Where Are the Moderate Christians At? (A Blog Short Rant)

1. On Anti-Gay Terrorism

Just this week 49 people died in this country's largest terrorist attack since 9/11/2001. A homophobic radical Islamic psychopath busted into a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida and calmly shot and killed 49 people / injuring 53 people. Reading the survivor's accounts of terror will give you chills. The horror these people had to experience is mind-boggling.

As with most mass shootings in this country the aftermath is essentially democrats trying to pass some semblance of common sense gun reform and the republicans block this legislation. The right say it's the damn Muslim's fault not the weapons. The left says it's not Islam it's just the weapon. Of course we rational Americans realize it's a combination of many of these factors.

We often hear cries from people in this country asking where are the "moderate Muslims" standing up and denouncing this sort of terrorist behavior as being wrong? Sure, there was some response to this from the American Muslim community. But I also ask simply, where are the "moderate Christians"at?! I asked several of my Christian friends on social media why they were so silent. Some it took well over 48 hours to even say the simplest of meaningless phrases --"we're praying for the victims". My father, who is Christian and I've written about before in my blogs, was awkward when talking about this terrorist attack. He never said "this is what they deserve for their sinful lifestyle" or anything but there is this biting of the tongue that comes across as obvious to me.

Now we're watching all these once openly bigoted Christian Republican politicians saying all these nice things about the LGBT community. Suddenly they love the gay community. After 50 of them were slaughtered by some ISIS-lover! Well, I say fuck that! Where have you been all along, moderate Christians?!! I'll tell you where they've been all along: They have been on the wrong side of history fighting against LGBT rights, denying equal rights to marry who they love. They have been fighting for transgender citizens to use the "correct" bathroom. They have been shaming gay and lesbians in they're churches and in their homes for their "sinful" lifestyle. They founded "curing you of your gayness" camps and sent their poor homosexual Christian kids there. They "pray the gay away" and force their LGBT loved ones into a closet of shame for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The "moderate" Christians more often than not think they are so hipster and cool; they are "totally cool" with gay people and show their blood-cult love by rubbing shoulders with them while patting themselves on the back for not being part of those horrible "God Hates Fags"-type Christians.

... But yet they still think that acting on their sexual orientation (if it's with the same sex) is a SIN! The core of their very biological essence is an offense to God! Think about how mean that is for a second. Some also think that if they don't identify with their biological sex then they are living in sin. Now let me be extremely clear here to even the most liberal of Christian... if you agree with me that people have the right to be whoever they want and to love and be with whoever they want and it's not some SIN!... if you agree with me, even the most of progressive of Christians then....

OPEN YOUR FUCKING MOUTHS!!!

and start being vocal publicly AND frequently about allying yourself with these people who deserve equal rights under the law for whatever lifestyle they choose.

Why the crickets though? Seriously, where are the moderate Christians at?!

2. On Religion Being Taught in Public Science Classrooms

I've had several different discussions with a few Christian friends that accept evolution or say they don't but that it wouldn't affect their impenetrable faith *if evolution was true. Well, of course evolution is true. Any of us with the slightest of education in the biological sciences know this, but yet when Christians promote pushing religion in the public science classroom on school boards across this country, . . . not a fucking peep from these same "moderate Christians". Why is that?! These people are part of your blood cult not mine.... Speak up! I can't hear you! You need to stand up to this if you know it's wrong because many of these "moderate" Christian friends of mine scoff at the silliness of Young Earth Creationism but strangely don't really say much publicly against it when it creeps up in our public science classrooms.

I should be reading articles in "moderate" Christian publications denouncing the actions by the Christian fundamentalists who want to teach unfounded mythology as science in science classes in public schools. I should be reading these articles before reading them from atheist blogs or secular coalitions group publications. These people are part of your religion, your team, your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ... Call them out! and speak the fuck up when you do it, please!

Where are the moderate Christians at? Why are they so often quiet on this subject?

3. On Donald J. Trump

Lastly, another subject the "moderate Christians" tend to avoid publicly is Donald Trump. During the G. W. Bush years in the glory days of the evangelical political right of this country you could barely separate politics and religion in churches across this country to meetings in congress.

Apparently most of God's children in America choose a fascist as their candidate: Donald Trump. It makes sense, I suppose, since Yahweh is the Supreme Dear Leader Celestial Fascist. But most of my "moderate" Christian friends who deeply dislike Trump and don't support him will send out a tweet or facebook post from time to time denouncing Trump, but that's about it. They aren't organizing to "get out the vote" ...  Why aren't more "moderate Christians" speaking out specifically against Trump .. as in the best way you can ** actually make the most difference - by telling your congregation and you yourself VOTING for Hillary. I hate Hillary too but clearly you cannot bitch and moan about Trump my dear New Christian friends if you don't fucking vote against him where your vote actually counts, in the general election. If I as an informed politically intelligent Bernie Sanders supporter have to suck it up and vote for the "lesser of two evils" then so do you, "moderate" Christian!

There are many ways you can bitch and moan about moderate Muslims, some of this is warranted but not all because Christians built this landscape of homophobia in this country with their own gloriously bigoted sweat and tears. This country is and has been overwhelmingly Christian. You all started this so if you REALLY are for LGBT people then speak the fuck up and support their rights. You can't have it both ways. You are either on the side of equality or you are not. If you are not. You are a bigot and you can fuck off.

