so involved with certain issues sopassionately is because I still feel we have not crawled out of the Dark Agesand remain in many ways, backward. This was not the promise of our generationto remain unchanged, we were taking society to a new level of enlightenment,peace and well being but I think we have failed…

And so I end with a poem by Dylan Thomas (1952) thatencourages me…

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at the close of day,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

There is still time to make a difference…

CATHOLIC US BISHOPS VS OBAMA

2012-02-08T19:20:00.000-05:00

U.S. Catholic bishops are spending millions to fight Obamaand his insistence that if you get federal funds you will follow federal ruleseven if they include providing contraceptives.

The bishops are calling this an attack against religion andthe Republican presidential candidates are jumping into the fray with bothfeet.

Is it an attack on religion or on the Catholic Church…noway!

It comes down to MONEY. The government gives out millions intaxpayer dollars to institutions to provide social services usually to thepoor. These government contracts come with rules and since these services arefor the poor and downtrodden, the rules mandate providing services that thepoor and downtrodden need.

Catholic social service organizations want the taxpayer moneyBUT they want to provide the services only they want to provide and NOT whatthe people searching for these services need.

Catholic social services will not deal with people that aregay, no matter what their need. They will not distribute condoms to people indanger of contracting HIV. They will not deal with people needing help withpregnancy issues…etc.

So why in the hell would the federal government give them acontract to help the poor and downtrodden when they will not address the issuethey have and need help with? It makes no sense to me and I hope it makes nosense to you.

I guess what really pisses me off is that the bishops arescreaming for their “religious liberty” but really what they want is theirviews to be made into law for all Americans and that just cannot be allowed.

Catholic groups that have opposed U.S. bishops and their unrealisticand down right idiotic views on how humans in our society should behave need tostep up to the podium and make their opposing views known. The Catholicleadership must be shown how out of step with their congregations they are andhow they will not be allowed to browbeat Americans into accepting thelegitimacy of their views because obviously they do not follow the teachings ofJesus who did not turn anyone away that wanted his help.

Time to stand up to the bullies; time to take their poweraway and that means QUIT GIVING THEM MONEY!!!

Note: Obama has already given into the bishops when he declined to allow the "morning after pill" to be sold without a prescription even though all doctors agreed to it. Let us hope he has the balls to stand up to them AFTER ALL they do not control the way Catholics vote!

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND OBAMA'S RULE ON CONTRACEPTION...

2012-02-07T19:42:00.000-05:00

The Catholic Church says that EACH act of INTERCOURSE MUSTbe open to procreation.

If I followed that precept, I would have hundreds of kids bynow and my wife would be dead and I would be a raving lunatic and the kidswould be suffering big time because the ruling is stupid and unrealistic andthat is why most Catholics and practically all Catholic women just ignore theidiotic rule and use some form of contraception.

Here is the rub: Obama’s new health plan “mandates”accessibility to contraceptives for all women that want it. In other words, ifyou provide health insurance to your workers, the health insurance plan MUSTcontain a provision for obtaining contraceptive devices or provide them forfree to people in the plan after all, Viagra is covered by all plans, why notcontraceptives.

There are virtually thousands of workers that work forreligious institutions such as hospitals and schools and many of them are NOTCatholic. Obama’s rule would exempt institutions that provide health carecoverage ONLY to people of their faith but NOT if their coverage includesnon-Catholic employees.

Catholic bishops are crying that Obama’s rule violates theirFREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE and is an ATTACK ON THEIR FAITH and Obama is listening tothem because it may mean loosing votes (I doubt it) even if it violates HIS ownconscience.

The bishops are promoting the NATURAL FAMILY PLAN. The samebishops have no idea what it means or feels to be married or even be with awoman and yet they are adamant about telling couples how they should behave intheir matrimonial union…how preposterous and insane is that?

Since most Catholics do not follow the Church precepts onbirth control or even on abortion, why do they put up with the bullshit comingout of their leader’s mouths?

This to me seems like a huge disconnect between the Churchand its members, making the whole situation seem silly and absurd.

I think Obama should stick to his guns and demandcontraceptive coverage for all employees of religious institutions and thiswill allow those employees to decide for themselves if they want to usecontraceptives or not and not some celibate reprobate.

Republicans are jumping on this issue and saying Obama iswaging was on religion. Well excuse me but this is not Taliban country and peopleworking for religious institutions are entitled to the same coverage everybodyelse is getting…period.

And for those clergy and other religious people that saythis all smacks of an attack on their freedom of conscience, all I have to sayhow dare you talk about conscience after the priestly sex scandal.

Note: Why oppose contraception? Each kid born is a potentialdues paying Catholic so the more the better for ole’ Mother Church!

HEALTH OF WOMEN A POLITICAL GAME?

2012-02-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

I have been cruising for the last two weeks and only gettingbits and pieces of news on the ship but now that I am back, I see that thereare many issues to comment on.

One biggie is the decision of the Susan B. Komen for theCure Foundation to pull its financial support from the Planned Parenthoodorganization; it has since reversed its decision after a national uproar.

But what happened. Both organizations help women. Since mysister had breast cancer, we have been doing the Relay for Life every year andcontributing what we can to the fight against breast cancer. Planned Parenthoodprovides breast screening for thousands of women who cannot afford health careinsurance so the two organizations seemed to be on the same page with similargoals.

The Komen Foundation’s donations to Planned Parenthood go tohelp finance breast cancer screenings.

BUT Planned Parenthood also performs abortions even thoughperforming abortions is a very small part of what it does for women’s healthand here is the rub!

Abortion is legal in this country and has been decreasing every year due to “plannedparenthood” get it? Teach people how to prevent unwanted pregnancy andabortions will not be necessary.

Anyway, it appears that a Komen vice-president named KarenHandel is a rabid anti-choice and anti-abortion extremist and had engineeredthis move to stop funding Planned Parenthood and somehow slipped it under theradar. Well you cannot just slip something like this under the radar and thatis why all hell broke loose…she has now resigned / got fired from her position.

My question here is that knowing that Planned Parenthoodhelps thousands of women with their health issues when no one else will, whywould you want to cut off contributions to such a worthwhile organization?

And this is because anti-choice / abortion radicals are soinfatuated with fetus worship that they would actually do harm to living womenjust to get their way. They are myopic to the max, not seeing the reality ofthe issue at hand and that makes them dangerous to the max because they willstop at nothing to achieve whatever crazy goal they have in mind.

I am glad to see this immediate coverage of the issue by themedia and especially the reaction on social media; can’t pull a fast one anymore. Hopefully the reaction to what Karen Handel tried to do will be a lessonto all sane people as to the capabilities of the fetus worshipers.

JON HUNTSMAN: Why did you quit?

2012-01-16T12:56:00.001-05:00

Jon Huntsman, why did you leave?

With the South Carolina primary this week, Jon Huntsman decides toquit the race and throw his support to Romney, maybe hoping for avice-presidential offer.

Yes, he came in third in New Hampshire but that was only because thevoters there were sending a message to the rest of the country by voting forRon Paul and his strict economic agenda; they would never have voted for Paulin the general election! Why did you not see this?

True, South Carolina would have given their votes to Romney andmaybe a religious candidate like Santorum or Perry but hey, the biggestnewspaper in S. Carolina endorsed you, Jon Huntsman and so did many otherleading newspapers because they see you as the only viable candidate…so why didyou quit?

I can understand the lack of donations and therefore fundsto run the campaign but could you just hunker down and dot spend as much ashopeless states like S. Carolina and concentrated on states that you would havea good chance of winning in?

This is very disheartening to me because I truly believe heis the best man to oppose Obama. Romney maybe a good and smart man but peopledon’t like him and he will lose!

MLK DAY: In Detroit, some good, some bad...

2012-01-16T12:35:00.000-05:00

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (MLK Day) in thecountry. My wife has been working diligently these past few months, gettingready for the MLK Celebration & March down Woodward Avenue, which she and hercommittee put on every year in downtown Detroit.

I admire her commitment and dedication to this cause whichshe feels very deeply about. Organizing the celebration is no easy task as shehas to bring in speakers from around the country, contract with chorales likeMosaic to perform during the ceremony, clean and decorate the Central United Methodist Churchwhere the festivities take place among many, many other duties.

Many communities in Michiganand the nation have special events commemorating MLK Day; I have always foundit slightly ironic that the celebrations in Detroit are spearheaded by a blond, whitewoman from the suburbs.

Today, the black leaders in Detroit are organizing to march in GovernorSnyder’s neighborhood against the “Emergency Manager Law” which they feeldisenfranchises Detroiters; making their votes invalid.

I have written about this issue at some length. GovernorSnyder has consistently said that this is a financial crisis issue and not aracial issue but the organizers of the protest insist that Martin Luther King,Jr. would have been with them if he were alive today…I don’t think so.

MLK had issues he felt strongly about but what the leadersin Detroit are saying and doing is not an issue at all; it is a last resort bythe state to help Detroit stay out of bankruptcy court which will devastateDetroit and its residents; to not see that and to bring race into the issue, isto “play the race card”.

And why would you play the race card when the issue isobviously not about race? Well, as always, it is to get something for nothing.

Where a financial emergency manager would put the city on asolid financial footing by eliminating incompetence and corruption from citygovernment, the leaders of Detroit would prefer to keep the incompetence andcorruption where it is BUT would like the state and federal government (readtaxpayers) to donate millions if not billions to the city to help pay its hugedebts so that the leaders in Detroit can keep riding the gravy train like theyhave for decades.

I think what Detroit’sleaders are doing on MLK day is an embarrassment to the memory of Dr. King.Yes, Dr. King tried to shame government into doing the right thing because hehad to but he would never use deception to falsely shame a government that ISDOING THE RIGHT THING for the people.

I guess I am disappointed that no black writers have comeout and pointed out the scandalous way the race card is being played in Detroit and on MLK Day atthat.

FCC: What can we say or show on TV...

2012-01-12T19:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a realdoozie of an issue that is actually being debated before the Supreme Court aswe speak: SWEARING AND PARTIAL NUDITY ON TV.

Well this is not aseasy of an issue as it sounds.

The FederalCommunications Commission (FCC) has been able to regulate the “public airwaves”by fining companies multi-million dollar sums for isolated expletives (likeCher saying “fuck” while accepting an award (other have done the same manytimes) as well as accidental nudity such as that of Janet Jackson’s “wardrobemalfunction” during a Super Bowl half-time show.

It all started withmy favorite comedian, the late George Carlin and his famous “Filthy Words”monologue that first aired on the radio. I still remember his “Seven DirtyWords you can never say on Television”. Anyway, some important twit heard thatmonologue while driving with his 15 year old son and from the resulting SupremeCourt 1972 case “FCC vs. Pacifica Foundation”, the FCC has had the power toregulate what is uttered or shown on the public airwaves to protect

America

’syoung and innocent children.

Today, we live in aworld totally different than in 1972. We have cable and the internet, which isnot regulated. We have movies shown on TV like “Saving Private Ryan” wheresoldiers say “fuck” many times as they invade the beaches of

France

and battle the Germans. TheFCC allowed that but fined a Martin Scorsese documentary called “The Blues”…gofigure!

Well, yes we havecome a long way but I will agree that I don’t want kids exposed to constantswearing and nudity so we obviously have to reach a “common sense” agreement tobe fair to all parties concerned and it is NOT fair for cable and internet todo what they wish while subjecting “regular” TV to such harsh and “arbitrary”standards.

First, parents havetools available to them to regulate what their kids watch or listen to. If theparents don’t give a shit or don’t want to trouble themselves to regulate whattheir kids watch and listen to (but want others to do the regulating for them),I say tough shit; your kids, your responsibility.

I don’t want to belimited in what I watch or listen to just because some kid “might” be watchingand listening too!

Movies and TV Showsare “rated” for a reason and parents are privy to those ratings so they cancontrol what they allow into their home.

Companies that wantto attract a certain viewing audience (for advertising dollars / that’s howthey make money) will broadcast programming that will be attractive to thatviewing audience; that is common sense and good business sense…so let themarket guide programming.

To fine networks foraccidental and random occurrences of swearing or nudity is just plain stupid;if you invite someone to say a few words when they accept an award orsomething, how in the hell are you going to control what that person says.

And what if a kidhears the word FUCK accidentally; its not like they never hear that word andMORE just going to school and talking with their friends who may have parentsthat let Fuck fly all day long…what are you going to do about that…jail theoffending parents?

I remember my son’speer group which had one kid that just swore up a storm all the time, the restof the kids did not. We found out later that the kid had a policeman as afather and learned all the words from him. That particular kid, has carried hisbehavior into adulthood, while the other kids, now doctors, nurses, managers,etc., probably know when and if swearing is appropriate.

We cannot live in amodern world and still abide by outmoded social mores; the new rules need tomake sense in our world today.

I am not sure iftoday’s Supreme Court judges are capable of thinking modern and of our world astoday and not yesterday. They are pretty Catholic and that may have a sway ontheir decision and that may be just too bad for us.

