Life at the End of Empire

We send our warriors to die to protect the financial industry, the health care industry, the defense industry, the ... well, you get it.

I wish for a happy ending to our recession, but it's not looking good. See, the United States has lost most of its manufacturing base. Why? Because, thanks to overpopulation, there is an infinite supply of cheap labor in other countries. Because the supply of labor is so plentiful, the VALUE of labor declines. In the U.S. you have a worker who wants health care, a pension, and a bass boat, and this guy is competing against some Malaysian guy who works for a bowl of rice and a fish, and, well, guess where the jobs go.

So, without manufacturing, Mother America turns to her second way of making big money, which is new construction. Mother America whores away her greenspace, encourages mass immigration to grow the population, and BUILDS! The immigrants provide both the cheap labor as well as more consumers. Thus, we have the Housing Bubble. The criminal organization known as the Federal Reserve keeps the Housing Bubble going as long as they can. The financial industry is making the most money off the scam, not the poor Mexican laborers. The financial industry is the number one contributor of campaign contributions to Washington. Thus, Washington is paid well to look the other way as the Housing Bubble expands. The Left screams, "Affordable housing for the poor," and the Right scream, "Less regulation so that business can prosper."

And even when the Housing Bubble should have died, the scammers keep it going by offering sub-prime loans and giving houses to people who shouldn't own houses. Sure, there's a risk, so the big banks bundle hundreds of loans into packages, knowing that if a few mortgages are foreclosed, it won't hurt the overall bundle. And then that bundle of mortgages is sold to big investors like China.

But it's a Ponzi Scheme and soon the entire thing starts to collapse. But no worries, because the financial industry has spent $3.8 billion to buy the federal government, who promptly bails out the big financial institutions, and some executives even GET REWARDED! And then our government feeds us this big lie called "TOO BIG TO FAIL."

And due to this recession, I have neighbors and friends who are out of work, but for some strange reason they don't feel the rage that I don't do. They don't understand how the system has completely screwed them. And at my job I work with many small businesses that are suffering greatly due to this recession. Where is the rage, and the demand that we do a major reform of our government and economy?

So, I'm not sure how the story will end because I have a lot of faith in Americans. We are a smart and savvy people and can likely find a way to reinvent our economy. However, things will probably never be like they were before.

The bottom line is that our world and resources are not infinite. You can't keep building, throwing McNasty wrappers in the trash, and burning coal indefinitely without some kind of consequence. Our comfortable dream life, you know, the one we destroyed the environment for, is an illusion. And the millions who pursue it are full of DElusion.

— Todd

"We" Instead of "I"

Love one another, and remember that America is superior, and that everyone else in the world is corrupt and basically sucks. And don't worry about those uninsured U.S. citizens, yada yada.


I just saw the movie "Sicko" by Michael Moore. I don't understand why so many people hate him — I love the guy. The one thing that sticks in my mind is his comment, "It should be about 'we' and not 'I.'"

That's a theme I try to always push, but people don't get it. I was at a leadership conference recently and somehow got into a discussion with this guy about "working together as a team" and that the United States was arrogant. He said he was totally against the U.S. working through the United Nations or working with other countries because he did not want to support "corrupt dictators."

First, what "corrupt dictator" is he talking about? Or is he just parroting Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, like most people do around here.

Secondly, earlier, the guy was talking about being a Christian, church guy type. Wouldn't Jesus want us to "work together" to address the world's problems. No, I guess not.

I'm not sure where this "I" American attitude comes from, but I'm totally sick of it. We are an extremely selfish people, and at the same time we talk about "family values." Yeah, this is the nation where the dumb masses don't want public health care — we just want to keep the insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms filthy rich. You know, the ones that have purchased Congress. And where is the Christianity in all that? What about helping the downtrodden and poor?

Basically, I'm sick and disgusted with this entire country, and the level of hypocrisy I see is mind-boggling. Most in the U.S. have selective smelling — they can't smell their own shit.