In conclusion please by all means take a pause from quoting your selected "nice" Bible verses on twitter while ignoring all the bigoted, sexist, racist Bible verses. By all means set aside for a second discussing theological "problems" of your specific brand of  blood cult dogma. Take a minute away from blogging about animated films or superhero movies and the parallels to your favorite antiquated old book of mythology and wake up to join us in the real world with real problems. Open your mouth and speak out against things you seem to only quietly support or are against. Make some noise! Or else we'll just brush you off into the trash bin of history where your ancient super-woo blood magic cult belongs. -- With the rest of the bigots and garbage human history.

Where are all the moderate Christians at?! That's a serious question. Anyone Christian want to answer it?

It Is Enough (A Blog Short)

It is enough.

The verifiable fact that we are star dust is enough. So many religious believers are not satisfied by the simple awe, question, and mystery that envelopes us non-believers who look into the cosmos and see it for what it is: a universe that (as far as we know now) isn't looking back at us; it isn't staring or caring back at us. Since I broke the spell religion had on my life over a decade ago my argument has always been a religious worldview totally robs us of the purity of our sense of awe and wonder at the cosmos.

Compare:

Two scenarios: Two different people are out star gazing in the middle of the Mohave Desert on a perfectly clear night. The Milky Way is crystal clear and the colors of the spiral arms of this galaxy are bright and near blinding in their brilliance. I'm sure we've all experienced some place so free of light pollution that the stars appear so bright they almost hurt your eyes. It always feels like you are in a dream, swimming like an astronaut among the stars flecked among the deep black. It is a very surreal experience. Something our ancient ancestors saw every night.

One of these people looking up is a pastor of a local church. He is staring up at the galaxy and thinking about a Father "out there", somewhere beyond and above the entire universe he created. This Father is outside of his creation looking right back at us with deep love for us. This night, with the galaxy coating all he sees, he is reminded of this Father's Son that is also the father too (with a ghost) that "wrote himself" into the story (his creation) that he began at the Big Bang. This is the story with an extremely long prelude-- where the Father waited patiently while giant reptile-monsters (dinosaurs) ruled for several hundred million years, five major mass extinctions killing altogether some 99% of the life he created on this planet, then several 100,000 years of painful early hominid species suffering/death to lead finally to Genesis and Adam and Eve in the Bible! - all of this to get to this one moment.

The moment of the pastor and his Father.

Beautiful right?

This pastor rejoices in this moment at the confirmation that it is the CREATOR of the universe that cares! This creator cares about our lowly species! How miraculous! This pastor then connects this thought of a Father God that loves him so, who created this universe with him in mind, who created this very moment with his only begotten Son(himself). This god-son that became man (one of his creation) fills this pastor with joy. He becomes overwhelmed with gratitude and peace when he reflects on all that pain and suffering experienced by the Son of God on that ancient cross. Hallelujah!

It wasn't just the torture. Many common criminals and zealots were nailed to this Roman torture device. The pain and suffering was a trillion times over due to the Son of God taking on all human sin! Did this sin-drenched pain and suffering hurt worse than all the living species pain and suffering in all five mass extinctions up until this day? Yes. It REALLY hurt so much! The pastor didn't remember if this was in the Bible but it probably was!

This pastor is reflecting on the cosmos through a Christian worldview. This night sky, this stunning beauty of a color-speckled galaxy full of billions of stars causes this pastor to reflect further on the "rules" of this cosmos. The rules that forced God to send his only begotten Son/himself. "It's all damned. All of it!"- The pastor thought. "It's all going down due to the 'first two humans' in a magical perfect garden." The first two of our species god created specially are the ones who fucked it all up. These first sinners pulled the whole future of the human race (and even somehow the other hominid species of the past) down with them. Yet before all of this, God's favorite angels rebelled against him and were cast out of heaven. The leader of these rebellious angels took the form of a snake in this magical garden to tempt these "first two humans", pulling the overwhelming majority of humans down to hell to burn forever.

All of this the pastor soaks in as tears roll down his face. This is the Christian worldview. You see, this beautiful spiral galaxy on full display above this pastor's head leads this Christian to ponder all of these things: Angels, demons, Satan, a magical garden, miracles, God's Son, a specific ancient Roman torture device, blood atonement, appeasement of a wrathful yet also loving Cosmic Father. This is all tacked on to the null hypothesis (- where the atheist starts its worldview). The Christian knows so much about the cosmos when looking up at it! It's amazing! So the creator of the moon, the sun, the stars, the galaxy does "care back" at stargazing humans! The Father who created it all, behind it all (even guided evolution of species) while also among it all (by his guiding hand in the natural world: prayer works obviously!), does care about our species. He cares so much!... Why?

Well, because dads cares, why wouldn't they?

The second person looking up at the night sky is an atheist. Like the pastor he/she may be very knowledgeable of cosmology and astronomy; he or she may know enough physics to realize physical laws in motion above. This atheist may understand enough about human anatomy to realize the mechanisms of our eye and how the starlight interacts with it. This person may understand the details of the evolution of how eyes evolved and their importance in early species.

