“Distracted from distraction by distraction” ― T.S. Eliot

We, the residents of the United States, have entered a period in our life that will baffle the historians of the future.  Like lambs being led to slaughter, we have been led into a mêlée where the citizenry cannot win.  And leading the way, that we blindly travel, is not a charismatic leader, not the leadership of the Democrats or the Republicans and not the current candidates running for President; our ‘bell cow’ is the ‘media’.

We are experiencing the most pungent use of ‘yellow journalism’ than ever before in our history.  The honorable charge of a Journalist is to provide the general public with accurate and helpful information.  While I believe that there must have been some Journalists in our past who upheld this honorable position of trust, I am convinced that today most Journalists have lost their way…..and yet we follow them, regardless of the destination; and it matters not which brand of media you prefer, as they all – the Networks, Newspapers and Online presentations, are creating a product of dangerous and false information.

Why is the foregoing happening?  Because it has become more important to Journalism to produce ratings and advertisers, than the truth.  To do that, sensationalism must be embraced rather than objective journalism; and that seems to be what the public wants to hear and see – because that’s all we see and hear.  How strong of an example is this week’s worldwide coverage of a man sitting in a tree, in downtown Seattle!  There was no reason that the world needed to see such coverage, yet all of the Networks covered it and the Public, like sheep, were glued to their Televisions and Radios, asking “why is he up there”? 

The greatest contributor to the lack of objective journalism has to be the age of technology, where anyone – including me – can be a Journalist; or are we really Journalists if all we are doing is spouting our opinions?  Walter Cronkite said “Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine”! 

I admit, I am a blogger, not a Journalist.  My writings are developed, usually after I have become so disgusted with what I see on the internet and the national media.  I don’t use the backdrop of a crashed airplane, starving children or burning buildings, to get your attention.  I think; and I try to get you to think, even if in the end you don’t agree with me. 

I don’t care about ratings and I don’t sell advertising!  My copy is not embellished by pretty colored pictures, depicting the ‘good guys’ and black and white pictures depicting the ‘bad guys’, and I don’t use misleading headlines.

Recently on Facebook, there was a political cartoon showing a crowd of people pulling down the statue of the Thinker, a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin.  The irony was not wasted on me.  My opinion is that the crowd, in the cartoon, did not represent the general public, the ordinary citizen or our children.  The crowd represented the current state of the News Media!  Society is looking on, while the inspiration to think, is being pulled down before our very eyes by those who are supposed to provide us information that causes us to think. 

Because of our refusal to think for ourselves and allow the media to tell us what is or is not right, another quote begins to ring loud and long:  We are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders….. Walter Cronkite.

Get a Grip Folks!

Have you ever considered how truly far into the abyss we have fallen? The lack of education has to be the reason. I learned about Christmas around the world and other winter events in school. Apparently I’m part of a lost educated generation.

Christmas has been with us since the Catholic Church established it in the 4th century. The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in about 336 AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.

So Christmas began as a Catholic tradition and eventually adopted by other Christian denominations. So What? Does it really matter who started the tradition? Heck, Judaism started Thanksgiving, with the various harvest festivals, but we all adopted the event and eventually gave it a specific day!

DON’T TAKE THE CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS BY WRITING XMAS!!!!! Oh my!. Xmas is not a secular way of writing Christmas – it comes from the Greek expression where X (the Greek letter chi) refers to Christ.

DON’T SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Merry means happy or joyous; why on earth would you not wish someone a happy and joyous day, whatever the day is? Like it or not, December 25 is the assigned day for Christmas. Like it or not, EVERYONE will, unless they die beforehand, find themselves experiencing December 25; this includes, Christians, Jews, Muslims and in fact ALL people. What is wrong with wishing them a happy or joyous day?

ONLY GREET WITH HAPPY HOLIDAY! Why get upset about this greeting. After all, HOLIDAY is a shortened iteration of HOLY DAY!!!!

And then there was the ridiculous uproar about Starbucks© and their coffee cups that were anti-Christian because they removed the ‘Christmas symbols’ from the cups. First of all, they weren’t Christmas symbols. Snowflakes, trees and gingerbread men, are winter symbols, not exclusively Christmas symbols. By the way, did you notice that Starbucks© cups are red and green? Those are traditional CHRISTMAS COLORS!

