GLOBAL WARMING JOKE

FLAVIA QUOTE

Cut not the wings of your dreams, for they are the heartbeat and freedom of your soul. ~ Flavia

POLITICAL BELIEFS AND THE BIGGER PICTURE

I just read someone's right-wing blog about the terrible state we are in as a country, blaming it on the democrats.  I don't disagree that we are in crisis mode in the US, however, I am mind-boggled at the repetitive, thoughtless rhetoric of political party loyalists.

You don't have to be right-wing to be mindless.  We have plenty of mindless left-wingers, too!  (We are an equal opportunity country--for better or worse.)  I find extremists in any field generally too motivated by their emotions, rather than their logic.  Their vision is usually clouded.

The following is the comment I left on his blog in answer to his rant on the state of the Union.  I wanted to shed some light on how peoples' psychology makes them believe and act.  It's always best to look at the bigger picture and not get trapped into mimicking rhetoric.

"And what do you offer as options or alternatives to the government we have?

I agree that there exists much hypocrisy in America that often makes me want to pull out my hair.  Especially overseas, America is known for its hypocrisy

I think, in most cases, if you are on the right or left politically it is a result of the information you are exposed to, starting from the family.  If you choose to believe one way, you will generally read literature that supports your belief, thereby continuing to strengthen your beliefs, even in the face of opposing facts.  That’s how our brains work.

Politics, like religion, is emotionally loaded. Because of this it becomes difficult for us to think critically. 

Personally, while I don’t like to be legally obligated to pay taxes to help the poor, etc., I would rather the system was more socialistic than to experience the mayhem, the suffering, the craziness we have these days.  Having lived overseas, I am not as afraid of socialism as most in America.  I have seen the quality of life and people’s happiness in Europe, for example, to be much higher than ours!  However, most systems will not work well if its citizens are not ethically and morally in tune with the needs of humanity.

Some people blame the religious right, some the religious left, some the non-religious. Religious people cannot be put in one basket.  They are as polarized as the US!  On one extreme, they feel that people’s bad fortune is due to some moral failing; on the other, they are extremely supportive of anyone who is a democrat, regardless of unsavory facts about the candidate.

We are under the thumb of higher powers (and I don’t mean God).  It has less to do with right and left than it has to do with money and power, banks and the elite.  Republicans seem to be different than democrats--but we are just looking at their masks.  They are ultimately after the same thing:  money and power.

These people in power are very sick, narcissistic sociopaths, for the most part.  It’s a very scary situation.

Life, politics, religion--nothing is black and white.  It is easy to criticize--and I support constructive criticism--however, I would like to hear more ideas about what we need to change to live better, freer lives.

We need to unite and take back our power!  Otherwise, our citizens will just continue in ignorance, complaining, and unwittingly giving their power to "those who pull the strings behind the curtain!"

THE VALIDITY OF SCIENCE AND ACADEMIA

 A fellow blogger and I have been debating lately about the scientific method, reliability in theories, especially conspiracy theories, academic standards, ways of explaining the paranormal and the "uncanny".

My blog friend is in graduate school studying psychology; he is very bright but also very entrenched in academia and "proper" research methods to find conclusions for his hypotheses.  

He seems to be adamant about following the rules as he has learned them.  This I understand very well.  When I studied counseling, they drove into us the importance of using evidence based methods, the perils of falling outside the laws of ethics, and the price you pay for stepping outside academia. If he wants to do well in the eyes of the school, he is on the right road.  I only asked him to consider other options but was not very successful, I think.

At my graduate school they tried to cultivate critical thinking--to an extent.  However, challenging was not part of the curriculum; most teachers don't like to be questioned and they especially don't like to lose a debate to a student. 

I knew what was expected of me from the beginning of my studies and "kept my place", making excellent grades and building a good reputation.  (I learned many hard lessons from my previous work experience dealing with clinicians and other employees in a mental health center.)  I played the game quite well.