This person may be transported back in time when we were fish moving in and out of water for food with our fins, or more accurately described as proto-limbs! This atheist reflects on the giant shells of geologic time that has passed not only above him but on the solid rock that makes up the planet in which he is standing on. Tears roll down the atheist's face as finally he/she realizes the genetic lottery that he/she won to even be here at all! The fact that the atheist is a conscious, big-brained ape that can understand the overwhelming evidence of the evolution of life on his/her home planet is mind-boggling. To the atheist this one life is all we most likely have. There is no evidence of afterlives. The atheist realizes in this very profound moment of awe and wonder while basking in the night sky that this very moment is all there is and time is somewhat of a puzzling substance.
 However, time has gotten the best of both of these two stargazers. The pastor and the atheist both, separately get into their vehicles and drive home, back to the light pollution cities they call home. They both go back to their loved ones, their friends and family. They both enjoy the social pleasures and friendships that create a meaning that is local while the cosmos exists above - cold, indifferent (as if it makes sense to attribute these attributes to an attribute-less entity)

These two stargazers: The atheist and the theist looking up at the night sky are ultimately robbing themselves in the end because they eventually are thinking about how the other one is thinking about the cosmos. The atheist is laughing and shaking his head at the childishness, archaic absurdity of the Christian worldview of the cosmos while the theist is wondering how the atheist can be a nihilist and still be filled with equal awe and wonder. If there is no creator then creation is meaningless - despite what the atheist says. Maybe one day we can fight the notion of being so dogmatic all we think about is worldviews and how they are wrong or right. As Carl Sagan said we should be delighted in the profound fact that a part of the cosmos (those species that are sentient and can contemplate the cosmos) has become aware and able to know itself. This is enough. No mythical creatures or gods required to make this powerful. It just is and that is all.

for now.

We the People... Are Shutting the Door to a Revolution

Like many Americans I've been going through something as of late. I'm going through a very painful broken heart. America has broken my heart and I'm not dealing with it very well. How about you? I know I'm supposed to fall in line and vote against my best interest, and the interest of my country but there was a revolution here. I saw it once on TV I think. Yes, it was brief and downplayed on TV but I caught it for a second. The revolution was vivid online but there are a lot of things online. Those closest to the revolution, those in the party of the revolution are the ones who shut the door to the revolution. Even though this revolution would give these fucking door-shutters a better life they were convinced by old, tired brand names (Clinton). They were convinced that we all must fall in line for the status quo. "Isn't it time?" Could that be more condescending of a slogan from Hillary. "Isn't it time?" No. It wasn't in 2008 and those of us progressives that clearly still have our brains and recent memories intact say "Fuck No!". It's STILL not time! Hillary has been and will always be far to right-wing for true progressives to accept as their candidate. Let me remind you she voted for the Iraq War and the Patriot Act!


Isn't it time ... To take this country to the right? This is what Hillary's logo indicates (the H with the arrow through the center pointing to the right). This door to the revolution was shut by the elderly that mostly laughed off the sincerity. At the same time they kill off the passion of the young that wanted to see what was through this door to a better life. Remind me when I'm a senior citizen, nearing the end of my life, not to be so stupid and selfish as to think that my narrow antiquated political philosophy should be more important than those young American citizens who have their whole life ahead of them. Fucking old people- so stubborn and bitter. Don't let people tell you the elderly are much wiser than you - they are not (clearly!) This election proved it. The old people often like to make fun of the younger generation and their naive passion. As we get older we all tend to look down at those younger than us. Is it jealousy? Sure. But mostly it's just stupidity. I'll be the first to admit this younger generation is much smarter than I was when I was younger. -- This is mostly due to the news they get is being more accurate than cable news (the news of the old fucks). The information is much more accurate from the New Media over the Old dying media.

Not only do I blame the elderly for shutting this door to the revolution but I blame old, religious African-Americans. Bernie Sanders was crushed in the deep south states. Why? Why would older black democrats vote for a woman who worked for a pro-segregation Republican in the 60's over a man that was arrested for marching for civil rights at that time? Why would older black voters vote for a woman that once called black criminals "super predators" that needed to be "brought to heel" over a man that has fought for civil rights in congress for his entire career? Is it a Jewish thing? The Jews did kill their Sky Daddy's son. Well, there are a myriad of reasons that should make any older black voter with half a brain vote against Hillary Clinton. Older black people in the south are deeply into their superstitious woo woo. They are heavily under the spell of their blood cult: Christianity. Hillary Clinton had the old religious deep south black vote on lock down from day one. The faithful flock, (AKA: dumb sheep) always follow their leader (AKA conman), their pastors. I can guarantee you that those fire-and-brimstone charlatan fags preached that "I'm with her" gospel all across those southern states. *I use the word "fag" here as slang for "closeted gay people who are bigoted against gay people".

