Kiss My-- Left Behind

The Seven Republican Dwarves

2012-01-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

The South Carolina Republican debate was like a movie of the Seven Dwarves: two moral dwarves, two mental dwarves, and three insane dwarves--making, in all, four.

Tim Tebow, Football player and believer

2012-01-20T07:17:00.000-08:00

One of my friends who attends a local evangelical baptist church said that the church members gathered to watch Tim Tebow's latest game. They were shattered by his loss, which apparently caused a bit of religious doubt among them.

Of course we all know why Tebow lost.

God probably caught him masturbating ... again. Or maybe he was just dancing with himself... hard to tell while looking down from Heaven.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1024017-tim-tebow-without-a-girlfriend-sexless-and-tearless

2011-06-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

Ray Comfort is a popular evangelical author who spends a great deal of time attacking atheists and members of other religions.

Here is how, Ray says, you can know you've got the right god.

-you have guilt.
-the ten commandments says stuff.
-the conscience produces guilt about not following the ten commandments.
-this guilt is a product of our impending judgment.
-It's true whether your believe it or not.
-the Bible says Jesus suffered to take away your sins and guilt.
-The Bible promises you won't feel guilty anymore if you repent and trust Jesus.
-Then, we won't feel guilty for anything - lust, adultery, etc.
-No other religion can wipe away the guilt you feel for doing bad stuff.
-all those false religions still have sacrifices through prayer, doing good works, etc.
-Not Christianity! Once we trust Jesus and repent, we're literally not guilty anymore of doing bad things.
-This is so simple a child could understand it. "Obey the gospel, and guilt is replaced by absolute assurance of everlasting life"

Frankly, I find all of this a little sad. So fear of punishment is the primary motive for becoming a Christian? Feeling guilt and the promise that you won't feel guilt if you are "saved" (actually, this is a lie because Christians feel a tremendous amount of guilt all the time) are signs?

God and the Joplin Tornado-- F 5

2011-06-09T05:57:00.000-07:00

We were driving east along Highway 44, near Joplin, Missouri, a week after the F5 tornado tore through the south side of the city, cutting a mile wide swath through houses and businesses. The tornado destroyed several schools, churches, apartment buildings, and basically gutted St. Johns Hospital.

As we drove along highway 44, my wife noticed that almost every exit had a porn shop, or sometimes two. She said, "Why would God destroy a hospital and leave behind all these porn shops?"

I explained, "God has no problem with porn shops. But hospitals actively defy his will. God makes people sick, but hospitals make them well--thus defeating God's plan for this individual. It only makes sense that he destroy hospitals. Similarly, schools teach about science, and these ideas tend to weaken the faith of the masses (I almost said "ignorant masses" but that seems redundant in this case). Similarly, churchs preach about salvation, and God is all about punishment-- after all He did create Original Sin."

Update: I later found out that God also destroyed Christie's Toy Box, which is just north of the IHOP on Rangeline in Joplin. I guess God loves pancakes and hates sex toys. By the way, I'm also trying to imagine the facial expression of the guy, living just east of Joplin, who finds a pink rubber dildo embedded in the crotch of their elm tree after the storm.

What the Right-Wingers Really Want

2011-06-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

In an interview on MSNBC yesterday, an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal (now that it's owned by Rupert Murdoch, it should change its name to the Wall Street Urinal) declared that the federal government should have let GM collapse and be broken up. He did not see the bailout as benefiting anyone except the unions.

Frankly, this sort of honesty is unusual. He and his cronies at The Urinal were more concerned with trying to destroy the unions than with saving the many of thousands of jobs that would be lost if GM had gone under.

Their agenda is to destroy the American middle class, and undermining the unions is a high priority in achieving this goal.

Warren Jeffs - a polygamist's latest manifesto

2011-06-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

The library has just received a new 163 page manifesto from imprisoned church leader Warren Jeffs. The manifesto entitled "Continued Warnings of Son Ahman to the Leaders of the Nations of the Earth" lists off the countries of the earth (from the United States to Bosnia--apparently ignoring alphabetical order) and describes the supernatural horrors that will fall upon them for failing to heed the inspired message of -- guess who -- Warren Jeffs. You can buy this insane tract for $6 from the FLDS.org website, but why bother.

Sarah Palin in 2012 ?

2009-03-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

There is talk that Sarah Palin is planning a run for the Presidency in 2012.

Amazing!

After barely surviving 8 years of arrogance and stupidity, why would we put a George Bush wannabee in the White House ?

enter "The Bankrupt State"

2008-09-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

There is a little known plan created by the Neo-conservative think tanks called "The Bankrupt State." The plan is to get control of the government, with a Republican President and Congress, and then spend the federal government into bankruptcy. It doesn't matter what they spend the money on--though of course they want to channel as much of the money as thay can into the pockets of their political supporters--it only matters that they essentially bankrupt the government by creating an enormous national debt. This plan was carried out under Reagan, Bush, & Bush II.

The point of this plan is to so hobble the federal government with debt that it will have to focus on essential functions of government. Other needs, like the environment, social services, oversight of corporations, social justice will not be funded. The big corporations--who support the Republicans--are especially concerned to stop investigations of corportate corruption. Recently it was disclosed that the Justice Dept. is actively investigating only 10% of major corporate crimes. Of that 10% only a tiny fraction will ever go to trial.

The administration of George W. Bush has pursued this plan with a vengence. This is the primary reason we went to war with Iraq. The quickest way to spend money is on a war. The Bush administration has squandered many billions in Iraq and much of this money went into the pockets of Defense contractors and Bush's (and especially Chaney's) political friends. It is in the best interests of Bush's friends to prolong the war in Iraq for as long as possible, in order to squeeze every last nickel out of the war contracts. So don't look for an end to the war anytime soon. If the Democrats do get control of the House or Senate, look for Bush to block any investigation of war profiteering in the name of "national security."

Stephen King

2008-09-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, apparently Stephen King has won the National Book Award. This has happened because, even though King is (at best) a third-rate author, he has the support of several publishing houses who want to curry favor with him.

I guess the answer is:

Yes, Virginia, you can put lipstick on a pig.

William Stafford, 1914-1993

2008-06-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

William Stafford, 1914-1993

Here's another reason why the National Book Award can't be taken seriously. Stafford got the National Book Award for Poetry back in 1963. How anyone can take his uninspired blathering seriously is, well, hard to comprehend.

The National Book Award is always given to mediocrities who are perceived by their peers (the selection committee) as non-threatening.

Men of God ?

2008-06-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Dallas police described a 56-year-old substitute teacher as incapacitated when they arrested him at a Richardson Independent School District middle school.

According to the police report, Thomas Brownlee had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and alcohol on his breath. In fact, the report stated that Brownlee was "a danger to himself and others."

The substitute teacher was arrested for being drunk in the classroom. Evidently he was sooooo... drunk that the police didn't give him a sobriety test for fear he would fall and hurt himself. The teacher was a minister.

