THE RED TENT: A great rendering of a Biblical story...

Just saw the mini-series THE RED TENT on the LIFETIME network and was favorably impressed.

The series was based on a book of the same name by Anita Diamant. The fictional novel was based on a story out of the Old Testament concerning DINAH the daughter of Jacob and sister of Joseph; I think most people are very familiar with that story as Jacob is considered by many as the founder of Israel.

The characters are all in the Bible story and the events in the series mirror the events in the Bible.

What the author adds to the story is a closer look at the women in Jacob’s story and especially DINAH and imagines with a very good historical perspective, their individual stories in this greater Biblical narrative.

What I liked about this particular rendering of a Biblical saga is the fact that religion or God did not play a big role in this adaptation but merely the workings and interactions of an extended family.

As a lifetime student of Christianity and all things religious, I was struck that the author who placed the women in a Red Tent (for women who are menstruating) had them worship a female deity that they prayed to as a protecting deity of women and their needs. This worship practice had been passed on from generation to generation and included a number of depictions of the deity as clay figurines.

Many today look at ancient Jews as people who introduced monotheism (worship of one god) to the world and as a people that only worshiped YAWEH throughout their history. Well a pharaoh in Egypt actually introduced monotheism long before the Jews did, if they ever did.

The author of The Red Tent probably knew all about that and incorporated those facts into her story.

Jews as well as the surrounding population worshiped whatever and whoever they felt could help them as did the women in the Red Tent.

Yes the Old Testament stories try to portray the Jews as having a contract with the one true god where they would worship only him and he would treat them as his special people…that did not work out well for the Jews as we now know.

The authors of the Old Testament had an agenda which did not always square with reality on the ground. People who eventually became the Jews of history worshiped many gods basically using the logic that if praying to one deity brought favorable results, then that deity was stronger than the others and thus were the ones they would pray to.

The authors and redactors of the Old Testament knew that to keep the Jews united as a people they would have to stress the uniqueness of their god and of their rituals and behavior. Please notice that the first of the Ten Commandment stipulates that THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP ANY OTHER GODS BESIDES ME in effect, agreeing that there were other gods on the scene.

I realize people are not interested in details of religion as I am but I am buoyed by stories like The Red Tent which probably come closer to what really happened than the heavily redacted (edited) stories in the Old Testament.

MICHIGAN: Why did we vote the way we did?

Reading the mid-term election results; I am amazed at all the reasons promoted in the media about why people voted the way they did which in many cases, defied all logic.

The way U.S. elections turn out is maybe because our elections are all about “hype” even if the hype is false and never strictly about “facts” because voters vote with “emotion” and not logic.

The newspapers try to temper the hype with “fact checking” but I don’t believe voters actually pay attention to any of that.

Voters do not even pay attention to who and what the newspapers “endorse” which in the past may have been based on the newspaper owner’s ideology but now, I believe, comes from a thorough investigation and analysis of the facts.

Both newspapers endorsed SNYDER for governor of Michigan and yet the Democratic opponent came close to winning even though Snyder has done such a terrific job in bringing Michigan back from the edge of disaster.

Both newspapers endorsed the little known opponent of our Attorney General mainly because Bill Schuette was and is a right wing nut that follows his own conservative agenda and is basically positioning himself to run for governor in four years and yet he won by a landslide based on bullshit hype.

Another irrational win is the one for a judge of the Michigan Supreme Court. Richard Bernstein a 40 year-old lawyer with absolutely no judicial experience but with a long history of public exposure as a member of an “ambulance chasing” family was elected in a landslide mainly because he is blind, a known personage through many TV ad appearances and he is “for the little guy” according to his ad campaign.

On the surface, Bernstein, because his lack of experience, is not qualified for the highest court in the state, cannot read the necessary paperwork that comes with the job but has to have it all translated into Braille and is biased against corporations and especially insurance companies who he has fought against as an ambulance chaser and yet he is elected. 

Our political system has obviously stood the test of time but lately, due to the technological revolution in communications, I feel is in danger of becoming a system governed exclusively by those with money and the technical know-how of how to dupe the voters into voting their way.

I don’t think the voting public is going to get any smarter or better informed in the near future but actually the opposite is probably true.

How does this bode for our future elections? Well we have the presidential elections coming up in 2016 and the campaigning has already started…should be interesting.

OBAMA: He could have done better to win the mid-terms...

The Republicans did well in the mid-term elections because they used OBAMA as their primary weapon against the Democrats.

I will admit that Obama has disappointed me or maybe my expectations were too high but to me, the reason the Republicans were able to use Obama as a weapon against the Democrats falls squarely on Obama’s shoulders.

