Category: General

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And in other news of Standardized Christian Hypocrisy

First of all I have to say that Christianity in and of itself isn’t a bad thing.

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Jesus had some important lessons and ideas that he taught beautifully.

So beautifully in fact that he became a threat to the powerful people of the time. By the way it wasn’t the Romans. Christianity’s threat to Rome came later.

The powerful people of the time were other practitioners of religion who simply hadn’t gotten around to wheedling the Romans into killing off all the rest of their enemies.

This is not to say that the Romans weren’t about killing, but the Romans knew if you keep the internal factions of a subjected people fighting amongst themselves… well those factions aren’t going to unite and fight you.

The Romans were many things, Chiefly they were excellent administrators.

The wealth and power of Rome was built on their imports, Trade, and tax collection. If you keep the locals squabbling and occasionally take out one of the more powerful leaders,  It’s a lot easier to collect taxes, look like you’re actually helping to keep the peace and keep the goods flowing.

This kind of duplicity is a wonderful tool when you’re managing a far flung empire. I personally think that the Christians learned all too well the lessons of Romans. Even today, it seems that duplicity and hypocrisy are the norm of many Christian organizations.

Recently, I became aware of a situation that is so classically typical I couldn’t help but write about it.

A Christian camp who shall remain nameless has a staff of young people.

For many of these young people this is their first job. For others it’s a Summer job in a foreign country. These foreign staff members hail from England, Australia, Scotland and Brazil.

Some of the staff are so-called “locals” meaning that they have homes 5 to 20 minutes from the camp. 

The rules were supposed to be;

All Staff stays at the camp while they’re on duty

All Staff rotates through the various activities so that they’re cross trained and don’t’ get bored.

All Staff would have a work schedule that was predictable and planned.

But in typical fashion

Poor management reigned supreme and then “We’re Christians”  was used as an excuse for mistreating some members of the staff and treating others preferentially.

For example, several of the “Local” staff were never given two consecutive days off. They were expected to make do with a day here, a half day there and they never had a schedule defining even those times off, which meant that they might as well have been working 400 miles from home since they never saw their families during the summer.

I know of at least one member of the staff that was never rotated to other activities, and who was arbitrarily stuck with 1/2 days off repeatedly.

The practical upshot of all this is that the kid never got to go see his mom who lives at some distance from the camp. Never was able to participate in any family activities because there was no way to plan since there was no schedule. Last but not least wasn’t able to do things like laundry or banking because the 2-4 hours they had off was on a Sunday night after 8 PM.

This kind of stuff is just plain bad management. It’s not about whether someone is Christian or not.

It’s made all the worse because the folks running the camp, knowing that they were technically abusing a couple of their employees decided to hide behind the “We’re a Christian camp” excuse. as if that would make it all go away.

What is the rationale there?

We’re Christian and we’re going to abuse the fuck out of you now but your reward in heaven will be proportionately greater?

What about “Family Values” aren’t Christians supposed to be about family? Or is it that they’re only about Their family?

This is one of the reasons that I and many people I know avoid Christians like the plague.

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Texas Voter ID Poo Pooed by the Supreme Court

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I’m not sure that I get this.

Texas, wants to reduce voter fraud so they reduce the valid forms of ID down to 5.

No longer can you bring a utility bill to prove you’re authorized to vote. It looks like Texas wanted the ID to be something with a photo. Something like a Drivers License, State Issued ID card, Passport, you know something that was state issued and verifiable.

Instead the Court found that requiring a tangible form of ID was too arduous and unfairly targeted certain segments of the population, in particular the poor who could not afford to obtain ID. What?????

$26 to obtain ID in California. Of course California has a reduced fee ID for $7. Are you fucking kidding me?

Why not make every ID cost $7 and then you wouldn’t be discriminating against the middle class? Oh RIGHT… The middle class gets to pay full pop for everything and they also get to pay via taxes for the reduced fee folks too.

Assuming that California is one of the most expensive states to get an ID then how the hell is it possible for “The Poor” in Texas to NOT be able to afford proper ID which everyone is supposed to produce upon request. 

