Christians and Gays, Part 4

This is the fourth installment of my series “Christians and Gays” where I explore why some Christians have it in for gays. I have concluded that those Christians believe the Bible directs them to attack gays because being homosexual is a sin.

We will examine the Bible text in this segment as it pertains or does not pertain to homosexuality.

It is important to realize that “homosexuality” as a sexual orientation did not exist in Biblical times. Actually, the study of sexual orientation or sexual development did not begin till the 1950s. Even today, there are people that think heterosexual men desire homosexual contact because they are sinners. If they truly believe that then they are very naïve and have sexual issues of their own. Homosexuals are born that way – period!

In Biblical times homosexual acts did occur. We are told that when an army defeated another army, the losers were sometimes raped by the victors as a sign of dominance, etc. I really have a hard time imagining a victorious soldier getting an erection so he can rape a defeated soldier.

We are also told by historians that a number of religions had temples where men and women were so called “Temple Prostitutes”. These prostitutes represented the specific god that the temple honored. Having sex with these temple harlots (male or female) somehow represented having sex with the actual god – figure that out! Anyway, the Jews were very much against this type of activity and wrote about it in the Old Testament.

Also, in Greek culture it was accepted that a mature Greek citizen would take a younger Greek male under his wing to teach him how to be a good Greek citizen. Sex was part of the deal. We now call it pederasty.

Historians have a little trouble with this Greek custom. The men had wives and led normal lives. We also know that only the upper class practiced pederasty. The big thing to remember here is that their society accepted this behavior as normal.

Romans, to a certain extent, also practiced pederasty but for strictly sexual pleasure. This was not considered homosexuality because there was no homosexuality just homosexual acts.

Also at this time, slavery was common, normal and accepted. Treating women as total crap was also accepted; it was after all, a patriarchal system. This is still seen in Islamic societies and a few others.
Remember that the Bible accepted these practices.

The Bible is filled with rules and regulations that would never be accepted in our time; they belong to another age, another time, another civilization.

We also know that the Bible has been translated, copied, interpreted, rewritten……………….etc. according to our modern understanding. There was no word for homosexuality because homosexuality was unknown at the time the Bible was written but we have managed to interpret Biblical text in a homosexual way.

For that matter, anyone can find Biblical justification for about any position one holds. You can find justification in the Bible for opposing views. Hell, Shakespeare even said the devil can justify his actions in the Bible.

The trick here is to discern if the Bible actually condemns homosexuals and instructs Christians to persecute homosexuals because they are sinners against the Christian God.

Well, this took longer than I thought. I promise to get into the text of the Bible next time. We will look at mainly: Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Judges, Kings, Romans, Corinthians, Timothy and Jude. These are the passages that matter most to the anti-gay Christians and these are the passages they use to justify their feelings and their actions.

Janusz

CHRISTIANITY AND GAYS, PART 3.

This is a third installment in a series where I examine why certain Christians are so set against gays.

In my last segment, I identified the Bible as the source for most of the hatred and I argued that the Bible cannot be taken as a definitive word of God (every word) and that that position is indefensible.

The Bible as the word of God issue has arisen in my comments about the movie Da Vinci Code and the fact that there is no secular historical information about Jesus and his life. I received angry emails telling me that the Bible IS a history book because it foretold events centuries before they happened.

Historians will argue that certain books in the Bible did foretell events but the actual books were written many years AFTER the events happened; foretelling in reverse.

Anyway, judging by the tone of the emails, there is no hope of a serious, academic discussion based on known facts about the Bible – so back to my closer look at Christians and gays and the role of the Bible in this issue.

Modern Bible scholars use what is known as a “Historical-Critical Method” of studying the Bible. This scientific method first developed by Protestants has been adopted also by the Catholic Church. Words in the Bible are examined objectively as to the historical period they were written in, the historical intention of the author and/or editor (redactor) and the historical audience the words were written to. The method is scientific because “faith” does not play a role here.

I will also point out that Christian denominations differ in how they treat the Bible. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist tradition developed the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” approach to faith by relying on the Bible in conversation with tradition, experience and reason.

I hope I have not confused the issue already. All I am saying is that words in the Bible were written by people a long time ago and for a reason that existed at that time and an audience that existed at that ancient time; the word are NOT talking to us in 2006 and are NOT talking about modern times we live in. The words on the other hand CAN be used to glean philosophical and theological ideas for our own benefit.
Wow – that’s a mouthful!

The people that are AGAINST all the above belong to the FUNDAMENTALIST segment of Christianity. This segment arose during the Reformation and held fast to the Bible being the word of God, inspired and free from error and on guard against “liberal exegesis”.

