The Reason Behind Separation Between Church And State

This is a continuation of the premise only slightly touched upon in my Amercian Churches blog. The main reason that separation between Church and State is imperative is that government should never intrude into people's beliefs, as long as those beliefs don't break a law.
Thus, it's acceptable for organized religions to hold beliefs about creationism; prophets; miracles; supreme beings or just one supreme being. They can also believe that there is a better place and a worse place for us all to go, when we die. But it's only perception, not actual fact. Mythology gets thrown into that mix, which doesn't make it any more factual. It appears to me that dodges were perpetrated at that Nicene Council way back when!

I'm apalled some people's faith is so deeply reverent that they wish their beliefs were made into law, or an edict, to compel government funded institutions to teach a certain set of beliefs over any others, to validate their own religious views. At the same time, I'm glad some people's faith is so deeply reverent that they don't need that kind of validation. This last group is in the minority, I fear.

Well, I'm the "doubting Thomas," and I trust science & Darwinism over Biblical creationism, as there have been great scientific discoveries through the ages that seemed not to come from God, but appear to have been methodically discovered, through trial and error, a very human trait. I think mankind deserves much more praise than it collectively gets from believers of organized religions, dare I say it, even God, if God even exists, who though they seem disgusted by it, are equally human, and part of mankind, with all its flaws, virtues, and habits.

This is my America. May it regain its footholds on common sense, integrity, truth, and justice FOR ALL. Amen.

American Churches

I was brought up to be a good Christian. But when I became an adult, I saw too often how many self-professed Christians are really the back-sliding reprobates so often denigrated in the teachings of Paul.
I've tried several times to join a Christian church, but I just can't get on board with organized religion. Too controlling, too intolerant, and too political. For a group that promotes brotherly love, forgiveness, and charity, there's far too much hate, bigotry, and hypocrisy to spout what they obviously don't practice in their own personal lives. For those of you who ARE good Christians and reading this, I apologize now, for what I've just observed.
Too many churches have only one race in their congregations. Too many have become so enraptured by the conservative movement in the past 2 decades, that they are now lobbying amongst Republican Congressional members to get the Bible taught in public schools. Here in Texas, some of our own state's legislators have already done so.
They don't like anything remotely liberal. But if they'd just think about what they're saying, the United States of America's Constitution is just about the most liberal document ever produced by enlightened men after the Revolution.
They have several arguments they use to address people who believe in separation of Church and State: the motto, "in God we trust" is on all our monetary currency; there's nothing wrong with the Bible's teachings in a public school; the 10 commandments are in many courthouses throughout the country.
Those are nice sentiments. I have nothing wrong with putting the 10 commandments in a public school, because it is a code of conduct, a set of laws. The rest of the Bible needs to remain in Sunday school classrooms, not public ones. That's why there are schools sponsored by organized religious groups.
The divide comes when the Bible should be taught in science classrooms for it's creationism as an alternative BALANCE to Darwinism and science in general. Also, they seem to be using only the Protestant Bible. There are many Bibles, so if it is to be taught, then it follows that ALL BIBLES, and ALL RELIGIONS AND THEIR FACTIONS/GROUPS should be taught as well.
My argument is this: there is already a place for all the religions and bibles to be taught. It's called THEOLOGY, and is taught in many universities and colleges throughout the world, in HIGHER EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS, as well as SEMINARIES throughout the country and the world.
There is no place in public schools for the Bible, any Bible, or other religious tome, in the public classrooms, even as an elective. It belongs in the Churches, their private schools, in homes, and in seminaries. It SHOULD NEVER BE SOMETHING THAT CAN BE REGULATED BY GOVERNMENT. NEVER. This movement by conservatives is a form of passive anarchy to turn our democracy into a theocracy. These people who advocate this are the most UN-AMERICAN Americans since Nixon's witch-hunt for communists. For shame.
I'm sick to death already of one religious group starting a jihad against us in the West. But I'm even more disgusted with so-called American Christians shoving their dogma down MY throat in an attempt to legislate moral virtues which they themselves don't, nor can't, exhibit in their daily lives.

What Makes A Bitch, Bitch?

This question occurred to me after I wrote the previous blog today. I'm sure many people are curious as to what makes a bitch, bitch. I will attempt to discover the reasons.

• They crave power, because deep down they're inferior; that feeling could be anything they know they don't have.
• When they have power, they bash others over the head with it needlessly, to make themselves feel even better.
• Occasionally they make big faux pas. They will address the issue by reducing the offense until they can finally accept it as the right thing.
• When the reduction has been effected, then they will twist it and try to make YOU the galling idiot.
• As long as they are NOT the target, bullying mercilessly is fun to them.

I've heard it said, but it can't be proven: some people are born bitches.

Other People's Friends Are Not Always My Friends

Just made a new friend recently about 2 1/2 weeks ago, through a good mutual friend. Yeah, it was on Facebook. Funny thing about other people's friends. They should remain just that.
Sometimes a small circle gets along very well, until an incident occurs amongst them. I was just a virtual online bystander, wasn't involved, except for the flood of messages from the 2 who were there, one of whom was the receiver of the incident in question, & who both asked me for some advice, which I gave them this past weekend.
I am a new friend. But the incident in question, which will not be discussed here, caused me to delete the brand new friend, yesterday. Then I thought better of it this morning, after I'd learned she'd apologized, and re-added her. Had it not been for the snotty announcement on her "what's on your mind" thought for the day, I would have just commented that I was glad things were getting sorted. Especially since she re-added me. After reading her b*tchy & self-serving commentary, my good thoughts changed, and added my own superior thoughts. Yeah, she deserved what I said. I deleted her for good.
I then told the mutual friend what I'd done, and said- "she can bloody F***K OFF AND DIE," adding, "I'm sorry." I really am.
I didn't know her as well as our mutual friend, so I'm not that upset. But I know our mutual friend probably is disappointed that I don't approve of her, his "best m8", as he thinks of her, not only for the incident that occurred, but for the sheer childishness of her statements after I re-added her.
Yes, I shouldn't have deleted her after the myriad messaging from the mutual friends yesterday. I should have left it alone. But I was so shocked at the opposite of what our mutual friend had said of her, that I still can't reconcile the two extremes. Particularly when I know what happened. The day after the incident, she was happy and crowing about what she did on her home page. It was a true criminal act, that is usually paid for with jail time.
I've learned my lesson. I will stick to the friends whom I select, that I know from the test of time are my true friends.

