America is waning before our eyes.

The shame is that it doesn’t have to happen.

America is in the position that it’s in largely because of an incessant need to meddle in the affairs of others instead of caring for it’s own.

America will send billions to feed the poor in another country when a fractionion of that would feed it’s own poor.

And it’s not just the government that’s flawed.

Just look at how many Americans were outraged when the goernment wrote stimulus checks to it’s own citizens.

These are the same people who don’t bat an eyelash when the government sends twice that amount to Israel and other allies every year.

Think about it. If the USA stopped the war in Iraq and Afghanistan right now she could feed every one of her own citizens with less than the amount spent on those wars each day.

The priorities are twisted and the cost is that the world now distrusts and resents the USA.

Countries across the globe are fervently trying to figure out how to cut it’s ties with America so that they aren’t pulled into the fire with her.

As US. Citizens we have to determine where we stand. Will we continue to support failed policies and misplaced loyalties or will we begin forging a new path?

Consider these things as you watch the cost of energy and fuel skyrocket again and as your neighbors are evicted, foreclosed on, and disgraced when their government sends overseas the money that could have saved them.

Peace.

In every religion that has lasted more than a single generation there comes, at some point (or at several), a serious debate regarding which instructions of the religions’ patriarch(s) are intended to be followed temporarily, and which ones are intended to be followed permanently.

For example: In Christianity the old testament places lots of restrictions on behavior, like the prohibition on pork and other things. However the official position of the majority of Christian theologians is that those instructions were not intended to apply for all time (i.e. they were temporary).

In Islam there have been, and still are, similar debates. For example the prophet Muhammad placed certain restrictions on his followers regarding their food, dress, manners, personal hygiene and other things. Some of those instructions are taken by Islamic theologians to apply permanently to all who are followers of Prophet Muhammad, while others are taken to have applied only to those living in his time.

Consider the miswaak (a small twig used to clean the teeth). Prophet Muhammad commanded his followers to use it. Most Islamic theologians today consider this to be a command which no longer applies to Muslims today, because the modern toothbrush does (some say) a better job.

So all of this brings to the fore a fundamental question: In matters of religion how does one differentiate a permanent injunction from a temporary one?

Lets’ take two examples. One will be from Christianity, and the other from Islam.

Jesus, according to the New Testament, is reported to have commanded his followers to “Turn the other cheek”. Taken at face value, and some have done just this, that command seems to command pacifism. Jesus is not reported to have placed any time restriction on this command, so one could reasonably assume that this command is to be followed for all time.

Likewise Muhammad, according to several hadith (recorded sayings), is reported to have ordered his followers not to retaliate to violence, even unto the point of death. Just as in the previous instance (regarding Jesus) it could easily be assumed that he intended this to be the case for all times. In fact, had Muhammad died before he entered the War Phase of his ministry Muslims today would likely still espouse “Turning the other cheek” just as much as their Christian counterparts.

But let’s apply the filter of real life to these things. I’m sure that all of our mothers, at some point, ordered us not to touch the stove. Our parents often ordered us to “be quiet”, or to “sit down”.

Of course no person, whether child or adult, takes these commands as having permanent impact. the child told not to touch the stove does not avoid stoves for a lifetime, nor does the person told to be quiet become a permanent mute.

This is because, in real life, the rule is that any order is temporary, unless it is stated to be permanent.

So why the opposite approach when we look at our religious guides? Why do we assume, quite often, that every command given is intended to apply permanently?

I believe that this behavior, of assuming that all religious injunctions are permanent, is simply a way of “passing the buck”. Most of us do not want the responsibility of determining for ourselves when certain rules apply and when they do not. We tend to prefer (most of us) to simply be told what to do. This removes from us the burden of personal deliberation.

Why do you suppose that so many people of every religion actively like to suppress discussion by the “layman” on core religious topics. In Islam, for example, the common excuse given is that, regarding certain matters, only qualified scholars should speak on them or consider interpreting them. This is even applies to interpreting the Quran (the Muslim bible, so to speak). In the personal context that attitude is applied as, “I don’t have enough knowledge to come to my own conclusion, so I’ll just follow what such-and-such a scholar says.”

So the determination of what injunctions are permanent and which ones are temporary must, by it’s very nature, come down to a personal choice between two approaches:

A) All commands are permanent, unless they are stated to be temporary.
B) All commands are temporary unless they are stated to be permanent.

Of course the choice that precedes the one stated above is whether or not the individual is even willing to make his/her own choice (or to just follow that of a pastor, scholar, minister, etc.)

I personally apply the following approach:

A) No scholar is more qualified to interpret the commands of God than I am. I believe that God’s command are quite clear and that he intentionally made his words open to interpretation in many, many different ways so that they could be applied to many different people, in many different places, in many different times. When I am judged by Him I will not be able to use excuse my mistakes by claiming that I was only following someone else’s interpretation. Thus I am duty bound to make my own decisions and to take responsibility for them.

