Is there a Danger of a World War over Ukraine Crisis?

The Ukrainian crisis is heating up again after Ukraine has decided to end this cease fire that was never a cease fire to begin with.  Now the RT news agency is accusing Ukraine of ethnic cleansing or some such nonesence, and claims to bring them up on charges before some international council.  Let them.  They’ll look completely stupid.  We are risking WW III if we continue to pursue rights for Ukraine according to a guest Thom Hartman had on his show yesterday.  Because apparently Putin “reserves the right to use tactical nuclear weapons” if he ever feels “threatened”, the same way George Zimmerman “felt threatened”.   Just as Zimmerman actively pursued Martin, so Putin, if he really wants peace, all he has to do is to stop the war.  When Putin’s encouragement of Russian insurgents inside Ukraine we’ll never know.  Some may argue that “President Obama wants to go to war”, which is a preposterous statement beyond belief, considering how he dealt with the Syrian crisis of last year.  President Obama is as passive as they come.  Meanwhile on another site- - it seems that Putin wants to show how “tolerant of dissent’ he is by allowing one outside woman to come in and be on Soviet news for all of one minute, expressing dissent against Putin’s policies.  But of course bottom line is Putin is an egomaniac, and that this broadcast was STRICTLY for foreign consumption to begin with.  Putin would not even show the academy awards Live in Russia because he feared some “politically incorrect speeches” might slip through.  And Putin would not air any broadcast of the Academy Awards before he went through and censored out offencive remarks.   Many sites just report the civil war (if you can call it that) in kind of a passive, impartial way.  The writer of George Washington’s blog would just as soon get us into a war involving nuclear weapons, it seems.  He has bought into this- - “showmanship” Vladimir Putin is famous for starting with the Olympics - - and continuing on.  At this point- - I just watched a thing on World War II and a squadron of P 38’s or whatever- - taking out this Japanese official traveling to “review the troops” on the Solomon Islands.  I think we now need such a determined approach against Putin, and work on an assassination squad to take Putin out.  Because to me it seems clear that Putin’s massive ego is what’s running the country and is the continuing source of tensions in the region.  With Putin removed- - I think a rational air of common sense pragmatism will take over, and we can work out a peace deal.  But it’s silly for Putin to say that he “Reserves the right to use Nukes” in a foreign country he invaded.  And please, don’t use our actions in Iraq the previous decade as any guide, because those actions were wrong, too.  I guess the best thing you can say about a blog post pumping out massive Russian propaganda is that the readers of such a post are not in power, and the Obama Administration will be in no way influenced by such dangerous- and one sided- - - I’d say - - hate propaganda.

The Declaration of Independence says that it’s the duty of the Government to derive it’s concent for such government from the people, and to respect the rights of and reflect the will and needs of the people.  And that when any government becomes Destructive of these Ends the people have the inherent right to alter or abolish such government and institute new government.  Clearly we have been oppressed by this unelected ‘Shadow Government’ called the Tea Party.  Democrats got more votes for House Members than Republicans, and yet won fewer seats.  It was back 45 years ago that we had the “One Man, One Vote’ decision and it would seem today that the situation we have is “Destructive of those ends” – the spirit behind that Supreme Court decision and that a new case needs to be filed, when and if Scelia either crokes, or decides on his own to step down from the bench, which is admittedly highly unlikely.  The Neo Cons don’t believe in small government.  The city of Detroit was not allowed the sovereign right to make its own economic decisions.  The Trans Pacific Partnership is not symptomatic of a “small government” that would never disrupt our economy or intrude into our private commerce.  And passing amendments saying that the United States is a “Christian nation” a mantra endlessly repeated by the Right Wing- - or that somehow ALL abortions, even to save the life of the mother, or a total ban on gay marriage, or an amendment mandating school prayer once again- - these are NOT what proponents of a limited government would do.  In the first place there is nothing more contrary to the spirit of Independence- - than a State Religion- - and listening to the rhetoric in this premisis today- - you’d think that “Everybody wants Christianity as the official state religion”.   And frankly, there are any number of beaurocratic rules we are all led around by on a short leash.  We have to jump through needless hooes at government offices of indifferent people, at best- - to make even minor business decisions.  If the Right Wing were as dedicated to limit government as they claim they would not view President Obama as this “Father Figure” who is responsible for every aspect of the US economy and if a thing goes wrong, then we know who to blame.   How utterly bewildering it is- - to have this economic disparity between rich and poor- - somehow tied to things President Obama has done- - and that somehow if President Obama were not in the White House- - all of these economic problems would go away.  People who believe in small government do NOT believe they are the ones who “Need to do all of our thinking for us”.  It’s the tea party that does that.  Small governments don’t carve out giant tax loopholes for businesses, or subsidize all sorts of businesses that shouldn’t be subsidized.

