Once there was a cat who was afraid of other dogs so that it cowered. But one day a tiger said to the cat, "When you get afraid, just plump yourself up and growel like a tiger". The cat did this and it worked for a while, till one day he again met this same tiger and remembered it not. The cat groweled at the tiger and the tiger said "Don't try that on me. I'm the one you got it from in the first place." The moral of this story is "Don't dis the one who gave you the power you have in the first place".

I don't know why some of these blogs have places for headings and some don't. I'd like to say we are about to celebrate Freedom Friday, or Patriots Friday or whatever. It's the anniversary of Paul Revere's ride to warn of Lexington and Concord. To celebrate this day there is that anti Science movie out called "Expelled", which perports i imagine to "expose" Big Science for being narrow-minded and not looking at the facts. Of course we know that people of the Far Right of the World Net Daily variety will seek out people who agree with them and ignore anybody else. I was just reading more of that Cults book I've been reading. Limiting information that cult members get is a key weapon, for sure. This particular book, while a good one, is flawed. For instance they include Scientology along with other groups such as the Moonies, the People's Temple, and the Children of God. This is sad because the book adeptly in many key areas sounds like something L Ron Hubbard would write when it talks about programming the mind. As to myself I would say in some key ways my experiance with Fundamentalist Christianity was dissimilar to that of a cult recruitment. For instance one might say that I "Chassed after Christianity like a love-sick school girl". In the second half of 1975 I on my own altered my behavior such as listening to people like Jimmy Swaggart and Stewart Mc Burnie, and Doug Clark, and I began reading things from right wing authors including three Hal Lindsey books. I also read novels such as "666" and "1000" including stuff by more off-beat authors of questionable beliefs. I was going now to launch into my personal beef with the Calvary Chapel system. I'm not doing this because since I haven't been around these people, really, in years I feel I might be unfair. But there are enough lines in the Bible to provide a foundation for Cult indoctrination such as "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me". Incessently you hear that it is your duty to sacrifice your Life for God and to God should he require it. We are told that hesitation is one of the worst sins you can commit. And "Holding back" is perhaps the worst sin of all. The worst sin in the Bible is a married couple lying about how much money they gave to the church. That this incident should be elevated to such paramount importance speaks volumes about the psychology of fundamentalist Christianity. In cults there is the whole idea of "Getting under your skin" and "playing with your mind". It doesn't necessarily mean being exposed to a fire and brimstone sermon. As the book states it's less what a cult doctrinally states they believe and more How They Act and Behave. They lie. They change the subject when confronted. And they invent doctrines to fit the occasion. Jesus on KFI has his Swine Doctrine which goes "If you say to a certain person- - 'You Swine" then you are excused from following the Golden Rule". I get worried because this is not thirty years ago and people don't just "sit and dream about things" like they used to. I will say this about my own religious involvement with Calvary Christians. Every time there was a "change" either in teachers or New Members arriving- - the change always pushed the environment in a more restrictive direction and a more legalistic direction. Usually "getting serious" about the Faith means that person is now a whole lot harder to live with. I don't know about now- - but today most Christians associate themselves with the farthest of the Far Right. There is a shell of protectiveness people envelope themselves in. As bad as my past experiance with the Calvary Chapels has been, the worst of them is several layers removed from the Rev. Bill Halliday. A few minutes with him is as destructive as a whole year with a Calvary Christian, if you catch my drift. Some cults are dangerous because the leader has discipline and drive and stick-to-it-iveness. These are good traits. But another could be just as depraved of soul and spirit and seeking the things cult leaders have, but lacks the drive and initiate to accomplish what he desires. Should such a person be spared whatever fires of Hell await the first group because he's lacking the necessary positive traits? Today people such as Calvary Chapels voice their politics openly. They are no longer trying to pass themselves off as "Just another place where hippies can Praise the Lord". Cult watchers will stress there are doctrines they want the public to hear about their beliefs and there is what they Really believe. Today people like World Net Daily's audience- - would not have lasted two seconds in the world of 35 years ago. People would look at them and point and say "You must be some kind of freak". But today to paraphrase, "Right wing is now Mainstream".

