General update

Wow! We had a great turnout at the Northwest Arkansas Free Thought Society meet up last night! The group is really growing. Doc is working on a video and a play featuring our founding fathers and their sentiments regarding organized religion. I think it needs some work, but he gets the point across. The main characters are Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, George Washington and Ben Franklin. All of course were at best "deists" and some (notably Jefferson) could be regarded as atheist. Regardless of their personal beliefs, however, they all favored a secular state. Doc (and all of us) seek to dispel the notion that we were "founded as a Christian nation" and work to support separation of church and state (a phrase used by Jefferson).

IN other news... we are all starting the atkins diet. Of course to me its not really a "diet"; it's more of a way of eating that the human species was evolved to live by. So today we're rounding up all of our sugar, flower, starches, sauces.... anything with sugar, corn syrup, etc and we're tossing it all (or donating it). We have the book and Krystal is in charge of making the shopping list. Since I have lost 16 pounds in the last 2 months, and only have another 5 or so to go, I'm just going to start in the maintenance phase. I'm training for distance running and swimming, so I don't really need to go through induction I don't think. But that's exactly where Alice and Krystal are starting. So we'll have a cart load of meat, fish, eggs, cheese, and vegetables it sounds like. Fine with me.

I've managed to shave off a fair amount of time on my 2 mile run. My goal is to match my time in basic training of 13:47. I'm closing in on 15 minutes now, which is a huge improvement over my probably 18 minutes a few months ago. That's what swimming and running every day will do for ya though! A parallel goal is to do a 10k by the end of this fall. I guess I need to get to work and find one.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

I just wanted to say that. It's actually Virginia's motto. Wikipedia says it is often mistranslated as "death to tyrants" but actually means "thus always to tyrants". At any rate I prefer the mistranslation personally, and the state's seal seems to favor it as well. Who needs latin anyway? Screw it. DEATH TO TYRANTS!

Well John Stossel did a pretty good interview of Glenn Beck on 20/20 Friday night. It's nice to see self proclaimed libertarians starting to infiltrate the mainstream media. It was a nice piece. I'm glad there are people like Beck and Stossel out there who can put a smiley face on liberty, because I'm a tad bit more rough around the edges. Personally I think Beck needs a bit of polishing on his philosophy and debate skills, (and I'm available, btw, for a small fee), but all in all he's the best man we've got in the media today. I continue to look for men with backbone who are willing to be in the limelight (as I have done). They are few and far between. Even that joker Ken Lewis is licking the feds' boots. I could not believe I was watching it... He actually testified before congress that yes he was pressured to take the tarp money and push the deal through with merril, but sugar coated it by immediately following up like a puppy dog who got caught crapping on the carpet with some drivel along the lines of "but it was for our own good". Please. If you're making that kind of jack you need to go buy yourself a set of balls buddy.

Tomorrow the free thought society of Northwest Arkansas (which I am of course proud to be a member of) is hosting a presentation and book signing by Dr. Darrel Ray. I did the press release for it but I don't think we got any play (I listed the founder as the contact so I don't know if he got any airtime or press). Ray is a psychologist with a degree in religion as well. He will discuss and sign his book, "The God Virus", which as I understand it puts religion in its place as a short circuit in the human mind. I of course will have a full analysis after meeting Dr. Ray and reading his book. Hopefully we'll draw in a few hecklers to liven it up a bit.

Slavery, racism, women as property (and sex slaves), and God

How do all these things fit together you ask?

Well I didn't know they did myself, until I actually read the bible cover to cover. It's been years since I cracked open the "good book", but I have actually read it through more than once (unlike most of the faithful I know and debate, who usually don't know much about it at all).

Reading the bible, I learned that:

Slavery is righteous. This is a solid principle of the bible, new testament and old. In fact, there is an entire book devoted to it named Philemon. You see when a runaway slave who was owned by Philemon came to the apostle Paul for assistance, Paul urged him to be a good slave and return straight back to his owner.

Homosexuals should be put to death. So should anyone of a different religion, anyone who has sex outside of marriage, any child who disobeys his parents, adulterers, fortune tellers, having sex with animals, disobeying a priest, and many other offenses. The good news? Having sex with your wife while she's menstruating is NOT a capitol offense. Nope, for that you just are "cut off from your people". So if you catch your neighbor having sex and you see evidence in his bathroom that his wife may be "unclean", you'd better call the neighborhood watch.

