God, The Original Terrorist

Please know that this post is not written to offend intelligent people, those who believe that GOD (the Grand Omnipotent DNA), is the system of the Universe.  It is written to offend the simple majority, “True Believers” who believe in the literal God of the Bible.

An early act of terrorism performed by The Biblical God and some Angels under His command, is the act of Passover, celebrated by Jews and condoned by all Western Religions using the Old Testament as the foundation of their own bibles.   It involved flying over Egypt and murdering the first born sons of every Egyptian family.  These innocent victims had no TV or daily newspaper to inform them of the negotiations taking place between Moses and Pharaoh.  During the week that preceded the first Passover, God also killed the cows of Egypt.  You can’t get much more innocent than being a cow standing around chewing on some grass.

Before this there was the Noah Terrorism Act of God.  He killed every living being on Earth, other than a pair of each species that Noah let on the boat.  Noah allowed some of the folks in his family on the boat too.  Nepotism.  Now ask yourself, were all of the critters not on the boat sinners?  Even you True Believers know that they weren’t.  I mean … little bunnies and kittens … sinners!  No reader, this was the biggest act of terror ever. 

And you would think that The Lord’s kid, Jesus, might soften up.  But no, He decrees that the only way to Heaven is through Him.  So no thinking, reasoning people are going to Heaven!  Only the True Believers, the gullible, are going up.  Those of you who say, “I kind of doubt it” are going down to burn and it is for eternity.  No reincarnation in The Western World.  How is that for an unjust act of terror?  I guess that it runs in the family.  The bad seed.

Now how about ISIS?  They murder innocents in the name of God (Allah).  Are they any different than the ancient armies of The Israelites, who God told to march down into Channon and kill anything that breaths in and out, or more recently the Crusaders?  When George W. Bush was asked in a TV interview if he consulted his father before the Iraqi War, his answer was, “No, I consulted The Father.”  So, I guess you can blame our terrorist War in Iraq on God.

Please fact check me on this post.  Use The Holy Bible as a reference.  For the war in Iraq, use your memory (unless you watch FOX News).  For you True Believers, who believe that this blog will certainly send me to Hell, I doubt anyone ever went to Hell for telling the truth.  Both war and terrorism are the murder of innocents.

Cheers, Old Buz

Comments are welcome. 

"God Is Great"

“God is Great” is the war cry of today’s martyrs, before killing a lot of innocent strangers and then themselves.  My first reaction to the ISIS murder of 130 Parisians and the hospitalization of another 350 was, we ought to bomb the crap out of ISIS.  Then I realized that we and Russia have been doing just that.  I wondered why this event made me so angry.  The photos of bombed out cities in the Middle East do not anger me.  The casualties there don’t look like me.  I’m white, just like most of those Parisians and I even dress like the poor ones.  We speak the same language, but most of them have an accent.  After all, we nuked the Japanese rather than the Germans for just those two reasons.  I must admit that since the Japanese weren’t Christians and the Germans were, that might have entered into the decision.  George Bush said that our decision to attack Iraq, even though they had done nothing to us and presented no threat, had nothing to do with the fact that they were a Muslim nation of brown folks.  He also would say that it had nothing to do with oil or the munitions industries.  And, if our President said that, it must be true.

                                                Maybe God IS Great

                                                   But ISIS Sucks !

  

That is the T-shirt I want.  It would be nice if it were embellished with an American and a French flag.  It is really stupid to shout “God is Great”, and then murder a bunch of innocents.  If God is even good, he certainly can’t obtain greatness by backing psychopaths in their actions.  I suppose that this logic would apply to any soldier, of any nation, who thinks that “God Is On Our Side”.  Logically it would also apply to those who sponsor them (taxpayers).

So, what is a rational reaction to ISIS, the revolutionary forces trying to create a Muslim Nation, From Sea to Shining Sea?  A secular nation would be a better idea, but no one seems to do that.  Such a nation would be stuck with the “Do unto others …” concept, rather than God is on our side.  The true logic of God is on our side, is God is on My side.  The logic of an egotistical fool.

