TODAY'S VERSION OF CHRISTIANITY HAS MUTATED TOO FAR FROM CHRIST

It would be hypocritical of me to quote the Bible.  I cannot see using what little is left of my life to read it.  However, I do read lots of other things written with references to Biblical quotes. .Today there are religions, cults, and false religions.  Anyone can start a religion, sane or delusional.  I do not believe this is what our Forefathers thought when they wrote of Freedom of Religion.  Some start them on their fetishes, habits, or whatever, like the Rastafarians.  Mormons are considered a cult as are Jehovah's Witnesses.  There are presumed to be 30,000 denominations of Christendom (Awake! Jan 2011) which tells me that anyone who wishes o invent their own version can just pick up their Bible, con a few friends into believing,or following, and you've got a good start

For some thoughts on why there are so many denominations, click here.
From what I have heard and read there is probably a reasonable amount of good advice in the Bible, if you were living in the year 01 A.D.  Then if got a little flaky with people prognosticating.  It also doesn't make good sense that if we have a God (or Creator) that this loving, omniscient and omnipotent being would have anything to do with divisive religions.

Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate, physicist and atheist is quoted as saying, "The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief."  There are many books written on the problems of religion and many that try to make religion compatible with reason. 

Floris van den Berg is engaged in research into religion and morality at Utrecht University.  He writes the Humanist: Ideas for Godless People.  He believes in freedom and the right for people to view the offensive.  As the Virtual Museum of Offensive Art opens online, Floris van den Berg ponders the limits of freedom  " Why should there be a museum to exhibit art that some people find offensive, disturbing, shocking, insulting, vile, distasteful, pornographic, blasphemous or ugly? Before answering that question, we should note that such a museum already exists – the Virtual Museum of Offensive Art – with free access for all (that is to say, if the internet has not been censored)." 

In all, for those of us who want some reason, logic and proof in order to believe, These toxic versions of the Bible that bear no resemblance to descriptions of who Christ was supposed to be and how he lived his life, do not fit the criteria for belief by anything thing other than blind faith.  In today's scientific world where so much has been discovered and proved that did not exist when the Bible was written, the count of Atheists seems to be rising exponentially.  They seem to live lives that are no different in terms of all the qualities that are important to humans as much as religious observers.  English is a strange language, the only difference between 'a theist' who is a believer and and 'atheist' is a space between the a and t.  It's all in what you call it, I guess.

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ODDS AND ENDS OF THE DAY

The appeal by Rahm Emanuel was successful and the higher court agreed he was a Chicago resident even though his job took him to Washington much of the time.  It's nice to see the good guys win against the bad guys once in a while.  I really dislike manipulators with political power try to keep someone out that won't play their brand of ball with them.

Sarah Palin, giving her unasked-for criticism of the State of the Union speech, kept referring to Obama's WTF moment.  The double entendre was tasteless and makes it harder than ever to believe there is still someone put there that thinks she would make a decent President.  I can only be grateful that she didn't win with McCain and have to replace him in office.  For those innocents who don't know the 'other' definition of WTF, click here.

For those who are convinced that the violent rhetoric is not behind attacks such as the one on Gabrielle Giffords,  should listen to the threat on a Chinese-American state Senator's life.
Mark Rosenberg wrote an article on it.  Click here.  Senator Yee is running for mayor of
San Francisco.   If you missed the actual take of Rush being arrogant, click here for the Young Turks discussing it, with the recording of Rush, on You Tube. Senator Lee has started a boycott of Limbaugh's sponsors.  That is what earned him the death threat.

Where are they hiding our leaders?

MORE 'COLLATERAL DAMAGE' FROM BUSH'S 'RESCUE' OF IRAQ

The Bush administration's eagerness to 'rescue' from the 'tyranny' of Saddam Hussein has created one million widows.  The situation is so desperate and there are so few marriageable-age men, the government is seriously considering polygamy.  One couple is already doing that.  The man goes home to his first wife (because he has children with her) one night a week and spends the other nights with his new wife (the widow).  Read here.   The article, written by Roula Ayoubi, BBC News, Baghdad,  "Under current Iraqi law, polygamy is illegal unless authorised by a judge - though it is part of the country's Islamic tradition and has been backed in recent years by some religious groups."

"In Iraq's largest province, Anbar, a charity called Angel of Mercy has been helping widows remarry for the last four years. Dozens of marriages have been completed, with the widows often marrying their husband's relatives."

However, statistics do not include the degree of pain at the spousal losses, children being raised by those who may not have wanted them but feel it a familial duty, or any of the other emoitonal costs.  This can hardly be seen as reflecting the hugs and flowers we were told our people would be greeted with at the 'liberation' of the country.

Can those who sent us off to Iraq really feel they did the right thing?  I'm told that sociopaths do not feel remorse.  Is that why those who told us such lies for years can be comfortable while so much of the world suffers?

STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH

While it was a pleasure to watch and listen to President Obama's speech, the angry whiners afterwards complaining about that which he didn't say, should have said, and what they wanted him to say were the usual downers.   Obama showed himself as someone seeing the glass half full.

Paul Ryan who followed, especially, showed his negativity and gloom and doom scenario.  He offered nothing constructive but only things to cut.  He clearly has no idea the disastrous consequences to so many that his ideas would create if they were enacted.

Bachmann was even more ridiculous and spouted statistics with no context whatsoever about what made them. Her criticisms might have impressed a fifth grade teacher, had one of her students written it, but it was an embarrassment coming from a duly elected Representative.

