Story from the Quran

Today I heard someone who is Arab talk about how in the Quran it says that God took all the homosexuals, put them in the desert, and killed them.

I was so angry. This is supposed to be a peace-loving religion? If that's what God is like, I want NO part of him. I want no part of a God who murders people. To say God can do what he wants because he's God is a sneaky way out of it. If God kills people because they are different, because they disobey his law, then he is not a God but a devil in disguise. Murdering people because you don't agree with them or because they broke your rules is not a sign of perfection.

We get this same idea in the Book of Job. It talks about how loving God is, yet the devil asks God to make Job suffer to the breaking point, to see how long he will last. The scene where God appears out of the clouds and screams at a puss-filled, suppurating Job on his dungheap as to how he can dare to question God when Job didn't create one hair on his head is a rather brutal scene and downright evil. It's like screaming at a homeless person that he shouldn't complain about his homelessness because he didn't build roads, houses, streets, ect. No matter what you think of a person, adding insult to injury is a terrible way to treat someone. This is what God does to Job. Jesus inherits this kind of God in the New Testament. Jesus says he is a fulfillment of the law not a demolishing of it. Fulfillment, to me, means the old law is INCLUDED in the new. To say that Jesus suffered so that Job's suffering could be vindicated is after the fact. The damage was already done to Job. Why should anyone need to suffer for anyone else?

The Bible has instances where people who are different are put to death by God's wrath, but meanwhile in other chapters it talks about how merciful and just God is. In the next breath, it says, "God loves you." What hypocrisy! Actually, it is NOT hypocrisy because it was written by human beings and NOT by God. It is human nature to fear what's different, and the holy books only reflect this.

To say the purpose of Jesus was to cleanse the sins of homosexuals by loving them (a spiritual, not sexual love) is beside the point. The slaughter God committed of those who were different (i.e., who didn't conform) or rather had others commit in his name long before Jesus came along cannot be forgotten with Jesus' resurrection. His resurrection still doesn't reconcile all the atrocities the God of the Old Testament committed (either directly or vicariously through others).

If you believe the Bible is THE word of God and that every word in it is true, THEN you MUST believe that he slaughtered innocent people who were minding their own business and doing things that perhaps society didn't approve of but were harmful only to themselves (if even that), and you MUST also believe that Jesus came along and saying "All is forgiven." And if Jesus is God, it means you believe in a God who murders people he doesn't like while at the same time claims he loves them. You and your religion are a hypocrisy and you live a hypocrisy.

EVEN IF you say, "God can decide who to judge, whose life to take, and whose life to preserve," and if you back it up in scripture, then you are saying that God treats human beings as playthings he can whack around like a cat. In addition, you are saying that a Creator who took great pains to make his creation will just, without batting an eyelash, without the least bit of discomfort, wipe people out because they don't follow his law. Again, this is not a God, but a devil. If I created another being and breathed life into it, I would be greatly pained if I had to suddenly destroy it. I wouldn't destroy it. I'd simply accept the being for what it is or I would try to reform it, but I would never give up on it. If I am created in God's image, then I suspect God would do the same, otherwise I'm not created in his image.

This is why no one in his right mind can possibly believe any of the stories and morals in the Bible because they contradict each other.

Instead of Bibles and creeds, give us books of the heart and creeds of the soul (you can interpret soul any way you want).

Doctor Johnson

On this Memorial Day it is pertinent to remember the words of Dr. Johnson, England's greatest essayist:

"Patriotism is the refuge of scoundrels."

