Does the christian God hate all others?  Does the Muslim God follow suit?  Does Jehovah, Buddha or Zeus hate all other Gods besides themselves?  The answer my friends is a resounding NO!

Granted, in some religions, the worship of other Gods is frowned upon or forbidden.  But it is the followers of the assorted Gods worshiped today or in the past, that say followers of other faiths must be wiped from the face of the earth.  Many old scripts talk of killing every man woman and child of a differing faith, but let us never forget that ALL the books of ALL the religions ever created have been written by MEN.

If that is not enough, other men who came later decided what religious text would be included in the books we now read today.  Two glaring examples for me (I was raised catholic) are the book of Mary Magdalen and the book of Judas.  These religious writings just did not fit in with the structure of the religion that the men in power of the time wanted.  So they were discarded.  Thrown on the trash heap of history.  Put there by the MEN in power at the time because they did not re-enforce the power that those men had over the people.

I ask you simply to take a moment to think before you hate a person due to a differing faith.  Does my God teach me to hate others?  Does their god teach them to hate others?  Before you answer yes to either of these questions, be sure to know your own faith and its history.  Before you answer for another faith, take the time to talk to its followers or study it.

You just might be in for a personal revelation!

Elmer Cheney, source FireDogLake

While Republicans like daddy/daughter pair Liz and Dick continue to claim that “enhanced interrogation” methods are not torture and blaming Speaker Pelosi for it if it was, others are asking us to “move on” and to “put the past behind us.”  I am left with a bleeding brain trying to figure out what, if any, true belief they have?

When “big Dick” as I like to call him stood up and took the oath of office, I seem to recall him mentioning somthing about upholding and defending the Constitution of The United States Of America.  So help him God.

That was so help him God until the 9/11 attacks.  Then he was forced to face fear the fear beat him soundly. Then his oath before God flew out of the hole he was hiding in faster then he crawled into it.

But let’s admit it folks, you can’t teach an old Dick new tricks.  It seems that as soon as his oath was uttered the golden light in his eyes shone down into a dark place.  And the name of that light was PROFIT!  He had a vision of how he could allow HIS company, Haliburton, to expand its wealth by trashing that very same Constitution simply by placing the life of every American serviceman in harms way.

I can just hear the stories that were told.  As little Lizzie sat on young Dicks lap and he told her of fairy tale lands.  Lands with names like Nazi Germany and Uganda, Cambodia and Ruwanda.  Lands where, if you were in control and your leader said it was legal, you could do whatever you little heart desired.  You could treat anyone you didn’t like as mean as your little, tiny, dark heart wanted.

As long as you kept saying “I protected my county” you could get as much wealth as you and your cronies desired.  Lands where the people that you did not kill or torture, were dumb enough not to realize what you were doing.  Magic lands where you could get that wealth by squandering the resources of your own nation.  Lands with pixie dust that will erase the memories of the people and make them forget your betrayal.  Fairy lands where justice will never find you.

Well Dick, your daughter obviously bought what you said.  Personally I think its high time you quit trying to shove the same horse hockies down the gullet of the children of America.  American justice may not be swift but it is sure.  You can sense it pursuing you like a bloodhound so now you are forced to face fear yet again.  It IS coming Dick and you have ample reason to fear.

The only way to escape it is the same way some of the leaders of the aforementioned nations did.  Start looking for a nice retirement home in Lybia or Syria.  I am sure they would LOVE to make you a citizen of their country! Then Dick,  you would be forced to learn some new tricks, I’m sure.

Okay, the people that read this blog have a sense of my leanings.  I want you to know that I try to apply my own experience as an American to my posts and I attempt to present the facts.

At this time I would ask you to listen to a chapter from my own life.  I beg your patience but I really need to vent.

My mom,  who is in her mid sixties, suffered from a stroke 22 years ago.  Nine years ago she was forced to have a leg amputation.  I tell you this only because it applies to what I am going to say.  She is a proud and tough lady and would be embarrassed to use her disabilities as an excuse for anything.