I would like to talk a little more about last night's Presidential debate. People like Thom Hartman and Randy Rhodes have done a good job of exposing the biasness of the ABC TV network, and many are boycotting ABC news because of last night's attricity against fairness. I admit I virtually ignored the whole inherent unfairness element of last night. They grilled Obama like something out of the inquisition, and were I Obama I would have told those moderators to Fuck Off, more than once. And what's his name kept saying "Every time the capital gains tax is cut the revenues go up- - what do you think of that?" This sounds like a Rush Limbaugh talking point if there ever was one. The truth is simple. People sold a lot of real property in 1985 and 1986 in anticapation of the hike in property - - excuse me- - capital gains tax. So of course revenues went up when this one time rush of property was sold. In like manner when Clinton cut the rate back down to twenty percent late in the last decade, prices topped out in speculations because people now suddenly "had a lot more profits" and decided to cash them in and take a cruise around the world or whatever. In any case this was a one time affair. Since when do "Moderators" take part in the advocacy process themselves in debates? But all of the important issues including all those skeletons in Hillary's closet were not even discussed. None of the scandal of the Bush adminestration was discussed, so far as I'm aware of. One could clearly complain, "Where's the Beef"? Some have said last night's debate was the worst of any of the debates they've held. As long as the right wing defines or frames the issues than it's the people at large in this country who are being brainwashed. (Selah)

I would now like to do a little Johnny Wendell type rant where I advocate for something that might seem right wing whacko. What if they eliminated the right to attorney - client provelege? This means that any evidence obtained by any bugging device can be used as evidence against the defendant. It's always mystified me why they have these evidence hearings determining like some shell game, which evidence can and cannot be used and which witnesses can and are not allowed to testify in the case depending on whether they are "on the list". And personally I think "discovery" sucks no matter whether it is the prosecution or the defense that invokes it. If you have nothing to hide- - then there is no problem. Can't they do like with drunk drivers and say that by pleading not guilty you are giving up the right to hide things from the legal system? I don't know. You have to admit such a ruling would sure streamline trials and insure that an awful lot of guilty people get convicted.

As you may or not know I have a bias against "Child protective services". I believe more often than not they overstep their bounds and take children from innocent parents and trample on parental rights. People forget that the Foster Care system spawns all sorts of child abuse. I don't know why but that's what I've heard. It certainly does nothing for a child's esteem. You may have the kid here and there who is beaten wrongly by his parents. Perhaps the physical scars, if any, aren't as bad as the psychological scars that kid would endure as a pawn in the juvenile court system. What if he runs away from his foster parents and is out alone on the streets?

You know, people talk about nuclear poliferation. How about Meat Poliferation. It would seem an epidemic of Meat eating throughout the world just might be one of the worst things, ecologically, that could happen. Societies who have managed this far on very little are now demanding large amounts of it as part of their Westernized diet. Of course all that cattle and pork requires feed. And that is grain that could more profitably be used for feeding human beings. Then there is the whole pesticide problem where with each element of the life chain the pesticide enters and then gets eaten by another- the concentration of pesticide gets that much stronger. And by the way- - disposable diapers for our diaper set is responsable for the deaths of a lot of trees not to mention untold polution. I guess we should all be thankful the rest of the world doesn't produce as much trash as we do or we'd all be burried in a sea of trash. And perhaps as far as transportation goes, we should go retro in this country and start using bicycles to get to work. Perhaps we could do it on casual Fridays so that people don't mess up their suits. Perhaps there is some tax incentive to encourage people to ride bikes. I surely think we will have to accelerate our fuel efficiency standards from any pace not imagined. Also I think we could use tax incentives for having fewer biological children by saying only dependents who are not biological products can be used as tax exemptions. Another area where I'd get rid of tax exemptions is churches holding property but that's another story. We have to start thinking about the future because like they say "Tomorrow will be here before you know it". We need to look at energy consumption in terms of tomorrow's reality rather than by the fond, but outdated idealism of yesterday. (Selah)