Photoshop Users Beware

There's a lot of ink being spilled right now on the interwebs over Adobe's latest stunt; here's a few more drops.

When installing or updating software, with a show of hands, who reads the ToU (Terms of Use) jibber jabber? Usually pages long, our attention to those details are usually left in a dark dusty corner labelled "ignore". Sometimes this is to our detriment, as Adobe users are just discovering.

I'll get to the point: the latest Photoshop end user license agreement (or "EULA") has us agreeing to it being used as spyware on our personal computers! Their justification is to monitor our graphics projects to ensure we're not creating anything illegal. That's like buying a welder, and in doing so, giving the manufacturer permission to have a representative in our shop oversee our work to make sure we're not using it to build explosive devices.

This "viewing" can be by a bot, or an actual human. Imagine some twit in India reporting you for editing an Anne Geddes pic of a cute baby showing their bum, while at the same time viewing ANY photo on your PC. Without your knowledge.

It's a disgusting and abusive use of technology, to which I responded with a seek-and-destroy of all things Adobe on my machine. And, similar to Toyota's emissions test cheating scandal, people still buy their cars, as I'm sure Adobe will still enjoy conning purchasers who will just go "ho hum..."

An Imperfect God

Where's god's perfection if he admits to mistakes? Genesis 6:6 clearly states he "regretted that he had made human beings".  The god of the bible is a deity created by man, in the image of man, not unlike hundreds of other mythological deities made up in the same Iron Age era. Claiming that there is only one true god is a rejection of religion's documented history, particularly because 1) there is not a shred of evidence any of these mythological gods ever existed. (It's what secular history teaches us.) And 2) it's just a small slice of the much larger picture of religion's ages-long evolution from polytheism to monotheism.* 

In light of this, claiming the superiority of one god over hundreds of others is nothing but a fool's errand. More so, even the historical inaccuracies of the bible lend credence to the very questionable origins of the Abrahamic religions.

From Wikipedia:

Quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten from the 14th century BCE.

In the Iron-Age South Asian Vedic period, a possible inclination towards monotheism emerged. The Rigveda exhibits notions of monism of the Brahman, particularly in the comparatively late tenth book, which is dated to the early Iron Age, e.g. in the Nasadiya Sukta. Later, ancient Hindu theology was monist, but was not strictly monotheistic in worship because it still maintained the existence of many gods, who were envisioned as aspects of one supreme God, Brahman.

More recently, Karen Armstrong and other authors have returned to the idea of an evolutionary progression beginning with animism, which developed into polytheism, which developed into henotheism, which developed into monolatry, which developed into true monotheism

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism)

* In its early stages, the Israelite religion was derived from the Canaanite religions of the Bronze Age; by the Iron Age, it had become distinct from other Canaanite religions as it shed polytheism for monolatry. The monolatrist nature of Yahwism was further developed in the period following the Babylonian captivity, eventually emerging as a firm religious movement of monotheism.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions)

Another pertinent reference: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_deities

A Boy Named Sue

The following was inspired by social critics such as Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Bill Maher, comedians who use(d) satire to harpoon the ridiculous status quo.

Hi, my name is Fragile Sue, and I’m a 4 year old ideologue snowflake princess. At least, that’s what I want to identify as. (In the next lunar cycle it may be a 90 year old non-binary Down’s Syndrome basement-dwelling sorcerer, but I digress.) Myself and others like me want to add two new letters to the fashionable “LGBTQIA+” acronym, namely “N”, for “Non-ageist”, and “P” for Princess. The “T” for “Transgender” is thankfully already included, acknowledging my sexual miss-identity, but there is currently no recognition for the age and title I would like recognition for.

My mental health would benefit if the acronym became “L-BANG-QTIP+”, and enshrouded in the legal enactment of a new Senate Bill protecting the right to be gendered and aged to my whims, and referred to by my preferred pronoun... which is “Lips” (Little Princess). If completed as requested, I promise not to off myself. But I’ll haul you up in front of a Human Rights tribunal for not complying. Cuz, well, the Canadian government’s mandate is to keep me from being offended by legally coercing everyone else.