The “Five Points of Fundamentalism” as stated in 1895 at the American Bible Congress held in Niagara, N.Y. were: the verbal inerrancy of Scripture, the divinity of Christ, his virginal birth, the doctrine of vicarious expiation and the bodily resurrection at the time of the second coming of Christ. This fundamentalism is spreading even as we speak.

The problem here is that this group rejects ALL questioning of the Bible text and ANY form of critical research; it is the way it is so fuck off.

The fundamentalists refuse to see that the Bible used human languages, human authors with limited capacities and resources, human copyists, human translators. It is as if the Holy Spirit dictated the Bible word for word. I have only one word to say here NAÏVE. This word is used by not only me but other Christians and even though some fundamentalists are good people, I have to reject their narrow point of view as not only naïve but stupid. Sorry for that but I don’t have any other word that could convey my feelings more accurately.

Next installment, we tackle the actual Biblical texts relating to homosexuality, at least thought to be relating to homosexuality.

Janusz

REPUBLICANS AT IT AGAIN IN NOVEMBER

Sunday, May 28, 2006

To: The Detroit Free Press
Re: “Republicans seek favor with hot issues”, May 28.


Republicans are getting ready for the November elections by employing the tried and true method that has served them so well in the past, “Republicans seek favor with hot issues”, May 28.

They will be hitting the hot button with issues involving abortion rights, gay marriage and flag burning.

If we allow these issues to divert our attention from the Republican stench of mismanagement, lawlessness and corruption emanating from Congress and the White House, than we will be doing this country a disservice.


Janusz M Szyszko

RESPONSE TO MY LETTER DA VINCI CODE

Recently I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper commenting on an article about Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code book and the movie that just hit our area.

I simply mentioned that you cannot condemn the book or the movie as totally untrue when in fact we have no historical secular evidence about Jesus or his life. Without hard evidence, no one knows what really happened.

Well, I have heard some comments about my statement from people that, as I mentioned in previous posts, know very little about their religion. The storm created by the book and the movie, might entice them to learn a little bit more about their religion and their beliefs instead of attacking people with their ignorance.

There are many, many records from the historical period of Jesus. The Romans kept meticulous records of everything going on around them. There are countless letters, reports, books, etc. from that period. None of them EVER mention Jesus. In fact it is easier to tell people what evidence we DO have.

Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century A.D. or C.E. that worked for the Romans published the History of the Jews. In one of the volumes there is a simple reference to James the brother of Jesus. James, it appears was well known in Jerusalem and his death merited a mention in Josephus’s book.

This ONLY mention of Jesus (at all) in the millions of writings of that period was found by some Christian monks. They edited it by adding their own thoughts or re-writing the passage the way they thought it should be written. Today, historians have been able to clean it up, removing what was added and leaving what Josephus probably, really said. I guess we should be thankful to these monks because without them we would not even have Josephus – they preserved it for the future, even though heavily edited.

The only other secular historical reference to Jesus was in a letter by a Roman governor somewhere in Asia Minor requesting Rome to instruct him how to handle these “Christos followers”.

That is it gang! As important as Jesus and Christianity is to our history and our civilization – no hard evidence – period!

But, you say, what about the Gospels. Well now, this is where the problem lies. Many Christians believe these literary works as historical pieces and they are NOT.

They were composed way after the time of Jesus by writers that never met Jesus. They were not even from the land of Jesus or spoke in the language of Jesus (Aramaic). They relied on information about Jesus from previous Gospel writers (Mark was the first according to historians) and whatever stories were being passed around at that time. Note, we are talking about stories – hearsay if you will – NOT DOCUMENTED HISTORY.

This is a huge subject and there are many volumes written about the “historical Jesus” and what can we really know about him and his life.

I am not saying you should not believe that the Gospels are historically correct but if you do you have to know that your beliefs are based on faith and not on fact - so please do not jump down my throat about Jesus if I don't agree with your beliefs. I am just stickin with the known facts – thank you.

Janusz

Da Vinci Code letter

Sunday, May 21, 2006

To: The Detroit Free Press
Re: “Reviews from above on the Da Vinci film”, May 21.


Mitch Albom in his “Reviews from above on the Da Vinci film”, May 21, pokes fun at how famous people are portrayed in films but concludes that in the Da Vinci Code film, Jesus gets the worst treatment “…since they were making up total lies about him…”.

Since it is well known that there is no historical evidence about Jesus or his life, no one is in a position to judge a story about him as true or false.


Janusz M Szyszko

ENGLISH OUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE?

Congress was having a little fun last week debating whether the English language should be formally ensconced in our legal system as THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The resultant flurry of emotional opinions ranged from calling such a move RACIST by the Democrats to PROTECT OUR HERITAGE by the Republicans.