There are many positive things that Obama has done in the years of his presidency and basically we are all better off now than we were before his presidency but Obama has failed to communicate that fact; he has not tooted his own horn and his fellow Democrats have not praised his good deeds to the public at all…he needs a liberal FOX News network to tout his accomplishments.

Speaking of FOX NEWS, they spit on Obama on a daily basis and believe me many people (including my friends and relatives) buy into that FOX drivel.

So why has Obama failed to toot his own horn; that maybe due to the people he surrounds himself with and that includes his wife who is no Nancy Reagan.

If Rahm Emanuel, his original chief of staff, would have stayed instead of running for mayor of Chicago; things would have been different…Dick Chaney sold the Iraq debacle as positive!!!

Obama also failed to project leadership with the ISIS crisis brought on by an IRAQ crisis of leadership and of course the SYRIAN crisis and let’s not forget the Ukrainian/Russia crisis; all current issues that he failed to show his command of the situations. 

I am not saying that another president could have done better but an idiot like BUSH could have “sold” his positions on these issues better or had idiots like Dick Chaney do it for him.

MARK TOTTEN FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL: Schuette not endorsed by both newspapers for a very good reason...

Bill Schuette, Michigan’s current Attorney General is a Republican and is running hard against his Democratic opponent MARK TOTTEN.

It is very telling when neither Detroit newspaper backed Schuette for Attorney General; there are very good reasons for doing that.

The main reason is that Schuette files lawsuits based on his ideology and not what the state needs him to do. He is very conservative and a religious nut job and he feels he needs to act in accordance with his conservative principles and not what is good for the state of Michigan and its residents.

He filed suits opposing Obamacare which cost the state millions. He opposed gay marriage when Michiganians backed it. He interfered in the Detroit bankruptcy case and made things worse and filed lawsuits based on his religious conviction which he had no business doing.

In his ads he keeps touting the fact that he pushed for the examination of rape kits that were just collecting dust in evidence lockers but he says nothing about his opposition to rape victim’s rights to an abortion when a pregnancy resulted from the rape; what kind of sick thinking is that?

The man is not doing his job as defined by the role of State Attorney General and it is for this reason that both newspapers are endorsing his opponent MARK TOTTEN even though Totten is an unknown; anybody but Schuette.

Schuette’s ads are compelling and Totten does not have much money for his campaign and so it does not seem like Totten has a chance but hey, every vote counts and maybe the message will go out that Schuette is not a good candidate for Attorney General but alas, money is buying this election.

RICK SNYDER ENDORSED BY BOTH PAPERS: What does that tell you...

I am having trouble understanding why the race for governor of Michigan is so close.

Both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press endorsed Rick Snyder. That is pretty rare as the Free Press is a liberal paper and usually endorses Democrats and the Detroit News is a conservative paper and endorses Republican candidates. Obviously the brains at each paper concluded that Snyder is the best for Michigan and its residents.

Rick Snyder, in my opinion, has made the absolute right decisions to get Michigan back to economic health and is on target to keep Michigan moving forward.

Snyder also made the tough decision which was fraught with racial overtones, to put Detroit into bankruptcy and on the road to recovery.

The fact that Snyder is not a career politician but an accountant/businessman is such a huge plus since he makes decisions based on common sense and not on idiotic political ideology.

Not being a career politician he also does not owe allegiance to the people that put him in office like the Democrats owe to the unions.

Speaking of unions, the UAW was about to make themselves permanent fixtures in Michigan by changing our constitution to make unions a part of our constitution and therefore invincible against any attacks. Snyder countered that by making Michigan a right-to-work state which has already proved beneficial.

Mark Shauer is making a big deal about the tax on pensions which to me is what every other state does anyway and is nothing but a tax on income earned which we all pay. Shauer is trying to tell people with pensions that he will reverse the tax…bullshit; Shauer will not be able to balance the budget by eliminating taxes without finding new revenue.

The voters of Michigan who are not voting for Rick Snyder are just poking themselves in the eye and worst yet, also poking all of us in the eye by letting an inexperienced Democrat with allegiance to unions and with no clear plan how he can better an already great plan that Snyder has put into place.

IF ITS NOT BROKE, DON’T FIX IT and that is exactly where Snyder and Michigan now stand…why would people want to fuck up a good thing.

I have to blame the misinformation campaign on the unions who desperately need to get back their control of our state. I hope the people of Michigan are a little smarter than to allow this naked grab for power.

VOTE FOR RICK SNYDER…