On Memorial Day it's enough to pause and take time out to simply remember dead family members and the fallen in wars. Ostentation and promotion of patriotism (i.e., parades)  is what Johnson objected to, I think.

too bad they're not joking

George Bush, John McCain and Ted Kennedy go into a bar... Sounds like the beginning of a good joke, but it really goes something like, "George Bush, John McCain and Ted Kennedy write an immigration reform bill..." Yeah, they promise border security and enforcement, but the joke is on us when at least 12 million illegal immigrants suddenly become legal, not to mention relatives who will become eligible to immigrate. We could be looking at 60 million or more high school dropouts over the coming decades that have to be employed, fed, housed, and cared for in their old age. The Sierra Club should be screaming bloody murder over all the trees that will be cut down to build the neighborhoods necessary for this kind of expansion. The AARP should be wetting their Depends because this just speeds up the Medicare train wreck. Jesse and Al should be panicked by the fact that inner-city blacks will be all but written off for employment prospects at a decent wage due to the guest worker program, and that blacks in general will be a mere rounding error when it comes to traditional Democratic political calculations.

Ordinarily, I would see 60 million brown Catholics as a blessed bulwark against the rise of Islam in America, but this is a welfare state. If we didn't give away so many freebies, I'd be for as much legal immigration as possible, but it's just too damned expensive under our current system. Our tax code is another problem. You would think that tens of millions of new taxpayers would be good, but how many of them will actually end up being net payers? Most of them won't make salaries large enough when combined with credits and deductions to have a federal tax burden, and the Earned Income Tax Credit may actually GIVE many of them money back! Then you have the federal and state Children's Health Insurance Program subsidizing their insurance, which they generally won't get from their employers. From where (or whom) will that money come? Is George Soros going to pay for all of this? Even his billions won't put a dent in it. I've learned to love The Bomb, but this immigration bill is a 100-megaton financial nuke counting down underneath our economy. If you want to see the gory details, read the reports at www.heritage.org/research/immigration/

Duck and cover!

CBS nuked Jericho! We'll never know how the battle between New Bern and Jericho turned out. I'm sure some new "reality" show will take its place and send me flipping to The O'Reilly Factor at that hour. I really dug the post-nuclear apocalypse thing. Maybe it would have pulled better ratings closer to 9/11...or maybe it was just ahead of its time. Got your potassium iodide pills??

Notes from Incaland

Picture taken from this website:

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/South_America/Peru/South/Cusco/Machu_Picchu/

Notes from Incaland

Incan mythology:

Pachamama: Earth Mother
Mountain: Father
Sun: Inti
Moon: Quilla
Below earth: snake (underworld)
Earth surface: Puma
Heavens: Condor

Incas worshipped three elements: sun, mountain, and earth, but their main source of worship was the sun, probably because when it wasn’t shining, their world became brutally cold, as it does today when the sun disappears there.

Tourist Sites

Cuzco Cathedral—Rather than a total effacement of Incan iconography, Peruvian and especially Cusquenean iconography is an Incan overlay on top of the Christian. All Peruvian Marys are shaped like mountains with a crown on their heads representing the sunrise, and if you trace the lines, you see the same trapezoidal shape in Mary that you do in Incan windows in all their ancient cities. This means we have both the vision of mountain and earth mother combined in the Virgin.

Ollantaytambo—City built with monumental rocks
Chinchero—Tiny Spanish town built in the highlands on top of Incan temples and ruins.

Pisaq—Didn’t get to see the ancient city of Pisaq but did go to Pisaq market where every imaginable Incan item was sold.

Qoricancha—Sun Temple on Avenida El Sol used by Incas as a center of worship. Also a museum below the temple that contains mummies in the fetal position.

Tambomachay—Contains Incan dwellings and temples, agricultural terraces, including aqueducts and dwellings and ritual bath houses for the Incan equivalent of Vestal Virgins.

Pukapukara—Incan city
Quengo—Incan city

Saqsayhuaman (pronouncian close to “Sexy woman”)—The monolithic stones are arranged in the shape of the Puma, and this was a serious Incan center of worship. Every year, just as in Inca times, on June 21, the winter solstice and shortest day of the year, the people gather to perform the ancient Incan ceremony celebrating the sun.

