Seven Days Before Crucified

I usually don't name names, but here we are at the last installment of a series on dogmatism and bigotry among extremist religions in America.

First, let me point out, for the sake of discussion, Atheists are definitely a religion with various denominations, no less; "strong and weak" atheists, Saganists, followers of Nietzsche, Arthur Clarke and many others. Each group has their own commandments. No better than the extremes of Christian fundamentalism, they attack anyone who is not 100% into their dogma. Not only did Jesus spit out "luke warm" water, but the anti-Christ would do the same. But, they both like it hot; both are haters and bigots of those with whom they disagree.

I have learned various techniques through the years as an investigator, to survive while playing the "Pretender". Statistically, the Atheists at "infidelguy.com" don't tolerate differences or questioning even as well as do Southern Baptists at "baptistboard.com". It took three days for the Atheists to expel someone who claimed to be an "unsure Agnostic." The Baptists, mostly, Southern, took a full week to hang me on their heavy cross.

I will credit the latter, not to tolerance, but to their fear of the perception they would dare expel those who "just want to know how to witness to atheists". The Baptists got incredibly angry that someone would even suggest, for example, that their Bible wouldn't suffice as evidence to an Atheist on why they should become Christians. "It says here in the Bible, you should believe the Bible," kind of crazy, cyclical reasoning, but around and around we went. At some point, I even had to pretend to be ignorant of the writings of Nietzsche, "Also Sprach Zarathustra", where he declares , "God is Dead." They would not post a link to a site that defended these evil words. They covered their little burning ears.

By the way, for the record, Nietzsche never claimed to be an Atheist, and his writings suggest more a belief in God than a disbelief, as you can't say He is dead, if he never existed.

However, the greatest surprise came when I suggested the parts of the Bible where Jesus was quoted, "The RED LETTERS," were superior to say, the words of Paul or the Old testament (Pre-Christ), I was attacked to a greater extent than any. I was called a "sissy", "wimp", "unsaved", "not a Baptist nor a Christian." How dare I suggest Jesus was the number one authority on Christianity?

How could I question the fallibility of the Bible which has been used to defend genocide and repression of people on the basis of sex, creed, color, national origin...?" And of course, anyone that would consider things might have changed since the Bible told people to assassinate eaters of pork, shellfish and homosexuals, would be a "heretic". To this day, you will still get into a "cyber fist fight" with Southern Baptists if you suggest even the smartest woman is more qualified to pastor a church than the dumbest man.

In all fairness, not all of the group was hateful nor did they even necessarily express disagreement, but their failure to step up and defend people while they were being attacked or laughed at was simply "un-Christian." There were digital high-fives and laugh-riots when someone would attack those who would express an open mind. They would even use their "emoticons" to wave goodbye to you after a particularly childish insult. There were all of three who outwardly, mildly defended me when I suggested Jesus' love was more important than God's hate. There was even a moderator, DHK, who I sometimes referred to as DIK, who followed me from commentary thread to thread. He either joined in the attacks or simply watched them. I knew he was there because he kept participating in the debates.

When I complained to the Webmaster, Andrew, and sent quotes from the attackers, he simply ignored them and eventually apparently supported my banning. One attacker "standinfirminchrist" (he'll appreciate credit) and his wife, played sockpuppets for one another. I had to use small words for him, and he still didn't ever directly address any of my or other open-minded people's points. Near the end, he complained that I wouldn't take it like a man from his belligerent wife.

A Brit, one "Matt Black" seemed to be able to say just about anything without much backlash. It seems he had built up steam and having survived on the site for a while was not worried in the least about being banned. He even compared God of the Old testament to Hitler and drew little wrath. I suspect he had handled his attackers with and charm earlier in his apprentice days on the site.

In the bigger picture, I didn't hear anything that surprised me in light of the Pat Robersons and Jerry Falwells. They generally vehemently supported our attack on Muslim countries as God's will. Iraq's losses were ineffectual while our loss of life and oil were justification for anything we had to throw at them.

