Why Our Nation is BROKE(n)

Read the entire essay if you desire to comment.

I think they left out the part about multi-billion dollar corporations unwilling to pay a living wage. 

General Electric made $26 billion in profits in 2010 and paid $0.00 in taxes, we have the largest military industrial complex in the world with a $250 billion budget, and people wonder why our government is broke. Who are we fighting?  The terrorists?  Does anyone remember a time before 9/11, when terrorists were underfunded, radical, militant fringe groups who blew stuff up from time to time?  Yeah, well, that's what they're still doing, what they still are, and that's all they will ever be.  Does anyone remember a time when it was believed that everyone paid taxes.  What was the adage?  "Nothing is certain but death and taxes," unless you're a multi-national corporation (a personhood, if you will), claiming absurd deductions for which they are busily lobbying Congress for even more as I write these very words.

These terrorists had to use a plane as a missile on 9/11 because they lacked the funding and the expertise to do anything more than that.  It was tragic indeed, but 3,000 dead isn't even a drop in the bucket when you consider that the Iraqi people - most of them civilians - have suffered more than a million casualties since the Iraq War's inception. I am not proposing that there should not have been terrible consequences for the attack on September 11th, 2001. But in the grand scheme, the terrorists never were a real military threat to begin with, no more than the backwards, flyspeck nations who harbored them were.  Afghanistan has about as much of a chance at defeating "the Great Satan" as I do defeating Anderson Silva in an MMA match, i.e., none. The real threat is the corporate-tit-sucking Congress we continue to reelect into office, over and over again, because we are too lazy to demand a better choice. We are content to choose between "the lesser of two evils" as if that were a sufficient basis for electing who will decide the future of our country.

In other words, we no longer care enough.  We are complacent, fat and lazy.  We are content to let these fools and degenerates do our thinking for us, and actively choose to believe the lies and propaganda perpetrated and perpetuated by the news media each and every day. Did you know that elected office is one of the very few government jobs for which a requisite degree or certification is not required. Let me say that again: The most powerful people in this country are not even required to be legitimately, or even adequately, qualified for their positions. And we CHOOSE this!  We know they are lying to us - we have all been told, and even when faced with irrefutable proof (Dubya lying about WMD's, Obama lying about repealing the USA PATRIOT Act, Trump lying about . . . well, everything), we CHOSE to ignore the dire implications, and now we live in a country where it is perfectly acceptable for our government agents to raid anyone's home they choose, to write their own warrants, and search and seize property without your consent.  Because it is inconvenient.

Complacent, we are, and cowardly.  How can we stand against a government - a Congress that would legislate itself salary raises for the "fantastic" job they are doing and turn a blind eye when Dubya called for war on a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 - when all we really care about is still getting to go home and play World of Warcraft at night?  Actually doing something would interfere greatly with Mad Men and Game of Thrones, and we might have to give up the MMO night playing Call of Duty with our buddies.  Damn....social consciousness is just too damned inconvenient.  How 'bout them Bulldogs?

"What do you think you're doing with my sippy cup, bitch?"

And when we do muster up enough give-a-damn to care, it is dictated by right- or left-wing radio and/or television personalities whose sole job is to shape public opinion and sow discontent. They had one liberal, Alan Colmes (R.I.P.). That's all. But perhaps that is why Fox still thinks it can tell us it is fair and balanced.  But how?  Because they cater to the right wing and most other major media outlets cater to the left?  That doesn't make them fair or balanced. Yet we continue to allow this major news outlet this blatant and audacious lie. Conservatives should be particularly offended. Their primary flag bearer flaunts its contempt of the truth behind a mantra that would be noble if it weren't so patently false.

But worse are the conservative heroes and pundits, each and every one of whom is a firebrand dedicated to inciting fear, paranoia and dread.  Rush, Hannity, Ingraham, O'Reilly,

and the really ignorant ones like Brian Kilmeade and Neal Boortz - these people are poison. These nimrods stood by and defended Bush Jr.'s every mind-numbingly ignorant decision. They rationalized his failings, blamed liberals (somehow) when his unerringly bad decisions ended up . . . badly. And they have seamlessly transferred that same blind, irrational loyalty to the Trump administration, all the while producing wider audiences and higher ratings. How, you might ask? Because media may not control how you think, but they very decidedly control what you think about.  And if these buffoons - pundits - are good at anything, it is spinning the truth.  Let me clarify by saying that I am not simply ostracizing conservative pundits here.  I am fully aware that leftists are at it just as hard, only they have a slightly more intelligent audience with which to deal, and it's a bit more of a challenge, although not by much.  And I was exposed to those conservative guys more than most. As a journalist in the South, I was inundated with republican ideals. The vast majority of politicians I have interviewed have been republican conservatives. And conservatives are all you hear on talk radio. So unless your parents like NPR, if you're a child growing up in the South, you're not going to be presented with too many alternative or opposing views to conservatism - much the same as it is with religion.