Pikillacta—Incan agricultural center
Tipon—Row upon row of houses. Incan urban center not far from Pikillacta. Incans probably traveled from here to Pikillacta to gather the produce they grew. Perhaps from here they went to Ollantaytambo to visit the sun temple there. There’s also a sun temple at the very top of the mountain at Tipon

It’s true the Spanish murdered many Incas and destroyed their villages; however, the Spanish destroyed only the tops of Incan buildings. The foundations were so sturdy that the Spanish decided to keep the foundation stones and build on top of them.

All the museums in Cuzco contain either Christian/Incan art and/or pre-Christian Incan pottery, clothing, jewelry, headpieces, masks, and other relics.

Machupicchu—Includes an urban center, storehouses, agricultural terraces, and temples to the sun.

Huynapicchu—One huge staircase leads the traveler to the summit of the mountain adjacent to Machupicchu. At the top is what may have been a dwelling for a priest, and next to this is an outcrop of rocks with a hole in the middle. Inside is a cave where Incas probably performed sacrifices to the sun, since this is at the very top of the mountain.

There’s also a temple to the moon, but I didn’t see this.

In the city below Machupicchu, called Aguas Calientes, are hot springs supposedly used by the Incas as thermal baths, and still in use today by tourists and residents.

I also took an Orchid tour in Aquas Calientes (below Machupicchu), which included an introduction to orchids and other flora and fauna of the jungle. The Machupicchu area is the beginning of the jungle and at lower altitude than Cuzco.

People I met along the way

 Young Peruvian man on the plane on the way to Peru. We talked about the differences between US and Peru
 22 year old Spanish woman in an Incan gift shop. She looked Indian and, I found out later, knew Qechua.
 A man and his family in the thermal baths at Aguas Calientes.
 A man on the train on the way home from my first trip to Machupicchu (I returned after only spending two hours the first time).
 Cousin of one of my students. Talked about life in US vs. Peru, difficulty for Peruvians to leave their native country to go live in another, conditions in the country, studying English, and her desire to come to the US.

Geography

In Cuzco, the Andean terrain reminds one very much of the mountain chain that begins in Flagstaff, Arizona, with a lot of scrub pine, low growth, and cacti. In Machupicchu, it is bizarre to see pineapple plants growing up the sides of the mountain.

All flights going to Peru land in Lima, which is the capital city and considered the hub. From there, travelers take flights to other cities. It takes an hour by plane to get from Lima to Cuzco, just to give an idea of the distance and the immensity of Peru.

Climate

Two seasons—Rainy and dry. In Cuzco, the dry season means below freezing temperatures at night. With the wind, the windchill can be enough to warrant full winter clothing.

First Impressions

My first impressions were culture shock. While riding in the car from the airport to the hotel in Lima for example, I couldn’t believe the extreme poverty evinced in the dwellings. I found myself asking, “Do people really live in these places or is this a joke?” In some cases, I think the poverty can be compared to the poverty in poor cities in India.

Similar simple adobe structures appear over and over in Cuzco, outside of the urban center, and especially in the more rural areas. The poverty is painful to see.

Observations:

Row upon row of depressing adobe (brick) red clay houses.

Drivers don’t obey traffic signs or signals and traffic is chaotic. We think people drive like madmen here in the US, but imagine in some cases no traffic signals at all and drivers going fast on every side of you. They beep before every intersection, especially in Cusco where, out of the urban center of Plaza D’Armas, there are no traffic signals.

While in Peru, I was plagued almost every night by migraine headaches due to my activity and the altitude. When I returned to the hotel, I was often so exhausted that I went to bed at 8 or 9pm.

Despite these negatives, a trip to this part of the world is worth it for the archeological artifacts and to appreciate how other cultures live.

Local favorite drinks for altitude sickness—

Chicha—Tastes like a mixture of unsweetened fruit juice combined with alcohol, though I don’t know what kind of alcohol.