I blame low-information voters and the media for shutting the door on the revolution. I blame poor voter turn out and suppression of votes (from precincts heavily favoring Bernie). It is a fact that when voter turn out is low Republicans win and the New Republican (or neoliberal) Hillary Clinton won in many of these low voter turn out states. I blame the elderly white and black blue dog democrats, the neoliberals, the religious, the low-information voters, and the media. My family is mostly Republican and Fox News has so warped their brains that they actually think that a fascist like Donald Trump would be better as President then a democratic socialist like Bernie Sanders. A Mussolini or Napoleon would be better than a Franklin Roosevelt or Jesus Christ. Jesus fucking Christ, the stupidity on the right is palpable! This is how twisted the world is according to Faux News viewers. Their brains have been succumbed to 8 solid years of Obama-bashing, blaming him for every problem (real and imaginary), and painting this country as a 3rd-world hellhole because of his presidency. The cult of Fox News and it's followers are finally meeting their Frankenstein creation after a decade of false narrative: Donald Trump. We can thank the dumbing down of our parents and grandparents for America's first fascist President!

But we had a revolution in our grasps! Many of us Bernie supporters saw the light through the door and how good the future could be if we just reallocated all this money to focus in on the health of our own country- the entire country, not just the 1%, not just wars with countries that never attacked us (something Hillary voted for). As with Obama the criticisms of Sanders are based in fact-free fantasy-land. The one thing we hear continually from the brainwashed zombies on the right (you know-- our family and friends!) is that Bernie is promising "free this" and "free that" and then they laugh smugly with their dumb hill-billy, slaw-jaw, faces. Of course, literally none of these mouth-breathers have taken 10 seconds to actually look at the details of Bernie's proposals. The mentally challenged haven't even attempted to look at the numbers, his tax proposals, or how he'll pay for all these "free" things. As they lean back, laughing as if they made some wonderful defeating argument I often want to grab them by their fat pink jowls and introduce them this concept of other modern, industrialized countries in the world that have already had these "free things" (like healthcare and college) for years. Unconscionable morons! There is no hope! I'm afraid we are drowning in an ocean of idiocracy.

Here's a cold hard fact we have to accept now: Bernie will most likely not be the Democratic nominee for President this year. Those of us with hearts and functioning brains have to come to grips with that. I originally never expected Bernie to make it this far. Not many people did. I watched a recent segment from Samantha Bee's new show called "Full Frontal" where she mocks Bernie supporters. She makes light of this idea of "a revolution" which of course feeds into what I've been talking about. She seems to either ignore or not fully grasp why this movement to get Bernie the nomination is called "a revolution". It's simple: Bernie is not for sale. The overwhelming majority of Bernie's contributions have come from small donors from average American citizens. Isn't this fact alone worth your vote. Do you really want another candidate that is bought out by special interests? Hillary Clinton has received millions of dollars from some of the same financial institutions that brought down our economy. This revolution is a glimpse of light through the door. This revolution is about overturning Citizens United and getting money out of politics so we, the non-billionaire, the non-Wall Street 1%er, the non-Koch brother can have a fucking say just as much as the rich do!

Hillary Clinton has refused to release her speeches to Goldman Sachs. Why? Of course she has something to hide. She doesn't want us to see, even though she talks the "tough talk" about Wall Street and special interest groups, that in reality, behind closed doors she talks fondly of her Goldman Sachs friends. Of course she shills to these people. They have her attention much more than the average citizen of this country. The majority of democratic voters have watched her squirm and make up absurd excuses and deflect from this in many debates and yet somehow this same democrat voter is fine with all of this. Democrats want to keep the status quo. Democrats want to keep electing liars that shift with the $ at the drop of a hat. Democrats want to elect someone that is not principled at all and can be swayed by the special interests. Democrats want to keep the door shut.

Well, thank the Holy Spaghetti Monster I'm not a democrat!

All of us who are informed and care about fundamentally changing the system (getting money out of politics at all costs and taking our democracy back) are faced with the grim fact of Hillary being the democratic nominee. We are to somehow magically transfer our passion for Bernie (feeling the Bern) into passion for "Isn't it time ... for Hillary?" Needless to say that will never happen. I'm not a "Bernie or Bust" person though know a hell of a lot of them. Hillary will simply just not win over a giant block of progressives. Her unfavorables are through the roof. Those of us who will be voting for her over Trump are doing so despite our emotions. Those of us that will be voting for her over Trump are doing so strictly based on rationality. I cannot express the high degree of torture and stress that this brings us Bernie supporters that must vote for Shillary. It's a hostage vote. Vote for this horrible human you do not want to be your President OR this fascist wins! We do not want to do this and find it near impossible to do so. All you so-called "progressives" that find it not problematic at all, not a conflict of conscious at all, to vote for Hillary are simply not real progressives or have not been paying attention all these years.

It's best to reword where I'll stand in the general election: My vote will never be a vote /FOR/ Hillary but a merely vote /AGAINST/ a fascist. Donald Trump, sufficiently diagnosed, will lead to the correct conclusion that this man is a cult of personality and thus a fascist. We can never elect someone like this as our President. It's not just about him being unqualified or idiotic. Trump is not an idiot at all. In horrible ways he's extremely brilliant. Trump will shatter the system we have (and not in a good way!) and electing him could spell certain doom for our republic in the United States. I don't deny people can know these things and yet still be a "Bernie or Bust" voter (voting 3rd party or not at all, even in a swing state) but these are the people we have to convince.

... In time... It's too soon for me. I haven't properly dealt with my mourning. I'm still dealing with my broken heart. I'm still mourning democracy, I'm still mourning shutting the door to a revolution. I am currently crawling under a rock to really soak in that America just passed on one of the best presidential candidates in this country's recent history. I may sleep this off for days... Wake me up when it's time to vote against that fascist.

