Tag Archives: honesty

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Be Good For Gods’ Sake

He posted a Pay It Forward story, and attached two Bible verses which said that God would reward us for doing so.  I asked
Why can’t we just cut out the imaginary middleman, and do good for the sake of doing good??  😮

The “imaginary middleman” is the reason we do the good things! There is within each of us a “desire” to do good! We can embrace it or we can suppress it! It is God within us! The Bible says, “…we are God’s creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.”, Eph. 2:10. Jesus is the ultimate example who shows us how to do good!

Captain Kirk said, “What does God need with a starship?” Quoting the Bible will do you no good. I see that you accept what some other fallible, gullible men wrote, in a book that is no more reliable or believable than Harry Potter, but you’ve not presented any evidence that the existence of your rubber crutch is real. 

I would be willing to engage in an honest debate about the authenticity of the Bible if you like? 

No you wouldn’t, even if you honestly believe that you would.  Even your offer is linguistically, informationally, ridiculous.  Across a thousand pages, the Bible says a thousand different things – some of them observably true, some of them demonstrably false, many of them highly questionable.  It says a few soft, kind, loving things, and it says a bunch of disturbingly nasty stuff.  Even where it is wrong – it is authentically wrong!

Based on your writings, you don’t want to authenticate any part of the Bible; you want to convince me to agree with you, to justify your belief, which you continue to provide no evidence for.  Your entire argument is likely to be, “But I believe, and you just gotta have faith.”

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’25 A To Z Challenge – U

We have all met a few (hopefully) of those pushy, nosy, bullies who work so hard to make any of your business, any of their business – police, co-workers, relatives – in-laws and outlaws.  I have a (very) little, grudging respect for the arrogant, egotistical assholes who just come right out and do it.  At least they have the conviction of their beliefs.

The worst ones – the ones who irritate me the most – are the

UNCTUOUS

Oily, having an oily feel
characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, especially in an affected manner; excessively smooth, suave, or smug.

ones – the ones who Shakespeare described as, How like a fawning publican he looks.  The ones who hide behind a fake smile – a shit-eating grin, and still want you to give up your information, your rights, your freedom.

I’m your friend.
I don’t really want to give you a ticket.  I am just following orders.
If you just obey me, it will be much easier for you.

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’25 A To Z Challenge – E

Enervate, effulgence, encomium, eristic, exody, euphemism

So many useless, esoteric words that begin with the latter E, I think I’ll irritate some Buy-Bull Thumpers, and discuss

EPICENE

lacking the typical characteristics of a particular gender or sex;
flaccid; feeble; weak, sexless, effeminate, unmasculine.

For some people, ‘Attention to Detail’ just means how far they can stick their nose into someone else’s business.  If there were ever calm discussion about the subject, this could be the upscale word to describe transgenderism.

There is a California, First Amendment Auditor, who goes by the name ‘Chris.’  I don’t know if he’s a guy, trying to be a girl, or if she’s a gal, trying to be a guy.  It’s about 4’ 10”, in any direction, and exhibits the characteristics of a beach ball.

An approaching female police officer began a conversation with, ‘Can you explain what you’re doing here, sir…. Uh, Ma’am…….. Uh, what do I call you?’  The response was, “Good Citizen.”  This is a difficult word for religiously indoctrinated people, who have been taught to expect answers to every question – whether they are entitled to answers or not.  Sometimes the honest answer is, I don’t know.

I do know that there will be a Fibbing Friday post in a couple of days.  I look forward to seeing you there, when you can question my sanity and/or sense of humor.

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I See – But I Don’t See

People see what they expect to see.  They see what they want to see.  It is far easier to fool someone, than to convince them that they have been fooled.

I recently watched YouTube video from a civil rights auditor, simply trying to spread the message of God Bless The Homeless Veterans, hand-printed on a cardboard sign.  It began with a screen shot of a police incident report, and had the audio of the phone call that caused it.