This paragraph is worth reading or I wouldn't post it. I went out for coffee in the courtyard and had one and two halves of a cup from Rico.  Clearly they weren’t planning an outdoor barbecue in an hour.  The thing began at 11:15 and it was clear it was one of those things that was going to go on forever.  Of course Marcia sang “Heroes’ and led the pledge of allegence- - and J W did his usual veteran rememberances- - and Vince said something silly.  He told of this guy from China visiting the United States.  One would have it it was just your “ordinary citizen”.  And yet after he leaves people from his home country ask “what is the most important thing you learned about the United States” and the guy said “Well, it was the importance of Religion.  America is a Christian country and it’s the religion that insures that the laws will be kept and order will reign in the streets, but without Christianity with its moral principles the constitution was founded upon, this would not be possible”.  Close quote.  Vince went on to lament how Americans can put this “lesson” into practice because we don’t allow prayer in schools or stadiums any more.  Of course two places where we still DO allow prayer and it occurs EVERY DAY is in Congress, and in the Supreme Court.  These are of course two of the most morally depraved and dysfunctional organizations we have in this country.   Teresa wasn’t there; I didn’t see her.  We had a woman in her wheel chair at our table who left at least half of her meat.  The bean soup wasn’t very good- for the second time in a row.  It was an unprocessed bean flavor.  The carne assada was as I thought it would be, flavorful, but perhaps overdone.  There was rice and some avocado and other fixings stuff to put in some sort of a burrito.  Some of the meat was tougher than other parts of it.  The rice was OK but not great.  We had some kind of a cherry and whipped cream short cake thingy.  They showed that thing on WW II and Glen agreed with me that the volume was cranked up to ear splitting proportions.  Just as I was leaving Bruce began singing “Adelwise”.  But hey you know, Bruce sings that song from his heart.  Somebody on a Free Speech program remarked that he likes to go to FOX news to watch Sean Hannity so he can hear his show in the original German.  I am surprised that NBC is having their noon news rather than Wimbelton, which frankly, I was fully expecting them to have yesterday, too.

There was a parade in Huntington Beach I caught a little of before lunch.  But it wasn’t headed west tword the ocean, or even southward, but eastward.  You could tell by the sun angle.  Now Days of our Lives is actually starting, right on time.  I was reading postings in the next blog I’ll hit “Wheels of Retrobution” and there is a lot of good stuff in the recent postings there.  We were talking about discontinuity of the plot line. As we left yesterday’s episode on “Days” EJ was in prison and learned that he might not make bail, and that he would miss an important board meeting where his Father reigns supreme.  Stephano appears to have disappeared from gracing us with his presence on this show- - and we don’t have the foggiest notion what he’s thinking today or his marriage plans, if he has any, with Kate- - and that idea was hyped in a promo weeks ago but the never followed through.  We were given the impression that Mr. and Mrs. Di Mira would be Lords of the Manner at the mansion on the lake.  But now apparently Samantha can break into Stephano’s secret vault and remove any item she want to – any time she wants and Stephano has no security system of any kind to alert him it’s being done.  We are to believe that EJ spent an uneventful night in jail- - and didn’t make any phone calls or anything.  We are to assume that Hope- - having doubts it was Stephano who tipped off the authorities about needed evidence to bust EJ- - that suddenly Hope- - - after “having this thought occur to her” did nothing with it, and now the whole cast is off having a picnic on the Fourth of July.  Which means of course that JJ’s graduation ceremony- - took place on July 3^rd.   Which also means the Di Mira wedding planned for “May” took place on July 3^rd.   Just maybe some time these writers of the series can remember what they had on the TV the day before.  You know some of these “Holliday filler episodes” make me wish there were tennis on instead.

We All Have Our Own Realities

For you and me, the fourth of July is a happy time for getting out with friends and taking a welcome break in our daily routines.  But for many this is not so.  For the humane society this is their busiest time of the year as cats and dogs are traumatized by the fireworks going off and run away.  If you're in the liefguard business you can expect more notice swimmers in the water and therefore your day will be busier than usual.  And if you're a hospital emergency worker expect to have a busy night with mostly kids coming in with burns and injuries missing fingers or perhaps eyes- - or with major burns on their skin, perhaps from lighting a propane barbecue after just opening the lid, something they tell you not to do because of a potential buildup of gas.   I wonder if you're an American Indian how you feel about this or any such holiday such as Columbus Day or Thanksgiving.

Some think the unemployment news for last month is really good and we have all these rave reviews from the Obama Administration, praising themselves and patting themselves on the back.  First of all I heard that really for this to be a kosher recovery we would have to average In Excess of 250,000 net new jobs not only this month but EVERY month for the past five years.  And nobody is claiming anywhere near that.  There were something like 280,000 jobs created last month.  And the unemployment edged down to 6.1%.  Before you get too giddy over that, what is this were ten years ago and such a figure came out of the Bush administration.  Would you be patting yourself on the back then?  The real unemployment figure went to twelve percent in 2009 and hung there doing little but minor ocelations for most of these past five years, and now it has finally inched its way down to eleven percent.  They haven't kept honest unemployment figures in decades and everybody knows it.  As far as I'm concerned when the State of California offers services or potential services that I can avail myself of- - that are not only equal to what they were six and a half years ago- - but adjusted for inflation and I mean the real inflation rate at five or six percent- - then we can talk.  Untill then as far as I'm concerned Obama is just blowing smoke out his ass.

Most people thought Eric Cantor was a far right conservative.  Most people think Thad Cochrin is a far right segregationist conservative.  But if you're on the political right you consider his political victory last week or whenever- - not only a disaster but a crime.  Allan West was in for Sean Hannity today, a day I chose to watch that show for the first time in weeks.  Apparently West is accusing Cochrin of cheating in the last election by people voting illegally and as such Alan West expects the election to be overturned on Monday.  Of course these people live in that alternate reality, a parrellel universe, because they admit that "There is nothing about any of this even on the local news".  As far as Alan West is concerned it's a giant media conspiracy of silence.  But the reaction of Alan West, and presumably Sean Hannity- - shows what the tea party regards as "normal" these days.  You'd think they'd be on cloud nine because they've been running the country these past five and a half years, and they have been obstructionist at every turn.  Every act they do to sabotage the economy they expect the voters to blame President Obama on election day for it, which would be a pretty good trick because President Obama will never be on the ballot again.  I'm hard pressed to see the appeal of a party that- as one commentator put it "Only likes to cause pain to the average American- - as though the unhappiness of the average American will somehow garner them votes over a democratic challenger.

