The shit thru the fog.

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Well, dear reader, we have been assailed,yet again, by superfluous shit straight from the mouth of the very people who have nothing but corporate interest in mind! We have assholes on the border in Murietta, CA. hurling insults at children in busses, accomplishing nothing in an issue meant to distract us from the important bullshit that is benefitting the 1% of those that actually control politics! Yeah, fuckers! This is coming from me, the one person who still refers to illegal immigrants as such and doesn’t give a shit who cares. Yes, I know that the microeconomic impact of this problem is immense, but I also recognize that the powers that be are using this problem to distract people from the most important of social problems.
Today we have a version of socialized medicine placed before us, but don’t realize that the real problem was, in fact, socialized education. We had forsaken this for medicine, not realizing that education would have lead us to this and would have put us back in the innovation forefront, but this was not the intention of the handlers of the assholes that we put in office to represent the billionaires over us, the general public. The 1% have been carefully dismantling the public education system for the last 30 years in an effort to create the second class nation that we have today. We bitch and moan and pass bond measures that end in school closures anyway and blame the opposing political party for the failures. The truth of the matter is that if the general public used skeptical thinking, critical thought and logic to analyze what was transpiring, they would have come to the conclusion that they were being duped by a higher entity, and they would have worked to thwart this divisive bullshit. Instead they choose to fight each other and tie the answers up in the partisan politics of the Left and Right!
The divide of Left and Right has lead to the ultimate demise of the American dream and made it easy for the oligarchs to seize control of absolutely everything! The controllers have made it so that families are cared for by those complicit in the destruction of freedom! Those that dissent are dealt with swiftly and efficiently so that others believe that they were wrong to have a different opinion of how things should be! Totalitarian regime anyone?!
Wake up and understand that this could happen anywhere anytime! You have drones watching you 24/7 by YOUR OWN MANDATE OF LAW! You put this in place! Is your front fucking lawn and your 2.000sq ft house enough payment for the demise of the security you enjoyed under the sacrifice of your WWII soldiers? Most of our pHD candidates are foreign born, is that O.K with you?? Wake up an return control of this country to those who actually respect freedom! Quit paying attention to these divisive peripheral issues and give your kids a free education! Learning equals freedom, period!

Immigration DID make this country strong and continues to do so, but accepting hordes of unskilled workers from all over the globe is overwhelming the country’s ability to absorb those without training. Regulation IS needed to keep a steady, controlled flow of entrants to this country so that it can both employ and assist immigrants in a smooth transition into American society. Intentionally overwhelming the financial ability of this nation to process entrants amounts to the most foolish of undertakings that will eventually bankrupt the resources that were designed to help these people. With no financial resources to ease the transition, the immigrant population is left to spread over a penniless economy that can no longer suffer the burden. What is the outcome? Possibly assimilating into a society as bankrupt as the one that was left behind, to a life of hard scrabble just as bleak as the previous one? Where is the economic logic in this? Why would the oligarchs pit the opposing political parties against one another so that hands are tied and problems grow unchecked? Maybe the answers lay in the fact that these rich assholes are international and have no loyalties to any country and just milk a system dry and move on to the next growing super power.

Common sense dictates that unstable circumstances be brought under control, this includes the problem of immigration, this includes controlling dispersal of firearms, population control, and societal contributions to the less fortunate without contract to educate or eventually separate them from Federal and state assistance. As long as we have walls between nations and unchecked greed, we, as common people, need to have sensible controls agreed upon by all citizens regarding social contract, fair treatment under the laws and control of the population as to regulate and share valuable resources.

Right now we have warring political factions carrying out the mandates of people who live above the law and who use the public as pawns to achieve their goals, whatever the fuck their goals are! I assume that it lies in the halls of power and resource, because money is just paper that is used by many to purchase goods. It is backed by neither gold or silver and is just fancy paper with expensive ink and pretty pictures. The true controlling factions do not waste their time accumulating worthless pieces of paper and believing that they are wealthy, they corner resources and transportation networks to deliver those resources so that they can exercise true control. The Gold Standard hasn’t existed on the dollar for years.

