Truth has a liberal bias! If you're afraid of the truth, then liberals probably scare the Hell out of you!

TRUTH has a liberal bias!   If you're afraid of the truth, then liberals probably scare the HELL out of you!

Prayer In School

There is no law against kids praying in school...it's just led prayer that is frowned on because public schools have children from every religion. I have often thought that if they started class with a silent prayer it would stop all the wrangling. When I was still a Christian, I sent my boys to public school because I wanted them to see the variety our culture has to offer. And they knew they didn't need anyone to lead them because they knew they could pray silently. Jesus even said something about not making a show of praying in public because those who do that have already received their reward. Respect the religious sensibilities of children and their families and stop saying the country is disintegrating because we don't pray. How do you know they aren't praying?

"Right to Work"

Good News! "Right to Work" is meant to sound good to the ear when it's whole purpose is to keep most of the money in the pockets of the wealthy owner. They get to fire you without notice---right to work = their right to fire you! They get to pay you slave wages--right to work = you get low pay, no raises and no benefits. And they tell you "Right to Work" is good for you when what they mean is "Right to Work" is really good for them!

The message OF Jesus versus the message ABOUT Jesus

The message OF Jesus versus the message ABOUT Jesus

Many years ago I set out on my quest to explain the divided nature of the Jesus I found in the gospels. It took me a long time to overcome the persistence of Doctrine so I could investigate why I saw 2 Jesus's. I studied what theologians had to say and the fact that it seemed that the person of Jesus was unapologetically separated from his life as a Jew. He was born a Jew, lived his life as a Jewish teacher (rabbi) and like many Jews of his time was condemned by the Roman governor to die the gruesome death of crucifixion. Before his death, the gospels tell us what he taught and from what I studied from Jewish teachers---he never swerved from his nations beliefs about God. And at last I had the first piece of the great dicotomy of Jesus. The two I recognized in the gospels were the teachings OF Jesus and after his death came the teachings ABOUT him. The reason so many today don't seem to know the teachings OF this man is because so many ministers and pastors have concentrated on the teachings ABOUT him. Those being that he was the Son of God, sent to earth to save his people, only those who believe this are truly "saved", he was part of a triune God (3 persons in one god) who are the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. He died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to one day judge the living and the dead and finally he sent his apostles and disciples into the world to make disciples of all nations. This part is the most important part to most Christians today and the reason they are quite unfamiliar with the teachings OF Jesus. Learning that mantra of the teachings about him is simpler than studying those teachings of Jesus and applying them to their lives. And again, I add here: Jesus the Jew. He didn't found a new religion and therefore it's difficult to find that in what are his teachings. The teachings ABOUT him were created by the Church and have been promulgated by the Christian Church to ensure it's place among the religions of the world. There are many Christians who do follow the teachings of Jesus...they are those living quiet lives in service to their fellow human beings---a good example of this is Jimmy Carter. They sometimes preach but only the message OF Jesus--they usually live that message and rarely condemn anyone.

"HOME" by Warsan Shire

"HOME," by Somali poet Warsan Shire:

no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border...
when you see the whole city running as well

your neighbours running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won't let you stay.
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it's not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilets
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn't be going back.
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough
the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important
no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i've become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here.
             

Beware the Iran Deal?

Beware the Iran Deal?