The writer of George Washington's blog is another person who lives in a parrellel universe.  But that's OK.  I have the Orion Federation, and he has his belief that the Obama administration conducted a "false flag opperation" last February to stage a coup in the government of Ukrane.  This writer honestly expects us to believe that 96% of the voters in that special election actually want to be re-anexed by Russia.  Once again there is not a word of this anywhere in the media.  And the writer admitted that even if you Google the topic you won't come up with anything.  But this is a free country and I respect a right of a man to believe anything he wants, and to have readers who follow every word he says.

I'd like to return for the third posting in a row to this whole Jesus thing.  Unlike the Book of Acts, the Four Gospels do not make the sort of specific claims that can either be proved or disproved.  So you have to approach it from a different tack.  I've been thinking about that song Simon sings in Jesus Christ superstar that goes "There must be over fifty thousand - - screaming Love and more for you - Every one of those fifty thousand would do whatever you asked them to do.  Keep them yelling their devotion, but add a touch of Hate at Rome".   There is so much we don't know about Palm's Sunday such as "Why did this one time Jesus encourage people to hail him as a leader?  And how many were in the crowd that day.  I'd be very surprised if it were fifty thousand.  But now lets go forward one day when Jesus drives the money changers out of the Temple.  I can only assume that loud crowd of whatever size was egging and cheering him on.  But we are told that the government leaders were "afraid to take any action against him".  They were SO afraid in fact that when Jesus came back the next day and "sat by the treasury' there seemingly was not even any memory of what happened the previous day.  Instead Jesus and the authorities are having a spirited dialog debate over the hot religious issues of the day.  And then we come to Friday and Jesus before Pilate.  One would think that crowd of fifty thousand would be right behind him storming the Pretorium of whatever it's caller where Pilate's headquarters were.  We are also informed that in the recent past there had been a Riot where a guy named Barrabus was arrested.  And we know the Romans offer swift justice.  There are no endless appeals of a death penalty sentense.  And yet what do we see.  No crowd- - at least FOR Jesus but instead an angry mob that wants to kill him.  This is such a great disconuity.  As the writer said about Acts, it's as though the entire story were written in segments- - isolate units independent of each other and kind of strung together.  So it's like one scene ends - - and leaves us hanging what will happen next- - and then there is another setting - - - completely different.  For instance we are told that Jesus told the disciples to carry swords because 'He was numbered with the transgressors".  Well, so much for his being sinless.  And Judas - - Judas LEADS a "Roman Cohort" of troops to the Mount of Olives to capture Jesus.  And this cohort - is easy to spot because they have "lanterns and torches' on a night when there is a full moon! And we are told the disciples fell asleep.  Yet the words Jesus prayed FOR his disciples- - is reported faithfully in scripture.  We are to believe that Jesus inner bunch of twelve disciples did not even attend his crucifixion.   We are told that Judas was filled with remourse over his "foul, bloody deed", and yet Judas "buys a plot of land", and he couldn't have bought it from a Jew because it was the Sabbath, so it had to be from these Romans, whom now Judas presumably considers monsters.  But the ammount Judas was paid from the authorities, could not possibly buy real estate, even at first century prices.  Many people say that Jesus never played the victim.  But they aren't aware of Jesus telling the women to "Weep not for me but for yourselves because it's going to be really hard times coming down" or something like that.  "You will say to the mountains - - Fall on us" ect. ect.  And then we come to Easter.  Remember that crowd of fifty thousand only days before?  Well the slightest whiff of a roomer that Jesus had conquered death and they'd be all over that tomb, probably conducting paid tours.  Yet- - nothing.  One of the most spactacular events in human history is shrouded in almost complete Secrecy.  (Selah)  Well, not that secret.  There was a powerful earthquake that morning, yet at no other place in the entire Bible is this earthquake referred to in the dialog.

More Unbelievable Hypocracy

Senator Bernie Sanders just said that the six biggest financial banking institutions have a combined wealth of nine trillion with a T - dollars,  This is the combined wealth of these Institutions is nearly three fifths of the National Debt.  Sanders reminds us these institutions are Bigger now than they were when the Bush-Obama administration bailed them out.  Further Sanders says you can forget about legislative prohibitions against big institution Bail Outs because this WILL happen when and if the next financial "bubble' occurs.  So I guess neither President Obama reassurances or any provisions of the Dodd Frank Bill mean absolutely nothing.   We then have Hobby Lobby- - which is heavily invested in all manner of Contraception and Abortion companies, including ones off shore.  They are up to their eyeballs in these investments yet they and people on the right have the audacity to claim that they would not soil their hands by having ANY thing to do with any drug Possible associated with Abortion.  John Fugelsang and Jackie remind us that technically a woman does not "Conceive" when a sperm furtelizes an ovum but rather when that zygote attatches itself to the uterine wall.  Because as Fugelsang reminds us "God is the biggest abortionist of all because nearly half of furtelized zygotes don't even inplant themselves in the womb but are flushed out.  I've heard that defective zygotes are more likely to be spontaniously aborted by nature.  Some have even said that ektopic pregnencies- -  cells don't even multiply and differentiate properly and so what is growing in there is not even "a baby" but some tumerous growth.  And of course we have all the goods from China that hobby lobby sells in their stores where China has forced government abortions.  So there is no "Pro Choice" movement in China.  And of course the first amendment was to separate Religion from Government.  The Affordable care act is a government program dealing with the legal relation between an employee and an employer, and there is nothing religious about it.  That issue is not even on the table.  Rush Limbaugh claimed that up to one million of the eight million who signed up for the Affordable Care act- - are illegal aliens and that some 85% or Most of the applications- - have "irreconsilable contradictions" in the application form that the government has No Intention of resolving but merely to pass they through as approved.  Again this bit of "news" (?) is a Rush Limbaugh exclusive.  I have heard it nowhere else.  But Rush and company lie about everything like accusing the Obama Administration of getting rid of the work requirement for welfare when they did no such thing back in July of 2012 and Romney was quick to make a false issue out of it in the campaign.  There were showing that "2016" movie in the summer of 2012 where it was claimed the government was "waiting till after the election" and then Obama was going to come and conthiscate all of our guns in private hands.  But now these "2016" movie people have a sequel out- - but before they do a sequel perhaps they better deal with all of the Outright Lies in the first movie- - such as the idea that the President is an "anti colonialist' and he got this from beliefs of his father in Kenya, whom he never knew.  And in the movie- none of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence were "Anti Colonialists" which is news to a lot of us.  The right is still continuing to talk endlessly about Acorn, a now defunct organization.  This is all because of some "set up" with a woman claiming to be a prostitute- - and ACORN did NOT believe the things this woman being interviewed was saying, but Rush and company portray it as somehow that some sting of this sot "outsmarted' Acorn and "Exposed" them.   It's wall to wall Lies with Rush Limbaugh and FOX news.