The following is an explanation of the suspension of the Gold Standard meant to enlighten you a bit as to the insignificance of common power based on the money that we earn.

The Fed was formed in 1913, the same year the income tax was first allowed. As most readers know when the Fed was formed the American money was “Redeemable” in Silver or Gold, mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

In about 1917-1918 WW I broke out in Europe.
The U.S. got involved and the Fed began to issue way more dollars than the Treasury had in Gold { @ $20 per ounce} to pay for the war expenses.

When WW I ended there were way too many unbacked American dollars in circulation which led to a period called the roaring 20’s because there was too much money in circulation which caused stock prices to climb way up, by investors spending their extra dollars by investing in stocks.

In 1929 investors suddenly realized all the dollars in circulation couldn’t possibly be backed by Gold, which caused a mass sell off of stocks called the “crash”.

By 1932-33 the Treasury department realized that so many Gold backed American dollars had gone overseas, if the overseas people decided to cash them in for Gold the Treasury couldn’t pay off,,,which led to Roosevelt signing an excutive order confiscating all Americans privately owned Gold, to cover the Treasury’s shortage.

Later he changed the official value of an ounce of Gold from $20 an ounce to $35 dollars an ounce, where it remained until 1971.

In 1971 the world’s Gold supply & demand factor kicked in sending the European price to over $38 dollars per ounce, which caused Europeans to cash in dollars for Gold until Nixon decreed that the U.S. dollar was no longer redeemable in Gold.

Mass inflation followed in the U.S.

Congressman Ron Paul {elected in 1976} & Senetor Jesse Helms of North Carolina tried to reinstate the Gold standard by forming a group called the U.S. Gold commission. From the beginning the commission worked against them since other members of the commission were bought off by the Fed to oppose a re-instatement of the Gold standard, (and while I am describing how worthless our currency has become, I am certainly not endorsing the political party of the creators of The Gold Commission).

Currently the world is flooded with unbacked American dollars, bringing the value down, as it now takes many more of them to buy an ounce of Gold that used to be worth $20.

Now I know that there was an extended focus on immigration at the beginning of the article, but this was used as an illustration of the current divide in American politics and an example of the foolish policies adhered to by both the left and the right. The fact that the public is not reading cost analysis for many of these problems attests to the educational problems in this country. Intelligent informed skeptical thinkers would insist upon justification for Govt. policy BEFORE it was enacted, but most Americans lack even the basic understanding of their own Govt/Financial system and choose to remain with heads planted firmly in the sand. Why, in the medical field most pamphlets given to the public have been printed at the 3rd and 4th grade level due to the complete and abhorrent lack of general education and basic literacy! Most people are too busy watching American Idol, or that cavalcade of fucking idiocy Duck Dynasty, to fight for the preservation of a once great public school system! Skepticism is born of education and continued study throughout one’s life, not by pablumizing one’s mind with insipid nonsense fed to the masses by mass media in attempt to distract them from real and present dangers.

I speak on these peripheral nonsense issues and their power over the public at every turn, and actively sign petitions, give money and exercise my voice in an effort to change public focus to the issues that actually carry weight. I frequently ask the intelligent people to recognize divisive tactics in politics and to ignore distractions meant to pit people against one another. The key lies in common sense, reason, logic and skeptical thought. While many chase the Supreme Court decision over the Hobby Lobby case, the power brokers broker ever larger contracts for greater influence literally ‘fiddling as Rome burns.’ They don’t have to worry, they can move on, we, the common people are left to pick up the remnants of a shattered economy.

The key is education, and a quality, well rounded education that teaches one to learn from their past mistakes. Rebuild the school system and most of these problems will all of a sudden be recognized by fresh intelligent people. Dummy our children down and we can look forward to desperate uneducated masses grateful for  jobs paying shit wages from cradle to grave. Our choice.

