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THE ABSURD TIMES
Illustration: One Nation Under God, ©2008, Hugh Ralinovsky(All rights reserved, any use or redistribution of this illustration, its contents, and descriptions and accounts of it without the express, written, consent of both The Absurd Times and Hugh Ralinovsky in strictly prohibited, so don't even think about it.)
"Beware of the man whose God is in the skies" -- Jack Tanner, M.I.R.C.
The above quotation was written over a century ago by Bernard Shaw, and one would have thought that the Amerikan electorate would have improved a bit by now in that area. Another great book is titled The Eclipse of Reason, by Horkheimer (don't bother, it is too dense for the electorate -- in fact, some readers I consider intelligent have called some of my work dense, meaning "too deep") published about a half century ago and is more relevant now than it was then. Let us fact it, the Amerikan electorate is moronic, shallow, and emotional. Its politicians are also full of shit.
The people who wrote the Constitution actually were far ahead of the current situation. It is fairly well-known that those who first settled here from England were the puritans who were trying to escape church government. If fact, John Milton received angry letters from these colonies likening him to Satan because of his support of the church, but then he was Cromwell's Latin Secretary and was defending the decapitation of Charles I (who was not very popular). However, but the time the Constitution was written, Deism was more important -- the idea was that some sort of God created everything and then went on His way. These writers were very insistent on separating Church from State. In fact, to make sure nobody misunderstood, they immediately added ten amendments now called the Bill of Rights.
It was not until over a century later, in 1892, that the "Pledge of Allegiance" was written, and God was nowhere mentioned in it. It was not until the middle on the McCarthy era, 1954, that the words "Under God" were added.
Even when JFK ran for the Presidency, there was some concern over his being Catholic, but it really seemed that the issue was whether he could keep church and state separate -- we did not want the Pope meddling in our domestic politics.
In Chicago, sometimes the Catholic Church tried to get certain films banned, but they were told that if they wanted to involve themselves in civil matters, they would first have to pay property tax.
Our electorate fails to realize how much money is owned, completely untaxed, because any religious organization is exempt for any tax because of the separation of church and state.
So now, we hear the reactionary R* Party hacks insinuating that Obama is a, gasp, Muslim. We should all be grateful that Colin Powell in his announcement that he was going to vote for Obama said that Obama was not a Muslim and, more importantly, there is no reason why a Muslim could not become President.
In fact, Thomas Jefferson pledged a treaty of sorts with Muslim leaders and a congressman recently took his oath of office by swearing on a copy of the Koran that, by the way, had been owned by Jefferson.
Even more importantly -- why the hell should belief in some Monotheistic father figure be a prerequisite for any office in the United States? A polytheistic belief system at least makes more sense -- why is there war? Ares. Why do fools fall in love? Aphrodite. I'm sick. Call Apollo. To ask one guy to do it all, and to be responsible for both Good and Evil, but not evil, but bee in three parts, and transubstantiate, all at once, well -- it just isn't fair.
It's as if someone woke Him up and told him that Nietzsche said "God is Dead" and he said "Shit, someone told on me -- ok, just wait -- Tammy Fay Bakker, Jerry Falwell, George Bush, Sarah Palin, I'll teach these people to talk about me when I'm sleeping."
And if you disagree with any of these people who say that God told them this or that, how do you check on it? Dial 1-800-ASKAGOD. I tried it and the line is always busy.
As a wise man once said, prayer is when you talk to God, meditation is when you listen to him. Who was it, St. Paul, who said he prayed without stop for four days straight? I can imagine God thinking "Shut and listen, will ya?"
This God in the sky has justified everything that is wrong in the country today.
RIP
And I'm taking a holiday from this. Happy "Screw the Indians Day," and "Manger Mania."
The above quotation was written over a century ago by Bernard Shaw, and one would have thought that the Amerikan electorate would have improved a bit by now in that area. Another great book is titled The Eclipse of Reason, by Horkheimer (don't bother, it is too dense for the electorate -- in fact, some readers I consider intelligent have called some of my work dense, meaning "too deep") published about a half century ago and is more relevant now than it was then. Let us fact it, the Amerikan electorate is moronic, shallow, and emotional. Its politicians are also full of shit.
The people who wrote the Constitution actually were far ahead of the current situation. It is fairly well-known that those who first settled here from England were the puritans who were trying to escape church government. If fact, John Milton received angry letters from these colonies likening him to Satan because of his support of the church, but then he was Cromwell's Latin Secretary and was defending the decapitation of Charles I (who was not very popular). However, but the time the Constitution was written, Deism was more important -- the idea was that some sort of God created everything and then went on His way. These writers were very insistent on separating Church from State. In fact, to make sure nobody misunderstood, they immediately added ten amendments now called the Bill of Rights.
It was not until over a century later, in 1892, that the "Pledge of Allegiance" was written, and God was nowhere mentioned in it. It was not until the middle on the McCarthy era, 1954, that the words "Under God" were added.
Even when JFK ran for the Presidency, there was some concern over his being Catholic, but it really seemed that the issue was whether he could keep church and state separate -- we did not want the Pope meddling in our domestic politics.
In Chicago, sometimes the Catholic Church tried to get certain films banned, but they were told that if they wanted to involve themselves in civil matters, they would first have to pay property tax.
Our electorate fails to realize how much money is owned, completely untaxed, because any religious organization is exempt for any tax because of the separation of church and state.
So now, we hear the reactionary R* Party hacks insinuating that Obama is a, gasp, Muslim. We should all be grateful that Colin Powell in his announcement that he was going to vote for Obama said that Obama was not a Muslim and, more importantly, there is no reason why a Muslim could not become President.
In fact, Thomas Jefferson pledged a treaty of sorts with Muslim leaders and a congressman recently took his oath of office by swearing on a copy of the Koran that, by the way, had been owned by Jefferson.
Even more importantly -- why the hell should belief in some Monotheistic father figure be a prerequisite for any office in the United States? A polytheistic belief system at least makes more sense -- why is there war? Ares. Why do fools fall in love? Aphrodite. I'm sick. Call Apollo. To ask one guy to do it all, and to be responsible for both Good and Evil, but not evil, but bee in three parts, and transubstantiate, all at once, well -- it just isn't fair.
It's as if someone woke Him up and told him that Nietzsche said "God is Dead" and he said "Shit, someone told on me -- ok, just wait -- Tammy Fay Bakker, Jerry Falwell, George Bush, Sarah Palin, I'll teach these people to talk about me when I'm sleeping."
And if you disagree with any of these people who say that God told them this or that, how do you check on it? Dial 1-800-ASKAGOD. I tried it and the line is always busy.
As a wise man once said, prayer is when you talk to God, meditation is when you listen to him. Who was it, St. Paul, who said he prayed without stop for four days straight? I can imagine God thinking "Shut and listen, will ya?"
This God in the sky has justified everything that is wrong in the country today.
RIP
And I'm taking a holiday from this. Happy "Screw the Indians Day," and "Manger Mania."
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