When I first arrived at the board, there were no less than six open threads complaining about the "homosexuals," from marriage to free speech to pedophilia, well, just about anything wrong with society was their fault and "they must be killed" according to Leviticus. I didn't even get to stay long enough to ask anyone if they thought Jesus and some of the disciples might have been gay. I really screwed up alienating myself before I had the chance to throw that one into the mix.

In the larger picture, it is a shame "Christianity" suffers from the truly extraordinary bigotry of the "Southern Baptists" and their minority Independent Baptist brothers. I made reference to a well-known "American Baptist" pastor, Tony Campolo, who , among other things, states "Jesus is not a Republican." Tony has authored 32 religious books and even he knew nothing according to many on this board.

Love, tolerance, peace, protection of the weak... all these "Christian" values went not only to the wayside, they were clearly attacked, consistently! If anyone is worried that the "religious right" might be backing down in light of the recent setbacks in Iraq or Bush's approval ratings, don't lose any sleep. The hate dating back to the Holy inquisition is alive and well in America, and I still fear someone knocking on my door to drag me off to the cross!

For those who offered true Christian friendship: Thank you for such clearminded analysis and kindness. There are clearly today in American Christian churches and even in the media that have never looked beyond their time or place. They pound their Bibles on the heads of those to whom they say they witness. They forget that modernday Russia and in the days before Gutenburg, the Christian Word (John 1:1) lived and people found Christ and Christian values without a Bible. I just talk with my fingers. I see many at the Baptistboard.com use one finger and sometimes HIGH FIVE ... like they scored, even when they didn't.

Editor's Note: Before this article was even completed, someone on the site discovered my true identity and had already posted a warning on baptistforum.com that an enemy had been in their midst. According to my visitor logs, many have been here looking for their names in lights.

Do Muslims Love Their Children But Hate Ours? If they really wanted, what is stopping them from doing harm?

You know, I lived in Long Beach, LA Harbor for quite a while and in all that time I could not help but realize how easily one could send in a dirty bomb without detection. For that matter, who is stopping someone from shooting a plane out of the sky, bombing a hole in a levy after they repair them in New Orleans, or worse, Sacramento?

There is so much they could do if they had the will, but maybe they are not so evil after all. My family is in Atlanta and I read all the time about the possibility of nuclear meltdown at the aging Savannah River plant, one the most unsafe facilities in America. It sits above the water table that spreads underneath the entire Southeast, a huge underground sea. At points it is as shallow as 1,000 ft. beneath the surface. If someone dug a miles long tunnel from Mexico to Texas, what is stopping them from drilling under a tent and exploding a bomb in our water supply?

I feel vulnerable but apparently I shouldn't have fear, as they know our vulnerabilities as well as I, and they still don't do the damage they could. Obviously, they just want us to get out of their countries and leave them to progress at their own rate and in their own way. We may not like their cultures, but who are we to breach their sovereignty?

Oops, I forgot, we have the right because it's OUR oil, right?

I would rather laugh than cry, but I do feel guilty despite my non-participation in this horrible infringement on the rights of people to ride camels and live in tents. It wasn’t that long ago that we were equally despicable to women and other races. We would have certainly fought for our rights to subjugate whom we pleased had anyone come here telling us how to run our country.

Hey, I've got an idea, let's drill into the water table and dose it with a little respect. No, that's too metaphorical; hmmm, how about some Prozac! Maybe while we are at it, we can overpower the radio waves of these fascistic conservatives with Air America (a little plug for Al).

I have no doubt we have thought of these things but we are too decent to do it. Maybe we should consider the Muslims might have the decency as well, as evidenced by their restraint from terrorism here since 9/11. I think they know some of us actually love our children, as do they.