In terms of the Historic nature of the Bible- - there are so many things that "Hadn't happened yet" at the time the Bible was said to have been written.  For instance Nazareth was not even a city on any Roman map in the first century.   There is an early draft of Luke which omits the words "Where Jesus had been brought up" when it spoke of a visit to Nazareth. The city of Caupernaum- - - which Jesus said "would be thrown down to hell" is referring to an event early in the second century.  When Paul speaks of going to the "school of Tyanus" this is in reference to Apolonius of Tyannus- - who mad a cult following when he died just after the turn of the second century- - which believe he had ascended into heaven after forty days.  There are early drafts of the book of Luke which do NOT include Jesus ascending into heaven.  There is also a draft which portrays the "Transfiguration of Jesus" the disciples witnesses as some kind of a mass dream, because all of the disciples fell asleep.  There are reference to the Gospel of Christ "Being preached throughout the whole world".   Of course in the Bible it's reported that Jesus took the Adam and Eve story literally.  That is, that Adam and Eve were the first couple to occupy the earth, when Genisis itself makes references to their son Cain, traveling to other cities and settling there.   The strangest New Testament references are fawning all over Emperor Nero- - and Paul doesn't trust the Jewish Council but makes an appeal to Nero for justice!   Then there are post Biblical reference to Nero himself throwing Christians to the Lions in a Coloseum that would not be completed till twelve years after Nero died.  Besides Nero was too busy dealing with the emergency of the fire in Rome and dodging political assasins and fighting military battles- - to have the time to sit around just watching "entertainment' in a Coloseum that hadn't been built yet.  And just to return to St Peter's speech at Pentacost- - a very Jewish holiday celebrating Moses getting the Ten Commandments.  They didn't read from the Septuigent- - which translates passages very differently from the Hebrew version.  Peter did not speak Greek and his Hebrew may not be very gramatical since his native language was Aramiac, and so many would have trouble understand him to begin with.  We are to assume that it was some Billy Graham rally where three thousand came forward to accept Christ- - we would assume as a part of a larger of people who heard this address- - let's say it was ten thousand people.  Imagine speaking- - Outdoors- - to an assembly of ten thousand people without any kind of a Public Address system.   And of course Acts would have you to believe that St Paul "Did not spend three years in - - Arabia- - being personally instructed by Jesus" as Galations says.  If you think "Well can't you allow for a dozen or two inconsistencies - - ?"   No.  Because these fundamentalists have stated, and often, that if there is ONE inconsistency in scripture, then you can't trust it.

"Christ's Ventriloquist" - Far Too Orthodox for Me

Christ's Ventriloquist is just an Orthodox clap trap book that merely regurgitates the same thing spouted in Churches any Sunday.  The idea of any "historic research" on this new book on Paul is a total crock.  This book Christ's Ventriloquist shows no signs of ANY historic information not included in the orthodox scripture.  Period.  The historic Truth in my oppinion is much more radical.  There is NO historic evidence the Christian church as we know it even existed in the first century.  There is no historic evidence of the existance of any Gospel till far into the second century.  Here are some historic problems with Acts others found.  In all of the areas Acts is "correct" one will note the UTTER ABSENCE of any "presence of the Christian Church in ANY of the historical references deemed as "Accurate".  This is key.  Unfortunately many  scripture chapter and verse numbers posed technical problems and had to be deleted.

Acts 5:33-39: Theudas[edit]

Main article: Theudas § The Theudas problem

 gives an account of speech by the 1st century Pharisee Gamaliel, in which he refers to two first century movements. One of these was led by Theudas.^[27] Afterwards another was led by Judas the Galilean.^[28] Josephus placed Judas at the Census of Quirinius of the year 6 and Theudas under the procurator Fadus^[29] in 44-46. Assuming Acts refers to the same Theudas as Josephus, two problems emerge. First, the order of Judas and Theudas is reversed in Acts 5. Second, Theudas's movement comes after the time when Gamaliel is speaking. However, it is possible that Theudas in Josephus is not the same one as in Acts, or that it is Josephus who has his dates confused.^[30] The early Christian writer Origen referred to a Theudas active before the birth of Jesus,^[31] although it is possible that this simply draws on the account in Acts.

