"Should Bible Classes be allowed in public schools?"

This was posted by the novelist Anne Rice on her Facebook Page asking for opinions. This below is my response (expanded, of course).

Ms. Rice I'm sorry, but there's a very great distance between what this Governor is advocating (proselytizing Bible 'studies') and what you're advocating (the history of and discerning what/where/how the 'Bible' has influenced 'Western civilization'). This State Official is advocating the opinions of the most radically Reich in her state to influence any and all students about Das Book (which is really all "The Bible" means since for centuries it was the ONLY Book that was allowed to be 'read' [mostly taught, since only the most powerful could even read]).

This would be simple indoctrination and not anything approaching 'study' at all. This is not Constitutionally valid and therefore should not even be considered and should be struck down with all speed (if possible) by the Supreme Court (not that that's going to happen).

From the article in question: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed into law a bill that allows the establishing of elective classes that focus on the Bible and its influence on western civilization.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/ariz-governor-signs-bill-to-allow-bible-classes-in-public-schools-73485/#2Rmb6bAVQOzeFMpi.99

"A teacher who instructs a course offered under this section in its [blogger emphasis added] appropriate historical context and in good faith shall be immune from civil liability and disciplinary action," reads the bill.

Ah, and here's the rub. "...in good faith..." There are so many small points of darkness in this potential 'teaching' that boggle the imagination. In bringing in this seemingly benign 'educational opportunity' a gaping hole is being introduced into the Constitutional fabric of the nation. Born-agains are shouting about 'Christian pursecution' while striving to back-door their particular brand of 'Christianity' into the Law of the land.

Never mind that most of the students who would be subject to whatever material that such a 'course' might bring are already 'of The Faith.'  So why can't they receive such information from their Church? Because that is not the intent of this 'bill.'

The insidiousness of this 'bill' would be the means of opening similar 'legislation' in other states. It would be a seemingly innocuous teaching of 'history' to any and all who 'wished to partake.' For now. 

For those of  us whose ideas and beliefs are different from those of the Far Reich, now is the time to speak out against this 'legal means' of 'teaching about "The Bible." ' I am not opposed to the ideas of The Man who they (think they) believe in, but I do oppose any means of further indoctrination in a country that is increasingly non-Christian. Even for those of us who consider ourselves "Christian" (and I count myself [in a qualified way] among those believers), this seems like a non-issue. But I assure you, it isn't.

Letter to Modern (Villainous) King John: Jaime Dimon, JP Morgan

History repeats itself ever and again, tyrants come and go by name, but the injury to Others remains the same. Here is a letter I edited and added to (italics meaning my addition to their suggested text) from a boilerplate letter by Roots Action America as part of an email campaign to one of Wall Streets Villains... I mean, Corporate Raiders. Ahem.

"It was 797 years ago this week that King John was confronted and forced to share power and wealth, forced to concede rights to others through the Magna Carta.
Yes, that was me. I did that. And I'm back. 
You and your villainous fellow Wall Street rable who call yourselves royalty have pushed The People too far this time. Yet again.

You will not be shot at, nor will you be hung for treason (at least, not yet), but you will be rightfully taxed for all that you and your fellow Robber Traders have fattened yourselves at the expense of the Common Man. While you sit behind your computer screens making millions each day (unrigthfully with Other Peoples Money to which you have no conscience to plunder), I'm going to tax you 50 cents on every $100 you trade.
I can raise $350 billion with which to save lives. and redress the wrongs that you and your cohorts have so willfully created through your short sighted and ill-gained dealings. I'll invest in healthcare, jobs, education, and other basic needs, while you and your court won't even notice the missing bags of gold.
Wall Street has laid waste the economy, and the People were forced to bail you out at knife point. And yet you demanded more.

Now I and those whom you have plundered say No More. It's time for a Robin Hood Tax, a financial transactions tax, a little bit of modern justice, and a siege against misappropriate dealings and scurilous activities..
I'm coming. And this time, I have a million faces not just a small faithful band of brothers.

Sincerely,
Robin Hood

(formerly known as Robert, Earl of Locksley)

Plastic, Profit and 'Progressive Nonsense!' oh, my.

[The below was written as a(n expanded) response to a story on NPR (and a comment from a Conservative critic railing against "Progressives" and their/my agenda against 'Free Enterprise and the American Way'), regarding the banning of Bottled Water containers movement that is growing on college campus'. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/12/146692656/battling-the-bottle-students-and-industry-face-off-over-water>. ]

Ah, "Conservatives!' Things like 'conserving the ecosphere' don't appear in their agendas. 'Conserving' profit, however, always does. 'Saving American Jobs' always does too, while these same 'Conservatives' either help to/ or are directly related to shipping 'American Jobs' to Third World countries, and the China they were so rabidly against (until it became a 'hugely profitable market.'

They don't want to ban plastic bottles, and where I live in Santa Monica, Ca., rail against the banning of plastic bags. 'Outrage!' they say. 'People should be able to buy whatever they want to!' they cry (when it effects their same bottom line about not beiing able to sell another kind f plastic -- most of which ends up either in the trash, or worse yet, gets ejected as soon as it gets out of the store ('I gotta right to it. I pay for it.' Yes, you do. All of us do.)

Which leads us to the Pacific Plastic Gyre. As big now as the state of Alaska (imagine that) and still growing, it is quickly polishing off the Pacific and its ability to recycle air, as well as, yes, ending up in the seafood you eat (which I haven't now  since sixteen -- Oh, the 'Conservative' horror! I've been a vegetarian since then). This, along with the killing of the Gulf of Mexico from, first the runoff from the Mississippi and the factory farming all along its length, to the BP oil spill (which seen from space in NASA photos whose trail of death is shown to be reaching almost to the Yucatan Peninsula and Belize).

That profit eclipses ecology comes as no surprise, but the depth of the self-serving-ness of these 'Conservatives' for some reason always does.

New Years Non-Resolution

I would like to make a New Years resolution to avoid/neglect/disavow anything having to do with politics. I rant, I rave, I get those of the 'other side' ready to bring out their fire arms. So I would like to not comment/hear about/ or otherwise have anything to do with politics.

That would mean stopping all conversations of political discourse. Not looking at any newspapers, periodicals, news reports, web pages that insist on having 'politics' to 'keep us informed.'

But then, I can be on a street corner, minding my own business when a car passes with some right wing idiot-logical claptrap on it and be set off.

My sister even has a "no politics" rule to be adhered to at holiday time with me and my brothers who have ideological viewpoints that are 180 degrees in opposition (doesn't work).

And that is why this is a resolution guaranteed to fail. We are political animals. I have spent all of my adult life involved in politics, on one level or another. I know it doesn't help my blood pressure.

But...