All the mainstream media outlets these days are controlled by corporate/political (because there is no distinction anymore) entities.  But at least NBC doesn't feel the need to argue before each commercial break that they are "the most trusted news source" because they are unbiased.  They're not.  They're just cleverer about it, and they don't feel the insecurity of standing behind a motto that is so ludicrously, blatantly and obviously horseshit. Anyone ever listened to the "J.T. Show?"  This ignorant fool has a political talk show, such as it is, every day on SuperTalk Mississippi, 97.3, for those of you who aren't familiar with him.  He is, to reuse a word from the above paragraph, *very* decidedly one of the most ignorant and brainwashed individuals I have ever had the displeasure of hearing on the radio. His diatribes (such as they are considering his limited vocabulary, his atrocious grammar and diction, and his tenuous grasp on the political climate in general) are mindless rants about how liberals are ruining the country <yawn> that have no basis in reason or fact. He was doing Trump before Trump was doing Trump. How he has managed to stay on the air, in the slot he was given, as long as he has, is a complete mystery to me. This fool pronounces 'nuclear' like Dubya pronounced it: "Nuke-U-lar."  Whether he is just deliberately ignorant or he just wants to be like his hero (Trump, Reagan or Bush, take your pick) is unclear.  The fact is, he is a radio personality, to the extent that he has a show - not that he is in fact a "personality" of any note - and he has the ear of thousands of people every day. And he is not only paid to perpetuate (there goes that word again) his ignorance, but the good people of Mississippi encourage it.

So why are we broke again?  Because our government pays for entitlement programs it cannot afford or because G.E., along with dozens of other one percenters, pay zero dollars in taxes?  "But they will ship our jobs overseas!" some might say.  And the Fed should fine the holy hell out of them if they do.  That's what China does.  They're doing pretty okay these days.  Our government is broke because it lacks the will to tax corporate "personhoods."  Because even Facebook thinks that word is wrong, if the red, squiggly line underneath it indicates anything.  Our government is broke because its money is tied up in special interests our illustrious Congress has decided are more important than our national welfare.  Our government is broke because they no longer give two shits about the American people, but spend 80% of their time in office fundraising for their next campaign.  Our government is broke because it depends on, and is beholden to, an independent Central Bank that is NOT beholden to the government which houses, shelters and defends it.  And our government is broke because its citizens are too lazy and too frightened to do - or not do, in certain cases - the things necessary to effect a change.

It used to be that only educated people were encouraged - or even capable - of practicing the art of journalism.  Only now, with mediocrity the only height to which most aspire these days, journalism has become something much less than what it once was.  People crave - thanks to the conditioning served up by the advertising media - nothing so much as what will entertain them, and care very little about factual accuracy or unbiased relaying of those facts.

And again, if you want to respond to this, please read the whole damned thing. I'll know if you did simply based on your comments. This took me a long time to write, and I am not going to repeat something that was already covered in this essay. I welcome intelligent conversation and debate, but I don't have the time or the inclination to respond to dick-ish repostes and rebuttals. Be civil, in other words, or don't say anything at all.

And guns.  Leave my damn guns out of this conversation.  I'll delete it in a heartbeat if one single mention of fun - I mean....gun control comes up.  It's off-topic and just dumb.  And a subject for another essay....

Owning property makes you a property owner, not a good businessman, say Washington insiders

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/12/1630197/-Trump-has-transformed-the-lush-landscape-of-conservative-principles-into-a-magnificent-desolation#comment_65508631

I want his fall to be slow, though. And deeply humiliating. He should be in prison, but that tangerine, racist man-baby sits in the Oval Office instead. I want him to fall dramatically. Slowly, painfully and dishonorably. I believe the conclusion is foregone, inevitable, but he should be made to suffer as he has made the majority of this country suffer . . . through his tirades and lies, his infantile tantrums and his hypocritical insults. His calling Clinton “Crooked Hillary” makes me cringe even worse than when I hear the phrase, “Fox News. Fair and balanced.” 