Acts 2:41 and 4:4 - Peter's addresses[edit]

 speaks of Peter addressing an audience, resulting in the number of Christian converts rising by 5,000 people. A Professor of the New Testament Robert M. Grant says "Luke evidently regarded himself as a historian, but many questions can be raised in regard to the reliability of his history […] His ‘statistics’ are impossible; Peter could not have addressed three thousand hearers [e.g. in without a microphone, and since the population of Jerusalem was about 25-30,000, Christians cannot have numbered five thousand [e.g. Acts 4:4]."^[32]

Grant's estimate of the population of Jerusalem relied on an influential study by Jeremias in 1943.^[33][34] However, Grant does not mention that Jeremias calculated a far higher population figure for festival seasons such as passover, at which he calculated Jerusalem would contain up to 125,000 pilgrims.^[35] Furthermore, the lower estimate of Jeremias is significantly lower than the lowest of the moderate to high estimates made by Wilkinson in 1974 (70,398 under Herod the Great),^[36]Broshi in 1976 (60,000),^[37] Maier in 1976 (50,000, with three times that many during festival seasons),^[38] and Levine in 2002 (60,000-70,000).^[39] Accordingly, Cousland notes that "recent estimates of the population of Jerusalem suggest something in the neighbourhood of a hundred thousand".^[40]

Estimates for the number of Christians in the Roman empire by the end of the 1st century range widely from 7,500,^[41] to more than 50,000.^[42][43]

Acts 6:9: The province of Cilicia[edit]

The New International Version translation of  mentions the Province of Cilicia during a scene allegedly taking place in mid-30s AD. The Roman province by that name had been on hiatus from 27 BC and was re-established by Emperor Vespasian only in 72 AD.^[44] All other translations only mention the name of Cilicia, without referring to it as a province.

Acts 21:38: The sicarii and the Egyptian[edit]

In  a Roman asks Paul if he was 'the Egyptian' who led a band of 'sicarii' (literally: 'dagger-men') into the desert. In both The Jewish Wars^[45] and Antiquities of the Jews,^[46] Josephus talks about Jewish nationalist rebels called sicarii directly prior to talking about The Egyptian leading some followers to the Mount of Olives. Richard Pervo believes that this demonstrates that Luke used Josephus as a source and mistakenly thought that the sicarii were followers of The Egyptian.^[47][48]

Acts 10:1: Roman troops in Caesarea[edit]

speaks of a Roman Centurion called Cornelius belonging to the "Italian regiment" and stationed in Caesarea. Robert Grant claims that during the reign of Herod Agrippa, 41-44, no Roman troops were stationed in his territory.^[49]Wedderburn likewise finds the narrative "historically suspect",^[50] and in view of the lack of inscriptional and literary evidence corroborating Acts, historian de Blois suggests that the unit either did not exist or was a later unit which the author of Acts projected to an earlier time.^[51]

Noting that the 'Italian regiment' is generally identified as cohors II Italica civium Romanorum, a unit whose presence inJudea is attested no earlier than 69 CE,^[52] historian E Mary Smallwood observes that the events described from Acts 9:32 to chapter 11 may not be in chronological order with the rest of the chapter but actually take place after Agrippa's death in chapter 12, 

Acts 15: The Council of Jerusalem[edit]

Main article: Council of Jerusalem § Historicity

The description of the 'Apostolic Council' in , generally considered the same event described in ^58]is considered by some scholars to be contradictory to the Galatians account.^[59] The historicity of Luke's account has been challenged,^[60][61][62] and was rejected completely by some scholars in the mid to late 20th century.^[63]65]

Acts 24: Paul's trial[edit]

See also: Paul of Tarsus § Arrest and death

Paul's trial in  has been described as 'incoherently presented'.^{[66][page needed]}

Acts 15:16-18: James' speech[edit]

In , James, the leader of the Christian Jews in Jerusalem, gives a speech where he quotes scriptures from the Greek Septuagint . Some believe this is incongruous with the portrait of James as a Jewish leader who would presumably speak Aramaic, not Greek. For instance, Richard I. Pervo notes: "The scriptural citation strongly differs from the MT [= Masoretic Text, the transmitted Hebrew Bible], which has nothing to do with the inclusion of gentiles. This is the vital element in the citation and rules out the possibility that the historical James (who would not have cited the LXX [= Septuagint]) utilized the passage."^[67]

A possible explanation is that the Septuagint translation better made James's point about the inclusion of Gentiles as the people of God.^[68] Dr. John Barnett stated that "Many of the Jews in Jesus' day used the Septuagint as their Bible".^[69]Although Aramaic was a major language of the Ancient Near East, by Jesus's day Greek had been the lingua franca of the area for 300 years.

Relationship to the Gospel of Luke[edit]

See also: Luke-Acts

Since Acts is generally regarded as a continuation of the Gospel of Luke, problems with the historical reliability of the Gospel are also used to question the historical reliability of Acts.

How the Media Brainwashes Us Constantly

All of us probably get tired of being exposed to the same old Crap endlessly.  But the trouble it isn't just the right wing that's in an "echo chamber" but those on the left can fall into that trap, too.  I don't want to listen to Free Speech TV if it's only an endless stream of things I already believe and have been told repeated endlessly.  It dawned on me that Society is continuing to sink into a social and moral cesspool because we are all so segmented now.  We are segmented by religious tastes, our musical tastes and most certainly by our Twitter friends.  And everything today can be bought for a price.  Even the things we think we came to Believe on our own.  Twitter ran an experiment putting sad posts and adds on certain people's account, and the comments these people made to all their friends took on the same downcast quality.  We are told of course that Twitter filters remarks to "the sort of remarks from us we've responded to before".  So if you're a cat person you're bombarded by remarks and adds about cats.  Just imagine what a network, like FOX news, could do if they - - oh, were to set their mind to it that we need to get back into a War in the Mideast.  When Nazi Germany did these sort of "social experiments" on their citizens back in the thirties we called it mind control.  But now the Capitalists are doing it.  We say we "search the internet for information".  But we are shown only those internet sites the Search Engine WANTS us to see.   They think they are doing us a favor but some times people need GOOD advice that they did not necessarily ASK for.  For instance this 'bubble' hysteria in the stock market.  Everyone and his dog is scared paranoid thinking there is going to be a major crash any day - - or month - - or year now.  And I am the Lone Wolf saying they're all fools.  Apparently it was George Orwell who said "In a brainwashed society, he who dares to Tell the Truth is guilty of a Revolutionary Act".  (Selah)   Here's another tid bit of advice you didn't ask for.  Rush Limbaugh was absolutely right this morning on his show.  He said that certain people will "Pronounce a certain problem Solved" and therefore you are to vote for them.  When in truth nothing at all has been done.  I've had this crap pulled on me by people and I'm enough a believer in the Golden Rule not to want it pulled on others, either.  Fred Price says if you're facing a major problem in your life, just make a positive confession and "Thank God that he has already solved the problem and you have what you want".  The problem is that when you actually start working and sweating, laboring, fretting, whatever over this problem you wish you could pray "God help me with the next step" but according to Fred Price this would "Cancel your positive confession" because it shows you really "Didn't have Faith when God's word said the problem was solved".  It may be the one area I am in sympathy with Sarah Palin on when she speaks of "How's that hopey changy stuff working for you".   Rather than "The Audacity of Hope" a better title for Obama book would be "Sticking your head up your Ass".   What really ticks me off is people who "disengage themselves from you mentally and emotionally".  You saw this today on John Fugelsang telling this caller "Don't shout at me" when the guy wasn't shouting.  It's a stunt, a ploy to use when you're losing the argument in a conversation, kind of like fainting for women, or something.  (no offence)  It's this shit beaurocrats pull at some government office, when you'd rather be anywhere else.  So I think if nothing else this writer will continue to "Tell you what you need to know, whether you want to hear it or not".  (Selah)