One thing I'm sure of and that is our "great" nation will fall, and fall hard and soon. Hopefully, more humble nations will rise to assume world leadership.

President Obama has been one of the few bright spots I've seen lately. And the hate I've seen aimed against him is unparalleled. To have vision and an actual concern for the poor, well, damn, that is SO UNAMERICAN. And as for President Bush, he sold out the American people many times, and most unforgettably, he sold us out with the prescription benefit plan — a nice gift for the giant companies that own America. In fact, so many industries own America (pharmaceutical, defense, banking) that I'm sure our Congress is totally schizophrenic.

And one thing is for sure, and that is BEING AMERICAN means your head will be full of stupid lies, like CUBA IS BAD, FRANCE IS BAD, CAPITALISM IS ALWAYS GOOD, etc.... No one in this country seems to have the ability to question all the lies — probably because they are living so many lies themselves. After all, most Americans are delusional and believe that some guy in the clouds is watching over them. Maybe not. Maybe it's time we all work to help each other rather than putting so much trust in our imaginary God-man, our imaginary good government, and those beloved corporations. Americans, you are totally duped. WAKE UP.

Sinking, Spiraling, Fading

Depression is not something you can control. It just comes out of nowhere and hits you, and suddenly you find yourself falling into a dark abyss. Each day I watch the world go by and I feel that I'm just sitting in a movie theater watching a show. Half of me does not want to be here, but the other half does, so that I can keep gazing at the stars.

Lately, my cynicism has only gotten worse. I did not follow Copenhagen closely because I already knew the outcome. I am so cynical that I'm suspicious about everything — the Afghan surge, health care reform, etc... Every time I read something in the news, I think "follow the money" or "who's on the take." I know that true idealism has been left to the preachers and poets, and that what really motivates our institutions is self-interest and greed.

As for humanity, the extreme violence really drags me down. The story of the Mexican drug criminals who murdered the grieving family of the sailor who died in the drug war is beyond belief. The tireless terrorism of the Muslim wackos is also beyond belief. Setting off a bomb to murder and maim innocent people is beyond belief.

I believe that all government does is stop the excesses of our insane civilization. Without government, people could do anything they wanted, so they would just do the worst — rape, torture, murder, and looting. Once our civilization collapses, the world will be run by warlords, who will be vicious at first, but will then take on a form of idealistic righteousness — we see that right now with the Taliban. Eventually, the warlords will form city-states and small kingdoms, and eventually these will be united into nations by the strongest warlords, and thus the cycle will repeat.

As for humans, we are both beautiful and amazing, and disgusting and evil, all at the same time. But most unfortunately, we are also extremely ignorant. Most people are so hung up on pop culture, sports, and their white religious powder that they forget we live on a planet. They are clueless and only believe what Glenn Beck tells them, so that they don't have to actually research and think for themselves.

A few of us are self-aware, and that gives us the ability to look around and say, "WTF." Some of us become activists and dedicate our lives for a cause. As for the environmental activists, I respect and admire them with all my heart, but I'm wondering if their fight is in vain. And to even think that makes me feel like a rat, but I have just seen too much, and I'm understanding human nature more and more.

But something inside tells me to continue the struggle, not for victory, but because we find satisfaction in doing what our heart tells us to do. Maybe by doing what we know is right, we will find happiness, and that's something everyone seems to be searching for.

This last decade flew by. I look back and think of my accomplishments. I made a few, and I did some neat things, and had some fantastic experiences. I have no regrets, probably because I just don't care. In fact, I care less and less about things as I grow older.

Idealism is the most wonderful attribute to hold inside you, so I hold on to mine for the simple hell of it. I long for my soul mate, and I long for the time when I can just rest.

Courage

The woman in this video is Maryam Namazie, an activist against Sharia Law. Sharia is the brutal fundamentalist law enforced by many Muslims.