The sad thing is that those pushing us toward war are the same ones that pushed us into a totally unnecessary war in Iraq. For the US and it's military it was devastating, for the Iraqis it was devastating but for those driving us to war there it was far from injurious, especially since they actually made money. They pushed us with full knowledge that what they were doing was wrong. They lied to Congress, to the American people and even to some of those they used to convince the rest of us. Even Hilary Clinton has said that what they were told was false. And if you want to know the truth about what happened I suggest you read Scott Ritter's book: "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein." Scott Ritter was one of many UN inspectors assigned to make sure Iraq was in compliance with sanctions. I remember at the time reading articles by this man saying that Saddam and the Iraq government were in compliance but when our government wants something they know how to get it. All wrapped up in this is the outing of a CIA agent known as Valerie Plame (wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson)--no one knew at the time that she was even CIA let alone an operative working to get information on Terrorist groups. Once she was revealed, she could no longer do her job since the people she was gathering information on, now knew her real identity. They stopped her but they couldn't stop her husband who went to Africa to find out if Saddam had indeed purchased the Uranium needed to make (WMDs)---"The story of the Niger-Iraq uranium deal was a key prop in the Bush administrations case for war against Iraq which branched into three distinct and interconnected narratives with unforeseen consequences for the president, the US intelligence community and the American Press. It was Scott Ritter who first got my attention tho, talking about how the UN inspectors who were "on top of Saddam" for years knew that he had not purchased the uranium nor was there any "enrichment" program going on in Iraq. I felt like he was screaming his head off at the time and no one was listening---one "lonely American inspector" and a covert CIA agent who both had the same things in common---trying to stop the onslaught to war being brought by false information from our administration. You probably haven't even heard of Scott Ritter and you probably have forgotten all about what happened to Valerie Plame and her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson but I haven't. The Neo-cons are beating the drums of war again so loud that you think they must be right (again). But don't forget what happened because they have a hidden agenda and we will all be worse off if we let them prevent this deal with Iran. I apologize for the length of this but I had to put in enough so you would remember what they did to us the last time and get angry enough to write Congress to let them know why you are angry!
Are you with me?

2nd Amendment Again

You know, we've always been a violent people--willing to settle anything with a violent solution.  I'm not really surprised when individuals choose violence over a more peaceful solution.  We're pushing guns as a solution in every state in the Union with "Stand Your Ground" Laws (This was the idea of NRA--no surprise there either).  The head of the NRA said that because the pastor of that AME Church in S.C refused to allow guns in the church, he caused what happened---but think, if the church members all had guns what a blood bath might have happened.  And do you know that the 2nd Amendment is obsolete.  When it was written, it was necessary for citizens to be armed to fight off enemies because we didn't have the money to buy weapons for every man who wanted to fight.  Read it carefully---it's to amend the Constitution Article 1 (Powers of Congress):, Section 8 (about halfway thru where it says):  "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections (Like the Civil War) and repel invasions."  But no provision was made for arming the Militia so they Amended the Constitution to say that: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."  People don't need an amendment to the Constitution to give them the "right" to own guns.  (that's ridiculous).  And since we already have well-regulate "militias" (National Guard, Coast Guard and State Guards) that are all WELL ARMED.  This Amendment is OBSOLETE (Just my opinion but I reached it after studying this idea that Americans have about needing guns--they don't "need" them, they can have them as long as they follow their state laws that regulate what and how many they can have as long as they have a valid license (and I wouldn't mind a few federal laws regulating ownership).   But the 2nd Amendment, which is obsolete is about ARMING Militias, Militias which we no longer have or need.    Are you with me?

TREASON

Why not call it what it is?  Treason!  They take our tax dollars, and then tell us they don't have enough for programs that would benefit us all.  They lie to us, take bribes from the wealthy by changing the name to Lobbyists (and they did exactly that).  Bribery before they changed the name and the process was considered a High Crime--like treason.  They have started taking away things in their new way of processing laws, things that would make this country thrive again.  And if that isn't treason, I don't know what is!  Who will accuse them?  Isn't that our job.  That's what the founding fathers did when they signed the Declaration of Independence (against the government of England)
Here are some of the words Jefferson wrote that surely apply to us today:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness--that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying  its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness, Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long, established should not be changed for light and transient causes and accordingly all experience has shown, that Humankind are more disposed to suffer, while EVILS are sufferable, than to RIGHT THEMSELVES by ABOLISHING the forms to which they are accustomed.  But when a long TRAIN OF ABUSES and USURPATIONS, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce under absolute Despotism, it is their RIGHT, it is their DUTY, to throw off such Government and to provide new Guards for their future Security."   Like our Forefathers it is time for us to declare our independence from the despots who inhabit our government, making laws in the sacred halls of Congress that are nothing less than tyranny against We the People.  We gave them these powers by our consent and our votes...and they have and surely will continue to abuse the power which in right belongs to all of us.  All members of our government from the lowliest private in the army to the President of the United States take the same oath: "To protect and defend the Constitution of the United states against all enemies, both foreign and domestic."  And the other day I heard a former member of our Armed Services say this:  "In all my service to this country I never encountered an enemy of our Constitution in any of the foreign countries to which I was assigned." and I thought (he didn't say it)...but there are plenty of domestic "terrorists" right here and most are here in our own government.