Again, he belongs in an orange jumpsuit (okay, maybe not orange because that might aid in his escape) on a work farm in Kansas somewhere, pickax in hand. Tax dodging, sexual assault, and fraud are just a few for which he has openly admitted — nay, boasted — committing. He brags about skipping out on a billion dollars in unpaid taxes, brags about grabbing women by the genitals and forcing his pasty lips on them without their consent (“I don’t even ask. I just kiss them.”), and brags about stiffing contractors out of what he owes them and calls it good business; and this utter fool is the leader of the free world? He is a terrible businessman. The only thing in which he has succeeded is his persistence in insisting that he is as wonderful as he thinks he is, to the point that enough simple-minded fools believed him enough to give him a reality TV show. A scripted show in which multiple takes were allowed to make him look smart/savvy and powerful. And frankly, when was the last time they made a reality show about . . . anyone with even a thimbleful of class?


But he is a failure in every regard. He isn’t smart, he isn’t successful (Unless you consider a master bullshitter a success story, except he isn’t even any good at that — anyone paying attention knows when he’s lying . . . which is, quite literally, most of the time. Either that, or he simply starts saying words he thinks sound good, without thought or care to their accuracy or impact. Kellyanne Conway has to reach deep every time he missteps, and tries to paint him as this multilayered, cerebral guy, when it is plain as the screen I’m staring at that his vocabulary isn’t even multilayered, much less his personality and intellect. ), he isn’t handsome or knowledgeable, or even likable. 


Even now, four months later, I am still baffled. And a bit nauseated. He inherited $120 million from his father (and still only worth about that much on paper, so I’ve read) and then convinces everyone he is successful because he’s rich. He’s even gotten many to believe he is a self-made man, although it behooves me to ask how you can be self-made when you were born wealthy? And owning property does not make a person a good businessman. It makes you a property owner, nothing more. All of his actual profit-making endeavors have failed dramatically, i.e., Trump Casinos, Trump Steaks, and Trump University. Paying someone to buy and sell property for you doesn’t make you business savvy. It’s acknowledging that you do not have the business acumen to make those decisions yourself, which is kind of smart. But also lazy. I thought the American people had a little more sense than this. Not much more. But surely more than enough not to take a scumbag like Trump seriously as a presidential candidate. I mean, every time he has run in the past, everyone considered it a joke. Because it was. Unfortunately, the joke is now on us. 

Your religion is dying, say religious leaders

I'm fairly and equally intolerant of most religious tenets - particularly those which have no place in the modern, Internet-dominated world. Particularly those that have no relevance to a culture genuinely headed toward moderate - private - belief in whatever the hell you choose to believe in. I'm all for you believing it. Just keep it the hell to yourself and don't try to make it *everyone's* truth, okay? Sam Harris isn't preaching hate. He is the only person (besides myself, ahem) who calls Islam on its bullshit without condemning all Islamists . . . but at the same time, yeah, condemning them for their hellish, war-like beliefs. Seriously! Don't show me a turd and try to explain to me it isn't a turd. It's a fucking TURD! I can see it! Smell it! Touch it.....if I want to. Which I don't..............or do I...?

Every time I see someone write, or hear them say, "Islam is a religion of peace," I want to scream at them (and sometimes do), "Have you read your f----ing Quran lately?" But I don't discriminate - and you'll never accuse me of doing so - because the Big One in the Christian world is also argued to be "a religion of peace." But you don't need to look far to read about a genocide, pedophilia, rape, torture or just utter nonsense happening in large amounts in the Bible. Seriously. Open up a random passage in the Old Testament without looking. My money is on God is killing some folks in said passage for not being scared enough of him.
Not saying that *some* wisdom cannot be found in these old tomes. I'm saying that we are beyond it now, creating our OWN wisdom because we have access to so much more than they did. (And for the record, NO, they did not have access to heavenly beings. Their "miracles" are either completely fabricated by those who came after, or charlatans' tricks. (FYI the Bible as a complete text wasn't written or compiled until 400 YEARS after the death of Christ.) Still some HOLY shit though, right??? If you think the Bible, the Quran, the Torah or any other religious text is the inspired Word of God, good on ya, pal. You go and believe the holy hell out of that shit! But when that same text tells you to do bad shit to me and mine, simply because we don't agree with you? That's where you fucked up big time. That's where your ENTIRE way of life screwed you in the ass, pal. Because I. Will. Fuck. You. Up. Without remorse, without hesitation, without guilt and without reservation. I will fucking OWN you. You let that sink in, noble Reader. I am the nicest fucker you will ever meet, but when you let your religious bullshit deliberately try to influence MY little girl? I will fuck you up. Let there be no mistake, no miscommunication. I ain't your typical tree hugging liberal. I'm that fucking weirdo with all the guns and the attitude. I'm that badass who went and studied martial arts because he wanted to know how to defend himself against assholes like you, the rabid Trump supporters. Sadly, I thought you fucking douchebags were in the minority! Now I got my work cut out for me, apparently. But mistake my kindness for weakness.....please.

