LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

Who believes what?

-Bumper sticker of the week: Soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than violence.

-Quote of the week: “Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent among them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary.” Oscar Wilde

-Tell me all your thoughts on God:

* What exactly is God? Who exactly is God? A thought in our minds? Someone sitting out there, directing everything from some heavenly place? A status quo concept to keep us content with our lot here on Earth, hoping that someday God will give us our just reward in death? I don’t know, but I for one have no intention of waiting until said time. And why would a loving God let bad things happen to us? They put a tag on it as God having given us “free will.” I would prefer a God that didn’t do that. If God is all powerful, and everywhere, I’d like her to take a little bit better care of us.

* “Hee, ah, oh monodia. See hee cuchi, par en tor Iah.” That’s writing in tongues, which makes about as much sense as speaking in tongues. If God gives you worthy words to speak, they had better be legible and understandable. I like the football players who bow down and pray after making a touchdown. What kind of show is that? What are they praying for? That they just beat the other guy? Is the other guy less worthy in God’s eye? Maybe he’s giving thanks that the 300lb guy chasing him didn’t grab his neck and snap it like a twig. If the guy caught him, than I could see a prayer. And why would God only bless America? Why not God blessing everyone, or God blessing the world? God must be pretty patient to put up with all this crap.

* The ten commandments. There’s a thoughtful grouping of human errs. “Thou shall not commit adultery.” That screws about 50% of the population. “Thou shall not steal.” Steal what? I should never have “borrowed” that penny candy from the service station when I was 10 years old. How about honoring your father and mother? Even if they beat and molested you? Very forgiving. I doubt Moses would have put up with that. “Thou shall not kill.” Anything? Why is it ok in time of war? Exceptions are the name of this game. A just war. An eye for an eye. All rationalizations. “Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife, nor his man servant... “ This sounds like the first homophobic declaration. The ox and the ass are a whole other story. Everyone has broken one or another of these commandments. Hell is sure going to be crowded.

-Ship of fools:

* Why would we continue to believe that war would ever result in peace and harmony? War only produces hatred, misery and resentfulness.

* Justice is not much more than a money making scheme for the state and counties. Money speaks, the poor do time. Justice is a fine purchase, not unlike a good bottle of wine, or a luxury car.

* The Earth is not warming, it’s all just a liberal plot. For what exact purpose, I’m not entirely sure. But, even if this is true, I still support the contention, if for no other reason than to aggravate all the right-wing knuckleheads.

-There are no easy answers. There are no easy problems. Everything seems connected to everything else. The web of life has been woven tightly and reverberates with every move. To focus on a single problem with hopes of solving it is a distant memory. The complexity of our world requires problem solvers to look beyond singular solutions and envision multiple answers to complex problems, any one of which may need to be brought forward only after it has been discussed how it will affect our great-great-great grandchildren. Most of our problem solving takes into account only us. We are not visionaries. We tend to be reactionaries. Ethanol is a good example of our short-sightedness. So, far that matter, is our insistence that war can bring about a peaceful world, or that guns can make us safer, or that drugs will go away if we put everyone in jail. All are elementary miscalculations made by short-sighted thinkers.