If they are true totheir job description of upholding the Constitution, they will take the FirstAmendment literally which protects speech as a recognized freedom, withinlimits of course (no yelling fire in a crowded theater).

We shall see…

DRUG TESTING FOR PEOPLE WANTING AID?

2012-01-12T19:42:00.000-05:00

Another issue thathas arisen in our state is a proposal to administer drug tests to individualsapplying for assistance (welfare, etc.).

I guess this hasbeen tried before and defeated in the courts when the ACLU challenged the law.I am re-thinking my age-old support of the ACLU because more and more, I findmyself disagreeing with them.

From a “commonsense” perspective, you don’t want tax payer money going to an individual thatuses that money to buy drugs; taxpayer supported drug addiction. Common sensealso informs us that a person on drugs cannot use 100% of his or her facultiesto get back on their financial feet and end public support.

Parents receivingaid through “family assistance” programs who test positive for drugs / alcoholalso are hindered in their roles as parents, taking care of their children’sneeds, when they are “high”.

There is absolutelyno valid argument for allowing people on public assistance to use drugs; hell,I don’t think they should even be allowed to smoke cigarettes since theyobviously cannot afford to do that either.

So if common senseguides us in a certain direction, what could possible be utilized to argue“for” allowing people on public assistance to use drugs or as in this case,what is the argument for not testing these people to determine if they AREusing drugs?

In a Detroit FreePress editorial on 1-9-2012, the title of the editorial was: DRUG-TESTINGPROPOSAL DESCRIMINATES AGAINST POOR.

The courts in thepast, have ruled against this testing because it discriminates against a specificgroup; the group receiving public assistance. I guess on the surface, thiscould be called discriminatory because it selects a specific group “only”…so Iguess if the government is going to conduct drug testing, they need to conductit on all people having something to do with the government?

I will admit that Ido not know the laws governing discrimination in these matters so I will onlyuse “common sense “arguments”.

One argument againsttesting says it costs too much; have the state pay for it.

Another states thatif a positive drug test denies assistance to a person or family, they wouldsuffer. True… so how about mandating a drug recovery program for those testingpositive while allowing them to receive assistance?

I think if smartpeople put their heads together, they can come up with a plan that is fair tothe taxpayers and is fair to the people requesting public assistance and in themeantime, may actually help those poor that need help ending their addictionand getting back on their own two feet and maybe even helping their kids breakthe poverty / drug cycle…win/win…common sense wins!

VOTER PHOTO ID: It is time...get over the past.

2012-01-12T19:29:00.000-05:00

With all thisemphasis on politics in this country there are some other issues that probablyfall underneath the radar these days but still warrant some attention.

One that has caughtmy attention is legislation (in S. Carolina)requiring a VOTER PHOTO ID to vote. I have always thought that requiring aphoto ID was a “reasonable” request to keep elections as honest as they can bebut I guess some people do not consider this issue “reasonable” at all and callit racial discrimination.

Leonard Pitts, Jr.,a black columnist from Miami,whom I greatly admire and respect but do not always agree with, wrote anarticle titled: POOR PEOPLE ARE MERE PAWNS IN VOTER ID FIGHTS in the DetroitFree Press (1-10-2012).

He was commentingabout a recent ruling by the Federal Justice Department over-ruling South Carolina’s new lawdemanding photo IDs for voters. The Feds can do this in states (Southern) thathave previously discriminated against black voters by instituting literacytests, poll taxes, etc.

Pitts argues that poorpeople (majority black) do not have cars, do not drive, so they have nodriver’s licenses or for that matter, passports since they don’t leave thecountry. If that was absolutely true, I could see where having a photo ID wouldbe problematic for some people BUT…

And here I use mymother (89) who has never driven and had a passport which expired 15 years agobut still has a photo ID because she needs one for routine business matters andshe votes in ALL elections.

In Michigan, you can go to a Secretary of StateOffice and request a photo ID. If there is a charge, it is very minimal andwould not be an economic hardship on poor people. Getting to the Secretary ofState’s office may be a challenge but I am sure, a way can be found for a onceevery 10 year trip.

I am pretty sure;most states have ways for people to obtain a photo ID that is not part of adriver’s license and if that is true, than there really is no sound argumentfor calling legislation demanding a photo ID to vote as somehow racially discriminatory.

I will agree withPitts that, in the past, southern states did practice discrimination when theydid everything in their power to prevent blacks from voting Democratic andpossibly for a black candidate but I don’t believe that this racial environmentexists today, even in southern states like South Carolina.

Time to move on…

2012-01-11T16:30:00.000-05:00

The New Hampshire primary isover and Romney came out definitely ahead in first place followed by Paul insecond and HUNTSMAN in third with 17% of the vote.

Listening to “Java Joein the morning” on MSNBC, some voters that were interviewed after they votedsaid that they voted for RON Paul to send a message and not because they wantedPaul to win. They wanted his hard Libertarian message about smaller and lessgovernment to get through to the public and to the candidates.

To me that meansthat those voting for Paul for the purpose of sending a message, may have beenactual Huntsman voters so I will assume that Huntsman, in reality, probablywould have come in second (2^nd) after Romney, if not for the messagevoters.

As predicted, Perrydid not even break 1% in New Hampshire and Santorum was booed since no one in thisstate goes for all that religion twaddle. Gingrich did not do well either.

Perry and Santorumhope to do very well in South Carolina; thenext primary, mainly because S. Carolina buysinto all that religious twaddle. Here I don’t think Huntsman really has achance since he does not bullshit on his positions just to get a vote.

Florida is next and I will have to see what thepopulation of Floridais made of. I know a lot of old people live there but are they conservative ormaybe a little progressive in their old age. I also don’t know much how theCubans and Latinos vote.

Will know morelater…

Saturday's "Keeping the Faith Column"...

2012-01-07T13:43:00.000-05:00

Cover of Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

Image via Wikipedia

Cover of Karl Marx

I mentioned some time ago that I have a kind of “favorite”religion writer that I read every Saturday in the Detroit News. His spot in theNews is called: KEEPING THE FAITH and in it, he talks religion but in a verynew, non-doctrinal way that I find refreshing and hope that it becomes a newapproach to Christianity; more humanist.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker andauthor and this week’s article was entitled TRANSFORMATION IS CENTRAL TO HAVINGA HEALTHY FAITH which is from his new book, THE JESUS TRIBE.

What interested me in this particular article is his mentionof a historical figure; Karl Marx. For those somewhat challenged by history,Marx was actually German who lived and died in London, England and wrote hisCommunist Manifesto at the height of the brutal industrial revolution. He hadno connection to the revolution in Russia and subsequent Communisttakeover except providing some of the ideology used by the Soviets.

Anyway, he famously said that RELIGION IS THE OPIATE OF THEPEOPLE which, in the current article, McBrayer agrees with somewhat. Marxargues famously, that religion never “solves” problems, it just provides a“tranquilizing” affect to the person experiencing the problem or as McBrayerputs it: medicate our boo-boos and make us happy when we are sad.

He adds that many pulpits peddle this so called “sedative”for your real pain and suffering; and I agree.

McBrayer then offers another “historical” figure in the nameof JAMES, the brother of Jesus who became the leader of the Apostles (Jesuscommunity) after Jesus was killed. This is historically true as documented byevidence outside the Gospel accounts which tried to portray PETER as somehowthe leader of the group.

Anyway, JAMES has a letter in the Bible that has been tosome extent controversial throughout the centuries with Martin Luther actuallycalling for the letter to be thrown out of the Biblical canon as a “false”letter. The reason Luther was so against this letter was because, he felt, itcontradicted his view that one can “only” be saved “by faith alone”.

James posits that “what good is it that you have faith, ifyour actions do not prove it?” In other words, what is good about believing(having faith) when you live your life like an uncaring twit?

I can’t really go into the misunderstanding between Luther’sbelief and what James was saying because it would take too long but it was justa misunderstanding, at least according to me.

So what is McBrayer trying to say here? Well to him faithshould not be just a “soothing salve” or a “spiritual tranquilizer” but a“transformative power” that can enable us to actually change our lives for thebetter.

Well I can kinda’ see where he is going with this BUT… Ithink Marx was right in his assessment of religion in our society as an“opiate” and James was right to say if you don’t practice your faith, yourfaith is dead so I guess what he is saying is don’t use your faith only whenyou are in trouble but practice it all the time?

Maybe I should read his book…

NEW HAMPSHIRE & S. CAROLINA PRIMARIES

2012-01-06T12:06:00.000-05:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Image via Wikipedia

Just a quick word on the upcoming New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.

New Hampshire, as I havesaid, is a state with people that could be considered main stream USA. They areeducated and fiercely independent. Their motto is LIVE FREE OR DIE or somethinglike that. They are not going to put up with religious nonsense or the spoutingof a too conservative social agenda, remember live free is their motto not bebound by some Dark Ages horseshit.

On the other hand, South Carolinais the opposite of New Hampshire in that theyare very conservative, still fly the Dixieflag, are all about god and religion and would rather bash gays than allow themto marry.

Now I love Charleston and thepeople that I met there and I cannot say that ALL of South Carolina is regressive; they did justallow liquor out of a bottle and not just in airplane bottles.

Let’s just say that they have a ways to go to joiningmainstream

USA

Rick Perry who lost BADLY in Iowa, did not go home as I hadthought but will give his brand of religious politics one last try in SouthCarolina; why not.

Rick Santorum should do well in South Carolina but was booed in New Hampshire when he started bashing gays and gaymarriage.

Mitt Romney is heavily favored in New Hampshire BUT theBoston Globe came out for Jon Huntsman; remember him?...remember also thatRomney was the governor of Massachusetts.

Jon Huntsman has been biding his time. He is a moderateRepublican who does not preach religion and so called family values hypocrisy;he feels religion is a private matter, not to be politically exploited (he is aMormon like Romney).

Anyway, Huntsman has staked his run on states that betterreflect his own ideals which are relatively progressive so campaigning in Iowa and South Carolina would have been a waste of time and money.So even though Romney is favored in New Hampshire, I am hoping Huntsman comes in second whichwill automatically garner him the media coverage that he needs to go forward.

IOWA RESULTS: We don't like any of them...

2012-01-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Well the resultsfrom Iowa are in and as much derision as Ihave thrown at the whole Iowaprocess, the media is still making it into the biggest event in politics sofar.

The morning news wasall about the results which had Romney ahead of Santorum by 8 votes, that iscorrect, eight (8) votes. Ron Paul was close by at third and Gingrich wasforth. Perry quit and went back to Texasand Bachmann hopefully will also quit and go home to tend her millions ofadoptive children.

I found it odd thatnewscasters were congratulating Romney on the win (?) of the caucus when infact he lost big time. How? Well he spent over $10 million in Iowa and Santorum just a fraction of thatand Santorum basically beat him except for 8 stinkin’ votes.

I have said a longtime ago that Romney is a good guy but people just don’t like him and there isnothing he can do about it; he would lose to Obama, no question about it.

Santorum, an ItalianCatholic, presented himself as part of the 99% where Romney is the 1%.Santorum’s grandfather may have worked in a mine but his father and mother werein the medical field (clinical psychology) and hardly blue collar but hey,great spin against Romney.

All the Republicancandidates ran first in the polls at one time or another, which means Iowansstill have not decided who if anybody they like for president of the UnitedStates.

Santorum, thecurrent leading star, cannot run for president. He is a Catholic but he is alsoan extreme social conservative even beyond what his Catholic faith preaches. Anexample is Intelligent Design vs. evolution; the pope believes in evolution andyet Santorum just can’t. His views on gays, etc. are just too radical for themajority of Americans to stomach so Santorum = flash in the pan = bye-bye.

New Hampshire is nextand that vote will be interesting and actually somewhat meaningful because thepeople voting in that state resemble many voting Americans unlike the people inIowa.

I am still of thebelief that NONE of the candidates is appropriate for the office of presidentof the

United States

.I feel that this fact will become very evident in the next few months.

I still feel a darkhorse will emerge. Jon Huntsman, who Ithink got less than 1% in Iowa,will hopefully stay in the race. Palin may resurrect her political career andso may that fat guy in New Jersey…justwait and see!

SICK AND TIRED OF IOWA CAUCUS NEWS...

2012-01-03T16:19:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

I am betting thatmost of you are getting sick and tired of putting on the NEWS and gettingnothing but IOWA Caucus crap.

It is a hugedisservice to this nation and all Americans that IOWA gets all this mediaattention when their votes don’t even count; they are “straw votes” cast at a“caucus” and not “primary votes” which are usually cast at a real “election”;the Iowa votes are basically worthless in the whole scheme of things but themedia makes such a big deal out of them that some candidates bow out of therace based solely on a popularity contest in, of all places, Iowa.