My point - all these desert religions you guys are still grasping onto have literally NOTHING to do with the world today. As my brother used to point out to me in his unexpected wisdom, you can read literally any horoscope from the newspaper and relate it back to yourself. Go ahead. I'll wait. And frankly, astrology makes more sense to me than all the major world religions, even though I know for a fact it's horseshit.

They - these ancient, desert religions - cannot coexist comfortably in a world in which language barriers are all but nonexistent. They cannot exist comfortably in a world in which all of the world's information is literally seconds away, at the touch of a fingertip. No wonder all the televangelists are preaching "End Times!" Because it truly is for them, hah. We are outgrowing religion, y'all. And the priests, preachers and imams all see it. They see it and it absolutely terrifies them. That's why televangelists having been saying for nearly half a century that the world is ending. That's why imams are requiring their most avid, shit-crazy soldiers to step up and "prove" whatever the fuck it is they're trying to prove. They're scared. The Information Age does not agree with them, their ideology. I mean, obviously, the answer ain't Scientology, but if we are going to persist in believing in religious dogma, we need to come up with a belief structure that fits US, not desert dwellers who lived two millennia ago. We are beyond that nonsense in every way. We're better than they were. We live longer. We're more knowledgeable, we're smarter, and LITERATE. We can read these religious tomes for ourselves - if you bothered to - and see them for what they are. Utterly ridiculous fairy tales predicated on the idea - no, the strongly held belief - that everything in them is true and goddamn rational! It. Is. NOT.

And that's another thing that makes me want to pull my hair out. So, so many educated people who still buy into it, too afraid to say what they really think about it for fear of being persecuted by their fellow Muslim/Christian/Jew/Hindu - and I use slashes instead of commas because they are all pretty much the same to me. I admit that I DO want to offend you with this missive, but only enough to make you think. I don't want to offend you so much that you want to kill me. For some, I'm sure it's probably too late. You'll be dancing on my grave after everyone leaves the service. Which is another funny thing you may not know about me - I am perfectly willing to have a Christian burial. I'll do this for my family, for the handful of people that love me, because it will make *them* feel better, and I want them to be happy. I will go to my deathbed knowing that it won't make two shits difference in the grand scheme of things, but if it makes those I love happy, then so be it.

One last thing, when my mom was on her deathbed, I told her I had rediscovered Jesus, that I knew I was going to Heaven. Yes, I lied to her. But to see that smile on her face, I would say that same lie a thousand times over. She died, a contented smile on her face, believing that my soul would be alright. She was correct. It will be. I'm a pretty good dude once you get past that religion stuff. Assuming I have a soul. Assuming, if there is a god, that fucker isn't ANYTHING like the terrible beast it's depicted as being in all these ancient desert tomes (sidebar - I find it more than a little hysterical how some lost, ancient manuscripts are considered Bible canon, yet others - just as validated and ancient - are immediately rejected by the Catholic church....which, guess what, Evangelicals? Everything you believe, pretty much, was created by the Catholics....that's funny as hell to me), then yeah, I think I'll be pretty smurfy. And whatever you may think of me, my mom died "knowing" I would meet her in Heaven. To my atheist and agnostic friends who insist they make their parents miserable because mom and dad "just don't get it?" I say, Fuck You, you selfish, insensitive asshole. Costs you nothing.

Trump denies allegations of narcissistic personality disorder until he's told it's desirable - now says he's the best NPD in the world, say Washington insiders

So I'm watching an interview with Trevor Noah on CBS. And of course the conversation leads to Trump, and Noah's interview with Obama. But I took issue with Noah early in 2016, after discovering he was not who I believed, and to be truthful, wanted, him to be. I like Noah, I do. He has a genuine sweetness to him, he is ostensibly a really humble guy, and he seems for the most part honest. But as intelligent as he is, he absolutely had to know Hillary was the wrong person to run against Trump. She did not have the popularity or the moral fortitude to win. The news media couldn't let go of the ridiculous emails, and Noah couldn't stop gushing over Hillary even when she was well behind Sanders in the polls.


