What is "Moral?"

That's the Beauty of Blogging....

I can write about nearly anything I want. It's like the ultimate freedom. On occasion, someone might even read my stuff, who knows.

On To Today's Lesson...

One of the big problems with our society is that it is difficult to define "moral." For instance, a good conservative Christian believes that gay marriage is immoral and, heck, they are repulsed by it. At the same time, I think that Christian politicians who cozy up with oil companies are immoral, and heck, it repulses me.

We humans appear to need a moral benchmark. One possibility that I considered is to say, "What would be pleasing to God?" But, whoa, wait a minute, in no time at all people would be murdering one another "in the name of God." Heck, this is already happening.

Another idea is to use the ancient religious writings as a moral compass. That's a good idea to a point, but then that gives people an excuse to discriminate against gays, women, other religions, scoffers, people who eat pork, Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, orthodox, reformed, liberal ...OH MY GOSH ... there can be no end to this. Okay, this isn't a good idea!!!

So, what do we do?

How about a moral system based on common sense, logic, and the common good? Even this is sticky. Take abortion for example — some call it a women's right to choose and others call it murder. This is a debate that never ends. Whew.

Maybe we could elect a council to decide morals. Maybe we could vote on morals.

But there are a few accepted standards ... maybe ...

1) We should obey the law. I'm all for that because it brings order to society. But what if the law was made by corrupt individuals looking out for their own self interest? Sure, we can change the law. But what if the people who control the power block the democratic process? At what point should you practice civil disobedience?

2) We should NOT do things that offend others. That means no cussing, public drunkenness, or excessive displays of affection. But these days, just about EVERYTHING offends someone. Where do you draw the line?

3) We should do things that are RESPECTABLE. Again, isn't this a matter of personal opinion?

Maybe the problem with "moral" is that even the dictionary is vague:

mor·al adj*
1. relating to issues of right and wrong and to how individuals should behave
2. based on what somebody’s conscience suggests is right or wrong, rather than on what the law says should be done
3. regarded in terms of what is known to be right or just, as opposed to what is officially or outwardly declared to be right or just
4. giving guidance on how to behave decently and honorably
5. good or right, when judged by the standards of the average person or society at large
6. able to distinguish right from wrong and to make decisions based on that knowledge
7. based on an inner conviction, in the absence of physical proof

Hmmm, how are we EVER going to agree on what is moral? Is driving an SUV moral? Is supporting the drilling of ANWR moral? Is sending out e-mails that belittle Muslims or gays moral? I find all these things repulsive, yet the people who do these things consider themselves righteous and moral, and appear quick to judge me.

Is ignoring the environment and our future moral? Is it moral to neglect the poor and turn a church into a busy-body social organization?

By the standards of the Righteous Ones, I am a pathetic, disgusting, wretch. I suppose they are right, but I'd at least respect them if they admitted that they were wretches too.

WHAT I BELIEVE...

I guess a moral should be twofold. It should be based on LOGIC and it should meet the STANDARDS of the majority. Even that isn't a good benchmark, but I suppose it's a start.

Who is moral? Please tell me.



*Microsoft Encarta Dictionary

Onward March To Heaven, Pt. 2

Ahhhhhhhh

I'm so depressed!

This entry is a continuation of last night's discussion on why Christian fundamentalists oppose environmental protection. This morning I read the entire article on the Grist website, titled, "The Godly Must Be Crazy: Christian-right views are swaying politicians and threatening the environment ."

I don't know where to start other than to say that this article does the best job I've ever seen of explaining why Christian radicals oppose the environment, and explains the scriptures and schools of thought behind this belief system.

Having grown up in a Christian fundamentalist household, and then having a sudden and extreme awakening to environmentalism in 1997, I can see this issue from both sides of the fence. In February 2003 I even gave a presentation about this phenomenon at a Unitarian Universalist conference in Atlanta. I was acting like I had just stumbled on a big discovery — that the anti-environmentalism of the Christian hard right plays into the hands of industry. Now, two years later, I know this is not a dream — Christian fundamentalists and Corporations are snuggled closely in bed with one another. And how Christian is that??? Again, the article in Grist covers this in detail.