I don’t exactly what stirred all this up but I have a suspicion that the immigration protests by Hispanics and the singing of a Spanish Star Spangled Banner had something to do with it.

Canada has two (2) official languages and every label and sign has to be in both English and French – a real pain in the ass and in the pocketbook. France has laws that forbid the use of non-French words; they even translated Mickey Mouse into French. I remembered that Poland had similar rules but even they realized that saying OPEN 24 HOUR was better than OTWARTE DWADZIESCIACZTERY GODZIN – they need huge signs to hold all those words and letters.

I also realized that many ancient languages really had no translations for words such as “weekend”, “computer”, “Internet” and many, many other modern words.

The world is quickly becoming used to the fact that ENGLISH is the universal language. When a German goes to China and an Italian goes to China, they communicate with each other and the Chinese in ENGLISH.

In the United States, the melting pot gave us countless ethnic enclaves that spoke their native languages but communicated with other groups in English – it was the natural thing to do and is practiced today. In Michigan we had a town near Detroit called Hamtramck. It was so Polish, you did not need to know English; even the cops were Polish. That town has changed dramatically with children of those Poles, Americanized and moved out. Today, the same town is full of Albanians and the circle continues.

I remember growing up and learning English in school and Polish at home. It was easy and natural for a little kid to pick up another language. My kids always complained that I did not teach them Polish but BOTH parents have to speak the same language for that to happen. In my case, my wife spoke only English.

Growing up in the 1950s, my mother wanted me to be a medical doctor so in high school I took LATIN – boy what a waste – a dead language! French in the 50s was the language of diplomacy, so I took a few months of that. German was the language of science – I only lasted a few weeks in that class. Today, to be successful in our global economy, you need to know English!

Our military is sitting on millions of captured documents in Arabic but no one to translate them. They have captured many illegal “combatants” but have no one to interrogate them in their native tongue- all we can do is strip them naked and take pictures of them in funny positions. We need people that speak other languages!!!

I think having our students learn another language is a good idea but they must be FIRST, proficient in English! Teaching primary school in a language other than English should be against the law.

Requiring instructions, signs, labels……………….in languages other than just English should be against the law – this should be voluntary for business or marketing purposes.

Requiring a working knowledge of English to obtain citizenship should be the law. I don’t care if the applicants for U.S. citizenship know much about our history; our own high school graduates don’t know our history or how our government operates! They don’t know our geography either.

So what am I getting at? I think the natural way this country has developed through the ages by absorbing ethnic groups and their languages and customs and forming Americans out of them has worked out very well WITHOUT declaring English our national language.

I guess I am confused about what a bill declaring English as our national language is suppose to accomplish. I think English is and has always been our de facto national language. Is someone suggesting we make Spanish our national language or is this so-called issue a lot of noise about nothing? Or, is a law needed to at least guarantee those points above that I suggested should be part of our laws.

Janusz

BACK FROM UTAH!

Well I am back from a week in UTAH! Yes, Utah. We have made a habit of picking a state we have never visited and then spending a week seeing what is to see there. So far we have done New Mexico (Northern) and the Tucson, Arizona area.

We usually pick the spring (April/May) to visit. At this time the temperatures are not as hot and the kids are still in school which usually means fewer tourists.

We started at St. George in southwest Utah and made a huge loop from Zion National Park to Page, Arizona (Lake Powell- Glen Canyon), through Monument Valley (Navajo Nation) Utah on to Arches National Park, through Capitol Reef National Park and on to Bryce Canyon National Park. We ended up back at St. George, Utah with friends that have a condo there.

When we arrived at Las Vegas, the temperature was above 100°F. St. George was also experiencing a heat wave and was above 100°F for the first time in May – ever. As we progressed into the mountains the temperature came down somewhat and we ended the week with mountain temperatures in the 70s – where they should be.

The scenery was breathtaking. Driving through the mountains was scary. In the valleys, where the roads are straight, you can hit 100 mph quite easily – we had a Dodge Durango and it could fly.

What I found interesting? Well, for one, American tourists were in the minority. In fact, I think we were it! There were MANY buses full of Germans, Brits, Italians and some French – they were everywhere. There were some Asians – mostly Japanese.

Tell me how in the hell did all these foreigners know about UTAH when even WE who live in the States knew basically nothing about it. My knowledge of Utah was Mormons settled there and Salt Lake City where the Olympics were held because there is great skiing – that’s it. Utah must advertise a lot overseas.

I think the draw for foreigners is the WESTERN or COWBOY theme. Many, many westerns were filmed in Monument Valley. To these people Utah is cowboy land and therefore the real America.