A few hours more than ten days to go before XMAS. Get a grip folks! If you celebrate Christmas have a happy holy day! If you don’t celebrate Christmas, have a merry day that others call Christmas.

Just remember, if you continue to argue about the day and what to say when greeting one another, Santa Claus, Pere Noel, Papai Noel, Viejo Pascuero, Dun Che Lao Ren, Kerstman, Joulupukki, Weihnachtsmann, Kanakaloka, Hoteiosho – will not come to your house, or if he/she does, you will get a stocking full of coal.

Oh my! I think I started a new controversy. 

This Is NOT a Second Amendment Issue!

The tragedy in San Bernardino is beyond comprehension!  Unfortunately, it is just one more massacre in a series of masseurs in the United States of America, this year.  The Washington Post reports on December 2: The San Bernardino shooting is the second mass shooting today and the 355th this year.  (A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as a shooting event that has 4 or more casualties).  In the early morning hours of December 2, one person was killed and three were injured in an incident in Savannah, Georgia.

Two things I know:

1)    This is not a Second Amendment issue, because nobody is suggesting legislation to take away guns, from law abiding people – despite what is written, quoted and shared on Facebook.

2)    The amped up rhetoric, hyperbole, hate speech and postings on the internet, have done absolutely no good to resolve anything and have only divided us further.   

What I don’t know is how to stop this insane execution of citizens in our Country where we have always prided ourselves in our tolerance and freedom – which is supposed to be ‘for everyone’ not just those who agree with your point of view – and I don’t think you do either.

Neither side of this argument (Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative, Christian or Secular) has a clue as to how to stop the loss of life by gunfire.  Calling the President or another Social and Religious group horrid and filthy names, has not accomplished a thing other than possibly making you look like a fool.

What to do?  First admit that you don’t have the solution either!  Start reasonable discussions that are free of incitement, and are truly are looking for a solution. 

Benjamin Watson, in his book ‘Under Our Skin, uses the phrase “this is not a skin issue, it is a sin issue”.  Although Mr. Watson was talking about another subject, I will say that the death by gunfire issue, ‘is not a gun issue, it is a heart issue’!

If you really want to stop the insanity, use your efforts to find a real solution.  If we took all of the energy that is used to attack, from one side or the other, and channeled it into a common effort, I am convinced that Americans (not so called hyphened Americans) could find the answer.

As a friend of mine would say “put on your big boy/girl pants and get to work.

I’m War Weary

I was born in 1943, at Schilling Army Air Corps Base, during a war.  I don’t remember much about that war; my Aunt talked about it and at one time she talked about the Germans and Russians having a big battle.  

My Dad was in the Army and played in the Army band.  I have a picture of me standing beside the ‘Freedom Train’ in Seattle, when I was about 4 years old.  So my first environment was a war environment.

My next recollection of war was when General Eisenhower promised if he was elected President, he would bring the ‘boys home from Korea’.  I later learned the depth, insanity and cruelty of the Korean War from history books and of course M.A.S.H.

After Korea (which actually was called a Police Action) there were several other interventions by the United States Armed Forces and of course there was the  ‘Cold War’ which frightened me as I grew up under the threat of the Atomic Bomb, then the Hydrogen Bomb and who knows what other horrible weapons that threatened to destroy the world, using something called ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ (MAD), which guaranteed that if Russia attacked the U.S. we would return fire and assure that neither would survive.  Growing up under that threat, defined by the following, was very frightening, even if we didn't understand the total impact that such an action would have:

Mutually assured destruction, or mutual assured destruction (MAD), is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of deterrence where the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of those same weapons. The strategy is a form of Nash equilibrium in which neither side, once armed, has any incentive to initiate a conflict or to disarm.

I was in High School when I realized that all the air raid drills of elementary school, where we were sent to ‘air raid ditches’, were nothing more than training us, in case of attack, to “go calmly to the prepared mass graves”.  Talk about a precursor for P.T.S.D.!!!