As I've mentioned before, I find it fascinating how Christian fundamentalists continue to engineer their own prophecy. Recently, I blogged about how Christian Zionists played a major role in re-establishing Israel as a state, which is suppose to be a key "trigger event" for the rapture and tribulation. Now, it appears they are trying to trigger the Apocalypse by attacking, derailing, refuting, and simply ignoring environmental science and laws.

Just a few of my favorite quotes from the article:

"Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land -- of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ," writes reconstructionist George Grant. Christian dominion will be achieved by ending the separation of church and state, replacing U.S. democracy with a theocracy ruled by Old Testament law, and cutting all government social programs, instead turning that work over to Christian churches. Reconstructionists also would abolish government regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. EPA, because they are a distraction from their goal of Christianizing America, and subsequently, the rest of the world. "World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish," says Grant. "We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less." Only when that conquest is complete can the Lord return.

Yikes!

People under the spell of such potent prophecies cannot be expected to worry about the environment. Why care about the earth when the droughts, floods, and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the Apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why care about global climate change when you and yours will be rescued in the Rapture? And why care about converting from oil to solar when the same God who performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes can whip up a few billion barrels of light crude with a Word?

Yep.

Inhofe, the Senate's most outspoken environmental critic, is also unwavering in his wish to remake America as a Christian state. Speaking at the Christian Coalition's Road to Victory rally just before the GOP sweep of the 2002 midterm elections, he promised the faithful, "When we win this revolution in November, you'll be doing the Lord's work, and He will richly bless you for it!"

Yes, he's the same guy who's leading the drive to drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He's a total sell-out to the petro-chemical industry and, oh yeah, a Christian that we're supposed to respect. Yeah, right.

Neither DeLay nor Inhofe include environmental protection in "the Lord's work." Both have ranted against the EPA, calling it "the Gestapo." DeLay has fought to gut the Clean Air and Endangered Species acts. Last year, Inhofe invited a stacked-deck of fossil fuel-funded climate-change skeptics to testify at a Senate hearing that climaxed with him calling global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

Yes, denial is a great tactic — it bought the tobacco industry years of time.

But the influence of theology, although less discussed, is no less significant. Inhofe, like DeLay, is a Christian Zionist. While the senator has not overtly expressed his religious views in his environmental committee, he has when speaking on other issues. In a Senate foreign-policy speech, Inhofe argued that the U.S. should ally itself unconditionally with Israel "because God said so." Quoting the Bible as the divine Word of God, Inhofe cited Genesis 13:14-17 -- "for all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever" -- as justification for permanent Israeli occupation of the West Bank and for escalating aggression against the Palestinians.

Finally, my favorite, all-time quote:

"It's like half this country wants to guide our ship of state by compass — a compass, something that works by science and rationality, and empirical wisdom," quipped comedian Bill Maher on Larry King Live. "And half this country wants to kill a chicken and read the entrails like they used to do in the old Roman Empire."

Canary Brother Bill Moyers Speaks

Line up, conform, and do not question because
then you'll feel REALLY rotten. Guilt, God,
Government, Greedy Corporations — these are
the four "G's" that I use to control you.

Onward We March - To Heaven

Okay, Common Dreams is a group of my Canary brothers and sisters. They publish powerful articles that regularly get bounced around on the Internet. Three different people sent me a recent article on Common Dreams, so it must be REALLY important.

The article is actually an acceptance speech from journalist Bill Moyers , who was recently given the Harvard Medical School's Global Environmental Citizen Award. In giving his speech, Bill really got to the heart of the matter. He talked about how Christian fundamentalist beliefs are influencing government policy, and more specifically, how talk of the "rapture" creates a group of people who may actually WANT things to get worse in order to speed the return of Christ. This idea flies in the face of my own belief of taking personal responsibility for the Planet.

Bill tells the story better than I EVER could, so allow me to share a few quotes:

Remember James Watt, President Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, 'after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.'

Man, do I ever remember James Watt, the Ban-the-Beach-Boys guy. He is loony-tunes, yet Washington is now filled with people just like him.

Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he was talking about. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out across the country. They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true - one-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is accurate. In this past election several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in the rapture index. That's right - the rapture index. Google it and you will find that the best-selling books in America today are the twelve volumes of the Left-Behind series written by the Christian fundamentalist and religious right warrior, Timothy LaHaye. These true believers subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the 19th century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wove them into a narrative that has captivated the imagination of millions of Americans.

Wow, my brother recently told me this story — that the rapture/tribulation idea was a school of thought created in the 1800s, I assume by traveling evangelists. I remember at age 10 how our preacher would terrify me with all the tribulation stories. The idea is that the world is deteriorating, Christ is coming, and if you're left behind things will REALLY be bad. A whole series of bad things are suppose to happen during the seven year tribulation. This really messed up my mental psyche — even to this day. Every morning I wake up and say, "What the heck and I still doing here?"

Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre ... once Israel has occupied the rest of its 'biblical lands,' legions of the anti-Christ will attack it, triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and transported to heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts, and frogs during the several years of tribulation that follow.

Well, that's how MOM and the PREACHER told it to me as a little kid (as if I already didn't have ENOUGH stress in my young life). Yep, this all comes out of an interpretation of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. I really wish the Bible could have ended on a sweeter note — the Book of Revelations is rough, man.

So what does this mean for public policy and the environment? Go to Grist to read a remarkable work of reporting by the journalist, Glenn Scherer - 'the road to environmental apocalypse. Read it and you will see how millions of Christian fundamentalists may believe that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed - even hastened - as a sign of the coming apocalypse.

Yep.

As Grist makes clear, we're not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers who hold or are beholden to these beliefs. Nearly half the U.S. Congress before the recent election - 231 legislators in total - more since the election - are backed by the religious right. Forty-five senators and 186 members of the 108th congress earned 80 to 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian right advocacy groups. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Assistant Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Conference Chair Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Policy Chair Jon Kyl of Arizona, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and Majority Whip Roy Blunt. The only Democrat to score 100 percent with the Christian coalition was Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, who recently quoted from the Biblical book of Amos on the senate floor: "The days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land.' He seemed to be relishing the thought.

Okay.

... A 2002 TIME/CNN poll found that 59 percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in the Book of Revelation are going to come true. Nearly one-quarter think the Bible predicted the 9/11 attacks. Drive across the country with your radio tuned to the more than 1,600 Christian radio stations or in the motel turn some of the 250 Christian TV stations and you can hear some of this end-time gospel. And you will come to understand why people under the spell of such potent prophecies cannot be expected, as Grist puts it, "to worry about the environment. Why care about the Earth when the droughts, floods, famine and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why care about global climate change when you and yours will be rescued in the rapture? ...

Well, well, that is the end of the story — thanks Bill for sharing this. The irony is that as these Believers continue to ignore the world's environmental and social problems, the world WILL get worse, and then they will use this as further evidence that the end is near. Thus, we have a downward spiral.

Growing up in a "pre-trib" household, I know all about the so-called prophesies of Revelation. It seems to me that rather than spending so much effort trying to decipher this book of the Bible, the time and effort could be better spent feeding the poor and helping widows. After all, I thought that's what Christians were supposed to do.

From the article, "On Receiving Harvard Medical School's Global Environment Citizen Award, published on Monday, December 6, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

Blind Charge

The world is beautiful and it is our reminder
that God is great. So, then, why do we
destroy it?

The War

I feel like I'm in a battle, in a trench, with mortar shells landing all around me. It's only a matter of time before I'm hit, but I still must go on. There are so many things in life that can suck the will to fight right out of you — health, finances, jobs, relationships — but still, I must focus my resources and continue my lifelong struggle to make the world a little better. I do know some fellow Canaries who have faced great hardships in their own lives, yet they still continue the Mission. When the flag bearer is shot, they just pick the flag off the ground and continue the charge up the hill. I thank these special individuals for giving me the example and inspiration to continue the fight.

The Takeover

I hear the stories about Newt Gingrich and how the Radical Right had been planning their takeover for years, but I think our nation's shift to extreme conservatism is far more than that. I think we are in the final days of the Roman Empire. I look around to see all the obese Americans and all the cigarette addicts, and then I look to see how the medical industry is gladly capitalizing on all the ill health and making billions off of our fatness and laziness. For the most part, I have found my fellow Americans to be listless blobs of nothingness with no sense of vision beyond their immediate gratification.

