God, I don't miss it at all

I ran into an old buddy the other day. He asked me why I haven't been hanging around the bar lately. I told him I'm not really drinking anymore.

"Well, you can still come around once in a while, right? You don't have to drink, you know."

I know, but if you stop believing in God, you don't feel like hanging around a church much, do you?"

He agreed.

No mames guey, José Luis de Jesús Miranda

Holy Moises!!! Those religious zealots are at it again. This time, it's a big, scary one. Hayzooz, otherwise known as Yahweh, just passed through Orlando in all his glory. Praise the Lard, because this guy's worth less than rendered pig fat. Fancy jet. Big SUV. Bling Bling. Nine bodyguards. Caramba! He even sports a "666" tattoo on his forearm. This man says he is the real deal. The Second Coming of Christ and the Antichrist all rolled into one. He lives in a fancy, big money, gated mansion, smokes, drinks and surrounds himself with erotic, I mean exotic, women. Drugs? No problem. No need to pray to the other, older Jesus. He's dead and that brand of religion died with him. In this new and improved version of Christianity, The Man Christ Jesus, as he calls himself, runs a ministry called "Crescendia en Gracia" or "Growing in Grace" and seriously believes he is the living incarnation of Jesus Christ, hand-picked by God and anointed the true Apostle when two angels appeared before him. Before that, he told his flock he was the Apostle Paul. Just like all the Caesars and all the pharoahs, he is the living god! A self-taught, self-anointed one, at that. Hey, time to give myself a promotion. And a raise. This self-proclaimed Son of God is a 60 year old former heroin addict and convict. The divorced father of 4 was born in Puerto Rico and now lives in South Florida with his second wife.

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda’s message is “freedom to indulge.” He preaches that the devil, hell, and sin are non-existent, prayer is a waste of time, and that the Ten Commandments are irrelevant.

His followers believe they are God’s chosen people, predestined for salvation, no matter what they do on earth. Consequently, the teachings of other religions’ are rejected, believing that all other faiths are lies and must be destroyed, even if Crescendio en Gracia’s marches result in violent consequences. His responses during interviews are crazy: “I am greater than him . . . I teach better than him . . . I won’t die. Even if you tried to kill me! I will be president of the biggest government that this earth has experienced. I’m going to change the whole world.” If he can't die and you can't kill him, as if bullets would bounce off, why does he need bodyguards? His bodyguards act like they work for the U.S. Secret Service. Even his logo looks like the Seal of the United States.

Here is someone who brainwashes the masses, most of whom are from Puerto Rico, and to followers in some 35 nations, mostly in Latin America, and has 287 radio programs and a 24-hour Spanish-language TV network. They lavish him with money and expensive gifts. “I don’t have one Rolex,” de Jesus Miranda said, “I have 3 because they want to give it to me. It’s like that woman that came to Jesus with the expensive perfume and put it on his feet. He didn’t reject it, so when someone gives me a watch or a gift, I receive it. I like them too, they’re nice.”

Shades of the Rev. Jim Jones and Jonestown, this man is very scary. Whether you are of any faith, agnostic or atheist, anyone who can gather people and swallow them up in a hysterical, worthless cult, trouble is bound to find its way into the hearts and minds of these senseless followers. I don't care whether one has faith in any god or not. I don't care if one wants to live an indulgent lifestyle. What puzzles me, though, is why would anyone want to pimp his ride? For salvation from sin? Hell, his followers don't believe in that, so what's the point?

Jesus Christ, for crying out loud

I can see it now. The year is 4007 AD. A 2,000 year old tomb has been unearthed. In it are two caskets. One contains skeletal remains with two massive silicone sacs resting firmly in the chest area, common chest implants from that era.

"What we have found here," one expert explains, "are the remains of Anna Nicole Smith, a sex symbol from 2,000 years ago."

"How do you know they are hers?"

"Because we found a young man's remains in the casket beside her. DNA testing proved that this was her son."

For countless generations, many non-believers have stated, for lack of any physical proof, that Jesus never even existed. Zero. Zilch. Nothing more than figments of the mind. The whole Christian religion is based on hearsay and the teachings of biased men. Prove it, they say. Show me an ounce of proof that either God or Jesus exist or ever did.