It is easier these days for a boy to be named Sue than it was back in 1968, but let’s take it a step further. Thank you Wokeness!

Signed,

Fragile Sue. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

K, that's some satire to let you know my thoughts on the matter. Here's my serious take on the issue:

The woke label is now worn as a badge of pride by those falling for the illusion that inclusivity of every imagined edge-of-society gender variation is somehow virtuous. Claims of compromised mental health, and even threats of suicide are enough for these extreme left-wingers to coddle the over-sensitive snowflake children that are a result of parents that fell for the hippy era "Dr. Spock" mentality, where discipline and boundaries are a thing of the past. We should be our children's parents damnit, not their friends.

That a child of 8 years can decide to physically change genders with surgery and hormone "therapy" with support of their parents and a highly politicized medical community, is proof that their "open mindedness" has caused their brains to leak out. Gender dysphoria should be treated as the anxiety disorder that it is, not used as justification for sex re-assignment. Or even on-a-whim gender fluidity for that matter.

This fad will pass, but not at the price of a shit load of fucked up entitled people who lay claim to privileges no other generation has ever known. It's an obvious symptom of a failing (and falling) empire, as these issues indicate a conceited narcissistic self-absorption that makes us SUCH an easy target by more disciplined and focused societies with goals far beyond their own egos.

Growing up, we always had girly boys, and butchy girls that were finding their identities as adolescents. They got over it and grew up, and even engaged in same-sex partnerships as adults. Love who you want I say. But denying biology and "identifying" as something you're not is just silliness. Taking it any further is a travesty, and a stark judgement on the condition of our society.

My opinion, not yours.

Would You Worship This God?

Who would want to follow a god who is demonstratably aborticidal, angry, bloodthirsty, a bully, cannibalistic, capriciously malevolent, a control freak, curse-hurling, an ethnic cleanser, evil, filicidal, genocidal, homicidal, homophobic, infanticidal, jealous, megalomaniacal, merciless, misogynistic, pestilential, petty, racist, sadomasochistic, a slavemonger, a terrorist, unforgiving, unjust, vaccicidal, and vindictive? 

Christian apologists say "But that's the Old Testament" as if it doesn't count any more. *Cough*. They should read their bible a little more thoroughly, as it states it's ALL legit and still applicable:

“For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-19)

“It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid.” (Luke 16:17)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” (Matthew 5:17)

“Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law” (John7:19)

Thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation for the following references: 

Aborticidal:

Hosea 13:16: Because she has rebelled against her God . . . their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Numbers 5:21–22: May the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.

Hosea 9:11–16: Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. . . . But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer. Give them, Lord—what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry. . . . I will no longer love them . . . Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring.

Angry:

Zephaniah 3:8: The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.

Isaiah 63:3: I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments.

Deuteronomy 6:14–15: Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth..

Ezekiel 38:19: For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.

Leviticus 26:28: In my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.

Bloodthirsty:

Ezekiel 39:17–18: Thus saith the Lord God . . . Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth.

Ezekiel 32:6: I will drench the land even to the mountains with your flowing blood; and the watercourses will be full of you.

Jeremiah 46:10: For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood.

A Bully:

Job 9:22–23: He destroys the perfect and the wicked. . . . He will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

Ezekiel 20:25–26: I might horrify them . . . that they might know that I am the Lord.

Exodus 14:4: I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:39: See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

Cannibalistic:

Leviticus 26:28–29: But if, despite this, you disobey me . . . you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 

Deuteronomy 28:53: And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

Isaiah 9:19–20: By the wrath of the Lord Almighty the land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire. . . . Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring.

Jeremiah 19:7–9: And their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. . . . And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege.

Capriciously Malevolent:

Isaiah 45:7: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Isaiah 9:17: Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows.

Deuteronomy 29:1: Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

A Control Freak:

Exodus 20:25: If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.

1 Samuel 2:6–7: The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.

Exodus 25:8–31: And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them. In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it . . . They shall do just as I have commanded you.

Curse-hurling:

Deuteronomy 29:20: All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.