Iraq Stats March 2006

Feb 28 2006

2,290 US Soldiers Killed, 16,742 Seriously Wounded

For your clear and quick reading, I listed key statistics taken from data analyzed by various think tanks, including The Brookings Institution. Most info is presented as of February 22, 2006, except as indicated.
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Spent & approved to spend in Iraq $350 billion of US taxpayers' money, plus another $120 billion requested in February 2006
Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors
Halliburton Overcharges and Questioned Costs Publicly Known to be Hidden by the Pentagon from Auditors $212 million
Troops Total 157,000, including 136,000 from the US, 8,500 from the UK, and 12,500 from all other nations (other than Iraq)
US Troop Casualties 2,290 US troops; 98% male.
89% non-officers; 76% active duty, 15% National Guard; 74% white, 10% African-American, 11% Latino. 22% killed by non-hostile causes. 52% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 69% were from the US Army.
Non-US Troop Casualties Total 204, with 101 from the UK.
US Troops Wounded 16,742, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)
US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home
Journalists killed 61
Journalists killed by US Forces 14
Iraqi Military and Police Casualties 4,162
Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated 40,300 to 81,700
Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated 53,470
Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed 365
Non-Iraqi Kidnapped 280, including 45 killed, 141 released, 3 escaped, 3 rescued and 88 status unknown.
US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq 47 total, 26 by enemy fire
Daily insurgent attacks, Feb 2004 14
Daily insurgent attacks, July 2005 70
Daily insurgent attacks, January 2006 75
Trained Iraqi Troops Needed by July 2006 272,566
Trained Iraqi Troops, Per General Richard Meyers in March 2005 40,000
Trained Iraqi Troops, Per US Senator Joseph Biden in March 2005 4,000
Trained Iraqi Troops, Per US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad in August 2005 "Not very large."
Trained Iraqi Troops Able to Fight Without Major US Support, in February 2006 {/b}Zero
Iraqi Unemployment Rate 25 to 60%
Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity 10.0
Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity 5.2
Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems 37%
Percentage of Iraqi Homes with Access to Piped Water 78%
Hepatitis Outbreaks 2002, 100; 2003, 170; 2004, 200.
Car Traffic Change 500% from July 2003 to Jan 2005
Registered Cars Pre-war, 1.5 million; October 2005, 3.1 million
Inflation in 2005 20%
Children Enrolled in Primary School 2000, 3.6 million; 2004, 4.3 million
Telephone Subscribers pre-war, 833,000; September 2005, 4.6 million
World Bank Estimate of Iraq Reconstruction Costs $55.3 billion
Results of Poll Taken in Iraq in August 2005 by the British Ministry of Defense (Source: Brookings Institute)
Iraqis "strongly opposed to presence of coalition troops - 82%
Iraqis who believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security - less than 1%
Iraqis who feel less secure because of the occupation - 67%
Iraqis who do not have confidence in multi-national forces - 72%
Iraqis who rarely have safe, clean water - 71%
Iraqis who never have enough electricity - 47%

Atheist Flogging For Free Blogging

I was curious about how atheists thought. I mean, I have certainly many friends who are atheists and other religions. Yes, religion. There is no difference. My experience with people of a religious persuasion has usually been to convince me I was wrong no matter how much they claimed to have open minds. I grew up Southern Baptist, so I have some experience with the type.

So, I embarked on an experiment. Personally, the internet is an impersonal place sometimes. People are certainly able to act in a way they would never act in your face unless they wanted to get punched. Of course there is always the transsexual of the broadband; you know that 55 year-old guy that poses as a young woman to excite straight boys or the occasional lesbian.

The problem with atheists is the same as theists; they argue a conclusion without sufficient evidence. I mean, if they simply didn't come to a conclusion, they'd be agnostics, who claim they just don't know. Logic is not evidence; it is only theory from a starting point to an end by logical means unless we are talking about math. It is interesting how much effort people put into atheism, while I rarely hear agnostics arguing their point or organizing into groups. Sadly, atheism has become as dogmatic as theism. They sound like beliefs to me. All I know is that I don't know; anything else regarding God or Godlessness is evangelism.

