The Strength of Stupidity Is That People Desire and Choose It

A foolish woman raised a panic to the effect that poor innocent American Muslims were going to be "forced into camps just like the Japanese-Americans." Refusing to believe that there could be ANY cause for us to be on guard concerning Islam, she insisted that when Muslim men rape women, it has nothing to do with Islam. So, fatigued though I am from years of having to refute the same nonsense over and over and over, I replied....

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Exactly how does anyone BECOME a violent criminal? He has to be able to MAKE EXCUSES FOR his destructive, selfish actions. Which makes it relevant to inquire what sort of role models people choose to admire.

Jesus Christ did not force himself sexually on a nine-year-old girl, nor did he lead armies to conquer people for his own self-serving gain. Prince Siddhartha, the first Buddha, also did not do those things. MUHAMMAD DID. There is a way-big difference among founders of belief systems.

Professing Christians or professing Buddhists, if they commit rape or other violent crimes, are obviously DISOBEYING their faith-founders. But Muslims who commit violent crimes are ACCURATELY FOLLOWING the example of their faith-founder. Wherever you see a Muslim who doesn't wish to harm or enslave anyone, you are seeing someone who has MOVED AWAY FROM the actual roots of Islam.

"Innocent until proven guilty," definitely not a Muslim concept, rightly protects Muslim citizens from being groundlessly assumed to be a threat. But considering that CHRISTIANS in the United States get accused of wanting to commit murder if they so much as raise a SPOKEN OBJECTION to homosexuality, it is not any outrageous bigotry against Muslims if we EXAMINE THEIR WAY OF THINKING. Ideas have consequences; and one Islamic idea which is currently in active practice is that THEY STILL KEEP SLAVES in Muslim countries, when other nations have long since abolished slavery. Not to mention literally stoning women to death for the "crime" of BEING raped.

Where I live, the notion of Muslims being rounded up into concentation camps is laughably distant from reality. Here in the Denver area, so far from being persecuted, Muslims are allowed to stage big, noisy demonstrations, completely unhindered. I have watched this with my own eyes.

Be sure to let me know if you hear of Jews, Wiccans, Hindus or Sikhs mutilating the genitals of young girls. But I won't ask you to report the results if you go to Saudi Arabia and SAY ANYTHING on a street corner that contradicts anything in the Koran. In such a case, you won't be alive to report to me.

Speaking of the Koran, the Fourth Sura therein says that a Muslim husband not only is allowed to punish his wife if she disobeys him, he can even punish her if he so much as SUSPECTS that she MIGHT be disobedient. This is not my "Islamophobia," it's in THEIR book.

When apologists for Islam try to argue that "the Bible is just as harsh," they have to dig back thousands of years, and point to practices that were discontinued long ago. Ironically, Islam pretends to represent PROGRESS BEYOND Judaism and Christianity, but it is Islam that treats women as property RIGHT NOW. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

During the hour or so that followed, the woman could not come up with EVEN ONE FACT that countered anything I had said; ALL she could offer were stubborn emotional denials. These will not do her a bit of good if America falls under Sharia Law.

On the Eve of Something

I have heard more than enough of people saying, "Oh, politics is so divisive and icky, let's forget about politics." But in its Greek origin, the word has nothing at all to do with large numbers of bloodsucking parasites, notwithstanding the tedious unfunny joke to that effect. "Politics" means nothing other than "the public business of a society." So are we concerned about what happens to our society, or aren't we?

The call to ignore politics appears to be coming mostly from two categories of Americans:

1) Doctrinaire leftists, the self-designated Cool People, who figure THEY CAN AFFORD to have less discussion of politics, because they ALREADY ENJOY enormous undeserved advantages: their side's domination of the media and show business, their side's domination of the educational system, their side's freedom from worrying about facts because they play only on emotion, and their side's ruthless concentration on having power. They want THE REST OF US to stay quiet, but you can bet that the leftists WON'T be quiet if they think something's at stake for them.

2) Compliant, submissive people, who may still practice traditional values privately, but who are so desperately eager to appease the Cool People and be accepted by the Cool People, that they will censor themselves, and tell others to go belly-up also.

That's why it is that the Cool People got away with first saying that man-caused global COOLING would destroy the world, then flip-flopping and saying that man-caused global WARMING would destroy the world. That's why the Cool People could first say that an unborn baby was fair game to be killed because it was ONLY part of the mother's body, then later say that the unborn baby was fair game to be killed because it WASN'T part of the mother's body. They say it's all about "the right to CHOOOOOOOSE;" but they didn't raise a peep of protest against Red China forcing pregnant women literally at gunpoint TO have abortions. They spent the whole Dubya Bush presidency insisting that "Dissent is patriotic;" but the instant Barry Soetoro stepped into the White House, they suddenly decided that ANY dissent against HIS policies was racism and Islamophobia. Not enough Americans call the Cool People out on their self-contradictions.

Until recently, the Cool People told us that every woman who complains of sexual harassment MUST be believed automatically. But then they decided that a woman's complaint of sexual harassment must be IGNORED-- if it involves the woman's private space being invaded by a man who pretends to believe HE is a woman. The Cool People boast of being against racism; but they allow the Latino-supremacist Reconquista movement to get away with having the slogan, "Everything for The Race, nothing for those outside The Race."

