Revolution In The Air

This right wing web site said that in 2014 an economic disaster will overtake this country that will prove so horrendous it will be greater than Sandy Hook, Aurora, and 9-11 all rolled into one.  I don’t know for sure but I’ll tell you what there is a greater probability of.  And that is what we have assumed will never happen now- - a Revolution will break out in America either sparked by an adverse verdict in the Zimmerman case, or perhaps due to the Voting Rights Court Ruling.

Marsha Clark and Chris Darden would have thrown a fit if the defense in the OJ Case had presented a video tape of O J Simpson describing how he was NOT responsible for the murders of Nicole or Ron Goldman.  But in Sanford Florida at the Zimmerman trial you have all of this unsworn testimony freely being admitted into Evidence.

In the song El Paso there is a line that goes “My love for Thelina is stronger than my fear of Death.  At some point – the American people’s outrage against government abuses will be stronger than their fear of death.  With the vicious efficiency of governments now, I imagine there will be a horrendous slaughter of protestors, and then- who is to say?

Fifteen years ago virtually none of the factors were in opporation as far as my sister in law’s militancy for the Right Wing.  But back then nobody seemed to care.  Maybe they would mention Clinton’s activities in passing, but it wasn’t any big thing- - and at any rate- - politics wasn’t considered the primary role of fundamentalist Christianity.

President Obama has given up on most of the political agenda of his voting base – those most responsible for putting him into office.  But Barock Hussein Obama may perceive all of this differently.  One could invision his using a little Barbra Bush logic in saying of himself, “Actually I think it all worked out pretty good- - that is- - considering I’m a Black Man”

Edward Snowden protested against that which was strictly legal.  Jesus Christ went into the Temple to throw out the money changers, but not one time in scripture does it say that there was anything dishonest or underhanded about what the money changers were doing.

You could not sacrifice an animal in the Temple that didn’t have the official kosher tag on it.  But Neil would deny an alcoholic the right to “Believe in God as he or she understands God” because- - let’s face it- - Neil Savedra would like to put one of these kosher tags on God, too.

The Author of the Population Bomb made a bet in 1980 that a whole host of metal commodities would be much higher in price in ten years than they were in 1980.  He was wrong on virtually every count.  One could argue that possibly (or maybe not) it’s just that the guy’s knowledge of markets and economics wasn’t up to whatever sociological skills he claimed to have.

In the council at Nicia in the fourth century, the Church Fathers opted for “parity of the Gods” in the Trinitarian formula.  (the joker speaks)  “Oh, you mean, kind of like the potty parody that feminists are fighting for in our time!   (response) Wow I didn’t see that one coming.

Jesus said that your worst enemies would be the members of your own family and it would be relative against relative – three against two.  You with the lobotomy scars- - you say you know what this means.   RP Mac Murphy, “Well, I guess it would mean that a Full House will always beat three of a kind”

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Our friend Neil Savedra says “He who looks hard and earnestly enough for the Answers of Life will find them.  Well, the Truth of that remark is dubious - - and I advise Neil not to get too hopeful about his being pleased- - even if in some sense this statement proved to be True.

We who do not believe are accused of such sins as “Rebellion against God” and ‘Denial of the Truth”.   Yeah, Denial is one of those barbed words.  Tell me is it any less of a crime for you to deny my truth that I talk to Mal Evan or Stu Sutcliffe, than it is for Me to deny your god or gods.  After all there is basically no physical evidence of either.

An angel told those on looker seeing the ascension of Jesus into the clouds “Why do you gaze up into space?  You will see this Jesus return just as he went up”.    Let me ask you- is there any possibility this scripture could be True?  I’ll give you a big hint if you’re having a problem with it.  Are any of those people seeing that sight still physically alive?  I rest my case.

It was 35 years ago when Chuck Smith announced that in Israel they were completing plans to rebuild the Temple of Herod “any day now”.  How’s that one worked out so far?