I have nothingagainst Iowaor Iowans but they hardly represent the majority of Americans who will vote inthe presidential election. The presidential candidates “have to” cater to whatIowans believe and cannot express their “real” views; they have to be anti-gay,anti-choice, pro-war, pro-religion, pro-gun and all the other conservative positions as opposed to NewHampshire, the next to vote, who doesn’t give a shit about what the yahoos inIowa think and like, BUT a “leader’ in the race will be declared after the Iowacaucus just the same and this “leadership” position will propel the candidatein the standings and in the amount of media attention that will be showered onhim or her.

Iowans want toretain their “first to vote” position even though they are NOT really votingfor anyone because of the media attention and the millions and millions ofdollars showered on their state by the candidates and the media and the hellwith the fact that Iowa is not representative of Americans in general, not evenRepublicans specifically…this needs to change.

I do have to say afew words about RON PAUL because he does not fit into the standard presidentialcandidate mold. He is a LIBERTARIAN and used the REPUBLICAN PARTY only to runin the election because to run as a Libertarian will get you nowhere fast.

As a Libertarian, hefeels strongly that the federal government should not be involved in manythings except to protect our freedoms. He will tell you he does not give a shitabout abortion, gays, and the usual social conservative agenda because it isnot the government’s business; it belongs to the state and the people in thatstate.

He also does notbelieve in any wars and would bring ALL our troops home from wherever they are.He would abolish many government departments like education, HUD, etc. and turnthat over to the states to run.

He would have a flattax with no deductions and he would cut trillions of dollars from our budget inthe first year he would be in office and he ain’t kidding.

Paul is a doctor(MD) and is 76 years old. He is strange and unyielding in his views, which alsomeans he is not flexible at all.

He cannot really bepresident but he does seem to resonate even with the Iowans because of hisstraight and strict economic ideas.

He may win the Iowa caucus becauseIowans may want to send a signal to the rest of the country that we needsomeone in the White House that can kick-ass and get things back in orderagain; he is not beholding to anyone.

I personally holdmany Libertarian views but I cannot abide by their strict “isolationist” viewswhich would have Paul keep us out of WWII; he would not react until we wereattacked.

The world is gettingsmaller and smaller every day and WE DO NEED TO ENGAGE THE WORLD and not justsit behind closed doors.

As usual, some ofhis ideas are good and should be considered but we live in complicated timesand we need a president that is not so rigid in his ideology that he cannot thinkand react wisely when a situation arises that does not fit neatly into his rulebook.

EPISCOPAL PRIESTS = CATHOLIC PRIESTS

2012-01-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Here it is, the beginning of a New Year and we already havea Catholic topic to discuss.

The headlines are such: EX-EPISCOPAL BISHOP TO GUIDE NEWCATHOLICS and POPE TO U.S. ANGLICAN PRIESTS: JOIN US, KEEP YOUR JOB AND STAYMARRIED.

The pope first revealed his plan when he visited GreatBritain last year and caused quite a stir when he appealed to British Anglicansand especially priests, who were dissatisfied with their church’s ordination ofgays and women, to come on over to the Catholic side, where regressive and DarkAge rules and beliefs, still hold sway over the way the Church operates.

The Anglicans / Episcopalians, as we all know, come from thesplit between King Henry VIII and the pope at the time (1534) over a divorcematter. The Catholic Church in Englandbecame the Anglican Church just like that. King Henry changed the rulessomewhat to allow priests to marry and have children among other changes but inessence, it was a name change.

The Episcopal Church in the US is not large with less than 2million members and dropping so you will not see a slew of dues paying newCatholics all of a sudden but I think the pope’s aim is to fill the depletedpriestly ranks with fresh priests.

The fact that these new priests will be married and manywith children is, I think, somewhat confusing to us simple people.

If the USpriesthood ranks are about to be inundated with 1,400 or so married priests,what does it say about the Vatican’sstubborn and unyielding insistence that priests be celibate and unmarried. Ifpriestly celibacy is a sacred (from God) requirement that cannot be altered forany reason and not just a stupid historical tradition that makes no sensetoday, than why will some priests be exempt from the celibacy rule ( I assumethe pope will not ask the married couple to live as brother and sister) andsome not?

Why not allow former priests that left the priesthood tomarry, back into the fold?

Why even have a celibacy requirement in the face of therabid priestly pedophile scandal that occurred, in many minds, exactly becauseof the celibacy rules that attracted pedophilic and homosexual men to thepriesthood.

It goes to show you that the Vatican will break and bend rulesthat it established to reach a desired goal. I guess you can say that the endsjustify the means? Well it cannot be that easy when you are dealing with“sacred” rules unless, like I have said before, the Vatican admits that theserules are nothing more than a tradition and as well all know, traditions do nothave to be binding and boy, this is the time to end all stupid traditions forthe benefit of the Church and its decreasing membership.

2011: Detroit...bulldoze and start from scratch...

2011-12-31T14:15:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Bernt Rostad via Flickr

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I have written about Detroita lot in 2011 because there was a lot to write about. I have gone from hope todespair, from seeing positive movements in the right direction only to havethem fall back into the old quagmire that is Detroit.

Mayor Dave Bing did not step up to the plate as a savior ofDetroit as I have hoped; he succumbed to the old incompetence and corruptiondisease that has plagued Detroit for decades and now he has also joined therace card playing hypocrites that seem to speak for Detroiters.

In 2011, Detroithad a chance to repair itself but as in years gone by, it failed because it didnot want to; it would rather stay on welfare and let others support itsincompetent and corrupt ways.

Towards the end of 2011, it became very clear that Detroit would have to be taken over by people that arecompetent and not corrupt and actually work for the eventual benefit of theresidents of Detroitand the future of the city.

The governor has been timid in imposing this drasticcondition on the city; worried he may be called racist and all, but the writingis clearly on the wall, he must do what is absolutely necessary for Detroit andthe State of Michigan come hell or high water.

Detroit was given many chances to right itself and itsunfortunate that it could not do what it needed to do so now it has becomeclear that the city needs to be bulldozed and re-built from scratch…yes it isthat hard to wipe out the entrenched culture of incompetence and corruption.

2011: How has Michigan fared?

2011-12-31T13:54:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Has 2011 been good for Michigan?

I think the election of Rick Snyder has been absolutelygreat for Michigan;we absolutely needed someone as nerdy and business savvy as Snyder and it wouldhave been an absolute disaster if the Democrats continued in power.

The problem with giving Republicans absolute power is thatwith their superior management of our economy they also bring theirfundamentalist, regressive, Dark Age thinking on social issues to the table.Snyder does not appear to even care about social issues but he is bound by hisparty affiliation to abide by their noxious positions and that is definitelynot good for Michigan.

Snyder has been able to keep the unions in check by actuallydealing with them and not just hammering away at them as other governors have.I hope he continues this strategy because in other states, they have marshaledtheir re-call powers to attack their opponents or those that will not give themwhat they demand. Some of that has happened in Michigan when the Teacher’s union recalled acongressman for not following their orders.

I am hoping that the re-call law is changed to allowre-calls for specific crimes while in office and not just for not doing whatsome people feel they should have done; the current re-call regulationdisenfranchises the many people that did vote for the congressman or womanbeing re-called.

Other than that, I am waiting for the new tax laws to takeeffect on January 1 to see how my business does under the new legislation.

Many retirees are probably planning their political attackon a governor that is now taxing their pensions…I agree with the governor thatseniors in Michigan have gotten away withbenefits no other state has and Michigancan no longer afford such largesse.

We have a great state here; lets not screw it up as we havein the past.

2011: Economic and political issues into 2012

2011-12-31T13:23:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

And what has 2011 meant to the United States?

Well it was all about the economy and of course, politics.

2011 was the year, I think, that the economy started to getbetter with the unemployment rate starting to drop and the American public’sconfidence started to go up. I just hope I am right.

In 2011 we became painfully aware that we have a brokenpolitical system and that our elected officials are not the goodrepresentatives of our welfare as we have always imagined; they are selfishrepresentatives of themselves, willing to do anything to stay elected (not all,but many).

The GOP race for the presidential nomination has clearlyshown us how absurd and downright stupid some of the people are that are tryingto achieve this nation’s highest office…something needs to change fast…

The TEA PARTY was invented in 2011. Obnoxious people thathad some good ideas about fixing our economy but could not hide theirfundamentalist, regressive views on social issues.

I think it must be time for a viable third party in our political system...

Unfortunately, economic issues and our disjointed politicalsystem will follow us into 2012.

2011: The year that changed the world forever...

2011-12-31T12:52:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by nebedaay via Flickr

Image by Government Press Office via Flickr

Well here it is; the last day of 2011. Many of us will bereviewing 2011 before we close it out, on a number of fronts. I think whatmakes some 2011 events important is in the impact those events will have on theyears to come.

On the world stage, I think every one will call the ARABSPRING as the event(s) that history will take note of for many years to come.

Started by a young, poor vegetable cart owner who was denieda license to sell his vegetables on the streets of Tunis, Tunisiaand thereby denying him the only means he had to support his family with, hewent to the main government building and set himself on fire and thus killinghimself.

That act of desperation against a cruel, dictatorial andcorrupt government was the spark that set the whole Arab world ablaze.

Tunisiajust elected its first democratic government. Egypt deposed its long timedictator but is still in the throws of forming a nominally democraticgovernment. Libyaunderwent a violent struggle against its long time dictator, killing him andushering in a hopefully democratic government.

Syriais in the throws of a very violent uprising against its long time, verystubborn dictator with the outcome still tentatively uncertain but with theArab League stepping in, a hopefully quick end to the slaughter is in sightwith an eventual departure of the dictator and the imposition of a democraticgoverning system in the near future. The people in Yemen have also rioted for change and may be on the verge of overthrowing their long time dictator...hopefully soon.

The Arab Spring has not reached Iran…yet, but there is still hopethat the people will eventually rise up against its brutal, dictatorialtheocracy (religious dictatorship).

The Arab uprising has also spurred other peoples to action.In Russia,the people have had enough of the unofficial dictatorship of Putin and hisparty; they are demanding free elections without fraud and I think their voicesare being heard.

Burma or Myanmar, hasofficially opened its borders and is nominally making attempts to bringdemocracy to their country but we will have to wait to see if the actions arelegitimate or just an excuse to improve the economy.

China,long under a strict Communist dictatorship for many years has experienceddramatic economic growth and with it modernization and now a demand for morefreedoms.

In our country, the OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT has somerelation to the Arab Spring movement as all peoples are inspired to make theirfeelings known.

Hard to imagine that one person’s act of desperation movedso many and resulted in changing not only the Arab world but the entire world.

And you thought, what can little ole’ me do to change thingsin this vast world of ours…now you know…

DETROIT: Governor is too sensitive about bullshit...

2011-12-29T19:58:00.003-05:00

Image by Bernt Rostad via Flickr

Governor Snyder is so concerned about being called a racistthat he is going out of his way to show that he is only interested in Detroit’swelfare and wants to help Detroit get back on its financial feet, that he isappointing a blue ribbon team of distinguished blacks and a few whites, torecommend to the governor, steps that he needs to take to save Detroit’s assfrom bankruptcy.

I can appreciate the governor’s caution not to anger theidiots in Detroitplaying the race card for reasons only available to them alone. The facts arein and Detroit is in a death spiral mainlybecause of years and years of incompetence and corruption that the leaders of Detroit do not want togive up. They would rather the state and federal governments give them moremoney so that they could continue funding their incompetence and corruption!

I think Michiganians of all colors have had about enough ofthis racial bullshit being played out in Detroitand they want someone to come in, as they have done in other Michigan cities, and kick some ass.

The local papers have been showing the public how badbankruptcy would be for Detroit and they alsoare highlighting what great work and great outcomes, emergency managers inother decrepit Michigancities, have managed to produce.

Why is there a problem in Detroit when other cities have been deemedinsolvent and taken over by the state with no commotion?

Why are we playing this stupid game with the likes of JessieJackson and all the rest of the religious leaders that want to maintain thestatus quo because of what?

The politicians backing this idiocy have a simple rationale;they just want the votes come election time and why would Detroiters vote forthese useless people who obviously have not done Detroit any good in all these years?

This is fast becoming a grand fiasco and the importance of Detroit on the national and international stage has beenway overplayed and the influence of Detroitand Detroiters on local, regional or state politics has definitely beenoverestimated.

Detroit is Michigan and if it is to remain arepresentative city of the state then it must be a viable city first, able tosustain itself and govern itself responsibly. This cannot happen with the waythings are right now so it must be leveled and then rebuilt and all those whohave and continue to benefit from the incompetence and corruption of citygovernment, to be shown the door with no chance of ever coming back.

The appointment of the blue ribbon team of respected blackprofessionals to review city finances is just postponing the inevitable; we allknow how bad city finances are so why go this route?

The white governor obviously does not want to be portrayedas the white plantation owner coming to straighten things out among his slaves.The fact that we are even talking in this fashion is totally absurd and thefact that we are even allowing this kind of talk in this day and age, makes usas idiotic as the idiots talking that way!