Anti-Theism Rant 4/24/16

 

I'm going to die
... and people are going to keep believing stupid shit.
I like being a firebrand atheist. It bothers me deeply if someone were to misrepresent who I was when I die. I'm afraid my very religious family or friends will co-opt my death for their religion. I get it. It makes them feel better when grieving but it's dishonest to who I am. I used to be a Christian, sure but I haven't been for over a decade now and I'm very much an anti-theist. I do not believe in a God and think that if there was one that would be horrible. I wish to worship no one! or to be a slave to no master! Who the fuck wants that?! What is wrong with you people?! Especially a slave to something that's not even real! I chose autonomy and freedom. This is why I broke the spell years ago. I was indoctrinated as a child and kept in near isolation with other believers. Some even reading this may have been through the same mental child abuse. It is a form of child abuse.

There have been people die lately. Of course people die all the time but brutally and locally. Getting shot at this point is getting more and more common in this country. That's a price we pay for all these guns and we'll never give up our guns. But it's been somber as of late around me. People are sad and jolted back to the very stubborn fact that one day we're all going to die. And that day could be tomorrow and that death could be brutal and painful.

The very thing you that are religious are so afraid of - the pain, the death, the suffering, the earthquakes and floods, the Muslim terrorist... all the things that keep you terrified and keep you clutching your Bible is the very thing that make me feel at ease. Many that are religious are so concerned about what it would be like to embrace NOOOOOOOOTHHHHIIIIIIINGGGG! NOOOOOOO! There is Jesus or there is the void. That is all there is! And even if we atheists live a long happy life ... well, that point of "Jesus or nothing" isn't invalidated you see because where we can't be proven right or wrong .. the "afterlife" is where you will face the "nothingness!" How convenient.

But there is a freedom in nothing! That's what makes me laugh when I read something about the alternative to "the gospel" is nothingness because I get such comfort from this "nothingness". The control these people must have over their lives is astounding! They must not only be satisfied with all the science (well, some of the science! Not that icky human evolution science tho!) but they must know what's "beeeeeeeyyyyooooondddd the natural!" See, there must be a SUPER-Natural! They must know what's even beyond the cosmos. As if this cosmos isn't fucking enough to fascinate our ape brains!

I feel sorry for the theist. I feel sorry for the ones that must have answers to all the big questions- even if those answers are made up or found in an old magical book. There is freedom in letting go belief in magical gardens, noah's ark, blood sacrifices, resurrecting god-sons. There is freedom in just being a species of animal and stopping there and just letting that fact soak in. It is deep to be in the real world. It fills me with awe to not project any desires or feelings about what sounds nice or what would be nice or what my pastor says but to just be an animal. It feels freeing to look at my pet rats and realize we were once this small. We survived the dinosaurs by being this small. We have so much deep time and history. And we don't need to postulate sky daddies like our ancient ancestors because that's childish. We are growing up as a species and we're letting go of childish things (religion) as the polls are showing (in this country at least)

Hopefully someday you will join me in the sentiment of - I don't know what the fuck is going on with this cosmos and neither do you! You can believe in your gods, you gins, your fairies, your angels and demons you lambs washed in blood but do not pray over me. Do not co-opt my death for your religious nonsense. I have someone I've very close to that understands my strong anti-theism stance and promised me she would keep it on the real. I will not be remembered as a believer. That makes me feel good because I grew up over a decade ago. You should too!

My Take on Trump - (An Email from Jeff Hurley)

"Watching the Trump phenomena is almost surreal. We are watching the rise of a populist fascist movement. Something that the classical liberal traditions of the United States has been able to keep at bay for all of these years. The failure of government, the political correctness of the regressive left, the republican party encouraging jingoists, protectionists and nativists, the idiocracy culture are to blame for the rise of Trump. With the current failure of statism, many people have been mesmerized by Trump. They see Trump as being the only one with the will powerful enough to challenge the establishment. They see him as someone who is speaking to them. We must keep in mind that Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, and many other dictators were anti-establishment.

Trump is a master of persuasion, effective language and evolutionary psychology. He has studied Machiavelli, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, hypnotism and as we can see a number of dictators. He is Machiavellian demagogue capable of deflecting every attack, turning negatives into positives. He is a master of ad hominem, loaded question, straw man and slippery slope attacks. His vagueness of speech allows people to fill in the holes with their own beliefs. He makes statements about everything to create broadened appeal and free himself from being attacked for not having said something. He even sometimes says things that I can agree with.