Could this be the proof the naysayers have been dying for, the proof that would turn their opinions around? Would they then concede that Jesus did, in fact, exist, but it still doesn't make him the son of God - it doesn't even prove this is the same guy mentioned in this "fictitious" compilation of books - or would they be as pragmatic as they always have been and question the DNA? The mere fact that mitochondrial DNA was discovered in fragments in the ossuaries might only prove that this Jesus, son of Joseph, was the son of that Mary, his mother, and that his offspring is the son of the other Mary, his mate. Mitochondrial DNA is strictly matrilineal in nature, i.e., a system in which one belongs to one's mother's lineage. No further information can be extracted.

To a believer or non-believer, does this prove that he is or isn't the same Jesus from the New Testament, when these names were common back then? Find the DNA of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David or Solomon to compare it with. Better yet, God. Then the proof will, without a doubt, be there. In the meantime, couldn't the high priests at the time, who wanted this upstart religion trounced, have secreted other related bodies into a tomb and inscribed ossuaries to make it appear to be those of Jesus and his kin?

Some Christians believe Jesus made a physical ascension to heaven. Others believe it was a spiritual ascension which left his mortal remains here for disposal. This merely questions the physical and should not be taken in any way as a means to deny all Christians their faith. That is not the intent of the documentary, although some seem to be drooling over it prematurely.

It seems that non-believers now have something to believe in, after all these years of denial. Are they willing to now say, “YES! He did exist! Here’s the proof!”?

Hold on... gotta go. Someone just spotted Anna Nicole at the mall with Elvis.

Making A Prophet

Click image to enlarge

'Tis the Season to be...Treeless!

When all nine Christmas trees were removed from Sea-Tac International Airport instead of adding a giant Jewish menorah to the holiday display as Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky requested, he said, "Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season." Bogomilsky works in Seattle at the regional headquarters for Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation. After consulting with lawyers, the port authority staff believed that including the menorah would have required adding symbols for other religions and cultures indicative of the Northwest. The holiday season is the busiest time at the airport, airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt stated, and the staff just didn't have time to play cultural anthropologists. Besides, Bogomilsky had hired a lawyer and threatened to sue.

Let's start with a brief history of the Christmas (or holiday) tree. In the northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls around December 21. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and after that date, this god was going to make a remarkable recovery from being sick and weak and would bring forth fresh flora and vegetation. Evergreen boughs were used to celebrate the return of summer, since that was all that remained green at that time of year. Early Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes to symbolize the triumph of life over death. Romans marked the solstice with a feast called Saturnalia to honor Saturn, the god of agriculture, and decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. So did the ancient Druids and Vikings.

Nowhere in the New Testament is there a reference of a tree to honor the birth of Christ. As a matter of fact, Germany is credited as being the first to start a Christmas tree tradition in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Early German settlers in Pennsylvania brought this custom with them, which most colonists found to be an oddity. Pilgrims abhorred it and banned them in 1659 Massachusetts, along with carols and any other form of "paganism". All worship could only be done in churches. Period. That continued into the 19th century, but too many German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritans' decree and Christmas trees found their way into homes in America. In Europe, they had already been established.

The menorah, on the other hand, is sacred and one of the oldest symbols of the Jewish faith. It is a seven-branched candelabrum used in the Temple and represents the nation of Israel and its mission to be "a light unto the nations." (Isaiah 42:6). Did I mention the book of Isaiah is in the Old Testament? The Torah states that God revealed the design for the menorah to Moses.

I know many people of all religions and no religion at all who celebrate the season by putting up and decorating a tree. To some, it is no different than dressing up your house and handing out treats on Halloween. That's another story, by the way. There is nothing sacred about a Christmas tree. Christianity does not recognize it as a symbol of their faith. The menorah and Christmas tree have nothing in common. One stands for religion. The other does not. If you don't believe me, go ask Santa Claus. If you don't believe him, wait until spring rolls around and ask the Easter Bunny. Better yet, don't. I don't want to have to explain the history of some rabbit to a disgruntled cleric, expecting equal religious billing. Then, I'd also have to explain dyed and hard-boiled eggs and how they got their rise in early pagan spring rituals.

