Church, Politics and Me

I sent a commentary to a friend of mine written by Rick Wells with my comment as follows:

The church needs to get out of politics NOW... I am so fed up

We discussed this at length and finally, I responded with these comments, as I perceive my beliefs in the modern Catholic and Christian faiths:

I consider myself Christian with some Eastern, Jewish and yes, even Islamic beliefs thrown in. I, too, believe in Jesus, the Resurrection (reincarnation), the Virgin Birth, (although virginity meant something different 2,000 years ago) and so on. I also believe that Jesus and Mary Magdelene were married, Dan Brown and The DaVinci Code notwithstanding. I will explain my reasoning for this some other time.

But I look at the Bible, and other books of worship as compilations or stories (allegories) to help us be better people, to live in a society where we can all just get along and respect each other. The stories were written, as I see it, to people who could understand them clearly, e.g., Jonah and the whale or big fish,as they were fishermen, or Noah and his Ark, where he saved all existing species because he was told by the aliens (my interpretation) that something bad was going to happen since THEY understood weather forecasting, or Hammurabi's Code of 282 rules and laws being condensed by Moses to give us the Ten Commandments.

I agree that Martin Luther had it right when he criticized the church for charging an "admission fee" via plenary indulgences. Sadly, it seems we have the same issue today via the Bishop Relief Fund or whatever they call it now. Here is a thought - why not sell and auction all the gold and all the stolen art and jewels sitting under the Apostolic Palace? I bet we could eliminate poverty forever.

As far as Satan is concerned, I believe as the Jews and Muslims do. He is more of a prosecuting attorney, telling God what sins you and I committed and making the case to refuse admittance into Heaven at this time. Hence, reincarnation. Not Hell. Yes, there is evil in the world, but it is brought on by human failings, not "the devil made me do it." Fear of God is a Christian and Catholic belief. Jews and Muslims do not fear God. Hell is also a Christian belief to keep us in line; the other religions do not believe in Hell, not even in the Eastern religions.

And by the way, the Jews of 2,000 years ago were influenced by the Eastern religions as the proximity from Israel to India and other countries and societies, while far since donkeys and horses were the fastest modes of transportation, but they also were close as it was more of a trade with the next city or country and because of this, some societal influences were also impacting. So, the story of the Resurrection is also a story of rebirth or reincarnation, told in a way to fulfill a prophecy.

I, too, could go on, but you get my drift. I am not a fan of the papacy, although I agree that John XXIII and John Paul II were saintly (see History and the Communion of Two Saints from April 27, 2014). The definition of a saint to me is a sinner who managed in some way to show a different way to live, to provide guidance toward goodness and influence us in some small measure to achieve those goals.

So, I am a Christian, not Catholic, and feel as home in a building to pray as I am in a park or on a beach. God CAN hear us, wherever we are. There is more I could share, but enough for now.

I thank you for indulging me to express myself publicly regarding my religious, or rather, spiritual beliefs. But I still believe the Church and the Pope need to stay out of politics and get back to the business of saving souls.

That was Jesus' directive to Peter and the Apostles, not fighting global warming or defining climate change.

The Mockery to Us All

I have come to the conclusion that these debates, on both sides of the aisle, are a waste of time. There is no journalistic integrity left by any network, whether it is Fox, CNBC, or any other cable or major network.

I think it is time for the RNC to cancel all these network-controlled debates and instead put together a balanced panel of real journalists. Then put it on a neutral site like C-SPAN. If the powers who run the networks don't like it, tough $#!+. Same with the Democrat debates. In that way, softball questions will not be lobbed to Hillary or Bernie Sanders, nor will any alleged "journalist" be able or more importantly, be ALLOWED to spin an agenda for or against the candidates.

Last night, the panelists of CNBC tried so hard to make all the candidates look like buffoons. Instead, Senators Cruz and Rubio, and to a lesser extent, Dr Carson and others had to continually debate the "moderators" rather than each other, as they fended off questions challenging their integrity.

You know what? I am tired of party hacks on both sides pretending to be journalists. They are truly ruining a once-honorable profession. They are all whores to their bosses who have, themselves, ingrained themselves and sucked up to the power teat party agendas.

In 2006, the late, great Robin Williams starred in movie called Man of the Year, a political movie which smacked both major parties for their hypocrisy and do-nothingness. There was this scene where Tom Dobbs, Robin's character, was invited to the final debate because he was running so strong as an unaffiliated independent, the "Debate Commission" had no choice but to invite him.

He finally was fed up with the "bob-and-weave" answers by both candidates evading and avoiding to answer moderator Faith Daniels' questions, running, instead, through their talking points and she allowing this to happen. He went on a tear, smacking both candidates for their hypocrisies and evasion. She said to him that he "was making a mockery of this process," to which he replied that "it was a mockery long before I got here."

No matter, my friends, which side your leanings might be, if you are a fair-minded individual, you need to see that the current debate system is not fair. No Democrat candidate will ever be seen on Fox, because the DNC recognizes that Fox would tear into its candidates, unfairly, much like CNBC tried to tear, last night, into the Republican candidates.

It truly is ironic how art imitates life, and life imitates art. Maybe it is because one is real and one is surreal. But which is what? Or is it, what is which?

Either way, to paraphrase Tom Dobbs aka Robin Williams, it was a mockery before I wrote this. And, that, sadly, makes it the mockery to us all.

More Fundamental Change to the Land That I Love

On Friday, the Obama Injustice Department decided that it wasn't going to indict Lois Lerner for her willful and blatant law-breaking, by violating her trust as a Federal employee and sharing private tax records of Obama's political enemies and critics with unknown members of the White House staff. This was reported in all media, including Fox News online.

It appears to me that the American people have been shown that there are two levels of law and rules in this country: one for government employees, friends of the President and assorted other flunky Obama @$$ kissers, and the other for everyone else, like you and me.

It is ironic that forty two years ago, when the American people and media became aware of another President and his administration's abuse of power, he was ultimately driven from office for essentially high crimes and misdemeanors as outlined in the Articles of Impeachment the House Judiciary Committee voted on to present to the entire House for a vote. Knowing that his options to win were limited and non-existent, he decided to resign rather than drag the country through further trauma of an ongoing constitutional crisis.

This President and his entire cabal of criminals have no fear of retribution because the United States House of Representatives and its current Speaker do not have the b@!!$ to do its and his Constitutional job. So, knowing this, the Injustice Department decided that it wasn't going to do what would otherwise be expected against any other criminal.

I wonder what would happen if we all rebelled against the tyranny this current criminal enterprise called the Obama Administration by not paying our taxes or following any other laws and edicts these criminals have fostered upon us. Would we be as brave as those men were 240 years ago when they rebelled against another despot?

And if we did, what would Emperor Obama and his thugs do? Arrest us all? Where would we all be placed? There is not enough room in our prisons to house us all.

Perhaps, as happened to the Jews and other enemies of Nazi Germany, concentration camps will be built to house us until another Final Solution could be found. After all, another despot had no issue with finding a way to eliminate his enemies and critics, in order to advance HIS agenda.

Sadly, I would not put it past this Unconstitutional and criminal son of a bitch, either.