Maryam has great courage. She is risking her life to fight for social justice and to make life better for others, especially women. She's a great speaker. And she's not just talking behind a webcam or writing on a keyboard — she is out there in public, talking with great passion, and inspiring others.

Many people do nothing for social or environmental issues, and some do a lot. But few risk their lives for their causes. To me, these are the very greatest people in the world. Maryam has my extreme, deepest respect.

I have demonstrated before and have even done some civil disobedience to defend the environment. I have been arrested and threatened with arrest. But never have I been in fear of my life. Those who risk their lives are the true champions. I hope there is a time in my life when I can test my courage like Maryam and others. When the real test comes, I'm not sure how I'll stand up, but I hope that I hold firm. If I pass the test, I might not be able to celebrate because I may be dead.

To the activists in repressive countries like Iran, China, and other nations, I applaud and salute you. To the activists who stand up to the tyranny of Islam, you have my greatest respect of all. Your oppressors are not very nice and have no problem justifying extreme violence for their faith. To me, that's an awfully sick faith.

Please remember Maryam in your thoughts. Or, better yet, support her cause.

One Law For All - No Sharia Campaign

Left Behind

"You little baby-killing, liberal freak. Don't tell me about evolution. I know darn well that I didn't come from a monkey. I came from God."


This week I attended a professional leadership training, and at one of the meals I was sitting around a group of people who were talking about church and Christian authors. This made me feel uncomfortable, especially when they were talking about the "Left Behind" series by Tim LaHaye. In other conversations, a guy was telling me how he thought the United Nations was evil, and their comments about the Sierra Club, were negative, but at least respectful.

All this made me realize that when I chose to become a nonreligious progressive in 1997, I really isolated myself. I am particularly isolated from my super religious siblings and mother, and it's a sinking feeling when my sister gives Glenn Beck books as gifts to family members.

So, why DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF????

Because when I was a college student I started asking questions, and when you start questioning EVERYTHING, you can never, never turn back. In my 20s I became suspicious that my religion was completely made up, so I started doing research. The first thing I did was read the entire New Testament and nearly all of the Old Testament. At the time, I WANTED the Bible to win, and I was searching for the "magic bullet" or "smoking gun" that would prove to me that the Bible WAS REAL.

One of the most damning books I read was about the Dead Sea Scrolls, which convinced me that Jesus was a plagiarist. Now, if you are God descended from Heaven, I'd have to assume you are pretty damn smart and wouldn't need to steal from 200-year-old literature for your sermons. Yet, that's exactly what Jesus does with his Sermon on the Mount. This information is readily available and in the public domain. To me, that evidence right there is a death blow to Christianity.

However, it took me years to unravel the rest of the Biblical mythology. I finally found the clues I needed in 2003 when I stumbled upon the work of Acharya S. I now own most of her books, and have spent countless hours reading her website, articles, and blog. The essence of her work is that ALL religion evolved from ancient astrological worship. And yes, I believe the Zeitgeist movie is true, and a lot of information in the religious segment of the movie comes from Acharya's research.

In addition to religion, I've also studied evolution and astrology, which gives me an entirely different take on the world.

Ignorance is bliss ...

It would have been easier to go through life in lockstep with the masses, but now I have broken out and entered a new, and lonely world. I am different. I believe that ALL religion was created by men (sorry, not women) and that evolution explains the origins of life. I find evolution wonderful and fascinating, and I'm not going to attribute the miracle of nature to a God story. Rather, I will say that Earth is a one-in-a-billion wonder, and we are extremely lucky to live on this beautiful Planet, yet we are destroying it as fast as we can.

The debate ...

But herein lies the problem. It is difficult to have any discussion with religious conservatives who have such a vastly different worldview from my own. Unfortunately, rather than engaging in meaningful debate they simply get defensive, angry, and they DON'T LIKE YOU. For instance, many Christians get offended by evolution, saying, "My ancestors were NOT monkeys." Well, your ancestors are NOT monkeys — we simply have a common ancestor.

And left behind ....