Mate de Coca—Tea made from coca leaves. The coca leaves were during Incan times and are still chewed by Peruvians to help them when working outdoors in high altitudes. Despite the name, it is only ½ the source of cocaine. The drug contains coca leaves mixed with other chemicals, while the coca leaves alone don’t have the same affect as the drug.

Inca cola—Like the coca tea, has a kind of butterscotch taste and is good for altitude sickness.

Other interesting data:

There are 6,000 species of potatoes in Peru
There are 16,000 species of orchids in Peru

Guinea pig, or Cuy, is eaten as a delicacy in Peru, though not all Peruvians like it, and some find it displeasing. In the Cathedral at Plaza D’Armas is a painting of the Last Supper by Marco Zappata that displays a guinea pig on the plate surrounded by chicha instead of bread and wine.

Mayan Temples

Taken from the following website:

http://wonderclub.com/WorldWonders/MayanHistory.html

The Maya ruins of Tikal are hidden deep in the rainforests of Guatemala. From the air only a handful of temples and palaces peak through the canopy. The stone carvings are weather-beaten. Huge plazas are covered in moss and giant reservoirs are engulfed by jungle. The only inhabitants are wild animals and birds. However, 1200 years ago, Tikal was one of the major cities of the vast and magnificent Maya civilisation that stretched across much of what is now southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Tikal was home to perhaps 100,000 people. Thatched farmsteads and fields would have stretched as far as the eye could see.

The Maya world had thrived for nearly 2000 years. Without the use of the cartwheel or metal tools, the Maya had built massive stone structures. They were accomplished scientists. They had tracked a solar year of 365 days and one of the few surviving ancient Maya books contains tables of eclipses. From observatories, like the one at Chichen Itza, they tracked the progress of the war star, Venus. They developed their own mathematics, using a base number of twenty, and even had a concept of zero. They also had their own system of writing. So stable and established were they, that they even had a word for a 400-year time period. Maya society was vibrant, but it could also be brutal. It was strictly hierarchical and deeply spiritual. Humans were sacrificed to appease the gods. The elite also tortured themselves. Male Maya rulers perforated the foreskins of their penises and the women their tongues, apparently in the hope of providing nourishment for the gods who required human blood.

However, in the ninth century, their world was turned upside down. Many of the great centres like Tikal were deserted. The sacred temples and palaces briefly became home to a few squatters, who left household rubbish in the once pristine buildings. When they too left, Tikal was abandoned forever - the Mayan civilization never recovered. Only a fraction of the Maya people survived to face the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. For decades, archaeologists have been searching for an explanation of the Maya collapse. Many theories have been put forward, ranging from warfare and invasion to migration, disease and over-farming. Many think the truth may lie with a combination of these and other factors.

Bush

IMPEACH BUSH

Temple of Zeus

Jan 21 05:26 PM US/Eastern
By PARIS AYIOMAMITIS
Associated Press Writer

From the following website:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8MPTL900&show_article=1

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A clutch of modern pagans honored Zeus at a 1,800-year-old temple in the heart of Athens on Sunday—the first known ceremony of its kind held there since the ancient Greek religion was outlawed by the Roman empire in the late 4th century.

Watched by curious onlookers, some 20 worshippers gathered next to the ruins of the temple for a celebration organized by Ellinais, a year- old Athens-based group that is campaigning to revive old religious practices from the era when Greece was a fount of education and philosophy.

The group ignored a ban by the Culture Ministry, which declared the site off limits to any kind of organized activity to protect the monument. But participants did not try to enter the temple itself, which is closed to everyone, and no officials sought to stop the ceremony.

Dressed in ancient costumes, worshippers standing near the temple's imposing Corinthian columns recited hymns calling on the Olympian Zeus, "King of the gods and the mover of things," to bring peace to the world.