 

Good news my friends!!

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(CNN) — All the traditional elements were in place for Joseph and Fiona Long’s 2009 New Year’s Eve wedding.

She wore a white dress; he wore a tuxedo and her family wore kilts in honor of her Scottish heritage. After they exchanged vows and rings and sealed the deal with a kiss, an officiant in a black robe pronounced them husband and wife. Then, they dined and danced the night away at an Atlanta country club with their closest friends and loved ones, culminating in a midnight confetti drop.

Missing from the guest list: God.

The Longs are atheists who did not want gods or religious texts involved in their marriage celebration. But apart from the non-church setting, the only hint at an deliberately non-religious wedding was contained within their vows and readings. These included selections from Shakespeare, Robert Burns and the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, which they felt “beautifully expressed the social and secular significance of marriage without any appeal to religion,” said Joseph Long, a lawyer in Tampa, Florida.

 

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“We felt it made the point well that you can have the sanctity of marriage without having to fit into a particular group,” he said. “It basically states that marriage is extremely important in society for a variety of reasons, regardless of what someone’s god thinks about it.”

As secularism continues to rise in the United States, more couples like the Longs are deviating from a traditional wedding blueprint that includes prayers, blessings and biblical passages.

“A secular wedding can be exactly like a religious wedding with two key differences: no mention of any deities and no recitation of supposedly sacred texts,” said David G. McAfee, author of “Mom, Dad, I’m an Atheist: The Guide to Coming Out as a Non-Believer and Disproving Christianity and other Secular Writings.”

“Many secular weddings have vows, flowers, rings, a reception, a kiss at the end,” he continued. “Although most religions have incorporated marriage rules and ceremonies into their faiths, the act of marriage itself is not a religious one; it’s a human one.”

Venues, readings and vows are just some considerations for atheist couples or couples planning secular weddings. Others struggle with how to break the news to relatives or meet their demands, especially if those loved ones are helping pay for it.

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Some couples provide relatives with opportunities to say a few words within set parameters during the ceremony or reception, said Ed Buckner, former president of American Atheists and current chair of the Atlanta Freethought Society. He has performed several atheist weddings over the past decade and emphasizes that it’s important to talk about it ahead of time, openly and honestly.

“You need to stop and think about what you want to accomplish. Are you trying to publicly commit to a lifelong union with your partner on your terms, or do you want to please others?” he said.

“I would argue that if you don’t believe in God and have God blessing the celebration, you’re participating in a sham. But, there are ways to to acknowledge God for others, if that’s what you want,” Buckner advised.

Give fair warning

Andrew and Wendy Rank chose to have a small, secular wedding ceremony.
Andrew and Wendy Rank chose to have a small, secular wedding ceremony.

Buying a home was more important to Wendy Rank and her fiance than spending big bucks on a wedding. Instead, they went to a justice of the peace in September “for the official stuff” and held a “picnic wedding” in their backyard later in the day. Her mother paid for catering while more local guests brought side dishes.

“We wanted to get married, but we’re not really comfortable with doing it in a church and all that stuff,” Rank said. “We’re introverts, so we didn’t want a big wedding. Just a few friends and family. This way, we had a wedding and a housewarming party.”

They wanted to keep it simple and inexpensive for everyone. Rank comes from a family of believers, so she felt like she needed to warn them on the wedding invitation with a message to the effect of: “This is a small, nontraditional secular service. If you’re comfortable with that, we’d love to have you.”

Most relatives ended up coming, though no one who didn’t show up explicitly cited the secular event as the reason. “We wanted to put it out there so no one would book a flight and fly 3,000 miles expecting a pastor and a ceremony.”

It worked out for the guests as well; several of her mother’s religious friends said they enjoyed the wedding it because it was “short and sweet.” The mothers of the newlyweds did a reading from Calvin and Hobbes before the couple exchanged rings and planted a tree — their twist on a unity candle.