Racial tensions are still very relevant.  Here is a Thom Hartman little story kind of like “Ballad of Hattie Carol” by Dylan, where you have to wait for the punch line.   There is one case of a man who underwent some raid at dawn by undercover cops with a “no knock” policy, busting into his home looking for drugs.  The guy had no drugs.  But the man had a gun and fired and injured or killed one or more cops.  There is another case there the same thing happened to another man in a dawn raid of no knock policy in Kileen Texas.  This time marijuana was found.  But again this guy had a gun and began firing at the cops hurting or killing some.  The upshot is that the first guy- - where no drugs were found- - was charged with murder and held on a million dollars bail.  The second guy – where marijuana was found- - who did the same thing- - he was cleared of any wrong doing.  The upshot is that the first man, who was charged- was Black.  The second man was White.  Here is a clear indication of racism in our criminal justice system.  With this “stand your ground” law, there is about a three or four to one conviction rate of Blacks using it, over Whites who use it.  Clearly this is a situation where you have a bad working law.   Don’t have warrantless “no knock” and then allow people to have a gun and free to fire at intruders.  Someone is going to end up dead.  If Trayvon Martin had had a gun- - then technically he’d be fully within his rights to shoot and kill George Zimmerman because he truly was being threatened.  Think about it.

John Fugelsang debated with two callers today of rightward persuasion.  The guy after the top of the hour- - needed to have his meds changed out because obviously he was jumpy to the point of paranoia- - and dysplasia or whatever- - his thoughts were so scrambled he was just spouting all the FOX talking points right and left he could remember.  This guy seemed incapable of actually being in the “here in now’ of the conversation, responding to a direct question.  But I do agree with the man’s stance on abortion in that it is wrong in almost all cases.  One could argue that it is “a wrong’ in ALL cases but it’s justifiable evil in certain cases, like if the life of the mother is threatened or it’s rape or incest.  In this case the Evil done to society allowing the pregnancy to come to term, is greater than the sin of loss of unborn life.   We now move to the other caller on the Hobby Lobby thing.  This guy was “trying to be reasonable”, but Fugelsang handeled the caller vary differently from the way I would have.  I would have said “Well traditionally a business can cover whatever they care to- - or not cover it- - in terms of health coverage.  But we have Obama Care now and the matter is taken out of the hands of the employer, so this should end the argument.  I would further state that we aren’t just arguing about Four types of birth control but all twenty or however many kinds there are.  The Court gave the green light to banning ALL birth control.  I would further stress that it isn’t “Free Stuff” (that Sarah Palin phrase) because it’s part of a Health Insurance Plan, that you PAY for with your Salary and work.  It isn’t free, but a contractual obligation.  But Fugelsang was arguing with this guy endlessly over minutia, and he too would not answer a direct question such as “Why should Viagra be covered when birth control for women employees is not?”  Humm?

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's signing of the 1964 Civil Rights bill. My Dad always used to like to tape LBJ's speeches on things like Voting Rights,  and back in those days Presidential speeches were commonplace at six o clock at night.  My memory of that phone call that Hartman found in the LBJ library (and by the way the LBJ sounds like an excellent place to visit, and I haven't had the pleasure yet) but President Johnson in one speech said that we have labored to be a Free society with equal protection under the law.  And then went on to say that the Declaration of Independence forbids discrimination.  The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution forbids it, and the Law I am signing tonight- - Forbids discrimination.  I often think of how far we have fallen from those lofty and indeed idealistic times.  And I don't think it's just because I was only fourteen or whatever when all of this stuff was passed.  Clearly even the young people today recognize that those times WERE unique times, that it doesn't look like we'll ever get back to.