The ones with the conservative religious worldview are the ones in the driver's seat, at least here in Georgia. I have massive philosophical differences with these folks. They are deeply offended that I support choice, and I am offended by their total unconcern for the environment. We have vastly different values and views. And as we've seen, the Left and the Right can't even work together on the most basic issues, like health care. It is sad, but I believe that once a person holds onto one mythology, such as religion, he or she is prone to hold onto many more. Their entire lives become a myth. As for me, I've spent my entire life trying to separate the Reality from the Myths. I wish more people would join me and do the same.

War Is Insane

A colleague sent me a book about his experiences in Vietnam. Last night I was reading about all the guys who purposely shot themselves to get out of combat. They typically staged the shooting as a gun cleaning incident. To keep from getting arrested they had to make the accident look real, and they obviously put a lot of time into thinking it out.

There has been a lot of talk lately about what is moral war. President Obama said the following four reasons are moral:

1. Self defense
2. Defense of another nation that's being attacked.
3. Humanitarian (civil war or regime that's killing its own people)

Well, I would definitely strike out #3. As for the first two, there are shades of gray. For instance, did a nation provoke another nation to strike? Did one nation engineer an incident as a pretext for "self defense?"

I will say that MORAL WARS are rare. The only real exception is World War II, which is the only moral war I can think of. If I had to fight in any war, it would be that one because you wouldn't have to struggle with the morality of the conflict — it was a no-brainer. Just look at how the Axis Powers treated the people in their occupied territories, and that alone justified the morality. The atrocities committed by the bad guys were unimaginable.

Iraq was NOT a moral war at all. Evidence continues to come out that Britain and other nations knew that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, but the Bush Administration was relentless in their push for war.

Afghanistan IS a moral war because the Taliban aided Al-Qaeda, the mysterious terrorists that attacked us (at least that's what we're told). So, in Afghanistan and Pakistan we are up against a group of religious fanatics who believe that extreme violence is an acceptable method to obtain their political goals. Of course, they get a lot of funding from rogue Saudi princes who, in turn, get their money from us — you know, when we fill our Hummer gas tanks.

Vietnam was not moral at all. I was a kid during that war, and I was told we were containing Communism. It was simply drilled in me that Communism was bad, and I didn't seriously question it. Only recently, after reading an Internet article, did I understand what Vietnam was REALLY about.

See, Vietnam was about a small group of rich people, who were once in collaboration with the French colonists, who controlled most of the land and wealth. The Viet Cong were dirt poor civilians who favored land redistribution. The American public wasn't really told that. Instead, we just called them "gooks" and "Charlies," and the idea was to "light them up" with M-16 rifles. And not to mention the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was used as justification to expand the war. Overwhelming evidence now shows that the reporting of the naval engagement was full of half truths and lies.

So, the moral of the story is when we send our boys and girls to war, really question what's going on. Don't just listen to what your political leaders are telling you. And don't think it is unpatriotic to question because patriotism is one of the world's biggest lies. Don't give your allegiance to any state, but rather give your loyalty to the planet and humanity in general.

As for what's REALLY going on in Afghanistan, I don't know yet. Who is bankrolling the bad guys? What do corporations have to gain from this war? Maybe it really is a moral war. My gut feeling is that it is. And, honestly, I don't have any respect for a group of people who treat their goats better than their women. I do believe that sometimes you must make war to make peace, but those situations are rare. May the current "surge" in Afghanistan truly be one of those times.

Waste Madness

I enjoy eating out and try to stick with places that use real china and silverware, like Waffle House or the Chinese buffet.

On occasion, I will eat at a fast food joint and it's a total guiltfest because I'm looking at all the waste going into the landfill. Part of me is saying, "I gotta completely avoid these types of restaurants," and another part of me is saying, "Everyone else is doing it, why fight it?" The worst offender is the Chick-Fil-A chain, you know, that Christian organization. My oldest daughter loves their food so we often go there for father-daughter time. But when I see all the empty waste on the tray, and when I look around at everyone else's tray, I am appalled. And yes, I'm ashamed of myself for patronizing such an anti-Earth establishment. But it's like an addiction because I know I will go back there — the food is wonderful, and I love their carrot salad. So, yes, I'm a hypocrite — I am the first to admit it. But unlike many religious types, I can smell my own shit.