Next came the Cuban Missile Crisis and of course the undeclared war known as Viet Nam.  Since then, there has been Bosnia, Kuwait, twice in Iraq, Afghanistan, and small attacks and deployments throughout the Middle East and Africa; all because the United States wants to preserve the rights of the oppressed……which is a good thing but ‘too much is too much’!  The time has come for us (the United States) to stop being the lead Policeman for the world.  Cooperative ventures with other Nations are a good thing, but let someone else take the lead, and let’s use the bulk of our Armed Forces to protect our boarders in the same manner that other Countries do.

The issue of declaring war against terrorism is certainly in our best interest but we do not need to be the only, the largest or the primary defender.  Frankly, when I watch the barbaric actions of ISIS or ISIL, I am angered; when I hear supposedly well educated people claim “well the Christians were just as bad” ( as if to dismiss or ignore such acts) I am saddened by their stupidity.  Indeed, the Crusades were awful, and the barbaric actions of Christians and later the Nazis are not to be excused; nor are any violent actions against any religious group or race of people, in the name of another group race or religion, acceptable to me.

Step up, other nations! Arab States….. take note of what Jordan has done!  They are willing to hit hard but can’t do it alone.  ISIS or ISIL is not acting according to what they claim as Muslim beliefs and practices.  They are acting as barbarians and are, attempting to force ‘their brand’ of life on not just non-Muslims, but on other Muslims as well.  I would hope that mankind would have matured, since the Crusades – but maybe not.

Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and other Muslim States; can’t you see that the world is turning against all of you because of what ISIS or ISIL is doing?  Show the rest of the world that you oppose such acts too!  Step up, take the lead and wipe this ‘cancer’ out!  If you do, I and many others in America would support you in many ways.  But again, frankly some of us are ‘war weary’ and are not willing to take the lead any longer.

Many detractors will say that our involvement around the world is a Democrat issue and others will say a Republican issue.  The truth of the matter is that the issue is not patrician.  The issue is arrogance and economic; traits possessed by Democrats and Republicans ….. and those who won’t take sides.

“That’s the way we’ve always done it” is the battle cry of the insane, not a responsible leadership of a free Country,

Polarization in the Season of Peace

Here we go again!  As if we didn't have enough controversy in this Country already, now we have the annual gripe festival called “I’m Better Than You”.

·      IN THIS CORNER ARE THE YOU ARE ALL WRONG BECAUSE JESUS WASN’T BORN ON DECEMBER 25^TH CROWD, WEARING A SMUG LOOK ON THEIR FACE AND THEIR NOSE POINTING UP IN THE AIR!

·      IN THE OTHER CORNER ARE THE HOW DARE YOU NOT SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME YOU HEATHEN CROWD, WEARING A TILTED HALO AND EYES POINTING IN A DOWNWARD DIRECTION TO LOOK UPON THOSE WHO ARE DEEMED TO BE DISCIPLES OF THE UNFAITHFUL AND  INFERIOR  IN ALL WAYS!

I’D ASK YOU TO SHAKE HANDS AND COME OUT FIGHTING, BUT IT’S NOT LIKELY THAT YOU WILL EVEN BE IN THE SAME ROOM TOGETHER AND YOU START FIGHTING LONG BEFORE THE EVENT!

DING! ROUND 2014

For crying out loud!  What is wrong with you people?  Of course Jesus wasn't born on December 25^th, but so what?  All the Presidents of the United States were not born on the 3^rd Monday in February, but we observe that day to have large sales on cars, trucks, mattresses and other things – oh, and to remember the births of the Presidents.

Christmas was originally a pagan holiday?  No, but there were pagan celebrations around that time a long time ago!!  By the way, the celebration of birthdays was originally a pagan observance!  Another BTW: Christmas wasn't celebrated by the original Christians, although they did celebrate Resurrection Sunday, which some continue to call Easter (a pagan word).

For those of you who despise Catholics……who do you think assigned Christmas as a church observance?  Hmm.

One final rant: Christians believe in what is commonly called the ‘Golden Rule’, which says treat others in a manner that you would like to be treated.  Jewish adherents believe in the concept of avoiding Lashon Hora (the evil tongue), yet every year, I hear and read both groups violating their own tenants.  Oy vay! (what's wrong with you nut cases)?