I guess the most emotional baggage comes from being judged. True, I refuse to believe in a God who would send anyone to an eternal Hell (fire), or a God that give us the nature to Sin, and then punishes us for it. However, a loving God that that doesn't know where he came from, who made us the same, that leaves us to perpetuate MIND by leaving such things unknown--This is a God I would not resist; even a God that no longer lives--other than through his progeny, us.

What is it that gives us chills when we love? Is it an accident from an endless series of accidents? Or do we conclude we came from nothingness into somethingness without willingness? Interesting to ponder, but does not change things other than to distract me from my primary task--the focus on HERE and NOW and the effect that has on THERE and THEN... Can I be detached; without proclaiming belief? Can I avoid coming to a conclusion therefore continuing to exist? For to answer any of these questions with finality might cause us all to cease.

Coming to conclusions without a factual basis are necessary for our continued existence. When you run, do you consciously consider the possibilities of the Earth caving in each time you step? It could, you know. But, of course, you keep running, as if on automatic. If you lived in such doubt, you would be paralyzed, have no friends, money, do nothing. Of course you live in faith that the past recapitulates, most likely. This same faith is what gives comfort to many theists AND atheists. You come to a conclusion and get on with your life, as if you are correct.

The agnostic does not know, does not care and isn't bothered enough to care about knowing, to let it slow him down. He reserves judgment for a time when we have tools to know or it becomes revealed. Maybe it has been revealed, to someone, not me...yet. Until then, Zen and then Zen again, before you know it, living in the moment, making choices without coming to conclusions about such things as God, that thing bigger than we.

These well-organized atheists come to conclusions that are equally assertive, absolute, and evangelical as the theist, so I chose neither; posturing only to refuse conclusions without sufficient evidence. Now, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut while on this website for two days; after all, I had to speed things up.

The response was amazing, I was chased across the island, beaten, called names, laughed at, threatened with "banning" and finally banned (for 3 weeks). Without the food and water of that site, I might die. What a horrible thing they did to me, banning me from their abuse and disdain. Yes, I have read Lord of the Flies but I didn't expect such rational people to have such irrational fears of something so silly as words.

They were without exception cruel and unusual, and for the most part, lacked any formal training in Logic, the language of their God. I have never seen such wrath heaped onto an outsider; and they didn't even know that's what I was. Didn't they think I could be saved if they only kindly presented their logical sermons?

They had official postings everywhere about their beliefs, The Ten Rules of Atheism. They had their prophets or was it profits, lurking in the background. One such prophet even came down from the heavens to confirm he could not tolerate such questioning of his faith. Wow, he even had an internet radio show. The "Mod" (moderator) posted on his profile he would do computer code for food.I read the TOS (Terms of Service) and nowhere did it say I had to agree with atheism or I would go to hell. I asked him if "Mod" rhymed with "God" for a reason. He threw me out of the temple really quick, and I hadn't even had the chance to question his profit motives, darn.

Unless you’re into flogging over your blogging, don't go there, Mary! Oh yes, they had the appearance of disagreeing with each other with their semantic battles, but when the essence of their Mod-fearing existence was questioned, that was the straw argument that broke the atheist's back. I even went into the site under an assumed name, FunFallacy, and posted a request for the old me to tell a joke or something. I said I missed myself.

They were on the lookout. Before I could get so much as a second post, I was banned again; I mean less than two minutes. I got an email telling me I was banned for creating a sock puppet...how cute; as if they were not puppets of their leader, feeling all warm and fuzzy when he delivered his sermons of disbelief.

Yesterday, I was listening to Al Franken, my pastor of liberalism, and he had a guest from Newsweek whom he quickly differentiated from himself; reporter ... just a person. I love Al with all my cynical heart.What an adventure that was, and will be again when my ban is lifted. I couldn't think of anything better to do on my Spring Break from teaching Critical Thinking than to piss off atheist evangelists. Oh, we Agnostics.