At home, even though I live a relatively simple lifestyle and recycle whatever I can, my family and I still generate a lot of waste. Just look at all the food packaging! Some of the wrappers and boxes and crap can be recycled, but most of it can't. So, even an enviro-conscious family produces a lot of waste. And if I am producing THIS MUCH WASTE just imagine the waste that the typical American super-consumer creates. It is overwhelming.

So, where does the waste go?

All the plastic wrapping and containers end up in the landfill. Some landfills have liners, so they are basically a giant crap bowl. Others do not, and chemicals from the waste seep into our ecosystem.

All the cups, shrinkwraps, McDonalds toys, and everything else slowly deteriorates. This massive decay creates a lot of heat, and it also creates methane gas, which is one of the worst global warming gasses because of its ability to hold heat. Some of the methane is sucked from landfills and used for "green" energy, but most of it goes into the upper atmosphere, where it traps heat and makes our warming planet even hotter.

This begs the question ....

As our population continues to explode, and as millions more people are discarding millions more tons of crap, will we at some point reach a breaking point? Or can we just go on this way forever? I know the religious folks just think God will zap them out of their shoes, but does anyone else worry about this? I sure do.

We all can help ...

I once met a super recycling guy. He and his wife only threw out one small bag of garbage a month. The rest of it was either recycled, mulched, or they bought items with minimal or no wrapping to begin with. That is a good role model for us all.

I do need to make more of a commitment to shop at farmer's markets, however even these places put your produce in paper bags. So, the ideal solution is to visit a local farmer's market and bring your own bags or boxes. This is something I needed to do better at.

And finally ....

For those of you who are still using plastic bags at the supermarket, my gosh. BRING YOUR OWN! Just about every store is now selling reusable bags, yet most people STILL aren't bothering to use them. It's like people are not willing to take the minimal extra effort to bring their bags from home. Americans are a shameful lot. I mean, really.

Kaboom!

Things have so hectic at work that I rarely have time to blog, or do volunteer work. And that's a double irony. First, most of us must leech off the very system we don't like, you know, the one that's destroying the Earth. And secondly, most of us are so worn out from our jobs, and just trying to survive, that we have little time or energy for volunteer work.

As I go through this journey of life, I have resigned myself NEVER to give up, but I've really slowed down. I continue to become more cynical, jaded, and detached from our insane civilization.

The biggest disappointment of all is that I thought we could all come together as a team to tackle major issues like health care and climate change. The bickering, delusions, pettiness, and ignorance are absolutely incredible. The older I get, the more I realize how extremely ignorant the masses are.

The other disappointment is I'm realizing the utter futility of trying to reason with a religious person. These people are extremely defensive and typically have a narrow world view. There's no chance in debating them because they immediately see you as a baby killer, heretic, and all-around rotten person. For instance, I recently offended my religious neighbor just by saying I believe in evolution. For some reason, the idea that we came from monkeys really offends religious folks. But I have good news — we DIDN'T come from monkeys, only a common ancestor.

Then the extreme violence of the Muslim world continues to discourage me. I know it's PC to defend them, but honestly, Islam totally sucks. I'm not going to worry about offending people who rape their female prisoners before executing them, so that they won't go to heaven. I have zero respect for Islam, and ALL religions for that matter.

Even in our own country we have plenty of Christian militia, albeit they are far less violent than the Taliban and Sunni extremists. I'm finding that many of the "independent Baptist" churches in our country are simply political and social organizations. Most repulsive of all is Pastor Steve Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, AZ — you know, the idiot who said the president should be put to death. His church is nothing more than an organizing center for Christian militia, just like many mosques are meeting places for Muslim militia. And thus, we have reason number 1,098 for why religion is just all around bad.