Hi.  I just dropped my son off at school, and I’m worried for him.  There’s a homeless bum, panhandling on school property.  He’s yelling at the students and he won’t leave.

Every one of those claims is absolutely false!

First the school security officer came out and tried to bully him to move on, (Y’all can’t do that here.) but was told that he was on public property, (the sidewalk) indulging in a Constitutionally-protected activity, and that the cammer was going to stay for a while.
If you don’t leave, I’m going to call the cops.
Do what you gotta do.

Sure enough, within minutes, a police officer showed up and began the bullying and misinformed harassment again.
You can’t be panhandling.  We have a city ordinance against panhandling.
I am not panhandling.  I have never asked for money.
Well, you were yelling at the students, causing a disturbance.
I didn’t yell at anybody.  I never raised my voice.
I’m trespassing you from school property, because you refused to leave when asked.
I have never been on school property.  I have video proof of that.  I was never asked to leave.
We have had several phone calls, saying that you did.  WHY WOULD THEY LIE?

Several??!  We know of only one phone call.  Why would the officer lie?  Because he believed it.  Even if there were more than the one call – the callers weren’t lying.  They were mistaken – although, perhaps not honestly.

What they saw….  A man they didn’t recognize, with no car, no kid to drop off, and a camera – therefore a danger.  Wearing shorts and a hoodie,– not dressed in white collar, not dressed in blue collar, and  sticking around – therefore, no job to go to, no income, broke, homeless, a bum, and panhandling.  He obviously wouldn’t politely remain on the sidewalk.  He would try to follow the kids into the school, to get money from the students, and when they refused, he would get loud, and possibly violent.

I don’t fault the parents for their concern for their children.  I do blame police officers like this one who arrive with their minds already made up, blindly believing what someone has claimed, ignoring ‘Innocent until shown guilty,‘  refusing to look at evidence or accept suspects’ explanations.

One of the main intentions of Civil Right auditors is to educate the public, especially policemen, and demonstrate Everyone’s legal rights, and how easy it is to lose them.  Anyone who gives up freedom for security, winds up with neither.  Far too many police don’t want the laws of the country obeyed; they just want peace and quiet, and are willing and eager to flex their unlawful power and authority to achieve it.

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Stop That

I regard the preservation of my constitutional rights to be far more important than someone else’s vague, undefined “upset.”

I occasionally watch YouTube videos posted by Civil Rights Auditors.  These are people who try to ensure honesty and transparency in interactions between civilians and all levels of Government, by recording and posting videos of politicians, civil servants, and police.

There is something about the presence of a video camera that drives some people crazy.  You can wander up to, or into, city halls, DMV offices, even police stations, wander around, staring at stuff, and no-one questions your presence.  Bring along a camcorder, or set your cell phone to record, and all Hell breaks loose.

In a recent video, a young man with a camera walked behind a police station, and wandered around the parking area.  Almost immediately, three young, white, male officers coalesced out of the ether – and the harassment, intimidation, and lies began.

What are you doing here?

Performing a Constitutionally-protected activity.

You can’t be here. You can’t record our vehicles!

The First Amendment says I can.

You’re trespassing!

I can’t be trespassed from public property unless I’ve committed a crime.

You’re acting suspicious!

The US Supreme Court has ruled that “suspicion” is not a crime.

This is private property!

This is County property, and obviously public.

This is a secure facility!

No fence, no gate, no signs.

Finally, it came – Give us your ID!

I don’t have to provide identification unless I’ve been lawfully detained.  Please give a reasonable, articulable suspicion of a specific crime.

The debate raged for about ten minutes, until an older Captain was called out, and reluctantly admitted that all the claims and demands were false.  As the cammer was exiting the parking lot, he was passed by another officer in a cruiser.  He yelled at the officer, “You’re not wearing a seatbelt.  Obey the law!  Put on your seatbelt.”