The Respect

Yet, yet, all it takes for me to respect you is to do one thing, ONE DAMN THING, that contributes to the greater good. Because if every human would just give a LITTLE of themselves to help the grander scheme of things, we could wipe out most of our problems. But Americans have become a selfish, inward looking lot. We talk about idealism, our President talks about idealism, but it is hollow and hypocritical.

The End

With a larger Republican majority in Congress, and with a President who feels he has a "mandate," I wait for the final onslaught. For example, plans for a new Energy Policy are already in the works. The PLAN is to provide more corporate welfare for the big oil companies. The PLAN is to reverse and eliminate dozens of environmental protection laws. The PLAN is to reverse worker rights. The PLAN is to downplay public health for the sake of greater public profit. There is little talk about conservation and clean, renewable energy incentives. Rather, there is a LOT of talk about raping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

There is no idealism to the Radical Right agenda. It is not about principles or philosophy, or religion, or schools of thoughts. It is only about CORPORATE PROFIT and how all the aforementioned variables can be manipulated to generate MORE MONEY for the RICH, POWERFUL, and GREEDY! We have seen the Kenneth Lays of America. We have seen the spineless, moral-less, empty, excuse for humanity that America now produces.

We are the land of nobodies, nothingness, obesity, hypocritical corruption, and perverted principles. We are the Roman Empire in its last days. God bless America.

The Greatest of All Canaries

A brave, visionary man, who
lived in a totally insane world.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!!!

Okay, roll the tape back to 1980. I was a sophomore in college and taking a psychology course. It was Black History Week at the college, and I couldn't figure out why our African-American instructor was making us watch all these movies for a solid week. I mean, what does this have to do with psychology?

But now when I think back, I really admire Mr. Hill. We were a class of naive white kids who had little idea what Civil Rights and the Black Struggle was all about. But Mr. Hill knew that, and he was patient with us. He just showed us the movies and made no comments.

And then came the image that was burned into my head for life. It was Birmingham, AL in 1963 and men, women, and children were wearing their Sunday best. Then came the fire hoses and police dogs. The sight of one protester getting washed away in his white shirt and tie, and the image of another protester with a German Shepherd hanging from his shirt sleeve are unforgettable. These were peaceful people demonstrating for the most humble causes — fairness and equality. And dignity.

Some people may take Dr. Martin Luther King for granted, but to me he is my greatest hero. He studied the works of Mahatma Gandhi and his writings and teachings were visionary. What I admire most about Dr. King is his courage — during his years in Montgomery, he continued his work knowing full well that he and his family were in extreme danger. He really, truly sacrificed his life for the principles he believed in.

What I respect most about Dr. King is his stand against the Vietnam War — it was a courageous thing to do. As a youngster, the history books taught me that Vietnam was a noble war to stop Communist aggression. But just recently I have realized that Vietnam was a war of poor people who were forced to travel 8,000 miles to fight more poor people, while the power brokers looked on. Vietnam was a class struggle and a civil war. Our country lied to us.

The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: "A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

— Dr. Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967, New York City

Some people point out that Dr. King was a womanizer and plagiarizer. This makes me admire him that much more. See, Dr. King was a flawed human, just like the rest of us. But he still made the world a MUCH better place despite his shortcomings.

Finally, this greatest of all Canaries was ahead of his time. In addition to his concerns about violence, inequality, and disharmony on the Planet, he also showed concern for perhaps the greatest of all issues facing our Planet — human overpopulation.


There is no human circumstance more tragic than the persisting existence of a harmful condition for which a remedy is readily available. Family planning, to relate population to world resources, is possible, practical and necessary. Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we do not yet understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and with resources we possess.

— Dr. Martin Luther King

I thank Dr. King for the light, enrichment, and vision he has added to my life. Most of all, I thank him for giving me hope. On this day, January 17, 2005, I pause to reflect, and I wish to humbly say, "thank you."

Creating Your Own Miracle, Part II

Convert you little snotty

nosed kid.

Now for the Rest of the Story...

But first, a rant...