And it isn't because I was a Sanders supporter (I was, unashamedly - still am, actually) that Noah's constant kissing of the hem of Clinton's dress bothered me. It was because it was done so blatantly, and the audacity with which he did it made it clear to me he was being influenced, or outright ordered, by those higher up the food chain to support Hillary publicly. The Democratic National Convention apparently has far more influence over its members than does the Republican National Convention, because the DNC got the establishment candidate they wanted, and the nimrods at the RNC were apoplectic when Trump took the nomination. Indeed, it would not have surprised me all that much if they had rescinded his nomination. Indeed, they had a fucking moral obligation to do so because Trump, simply put, is a bad person.

Forget all the other synonyms with which Trump is commonly - and accurately - associated; words like "xenophobic," (the most Googled word of 2016, incidentally) "racist," "misogynistic," "bigoted," etc. Surely those alone should have disqualified him with the American public. But what really flies in the face of reason is that none of his millions of supporters seemed to mind that he is an admitted sex offender. They did not mind that 12 different women - TWELVE!!! - came forward to testify that he had made inappropriate sexual advances toward them. I can see someone paying off one, maybe even two - but 12??? They did not mind that he made a mockery of the public debate by defending his dick size - repeatedly - on national television. Or the childish and very un-presidential name-calling he can never seem to get enough of.

They did not mind that he is cripplingly insecure (very likely the source of his name-calling). They did not mind that he has been caught in more lies during his campaign than any other president in history in their entire term(s) in office. They did not mind that he was almost literally born with a silver spoon in his mouth - apparently they still believed he knew and understood the problems of the American working class, despite the fact that the man has never done an honest day's work in his life. (Sorry, but merely owning real estate and hiring other people to buy and sell more of it is not work.) And they did not mind that he is a textbook asshole. He did exceptionally well with white women in the polls, sadly, and shockingly well with African Americans, considering his natural propensity for offensive language . . . and, you know, that thing he did on the bus that he bragged about . . . the thing which makes him an admitted sex offender.

"Nobody knows the system better than I do," Trump boasted again at the the RNC - which would be insanely laughable if he were not about to be running that same system he knows literally nothing about. One thing he knows about the system very well indeed? How to pander to the fearful. (And how to toot his own horn, of course.) And conservatives have been clinically proven to be more fearful and aggressive to that which is uncommon or unfamiliar, and they also have a higher tendency to blame others (sadly, it's the poor and downtrodden conservative politicians so shamelessly blame for this country's woes) when things go south. Or rather, fearful, aggressive people who like to blame their problems on others overwhelmingly tend to be conservative, if that makes you feel better.

Which brings me to my second point: He literally cannot take criticism. Worse, he does not have the ability to admit any lack of ability or knowledge of, or about, anything. According to Trump, he ties his shoes the best, and he is 'amazing' at brushing his teeth. Speaking of teeth, despite any formal training, I am only slightly joking when I say I think he would probably contend that he was the best dentist as well. Hate to keep reusing this word, but here, it is the only one that works, and that is . . . he is literally the most thin-skinned person I have ever seen. He is bizarrely infantile, or as Jon Stewart put it, "he's like a man-baby." Very appropriate in this context, few could honestly deny. He rants at anyone who disapproves of him, and his is a case of textbook, clinical, narcissistic personality disorder. And it is closely related to sociopathy.

Corporations still can't afford to pay a living wage despite making record profits, say bankers

I've said it before, but it deserves repeating. "A house divided cannot stand." I believe that was Thomas Jefferson....one of the founders, anyway. And it is profoundly true. Our leaders want us divided. It makes us easier to control.

We live in a country dominated wholly by corporate interests, in which almost every legislation enacted by our duly elected corporate cronies is aimed at providing those same corrupt, corporate entities with yet more power, more control over our economy, and thus our lives. They're the same people who lobbied Congress for "Corporate Personhood." Go ahead and look that up. I'll wait. These evil white men are making RECORD PROFITS, people. Easily researched. In fact, I'll do a little of my own to support my claim, although I have been doing so for years. And I say, "evil," because the whole scheme has a sinister quality to it unlike anything I have ever seen or imagined. The control they exercise over the direction of the U.S., and indeed, the world, is so complete that they literally control every facet of our lives. Without them, we cannot cook, see, or stay warm. Without their drugs, we would die. And our Federal Bank is privately owned, which is another subject entirely, but worth at least a footnote here.