Trump preys on the fantasies and fears of the people. He is intentionally trolling America, appealing to people on an emotional level, rather than using reason. What we are witnessing is the abandonment of reason. What we see isn’t discourse on policy, but character assassination attempts without any real substance of where people stand on the issues. He outrages many more people than the number of people that find him appealing. Either way he wins, because he draws attention away from where he stands on the current issue and provides himself with more free press.                                                                                                                                              

The Trump we see in the debates isn't the "Real Trump," it is a persona; much like any TV personality.  He would run the presidency much more like a TV show than a government. Trump lacks any real political ideology, he has flipped on every issue, sometimes within the same statement. He is not concerned with liberty, the constitution or the traditions of this country. His only concern is power which comes from public approval ratings. What I find most terrifying is I don‘t think there is anything he wouldn’t do as long as it increases his popularity. I think when he gets in he will team up with Russia to go after ISIS, so we can have a victory and start feeling good again. I think he will go after the media and his political enemies to consolidate power. I think in the instance of a terrorists attack we can kiss our civil liberties goodbye.                                        

Much seems similar to Hitler's rise to power. He is using immigrants as a scapegoat, convincing everyone that America is losing at everything and making false promises to restore our country's diminished role in the world. He taps into an existing pool of disgruntled people, but not only reconfirms their beliefs, but exaggerates them to a much larger extent. Tears people down further, so his promises to restore the nation are that much more powerful.                                                                

Trump is manipulating America and the only way to defeat him, is to spread the word and to call him out when he is in the act. To continue down this road is to abandon reason and follow the road to serfdom."

- Jeff Hurley

Your Daily Rant - by Gog 3/4/16

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/22/the-earth-is-on-the-brink-of-a-sixth-mass-extinction-scientists-say-and-its-humans-fault/

We're literally. LITERALLY digging our graves.

Destroying biodiversity, rising sea levels, arctic permafrost melting leading to a positive feedback loop. Meanwhile the front-runners of the GOP are fascist and theocratic demagogues and the front-runner of the Democrats is a corporate whore sociopath. Fuck the human race.

And then all the left wants to do is worry about fake feminism and offending Muslims, and libertarians think bitcoin will save us. I'm so sick of the idiocy. It's absolutely disguising.

This is the order of problems in regards to urgency, assholes:

1. Climate change

2. Nuclear war/accident 

3. Islamic jihad

4. American and European fascism on the rise

5. The $70 trillion derivatives bubble

Notice that bitcoin, third wave feminism, etc... Isn't on the list. it's irrelevant garbage. I don't want to hear it anymore if it had nothing to do with those five things.

Political Revolution: From Ron Paul to Bernie Sanders.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. - Abraham Lincoln

I voted for G.W. Bush in 2000. There I said it. I knew nothing about him but of course my whole family votes Republican so back then I voted Republican. It was also the first time I could officially vote for a Presidential candidate so you always get one "mistake vote" in your life, right? Usually it's your first one too. Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better because despite Al Gore /actually/ getting more votes, G. W. was elected our 43 President. Sorry that I contributed to that, everyone. In the words of Rick Perry "... Oops."

As we all know the year after President Bush took office in 2001 the attacks on the World Trade Center happened. My friend and roommate at the time recommended I read some "unconventional" scholars on current affairs and history. So I did. I read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and Noam Chomsky's short book- 9/11: Was There an Alternative? Chomsky was against the war in Afghanistan from the start. This blew my mind. Virtually everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, Fox News/CNN/MSNBC - ALL were lock-step with our President when it came to the Afghanistan war.

This is the very moment when I turned into a liberal. I began to read all sorts of books by many on the left about all of our wars and what the CIA calls "blow back". Then of course Bush makes his announcement we were going to go to war with Iraq. Like many people in this country I was confused. The media painted the picture for Bush's administration and made his case linking 9/11 hijackers with Iraq (even though the hijackers were all /actually/ from our ally- Saudi Arabia). Before they were looking for WMDs I was reading articles in the Nation and many other left-wing newspapers that said that this was all a lie - Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction.

We all know how that turned out. These left-wing articles, magazines and books were all right about that. A complete failure of a war with the wrong country - creating a vacuum for would-be Islamic fascists after removing Saddam. And of course now we have ISIS. It isn't quite so simple, there is more to the story, but needless to say one thing is for sure: Without Bush's War in Iraq there would be no Islamic State as we see them today. (which actually IS a threat to the U.S. unlike Saddam's Iraqi army).

This was in the days of myspace and I did a bit of political blogging on myspace back then. I swallowed everything Michael Moore was feeding us young impressionable liberals hook, line, and sinker. I had a close friend who was a die-hard Republican and Bush supporter. We argued in great detail day in and day out online about the War in Iraq. Passions ran high in each exchange and she had her very Republican, Christian dad join in on some counterpoints from time to time. I still have those exchanges printed out (not sure why?). I read through them the other day and laughed at how misinformed I was about things and how misinformed she was as well. As these things usually devolve - we ended on a sour note, but she always said no matter what she just agreed with President Bush; that someday down the road history will judge the Iraq War and that overall it was a good decision to invade Iraq. I of course disagreed and still do.

I want to reach out to her again, but have lost contact unfortunately. I'd love to know where she stands now on the Iraq War since the overwhelming majority of American citizens (even Republicans) consider it a bad idea that we invaded Iraq. I also want to reach out to her because I want her to know where I stand now on other issues we once discussed. I was very wrong on many things ... One of the major things was my naive Reza Aslan-like views of Islam. I no longer consider it the religion of peace I claimed it to be. I no longer consider modern day terrorism to have "nothing to do with Islam." My views of Islam more currently line up with Sam Harris or Maajid Nawaz. My friend had very much been right about her thoughts on Islam back then.