God is racist. Yep, that's just the cold reality. The Jews are his chosen people you see. In fact it wasn't until only recently that non-Jews could avoid hellfire. Now "gentiles" like me have a chance at redemption only because God's favorite race rejected him.

God is only good, but everything came from God. That includes evil. Wait a minute, how did something come from him that he is not? OK I admit, I just threw that one in. It really is never dealt with in any depth in the "good book". I don't suppose there is any reason to open a Q&A session when any dissent is met with punishments such as turning a person into a pillar of salt, "smiting" him with hemorrhoids, drowning him, or just striking him dead.

If God asks you to murder your own children, you should do it. Now today we'd call someone nasty names, like "insane" and "just nuts". But back then things were different. It was in fact expected of you to kill your son if you heard voices claiming to be god who told you to do so. Good ol' father Abraham... he'd a done it, I swear!

If evil men show up at your door and want to have sex with your buddies, offer them your virgin daughters instead. That's what Lot did, and he was considered a righteous man. Righteous enough in fact for God to save him from fire and brimstone!

Jesus did not in fact come to bring peace on Earth. I'm not sure why we see this at Christmas every year, when He himself states, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I come not to send peace, but a sword". Huh. Better get to work explaining that one away!

Well I think that's enough for now, you get the picture. If this book (collection of 66 books actually, chosen over time by who knows who for who knows why to be "cannonized", were written in modern English and released on the shelves tomorrow, the same people who like to thump it on podiums would be picketing the book stores for selling it.

When I mention the above passages (and others) to my faithful friends, I'm constantly amazed at the mental gymnastics they perform to explain it all away.

Wouldn't it just be easier to see it for what it is?

The State V. YOU

It amazes me how many things are "for the common good" or "for your own good" or even PATRIOTIC when the government does them, but illegal when YOU do them. Here are just a few examples I've come up with.

When Bernie Madoff runs a ponzi scheme, people are OUTRAGED. They demand that he go to jail and rot. When the GOVERNMENT runs a ponzi scheme, it's called "social security" and frequently needs to be "shored up".

When a gang extorts income from the producers in its neighborhood, it's called EXTORTION and BLACKMAIL and the people demand that the Ricoh act be used to put them all in jail. When your government does it, it's called INCOME TAX.

When that same gang runs out of something and goes to another neighborhood to steal it by force, it's called ARMED ROBBERY and again the people demand that the guilty be sent off to prison. When your government does it, it's called WAR, and it goes so far as to declare God is on its side.

When the mob prints money, it's called counterfeiting, and the secret service is called in to lock up the offenders. When your government does it, it's called MONETARY POLICY and is necessary and patriotic.

When your neighbor declares your religion, it's an outrage and he's judging you. When the government does it, it's IN GOD WE TRUST on your license plates and money.

And THIS is the socialist state that we so proudly defend? THIS is what we call FREEDOM? Friends, THIS IS A JOKE. You live in a society that tells you what you can and cannot put into your own body (drugs, vaccines), what you can and cannot put ON your body (helmet laws, seat belt laws), what you can and cannot do with your own money in your own home (internet gambling, prostitution, and any number of other victimless crimes between consenting adults).

It is NOT freedom, it is NOT liberty, nor does it resemble anything even close. It is orwellian brainwash that the masses of sheeple march in lockstep with. It is FEAR that your government uses to CONTROL YOU.

Thomas Jefferson said, "When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, that is tyranny". So I ask you, WHO FEARS WHO in today's neo-fascist state?

There is no man so enslaved as the man who is a slave but believes he's free.

Wow, I don't remember where that quote comes from, but it sure sums up the American public.

The fleecing of America (cont'd)

Well friends I've been busy and haven't posted much for a while. Not only have I been busy, but I've basically found myself in a state of resignation. I'm resigned to the fact that the fleecing of America has gone into hyperdrive, and we are now seeing the last of the buzzards fighting over what scraps remain.

As you all know I've spent much of my life in service to the cause of liberty and freedom. And I don't mean freedom in the sense that the orwellian nanny state uses it currently to demand our thoughtless submission. No, I mean liberty in the sense of individual sovereignty, which is another discussion for another day, which will of course be lost on 99% of the people who run across it.

