no American theocracy III

  "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." James Madison, 1774;
  "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson;
  "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanac;
  "Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson, 1787;
  "And the day will come, when the mystical generation [birth] of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation [birth] of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." Thomas Jefferson, in an 1823 letter to John Adams.

  The above statements were made by individuals whom we now call our founding fathers. Similar quotes were made by George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Abraham Lincoln. We are not a Christian nation, not founded as one, not designed to become one. Never can we allow religious teaching to highjack our institutions of government. To incorporate religious teaching amongst the laws and constitutions of our land would be to destroy the efforts of our founding fathers to create a nation of equal, rational, free-thinking, and exceptional human beings.

  During a recent discussion, my counterpart stated that, The founding fathers were informed by Christianity; they drew from a common value system that was prevalent at the time. While this theory of osmotic Christian indoctrination has some merit, I propose a theory that has perhaps equal merit. In the statements by Thomas Jefferson quoted above, we find two references to ancient Greek notions, namely Reason and Athena (Minerva).

  If Christianity informed our founding fathers, and Jefferson foremost among them, then the polytheistic teachings and values of the illustrious authors of Hellenistic antiquity, who wrote such works as The Republic (Plato) and Politics (Aristotle), informed them also. The notion of Reason - the fluid process of thinking and experimentation by which man masters challenge - can be found in the writings of both Plato and Aristotle. The notion of goddess Athena - patroness of art, craft, guile, justice, strength, civilization, and wisdom - can also be found in the writings of these two men of old. Thomas Jefferson, an educated and well-read individual, in his crafting of the Declaration of Independence, drew upon the writings of the ancient political philosophers, and was sure to have been exposed considerably to the polytheistic notions of the time.

  And yet, when writing the Declaration, did he make mention of the Hellenistic pantheon? He made no more mention of them than he did of Yahweh, the god of the Christians. If I were to stride into the Chambers of Congress and announce to those assembled that, since Greek deities informed our founding fathers, rites must be performed regularly to placate Poseidon, or choice cuts must be burnt to please Zeus, I would surely be laughed out of the room by all present.

  Our Constitution, in the first Amendment, states that no laws shall be passed that restrict the practice of, or that establish officially, any religion. This amendment gives the right to all who here dwell to practice their religion without fear of government repression. In my opinion, a person should be able to decide which god he or she should worship, which religion to practice, and what beliefs, however outlandish and outmoded they may seem to me, to hold. I rejoice in that freedom; I do not wish to see it ever taken from any man or any woman. Efforts currently under way, however: to interfere with a woman's Right to her only true private property, her body, in matters of abortion; to delineate the right to marry according to the religious tract of one specific group; these efforts pose a great risk to the first Amendment, to our Constitution, and to the foundations of this American republic, for they are efforts to subjugate the rule of law to religious teaching.

  I applaud those individuals fighting against these assaults on our core principles.

  I applaud the judges hearing these cases, and know that they will approach the matter with reasonable thinking, sound logic, and foreknowledge of the dangers inherent to state-mandated religious doctrine.

  America, as a country, as a nation, as a concept, can only remain viable if it is founded on reason, justice, and the notion that all persons, regardless of class, creed, or color, can here find fertile grounds on which their dreams and aspirations may grow. If we allow even one snippet of religious code to find its way into our laws: we will have abandoned reason; we will have failed our founding fathers; and we will soon find ourselves in a barren and hostile wasteland rife with intolerance and ruled by fear. This cannot come to pass. We must fight - with patient voice and open mind - for the salvation of our nation.

No American Theocracy.

Ultima Ratio Regum.

