Sunday Soliloquy

Sunday, time for some more thoughts on religion.

We are experiencing an increasing number of natural disasters. The "leftist scientists" predict that it's going to get worse.

This means that I will continue to be baffled by images of pious survivors standing amidst the rubble of their destroyed homes and praising God for . . . . killing their neighbors instead of themselves?

Generation Zzzzzzzzzzzzz . . . .

Einstein's predictions in the world of physics were earth-shaking, but I wonder if this might not be his most prophetic legacy:

"I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots"

Pin-Up

Here's a copy of the one "pin-up" hanging in my bachelor pad. Today is the birthday of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), the poet who gave us:

"I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for death."

Washington And Lincoln Are Spinning Today Faster Than Sean Spicer At A Press Conference

Mr. Trump, here's something you could do to convince the world that you were really elected:
YOU COULD STOP CAMPAIGNING!

Religious Ruminations

Sunday, time again for some thoughts on religion.

The persistence with which people cling to the religion of their families has always baffled me. If you are born into a Catholic family, you are Catholic--if a Lutheran family, you are Lutheran. It's as if religion were inherited like the color of your hair or eyes.
How can you inherit beliefs?

Last Gasps

The main difference between the conservative and progressive mind-set involves the ability to accept change. Right now, we are facing two big changes in America:
1. The end of the fossil-fuel era
2. The end of the WASP era

The current rise of anti-science reaction and racism are simply last gasps against the inevitable.

At the start of the 20th Century, blacksmiths became mechanics and financiers moved their money from timber to oil. The world changes and you can either change with it or be left behind. Reactionaries of the period who clung to the horse-and-buggy were left behind.
At the start of the 21st Century, oil-well riggers might have to become wind-turbine riggers and wise speculators will move their money from coal and oil to solar energy. Reactionary fossil-fuel investors might still make some quick bucks for a while, but they are ultimately pissing in the wind that will power our future generators.

"Alt-right" extremists clinging to their fading era? I suggest that they trade in their copies of Mein Kampf for hummus recipes and salsa-dancing instructions.

                                     Sorry, but the times they are a-changin'

My God Can Beat Up Your God

"People killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend."

This is Napolean Bonaparte's definition of a religious war. Napolean knew a thing or two about war, and he understood the insanity of religious war. I wish that our new ideologues in Washington did.

Steve Bannon and his alt-right thugs are goose-stepping us into what they see as a glorious showdown between Christianity and Islam--a Ninth Crusade.

Our own, homegrown jihadists are a greater threat to this nation than ISIL could ever hope to be. They are willing to trample the Constitution and destroy every principle our American democracy was founded upon to prove that they have the "better imaginary friend." We are being dragged toward the possible killing of millions because some little boys with their toys want to show the world that Jesus can kick Allah's ass.

These lunatics have to be stopped.

And The Prize For Dumbest Member Of Congress Goes To . . .

It's a crowded field. My own lone representative, who has distinguished himself by referring to gay men as "butt-fuckers" in a high-school commencement speech, and threatened a female environmentalist on the floor of Congress with a club made from a walrus penis, is clearly in the running. No list would be complete without Sheila Jackson who is proud to be serving in a "four-hundred-year-old government" and happy to see "the two Vietnams living peacefully side by side, north and south." We can thank Sen. Hank Thompson for warning us that a new military base on Guam would put too much weight on one side of the island and cause it to "capsize." And, of course, there's the pride of Oklahoma, Sen. Inhofe, a serious contender after famously disproving global warming by making a snowball.

I don't think that anyone will ever surpass Michele Bachmann, who praised the Founding Fathers for putting an end to slavery. But among the current crop of lawmakers, the prize must go to . . .
REP. ROB McCASKILL (R. TEXAS)
Rob has responded to satirical Borowitz Reports as if they were real news and to the "Bowling Green Massacre" as if it were a real event. He is cheering on Betty DeVos to "eliminate leftist science" from our schools, and has declared global warming "beneficial"--while damning it as a hoax (?!) McCaskill vehemently supports Trump's election and inaugural delusions, adding his own purely fictitious "stats" about both abortion and Muslim immigration. Naturally, he's Congress' biggest fan of Vladimir Putin.

But last Friday, McCaskill really outdid himself with:
"I can't wait for the next 9/11 so leftist 9th Circuit ruling judges will wish they didn't roll over for our enemies wishing death to America."

By being too stupid to keep his twisted thoughts to himself, McCaskill has given us a glimpse of how badly some right-wing extremists in Washington want to provoke a holy war against Islam--a war that would deliver us right into the hands of the Trump/Bannon agenda for an emergency, fascist takeover of America.
Mr. McCaskill is the real "death to America." If his words don't scare the hell out of you, they should. Maybe they will scare his 238 Democrat and Independent colleagues into standing up and offering the resistance needed to save our country.