"Our message is world peace and an ecological way of life in which everyone has the right to education," said Kostas Stathopoulos, one of three "high priests" overseeing the event, which celebrated the nuptials of Zeus and Hera, the goddess of love and marriage.

To the Greeks, ecological awareness was fundamental, Stathopoulos said after a priestess, with arms raised to the sky, called on Zeus "to bring rain to the planet."

A herald holding a metal staff topped with two snake heads proclaimed the beginning of the ceremony before priests in blue and red robes released two white doves as symbols of peace. A priest poured libations of wine and incense burned on a tiny copper tripod while a choir of men and women chanted hymns.

"Our hymns stress the brotherhood of man and do not single out nations," said priest Giorgos Alexelis.

For the organizers, who follow a calendar marking time from the first Olympiad in 776 B.C., the ceremony was far more than a simple recreation.

"We are Greeks and we demand from the government the right to use our temples," said high priestess Doreta Peppa.

Ellinais was founded last year and has 34 official members, mainly academics, lawyers and other professionals. It won a court battle for state recognition of the ancient Greek religion and is demanding the government register its offices as a place of worship, a move that could allow the group to perform weddings and other rites.

Christianity rose to prominence in Greece in the 4th century after Roman Emperor Constantine's conversion. Emperor Theodosius wiped out the last vestige of the Olympian gods when he abolished the Olympic Games in A.D. 394. Several isolated pockets of pagan worship lingered as late as the 9th century.

"The Christians shut down our schools and destroyed our temples," said Yiannis Panagidis, a 36-year-old accountant at the ceremony.

Most Greeks are baptized Orthodox Christians, and the church rejects ancient religious practices as pagan. Church officials have refused to attend flame ceremony re-enactments at Olympia before the Olympic Games because Apollo, the ancient god of light, is invoked.

Unlike the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the old religion lacked written ethical guidelines, but its gods were said to strike down mortals who displayed excessive pride or "hubris"—a recurring theme in the tragedies of Euripides and other ancient writers.

"We do not believe in dogmas and decrees, as the other religions do. We believe in freedom of thought," Stathopoulos said.



Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Mars

Scientists have made amazing discoveries about Mars and also Jupiter and its moons (hence the post below on Jupiter's moons) in recent years, and these discoveries are worth noting.

I believe, not to sound corny, like Star Trek, our next frontier is outer space. We should look to the stars for our next great adventure, as we don't know how much longer this planet will sustain habitable conditions.

Respect for Jews

I respect the Jews highly, not beacause of the Holocaust and not because they are people of the "Book," but because they are, for the most part, a pragmatic people.

People may consider NPR a liberal radio station, but I've heard conservatives on it too. The other night I heard an interview with a Jewish rabbi comedian. He said one thing that left me thinking, "Right on!" He said that people go to church or synogogue for the social aspect, to meet people of their own persuasion, and they won't listen to you if you only preach to them. If a rabbi stands up there dead serious, people will tune out. If a rabbi delivers his message with a lot of humor, people are more likely to stay interested.

The Jews are constantly questioning things, including their own faith, etc. We've also had Jewish scientists. Einstein was a Jew. There are also "Jewish atheists."

The only thing I don't like about Jews is that they only marry other Jews. I once had a Jewish roommate who invited me to, of all things, a toga party. I met a nice gal there, and in my car, she told me to my face, "I only go out with other Jews." Their rationale is that they want to maintain tradition or keep themselves pure, as if Jewish genes are any different from the genes of other human beings. Please.

I'm not saying all Jews should marry gentiles. There are WASPS who will only marry other WASPS. The thought of marrying a black or Hispanic is nothing short of blasphemy.

I'm only saying be open to going out with (and marrying) people of any race, creed, etc. Have an open mind.

