Big Sigh!

Red, blue, this, that, up, down

When a valid community group has values, morals, and activism that have a high degree of integrity and benefit for the community its serving, then there is no need to invalidate, belittle, deride , and negate opposing views.

Can anyone else see how dysfunctional our political system has become because of the constant negativity from both sides. Displays real lack of integrity and validity of our political parties.

Dont tell me why an opposing view is wrong, tell me why your view is valid.

I'm still confused as to what purpose our political parties serve

SSHHH!

This is what happens when I let myself out of the cage. Be vewy, vewy quiet.

Get Serious

BLog Song

(Click on title and Sing along)

What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs

rolls over your neighbor's dog?

It's great for a snack and fits on your back

It's Blog, Blog, Blog!
It's Blog, Blog, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood.

It's Blog, Blog, it's better than bad, it's good!

Everyone wants a Blog!

You're gonna love it, Blog!

Come on and get your Blog!

Everyone needs a Blog!"

Time for a nap.

God is a metaphor for the reality of the natural world. If you want to know God, just look at nature, look at the universe.

The more we learn about how the natural world works, the more we know about God. God could not exist in an unnatural world. What is unnatural does not exist; the "supernatural" is a concept that only exists within the human mind, the same mind that creates great work of fiction. The natural world is the truth, it is reality. If a heaven, hell, karma, or nirvana exist, than it is a natural state of existence that is real.

All life in our universe is made of the same debris that that the universe is made of, we are one and the same. You can look at life on just the earth the same way. All life is created from the same material that makes the earth. When left to natural cycles, life dies and returns its material to the earth. This material could someday become another life, in another form. In this way, we are eternal.

The hard part is accepting reality. The mind does not always see reality clearly. Reality can be obscured by the human mind's delusions - an optical illusion of consciousness. We think something is real and part of the natural world, and therefore it becomes our reality, but it may not be true reality. We stay in this delusion until we wake up, or until reality ends for us. We suffer with the delusions of our limited human minds, when there is much more to reality than our human minds can comprehend.

Religion is a problem because it tries to define what God is by using the limited words and ideas of the human mind. We know something exists. When we try to define God using human language, we lose its meaning or change it into something that is unnatural. Not everything in reality can be put into the limited languages of humans. Instead, religion tries to be above the natural world, more powerful than reality. Humans suffer because religion has become more important than happiness. Blind religious faith blocks the mind's natural curiosity about reality. The bibles of religion have many good concepts. But it is how we interpret these concepts that lead to problems. You see this is where we try to conceptualize ideas which just don’t translate into human language. We lose something in the translations and this is very dangerous.

Even if religion could accept reality and the Power of Nature as God, the religions would argue and kill over what is real. Could science ever become the judge of what is God? When will the human race search for God by searching for knowledge of what is real, instead of spreading dangerous religious fundamentalism that is an unnatural, anti-human, and fallacious ideology that destroys God?

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

Flesh wound

The recent posts of political commentary need to stop. Why do I pay so much attention to those who deserve it the least? I must stop analyzing the nonsense of U.S. Politics and return to a focus of random thoughts. Maybe tomorrow I will have a new Sunday Sermon for me. (Yes, me, not you, me, it's all about me.)

Besar mi asno

I understand and emphasize that learning English will only help you get ahead in the U.S. today. It is the langauge of business in the global economy and it is the language used to teach most higher education classes in the U.S.. Learning english will only benefit those wishing to do well in the U.S.
BUT to force immigrants to learn english is kind of, um, FACIST. The so-called executive leader of the U.S. (aka President Bush) doesn't command a useful knowledge of this language, can we send him to class before we make this idiotic decree.

Immigrants are coming to this country and landing jobs easily without needing to learn english. To get ahead in this country, to make their lives a bit easier, they could learn english and learn some technical skills. But if they are happy where they are at and with what they are doing, why should we force education on them. Let them be happy!

I'll never understand how the redneck republican culture thinks they are improving the U.S. by forcing their backward ideals on those that have not grown-up in their selfish, all-about-me, stay-stupid society. They like to talk about "Freedom" while they keep becoming more fascist, dictatorial, and authoritarian.

Crawling back in my hole..........

Alabama Lobotomy

The history of Alabama is moving backwards. They have just approved to use the Alabama constitution to discriminate, again.

Alabama Gay marriage ban easily approved

Gays must also sit at the back of the bus and use seperate bathrooms.

While the rest of the world progresses, Alabama has proven once again it's strength in prejudice, keeping a closed mind to eradicating any kind of government approved discrimination.

