Three Gods?

The doctrines of Christianity, Islam and Judaism all basically agree on the same definition of God. Each believes that God is a Supreme Being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the principal object of faith and worship. In addition, all three doctrines also believe that Moses was a prophet of their respective religions. Do we then worship the same God?

So some would say that Yes, in basic premise all three major western forms of faith, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, worship the same God; the God of Abraham. This God was known as Yahweh (Jehovah in English); although all three faiths currently only refer to the entity by his title of "God" (Allah translated into English is "God" and a title, not a proper name). Christendom started worshipping a Trinity incorporating the entities of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit into a single triune god-head in the fourth century. All three faiths claim their faith and practices are the only acceptable form of faith to God.

Some would say no because it would appear that Christianity, Islam and Judaism have one major diverging doctrine with respect to who God is.

 
1.   Muslims believe that Allah is the one and only God without partners.  2.  Christians believe that the "Holy Trinity" is a key doctrine that presents Christ as the true God.
3. Jews believe that the idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical.

Logically, the above statements separate Christianity from both Islam and Judaism.

Yes there are other minor differences that would fill a book if I would attempt to list them.  I just find it sad that three religions that worship one God would be at odds with each other since 600 AD.  During this Easter Season attention will be drawn to the spiritual home of all three monotheistic religions, Jerusalem.  Isn’t it sad that three religions that have peace, love, and forgiveness at their core are still at odds with each other all these years later?  When will they grow and bring the world together? Until they do they are not a source of comfort to man.  That is in my opinion.

Only one person knows who or what I am--ME !

I refuse to let anyone define me. When it comes to politics I decide how to take stands on issues. It makes no difference if people think I am Liberal or Conservative. I am a complex person and I decide how to label myself. I can take a Liberal stand on some issues and a Conservative stand on others. The same holds true with life decisions. It is not the right or business of others to tell me who or what I am. I reserve this right for myself.

The same holds true with Religion. I may choose to believe Jesus was a great teacher and not the son of God and still call myself a Christian. I can also believe he is the son of God and call myself a Christian. Membership in a church means nothing in my decisions. If I choose to live my life according to the teachings of a great religious leader than I reserve the right to call myself anything I want. I do not need the approval of others or their acceptance to my beliefs. It is my life and at all times I choose to think for myself and make decisions for that seem right for me. I sometimes reject the rules set by my fellow man. I am a Liberal Conservative who is a Christian non-believer, or not.

Americans have gotten lazier.

Americans have gotten lazier and dumber. The success of a democratic republic like the United States depends on an educated and engaged citizenry. Sadly, most Americans don’t know what’s going on in the world, let alone their own country. Fewer American are engaged in their community. Shirking our civic duties will only make our country weaker.

 Keep up with current events not only in America, but also the rest of the world. And don’t just settle with watching the fluff news on Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. Check out publications like The Economist or The Atlantic Monthly. They provide far more in-depth analysis of what’s going on in the world today. Also, get involved in your community. Attend town hall meetings. Join a civic group like the Rotary Club or a young professionals organization. Will it be hard to find time to do these things? Yes I know many will say it takes too much time out of their busy life as they sit and turn on their TV.  Get informed of the facts on today's issues or risk the continuing downfall of our fragile democracy.

Currently the United States is listed as the 21st. most Democratic nations. There are 20 other countries who's citizens have more freedoms and choices than we do.

Time to wake up and smell the roses. Read bills or budgets like the ACA or the proposed budgets before you make your mind up. Please do not let politics or the opinions of others determine your stance on important issues facing this country today.

Recently I finished reading CHRISTIANITY The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch. There are over one thousand pages in this work that helped me understand a religion I grew up with and practiced my whole life. Why would anyone practice a religion or take a stand on a issue without knowing all the facts?

10 wasted years.

As I reflect on the 10 years of the Iraq War, what is most striking with respect to the war's enormous human toll , nearly one million dead, five million displaced, hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans, untold misery is the twisting and false facts still being spread by our politicians and press.