B) All prophetic (i.e. non-divine) commands are temporary unless stated to be permanent. No prophet or messenger is all-wise. Not Moses, Prophet Muhammad, or any of the others. They all made well-documented mistakes (as upsetting as that reality may be to some of you).

C) All divine commands are permanent unless stated to be temporary.

Which approach do you take?

So there’s a new law coming to Illinois (where I live),

Read this story over at CBS. According to it (the story) a new law is coming that will require homesellers in Illinois to provide fingerprints to avoid fraud.

For some reason the Illinois and Cook County governments haven’t learned that any information in any database is always open to fraud if an experienced enough and determined enough hacker decides to access it.

How would you like your fingerprints to show up at a crime scene that you have nothing to do with?

If this law sticks, that is exactly what could happen. And the worst part is that if it does happen, nobody but the unfortunate person who’s prints are stolen and the person who plants them who will know for sure.

The Fall continues….

By now, each of you reading this has been thoroughly frightened by the popular, some would say “mass” media. For more than a year. You’ve been inundated with report after report telling you how bad the economy is. Many of you pulled your money out of the banks. Many of you have sold property. Many of you have stopped making payments on your debts. While some of these things that you’re doing are quite reasonable and quite practical in a time of economic uncertainty, I assure you irresponsible behavior most certainly is not under any circumstances.

For the purposes of this particular posting I’d like to illustrate for you that it is only in times of economic uncertainty; in fact, it is only in times of outright crisis that a new generation of millionaires and new billionaire are born. Most of the wealthiest men of the 20th century, and I’m speaking about wealth as in relation to that of the rest of the population, achieved their wealth or began to achieve their wealth around the time of the Great Depression. Some others began achieving their wealth around the time of World War II. Still others still began achieving their wealth during or around the time of the Korean with Vietnam wars. It is during these times, that a man may rise above the rank’s the weak and the wretched and may become truly remarkable.

It is during these times that some men fall on their faces, commit suicide, and writhe in agony licking the wounds inflicted during the economic downturn. However, there are other men and women who take the opportunities that others overlook and go forth to become legendary.

When we speak about the Fall of America, we are not speaking about the fall of the human spirit. We are not speaking about the fall of that which is a virtuous within America. We are speaking about the fall of a corrupt system. The fall of the structure which has been a disservice to the majority of the people.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that the words in this blog are intended to incite riots, or to incite violence, or to incite hatred, or to incite “anti-patriotic behavior”. Understand that in times of crisis the best patriotism is to stand up and to be heard.

Although you are standing up against those who have been in power, the best patriotism is to come up with new ideas and to promote those new ideas, although they may be unpopular. Understand that the people who have gotten us into this crisis are not going to be happy about those of us who are up and coming telling them what they have done wrong. They will not be happy about those of us who have yet to achieve the pinnacle of achievement stepping in and being successful, where they have so miserably failed.

It is time for each and every one of you to ask yourselves where you stand.

Will you all fold under the pressure or will you be like a diamond, in which case, without the pressure, it would remain unremarkable and unattractive coal.

The system, as you have known it, is dying. Will you live, or will you die alongside it?

Starting this weekend I am testing out a blog-by-voice method that I’ve come across. I don’t want to say too much yet, but I’m really looking forward to this new method.

Being someone who spends most of most days on a computer I look forward to being able to make posts just by talking.

If any of my readers have experimented with any blog-by-voice methods, let me know. i’d like to hear about your experiences.

Thanks!

Aasiya Hassan.

That’s the name of the woman who was allegedly found beheaded at her husband’s offices in the Buffalo NY area.
I know all of you know this already, but I have to frame the discussion first.
Her husband was the head of Bridges TV, a network dedicated to erasing negative stereotypes about Islam.

Go figure right?

Well anyway, I have long felt strongly that abuse of women is one of the most under reported atrocities in the world, and has been for a long time.

Normally I, like others, take the standard line that it is lack of religious conviction and belief that leads people to these types of acts.

But that excuse won’t work here. The alleged murderer, Aasiya Hassan’s estranged husband, was by all accounts quite active in the Muslim community and a very pious Muslim man. So obviously it is not lack of religiosity that was the cause of this crime.

What’s worse is that I have been hearing for a long time, as many of you have, that in Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world, “honor killings” happen all the time. The honor killing is usually typified by a girl or woman who is suspected of having committed zina (the Islamic term for unlawful sex) and is executed to avoid shame being cast on the family.

Unfortunately for these poor women rape is also reported to be endemic in some segments of the society, and being unlucky enough to get raped brings the same fate on the girl as consensual sex outside of wedlock.

So, having thought about these things so much over the last few days, I went this evening to a weekly scripture study group in Schaumburg, IL and was invited to speak on any topic of my choosing.

Of course I chose the topic of domestic violence.

I initiated my session by asking everyone in attendance (mostly young men) if they had ever in their life had a friend or family member who beat his/her wife. Half of them raised their hands with a marked sense of trepidation, not knowing what I would ask them next.