But there is a bright spot. Alabama voters did manage to keep the infamous Roy Moore and his simple minded apostle Tom Parker out of Alabama government. They are slow, but I think somewhere, somehow, wisdom is starting to shine through in Alabama.

Passive Activism

Republicans: Quit wasting our tax money on word definitions.

Why do they have to make everything so complicated. Ok. Lets give it to them. If the right-wingers want to define marriage as a union between opposites sexes, lets let them have it their way.

BUT. You don't need to put it in the constitution. The constitution should NEVER be used to discriminate against citizens or to take away their liberties.

AND. We need to come up with a "Civil Union" to accomodate those who don't meet the simple-minded right wing ideal of marriage. We need this "Civil Union" so that two people can commit themselves to each other regardless of the prejudices of others. It doesn't have to be based on sexual orientation. I'm sure there are couples who are married strictly for companionship, opposite sexes, and are asexual. I know of regular couples like this and that really can't be defined as "marriage" because of the lack of copulation. What if two good friends want to commit their lives to each other, and they are of the same sex, but they are not gay. It happens all the time. How about two sisters that are through trying to find "Mr Right" and are disgusted with the thought of commiting themselves to a man, so they commit the rest of their lives to each other, completely asexual relationship. We need a legal union to cover these people for legal purposes.

Let's give the republicans their marriage definition, and then come up with a intelligent solution for the union of those people the republicans want to discriminate against.

Decisions

As it gets near election day in Montgomery, it is hard to avoid all the political rukus and nonsense going on around us. I do vote, so I need to know whom I'm going to vote for by trying to find out where they stand on the issues I care about. I do this by researching their experience and watching some campaign speeches. I do no blindly vote down party lines, partisan politics is complete nonsense and it is a lazy and wasteful use of your vote.

There is one way a candidate can get me to NOT vote for them. It is by creating pollution and sticking their name on it. I'm talking about all the ugly campaign signs that litter and pollute our roads and nieghborhoods. If I see a name on a ugly campaign poster stuck on the side of a road, telephone pole or neighbors yard, I do make a note NOT to vote for that person.

Anyone who makes a decision based on a name on a sign should not vote, it is making an uninformed decision. If you would vote on a person based on a name on a poster, please don't vote. First you are just throwing away a vote, it is irresponsible, and second, why would you vote for a person that trashes the place you live. Campaign posters are pollution, and the candidates that place them create a ugly, trashy eyesore of our cities.

Candidates, quit littering Montgomery with your campaign signs.

Alabama Politics

As much as I hate politics, it is really something to behold here in Alabama. From the state that brougth you "To Kill A Mockingbird" and the Scottsboro trials, we have people campaigning for Chief Justice here that run on the platform that they will be a bigot, that they will pick and choose which laws to uphold, and base decisions on their personal beliefs. Hey, if someone like Roy Moore can be elected as Chief Justice, then other bigots like Tom Parker sure have a hell of a chance, no matter how ignorant, intolerant, dishonest, and backward his own campaign ads portray him. Montgomery Advertiser Story.

Doesn't anyone remember George Wallace around here. Do the people of Alabama want that kind government around here. Roy Moore was righfully removed from office by putting his personal beliefs ahead of the law of the land, do we want to go thru that again?

The politics around here remind me a bad television show, yet it is real and these people are serious!

Tom Parker has run a very negative campaign, and the other Republican candidate, Drayton Nabors has run a very positive campaign. I do not participate in partisan politics, but on that point alone, Nabors is a much, much, much better choice.

But so far, Sue Bell has my vote, more experience and integrity than the above candidates.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

Creation

I have a new activity to waste my time; Montgomery Alabama Buzz until I create a better tag.

This will limit my time wasted here, letting the voices in my head rule my free time.

You mean there are others........

On the advice of several friends and past acquaintances I have finally started therapy to help resolve issues that threaten all my realtionships. One session and I have learned so much. I thought I was near being OCD, but I know I wasn't as bad as I've seen on TV or read about. But am not anywhere near being OCD. I have an HSP personality. It is normal, and occurs in 20% of the population. HSP stands for Highly Sensitive Person. He then gave me some reading material, and it was like someone was in my head seeing how I lived my life. Yes, This is me.
Attributes and Characteristics of Being Highly Sensitive

Emotionally, Highly Sensitive People (HSP) are seen as shy, introverted and socially inhibited. They are often acutely aware of other's emotions. Sensitive people learn early in life to mask their wonderful attributes of sensitivity, intuition and creativity.