I should also state for this article I will use the REAL names of the  companies Involved.

In 2007 my mom decided to supplement her Medi-care by getting supplemental insurance.  It was affordable on her fixed income, the agents were very helpful and It was through Humana Insurance Company.

Last Oct. or Nov. she received her new insurance rate for the second year of her policy.  Though she had only gone to the doctor one time for a general check up during the first year of her policy her rates almost doubled for the next year.

When we received word of the rate increase we called our used to be helpful agent twice to discuss the rate hike.  After two weeks without response we called him a third time and cancelled the policy.  We never heard back from him.

Yesterday we received a collection letter from a company called R.M.S in Hartford, Ct.   They are demanding an almost $500.00 payment from my mom for past due insurance premiums.  They acknowledge the fact my mother never used the insurance after it expired.  We shredded her cards.

But Catch this:  Even though an agent can set up a policy over the phone, you can not cancel over the phone!!  The collection agency refuses to even discuss the facts.  In fact the operator today said she would love to get my mom in court.  They insist that cancellation had to be in writing.  Wouldn’t it be nice if the agent returned our calls to let us know that?  In my mind that policy was canceled.

What do you think??  Bad Industry or my fault?

Recently I have been reading a book called “The Loch” by author Steve Alten.  It combines science fiction and science fact in a most entertaining way.  For me it has been a real page turner, keeping me up way too late at night.

Like most people I am familiar with how species evolve but have never read much on the subject.  This book contains portions of books written by experts on the subject and has left me wondering if it is possible for a nation of people to evolve emotionally.

It seems to me that many changes during the last several years, political and economic included, have affected  the majority of Americans profoundly.  We as a nation have struggled to overcome the fear of the first attack on our soil since WW II, the loss of many civil liberties, and a blatantly corrupt presidency.  We have muddled through a seemingly apathetic news media via several voices that would not be silenced and the use of the inter-net to find SOME truth.  We have realized that it was through our own inaction we the people have allowed ourselves to be led into needless war and the soiling of our standing as a world leader.

Through these adverse times it seems like we huddled in our caves, while the television lords told us to be fearful.  We feared the next attack, which was always imminent.  We feared the loss of income, or the loss of our cave.  We feared the future and we feared those that were telling us to be afraid.

At some point, I’m not sure exactly when, we remembered that we could walk.  Like the opening scene from “2001″ we rediscovered the tools that would let us stand up and we cast the fear aside.  Now we look to the future once again.  We WANT our nation to be a world leader again.  We WANT our rights and our freedoms.  We DEMAND worthy leaders.  We REFUSE to huddle in fear any longer.  We know it is our RIGHT to see that those that led us to the abyss are punished.

Now the loudest voices in our nation are shouting how we should still live in fear.  They seem to think if they shout louder and louder we will rediscover our fear of rain and thunder.  Now it is they who live in fear, not of attacks, not of financial ruin (for they make millions) but of the loss of the power they have had over us.  They have become a source of laughter and pity, as they throw the chicken bones down and scream, rant, and cry how we are all DOOMED if we do not follow them again.

We can point and laugh now at the likes of Rush, Hannity, Beck, Cheney and Rice.  We can scoff at the neanderthal grunts that issue from their oversize mouths but we cannot forget that not long ago they were the priest that kept us in fear.

We have evolved past their archaic beliefs and now patiently await their extinction.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA

I lived in West L.A. for twenty two years and in many ways California means home to me.  So naturally I was upset to hear the FIRST round of budget cuts announced yesterday by “the governator”.

The cuts are hitting many people who can afford them the least, those who are poor or already out of work.  The major cuts included the suspension of all work in state parks, the cancellation of all state funded welfare programs and suspension of state insurance to poor children.  In a land of multi-million dollar homes and quarter-million dollar cars I can not help but feel that others beside the poor could have picked up some of the slack.

With no insurance for their kids parents will once again be forced to overflow emergency rooms with ear aches and minor injuries.  Of course without the money to pay the highest of all doctors visits I fear that parts of California will face even more emergency room closures as they did in the nineties.