So, I journey on, in this very crazy world. I do sort of look forward to when I can escape this nut house ... you know, the place where people destroy themselves and planet, and are too stupid to do any better. Yeah, that's the place — Earth.

I really do love the human species — we are fascinating creatures. But I have no problem if our species goes extinct. It is quite possible that when we go down that we will do irreparable harm to our very beautiful planet. But that's okay too. There are probably a few more Earth-like planets in the Universe, and when some other dominant species evolves, I hope they do better than we did.

Jumping the Hurdle

A thanks to my friend Snaildarter for slapping some sense back into me. He said all we have to do is rise above our animalism. Here is his quote:

I agree mostly, but we have become technologically advanced enough to step out of the animal mode and move toward achieving our mis-named name homo sapien "wise man" or "thinking man."

I'm really feeling like an ATHEIST tonight because I'm realizing that life is not such a miracle after all. As the Earth was forming there were trillions of little experiments going on at once. And these trillions of experiments took place for a couple of billion years, so it's no surprise that eventually mass would form into complex formations and make that leap into "life." And once that one little spark was finally created there was no turning back - life began to explode, develop, and become more complex. Humans are the inevitable result of evolution. It was only a matter of time before one creature would evolve to the point where it could begin controlling the world around it.

I mean, it's really amazing to think that things like eyes and memory could evolve from a pool of primordial stew. Evolution inevitably creates more and more complex life formations. This process continues until a formation is so complex that it has the ability to destroy its surrounding life support systems. No, not intentionally, but the destruction is simply the result of the increased complexity.

Out of the trillions of planets that are likely in the Universe, I'm guessing there are only a handful of worlds that could support life, for carbon-based life is a fragile and sensitive. Life is a force that can only exist within narrow parameters -- you need water, warmth, light, stability, protection from radiation, etc...

Of the few worlds that can support life, life may never happen because of absent minerals, unfavorable climate, or other factors. So, I'm betting that life is very, very rare in the Universe. But, somewhere out there I'm guessing that some life form has been able to get pass its self-destruction stage and flourish. And yes, I don't doubt for a moment that space travel is possible -- but right now it seems extremely difficult.

The odds of the human creatures on Earth being the lucky ones to surpass the Age of Self Destruct is highly unlikely, but it is possible. I keep hoping that both humans and the Earth will survive, and even if humans fail there is a good chance that Earth will recover from the relatively brief era of humanity.

God bless all of you, my children.

Goosey

Life is Death

When I was at the Tellus Science Museum today, I had some sort of epiphany, which I'm sharing below:

I think our genetic programming goes back to when the very first cell reproduced, 2.5 billion years ago. After the Earth cooled and began to stabilize, it took a billion years to somehow achieve life. But the day that life reproduced was the beginning of the end.

Sure, life gave us an atmosphere with oxygen, but it also gave us a predisposition to horde. Even the one-celled animals try to get all the resources they can, so that they can reproduce. One-celled animals become larger and more complex because there is an evolutionary advantage for doing so. Dinosaurs grew from lizards because it made them more competitive -- they could now reach higher leaves or become more efficient hunters.

Life is amazing, but also self-destructive. Five million years ago a life form evolved that used tools to suppress its competitors. This same animal is still around today, extracting minerals, raising crops, and creating a highly complex society that simply expands, and can never go back. Even if humans fail to consume the Planet, some other creature will. We flatter ourselves and think we are are special, but we are simply a host for evolving viruses. So, really, it's a race to the bottom between ravenous humans and ever-evolving influenza strains.

And let's put political correctness aside for a moment and talk about soft environmentalism -- you know, the kind that Gore and Kennedy push. The fact is that if we convert to clean energy, that will only pave the way for more human population growth. In reality, Peak Oil is the best thing that could ever happen to Earth, as it will remove one blight, but surely another blight will rise.