A reporter asked Rev. Brownlee about his car's vanity license plate, "IMBLZT" -- is that supposed to mean "I'm blitzed" (drunk)? No, Brownlee said--he's also a minister, he explained, and to him it means "I'm blessed."
--Dallas Morning News)

Christianity, or any religion for that matter, is not what people think and do. It is the product of an idealized notion of how the universe works. We can talk all we want to about Liturgies, Prayers, Devotions, and Charities, but these are just the end product of a concept. People are devoted to their religions—each one has a specific set of beliefs—and they are willing to make major sacrifices and devote all their personal resources to supporting this concept. And they do this even when the leaders of the church turn out to be abusive thugs, thieves and even child-molesters. For The Religious, the real world is a separate category kept in a seperate mental box, and their life experiences do not connect with The Belief, which is often maintained and upheld in spite of the evidence.

For example, on a daily basis ministers are found to stealing church funds, seducing sons and daughters, manipulating elderly members into giving their life savings to the church, etc, etc, etc. But rarely are these criminals caught and punished by the church. Often it is the intervention of others—meaning non-believers or believers in some other church—who investigate and prosecute criminal acts. I know of several cases where a local minister was caught stealing from the church. In some cases the church asks for the money to be returned, but the thief is never prosecuted—mainly because that would reflect badly on the idealized notion of Christianity. Most church members are willing to “forgive and forget” rather than create a public scandal. The usual excuse is that they do not want to create a “stumbling block” for new recruits—those who are still “weak” in their belief and commitment to the faith. Most congregations are willing to take the long view: that it is better to suck in a batch of new recruits (and their money) rather than punish wrongdoing in the church and risk losing membership. Some churches will put up with ministers who exhibit truly bizarre behavior: drug addiction, addiction to pornography, alcoholism. The Catholic Church protected child molestors for decades, and they even defended them from criminal investigations. And these “men of God” are to be admired and respected?

The Simple Faith of Dogs

2008-06-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

A new book recently came across my desk, called _Dogspell: The Gospel According to Dog_.

At first I thought maybe _Dogspell_ was a new version of the musical _Godspell_, but using barking dogs-- kind of like the Christmas music cds put out by “Jingle Dogs” or the even more annoying “Jingle Cats” music cds, where a group of cats meow out Christmas classics like “Here Comes Santa Claws” or “Meowy Christmas.”

As it turns out _Dogspell_ is a book that wants to guide Christians to a better understanding their relationship with God. According to the publisher, the author “Uses [the] metaphor of dog’s unconditional devotion to its human and the joy it finds in [this] relationship….”

This idea is disturbing in so many ways:

Can this be the spiritual goal of most Christians-- to view the universe on all-fours while sniffing the crotch of God? And think of all the theological questions it raises. Is it appropriate to hump God’s leg only on Sundays? Or Saturdays? Or should this be a daily ritual?

And then there is the question of Evil. How can we address the fact that I have fleas? Why doesn’t God do something about this? Get me a flea-collar! Buy some flea powder! Please, God, do something to clean up all these horrible problems in the world.

I love my neighbor. So can I ask God to send the Mobile Spaying Unit to my neighbor’s house and “fix” them all? (Just my idea for cleaning up the local gene pool.)

What if it turns out that my God is violent and brutal, and he beats the hell out of me with a 2x4 and sells me out to dogfights, like Michael Vick? Am I still expected to lick his hand?

Why is it that people look up to the sky, searching for some invisible master, and abase themselves like dumb animals?

What is it about this idea that makes me want to lie down and lick my own ass, just to get the taste of this out of my mouth? Oops, I can’t reach. A little help here!

The fact is that The Religious never cease to amaze. Sometimes their weird ideas are pretty funny. Other times their violence and senseless bigotry are downright shocking. From female circumcision to bombing abortion clinics, these people are seriously disturbed. Maybe they are trying to work out their own serious emotional problems; both a lack of love at an early age and their overwhelming feelings of worthlessness lead them to accept crazy ideas. And these ideas are truly crazy. Not eating fish on Friday. Not using birth control. Praying with candles and statues, and wishing for miracles. Then they accept whatever crazy shit the preacher tells them, and reject the evidence of their own eyes.

I know of a Baptist preacher in our town (pop. 18,000) who has a congregation of only 25 people. Every Sunday (and Wednesday and Friday) he subjects them to 3-4 hours of yelling and personal abuse (I am *not* exagerating). Why do they put up with this jerk! And worse yet, a few months ago he emptied the church bank account and left town. And some church members still want him to come back! How sick is that?

People can be convinced to believe almost anything. The enormous growth of the Mormon Church in the last century proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that people can be made to believe almost anything, no matter how goofy it is. The Church of Scientology is equally crazy. And all these religions are, almost without exception, violent and cruel to non-believers. So why do people still fall into the trap of religious belief?

And the National Book Award goes to...

2008-05-27T06:55:00.001-07:00

Here is another case in point on the growing Stupification of the American reading public. Richard Power's The Echo Maker received the National Book Award, one of the country's most prestigious writing awards. Unfortunately, this novel is little more than mediocre shlock. On the other hand, it does have angels-- which seems to be the growing trend in fiction today.

Stinko!!

2008-04-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended a performance of a Beethoven symphony. I arrived at the auditorium and sat in a seat near the front. Just as the performance began, two old trolls walked in and sat in the seats directly in front of me. In a few minutes the scent of hairspray wafted over me and I could feel an allergic reaction in my nose and throat. As soon as I could, I moved further down the row.

Not good enough. The smell was still overwhelming. How much hairspray do you have to put on for crying out loud!

I then moved to the far side of the room.

Why do people feel they have the right to douse themselves with perfume, cologne, hairspray and other loud scents and then go into a public place? Don't they know that many people have strong reactions to that crap?

Christian Bookstores-- a contradiction

2008-04-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

The current issue of Christianity Today (April 2008) has an article "How to Save the Christian Bookstore" which suggests that Christians make bookstores more friendly and less obviously religious. Some bookstores (mainly the independently-owned stores, which are in decline) might be able to pull this off. If the focus is truly on using the bookstore as a forum forum for recruiting and indoctrination, this might happen.

But in reality Christian bookstores are primarily in it to make a buck.

I often visit the mall in Joplin, Missouri, which includes a religious bookstore. I've often beem surprised by the staff of the bookstore. Invariably they are very tightly-wound creepy characters, exactly the kind of people you see on The X-Files as running cults in rural towns and practicing cannibalism, child molesting, and other such rituals.

From the expressions on their faces and the twisted body-language it is clear that they are very, very unhappy people who have been trapped in dead-end jobs. Since the owners of the Christian bookstore are probably Christians, we can also be fairly sure that these people are working for minimum wage with no benefits ("they can always rely on God for help") and no hope to escape their taskmasters.

How could you make this place "friendly" when the workers are so miserable and unhappy?

Which is the real John Newton ?

2008-04-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

This is from the description of the book: The Trader, the Owner, the Slave: Parallel Lives in the Age of Slavery--

"There has been nothing like the Atlantic slave trade. Its scope and the ways in which it has shaped the modern world are so far-reaching as to make it almost ungraspable. By examining the lives of three individuals caught up in the enterprise of human enslavement — a trader, an owner and a slave — James Walvin offers a new and an original interpretation of the barbaric world of slavery and of its historic end in April 1807.

"John Newton (1725-1807), best-known as the writer of “Amazing Grace,” was a slave captain who marshalled his human cargoes with a brutality that he looked back on with shame and contrition. Thomas Thistlewood (1721-1786), lived his life in a remote corner of western Jamaica, and his unique diary provides some of the most revealing images of a slave-owner’s life in the most valuable of all British slave colonies. Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), was practically unknown thirty years ago, but is now an iconic figure in black history and his experience as a slave speaks out for the lives of millions who went unrecorded.