With out state welfare there will be a rise in hunger and I am left to wonder how many will be imprisoned attempting to steal food for themselves and their families.  I remember one case where a homeless man was sentenced to life in prison for the theft of a single slice of pizza due to the three strikes law.  What will the cost be to the state prison system when many more nonviolent petty crimes like the theft of food start to swell the inmate population due to mandatory sentencing?

How many more homeless people will there now be due to the lack of funding for state housing programs?  It will not take many such people to break the already strained private charities that attempt to provide shelter and food for the homeless and hungry.

Having lived through several wildfires, including the firestorms in November, 1993 I know the state parks will rapidly become tinderboxes.  Many California wildfires are the result of cooking fires for homeless people that got out of control.  With more homeless and no maintenance to the park system, there could be a significant increase in wildfires at a huge cost to the state.

As bad as all this sounds, the rumors are flying wild as to what the next steps to be taken will be.  Paying all state and county employees with IOU’s is the one I hear mentioned most often.  I am quite confident that cash strapped landlords and banks will accept these IOU’s from teachers and other public service employees as payment on debt.  Yeah right!  The more disturbing of the rumors mention actions such as closing schools or reducing the number of officers in fire and police departments state wide.

Overall every step taken and those rumored to be taken are, in my opinion, short-sighted at best and criminal at worst.  You do not solve a problem like this by cutting short term costs that will become long term financial disasters.  Many talking heads on the news networks are pointing out that California leads the financial way for the country, so I ask how long until similar steps are taken in a state near you?  Maybe even the one you live in.

Republicans have been screaming about empathy lately.  Having a judge at any level with empathy, according to these wingnuts, is bad for the country.  Has anyone in the media bothered to stand up and ask why this is so bad?  To my knowledge they have not.  So I now will take it upon myself to ask these speakers for the right….Why is empathy bad and secondly, do you even know the meaning of the word?

Empathy:

1. the intellectual identification of the thoughts, feelings, or state of another person
2. capacity to understand another person’s point of view or the result of such understanding

So, empathy means the capacity to see both sides of an issue and understanding where the opposing point of view is coming from.

Really BAD qualities in a judge….not.  Because if you see both sides you may end up ruling on the side of the people the Republicans do not want to see represented in this country.  In other words, on the side of the commoners rather than on the side of the corporations and their minions.  What a sad day for the United States.  Judges that are not owned by a political ideology but rather by a strict but FAIR interpretation of the law.  That is certainly not what our Founding Fathers envisioned.  Surely they foresaw a court system that would rule strictly by ideology without one thought to how it affected the population at large.  Surely they never imagined judges who would try to look at both sides of an argument and rule fairly.  Certainly they wanted a court that ruled absolutely for the minority view, no matter how it hurt the common people.  Absolutely they wanted rule on the side of the moneyed state rather than on the side of the masses.  Isn’t that what the Republican view of The Constitution is all about?

Cheney, Bush, Rice, Gonzalez and numerous other Republican mouthpieces will most likely land in front of this nations courts or in front of a world court.  Lets see how they feel about empathy then.  Bet the little wusses will scream for justice and understanding of their point of view.  In other words, empathy.  Anyone taking my bet?…………..Anyone? 

United States Supreme Court - hallway

I had never heard of snow rollers before seeing this.  I have seen tornadoes, been in earthquakes, mudslides,wildfires and floods.  But I must admit that these naturally occurring phenomenon really are something very different.

Here is a picture of these oddities:

To see more pictures of snow rollers and the accompanying explanation go here.  I hope you find them as strange and interesting as I did.

This is the only post lunacanus will make today. 

Memorial Day is not a time for political or religious bickering or punditry.  It is a day to remember and say thank you to all who serve this country.

So, to the Army,Navy, Air Force , Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and all others who serve or have served…thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  I don’t think there are enough words to say what we owe you.  Your sacrifices are in so many cases beyond the call.

So, thanks and just know that we remember you and we think of you.  If need be maybe we can stand up for you.