You might (NOT) be a Red Neck

You might (NOT) be a Red Neck


You might be a redneck if:

It never occurred to you to
be offended by the phrase, 'One nation, under God.'   

To which God does this refer?  The Allah of Muhhamad?  The God of Moses?  The God of Jesus?  The Hindu gods?  The pagan gods?  The gods of our Native American tribes?  The Norse gods?  Or does it matter if you are an American, because all gods are honored here?

 

 

You might be a redneck if:

You've never protested about seeing the

10 Commandments posted in public places.  

This is America so would you mind if Sharia Law is posted next to it?

Because, that's what freedom of religion REALLY means!

 

You might be a redneck if:

You still say ' Christmas'         
instead of 'Winter Festival.'  

No that would make you a Christian and if you wish everyone a Merry Christmas

You need to remember that you may be wishing Jews and Muslims and Hindus and hundreds of others who don't

celebrate Christmas---something they do not celebrate.  That's not freedom of religion but imposition of religion!

You might be a redneck if:

You bow your head
when someone prays.     No, you would just be someone who honors God when anyone prays!

         
You might be a redneck if:

You stand and place your hand over your

heart when they play the National Anthem.  No you would just be one of millions of Americans who show respect for our National Anthem in this way (by the way, WE all used to sing along until they hired professionals who like to show off by what key they can sing it in!)

You might be a redneck if:

You treat our armed forces veterans

with great respect, and always have.   Depends on what you mean by respect?  Sending them to wars under false pretenses and then defunding programs for traumatic injuries and refusing to fund programs for the many who try to commit suicide when they return from the hell holes we sent them to serve in.  Want to "thank them for their service"?

DEMAND that Congress fund these programs and ANYTHING else they need...INSTEAD of or  IN ADDITION to shaking their hands and saying "thank you for your service"!

You might be a redneck if:

You've never burned an American flag, nor intend to.   It has been determined that it is in our First Amendment Rights to burn the flag  Second and maybe more importantly since it seems many Americans don't know this:  The proper way to dispose of an old and well-worn American Flag is to BURN IT.  It is improper to display such a flag since it is actually showing disrespect for our flag!

You might be a redneck if:

You know what you believe and you aren't

afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.   Yes, that's the description of a redneck all right!  

But what they believe is often not true and they are simply making fools of themselves for saying so, no matter who is listening!

You might be a redneck if:

You respect your elders and
raised your kids to do the same.
Some of you are so old you don't have elders to respect.   

I don't believe that belongs to "rednecks".  It belongs to any American who believes

in respecting other human beings no matter what their age and teaches their children to honor their elders and others.

You might be a redneck if:

You'd give your last dollar to a friend.    AGAIN, not necessarily a "redneck"  Many Christians who don't belong to Evangelical Churches do the same but Jesus said in Matthew, what good is there in loving those who love you?  Give your last dollar so someone who is in need and don't ask them how they got that way!  If you don't know then you haven't been paying attention.  You now live in a country which gives deference and preference to the wealthy (cutting their taxes, and their Corporate taxes while giving them Corporate welfare--money they don't need)

You might be a redneck if:

You believe in God & Jesus and

believe that others have the right

to believe in which ever God

they believe in as long as their

God does not tell them to kill anyone

who does not believe the same
as they do!!!!!   