The Battle Aginst the Poor Continues

It was a warm and sunny (and dry) Easter week in 1968 when I was recording stuff off the radio and there was a news blerb of Martin Luther King's funeral where Coretta Scott King begins a speech with "The struggle for the Poor will Go On".   Well "The system" as Black people aptly refer to government in general, is at war with the Poor almost as a generic class.  You know it used to be that Conservatives tempered their words such as Ronald Reagan saying "I believe in helping the Truly Needy" and of course we all know about President Bush's "Compassionate consertavism".  But there is nothing the least bit compassionate about today's conservatism, it is thoughtless, malicious and vengeful.   You know people are talking about this war on Labor Unions.  I'll remind you what Barry Goldwater said in his book "The Conscience of a Conservative"  He said of Labor Unions 'Just because people SHOULD join doesn't mean they should be Compelled to join them".  He spoke of this in the context of giving to charities in general where it's something people Should do- - but it would be incorrect to Compel them to.  So what did Goldwater mean by this.  Why did he say a person "Should" join a labor union?  Because Labor Unions are responsible for keeping the overall wage market higher from what it would otherwise be.  People who do not join labor unions are profiting from the labor of another.  As such Larry Elder is way to the political right of Barry Goldwater.  He's the guy who stated that the way to keep these restless young huligans in line is to get them a job that pays three dollars an hour so that "They will have respect for the value of a dollar".  But Larry Elder commits a major logical error.  He errs in that he says "Market forces on their own will cause the wage floor to rise way above minimum wage if we just get the government out of the way to unleash the economy" and all of that.  But there is what I call the "vaccination factor".  Just as it would be a mistake to stop vaccinating for a certain serious disease because incidences of that disease have been reduced 95% or something in the past few decades.  Because clearly the incidences of that disease are reduced BECAUSE we ARE vaccinating for it.  You can clearly see how this chain of logic would extend to the voting rights law.  I would remind you that Henry Ford paid his workers what some would call the obscenely high ammount of five dollars a day, "So that they would be able to afford the cars that they were producing".  Henry Ford was a wise man indeed.  But today we are informed that ANY rise in workers wages has to be a bad thing.  Back then in 1907 or whatever people were calling such high wages "A crime against the economy itself".   I would remind you that Ford paid those high wages, in the true spirit of Barry Goldwater, not because he HAD to, but because he CHOSE to.  (Selah)

The biggest news of the day apparently is that congress has failed to act on student loans, whose interest rate will double from 3.4% to 6.8% - which is double the market- - just to inform all you Adam Smith fans.  I have absolutely no idea how they can justify such high rates.  The average college student works his ass off for four years hoping to better himself only to be saddled at the end of it all with an average debt of $35,000 - and no job.  Randy Rhodes spoke of something else I tried to alude to in a recent posting but she did a much more conceise job of explaining it.  She said that "Back when I started broadcasting people listened to you if you had Credibility and knew what you were talking about.  And if you didn't know what you were talking about and all your words were based on vitrial and anger devoid of facts, people would tune you out.  This is what I was trying to say is that certain people "You just stop listening to after a while' for the sake of your own sanity.   And the primary reason isn't "Well- - are you saying you're Better than me?"   No.  It's because you're an Idiot who doesn't know anything and I don't want your idiotic notions floating around clouding my mind".   People who use this "Do you think you're better than me (spoken often while you're sitting down and the other stands over you invading your "personal space" if you know what I mean)" but people who do this are changing the issue as if you will "aching for a fight".  Now we hear that North Carolina is cutting both the duration of unemployment benefits- and also the ammount to a level nobody could possibly live on.  You will remember that Newt Gingrich said that "The cure to the unemployment problem is to cut unemployment off and these lazy people will get off their butts and find work".  Of course we know this was not Newt's motive in saying this at all.  He knows that the more unemployed people there are actively working for work, this will drive up National unemployment figures so that they will be higher and he can say "you see- - President Obama's economic policies have failed".  But as Randy Rhodes points out (not that it wasn't abondantly obvious before) that cutting someone OFF of unemployment will do absolutely nothing to Create Job Oppertunities.  People seem to miss this point.  All it will do is increase cut throat competetion and drive down workers wages.  But it has another undesirable side effect for Business itself in that it will encourage a worker to quit the moment he can find a job that isn't paying starvation wages  Even the lowliest worker, after all, has to have hope.  (Just like the Simpson's episode last night)  So basically what you have is a constant turnover of workers so that any money a Business invests in training these employees is lost, and you have to start over.  But a more insidious principle is at work here just like with Health Care.  That is these tea party red states will cut off funding for people- - even if it means they Lose their Matching Federal Aid.  They call this "principle" and all, almost as if they were head of some small sovreign kingdom or something.  In other words they are so bent in doing injury to the workers- - they will gladly forfeit Matching Federal Funds to accomplish this.  (Selah)