Another interesting thing here is the MORMON influence. Polygamy is still practiced even though officially and legally banned. You cannot order double vodka or anything double. You are limited to 1 oz of booze per drink. You are also limited to three (3) beers at any one sitting. A waiter or waitress under 21 cannot serve any alcohol – have to get someone over 21 to even touch an alcoholic drink. Liquor stores are very rare but the state is, I think, making it easier to find a drink just to keep those tourists coming.

I would highly recommend Utah for a visit (summer temps reach over 130°F) in the spring - there is snow here in the winter. Nature is at its best here and quite spectacular.


Janusz

CHRISTIANITY AND GAYS, PART 2

This is the second installment of my look at Christians and Gays. In my first piece I wondered why certain Christians were so dead set to destroy or hurt homosexuals. These Christians made it seem that their religion demands that they do this – I just asked why.

To be able to discuss this there are a few points that need to be made. Without reaching some form of consensus on these points, further discussion would be hopeless.

Professional religious scholars admit that Americans are biblically illiterate. Basically that means they really do not know biblical history, where the Bible came from, who wrote what, who Jesus really was, etc… This does not mean they are stupid, it means they were never taught and did not seek knowledge on their own.

Divinity Schools, Theological Seminaries and other religious schools teach their students everything that is known about Christianity. This knowledge is almost never conveyed to normal Christians because, in my mind and the minds of church leaders, that knowledge was deemed as unnecessary for the practice of Christianity. We will let that sit for awhile.

Growing up as a Catholic, I was told NOT to read the Bible because I may get the wrong ideas and only Catholic leaders (priests) can explain the Bible to me. This is hundreds of years after Martin Luther defied the Church and published the Bible in a secular language (not Latin but German) and made it available to every simple shmuk out there.

The point that I am trying to make is that after the death of Jesus THERE WERE MANY CHRISTIANITIES. Beliefs ranged from Jesus being a smart and holy man to Jesus is a god in a human body to Jesus is both a god and a man to almost any variable thereof. These were “competing” beliefs and this went on for a good long while.

I point this out because TODAY we are still in the same boat. There are many Christianities with many competing beliefs. Christianity is not a unified movement; just look at all the denominations out there. Christians do not always agree with each other and this is a FACT of reality.

My second point is more ticklish. It is how American Christians perceive the Bible. There are those that think the Bible is word for word of God. There are those that believe the Bible contains works that were written by humans but inspired by God. And then there are those who attribute Bible stories to humans who wrote them for many reasons.

The belief that the Bible, word for word, is the word of God is indefensible. Speaking of the New Testament, we do not have an original or even a first copy of any of the books in the NT (New Testament). We have copies of copies of copies………………………….and many are also translations of copies. Since the earliest copies were made by hand, errors had to have occurred. Also translation from one language to another is hard and imprecise.

Another historic fact is that some copyists changed the wording of the copy they were making because they felt it read better or had a better meaning or this is what I think Jesus really said.

My point is that if you believe that the Bible is the absolute word of God (every word) then we have nothing to discuss – we cannot go any further.

For all of you with an open mind and a willingness to learn and discuss – we will talk in part three.


Janusz

U.S. WHITE MEN ARE SICKER!

Here is something from the health field. I have been in the health field basically all my adult life and therefore a life student of the subject.

A recent study caught my eye. The subjects of the study were WHITE MALES 55-65. The subjects lived in the United States and the United Kingdom (U.K.).

The study concluded that American white men were in much poorer health than those white men in England.

Before you jump to conclusions let me point out that in the U.S., we spend twice as much on healthcare as they do in the U.K.

Also let me point out that THEY drink and smoke much more than we do here.

In the study, it was pointed out that the health of the richest, white U.S. males matched that of the poorest, U.K. males. Does that mean rich U.S. whites are too stupid to take care of their health and that does not mean that poor Brits are in anyway stupid!

I don’t pretend to have the definitive answer but I have spent some time in Europe and I have noticed some pretty dramatic differences in our ways of life.

The main difference is in the layout of our residential areas. Recently in Scotland, we walked to the pub, we walked to the shops and carried heavy bags back. We walked to the train station for a train to the city where we walked all around. In other words, we walked.

Here, we live in suburbs that are connected by roads and highways and not by sidewalks. We don’t walk anywhere. Some people jog on the side of the roads, placing their lives in danger. Did you notice that most joggers are skinny as shit? Some of us go to gyms, etc. Some exercise at home BUT the great majority DOES NOTHING.

Why don’t you see OBESE people in Europe? Why do Europeans or Asians or any ethnic person who comes from a land of the skinny eventually become an obese American after a few years here – lifestyle!

