America Is Ripe For Revolution

How could we have elected a dick like Trump? Answer: We didn't! How did Gorsuch get elected to the  Supreme Court? The Senate changed their rules.How did Garland never get a hearing when he was nominated as a Supreme Court Justice?Congress simply ignored Obama's submission.

Trump lamented about the poor babies  being massacred in Syria so he bombed the country, but not before he notified his friend Putin. What about the dying children in Somalia? Did you know there is an African crisis all over the continent? Sierra Leone babies' arms have been hacked off by teenage rebels, with deaths from the civil war now at 50,000. How about the millions of children right here in America that die daily because of no health care, starvation, or lack of community support?

Our military is supposed to protect us. Not attack other countries in turmoil, or civil war. We have never fired the first shot until now. Trump owns stock in Raytheon. Raytheon makes Tomahawk missiles.

My greatest fear is we'll NEVER get Trump out of office.He is guilty, among other things, of extreme nepotism, costing the good people of Palm Beach a fortune in his week-end activities at Mar-A-Logo needing constant protection,costing the taxpayers for every residence his extended family uses, and everywhere they go, and charging the government for its use of Mar-A-Lago in the form of tax deductions.The list of criminal, and unusual problems Trump has created are seemingly endless.

A friend of mine has a son that turned eighteen, and had to register with the Selective Service. That's really the "draft".Many of you are under the false assumption the "draft" is non-existent. Ah contraire,it never went away, it just morphed. There is a fast and furious storm to renew,obtain, and register for passports, especially with eighteen year old males.I am included in this rush for passports.I don't want to live here anymore.That's not the end of the problem.There are limited countries that are taking immigrants. Mexico is no longer an alternative for Americans.

Revolution is talked about everywhere. We haven't had one since 18th Century. People are stocking up on arms at an alarming rate. Revolution rallies are popping up all over the country.For me, it's time to leave until this Republican government of ours is overthrown.

AT&T Warning

I just dumped AT&T U-Verse, and not for the reasons you probably think. U-Verse is a great product. The problem is billing. Each month the bill is a surprise.Taxes,surcharges,whatever charges are a problem.

They have the fox watching the hen-house. I notified the FCC,but the person in charge is apparently associated with AT&T. You think you're complaining to an independent government watch-dog, but that's pure hocus-pocus.

Research them and you'll find AT&T is in many lawsuits approaching several billion dollars. Join one! Start your own. Or better still, don't wait for progress. Do like Uber did and make your own progress. In other words, invest with others and create a new way to access the air waves. I'm ready. Are you?