That very liberty - individual sovereignty - is an ideal that is dead. We are now at the tail end of the dependency cycle and it must run its course. The time to rally and carry the standard is over. What I'm about to say is going to shock most of my readers, but I've thought about it for quite some time, and it is this: We should now join the socialists that run this country and help to speed up the final transition to complete and total socialism / fascism. At this point all we're doing it delaying the inevitable a few more years at BEST. And when the inevitable comes it will be WORSE.

We libertarians are keenly aware that the bank is broke. The ponzi schemes that the socialist / fascist traitors in our government have brought upon us are finally collapsing. WE know that our entire system is a ponzi scheme. The scam known as the federal reserve is robbing us blind, as Thomas Jefferson warned any central banking system would. Social security, and all the other welfare scams under its umbrella are insolvent. We're leveraged to the hilt, all with paper IOUs. The house of cards is coming down, whether we like it or not. And it's due to the greed, ignorance, and lack of self discipline of the dependents that allowed it to be put into place.

You see we as a nation collectively have sold our souls to the bank. Anyone who thinks that the economy is turning around, or will turn around, is in serious need of a history lesson. We are the most leveraged society in the history of the world. The parasites of the land, who produce nothing but pursue a slash and burn tactic in their eternal quest to suck the lifeblood out of the those who do produce are winning.

The unions and the democrats are hell bent on pillaging what remains of our production engines. When they're done, nothing will be left. They won't stop until they've destroyed every last ounce of wealth in the country. Then the class warfare and class envy they created will turn into outright aggression and it will be a full on war.

The military industrial complex, which has run this country for years, has combined forces with the oil industrial complex and the Republicans to bring us their brand of fascism and socialism. Theirs generally disdains unions and the unabashed socialism of the democrats; but puts Jesus and and a slice of apple pie on the plate with it to make it a little easier to swallow. But make no mistake about it: it is still a domestic enemy of the United States Constitution. But as I stated early on in this rant, the blame lands squarely in the lap of the American sheeple. THEY are the ones who allowed this; no, DEMANDED it, and now here we are, and their solution to the problems they've caused is MORE?

My dad used to say, "you can't borrow your way out of debt". Only an idiot would think that would work. Yet we as a nation are desperately trying to do just that. Collectivism doesn't work. Our founding fathers knew this; which is why they created a REPUBLIC not a DEMOCRACY. The fact that 99 out of 100 people out there think we actually ARE a democracy is proof of the problem.

At the rate we're circling the drain, it won't be long now until all the riches of the greatest nation ever on the face of the earth will have been plundered. In fact I'll go out on a limb and say they already HAVE been plundered, the accountants just haven't settled up yet. As more and more "de-leveraging" occurs; we'll see it unfold. And when our grandchildren and children are wearing barrels and selling pencils on the street corner for a fish head and a bowl of rice, will anyone's mind be changed?

Not likely. The socialists will insist we didn't have enough socialism. The unions will insist the evil corporations did it. And the moronic majority will buy whatever brand of BS the current establishment is selling. Until they finally hit bottom and realize that the concept of the "common good" is complete crap, and only then will the rugged individualist again reclaim his sovereignty.

So bring it on Nancy Polosi and Obama. You're only a few votes away from completely destroying us. Get it over with. We rugged individualists are ready to rebuild, starting with the US constitution - less an amendment or two.

Thwarting Theocracy in Missouri

Coincidentally, the religious right in Missouri seems to be marching in lockstep with Kansas.

Recently a bill was introduced to amend the Missouri Constitution to emphasize the right of students to pray in school.

This of course is nothing but political grandstanding. That right already exists and has been vigorously defended by many organizations. I don't know of anyone (myself included) who would oppose voluntary prayer, bible study, meditation, wiccan ritual study, or any other form of religious expression.

However, apparently we are seeing another instance of the Christian persecution complex coming into play. Someone said a pastor said that he heard a student on some bus somewhere was told he couldn't bring a bible on board. Hence the bill. This is done solely to ignite a firestorm of ideological nonsense which is unnecessary.

The 1st amendment and the Missouri constitution already guarantee the right of freedom of religion.

But then again, style over substance in politics is nothing new.

Thwarting Theocracy in Kansas

The religious right is on the march again. Today I met them in Topeka to square off over a bill regarding "In God We Trust" License plates.

The persecution complex that these people feel is not only ironic, but is becoming more apparent. While I am fully behind every individual's right to practice his religion, I do not like the idea of the state endorsing any one person's religion.

Here is a summary of the article:

http://cjonline.com/stories/021408/bre_license.shtml