“No one said anything or seemed to or care that it was secular or atheist wedding,” said Rank, who lives outside Nashville, Tennessee. “It was a perfect day.”

Elope now, wedding later

Darren and Sheena Thomas eloped this summer.
Darren and Sheena Thomas eloped this summer.

Darren and Sheena Thomas are proud atheists who met on the dating site OK Cupid. Both come from deeply religious families.

As the son of a nondenominational Christian pastor, Darren Thomas grew up going on mission trips and attending church camp. At 16, he stopped going to church and became the black sheep of the family. In his 20s, he started identifying as atheist, meaning he doesn’t believe in “anything supernatural: God, the afterlife, ghosts, spirits, supernatural souls, anything like that.”

When he came out to his parents, they tried to convince him to return to Christianity for a period of time. Eventually, his father acknowledged that there was nothing he could say or do and decided it was up to God to change his son’s mind. He would always love and support his son.

Still, after Darren proposed to Sheena in February, it was hard to tell his father that he didn’t want him to perform the wedding.

“I tried to frame it in a positive light; I told him I wanted him to enjoy it without having to work it,” said Darren Thomas, a high school English teacher. “But we’re pretty passionate about our beliefs, and we want to have a secular service with no mention of God, Jesus, eternity or blessings.”

Growing up in West, Texas, Sheena Thomas and her family were pretty much the only people of color, so religion was a way for her to fit in, make friends and be part of a community. In college, she was exposed to a broad swath of faiths, ethnicities and sexual orientations.

Sheena began to question her own beliefs and came to realize that atheism felt right for her. Her family still struggles with this decision; her mother periodically laments that she won’t see her daughter in the afterlife, and her grandparents say they are praying for her. She keeps discussion of religion to a minimum.

Their attitude toward religion contributed in part to the couple’s decision to elope in July, about a year before they’d originally planned to have a wedding. Everyone knew the couple had gotten engaged in February, but when Sheena Thomas lost her job, they decided to get legally married without the celebration.

“We basically decided that it would be easier to tell everyone after the fact,” Darren Thomas said.

The Thomases made it official and then brought a wedding photographer to Denver’s Red Rock amphitheater, the site of their first date in 2011.

They still plan on throwing a book-themed wedding in July 2014 to celebrate their relationship and their shared passion. Sheena, a librarian, is working on bouquets and centerpieces of book pages, and the save-the-dates are made from old library due date cards.

The Thomases haven’t decided on readings, but they’re leaning toward some of their favorite texts related to love and romance. Darren’s looking at something from “Jane Eyre” or “Love in the Time of Cholera.” For Sheena, it might be Kurt Vonnegut.

“What has bothered me about some weddings is, the focus becomes God and religion when it should be about the two of you and your and relationship,” Sheena Thomas said.

“I like that our wedding is going to be focused on us and our love.”

Is it important to you that a wedding have religious elements? 

From the office of thebraveatheist:

Thank science that reason is spreading rapidly and old fairy tales are ebbing. The fact that this is garnering heavy coverage is very significant in our society. Ten years ago there wouldn’t be many stories such as this because atheists stayed mostly in the closet for fear of persecution. As more and more people admit that they just can’t swallow the bullshit anymore the younger atheists will feel empowered to show themselves, but they still feel the pressure from their closed-minded myth-believing counterparts. The encouraging thing is that most atheists know that AT LEAST a quarter of the christian followers in this country do not even believe in God but don’t know what to do with those feelings. They were raised by lackadaisical Christians and were exposed to more of the truth instead of the myths. Inside they actually don’t believe in supernatural garbage and are just afraid to let go of indoctrination.

The TRUE number of non-believers is actually astronomically higher than the current estimate and will soar as these people’s children come of age having not gone to church or studied the Ultimate Book of Fairy Tales.I, my friends, am truly excited in this dawning age of reason!