John Paul Roggenkamp 20APR2011

no American theocracy II

  America is not a Christian nation. Nor is it Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or Taoist. It is a republic founded on the principles of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We, as a nation, cannot allow one religious group, under any circumstance, to incorporate their beliefs into the laws of our land. In this blog, I am more critical of Christianity than any of the hundreds of other religions currently practiced in the United States.
  Someone asked me recently: Why are you so critical of Christianity? No one will defend Christianity, so you are better off taking Islam to task, as that will drum up more controversy.
  To this I say: Muslims are not currently attempting to legally define the parameters of marriage according to their religious texts; they are not attempting to legally restrict, according to their religious texts, a woman's inalienable right to do with her body as she sees best fit (such as aborting a fetus); they are not attempting to define the reference in the Declaration of Independence to Nature's God as a reference to the god they consider supreme above all others, Allah.
  We hear, in the news, about the dangers of an Islamic caliphate arising in the Middle East. (For one example of this, see here.) Any system of governance that rules according to the code of a specific religion will, by necessity, subjugate those people living under its rule to its own laws; it will stifle freedom of expression; it will, when challenged, resort to barbaric and unreasonable action to silence dissent.
  For an example of the horrors of religious rule, look into life in Afghanistan under the Taliban. We in America cannot allow religious doctrine to become the law of the land. We cannot allow our fundamental principles to be made subservient to the beliefs of one specific religion. Our republic, our freedoms, our liberty, our lives, are at risk. American flexibility and inventiveness will suffer under religious rule; ultimately, these characteristics we hold so highly will be extinguished altogether. We owe it to future generations to maintain a country dedicated to the non-religious principles set forth in our founding documents; we cannot allow our republic to be destroyed by religious zealotry.
  No to theocracy in America.

Ultima Ratio Regum.

John Paul Roggenkamp

what to do when choked

This scene is found in many films: one individual is choking another, his hands wrapped around his victim's neck. There is a simple and effective way to take control of such a situation. Grab one of your attacker's pinkie fingers, and yank it to the side violently. This move should be done as soon as it is evident that your assailant is attempting to kill you by choking. It is as easy to snap a pinkie finger (I have heard) as to snap a good-sized carrot. Once your assailant's pinkie finger has been broken, he will no longer be able to maintain a firm grip; he will likely go into shock (especially if you grind the broken bones around a bit); he will also become enraged. His rage is his downfall, however, for rage, like fear, is the mind-killer, that state in which one is most susceptible to counter-attack and least likely to maintain composure. This advice is intended solely for use in self-defense. Do not try to solve your troubles through violent action. Remember - you can always remove yourself from the situation. Remember also that most people who fight are slaves to their ego; they cannot divorce themselves from their power of their ego, and will lie, main, and kill to maintain it.

on flat taxation

There is a simple solution to the problem of rich persons and mighty corporations failing to pay their appropriate share of taxes: tax everyone, all persons and all incorporated bodies, at a flat rate. A flat rate of taxation of fifteen (15) percent in America would assure that all citizens and all corporations contribute to the enduring feasibility of our society, our government, and our nation.
Too long have we allowed loopholes to persist that grant those individuals and incorporated bodies who possess the acumen and the audacity necessary for shirking their responsibilities to their nation to shelter their fair share of the cost of civil society through specialized and devious accounting practices. A flat tax rate would ensure the participation of all who here labor in the grand experiment we call the United States of America.
This concept is mere fancy, however, as federal and state governments employ armies of individuals versed in the ever-changing subtleties of our current system. With so many people employed, and so many millions staying in the pockets of those people who have a keen interest in making sure, through lobbying efforts, that the loopholes remain open, this antiquated and arguably unjust system will likely stand the test of time. Time to buy another five thousand square foot mansion on the good part of Long Island. Oh, did I say mansion? I meant to say tax-deductible summer home.