Judy has this saying that "She understands what President Obama is like because he won't except blame for his own failures after Four Years in the office as President.  This is a symptum of some mental rationalization illness or something.  Knowing Judy she probably accused ME of the same thing in the next sentense, but I'm not certain.  Well- - look at the Church and "good people' through the ages blaming the Fall of Rome on moral decadence.  Because the Empire was Christian by the Emperor's own edict since 324 AD or something like that.  And the Empire didn't call till 412 or something.  That's a hundred long years to "fix' the problem if you thought there WAS one, and it didn't get fixed.  Part of the problem - - and my complaint about Pastor Mark has always been this - - "To solve problems you must keep the comunacation lines open".  That means the Republicans need to work with the President to pass bills like the gun bill and these numerous jobs bills, and now the immigration bill.  It takes two to tango after all.  And some at the Republican Convention quoted Clinton as saying "Just give us two years- - and if the economy isn't humming along the way it should be after that- - then you can vote these people out of office".  Well- - we didn't HAVE those two years.  The Republicans have been the defacto DESPOTS who have called all the shots in America since 2010.  To put it another way you have one half of one of the three Branches of Government calling all of the shots- - in kind of a tail wag the dog or something.  It's the Right Wingers won't "man up" and take responsability.  Samantha Brady was more of a "Man" on today's soap episode than George Zimmerman will ever be.  She answered every question firmly, forthrightly and Truthfully.  She gave a complete and conceise picture of exactly what went on in that hospital room.  George Zimmerman by contrast changes his story every other day- - and probably won't have to testify at all. One thing that got me physically mad was when some news show said "Zimmerman doesn't have to testify because the Defense attorney has already placed all of the key words on the record like saying that Trayvon Martin sucker punched Zimmerman and was the agressor and had this stealth deception to- use the conversation with the girlfriend as kind of a cleaver ruse".  And Zimmerman never has to swear to anything under Oath or to be cross-examined about it.

There are just plain old fashioned Bad Character traits in right wingers.  Gene Scott once said when some creditor accused him of "Bad Faith" said "Well, you know- - at least Bad Faith is better than no Faith at all".  I'd like to see him try and use that one in court.  My advocacy of Atheism is really an appeal to a basic notion of Fairness that Religion can't equal.  And I'll give you an example.  When King David wanted a drink from a certain fountain in enemy territory- - because that water was of high quality - - one of his men at great peril to himself sought to get it for him.  David poured the water on the ground.  What Onan did with his seed, David did with a scarce resource.  But I maintain it wasn't David's call to placate some God of his own imagination and turn to this God he himself invented and say "Look at my piety.  Just look at what I did for you?"  Where does that leave the guy who actually took the risk?  How would one expect him to feel?  People won't own up to their flaws.  For instance on the soap opera there are two people who after they have "Apologised" to you- - you feel like you've "been slimed" and need to go off and take a long shower.  The word contriteness is not in their vocabulary but they hurl ten indictments against you- - and engage in the most massive blame shifting campaign you ever saw. I am speaking of Christian Di Mira and Jack Deverous Jr.  Each offence, no matter how bad- - is eclipsed by the next one- - and you're left breathless even trying to keep track of them after a while.  People don't own up to things.  For instance Pete Richards will sometimes stop mentioning a topic so much he used to mention all the time.  And when it comes up in conversation he will turn on you saying 'Oh I never believed THAT.  Or worse yet, "If you thought I believed THAT then you are really Stupid".  What you would like to hear from them is "I misled you and crammed something down your throat repeatedly I knew wasn't true".  Take Paul Ryan and his love of Ayan Rand's writings.  As you know her hero role model is a psychopathic murderer.  And Ryan would insist that employees of his read her.  Now Ryan says "Oh, I was always a Christian".  The tea party people love to hide behind "God".  Often- - and Pete Richards used to do this.  He will say "Oh- I didn't do that to you- - it was just God teaching you some lesson".  They also love to use the scripture in Samuel about "The people haven't rejected YOU as King- - they have rejected Me".  So this gives license to every preacher to as it were "Sit in the seat of God", which is something Jehovah accused Satan of doing, which is why he was thrown out of Heaven.  You see when it comes to the Bible I can quote rings around them.  So then they'll attack me on psychological grounds.  Well, I could like to now attack THEM on psychological ground.  Because the whole Identies of these people is "God".  So they will tell you that the parable of the Tallents Jesus Christ gave his desciples- - is really about cut throat Capitalism, which is why Mitt Romney should be elected President.  There are times when I suspect "If these people weren't hiding behind "God" they'd be unable to look themselves in the mirror each morning.  All these people I mention from "The other side" if I dropped all of that instantly and never took it up again- - my moral and intellectual justification wouldn't change a quarter turn.  But for these people, if they had to give up "God" their whole Identities would be Gone.  I wanted to get back to keeping communacation lines open.  You see- - these people teach- - - they teach that one should never be "unequally yoked" with a spouse- - even if that spouse IS a Christian but "hasn't advanced as far spiritually as you have".  One time I heard Pete Richards actually use this line as a rationalization for the divorce of his first wife.  But there is a price to be paid down the line for this practice and we as a nation are paying it.  The red states are getting redder and the blue states are getting bluer.  So then there IS no "meeting someone- - who changes your whole view on things" because in the words of you know who "People don't change".  So it is no surprise that the words of Jesus are coming true that "Your own children are twice the children of Beelzibub than you yourselves are".  Because at least the initial convert has some notion in the back of his mind - - - at some time he knew what "Reality" and "The World' really was.  But their children and grand children have no clue.  This is why Mitt Romney was only a shadow of the man his father was, and his own children will probably grow up to be even shallower and more bereft of virtue and character than He was.  (Selah)