So when my friend began to argue for the scientific method as the only reasonable method for finding truth, I began to push back.  I was surprised but not shocked at his resistance to finding any validity in my arguments. 

He was well conditioned by his academic indoctrination. He was also very passionate about his approach to his thesis.  When I asked about his strong reaction to my challenges, he could not fully identify what emotions he was feeling and why they were triggered.

This experience reminded me of a great quote.

This quote about science (astronomy) and philosophy addresses a few points in my argument.

How can science be so far ‘off the rails’ when it is supposed to be self-correcting? The mistake comes from believing that science is a perfectly rational human pursuit, unlike any other. The polymath psychoanalyst Immanuel Velikovsky was perhaps uniquely qualified to declare in an interview, “Man is irrational in everything he does.”   To restore rationality we must first understand ourselves.

In an extraordinary multidisciplinary forensic investigation, which Velikovsky published in his 1950 best seller, Worlds in Collision, he uncovered mankind’s forgotten experience of doomsday — the end of the world — and our (understandable) irrational response to the trauma. “Man is a wounded animal. His survival is astonishing. But his inability to heal his wounds is tragic,” wrote Dr. Roger Wescott

The striking red cover of Velikovsky’s Macmillan edition of his book, which was like a red rag to a bull for astronomers. The publishers were forced to transfer the best seller to Doubleday by unprecedented threats from academics.

Since Velikovsky’s discovery was a prehistoric cosmic drama involving the Earth and other planets, some of our craziest collective behavior surrounds astronomy and its antecedent astral religions. 

He wrote, “I was greatly surprised to find that astronomy, the queen of sciences, lives still in the pre-Faraday age, not even in the time of kerosene lamps, but of candles and oil.”  This referred to Faraday’s study of electricity and the fact that the cosmic thunderbolt was memorialized in all ancient cultures as the primary ‘weapon’ during planetary encounters. Therefore electricity must play a role in the cosmos, particularly at times of orbital chaos. But our high-priests of astronomy deny it. 

Meanwhile, spacecraft and radio telescopes routinely reveal magnetic fields in space, which are the signature of electric ‘dark currents’ flowing in the thin plasma. This was my point of departure into the Electric Universe paradigm.

The consequences of the false beliefs of the ‘blinkered’ herd are immense due to the widespread impact, not only on science, but on human culture too. There should be no need to list examples of mankind’s irrational behaviour. It is plainly evident in our wars, religions, politics, business, economics, etc. 

War is a surrogate for doomsday, which we have a dreadful impulse to repeat under the aegis of our various gods. When faced with cataclysm, our response can be to misinterpret or to deny it. Our religions misinterpret it by anthropomorphising the behaviour of the capricious astral gods and assuming the catastrophic references are metaphors. Our sciences deny it by clinging to a Newtonian ‘clockwork’ planetary system, undisturbed for aeons, despite the clear evidence of devastated landscapes on rocky planets and moons, the Earth included. 

Meanwhile, we behave like ‘Chicken Little’ at the appearance of a comet and subconsciously find fleeting catharsis in a glut of disaster, war, and mayhem on TV and in movies.

The Electric Universe paradigm is a natural philosophy based on forensic human evidence spanning millennia. Understanding our past is the way to the future. There is no future for us if we cannot learn this lesson.

Wal Thornhill

Velikovsky worked hard to break through contemporary mind-sets about astronomy.  History has proved him right.  If you say that this kind of narrow mindedness in academia and the sciences does not happen anymore these days, you would be wrong.

Apart from rigorous education, it seems most of humankind needs more age and experience--not only of life but of other academic disciplines--to expand our mind to the possibilities of solutions, beyond the constraints of current academia.  And, unfortunately, even those prerequisites are not enough in some cases.

BIBLE MORALITY

Ever become shocked at the murder, mayhem, and highly questionable practices found in the bible?  You are not alone.  The following is a list of scriptures that contain these events and more!

(You might want to give a copy to your fundamentalist friends...)

BIBLE MORALITY (King James Version)

Compiled by Barbara G. Walker, author of Man Made God, et al.