The Dozen Reasons Religion Is Dirty

Some of the most heinous atrocities of all time can be attributed to religious bigotry, and thinking as convoluted and destructive as a skinning babies alive.You want horror? Read the Bible (Old or New Testament).You want evil? Read the Koran.So here's a sampling of the worst of the worst.Technologies like the Medieval rack, the Atom Bomb, and Biological Warfare pare nicely with concepts promoting conflict, cruelty, suffering and death rather than love and peace.
1.Chosen people don't exist.It's an ugly idea beginning with Hebrews and morphing through all sects.Christians were the Chosen in the New Testament.Calvinists speak of "God's Elect". Jehovah’s witnesses believe that 144,000 souls will get a special place in the afterlife. In many cultures certain privileged and powerful bloodlines were thought to be descendants of the gods.Religious sects are divisive,primitive, and tribal.Religious truths promise an afterlife of blessings and privilege.Gangs do the same thing.
2.Heretics, kafir, or infidels (to use the medieval Catholic term) are not just outsiders, they are morally suspect and often seen as less than fully human. In the Torah, slaves taken from among outsiders don’t merit the same protections as Hebrew slaves. Those who don’t believe in a god are corrupt, doers of abominable deeds. “There is none [among them] who does good,” says the Psalmist.Islam teaches the concept of “dhimmitude” and provides special rules for the subjugation of religious minorities, with monotheists getting better treatment than polytheists. Christianity blurs together the concepts of unbeliever and evildoer. Ultimately, heretics are a threat that needs to be neutralized by conversion, conquest, isolation, domination, or—in worst cases—mass murder.
3.Holy War(the war most often fought)If war can be holy, anything goes. The medieval Roman Catholic Church conducted a twenty year campaign of extermination against heretical Cathar Christians in the south of France, promising their land and possessions to real Christians who signed on as crusaders. Sunni and Shia Muslims have slaughtered each other for centuries. The Hebrew scriptures recount battle after battle in which their war God, Yahweh, helps them to not only defeat but also exterminate the shepherding cultures that occupy their “Promised Land.” The holy wars of today, like the modern rise of ISIS, divine sanction let them kill the elderly and children, burn orchards, and take virgin females as sexual slaves—all while retaining a sense of moral superiority.
4.Blasphemy is the notion that some ideas are inviolable, off limits to criticism, satire, debate, or even question. By definition, criticism of these ideas is an outrage, and it is precisely this emotion of outrage that the crime of blasphemy evokes in believers. The Bible prescribes death for blasphemers; the Quran does not, but death-to-blasphemers became part of Shariah during medieval times.The idea that blasphemy must be prevented or avenged has caused millions of murders over the centuries and countless other horrors. Raif Badawi waited round after round of flogging in Saudi Arabia—1000 lashes in batches of 50—while his wife and children plead from Canada for the international community to do something.
5.Glorified suffering is a core premise of Christianity. It is righteous torture.If it’s intense and prolonged enough it can somehow fix the damage done by evil, and/or sinful behavior. Millions of crucifixes litter the world as testaments to this belief. Shia Muslims beat themselves with lashes and chains during Aashura, a form of sanctified suffering called Matam that commemorates the death of the martyr Hussein. Self-denial in the form of asceticism and fasting is a part of both Eastern and Western religions, not only because deprivation induces altered states, but also because people believe suffering somehow brings us closer to divinity.God is a nasty creature.Our ancestors lived in a world in which pain came from nowhere, and people had very little power to control it. An aspirin or heating pad would have been a miracle to the writers of the Bible, Quran, or Gita. Faced with uncontrollable suffering, the best advice religion could offer was to make meaning of it. The problem, of course is that glorifying suffering,or turning it into a spiritual good, made people more willing to inflict it on not only themselves and their enemies but also those who are helpless, including the ill or dying (as in the case of Mother Teresa and the American Bishops) and children (as in the child beating Patriarchy movement).
6.Genital mutilation has been used from the beginning. Scarification and other body modifications defines tribal membership as long as recorded history. Genital mutilation allowed our ancestors several additional perks. Judaism's, infant circumcision serves as a sign of tribal membership, but circumcision also serves to test the commitment of adult converts. In one Bible story, a chieftain agrees to convert and submit his clan to the procedure as a show of commitment to a peace treaty. While the men lie incapacitated, the whole town is then slain by the Israelis.
Islamic, painful male circumcision serves as a rite of passage into manhood, initiation into a powerful club. By contrast, in some Muslim cultures cutting away or burning the female clitoris and labia ritually establishes the submission of women by reducing sexual arousal. An estimated 2 million girls annually are subjected to the procedure, with consequences including hemorrhage, infection, painful urination and death.
7.Blood sacrifice still occurs in some Hindus,during the Festival of Gadhimai, and some Muslims,during Eid al Adha, Feast of the Sacrifice.The ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals on a mass scale can be found in Hindu scriptures including the Gita and Puranas actually forbid ritual killing, and most Hindus now eschew the practice based on the principle of ahimsa, but it persists as a residual of folk religion.Our ancient ancestors slit the throats on humans and animals or cut out their hearts. They burned the bodies or organs in order to send the smoke of sacrifices heavenward. They believed they were literally feeding supernatural beings. In time, in most religions, the rationale changed, and the gods didn’t need feeding so much as they needed signs of devotion and penance. The residual child sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible (yes it is there) typically has this function. Christianity’s persistent focus on blood atonement, and the notion of Jesus as the be-all-end-all lamb without blemish, the final “propitiation” for human sin,is hopefully the last iteration of humanity’s long fascination with blood sacrifice.Catholics still eat and drink the "blood and flesh" of Jesus symbolically.