So, as for Daniel Quinn, myself, and the many others who would like to "Save the World," well, we are up against the very process of life itself. For life lives, grows, multiplies, and compounds, until there is no life. And if one life form fails in this goal, another steps in to complete the job.

This bare truth may live in the back of our heads, but we bury it with our cultural lies, and our lies become so ingrained that they eventually become our truth. Furthermore, by our early 20s, our lies are hardwired into our brains. It's like my Christian fundamentalist siblings, who try to force science into their archaic religious beliefs, and though they always can, they sound like idiots. For example, my bother tells me that dinosaurs and humans lived together 6,000 years ago. And no amount of logic or evidence will change him, because in his mind, to doubt or question would piss off God, and no one wants to do that.

I believe that the bipedal primates, the ones who invented agriculture and industry, and then used these tools to destroy the Planet in just a few millenniums, are about to play out. I had deeply hoped that our destiny would be to colonize the Universe, but we seem to have our priorities really wrong, and we can't seem to break away from the role that life itself has created for us.

Life is death, for life consumes all resources and brings an end. Evolution is only a temporary anomaly in the Universe that occasionally flares up on planets with stable orbits and plentiful water.

Untitled Post

The narcissistic maniacs are guarding the hen house as the mass majority of Americans go through life in their imaginary stupor. The U.S. mega banks are closing in for the kill, having milked the economy for all its worth. They do not care about the collapse of America, they only care about the golden parachute of today.

The jobs are gone, the economy is in shambles, and crazy people keep saying the government must spend more money to stimulate the economy, even as the economy falls to the ground, buried under tons of debt.

And WE, those of us who can feel, we let our ambers die out as we look into starlit skies and wonder about loves that were lost. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve manipulates the market, all to the glory of huge banks, which have consolidated to become even bigger, and have their powerful lobbyists in Washington, ensuring that the country they bought remains theirs.

And all the while those Third World families keep having six kids, and then those kids have six kids, and the space and resources run out, but the banking cartels only see the opportunity to exploit cheap labor. And even as human population goes into major overshoot, the big fat bankers carry on, manipulating markets, developing clever schemes, bundling mortgages, engaging in subprime lending, and bringing what's left of our nation to the floor.

Meanwhile the Teabaggers march in the streets and the Christian zealots scream "THIS IS THE END," yet no one really knows what the HELL is going on. But the rich get richer, and the poor become shackled tighter in their chains, and all the while, strolling prayer teams from the local Church of God walk through neighborhoods, praying for homes at random, but yet they forget to pray for me.

Oh hail, oh Goose, confused, wondering, and alive -- but only temporarily passing through a mad and crazy humanity that is too dysfunctional to save itself.

And it's because of our love for the "way it's always been" that we shall soon have to deal with the worst of changes. Mother Earth is angry, and she shall get her revenge.

Amen

This Is Why I Don't Take You Seriously

Judges 19:15-30

Okay, this Bible story is really messed up. I'm really tired this evening, but I'll try to paraphrase. If any good religious person out there can explain this story to me, I'd be really grateful.

See, this man was traveling and had a concubine with him to keep him warm. As he was entering a town a citizen invites him to stay the night. The men of the city came to the house and said we want to pong him all night. And the home owner said, sorry, you can't have him because he's my guest. So, shit, the homeowner says, take my daughter and the concubine instead. And they raped the girls all night, and the poor concubine had to come back crawling the next morning. And he ordered the girl to get up on his donkey, and she couldn't. So he got a knife and chopped her into 12 pieces.

Okay, apologists, give me your cutsy interpretation of this story, and why it is so moral. And why the Bible is perfect, so, thus, God had a reason for putting this story in here. Honestly, I want to puke.


Judges 19:15-30
15 And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.
16 And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.
17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?
18 And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me to house.
19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing.
20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.
21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.
22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.
23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.
24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.
25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.
27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.
28 And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.
29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.
30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.