"All three men were contemporaries; they even came close to each other at different points of the Atlantic compass. But what held them together, in its destructive gravitational pull, was the Atlantic slave system."

So who is the real John Newton? The vicious slave trader of the pious author of Amazing grace? Can they really be the same man? And, if so, how does one become the other, given that the intrinsic personality is very likely the same?

Pandering to the Religious

2008-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

When you work at a university in the Bible Belt, this is the kind of stuff you have to deal with. The university plays the host for this show:

“AFTERdark,” an evening of music, motivation, and evangelism geared toward college students, will begin at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1, in the Weede Physical Education Building. The event will include music from country group Blue County, and will feature national guest speaker and author Joe White.

"White, who lives in Branson, Mo., tours the country with “AFTERdark,” speaking to millions of people about Christianity. He has founded 19 schools and an orphanage in Haiti, and is the founder of Kanakuk Kamps, which has hosted more than 20,000 campers from all over the world.

"The free event is open to the public and is being sponsored by PSU’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Cross Quest, and Campus Christians."

A bulk email was sent out to all faculty, and it suggested that faculty could give out "extra credit" to students for attending this religious service. Several days later, and probably because of complaints, the university sent out another email. This email stated that faculty at a state university should probably not be giving extra credit for attending an evagelical Christian religious service.

Duuuuh!

Of course, by the time the second email went out, all the Religious faculty had probably already promised to give extra credit. So the contrary email sent out several days later probably had litte effect. The damage was already done.

After the event, the local newspaper reported that over 1,000 people attended. These 1,000 attendees were, no doubt, students and local ministers and their congregations who had supported and promoted the event. This kind of event, held on a university campus, gives local ministers a chance to prey on young people, usually when they are away from home and at their most vulnerable. This is why religious cults always hang around colleges and universities. It's a good place to find new cult members. One of the very earliest groups to be labelled a "cult" was based on a college campus in Boston.

Who Murdered Socrates?

2008-03-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Rise of the Mediocracy as a Social Theory

"No reports are more readily believed
than those which disparage genius,
and soothe the envy of conscious
mediocrity." -- Macaulay (1837)

There is probably no social force more completely overlooked and ignored that the role of mediocrities in shaping human history. From the collapse of the Greek city-states to the collapse of the Soviet Empire, no particular human failing has played a greater role in our history than the mediocrity of the popular opinion makers--"the media elite" and their envy of the accomplished, the able, and the achiever. They not only engage in character assassination, but sometimes go for the real thing.
From the assassination of Julius Caesar to those of Trotsky and Malcolm X, from the forced "suicide" of Socrates to that of Rommel.

In a very real sense, human history is the record of leaders who build empires, only to be destroyed by the envy of their followers, and the resulting decay and collapse as the mediocrities fight among themselves for control of the empire. In a very real sense, human history is largely the record of lions being brought down by jackals, and the resulting disaster as the jackals fight among themselves for the scraps of power and pieces of empire.

This idea will go towards explaining how, after taking the nomination, Barak Obama will be mercilessly ripped apart by Joe Scarborough, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter,.....

Jumper -- the movie

2008-02-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

I went to see the new film, Jumper, a hight-tech sci-fi wonder with tons of special effects and (the usual) poor writing that we have all come to expect from Hollywood. I am amazed that Hollywood studios are willing to invest tens of millions to make a film, but aren't willing to shell out a few grand extra to get good writers.

Every writer I talk to wants to go to Hollywood and write for films. There should be hundreds, if not thousands, of good writers who would like to do a screenplay. Then why is it that we get this horrid, crappy plots and lousy dialog... over and over and over again?

The Sci-Fi Channel movies are clearly the worst offenders in this area. Their films are horribly written.

I think the culprits are the producers and directors who think that, just because they can talk people into investing in a film and green-lighting its production, that they also have the talent to write. Eddie Murphy's _Vampire in Brooklyn_ is a case in point. According to the newspapers, Eddie and his brothers sat around a kitchen table, drinking beer and writing the screenplay.

It shows just how little regard Hollywood has for good writing. The recent writer's strike is proof (as if we needed any) that movie companies think of writers as noisy pests that they can do without.

And, as if that was bad enough, I had to sit through the entire film near an old woman who had some serious hygiene problem--as least I assume she had a serious hygiene problem since she obviously poured a whole bottle of perfume on herself before she left the house.

We had a Russian exchange student stay with us for three months (some years ago) and he did the same thing. Except that he used Old Spice cologne.

And the Pulitzer goes to....

2008-02-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

Any time you go to a bookstore, you can see dozens of novels that have won one prize or another. One of the most coveted prizes is the Pulitzer, but there are many lesser-known prizes, too. Some are legitimate awards and others are phony cocked-up awards created to promote a magazine. And then there are the awards created by publishers for the sole purpose of feeding the ego of a favorite writer. For example, recently a group of publishers got together and created a phony award to give to Stephen King. God knows that King would never win an award based on actual talent, so these guys decided to create an award for him. Nice!

The problem with many of these awards is that they are given to mediocrities by a committee made up of literary mediocrities. For example, giving the Pulitzer to _Middlesex_ is a case in point. The author of _Middlesex_ is an accomplished mediocrity--his writing is at a high level of mediocrity--but it is, nonetheless mediocre. His character of Callie is supposed to be female, but never actually escapes from his male viewpoint.

This is a problem when you set out to reward merit, but rely on mediocrities to select merit. There is always the Scalieri Factor, where the mediocrities conspire together against the truly talented and present an award to one of their own.

Gay Marriage and Polygamy

2008-02-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Some right-wingers have unfairly (I think) attacked Mitt Romney for supporting gay marriage back when he was governor of Massachusetts. Personally, I think he only supported gay marriage because he saw it as a possible doorway to supporting the legalization of polygamy. Mitt's grandpa was a big-time polygamist who escaped into Mexico when polygamy was outlawed in Utah.

Now that Mitt is out of the race, the anti-gay marriage faction in the Republican Party can rest easy. No back-door legalization of gay marriage or polygamy.

By the way, I've heard that the License plate on Romney's truck has the number:

ELKHUNT

I'm not sure what that means... I guess it's a vanity plate.

Maybe it's a hispanic thing, since Mitt's grandpa moved here from Mexico.

Worst TV Show of All Time: Medium

2008-01-16T06:03:00.000-08:00

What to do, What to do....

With so many bad television shows, this choice will be a difficult one. I suppose it should be limited to currently running shows, which eliminates _Scooby Do_ and _Fraiser_. It should also be a show that is not just stupid and silly, but also a program that does actual harm to the viewer's mind.

A good choice would be any of the shows that deal with "ghosts." Certainly _Ghost Hunters_ on the Sci-Fi Channel would top the list, as would _The Ghost Whisperer_ (and any other show with the word "Whisperer" in the title).

But the absolute worst show on TV would have to be _Medium_ on NBC. The main character is played by actress Patricia Arquette as the ghost-whispering medium. Frankly, so much of this show offends me that it's hard to know where to start.