WHO’S A JEW

All Jews Are Liberals and communists I’ve heard
I cud tell you my parents were communists
but what good would that do, it wasn’t true
they weren’t even very liberal
Not either one of them, I could tell
you all about them, and it’s all so very sad
and no one wants to keep hearing how bad
it was anymore anyway, i mean what’s the point
Get over it, we’ve all been there done that

Although I’m not a very typical Jew
and other jews don’t recognize my Jewishness
still I’m jewish through and through

My mother bragged she was descended
from a long line of philanthropists
and rabbis, her family permitted
her to learn the skill of bookkeeping
because she was supposed to be an old maid
instead she fell in love, and married my Dad
and so really, all she ever did
was care for and raise us four children
She struggled as much as she could
after the trials & tribulations of her cancer

My father was a violin player who at age 11
was forced to be a pharmacist’s apprentice
and his claim to fame was thrown away
so he could help support his family
My dad played his violin under an angel’s gaze
the notes were pure, sweet and desolate
Portraying his spirit longing for escape

Dad was a dreamer when he met mom
and charmed her into marrying him
Her family disowned her then and sat shiva
An orthodox Jew doesn’t marry a man
Who’s been married before and had a son
Even if he is a Jew too

So in spite of my being a full
blooded Jew on both sides
and growing up going with Mom
to synagogue and hearing all the prayers
on every one of the big holidays
and listening to all the yiddish euphemisms

I don’t know much about being a Jewess
since I’ve always hung with Schvartzes
and all the other goyim and such,
who seem to like having me around
most times, anyway, more than my own kind

All non Jews always consider me Jewish
and wish me “Mozel Tov” in my ventures
while fellow Jews just look at me strangely
It’s now become a theme in my life

Jupiter's Moons

Europa and Io, I believe, hold promise for the future of sustaining life.

The following is taken from this website:

http://filer.case.edu/sjr16/jupiter_moons.html

These are the four Galilean satellites. They are named so because they were the only four moons that Galileo was able to see. They are also the largest of Jupiter's moons. From top-left in a clock-wise direction, they are Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io.

If Ganymede were not bound to Jupiter, it would be considered a planet in its own right. It is actually bigger than Mercury, being 390 km (234 miles) larger in diameter. It has heavily cratered dark regions, with lighter expanses in-between. Geologists think that it used to have plates, like the Earth, but they froze together soon after Ganymede's birth.

Callisto, the outermost of the Galilean moons, is almost an exact twin of Mercury in size and appearance. Every square mile is covered with craters or other signs of bombardment. Other than that, there are no distinct characteristics.

Europa, closer to Jupiter than Ganymede, is the smoothest natural body in the solar system. It resembles a billiard ball until seen very close-up. At that distance you can start to see dark, deep, and narrow cracks. In scale, though, the relief is no bigger than a line on a billiard ball made with a felt-tipped marker. Geologists think that Europa has liquid water underneath the icy surface - and possibly life.

Io, closer yet, is commonly compared to a pizza. Its volcanoes make it the most active world in the solar system. They spew out the sulfuric acid that gives Io its many colors. They also make Io one of the only three moons with an atmosphere in the solar system. Saturn's Titan and Neptune's Triton are the other two moons. Io is similar in size and composition to our moon. Io is caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between Jupiter and the other moons. Tension has melted the interior and raised the surface temperatures so high that scientists calculated that it generates the most heat for its size of any body in the solar system, except for the sun.

Here we go again

Yes Paine was NOT an American but a Brit., but what he said was incredibly American. I call him an American because what he talked about wasn't really British. That "Common Sense" kindled such a response from American soldiers tells me Paine was more American than the Americans.

It's true that overall we don't see an angry Jesus, but the problem is that Jesus says he is a fulfillment of the OT and the prophets. That said, it means Jesus carries the burden of an angry God with him.

The Chrisitian God is MARKEDLY different from the Deist God. You CAN'T call yourself Christian unless you believe in the Trinity and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Deists didn't believe in that stuff. They believed in the watchmaker God who set it all in motion and let it run.