They say that "If you actually remember the sixties- - you weren't there".   Or stated the other way "Nobody who actually lived through the sixties, remembers it".  We have more false memories for you.  Because they say that the Velvet Underground's first album wasn't till 1966 and yet I remember this tape my brother Al had I'm sure was recorded summer of 1965 and it had a portion of "Heroin" by the Velvet Underground in it.  It was a five inch 900 ft reel of "Allegro" tape.  I remember it was 1965 because they had the Olympics version of "Good Lovin" because the Young Rascles version wasn't out yet.  On this tape I also remember hearing a rocked up version of "The Times they are a Changing" the Dylan composition.  But I had not heard the Dylan version.  This version was by "The Leaves" or someone- - and it's very distinctive.  I think other tracks on this tape were things like the Turtles "It Ain't Me, Babe" and "You were On My Mind' and a song called 'Laugh at Me" by Sonny Bono.  And possibly this tape also had the hard rock live Dylan version of "I Don't Believe You" and this is another case where I had never heard the original accoustic version.   Memory is strange.  The first time I remember seeing "Sha-boom" in a song title listing was on an album called "In the Beginning" which was a version of the Beatles Hamburg recordings.  The only problem is, the Beatles did NOT record "Sha-boom".  I used to go eastward to the Montgomery Wards sometimes when I'd get out of group therapy (Mondays) early and had time before dinner - and that's where I saw it, in early 1970.  If you want something stranger, the song "Don't say Goodnight, Tonight" the Mc Cartney track we just talked about- - the first time I read this as a song listing was as the flip side to "Live and Let Die".  I had never heard of the track, and indeed the song would not be out for several months, and as it turns out it is NOT the flip-side.  At least now.  But I felt certain I could confirm that the track was recorded in 1973 if I only researched it.  But it seems that Norman Goldman was erasing tapes again- - because there was nothing about 1973 in this discription.  Only in my mind.  And then we come to World War I.  I was surprised to learn that the War started in June 28th 1914 and we just passed the One Hundredth anniversary of that event of the Asssasination of Arch Duke Ferdenand of Austria by a Serbian on June 28th.  I thought it was July and I told Joe Disco "I was SURE that World War I started in AUGUST of 1914 and not in June.  Strangely Joe Drisco had this common mental delusion that I did and that's when HE remembers the War starting.  But then again People think that Abraham Lincoln actually WON the Lincoln Douglas debates when in fact he lost.  At least that's what the history books are saying now.  But then again back when I was in school there were in nine planets.  Now there are eight.  But I really hate to say that "History is subjective" or "History is ONLY when push comes to shove, the memory of the person telling the story".  It makes us all feel a little helpless.  We know how FOX news and the tea party are rewriting all sorts of history, and it's alarming.

I would like to belatedly salute Lou Reed.  When Fugelsang said that Lou Reed had died it a stop the presses moment for me.  I had to go right away and research when Reed died.  it seems to have been in late October of last year, 2013.  Obviously I have had no "after death" contact from Lou Reed.  He was a musical pioneer who trod where rock stars have not gone before in terms of really expanding the envelope, lyrically as well as musically.   Cosmically Reed was a "Druanian" if you care, and you probably don't.   He's probably one Artist who is under represented in the many Rock Compilations we have done over the years, and the bulk of them on line is the spring of 2006.

Limited Liability Right-Wing Politics

We hear a lot about Corporations these days, so let's just review what some of the legal ramifications of being a Corporation are.  How's your Business Law?   People speak of "Limited Liability Corporations" but as you know inherent in Corporations is "limited liability".   Perhaps there is confusion because a "Limited Partnership" is a special kind of partnership.  That's when some friend of yours wants you to buy a share in some mystery business at a thousand dollars a customer, and you know that's the last you'll ever see of that thousand dollars.  Some people have trouble "grasping" just what is so immoral about Corporations.  Let me give you a simple example.  You could incorporate as a John Smith pizza parlor if you wanted to.  If your resturant goes belly up and can't pay its bills, the Creditors cannot come after you, John Smith the person.  John Smith, the person is a legally separate entity.  They can't take your house, your car, or garnish your wages to cover the debts incurred by your John Smith Pizzas Inc.  Where it gets dishonest is that if your pizza place does well - - John Smith the corporation could decide to funnel money to John Smith the person.  This is money that the government can't come after should trouble arise.  Indeed you may be able to write off such a donation to yourself as a charitable contribution.  If you decided to go public with your corporation- -  none of the people who buy shares in the corporation are liable for more than they contributed- - if the corporation should run up debts several times the value of its capital worth.  Now if you are lucky in the market and make maybe $150,000 in profit on some stock you "hit lucky" the Government may come after you if they can prove, or even if they can't, that somebody gave you a "hot stock tip" on that company.  They will accuse you of Insider Trading, when it was just a lucky-ass guess.  But President Obama will ignore the big boys on Wall Street for looting the country out of trillions of tax payer dollars.  That Blogoyavitch guy went to jail for "selling" some government office position.  And yet as Mike Papentonio points out- - this is what Lobbyists do all the time, it's their bread in butter.  It's strictly "Pay to Play" in congress- - you put money in- - and get ten times the return on your original "investment"  (i e "bribe") to the congressman.  In fact it would seem there is very LITTLE legislation that congress passes that is NOT influenced by bribes such as this.  And yet in the case of Governor Christie- - nobody is thinking of charging him with racketeering- - that is holding the victims of hurricane Sandy hostage because the mayor of a city won't endorse Christie or grease his palm with a lot of cash.  The government sees no problem.  And with Scott Walker- - there is all sorts of political graft- - and you have the money of the Koch Brothers flooding local politics - - of "If you want to keep the gravy train coming- - just vote the way we tell you".   Mike claims that "Now they are changing the definitions of terms such as bribery- - so they won't prosecute".   If everybody clear on things now?

There are a bunch of racial biggots in Merietta Hot Springs in San Diego.  Of course I learned from my Federation guides back in June of 1982 that the Cosmic Vibes of almost all of San Diego county sucked royally.  The only exception is right along the north coast by San Onofre, Camp Pendelton, and Oceanside.  These are OK.  (San Clemente is also OK)  I have spoken much of this localized "cosmic turf" in my writings. But it seems as if these howling rednecks managed to force a whole bus load of immigrants to turn around back to San Yesidro, which is right on the Tijuana border.  They are saying "You have only their word that they are families of children.  How you know they aren't all gang members.  I bet they've got gang tatoos".  You would think that we as a people would outgrow this sort of thing but apparently not.  But what did I know is how can all those poor kids in Honduras afford cable TV and get American stations where they learned of Eric Cantor's defeat and how it affected the house decision not to go for immigration reform, which in term caused the president to start thinking about reforming laws on his own.  I mean the President just made his Decision yesterday, but somehow all of these Honduran kids knew about it weeks ago in their little shanty huts.