The Cool People boast of being "compassionate," but many of them are ONLY compassionate with other people's money. They want unrestricted license to enjoy any pleasure that appeals to them, but don't want to be required to think about the harm that some pleasures may bring. They protest, VERY SELECTIVELY, against rough language by a candidate for office; but I can attest from direct knowledge that their freedom TO protest against things is protected by men and women in uniforms who ALSO often use rough language.

I've done what I can. In about twenty-four hours, we'll know if the Cool People have gotten their way. If they get their way, there will be STILL MORE cynical, transparent lying to justify absurd, unworkable policies. The lies will frequently stick to the theme of "equal distribution" of everything -- never addressing the question, "If we lose all our productivity, how can there BE anything left TO distribute?"

I will not close with Second Chronicles 7:14. Well-meaning Christians have been invoking that Scripture nonstop, day and night, for almost fifty years, AND they've been faithfully doing everything that Israel was called upon to do in that Scripture.... but the United States has just kept right on falling down the toilet. When enough citizens of a nation get up in the morning INTENDING to be gullible fools, this will tragically have an effect.

And given the number of American citizens who wanted to believe the LIE that an internet video caused the Benghazi killings, I'm afraid we have a LOT of people who have chosen to be gullible-- because what matters to them is gaining the approval of the Cool People.

Well, I can be killed. I can be imprisoned. Contrary to movies, I can probably be broken by torture. But I at least CANNOT be made to believe in my heart that good is evil and up is down. So I'll do what I can for truth in 2017, whatever the election outcome is. The Cool People had better not hold their breath waiting for me to be fooled.

A Glimpse of the Last-Stand Campaign

     A Russian family in my neighborhood has a Trump-Pence  sign in their front yard.             |
                                                                                                     


Russian-Americans have not forgotten the Soviet Union. They know what it's like to live under the absolute rule of a statist, collectivist central government. They are not particularly eager to see their adopted nation under the absolute rule of disciples of Saul Alinsky.                            
                                                   


Meanwhile, the media establishment rendeth its garments over how horrible it is that Trump groped women. Even assuming every one of those accusations to be true, Trump did not LEAVE A GIRLFRIEND TO DIE in a submerged automobile. And the same ever-so-righteously-indignant media establishment gave Ted Kennedy a free pass when HE DID leave a girlfriend to drown. Leftists will belatedly come back now and say, "Sexual misconduct is bad no matter who does it;" but they cannot change the fact that they HAVE NOT HELD FELLOW LEFTISTS ACCOUNTABLE for sexual misconduct.
                                                                                                                                 
                       
If it weren't for double standards, the left would have no standards at all.                  

No Good Deed Unpunished

   Don't rely on being thanked, or even acknowledged, for actions of kindness, generosity and concern toward others. Those to whom you do good may be infinitely more intent on stroking their own pride than on appreciating anyone who unwittingly exposes their shortcomings by intervening in their problems. They may vilify you precisely _for_ trying to help.                                                


When you learn this lesson about the commonplace ingratitude of human beings, you will be tempted to turn hard-hearted yourself, saying, "All right, let them fend for themselves!" Please don't do that. Please don't give up on being a giver in a world swarming with takers.                                        
                           

It's always _possible_ that one in fifty persons benefited by your deeds _will_ be sincerely grateful.                                                            
                                                       
                                                       

Remembering An Absent Friend

  I did not let Memorial Day 2016 pass without recalling the one shipmate I actually saw dying while I was in the Navy. He was a HAY-SOOSE type Jesus: a Filipino named Jesus Paredes. He never made it past boot camp. An undiagnosed heart weakness led to his death by heart attack when we did an exercise run.                                                          

Jesus was the next oldest man to me in my recruit company, a fellow Christian, and a good buddy. Like me, he had a wife. He was trying to earn United States citizenship, a path open to Filipinos due to the long relationship between the United States and the Philippine Republic. His diligence and helpfulness to others during basic training suggest what a good sailor he would have made. ("He who is faithful in a little is faithful also in much.") I never found out what became of his family.                                          

Twenty years later, for my Navy retirement ceremony, I created a sort of banner in Paredes' honor. It showed a man running up a ramp into Heaven, and bore the Biblical phrase "I have finished the race."                 
             

My Satire MayBe Funny, But Sexual Harassment Isn't

These parody lyrics go to the tune of Joe Walsh's song "Life's Been Good," but the message is not directed against Joe Walsh himself unless he joins the current sick movement. My target (no pun intended) is any entertainer who, by refusing to perform in a place, tries to force people to agree that men should be allowed to invade women's restrooms.

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I am a has-been who's older than dirt;

I want my fame back, no matter who's hurt.

Good as a Grammy is being p.c.,

So every tranny is precious to me.

Women's rights became old-fashioned when the new fad began,

Oh yeah.

Ladies have to share the restroom with a cross-dressing man;

This trend works for me so far!

North Carolina wants girls to be safe;

I'll say their minds run on bigoted faith.