But if that's the case, and it very decidedly is, why do they refuse to pay a living wage? That's the question we need to be asking. Probably the most important question of all. Besides, it is a sociological fact that happier workers are more productive workers. And how do you make an employee happy? You don't give him a honey baked ham at Christmas or throw a party. You pay him what he's worth. It is amazingly simple, bigly.

Again, if they are making record profits, which is, again, easily researched and confirmed, why do they still refuse to pay a living wage? Why are we having to work two and three jobs just to get the mortgage/rent paid? It wasn't that long ago when one household income could support an entire family. They're making record profits strictly BECAUSE they refuse to pay a living wage. Well, maybe not "strictly." They're far more sophisticated even than that. They have screwing Americans out of a dollar down to a science.

PUBLIC NOTICE

I would like to continue this blog. It is relevant, funny, and I don't need confirmation to know my experiences - and my unique ability to articulate those experiences - reflect volumes of thoughts and adventures worth sharing. Even moreso, I hope it resonates with you, my treasured readers. However, having said that (even bragged a little), I find that I have less and less time to manage it. Sure, I can tap out the words pretty quickly, but putting together the photos, keeping things consistent and noteworthy, compiling it in a way that grabs readers' attention is the real time killer.

I am looking for volunteers. Someone(s) who may or may not agree with me on everything, but who likes my delivery of it nonetheless. I don't get all of the mechanics available to me on Blogspot, first of all. I know I can add buttons, advertisements, other stuff, but I don't really know how to go about it, and I don't really have time to do it, to search for photos, gifs and other media, or the attention span to learn it all. But I'm betting there are a few readers out there who do. Because I do not imagine there are many - if any - of my readers who are uneducated. I don't write for the uneducated. I don't write to change people's minds. I write to confirm your own ideas, to articulate them, to put proverbial pen to proverbial paper for you - not me. And for the record, all education is voluntary. Being educated is a matter of choice, not upbringing or class. I am educated not because I attended college but because I chose to verse myself in those things which interested me. I sailed through college with an A average. Wasn't hard. I have an awesome short-term memory. Yay for me. Took good notes, read them 20 minutes before an exam, and viola! Aced it. Wanna put money on how much of it I actually retained, though? Yeah, only the parts I gave a shit about. That's what I remember from college. Stuff that interested me. Not one whisker more or less.

And I do not contend that I am smarter than you simply because I know how to put words together, or that I have a bachelor's degree - which equates to what an associate's degree was 15 years ago. I am no smarter (or stupider) than a cabinet maker, an accountant, a dog groomer, a doctor, a cashier or a machinist. In fact, I know people in all those aforementioned professions, and they are among the most intelligent people I have ever met. Indeed, the richest man I know - a vascular surgeon - is also the most foolish, reckless piece of shit I know. We all have a set - or sets - skills. Mine just happens to be putting words (and on an equally important level, music notes) together to make a thing. Makes no difference what you do for a living these days. It doesn't reflect your intelligence or who you are as an individual. We're all just trying to survive. Took me way too long to come to that (now) very obvious conclusion. We do what we must to carry on. Let your career define you and . . . you let your job - that thing you get up in the morning dreading - define who you are as a person. That's just lame, dude. Your family, your goals, your expectations, your art, your mind - let that define you. But if you're digging ditches at a waste management facility, I'm hoping you don't let thoughts of work keep you up at night. Just saying.