First, the medium's husband Joe Dubois, played by actor Jake Weber (a competent actor, which makes it hard to explain why he took this gig) has a tone of voice, when he speaks to his wife, that is grating and annoying to listen to. If anyone were to use that tone of voice with me, I'd punch him in the nose. How does "the medium" stand listening to this? Doesn't her alleged "6th sense" tell her that her husband is a jerk and that he talks to her like she's an idiot (not that she isn't an idiot-- but it shouldn't be thrown in her face that way). If she really had extra-sensory perception she would read his mind and dumped him a long time ago.

The same thing goes for her funny-looking kids (and especially the chubby-faced daughter). If "Allison" really had an ability at all to see into the future, then she would have avoided having kids. Or, at least, she would have begged off having marital relations with her husband on the night this kid was conceived. If she was really psychic, she would have seen just how funny-looking her kid would be in the future.

I could go on, but why? This show is a big-time stinker.

Worst Movie of All Time: Frailty

2007-12-29T17:41:00.001-08:00

When people think about "The Worst Movie of All Time" they usually pick on poor _Plan 9 from Outer Space_ (1959)

This doesn't seem fair to me, because this film had no money, no acting talent, and no studio support.

To be the "worst" film, in my thinking, it should be a film that had everything going for it, then threw it all away.

This is why I think _Frailty_ (2001) is the world film of all time.

I am not suggesting that the film be censored, just expressing my opinion that this film, which had the potential to be a film of great importance, was instead turned into a B-movie with a stupid Stephen King-style ending.

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in a theater in 1942
watching the film _Casablanca_. You've reached the point in the
film when the characters are all gathered at the airport.
Suddenly, the U.S. army attacks, led by Gen. Patton (played by
John Wayne) and they round up all the Nazis and shoot them in the
head,
-- end of story.

This is the feeling I had watching _Frailty_. Both my son and I left the
theater stunned at the bizarre (and incredibly stupid) turn at the end.
Personally, I suspect that there must have been some hanky-panky at
Lions Gate studio that led to this bizarre turn in what had been, up to
the last ten minutes of the film a potentially excellent film, into a
piece of silly trash. And I think I know where this bizarre ending came
from.

During the last 25 years, I have felt more and more concerned about
the growing right-wing Christian culture. Surely you can see, in
the enormous popularity of Tim LaHaye's awful end-of-the-world
"Left Behind" series of novels (for example) that many people are
beginning to accept the idea of a Christian jihad against secularists,
humanists and non-believers.

The message of this film is that the end of the world is here and it's
alright to go out and kill "demons." As one of those people who have
been "demon-ized" by the far right, I am concerned. And I think you
should be concerned, too.

Freud, Sigmund - Drug use

2007-12-28T10:17:00.000-08:00

DID SIGMUND FREUD EXPERIMENT WITH HALLUCINOGENIC MUSHROOMS?

Most people familiar with the career of Dr. Sigmund
Freud, the founder of psychanalysis, are aware of the scandal of
cocaine use in his early career. As a young doctor, Freud
experimented with cocaine and even promoted its use as a sort of
cure-all for a variety of physical and psychological ailments.
Eventually Freud became aware of the addictive power of cocaine
and stopped promoting its use. Cocaine addiction was common in
the 19th century, and Freud's cocaine use has been popularized in
books and films, including _The Seven-Percent Solution_. Many of
Freud's followers are, to this day, a bit touchy about this
episode in Freud's early career. But it looks now like a new Freud
scandal is looming on the horizon.

A new book _Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity_ includes a
chapter "Freud in the Garden of Good and Evil" which presents
irrefutable evidence from the memoirs of Freud's son, Martin, that
Freud involved his children in "mushroom-hunting expeditions"
looking for hallucinogenic mushrooms. Freud often took his family
on vacations in the Alps, and there he organized his children on
mushroom hunts where they searched for the Amanita Muscaria
mushrooms that grow in mountain forests.

This variety of mushroom has been recognized by Europeans as
a powerful hallucinogen since the early 18th century when travelers
brought back reports of its use as an intoxicant by Siberian
hunters. It is likely that Freud, while doing research on primitive
religious practices, came across reports of its use and began his
own experiments, using his children to help him locate areas where
the mushrooms grow. Fairly large quantities of the mushroom are
needed to create a prolonged hallucinogenic "trip" and this would
explain why Freud involved his children in the search for these
elusive mushrooms.

In Martin Freud's memoir _Sigmund Freud: Man and Father_, he
describes the Amanita mushrooms but he is clearly unaware of their
hallucinogenic properties. It wasn't until some years after the
publication of this memoir that scholars outside of the fields of
ethnography and biology became familiar with this Amanita species,
which explains why this episode in Freud's career remained obscure
to Freud's many biographers.

It is an open question as to how much Freud's experiences
may be documented in his papers, which have for many years been
tightly controlled by a small group of Freud's followers. If
evidence of such experimentation is a part of Freud's papers, it
may help to explain why access to his writings has been closely
guarded for so many years. Like his cocaine use, it is also a
question how much this episode in Freud's career may have influenced
his writings, including _Civilization and Its Discontents_ and
_Totem and Taboo_.

Earl Lee, author of _Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity_,
discovered the reference to the amanita mushrooms in Martin Freud's
memoir while doing research for his book _Drakulya_, which deals
with occultism and psychology in the 19th century England.

LIBRARIES IN THE AGE OF MEDIOCRITY by Earl Lee
publication date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-7864-0548-1
$25 [144] pp. softcover, notes, bibliography, index.

X-mas story

2007-12-13T09:28:00.001-08:00

Yes, Virginia, there is a Jesus.

I know this because he mows my boss's yard every other Thursday.

Or maybe you're thinking about the illegal they call Little Jesus.
He works at the meatpacking plant, or at least he did until last week
when the INS guys raided the plant and sent him back to Mexico.

Or, then again, maybe you're thinking about the Jesus who is the
mayor of Garden City, Kansas. A republican woman (who was just
elected to State Bored of Education) said that he wasn't born in this
country and he had no business serving as mayor. But Jesus says that
he was born in Garden City and so was his Dad, ... but she's not so
sure about that.

Then, of course, there is the Jesus that the Southern Baptists talk
about. That Jesus hates Catholics, homosexuals, liberal Democrats,
and a lot of other people. That Jesus is not so sure about women or
blacks, either.

I guess there's a Jesus who goes to the Catholic church, too. He
hates protestants, Moslems, communists, atheists, abortion doctors
and women who use birth control. I've never met this Jesus, but I
think he must have a son, Jesus, Jr., because I read in the newspaper
that a catholic boy named Jesus accused the priest of molesting him.
I don't know what Jesus, Sr., thinks about this, but he still goes to
that same church anyway. I guess Jesus, Sr., must really like church
a lot, because he still goes there and takes communion from the
people who molested his little boy, Jesus, Jr..

Anyway, yes, Virginia, there is a Jesus. There are lots of Jesuses,
and some of them are nice guys and some of them are not....
---------------

If you enjoyed this, you might want to read: _Raptured: The Final
Daze of the Late, Great Planet Earth_

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1884365426/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2

The Golden Compass movie

2007-12-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

Last night we invited about two dozen students from the creative writing program over to our house for a get together. These kids (most are in their twenties) are all fairly bright people and got along very well. Even the Christian girl seems to get along with the gay couple .... up to a point.