2011: Those that left us...

2011-12-29T17:45:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by oedipusphinx — — — — theJWDban via Flickr

End of the year is only a couple of days from now and themedia is trying to capture all that happened in 2011 and a lot has happened,probably more than in other recent years, more important, world changing stuffthat I am pretty sure will be noticed by history.

I am always amazed by the list of people that have died inthe past year; made up of people that I actually knew something about…it alwaysseems too long…

This year is no exception with Steve Jobs at the head of mylist because he has meant so much to world technology and to me and mybusiness.

Actors Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Russell, Jackie Cooper, JeffConaway, James Arness, Peter Falk, Cliff Robertson, Harry Morgan, …names I grewup watching.

Andy Rooney, someone I watched on 60 Minutes for many, manyyears.

Jack Kevorkian, a man ahead of his time.

Boxer Joe Frasier, wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage, body builder JackLaLanne …names I also grew up with.

Amy Winehouse, a singer I just discovered and gone already.Dobie Gray “The In Crowd”, “Drift Away” and Gladys Horton “Mr. Postman”, Phoebe Snow "Poetry Man", songsI listened to, sang and danced to.

Christopher Hitchens, author on religion that inspired me.

And of course the ones that made our world a better place by dying:: Osama bin Laden, Moammar Gadhafi and Kim Jong IL

Yes there were many, many more that made a difference in ourworld; these are just a few names that I am most familiar with…

2011: Went by pretty fast for us...

2011-12-29T09:56:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Well it is time to take a look at 2011 before we move on to2012. Everybody says how fast the year went by but we say that all the time andthe older you get, the faster the year goes by…what is that all about?

I think 2011 will be looked at as a momentous year; one thathistory will take note of and I will look at that in later blogs.

On a personal level, the year was good and busy. Last yearwas somewhat of a bust because of my father-in-laws extended passing and mywife’s rupture of her Achilles tendon which sidelined her for a good portion ofthe year so 2011 was to be our make up for the lost opportunities year.

We started out on a Caribbean cruise in January which was alot of fun followed by a week in the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana withour friends in February. February was also when my sister Zenia turned 70!

March had my grandson Luke turning the BIG 1 and a visitfrom our Scottish in-laws.

April had my wife and sister Barb going to Florida to help save my crazy cousinLucy…the trip did some short term good. April also saw my 40^thwedding anniversary which we celebrated on a grand scale with our daughterTanya & husband as well as the Scottish in-laws…great and memorable time. Easter was early and warm and a lot of fun.

May saw my 64^th birthday and our Spring trip to Yellowstone National Park which was a super grandtrip with snow, ice and burning sun all in one.

In June, my wife was vacationing with family friend Kerryand her two daughters in the panhandle of Floridaand then in Nashville, Tenn. My wife turned 61 that month also.

July was hot and many family members were at our condo in Charlevoix, MI.The annual Air Show was way too hot and I had to attend a convention in Atlanta, Georgiaat which my company celebrated 30 years in business with a grand receptionattended by many of my colleagues and business associates.

August was also hot and many at the condo in Charlevoix. Wetook a trip to Charleston, SCto spend time with our friends from North Carolina. We learned why people leave the South inthe summer…way too hot for humans!

September was a stay at home month.

October had us going to the condo in Charlevoix, MIto peep at the Fall colors and get the condo ready for winter. We also took atrip to Gatlinburg, TN to visit our niece Kimberly. We drovethere with my brother-in-law Craig and his wife Betty; very nice time andanother chance to marvel at the Fall colors in the South.

November is when our children were born so we flew to New York City to be withour son Zak on his 33^rd birthday with his wife Kimberly…great timeas usual in the BIG Apple. Our daughter Tanya turned 40 so we had to celebratethat BIG milestone.

December saw a great WIGILIA celebration at my niece Tammy’shouse and now I am looking forward to spending NEW YEAR’S EVE with family andfriends and with my mother who will be turning 90 in 2012. We try to spend theNew Year with my mother never knowing how long she has on this earth…she hashad a remarkable life so far.

Let us see what 2012 will bring…we are already signed up fora cruise in the Caribbean which will probably be our last cruise in theCaribbean since we have basically explored most of it and it is time to move onto other warm climate places reachable by ship.

See you on the flip side…

WIGILIA: Traditions change but still go on...

2011-12-25T16:28:00.000-05:00

WIGILIA 2011 is history. Wigilia is the traditional PolishChristmas Eve celebration that we have been observing forever.

My wife and I have put on the Wigilia celebration for thelast 30 years but with the family growing exponentially and us not getting anyyounger, younger family members have taken up the task with my daughter havingit last year and my niece having it this year.

The traditional meal is meat-less and therefore somewhat ofa challenge to prepare but the younger people have decided to skip thattradition and have added ham, smokedkielbasa and fresh kielbasa to the menu which the kids really appreciate sincefish did not seem to be something they wanted to eat.

The one tradition that makes Wigilia so special is thetradition of exchanging the “oplatek” which is basically a wafer similar towhat the communion wafer is made of. Each person, no matter what age, exchangespieces of the wafer with everyone in the family, exchanging best wishes for thecoming year. In our family, the youngest is one and a half and the oldest, mymother, 90 in May.

The tradition will vary from year to year and person toperson but the gathering at this time of year to celebrate Wigilia on ChristmasEve will hopefully go on long after we are gone.

REPUBLICANS have shown they cannot be trusted with our economy...

2011-12-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I know you could nothave missed the drama that was unfolding yesterday in our Nation’s capital,more specifically in the House of Representatives with the spotlight on theHouse Republicans, especially John Boehner, the Speaker of the House.

The Senate hadalready passed a stop-gap bill extending the payroll tax bonus that millions ofAmericans receive to the tune of $1,000 per year (some more, some less). Theyextended that measure till the end of February. In the same bill, there was anextension of unemployment benefits to the long term unemployed and a blockageof a huge pay decrease to physicians that provide services to Medicarepatients. All in all, it made good sense to extend the bill past the New Yearand save the arguing till 2012.

Senators voted forthe extension and went home for the Holidays.

The House ofRepresentatives were supposed to follow suit and go home also BUT THEY DID NOT.They told Obama to call back the Senators to debate the bill further.

John Boehner, theSpeaker of the House and most powerful man in the House, did what he was toldto do by the Tea Party twits in the House and blocked the bill.

Obama said that itis strange when both sides agree that the bill needs to be passed but the Houseof Representatives cannot seem to pass the bill that everyone agrees on…is thisthe height of absurdity or what?

Karl Rove, thebiggest Republican prick there is, said that the current Republican leadershipin the House are a bunch of idiots for not passing this bill since they havenothing to gain by not passing it except the scorn of ALL AMERICANS…so theypassed it.

Well thoseRepublicans now have the scorn of the whole nation and Speaker Boehner lookslike a total ass listening to his Tea Party colleagues and not doing what arationale, adult would…he will not last as speaker for very long.

I did not get intoall the legal and political details of this bill mainly because the point hereis not passing or not passing this stop-gap measure, what is important here is to see what Republicansin the House are prepared to do to bring down our economy and then be electedto power in 2012.

I have to stressthis point again because I think what they did demonstrates how uncaring theRepublicans are about our economy and how it affects the common man. If theeconomy fails to revive by election time; they will win the election eventhough our recession was a direct result of Bush / Republicans spendingexcesses.

BUT if the economyrecovers; many signs are pointing to a definite, if slow, recovery, theirchances of getting elected into power are greatly diminished.

The Republicans havedemonstrated in the last few days that they are willing to do everything intheir power to derail our economy to assure themselves of a victory in 2012.

If they are capableof that kind of absurd and hurtful behavior than I will have nothing to do withthem and since Democrats do not impress me as capable of doing anything betterthan the Republicans, I will have to be looking for a third party candidate…Ihope one is lurking in the shadows.

DETROIT: Quit spitting at people trying to help you or else...

2011-12-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

This morning’s papergot my blood boiling again.

I have been rantingagainst certain Detroiters making a big deal about the emergency manager lawwhich will put Detroitand its residence under a manager with “dictatorial” power. Every sane personknows that Detroitis in a hopeless financial situation and only “extreme” measures will save itsass from bankruptcy.

And yet, the racecard is being played not only by the mayor but, as I mentioned before,religious pastors of Detroit and now they are being joined by the REVERENDJessie Jackson who is the biggest hypocrite (adulterer) and racist socialactivist as they come.

One thing Jackson said really wentto the core of this nonsense; He said WHERE IS THE MONEY?

His rationale issince the government bailed out banks and auto companies, why can’t it bail outDetroit.

Note: I have notfigured out why Detroitreligious pastors are taking up the battle against the emergency managerlaw…what do they have to gain or what do they have to lose? How does an emergencymanager impact local churches?

I know Detroit pastors arecourted during elections for their endorsement so are they scared of losingpolitical power since elected officials may just be fired by the emergencymanager? Do the pastors somehow lose out financially?

More importantly, dothe pastors realize that an emergency manager is actually good for the city andits residents and can prevent the city from going into bankruptcy which wouldbe disastrous for the city and its residents?

Back to Jackson and: where is themoney? This is a common question Detroithas been asking federal politicians for years. Democratic presidents showered Detroit with all sorts of money throughout the years andwhat does Detroithave to show for it: nada!!!

That is because theculture of incompetence and corruption which has existed in Detroit for ever and still does to this day,takes millions of dollars from the state and federal government and makes themdisappear without a trace AND THEY WANT THIS PRACTICE TO CONTINUE?

I have been sayingall along that keeping Detroit black, corruptand incompetent does benefit a number of people and it appears those peopleinclude the pastors of the various Baptist churches in Detroit.

I wish the localnewspapers would conduct some investigative reporting and reveal the realreasons these people are objecting to someone “fixing” Detroit’s financial morass, once and for all.

I will have to addanother point and that is “alienation”. I know of many people, myself included,that grew up in Detroit and then moved to the suburbs mainly for safety reasonsand for better educational opportunities for our children BUT we have alwayscalled ourselves Detroiters or from Detroit and honestly cared about the cityand wished nothing but the best for the city and its residents and many of usactually did things to help the city.

Throw in race cardplaying twits that remind everybody THIS IS OUR CITY and don’t be TRYING TOTAKE OVER OUR CITY but give us MONEY so we can keep governing in the same incompetentand corrupt way we always have and some of us may just say OK…go bankrupt andsee what happens!

You can only spit inthe eye of people honestly trying to help the city so many times…over time, wemay tire of the racist language and may vote with our tax dollars to bulldozethe place and start from fresh!

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIMS: Have you noticed all the ads on TV lately?

2011-12-22T16:26:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have been noticing the proliferation of ads that havelawyer types with deep voices, saying that if you had your SICIAL SECURITYDISABILITY CLAIM denied, you need to call us…implying that they could get thatclaim denial reversed.

When I saw CALL SAM commercials and LAWYERS.COM commercialsadvertising the same claims, I grew suspicious.

Sam Burstein, Geoffrey Fieger and Zammler & Company,have always advertised for clients that have been injured in some way. Thesefirms would sue the so-called responsible party and obtain judgment awards outof which they kept a percentage; I can understand the concept of ambulancechasing which has made these firms pretty rich but social security disabilityclaims?

I could not figure out how the law firms made money if theygot a client's disability claim approved by the government which usually meansa modest monthly payment.

The Wall Street Journal explained it all to me. Firms makemillions on these claims because the government pays them. The Social SecurityAdministration has so many claims that they actually pay firms (you do not haveto be a lawyer to get into this business) to help expedite the process.

Now the firms only are paid IF the claim is accepted;nothing if claim is denied…so the firms make sure the claims are NEVER denied.

How do they do that; they keep out medical information thatwould cause an administrative judge to deny the claim. An example would be aclaim that a person was injured and cannot perform his or her job of liftingboxes. Medical results that show that they should have no physical reasons notto be able to pick up boxes are left out of the file so the judge never seesit.

Some insurance agencies hire private detectives to followclaimants and video them playing basketball or some other strenuous exercisewhile at the same time claiming they can barely move.

Since unemployment has grown in our current recession, thereare many more people filing for disability with the Social SecurityAdministration and since these firms practically guarantee the claimsacceptance, why not file.

On the other hand, the Social Security Administration has noone to represent the agency at the hearings, no one to challenge some of theclaims being presented so the claimant nearly always gets approved.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is just another way our taxdollars are thrown in the garbage by our government. The Democrats want to taxthe wealthy but they are not willing to stop this outrageous and absurd wasteof out tax dollars and that is why I am not willing to give the Democrats anymore tax money until they show me they can cut waste.

END OF IRAQ WAR: My ass...

2011-12-22T16:19:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I don't know if you noticed but the day after we, as anation, celebrated the end of the Iraq War, multiple explosions went off in Baghdad with a sizeableloss of life.

The reasons for the attacks are the reasons we have beenpredicting since the ill fated and ill advised War on Iraq began a long, longnine (9) years ago with over 4,000 American deaths and countless thousandswounded; sectarian violence.