Of course there are exceptions. If you're an artist, I completely understand if your work defines you. I'm an artist, and my work as an artist defines me as well. Unfortunately, no one has bothered to mention that I should be fucking paid for it! Ahem, but I digress. If you work for a charity, or you're a physician (not a douchebag vascular surgeon), or you're a teacher - yeah, your work defines who you are, and it damn well should. But hell, I did floor covering (tile, carpet, hardwood) for 20 years on and off (mostly on), but it sure as shit didn't define me. I had to virtually fight my way out of it, still fighting that construction worker stigma - not that there's anything wrong with it - and when you're trying to change career fields when your body simply refuses to do the same shit you used to do without thinking, well, believe me when I tell you, it ain't easy. Thing is, since leaving that line of work, I haven't made even remotely the kind of money I made back then. Back then, I had more money than I knew what to do with, but I was miserable. Now, I am poorer than I've ever been, but also the happiest I've ever been. Funnier still, the whole time I was in school, I was persecuted by my coworkers who never tired of calling me "college boy," although they said it with love. But there is an organic (dunno why I used that word because I hate it...soooo overused nowadays....but it fits, here) resistance to transitioning from blue collar to white collar work. I haven't yet been able to put my finger on it, but it's there. Oh, it's there, goddammit. Kind of feels like you're trying to walk forward but someone has a hold on your shirt collar. Like, "Where do you think you're going, bitch boy?" That's the voice in my head. Always calling me a "bitch boy." Bastard. I'm on to you, Boy Bitch.

So! If you like what I'm doing, if you're pickin' up what I'm puttin' down, please be kind and message me. I need, and would very much like, your assistance in keeping this thing going. And I will proudly credit you for your contributions.

Thanks in advance - Hat.

"I'll take Eastern gods for $800, Alex."

So, this conversation grew into a thing. You know, one of those things. But unlike most of them, it didn't go nuclear, no anger directed at anyone - except for some very mild anger from myself at some well-perceived condescension - but seriously, it was quite possibly the most calm and rational religious debate I've ever had. And in fairness, I will include the counter arguments. Well, there's a little mirth mixed in with the fairness, but no one will be able to say I wasn't. Fair, that is. Unless by "fair" you mean that we were all equally intelligent and educated. To that I would say, ask them....behind a shitty, toothy smile. Oh, and please read through to the end. Or skip to the end. That's the best part.

Thus, my original post:

Okay, just so I have this straight. I can rape who I want, kill who I want, rob who I want (I don't want any of these things, for the record), and I'm forgiven and justified just so long as I ask Jesus to forgive me, right? And after I ask for forgiveness, I can go back out, do the same thing over again, and I'm forgiven once again, correct? So...pretty much anything goes? I come to you and kill your daughter. I'm forgiven - because I'm a Christian - and you have to forgive me as well? Because YOU'RE a Christian?

It's a flawed system we're working with here, people. So far as I can see at least. Regardless of what I do to you, I'm forgiven. That isn't holy. And it certainly isn't justice. It's called murder, rape and robbery. And it isn't just a sin, it is against conventional law. And those laws weren't based on a religious text. They are based in simple human interaction. Ego. Era. In Bible times, it was perfectly acceptable for a man - a MAN ONLY - to have more than one wife. Why is that, though? Why was it cool for a dude to have two wives, but not so much for a wife to have two husbands? It still blows my mind that the Vatican still tries to justify the Old Testament.

You literally CANNOT be a Christian and believe in ANY of the teachings or prophecies put forth by the Old Testament. The very concept disallows, delegitimizes everything put forth as LAW from the Old Testament.

That was me. Here are some of the responses. And please believe me, these are the most intelligent ones.

Amanda G. - You said murder and rape
I was speaking to a " imaginary" person on some of the response

Like · Reply · 1 hr

Amanda G. - One gauge would be not to use the Lord's name in vain
The Ten Commandments 
I still am guilty of even that sometimes 
Not perfect by any means just sharing my belief

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Amanda G. - I think God gave you a beautiful and healthy, sweet daughter. Wife seems to be also... Maybe that's two things to thank him for. Love you always. Good night 😀

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Hat Thomas - Think so, do you? Is that why God is taking that wife away from me in two months?

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Amanda G. - No didn't know 
Sorry
Anger, bitterness and doubt are emotions. I feel them too. I'm sure we all do. I am truly sorry you are going through a very difficult time. Again, I love you Uncle Joshua. Also, you posted about this I thought you wanted feed back. I didn't attack just made a statement. I won't bring it up to you ever.

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Hat Thomas - Actually? I've never felt freer. Looking forward to doing things on my own, my way. Looking forward to this new adventure. Change is good. I will always love my wife, what we had, but it's time to move on, and we both know it.

"Bob M. - Ok dude,cold truth,,,,you have never been weak,,,,this seems a matter of self opinion ,,, I've always held your personal strength and wisdom in the highest regard,,,,may I suggest you view yourself in the same manor?"