Why the Republicans are Feeling Blue

Why did the Republicans lose this midterm election? Let me count the ways. Iraq. W. Cheney. Rumsfeld. Halliburton. Good old Jack Abramoff. Ney. Foley. Haggard. Karl Rove. Eavesdropping without a court order. Abu Ghraib. The religious right. Abortion. Stem cell research. Scandals and corruption at all levels. 12 years of one party congressional rule. You're either with us or against us. Stay the course. Nucular (although Jimmy Carter said it the same way). The War President (remember that one?)

Did I leave anything out? Oh yes, Weapons of Mass Destruction. Red States. Blue States.

Even the pompous John Kerry or the threat of the very liberal Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House could not derail what the American public thought about the last 3 years under this president and congress.

America has spoken. Let this be a testament to the rest of the world on the will of this country.

Golf Wars

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods are professional golfers. On the golf course, they are fierce opponents, focused on one thing: victory. Off the course, they are good friends, well, maybe not that close. They have many faithful fans who follow them religiously, to a fault, although I don't think of golf fans as being in the same league as the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry, where fans have been known to bloody a few noses and break a few bones. Off season, the players probably go out to eat together. Well, not all of them, but friendships among their legions have been broken over a silly game.

Tiger Woods is African American, Chinese, Native American, Thai, and Caucasian. Maybe more. Because of his dark skin, there are elements yet lurking that will never root for him. He needs to go back to Africa to play golf, some say. What difference does it make that most of his bloodline is of Thai descent? Why should anyone care about his ethnicity, what religion he is, if any, or which side of the bed he gets out of in the morning?

Twenty-some years ago my late friend, Larry Maddox, observed, "Wouldn't it be nice if there was no such thing as different races." I wondered what he meant by it. "Think about it, Dave," he said. "If all races were thrown into a giant blender and out poured one - not black, not white, not yellow, not red, but a mixture of all of us, wouldn't the world rid itself of racism?" That was a very deep thought, but Larry was a philosopher at heart. He was a copywriter at an ad agency I worked for, with a degree in journalism. I wholeheartedly agreed and that impression has never left me. Sometimes, I wish religions were the same way.

I remember the old Hollywood stereotypes. The (then called) colored people were often depicted as docile, subservient and scared to death of ghosts. The mere sight of one would turn them white. Why white? Partially because of this, prejudice prevails. Hatred still runs deep. This country does not stand alone. There's plenty of room in the whole wide world. Unfortunately, it's standing room only. All races play the race card, just like all religions play the religion card. Unfortunately, some more than others and there seems to be an awful lot of misguided stereotyping when it comes to races and religions.

If we span the course of human existence, how many wars have been fought over racism and religion? Where would we begin? Recorded history does not go back far enough to answer where and when it all began. Anthropologists can't even explain the demise of the Neanderthal. After nearly 200,000 years of existence, they suddenly disappeared. Early modern humans are suspected of being responsible. Was it over race or which tribe had the better and stronger sun god? Who's to say? There is some speculation that trade wars existed back then (see http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/510666) and select economists and archeologists suspect that bands of early humans interacted with each other and inter-group trading emerged and that might have played a role in the Neanderthal's extinction. I'm sure they fought over territory.