Genesis 12:3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Jeremiah 11:3–4: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not heed the words of this covenant.

Deuteronomy 29:26–27: And the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book.

Psalm 37:22: For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

An Ethnic Cleanser:

Numbers 33:52–53: You shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land . . . for I have given you the land to possess.

1 Samuel 15:3: Go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

Joshua 11:21–22: Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel.

Deuteronomy 13:12–16: You shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square, and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; it shall be a heap for ever, it shall not be built again.

2 Chronicles 34:1–7: In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, . . . And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

Evil:

1 Kings 14:9-10: But you have done evil above all those who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods, therefore, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam.

Isaiah 45:7: I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Ezekiel 6:10: And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

Jeremiah 11:11: Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing evil upon them which they cannot escape; though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.

Zechariah 8:14: For thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I purposed to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts.”

Filicidal:

Leviticus 21:9: And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

Lamentations 4:10: The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Genesis 22:2: Take your son . . . and offer him there as a burnt offering.

Deuteronomy 21:18–21: If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother . . . all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die.

Genocidal & Homicidal:

Deuteronomy 20:16–17: You must not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall annihilate them.

Deuteronomy 2:32–34: And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and . . . we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain.

Genesis 6:6–8: I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created— people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.

Deuteronomy 20:10–19: In the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them.

1 Samuel 15:7–8: And Saul smote the Amalekites . . . and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Jeremiah 50:21: Go up against the land of Merathaʹim, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Slay, and utterly destroy after them, says the Lord, and do all that I have commanded you.

Exodus 21:15: Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

2 Chronicles 15:13: All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

Exodus 22:20: Whoever sacrifices to any god, save to the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed.

Deuteronomy 22:20–21: Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones.

Esther 9:5–6: The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.

Homophobic:

Leviticus 18:22: You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13: If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Infanticidal:

Hosea 13:16: Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

1 Samuel 15:2–3: Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.

Psalm 137:8–9: O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!

Numbers 31:17: Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

Ezekiel 9:4–6: And the Lord said unto him . . . Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women.

Jealous:

Nahum 1:2: A jealous and avenging God is the Lord, the Lord is avenging and wrathful.

Exodus 20:4–6: You shall not make for yourself an idol . . . for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing . . . those who reject me.

Deuteronomy 4:24: For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Psalm 78:58: For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

Ezekiel 38:19: For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.

Megalomaniacal:

Ezekiel 38:23: So I will display my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Isaiah 33:10–12: Now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. . . . Acknowledge my might.

Deuteronomy 32:39: See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Psalm 95:3: For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Deuteronomy 7:21: Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.

Deuteronomy 10:17, 20: For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome . . . Fear the Lord your God and serve him.

Merciless:

Jeremiah 13:14: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them..

Deuteronomy 7:1–2: When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to take possession of it . . . show no mercy to them.

Lamentations 2:2: The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the habitations of Jacob.

Ezekiel 7:9: And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity . . . Then you will know that I am the Lord, who smite.

Jeremiah 21:7: And afterward, saith the Lord . . . he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

Misogynistic:

Genesis 3:16: Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

Exodus 21:7: When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

Numbers 5:15–31: This is the law in cases of jealousy. The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.

Judges 5:30: Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two?

Numbers 31:17–18: Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Petty:

Ezekiel 13:20: I am against your pillows!

Leviticus 19:27: You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

Leviticus 19:19: Nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials

Deuteronomy 28:17: Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

Racist:

Deuteronomy 7:1–6: When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy . . . Do not intermarry with them.

Deuteronomy 7:6: The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

Nehemiah 13:3: When they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Deuteronomy 23:3–6: An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. . . . Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

Nehemiah 13:23–30: Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. . . . Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? . . . Thus cleansed I them from all strangers.

Sadomasochistic:

Psalm 147:11: The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Jeremiah 13:15–26: Rape: The Lord has spoken. . . . it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up, and you are violated [raped] . . . because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies. I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.

Isaiah 53:10: Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

Psalm 33:8: Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

Psalm 34:11: Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Slavemonger:

Leviticus 25:44–46: Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves . . . and they will become your property. You can . . . make them slaves for life.