Fast forward to 2008 with then-candidate Barack Obama gaining steam over Hillary Clinton (who, like now was supposed to be crowned the democratic candidate with no serious opposition). I didn't like Hillary Clinton back then and I don't like her currently. Like most of us I didn't really know much about Barack Obama. I did know one thing - He voted AGAINST the Iraq war while Hillary Clinton voted FOR it. This was enough for me. The horrible mistake to invade a country that never attacked our country by a horrible excuse for a President was at the top of my list of issues. Most democrats voted for the war in Iraq. It felt like a bad dream, at that time, when all who claim to be liberal suddenly bought the propaganda for the Iraq War by the Republicans! This was when I realized very much that I wasn't a democrat. Sure, I was a liberal, but I was an independent that couldn't be one of the two parties because both parties were dead wrong about Iraq.

This to me was an unforgivable mistake. It still is! I don't have a short memory like most of my democrat friends ... this is a war (supported by fiscal conservatives where trillions of tax dollars were spent) we're talking about not some pet issue. Hundreds of thousands of people died on both sides in this war of choice in which congress overwhelmingly voted with Bush. So I voted for Obama. The first four years of Obama's presidency were frustrating to me to say the least. Many of us liberals considered Obama a centrist at best. He didn't close down Guantanamo Bay as he had promised and continued many of the wars Bush had started. Obviously many of these things that bothered us liberals were obstructed by Republicans in congress but Obama had both houses in the beginning of his first term and didn't do much that he should have done with such control. He did hold strictly to Bush's timeline of exiting Iraq, but he was, and still does constantly bomb Pakistan and several different countries with drones with no congressional oversight. In some ways we liberals found him almost worse than G.W. Bush because he fooled liberals that he was much less hawkish than Bush. There were several bills he signed in his first four years that continued Bush's war on our civil liberties.

During this time I began to read much more of the libertarian philosophy. There is usually a streak of libertarianism in many old school liberals - mostly in social issues. Obama was not talking as he is now about ending the drug war or decriminalizing marijuana. President Obama was still increasing the defensive budget as Bush did while libertarians were beginning to speak out against these endless wars and endless spending on national defense. Valid concerns were being raised by people like congressman Ron Paul. His son Rand was also vocal on issues with our civil liberties, with bills such as the Patriot Act and NSA spying. Obama was just not the man we liberals thought he would be or should be.

We wanted /actual/ change! Real progressive change! So in 2011 I joined up with some libertarian friends and started pushing for Ron Paul. My friend was a die-hard Ron Paul libertarian and convinced myself and my friend Forrest (Gog) to join in with him for the cause of Ron Paul getting the GOP nomination. We caucused for Ron Paul and became delegates for him. Ron Paul ended up winning in Nevada and we were all apart of this. The experience of being embedded in the political mix and doing the work to get our candidate the nomination was a very rewarding experience.

Once in Reno, NV my friend Forrest and I (liberals who mostly vote Democrat) found ourselves in the belly of the GOP beast. We certainly were upsetting this giant buffet-loving belly. For example, we were all asked to stand and bow our heads to pray at the beginning of the events each day. Forrest refused and stayed seated (he is an atheist like myself) and many people gave him dirty looks. We all engaged in several arguments with Romney supporters that could not understand why we would not be voting for whoever won the GOP nomination. They didn't understand we were there ONLY for Ron Paul. If Ron Paul got the nomination we would be voting Republican in that upcoming general election. If the GOP base didn't make Ron Paul their nominee we would likely be voting 3rd party or begrudgingly again for President Obama.

I still stand by my campaigning and being a delegate for Ron Paul. I had to recently switch back to a registered democrat because in Nevada you cannot vote across party lines in the caucus. There are several policies that I differ with Ron Paul. I don't think Ron or Rand give nearly enough attention to the very real and really the most looming problem of our lifetime - climate change. This is where I diverge with many libertarians. Yes I also want free-market solutions for sustainable, clean energy but I think at this point it's necessary to have federal and state government intervention and regulation of carbon and other fossil fuels. All-hands-on-deck approach to me is necessary for this problem we must mitigate immediately! Most my issues with Ron and Rand too have to do with environmental regulations. As of recent I also feel I've moved further away from isolationist philosophy regarding foreign policy. I think we to a degree do need a serious plan of attack to stomp out ISIS and many other radical Islamists terror cells. I feel as if the Chomsky/Ron Paul philosophy of U.S. military involvement = all our problems with terrorism is too simplistic and not the whole truth. It's just not that simple. It's much more complex with multiple factors - deep personal belief in a strand of one religion being at the forefront.

So here we are today. I went from being a delegate for Mr. Free-Markets-Solve-All-Things Himself (Ron Paul) to canvassing and caucusing for an open proud democratic socialist - Bernie Sanders. It's not all that unusual actually. I know a few once-Paul-now-Sanders supporters. And it's actually not even really like that. I have always liked the independent Bernie Sanders in congress. Even when I was campaigning for Paul. He was a frequent guest on Bill Maher's HBO show "Real Time" and made great points on issues in which I agreed with. So I've always liked Bernie Sanders. I liked that he wasn't beholden to one party! Our country clearly wants someone outside of the political two-party system this election cycle. Trump was basically once a liberal now he's playing the part of a Tea Party conservative with Neo-con talking points. Or what one person said - Trump's playing Stephen Colbert's old character, just will billions of dollars.