At the end of the evening the gay couple got up to leave, and they suggested that they were going to catch the late show of _The Golden Compass_. At this point, the Christian girl jumped up and asked them *not* to go to this movie, because it was based on a children's book written by an atheist (English author Philip Pullman). I found the whole scene a bit surreal. She seemed (as far as I could tell) to have no problem with the fact that they were a gay couple, but the idea that they might go see this film, which she assumed was some kind of atheist propaganda... or at the very least an enticement that might lead children to read the book... well, for some reason this really bothered her.

Frankly, I am bothered by the fact that christians can promote all sorts of horrid crap, like the sado-masochist and anti-Semitic film _The Passion of the Christ_ and even show this film (now on DVD) to small children in their churches. There is no telling how much severe psychological damage has been caused by this disgusting film. The night I was at the theater, there were many people crying and emotionally crushed by this piece of propaganda.

At the same time, Christians have no problem attacking _The Golden Compass_ without having bothered to see it. The fact that the book was written by an atheist is sufficient reason to condemn the film.

As much as Christian groups like to pretend that they are being persecuted, it is the atheists who are shunned and boycotted by these small-minded bigots.

It's easy to see why the Catholic church hates this film, since it is an attack on authoritarian religions. But why do evangelicals attack the film? Aren't all these Protestants supposed to be anti-authoritarian too?

I guess just being smeared with the atheist label is enough.

Who's Stupid Now ?

2007-12-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

A couple of Christian pundits have taken me to task for my book _Raptured: The Final Daze of the Late, Great Planet Earth_. The general sense of their comments is:

"Do you think all Christians are stupid, or what?"

To me this question misses the point. None of these Right-wing evangelicals care about my opinion, so why do they ask? Similarly the Pope in Rome (Joe "the Rat" Ratzinger) couldn't care less about my opinion, nor do any of his followers. Obviously, they are not going to be buying my book anyway -- unless they enjoy books that mock loony Right-wing Protestants (as opposed to the loony Right-wing Catholics, who recently elected an ex-Nazi to be Pope).

So why do they care what I say? Why do they even ask?

I think this comes from a deep-seated fear that Right-wing evangelicals have about the leaders of their religion. They look at men like Richard Roberts, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and wonder this same question:

"Do you think all Christians are stupid, or what?"

The reason for this fear, this intense self-depreciation is that these "men of God" these "religious leaders" treat the people in their ministries as if they were complete morons.

For example, when a man dips into funds belonging to the ministry and then spends them on his own personal desires, doesn't this suggest a contempt for Christians? Doesn't embezzling money from a ministry suggest contempt for those people who donated their hard-earned dollars?

For example, Pat Robertson has made himself a millionaire several times over by using his ministry to advance his own private media empire. Some of the transgressions are obvious, like using planes belonging to a religious charity to move mining equipment in Africa, or using the 700 Club program to establish his own television network, which he later sold for many millions. More recently, Robertson has been hawking a high-protein shake and even demonstrated his new muscles in a fake weight-lifting demonstration. Robertson is so arrogant that he believes his followers will have no trouble accepting the idea that a man in in 70s can set a weight-lifting record by using a protein shake!!!

I wonder, when Pat wakes up in the morning, does he ever say:

"I shouldn't do this! The people in my ministry are too smart to ever fall for this silly crap."

Evidently not.

So if Christians want to escape the "stooopiddd" label, maybe they should take their leaders to task for abusing them, over and over and over again.

Holy Fraud

2007-09-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

A person I know attends a small church with about twenty members (total). The minister recently, during one of his two-hour long sermons, announced that all the church members were going to have to go to Chicago for a one-day training session on how to do counseling with alcoholics and drug users. After the one-day training, they will start counseling people with addiction problems at the church.

This looks like one more example of George Bush's "faith based" scam. The church members will, after one day of training, be able to counsel drug addicts; and then the church will bill the federal government for this high-quality counseling. I'm sure the guys in Chicago also submit a bill to the feds for the training of these counselors. All-in-all this is just one more example of the "faith based" scam that--thanks to the Boob-in-Chief in Washington--allows churches to raid the federal treasury with no accountability and no standards of care.

What's even more grotesque is that I know for a fact that this minister believes that all mental and emotional problems are the work of demons. He doesn't believe in mental illness or psychological counseling, so all this counseling is going to be people praying over alcoholics and drug addicts. These people are going to counsel the addicts to read the Bible and pray to Jesus.

Do they really need to go to Chicago to learn how to do that? Or is it all about getting the money?

more corruption and scandal

2007-09-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

In my blogg of Monday, July 16, 2007 I suggested that many congressmen are not giving real value for our tax dollars. For example, disgraced Senator Vitter was found to have hired prostitutes, paying above $300 for single session. This seems extravagant, especially for someone from Louisianna who knows the $150 is typical for this kind of service (unless maybe he is just a really big tipper).

Now it seems we have another Republican politito, Coy Privette (R-NC), who actually gave his mistress a BLANK CHECK.

Yes, you heard it. He gave her a blank check for her services.

What was he thinking! It's not like he can use the excuse that, like Sen. David Vitter, R-La, he had developed bad habits after dealing with all those military contractors and no-bid construction contracts for Haliburton.

And this congressman was also, at one time, a minister! Did he ever see anyone throw a blank check into the collection plate? Not hardly.

Privette is 74 years old, a staunch social conservative and, until recently, President of the Christian Action League.

This is why you just can't trust Republicans with your tax dollars....

Swift Boat Liars for Bush...

2007-08-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

NOT-SO-SWIFT TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD VETERANS FOR BUSH (Script for a TV ad for the Bush Campaign)

Vet #1: People are not telling the truth about George Bush's war experience.

Vet #2: George Bush is just like a real war hero.

Vet #3: I knowed George Bush. I served with him in the Texas National Guard.

Vet #4: While John Kerry was off in Vietnam, shooting Gooks, George was right here in Texas, protecting American soil.

Vet #5: George is a real Texas patriot. And George REALLY knows how to have a good time, too!

Vet #6: If I was going on a road trip, I would want George right there next to me, riding shotgun.

Vet #7: I felt safe with George sitting next to me, a Coors in one hand and a rollin' a joint with the other.

Vet #8: And George sure knows where to go to have fun. He knows every bar and strip club in Texas, 'cause George has been to 'em all.

Vet #9: One time, in a bar in Austin, George had this blonde stripper givin' him a lap dance, and he was doing body shots off a different stripper, both at the same time!

Vet #10: There was this one stripper named Dixie. I think George was in love with her. He used to sit down front, next to the stage, and sing: 'I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray, Hooray! I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray, Hooray!'

Vet #11: And then he would say, Hey, Honey, do you know what a Bronski is? And before you could say Boo! George had his face shoved in her tits!

Vet #12: George got up on the bar and started dancing. He pulled his pants off and he was wearing a bra on his head!

Vet #13: And then we said, Come on, George, put your pants back on. She don't want to see your thing. And the rest of us have seen it. Lots of times.

Vet #14: This bouncer grabbed George and threw him out of the bar. But not before we smashed up a couple of chairs and set the men's toilet on fire!

Vet #15: I remember one time when we were in this bordello in Matamoros.

Vet #16: George was snortin' coke off of this Mexican whore's ass.