I'm afraid territorial wars will never go away. It is one thing inherent in all of us to protect our space - or what we perceive as our space. (You can add your own spite-filled opinion on the Israel/Palestine problem here. Go argue with someone else.) An example of this, and I love to explain this scenario to all who banter with me on philosophy and religion, is a very simple one. Here in America, we celebrate a holiday called Thanksgiving. It is intended to give thanks to the bountiful blessings we have. It is a love feast where close relatives and friends gather at the table. Hugs abound. We hold hands and give thanks to our respective god and to each other. Then, dinner is served. Everyone has their own placemat, their own "territory" so to speak. I like to take my drinking glass and place it somewhere on the edge of my neighbor's placemat. I have just infringed on their space. Do you have any idea what happens next? Some people don't react, but inside the brain they are all too aware of it. They seek no confrontation, yet they feel awkwardly uncomfortable. Others may just move it back to my side. Some may say something like, "Hey, get that glass off my space." There are probably others, although it's never happened to me, who might curse and throw the glass back at me. Do you get my point? No matter what, territory plays a crucial role. In this case, this private area is perceived as belonging to them, even though they're eating at Aunt Tessie's house. The property is not theirs to begin with. What began as a day filled with love and thanksgiving may end in a fiasco, with brothers and sisters and whole family members taking sides and flinging pumpkin pie at each other. If families and close friends are capable of doing this on such a small, unimportant scale, imagine what countries and cultures are capable of doing to each other when disputed borders are at stake and they are lobbing bombs instead.

Cultural and political wars are most often ideologically driven, sometimes with a smattering of religion thrown in, as in the case of "Kulturkampf" or literally, culture struggle. Then, the 19th century chancellor of Germany, Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, and the German Protestant government attacked the legal rights of Catholics. Why aren't Catholics protesting today over something that happened a mere hundred and some years ago, burning and murdering Germans like some religions are still doing? Some just can't let go of the old, stale past and primitive ways.

Certainly, the entire world is aware of what is going on today with how quick radical extremists are to slice the head off common sense in the name of their god. It's as if God intended mankind to destroy itself. Rather prehistoric thinking, isn't it? As extremists kill in the name of God, are they actually doing it in the name of their religion or are they basing these crude and barbaric forms of torture and death on ideological, self-serving twists of their particular "faith" that stem from their rather undeveloped minds? Undeveloped in the sense that they hold no regard for human life and dignity, not even their own. Ask your leaders if they would do the same for you.

Look at religious figures everywhere. Somewhere along the way, throughout history, haven't many, to a large extent, been responsible for tearing the world apart? Haven't plenty of them taken foreign lands and rendered the inhabitants under their control in one way or another in the name of God?

In order to dominate a region, a leader or conqueror must have a strong cultural and political base. What do China and Iran have culturally and politically in common other than disdain for the United States? Why would Iran, an Islamic Republic, ally itself with an atheist government for any reason other than trade and money, with the stronger one supplying arms and the weaker one supplying oil? Ideologically, they are as far apart as they are with us. On the other hand, aren't we, God fearing people, doing the same thing? Perhaps, religion doesn't play as important a role after all. Perhaps, those violent religious fanatics have it all wrong when invoking God, sometimes with their cleric's blessings, to spread their brand of hatred and death. God, give me genocide. I'm sorry, but you cannot convert the dead. Why do religious and political leaders mention God at all levels and on many of the world's stages? They all seem to have God on their side. The one true God. In war, the victor gives praise to the Almighty. The loser prays for help. Read your history. Many times, it's the same God.

Imagine no religion, John Lennon said. Nothing to kill or die for. He might have been on to something.

Back to Tiger. I'm voting for him in every election. After all, he represents more of the world's races and religions than you or I could ever imagine, but, only if he picks Phil Mickelson as his running mate. The likelihood of that happening is like either one of them going to church on Sunday or the rest of the world giving peace a chance.

That's a lot of virgins

Hmm... 24 X 72 = 1,628 Virgins

Had this latest plot to disrupt the world unfolded and come to fruition, wouldn't it have been ironic if some of the virgins awaiting those Islamic terrorists were many of the innocent young children and babies they took out with them?

I've often heard that pigs are smarter than dogs. Why don't police departments (and the TSA) train little pot-bellied pigs to sniff out explosives? Take them along on domestic and international flights while they're at it. Walk them in the streets and subways where terrorists are apt to blow themselves up. I guarantee these acts of violence will cease. No Muslim can enter the kingdom of Heaven with pig's blood on their hands. Maybe, the only liquid allowed to be carried on a flight should be vials of blood. Hand out bags of pork rinds instead of pretzels. In the same vein as "if you didn't do anything wrong, you've got nothing to hide," why not the same thing? If you're not going to blow yourself up, you've got nothing to worry about. Heaven can wait.