Religious Reflections

Reserving Sunday again for theological questions, here's a couple:

Were there dachshunds on the Ark?

Why can a woman become a saint but not a priest?

Don't Push It

It's official. After much debate, I'm proud to announce that Alaska will now celebrate Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. An excellent idea and overdue. Still, it's strange that there's been such controversy over the naming of that day while I've never heard any concern over something else named for a 15th Century Italian explorer--our country!

Amerigo Vespucci may not have been the most prolific explorer or the first European to visit the New World, but he was definitely the best PR man. By relentlessly glorifying his own exploits, he was able to put his name on two of the world's seven continents. Non male!

So, will we remain America, or will this re-naming campaign catch up with Vespucci as it has with Columbus? It may someday, but for right now maybe we should just settle for what we've got.

Even You Could Be The Next . . . .

I've been desperately trying to tune out Trump's cabinet confirmations. It's like the first round of American Idol auditions, and those are the ones who won

Which Side?

The President of the United States is mentally unstable. He has no idea what he's doing. Donald Trump can't see past his own swelled head, but he is being manipulated by an inner-circle of ideologues with a definite neo-fascist agenda. If they aren't stopped in the courtroom or the floor of Congress, they will have to be stopped in the street--and things could get very ugly.

Of course, a street fight is just what strategists like Steve Bannon want. By provoking dissent, they can create the crisis necessary for invoking Emergency Powers and suspending the Constitution--the next step in a classic fascist takeover, as I've mentioned in a previous Report.
AGAIN: If the words Emergency Powers are heard, Americans will need to drop their hammers and wrenches, leap from their tractors, stream out of their cubicles and hit the street to fight for the preservation of our democracy.

And here's where it really gets interesting. We have all these citizens that have been screaming about the Second Amendment and hoarding guns for fighting a government gone rogue. If the battle to save our country as we'eve known it were to hit the street:

Which side would they be on?

Kellyanne Simplex

Damn! Started my morning by bolting across the room to turn off the radio. I've conditioned myself to zone out the voice of Donald Trump, but I haven't reached that point yet with Kellyanne Conway.

Trump and close aides like  Steve Bannon are cancers that have invaded our democracy.

Though also a part of the Trump inner-circle, Kellyanne is more like herpes--a relatively benign but highly annoying affliction for which there is temporary relief but presently no cure.

Sunday Thoughts

It's Sunday again, time for theological musings.

I think that some of the most damaging passages in the Bible are those about God giving Man "dominion over the beasts of the field," etc.--the ones that separate us from the rest of Nature.
The idea of Man's unique status in Creation can be too easily interpreted by "pious" entrepreneurs as an excuse for having their way with the environment--and trashing it.

Why would God create passenger pigeons and then give humans the right to blast them into extinction?

"No Joint? That's Detention For You, Mister!"

The state legislature has just convened again here in Juneau. There are many fine people in that crew, but Alaska is a red state and its government includes some of the most ardent creationists and 19th Century capitalists to be found anywhere.
These reactionaries are very concerned with education--mostly in recognizing it as a dangerous thing that must be doled out cautiously. Drug and sex education in our public schools has drawn their particular interest.
Through an incredible exercise of "logic," they have determined that if you teach kids about drugs, the kids won't take drugs--but if you teach them about sex, they will all immediately start humping like bunnies. Therefore, sex education has no place in our schools.
To understand this feat of reasoning, keep in mind that these are the same people who claim that Alaska's oil was put in the ground all at once 6,000 years ago, and that the rising sea water destroying our coastal villages is the result of a hoax.

I would like to propose my own plan for a combined Drug and Sex Ed. class to be taught in our high schools. It would be a very short class.
The teacher holds up a condom in one hand: "When you want to have sex, use this," and a joint in the other hand: "When you feel like shooting someone, smoke this. Have both of these on you at all times. Class dismissed."

I'm serious.

My teaching job sometimes has me working with teenagers. This class would be a realistic step toward keeping the angry and horny safe and un-pregnant.

What Could Change In 228 Years?

Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, is being lauded by his supporters for being both a strict "originalist" and "textualist." This means that he believes in sticking to every little detail written by the founders of our country over two centuries ago.

Is this such a wonderful thing?

Once again, I find myself wondering:
Could it be that maybe, just maybe, it might be okay for a generation that writes with computers to re-examine some of the things written with a feather?

I'm With Stupid

Lying is not illegal. Lying under oath is. The easiest way of removing Donald Trump might be to get him into a courtroom or in front of Congress. Having him lie would probably require little more than questioning him beyond his name. He could be impeached, and possibly removed from office.

I disagree with those who fear impeaching President Trump because we would get President Pence. Trump is mentally unstable. Pence is merely an idiot. We have already had an idiot president this century and survived. Can we survive a crazy president? I'm not so sure about that.

"Mission accomplished."

"Global warming is a myth."

"Grab them by the pussy.You can do anything."