Okay, the thirty-something entrepreneur from Forsyth County, GA is still burning me up. He was quoted in the Sunday paper three weeks ago in an article that told how the bedroom communities around major cities have become Bush's "base." The entrepreneur is quoted as saying he voted for Bush because he wants "less taxes."

So, LESS TAXES? My God, man, wake up. All he had to do was mail you a couple of rebate checks and you're hooked? MY GOSH! Did you know that Bush is running up the national deficit to sky high levels? Did you know that this so-called TAX CUT is only deferring the national debt to your children? Oh, and what about this little war that Bush started? Eighty billion needed last year, and probably another $80 billion this year? And that's just for redevelopment! Who do you think is going to pay for this? YOUR LITTLE PREP SCHOOL CHILDREN!!!!

On to my main topic for tonight...

See, the whole point of this website is to address violence and the rape of our environment. In regards to the "violence" thing, the more I look back into our history, the more I find the sinister role that Christianity has played in today's violence.

Let's review. First the Holy Roman Empire forces all the little "pagan" religions at the fringes of the empire to either convert to Christianity or die by the sword. However, the Jews are permitted to exist because they are God's Chosen People. But throughout the centuries, the Jews are persecuted in Europe. Sometimes they are forced to convert to Christianity through torture, such as in the Spanish Inquisition, and other times they are blamed for the death of Christ. But most often, they are simply hated because of their financial success. Even though the Spanish Inquisition finally ended in 1834, new waves of persecution continued in France, Germany, Russia, and other European nations. Fast forward 100 years later and the German Nazis are preparing to ethnically cleanse the continent. The question is, where were the Christians during these long years of Jewish persecution? Were they trying to stop it, ignoring it, or participants in the hatred?

Ouch, ouch. Okay, I promise to vote
for Jeb Bush in 2008. Just put those
plier things back in the toolbox.

Sadly, even after the Holocaust many Jews returned to their home and STILL faced anti-Semitism. This was the last straw for many Jews and a few years later the state of Israel was formed. The point of all this is that if the Europeans had been "good Christians" and treated the Jews with love and respect, they would probably have not felt forced to emigrate to the Middle East.

Now, the irony continues because fundamentalist Christians point to all the violence and unrest in the Middle East as a sign that their version of the end is near, known as Armageddon. Yet, it was the Christians who created this whole current situation, through the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust and endless persecution of the Jews. There are no miracles that happened here, only a long series of cause and effect events. It was the hypocrisy of European Christians that created the Jewish State.

Hmm, where were those Christians? The following is a quote from a biography of Theodor Herzi , the visionary of modern Zionism:

In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was unjustly accused of treason, mainly because of the prevailing anti-Semitic atmosphere. Herzl witnessed mobs shouting “Death to the Jews” in France, the home of the French Revolution, and resolved that there was only one solution: the mass immigration of Jews to a land that they could call their own.

The rest, as they say, is history. Again, it was European anti-Semitism that led to the creation of Israel, and it was NOT a miraculous act of God, as I was always told in Church.

Did you know?

At one point the Jews considered creating a nation in British-owned Uganda, but the idea was quickly voted down by the World Zionist Congress at the turn of the 19th Century.

Engineering Your Own Miracle

Ahhh, ouch. God is using this
pain to teach me humility.

Well...

After blogging for seven months last year and journaling for another three, I think I've spilled out everything in my poor, pathetic mind. There are now stretches where I don't feel like blogging at all, but then I get encouragement from friends and supportive e-mails from complete strangers around the world, and I suddenly have the drive to continue.

I'm thankful for Mike the Australian Guy, who sent me several e-mails last Saturday and gave me another piece to the puzzle. And then that's when it suddenly hit me and I said, "That's why I do this!" When other bloggers and visitors send me messages, I get new enlightenment and inspiration. So, I shall continue to blog. As my good friend Joe said, "Make it a labor of love."

Another Mindblower

Okay, here's another piece of the puzzle that Mike the Australian Guy turned me onto last week. See, the re-establishment of Israel as a state in 1948 was always pointed to me as the biggest proof that the Bible is authentic. But now I have discovered that Christian Zionists played an important role in re-establishing Israel as a state. Yep, you read that right — CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS! In effect, the fundamentalist evangelical Christians began to engineer their own miracle in the late 1890s. Man, I spent most of my life in Sunday School — how come no one NEVER told me that?