I guess what continues to piss me off is the fact that weknew this would happen or at least people with a brain did (maybe not Bush,Cheney or their fellow NeoCons).

By "sectarian violence" we mean specific groupswaging war on other groups to gain control over all the groups.

Since Iraq was a "created" country, i.e. a countrycreated by drawing a geographic outline on the map (by the British) andcompelling everyone within that outline as belonging to this created country.

These groups include Muslim Shiites and Muslim Sunni whichpractice Islam but hate each other to the point of being willing to massacreeach other. We also throw in the Kurds, who are nominally Muslim but ethnicallyseparate from the other two groups. We can now add a "secularist"element which represents people that do not want to live under a theocracy(religious dictatorship) and this group, believe it or not, is growing.

Add to this melting pot al-Qaeda which is Sunni Muslim but aterrorist organization willing to destroy everyone to gain dominance or to justdestroy everything for the hell of it, which is what they like to do.

Add also Iranwhich is Shiite and would like to have Iraqas a partner or better yet, a puppet that Iran could control in its quest todestroy the West.

A plan that was proposed years ago and which I favored wasto split the country into three (3) generally autonomous areas joined as afederation: Sunni, Shiite and Kurd. The only duty of the federation was todivide all oil revenues on a per-capita basis since most of the oil is eitherin the Kurd area or the southern Sunni area. This was a neat and doable planthat was rejected by the Bush Administration almost immediately and so we willnow have civil war.

The tragedy here, caused by utter stupidity and arrogance onour part, is that over 4,000 American soldiers died for absolutely nothing andcountless thousands of Iraqis died for nothing also BUT the greater tragedy isthat countless thousands of Iraqis will die in the near future, also fornothing.

If you want to talk money and I mean billions if nottrillions that was wasted and helped bring on our recession/depression, welljust remember that yes, our military has left Iraq but a huge diplomaticdelegation will stay permanently and will be protected by private securityforces which will cost us billions if not trillions into the future.

The Republicans, who started this war and who authorizedBush to blow billions with no accountability, will now blame Obama for theapproaching civil war in Iraq…lovepolitics!

History will never forget what happened here and what willhappen; I hope Bush and his NeoCons will be labeled for centuries to come, asthe total morons that brought this much death and suffering to the world tofeed their own arrogance and idiotic plans. Hopefully this will be a lesson forfuture generations that will not want to repeat the mistakes of history.

TODAY IS THE REAL DAY WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS...

2011-12-21T16:42:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Well today was the day that people have celebrated forthousands of years; it is the WINTER SOLSTICE.

People have also called it the day WINTER BEGINS or the dayof the LONGEST NIGHT or the day of the SHORTEST DAY. The very next day, thenights are shorter and the days longer.

Many have also celebrated that day as the NEW YEAR becausethe New Year really starts astronomically with the day after and not on ourcalendar New Year January 1.

The Christians have usurped this perfectly natural, paganholiday and substituted their made-up holiday which has nothing to do withnature or the beginning of a New Year.

Christmas did keep a lot of the pagan rituals like the“holiday tree” and the giving of presents, etc. I do think our children shouldbe made aware that this time of year was special for many thousands of years,to people like us, celebrating the passage of time on earth and the dawning ofa brand new year and with it, brand new opportunities and adventures.

I don’t mind sharing this holiday with Christmas Christiansbut I do mind when they imply that somehow their religious observance was theoriginal reason for the holiday and our secular celebrations somehow demean thereligiousness of the holiday and I say Bah Humbug, you are obviously ignorantof the facts of history and I totally understand; I was raised that way too butthat does not mean you stop seeking out the truth; I did.

Pope Benedict Resign?

2011-12-18T15:27:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have just read an article that talks about Pope Benedictand how tired and run-down he has become to the point where he no longer eventalks to visitors, etc.

This is unfortunate but predictable for someone that will be85 in April. He is supposedly in good health, both physically and mentally andgenetically too; he has an older brother that is doing quite well.

The interesting point to all of this, is that the popehimself has said that when a pope can no longer do the job that is required ofhim, he should resign.

I have checked and Vaticanlaw does allow for a papal resignation for cause; the last one to resign wasPope Gregory XII in 1415 and that was not for ill health but to end The GreatWestern Schism where a number of popes claimed the papal throne.

Also, I think Benedict was alluding to the physical state ofthe last pope which was pretty bad and painful to watch as he tried speakingwhen clearly his physical condition prevented him from doing that in a normalmanner.

So will Benedict be the first modern pope to resign andretire? Our presidents do with no problems but would it be a problem when apope does the same?

BAN ALL TEXTING/CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING?

2011-12-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Our government just suggested that all forms of electroniccommunicating (talking on cell phone, texting, etc.) be banned while a personis driving.

I have been hearing a flood of objections to this proposalwhich would (I hope) carry a substantial penalty for disobeying the law ifenacted.

Yes, the proposal is quite intrusive and basically dictateshow we are to behave?

The government department pushing the proposal says thatthis law would add to our safety while we are in our automobiles and I don’t thinkany one can argue with that.

Personally, I have had numerous close calls, some inchesaway from a collision, where the driver that nearly rammed me was on a cellphone. In my case, the drivers were mostly women and when I laid on the horn,they had the audacity to give me the finger…good thing most of us don’t carryguns in our cars…

Also, in my auto, I have the Ford Sync system where allcalls coming to me are directed through my radio so I can speak without havingto use my cell phone BUT even when I talk with both hands on the wheel, I feellike my brain is paying more attention to the conversation than to my driving.

There are tons of statistics that point to fatal wrecks onthe road caused by the distraction of communication devices; the poster crashfor this proposal is the truck driver that was texting as he slammed into theback of a school bus.

I guess I am slightly conflicted here because there probablyare occasions where you might need to make a call or take a call while drivingbut would that be only in an emergency (which the law would allow) or just as amatter of convenience.

I guess more discussion is needed but right now, if I was tomake a decision today, I would vote for the law.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: God is not great!

2011-12-16T15:32:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Cover via Amazon

Christopher Hitchens is dead at 62. Many do not know who hewas and what he did. To me, he is the author of the book GOD IS NOT GREAT: Howreligion poisons everything. He also authored countless essays about religionand our religious society.

He was brash and outspoken and one of the first of the newatheists (he called himself an anti-theist) who took the confrontationalapproach to religion instead of just politely co-existing with it.

He called himself an anti-theist because he maintained thatno evidence exists for the belief in a god(s) so why are we pretending that oneexists.

I did not agree with him on many topics and issues but hewas a ground breaker for the new atheism and the new way of looking at religion and talking about religion and for that he will be remembered by history.

OCCUPY PROTEST AT SNYDER'S HOUSE?

2011-12-15T20:04:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Bernt Rostad via Flickr

There is a lot beingwritten about Detroitand its financial travails and many columnists, black and white, have beendancing around the issues of incompetence, corruption and race.

A recent headlinecaught my eye: CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS PLAN AN “OCCUPY” PROTEST AT SNYDER’S HOME.

Rick Snyder is thegovernor of Michiganand a very able businessman. He does not have a racist bone in his body and infact racism per se is a foreign subject to him as he sees spreadsheets andnumbers and not people’s skin color.

If a city is infinancial distress and close to bankruptcy, the governor appoints an emergencymanager (dictator if you will) that will make the decisions necessary to bringthe city into financial health and I do mean “all steps necessary” which mayinclude firing elected officials for incompetence, vacating union contracts asunsustainable, selling city assets to raise cash and privatizing city servicesthat are not operated in a fiscally responsible manner.

Yes, these aredictatorial powers but they are also the “last” resort the state has inbringing the city under financial control and I think we all can understandthat if we have a just a sliver of economic know-how.

It is true that thecities currently under an emergency manager (Flint,Benton Harbor, Pontiac & Detroit PublicSchools) are predominantly black but the charge that the emergency manager law“unfairly” targets predominantly African-American communities is absurd.

If what triggers theemergency manager law for specific communities is solely based on financialreality as demonstrated by actual accounting ledgers, how can it be in any way“unfair”?

The so called Michigan civil rights leaders using race as a weaponagainst the emergency manager law are mostly Detroit church leaders with some connectionto Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PushCoalition.

These leadersattempt to somehow justify their protest by charging that “democracy” is at stake in the state of Michigan and bythat they mean that “democratically” elected officials may be fired andreplaced by “competent” individuals that are “not democratically elected”, hence“democracy is denied” to the people of Detroit.

Again, technicallythey are correct, the law appoints a dictator of sorts and that dictatorcurrently is installed in predominantly African-American communities.

Since there are noother options for financially saving these communities except to appoint afinancial manager, why are these people protesting and why do they resort toplaying the repugnant and unnecessary race card?

Here is where localcolumnists, especially the well respected black columnists like Rochelle Riley,et.al., should attempt to address whatis going on and explain why and not be afraid to call it what it is; the use ofracism for one’s own benefit.

The way the protestappears to many of us, I am sure, is that this group of so called communityleaders has something to lose if and when an emergency manager is appointed torun the city. Since the financial hole the city is in was caused byincompetence and corruption, these same leaders and the people they lead, musthave benefited somehow from that status and will lose something, onceincompetence and corruption is eliminated from the city administration. That thecity has been a gravy train for so many in Detroit is well documented and newrevelations of corruption appear practically every day so the above premise isnot so far fetched.

My question is whyare Detroiters allowing these bozos to mislead the masses in this way and in sodoing, harm the city and its residents and make Detroit look like a hopeless cause only fitto be bulldozed over?

WAR ON RELIGION?

2011-12-15T19:17:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have just beentalking about a WAR ON CHRISTMAS in my last blog and now I hear about a WAR ONRELIGION.

Rick Perry, thepresidential candidate, has slipped in the polls to a level that basicallygives him no chance at becoming president of the

United States

. He slipped becausehe made stupid mistakes and behaved in a way that made him look very dumb andtherefore not presidential material but he is nothing but persistent…

To win in IOWA andstill have a chance at the presidency, Perry decided to appeal to theconservative, religious and fundamentalist nature of people in IOWA in a recent television ad.

In the ad that hasbeen seen by millions of people, he states that he is not ashamed to admit thathe is a Christian and adds that everyone knows there is something “wrong inthis country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’topenly celebrate Christmas or pray in schools.”

“As president, I’llEND OBAMA’S WAR ON RELIGION and I’ll fight against liberal attacks on ourreligious heritage.”

In politics, many ofyou may say that hey, you got to do whatever it takes to get elected; politicsare dirty and always have been, so? Perry may very well get Iowans to vote for him because of the message inthe ad but as far as the rest of the country is concerned, he came off as beingplain dumb again and the reason?

School prayer hasbeen banned by the Supreme Court in 1962 as violating the First Amendment andObama had nothing to do with that. Obama did support allowing gays in themilitary but how is that an assault on religious faith.

Perry’s ad has drawnmany parody videos that essentially make Perry out to be a joke. I like the onewhere Jesus is shown saying “I’m ashamed to admit that you are a Christian.” - mainly because of all the hatred he harborsagainst people that do not fit into his neat and narrow Christian mold. …lovethy neighbor anyone?

I have stated beforethat our Constitution, expressly notes that religion can never be used as atest for public office which means that one’s religion cannot be used as arequirement for public office and yet in this country, it appears that to beelected you have to profess some form of belief in the supernatural; noatheists need apply.

Rick Perry takesthis religion phenomenon one step further and makes religion a top priority forholding the presidential office and not just any religion; his form of religion– fundamentalist Christianity.

This ad of his mayappeal to people in IOWAand get him a victory but I doubt it. I think people in Iowa care about whatthe rest of Americans care about and that is jobs and better economicopportunities and for that they don’t need a dumb, plodding, nitwit that isincapable of grasping complicated economic issues and therefore resorts toemotional social issues mired in superstition and ignorance.

But he is not alone;Romney was defending his flip-flops on gay marriage and Gingrich actually tooka pledge to be faithful to his wife (if you can believe it) and of course theabortion issue will be raised once again; Cain was pro-choice by the way.

BUT I will go backto Perry’s charge that somehow OBAMA is waging a WAR ON RELIGION and I will askyou how in the world can politicians just flat out lie and face noconsequences; well maybe they do face the consequence of losing the electionbecause of their behavior…at least we can hope.

THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS?

2011-12-13T19:10:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show was making fun of the FOX NewsNetwork and all their right wing talking heads about inventing another WAR ONCHRISTMAS to garner more viewers.

FOX was making a big deal out of a governor calling thedecorated tree of the season as the HOLIDAYTREE instead of a CHRISTMAS TREE as in “taking Christ out of Christmas.” What the idiots at Fox did not know is thatevery governor in that state (Republican and Democrat) has always called thetree a holiday tree; its tradition so quit manufacturing news to get higherratings.