X

pie and more pie

another slice please, thank you. Just one more. I'll work it off at the gym tomorrow. What's that, dear, I am traveling tomorrow? Thanks, love, I'll work these extra slices off at the hotel gym. What, I'm booked solid for the next two days? No problem, I'll work out in the evening, or in the morning before heading off to my meetings. Oh, wait, there's coffee and doughnuts at the morning meetings, bagels at noontime, and finger sandwiches in the evenings? But I have a stipend for dinner, and if I don't use it, I can't charge large sums to my credit card for later reimbursement, which means I won't be able to get my company to pay for my frequent flyer miles, which means I might actually have to foot the bill for my next trip down to the Caribbean. So, guys, let me take you out to dinner, my treat, but you'll have to pay for your own drinks, and we can't go over four hundred dollars. Yes, miss, I'll have the steak. Sides? Macaroni and cheese aaaaaand... butter beans. Hey, guys, anyone see a gym at our hotel? No? Well, I'll just work these extra pounds off when I get home. Hey, doc, thanks for seeing me. What's that, I have dangerously elevated blood-sugar levels? And my blood pressure is too high? I wonder why - I work out all the time.

X

no American theocracy

no American theocracy - seimthingc

A dangerous effort is under way in the States of America - to bind the concept of marriage, and its societal and legal ramifications, to the code of a specific religion. This effort, if allowed to pass, will abolish the separation of church and state as mandated in the Constitution of our American Republic. This effort is an assault on the sullied concept of Liberty in this country. We cannot afford to further bind our fine nation to the concepts of one religion over the many others that here persist. Just as we would not affix to our most sacred documents (and I mean sacred in the strict sense of the sanctity of our concepts of Liberty and Freedom) the codices of the hundreds of other religions enjoyed by Americans today, we should not shackle ourselves to the strictures of just one set, albeit one more prominent and more widely practiced, of religious rules.
For if these efforts were to succeed in binding the concept of marriage to the code of one specific religion, it would logically follow that Yahweh's clearly stated mandates regarding the murder, in front of the father's house, of new wives found deflowered (Deuteronomy  22:20-21 NAB), would circumvent the forces protecting us from wanton and irrational actions, and our code of laws would become subject to the notion of a blood-thirsty and destructive being with a long and well-documented history of genocide and mass murder (see the Midianites, and the denizens of Jericho, Sodom, and Gomorrah).
John Adams said, and his contemporary Congress unanimously agreed, The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion (see here). These are more than idle words spoken in private, more than a backroom speech made to moneyed sycophants. These words were part of an official declaration made to a sovereign government in the notion of making peace, an attempt to placate the heated ire of another by stating that we as a nation do not, under any circumstance, under the guise of grounded rationality, assume to pass legislation based on the stultifying affects of a code of ethical behavior that does not propose to make us people intrinsically better attuned to the balance of our desires, our excesses, and our deep knowledge of a unifying and perpetual energy, perhaps called Primal Simplicity, at once terrifying and empowering, that lurks among the passions of our lives, but a code that proposes to bind us in strict adherence to the myriad rules of the Christian Bible, one religious book among many.
We are not a nation of one religion. We are a nation founded to establish Justice and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. We do this by guiding our country, through legislative act, executive lunge, and judicial rule, via rational and lively debate, toward the emancipation of Happiness and Security among the People, not through the rule of fear or codex, but through the application of our vast collective potential in service to all people, not a diminishing minority of the fabulously rich.
No American Theocracy.

Ultima Ratio Regum -
John Paul Roggenkamp

P.S. We really gotta start setting up Wardenclyffe Towers. But if we all had free energy, oil company execs and plenty of other folks would get mad heated.