Of course, the big problem is that Palestinians had already been living in the Promised Land for eons, and when the Zionists arrived, many people were forced from their homelands. In addition to Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, there are a lot of people who once lived inside Israel who are now permanently displaced. For over 100 years, this situation has become a major friction point for the entire world and has caused much hate and violence in the Middle East. Since many Arabs see the United States as unfairly siding with Israel, our own country has been the target of much terrorism and hate.

So, why did the Jewish Zionists return to Israel anyway? Because there was anti-semitism all over Europe, including France, Germany, Poland, and Russia. During this anti-Jew climate, where were the Christians of Europe between 1840 and the Holocaust? What were they doing to stop the discrimination and hate against Jews? Or were they participating in the bigotry?

Today, we have a violent, unending friction point in the Middle East, all in the name of the three great Western religions. What am I missing here, folks?

"More illegal Israeli settlements are going upon stolen Palestinian land every day. More Palestinian homes are demolished daily by the Israeli occupation and Palestinian families are made homeless. Two thousands Palestinian prisoners are still rotting in Israeli jails."

—Soray Amra, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination committee, July 28, 2000

Time Is Running Out ... Or Maybe Just Oil

It is 2005 - A New Year

Maybe we should just end it all now, or maybe we should continue the struggle.

I'm puzzled by these "White Flight" Republicans who have moved into their nice trophy houses in the outer counties around Atlanta. They scream how they don't like taxes and how they stand for "values." However, their values have nothing to do with Christianity — the value they push is the "American Way of Life." You know, it's the "all about me" syndrome. "Golly jeepers, I'm an entrepreneur and I don't believe the government should be taking MY MONEY," they say. What they really are saying is they don't want THEIR MONEY being taken and given to those poor black kids FAR AWAY in the inner city.

And if they really believed in "values" why did they flee the city and older suburbs to get away from people of color? If they are Christians, shouldn't they stay in these areas and help the poor people who need help the most? No! They drive their trophy SUVs, go to their trophy churches, live in their McMansions, and then they scream about "values." They have sold their soul to their credit cards and mortgage company and they provide their children with a shallow "video game" existence. VALUES? They get all pumped up about anti-gay amendments, yet most of them have never even MET a gay person. They scream that abortion is unconditional murder, but they have never looked into the eyes of a scared, pregnant 10-year-old girl who was raped by her drunken step-dad. VALUES? Thank God their SUVs are sucking up the oil more quickly. Once our oil-based economy crumbles, then these materialistic conservatives who make up George W. Bush's BASE will be humbled.

Speaking of Oil....

Seven years ago I realized that the Earth is in major trouble, and I decided to work on the most serious social and environmental issues — the human population explosion. But now, I think I might be able to take a break and play more tennis.

See, I am now starting to think that a world oil crises will do much more to slow population than any family planning program ever could. For one thing, it appears that humans are determined to reproduce to the limits of their food supply regardless of how much we are educated and regardless of the availability of contraceptives.

But our food production requires a lot of energy, and as gas goes up to $2.50 a gallon and above, everyone will feel the ripple effect. It won't affect the most primitive societies and it won't affect the very rich because they can afford alternative energy. But for the vast majority of us in the middle, the spike in oil prices will have a major, unpleasant effect on our lives. Maybe then, people will wisely begin to have smaller families and live more sustainably. Then, it will take the Earth a century or so to recover from all the burnt fuels we released into the atmosphere. So, maybe with the cheap oil all gone, humans will begin living a sustainable life sometime in the next 50-75 years.

Values??????

Getting back to my original comment above, I mean VALUES? Everyone wants their freaking "DREAM HOME" and these are usually built on pastures and old farms in the bedroom communities of major cities. VALUES? You just HAVE to pay $40,000 for that SUV, with the video screen in the back, so your three kids will be occupied? You feel safe in an SUV? What about those unfortunate poor people who drive Ford Fiestas? You'd flatten them and not even know it. VALUES? Come on, I am bent over, laying on the floor, and laughing until my sides hurt. VALUES? My gosh! Your souls may be saved, but they sure are hollow — and shallow.