Bob Dylan Saved, but not yet
I’ve heard it “all before and I know the score.”
The world is not ending nor will some religious people get raptured to Heaven.
There is a lot of work to do, here there and everywhere.
All the religious people who want things to come to a climactic end aren’t going to force God’s hand, despite trying to get some action for almost 2,000 years. Continue reading
Mother's Day, the ideal family somewhat of an illusion (photo Megan Cooley, about.com)
The heat is on in the media and advertising to celebrate Mother’s Day.
For many sons and daughters, Mother’s Day is not a happy time for a thousand reasons.
A little creativity can turn it around and put a smile on your face and on the face of a mother. Continue reading
God speaks to Moses from the burning bush The Ten Commandments
To almost 4 billion Christians, Muslims and Jews around the world God is the great I AM.
He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. He is the God that has influenced the world, especially the Western world I was born into.
Last night we watched a bit of The Ten Commandments on TV. I wanted to hear God speak those words again to Moses from the burning bush.
“And He said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Continue reading
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert @ebertchicago, the esteemed movie critic of the Chicago Tribune and the famed Siskel and Ebert show, has discovered Twitter in a big way.
A prolific journalist, Ebert has become an even more prolific tweeter who seemingly suffers from insomnia as do I.
It’s not so much insomnia as a life long desire to watch late night movies like the Ninth Gate on television. Continue reading
Jehovah's Witnesses supporting same sex marriage
The California decision by United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R Walker reversed Prop 8′s ban of same-sex or gay marriage in the state.
Part of the legal argument FOR gay marriage comes from a 65 year old Supreme Court ruling that granted freedom of religious expression to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Walker said that the majority opinion does not eliminate fundamental rights for a minority.
Ironically Jehovah’s Witnesses ban same-sex marriage. They disfellowship or shun any member who openly participates in same-sex acts or relationships.
The reference by Judge Walker to West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette will have the Watchtower Society scratching their heads. “How did we help those wicked sons and daughters of Sodom and Gomorrah?” they will be asking themselves.
Jehovah's Witness, been there got the t-shirt
The right-wing protestant sect is more likely to participate in the break up of a family than holding it together contrary to their public relations messages.
Holidays that most people associate with family – Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Birthdays – are acutely painful for ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are reminded each year that their family does not want them. In time, they learn to form new relationships and family groups but there is always a place in their hearts that hurts.
On Friday night at Churchill’s I ran into a young friend who was still nursing the hurt of being brought up in a Jehovah’s Witness family. When he decided to strike out on his own, his mother and father ostracized him. To add insult to injury, a Montague elder Gerry Deveau disfellowshipped him. Continue reading
Kevin Smith was asked to film a documentary for Prince. His commentary on the process of meeting and working with Prince are hilarious. Warning – contains cursing.
Part 2 after the break
Continue reading
Buses used to transport patients to Hadamar euthanasia center. The windows were painted to prevent people from seeing those inside. Germany, between May and September 1941.
Part 1 in a series of 4 articles
The term “euthanasia” (literally, “good death”) usually refers to the inducement of a painless death for a chronically or terminally ill individual who would otherwise suffer. In the Nazi context, however, “euthanasia” represented a euphemistic term for a clandestine murder program which targeted for systematic killing mentally and physically disabled patients living in institutional settings in Germany and German-annexed territories.
The so-called “Euthanasia” program was National Socialist Germany’s first program of mass murder, predating the genocide of European Jewry, which we call the Holocaust, by approximately two years. The effort represented one of many radical eugenic measures which aimed to restore the racial “integrity” of the German nation. It endeavored to eliminate what eugenicists and their supporters considered “life unworthy of life”: those individuals who–they believed–because of severe psychiatric, neurological, or physical disabilities represented at once a genetic and a financial burden upon German society and the state. Continue reading
Pimp My Ride girls you won't meet at the Kingdom Hall
By Spider Perez, GroupSRV.com – Ja Rule, The Notorious B.I.G., Krayzie Bone, Busta Rhymes, along with current hot Rap artists “K-OS” (pronounced “chaos”) and MTV’s Pimp My Ride host, “XZIBIT”, as well as DMX were all reared as Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Who would suspect that the Watchtower Society and Jehovah’s Witnesses was the religious and moral “spring” from which these Rappers “drank” during their formative years? Many, if not most of these Rappers once spent their Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons peddling Watchtower magazines door-to-door.
This is a “phenomenon” which is begging to be researched and explained.
Ordinarily, most informed persons are surprised when they learn that a Jehovah’s Witnesses individual or even a JW family has/have attained celebrity status. Why? Continue reading
Serena Williams
Word is out, all over town, Serena and Rapper Common might be getting hitched.
“Rapper Lonnie Rashid Lynn, better known as Common, has fueled rumors that he will marry Serena Williams by going public with his love for the tennis champion.”
“Serena is a beautiful, fun and a strong woman. I love her heart and her strength. She’s a warmhearted human being. I think she’s incredible,” quoted Common, 38, as saying. (IANS London)
Look out – marrying a Jehovah’s Witness when you aren’t one of them is a case of the bad news bears. JWs, as they are known, have strict rules about marrying people “in the Truth” which is code for one of us.
Just like RC in the old days, the non-believer has to promise to bring up children “in the truth”, study the Watchtower diligently and pray for Armageddon to come soon destroying all mankind other than the strong “brothers and sisters in the truth”.
Rappers are generally the antithesis of what JWs preach will survive the coming cataclysm.
Rapper Common may be a betting man and figure the end isn’t coming soon. Just say the words man even if you don’t mean it.
Dear Mike,
Thanks for writing and best wishes to you in the land of the longest night.
I’m writing up a storm as usual. Someone asked me if I would write a book instead of blogging. I might but this satisfies half of a writer’s need for love.
Last year I broke my previous records with like 290,000 readers, 2.2 million pages read and 8 million hits. Would that many people read a book I wrote? I don’t think so.
My sort-of-brother in law publishes and once he gets passed 50 friends, it’s a slog to sell a 1,000 copies. I would be depressed schlepping books near the remainder bins at Chapters or, should I be so lucky, Borders.