People often cite the words "In God We Trust" in courthouses and on the dollar bill as proof the founders believed in God. Yes they did, but their God wasn't the Christian God.

There's a picture of Washington laying the foundation stone of the capital wearing a masonic apron. He and many of the founders were masons, and many of the masons weren't Christian. They were Deist, but not Christian. So for people to say this country was founded by Christians isn't accurate. I once said that to someone, and the person got very offended, so I don't say it anymore. Read the literature on the founders and you'll see I'm right.

Anyway, I'm more of a spiritual person. I believe in the spirit of the law rather than the letter. All religions essentially adhere to the same principles. "Do unto others" is pretty universal. Even the pagan belief of 3x3 is the same: "Whatever you send out to the universe, positive or negative, comes back to you three times three." That's ALMOST the same as "Do unto others."

Another way to talk about it is to say that the purpose of any iconic symbol (such as the cross) is to go beyond the icon to reach the divine. The purpose of meditating on the cross is to shatter the cross (mentally). If you get hung up on the cross, you've lost the whole point. The same with Buddhism. The purpose of meditating on the Buddha is to get beyond the name and form of the Buddha. That is why yogis spend their whole life meditating and never reach satori (enlightenment)--because they haven't gone beyond the name and form of God.

I, for one, prefer Zen. It's a pragmatic way of looking at the world, living simply yet spiritually in the here and now and not expecting anything afterwards. And Zen is a philosophy, not a religion.

God and the Bible

The Old Testament is included with the New Testament as part of the Christian cannon. There are instances in the New Testament where Christ as God gets pretty angry and throws fits akin to the God of the Old Testament. Telling people they will go to Hell if they don't believe is not being a very nice God. How can you say you are all loving and in the next breath say, "Oh by the way, if you don't believe in me, you're damned in Hell"? To me, that sounds like a contradiction.

Thomas Paine, the other great American patriot like Thomas Jefferson, gave a thorough analysis of the Bible in The Age of Reason. In it he asks how an all loving God can inhabit human form and then let himself get killed for his creation. He sees this as an affront to the Almighty. People thought Paine was an atheist, but I think he believed in the Deist God. Certainly he didn't believe in the Christian God.

Perhaps we need to look at some of the other "heretical" gospels. Maybe dipping into the Gospel of Mary Magdalene would be a change, to look at it from the woman's point of view.

Thomas Jefferson

"The Christian God is a being of terrific character: cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust."

--Thomas Jefferson

Me no like love poems.

Last Things
Kevin Lux (a.k.a. stormpilgrim)

The trembling earth, the searing flash
Flame and fury, scream and crash
Cities changed to dust and ash
And Peace was found no more upon the earth

The leaden sky, eternal gray
Nostrils filled with rank decay
Darwin's Law the only way
And Justice was found no more upon the earth

A ceaseless snow, a numbing cold
For warmth a man would give his gold
The bitter freeze consumes the old
And Wisdom was found no more upon the earth

Grinding hunger, longing tongue
For grain a man would sift the dung
Cruel famine takes the young
And Hope was found no more upon the earth

Final Adam, final Eve
Too sick and poisoned to conceive
Alas, the Woman takes her leave
And Love was found no more upon the earth

The wick is quenched; the lamp expires
No flute for dirge or flame for pyre
Desolate, the Man retires
And Sorrow was found no more upon the earth

Barren waste of stone and rust
Where went the wicked and the just?
All are silent in the dust
And Hatred was found no more upon the earth

China Doll

Lest you think this site is only about the elemental, here's a love poem:

Like the wrapping of thread
around a dowel of wood,
you wrap yourself around me,
threads of silk on your arms
as your fingers play with my hair.
Your crescent lids speak to travelers
of clothes sold in a sweaty shop,
your days and nights alone and tired,
broken from lack of affection.
You help me select the best bargain
of shirts, pants, socks, and pajamas
from a storehouse of experience,
a shred of joy woven by hand
into the pattern of your face.
Night after night of rapture
speaks louder than a thought,
a kiss more content than a verb:
your polished skin and jade eyes
deeper than words ever go.
Soon we will no longer love,
separated by the great divide
of vast oceans and many lands.
I will carry you in pictures,
souvenirs, and mementos
across six thousand miles,
six thousand years of culture,
to reach my native land.
There you will live in dreams
of dragons, bats, butterflies,
a little doll in a corner shop.