And so they don’t feel like they've been left out: to the atheists, secularists and agnostics – why to you get so angry about the celebrations that you don’t believe in?  If you don’t believe it, what in the name of nothing or maybe something are you afraid of?

Grow up….all of you!  Put your big boy/girl or unisex pants on and take some responsibility for supporting this season that among other themes is the concept of ‘peace’. 

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but your beliefs do not make you better than anyone or any other group of people with different beliefs.  And in the United States, we are allowed to have different beliefs, regardless of what our leaders seem to be saying these days.

Now that I have ticked off a large majority of readers (if they have read this far) let me wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Season’s Greetings and more important I wish  that all of your ridiculous arguments and detestation you have caused within your work place, schools, families and friends, dissolve leaving nothing but Peace, Tolerance and Acceptance of others.

Christian Nation?

I know I didn't pay as much attention in history class as I should have, especially because in my older years I have become fascinated with history.  The story of mankind and his progress or regress over the centuries is quite a read.  Winston Churchill is quoted as saying “history is written by the victor”.  A true statement of sort but in recent times I see that some folks are trying to set the record straight, as they should.  I would like to do the same.

As a student of Constitutional Law, and for a couple of years as a college instructor of the same, I have read and re-read the Constitution and many of the founding documents and have never found a proclamation of any sort, that the United States of America was established as a Christian Nation.  Certainly the Founders of this Country were not only keen but insistent on establishing laws that are definitely rooted in the Holy Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, but at no time did they officially, intentionally or accidentally claim that the United States was a Christian Nation.

 

The U.S. Constitution is a wholly secular document. It contains no mention of Christianity or Jesus Christ. In fact, it uses religious terms only twice; in the First Amendment, which bars laws "respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and in Article VI, which prohibits "religious tests" for public office. Both of these provisions are evidence that the Country was not founded as officially Christian or any other religion.

For years now, I see postings on the internet and hear talks on radio and TV, claiming that the United States of America was and is a Christian Nation; usually, these writers/orators pick some obscure letter or an out of context phrase, to offer as evidence for their position.  One of the greatest ‘rights’ we have in the United States is the Freedom of Speech and/or Expression, so they are free to forward their position without fear of speaking/writing against the law, even if they are incorrect.

 

Yes, the Declaration of Independence does refer to the ‘Creator’ and ‘Supreme Judge of the World’, but never Jesus or Christianity – yet many claim that it without a doubt established the United States as Christian Nation. that holds as much water as the lady who insisted to me that the Bible was written by Christian men not Jewish men.

Come now folks, I too was taught that the Crusades were a good Christian event and that Christopher Columbus was a great ambassador to the New World.  Well, we know that many things have been done in the name of Jesus that were not good things and that many explorers were pretty bad dudes.  Not all that we are told is true!

 

So let’s set the record straight; The United States of America was not established as a Christian Nation…..if it was, Article VI of the Constitution would not exist and every person running for office would need to prove their belief in Jesus before they could be elected.

  

So what were the Founding Father’s beliefs?  Some only believed in God; some believed in Jesus and still others believed in no supreme being or established religion.  What they did agree on was that they and anyone who inhabited this Country later, had the right to believe, worship and adhere to any religion they chose without fear of reprisal from government or its citizens.  They also believed that nobody was required to believe if they chose to have no preference or belief.

 

Indeed, even with all of the problems this Country has today and all the bickering and political name calling, The United States of America is the best Nation in the world.  It is the freedom to believe what we want that makes it so.  Even the ‘tin foil hat brigade’ can believe that their minds are being taken over by aliens. Who are we to say different? (can you say NSA)

If you are a Christian, may God Bless you…..but in America you do not have the right to insist that  someone else can’t express their religious beliefs or worship that may be different than yours.  Practice what Jesus taught you; Love one another.  He didn't teach destroy one another!

Remember, things are not always the way we want them to be.

Stop Trying to Outguess God!

For the last year there have been some writers/speakers who have been laying out a scenario of the “end times”, and in doing so have been given a modern day “Paul Revere” status.  The end times are coming…..the end times are coming!