Back to the solution.  It obviously would not be to escalate the problem.  The world that sees itself as rational, might lead through example.  Like, stop the bombing.  Bombing is the tool of collateral damage.  There are nations in Africa who have ended centuries of oppression peacefully.  It is possible.  Help and suggest better methods rather than bombing and marching.  You will still have some do gooders killed, while trying to help, but many less than in a war and the do gooders killed, have a chance at Heaven, whereas the “brave” warriors have none.  This, of course, assumes that God actually is great (it also assumes that the imaginary concept of Heaven exists).  Send out teachers, food, water systems and engineers to help the developing nations.  Keep a few soldiers and their equipment within our borders.  This is just in case a nation that you are trying to help, might want to attack you.  What if there really were “A Shining Tower” in our world?   But alas, our Earth is but “A Ship of Fools.”  Enjoy your voyage through the Universe.  “God Is Great.”

Comments are welcome.

Cheers, Old Buz The Pacifist

"9/11 ... Miracle or Demolition?"

I recently had lunch with a friend, a couple of days after September 11^th.  My friend is a Republican and a conservative Christian.  He also happens to be a construction foreman for commercial buildings.  He seemed to be the right man to ask the opinion of, about the falling of The Twin Towers, on 9/11.  My friend said, “When I saw the plane hit the first tower, then the building go down, I thought those terrorists won the Lottery (about a 800,000,000:1 chance), but when I saw the second building go down, my thought was demolition.”

When I saw the towers go straight down onto their footprints, at the speed of a freely falling body, my first thought was, “Impossible.”  I’m not a gambler.  Bin Laden gave a speech shortly after the event in which some say he took responsibility for the aircraft, but he thanked Allah for taking down the buildings.  In other words, he thought it was a miracle.  Too bad we shot him through his Teddy Bear, and then dumped his body in the ocean within 24 hours.  It would have been interesting to see him tried for the crime.

We all saw the two airliners slam into the two towers.  Most, if not all of their fuel ignited at the time of impact.  A short time after that, each building fell straight to the ground, as fast as a freely falling body and landed right on its own footprint.  Miraculously, there seemed to be no iron beams to slow down or tilt the fall.  This is a problem.

Two explanations have been offered for the event.  One is that each floor would not support the weight and force of the floor above collapsing on it.  This would have resulted in: “plop …… plop ….. plop …. plop … plop .. plop . plop . plop . plop . etc.”  The problem with this theory is …  it went, “whoosh”  with no hesitation.  The second theory offered is that fuel from the aircraft flowed down the beams, lit then instantly melted them.  Lots of problems here.  How much fuel was remaining after the initial explosion?  How could the fuel remaining flow evenly down the beams, in order to ignite all of the way up and down the beams, so that the building would go down as straight as an arrow and all at once?  The buildings were hit from the side.  Why would they not fall to the side?  This jet fuel can burn in an engine all the way from New York to California without melting the engines.  It is mixed with oxygen in exactly the right amount to give the most heat and energy to the explosion.  These engines are made of pretty much the same material as the beams in the Towers.  How did that fuel melt those beams?  The building’s floors are fastened to the beams.  How did the fuel flow so quickly past the floors in order to remove the beams from top to bottom?

I don’t see Bin Laden’s miracle happening.  And, I have trouble with the government’s explanations.  No miracle took place on 9/11 in New York, but there was some excellent quality demolition on that day.

“It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.”  - Mark Twain.   There is a disagreement on Twain being the source of this quote.  From my standpoint, that is of little importance.  The quote is a true statement.

Cheers, Old Buz

Comments are welcome.

"Born An Agnostic

“Born an Agnostic and with God’s help, I will remain one.”  I would like to have that on a T-shirt.  For those who would smile, hello.  For those who would look perplexed, the thought could offer a tiny step out of the fog of religion.  My quote is a statement that contradicts itself, as The Bible often contradicts itself.  An agnostic has questions, but few answers.  The religious have answers, but few questions.  I would contend that a questioning mind is a healthy one.  It is less judgmental and more open to new information.

The Atheists that I have encountered contend that there is no God.  I find that statement as close minded as, “There is only one God and He is The God of my bible.”   Intelligent design makes sense to me.  Not the Intelligent Design of the Right Wing Christian, but the idea that the systems that we see in action in our universe, are not random.  A good example of this is DNA, found in all living things.  Even a quick look at this system indicates that it is not random and that the DNA system preceded the survival of the fittest theory.   The DNA of a critter was in place long before it had a chance to survive or fail.  It couldn’t have existed without it.   The word “Intelligent” is problematic.  I think that to the “Intelligent Design Folks” that the word somehow relates to human intelligence, as it does to the Gods of the bibles.  The Gods that I have read about in the bibles don’t have the brain power to design the universe.  They take advice from the tiny human brains that wrote the books. Moses: “God, I don’t think that you should kill all of your people for worshiping false idols.  It will make you look weak when compared to other gods.”  God:  “Yup, Moses, I guess you are right.  Can I just kill half of them?”  You see, Bible Readers are as gullible as Atheists.  You folks who have Faith in your Bible, but haven’t read it, should read it.  There are some good laughs in that book.