Daniel, the intern who  helped Representative Giffords and may have saved her life, spoke brilliantly, on MSNBC later.  When Lawrence O'Donnell asked if he thought Obama should have mentioned the gun control issues, he wisely knew that the President had an agenda which didn't need to deviate and there would be plenty of time to address the gun issue.

WINTERING IN NEW ENGLAND AND QWIKI

Many years ago I visited an acquaintance in Vermont, North,almost  to the Canadian border.  I was surprised to see that her kitchen sink and appliances were a bright red.  I said I had never seen red stoves and refrigerators before and she laughed and told me that I had not been in upper Vermont in the winter, either.  We shared  love for color in the winter to counter the white of the snow.  I get my color from flowering houseplants and prisms hanging in most of the windows that catch sunshine and cast rainbows around the room.

I've admired many friends who have green houses, solariums, conservatories or other great spaces for growing plants.  My house is more limited so I cut down every tree on my lot and made the widest windows sills I could have made.  Every sill in my twelve room house has plants and I thrill when they blossom and add color when the only view from the window is dirty snow piled high and gray tree trunks surrounding me in my neighbors' yards.

Though I have been growing plants for 60 years, it always surprises me when I find a new variety or genus.  Someone gave me a furry-leaved plant that grew and grew and finally blossomed with gorgeous purple blossoms.  My friend could not tell me what it was.  It looked like a primrose and that is what I believed it to be though I couldn't find an exact match in the 500 or 600 pictured I looked through.  After several years, with this plant rewarding my with blossoms much of the year, I went on the new resource qwiki.com.   First I looked up African Violets then noticed Streptocarpus on the same page.  At last, a great resource and a problem solved, all in one click.

For those not familiar with the new site you are in for a treat.  I am advised that it is a totally automatic, computer-generated site and requires no humans.  Everything happens in the computer.There are already millions of entries and the site expects to add many, many more.  It not only looks up what you ask for but reads it to you in a very pleasing voice.  You, too, may find winter in New England more pleasant when you don't have to travel any further than your computer!

HAGGIS

In Scotland there is a traditional item called Haggis which has not been allowed import to the United States for forty years because of the inclusion of sheep lung parts.  Americans are under the illusion that the meat items served to Americans do not include organ parts.  The Scottish government is seeking to overturn the ban on Haggis import.  One would assume that people could choose (or not) to buy or eat it if that becomes the case, just as they would if they went to
Scotland. See BBC article describing this more fully.

Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. I'm of Greek descent.  If you think that the Scots are revolting cooks, you should try the Easter soup  called 'mayeritsa'.  That is another whose ingredients you are best left to wonder about.  The Greeks really figured out a way to use the whole lamb; all that wasn't barbecued went into the soup  It uses lamb lungs, liver, hearts and feet, though many Greek cooks also clean and use intestines, as well.

 Note:  This soup is traditional and ritualistic: while a freshly slaughtered spring lamb is roasted for the main course of the Easter feast, this soup, which starts the meal, is supposed to be made out of the remaining parts--the lungs, liver, heart, and intestines cook in a broth made from the lamb's head. Well, this recipe just isn't that pure. On the other hand, it really is lovely--like a savory rice pudding with little bits of lamb and parsley and a lemony tang. Just ignore the fact that you're using cornstarch to approximate the thickening you would have gotten from the entrails. This is a soup that is all about the joy of redemption, the richness of Christian living in Mediterranean communities, and just plain good eating. Serve hot to 4-6 people. It's also wonderful reheated--so long as you reheat carefully and don't curdle it.

For American palates, the recipe was modified as Haggis has also been.
Mayeritsa for Americans: 

• 1½ pounds of lamb on the bone
• 8 cups water
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 stalks celery, with leaves, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup rice
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 cup milk
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste 

Haggis for Americans:  

Ingredients

• 1 sheep stomach
• 1 sheep liver
• 1 sheep heart
• 1 sheep tongue
• 1/2 pound suet, minced
• 3 medium onions, minced
• 1/2 pound dry oats, toasted
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried ground herbs

 I've purposely skipped the directions since I doubted there would be too many readers eager to try their hand at either recipe  .If I'm mistaken, just Google for the recipe.  These are not for the faint at heart about deviating from American cuisine.

A MISNOMER: THE PATRIOT ACT

On October 26, 2001, then President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act., acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.  It is time for its renewal to be reconsidered.  Since it was rushed to passage after 9/11, many who voted for it because of their confidence in Bush.  Since then many have questioned whether it should have been passed, how it seems to skirt the Constitution, and whether the passage consideration would be destructive to our democracy.


One areas of consideration is the intrusiveness of our government in the area of Free Speech, not only of Americans but of citizens of foreign countries as well. Our government has requested Internet information on foreign nationals, whose governments resent the intrusion and are unwilling to violate the privacy of their citizens. 

Twitter was willing to challenge a grand jury subpoena,  but it is unlikely the Google and Facebook would have given or did give similar response. To read how Twitter views the issue, click here.

Please make sure your legislators are familiar with the Patriot Act before anyone votes to renew it.  There are some very important aspects that may have been acceptable to some while everyone was mislead to think we were in real danger from weapons of mass destruction.  Since much of what brought us to that point is no longer relevant in the same way, we should carefully consider the damage renewing it, as is, can do.