Physically, HSPs may have low tolerance to noise, glaring lights, strong odors, clutter and/or chaos. They tend to have more body awareness of themselves and know instinctually when the environment they are in is not working for them.

Socially, they may feel like misfits. They actually enjoy their own company and are totally comfortable being alone.

Psychologically, HSPs compensate for their sensitivity by either protecting themselves by being alone too much, or, by trying to be 'normal' or sociable which then over-stimulates them into stress.

Work and career is particularly challenging for HSPs. They are often overlooked for promotions even though they are usually the most conscientious employees. They are excellent project oriented employees because they are responsible and thorough in their work.

Relationships can be difficult. In relationships they may be confronted with their unresolved personal issues. They can however, offer their partner the gifts of their intuitive insights.

Culturally, HSPs do not fit the tough, stoic and outgoing ideals of modern society and what is portrayed in the entertainment media.

Childhood wounds have a more devastating effect on HSPs. It is important for them to heal their past hurts because they cannot just forget them and go on in denial.

Spiritually, sensitive people have a greater capacity for inner searching. This is one of their greatest blessings.

Nutritionally, HSPs may need more simplicity in their diet. They may be vitally aware of the effects of food on the health of their body and their emotional stability.

For a self-test, go here: http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test.htm

Another Sunday Sermon

There is a old virus out, it is a virus of the mind. It has been infecting minds since the beginning of civilization. This virus will pollute and destroy rational thought and wisdom and will replace it with it's own metastasizing immoral ideology. The virus is called religion.
From the Sleepy Hermit's post on a Hermitary Forum:
The Mind Virus called Religion
I feel religion might be a type of mind virus, or at the very least, it behaves like one. Religion tends to infect minds that are weakened in some way, like a weakened immune system. Loneliness seems to be a type of mental vulnerability that religion can seep in through. This is why so many hermits are raging religious fanatics, in my opinion.
Once religion has taken root in its host, it starts to spread, like all viruses. Religiously-infected people, with their minds agitated by the infection, constantly work to spread it. It becomes their chief goal in life. And just like the drug addict becomes enslaved to their addiction, the religious person becomes the servant of the mind virus. The mind virus' goal to spread becomes the person's goal.
Intelligence is not a defense against religious infection. Religion targets the emotional centers of the mind. There's no shame in becoming infected with religion, it's just a disease like any other. Learning about this disease is your best defense against it, and this is the idea behind this thread. We need to learn about prevention and treatment of this infection to protect ourselves, just as we do with all diseases.
What's the danger of this disease? The more the mind virus takes hold, the more damage it does. The host begins to lose touch with reality and they ultimately become stark raving mad. Many times they become violent and even consumed by homicidal rage, and sometimes suicidal as we see with suicide bombers.
Like all viruses, religion is a simple organism and not intelligent. Just like ordinary viruses, many times they will kill their hosts by feeding off their mind, debilitating the host to where it's no longer stable enough to maintain survival (as in suicidal religious behavior). Religion appears to be intelligent because it feeds off the intelligence of man, but it's really just an infection of the mind.
An interesting study that can be done here on the Hermitary is to watch how the religiously-infected hermits try to spread the virus to the non-infected hermits here in the Secular section. They can't resist doing this; they're a vehicle of their viral host. They're not at fault, we shouldn't get mad. They're just sick. But we can use this to learn. We can watch carefully and learn about the different ways in which it spreads.

The religiously-infected person will twist words in any way to make a person's mind susceptible to infection. They contradict themselves left and right. They'll change the name of 'religion' to something less threatening sounding like 'spirituality'. Call it what they will, it's the very same virus.

So let's sit back and watch and learn. The religiously-infected can't help themselves, they will continue to try to spread it, so we will have more then enough fresh examples coming in.

Prepare For Introspection

Perpetual melancholy dominates my life. It is only a keen sense of life's fragility and impermanence, even in the midst of day-to-day accomplishements and enjoyment of life. This keen awareness is a stumbling-block to those who enjoy social relations and worldly pursuits. It is interpeted as pessimism. Perhaps it is the undefined prerequisite to being a solitary, the mark of personality that identifies the solitary. But it is more than a morose cloud or pessimism. There is a psychological breakthrough here -- dare one say onto logical breakthrough.


Consciousness enables human beings to exercise their will. Consciousness gives humans the ability to guide events and circumstances, with the self as a kind of stage-manager. At least that is the mechanism as described by science.Yet we always feel the awareness but never the control.