Can anything be done? Europeans have had the same residential areas for hundreds of years. Americans created brand new residential areas and they unfortunately based their designs on car travel. This allowed Americans to live anywhere; not only close to work, schools, shops, etc. For that freedom we sacrificed our health.

We are not going to change the way we build suburbs anytime soon but we can insist on sidewalks EVERYWHERE. I think people will naturally tend to take walks where sidewalks are available.


Janusz

NATIONAL HEALTH CARE INSURANCE MY ASS!

Saturday, May 06, 2006


To:     The Detroit News
Re:     “It’s time for national health insurance”, May 6.

Ron Gettelfinger writes “It’s time for national health insurance”, May 6 because since the auto companies can no longer afford to keep his union members on deluxe health plans, he wants the taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Universal health coverage is the answer to our health cost problems but having our government provide the coverage is just plain irresponsible.

How about mandatory health care coverage with many insurance options to choose from. I know UAW members are not used to paying for health care coverage but maybe its time they joined the real world.


Janusz M Szyszko

MOUSSAOUI TRIAL A FARCE

I am the only one getting sick and tired of hearing about the Zacarias Moussaoui trial?

The whole thing is a farce and was from the very beginning. Listen, I know that people need a scapegoat for 9/11 to bring closure but he ain’t it! Or will anyone do?

The guy is obviously a loony bird and he is making our government look really stupid (like that is hard to do).

Four years of legal maneuvering and six weeks worth of court time with full jury and millions of dollars and what do we have – a person we will have to support for the rest of his life – more money?

The jury saw right through this charade and said he basically had nothing to do with 9/11. Parading the relatives of 9/11 victims through the court accomplished what? Did it really give them closure? I doubt it.

The poor jury was really put on the spot. They knew the prosecution had nothing. They knew that after the female prosecutor interfered with witnesses and nearly had the case dismissed, the prosecutors were a bunch of amateurs, yet they could not let the man go and risk the anger of the nation and especially the relatives of the 9/11 victims. I feel sorry for them.

So tell me, what the hell was this trial about? Do we give a shit about justice or is this all just a big media game orchestrated by the Bush people.


Janusz

AFGHANISTAN ABANDONED

Latest news from Afghanistan: U.S. troops are pulling out. They are pulling out because NATO troops are supposed to be taking their place.

Here is the problem, NATO troops are NOT going to find and fight and destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda; they are just there to patrol and keep the peace.

The Taliban and Al Qaeda know this and so reports are reaching reporters that Taliban fighters and Al Qaeda fighters are flooding southern Afghanistan to join the spring and summer offensive.

People living in southern Afghanistan now feel that the U.S. has AGAIN abandoned people they supposedly liberated. They now know they have to make peace with the Taliban because they will AGAIN be their new masters; the people’s few moments of freedom and liberty are now at an end – back to the dark ages.

Since Afghanistan was never in President Bush’s plan, they were just a diversion as was the 9/11 attack. He never wanted to liberate Afghanistan, defeat the Taliban, find and destroy Al Qaeda, punish the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack on the U.S.

No, President Bush had his neoconservative plan to attack Iraq and change the world order on his plate and nothing was going to dissuade him from his mission.

I am pointing this all out to remind you how badly he has fucked up. I want you to know that thousands of innocent people will suffer because of his arrogance and his ignorance and WE are some of those people who will suffer and probably our children also!

Thank you President Bush!

Janusz

CHRISTIANITY AND GAYS, PART 1

In the last few months I have been seeing a trend among certain Christians to ratchet up their war against the gays.

A recent newspaper article was titled “Religious right protests tolerance”. This came from Atlanta and the subhead read “Devout cite beliefs in demanding institutions, workplaces end policies that ban discrimination”. You read it right – THEY WANT THE RIGHT TO BE INTOLERANT. They want the right to harass!

Other stories that you may have read include the Christian group that shows up at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. They hold up signs that tell the grieving relatives that God killed their loved one specifically because the military allows gays to serve.

Another story shows how Ford Motor is being targeted by a Christian group for advertising in gay magazines and for supporting charities that may have gays on board. The economic boycott is actually having an affect on sales at Ford.

My question is what in Christianity is making these people so rabidly anti-gay. Why are they so threatened by gays? They feel it is a Christian commandment, a sacred duty to attack and harass gays and wipe them off the face of the earth – why?

Now I realize that throughout history, religious leaders have picked targets that united the faithful in a common cause. We see this today in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and many other countries. Yes it is a religious campaign but also very political because only through politics can you gain dominance and impose your beliefs and therefore your rule on everyone.

The religious zealots in this country may not be as violent buy I think everybody can plainly see the common thread here.