SESTINA OF LIFE

Crisis is either way you lose
different from win some lose some
Gotta keep plugging along
light at the end of the tunnel
a new moon wilderness
my heart, a song of desire

my psyche is brimful desire
momentarily mine, a life lost
new spring & full moon wilderness
Just a little more, more time some
times life is like winding tunnels
gotta keep plugging - moving along

I don’t follow others, I move along
to my own beat, why admit what I desire
Is it there at the end of this tunnel
If I can’t see I’ll surely get lost
again even if sometimes I win some
This city is just like a wilderness

wild flowers, blue birds, mosquito wilderness
and danger lurks so best choice all along
not always clearly heard say some
Pretend to have or not have desire
There are only painful losses
hidden away in underground tunnels

skin deep vicissitudes tunneling
to surface; a wild card in a missing wilderness
of light, Ye of little faith, you can’t lose
I’ve known it my entire life, all along
Finally, the truth! My heart’s desire
I’ve come into my own; I’ve come into some

O.K. I’m content it’s this much, then some
Found there while digging an underground tunnel
solidified in old accomplished signs of desire
on the sun’s desert moon of the wilderness
scent of bergamot trailing along
Nostalgic gazes fazing ambitious loss

loss doesn’t mean I don’t have some
left like our lives tumble along a tunnel
of love and encompass a wilderness of desire

Zzzzzap!!!

Entering stage right, Stormpilgrim. I thought I'd start things off with a flash, bang, rumble, and roll. We had some surprise storms this evening, so I got the camera out. This was my last shot, and what a catch it was! Somebody call a tree surgeon!

Spiderman

Has anyone seen the new Spiderman movie?

To A Moon Child

You sleep like an animal in snow cave
as the moon floats past your window,
its jagged, white-peaked mountains,
the cold granite shining like snow.
You lie in the bed with eyes closed,
a mouth shut against screams,
unable to speak in any tongue.
The hit and run stopped it for good,
muted your voice in the bed.
My voice bounces from window to moon,
from moon to your window, your bed.
The ancient bell of Buddha tolls
once, twice, thrice, then no more.
I will descend the depths of craters
and float across the valley of shadows
to be with you when your eyes open
and you reach for my arms
in the last shred of moonlight.

Hawk and Prey

Now ravenous with hunger,
he rips to shreds a pigeon in the park.
Around and above him loom young birches
spreading their branches like wings.
Across from this, a courthouse, doors agape,
dispenses justice with an iron talon.

Across the street, a bank dome points toward the sky,
its hooded shadow spread across the afternoon.
Before any symbol of commerce stood,
generations of red-tailed hawks
fed on the weaker, inferior prey,
as this hawk feeds on a pigeon now
under the trees.

People walk by him as if blindfolded.
They forget not long ago they lived in trees,
prey to whatever hungry creature
chose to snatch them from a bower.
Now they would judge, doubt, and blame
with a steady finger; wage endless,
bloody war, yet call all death evil.

The red-tailed hawk feasting on fresh blood:
This is the truth of the universe.

Limited government

As I get older, I realize how intrusive government is in our lives, especially income tax. What a load! If people say, "If you do away with income tax, there won't be any social security, disability, or unemployment insurance." That may be true, but my response is, "You won't need any of that because you'll have a lot more money in the bank."

Financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, funds, and real estate, should be tax-free. Let the government raise taxes on booze, gambling, cigarettes, car racing, and sports.