I'll take my stand with transgender voyeurs;

We'll change the meaning of "his" and of "hers."

Women's rights became old-fashioned when the new fad began,

Oh yeah.

Now we see pretended women with a camera in hand;

This trend works for me so far!

Time was when women could cry gender war

If men just had a swimsuit calen-dar.

Now girls are losing the ground they had gained,

All so that psychos will never be pained.

Now America's a witness at the scene of this crime,

Oh yeah.

I don't care about the damage done, I just care that I'm

Going to be a p.c. star!

                   
                       
               

The Logic of P.C. Popularity

If you carefully choose a bogus opening premise, you can arrive at all sorts of neat bogus conclusions. Say that you start with: "I need to be one of the cool people, so that other cool people will approve of me and I can get attention at parties." From there, you may "brilliantly" conclude that:

                                                                 
1) A man can just _say_ that he's a woman, and this _makes_ him a woman.

 2) Children suffer no loss by being raised in a home where one sex of parent is intentionally excluded, presenting a daily message that men and women _don't_ belong together.

 3) All wealth and economic assets just fall out of the sky, so distribution is the only factor to consider.

 4) Although the Earth has had climate fluctuations for as long as it has existed, the most _recent_ fluctuations are caused by evil American oil corporations.

 5) Persons with dark skin cannot ever be wrong on any subject, unless they are Christians and/or conservative patriots.

 6) The entire New Testament was made up in the fourth century, never mind the much-older manuscripts.

 7) A Christian expressing _spoken_ disapproval of something is far worse than a Muslim actually _killing_ people dead just for disagreeing with him.

Shedding light ONTO Scripture helps us receive light FROM Scripture

Even before Jesus made atonement and carried us beyond the Mosaic Law, prophets operating _within_ the Law were aware that "the letter of the law" was not everything. They were able to deal also with people's character and motives.  

                                                                                                     
 Here is a bit of background on the Herod family. We know from the Gospels that Herod Antipas (a son of the evil old phony king) had a wife named Herodias; but no one asks why someone who married _into_ the family would have such an obviously derivative name. The explanation is that Herodias _didn't_ marry into the Herod family, she was _born_ into it. She was a granddaughter of the first Herod. I forget which of the many sons was her father, but I'm pretty sure her first _husband_ was Herod Philip. Thus Herodias was married to her uncle; and Antipas who stole her was _another_ of her uncles.    

                                                                                   
 Now, the Law forbade sex between an uncle and a niece, or between an aunt and a nephew. So by the letter, Herodias' marriage to Herod Philip _wasn't_ valid in the first place, that John the Baptist should have bothered caring about its dissolution. But John doubtless understood that the Herods, who were part Arab, were not big on Mosaic observance anyway; and in their ignorant world, an uncle-niece marriage might be perceived by _them_ to be valid. Therefore, _within_ that worldview, there would still have been some vestige of moral virtue in Herodias deciding "I'll be faithful here," and in Herod Antipas deciding "I won't intrude on that." But since Antipas and Herodias _didn't_ follow the relatively high road, John the Baptist got on their case EXACTLY AS IF the original marriage had been legitimate in every way.
                                                                                               
   
 It would be cheap and easy, at this point, for Christians to oversimplify by saying: "None of that matters! All that matters is that the Herods were unsaved sinners, which means that _every_ possible action of theirs would be _exactly_ as bad as every _other_ possible action!" But John the Baptist, who I think did have some spiritual authority, cough cough, _didn't_ act or speak as if every possible action by a sinner was the same as every other possible action. He acted as if it would in fact have been _better_ for Herodias not to have left one uncle for another uncle.
                                                                                     
   
 There was a reason for John's attitude. Of _course_ Herodias would not have been eternally saved by the mere fact of staying with her first husband, even if the inbreeding had not been an issue. But if she _had_ been faithful, God could have _used_ this choice on her part as a spark of light-- part of the process of awakening her to spiritual truth. In "Mere Christianity," Mister Lewis writes: "Virtue, even attempted virtue, brings light; indulgence brings fog."
                                                                         
   
 The next shallow dismissal would be to say: "No action matters! God either chooses to save someone or _doesn't_ choose to save that person!" But no matter how super-duper-sovereign God's work of grace is, it still _reaches_ us through particular experiences. We created beings live among the particulars.
                                                         
   
 Unless we think that God's sovereignty means we should go to bed and never DO anything in His service, it is fully appropriate for us to try to understand other people's feelings and wishes. Surely our understanding of our fellow mortals can be at _least_ as useful to God as our being utterly clueless would be.

A Crunchy Gesture

    I have    in recent times been annoyed with the Frito-Lay Corporation for falling into line to praise homosexuality. But they made considerable amends on Super Bowl evening, with a commercial which bore a pro-life subtext. Accordingly, today I set out on a mission to BUY DORITOS in multiple stores.  
 

Now, it's hard to be sure about this, but it seemed to me that in each store I went to, the quantity of Doritos was less than it might have been. So maybe others also decided to give the Frito-Lay Corporation some positive reinforcement; Even a PARTIAL move toward truth should be encouraged.