 

 

1. KILLING.  (As in "Thou shalt not"...???)

The biblical god personally kills a total of 371,186 people, not counting his slaughter of every living thing in Genesis 7. The biblical god also orders the killing of a total of 1,862,265.

Gen 22:2 - God accepts human sacrifices (including that of Jesus, later).
Ex 12:29 - God kills all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.
Ex 15:3 - God is a god of war.
Ex 21:15, 17 - Anyone who strikes or curses a parent must be killed.
Ex 22:18 - Every witch must be killed.
Ex 22:19, 20 - You must kill anyone who "lieth with a beast," or who worships any god other than Yahweh.
Ex 31:15 - Anyone who works on the Sabbath must be killed.
Lev 20:10, 13, 27 - You must kill adulterers, homosexuals, wizards and spirit mediums.
Lev 21:9 - Any priest's daughter who fornicates must be burned alive.
Lev 24:16 - Blasphemers must be killed.
Num 16:27-33 - God caused the whole tribe of Korah -- men, women, and children -- to be buried alive.
Num 21:3 - God caused the destruction of all the Canaanites.
Num 31:7-35 - God orders Moses to kill the Midianites, making sure to slaughter not only the men but also the boys and females, except for the 32,000 virgin girls.
Deut 3:4 - God is pleased that his warriors destroyed 60 cities.
Deut 7:16 - You must kill all the people God delivers into your hands, and "thine eye shall have no pity upon them."
Deut 13:5 - Any prophet or "dreamer of dreams," who serves another god, must be killed.
Deut 13:6-9 - If your brother, son, daughter, wife, or friend tempts you to worship other gods, "thou shalt surely kill him."
Deut 13:13-15 - If the people of any city worship other gods, you must slaughter them all, including their cattle.
Deut 17:5 - Any man or woman who worships other deities of sun, moon or stars must be stoned to death.
Deut 18:20 - False prophets must be killed.
Deut 20:16-17 - God commands complete destruction of all Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, and "thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth."
Deut 22:21 - A bride found not to be a virgin must be stoned to death.
Deut 22:22 - Adulterers must be killed.
Deut 22:23-24 - A girl who is raped within city limits, and fails to cry out, must be killed.
Deut 28:22-28 - If you don't obey God's commandments, he will punish you with consumption, fever, extreme burning, blasting, mildew, hemorrhoids, the scab, the itch, the botch of Egypt, etc., as well as "madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart."
Josh 6:21 - God's warriors destroyed Jericho and killed every man, woman, child, and domestic animal.
Josh 8:25 - God's warriors killed 12,000 people in the city of Ai.
Josh 19:47 - The children of Dan wanted more room, so they destroyed the whole population of Leshen and took their territory.
Judges 1:17-18 - Judah and Simeon utterly destroyed the populations of Zephath, Gaza, Askelon and Ekron.
Judges 11:39 - In accord with God's law, Jephthah was forced to burn his virgin daughter to death as a sacrifice.
Judges 15:15 - God enables Samson to kill 1,000 men with the jawbone of an ass.
Judges 20:46 - At Gibeah, Benjamin's men killed 25,000 people and burned every town.
1 Sam 6:19 - God kills 50,070 people for trying to peek into the Ark.
1 Sam 15:3 - God commands the destruction of Amalek: "Slay both men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."
2 Sam 6:7 - God kills Uzzah for touching the Ark, even though he was trying to save it from falling off its oxcart.
1 Kings 18:40 - God commands the slaughter of "prophets of Baal".
1 Kings 20:36 -  Because a man didn't "obey the voice of the Lord," a lion was sent to kill him.
2 Kings 2:24 - God sent bears to tear apart 42 children for making fun of Elisha's bald head.
2 Kings 10:25 - God commands the killing of a multitude in the temple of Baal.
2 Kings 19:35 - God's angel killed 185,000 Assyrians in a single night.
1 Chron 21:14 - God kills 70,000 Israelites with a pestilence.
2 Chron 15:13 - Any man or woman who refuses to "seek the Lord God of Israel" must be killed.
Job 1:15-19 - God arranges the killing of Job's children, servants and animals.
Isa 13:16 - God promises that all the Babylonians' children will be "dashed to pieces before their eyes;" their wives will be raped.
Isa 45:7 - God says "I create evil."
Jer 48:10 - Killing for God is mandatory; God curses anyone who "keepeth back his sword from blood."
Jer 50:21 - God commands that the people of Merathaim and Pekod be "utterly destroyed."
Ezek 9:5-7 - God calls for purging in Jerusalem: "let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women... fill the courts with the slain."
Ezek 35:8 - God promises to fill the mountains, hills, valleys and rivers with slain men.
Hosea 13:16 - God promises to have Samaritan infants dashed to pieces, and pregnant women will have their bellies slashed open.
Nahum 1:2 - God is jealous, full of vengeance and wrath.
Zeph 1:3 - God threatens to destroy everything, man and beast, birds and fishes.
Zeph 1:18 - "The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy."
Zeph 3:6 - God brags that he has destroyed many nations.
Zech 13:3 - A false prophet must be killed by his father and mother.