Every year we hear the same ole’ crap about people takingChrist out of Christmas and every year I have to respond by saying Christ wasnever in the holiday celebrating the WINTER SOLSTICE (December 21 this year) whichhas been celebrated for thousands of years BEFORE Christianity was eveninvented.

The Winter Solstice, if you don’t know, is the time of yearthat has the longest night and the shortest day. The day after the Solstice,the nights gets shorter and the days get longer or a NEW YEAR is born andtherefore it is a time of celebration.

Christians could not stand letting pagans celebrate theirpagan but “natural” as in celebrations of occurrences in nature, go on withoutchanging the reasons for the celebrating to something Christian and so theyinvented CHRISTMAS as the time Jesus was born and supplanting the initial reasonfor celebration.

Historians will tell you that nobody knows when Jesus wasborn and they are nearly certain, He was not born in Bethlehem but I digress.

My point is simple; many people of various religions and culturescelebrate, at this time of year, for their own specific reasons but we all doshare in the natural celebration of a New Year, so let me just say to0 thoseChristians who, through ignorance I am sure, think that this holiday time ofyear usually referred to as Christmas, is somehow THEIR holiday alone; IT ISNOT so quit the griping!

LOWES bows to religious loony birds...

2011-12-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Well in this joyous season of good will to all we haveLOWES, a giant hardware store, pulling its ads from a reality show on the TLCNetwork ALL AMERICAN MUSLIM which showcases five (5) Muslim families that livein Dearborn, Michigan, the largest Muslim community in the U.S. and close towhere I live.

LOWES pulled the ads because an ultra conservative,Christian lunatic group called FLORIDA FAMILY ASSOCIATION called the show“propaganda that riskily (sic) hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and presentdanger to American liberties and traditional values.” And the group probablyindicated to Lowes that Christians just may avoid shopping at Lowes if the adsare not removed…and the mindless twits at Lowes fell for that nonsense.

The reality show ALL AMERICAN MUSLIM showcases the fact thatMuslim families are just like all American families of whatever religiouspersuasion, and have the same wants, desires and plans for the future that weall have.

For religious bigots to blackmail a company is one thing butfor a company to yield to those demands is unacceptable, un-American andbigoted as they come and those companies need to made into examples by themajority of Americans that believe in the founding principles of this nationlike inclusion and diversity.

A backlash has started and I hope it continues until Lowesreinstates their ads on the show; an apology just will not do the trick.

ANOTHER ROUND OF CHURCH CLOSINGS...

2011-12-04T14:56:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Another big change in our area’s Catholic community is theplan to close 9 metro parishes and consolidate 60 parishes into 21; we have 270parishes in the greater Detroit Metro area.

I remember the last big parish closing plan 20 years agounder then Cardinal Szoka; people were really ticked off at that time too butit’s a numbers game; no people, no parish.

I still remember growing up in a tightly knit Polishcommunity on the West side of Detroit.

Our local parish was St. Cunegunda and it had a grade schoolthrough 8^th grade taught by nuns in the old garb. The church andschool were both within walking distance.

The parish next to us (also within walking distance) was St. Andrew and it had a high school but a small one andthere was no room for me so I had to take two buses to go all the way to HolyRedeemer which had room for me and for many from the downriver area. I did havea public school within walking distance (Chadsey) but that was a no, no for agood Catholic boy like me.

I think those parishes are closed now although St. Cunegundamay be catering to a large Hispanic population that replaced the Polishpopulation that left. Chadsey, the public school has also closed.

Here in Canton, I have oneparish within walking distance (ResurrectionChurch) on Warren and another one mile down Warren (St.John Neumann) and there is also St. Thomas a’ Becket in Canton.

I can understand the movement of parishes followingpopulation shifts but current closings and consolidations are also due to lackof priests to service those parishes and here lies the real problem.

Reading the letters to the editor in today’s paper therewere many with negative views of the liturgy changes; many consider the changesas backward. There were also letter addressing the closing of parishes in ourarea and many of those letters suggested allowing women to be priests and alsoallowing married men to become priests; ending the celibacy rule.

Time marches on…

MORE FOREIGN BORN PRIESTS?

2011-12-03T17:50:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

We have been talking about the changes in the Catholic massbut there are other changes in the news.

Because of the shortage of priests, there are many moreforeign born priests coming into the country. Many Catholics have mixedemotions about that. In my sister’s parish, they now have a priest from the Philippines. Heprobably is a good person but he is not from OUR culture and that may be aproblem.

I remember in the old days where the Poles had priests thatspoke Polish and the Italians, etc. had theirs. As things got melted together,you at least had American priests that grew up in the same traditions as theparishioners did.

But now, due to the lack of priests, foreign priests arebeing imported some with very little command of the English language.

Out of the 293 priests serving the metro Detroitarea, 50 are foreign born from countries like: India,Vietnam, Mexico, Philippines,Africa, Poland and

Ireland

Obviously the lack of priests is not a temporary problem; itwill continue till there is only a handful and the Church has to deal withthat. The priesthood could be expanded simply by allowing priest to marry whichcould also help in eliminating the potential for more priestly sexual abusecases.

I recently heard a bishop defending the celibacy requirementby saying if Jesus was celibate, so will we. But how in the hell does he knowJesus was celibate? Most historianssurmise that he was definitely NOT celibate from what the Gospels seem toindicate. Anyway, I don’t think the Church will have many options in the verynear future.

As to the foreign born priests; I guess it will depend onhow much American Catholics will be willing to put up with. There will alwaysbe priests in other countries desperate to come to America and live the American dreamso it is very good for them but is that necessarily good for the AmericanCatholic?

DETROIT: Playing the race card to keep the gravy train rolling...

2011-12-03T17:20:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Well it looks like Governor Snyder is not going to wait tillDetroiters fix THEIR city but has ordered a financial review of the city whichis usually followed by the governor appointing an emergency manager.

The governor is smart to do that because, like always,Detroiters are going to do their usual which is NOTHING. Even Rochelle Riley, astaunch supporter of the city remarked how on the day after Bing made hisrousing speech about fixing the city, he went to some public relations eventsand did nothing about his plan to save the city…as expected.

But what really burns my ass is that Detroiters (those thatwill lose big time under an emergency manager) started a petition drive tooverturn Michigan’semergency manager law saying that the governor was out to strip Detroiters oftheir right to elect officials to represent them.

Well so far Detroiters used their right to elect a mayorthat scammed the city of millions and landed in jail. They elected a citycouncil whose members accepted bribes and landed in jail. They elected schoolboard members that took money from student programs to enrich themselves withmany landing in jail AND THEY HAVE THE GALL TO DEMAND THEIR RIGHTS TO ELECTWHAT…MORE CROOKS, MORE INCOMPETENT TWITS that landed them in this mess?

Somebody has to fix this mess and Detroit and Detroiters have had many chancesto do just that…AND THEY FAILED, TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME. Enough already!

The people that are screaming the loudest are those thatwill lose the most; the parasites that have been feeding on the city for years.

Most disappointing but not surprising is the emergence ofsupposedly educated and responsible people throwing the race card around whichpaints them as racists, opportunists and down right demagogues.

They have the gall to equate the efforts to save the cityfrom bankruptcy as masters just trying to rule the plantation. They have askedwhy other Michigancities with emergency managers are mostly populated by blacks and why citieswith a mostly white population are not under an emergency manager…maybe becausethey are not in danger of going bankrupt…how about that for a reason.

To say that the emergency manager law undermines protectionsguaranteed by the landmark VOTING RIGHTS ACT of 1965 that outlawed poll taxes,literacy tests and other discriminatory efforts used to prevent blacks fromvoting is to deny the reality on the ground; the city is going bankrupt!

It is a deliberate effort by those that have been milkingthe city dry to paint a purely financial action necessitated by the grossmismanagement of the city as somehow a devious plan by “whites” to take over a“black” city and what, steal their assets?

How about the state finally taking over a city that has beena gravy train for so many for so long…

DETROIT: The writing is on the wall!

2011-12-02T12:43:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I have been writing about Detroit and its culture of incompetence andcorruption for some time now. I have also been buoyed by the election of a newmayor (Dave Bing) who I thought could reverse the downward spiral of the cityinto oblivion; last night my optimism was shattered.

It appears that Michigangovernor Rick Snyder called Bing to tell him that the state would have to takeover Detroitsince Bing was not moving the city away from imminent and certain bankruptcy.This means the governor was ready to appoint an emergency manager (dictator) todo what was necessary.

Bing called a news conference at 5PM and flanked by unionleaders, council members, department heads and church leaders, he announcedthat hell no, we can fix the city by ourselves and will not allow the state totake over OUR CITY!!!

You can take what Bing did a number of ways. One could be aploy to finally get city unions to agree to a drastic plan of concessions andlayoffs which up to now, they did not or is this a political move to brandhimself as the savior of the city and get re-elected easily or is it both.

One troubling aspect of his action was that it seemed he wasplaying the race card which is standard for Detroit and Detroiters. Bing’s speech was allabout OUR CITY and OUR CONTROL of the city and NOT THEM. A city council member,Kwame Kenyatta did not mince any words and clearly stated that a state takeoveris like the MASTER COMING IN TO CONTROL THE PLANTATION.

Playing the race card is a very unfortunate move by Bingbecause he is aligning himself with previous mayors of Detroit like Kwame Kilpatrick who spent timein jail for his many crimes but still blamed his troubles on white money men(Jews).

Others may argue that this is a shrewd move by the mayorthreatening the city with outside control if unions don’t cooperate whilepolishing his image as the black savior of the city.

The city is in the mess it is because of years ofincompetence and corruption and therefore can only point a finger at itself asthe cause.

I really think that the writing is on the wall for Detroit and the sooner the state takes over, the sooner Detroit can begin tocrawl out of the hole it dug for itself.

OCCUPY WALL STREET: Specific demands that make sense!

2011-11-28T14:52:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have been discussing the OCCUPY WALL STREET movement witha number of people and even visited Zuccotti Park encampment and I still cannotfigure out what in the hell they really want.

Robert McGraw of Royal Oak, MI wrote aletter to the Detroit Free Press titled: OCCUPY PROTESTERS NEED TO FIND ANDKEEP THEIR FOCUS.

He also visited the park in New York City and found what I found; beggarsand fruit cakes.

He did say that in a different part of the city he noticedyoung people and “ordinary” people carrying signs that had “specific” actionswritten that needed to done to fix Wall Street.

I have maintained for a long time that Wall Street (banks,investment houses, etc.) have been allowed by Congress, to basically gamblewith investors and saver’s money without regulation or oversight.

This is somewhat hard to understand if you don’t know thegames allowed on Wall Street. Basically the distinction between banking /investmentand gambling has blurred so much that now there is no distinction.

Here are some of what was on the protesters signs:

BAN SHORT SELLING: This is where an investor “borrows”shares/stocks from a broker (for a fee); the investor is obligated to returnthe borrowed shares to the broker.

The investor sells those shares in the stock market, bettingthat the share price goes down. When the share price goes down, theinvestor/gambler buys those shares at the lower price, returns them to thebroker and pockets the difference between what he sold them at and what hebought them at.

Sold at $100, bought at $80 = $20 profit. Imagine this usingmillions of dollars. This is gambling and not investing and many countries havebanned short-selling because these short sellers can hurt companies andeconomies.

BAN DAY TRADING: Dueto advanced electronics, day traders can buy and sell shares at lighteningspeed, making money on the change in a share’s price during a single day. This is not investing; it is gambling andbenefits no one except the trader. Some day traders trade with borrowed money(margin trading) and is similar to short trading but the gambler bets that theprice of a share will go up.

NO FALSE PROFITS…MARK TO MARKET: Simply put, it is about “fair valueaccounting” which mandates that assets be valued at current market prices. Anexample is “mortgage backed securities” (MBS) also known as “toxic assets”.Originally, these securities had a high price but when the housing marketcollapsed, home values plummeted and so these MBS had to be valued accordingly.Banks holding these MBS did not want to do that since their asset value wouldalso plummet, making them look unprofitable and in need of raising more capitalto match the federally mandated amount held in reserve.

BAN LEVERAGED TRADING: Basically investing with borrowed funds.

ENACT PUBLICITY FUNDED CAMPAIGNS: This is stating thatcampaigns for elected office should be publicly funded so candidates do nothave to bow to private donors or special interest groups and do their bidding.It frees candidates to be beholding to no one except the voters.

These are all great, positive suggestions on how to reformWall Street but protestors need to be protesting in Washington, D.C.on the steps of Congress; they are the only ones that can mandate change.

The problem is that Wall Street has the money and thereforethe clout in Congress and regular Americans that “bailed out” Wall Street, haveno clout except for their votes.

When the nation entered into our great recession, reform wasin the air and Congress rushed to enact regulations that would prohibit thegreat Wall Street meltdown from happening again but slowly, step by step, WallStreet money is diluting any and all pending regulatory efforts to where noregulations will be enacted.