Yet many will say "OK the tea party really screws up Bible verses but the bottom line is that you should be a capitalist devoid of all governmental involvement- - because it Works.  Many state that mankind is evil and therefore needs some overlord to "show them the right way".  This is an anti democratic line of thought.  When "Eve of Destruction" came out in the spring of 1965 I wasn't crazy about the lyrics.  I had major questions about it.  The overall theme of the song I got "OK, war is bad.  We know that.  There is still racial hatred.  I know that too. We could blow ourselves off the face of the planet with an H bomb explosion.  I know that, too.  But when Berry Mc Guire became a Christian it said to me "This guy has given up on human nature and taken refuge in something else- - which will do nothing to solve any of the problems he enumerate in the song".   One thing that gets a Christian ticked off- - and Pastor Mark has said this.  It's someone coming up and saying to him that "When I tried Christianity and it just didn't work out for me".  Depending on the guy's life story- - this may have been incredibly sugar coating the problems he was facing that apparently Christianity wouldn't help him out with.  Gene Scott "It's invalid to dare to claim of Christianity "It doesn't work" because "Religion isn't supposed to WORK.  That's not how you judge it".   Pastor Halliday said to me "God is not a Utilitarian".  I'm not certain of the context of this remark but it probably had something to do with things I was seeing and hearing that were just pragmatically stupid and unwise- in a completely worldly sense.  And Gene again says stuff like "God likes to take his time doing things".  Well, the Roman Empire had a full century under "a benevelant Christian dictatorship", which is what Gene Scott has called himself.  Seemingly that wasn't enough time for God to act.  Gene Scott has said that "Turn the other cheek" doesn't work.  We know that "Prayer till you're blue in the face" doesn't work.  You can't "wear God down".  Just a few days ago I encountered a stubborn person who finally got around to seeing things my way.  My first thought strangely was "Well- - even THEY will change- - but God won't".   Even the computer in War Games was said to "learn something".  What does God learn?  Or put another way "Why is it necessary for God NOT to answer a prayer when it's prayed- and therefore the freshest and most relevent?  Why does god need "Time" at all, if he knows everything.  People say that democracy can't work in the long run because mankind is inherently depraved, and therefore God becomes Necessary.  But Thom Hartman points out that democracy is practiced even in the animal kingdom.  For instance in flocks of fishes, or flocks or birds, or herds of cattle- - there are indicators that they "vote" with their body language and when a majority come to a single concencus, then they head off in that direction.  And just to use a little Judy logic about 'Is this a person you can trust?  Is this a person you'd want to hire?" we know that a broken clock is right twice a day- - which means that clock actually has the exact Correct time fourteen times in one week.  But they say "But FOX news is Never right".  (Think about that)  I guess I'm asking myself- - if God is continually "overwhelmed by circumstances" so that there is this massive backlog of unanswered prayers, then how can a God like this which is 'Not a Utilitarian" and so doesn't rely on "What works", which apparently isn't important to Him, then what about Evolution.  You see Evolution - - regardless of what you believe about it- - Works.  We're here, aren't we?  Reasonably intact.  Would you trust such a delicate process of genes and chromosones to a god who apparently "gets lost walking from Olvera Street to China Town"?  Because- - I have found that my failures with Christianity are actually BELOW the odds of chance.  Which means I'd have fared better with pure Chance.  So again- - if we see such "good work" done with Evolution- - how come we don't see it from God in other areas?