Even when we decide to do or say or pursue something, even when our effort is successful and satisfying within the definition of what we are attempting, there is always an element of happenstance, of serendipity at best -- or, when things don't work out, an air of futility and regret. Consciousness is certainly the proverbial two-edged sword. Why is it usually the one side we are aware of at any given moment, the one side that haunts us even in our happiness?

Being Civil

Recently, one of my co-workers sent me a viral e-mail showing a group of Marines in prayer. The email was titled "What's Wrong With This Picture?" It states that the ACLU is trying to prohibit prayer in the Armed Forces. It’s a misleading message based on people’s passions and not reality...................! Every word on this message is fabricated, even the named ACLU lawyer and Marine General do not exist.

The ACLU does as much work to protect Americans right to practice the religion of their choice, as it does keeping religions from making laws that are based on religious beliefs. Would you like it you were a Christian and made to follow Jewish laws?

Why are "Americans" so opposed to being Americans?

Our Civil Liberties are what makes America unique and great and worth fighting for, it is what the Marines are fighting for. Without these rights, our country would be no better than China, Iran, North Korea, or the old Iraq. When a Soldier, Airmen or Marine starts their service, they take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So, if they are fighting to protect out civil rights, why does everyone put-down the ACLU for protecting these same rights. It does not make sense to me. The ACLU has never taken action to keep people from praying, it has only had law suits where prayer was mandatory or a part of the daily routine everyone was expected to follow.

In a popular case in 2002, a public school told a young girl she couldn’t bring a bible to school, because religion was not allowed in public school. The ACLU sued and won against the school district to allow that girl to carry and read her bible. The ruling stated that the right to practice religion cannot be denied, it’s the same as forcing your beliefs on others. Public schools also cannot lead prayer, but they also cannot stop a student from praying. No one has taken prayer away from anyone, that is impossible. Just because I bow my head, it doesn’t mean I have to pray, it is a sign of respect for the beliefs of others, even if their faith is different from ours, another ideal that makes this country great.

Religious Liberty:
The right to practice religion, or no religion at all, is among the most fundamental of the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The ACLU works to ensure that religious liberty is protected by keeping the government out of religion.

The U.S. Constitution's framers understood that religious liberty can flourish only if the government leaves religion alone. Americans enjoy a degree of religious freedom unknown in most of the rest of the world, and they take full advantage it: the United States is home to more than 1,500 different religious bodies and 360,000 churches, synagogues and mosques.

The free exercise clause of the First Amendment guarantees the right to practice one's religion free of government interference. The establishment clause requires the separation of church and state. Combined, they ensure religious liberty. Yet assaults on the freedom to believe continue, both in Washington and in state legislatures around the country.

Why does the ACLU object to federal employees bowing their heads? http://www.aclu.org/about/faqs/index.html#3_8
The ACLU has no knowledge about the photograph of Marines praying that has circulated on the Internet. The ACLU has also never had a spokesperson -- quoted by news organizations as "Lucius Traveler" -- by this name.

But, This is only my two cents. It’s just my opinion and doesn’t matter in the big picture, life goes on no matter who is wrong or right.

Of course if you're religious, you have no place being patriotic...
Badtux the Snarky Penguin: My country, 'tis of thee

Poor Mr. Smiley

This is serious stuff. Please world, stop shopping at Hel-Mart!




Why Wal-Mart is in dispute over the smiley face logo
Wal-Mart to Smiley: You're Fired

Looks like The Waltons are poor sports, if they can't have Smiley for themselves, then they won't use it at all. Now where is Smiley going to work. He will have to be a free-lancer again.

My Apologies to Scott Adams.

Mo' Money, Mo' Money

Why is everyone complaining of gas prices? With a little intelligent planning, you could benefit from the high price of gas, instead of complaining. We have had a year of warning that the gas prices were going to rise and not return to the previously super cheap prices of the past 3 decades. I have four mutual funds that have all invested in oil companies, and these funds have done extremely well over the past two months, over 6% in just April alone. So I make several thousands of dollars, but I'm still spending less than $100 a month for gas (I drive a Honda). Stop complaining and take advantage of the prices, before it's too late. The oil companies answer to the stockholders first. Demand is high, supply is tight. Let the free market decide the price, even if some people take advantage of price-gouging. Its the American way.

Coming soon

I'm Back. New posts coming soon. The voices are getting annoying and I just need an outlet to hopefully quiet them for awhile..