 

2. RAPE

Ex 21:7-8 - A father may sell his daughter to be a "maidservant" (or sex slave) who must "please her master."
Num 31:7, 18 - God orders his warriors to kill every living thing in a captured city, except the virgin girls, who are to be raped and turned into sex slaves.
Deut 21:11-12 - If a warrior likes the look of a female war captive, he can take her to be one of his "wives."
Deut 22:28-29 - A man who rapes a virgin may take her for a wife if he pays her father 50 shekels of silver. (Yet, a bride found not to be a virgin must be stoned to death - Deut 22:20-21).
Judges 5:30 - The spoils of war include "a damsel or two" for every man.
Judges 21:12-23 -  God's warriors killed all the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead except for 400 virgin girls, who were taken as slaves. If there are not enough girls to go around, God's warriors may raid neighboring towns for more to rape.

3. SLAVERY

Gen 9:25 - God cursed Ham, son of Noah, with perpetual slavery for the crime of seeing his father naked.  (Ham was formerly considered the ancestor of all "blacks.")
Ex 21:4 - A male slave may marry and have children, and may go free after six years; but his family remains the property (or hostages?) of his master.
Ex 21:7 - A man may sell his daughter as a sex slave.
Ex 21:20-21 - A man may be punished for beating a male or female slave
to death, but if the victim survives the beating for a few days, then
there is no penalty.
Lev 19:20 - When a man has sex with a female slave (or "bondmaid"), SHE must be scourged.
Eph 6:5 - Paul says slaves must obey their masters "with fear and trembling."
Titus 2:9 - Paul says slaves must obey and please their masters.
1 Tim 6:1 - Paul says slaves must "count their masters worthy of all honor."

4. WAS JESUS ETHICAL?

Matt 5:28-32 - Jesus says marriage to a divorcee is adultery; and a man who ogles a woman has already committed adultery; and that you must cut off your hand or pluck out your eye if it offends.
Matt 6:19-34 - Jesus says don't save any money and don't plan ahead.
Matt 8:32 - Having no regard for private property, Jesus destroys a herd of someone else's pigs.
Matt 10:34 - Jesus says he brings not peace on earth but "a sword."
Matt 19:12 - Jesus says the best way for a man to be sure of getting into heaven is to have himself castrated.
Mark 11:13 - Jesus destroys a fig tree for not bearing figs out of season.
Mark 14:4-7 - Jesus says it is more important to anoint him with precious ointment than to give to the poor, who will always be here. (Why not just get rid of poverty?)
Mark 16:18 - Jesus says anyone who believes in him can play with venomous snakes or drink poison without harm. (This act has been often tried, with rather unsatisfactory results.)
Luke 12:47-48 - Jesus says it is permissible to whip slaves.
Luke 14:26 - Jesus says no man can be his disciple unless he hates his parents, siblings, wife, children, and himself as well.
Luke 19:27 - In telling a parable, Jesus insinuates that anyone who denies his rulership must be killed.
John 15:6 - Jesus says anyone who doesn't believe in him must be burned. 
Acts 5:5-10 -  Ananias and his wife Sapphira were killed for withholding money from the church.
2 John 1:10-11 - A Christian is forbidden to offer hospitality to a non-Christian, not even to wish him "Godspeed" on parting.