Having seen my country grow more hawkish and less humane, I've come to be filled with  grief, and quiet fury that there seems to be no outlet for. I can write all I want but it holds no answers for me. It's baffling to me how we can go on endorsing this and other Middle Eastern wars and rallying for the military's safety when the numbers of American vs. Iraqi/Afghan casualties are so grossly disproportionate. I can't comprehend how the vast majority of my countrymen have come to conclude that the life of a person born to out nation is somehow more valuable than that of a person who was born to a distant country.
I desperately want this war to end, but I know that that would be nothing but a too-little-too-late reasons we did this to these people.. An official ending won't resurrect all of those innocent lives, and it won't undo the  hatred that has become America's new patriotism. After ten years in, there seems to be no real way out. We have created a mess and will never be able to fix it. We will leave and abandon the people to destruction and death that we have brought with us,

It is very true, that most of these atrocities aren't brought to light at all, mostly because the men like Bush and Cheney, were well to aware of what the reality of war would bring to this nation. I find it fitting, on the 45th anniversary of My Lai massacre in Vietnam, that the Bush adminitration took that incident as a lesson to make sure war reality photos and videos never make it to the general public. Those photos showed Americans what was really going on in Vietnam, which turned the tide of the war, and the American's support for it. Bush, Cheney and the Neocons wanted to be sure that didn't happen again. They made what was happening over there just that...it's over there, nothing our couch potato public would see on TV or other media...because if no one knows what's going on over there, it's easier for the public not to care.

I remember having a discussion with a peer early in the war. I told her of my concerns and she said to me ,"won't they be happier in the end because they have their freedom"?  I looked at her and said "Maybe the ones alive,but I doubt it.

  Funny, I recall nearly an entire nation behind Bush at the time, both sides of the aisle, and dissenters were shamed into compliance over it. People like to forget where they stood many years ago. Personally, I am glade I knew enough history and facts and stood against this war the whole time. Iraq never was our enemy. They were just a pawn used to keep the balance of power.

Sunday Morning Lies !

I watched the Sunday morning talk shows and was shocked at either the lack of knowledge or outright lies of both hosts and their guests. One Republican stated that if we keep drilling our gas prices will decline as domestic production goes up. He also laughed and stated with a smile that the XL pipeline was win win for the United States.

Now for the facts:

If a Wall Street trader or a major oil company can get a higher price for oil from an overseas buyer, rather than an American one, the overseas buyer wins. Just because an oil company drills inside U.S. borders doesn’t mean it has to sell to a U.S. buyer. There is patriotism and then there is profit motive. This is why Americans should carefully consider the sacrifice of wildlife preservation areas before designating them for oil drilling. The harsh reality is that we may never see a drop of oil that comes from some of our most precious lands.

The Canadian oil and gas company TransCanada hopes to begin building a new oil pipeline that would trek close to 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas. If constructed, the pipeline, known as the Keystone XL, will carry one of the world’s dirtiest fuels: tar sands oil. Along its route from Alberta to Texas, this pipeline could devastate ecosystems and pollute water sources, and would jeopardize public health.

 Giant oil corporations invested in Canada's tar sands are counting on the Keystone XL pipeline to make the expansion of oil extraction operations profitable: The pipeline would double imports of dirty tar sands oil into the United States and transport it to refineries on the Gulf Coast and ports for international export.

Without getting into too much detail as I have covered this issue in older posts, or simply put. 

The Oil Goes to China, the Permanent Jobs Go to Canada, We Get the Spills, and the World Gets Warmer.

I just get sick at the lack of information and how the truth has no place in today’s discussions on important issues.
They also talked about how Social Security will soon become a budget buster. Never mind the fact that it is stand-alone program and not on budget.

School Daze !

As I get older my memories tend to get mixed together in a rather large box and retrieving them completely in tacked gets harder and harder to do.  There are parts of stories I remember with much clarity and others that seem fuzzy. Please believe me when I tell you that this story either took place in public school when I was in the second grade or Catholic school when I was in the third grade. I just can’t remember.

What I do remember ,with clarity, is that we had a very mean lunch monitor at my school who thought her job was to make sure the students ate everything their mothers packed in their lunch boxes.  She would position herself at the, one and only, trash can, near the exit, and inspect each and every lunch box before a student could pass and go to recess.