Vet #17: George still has a scar from when that pimp hit him with a beer bottle.

Vet #18: That cut started bleedin' like a sum-a-bitch. I think his Dad got him a Purple Heart for that action.

Vet #19: So get this! On the way home George had his head stuck out the window of the Ford Mustang. And he was puking all over the side of the car, while it was still moving!

Vet #20: Later that same night, George showed up at my sister's house. He had a six-pack of Coors in one hand and a bong in the other. Now that boy knows how to party!

BECAUSE AMERICA NEEDS A PRESIDENT WHO KNOWS HOW TO PAR-TEE HAR-TEE!!!!

(paid for by Crawford Bottling & Fine Liquor, Crawford, Texas)

If Mohammed had a car....

2007-08-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

There has been a great deal of news coverage lately about my neighbor who lives across the street. He has been living in his car for over six years, after his wife kicked him out of the house. Here is the original story from the Joplin Globe:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_221005956.html

A few days ago the wife was interviewed by the guys on the morning show at Rock 103 in Memphis. They elicited from the wife the fact that she kicked him out of the house after she found out that he was running around "partying" with the Doublemint Twins! Yes, one set of the Doublemint Twins (there were several sets of twins over the years hired to promote Doublemint gum) lives here in Pittsburg, Kansas.

By an odd coincidence, I recieved in the mail today a new pamphlet "Road map for a religion of violence... The Koran" from my anarchist friend, Fred Woodworth, who is the longtime publisher of an anarchist magazine, The Match! Fred points out some of the religious lunacy that found its way into the Koran.

Fred starts with the story of how one of Mohammed's wives, Hafsah, caught him in the sack with a slave girl. Apparantly, she had caught him boinking the slave girls before, and he had promised to stop. Mohammed then got very angry (about being caught) and so he wrote in the Koran that God permits him (Mohammed) to boink whoever he wants to, and his wives should shut the hell up about it or he (Mohammed) is permitted (By God!) to cast these wives aside, or worse. Mohammed includes a list of all the women he is allowed to boink, including all the female captives captured in battle and all of his female cousins (listed in the Koran as "the daughters of your paternal and maternal uncles and your paternal and maternal aunts"). Because God (here called Allah) is always very generous to his holy servants, God will also permit Mohammed to have sex with "any believing woman who gives herself to the Prophet...." I bet Bill Clinton wishes he had that kind of leeway.

Anyway, it's not hard to imagine that if Mohammed were alive today he would be living in a car (on blocks) in his wife's back yard. Instead of writing his holy book, he would be singing along with his radio, and maybe even singing classic rock songs. Who knows....

Anyone who wants a copy of Fred's pamphlet can write to him at The Match! PO Box 3012 Tucson AZ 85702. The pamphlets are free, but please help Fred out with a buck or two for postage.

Shades of Joseph Smith

2007-08-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today's paper includes a news story from Salina, Kansas, about a couple who were scammed out of $45,000 by a couple of confidence men. These swindlers convinced the couple that a treasure trove of gold coins was buried under their shop. Using a "treasure detector" that beeped loudly near buried gold, they convinced the couple to let them dig under the floor at the back of their shop. The men then pretended to discover a metal box dated 1878 which contained documents describing a treasure of gold coins buried a few feet below where the box was (supposedly) found. In order to avoid a magic curse, the couple had to build an altar and say the rosary for nine days. As part of the process for avoiding the curse, the swindlers put $25,000 of their own money on the altar and the couple put $45,000 in cash on the altar. Needless to say, the two swindlers soon made off with all of the cash.

This scam is very similar to the old "buried treasure" scam that was run in upstate New York by Joseph Smith and his Pa. The Smiths were well-know swindlers back in the 1820s. As part of the scam, the swindlers would find a hidden treasure using a "peer stone"--usually a piece of quartz crystal or glass. The swindler claimed to "see" the treasure through his magic stone, and he offered to help the land-owner (usually a wealthy farmer) to find the treasure and dig it up--for a large fee. Usually, after the farm hands would dig for several hours (or days) the swindler would announce that the treasure had been magically transported by pirate ghosts or Indian spirits to some other hidden location. The swindler/seer then left with his fee.

The Church of the Mormon has long claimed that Joseph Smith was not a scam artist, but recently-discovered court documents prove otherwise. The Chenango County Office Building in Norwich, New York, has documents from 1826 that prove good old Joe Smith was accused of running just such a scam. Later Joe gave up running these kind of petty swindles and went into the big time religion racket. The magical "peer stones" he used in running the scam were, until recently, on display in Salt Lake City. It was these same magic stones that Joe used to "read" the hieroglyphs written on the gold and silver plates given to him by the angel Moroni.

For those of you not familiar with Mormon history, Joseph Smith claimed to have found gold and silver plates buried in the earth, with the help of an angel. Joe translated the writing on the plates--using his magic seer stones--and produced his "translation" of the writing, now known as the Book of the Mormon. No one ever saw the plates, though Joe was clever enough to get some gullible followers to go into an empty room and feel the plates through a burlap bag. These followers then signed affidavits stating that they had handled the gold plates. Of course, for all they knew the objects in the bag could have been steel hubcaps (if hubcaps existed in 1830)! Other followers were told to simply spiritually "visualize" the gold plates through prayer. All of their affidavits are reprinted at the beginning of the Book of the Mormon.

The act of putting cash from the swindlers and the victims in a common bag (which the victims hold) is also a very, very old confidence game. The swindler in Salina, Kansas, seem to have combined the two cons into an effective game.

Bush's colonoscopy

2007-07-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

The headlines on CNN.com read:

"June 28, 2002
"Bush to have colonoscopy under anesthesia"

Was he planning to have it some place else?
Also, while the doctors are in there, maybe they can hunt around and look for his head.

I'm sure it's in there, somewhere.....

Good or Weavel, you decider.....

2007-07-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

The Washington press reports that Pres. Bush has had a steady stream of ministers and theologians visiting the White House. Bush has invited them to discuss "Good and Evil." While I applaude Pres. Bush's efforts to try to figure out which is which, I think I can save everyone some time here.

Short Answer:

Invading another country, without provocation, and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people is Evil with a big "E"

Long Answer:

I am becoming more and more convinced that there are a lot of people out there who simply don't understand "Good and Evil." Most of us ordinary people are born with a basic notion that we should not do harm to others. But that still leaves a lot of people out there who just don't seem to get it. It's like they have fetal-alcohol syndrome or some other congenital condition that confuses their "moral compass." Essentially, they are morally disfunctional.

Ironically, the same people who have no moral compass also tend to develop a curiousity about all this "Good and Evil" stuff that people talk about. And many of these people, lacking a moral compass, decide to become ministers, priests and theologians.

We see the same phenomenon in Psychology, as many people who become counselors and psychologists have, themselves, severe psychological problems. They, in effect, become psychologists in an effort to cure themselves ("Physician heal thyself")

The same thing is true with people who have no moral compass. They study religion and ethics and try to figure out what "Good" is and what "Evil" is. They always put good and evil into capital letters because, to them, these are abstract concepts, not actual behaviors. All that they understand about good and evil is what other people tell them. And once they become "experts" they are ready to start telling everyone else what to do (and not to do). They become incredible bores and arrogant bullies, always blovating about how "Evil" Clinton was to get a bj from a young woman and "Good" Bush is to kill thousands of muslims.