This is primarily fueled by the Republicans who love andprofit from Wall Street. We need to tell our senators and representatives thatwe need meaningful reform of Wall Street and we need it NOW.

POPE BENEDICT: Spin job on Vatican's sexual abuse cover-up...

2011-11-27T15:45:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I read a small piece in the Free Press titled: POPE DEMANDSEXACTING RESPONSE where Pope Benedict said that ALL institutions and not JUSTthe Catholic Church must be held to exacting standards when it comes toresponding to sexual abuse of children. He was talking to visiting Americanbishops and cardinals.

I thought that the pope was playing on the Penn Statescandal and trying to deflect criticism of the

Vatican

’s own handling of thepriestly sex scandal that has been going on for decades if not longer andothers thought so too.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Networkof those Abused by Priests said that Pope Benedict talks a great deal aboutchild safety but does very little to make them safer. Plus, he continued, it isnot about sex abuse it is all about covering up the sex abuse and in noinstitution are sex crimes against children ignored or concealed asconsistently as in the Catholic Church.

Kristine Ward, chair of the National Survivor AdvocatesCoalition said that “It takes hubris for Pope Benedict to tell his bishops thatthe Catholic Church has led in the fight against sexual abuse of children”. Aswe all know that is total and absolute bullshit.

She continued to say that at PennState, immediate action was takenwhile the Vaticanhas not fired any bishops as if to say that there was no cover-up or that anyclergyman did anything wrong and that is more bullshit.

The pope continued to lie through his teeth by saying thatthe Church has made honest efforts to ensure both the safety of our childrenand to deal appropriately and transparently with allegations as soon as theyarise.

I guess what he is trying to say as mentioned earlier, is thatthe poor Church has been singled out as a villain in the abuse scandal whilethe same is going on in other institutions; is he claiming the Church is a victim?

This is obviously a Vaticansnow job/spin job where the pope is trying to put a nice face on an obvious andproven case of sex abuse cover up.

Catholics everywhere have to stop and think about a lyingpope and an institution that protects itself with every means possible even ifthose means are unethical and criminal. As I have said many times before, theChurch is not held accountable for its crimes and sins against humanity.

Benedict has the balls to say that many people of good willlook to the Church for wisdom, insight and sound guidance, this in the face ofa precipitous drop in mass attendance and the total disregard of Vaticanpositions against contraception and divorce which the pope addressed in hisspeech to the Americans.

The pope and the Church are not being held accountable fortheir crimes and that is why I cannot understand Catholics listening to hisdrivel and going on as if nothing happened.

OBAMA: No thanks to God?

2011-11-27T12:46:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I ran into an interesting headline today: OBAMA LEAVES GODOUT OF THANKSGIVING SPEECH, RILES CRITICS.

The critics, right-wing, conservative Republican nitwitsforgot to mention that Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum did notmention God in their Thanksgiving Day messages either.

Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday. It is a holiday atthe end of the growing season where families gather to celebrate and givethanks for a bountiful harvest hence the cornucopia symbol?

Since many of us are not farmers, we gather to celebrate andgive thanks for the blessings of the past year, individually and as familiesand give thanks in any way we want; religious or not.

Our Constitution specifically bars the use of religion as atest for public office and even thought I know that in Obama’s message,omitting God was purely accidental since he has mentioned God in his othermessages, making a big deal out of it paints those Republicans as thehypocrites that they are; they want to abide by the Constitution but alsodisregard it if they so choose.

This country was founded with freedom of religion and fromreligion as a basic tenet so for those critics that lambasted Obama forskipping a thank you to God, I say the president can thank who he wants to,there is no rule that obligates him to thank God.

And since the president also represents an ever growing non-religious segment of our population; it probably is more prudent to keep religion out of his pronouncements.

A CHANGE IN THE CATHOLIC MASS

2011-11-25T16:21:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have not been a practicing Catholic for many years butremain an avid student of Catholicism, some may also add critic, so I was drawnto an article in the paper titled: CATHOLIC MASS TO UNDERGO ITS BIGGEST CHANGESIN 40 YEARS.

I remember the last big change which came after Vatican IIwhere use of the local language instead of Latin was introduced and thepriest’s position at the altar was changed (facing the people) among many otherchanges.

There was rebellion which included my mother who just didn’tlike change even if she did not understand any Latin at all; she is happy witheverything now.

So what are the changes and what are the reasons behindthem?

The language is still English but it appears that words willbe changed to become a more direct translation of the original Latin and Hebrewwords.

“Lord of power and might” becomes “Lord of hosts”, Jesus as“one in being with the father” to “one consubstantial with the father”, “I havesinned through my own fault” to “I have greatly sinned through my fault,through my fault, through my most grievous fault”…remember the Latin: Meaculpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

A priest in the news article said that the changes elevatethe language used at the mass to a more “sacred” language as opposed to a common“street” language. I can see this rationale because people in the old days,loved Latin, even though they did not understand it, because it sounded moremysterious and “sacred” and more “holy” to them.

Vatican II wanted the people to “understand” what they aresaying and what is being said to them, hoping to get people more involved inthe mass. This is a noble effort but I still think people recite wordsmechanically, without thought as to what they actually mean just as they didwhen the mass was in Latin.

One goal, we are being told, is to encourage more chantingand singing of the mass. My sister says the chanting and singing just annoysher, she would rather be with her own thoughts as the mass is performed; can’tplease everybody.

People objecting to the changes perceive a reversal ofVatican II reforms and they would be correct. I mentioned many times alreadythat Pope Benedict wants to go “backwards” and reverse those reforms. In hismind, Catholics are leaving the Church because the Church has become tooliberal; the Church needs to go back to its roots and maybe those Catholicswill come back.

Others are pissed that the Vatican did not ask for anyAmerican input into the changes; priests and bishops were not consulted andneither were American Catholics but after all, the Church is a dictatorship anddoes not really care what American Catholics want or need.

This dictatorship mode of operations is what many feel ledto the priestly sex scandals and to the financial scandals of recent times.That is why organizations like the American Catholic Council wants to reversethe way the

Vatican

operates.

In the end, American Catholics will have to decide forthemselves. Change is hard for everyone but it can be handled. I don’t feelchanging the words will amount to anything because once learned, they will bemechanically recited as always.

As to the Vatican’sdictatorial style of leadership, treating members of the Church like sheepdemanding their obedience; well that has been the case for centuries and willcontinue unless and until AMERICAN Catholics demand change.

DR. ANITA CASPARY: Nun who broke with Rome...

2011-11-23T15:37:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

One more Catholic moment in history…

ANITA CASPARY, 95, NUN WHO BROKE WITH ROME.

Well you know this item would catch my attention. It appearsthat Dr. Anita Caspary (Sister Humiliata) was a mother superior (Sisters of theImmaculate Heart of Mary) who led the largest (300 nuns) exodus of nuns (1970)from the Catholic Church in American history.

This must have been one strong female…

The schism, we are told was because of dress codes andbedtimes. On the one hand we had a strong female nun that bought into the VaticanII enlightenment which gave nuns more control over their own lives.

On the other hand we had, by all accounts, a most rigidcardinal named Archbishop James Francis McIntyre of Los Angeles who basicallysaid of the Vatican II changes: NOT IN MY DIOCESE.

He adamantly refused to let the nuns teach without wearingtheir habits and demanded that they adhere to traditional regimens governingwhen they prayed, when they went to bed and what books they were allowed toread.

He obviously did not give a shit about Vatican IIpronouncements even though most other dioceses in the nation adopted Vatican IIreforms.

I feel bad for Dr. Caspary because she could not turn toanyone for help dealing with the intransigent cardinal, not even to the

Vatican

where the Vatican II reforms were being implemented.

The treatment of women as second class citizens (serve,don’t speak) by the Church is very well documented and continues to this veryday. To be fair, the Church is not alone in their paternalistic behavior; itstill is the rule in most of the world.

Dr. Caspary was undoubtedly caught up in the spirit ofVatican II and the general liberation spirit of the 1960s so she would not kowtowto something she knew was wrong, unfair and demeaning…

That is why I support efforts by Catholics like those in theAMERICAN CATHOLIC COUNCIL who realize that after the priestly sex scandal amongmany other scandals, the leadership of the Church must change in some fashionand the case of Sister Dr. Caspary is a perfect example.

The Vaticancannot operate as a virtual dictatorship because as the sex scandal showed us,the current Church leaders are incapable of policing themselves and need anumbrella organization of Catholic lay people with real power to help preventsuch crimes against humanity as we have witnessed in the past.

IRAQ: Civil war beginnings...

2011-11-22T19:40:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have been blogging about the idiocy of the Iraq War foryears now and repeating how a civil war there is inevitable and now, on the eveof our departure, the first signs.

We are leaving an airbase in the northern city of Kirkuk and when the Iraqiarmy came to assume control of the base, the Kurdish police force stood intheir way. Only after cooler heads prevailed was the situation diffused…but notfor long.

POPE BENEDICT: Africa trip was better than last one...

2011-11-22T19:28:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I cannot believe I am writing something positive about PopeBenedict again.

This time, I am reading about his trip to Africa (Quidah,Benin) and the difference from his earlier trip where he made the stupid,stupid mistake of preaching against the use of condoms (in the heart of AIDSterritory). This time he talked about abstinence and fidelity within marriage;something very foreign to their culture but at least not as dumb and dangerousas preaching against the use of condoms even though they obviously don’t usethem anyway.

What impressed me this time was the pope’s message ofcooperation and respect with the area’s other religions, Islam and Voodoo.

The pope said that Catholicism has changed from the days ofrigid religious missionaries. He now encourages the study of indigenous beliefsto see where they may be compatible with Catholic doctrine.

This is not a new idea. In fact, when the then pope wassending missionaries to the new land of Great Britain toconvert the Anglo-Saxons, he instructed them to always respect their pagantraditions and incorporate them into the new Christian faith.

This is why many of our Catholic / Christian holidays likeChristmas and Easter, started out as pagan festivals that coincided withnatural phenomenon like the Winter Equinox (days get longer) and the arrival ofspring.

Too bad the Catholic Church regressed from that point intostrict adherence to Catholic teachings and practices with absolutely no respectfor the indigenous culture. That is why Spanish missionaries to Central and South America, burned thousands of years of learning bythe Mayans (among other cultures), depriving our civilization of such valuablehistory and knowledge and possible discovery of something that could bebeneficial to us today like a new treatment for disease.

I am glad Benedict reads Catholic Church history and learnsfrom the mistakes that were made, even the mistakes he has made like in hislast trip to Africa.

The Catholic Church does not have all the answers to all theproblems of the world; the Church cannot even manage its own problems which arequite severe but if it can marry the Voodoo culture with Catholicism andintroduce the people to new social and spiritual ideas that will help them leadbetter lives while negating some of the bad habits, then we have somethingpositive and beneficial created.

At 84, the old dog seems to be able to learn new tricks…

Pope Benedict: A new approach?

2011-11-22T16:57:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

With all the news to discuss lately, I have not had time totackle my favorite issue of religion and especially the Catholic religion.

Some time ago I ran into an article talking about an eventcommemorating the 1986 WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE, called by John Paul IIwhich included leaders of ALL religions, meeting in the town of Assisi, Italy,to pray for peace on earth.

At the time, the meeting was quite the visual spectacle withrobed leaders of all faiths sitting side by side in a common cause.

The 2011 commemoration of the event was called by PopeBenedict XVI who in 1986 did not look at interfaith dialogue in a positive waysince he considered the Catholic faith as the one “true faith” or the only“real faith” and as such, should not be involved with “false faiths” and manyCatholics joined him in that belief.

BUT in 2011, Pope Benedict not only invited 300 religiousleaders to Assisibut he also invited those who were non-believers or agnostics. Now to me thisis a huge step on his part because originally he did not believe even in a“common concept of God” but only in a Catholic concept of God but now he isembracing a meeting “united not by faith but by the desire for peace andjustice” in the world; that is revolutionary!

The article was written by Mr. Rocca, Vatican correspondentfor Religion News Service and Mr. Rocca goes on to say that it is important tonote that Benedict opened up the dialogue on peace to non-religious “seekers ofthe truth”…this is getting deep.

Mr. Rocca says that this action is part of Benedict’spontifical theme to help “Western culture restore its dialogue between faithand reason”. This is a subject I have studied in the past and have followedBenedict’s pronouncements on the subject and it is quite interesting to discussgiven Benedict’s belief history.

I am not saying people cannot change or see things in adifferent light as they age, grow mature or gain in experience. That is why“wisdom” is usually associated with people that have experienced life for sometime.

Benedict, as well as other popes before him, have tried tonarrow the gap between faith and reason if not eliminate it altogether.Remember Copernicus and Galileo, John Paul actually apologized for whattranspired in history with these two scientists (world revolves around sun andnot visa versa).

In fact, the Catholic Church is in agreement with the “fact”of evolution and does not see any conflict between Church teachings andevolution unlike other Christian religions (fundamentalists) that have a problemwith “reason” and oppose the teaching of evolution and any other “fact” thatmay conflict with what they believe the Bible is saying.