I know what he was doing, and why, and I commend him for it.  He was trying to ensure that Police Officers obey the same laws that the rest of us have to obey.

Here is where I insert my usual –HOWEVER!

Almost every jurisdiction I am aware of – US States, Canadian Provinces – have ‘exception clauses’ in their seatbelt legislation, to cover certain class(es) of vehicles.  “Any vehicle where there is a requirement for rapid and/or repetitive exits.  The list shall include, but not be limited to: garbage trucks, fire trucks, police, ambulances, taxis, delivery vehicles, and public transit.

No subway riders, or bus riders, wear seatbelts, although the bus drivers usually, wisely, do.  For no obvious reason, about a year ago, there was a local, public kerfuffle.  If we have to wear seatbelts in our cars, shouldn’t children wear seatbelts in their school buses? Shouldn’t our kids be safe??  It finally died away, after an automotive engineer published an article.

School buses are designed and built with what engineers call “Egg Crating.”  The backs of the seats are high enough, strong enough, and flexible enough, to control and dissipate forward momentum.  They also slope backward, to further absorb and deflect the energy of ejected students, downward.  In the event of a real emergency, like a fire after a collision, there is not enough time or space to unlatch or cut off seatbelts from 30 panicked youngsters.

I’m gonna stop here for now, and go have a belt.  See you in a couple of days.

 

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God Is A Failure

I just hope that God opens his eyes.

Pray that God will open whose eyes?? Kenneth Copeland’s??
He’s a famous, intensely popular, televangelist with a mega-church, and tens of thousands of followers and adherents. Are you implying that there are some people who preach the Bible, teach Christianity, and offer salvation, who are mistaken or lying??!  👿

We all know there is. Most of mainstream Christianity is nothing more than a bunch of well-seasoned snake oil salesmen, who trick poor needy people into financing their lifestyles. These hypocrites end up making it hard on others whose heart is truly desiring to help mankind. Thanks for stopping by.

Thank you for confirming what we all knew.  The next time some Good Christian Apologist demands to know why I don’t believe in God, I will mention your name, and present this argument.  If only there were a reliable way to tell the real from the fake, without having to rely on your fine-tuned intuition.

I am sure that Copeland did not mean it, the way it appears in the above image.  He was responding to non-believers’ arguments that his God clearly appears to be a loser, with the rather circular argument that God could not be a loser, unless He admits that He is a loser.  If He were real, He wouldn’t need the likes of Copeland, or anyone else, to defend, justify, or explain Him.

While Copeland managed to slip God’s name into this little quotation, it sounds more like a self-confidence building quote that a motivational speaker would use, to justify his fee.

Fee, fie, fo, fum.  I smell the blood of another couple of Liars For Christ.

There is no portion of the text in that image which is the truth – except your sadistic delight in believing and spreading it.

Unless of course you believe the Bible is truth. Then you have to decide one way or the other. You either believe in hell and fear it, or you take a gamble with your self-learned knowledge that you have obtained through books from people just like yourself and hope and pray to whomever you pray to, that you’re right. Quite a gamble. What if you’re wrong?

What if you’re wrong, and face Allah, and the Muslim Hell??!  It’s far worse than the Christian one.  😈
I do not believe that the Bible is truth.  It contains some good things, and some true things.  It also contains a disturbing amount of evil things, and false things, as well as many unproven claims.  I do not pray – to, or for anything.  I deal with reality as I experience it.

Humility goes a long way here…let’s see if there’s anyone who might be humble enough to admit that their beliefs are wrong.

It can be difficult – a strain – but I have, I do, and I would – only, not just because you claim they are. Besides humility, it takes honesty.  🙄

Have you read my article on blood clotting? It take overs (sic) 100 different processes to clot blood so the organism doesn’t bleed out. Kinda impossible for evolution to get all that right without millions of years of trial and error eh?

Nice non-sequitur!  Pay no attention to that claim behind the curtain.