So, God did see me born an agnostic and gave me a questioning mind that, I expect will keep me an agnostic.  And if God has chosen to bless America, above all other nations, why didn’t he write His instruction book in English?

 

“We are all living in a miracle.”  “See what is plain to see.  Doubt what is not.” - Daniel

Cheers, Old Buz The Agnostic

Comments are welcome.

"When Money Talks, Democracy Walks."

The United States of America has officially passed fail-safe in terms of turning its governance over to financial interests.  When our Supreme Court determined in the Citizens United Decision that a corporation could remain anonymous while donating unlimited dollars to a political action committee, five of the nine justices sold our democracy to the highest bidder.   The PACs (political action committees) own both the Democratic and Republican parties and the parties control the representatives.   This control is exercised on the representative through disbursement of campaign funds and committee assignment and the position on the assigned committee.  As you know, the committees rule the game.  If you watch CSPAN, you know that the representatives don’t listen to floor debate.  They only show up when a vote is called.  The work, debate on, and form of a bill, is determined in committee and if you watch the floor votes, you will see that the representatives pretty much vote along party lines.  All of this is nothing new.  It simply became official with Citizens United.  All three branches of the government answer to large dollar interests.  Both parties do.

This subject was brought to my attention this morning when I read the headline of my newspaper.  “Water does flow on Mars.”  That’s nice, I thought.  I wonder how many tax dollars were spent in order to obtain that bit of information.  Had to buy space ships, an orbiter, telescopes and to pay all of those brilliant minds to work on the project.  I have to admit that I would vote for using those funds for developing desalinization plants to flow water here in the United States.  I never did get to vote on that, but I can guarantee you that lobbyists had some input.  We are talking about major tax dollar expenditures.  Science is great.  I like it better than religion, but there is a water shortage and we have known about it for some time.  Spend the money for the greatest common good, not for the enrichment of the vendors.

Another example of large money being more appealing than the Country’s needs is Donald Trump’s candidacy.  He is right now the leading Republican candidate for President of The United States.  It can’t be attributed to his political abilities.  He has offended every group of American voters, other than white males.  It isn’t his family values.  He is on his third wife.  It isn’t his physical appearance.  He has a silly looking hairstyle.  He pouts and gets a dumb look on his face when proven wrong.  It isn’t his business ethics.  He claims that he has never gone personally bankrupt, but anyone who has owned a closely held corporation knows that the corporation is you and that the only reason the business is owned as a corporation is to shield personal liability and for tax advantages.  So when closely held corporations of yours have gone bankrupt four times … you have gone bankrupt four times and when you have done that profitably, you are a thief.  I say that because the simple way to a profitable bankruptcy is to borrow, then move assets elsewhere, losing only a shell of a corporation, but canceling its debts.   Trump can do this more often than once every seven years, because each of his corporations is treated as a separate entity.  When Donald said that he did this to bankers, everyone at the first Republican debate laughed and applauded.  That is a gullible crowd.  A bankruptcy doesn’t cost a banker a dime, but it does cost his depositors millions.  In some cases billions.  Who are these “depositors”?  Try retirement funds, corporate deposits, and personal deposits … that is, all of you.   The purpose of bankruptcy law is a shield for the poor and financial failures, not a sword for the wealthy.  Trump says that he follows the law.  No … he abuses the law.   Trump says that he has bought favors from politicians.  Bribed them that is, but legally.   Do you think that his morals will change in office?  Why does this man lead the Republican polls?  He won’t win the general election and perhaps not the Republican primary, but he is a dangerous sign of the direction of our moral values as a nation.

“When Money Talks, Democracy Walks.”  What are we going to do about that?

Comments are welcome.  Cheers, Old Buz.