I asked them all if they felt the need to intervene in some way.

Only one person out of the relatively large group raised his hand. From there the discussion went downhill fast.

There was even one person who argued that scripture gives a man the right to beat his wife, and that it is the nature of a man. He argued that the woman’s divinely ordained trump card is her tongue and that man cannot win that way (i.e. a man could never beat a woman in an argument no matter what) and that a man’s trump card is his fist.

Yep. Like I said, the discussion went downhill fast.

What I found is that, even among religious guys, who spent most Saturday nights poring over dusty old religious texts in a group instead of partying like most young guys do on Saturday nights, there was a real lack of outrage over violence against women. One other brother even made the point that marriage is sacred and that no outsider should intervene, no matter what happens.

This concept has to be crushed. We must make the stand that violence is never acceptable except in self defense, in the defense of the innocent, or in the defense of your possessions. This includes, obviously, violence against women.

Of course there are two sides to every story and ever abuser, for whatever reason, feels that he/she is justified at the time that the abuse is committed.

That’s why one of the best ways to stem abuse is by a twofold system of education and of enforcement.

Men and women must be educated as to what the roles and responsibilities are in marriage, as well as what parameters of behaviour must be. It is really a shame that to drive a car you must be tested and obtain a license. To get a decent job you must be trained and get a diploma. To sell insurance you must take classes and pass an exam.

However to become fathers and husbands, there is no exam. Nobody makes you take a class or examines you before you get married to make sure you are competent enough to play that role.

Eventually that too must change. Marriage is a divine;y ordained institution, no doubt about that, but even divine commandments are open to structure and interpretation.

My interpretation is that most men are not ready for marriage, and need the structure of a formalized preparation program.

The beheading of Aasiya Hassan is not just a tragedy against women. It is a testament to how poorly marriage and marital problems are handled in the Muslim community.

I call on all Muslims reading this to take into your own hands this struggle. Read Surah Nisa (the 4th chapter of the Quran) and not only implement it yourselves, but force it’s implementation in your family and among your friends.

For my Christian brothers, read Ephesians Chapter 5 in the Bible and discuss it with your pastor.

In both of these scriptures is superb guidance for all of us who seek marriage, or are married.

Our women are a trust from God himself. Don’t disrespect their real Lord by abusing what he has put into your care.

Believe it or not, if you do such a thing (abusing your women) you will answer for it; in this life or in the next.

Have all of you seen the racist New York Post Editorial cartoon yet?

If not, LOOK:

Now, I’m all for freedom of the press, but how in the heck else, other than racist, could you possibly interpret this cartoon??

Two cops, guns drawn, standing over the body of a dead monkey? One of the cops stating, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill!”

It is none other than an open insult to President Obama on the basis of race, and thus an insult to Black Americans everywhere (In the pre-civil-rights days monkeys were a common depiction of African Americans intended to make fun, insult, and bring shame).

Many of you thought I was nuts when I predicted that we would see racism increase as a result of the Obama presidency. If a major newspaper has the gall to print this nonsense, then it means that they feel comfortable in the knowledge that a large part of their reader and advertiser base will actually approve of it.

To the blacks in America, it’s time to wake up and step out of the fairy tale. The good-old-boys still don’t like you, no matter how much they smile. The teeth they show you as they smile definitely hides a set of sharpened fangs.

Be careful out there.

“Our race is the Master Race. We Jews are divine gods on this planet. We are as different as they are from insects. In face, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves.”
-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (1977-1983) in a speech to the Knesset (Israeli parliament).

As if Muslims in America aren’t already going through enough, now apparently the stereotypes are just going to get worse.

Muzzamil Hassan founded Bridges TV, a network dedicated to erasing negative stereotypes about Muslims and Islam.

Now he has allegedly murdered his wife by beheading her.

No kidding.

Click here for the full story.

I have read several alarmist headlines in the past few weeks regarding moves by several state governments to reassert their sovereign rights, in the wake of the extremely totalitarian Bush regime.

I, for the life of me, cannot rationalize the fears of people who ardently believe that any change from the governmental structure that they have is inherently bad.

It has been a mainstay of history that smaller nations usually function better and more efficiently than their larger couterparts. Massive empires rarely are prosperous except for a certain small segment of the population.

In the face of massive inflation, lost jobs, the contraction of credit availability, and with the specter of civil unrest looming, a breakup of the U.S.A. into regional confederacies may not only be inevitable, but may be just what the doctor ordered.

Unfortunately every film, the mind-programming tool of choice today, of which I am aware that depicts an “End-Of-America” scenario depicts it leading to chaos and misery.

Perhaps we should actively consider the possibility that America has grown too big for its britches, so to speak. Perhaps we are entering a time in which the Super State is becoming an unsustainable entity which must be put out of it’s misery to make way for it’s younger more energetic sons to survive and prosper.