Wednesday - day of Wotan

Father Odin, Wotan, Wednesday, you who send the crows to this valley to caw and flit about, sheltering me under their watchful gaze, praise be unto thee. I ask you now, Allfather, to give me wise and generous council on the state of things in my land.
The powerful men here have cast laws that restrict the labors of those who here reside, disallowing the sale of your blessed mead and mandating lesser workable hours during a day not your own, on a day sacred to a different, lesser god. This day they call Sunday. According to the word of their god, Yahweh, as recorded in their holy book, called the Bible, anyone working on this day must be put to death (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT), not in self-sacrifice to you, not dangling from the Worldtree with the spears in his side.
In your honor, oh wise Father, I am preparing to petition the powerful men of the state called The Woods of Penn, to banish labor from your day as well, as any labor on the day we have named in your honor, Wednesday, will reduce the ability of these fine people to sacrifice to you in the proper fashion.
Soon, oh great Wanderer, we shall string up the bulls and dogs and sacrifice them in your name, the mead flowing like water, the heavens stained with the soot of the sacrificial fires. There is a document here, called the Constitution, that was written to keep religious observation separate from the affairs of state. Seeing that laws have been already enacted that violate this fundamental principle, laws that forbid the sale of fine mead and good malted barley on the day of a god who is not you, and who therefore is a false and hollow idol, it only follows that on the day named in your honor, Wednesday, oh Allfather, God of War, great cloaked One-Eye, all labors should come to rest in observance of your power and unending glory.
Please grant me the strength to see this effort through. If the crows cease to frequent these dark and fertile soils, I shall know you favor me no longer.
Lusting for the waters of Mimir's well, my eye quaking for sacrifice, my hand recording the valor and glory of past and fallen heroes, I proceed with your tacit blessing.
All hail Odin, the Allfather, great Wednesday!

Ultima Ratio Regum
JPR

common

The only thing common to the common person is the capacity, kindled through schooling and set ablaze in the Pursuit of Happiness, to achieve the extraordinary. The State of California, by establishing and promoting the community college system, has proven this to be true, by elevating millions of her people to heights unknowable but a century ago. The exuberances of politically motivated, greed-based decisions that have cast her into dire straights aside, she has proven that there is little that ordinary people cannot do if given the tools with which to unleash the potential that lurks within us all.
To our elected officials: cutting school funding and waging endless war is not the way to make good on the pledge of the Declaration of Independence, that most supreme document that obliges you effect, or to bring into being, to create, the Safety and Happiness of the American citizenry. You must change you ways. Unleashing the power of learning on the populace is dangerous to any entrenched ruling class, for it fosters critical thinking and rational analysis; but, together, hundreds of millions strong, the Yankee can achieve an ecologically sound, sustainable evolution of mankind unlike anything you could, with your hearts set on monetary riches and personal power, possibly imagine. You have probably engaged us in wars to keep us in fear. You have likely funneled untold billions of taxpayer dollars into your pockets and into the pockets of your sycophants because you thought the People too stupid, too short-sighted to cry foul, but we have not been sleeping, nor have we not been watching. Revert now, reexamine your ways, and ask yourselves this: am I doing everything in my power to make the People Safe and Happy. Be honest. Squelch your money-lust, your rapacious need for material possession. It is not too late for the People, but you may well have gone too long without a taste of the blind rod of humility. You serve us, sirs and madams. Never forget that.

Ultima Ratio Regum.
John Paul Roggenkamp

do not give in

A dire event has occurred: a lie has been told and so oft repeated that now millions of Yankee believe it. The lie: lots of money and lots of stuff is the culmination of the American dream. Do not give in to this lie - if you do, you commit yourself to the base and abject servitude to Lord Greed.
The true essence of the Declaration of Independence is this: that each person has the right to pursue his or her Happiness. Beware, for money and possessions do little to make one happy. In fact, they do the opposite, for they demand attention and strike fear in the heart of the possessor that they will be taken from him or her. I do not advocate a naked and barren life devoid of any and all possession (as that would be a short and miserable existence that would end in a cold and starving death), rather I say to reduce, reuse, and recycle, never allowing that which you possess to become your master. Be ready at all times to lose that which you own. Be always ready to burn and smash your most prized things. It will take discipline and time to reorder your mind in preparation for this event, but the closer you get to freedom from your possessions, from the ones and zeros that you call your fortune, the greater your chances of discovering the true extent of your Potential, the parameters of your Happiness. Do not give in to greed. Do not sacrifice your time for it. Do not believe the lie.
Ultima Ratio Regum.
JPR