They say that Insanity is doing the same thing over and over - and expecting a different result.  Dick Chaney lied to us to get us into the Iraq War to begin with - - so why should be listen to him now?  The line the Media would have you to believe is that "Well we have to have these people on our shows because they say that you should judge them on what they are saying NOW as opposed to what they were saying them- - that's "the past" so just forget it happened".  This kind of reason truely IS "Doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result".   Bill Clinton and every other progressive pointed out that "We couldn't even HAVE an Al Qaeda problem now- - if we hadn't listened to these War Mongers to begin with".  Now we hear of secret meetings Dick Chaney had with Exxon and Haliburten and the others- - where they agreed to "carve up Iraq" as in "You take this part and you take this part over here".  But the War went so badly- - that Dick Chaney's plans didn't work out quite as he had planned on.  So this is the reason why he NOW wants to go back into Iraq.  But no sane person would look at this conquered land and see anything but "Gee, you have an Islamic organization controling land in an Islamic region of the world- - Stop the Presses!"  But it's like me as a Christian and since 1991 (at least) the evidence was that Christianity was bogus and people will screw you over if you let them.  I have to remind myself that "doubling down" on something that's never worked before makes absolutely no sense.  But I take issue with liberals sometimes.  One liberal comentator said something about how yesterday's Supreme Court decisions "Didn't open the flood gates; they just cracked the door open a little".   So let me get this straight.  The double duty security lock on the steel door is now cracked open, and there is a hoard of people outside and you're just giving the signal of "Come on in- the water's Fine!"  It takes little imagination to see that the Flood of cases is literally at the door.  Today it's Catholics and birth control.  What about Santeria and you have to sacrifice a chicken before you can collect your pay check as a sign of "gratitude".  Or you're a Scientologist and don't believe in insurance for psychological therapy and medication.  Or you're into Christian Science and don't believe in medication at all.  Or you're a Rostafarian and you need to toke on the water pipe before signing any business contract.  What if you're a Jehovah's Witness and won't pay for blood transfusions- - or your kid has a blood sugar reading of over two hundred and your employer won't pay for the insilin needed to keep him alive?  You know the right wing is going to stand behind whatever the most extreme viewpoint is.  Cliven Bundy proved that.  So like, why is a belief in Evolution necessarily precluding God's existance?  Can't God work through evolution, if he wills it?  Would you deny the right of God to do as he wishes with his Creation?  Huh?

I was going to call this posting "Why I Am a Deist".  That is because as I have said, I believe there is intelligent design in Creation.  But I do not believe in a god who personally interracts with the subjects in this Universe, and that God is outside of this Universe.  Yes, Thomas Jefferson was a deist.  But even among Deists there are different kinds.  Some believe that "Well maybe God created the heavens and kind of "wound it up" or whatever- - at the Beginning but then just let things proceed from there, like the workings of a clock or something.  You could even find support in the Bible for this view if you consider that "For six days God created the heavens and the earth".  But what is this "resting' that God did on the Seventh Day.  And could we still BE in that "Seventh Day".  I mean you had the dinasaurs, and the mastadons, and the Neanderthols, and modern Man, capable of abstract reasoning and all of that.  So God may have been "Creating" for hundreds of millions of years, but now is taking his well deserved Rest.  And may have even "Deligated the stewardship of the Universe to Mankind.  I do not personally subscribe to this exact view.  My view is more of that of a computer programmer.  The programming coding was done- - before there was ever any Physical Universe.  Creation was just pressing F5 in Basic to start the ball rolling.  Or merely typing the File name in other languages.  Everything that ever will happen is in that prior coding.  Therefore since I don't believe God has an Ego as you or I think of one, there is nothing there either to Please - - or Offend.  So when Neil Savedra calls some female caller on his show names because she'd fed up with church- and he calls her names like "Rebellious - - and Petulant".   And people get hot under the caller when you tell them that they "Owe" God nothing per se.  That is they don't "Owe" this projection of some alter Ego the evangelist himself just made up and called it "God" they don't owe THAT anything.  You should ask them when they get so riled up "Just what is it that You feel personally Threatened by?  That will keep them mentally tied up in knots a while.   I heard from one source that "Black people believe in a God who keeps moral record and to whom every man will have to give an accounting at the end of days.  But it is our job to have enough horse sense to take care of and mind our own affairs in the here and now".  If you had asked me back in the Sixties- - - I no doubt would have said something very much like this.  It would be in my best interest and play right into my hands if God did opperate in this way and that he was "keeping a moral balance ledger".  Rather- - as you know- - or even if you don't - - I think the most logical position to judge the afterlife- - cosmic or otherwise- - is to project the situation we NOW live in and extrapelate from there.  This is how the Star Trek people gets their plotlines, after all is just to extrapelate Earth Problems.  So I see it as a world of "Gangs" and you're in your Gang and I'm in mine, and your job is to be loyal to the Gang you call your own, and whom they call their own.  And it's the job of all of you in the Gang to show loyalty and solidarity.  I believe in moral pluralism, and there IS no "ultimate' right or wrong, much as that offends both You and Me.  It's just who's gang has the bigger stick or whatever.  Who is the better fighter?  It's Moral Pluralism at its best.  I know how that offends Born Again Christians, but let's face it.  These people are "Offended" by just about Everything- - - - Aren't They?