Hat Thomas - I'm sick of it, Bob. The constant appeals of, "You should come to my church." Like that's going to show me the way. You know how many churches I've been to? Yeah, me neither. I lost count. Hundreds, likely. Because I *wanted* to believe in something. Thing is, I just got sick of that ONE thing they kept wanting me to believe in. Turned out, that Eastern desert religion didn't really fit my way of thinking. You guys know that Christianity - the religion that dominates Western culture and that 70% of Americans subscribe to - is an ARAB religion, right? Those guys were ARABS. The same people our government seeks to eradicate worldwide? The same people most right wing, Christian conservatives wish would simply go away? Their very morality is made up of an ARAB religion. Sorry, but if I'm going to subscribe to a religion, I'd prefer it be one my own ancestors came up with. Just saying. I don't. Don't get me wrong. But if I were to commit my life to some kind of faith, it damn sure wouldn't be one from a region where women are doormats and the wages of sin is death.

Amanda G. - Death in a spiritual sense. That's what that means. The man should love his wife more than he loves himself because to love his wife IS to love himself. They are one in Christ.

^^ Because that explains everything we just discussed, of course ^^

Hat Thomas - Did you not read any of it prior to the part about women being doormats?

Bob M. - It's about being right with you,,,,god may or may not be part of your life,,,, but you must live,correct ?

Hat Thomas - It's about being honest, and yes, right. I want to live right, morally, And to do so, I CANNOT follow the Arab Bible.

Hat Thomas - I'm not saying it's wrong for everyone - plainly that isn't the case - but it is very decidedly wrong for me.

And here's where I go off:

Hat Thomas - I don't personally commit acts that require forgiveness, Amanda. Like, rarely, if not never. I just don't engage in that kind of behavior anymore. So now it falls upon me to seek out these so-called sins where there are none to be found. But, as Christians, you go DEEP. You make sins out of literally nothing. Impure thoughts? What is the definition of impure (sexual? human thought?) and who defines it ultimately? Not the Bible, that's certain. At least the Catholics have a system by which they gauge such things. Protestants cannot even boast that one simple thing. Who decides which thoughts are bad and which aren't? 

For that matter, who decides whether or not thought itself is bad? I think therefore I sin? Such horseshit! Whoever came up with that ideology was either rutted in guilt or trying to control others who were. I have a thought. I have sinned. That makes no fucking sense. You ask me to believe what you believe....when I know for truth what you believe is based in lies, deceit and utterly contrived nonsense. Don't ever ask me to believe what you believe, because I have this handy little pocket tool. It's called *reason*. And it has served me well. Don't ever ask me to believe what you believe again (don't even bring it up in conversation) because I will - without hesitation or remorse - take it apart, bit by ridiculous bit. I have no patience for it anymore. 

You know the final answer I get from people now? "Well, I guess the lord will have to show you in his own way." Or some such nonsense. You know why, though? Because faith can never stand against reason. Never. Never has been able to, never will be able to, and until you or someone else can say one, clear, definitive thing worth saying, I stand by reason and reason alone. Faith has done absolutely shit for me, and believe me, I have lived as a person of faith. To no avail, of course. Those who seek comfort in God, Jesus, Allah, more power to you. If it makes you feel better to believe in some imaginary guy living up in the clouds who has nothing but love for you, bully for you. But I have a newsflash for you: What has Santa Claus ever done for you? Name one goddamned thing.

"Before you pray for my soul, consider this. I am not doomed. I am one of the very few who has moved away from religion, but closer to God. I cannot see Him in the pages of the Bible - a book which has no direct bearing on me - and I cannot see Him in the same places you see him....because you are told where to look for Him. I wasn't. And in that light, I was made to see. My mind is clear, open, untroubled by sin and guilt and regret. My path was not easy - indeed, it has been uniquely difficult - but I am at a place where I find your concern for my spiritual well-being just a bit condescending. As if you know something, or are in touch with something I am not. Let me reassure you, that isn't the case. If anything, it is the other way around. I walk free of guilt, of regret, free of fear and recrimination. I stand tall and proud in my uniqueness, my oneness. I live how I have always imagined I should live. I am happy, most of the time, and I fear nothing. Because there is no challenge that I have faced yet which I have not overcome, soundly. 

But if it makes you - any of you - feel better to lament for my soul, by all means, go ahead. But please do so on your own time. I am whole. I do not need, nor want, your god's assistance, provided he ever even offered it. Which I highly doubt. I am good. No thanks to him, but in large and grateful thanks to you, my family and friends.