William J. "Bill" Bennett, the former Sect. of Education, is a good example of this kind of blovator. He even wrote a book about his "moral compass" though he still seems to be unable to find his. Maybe it's under the sofa... or maybe it fell behind the buffet.....

Or maybe he lost it at the race track.

More corruption & scandal

2007-07-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

This has been a difficult week for institutional corruption. The Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles has committed to paying out $660 million dollars to victims of sexual abuse. This is the largest amount paid out ... so far.

Meanwhile US Senator David Vitter has finally come out of hiding (unless you count hiding behind his wife's skirts) and admitted that he was involved with prostitutes in two cities. Vitter is the same creep who said that Pres. Clinton should be impeached for violating his marriage vows (Clinton's, not Vitter's). Now his bizarre right-wing pronouncements have come back to bite him (you know where).

There are various news reports that Vitter paid upwards of $300 for the services of these prostitutes. I think this alone is reason to censure him. How can the voters of Louisiana trust him with their tax money if he is willing to overpay for services? Can you imagine if Vitter were on a Senate committee and an Air Force General said they needed to spend $200 on a toilet seat for a B-52. Vitter would say (to himself) "Well, that's less than I spent on that hooker last night ... must be a pretty good deal!" See, we just can't trust Sen. Vitter to give the taxpayers real value for their hard-earned money. Vitter has to know that no one in Louisiana pays more than $150 for a hooker, even in the best neighborhoods of New Orleans.

On the other hand, we have Florida Republican State Representative Bob Allen. Allen was arrested by police in Florida after he approached an undercover cop and offered to give him a blow-job for $25. Now here is a congressman who really understands giving good value. I think that Bob Allen should be elected to the US Senate, because he knows the value of a dollar. If some General asks Bob for $200 for a toilet seat, Bob would demand that they go to Home Depot, or maybe even Big Lots and buy a cheap seat for $29.95 -- just like the rest of us do.

What's Wrong with Scooter?

2007-07-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

George W. Bush has commuted the sentence of "Scooter" Libby. Libby no longer has to go to jail, but he does have to pay a $250,000 fine. Of course he is not actually going to pay the fine out of his own pocket. The Right Wingers have already rased millions of dollars in a fund-raising campaign, much as they did for Ollie North.

They have already sent out the mass mailings and made the phone calls, as thousands of poor and middle-class conservatives were asked--once again--to contribute to keeping another criminal out of jail. Meanwhile the really deep pockets are busy contributing to Presidential campaigns where it will go to buy even more influence and power.

Perhaps some jail time would have helped Scooter straighten out his priorities. But of course if Libby goes to jail there is always the chance he will rat out his boss, Karl Rove. Bush can't afford to take the chance that Libby will turn on his masters and start talking about the high crimes of his bosses in the White House.

It's amazing that the Right Wing pundits have compared this commutation to Clinton's last minute pardons in 2000. Clinton didn't pardon anyone on the White House staff in order to cover up his own actions. Libby, on the other hand, probably knows where all the bodies are buried, and neither Bush nor Cheney can afford to have him start talking to prosecutors.

The Legacy of Jerry Falwell

2007-05-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Rev. Jerry Falwall passed away. A great bloated and obscene presence has left this world and moved on, leaving a vacant hole that can only be filled by another (walking and talking) vacant hole. I'm sure one will step up to the plate pretty quickly.

Early on in his religious career, Rev. Falwell decided that God was against the civil rights movement. So Falwell proclaimed from the pulpit that God was against civil rights (at least for black people). He even described it as the "civil wrongs" movement. Rev. Falwell also told his fellow ministers that it was evil to get involved in politics. Getting into politics was a sure pathway to Hell. Jerry also thought the racist goverment in South Africa was a pretty nice thing.

Then, twenty years later, Rev. Falwell saw the growing Neo-conservative movement and decided that God was for it. This time *not* getting into politics was a sure pathway to Hell. Also, he could see that supporting Ronald Reagan was a sure path to fame and fortune for Rev. Falwell--so how could he refuse God's will?

So clearly since Rev. Falwell both stayed out of politics and then went into politics, he must have gone against God one way or the other. So it's fair to assume that Rev. Falwell is, right now, in Hell.

If you have any doubts about this fact, then go to your local mall and stand very quitely. Listen, and in a few moments you will hear a faint sound, much like a cell phone ringing. This is proof that Rev. Falwell is in Hell, because every time you hear a bell ring, it means a devil is stabbing Jerry in the ass with a pitchfork.

I still remember seeing Jerry Falwell when he was a guest on William F. Buckley's television program "Firing Line." Falwell had just had a run-in with the faith healer Ernest Angley--a short, fat froggy-looking evangelist who is famous for healing people through their television sets. Angley tells people to put their hands on the tv screen and feel God's healing power enter their hands.

Rev. was all upset about the way Angley was (he felt) deceiving his followers. Rev. Falwell was clearly agitated about Angley and his faith healing. According to Falwell, "He can't heal people through the television set. Those programs are taped two weeks in advance!"

Let's sum up Jerry's theology:

1. God created the whole universe in only six days.
2. God wrote the Bible, a very large book which is absolutely accurate and without error.
3. God can heal people through a televison set, through "live" programs.
4. However, God can't heal people through a pre-recorded broadcast. Sorry!

What was really amazing is that William F.Buckley kept a straight face throughout Falwell's tirade. The fact that Falwell said these things, and actually believed what he was saying, proves that Falwell was mentally impared. Whether it was evangelical theology that impared him, or whether he was simply drawn to evangelical religion because he was already impared--no one can say.

We know that Rev. Falwell's father was a bootlegger. So maybe Falwell was a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome... at least that would be my guess. People affected by fetal alcohol syndrome are often selfish and amoral--only interested in attaining power over others. Yep, sounds about right.

When Does Life Begin?

2007-04-15T12:33:00.001-07:00

Pythagoras of Samos (580-500 BCE)

Pythagoras of Samos, the famous Greek mathematician, is also know for starting a philosophical and religious movement based on the idea that everything is based on mathematics (which seems obvious) and that numbers were the basis for reality. This movement is now called Pythagoreanism.

Pythagoras is generally credited for creating the Pythagorean Theorem, though in fact he may have simply borrowed this idea from the Egyptians. Less well known is his effort to create a secret religious society. Very little is known about this group, except for its reverence for numbers and its strict vegetarianism.

Evidently Pythagoras influenced the development of Platonic philosophy and, to some extent, the development of various magical and esoteric traditions, such as Rosicrucianism. His ideas were also important to the development of Numerology.

There is a story about the death of Pythagoras, which is worth repeating. According to the story, Pythagoras was running away from his enemies. He was being pursued by a group of men who meant to kill him. As he ran, Pythagoras came up to a field of beans. Pythagoras stopped short, because he believed that beans were sacred. This was part of his strict vegetarianism, that no one should harm beans—because they possessed a living soul.

Needless to say, his enemies quickly caught up with him and murdered him there on the edge of the bean field. Perhaps some of them might accidentally have trampled a few beans in the process. We can only hope—for the sake of his soul—that they did not damage or destroy any beans in the process.