There really is a similarity here between Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders. I realize that many die-hard Ron Paul "rEVOLution" supporters would take issue with that. Ron Paul has said that he respects Sanders and they have worked together in congress in years past. Paul considers democratic socialism deeply flawed though, but I simply disagree. There are positives and negatives about libertarianism and I prefer to pick out the ones I like and mix them with democratic socialism. I know it's a radically absurd idea but if Sanders doesn't pick Elizabeth Warren (if she would even consider it) as a VP if he wins the nomination it would blow our minds and possibly unite the country if he picked Ron Paul as his VP. One could only dream I suppose. Though Warren as VP would be so amazing!

This coming Saturday is the caucus for Nevada democratic party and all of us Bernie Sanders supporters will be out in full force to support our candidate. I have received some push back from old school democrats that no matter what we all need to fall in line and get behind Hillary in the general election if she wins this against Bernie. I would hope that there are enough actual liberals and progressives in the democratic party to push the scales slightly over to Bernie's favor and elect him to represent us. It still seems unlikely but we have some hope now because Bernie, unlike Queen Shillery is surging!

I don't want to "fall in line" for Democrats like the Republicans wanted me to "fall in line" for Romney if he beat Paul in primaries. No. I'm not a Republican (gag!) and I'm not a Democrat either. Sorry, I don't want to "fall in line" because I can't stand Hillary Clinton. Some reasons are for the same reasons the Republicans can't stand her. She seems like a slime-ball politician that will (just like Ted Cruz) say anything to get elected. She's fake, she's a liar and she's wrapped in crony capitalism dark money. It's not at all progressive and it's barely status quo. We need someone that will actually change this country. President Obama's last 4 years were so much better than his first four years. He did some very rational, wise, and helpful things for this country, but we want to go further because we, for once, have a candidate that will take us that far -

Bernie Sanders!

So will I likely vote for Hillary over a Trump, Cruz, or Rubio? Yeah, probably (gag!). I jokingly said I will get black-out drunk first on November 3rd so that I have no memory of voting for some queen shill that strongly supported Bush's war in Iraq. I vowed years ago to never vote for anyone that supported that war. Hillary isn't quite as bad as a Romney, I guess...  but she's basically the same when the dust has settled. Romney and Clinton are pretty much the same - one just gives kick backs to different industries than the other. Hillary has Wall Street, giant financial firms, and banks. Romney had big oil, coal, all the above etc. Bernie is truly unique. He doesn't have a SuperPAC. He can't be bought by the billionaires. Nope. Bernie is not for sale. He doesn't take donation money from the same financial institutions and banks that brought down our economy like Hillary does. We, liberals are the smart ones right? So why would you ever vote for someone like Hillary (besides oh, right she's a woman).

So what? A vagina = vote? Really? That's really all it takes for some people. I don't remember thinking Obama is black - that alone is enough for my vote! NO. How ignorant. It's too late to sit back and just watch this all fall back into the hands that usual control our economy and all of our lives. We have this chance right now to vote for someone that will bring change to this country. Change we need now more than ever. Let's actually be fiscally conservatives! We need to take care of our own and stop spending trillions on wars with countries that never attacked us. Let's stop shoveling money into a broken war on drugs. Let's turn off our cable news altogether. Let's stop building straw men (Fox News w/ President Obama) then tearing down these straw men. Let's stop creating fake problems (Trump said a cuss word! Beyonce shook her butt on TV! OUTRAGE!) and deal with real problems like climate change. We need to realize making money off of the health of our citizens is fucking immoral. We need to realize that making money off of making college less and less accessible for working class citizens of our country is fucking immoral. We cannot survive as a whole nation, with crumbling infrastructures and this deep wealth inequality. This cannot be the way forward for America - the top 1/10th of 1% just take it ALL!

#FeelTheBern ! Please vote Bernie Sanders in your state's primaries, caucuses then general election. But NOW is the time to get political! Now is the time to not just settle for who the party wants you to vote for - the Bush's the Clintons. Stop! Wake the fuck up liberal America, black America, progressive America, ACTUAL conservative America - Bernie Sanders is right here- the perfect candidate to change it all for the better. We don't get chances like this very often in our life times if at all - this is it. Don't let this opportunity pass by because you are lazy or misinformed and/or brainwashed by the propaganda of TV news or your favorite radio personality. Vote smart!

Vote Sanders NOW in your state! Find out how and where you are voting and caucusing!

This is video below is short. If you are feeling apathetic towards politics. Watch this. Just watch it. and you will see why this is so important.

Bernie Sanders, "Don't let anyone tell you politics is bullshit"...:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ86jToKVPs

Sites:

How to vote for Bernie Sanders in Nevada Caucus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs7Ve2l3mdA

Operation Cyclone (When President Reagan armed the Mujahideen to fight Russians):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone

Bernie Sanders explains democratic socialism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G6T_TCE064

Bernie Sanders (in the 80's) defends gay soldiers from bigot Congressman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAFlQ6fU4GM

Ron Paul on Sander's plan for free education:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOlpT4yGyZ4

Ron Paul on Debunking Bernie Sanders Myth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J4TLIPB1uc

Ralph Nader on Bernie Sanders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHHewmk3_P8