 

Christians ALWAYS forget that they engaged in the same activities when Christianity took over the world.  Thousand died for refusing to accept Jesus Christ when the Conquistadores plundered the Native tribes here on this continent.  And thousands, perhaps millions died in the Crusades and the Inquisition (and please don't say that those weren't real Christians---they were just as real as the Redneck Christians who live here now.  Christianity has been a "bloody"  religion since it became a religion and guess who the Muslims learned this from?  Thankfully not all of them believe in following the Christians down their bloody path---Muslims in Detroit have donated $100,000 to the citizens of Detroit who have had their water turned off.  Everywhere in the world Muslims are doing good deeds while some of their "brothers" prefer to kill people who don't agree with them!

 

Are you with me?

       

This is on the Pope's address to the Cardinals:

 You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free! Exactly what Jesus meant....too many popes have covered up and covered over too many problems in the College of Cardinals which trickles down to others hopeful of attaining their power some day. Pope John XXIII called for a house cleaning by calling the II Vatican Council and while it happened and much of what was achieved during that time (in my opinion, was because the Cardinals could not challenge him on this move to repair some problems in the Church). Unfortunately, they began to work behind the scenes to remove everything that was established by John (who by the way was elected because they believed he wouldn't live long enough to do anything). It took them 40 years but Vatican II has almost been dumped by the conservative curia. The intrigue is hidden behind softly swishing robes which hide the mallet of power they wield outside the sight of ordinary Catholics. This Pope walks softly but he carries a big stick and he knows how to use it and he's not afraid to use it when necessary! The Holy See....sees all and is tired of it (remember he was a Cardinal before they elected him Pope--I guess the joke is on THEM, for once!

Are you with me?

Two opposing views in the NT:  The teachings OF Jesus vs The teachings ABOUT Jesus

Dennis, I like your understanding of "church" and the inclusiveness of the so called miracles of Jesus is spot on. I think if we could understand the Jewishness of Jesus, we would see why his call is about including people and not excluding people (which continues to happen with different Christian communities striving to recognize the miracles as proof of his Being god). There is nothing about his life and his death that is so different that we should think of him as god more than ourselves. The Jewish Jesus commands that we love God and our neighbors and complete that love to include our enemies. It is easy to love those who love us...the challenge is to love those who don't and in doing so be made perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect. It is the Jewish (Pharisee) Jesus who makes sense to me. The Christian teachings sent me to find out why I had so many questions after studying so many answers. The biggest problem for me is the existence in the NT of two completely different and as far as I'm concerned totally opposing messages. There are the teachings OF Jesus and the teachings ABOUT Jesus. The teachings OF Jesus are clear and consistent---those about him try to convince people of his divinity, his death for the salvation of all and his promise to return. If you try to live your life by those OF Jesus, you will live a good life and specifically the life of a good Jew and that is what I think it means to follow him. The message ABOUT him leads you away from HIS message---because the one ABOUT him couldn't be any less Jewish than it's creator, Paul. Who claimed a mystical version which put his "gospel" above the men who actually knew Jesus. Paul fought for the supremacy of his gospel in his letter to the Galatians (1:11-12) "I assure you brothers, the gospel I proclaimed to you is no mere human invention. I did not receive it from any man (remember he had no relationship with Jesus' apostles), nor was I schooled in it (by any man). It came by revelation from Jesus Christ." Revealed through the mystical experience of Jesus on the Road to Damascus. Paul's message is definitely the teachings ABOUT Jesus. Paul's letters pretty much all precede the Gospel writings and the names attached to those writings were attached much later with little or no proof of who actually wrote them. I'm rambling on. I love the teachings OF Jesus as many Christians do because they can be put into practice!