I’m confused as hell. 

Why is it “Racist” or somehow economic discrimination to ask for a piece of identity documentation? Does this mean that I’m no longer required to carry ID? can I shred my passport? Can I call someone racist if they ask me for one of those documents?

How about this…

On those lovely little forms that new employers make you fill out where you have to produce 2 forms of ID or your passport to prove that you’re eligible to work in the US… can I now legitimately refuse to produce any of these forms of ID on the grounds that it’s clearly discriminatory? I somehow doubt it.

I thought that voting was a privilege reserved for citizens. If that’s still true then providing documentation about identity is  simply the price for admission to the voting place.  For goodness sake you have to show a ticket to get into a theater. Why is something as important as voting treated with less respect?

Moreover, why didn’t the Supreme Court see it this way?

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Armstrong to be stripped of Titles?

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Lance Armstrong to be stripped of  titles retroactively?

Is it me? or is this complete and utter Bullshit?

Even if he was doping back in the day you couldn’t catch him. So he WON… The race and he beat your tests. So make better tests.

If you make better tests and you still didn’t catch him. Guess what? He WON again on both counts.

And with the exception of a couple of possibly false positives Mr. Armstrong consistently won the Tour de France, doing so even after a battle with cancer.

Mr Armstrong has always denied using performance enhancing drugs. I honestly don’t think he was getting away with anything. I think he’s just that good and trains that hard.

Sadly Mr. Armstrongs name has become synonymous with performance enhancing drugs or doping. 

I, as the average “Joe” on the street am sick of hearing about it.

Honestly, it’s always sounded like the French were being whiney assed bitches who somehow thought that the Tour de France was supposed to be won by a Frenchman, and when it wasn’t they cried foul.

I guess it really hurts their national pride such as it is, that they kept getting their asses kicked by an American!

What does this tell any other competitors?

“Be good but throw the occasional event so that you’re not TOO GOOD.” Mediocrity is preferred… After all you don’t  hurt someones feelings now do you?

I’m glad Mr Armstrong chose to say FUCK IT! After all it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be left alone no matter what. In a no win scenario you might as well not play. This is especially true when you have a decades long Witch Hunt leveled against you.

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Then you look at Michael Phelps… there was controversy about whether the IOC was going to pull his medals because he did a photo shoot that was going to be part of his endorsement contracts after his retirement.

Apparently the photos were taken before he retired but they weren’t published until after he retired. 

There’s no break of the rules here. 

But since Phelps was too good someone went looking for something to spank him with.

This is one of the concerns I personally have.

People have always sought to tear down those that they perceived as privileged, wealthy, good looking, stars, or top athletes. This is nothing new.

But now, there are so many ways to tear someone apart. If it’s not naughty pictures, (See Prince Harry) it’s via the rule of law, or simply questioning ones sexual habits. Hell even ones beliefs or religious affiliations can be enough to trail blood in the water.

Once the trickle of metaphorical blood appears in the news (or tabloids, they’re interchangeable these days) the rest of the world attacks like ravenous sharks in a feeding frenzy.

I have to ask why?

These people are human, just like the rest of us. They’ll make poor choices and mistakes just like all the rest of us. Why then are we so quick to rip them apart and not give them the benefit of the doubt?

When did we become so unforgiving and judgmental?

Lance… Great Job! Thanks for representing the US so well

Michael… Fanfuckingtastic! You deserve every single bit of success and I hope your retirement is everything you planned for.

Harry… Dude… I hope you can get back to Vegas or Monaco soon, get naked, party hardy and live your life. Next time… just make sure there are no cell phones or cameras. Have your security confiscate them at the door. (BTW Nice Bum!)

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Morning Coffee

 

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Sitting out on the deck this morning having my coffee.

The sounds of nature are all around me. Birds in the trees, rabbits, squirrels, lizards you name it. It’s peaceful and nice. I’m alone save for the dogs. and they’re here on the deck with me watching the world.The sounds of distant trucks reminding me that I need to get the trash bins out for pickup.