I find it hard to believe that these Christian Leaders would make such statements, even though their Christian writings say that nobody knows when the end will come. 

I am fairly confident that apart from selling books, receiving speech honorariums and being quoted in the National News Media, the only prophecy that is being fulfilled by the astronomical phenomena known as the ‘Blood Moon’ is the one from the Christian Scriptures in 2 Timothy 4:3;

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

Over the centuries many people have tried to interpret the pattern and movement of the sun, moon, stars and planets (including Pluto) as if there was a relationship to our personal lives, with mostly disappointing results except in rare instances when a roll of the dice would have given the same statistical results. 

·      Around 630 BCE, many Romans feared the destruction of Rome in its 120^th year, because of a myth that 12 eagles had revealed to Romulus a mystical number representing the lifetime of Rome, and some early Romans hypothesized that each eagle represented 10 years.

·      There were those who we certain that the revolt against Rome when the second Temple was eventually destroyed, was going to be the final great battle prophesied for the Jezerel Valley and on the order of some of the Sages, coins were minted proclaiming the ‘return of Zion’.

·      In 1033, some Christian leaders predicted that the world would end 1000 years after Jesus’ death.

·      In 1284 Pope Innocent III predicted that the world would end 666 years after the rise of Islam.

·      1524 Johaness Stoffler proclaimed a planetary alignment in Pisces was, in his opinion as an astrologer, a sign of the Millennium.  He revised his date as 1528, when his prediction didn’t come true. 

·      May 27, 1528, Hans Hut had predicted the world would end that day. (I’m glad it didn’t as I was born on May 27 a few years later; think of all those birthday gifts I would have missed out on).

·      In 1658 Columbus claimed that the world was created in 5343 BCE, and would last 7000 years. Assuming no year zero that means the end would come in 1658. (Old Chris got a couple of things wrong, didn’t he?)

·      The Catholic Apostolic Church (not the Roman Catholic Church) predicted that Jesus would return by the time the last of its 12 founding members died. The last member died in 1901.

·      Ronald Weinland, from the Church of God WCG, stated Jesus Christ would return and the world would end on May 27, 2012l (again with my birthday….knock it off already)

·      And finally the so-called Mayan apocalypse at the end of the 13th b'ak'tun. The Earth would be destroyed by anasteroid, Nibiru, or some other interplanetary object; an alien invasion; or a supernova.

OK, you probably get my drift by now; predictions of the end are as common as government officials who lie.  Now for the current prediction:  

Well first of all, the scriptures quoted to validate the prediction are:

Acts 2:20 - ‘The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come.  Joel 2:31 - “The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.  Revelation 6:12 -  I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood

The two physical problems we have here are 1) all the Scriptures say the ‘sun’ will go black/dark – because there is no ‘solar eclipse’ with the ‘blood moon’ (which is actually a lunar eclipse) this is not a valid prediction, if there is such a thing. 2) Both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures dealing with end times were written originally by Jewish Sages, to Jewish people in a Jewish time and land.  Therefore, it makes sense that the Scriptural prophecy should be revealed by astronomical phenomena that could be seen in Israel.

 Now I realize that NASA is a government agency and who trusts the government anyhow, but they have a prediction too; the eclipse will be seen not in Israel but a long ways away in a country that isn’t even mentioned in Scripture – The United States of America…..and other places around the Pacific Rim.

Yes I did a little research and yes I’m blowing my own horn!  But I’m not selling books or making speeches about any object in the sky.  I’m saying, if you believe in the Hebrew and/or Christian Scriptures, then obey them…..don’t try to supplant them with your own ideas. 

My studies have taught me, for years, that if you are a Jew or a Christian, you should follow God’s teachings that you find in your books.  I don’t see anywhere that gives anyone permission or license to edit, do away with or pick and choose the rules of life that God has given.  Try as you may, but you won’t outguess God so stop trying to shake people up with your ‘end times’ predictions, and read what is written in the Scriptures: End times will come, but you don’t have a clue when that will be.

Stop trying to scare people into believing, and watch for the moon on the 8^th of October and enjoy a wonderful lesson in physics and astronomy. 

Don’t worry; God will let you all know when the end of the world is to be……you won’t be able to miss it!