We cannot be offensive, I guess. I find what these people are doing to destroy the world as we know it to be highly offensive and life threatening. Why are we supposed to be so politically correct when politics is not the cause or main reason? It is all about the warped interpretations of a certain religion.

Oink.

If I should die before I wake...

"No two historians ever agree on what happened, and the damn thing is they both think they're telling the truth."
- Harry S. Truman.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, believes this present engagement between Israelis, Palestinians and Hezbollah is the beginning of World War III. No doubt the events of recent days may give pause to consider this notion. There is much history in this region called the Middle East and it is rich in bloody conflicts, wars that are always the opponent's fault, no matter which side of the blown-up fence one straddles.

I tend to be the type of person people like to discuss current affairs with. They come from all directions, ultra-liberal, liberal, moderate, conservative and archconservative. Ironically, I also like to play the devil's advocate, to try to stimulate thought and lend credence to all sides of a political spectrum. In the case of this particular crisis of world proportions, it goes beyond political sides and tides. There is the underlying issue of religion and how religions have played such a crucial role in war, the killing of innocents and the destruction of nations throughout time and how quickly rewritten history blinds us to the true past.

Several people I know actually believe the Jews fired first. They believe that Israel never existed until 1948 when Britain and the United Nations ceded Palestine to them to create a new nation by that name. The Muslims were there first. I ask them, were you there thousands of years ago to bear witness to that first shot? If there never existed nations known as Israel or Judah (Judea), from which the term Jew derives, then how do you explain archeological digs in that region that prove the existence of kings David and Solomon from 3,000 years ago? Are you aware that the Islamic faith did not even exist before 600 A.D.?

A BIT OF HISTORY
Quoted from http://www.mideastweb.org (quotes are in color)

The Jewish Kingdoms of Ancient Judah and Israel
The archeological record indicates that the Jewish people evolved out of native Cana'anite peoples and invading tribes. Some time between about 1800 and 1500 B.C., it is thought that a Semitic people called Hebrews (hapiru) left Mesopotamia and settled in Canaan. Canaan was settled by different tribes including Semitic peoples, Hittites, and later Philistines, peoples of the sea who are thought to have arrived from Mycenae, or to be part of the ancient Greek peoples that also settled Mycenae.

According to the Bible, Moses led the Israelites, or a portion of them, out of Egypt. Under Joshua, they conquered the tribes and city-states of Canaan. Based on biblical traditions, it is estimated that king David conquered Jerusalem about 1000 B.C. and established an Israelite kingdom over much of Canaan including parts of Transjordan. The kingdom was divided into Judea in the south and Israel in the north following the death of David's son, Solomon. Jerusalem remained the center of Jewish sovereignty and of Jewish worship whenever the Jews exercised sovereignty over the country in the subsequent period, up to the Jewish revolt in 133 AD.

Palestine
About 61 B.C., Roman troops under Pompeii invaded Judea and sacked Jerusalem in support of King Herod. Judea had become a client state of Rome. Initially it was ruled by the client Herodian dynasty. The land was divided into districts of Judea, Galilee, Peraea and a small trans-Jordanian section, each of which eventually came under direct Roman control. The Romans called the large central area of the land, which included Jerusalem, Judea. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea, in the early years of Roman rule. Roman rulers put down Jewish revolts in about A.D. 70 and A.D. 132. In A.D. 135, the Romans drove the Jews out of Jerusalem. The Romans named the area Palaestina, at about this time. The name Palaestina, which became Palestine in English, is derived from Herodotus, who used the term Palaistine Syria to refer to the entire southern part of Syria, meaning "Philistine Syria." Most of the Jews who continued to practice their religion fled or were forcibly exiled from Palestine, eventually forming a second Jewish Diaspora. However, Jewish communities continued to exist in Galilee, the northernmost part of Palestine. Palestine was governed by the Roman Empire until the fourth century A.D. (300's) and then by the Byzantine Empire. In time, Christianity spread to most of Palestine. The population consisted of Jewish converts to Christianity and paganism, peoples imported by the Romans, and others who had probably inhabited Palestine continuously.