We are, today, in a similar situation with respect to stem cell research. Our Fearless Leader, George W. Bush, believes that the human embryos—even those that are discarded by fertility clinics—have a soul. These bits of human tissue are therefore “sacred” and should not be harmed or destroyed. This idea ignores the fact that the eggs are about to be discarded anyway, and there is virtually no chance of them being implanted in a womb. These eggs are, quite frankly, no different from the many trillions of eggs and sperm that are “lost” and discarded each day, washed away in the laundry of homes all over the world.

Still, George W. Bush—and the right-wing religious nut-jobs who support him—believe that these eggs are somehow “sacred.” And they are quite willing (perhaps not to die themselves right now) but at least let many thousands of people die of horrible diseases instead of using these discarded eggs in genetic research.

We may be puzzled by the way Pythagoras died. But we are, in our own way, just as foolish. We allow a rather bizarre religious idea—an idea which runs counter to early Jewish and Christian ideas—prevent us from using these eggs for medical research, even though stem-cell research holds great promise.

It’s worth noting, too, that Pythagoras is said to have decided that beans were sacred because, “the beans create a wind in the gut that is foul, and thus proves that beans should not be eaten.”
This certainly sounds reasonable, in that preventing people from eating the sacred beans also prevents the development of gas and foul odors. Clearly, Pythagoras was a humanitarian.

At the same time, the right-wing religionists have decided that “life begins at conception.” And for this reason a mass of human cells should be equivalent in importance (in God’s eyes) to a fully-grown human. We should “respect life” because it is, well, life.

Obviously the “life begins at conception” idea is false. After all, what was it before conception? Mac and cheese? Potatoe salad?

Life exists and it continues until it dies. Human beings die, as life reaches its end—usually when something happens to stop its continued existence. All life is like this. It exists and it continues until it stops, at which time it becomes dead—a mass of flesh that is “lifeless.” A fertilized human egg did not spring to life out of nothingness. It was made up of the cast-off cells, the seed or germ of two parents. To claim that life somehow begins at conception is only a playing around with words—it is a theological game that is as foolish as the claim that beans have a soul.

Mencken "On Government"

2007-04-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Mencken "On Government"

H.L. Mencken's essay is even more relevant today, in the wake of
9/11, than it was when it was first written. Everyone can
benefit from these sentiments:

"The great pox of civilization, alas, I believe to be incurable,
and so I propose no new quackery for its treatment. I am against
dosing it, and I am against killing it. All I presume to argue
is that something would be accomplished by viewing it more
realistically--by ceasing to let its necessary and perhaps useful
functions blind us to its ever-increasing crimes against the
ordinary rights of the free citizen and the common decencies of
the world. The fact that it is generally respected--that it
possesses effective machinery for propagating and safeguarding
that respect--is the main shield of the rogues and vagabonds who
use it to exploit the great masses of diligent and credulous men.

"Whenever you hear anyone bawling for more respect for the laws,
whether it be a Coolidge on his imperial throne or an humble
county judge in his hedge court, you have before you one who is
trying to use them to his private advantage; whenever you hear
of new legislation for putting down dissent and rebellion you may
be sure that it is promoted by scoundrels. The extortions and
oppressions will go on so long as such bare fraudulence deceives
and disarms the victims--so long as they are ready to swallow the
immemorial official theory that protesting against the stealings
of the archbishop's secretary's nephew's mistress' illegitimate
son is a sin against the Holy Ghost. They will come to an end
when the victims begin to differentiate clearly between government
as a necessary device for maintaining order in the world and
government as a device for maintaining the authority and
prosperity of predatory rascals and swindlers...."

Why George W. Bush is a lousy Christian

2007-02-24T14:37:00.001-08:00

Why George W. Bush is a lousy Christian...

SHORT ANSWER:

1. Thou shalt not kill.

2. Thou shalt not steal.

3. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor (even Saddam).

4. Etc., etc., etc., ....

LONG ANSWER:

Like a lot of people who come out of A.A., George Bush has a new self-righteous "born-again" mindset. Now that he is "clean and sober" and, better yet, has a "personal relationship" with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, George thinks that his actions are beyond reproach. No on can question his motives or criticize his ethical lapses. He is now "saved" and wears this label as a badge of honor. No matter how vile and selfish his actions may appear, we should all cut him some slack and take his word that he is a good Christian who would never lie, cheat, steal, etc. Of course, as President he now has plenty of people on his staff who will do these things for him, so he can keep a (somewhat) clear conscience. He has plenty of people at Fox News and MSNBC who praise his name and tell him how wonderful he is.

Bush is the perfect front-man for a corrupt administration. He is too dumb to comprehend the crimes committed in his name, and he is too arrogant to believe that his friends and political allies are simply using him as a stooge. Bush is "saved" and therefore can do no wrong.

By any objective or unobjective measure you want to use, George Bush is a lousy Christain. That people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell praise his "faith" and "values" only reflects on their own self-righteous arrogance and pride.

Who are the "Christian Haters"

2007-02-19T10:24:00.000-08:00

Recently two staff members on John Edwards' election staff (Edwards is running for President in '08) were forced to resign when it was revealed that they had mocked various religious loonies on their personal blogs. The gang of right-wing jackals quickly smelled blood and began baying at the moon. One of the leading right-wingers, Bill "no-spin zone" O'Reilly began to girate like a whirling dervish and questioned: Why does Edwards employ people who are "Christian-haters"? O'Reillly used his televison show on Fox News as a forum to bash the two bloggers who had dared to mock O'Reilly's loony friends. Using his typical "When did you stop beating your wife?"-type questions, O'Reilly claimed that anyone who mocks right-wing Christians must be a "Christian Hater." O'Reilly practically foamed at the mouth as he ranted and raved.

It fact, is is hard to find real "Christian Haters" in this country. Most of the people I know find Christians to be rather amusing, when they are not out-and-out hysterically funny. For example the hotel maids who found stains on a hotel sheet and decided it was a picture of the Virgin Mary, or the woman who saw Jesus' face on a toasted cheese sandwich. And then there is my brother-in-law who refuses to let his kids eat alphabet soup because the kids might accidentally spell "satan" or "hell" and then eat the letters... (can you say "de-mon-iac-ly po-ssessed" ?) It's all just too funny. How can you hate such folks? They are a laugh a minute.

No, if you want to find true out-and-out Christian Haters, you have to find people who have really suffered at the hands of Christians. You have to find people who have been hurt through the blindness and arrogance of right-wing Christians. So if you really want to find Christian Haters, I would recommend you travel to Iraq. There are many thousands of people there who are truly suffering because of the vile and disgusting actions of George W. Bush, not to mention the anti-Muslim bigotry of his right-wing Christian friends.

In the U.S. there are probably plenty of people who dismiss Christians and laugh at their foibles, but if you really want to find Christian Haters, then you should go to Iraq. George W. Bush has created many thousands of them.

The blog is devoted to the Kiss My-- Left Behind series

2007-02-19T10:14:00.000-08:00

'Kiss My Left Behind' is dedicated to the exposure of religious and political idiocy. We reserve the right to poke fun at, satirize, lampoon, and otherwise mock any religious loonies and political hacks who annoy us.

The "Kiss My Left Behind" books are parodies of various "End Times" novels written by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, Ernest Angley, Mel Odum, and others. This genre of religious fiction is meant to encourage the persecution of non-Christians and justify political oppression of religious minorities.