8.Whether we are talking about Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, an afterlife filled with demons, monsters, and eternal torture was the worst suffering that Iron Age minds could conceive and medieval minds could elaborate. Invented, perhaps, as a means to satisfy the human desire for justice, the concept of Hell quickly devolved into a tool for coercing behavior and belief.
Most Buddhists see hell as a metaphor, a journey into the evil inside the self, but the descriptions of torturing monsters and levels of hell can be quite explicit. Muslims and Christians hasten to assure that it is a real place, full of fire and the anguish of non-believers. Some Christians have gone so far as to insist that the screams of the damned can be heard from the center of the Earth or that observing their anguish from afar will be one of the pleasures of paradise.How sick is that?
9.Like hell, the concept of Karma offers a selfish incentive for good behavior. Chief among these is a tremendous weight of cultural passivity in the face of harm and suffering. Secondarily, the idea of Karma can sanctify the broad human practice of blaming the victim. If what goes around comes around, then the disabled child or cancer patient or untouchable poor, hungry rabbit, or mangy dog, must have done something in this or a previous life to bring their position on themselves.
10.Eternal life is such a bad invention,that it diminishes and degrades existence on this earthly plane. With eyes lifted heavenward, we can’t see the intricate beauty beneath our feet. Devout believers put their spiritual energy into preparing for a world to come rather than cherishing and stewarding the one wild and precious world we have been given.We have created our own coffin on earth with climate change.
11.Male ownership of female fertility made women brood mares and children assets. This didn't originate with religion, but the idea that women were created for this purpose, and if a woman should die in childbearing, she was made to do it, most certainly did. Traditional religions variously asserts that men have a god-ordained right to give women in marriage, take them in war, exclude them from heaven, and kill them if the origins of their offspring can’t be assured. Hence Catholicism’s maniacal obsession with the virginity of Mary and female martyrs. Islam’s maniacal obsession with covering the female body began with this concept. Evangelical promise rings, and gender segregated sidewalks in Jerusalem and Orthodox Jewish women wearing wigs over shaved heads in New York, also comes from these beliefs.
As we approach the limits of our planetary life support system and stare dystopia in the face, defining women as breeders and children as assets becomes even more costly. We now know that resource scarcity is a conflict trigger and that demand for water and arable land is growing even as both resources decline. And yet, a pope who claims to care about the desperate poor lectures them against contraception while Muslim leaders ban vasectomies in a drive to out-breed their enemies.
12.Bibliolatry (aka Book Worship) – Preliterate people handed down their best guesses about gods and goodness by way of oral tradition. They made objects of stone and wood, idols, to channel their devotion. Their notions of what was good and what was Real and how to live in a moral community with each other were free to evolve as culture and technology changed. The advent of the written word changed that. As our Iron Age ancestors recorded and compiled their ideas into sacred texts, these texts allowed their understanding of gods and goodness to become static. The sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam forbid idol worship, but over time the texts themselves became idols, and many modern believers practice what is essentially,"book worship", known as "Bibliolatry".
“...Because the faith of Islam is perfect, it does not allow for any innovations to the religion.” This statement illustrates a lack of information about the origins and evolution of religious dogmas. It sums up the challenge all religions face moving forward. Imagine if a physicist said, “Because our understanding of physics is perfect, it does not allow for any innovations to the field.”
Adherents who think their faith is perfect, are not just naïve or ill informed. They are developmentally arrested, and in the case of the world’s major religions, they are anchored to the Iron Age, a time of violence, slavery, desperation and early death.
Ironically, the mindset that our sacred texts are perfect betrays the very quest that drove our ancestors to write those texts. Each of the men who wrote part of the Bible, Quran, or Gita took his received tradition, revised it, and offered his own best articulation of what is good and real. We can honor the quest of our spiritual ancestors, or we can honor their answers, but we cannot do both.
Religious apologists often try to deny, minimize, or explain away the sins of scripture and the evils of religious history. “It wasn’t really slavery.” “That’s just the Old Testament.” “He didn’t mean it that way.” “You have to understand how bad their enemies were.” “Those people who did harm in the name of God weren’t real [Christians/Jews/Muslims].” Such platitudes may offer comfort, but denying problems exist doesn’t solve them. Change comes with introspection and insight. The willingness to acknowledge our faults and flaws while still embracing our strengths and potential for growth is what enables us to evolve as a society.
We don’t need defenders of religion’s status quo.We need real reformation, as radical as that of the 16th Century and much, much broader. It is only by acknowledging religion’s worst ideas that we have any hope of embracing the best.