So where the original interfaith meeting in 1986 displayedreligious SYNCRETISM (fusion of many beliefs), this meeting emphasized that“some religions are truer than others”…wow, what a departure from the originalintent of the gathering in Assisi!

Benedict’s emphasis on “objective truth” is essential to hisagenda, according to the article. Benedict has said that social justice isbased on norms accessible to all, derived NOT from divine revelation (readIslam, etc.) but from “reason and nature”. Truth comes from “universallyapplicable principles that are as real as the physical elements of the naturalenvironment.”

Now I know this is a lot to digest but let’s try…

Benedict has been concerned about the West (Europeespecially) falling away from faith because modern people cannot reconcilecommon sense, scientific knowledge and modern social norms with the superstitionthat is religion; Benedict wants to reverse that trend and he is trying adifferent approach which I find commendable.

So Benedict has not really changed and still believes thatCatholicism is the one true religion and by stressing the Church’s embrace of“reason”, he tries to differentiate Catholicism from all the other religions;the religions that are based on infallible dogma / Bible / Koran that in manycases, conflicts with reason and/or societal concepts of ethics and metaphysics(fundamental nature of reality and being).

I will admit that I find this move by Benedict quiteinteresting and for being 84, quite an intellectual exercise…

DETROIT: The Mayor's Last Stand?

2011-11-16T19:14:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I just listened to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing take his laststand before an emergency manager takes over Detroit.

He basically pleaded with the city to allow him to implementhis plan to save the city from outside control.

His plan has some good ideas and some not so good. Raisingcorporate taxes for businesses in Detroitis not a good plan. He should be on his knees thanking businesses for stayingin Detroit and some for moving to Detroit from the suburbs.People working in the city are paying a city tax while living in the suburbs sothey get nothing for their money.

He also wants the state of Michigan to give the city the revenues thatthe state, according to the mayor, owes the city. Why should anybody give thecity money so the city can waste it through corruption and incompetence?

Many people have tried to help Detroit for many years and the city hasnothing to show for it.

Yes the city has lost revenue because the working class hasmoved out to the suburbs where they can at least get some services and lowertaxes. The people that are left in Detroitwant and need more services but have no money to pay for them.

Bing appeared to move in the direction of privatizing manycity departments and that is a good and sound decision but he also tried toappease Detroitresidents by glossing over some of the hard decisions that will definitely haveto be made…I guess that is politics for you.

The unions and the lazy ass city workforce will not want togive up their cushy positions so I cannot be optimistic about Bing’s chances ofturning the city around.

The city will run out of money early next year and then thewriting on the wall will be very clear and the state will have to step in. Bingwas correct in saying that the city of Detroit represents the state of Michiganand the state needs a vibrant Motor City…I agree…but I am afraid that the cityfirst will have to be cleaned thoroughly from top to bottom so no corruptionand incompetence in city government exists.

Then and only then can the city start re-building itself ona new framework of competence and a desire to succeed and the framework willconsist of young, educated and dedicated people that truly love the city andwant to live and raise their children in the city as my parents did and so manyimmigrants before them did.

Other cities have bounced back so there is always hope for Detroit but a new cultureis needed in the city and that may take a long time…

PERRY AND CAIN NEED TO GO HOME...

2011-11-16T18:35:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

I confess I have not watched the Republican presidentialcandidate debates but I have always watched and read summaries of the debatesand how each candidate did.

I have never liked Rick Perry but the debates really exposedhis inability to think and talk at the same time which I think are mandatoryskills for a president of the United States.

His latest tumble at not remembering his own pronouncements(what three agencies would he close) was a doozy. Listen, I have forgottenthings (many times) and experienced brain freeze also but when you arepracticing for a presidential debate you make sure your main points and ideasare spelled out in your notes OR written on your hands. The fact that he didnot have notes just in case of a brain freeze episode means he was poorlyprepared or not prepared at all…who are his advisors?

Rick Perry has done himself in and has no one to blameexcept himself…his early supporters have left him so bye, bye Ricky.

Herman Cain has to be another big embarrassment for theRepublican Party. As Perry slipped in standings, Cain shot up to the top. Whenyou are on top people look at you closer and listen to what you have to saywith a lot more attention so sound bites are not enough, you actually have toexplain your positions and this is where Cain stumbles.

In a very embarrassing interview with newspaper editors,Cain was asked normal questions about current affairs which every candidate forpresident HAS to be intimately familiar with and when asked about Libya, hetotally clammed up obviously not knowing anything about what just happenedthere and was is happening over there.

The next day, Cain defended himself by saying he was justtaking a pause to gather his thoughts…bullshit…not only is he too dumb to bepresident but he obviously is incapable of learning anything. I consider myselfup on most current events as well as historic events but if I was running forpresident I would be totally versed in everything happening in the world…whoare his advisors?

Cain’s sexual harassment accusers may have a few problems oftheir own but the fact that they were paid off to drop all charges means thatthere was some validity to their claims and the fact that there are 4 or 5women that filed charges means that it was not one disgruntled and crazy womanwanting the limelight.

The fact that Cain called Nancy Pelosi, Princess Pelosigives us a peek at his views on women. He needs to go now and stop embarrassinghimself; his family and the Republicans…go back to making pizzas.

With Perry and Cain basically taking themselves out of therace, Newt Gingrich is stepping up to the plate. I have written about him inprevious blogs especially his womanizing but that does not disqualify you fromrunning for the presidency…as we all know.

Gingrich is smart and he can talk up a storm about anysubject and especially healthcare.

He made himself into a Catholic to marry his current wifebut I don’t think he is a religious nut like Perry is so he may be attractiveto American moderates / independents who will be deciding the general electionand not the yahoos voting in the primaries.

I am still holding out for Jon Huntsman to come roaring fromthe back into the front of the race but my optimism is fading fast. I stillbelieve that Romney will be the candidate of choice for the Republicans but Icould be wrong…

PENN STATE AND THE VATICAN: Same crime, different outcomes...

2011-11-14T14:01:00.001-05:00

Image via WikipediaImage via Wikipedia

Boy, there sure has been a lot of press about Joe Paternoand Penn State. By now I think all of us heardall the details and read all the different opinions of what should andshouldn’t have been done but the saga is probably not over…

I did read a few comparisons of PennState’s scandal with the

Vatican

’ssex scandal and it sure does look similar in many respects.

Both institutions viewed the “institution” as the sacredentity that needed to be protected at all costs even if that meant sacrificingthe welfare and well being of countless young children who ended up damaged forlife.

At Penn State a trusted and admired football coach luredyoung boys, using his position in the Penn Statesport’s program for illicit sex while in the Catholic Church, trusted, admiredand worshiped clergy lured young boys, using their positions of power, forillicit sex. Both were role models to young boys but the priest was supposedlythe representative of God on earth, as believed by good Catholic children and thatadded dimension made their deeds, to me, more heinous, sinful and wrong.

Both Penn State and the Vatican covered up the crimescommitted and even more unconscionable, allowed the criminals to go on abusinginnocent children.

Penn State took immediateaction and fired all people involved in the cover-up and even the people likeJoe Paterno, who failed to act responsibly knowing what he knew but did not actillegally. Penn State’sBoard of Directors took immediate action but there was no board of directors atthe Vaticanto take responsible action and punish the guilty which would include the popewho was aware of the crimes and the cover-up.

The Vatican,it appears, places itself above human justice and that is a problem that mustbe addressed if we are to protect innocent children under Catholic auspices. Ifeel the College of Cardinals must be made into a board of directors with realpower, even the power to remove the pope from office.

I think we all noticed the lack of concern for the victims.The students at Penn State rioted at the newsof Joe Paterno’s firing, mindless of the victim’s suffering that Paterno’sinaction caused.

Penn State realized the crass imagethey were presenting to the rest of the world and to their credit, made someimmediate changes including a silent tribute to the victims at their nextfootball game.

I hope others will see the similarity between Penn Stateand the Vatican but note thedifference in outcomes and therefore the need of the Vatican to reform itself in a waythat would never allow such crimes to be perpetrated ever again, as the leastit can do to pay for the horrendous crimes it allowed against innocentchildren.

MICHIGAN'S POT LAW: Religious kook attorney general will not allow it...

2011-11-11T16:08:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I love our Republican governor, Rick Snyder. He is abusiness man that runs the state as a business and so far he is doing a greatjob.

BUT he is different from other Michigan Republicans who, asevidenced by the recent anti-bullying fiasco, are plain and simple, RELIGIOUSKOOKS and as such, represent a danger to all Michiganians.

I have talked about our Republican Attorney General, BillSchuette on a number of occasions. He was openly a religious nut case beforehis election but no one seemed to notice as voters voted against any and allthings Democratic, blaming the Democrats for all that is wrong with their livesand I can agree with some of them BUT…

When we vole for a Republican’s belief in fiscalconservatism and responsibility (which I admire) we also have to be aware thatthe Republican’s conservatism with money matters can also bring with it areligious conservatism and fundamentalism that borders on a return to the darkages. Not all Republicans fit this bill but voting Republican will always bringwith it a danger of social regression.

I do not like attorney generals because they are alwaysrunning for higher office and that is their primary concern and not thelegality at hand. Schuette has already embroiled the state in religious matterswhen it was not the state’s business to do so and now he is concentrating onattacking the use of marijuana even though Michigan voters said that the use ofmarijuana for medical reasons is legal.

I gave up cigarettes many years ago after being a heavysmoker in my younger days. I finally have my lungs nice and clean and I willnot go back to smoking and to me, smoking marijuana is still smoke in yourlungs so it is not something I would do under any circumstance BUT I voted toallow medicinal marijuana and I would vote to legalize marijuana across theboard since I consider smoking marijuana on par with drinking liquor; if youallow one you should allow the other.

Bill Schuette has decided that marijuana is evil and he willprevent its use no matter what the voters say. It appears that to Schuette,marijuana use is somehow against his religious and moral beliefs but for thelife of me, I cannot figure out why.

But the greater issue here is why one man and his beliefsystem is allowed to stymie the wishes of a majority of Michigan voters and residents. He is tryingto impose on us HIS belief system and that just cannot be allowed.

I don’t know what we can do legally at this point to tellhim to concentrate on legal matters that actually are serious and need attentionand quit playing with bullshit issues that should not concern him.

We can make sure when the next elections come up that wemake sure we are not electing someone that is a closet religious kook justwaiting his chance to tell us how to live according to HIS belief system.

Jan's Stinkin Blog

U.S. BISHOPS: A diversionary tactic?

Related articles

PALIN still has a chance?

Related articles

CATHOLIC WOMEN HAVE MORE VOTES THAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

Related articles

PAULA DEEN: Unethical behavior?

Related articles

U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS = U.S. TALIBAN

Related articles

BABY BOOMERS: There is still time to make a difference...

Related articles

CATHOLIC US BISHOPS VS OBAMA

Related articles

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND OBAMA'S RULE ON CONTRACEPTION...

Related articles

HEALTH OF WOMEN A POLITICAL GAME?

Related articles

JON HUNTSMAN: Why did you quit?

Related articles

MLK DAY: In Detroit, some good, some bad...

Related articles

FCC: What can we say or show on TV...

Related articles

DRUG TESTING FOR PEOPLE WANTING AID?

Related articles

VOTER PHOTO ID: It is time...get over the past.

Related articles

Related articles

Saturday's "Keeping the Faith Column"...

Related articles

NEW HAMPSHIRE & S. CAROLINA PRIMARIES

Related articles

IOWA RESULTS: We don't like any of them...

Related articles

SICK AND TIRED OF IOWA CAUCUS NEWS...

Related articles

EPISCOPAL PRIESTS = CATHOLIC PRIESTS

Related articles

2011: Detroit...bulldoze and start from scratch...

2011: How has Michigan fared?

Related articles

2011: Economic and political issues into 2012

Related articles

2011: The year that changed the world forever...

Related articles

DETROIT: Governor is too sensitive about bullshit...

Related articles

2011: Those that left us...

Related articles

2011: Went by pretty fast for us...

WIGILIA: Traditions change but still go on...

Related articles

REPUBLICANS have shown they cannot be trusted with our economy...

Related articles

DETROIT: Quit spitting at people trying to help you or else...

Related articles

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIMS: Have you noticed all the ads on TV lately?

Related articles

END OF IRAQ WAR: My ass...

Related articles

TODAY IS THE REAL DAY WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS...

Related articles

Pope Benedict Resign?

Related articles

BAN ALL TEXTING/CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING?

Related articles

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: God is not great!

Related articles

OCCUPY PROTEST AT SNYDER'S HOUSE?

WAR ON RELIGION?

Related articles

THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS?

Related articles

LOWES bows to religious loony birds...

Related articles

ANOTHER ROUND OF CHURCH CLOSINGS...

Related articles

MORE FOREIGN BORN PRIESTS?