The Crap Parade

I want to get away from the crap parade. Too much, too soon, all bad news. In less than a month, I've learned that my daughter & brother have aggressive forms of cancer. I haven't had time to absorb the news, and during that time, Ashley's news was worse, because after her 3rd chemo treatment, she was dropped by her insurance provider under false pretenses. Thankfully, that is in the process of being resolved.
It's disgusting. It's horrible. It's insane. I hope Mark isn't treated like Ashley by his insurance company.
I don't think I can take anymore bad news. I already have a migraine from the previous news. Right now I feel numb; can't cry, can't even get mad. I don't answer the phone anymore, afraid of it being more crappy news. I went off on one telemarketer hawking funeral plans! That person will never call here again.
I've been back to an old blog site, because there are some ultra-conservatives who are so oblivious to reason that I'm able to vent my frustrations by baiting them and smacking them with facts! Yeah, it's a turkey shoot. It makes me feel better. :) I respect their opinions, but not when they use their own opinions as facts, resort to dodges, or lies.
But in the end, I'm still left feeling helpless to help my daughter and brother. I can do what I can, but it's not enough, to me.

The Sea Change

Pres. Obama's State of the Union address last night will keep both houses of Congress busy these next 4 years. All the media refers to his programs as "sweeping changes" and one guy called them, "audacious and ambitious changes." They are: health care reform; education; the economy; and balance our trillion+ dollar deficit by the end of his first term.
Everyone is saying how impossible it is to make so many promises and keep them. Most of the people saying so just happen to be Republicans. Republicans who allowed the problems we're facing to continue, even when opportunity was at their doorstep 16 years ago to prevent this. Republicans who NEVER conducted oversight of themselves. Republicans who've profited by the lack of non-enforcement of regulations, laws, and unethical practices in our banking system, Justice Dept., our tax laws, and the blatant favoritism at the hands of Pres. George W. Bush, IN THE NAME OF FREE-MARKET ECONOMIC CAPITALISM.
Now that Democrats have more power, the wind has shifted to the left, which strikes fear into the very core of staunch conservatives. It HAD to shift, because government under Republican ideology(see above) was manipulative and abusive, and neglectful of the very things that keep a country healthy. Capitalism, under laissez-faire economics, only works when responsible, ethical people are at the helm. It's only right that now the Republicans aren't controlling government any longer. New regulations have to be put into place by Democrats( it would be nice to have Republicans participate when it's the RIGHT thing to do), to keep our government, its agencies, and major corporate institutions from behaving as though the Old West were in full sway once more. History DID repeat itself under George W. Bush. And now we're all paying for it because Republicans couldn't restrain their abject greed.
The one thing that Republicans refuse to see is that change IS necessary, because THEY ACTIVELY PARTICIPATED IN THE DOWNFALL OF OUR ECONOMY, through NEGLECT and ADEHERANCE TO A FAILED IDEOLOGY. They cannot change what they believe, so they attack those who adapt to change. Everyone, everything evolves over time. So too, economics. The time is ripe for capitalism to evolve, from an antiquated ideology to something combining capitalism and socialism. It's NOT a bug-bear, to those who research what I'm saying. It's a natural maturing of our successful economy. When people are successful, people demand more services, and pay for them with their taxes. Under Republican dominance, we got NOTHING for our tax dollars. Under socialistic reforms, we will get what we voted Democrats into Congress for--the programs we kept INSISTING we needed, but were not given, by Republicans. This is only the first month of Pres. Obama's term in office. If one of his reforms is successful, I will look at him as a miracle worker, and wait for the others to take place.
The time is right for the Republicans to pull their collective head out from their collective ass and become good, loyal Americans once again and put the country above themselves.

I LOVE ABSOLUTE RADIO!

Absolute Radio(aka AR) in the UK is simply great. I've never had such fun, made such good friends, as I have on their blog site. The sites I've been on in the US were ok for a time, but a lot of people are mean-spirited, selfish, confrontational, and tend to form cliques, which makes it difficult to establish friendships. I like making friends, keeping them, and having fun.

I've thought about this dynamic for sometime now, and in my view it's because of our culture in the US. It's markedly different from AR, even though the culture on that site is as diverse as ours. Yes, weirdos, lonely people, neurotic people, are out there blogging, joining public chat groups, etc. But they don't manifest FEAR! whenever they are on site for the first time. Nervousness, perhaps, caution, definitely, but not FEAR.

The US media, through terrible actual incidents directly connected to internet contact, which is aired/printed in various media, have instilled abject fear into people whenever they surf the internet. It's almost as if Americans EXPECT to be victimized, or to DO the victimizing first! I understand the dangers of the internet fully, but I doubt anyone has used common sense in explaining this to others!
The US media just love dangers, victims, suspicious people/circumstances, criminal behavior, and blare it LOUDLY, REPEATEDLY, until one has become desensitized to it all.

When will people learn to use common sense and stop acting like decapitated chickens????