What I would like to find out is the Christian justification for extreme anti-gay feelings and actions. The reason I use the word “extreme” is because I personally feel, as a heterosexual, a good deal of uneasiness and maybe queasiness about male homosexuality but I accept them as human beings with a different biological orientation that they were born with. As fellow human beings and members of our society, I do not wish them harm.

On the other hand, the specific Christians I have mentioned want to deny gays their humanness and reject them as society members; they want them dead or at least gone!

This will take a number of blogs because I want to examine what in Christianity justifies these violent feelings and Christianity is a large area to look at.

Talk to you soon,


Janusz

MEXICAN IMMIGRATION OR JUST OPEN BORDERS!

Monday saw a huge amount of people pour into the streets of big cities to make the nation aware of the role of Mexican immigrants (illegal) in our daily lives and in the economy of this country.

It appears that the motivation for the protest was a belief that illegal Mexican immigrants will be rounded up and deported as felons for entering this country illegally. I don’t think anyone in our government believes that locating, rounding up and deporting 14 million illegal Mexicans is even remotely possible.

The organizers of the protest are probably quite aware what the Congress can and cannot realistically do with the illegals; they just want Congress to see how well they are organized and how easily they can deliver votes when the illegals become legal.

It is important to point out that even though many of the protesters carried signs saying “America was built by immigrants” and various variations on that theme, America was built by legal immigrants or at least a majority of immigrants that were legally in this country.

Other ethnic groups would probably behave like the Mexicans if their countries bordered the U.S. Look at how many Chinese try to get into this country illegally and look how far away China is. We have to realize how powerful the drive to better one’s lot in life is and how people are willing to risk their very lives for the chance at a better life.

It appears to me that logic will tell us that the reasons Mexicans enter the United States illegally is because they can not do it legally. Am I correct? Do we have a quota or strict rules for entering legally? Does it cost too much to apply for legal entry? I don’t know but I must surmise all the above to be true since most Mexicans choose the illegal and dangerous route.

The question is – can the United States make entry into the U.S. easier AND legal for Mexicans so they don’t have to come in illegally?

Anyway, for Congress to seriously address the status of illegal immigrants in this country they must seriously address the flood of immigrants coming into the country on a daily basis otherwise the whole immigration question is a joke.

The Mexican government relies on the millions of dollars illegal immigrants send back to Mexico so they do not want to alter the status quo. It appears it is all up to us.

I say STOP THE FLOW by whatever means necessary FIRST! Then let’s deal with the ones already in.

Janusz

THE PRICE OF DEMOCRACY

Last Sunday’s papers carried news of a little rebellion. Retired Generals criticizing our Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a top CIA employee “supposedly” leaking top secret information to a journalist and being fired (not prosecuted) for it. The TV program “60 Minutes” featured a top CIA official explaining in detail, how the Bush Administration twisted intelligence to justify their invasion of Iraq.

The various pundits took up sides and this Sunday, they continued their debate. Predictable, columnists on the right called critics and leakers of secrets as unpatriotic (traitors) who compromised our nation’s safety. Those on the left said it is our patriotic duty to question and expose our government especially when we suspect evil doings.

Both sides make good points but I think we are witnessing something bigger here.

I feel the Bush Administration, based on its actions and behavior, is being looked on as an enemy of the people and a danger to this nation. This very real perception in turn is redefining the meaning of patriotism.

The CIA employee, a woman who is 61 years of age and close to retirement (Mary McCarthy) was considered a loyal employee with great integrity who played by the book. What possessed her to reveal to a journalist that the CIA was operating secret prisons in Eastern Europe where all means possible were used to extract the truth from suspects? The journalist went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

The CIA official on “60 Minutes” is now retired but had a need to set the record straight. He felt used and he felt the CIA had been used and that to him was not only wrong but not in the best interests of this country and therefore damaging to this country.

The stories about retired generals criticizing Rumsfeld have drawn a lot of bitter comment. The Wall Street Journal called their actions “Dishonorable” and predictably “Unpatriotic”. The New York Times polled active officers who criticized the retired officers for not criticizing the war plans sooner and more vehemently after all they should have learned something from Vietnam.

The situation with military officers is a little different. The military, by law, is commanded by civilians. We all know why our Founding Fathers wrote the law that way but today, generals have become political hostages, having to sing and dance for the President and his Secretary of Defense just to protect their careers. Officers who criticize are just removed.

Someone said that the price of democracy is to always be vigilant, always remain on alert for dangers that threaten our way of life. If people perceive the Bush Administration as that danger, that threat to our way of life, then they will behave how their conscience dictates and that may not always agree with, what we think, are accepted rules of behavior.


Janusz

EMBARRASSED BY THE FDA

I am once again embarrassed by my government. More fittingly, I am once again disgusted by how asinine my government has become.