Windows Gives You "The Cloud"

Perhaps “gives you” is not correct wording.  You are being forced into The Cloud.  Ask yourself, “What is The Cloud?”.  To start with; it is obviously not a cloud.  A cloud sounds so nice.  Heaven is just above the clouds.  The Cloud is a giant data base, which is being joined by the information from your computer, as well as everyone else’s.  This giant data base falls under the oversight of NSA (a government institution).  With all computer data joined in The Cloud, this data can be searched by our government, our corporations and hackers.  As we saw with the introduction of ObamaCare, a large government database can fail and it doesn’t quickly jump back up.  I have an inexpensive desktop computer, which cost $299 and operates on Windows 7.  It has a 450 gigabyte information storage system.  This is more storage than I would use in two lifetimes.  I have no need or desire to put my computer information in The Cloud and my present operating system does not require it.  You folks with MAC need not be smug about Windows users being forced into The Cloud.  MAC users have been there for some time.

How is Windows forcing me into The Cloud?  They are presently offering me a “free” upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10.  Windows 8 was a disaster, hated by most Windows users.  Windows 9 never was marketed.  When a large corporation offers you something for free, you can be fairly certain that the benefits from the gift are mostly theirs.  The Cloud, on the Windows website, describing 10, tells you that The Cloud is an available feature.  Outside evaluations of 10, tell you that The Cloud is a required portion for the operation of Windows 10.  I will not choose to switch to this gift offering.  I believe that In the near future, Windows will inform their Windows 7 users (and previous operating system users) that they will no longer support systems that preceded 10.  I will risk it without their support.  Windows’ next step will probably be to introduce a virus, over the internet, that disables pre-10 systems and offer out of the goodness of their corporate hearts, a free installation of Windows 10, which will be able to cure the virus.  At this junction, you will either try to get all personal information (Hillary it) from your hard disc and join the system, or toss your computer in the trash and move back to the 1960’s.

George Orwell wrote in his sci-fi novel, 1984, that the government will step into our personal lives at that time.  We need to be thankful for the 30 year reprieve. 

Cheers, Old Buz

All comments are welcome.

"Andre Iguodala, God's Warrior"

Andre Iguodala is the MVP of the Warrior’s winning of the 2015 NBA Basketball Championship (the honor was well deserved).  In an interview, right after the game, the MVP credited God for the win.  Who am I to disagree with an MVP, but the assumption does raise some questions in my agnostic mind?  Like, why does God favor Oakland over Cleveland?  What has Cleveland ever done to Him?  There is probably a higher percentage of drug abuse, gay marriage and reason, in the Bay Area than there is in Cleveland.  Aren’t those traits that The God of The Bible opposes?  Why did God punish those poor Cleveland bastards?

Perhaps the answer lies in the actions of Lebron James, earlier that day.  James was quoted as saying that his Cavaliers would win the sixth game because he is the best player in today’s game of basketball.  This is a clear example of the sin of Pride.  It happens that he is the best there is in the game today, but saying so, even if true, is a sin.   Now, my question would be, “Does Stephen Curry (another of God’s Warriors) think he is the best in the game?”  Curry certainly performs way above his physical stature.  I’m not sure that an athlete doesn’t have to have that self-confidence, in order to perform at that championship level.  Curry is a quiet sort, so he wouldn’t do the bragging that James does.

There was a stadium full of people and a large group outside of the stadium, praying for the Cleveland team to win that game.  That is a lot of focused praying.  Did God pay no attention to all of that praying, because Lebron ran his mouth?  Are 50,000 prayers less important than one slip of the tongue?  Could God not have broken James’s leg on the first tip-off and yet let the home team win?  He could still allow the Warriors to win game seven at their stadium, if Andre is correct.  Something is wrong here!  I hate to give God advice, but that never stopped Moses.

Iguodala, God’s Warrior, could not hit a free throw to save his soul.  It was like God was teaching him a lesson at the foul line.  God’s Lid was on that basket.  What is the message here?  Was it for Iguodala not to get a big head to go with his big arms?  I suspect it was a lesson in Pride.  “Andre, you will not hit a free-throw unless I say so.” – God  (When I played basketball at Loyola University, Los Angeles, most members of the team crossed themselves before shooting a free-throw.  We still only hit a normal percentage.  Go figure.)

I think The God of The Bible screws up the game.  He should keep his nose out of athletics and schools.  I would like to see us living with an awareness of the miracle of existence, not national championships or men sharing the Earth with Dinosaurs.  Life is so much simpler if you try to stick with reason.  Or, is life “beyond the human intellect”?  What do you think?

Cheers, Old Buz The Agnostic

Comments are Welcome