What do you think evolution is?? – other than millions of years of trial and error?  And it didn’t start with a large, fully-developed creature like a deer, or a human, who would bleed out with the smallest nick.  It started with microscopic life-forms with no circulation.  They could not grow larger and more complex in the competition for survival, until genetic mutation solved each/all of those 100 processes, sequentially, before moving on.

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Fibbing Friday Letters

Last week, the questions were borrowed from a newsletter. When Pennsitivity101 read them, she thought there could be a lot of fun answers. Like to add yours?

1. What is Allium Sepa (Cepa)?

It is concentrated green-onion juice that is used to make the cough medicine, Cepacol.

2. What is Arran Pilot?

He (or she) is the person who guides the tourist boat from Glasgow, out to the island, for knitting tours.

3. What is a love apple?

That was what I grew, before I got fat pleasingly plump, and developed full love handles.
Are you happy to see me, or is that just a large lunch??

4. To what genus do cabbages, broccoli and cauliflowers belong?

Flatulus inducius.

5. Which vegetables were the first to be canned?

The ones caught smoking dope on the job.  To be honest, they weren’t doing much actual work anyway, and it all had to be double-checked.

6. Pepinex and Telegraph are varieties of what?

These are new dating apps, especially for those working in the communications field.

7. What is a White Lisbon?

It’s a hot new drink in Brazil, made with a liqueur distilled from fermented bougainvillea flowers.

8. What is Calabrese?

Calabrese is an American rock band that is based out of Phoenix, Arizona. The band consists of three faux brothers; bassist/vocalist Jimmy Calabrese, guitarist/vocalist Bobby Calabrese and drummer Davey Calabrese. Calabrese has been described as “Melodic, hook-laden, catchy, fun, Rock with a Punk attitude”.

9. What was described as a cabbage with college education?

Boris Johnson.  Donald Trump is a kale.  He claims to have a University degree, but he’s not as tightly wrapped.

10. What is a Pentland Javelin?

That’s what a sadly mistaken Geordie in an Edinburgh pub boastfully calls his alcohol-enfeebled manhood.  😮

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’22 A To Z Challenge – B

 

Good afternoon class.  Today we’re going to discuss a phoney and valueless word, which came to epitomise a phoney and valueless city.  If it fell out of the mouths of anyone other than Englishmen, it would be Birmingham, but the rustic tongues of the northern shires turned it into

Brummagem

[ bruhm–uh-juhm ]

showy but inferior and worthless

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF BRUMMAGEM?

Brummagem, an adjective and noun meaning “showy but inferior and worthless; something of that kind,” comes from the local Birmingham (England) pronunciation of Birmingham. The original (and standard) spelling and pronunciation of the city is bir-; the nonstandard or dialect spelling bru– is an example of metathesis, the transposition of sounds, a very common phenomenon.

Compare Modern English bird with Middle English brid (brid was the dominant spelling until about 1475; the spelling bird is first recorded about 1419).

The name Birmingham is first recorded as Bermingeham in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book (1086); spelling variants with Br- first appear in 1198 as Brumingeham. In the mid-17th century Birmingham was renowned for its metalworking and notorious for counterfeit coins.  At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, there was an abundance of both metal, and men who knew how to work it.  It was easy to substitute cheap steel for valuable silver.

Brummagem entered English in the second half of the 17th century.

My Scottish ancestors, up in Glasgow, might steal an Englishman’s silver coins, or serve him a bowl of dodgy oatmeal, but they’d never stoop to counterfeiting.  Some of them might have been crooks, but they were honorable, honest crooks.   😉  😳

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Kindergarten Comedy

My Kindergarten students are learning to read.  Recently one of them pointed to a picture in a book and said, “Look, a frickin’ elephant.”
Taking a deep breath, I asked why he had called it that.
“Cuz it says so in the book.”
And so it does – African elephant.

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My wife and I went into town and visited a shop. When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. We went up to him and I said, “Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?”