5. WOMEN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

1 Cor 11:3-10 - Women are inferior "because man was not created for woman, but woman was created for man."  Every woman "while praying or prophesying" must have her head covered "because of the angels," meaning the spirits (it used to be believed that women's hair attracts spirits).
1 Cor 14:34-35 - Women must not speak in church, which is a shame for them to do. If they want to ask questions, they must learn from their husbands at home.
Eph 5:22 - Wives must submit to their husbands as they would to God.
1 Tim 2:11-15 - A woman must not teach, or hold authority over a man, but must "learn in silence with all subjection," because "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."  (So, being gullible is the original sin.)
1 Tim 5:9 - Paul says the only women acceptable by the council of elders are devout, monogamous women over the age of sixty.

6. SILLINESS

Gen 1:11-19 - God made all green plants on the third day of creation, but neglected to supply the sun (on which both plants and "days" depend) until the fourth day.
Gen 6:6-7 - Because a few people displeased him, God "repented" having made the world, and decided to destroy all life on earth.
Lev 11:5-6 - God thinks rabbits are cud-chewing animals.
Deut 22:5 - All cross-dressers, or women who wear pants, are "abominations."
Deut 25:11-12 - A woman who seizes a man's genitals, even to defend her husband from an attacker, must have her hand cut off.
Deut 33:17 - God believes in unicorns.
Matt 5:22 - Jesus says anyone who calls another "fool" will go to hell, but then he does it himself (Matt 23:17).
1 Tim 2:9 - Christian women are forbidden to braid their hair or wear jewelry.
James 5:14-15 - Prayer by the elders of the church is the only sure cure for sickness.  (Christian Science, anyone?)

Which version of the Ten Commandments do you prefer from God's inerrant Word?  Exodus 20, Exodus 34, Deuteronomy 5 or Deuteronomy 27?

Barbara G. Walker is the author of many books and articles on atheism.

You can find more of her articles on www.freethoughtnation.com.

ELITES IN TROUBLE?

Why the Elites Are in Trouble

These protesters have not come to work within the system. They are not pleading with Congress for electoral reform. 

They know electoral politics is a farce and have found another way to be heard and exercise power. 

They have no faith, nor should they, in the political system or the two major political parties.

By Chris Hedges

Truthdig, via Information Clearing HouseOctober 10, 2011

It's copyrighted, so just get on the Truthdig site.  It is a really awesome article explaining the processes going on between protestors.  Democracy at work!

BELOW ARE FANTASTIC, AWE-INSPIRING PICTURES FROM "THE ATLANTIC" OF THE "OCCUPY WALL STREET" DEMONSTRATIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD!

CREDIT FOR ALL PHOTOS:  THE ATLANTIC

BERLIN

BRUSSELS

CHICAGO

CHILE

SEOUL

TALLAHASSEE

PHILLIPINES

JORDAN

SAN FRANCISCO

PARIS

PHOENIX

SWEDEN

PITTSBURGH

SYDNEY

VANCOUVER

MADRID

 

JEWISH VS PALESTINIAN

 

Doesn't this situation chafe against your sense of fairness and rattle your logic?

SKINNING DOGS ALIVE!

I debated with myself whether to post this, but feel so enraged, I want everyone to know what is happening so something will be done to stop this outrage!!!

Beware, it is very hard to look at...