Why Trump Is An Awful Choice for President

     He speaks at a third grade level.Literally, as a third grader.Other presidents have low marks as well.During the 20th and 21st centuries, the average has been 9th to 12th grade comprehension.George H.W. Bush holds the record-low from a speech on January 28th of 1992, with a score of 7.2. It’s a good thing for presidents to use language most Americans can comprehend, but third grade? Trump would be running a country, not a game of Pokémon.
     Trump never explains how he's going to accomplish his grandiose visions.He wants to get rid of Obamacare, but what will he replace it with?He did release a “plan” on illegal immigration, if you want to call it that, consisting of just two words: mass deportation. Not the most brilliant thinker around.He cannot get elected without Latin,Asian,and Black votes.Nobody can do it with only white votes.Trump is definitely "white bread".
     He's an entertainer and real estate mogul, with no other experience.He'd be no better than anybody else until we fix Congress so Washington works again for the people.
     He's a media bully.Not necessarily a terrible thing unless you insult all women by using Megyn Kelly as your vehicle.I personally think she's a ding-bat,but Trump acted like a two-bit misogynistic Neanderthal thug. This isn’t the only time Trump has had it out with the media.Trump has belligerently accosted his interviewers, slammed their networks, claimed bias where there rightfully wasn’t any, and even sued Bill Maher in 2013 for $5 million, after Maher jokingly compared him to an orangutan(Trump withdrew the lawsuit). Do we really need a President who bullies and threatens the media when their dialog doesn’t suit his demands?
     Probably the most frightening thing about Trump is that he considers himself to be 100% correct about everything that crosses his mind, with no room for constructive debate. He lives in absolutes, where everything is exactly white or exactly black. Politics, meanwhile, is about as gray as gray can get. Progress only happens when some level of compromise is maintained. “Compromise” isn’t in his vocabulary, either metaphorically or, literally.
     He’s gone bankrupt four times.On four separate occasions, Donald Trump has intentionally gone bankrupt, later claiming that those bankruptcies weren’t failures on his part, but strategic business decisions to help him make more money. So at best, he’s lying and bad at business, but at worst, he’s intentionally manipulating the system for personal gain. Either way, what makes you think he knows how to handle an entire economy?
     He’s a terrible Christian.I genuinely couldn’t care any less what religion a person belongs, or not at all. I don’t think religion has any place in politics, and certainly must not play any important role in government or politics. America’s conservatives are obsessed with religion. These GOP candidates perpetually attempt to “out-Christian” each other. It’s quite common to hear conservatives rant about Obama not being “Christian enough” for their liking. Why, then, are they all clamoring to get Trump elected? Trump has been divorced twice and married three times, and recently made some controversial remarks about his Church visits. It’s probably difficult for Donald Trump to talk about God, though, at least when not speaking from a first-person perspective.
     If you still think Donald Trump would make a good President, do everyone in America a favor. Stay home on election day. You simply aren’t mature enough to be making these sorts of decisions.Just stay home and pray.