Exodus 21:20–21: Anyone who beats their slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies . . . but not if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

Judges 1:28,30,35: When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. . . . Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. . . . When the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

Exodus 20:9–10: The seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

Exodus 20:17: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

A Terrorist:

Isaiah 2:19: Enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

Psalm 14:5: There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous.

Psalm 73:18-19: Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

Exodus 23:27: I will send my terror in front of you.

Leviticus 26:13-16: I am the Lord your God . . . if you will not obey me . . . I will bring terror on you.

Unforgiving:

Joshua 24:19: He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

Isaiah 22:14: The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: ‘Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you till you die,’ says the Lord God of hosts.

2 Kings 24:3–4: For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.

Deuteronomy 29:20: For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.

Exodus 23:21: Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.

Ezekiel 24:13–14: I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent.

Unjust:

Deuteronomy 5:9: I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me.

Exodus 34:6–7: The Lord God . . . visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Numbers 14:18: The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Isaiah 14:21: Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

1 Kings 21:28–29: Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Jeremiah 29:31–32: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, this is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants.

Vaccicidal:

Ezekiel 32:13: I will destroy all its livestock from beside abundant waters.

1 Samuel 15:3: Attack the Amalekites . . . put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.

Exodus 9:1–3,6: The hand of the Lord will strike with a deadly pestilence your livestock in the field: the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. . . . And on the next day the Lord did so; all the livestock of the Egyptians died.

Deuteronomy 13:15: You must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.

Ezekiel 32:13–15: I will destroy all her cattle from beside abundant waters no longer to be stirred by the foot of man or muddied by the hooves of cattle. . . . When I strike down all who live there, then they will know that I am the Lord.

Vindictive:

Deuteronomy 32:35: The Lord says, . . . “I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.”

Isaiah 47:3: I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man.

Isaiah 34:8: For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Isaiah 47:3–4: I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man. Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.

Psalm 94:1: O Lord, the God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth!

Lamentations 3:64–66: Pay them back what they deserve, Lord, for what their hands have done.

Old Testament Genocide

Here's a Christian apologist trying to justify old testament genocide (Joshua 6:20-21):

"This, generally speaking, is how Christian theologians have interpreted the Old Testament “ban” (Hebrew cherem). This term refers to God’s strict commandment to grant the heathen no quarter, to take neither prisoners nor spoil, but to destroy everything found in the cities of their enemies. Repulsive as it sounds to us today, this ruthless brand of warfare was not technically “genocide.” Not in the modern sense of the term. According to most biblical scholars, it was actually an expression of God’s judgment upon the Canaanites." *

Sorry, but this word salad is nothing more than trying to put lipstick on a pig, and that's putting it lightly. The justification begins with the premise that God cannot do wrong; that he can toy around with his creation as he sees fit. And that the concept of needing to eliminate any threats of sin influencing his chosen people somehow requires them being snuffed out. A very fitting description of a god contrived in the minds of ancient authors creating angry and jealous spiritual entities that they think everyone should bow to. Cuz, well, MY god is better and more superior than YOUR god. 

Blood-soaked religions use this backdrop of sacrifice for dealing with sin (either for ethnic cleansing, and/or salvation). It's very telling, for example, that many of the south American cultures (including the Maya and the Mexican) believed that human sacrifice nourished the gods. These brands of religion survived eons of criticism because mankind has an innate need to be guided by a father figure that both intimidates and comforts us. 

All these qualities of an easily explained story have strong underlying archetypical elements of salvation and eternal life. Stockholm syndrome, really. Very understandable how it has such a grasp on our psyche. A cursory study of our subconscious archetypes go a long way in explaining all this... It takes a lifetime of unearthing and becoming aware of these influences in order to extricate oneself from their control and grasp. Once done, you are free to be an independent thinker... 

* Reference: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/christian-struggles-with-biblical-accounts-of-genocide-and-holy-war/

Politicians Are Responsible For Our Health Care System

Let's place blame where blame is due...