Skinned alive to make fake Uggs:

Horrific footage reveals slow, sickening deaths  of raccoon dogs

   By Oliver Pickup

   Mail Online, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045016/Raccoon-dogs-skinned-alive-make-cheap-copies-Ugg-boots.html

   Last updated at 4:26 PM on 4th October 2011

These sickening images show raccoon dogs being skinned alive to make cheap imitation Ugg boots bought by thousands of Britons.
The original footwear is made from high-quality Australian sheepskin, taken from animals slaughtered humanely, but this footage shows the brutal treatment of creatures in China whose fur is used to make the fake boots.


The raccoon dogs are shown skinned, but still alive and moving, in the distressing scenes filmed by animal rights campaigners. Thrown on a pile, they can take up to three hours to die.

Brutal: Workers in China skin a raccoon dog, but the animal is still alive and suffering

The terrified animals are beaten with sticks and are seen kicking and writhing as the men cut them open and skin them.

The skinning process is agonisingly slow and begins from the feet up. The workers are filmed standing on the animals' heads if they struggle too much.

The raccoon dog is indigenous to Asia and related to dogs and foxes. Ugg boots, [below] are made from Australian sheepskin and cost up to £200 - but cheap imitations have flooded the market.

The video, uploaded on to YouTube by animalwelfare1 and associated with Swiss Animal Protection / EAST international, then shows the skinned animals being tossed alive on to a pile of dead and dying raccoon dogs.


The MailOnline has chosen not to include the video, as it is too shocking.


One raccoon dog - an indigenous Asian species related to foxes and dogs - is shown lifting its head to the camera briefly before falling back down on the mound of corpses, still breathing.


The shocking footage, published in the Herald Sun, has sparked outrage and has led activists to demand a ban on the raccoon dog trade.

Pitiful: A bloodied and dazed creature is shown still alive but helpless on a pile of corpses

Agony: A raccoon dog is beaten to stop it struggling so it can be skinned alive

Imitation Ugg boots have flooded the market worldwide and are widely available online and at outlets. Many are imported into Britain.
In Australia, where Uggs - which cost up to £200 - originate, there has been a ban on the import of domestic dog and cat fur since 2004, but raccoon dog fur is still brought in.

An investigation by the Humane Society International (HSI) found a pair of imitation Ugg boots to contain raccoon dog fur, even though they were labelled 'Australian sheepskin'.

HSI director Verna Simpson said dozens of products, aside from the boots, use imported raccoon dog fur - and in other cases dog fur.

Cruelty: A raccoon dog is beaten on the head in an attempt to stun it. Another dazed animal lies on the right-hand of the image.

Force: A worker stands on an animal's neck to stop it struggling. The process of skinning the raccoon dogs is agonisingly slow.

Animal hair identification expert Han Brunner confirmed the boots contained raccoon dog fur and called for the government to crack down on the trade.

Mr Brunner told news.com.au: 'There is no doubt they have mislabelled these items and customs refuse to do anything.
'They have been labelled Australian merino fur and that was on the inside of the boot, on the outside there were hairs from the raccoon dog.

'I think surely that should make an impact on customs especially after the cattle slaughtering in Indonesia - dog raccoons are skinned alive and the carcass is thrown on a heap when they are still alive.'
Earlier this year footage of the treatment of Australian livestock in Indonesian abattoirs led to a temporary export ban.


Head of Ugg Australia Lena McDonald said that the use of raccoon dog fur by other brands had tarnished the entire industry.

She said there were up to 40 products using the word 'Ugg' but that few were made in Australia and many used overseas materials.
'As far as I can see many of these boots are not made in Australia at all yet they have the word Australia and Ugg on them,' she told the Herald Sun.


'Labelling laws in Australia are a little bit grey and we have seen companies cutting off tags saying "made in China" and the Australian made tag put on it.'

An Australian customs spokeswoman said the government took the importation of illegal fur seriously but was awaiting further information before stating its position on the importation of raccoon dog fur.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045016/Raccoon-dogs-skinned-alive-make-cheap-copies-Ugg-boots.html#ixzz1ZqWv3uzD

Please share--and don't buy Ugg boots!

THE FED