During the seventh century (A.D. 600's), Muslim Arab armies moved north from Arabia to conquer most of the Middle East, including Palestine. Jerusalem was conquered about 638 by the Caliph Umar (Omar) who gave his protection to its inhabitants. Muslim powers controlled the region until the early 1900's. The rulers allowed Christians and Jews to keep their religions. However, most of the local population gradually accepted Islam and the Arab-Islamic culture of their rulers. Jerusalem became holy to Muslims as the site where, according to tradition, Muhammad ascended to heaven after a miraculous overnight ride on his horse Al-Buraq. The al-Aqsa mosque was built on the site generally regarded as the area of the Jewish temples.

Enough ancient history. There were plenty of battles for that region going on in between the times quoted above and what we are witnessing present day. Of a more recent time, and why there is confusion over whether Israel ever existed pre-1948, read on...

The United Nations Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) recommended that Palestine be divided into an Arab state and a Jewish state. The commission called for Jerusalem to be put under international administration The UN General Assembly adopted this plan on Nov. 29, 1947 as UN Resolution (GA 181), owing to support of both the US and the Soviet Union, and in particular, the personal support of US President Harry S. Truman. Many factors contributed to Truman's decision to support partition, including domestic politics and intense Zionist lobbying, no doubt. Truman wrote in his diary, however, "I think the proper thing to do, and the thing I have been doing, is to do what I think is right and let them all go to hell."

The Jews accepted the UN decision, but the Arabs rejected it.

The War of Independence or 1948 War is divided into the pre-independence period, and the post-independence period. Clashes between Israeli underground groups and Arab irregulars began almost as soon as the UN passed the partition resolution.

As the British forces pulled out of Palestine and the mandate came to an end, the Executive Committee of the Jewish "Yishuv" (community) in Palestine met to decide whether or not to declare a state, as has been envisioned under UN Resolution 181. The Arab states had declared that if such a state was declared, they would invade it. Nonetheless, the committee decided to declare a state, armed with the promise of US President Harry S. Truman that he would recognize such a state if it was declared. The Israeli Declaration of Independence was read out on Friday, the 14th of May 1948 by David Ben Gurion, who then became the first Prime Minister of the new state. The State was quickly recognized by the United States and the USSR.

The Palestinians did not declare a state immediately, and though several attempts were made to do so, they were blocked by the Jordanians and then by the Egyptians. The Egyptians later allowed the declaration of such a state in Gaza in September 1948, but it was recognized by no-one and had no resources and no real existence. Arab states had no interest in the formation of a separate state in Palestine, both because each state had territorial ambitions in Palestine, and because they feared the radical influence of Palestinian leadership under Haj Amin El-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

The declaration stated that Israel "will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture; will safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and Holy Places of all religions; and will dedicate itself to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

I abhor having to quote from other writings. I like to write my own articles, but I am not prolific in the history of the Middle East. My point in this post is to state that too many people have so many biased thoughts regarding the deeply rooted hostilities in this area and fail to do research into this very delicate issue before shooting missiles out of their mouths. Britain and the U.N. didn't cede Palestine to the Jews. Romans named that region Palestine, not Muslims, who came many, many years later. Sure tribes of that area have been fighting forever. Does anyone in their right mind think it will ever stop? EVER?

I am of the opinion that Iran, with Syria, is behind this. Don't misinterpret me here. How convenient to start this during the G8 Summit. Imagine if Iran tries to broker a cease-fire. Won't they come out smelling a little sweeter and gain much needed respect in the world as the power brokers here, lending them much needed credibility in a region fraught with deadly and fragile flare-ups? Besides, didn't it take a little heat off Iran's nuclear hanky panky and give the G8 leaders something else to discuss?

So there, but I'm a little bit more scared of that other nutcase, pei wei Kim Jong Il. Can he maintain his composure by remaining off the world stage for any length of time without doing something? After all, he's got a reputation to uphold as a premature missile shooter. Poor Seoul.