Specifically, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the agency protecting our health and well being, has just declared that marijuana cannot be supported for MEDICINAL use. The FDA also denied the sale of the “Morning After” pill in drugstores after most of the medical advisory board recommended the pill be made available to the general public.

The marijuana ruling goes against a 1999 finding by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences that” marijuana’s active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AID’S wasting and other symptoms and should be tested rigorously in clinical trials”.

Some states have passed laws allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Now I don’t pretend to know if marijuana really helps people suffer less but many sick people swear by it. I have always been in favor of legalizing or decriminalizing the use of marijuana because I always felt that if alcohol consumption is legal why in the hell is marijuana illegal – it makes absolutely no fucking sense.

I realize that pushing to legalize marijuana for medicinal use is only the first step in getting it legalized for general use and that is the way our government obviously feels.

BUT what really pisses me off is the fact that the FDA is being run by politicians and NOT the scientific professionals it is suppose to be run by. In fact, many on the advisory board have quit in disgust because it does not matter what the scientific minds have concluded but what President Bush wants.

The Morning After pill could prevent unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions but President Bush thinks that the pill actually causes mini abortions and ordered the FDA to deny the public access to the pill. Do you see how this man thinks? And why should learned scientists bow down to the thoughts of this moron president!

I feel the FDA should be made an independent agency answerable to a committee of people with the education and background to be able to judge fairly and correctly if the FDA is carrying out its mandate to protect the public’s health.

Personally, my business is governed by FDA rules and I have experienced the vacillations of FDA rules based on who is in power – enough I say!


Janusz

THE HOUSE OF BUSH IS UNRAVELING!

As I peruse the newspapers this bright, springtime Sunday morning, it is quite apparent that President Bush, his administration, his plans for a better world, his plans for a better America are all kind of unraveling.

If his gamble on Iraq would have only paid off, everything would be different for him, the country and the world. But was his gamble a fool’s gamble? The men that convinced him that this is a “slam dunk” plan that cannot fail are all deserting him and the plan. Where is that arrogant, cocky Rumsfeld – not so cocky anymore?

To sell the plan to the nation and the world, Bush and his cohorts had to, for lack of a better term, lie. They played the ole’ “the means justify the end” card. Now that the “end” is not even in sight and things are going from bad to worse, the “means” are starting to look pretty bad.

The American people, who bought all that Bush threw at them are starting to sober up. They see that they have been duped. Duped into believing that the invasion of Iraq was necessary, that it was part of the war on terror, and that it had something to do with 9/11 – all lies.

As Iraq sinks deeper into civil war all our troops can do is sit back and watch. Hundreds of Iraqis are killed every day. No one is safe. No one is in charge. There is no law or order. Crazy Saddam just laughs and asks, are you better off now?

Afghanistan, the country where al-Qaeda and Bin-laden launched their 9/11 attack on the United States, still hides the terrorists, still allows them to operate and train new recruits for the war on America. The Taliban there is actually growing stronger, organizing to once again take over the country.

Iran is working to build an atom bomb. They need one to protect themselves against the new American Crusaders. Who can blame them?

Have we lost our way? Have we lost what made us great, what made us respected, admired, envied and feared? No, I think we have strayed a little and we need to get our house in order and get back on the American road we are all familiar with.

I think President Bush hurt this country more than anyone can imagine. He invaded a country under false pretenses; he lied to us and the world and his lies, our lies, are now exposed. This is not the American way. We defend ourselves, we defend the defenseless but we do not invade a sovereign nation as part of a grand plan to change the world order. That is something Hitler did.

In the first Gulf War we came to the defense of Kuwait which was brutally attacked by Iraq. We had every right to invade Iraq and topple the man that invaded Kuwait – but we didn’t. I know that the first President Bush regrets that, especially now that he sees what a mess his son is in.

A pre-emptive military strike option is a valid option in today’s world. Rogue countries need to fear that option. That option acts like a deterrent. Defenders of the Iraq invasion point to Libya and how we scared it into behaving. I agree that the Iraq invasion did have that affect but I am not sure it was worth losing all those American soldiers to just scare some people. It could have been done a different way.

President Bush’s actions also increased our vulnerability to harm by allowing, no helping, the terrorists of the world unite and grow stronger. Iraq now is the home of terrorism. This is where they train and get more deadly with each passing day. They now have more recruits, including suicide bombers, than they know what to do with. In the past, Iraq was al-Qaeda free. We could have isolated and destroyed al-Qaeda when they were in Afghanistan. But we did not and we will pay for that.