He just ignored us and continued writing the ticket.

I called him an “a**hole.” He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn-out tires.

So my wife called him a “s*ithead.”

He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.

Then he started writing more tickets. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote. He finally finished, sneered at us and walked away.

Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home.

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A young boy comes running down the street looking for a cop.

He finds one and then begs “Please, officer, come back to the bar with me, my father’s in a fight.”

Well, they get back to the bar and there’s three guys fighting like you wouldn’t believe.

After a while the cop turns to the kid and says “Okay, which one’s your father?”

The kid looks up at the cop and says, “I don’t know, officer, that’s what they’re fighting about.”

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A Polish man walks into a store and asks to buy 2 pounds of Polish sausage. The guy behind the counter asks him if he is Polish. “I resent that…”. The Polish man says. “If I asked for chorizo, would you assume I was Mexican? If I asked for Bratwurst, would you assume I was German?” The guy behind the counter says “Nope, I’d still think you were Polish… This is a hardware store!!”

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A new father and a nurse were filling out the paperwork for the birth of his new daughter.  “What’s the baby’s name?” she asked.
He replied, “Kelsey Noelle.”
Confused, the nurse asks, “How do you spell Kelsey, with no L??”

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When I was young, I was poor.  Now, after long years of hard, honest work…. I am no longer young.

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As I looked at my naked body in the mirror, I thought to myself, “I’m going to get tossed out of IKEA any minute now.

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Edison On Religion


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Alva Edison:

…What I have denied and what my reason compels me to deny, is the existence of a Being throned above us as a god, directing our mundane affairs in detail, regarding us as individuals, punishing us, rewarding us as human judges might.  When the churches learn to take this rational view of things, when they become true schools of ethics and stop teaching fables, they will be more effective than they are to-day… If they would turn all that ability to teaching this one thing – the fact that honesty is best, that selfishness and lies of any sort must surely fail to produce happiness – they would accomplish actual things.

Religious faiths and creeds have greatly hampered our development. They have absorbed and wasted some fine intellects. That creeds are getting to be less and less important to the average mind with every passing year is a good sign, I think, although I do not wish to talk about what is commonly called theology.

The criticisms which have been hurled at me have not worried me. A man cannot control his beliefs. If he is honest in his frank expression of them, that is all that can in justice be required of him. Professor Thomson and a thousand others do not in the least agree with me. His criticism of me, as I read it, charged that because I doubted the soul’s immortality, or ‘personality,’ as he called it, my mind must be abnormal, ‘pathological,’ in other, words, diseased…

I try to say exactly what I honestly believe to be the truth, and more than that no man can do. I honestly believe that creedists have built up a mighty structure of inaccuracy, based, curiously, on those fundamental truths which I, with every honest man, must not alone admit but earnestly acclaim.

I have been working on the same lines for many years. I have tried to go as far as possible toward the bottom of each subject I have studied. I have not reached my conclusions through study of traditions; I have reached them through the study of hard fact. I cannot see that unproved theories or sentiment should be permitted to have influence in the building of conviction upon matters so important. Science proves its theories or it rejects them. I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.

I earnestly believe that I am right; I cannot help believing as I do… I cannot accept as final any theory which is not provable. The theories of the theologians cannot be proved. Proof, proof! That is what I always have been after; that is what my mind requires before it can accept a theory as fact. Some things are provable, some things disprovable, some things are doubtful. All the problems which perplex us, now, will, soon or late, be solved, and solved beyond a question through scientific investigation.

The thing which most impresses me about theology is that it does not seem to be investigating. It seems to be asserting, merely, without actual study….Moral teaching is the thing we need most in this world, and many of these men could be great moral teachers if they would but give their whole time to it, and to scientific search for the rock-bottom truth, instead of wasting it upon expounding theories of theology which are not in the first place firmly based. What we need is search for fundamentals, not reiteration of traditions born in days when men knew even less than we do now.