• edit
• reply
• 
  

Stop Forcing Your Religious Doctrine On The Rest Of Us

gypsie2009

new

Sunday, July 5, 2015 @ 9:05 am

We have been forced to accept religious viewpoints for hundreds of years. It's about time Humanists spoke up, and are speaking up, about their disdain for the use of Jesus or any god to prove their viewpoint. I'm hearing sour grapes, and the Mutt,A.K.A. Dr.Poopypants, is high on that list of bigots,racists, and uninformed Bible beaters.
"Unfortunately the gene that is responsible for being LGBT or Q seems to be linked to the "intolerance of religion"gene." Now that's just plain crazy!Why do you think it was so important for that aforementioned group(s)to have marriage legalized? Many of those people are very religious. Just not the religion the Mutt likes.
We have been forced to accept Christian doctrine as American doctrine far too long.Nazi's were Christians. Christians are violent.They wear a torture device around their neck!If they don't get their way they will kill you in the name of Jesus.That's what racists have done to our black brothers for years. The KKK is more active today,than its been since the sixties.White Supremacists are great Christians.Let me remind you that the tactics used by these vultures are the same as ISIS.Torture,killing,brainwashing,bullying anybody not like themselves,and the hatred of women.
With that said, I will defend the right of anybody to believe whatever they want as long as it does no harm.Nobody is telling a Christian to have sex with the same sex. You don't want to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding, then don't. Who cares? There are far more of us that accept than reject lifestyles we don't necessarily practice ourselves. Why is this such a problem for Christians? Why do they even care if you go to heaven or not?Many of us don't believe in heaven, hell,or god.What is such a problem for you?You don't want an abortion, then don't have one.You think the earth is five thousand years old...so what? You want to have babies out of your ears you can't afford, then I guess you get to watch them die before you.
Christians hate science, but here is a news flash. There is cause and effect at work here.You want to pray you get to eat today that's your choice.You wish to freeload off the taxpayer, get ready for a drastic life change.You decide to pray your child beats cancer without a doctor then get ready for a funeral.You think re-writing history is the answer, well it's not.Just don't get all bent out-of-shape when the rest of us point and laugh at you!

Coin Laundry Drama

Many of you know this recent story, but I must share. I'll cut to the chase.My washing machine broke and while waiting a month to finally get the correct machine ordered,I had to search out and try coin laundries.I found one that was air conditioned,off the beaten path,and seemed to have clean surroundings.It was in a nice section of Jacksonville. I'm at the folding of my clothes, when in walks a homeless woman with a packed grocery store basket of everything she owned.Important stuff like a radio to plug into a tree outlet,a deflated flotation duck,sleeping paraphernalia, and lots of dirty clothes. I noticed a gentleman patron helped her through the door, then continued his smoking outside. Men do that I've noticed while they wait for their clothes to get clean. They stay outside and listen to music in their air-conditioned car, or smoke, or eat. Anyway I looked up from folding clothes, and to my utter surprise the woman is bare butt naked, and stuffing the last of her clothes into a machine.I couldn't help notice her hedge.It looked like my old ligustrum shrub.The largest "hedge" I'd ever seen.It was a pubic nightmare with branches going up to her bellybutton and crawling down her legs.I thought, now just how involved do I want to get? I could call 911,but felt sorry for the woman that would be taken to jail.I looked up and smiled at the two cameras overhead.I thought about the men coming back to tend to their accouterments and what that scene might look like.Then I said aloud,"Nah...",retrieved my damp towels out of the useless dryers,added them with my dry clothes, and fled.One other word of caution when using coin laundries.Towels will NEVER get dry there. Just buy new ones.

Wicked Tired Of Non-Profits Begging For Money

Dear                                                                                        :

     You would get more money by being honest, not asking for donations by conspiring with exclusive religious affiliations, and actually helping others day in and day out each and every year.
     I take offense with your constant badgering in the name of a deity. I have chosen to give to those real charities that actually turn a profit, and pay appropriate taxes.
     Please stop all mail to me.

Regards,

Renee Soforenko
1111 Nicholson Road
Jacksonville,Florida 32207-8829