My mother was Italian and we ate a lot of fried green pepper sandwiches all the time. She would fry the peppers in olive oil and top them off with a slice or two of fresh tomatoes. I enjoyed them a lot.

Usually for a school lunch she would pack a sandwich that would last. We had no insulated ice laden lunch boxes in those days. That meant a balcony or peanut butter sandwich.

One day we must have been out of these two staples because when I opened my lunch box I found a fried green pepper and tomato sandwich. It looked nasty. The oily peppers had soaked the bread and the tomato looked disgusting. I tried to take a bite but gaged in the attempt. I ate the rest of my lunch and went to the trash cans to throw away my empty milk contained and wax papers.  The lunch lady intercepted me and with a stern look told me to return to my table and finish my lunch.  I tried again but it was not possible to eat that mess of a sandwich.  I tried to squeeze it together and hide it among the wax paper it was wrapped in and tried my escape again. Nope, she caught me and sent me back, I started to panic because I knew there was no way I could eat that darn mess.  Then I came up with a great Idea, or so I thought. I untied my shoe and stuffed the flattened out sandwich in the bottom of my shoe. I retied the shoe and try to walk. I felt funny but what worried me was the noise it made. I wondered if I could fool the lunch lady. I could and did .although I squeaked all the way to the door. When I went outside I emptied my shoe and never could eat fried peppers again. Today the smell makes me sick. I will not even eat it on my pizza.

I guess that episode helped gave me the will and knowledge to solve problems and get out of sticky situations my whole life. Where there is a will there is a way

Only Thomas Jefferson had faith in the people.

Why is there so much gridlock in Washington? Why do our representatives ignore us so much? They never read, respect, or implement any of the results from various opinion polls. Why? Why do they ignore real problems that are hurting the citizens of this once great country? Why ignore such a wide income gap?  Why ignore such out of control health care costs? Why? Did not our founding fathers plan a government to serve the people? NO!!!!!

Among the "Founding Fathers" of the United States, Thomas Jefferson stood virtually alone in his belief that the average citizen was capable of making good decisions in his own best interest. That is exactly why the framers created a government which is largely beyond the control of the citizens. The people were not trusted to select their President, the Senate was chosen by state legislatures, and the entire judiciary was appointed by the (unelected) President and confirmed by the (unelected) Senate. Popular election of the House of Representatives gave the illusion of democracy, but the "checks and balances" erected made certain that radical ideas (those which might threaten the wealthy) were quickly squelched. I know that I have posted this set of facts before and I am indeed sorry to sound like a broken record. But……..

 We live in a country that rewards MBA degrees more than Engineer degrees. We live in a country where it is easier to make profit in investment instead of hard work. We live in a country that rewards ignorance instead of enlightened scientific thought.

The wealthy have always been in control. There were a few years of struggle by social activists and unions that gave an appearance of victory for workers and the poor. These few years were only an illusion and the power has been slowly wrestled back into the hands of the wealthy and powerful elite.  The masses just play with their devices, watch TV and ignore their own doom.  Believe me when I tell you that your grandchildren will suffer if the citizens do not look up from their phones, games, TV’s and other attention reflectors. Wake up and look around. Lies are all around us and believe me when I tell your guns mean nothing.  They are just a false sense of security.

The 14th. Amendment

When Sarah Palin could not name any Supreme Court decisions I just shook my head.  I knew 20 easily. Ones that had an influence on the country and on my life are the most interesting .  Plessy v. Furguson, in 1896, that made Jim Crow the law of the land comes to mind. Brown v. Board of Education, in 1954, is another.  The second canceled out the first.  I love reading about these cases because in 1966 in Mississippi I still saw Jim Crow in practice.  Having to read about the court deciding on the possibility of getting rid of the Civil Rights act because section five does not include every state sickens me.

I always liked Mapp v. Ohio, 1964.  This case determined that Evidence that is illegally obtained by the state may not be used against a defendant in court. This case is one of my favorites and makes very interesting reading.  Of course Miranda v. Arizona, 1966, is seared in all our minds because of all the crime dramas on T.V...