Seemingly you won't find a politician anywhere who will admit to causing the health care crisis in Canada. But history has a lesson to teach us: continual, decades-long budget cuts have long term consequences.

Circa 1973: the Davis government in Ontario started following the trend of "re-organizing" their health care spending, defunding institutions such as the Rideau Regional Center in Smiths Falls ON, dumping all 2,500 mentally and physically challenged residents onto the streets, who then had to depend on inadequately funded group homes and various hospital's out-patient facilities throughout the area. And that’s just one example of many other budget cut projects throughout Canada. Geeze, I wonder how the urban homeless street-people problem started? It's actually a no-brainer; ask any soup kitchen volunteer.

Following the corporate model of hacking and slashing at a budget with the purpose of finding more "efficiencies" through re-orgs, etc. is a fool's errand when it comes to health care, and only suits the short-term quarterly report mentality. Thinking that we can continuously do more with less with "fiscal restraint" is like saying we can eventually do everything with nothing.

The current health care crisis happening across Canada with over worked and burned out staff wanting to retire begs the question: why is no one recognizing the source problem of decades-long under-funding? Our health care system needs serious RE-funding if we want to save it from collapse. I'm not suggesting we re-institutionalize health care recipients; only that we should apply adequate funding to our current system that is circling the drain thanks to a half-century of blood-letting, which only encourages the refinement of a two-tier health care system, Tommy Douglas be damned.

Book Review: Rick Mercer's "Talking To Canadians" - a Memoir

There’s always a first time. A first time to buy a memoir, and a first time to read one. And—a first time to actually review one.  My gosh, I haven’t done a book review in 10 years, let alone of one that wasn’t fiction. My pen name/nom de plume/fake online character “George Wolf” of the POD world (Print On Demand) was a self deprecating drunk who reveled in handing out D minuses to scores of vanity press authors who knew nothing of basic publishing rules, such as “don’t rely on self-editing”.  So, all these firsts culminate in the joy of handling a professionally written, edited, and published physical book—no Kindles here; I love flipping real pages. And this book’s a gem.

Rick Mercer’s memoir “Talking To Canadians” is an engaging read to say the least; as Canada’s court jester, his candour and humour shine through like nobody’s business... I lost count of the number of times he made me snort out loud, laugh hysterically, and yes—shed a few genuine tears.  In case you’ve been living under a rock, Rick Mercer is a writer/actor/producer/comedian from St. John’s Newfoundland that is best known for his stints on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and The Rick Mercer Report. His other accomplishments are too many to list here, but include a whole shitload of political satire that even had the country’s leaders falling all over themselves to get on his shows.

As a typical Canadian he’s polite, so his put-downs are rare... unless of course you want to classify harpooning America’s lack of knowledge of Canadian politics and geography as insulting. The memoir itself is a generously respectful and intriguing account of his life from childhood to the end of his stint at The Rick Mercer Report.  He leaves no stone unturned when heaping love and gratitude on all the people that touched his life in the various stages that it took him to become the success he is today.  

The memoir picks up pace the more you get into it, as it lays the groundwork for understanding the amazing successes and milestones he accomplishes.  From performing 150 one-man shows touring across Canada, to snagging an interview with Jean Chretien at a Harvey’s, to putting together two separate shows overseas to entertain our Canadian troops in the middle east, his account of how he got all this done held me spellbound.  And had me laughing my pants off.  To paraphrase Mr. Mercer, if he had pinched himself for every amazing feat he pulled off, he’d be black and blue all over. (Sorry Rick, I’m too lazy to look up the exact quote.)

You can google him to list all his awards and accolades, and there are many (25 Geminis for example).  Yet his humility and down-to-earth way of relating to the reader leaves you feeling like you know each other.  He’s a national treasure, and an iconic personality in the entertainment business and beyond.  I felt privileged reading his memoir, but he wrote it as though we were sitting around a pot belly stove eating a bowl of seafood chowder.  The last chapter left me wanting more.  Another first for me...

So Rick, what’s next?

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Jim Hutchison is a wannabe author and reviewer who resides in Fox Cove-Mortier, Newfoundland with his wife Moira and Pumpkin the cat.