President Bush hurt this country as far as his overseas adventures are concerned but he also hurt this country internally. He divided us. In the end we may unite again but in opposition to him and his un-American ways.

He divided us by bringing religion into government, something our Founding Fathers warned us against and something this country has dealt with throughout its history with success; why mess with success? Does he have a grand plan to change the country into a Christian nation because his God told him to?

He divided us by taking HIS religious values and trying to make them ours. His values are on full display as his lies and deceits are revealed one after another.

He divided us by taking the law into his own hands. He justified breaking the law because of unusual circumstances, state of war, etc. but we are a republic which means a nation governed by the rule of law. I agree that desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures but the way our laws were disregarded borders on the arrogant and the dictatorial; it could have been done in a better way.

President Bush’s approval ratings are now down below 30% which means most of the country is no longer buying his spin or outright lies. But I do not blame the man. I think he was mislead or he aloud himself to be misled. He probably meant well.

President Bush’s Republican cohorts are running as fast and as far away from him as possible; deserting a sinking ship because now it is everybody for himself.

Will the nation now flock to the Democrats; maybe but not necessarily. The Democrats are not united and have no plan but some will say they at least ain’t no Republicans.

Hilary Clinton does not have a chance but McCain does and he is the uniter this country needs; he is an American first and foremost and then a Republican. I hope he is up to the task because it will be quite a task.


Janusz

MY HEALTHCARE PLAN IN ACTION?

I have talked about how to fix our health care dilemma many times before. My suggestions appeared to fall on death ears or they were just not understood. I feel that in this state of Michigan, with a large auto industry and even larger unions, everybody was waiting for the federal government to create a universal coverage health plan where the taxpayers would pay for everybody, even those that did not pay taxes. In this way, the auto companies would save billions and billions of dollars and turn them into profits while the taxpayer would have just another tax to pay.

Now Massachusetts (see below), passed a healthcare bill that will create UNIVERSAL COVERAGE without the federal government creating another huge, inefficient bureaucracy. Please remember the systems in Canada, UK and elsewhere (socialized medicine) do not work!

Anyway, my idea was to mandate health coverage, just like auto insurance but offering many plans that would be affordable. This, in theory, would eliminate the uninsured that drain the system and cause others to be overcharged for medical care just to pay for the uninsured and there are a LOT of uninsured who need LOTS of medical care.

My plan envisioned the elderly being covered by MEDICARE. The poor being covered by MEDICAID and workers covered by their employers who would get generous tax breaks for providing health care coverage for their employees. Who does that leave?

Well, it leaves workers that do not have health insurance provided by their employers, students and others that I cannot think of at this time. In my plan, they would be offered very affordable insurance based on their ability to pay and their age (young, healthy people would pay the least). In that way the cost of providing health care to the uninsured would not impact our costs which now are artificially high to cover the uninsured costs.

Governor Mitt Romney and the people of Massachusetts have enacted a similar plan based on the same principle of eliminating the uninsured. I don’t mean executing them but providing them with health insurance.

They would penalize employers of 10 or more that do not provide health insurance by making them pay into a fund that would provide low cost insurance to the uninsured. They would also penalize people who can afford insurance but do not buy any. These people would be assessed a special tax that would also go into the uninsured pool. People buying their own insurance could do so with pre-tax dollars; another incentive.

In my plan, I would jail people without insurance or write them a ticket, just like people without auto insurance but I suppose the Massachusetts plan is more doable.

Anyway, I am going out on a limb here because a state will actually try the plan I have been screaming about for so long. Now the proof will be in the pudding. Let us see if I will be forced to eat my own words.

GO MASSACHUSETTS!!!

Janusz

HEALTH CARE SOLUTIONS!

Thursday, April 06, 2006


To:     The Detroit Free Press
Re:     “Mass. Legislators OK health care bill”, April 5.

The idea of controlling health costs by making health insurance mandatory but affordable has been proposed many times but Michigan ignored it. I suppose the auto companies were waiting for the federal government (read taxpayers) to pick up the tab.

Now Massachusetts, in a bi-partisan effort, passed a universal coverage law without a federal government takeover, “Mass. Legislators OK health care bill”, April 5.

Massachusetts had the gumption to quit whining and actually do something about rising health care costs. Let’s see if Michigan can do likewise.


Janusz M Szyszko

THE FRENCH ARE OUT OF HAND!

Can you believe that the little French twits are actually rioting over the fact that if they are under 26 they can be fired for no reason (read my blog below)?

These morons are actually burning, looting, etc. I am more inclined to believe that the situation is similar to riots here; there is a legitimate spark that starts the protest but then the basic hooligans take over when they see a chance to rob stores under the guise of a protest.

Shoot a couple of them and see how quickly they go home.


Janusz