Roe v. Wade, 1973, is always a good one for discussion because it was decided using the 14^th Amendment. I do not agree using this Amendment to sanction abortion.

Texas v.Johnson, 1989, had to do with flag burning as a form of free speech.

I bring some of my favorite cases up because I want to explore the one case that I find most perplexing. This case is also the one that most Americans no little or nothing about but had a huge effect on most of our lives.  That case is Bush v. Gore, 2000.

At the end of the Election Day evening, Bush was ahead of Gore in the Florida popular vote by only 2,000 ballots, close enough to trigger an automatic recount. After the recount, Bush's lead dwindled to a mere 900 votes.

Gore requested a hand-recount of votes in his four strongest counties, Broward, Miami Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia, as allowed by Florida law. After the recount, Bush's margin dropped to 537 votes. Gore then petitioned the State courts for a recount of 70,000 contested ballots. Although the lower court rejected his request, the Florida Supreme Court reversed on appeal, and ordered the disputed ballots recounted. This created the term ,hanging chad. The Republicans tried to stall the recount so it could not be completed in the time Florida law required.  This tactic worked. The Florida courts extended the time to allow all contested ballots to be counted.

Bush and Cheney appealed the Florida Supreme Court's decision to the US Supreme Court, and were granted a stay on the Florida court's order until the US Supreme Court issued its decision. There is some dispute as to whether this stay was necessary or a political maneuver designed to defeat the State's ability to complete a recount before the "safe harbor" deadline of December 12, 2000, coincidentally, the day the Court's opinion was released.

The Court's opinion required Florida to stop counting ballots, holding that subjective decisions made by the Florida court violated the 14^thAmendment Equal Protection Clause, because a portion of the ballots were devalued by being subject to "later arbitrary  or different treatment." .

As you can see the 14^th. Amendment has been used to decide two very divisive and life altering decisions of Americans living in this modern age. I find both decisions fascinating to read and I do have a hard time seeing how the High Court could use the 14^th. Amendment to decide both cases.  

The makeup of this court scares me because of the trend of political influence affecting important cases that will change our future.  In most cases I can predict how each justice will vote. This begs the question “are there any impartial judges in our courts anymore or do they all base their rulings on political considerations”?

My take on Sequestration.

My take on Sequestration is from the point of view of a person who has used the medical system for longer than a lot of people.

I still see no reason to even talk about Social Security during a budget or debt conversation. Social Security is a separate non budget program that has run a surplus for years. Ronald Reagan and Congress raised taxes on the program in order to account for an ageing population. It is not the fault of workers that Congress has spent this surplus on other needs like lost revenue for tax hikes or unneeded wars. I also would like to add tax loopholes in this mixture.  Congress owes the program $3 trillion dollars, plus interest, and I would like to see that money paid back.

Please remember that Social Security was never meant to be a retirement program but an insurance program that the elderly can use if needed. The wealthy do not have to collect their Social Security when they retire. As loyal Americans, and Christian men, they can count their blessings that they have no need for this insurance program much like home insurance. Yet the greed of many will not allow them to not accept it.

Medicare is another matter. When the group, AARP, indorsed GWB’s Prescription Drug Program I resigned. It was unfunded and I had an opinion that it would only drive the price of drugs up and further burden Medicare.  I was right.

Medicare was started to help the elderly live and die with dignity. In the 60’s seniors could not afford good health care and many just did without it and died early.  Remember that was when a Dr’s bill was $5.00.  The cost of medical care has gone up 20 fold when wages have actually gone down since 1975.

No one seems interested in regulating the medical industry. The reason is simple. Too much money is made by the industry. They charge $10.00 for a pill that cost $.10.  They charge $3,000 for some CAT Scans that cost $100.00. A study shows that most CAT scan machines pay for themselves in one year.

Medicare can be fixed .Raising the age limit to receive it is put forth by wealthy men who have no need for it anyway. Remember this too is a program that workers pay for their whole working life.

We really need heavy regulation of our health care industry or a single payer national run system.

We also spend way too much money on our military commitments. We still protect Japan!  We have over 700 military bases and need to close half of them.  Remember the warnings of President, and General DDI. “Beware of the military industrial complex”.