Will probably read the news, see what’s going on in the world.

Heard that Neil Armstrong died. Sad that we’ve lost another icon of what “Having the Right Stuff” meant. May he rest in peace and my thanks to him for inspiring myself and my generation.

I just got reminded, Be careful when you see this friendly Linked in message reminding you that you have X messages waiting.

They’re all linked to some spam ED drug selling site in the EU. 

I’ve included a snapshot of the message, it’s safe this is just a picture.

Have no idea what the rest of my day will bring but I’m pretty mellow right now. 

I hope your day is as pleasant.

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Ahh Birthdays…

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Today is mine.

I have received some hilarious birthday cards & emails. Got a package from home with some regional delicacies.

Was in Palm Springs yesterday, saw some friends & had a nice meal. Other than that today is pretty much normal. In all, life is alright.

My custom for celebrating my birthday as an adult has to more often than not be alone and somewhat contemplative. I look at the previous year and recall what I liked, what I didn’t, and try to learn from the experiences.

When I was  younger I’d get maudlin about the whole affair because I’d be comparing my whole life against some crazy ideal. Fuck that! 

The ideals that I was raised with aren’t really achievable in this world anymore. How many of us are fortunate enough to be able to work to the same company let alone in the same career for all of our working lives?

I’d be really depressed if I was still making that “this is my life” comparison. 

Change with the times Man! My career is a mess, I see three choices in that regard. Change careers, retire early (way too early), or follow the jobs that are in my field out of state.

Option 2 is right out… Leaving Option 1 or Option 3. Which option is best for me? Dude, I have no fucking clue.

What I do know is that dwelling on it and beating my head against the wall isn’t cutting it for me. So I’m not doing it.

What’s been good in this past year? The trip out to Colorado.( I really do like road trips.) I’ve achieved some of the goals around the house. Haven’t spent too much money but probably will in the next couple of months. (Hey we’re talking Birthday to Birthday here not tax years…) I’ve tried things that I hadn’t ever tried before. Some successful and others complete failures, yet even the failures were worth the time I spent.

The bad… stuff like wasting my time trying to meet people via social media sites. I have learned that people prefer to maintain the anonymity of the internet and more power to them. I’m going to physically hang out in places where there are people that are into things that I’m interested in. Then hopefully, I can make some new friends.

It takes zero effort to “like” someone on Facebook and you can easily be guilted into that. It takes effort and work to actually be a friend. I’m far more interested in having friends and being a friend.

I’ve been disappointed in a couple of things. I’d wanted to finish my first book by now, but I haven’t. There is nothing and no-one to blame except myself. So I will be redoubling my efforts on that front. Even if the book never sells a large number of copies… at least I’ll have accomplished the goal. Who knows, perhaps the book will catapult me into a viable Option 1.

I’m another year older. My body reminds me that I’m not as young as I used to be but thankfully It’s mostly gentle reminders. I do wish I didn’t have quite as many aches as I do.

I can easily remember jumping out of bed feeling great. Well… Jumping out of bed today would probably end with me in a heap on the floor and the dogs wondering, “what the hell has he done NOW?”

Aging does have some perks.

The best of these is I just don’t give a damn as much as I did.

You don’t like me? My politics? My Sex life?

So what, Get lost and I won’t shed a single tear.

I used to live for people liking me. Now it’s nice if they do but not world ending if they don’t.

There have been a couple of people who’ve left comments on this blog that frankly were unbelievable. I welcome comments but there is a line. To those folks I’ve said “Thank you for your opinion, I’m not likely to change and you’re probably better off reading another blog.”

That’s a freedom that I didn’t have when I was younger and I’m learning to enjoy it.

To all the rest of the people that share this Birthday.

Happy Birthday!

Remember, we were probably conceived during our Fathers getting one of their Christmas presents. 

If my Dad was still around, I’d probably send him a condom and a card that said “If Only“… He’d laugh his ass off.

Here’s to Fathers everywhere and their Christmas presents.

I hope everyone has as good a day as I’m having.