If I were qualified to believe one way or the other, wouldn't that make ME God?
_________________

You may not like me, but love me or I'll kill you--God.

Rapist's Rights in South Dakota!

Well, North Dakota now has a reason to crow; they are not South Dakota. The governor has signed into law an anti-abortion law that leaves rapists more rights to control a woman's body than a woman herself.

The law effectively banning all abortions including those following pregnancy from rape, becomes the first major legislation to test the new vote count of the US Supreme Court. I just hope Justice Stephens, 86, can stay alive to see this one through. I'm sure with Ginsberg as his nurse, (after all, the only woman must be the nurse) he will vote as he has but what about the new guys? Well, this precedent will decide two things 1) A woman's right to control her body and her future 2) A Rapist's child visitation rights. This should be interesting.

According to reports on "Al Franken," rapists have the advantage on this one. One more for men controlling the bodies of women not only during the sex act but in the 18 years following. I will say land just north of the border and publicly held abortion clinics in North Dakota would be a good investment. I hear they are running specials; 2 for the price of 1 in the case of twins. Ladies, on your mark...

Gridlock Means Giving Up--Doing Nothing

Please do something!

Recently, I hear many that propose a government in standstill, two branches in opposite parties, "We have enough laws." Everything is fine, here and there; well it's not.

Gridlock does allow stabilization, but in a country that has so much wrong, laws must be changed; lots to be reversed though we will never get back what the Republicans have stolen from the poor and middle class during Bush, with his permission.

We need major reform and gridlock will not allow this. Elections, medicine, education, war powers, privacy... Let's stop excusing them just because ping pong is a monotonous game to watch.

Most of all, back on subject; Bush cannot be allowed to destroy what little credibility and legitimacy our government has; Both parties agree on this no matter their position.

Bush symbolizes America, as does any President; get rid of him AND Cheney, start a new symbol--afresh, either by impeachment or elections. I am sick of being attacked when I go abroad for a President we didn't elect. Young Republicans represent comfortable, spoiled Americans that just can't understand what made us great in the first place; they just don't see why the poor can't just "eat cake." Their conclusions are twisted, insensitive and sometimes either completely based on ignorance or they are lying or just playing the devil's advocate without ever letting us in on the joke.

Transparency must be applied to our politicians and corporations who are given great fiduciary trust, while privacy must be protected. If we don't enforce these principles, we will burn while Nero plays violin.

Both sides in power are so polarized now, and even they agree with these principles. Bush is out of touch with all sides, which doesn't mean he is in the middle-- he is out, the other, an enemy of the state!

Masturbating My Mind and Encouraging a Circle Jerk

An Introduction

Sadly enough, the term, "liberal" has been equated to "bleeding heart." True, most guilt ridden sympathists vote on the liberal side of every issue. But this blog expects to be a platform for those who are liberal not out of ignorant guilt, but out of the knowledge that "liberal" means free and open to change.

Please join us in addressing any subject from the perspective of classical liberalism, libertarianism, and even if you are led more by the heart more than the head, as long as your head is still attached.

To jump start things, today I'd like to suggest that we are trapped in a present-day attack on free-thinking unless, of course you have the money to buy your thoughts. Our President speaks about freedom, while diminishing it. He preaches transparency and demands it of the American citizenry while exerting the right to avoid it in the name of executive privilege. Well, enough privilege. What's good for the goose is good for the gander; or, in this case, "jack ass" and "loyal steed."



This is an open blog without a self-ordained judge. So, feel free to share, attack, understand, misunderstand, and play the devil's advocate intentionally leading people astray only to embarrass them for having no sense of humor or heart. Be angry and one at whom we become angry. But, don't express too much satisfaction, as things can always improve!

Be free!

To introduce myself, I encourage you to visit my creative writing site also listed on my profile. I am a writer, having worked in LA, cleaning up the angst of Beverly Hills housewives, Japan, preventing suicides and Central America, observing unofficial warriors; now teaching college to avoid writing that which others want.